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Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

Cinema Review – Eddie the Eagle

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Man charged over domestic violence and pursuit offences – Tweed Heads

A man has been charged following a pursuit near Tweed Heads on Monday.

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Rainbow Dragons (Lennox Head Ballina) won three trophies and had a fantastic weekend of fun, fitness and friendship at Grafton Dragon Boat Club’s regatta earlier in March.

Records galore!

Byron Bay Easter Record Fair returns again to Ewingsdale Hall. Now in its 15th year, the Byron Bay Easter Record Fair is one of the biggest and best in this country. Matt the Vinyl Junkie has spent years on buying trips to the US and Japan scouring dusty warehouses, shops, flea markets and private collections. He can offer an astounding 30,000 records in one place covering most genres.

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Fresh air federal funds for Northern Rivers schools in need

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Cinema: Wicked Little Letters

Based on a true scandal that stunned 1920s England, Wicked Little Letters centres on neighbours Edith Swan and Rose Gooding in the seaside town of Littlehampton.

By John Campbell

You might as well never get out of bed in the morning if you can’t believe that every dog DOES have its day. The true story of Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards is inspiring because it reminds us that there is nothing quite so indomitable as the human spirit. Against all the odds and with only the passive support of his mother and the reluctant encouragement of a disgraced American skier, Eddie, a no-hoper who was told he’d never be an athlete, by sheer dent of willpower and perseverance turned himself into an Olympian. Superheroes are a dime a dozen these days, so his feat of reaching the ninety-metre ski-jump final at the 1988 Calgary Olympics might not be properly appreciated by a younger audience, but nothing should be taken away from it. There is a nagging moment late in the film, however, that director Dexter Fletcher might have been advised to delete. In archival footage of the closing ceremony of the Games, we see the real Eddie limelighting the moment in a look-at-me way that cheapens his achievement – if at the same time highlighting the now entrenched cult of celebrity. Fletcher follows all of the orthodoxies of the genre – we first meet Eddie as a kid in callipers and then endure one setback after another with him as he strives to achieve his impossible dream. To never give up is a theme that we can all warm to and when Eddie (Taron Egerton) teams up with Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), the once-was champion, the great tale of triumph and redemption goes into overdrive. The swelling music never lets up and George Richmond’s bright and breezy cinematography captures some terrific shots of what is involved in such extreme sport. Egerton, with jutting jaw, does all that’s expected of him but he is overshadowed by Jackman’s flawed blokiness – and they both have the rug pulled from under them by an ice-cold, self-loving cameo from Edvin Endre as the Finnish gold-medalist Matti Nykänen… Can’t wait for the movie about Steven Bradbury.  


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