There have been a few great films about heroic firefighters, and the best of them is, arguably, Ron Howard’s Backdraft. Others include Irwin Allen’s star-studded disaster movie The Towering Inferno and the 1968 Hellfighters, which starred John Wayne as fictitious version of the legendary Red Adair. And while Only the Brave is a moving homage…
Based on the 2013 bestseller of the same name, Wonder tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of 10-year-old August Pullman. Born with facial deformities, Auggie (Jacob Tremblay) becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters the fifth grade at his local school. His medical issues had prevented him from going to a mainstream school before…
Following on from their first round announcement last month WOMADelaide have now dropped their entire 2018 program – and it’s absolutely huge. Joining the likes of Le Vent du Nord, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Yirrmal next year will be Scottish neo-Trad quintet Elephant Sessions, country-blues favourites Hat Fitz & Cara, roots collaboration Mama Kin Spender,…
Every night, I curl up in bed with my book of the moment and read until my eyes droop and I shut them ‘just for a moment’ … and then wake up with a jump. Lately my reading pile has been filled with books of or about fairy tales and folklore, with a few exceptions,…
The New Theatre is presenting a revival production of Jonathan Biggin’s 2012 comedy, Australia Day. It was first seen in the Drama Theatre for the Sydney Theatre Company in 2012. Australia Day is set in the local community hall in a country town called Coriole. Says, the director of this production, Louise Fischer, a girl…
The insidious use of power in an unlikely setting is the basis for The Teacher, a wickedly clever black comedy. The film is inspired by the true story of a Communist-era schoolteacher who manipulated her pupils and their families for unprecedented personal gain. Jan Hřebejk (Divided We Fall) directs. It is the early 1980s and the…
If you crossed the 1990 comedy Home Alone with 2008’s thriller The Strangers, you’d have the makings of Better Watch Out, a rather surprising hybrid film. Better still, Home Alone meets Freddy Krueger at Christmas and a ho, ho, ho to you all. The film is set in a quiet American suburb on a snowy evening…
Not only do recent Christmas movies tend to be more narky and mean spirited, but they also seem to be hitting cinemas earlier. Even though it is only November we have three Christmas themed films in our multiplexes. There’s Bad Moms 2, the home invasion black comedy Better Watch Out, and now we get Daddy’s…
The Kransky Sisters rock. They’re an eccentric’s delight and their oddball antics in A Very Kransky Christmas are a delicious treat. I knew nothing about them when I entered Alex Theatre. But I turned into an acolyte long before I exited their hilarious 100-minute pre-Christmas Christmas show. Let’s just say showing emotion isn’t their strong suit (think…
Solid performances feature in desert, 6.29 pm, a world premiere comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family. Events revolve around a difficult 17-year-old gay girl, Xan (Eva Seymour) who doesn’t warm to interaction with other family members. About to graduate from high school, she’s perpetually sullen and angry. Her older brother, Jamie (Darcy Kent), who doesn’t live at home,…
