The French comedy/drama Normandy Nude tells of a town of struggling farmers who prepare to pose nude for a photo shoot. If this brief synopsis makes it seem like a Gallic variation on both The Full Monty and Calendar Girls, you wouldn’t be far off the mark. The film is set in a small farming community….
From relatively humble beginnings in 1956, when only seven nations competed, the Eurovision Song Contest has grown into a juggernaut of entertainment. There’s a great sense of anticipation before each year’s fresh competition, as TV audiences burgeon. Some 160 million people from more than 150 countries were involved in voting for their favourite artist this…
The gay romantic comedy Bros is very funny and has broad mainstream appeal as it follows the formula of those classic rom-coms like When Harry Met Sally. Bobby Leiber (Billy Eichner) hosts a podcast called “the Eleventh Brick at Stonewall” that explores queer history and issues of importance for the gay community. He is also…
Growing old and frail, becoming ill and disabled, hardly seems like a whole heap of fun or a bundle of laughs. And yet that is the backbone of MTC’s latest production, Minnie & Liraz, which produces a surfeit of rib-tickling moments that the first night audience greatly appreciated. The cacophony begins even before the play starts,…
Now in her mid 80s, Caryl Churchill is regarded as one of the world’s greatest living playwrights. Her work is innovative … enigmatic, challenging and provocative, inevitably open to interpretation. Escaped Alone and What If If Only is the world-first pairing of two separate short plays by the acclaimed Brit. The former, which runs for 45 minutes,…
The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean hooked me in with its all-too-familiar north-west of Sydney 1990s setting and the missing girls premise reminiscent of Joan Lindsay’s classic Picnic at Hanging Rock. Here’s the blurb: Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long hot summer of 1992 – the summer…
A cute Babe-like (1995) whodunnit with some good humour and sight gags. That is what you are in for with The Sheep Detectives. Nothing to think about too deeply and some of the comedy hits the mark better than other attempts, but overall, it is a most enjoyable romp. George Hardy (Hugh Jackman), who lives…
The Iron Claw, which is based on a true story, sees a loving family is torn apart by a father’s “win at any cost” mentality. Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) was a rising star of the wrestling circuit, but didn’t get the chance to be a world champion. Still, it is what continues to drive…
Cloverfield was a unique film. Lots of fans were looking forward to a sequel to this amusing found footage monster film. The sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane came 8 years later. It didn’t feel like this film had anything to do with the initial film. Till the end of the movie. It’s clear this one was…
Billy Elliot The Musical remains as moving and evocative as when I first saw it in Melbourne more than a decade ago … and what a magnificent show it is. For me this is up there with the best musicals brought to the stage. It is based on the successful 2000 film, which starred Jamie Bell…
