Eight years since the last of four Hunger Games movies hit the big screen, the franchise refreshes with this prequel, which had me invested. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes tells the story of the evolution of the eventual president of Panem, the role filled by Donald Sutherland in the original Hunger Games. Here it…
The top 5 Honourable Mentions Robert Goodman For more of Robert’s reviews, visit his blog Pile By the Bed
There is something so satisfyingly retro about shows featuring kids doing their own thing, and doing it masterfully, without the grownups being entirely savvy as to what their clever and resourceful progeny are up to. Home Before Dark is especially intriguing as it is based on the true story of Hilde Lysiak, a talented American…
Sally Hepworth’s latest novel, The Mother’s Promise, should come with a “Tissues needed” warning. I cried. More than once. Chances are you will, too. Here’s the blurb: The bestselling author of The Secrets of Midwives delivers her most powerful novel yet. Alice and her daughter Zoe have been a team of two all their lives. With no family…
Greg Woodland’s debut novel The Night Whistler was one of the many new voices in the last few years producing Australian rural crime that sets itself a little apart by also having a historical edge (see also: Matt Nable’s Still, Maryrose Cuskelly’s The Cane and Hayley Scrivenor’s Dirt Town). Set in Moorabool, a New England…
Ridley Scott is rightly regarded as one of the most innovative filmmakers of the 1970s and ’80s. His groundbreaking work in films like Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise still stands up today. But since Gladiator (2000) his work has tended to the epic and slightly bombastic. His latest, The Last Duel, remains in…
– HSBC German Film Festival – In Palace Cinemas nationally from 7 May – 5 June 2024 We have 5 double passes to a session at the Festival (excluding special events) Note: tickets are digital *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE The 2024 HSBC German Film Festival is back at Palace Cinemas,…
An audience giddy with anticipation clapped and cheered through opening night of the revival of the cult musical comedy, as well they might for the cast was in fine voice. When meek, down-and-out florist shop worker Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new plant species that he names ‘Audrey II’ after his co-worker crush, it seems…
Edward Ashton has fun with a bunch of well explored science fiction tropes and throws in a little philosophy in his latest book Mickey7. The main character of the book is an Expendable, the one member of the expedition party who does all of the dangerous jobs as they are more versatile and it is…
The genius, the arrogance and the madness of Spanish artist Salvador Dali (played by Ben Kingsley) is front and centre in Daliland. Mary Harron’s (American Psycho) film presents a picture of a 70-year-old man obsessed with sexual creativity, but who doesn’t actually have sex. Dali deeply loves his volatile wife, Gala (Barbara Sukowa), who controls…
