The complexities of music, human relationships and health all get a working over in Moises Kaufman’s 33 Variations, featuring Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn. In the early 19th Century, Anton Diabelli (Francis Greenslade) is a Viennese music publisher who composes a simple waltz and then invites that city’s leading composers to construct a single variation on…
A highly-charged thriller, Everybody Knows is intoxicating cinema. It’s the work of brilliant Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi who has woven some of the finest stories in recent years including The Salesman, The Past and A Separation. In Everybody Knows, a vital and beautiful girl disappears. Suddenly family threads start to unravel as a shadow of…
Undoubtedly one of the finest contemporary musicals and one I never tire of seeing because of its brilliant songs, narrative arc and passionate portrayals, Jersey Boys is back to delight anew. I first saw it at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in 2009 and then again in 2013. Clint Eastwood directed an on-screen version. Now,…
There’s no honour among thieves in the heist movie King of Thieves. A group of senior citizens plan and execute the perfect robbery. But then they get greedy and distrustful of one another. Most of them are old and infirm men who should know better, but the lure of riches is overwhelming. They’re led by…
Talented photographer Diane Arbus (Diane Glenn) meets sex symbol Mae West (Melita Jurisic – complete with sultry voice) in the MTC’s new play Arbus & West. In 1964, Arbus arrived at West’s pristine LA apartment to take snaps of the famous star, then 71. The play explores a fictional account of that real encounter between…
Harry Potter on stage rocks. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child re-writes the rule book when it comes to what’s possible in a play and is set for a long run in Melbourne. Two years is guaranteed. Beyond that, we shall see. This is the eighth story in Harry Potter the series and the first official…
Using harsh reality and pop culture as its backbone, Vox Lux is a hard-hitting drama about the price of fame. The film takes place between 1999 and 2017. After tragedy strikes at a US high school, Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) sings at a subsequent memorial service, which touches the hearts of mourners and Americans in general….
If you’re a Simpsons fan, you’ll find immense enjoyment in Mr Burns, a novel adaptation of the iconic cartoon legacy. Split into three acts, the production gives you almost two hours of snippets from the series, skits and even a superb a cappella song bracket. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world. Clearly the world is…
A deeply distressing reality piece, Capharnaum pulls at the heart strings. The title translates to chaos and that’s what this film is about – surviving amid chaos. Zain (Zain Al Raffa) is a mistreated 12-year-old Lebanese boy. After being jailed for committing a violent crime, Zain sues his parents – mother Souad (Kawthar Al Bankole)…
Clever, zany and funny, Happy Death Day 2U ticks all the boxes for a sequel. I loved the creativity in the original and feared that any follow-up would be a disappointment. Fortunately though that’s not the case because the writer and director Christopher Landon has taken the finest elements of the initial offering and twisted…
