Based on an epic book series by Stephen King, The Dark Tower lacks the gravitas I would have expected. The last gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the man in black (Matthew McConaughey). Deschain is determined to prevent O’Dim from toppling the Dark…
It was bound to end badly, but what a rollicking ride. Tom Cruise (Top Gun) reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman, in the international escapade American Made. The film is based on the outrageous (and real) exploits of a hustler and pilot unexpectedly recruited by the CIA to run one of the biggest covert operations…
Trent Rezner had been hinting at a return of Nine Inch Nails, and just prior to last Christmas released the EP Not the Actual Events. That 5-song collection felt to many like a return to the some what more organic, hard rock sound of the band’s late 80’s introduction, aided by Dave Grohl playing drums…
What is a life worth and what is its impact on others? That is at the heart of the Australian premiere of Di and Viv and Rose by British writer (and actor) Amelia Bullmore. It is a reflection of friendship and how ties that bind can be oh so strong. Rose (Mandy McElhinney) is a…
If you’re after a slice of French sophistication coupled with sizzle, I have just the ticket for you. Crazy Horse Paris, which began in the City of Light in 1951, has come to town with the best acts from its legendary cabaret – eight before interval and six after – in a show called Forever Crazy. The…
Kindertransport is an English play written in 1993, by Diane Samuels. Samuels has written: In early November 1938 an intensive series of ‘pogrom’ attacks on Jewish property and arrests of people were launched in Nazi Germany. This became known as ‘Kristallnacht’, The Night of Broken Glass, and has subsequently been called “pogromnacht’ or Novemberpogrome’. In…
From little things, big things (re)grow. After a three-year hiatus, the Brisbane International Film Festival is back. And while this new BIFF is very much a slimmed down version of what it once was, the very fact of its return is a cause for celebration. Where once BIFF screened close to 200 films, the “new” festival…
There was no heavy drama in La Fille mal Gardee; just two hours of fun, gorgeous pastel-shaded 1950s costumes designed by Lexi de Silva, and some really different dance. Add on three separate sets, each a fabulous creation from Richard Roberts and a lively, happy score and you had a ballet that saw the audience…
Gritty and unrelenting, Wind River marks the directorial debut of Taylor Sheridan. He’s the screenwriter behind Sicario and Hell or High Water; and here he weaves a tense thriller. Wind River is Sheridan’s conclusion to a thematic trilogy (with those earlier films) exploring the modern American frontier. The film explores what Sheridan calls “perhaps the most tangible remnant…
The Melbourne International Film Festival screens until August 20. Here are a few highlights from the first week of the festival. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Call Me By Your Name is a sensitive coming of age story set in a sun-drenched rural part of Italy in the 1980s and it deals with themes of…
