“Before Arthur the King, the Sword of Power chose a Queen.” If Cursed piqued your interest as you have a thing for the Arthurian legends, then hail young fellow or lass, well met, dive right in. Park your cynicism at the door and enjoy the lush scenery. Touched by darkness and shunned by her people,…
The publicity blurb for Kyle Perry’s thriller debut The Bluffs describes it as a cross between Picnic at Hanging Rock and Mean Girls. The hook is four teenage girls missing in the inhospitable landscape of Tasmania’s Great Western Tiers and the aftermath of their disappearance, coupled with a bit of horror-inspired local folklore. Whatever Perry’s…
A largely predictable romantic drama, Love Sarah centres around three generations of women who go into business together in a culturally diverse area of London’s Notting Hill. The Sarah of the title (Candice Brown) and Isabella (Shelley Conn) are best friends who were about to open a sweet-focused bakery together, but then tragedy struck. Sarah,…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 24 July 2020. New Zealand-born, Melbourne-bred and now Los Angeles-based Jess Cornelius has released her debut album, Distance. A lot has changed since Jess Cornelius began writing the songs that would comprise Distance. For starters, she moved halfway around…
The Irish drama-thriller Calm with Horses features a brutal but poignant script, skilful feature directorial debut and a bravura lead acting performance. Douglas “Arm” Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis) is a former boxer who fell in with a ruthless family. The family’s two no-nonsense brothers, Paudi (Ned Dennehy) and Hector Devers (David Wilmot), rule with an iron…
Some names need no introduction. And when it comes to the world of fashion, Pierre Cardin is one of those. But what’s behind the name motivates filmmakers P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes in their documentary The House of Cardin. This reverential doco sources both archival footage and contemporary interviews, including with Cardin himself (he…
Somehow, even when Rufus Wainwright was getting a lot of buzz for the sophisticated sound on his self-titled debut (’98) and his sophomore outing, Poses, he felt like an old soul, someone who’s idea of pop music came from Cole Porter’s prestigious catalog in the 1930’s, and prone to quoting lines from the plays of…
The opening scenes of 7500 are silent, showing airport security footage of a group of people about to board a commercial night flight from Berlin to Paris. Take note of who you are seeing. American pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is tasked to transport eighty souls on what is a regular shuttle, the one hour…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 17 July 2020. FIKA is the latest recording from crossover ensemble Elysian Fields. In the weeks prior to the Covid-19 lockdown Elysian Fields, Australia’s only electric viola da gamba ensemble, was deep in rehearsal. Comprising stars of Australia’s jazz,…
A man haunted by his past is forced to face his demons in the slow-moving horror film, The Vigil. Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) is a shadow of a man in the aftermath of a tragedy that befell his younger brother. He was present; but he didn’t intervene and before he knew it, it was too…
