Using harsh reality and pop culture as its backbone, Vox Lux is a hard-hitting drama about the price of fame. The film takes place between 1999 and 2017. After tragedy strikes at a US high school, Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) sings at a subsequent memorial service, which touches the hearts of mourners and Americans in general….
Bold and provocative, Thomas Ian Doyle’s latest work – The Upstairs Trilogy Part 1: The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name – tackles a futuristic Australian government that has found a way to “correct” same sex relationships. Homosexuality is outlawed and a simple, painless two-dose injection – with minimal side effects, if any – subjugates…
Musical theatre magic is captured by the MSO, conducted by Jessica Gethin, with two of the finest exponents of their craft, who have made it big in the West End. I speak of the vocal clarity, dexterity and brilliance of soprano Amy Manford and tenor Josh Piterman, who have starred in The Phantom of the…
Guy Ritchie (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) puts his own take – a gritty, modern edge – to the classic Excalibur myth and the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Arthur is not yet king, instead a ruffian, a thoroughly reluctant hero compelled to discover…
Five lost souls in their early 30s try to get more out of life than what they have in John Patrick Shanley’s Savage in Limbo. Set in a bar in the Bronx in the 1980s, the barman has a strict rule – if you don’t have a drink in front of you, then you’re out. April White…
A calm movie from time to time is something I welcome. Not a flashy, action film where you’ll get nervous because the scenes follow each other at a rapid pace and stroboscopic effects get you a cutting headache. Submergence undoubtedly belongs to the calm movie category. So, no nauseating headache. No disorientation. You’ll certainly not…
A beautiful woman engages an older man in conversation … Sounds like the start of a joke, but it’s actually the beginning of the MTC’s production of Heisenberg. This story involves a couple of lonely people. One has been alone … seemingly forever; while the other has a deep-seated need for connection. The woman, Georgie…
Creator Julian Fellowes seems determined to squeeze every last drop out of the Downton Abbey saga. The popular television series set in the impressive titular stately rural mansion home of the wealthy Crawley clan finished its run in 2015, but Fellowes revived it with a stand-alone film (also titled Downton Abbey) in 2019 that brought…
Those with long memories might recall the consternation back in the early 2000s when storied horror director Sam Raimi – of Evil Dead fame – was tapped to direct Marvel’s Spider-Man (2002). Of course, it all turned out fine. After three Spider-Man movies, Raimi returned in a more limited way to his horror roots. Now…
Rosie Andrews pulls a slight bait-and-switch in her debut novel The Leviathan. Set in the 17th Century, the first half of The Leviathan concerns itself with a possible witch trial before pivoting into something even darker. The short prologue ends with the ominous words: “She is awake.” But it will be a while before those…
