West Side Story has a chequered history. The musical by Jerome Robbins (first staged in 1957) met with wide acclaim, as did the 1961 film version directed by Robbins and Robert Wise. But it hasn’t aged well. The depiction of the Puerto Rican characters was always fraught; but the original film’s largely white-washed casting (Rita…
After a grand, unexpected and memorable opening to the play, Genevieve Morris introduces herself as writer Cory Taylor. In 2005, just before she turned 50, she was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and, with that, she was given a death sentence. The way she was told was cold and clinical, a doctor using medical terminology…
It was 9th October 2012 when Prime Minister Julia Gillard drew a line in the sand … when she refused to stay silent any longer. To that point she had effectively put up with personal attacks and insults from her political adversaries and the media. Those related to her spartan home environment, her looks, her choice of…
With major flooding in Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland fresh in the minds of Australians, Dinuka McKenzie’s debut The Torrent, another entry in the ever growing Australian rural crime genre, hits with renewed relevance. The cold open is the discovery of a body, washed away by the flooding and caught in a stormwater…
Few directors have as formidable a reputation as Paul Thomas Anderson. Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread – his films deal in big themes in majestic ways. So his latest, Licorice Pizza, might seem a change of pace for him. After all, this could be seen as a rom-com – complete with…
A cheeky gangster flick with attitude, Pixie is a bloody delight … and I do mean that literally. As the body count mounts, the star of the show, Pixie O’Brien (Olivia Cooke), bats her eyelids and schemes away. Pixie is the adopted daughter of a gangster who fell out with a bunch of gun-toting priests,…
The legendary, wholesome Dolly Parton with a mischievous streak is on show in the part musical, part play, part concert Here You Come Again. It is the conceit of the creator and star of the piece, Tricia Paoluccio, who has a magnificent, rich, rounded, Dolly Partonesque voice. Her vocalisation is superb throughout this fun-filled production….
Over the years I’ve read a few Lynda La Plante novels featuring DCI Jane Tennison. Actor Helen Mirren, who portrayed Tennison in the award-winning ITV television drama series Prime Suspect, described Tennison as “extremely directed, ambitious, talented and very uncompromising”. Fans of the series, both book and television, will know that although Tennison is an extremely skilled detective,…
– The Nightingale – Only in cinemas from 29 August 2019 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to Transmission Films. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Set in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act…
– Red Dog True Blue – Only in cinemas from 26 December 2016 We have 20 double in-season passes thanks to Village Roadshow. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Following on from the global success of Red Dog, the prequel RED DOG: TRUE BLUE tells the heart-warming story of eleven year old…
