John Sturges’ classic 1960 western The Magnificent Seven made stars out of Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn (who all later appeared in Struges’ epic WWII adventure The Great Escape in 1963). Sturges’ film was inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s classic 1954 film The Seven Samurai, regarded by some critics as the greatest action movie…
Eucalyptus, the fully realised new opera, made its premiere at Brisbane Festival in a co-production by Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Perth Festival and Opera Queensland. Based on Murray Bail’s fantastical, haunting 1998 novel of the same name and winner of the Miles Franklin Award, Eucalyptus was first performed in a concert version earlier this year…
The Australian premiere of Johan Inger’s comic, romantic dance theatre piece I New Then, set to songs by Van Morrison, is superb. I was delighted to experience it for a second time in a few days when watching DanceX Part II. It opened the program, just as it had DanceX Part I. Inger, a Swedish choreographer, danced with…
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…
Time and tide wait for no man, they say. In the sci-fi drama Synchronic, a chemist invents a time travel drug that sends people back. It has greatest impact on those with young minds. They’re the most inclined to be high … and what a trip it sends them on. Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis…
At 91 years of age Clint Eastwood climbs back into the saddle for this elegiac and reflective contemporary western. He plays Mike Milo, a washed-up former rodeo rider with a broken back who has fallen on hard times. He is asked by his former boss Howard (country singer and occasional actor Dwight Yoakam) to travel…
Toy company Hasbro created their line of giant shape changing robots known as Transformers way back in 1984. Then came the animated television series in 1985, which then became an animated movie in 1986 and which featured the vocal talents of Leonard Nimoy, legendary actor Orson Welles, and even DJ Casey Kasem as the voices…
It is 2054 and Earth is in trouble, so droves of people are taking up the opportunity for interplanetary relocation. A man who has gotten himself into trouble and is financially destitute is Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson). Without digging too deeply, he seizes the chance to start afresh, as a new human colony is about…
A sweeping period drama, Jeanne du Barry covers the rise and fall of the eponymous mistress to a former French king. The real Jeanne du Barry was born Jeanne Bécu in 1743; the illegitimate daughter of a monk and a cook, brought up by her mother. In the film, Jeanne’s (Maïwenn) road to the king’s…
Stirring solos, captivating duets and soaring ensemble numbers are the hallmarks of a stunning world premiere concert production of an age-old story. The work, which is based around the tale of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, has been a labour of love for composer and librettist Samuel Kristy. With original orchestrations by Hamish Ander, under…
