British author Kate Atkinson delivers another fascinating, well researched historical novel in Shrines of Gaiety. Set in London between the wars, its focus is on Nellie Coker, the matriarch of a family that runs a group of illegal clubs. The narrative ranges over not only Nellie Coker and her family but others around the clubs…
Patricia Highsmith is a name familiar to many movie buffs. Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr Ripley and The Two Faces of January are just a few of the films based on her writing. Of course, these fall into the mystery-thriller genre, but Highsmith’s writing was broader than that. In Carol, director Todd Haynes…
Just who isn’t corrupt? That seems to be the question asked in the action-thriller The Bricklayer. The CIA is in the firing line, literally and figuratively. Someone is blackmailing the agency by assassinating foreign journalists and making it look like the CIA is responsible. That someone appears to be Radek (Clifton Collins Jr.), formerly on…
Confusing, convoluted and spectacular are three words I would use to describe Batman vs Superman, the showdown between two comic powerhouses. Fearing the actions of a God-like superhero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante Batman takes on Metropolis’ most revered modern day saviour, Superman. But with the pair at war, a new threat…
Even though I don’t have any affinity with Japanese culture as such and mostly ignore Asian films, I couldn’t resist giving The Outsider a chance. Not only because of the fact that Jared Leto is playing in it (a colorful actor who reminds me of Johnny Depp and because of his role as The Joker…
Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut novel Open Water is a deeply personal exploration of the connection between two people and whether that connection can survive the pressures of the world. It is clearly, from the first page, a love story, but it is much more than that, as Nelson considers what it means to be young…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 30 April 2021. Alexa Tarantino burns bright with a scintillating maturity of insight and takes flight on Firefly, her third release for Posi- Tone Records. Driven on by the Winds Of Change to refine the Clarity of her artistic…
– The Mousetrap – Only at QPAC, Brisbane We have 2 double passes for the performance of The Mousetrap at the Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane at 6:00 pm on Sunday, 28 May 2023. *Please make sure before you enter that you will be 1) in Brisbane, and 2) available to attend on that date* Note: If…
A moral conundrum and the consequences choice are at the heart of The Commuter. This is the fourth collaboration between director Jaume Collet-Serra and Liam Neeson (after Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night). Neeson plays Michael MacCauley, a 60-year-old middle manager at a faceless insurance company. Like so many hard-working family men, he’s at financial breaking point. His son…
Kate Grenville continues her exploration of the early days of the colonisation of Australia in her latest book A Room Made of Leaves. This book purports to be the previously unseen memoirs of Elizabeth Macarthur. Macarthur has long been overshadowed in popular Australian history by her husband John, who is widely reputed to be the…
