Krampus was a movie I was really looking forward to. Partly because I picked up a radio report about a ban in some Austrian villages to use this folklore figure (I had never heard of it by the way) and his assistants. And partly because I was curious how a horror Christmas movie would look…
I’m a sucker for twisty thrillers, and You Sent Me a Letter by Lucy Dawson proved to be exactly that. Here’s the blurb: At 2 a.m. on the morning of her fortieth birthday, Sophie wakes in the darkness of her bedroom – and finds a stranger watching her from the foot of her bed. The intruder…
An audience giddy with anticipation clapped and cheered through opening night of the revival of the cult musical comedy, as well they might for the cast was in fine voice. When meek, down-and-out florist shop worker Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new plant species that he names ‘Audrey II’ after his co-worker crush, it seems…
Disgraced is the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning play by Ayad Akhtar. This is the typical well made American play that I talked about in my entry about The Whale. A small cast of five in a single setting with a subtly disguised exposition that introduces the protagonists with their differences and backgrounds. Emily (Sophie Ross),…
Like the original that was released in 2014, the storyline of Bad Neighbours 2 is thin but the crude language and sight gags are plentiful, with the centerpiece again being Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, along with Zac Efron. Direction is once more from Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). The tone is set from the…
The three lead actors in Florence Foster Jenkins are picture perfect in their respective roles making this a far superior offering to the recently released Marguerite, which covered the same territory. This is an endearing and decidedly quirky comedy and period piece from acclaimed director Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen) starring Meryl Streep as Florence…
Finally I was able to admire this highly anticipated feature film. Although, I wasn’t waiting impatiently for this new episode, like so many millions of other Star Wars fans. I always have to think hard while trying to situate this Star Wars movie in the whole saga. All that prequel, sequel or semi-sequel mumbo jumbo…
It can be a humorous undertaking, if also frustrating as hell, to watch the music industry flail around in its search for the Next Big Thing only to play a seemingly endless game of “follow the leader” every time something fresh and unique breaks through the public consciousness. Once the British Mumford & Sons began…
A fictitious thriller concerning the aftermath of the Holocaust, Remember is a film unlike any I have seen before on the subject.It is an intimate story, set in the present day, but triggered by events 70 years ago. Over the past decade or so there has been an increasing awareness that, although now aged and…
I’ve been a fan of Camilla Lackberg’s psychological thrillers for a few years now, and I enjoy the characters she’s created in Detective Patrick Hedstrom and writer Erica Falck, as well as other recurring characters. You can read this as a standalone novel, but it’s always helpful if you’ve read the earlier ones so you better understand the…
