All the Money in the World is prolific filmmaker Ridley Scott’s dramatization of the real life kidnapping of J Paul Getty III. He was the 16-year-old grandson of oil magnate J Paul Getty, the richest man in the world (Christopher Plummer). In 1973, the teenage Getty (Charlie Plummer, no relation to Christopher) was living in…
The Alan Ayckbourn play Taking Steps, written in 1979, is the 24th opus from his ‘genius’. He’s now completed some 79 plays, the last one – so far – called Roundelay, in 2014. Taking Steps is part of a faithful commitment by The Ensemble Theatre to his work and underlines the entertainment value that he inevitably…
Most of the time you don’t know when something will be your last time. When I took my son to see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers last May, I didn’t know we’d never get another chance to see that band. There have been rare exceptions – like Warren Zevon, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen. They all…
Here we go again… More than ten years later and Mamma Mia! the Musical is still delighting fans. Despite the fact that many audiences members were born well after ABBA’s heyday, the pop anthems interwoven with a sweet story of love and family still generate smiles, whoops and applause after every performance. If you’re not…
Irish playwright turned filmmaker Martin McDonagh has a great track record. His films including the black comedies In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. And now he gives us what is close to his best film yet, with the evocatively titled Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. This acerbic and blackly funny drama tackles revenge, justice, family and the secrets…
Now graduated from college, the Bellas are out in the real world in Pitch Perfect 3. They soon find it takes more than a cappella to get by. This is the final in the lightweight Pitch Perfect series that has already taken more than half a billion dollars at the global box office. After the highs of…
All things considered, 2017 was a pretty good year for movies. Not for Hollywood itself mind you. The scandals that plagued Tinseltown have been well covered elsewhere, so we’re not going to get into them here. But the consensus seems to be that the quality of movies this year was a cut above. By the…
Do you have a list of books you were hoping to have read this year? Are you despairing that you’ll never get to cross those titles off? I hear you. The Best Australian Stories 2017 may help to fill your literary cup. Maxine Beneba Clarke edited this collection of Australian short stories. Herself an award-winning…
It’s a small world after all in Downsizing. In the not-too-distant future, Norwegian scientist Dr Jorgen Asbjonsen (Rolf Lassgard) comes up with a radical solution for over-population. He and his colleagues have figured out a safe way to shrink people down to 12 centimetres, thus reducing their footprint on the world. Paul Safranek (Matt Damon),…
This clever, thoroughly entertaining French comedy is the latest from co-writer and director Carine Tardieu (The Dandelions). The breakout hit of the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival, Just to be Sure premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight and received multiple standing ovations. The charming rom-com is a tale of parenthood, love and family – both lost and found….
