A couple of powerhouse performances are at the heart of this drama about a pair of gamblers, one of whom lays it all on the line. Mississippi Grind was inspired by films from the ‘70s such as Five Easy Pieces, Scarecrow, The Last Detail, California Split and Midnight Cowboy. The movie is about flawed characters…
If you can imagine James Bond, mixed with Harry Potter and topped with Edge of Tomorrow, you might have some idea what Christopher Nolan’s new epic Tenet is all about. In terms of scope and ambition, this is one of Nolan’s grandest films. But the big ideas get lost in an overly complicated script and…
A film for selective tastes, this is a slow moving Chinese love story concerning joy and sadness, separation and reunion. Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) and Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner. Released during the last days…
Get excited. Mighty excited. For all the hype surrounding the arrival of Hamilton, the musical in Sydney is justified. It is an incredible, spine tingling history lesson, packaged as entertainment par excellence, much of it delivered as readily digestible hip-hop, together with classic Broadway song writing. The entire story unfolds through the lyrics and it is crystal…
In the foyer, one is posed a question to consider before entering the Antigone theatre: “How do the unwritten laws of personal conscience survive when set against the laws of a society and a nation?” Something to ponder in 2016. Sophocles’ play Antigone, was written c. 441 BC in Athens. In it the sons of…
Whether or not you are a Harry Potter fan, it would be hard to be unimpressed or unamused by this delightfully ditzy offering. In short, Potted Potter condenses all seven Harry Potter books and a game of Quidditch into 70 hilarious minutes. Taking us on the wild ride are the talented and engaging Scott Hoatson and Brendan…
A pianist from an ice cream parlour (Connor Dariol), a psychologist (Shamita Siva) and a physicist (El Kiley) get together. No, that’s not the beginning of a bad joke, not even when I tell you the three come from different time zones. The pianist was born 148 years ago … and is, not surprisingly, dead. The psychologist believes…
There have been at least three great music documentaries this year – Amy Berg’s insightful and comprehensive Janis Joplin: Little Blue Girl; Ron Howard’s The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, which was a comprehensive look at the band during the height of their early fame in the mid 60s; and Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s look…
The Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movie franchise has grossed more than $6 billion globally. Let’s face it, dinosaurs are big business and long before their film adaptation they held not just scientific, but public fascination. Now, in time for the school holidays, family friendly Jurassic Creatures has come to Cheltenham (opposite Southland Shopping Centre). We’re talking about more…
The Australian Ballet’s glorious retelling of the classic Shakespeare tragedy Romeo and Juliet is colourful, powerful and passionate. This is a step back in time to wealthy, medieval Verona, where rivalries explode and danger lurks. The innocence of first love is shattered through the antipathy of the Montagues and the Capulets. The interpretation we witness…
