A bland first act opens up to a brilliant second, akin to a caterpillar metamorphosing into a radiantly colourful butterfly … in the MTC’s production of Born Yesterday, a screwball romance. This American stage classic starts with uncouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock settling into a swank Washington hotel suite, ready to grease the palms of…
Conspiracy theorists rejoice … for man didn’t really land on the Moon. At least that is the contention we have to work with in the mockumentary Operation Avalanche. The year is 1967. It is the height of the Cold War. The CIA suspects there is a Russian mole inside NASA, sabotaging the Apollo program so…
Combining live action with animation and fantasy, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is a feel-good early-teenage comedy. Rafe Khatchadorian (Griffin Gluck from Red Band Society) has a last name that’s difficult to pronounce, an epic imagination, loads of artistic ability and an ever-so-slight problem with authority. More kid with a cause than…
In the vinyl era (Indeed, I experienced those days as well) you could purchase an extended version of a single; the so-called maxi-single. Sometimes you were surprised by the extended version of the single because not so bad sounding variations were added in an artistic way. However, in most cases it was just a miserable…
One thing I’ve always admired about Liz Byrski is the way she tackles themes like friendship and ageing in a realistic, but warm, manner. After hearing good things about The Woman Next Door, I welcomed the chance to read a friend’s copy. Over the years, the residents of Emerald Street have become more than just…
On their 6th album in a little over a decade, Kaiser Chiefs, the British indie rockers have turned in from their more political, guitar-driven garage rock in a decidedly poppy direction. Once you learn that leader Ricky Wilson was a celebrity judge on the British version of The Voice, the singer contest/reality show, and it’s…
When a successful New York advertising executive suffers a great tragedy he retreats from life. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. “These three things connect every single human being on earth. We long for love. We wish…
Friendly, oil-guzzling, slug-like monsters from the deep with octopus-like tentacles, and which can instinctively sniff good over evil – if you are a true believer, that is what confronts you in the family film, Monster Trucks. Teenage loner Tripp (Lucas Till) has always dreamed of escaping his confined life in a sleepy North Dakota town….
A charming victory against-the-odds story set in France, Ballerina concerns a couple of orphan kids. Félicie (voiced by Elle Fanning) is a wannabe dancer. That is her great passion in life. Victor (Dane DeHaan) wants to become a great inventor. The problem is he is basically a klutz. The pair has also long wanted to…
Chilean director Pablo Larraín (No) takes on the enigmatic figure of Jacqueline Kennedy (neé Bouvier; later Onassis) and the mythos of the “Camelot” years in Jackie. This visually stunning and finely textured film is a kind of elegy to a lost time and lost hope, while simultaneously providing an intimate portrait of the former First…
