Producers continue to tap into Gen X nostalgia by adapting classic television shows from the 60s and 70s for the big screen. Often though they get it wrong, by either miscasting iconic roles or by misjudging the tone of the piece or not understanding the appeal of the original, thereby tarnishing the brand recognition –…
The original animated version of Dumbo (Disney’s fourth feature film) came out in 1941. It’s now it has been re-imagined in live action form. Circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) enlists former circus star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins), to care for a very different newborn…
It’s not altogether surprising that Good Charlotte’s song “Lifestyles of the rich and the famous” is in my head as I type this review. Harrison Young’s novel Nantucket describes a lifestyle most of us can only imagine – private jet planes, unlimited money, beautiful holiday houses on exclusive beaches … It’s a world where the stakes are…
War Dogs is a story so ridiculous it couldn’t possibly be real – but it is. From director Todd Phillips (The Hangover trilogy), this is a comedic drama based upon true events (notwithstanding the fact that they use composite characters and undoubtedly embellish). It stars Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Miles Teller…
Intelligent couple Stevie (Claudia Karvan) and Martin Gray (Nathan Page) have been happily married for 22 years. They have a 17-year-old gay son, Billy (Yazeed Daher) and all live a good life. Martin, who has just turned 50, has had, arguably, the finest week of his professional life. He has just been awarded the premiere prize for architecture,…
Desire, loss and madness are in the spotlight in the Australian premiere of Right Now. This comedic drama asks the question: what’s real and what is imagined? Quebecois playwright Catherine-Anne Toupin wrote the play, and Chris Campbell translated it from the French. Alice (Christina O’Neill) is a beautiful young woman. She’s been married for three…
– The Divergent Series: Insurgent – DVD, Blu-ray & on-demand from 12 August 2015 We have 3 prize packs* thanks to eOne Films. *(Valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago….
The contemporary heist Western Hell or High Water comes from British director David MacKenzie (the violent prison film Starred Up), who gives us a rather bleak picture of an economically depressed dustbowl area in rural Texas, where family farms are falling into disuse and disrepair and the roads are lined with signs offering debt relief….
Morality and money are at the heart of the acerbic Telethon Kid. Inspired by his own medical experiences, Melbourne-based writer Alistair Baldwin’s play has two interconnecting threads. One concerns overstepping the mark in a doctor/patient relationship and the other Big Pharma’s bluff and bluster. We’re at the annual global healthcare conference held by fictious pharmaceutical company Geneuris. Each year,…
It is the summer of 1967. Young Australians are being drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. Back home, life continues. Tom (Patrick Leong) and Meg (Grace Jackson) are in a high school production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tom takes a fancy to Meg and engages her in awkward conversation. When their respective…
