Eighteen dynamos of dance and drums dazzle and delight at Arts Centre Melbourne. They are truly mesmerising in an energetic display of artistic brilliance. Let me set the scene. The curtain goes up to reveal two tiers. At ground level are nine dancers seated, ostensibly dressed in white with black highlights and taupe-coloured socks. Behind them, on a higher plane,…
Exiting the cinema having watched Super Troopers 2, I was stuck with a dilemma. How to describe a movie that’s so woefully bad, it should never have been made? Honestly, I can’t recall having seen the original from 2001. Perhaps if I had, I may have known to stay away from any sequel, no matter…
A mildly interesting, D-grade creature feature, Black Water: Abyss concerns a marauding crocodile in an Australian cave system. Five people set out on an adventure to explore the caves, which aren’t on any tourist map. Outside, a tropical storm is closing in. Once the group have rappelled into the depths, they’re caught in a torrent….
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 27 October 2023. Because Hold, Jack Tatum’s fifth album under the moniker Wild Nothing, was written in the aftermath of new parenthood during the pandemic, it was probably inevitable that it would be searching and existential music. But during…
Barbarian is a genuinely creepy horror movie with bite. It opens with the power of suggestion, but morphs into something far more sinister. Tess (Georgina Campbell) has driven herself to a very shady part of Detroit, where she intends to stay for the night ahead of a job interview. But with rain falling, when she…
Two Snow Whites in a week, both dark, sexy and totally entertaining, one a contemporary dance piece from Ballet Preljocaj and one from La Boite that combined opera, theatre, dance and even burlesque and audience participation. It was an odd combination but it worked splendidly and with technical brilliance to link the story it produced…
This Oscar-nominated Swedish comedy about a socially awkward grumpy old man rediscovering his humanity and the sense of community is essentially Gran Torino with subtitles. A Man Called Ove is a life-affirming tale. At first I thought it was going to be a Scandinavian variation of the perennial Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, but…
This simple, low budget New Zealand and Australian co-production is a two-handed romantic drama that is reminiscent of the Before trilogy from Richard Linklater. It basically follows a couple as they wander through the streets of Christchurch while they try to work out where their relationship stands. Charlie (Dustin Clare, from TV series Spartacus) left…
Bob Mould makes a determined effort on his 14th solo studio album to turn from the darkness toward the light of Sunshine Rock. It’s a burst of positivity that he spells out with unusual lyrical clarity in the campy folk song “Camp Sunshine, where he sings “The days I get to spend making music with…
Jason Cavanaugh is a man on a mission in his latest incarnation, Man of the Year – delivering grand and memorable speeches from noteworthy figures and connecting these to mankind’s propensity to commit violent acts. As he is doing so, passionate, wide-eyed and eloquent, he is constantly interrupted by a calm voice of reason (Sharon…
