The latest installment in the Disney Villains spin-offs is a reprise of Maleficent – a twisted view of the Sleeping Beauty fable. Picking up where the original left off, Aurora (Elle Fanning) has been crowned Queen of the Moors and is living in the idyllic woods with her godmother Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), sidekick Diaval (Sam…
Musical theatre magic is captured by the MSO, conducted by Jessica Gethin, with two of the finest exponents of their craft, who have made it big in the West End. I speak of the vocal clarity, dexterity and brilliance of soprano Amy Manford and tenor Josh Piterman, who have starred in The Phantom of the…
The main event which steers the story in The Lovely Bones is horrific and spine-chilling. And yet, it is not a tale of fear. Quite the opposite. Hope, peace and solace are recurring themes. While not uplifting, the play provides an understanding of human failings and frailties. The Lovely Bones centres around 14-year-old Susie Salmon…
The consummate stylist of the American cinema is back and in top form. Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is another excellent entry in the director’s canon and is probably his most accessible work since Rushmore. As I’ve said in these (digital) pages before, Anderson is a love-him-or-hate-him proposition. If you’re in the “hate-him” camp, you can…
Energetic, colourful and captivating, this is up there with the very best productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS and I have had the good fortune to see several of them. A massive cast of 87 (plus an alternative 13 “kitten” chorus) and a 16-piece orchestra breathe new life into a show that was first staged in…
In Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Fern (Frances McDormand) is a loner. The highly capable 61-year-old has little to her name. She’s averse to traditional societal norms. Now she leads a frugal, nomadic life with memories of the past with her now-departed husband. Fern has always been a free spirit. But she settled in a nondescript house…
The original animated version of Dumbo (Disney’s fourth feature film) came out in 1941. It’s now it has been re-imagined in live action form. Circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) enlists former circus star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), to care for a very different newborn…
Social media is a language. Those you speak it will appreciate the authenticity of the early scenes of Lewis Treston’s IRL, which sees 17-year-old Alexei (Will Bartolo), back and forthing in messenger conversation with his closeted internet crush Thaddeus (Byron Lankester Howells), complete with the awkwardness and overthinking insecurity the manifests itself in any such…
Although it’s a cliched romantic comedy, Book of Love is not entirely without humour or charm. Henry Copper (Sam Claflin) is an academic turned writer whose debut novel The Sensible Heart is not exactly a page turner, nor has it been flying off the shelves. In fact, when he holds a meet-the-author session, the book…
One of the most bizarre plays I have seen, The Amateurs is a tragicomedy from 2015 American Pulitzer Prize finalist Jordan Harrison. This is its Australian premiere. While I can’t claim to have liked it, to say it is unusual is an understatement. A troupe of mismatched mediaeval players make their way across Europe in a…
