Quirky and bittersweet comes this dystopian, AI, science fantasy about an obsolete, empathetic companion robot. Her name is Klara (Jenna Ortega) and she is happy, smiling and enthusiastic. She has a predilection to bend one knee while standing. Klara is obsessed by the sun, convinced it is all powerful – God-like, if you will –…
There is teaching a troublesome kid and then there is TEACHING a troublesome kid. Maria Spencer’s (Saoirse Ronan) life would be so much more satisfying without having to allow for Danny’s (Eddie Waller) violent and disruptive ways. Seemingly permanently angry and uncooperative, he is the ultimate primary school horror child. As the film opens, on…
Witty, acerbic and insightful, Jonathan Biggins gloriously captures the essence of former Prime Minister and Treasurer Paul Keating. It is a 90-minute tour de force performance, during which you dare not avert your eyes for a moment. He parades around a stylish, maroon coloured set, complete with paintings, mantelpiece clocks, ceramic vases, a bankers’ desk…
A feel good, comedic, period drama, Just an Illusion concerns the trials and tribulations of a French family of four. The year is 1985 and we are in suburban Paris Navigating first love can be challenging, especially when you are 12 years old and part of a family that rarely agrees on anything. That is…
You may well have heard that shooting the movie Jaws (1975) was hardly a walk in the park. In fact, then 26-year-old director Steven Spielberg ran into all sorts of problems. He insisted it be shot in the ocean – the first picture filmed in that environment, rather than in a tank – making it…
Such a special sound at an unforgettable concert that is well worth travelling far and wide to see and hear. Mellifluous vocals reach deep into your soul. In short, it feels like a warm embrace of gentler times – of yesteryear. Every one of the 24 songs is simply so enticing in the hands of…
The voiceover at the start of the show speaks volumes. “How old were you when you stopped playing?” The reference is to imaginative and unstructured play, to make believe, if you will. Young children, in particular, have it in spades. It happens automatically, intrinsically. In short, it takes very little effort. But as one grows…
The distinctive rasp and soul are there in abundance, as is the rhythm. In fact, syncopation is very much in her wheelhouse. Macy Gray and her most attractive sounding “wigged” band mates and backing singer and warm up act, soul and R & B singer Emi Secrest, are as one. Gray, resplendent in orange, has…
It is so silly, so over the top and so funny. If slapstick and physical humour are your bent, this has it in spades. Nineteen years after the outrageous Mel Brooks musical comedy opened on Broadway, Young Frankenstein comes to St Kilda’s Theatre Works. It is based on Brooks’ and Gene Wilder’s 1974 film that…
Balletic excellence and stunning beauty characterise The Stuttgart Ballet’s adaptation of the classic fairytale popularised by the Brothers Grimm. With choreography by Marcia Haydée, after Marius Petipa, she and artistic director Tamas Detrich have crafted something quite delightful. It premiered in Stuttgart in May 1987. Unfolding in three acts, with two intervals, the first involving…
