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….
A love story against a backdrop of civil war, Skies of Lebanon has a decided artistic and poetic bent. It is the 1950s and despite not speaking a word of Arabic, Alice (Alba Rohrwacher) leaves her straitlaced existence in Switzerland for a nannying job in Beirut. In a café she meets and falls for a…
A dynamic score characterises a coming-of-age story. This is a rock musical about a young African American’s journey from Los Angeles to Europe. The starting point is 1976 and the youngster decides church isn’t for him. Rather, he has opted for Zen Buddhism. His mother won’t have any of it and hauls him off to hear the…
Colourful characters, a great soundtrack and elements of The Voice are my immediate reflections when considering Sing, the latest animation from the studio that brought us Despicable Me, The Lorax and Minions. It is the first collaboration between writer/director Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and the founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment,…
If you are into slapstick humour, you are going to have a ball. This riotous theatrical disaster is stumbling its way around Australia and has just opened in Melbourne. The premise is straight forward enough, but its execution something else entirely. The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is attempting to stage a 1920s Agatha Christie-style murder…
Not since the ground-breaking show Empire in 2013 have I been so totally engrossed in the daring do and dexterity of performers at the very top of their game in an intimate environment. That is what you get when you enter the beautiful, 120-seat, 97-year-old Spiegeltent, uncovered in Belgium, that has now taken pride of…
Jennifer Garner returns to the big screen in Peppermint. This by-the-numbers crime actioner features a vigilante seeking revenge. I counted one surprise in the entire film. The criminal justice system fails Riley North (Garner). She and husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) have a 10-year-old daughter, Carly (Cailey Fleming). While they may be struggling to make ends…
First up, an admission. My job in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre on 28th April, 1996, in which 35 people were murdered and 20 wounded, was to try to come up with strategies to restore tourism to the area. I had visited the UNESCO world heritage listed site – Australia’s largest and most…
After seasons in Sydney and Brisbane, The Bodyguard: The Musical has taken up residence at Melbourne’s regal Regent Theatre. It’s based on the hit 1992 film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. The stage production debuted in London’s West End on 5 December 2012. The story concerns a former secret service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer (Kip…
I had an absolutely fabulous time watching this musical. It’s one of the best I’ve seen and while School of Rock was performed in a theatre, you could be forgiven for thinking you were at an AC/DC rock concert. It was full on rock ‘n roll: loud, energetic and loads of fun. Zack (Zane Blumeris)…
