So imagine for a minute, you’re Luca Guadagnino. Your last three features have been the cannibal road-movie Bones and All (2022), the blood-spattered remake of Suspiria (2018) and the sensitive love story Call Me By Your Name (2017). What do you do next? What’s that? Tennis? Yep, tennis! The mercurial director’s new project is Challengers,…
Ten Australian premiere productions, along with some of the best new talent, come together for the 8th Melbourne Cabaret Festival, under the artistic direction of Dolly Diamond. She also has her own show during the Festival, which opened on 20 June and runs until 2 July 2017. The Festival includes song and dance pieces, plenty of good…
In a solicitor’s rooms in Brisbane, baby-boomer siblings, Richard, Evonne and Kelly Whittaker are read their late father, Daniel’s will. Daniel has left his grieving children a substantial estate. Before they can collect their inheritance however, the three Whittakers are required to hand-deliver twelve letters to a list of apparent strangers. Each sibling has had…
Eternals is the 25th special effects extravaganza in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). But its storyline doesn’t sustain its bloated running time. That storyline, which introduces ten new superheroes, harks back to the return of half the population in Avengers: Endgame (2019). The return ignited “the emergence”. Now, the Celestials, who have secretly lived on…
Danger Close provides an insight into the horror and heroism of the Battle of Long Tan from an Australian perspective. Although overacted, this is a movie not easily forgotten. The movie is based on the true story of that battle in South Vietnam on 18 August 1966. It saw 108 young and largely inexperienced Australians…
Benjamin Stevenson’s first book featuring documentary maker Jack Quick was a revelation, particularly when considered again, in hindsight, from the viewpoint of the second novel in the series. Quoting from my own review of GREENLIGHT at the time: “There’s a something about GREENLIGHT that feels like a non-too-subtle dig at the commercialisation of true crime….
Director John Madden is a bit of an enigma. The Englishman is of course best known as the director of Shakespeare in Love. He’s also done some fine work in films like Proof (2005), The Debt (2010) and Miss Sloane (2016). But he also has Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Killshot on his resume. His new…
Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie) works hard – in a bar and at a mortuary – to keep her head above water and make something of herself. But, of course, the bills keep coming in. In 2004 it looked like the world was at her feet. That was when she won the title of Miss Juneteenth*…
In the conversation around the greatest living movie director, Steven Spielberg is very much in the mix. From his feature debut with Duel, through his trademark films like E.T. and the Indiana Jones series, to his serious works in Schindler’s List and Lincoln, few directors can match his filmography. Now he takes his audience back…
A dynamic lead, some stirring and familiar numbers and a moving story with which I wasn’t familiar make Dusty: The Musical well worth attending. Director Jason Langley was one of the actors who workshopped Dusty back in 2004. Written by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow (the team that also wrote Shout! The Legend…
