The high-octane ride that is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is again directed by Christopher McQuarrie. He wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendresen. It is the seventh movie in the franchise and is the longest yet at 2 hours 43 minutes. Spectacular stunts, car chases, a runaway train heading for destruction, humour and…
What a powerhouse of a show this is. The music, the moves and magnitude of it all were certainly not lost on me. The setting is the rehearsal room in the lead up to Michael Jackson’s Dangerous world tour, which kicked off in June 1992 and finished in November 1993. Michael Jackson (Ilario Grant), ever…
Harry Potter on stage rocks. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child re-writes the rule book when it comes to what’s possible in a play and is set for a long run in Melbourne. Two years is guaranteed. Beyond that, we shall see. This is the eighth story in Harry Potter the series and the first official…
Slick and digitally savvy, this is a horror thriller for the social media generation. Unfriended follows what happens when a seemingly innocent online prank spirals out of control. The film unfolds over a teenager’s computer screen as she and her friends are stalked by an unseen figure. This entity seeks vengeance for a shaming video…
The Bodyguard plays a significant role in the lives of many a thirty- and forty-something woman. For many of us, it was the first blockbuster movie we saw as teenagers, and it certainly features heavily in the soundtrack of our lives. I don’t know how many times I sang those Whitney Houston tunes at the…
The legendary, wholesome Dolly Parton with a mischievous streak is on show in the part musical, part play, part concert Here You Come Again. It is the conceit of the creator and star of the piece, Tricia Paoluccio, who has a magnificent, rich, rounded, Dolly Partonesque voice. Her vocalisation is superb throughout this fun-filled production….
Your Monster is one wild, romantic, vengeful ride – Beauty and the Beast never looked so good. It’s about an aspiring actress who gets treated shamefully and then finds the most unlikely of awakenings. Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) has been with her writer/director boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (Edmund Donovan) for five years. She’s helped him to…
Talk about fighting fire with fire. A small company of brave, resilient and resourceful specialist firefighters – known as smokejumpers – are no match for the three brave, resilient and resourceful orphan children they rescue. I should explain that smokejumpers are highly trained men and women who provide the initial attack on wildfires by parachuting…
The story of Scrooge who was “helped” to discover the true meaning of Christmas by ghosts may be familiar to most, but Old Vic’s production is both delightful and surprising. Conceived and directed by Matthew Warchus, Jack Thorne has reimagined the Charles Dickens’ classic tale to mesmerising effect. As we are led to our seats at…
Pedro Almodovar’s 20th film, Julieta, is something of a dull affair that lacks many of the Spanish auteur’s usual flamboyant flourishes, edgy quality and signature stylistic touches. It doesn’t carry the emotional weight of his best films. The eponymous Julieta (played by Emma Suarez, who has worked with Almodovar before) is planning to leave her beloved…
