Brian Kirk’s 21 Bridges is a predictable procedural broken into two parts – one involving a big haul of drugs and cop killers, and the other corrupt police. The script by Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan (World War Z) is nothing we haven’t seen many times before. The only interest is how it reaches…
Froth and bubble, Legally Blonde: The Musical remains a fun-filled romp and genuine crowd pleaser … more than a decade after it opened on Broadway and was nominated for seven Tony Awards. A spirited 20-strong cast and 14 talented musos bring to life the story of a vacuous blonde who comes into her own once…
Judy and Punch is a real mixed bag. This Australian production from actor-turned-director Mirrah Foulkes is something of a breakthrough for the local industry. It proves Australian cinema can be more than just sunshine, beaches and gritty dramas. But its wildly uneven tone and confronting themes will test audiences’ patience. Domestic violence presents a huge…
State-sanctioned lies underpin the political thriller Official Secrets. The lies cost as many as a million lives. The US and the UK were looking to justify starting a war in Iraq; with or without the backing of the UN (which wasn’t forthcoming). They do so on the pretense that the Iraqis have weapons of mass…
In Louis Nowra’s Cosi, Lewis (Sean Keenan) takes on a job directing some patients of a local mental hospital in a “therapy” production of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutti. This is not Lewis’ choice but one foisted on him by the thespian leader of the hospital patients, Roy (Robert Menzies), and his enthusiasm will not be…
Some of the most intoxicating circus acts I have had the good fortune to see are among the highlights of Santa’s Magical Kingdom, which has reappeared in Melbourne in the lead up to the festive season for an eighth time. The word “wow” doesn’t do them justice – they are that good. The experience is…
Twins Tegan and Sara Quin quite naturally tend to do a lot of things together. For instance, earlier this year they co-authored a memoir charting their teenage years, describing their early musical careers and how each of them came to terms with being gay, added to all the usual teen angst and woe, appropriately titled,…
Dream$ong may not be Hillsong, but this sure feels like a parody of that church, founded in Sydney’s western suburbs in 1983. Everything is exaggerated for the sake of comic appeal … and it works. The pastor, Richard Sunday (Nelson Gardner), is a slime ball who saw his first wife off in a catastrophic sky…
Creativity abounds in The Drill, which is unlike anything I have seen – a combination of circus arts and interactive experiences. We’re in the midst of WWI and campaigners for peace are adamant they want politicians to listen to their pleas. A rally is planned and a petition for an end to the war is…
Calling into a streetside deli on the way home from his hospital shift, Doctor Harrison Brennan becomes an innocent victim in yet another convenience store hold up. Shot by responding Chicago police as he attempts to help the cashier with his injuries, Brennan leaves behind a husband and an adopted seventeen year old daughter. The…
