After two years of disruption, movie-going in Australia pretty much got back to normal in 2022. After a slow start, loosening of COVID-related restrictions saw audiences coming back to the big screen. Box office receipts were up according to BoxOfficeMojo, though the increase over the pretty miserable 2021 figures was perhaps smaller than studios and…
The success of the original Knives Out took many by surprise. On the surface a twisty “drawing room” mystery (though in reality much more), the film was a runaway success, prompting Netflix to sign director Rian Johnson up to at least two more films featuring the enigmatic detective Benoit Blanc. Now the first of them…
The top 5 Honourable Mentions Robert Goodman For more of Robert’s reviews, visit his blog Pile By the Bed
Vanya Polunin is to clowning what Sir Donald Bradman was to cricket – a genius. Honing his highly creative endeavour over decades, he is unique and ubiquitous. When he created Snowshow in 1993 he wanted to go beyond the regulation clown show. Taking a cue from the surrealist painters he admired so much, combining comedy with poignancy, Polunin…
A new Pharoah has stepped into Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Trevor Ashley, who played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray more than a decade ago, is that performer, who mimics Elvis in Las Vegas. It is a role he will also play in the upcoming Sydney season at the Capitol Theatre. At the Regent Theatre in Melbourne he is…
Martin McDonagh reunites with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and returns to form, with the biting satire, The Banshees of Inisherin. Although many liked his last film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, I personally didn’t. I think the cultural disconnect between America and Europe let it down. But now, back in familiar territory, he brings…
In 2012 amateur historian Phillipa Langley discovered the final resting place of famed fifteenth century monarch King Richard III under a carpark in the centre of Leicester. Most of what contemporary audiences know of Richard, the last of the Plantagenet dynasty, is based on the play written by Shakespeare some 100 years after the king…
I find Ruben Östlund a polarising filmmaker. In my experience, you either “get” him or you don’t. While his 2014 film Force Majeure was well-received, his 2017 art world parody The Square left many cold. Even so, it picked up the Palme d’Or at Cannes; so obviously someone liked it. His latest film, Triangle of…
The tumultuous life of the world’s most awarded female vocalist is put under the spotlight in I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Whitney Houston (Naomi Ackie) was the greatest voice of a generation, who enjoyed the highest of highs and succumbed to excess, indulgence and heartache. Tragically she died at 48. The fact that she had…
Puss in Boots (the voice of Antonio Banderas) first appeared in Shrek 2 in 2004, before showing up again in a couple of other Shrek sequels and then a standalone film in 2011. Now the swashbuckling adventurer returns in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. This time, he’s facing his biggest challenge – losing his…
