For too long, stories of rebellious youth have tended to focus on boys in popular media. The troubled teenager, always misunderstood by parents and police, provides plenty of dramatic material for a good story. In Girls In Boys’ Cars, a female version of angst during those all too important adolescent years gets a thorough airing….
Inspired by the 2009 Dutch horror film The Human Centipede, Synergy Production Co. has given us a musical parody featuring the same characters. Like the movie, it concerns a deranged German surgeon – Dr Heiter – who kidnaps three tourists and conjoins them surgically, mouth to anus … I kid you not. Dr Heiter is renowned for…
A Dodgeball Named Desire is a clever, creative and involving hoot, contrasting the literary with the sporting. It is a decidedly fresh take on A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. First performed on Broadway in December 1947, that is the story of former Southern belle Blanche DuBois, whose personal circumstances have changed for the worse. An…
After a three-year break, David Fincher is back with a very un-Fincher-like film with The Killer. This finely crafted film sees the director subverting just about every convention of the hitman sub-genre in a way I found both inventive and a little perplexing at the same time. Fincher is of course known for the directorial…
Toys run amok, killing and maiming, in director Emma Tammi’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is a troubled soul. A shopping centre security guard, his massively aggressive treatment of the father of a young son sees him fired and looking for a new job. At that stage, we – the audience – don’t…
– Uproar – Only in cinemas from 30 November 2023 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to Kismet Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Uproar is a moving and heartwarming comedy about connection and finding your place in the world. 17-year-old Josh (Julian Dennison, Hunt for The Wilderpeople) is forced…
Eighteen dynamos of dance and drums dazzle and delight at Arts Centre Melbourne. They are truly mesmerising in an energetic display of artistic brilliance. Let me set the scene. The curtain goes up to reveal two tiers. At ground level are nine dancers seated, ostensibly dressed in white with black highlights and taupe-coloured socks. Behind them, on a higher plane,…
Australian director Craig Gillespie continues his successful foray into American film with Dumb Money. The film showcases Gillespie’s fast-paced directorial style in a David vs Goliath story that replaces slingshots with sub-Reddits. For whatever reason, Gillespie seems to be attracted to stories that say something about America and its people. That was certainly the case…
The turbulent life of jazz singer Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan) is on show in an intimate club setting in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Holiday (7th April, 1915 – 17th July,1959) was nicknamed Lady Day by her friend, saxophonist Lester Young. Among her musical influences were Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. Being an African…
Tobias S Buckell’s standalone speculative fiction novel A Stranger in the Citadel opens with literally a killer first line: The gods say, “You shall not suffer a librarian to live”. Riffing on classics like Fahrenheit 451, Buckell creates a future world in which largesse is provided through giant machines known as the cornucopia and books…
