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…
Every detail was just perfect in the Finnish low-budget indie Euthanizer. From the first second this film intrigued me and managed to hold my full attention. Not only the magnificent acting of Matti Onnismaa and Hannamaija Nikander, as the bitter and sinister person Veijo and the strange figure Lotta whose sexual preference is also rather…
The Golden Man Booker has revealed the shortlist of five books in contention for the Golden Man Booker Prize. This special one-off award (not to be confused with the annual Man Booker Prize), marks the 50th anniversary of the award. It’s aim is to crown the best work of fiction from the last five decades…
Death of a Ladies Man is a Irish/Canadian co-production starring Gabriel Byrne as Samuel O’Shea, a Montreal based lecturer and a hard-drinking womaniser. He arrives home to discover his second and much younger wife having passionate sex with a stranger in their marital bed and asks for a divorce. But this is just the start…
I long to see whatever Joanna Murray-Smith generates (and her output is prolific) … with very good reason. Her writing is pithy and pointed, insightful and invigorating. The shocking and dynamic Fury is a case in point. Salt is rubbed into raw wounds and new scars created in this “take no prisoners” drama about cultural…
Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf (1894) is a searing portrait of angst. Rita (Elisa Armstrong) is deeply in love with Alfred (Damien Harrison). He’s a writer and they have been married for a decade, but she fears his feelings for her have shifted. He’s just returned from a fortnight walking in the mountains, a trip he has…
Intended as a feel-good, calamity film for the festive season, this one tries hard but produces few, if any, belly laughs. Morale is at an all-time low at IT company Zenotek’s Chicago office after its hard-ass, pragmatic interim CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) announces plans sack 40 per cent of its work force and ban…
In a word, stunning. That is my take on Disney’s latest and greatest show on ice yet. Officially named Disney on Ice: Road Trip Adventures, it’s slick and spectacular, and features a collection of Disney favourites. First up, there is a warmup from Patrick and Taylor (who turn out to be Mickey and Minnie Mouse,…
I never thought that The National would embrace the concept of a surprise album, but here we are. That night at their 2023 Homecoming festival, the band tore through one of their greatest accomplishments in full: High Violet. Among other songs, they played the self-stated, Walkmen-inspired “Available,” and then followed that with the high energy…
A perennial favourite of mine, Michael Shafar is one very funny man who has no hesitation in pushing the boundaries and fortunately he is back at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a batch of new material. He starts his 50-minute set by telling us that before the pandemic he entertained on cruise ships. Then he…
