The Voice Australia 5: Top 8

Surprise! Surprise! Ok, not really. I actually got most of the eliminations right save for Mikaela Dean of Team Jessie J who I thought killed Finally last week. That one was a total shock to me. But other than that, though I loved Kim Sheehy and Victoria Wiggins, it was a bit predictable.

This week, the performances were good with a couple of meltdowns and train wrecks and a former frontrunner taking the lead with a fantastic number. I wonder if the Maddens getting a time off broke the "momentum" of one of their artists. Things are going to be interesting.

On with the show!

DAM NATION: June 2016 Playlist

Apologies if the playlists are taking a while the past few months, but here it is! Another list of 15 songs that I (personally) fancy, that are already doing good on it's own and maybe some new singles from different artists that will probably - or maybe not - be hits in the next coming weeks in whatever format.

Enjoy!

01 Tears Clean Bandit (ft. Louisa Johnson)

02 Treat You Better Shawn Mendes

03 There's A Girl Trent Harmon

04 Sit Still, Look Pretty Daya

05 Toothbrush DNCE

06 Bacon Nick Jonas (ft. Ty Dolla $ign)

07 Sorry Beyoncé

08 i hate u, i love u gnash (ft. olivia o brien)

09 Into You Ariana Grande

10 The Fighter Keith Urban (ft. Carrie Underwood)

11 Misery Gwen Stefani

12 Company Justin Bieber

13 Kill Em With Kindness Selena Gomez

14 All In My Head (Flex) Fifth Harmony (ft. Fetty Wap)

15 LIKE I WOULD ZAYN

DAM NATION

Password: On The Voice AU 5: Top 12 post, who ranked first in Team Jessie?

The Voice Australia 5: Top 12

Not going to lie, The Voice Australia has been pretty impressive this season and I'm thoroughly entertained. No, the remaining finalists weren't perfect, but they had enough charisma to carry an entire episode - that and of course, the fantastic coaches. Also, I'm enjoying the fact that there are no clear standouts and they are clearly battling out every episode. This is going to be exciting!

Movie Review: Finding Dory

I have a lot of love for Pixar and the joy their films bring with their brilliant and ground breaking original stories, but sequels (or prequels) save for Toy Story were mostly underwhelming at best and with the studio recently mining old successful franchises for new ideas, a sequel for my absolute favorite Finding Nemo had me worried. No, Finding Dory didn't reach the same emotional heights as some of the best Pixar films and the story was relatively generic, but I still found it to be extremely entertaining, full of great visuals as it exploded with color and variety and beautiful animation. The chemistry between the characters were palpable, the voice acting were top class, and the humor was spot on. While this was not revolutionary nor Pixar's best, Finding Dory was still quite solid. It's a sequel geared towards the whole family that was sort of light on heart, but engaging enough and a lot better than most cynically churned out sequels. 8

The Voice Australia 5: Top 16

Just like last year, DAM NATION has decided to cover the live shows of The Voice Australia and boy was it all worth it. Sure, there were still a couple of fodders thrown into this group - and I'm pretty sure that with this format, someone will survive longer than some of the more talented ones - but the talent this year is impressive and the production of the performances were outstanding. Heck, even better than The Voice US.

I've been following (silently) the rest of the season and I'm actually enjoying Ronan's chemistry with the rest of the coaches. I didn't enjoy him as much when he was coaching The X Factor Australia, but he seemed rejuvenated with this group. Good for you, Ronan!

On with the show!

Movie Review: Now You See Me 2

Bigger, but not necessarily better. Sure, Now You See Me 2 was still charming, energetic, and good-natured fun, but it was also loaded with plot holes and contrivances that pulled me slightly out of the film. I found the plot too complex to follow at times - that thin line between reality and magic was gone - and the pacing was a little problematic as well as the predictable ending. All that being said, the film as a whole was generally satisfying and the characters - other than the annoying Woody Harrelson's twin - were well-written. I was even shocked that I enjoyed Lizzy Caplan as Isla Fisher's replacement. Now You See Me 2 wasn't as good as its predecessor and it's far from being an eternal masterpiece, but it had its moments and it was nevertheless a fascinating look into the world of magic. 6.5