Brooklyn, 1957. Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) is a private investigator who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome. He also has an eidetic memory for detail which makes him perfect for the job. Once an orphan, Lionel was taken under the wing of private investigator Frank Minna (Bruce Willis) who became his mentor and something of a father…
Caroline, or Change is a work, an autobiographical work from Tony Kushner. He is famous for Angels in America (1993). Born in Manhattan, his family moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana, when he was a young boy. He wanted to write about race relations, the civil rights movement, and African Americans and southern Jews in the…
From the highly creative mind of Wes Anderson comes the story of a ruthless businessman and his estranged daughter. It is 1950. Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro) is an enigmatic industrialist and one of the richest men in Europe. He is also a global target for assassins. Now, he has barely survived yet another…
The film’s subtitle A Year on the Frontline of Australian Environmental Activism tells you all you need to know about this documentary from veteran filmmaker Sally Ingleton. Wild Things traces the history of environmental activism in Australia from the fight to save the Franklin River from being dammed to the current fight to stop the…
It has the look and feel of a video game – that, of course, is where it came from – with not a great deal of dialogue you can make sense of. The opening gives us the back story in a matter of minutes and then it becomes a special effects extravaganza, with rapid fire…
Sydney writer Chris Aronsten’s play Off the Record has had its world premiere at the New Theatre in Newtown. With some heavy issues covered, this drama has many humorous angles, making it intensely viewable, topical and enjoyable. Set in London, the story revolves around television presenter Jenny Gosper. As a professional journalist, her passion is…
I fell in love with Fredrik Backman’s My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises, and now, I’ve just developed a crush on Britt-Marie Was Here. What is about his writing that gets me? I think it’s the way he taps into whimsy, delight, oddness and the sometimes elusive inner child. Here’s the blurb: For as long…
Whereas the first film in the Star Trek reboot (simply titled Star Trek) was all about forming the group that would become a family, and the second (Star Trek: Into Darkness) galvanised them in the face of a new threat, both of those were ultimately Earth bound. Star Trek: Beyond is the first time we…
Epistolary novels are always a bit of a tightrope. How do you explain, particularly in this day and age, why people are writing lengthy letters to each other with pen and paper. In her latest novel The Sleepwalkers, Scarlett Thomas walks this tightrope, mostly successfully, to deliver an unsettling, gothic mystery that holds its secrets…
Legendary music promoter and director Dave McLean joins The Blurb’s Patrick Scott to discuss his new film Schemers. The film tells how he came to promote and manage some of the biggest bands ever, like Nirvana, Iron Maiden and Placebo. He also regales on some extraordinary stories about the music business, as well as future…
