Updating classic fairytales is nothing new (see: Shrek). And, of course, the musical has been around for as long as movies have had sound. So combining an updated take on Cinderella with a pop-laden musical would seem to be a guaranteed winner. But somehow director Kay Cannon (Blockers) and her team have created a by-the-numbers…
Despite perceptions to the contrary, art and crime are never far apart. Dark deeds plagued Renaissance painters like Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi. The artist Walter Sickert has been accused (posthumously) of being Jack the Ripper. And the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre is one of many “crimes of the 20th Century”….
Topher Grace? Whatever happened to that guy? Well, in 2021, Home Economics happened to him. It’s not like he hasn’t been doing anything (remember BlackKkKlansman?) but his profile is a little lower than it was in his That 70s Show heyday. Home Economics is a perfectly fine but not particularly memorable series about a dysfunctional…
The Steelers were the world’s first gay rugby team, formed in a pub in Kings Cross in London in 1995. At first they found that other rugby teams were reluctant to play against them. But now there are more than 60 gay rugby clubs around the world with over 2000 members. The annual Bingham Cup…
Australian director Cate Shortland shot to prominence with her feature debut Somersault in 2004. Since then, she’s directed the feature films Lore (2012) and Berlin Syndrome (2017), as well as television in Australia and the US. Now she springboards into the big time with Black Widow, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon….
If you’ve been pining for a bit of Parks & Recreation-style comedy, look no further than Girls5Eva. This bright breezy series from Meredith Scardino hits all the right notes in its story of a ’90s girl-band that gets a second shot at fame. Scardino was previously a producer and writer on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Kimmy……
Long merely the sidekick or annoyance to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki finally gets some clear air and deserved screen time. This third series in the Disney / Marvel franchise on Disney + sees the Asgardian trickster thrust into a mind-bending journey. While the series once more uses time-travel as its central device, it’s…
The main thing to say about Australian TV series, Wakefield, is that you just have to watch it. It really is that good. Unfortunately in the past, local shows have tended to stick to safe (read ‘boring’) formulaic material featuring cardboard cut-out doctors, nurses, lawyers or cops but in recent years some creativity has been…
Legendary music promoter and director Dave McLean joins The Blurb’s Patrick Scott to discuss his new film Schemers. The film tells how he came to promote and manage some of the biggest bands ever, like Nirvana, Iron Maiden and Placebo. He also regales on some extraordinary stories about the music business, as well as future…
I felt uncomfortable about reviewing WandaVision while episodes were still dropping on Disney +. The series was so, well… unexpected, that I didn’t think I could grasp it until it was finished. Now it is finished, I’m still not 100% sure I’ve “got it” fully. If you’ve spent time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the…
