How very exciting for The Australian Ballet to be presenting the world premiere of a new full-length ballet … and it is spectacular. Oscar is based on the life and writings of acclaimed Irish poet, playwright and satirist Oscar Wilde (16thOctober, 1854 – 30th November, 1990). The work of Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (known…
The shake&stir team has created magic yet again. I have been reviewing the company for the past ten years and amazingly each of their show seemed better than the previous one. A Christmas Carol was no exception. And what exactly is the magic they make? For me it’s the creation of a perfect atmosphere for…
This is the third feature length documentary from Oscar winning director Asif Kapadia, who previously gave us the superb, well-researched and insightful documentaries Amy (2015), about the late singer Amy Winehouse, and Senna (2010), about the late Formula 1 race driver Ayrton Senna, which were two of the finest documentaries of the past decade. For…
Recorded by the Patea Maori Choir in 1984, Poi E was an infectious song that became a cultural phenomenon and a cultural touchstone for the Maori people. It was the first song in the traditional Maori language to top the charts in New Zealand. It topped the charts for four consecutive weeks and even outsold…
Adrenalin pumping action and a big-name cast feature in Fast X. The film is the tenth in the Fast and Furious franchise, which began in 2001. The pretence for Fast X goes back to 2011’s Fast Five. You might recall from the earlier movie that Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew took out nefarious…
Some books grab you and don’t let go. Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry is one of them. Here’s the blurb: When Nora takes the train from London to visit her sister in the countryside, she expects to find her waiting at the station, or at home cooking dinner. But when she walks into Rachel’s…
Two 90-year-olds – both Holocaust survivors (one now dead and other not) – go at it … and at it. No, it’s not the set-up to a joke, it’s the premise of OMG – Oy Mama Gevalt. This new play from Jack Felman concerns a Jewish couple, Mania and Velvel Pszeszekowski. Having brought up four children,…
So far over the top, but fun, Flight Risk is a guilty pleasure. It is all about carrying a government witness across hostile terrain to testify against a mob boss when everything that could possibly go wrong does. Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) is a Deputy U.S. Marshal. She is tasked with escorting crooked, scared, chatterbox…
How can you stand up to a bully? That’s the question at the centre of the crime drama Dogman. Timid dog groomer Marcello is separated from the mother of his young daughter, whom he adores … and vice versa. He lives in a barren, downtrodden Italian neighbourhood and gets on well with everyone. To make…
When The Decemberists’ first single for I’ll Be Your Girl, “Severed” showed up on the appropriate alternative-friendly satellite radio stations a few weeks ago, I bet I wasn’t the only fan to begin worrying that the more modern Brit pop leanings of 2015’s What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World had led the Portland-based…
