Frozen meets Shrek in Onward, the latest adventure from the Disney-Pixar stable. The hype around this film has been understandably muted; but even though it’s a little “off”, it still delivers exactly what most audiences will want. Like Shrek, the Onward is set in a kind of split dimension in which the world of fantasy…
Pygmalion, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw’s humorous but pointed take on language and speech and their importance in society and in personal relationships, was first mounted on stage more than a century ago. Now Malvern Theatre Company has reprised the masterwork under the direction of Andrew Ferguson, who – along with Neil Barnett – is…
Adapted from a 2012 graphic novel by Joff Winterhart, Days of the Bagnold Summer is a gently funny coming-of-age story. Sue Bagnold (Monica Doland) is a 52-year-old English librarian. She’s raising her son Daniel (Earl Cave) alone. Daniel, 15, is on school holidays and looking forward to travelling to the US to spend time with…
If I say “who you gonna call”; you say… “Ghostbusters”, right? And that kind of sums up where this franchise is at. It’s all about familiarity now. Originality and nuance have long since left the building as the producers look for ways to tap into nostalgia, while at the same time introducing a younger audience…
The modern Indiana Jones clone Uncharted is a rollicking, fun-filled adventure. Nathan Drake was brought up in an orphanage with his older brother Sam, who was constantly getting into trouble. When Nathan was little, Sam took off but promised to stay in touch. He does that through the occasional postcard from an exotic place. Sam…
– If Beale Street Could Talk – Only in cinemas from 14 February 2019 We have 10 double in-season passes thanks to eOne Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Following his Best Picture Academy Award® winner Moonlight, writer/director Barry Jenkins adapts James Baldwin’s acclaimed novel in IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK,…
Women treated shamefully by the Aussie Rules’ boys’ club. That is the theme of Patricia Cornelius’ gritty, feminist play In the Club. It concerns three young women who hook up with members of a football team and pay the price. Annie (Eva Seymour) transitions from a naïve, football-mad 15-year-old to an exploited 16-year-old, which sets the tone…
I’m a sucker for a good spy drama – and Killing Eve is an exceptional spy drama. This BBC production (available here on the ABC) is a taut psychological thriller as you might expect. But its insight and its determination not to treat the viewer as an idiot are remarkable. If any TV series is…
In terms of views and images, Jupiter Ascending is a spectacle with an impressive space footage, sometimes rousing action sequences and titillating extraterrestrial fantasies. But just as a book of Jack Vance, it really doesn’t make any sense in the beginning. The difference is that while reading that book of Vance, the intended message becomes…
Rudyard Kipling’s timeless tales make for engaging family entertainment and are inevitably children’s favourites, whether they be straight animation or animation combined with live action, as is the case here. Bombay-born, English writer Kipling channeled his love of India in 1894’s “The Jungle Book,” following with “The Second Jungle Book” in 1895. Though considered kids’…
