Jaws (1975) meets Dead Calm (1989) on steroids in the new Australian psychological horror Dangerous Animals. Jai Courtney is positively chilling as Gold Coast charter boat operator Bruce Tucker. He specialises in taking tourists out to sea and dropping them into the ocean in a shark proof cage to watch the Apex predators up close…
Jimi Bani is a ‘remote area boy’ from Torres Strait (not PNG or Fiji). His home, Mabuiag Island, has a rich history and culture. Jimi and his family are trying to keep that alive amidst the cultural chaos of the changing modern world. And My Name is Jimi really is family affair. Jimi performs alongside…
A great sense of fun and a rich array of talent are on show as Muriel’s Wedding The Musical hits town. Toni Collette endeared the socially awkward Muriel Heslop to Australia in PJ Hogan’s 1994 film, Muriel’s Wedding. Collette may have left big shoes to fill, but 23-year-old Natalie Abbott has stepped into them with…
Mesmerising graphics and non-stop, often helter-skelter, action mark the thrilling new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which has no shortage of dark edges. The animated adventure takes off after the events of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). It centres around 15-year-old Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore). Miles’ parents – police officer Jefferson Davis (Brian…
Bringing a story to life with poise, polish, precision and pizzazz is a fine art that few can master to the extent that they figuratively hold a room in the palm of one’s hand. But such is the craftsmanship of writer and performer Ralph McCubbin Howell, who has more than the odd trick up his…
Nicolas Cage movies broadly fall into three categories – the good, the bad and the bizarre. His latest film, Color Out of Space – a hybrid of sci-fi, alien invasion and horror, based on a 1927 short story written by H P Lovecraft (who is considered the father of the modern horror story) – falls…
A spoof on mercenary Hollywood producers, The Comeback Trail delighted me. It features three of the biggest stars in the business. It’s Hollywood, 1974. Max Barber (Robert De Niro) is a producer whose lack of success in churning out D-grade dirges precedes him. Barber works in partnership with his nephew, Walter Creason (Zach Braff), although…
Sound quality was the only sour note in an at times uproariously funny opening night for First Date The Musical, a comedic musical about a hook up between a serial dater and a nerd. With a book by Austin Winsberg and music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, the show – inspired by…
The artistic links between France and Japan run (perhaps surprisingly) deep. The French Impressionists were obsessed with Japanese woodblock prints, for example. In the 1950s, while French filmmakers and audiences embraced Japanese cinema, with Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1950) and Kinugasa Teinosuke’s Gate of Hell (1954) featured at the Cannes Film Festival; while Alain Resnais’ seminal…
Coming-of-age stories about the unconventional but uplifting friendship between children and animals have been a staple of cinema for years. Henry Safran’s 1976 film of Storm Boy was a heartfelt classic from the period of the re-emergence of the Australian film industry and it touched a generation of filmgoers. Adapted from Colin Thiele’s beloved 1964…
