Josephine Moon’s first two books, The Tea Chest and The Chocolate Promise were a delight. The Beekeeper’s Secret is no less of a delight, with its heartfelt focus on forgiveness, family and friendship. Here’s the blurb: Maria Lindsey has secrets to hide. Living on top of a secluded mountain is a good way to hide…
Featuring 22 tracks from ABBA, Mamma Mia! The Musical is bright, breezy, energetic and heaps of good-natured fun. Whenever it returns, it always goes down a treat and I never tire of seeing it. The show premiered in Oz on the 9th June 2001 and played for four years to more than 2.2 million people in eight…
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…
A driven, high achieving woman melts down when two relationships go awry in Drive. Writer Rebecca Meston was inspired by the true story of former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak. You might remember Nowak as the person who drove non-stop for 14 hours to confront her ex-lover’s new partner. Wearing a disguise, she also a knife,…
I feel the need… the need for a sequel! And 36 years after the original, director Joseph Kosinski (Only the Brave) delivers a sequel that fans have been craving with Top Gun: Maverick. The film deftly walks the line between paying homage to the past while moving the franchise forward – if you can call…
Mufasa (the movie) explores how Mufasa (the lion cub who almost drowned in a flood) was separated from his parents and went on to become king of the jungle. His story is told by shaman mandrill Rafiki to another young lion cub, Mufasa’s granddaughter, Kiara (the daughter of Simba and Nala). Lending a mischievous hand…
Guy Ritchie (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) puts his own take – a gritty, modern edge – to the classic Excalibur myth and the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Arthur is not yet king, instead a ruffian, a thoroughly reluctant hero compelled to discover…
The church, religion and medical science have a lot to answer for in The Wonder. This is acclaimed director Sebastián Lelio’s first feature since Gloria Bell (2018). In 1862, nurse Lib Wright (Florence Pugh) travels from England to small-town Ireland to watch an 11-year-old girl Anna O’Donnell (Kila Lord Cassidy). The reason soon becomes clear….
Welcome to the fun, funny, fanciful, colourful and action-packed world of Dog Man. This musical is the brainchild of Kevin Del Aguila (book and lyrics) and Brad Alexander (music), with orchestrations by Lloyd Kikoler. The characters are those adapted from the series of books by Dav Pilkey. Within the universe of Captain Underpants, Dog Man…
The 6th Czech and Slovak Film Festival acknowledges the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring as well as the centenary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia. This year the program focuses on some historic films from Czech filmmakers, including The Fireman’s Ball, Milos Forman’s final film in his native country before moving to the US. The…
