It is always exciting to see something new from Joanna Murray-Smith and Switzerland did not disappoint. It is a tight 80-minute two-hander based on the character of American crime writer Patricia Highfield – creator of the cool killer Tom Ripley and author of Strangers on a Train, the novel that Alfred Hitchcock made into a…
From Taxi Driver and Goodfellas to The Age of Innocence and The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s intense and exhilarating films define him as one of the most influential directors of our time. Now the first exhibition celebrating the indelible cinematic legacy of the prolific and passionate auteur has opened at Melbourne’s ACMI (Australian…
Kim Lock’s first novel, Peace, Love and Khaki Socks, is an intelligent and worthwhile novel about birth choices. Her second, Like I Can Love, highlights how talented and versatile this author is. Here’s the blurb: On a hot January afternoon, Fairlie Winter receives a phone call. Her best friend has just taken her own life. Jenna Rudolph,…
Talk about a breath of fresh air. Every now and again a film comes along that you have heard nothing about and it restores your faith in originality. Such is the case with Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a decidedly quirky coming-of-age tale. In and out of foster care his whole life, rebellious, chubby 13-year-old Ricky…
The Mad Hatter (formally known as Hatter Tarrant Hightopp) is in trouble and Alice rescues him. So goes Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to the richly successful Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands) creation Alice in Wonderland, which was released in 2010. Now the cast, including Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas and Helena…
Funny, irreverent, with more than a touch of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang about it, The Nice Guys is an action-crime comedy that has the same director and writer – Shane Black – at the helm and stars Russell Crowe (Gladiator) and Ryan Gosling (The Big Short). Black also wrote Lethal Weapon and Iron Man 3,…
The Woman is dying and, as the ghostly Ferryman rows his boat across the Styx, her life flashes before her eyes. In moments frozen in time the most important events of her life unfold on stage with exquisite movement and magical award winning chamber music This is a perfect blending of music and movement and…
A feel good chicks’ flick that gravitated from irritating the bejesus out of me to seeing me shed a tear, The Meddler stars Susan Sarandon as a well-to-do widow with a lot of time of her hands. Her character is Marnie, a woman whose Italian-American husband passed away almost two years ago and left a…
“I’m so sick of – fill in the blank” is the first line you hear out of founder and singer/songwriter Will Toledo’s creative brain from the excellent new long player, Teens of Denial, from his Car Seat Headrest vehicle. It’s sonic boom and attack represents the first real song Car Seat Headrest has released with…
Countless film enthusiasts were waiting impatiently for the new Star Wars movie last year. Believe it or not, I wasn’t really. On the contrary, I was waiting for the new film by Quentin Tarantino. Sorry Tarantino haters, but Yankee Doodle Dandee, this was again a brilliant film by the most rebellious, anarchic director Hollywood ever…
