A rich, harrowing and deeply evocative story has been superbly translated into captivating musical theatre in this Australasian premiere production of The Color Purple – The Musical. It charts the life of Celie Johnson (played by Jayme-Lee Hanekom – Disney’s The Lion King), a battered and downtrodden African-American woman from when she was a 14-year-old…
Razor sharp writing by Joanna Murray-Smith (featuring acerbic put downs), and bravura acting performances, are features of the brilliant two-hander Switzerland. The focus is the best-selling author of The Talented Mr Ripley, Patricia Highsmith, who is living as a recluse in the Swiss alps. She finds solace in her seclusion, her cats, her booze and…
Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series of books has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and the Tom Cruise-led film based on his ninth novel made more than $250 million at the box office, so another was just a matter of “when”, not “if”. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is a cinematic take on Child’s…
The original Ouija, released in 2014, cost some $5 million to produce and ended up grossing some $100 million at the box office, so it’s no wonder that production company BlumHouse went back to the well for a second helping. But as the title suggests, Ouija: Origin of Evil is more of a prequel than…
Boys in the Trees is another local coming of age story that joins a growing number of recent Australian films exploring familiar themes of the pain of growing up, friendship, angst, romance, the loss of innocence, memory. However, this one is suffused with a surreal quality, quirky touches and an unsettling supernatural element. It has…
Remember Mr and Mrs Smith, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie played a pair of married assassins working for different sides? Screenwriter Michael LeSieur had that in his head while he was writing the screenplay for Keeping Up with the Joneses, a rather daft spy comedy. An ordinary suburban couple, Jeff and Karen Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis…
Kristen Stewart isn’t exactly on my list of favorite actresses. As I wrote in my review of Snow White and the Huntsman: “She shows almost no emotion and I’m convinced she dips her face in starch before walking onto the set”. But regarding Equals, she was most suited. A postwar society (indeed, again after a…
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and Palace Cinemas are teaming up to present a touring film season dedicated to the oeuvre of controversial Franco-Polish director Roman Polanski. ROMAN: 10 X Polanski will show ten key films drawn from the director’s Polish New Wave debut — Knife in the Water — to his 2010…
Recorded by the Patea Maori Choir in 1984, Poi E was an infectious song that became a cultural phenomenon and a cultural touchstone for the Maori people. It was the first song in the traditional Maori language to top the charts in New Zealand. It topped the charts for four consecutive weeks and even outsold…
At the start of The Neon Demon, 16-year-old aspiring model Jesse (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles and finds herself staying at a sleazy motel overseen by an equally sleazy, repulsive and ill- mannered manager (Keanu Reeves). A young man has taken a few photos of Jesse, which she presents to a prestigious modeling agency…
