For better or worse, there’s only one Woody Allen. The master of that dry, self-deprecating New York wit is back with Café Society, a film that strikes me as possibly one of his most personal — as it serves as a kind of love letter to two things Allen clearly cares deeply about – old movies…
The top 5 Honourable Mentions Robert Goodman For more of Robert’s reviews, visit his blog Pile By the Bed
The bawdy meets the bizarre in the Australian premiere of the tragicomic musical The Grinning Man, which is based on the 1869 Victor Hugo novel The Man Who Laughs. He is, of course, best known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. With music by Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler, lyrics by that pair, Carl Grose…
Terry Miles debut novel Rabbits, is based on his podcast of the same name. Having not listened to the podcast, it is impossible to compare the two media but Miles himself says that one is not a reproduction of the other. Rabbits is full of – and possibly for – gamers, puzzlers, conspiracy theorists, believers…
Rae Cairns was shortlisted for the best debut crime novel in the Ned Kelly Awards in 2021 for her then self-published book The Good Mother. The book was picked up by Harper Collins and has now been followed up with a another standalone crime thriller Dying to Know. While it is a very different proposition,…
Director Robert Eggers certainly loves a descent into madness. After the refined horror-thriller The Witch, he’s back with another hallucinatory drama in The Lighthouse. Despite having only two characters on screen for much of the time, this is a complex, disturbing examination of human frailty; sprinkled liberally with a variety of myths from different cultures….
Contact sports and head trauma go hand in hand, but until relatively recently the potential long-term consequences of repeated knocks have gone largely unnoticed. Based upon a GQ article titled Game Brain by Jeanne Marie Laskas, Concussion is a dramatic thriller surrounding the true story of a Nigerian immigrant to the United States, Dr Bennet…
Straight from the West End, the new, reimagined production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat is a delightful, fun, engaging and dynamic family musical. Wonderfully directed by Laurence Connor, it is based on the biblical character Joseph. Seen as his father Jacob’s favourite son, he is gifted a beautiful technicolor coat by his dad. That enrages his…
What a hoot! Featured performer Jay James-Moody, the artistic director of Squabbalogic Independent Music Theatre, has adapted (to the present day) and directs the musical play by Alan Jay Lerner to great effect. Dr Mark Bruckner (Blake Bowden) is a strictly evidence-based psychiatrist who has recently lost his wife. Returning to practice, he has a chance meeting…
In Violent Night, the wealthy Lightstone family gather at their secure remote family compound to celebrate Christmas. But this is a dysfunctional family as everyone tries to suck up to Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo), the family matriarch to curry favour and remain in her good graces. Jason (Alex Hassell) is separated from his wife Linda (Alex…
