First up, a question: when should a horror movie be allowed to run for 2¼ hours? The short answer: never! The best thing about The Conjuring 2 is the realistic sets and settings replicating Britain in the late ‘70s. The furniture, the houses, the clothes – what a hoot! The storyline however seemed to me…
As big, loud and flamboyant as its subject, Rocketman presents Elton John as a not-so-stable genius. If you want loads of Elton’s songs, extravagant costumes and a long spiral into depression, this is the movie for you. If you’re looking for a different take on the rockstar biopic though, you might have to look somewhere…
Survival is at stake when three young men find themselves lost in the middle of the ocean with no food and very little water and no way back to dry land. When they set off in Isaac’s 81-year-old grandfather’s small fishing boat, his grandad was with them, but now he is nowhere to be seen….
A great sense of fun and a rich array of talent are on show as Muriel’s Wedding The Musical hits town. Toni Collette endeared the socially awkward Muriel Heslop to Australia in PJ Hogan’s 1994 film, Muriel’s Wedding. Collette may have left big shoes to fill, but 23-year-old Natalie Abbott has stepped into them with…
Three hilarious visual gags are among the highlights in Blockers. This hit-and-miss comedy is likely to spawn a cult following like The Hangover or Bridesmaids. For decades – starting with Porky’s and extending to the likes of Superbad and American Pie – we’ve watched on-screen versions of guys boldly and bawdily celebrating the first time…
He calls Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre his second home and why wouldn’t he because audiences love him here every time he tours. Put simply, David Strassman is in a stratosphere all his own when it comes to ventriloquism. In his hands and with his vocalisation, his puppets come to life. They are naïve, antagonistic, impudent and oh so…
A brilliant, if complex, script and a series of magnificent voices are the hallmarks of this wickedly funny celebration of 1940s film noir and dark detective fiction, which is two musicals in one. City of Angels focuses upon an ambitious Hollywood screenwriter, Stine (Anton Berezin), who struggles with a demanding studio boss (Troy Sussman) as…
Greed and lust are at the heart of Nobel Prize winning playwright Eugene O’Neill’s primordial tragedy, Desire Under the Elms; which takes plot elements and themes from Greek tragedy and adapts them to a rural New England setting in 1850. In his mid 70s, Ephraim Cabot (Darren Mort) returns to his remote farm with his third…
Countless film enthusiasts were waiting impatiently for the new Star Wars movie last year. Believe it or not, I wasn’t really. On the contrary, I was waiting for the new film by Quentin Tarantino. Sorry Tarantino haters, but Yankee Doodle Dandee, this was again a brilliant film by the most rebellious, anarchic director Hollywood ever…
It looks a bit like Die Hard in a hospital wing. Only the adamant John McClane has been replaced by the brave waitress Madison Taylor (Nicky Whelan) who has to save her own skin (and admittedly, that skin belongs to a beautiful, well-shaped body) while two mean-looking fellows are chasing her. And yes, the action…
