The melodramatic The Best of Me is the latest adaptation of a novel from Nicholas Sparks, a bestselling author best known for The Notebook. Sparks writes overly sentimental romantic novels to a well established and increasingly predictable formula – rain drenched passionate kisses and young lovers from different social classes kept apart by family, prejudice,…
According to The Andrews Sisters’ official site, they were America’s most popular female singing group. Patty, the youngest sister, was a loud and energetic blonde who headed the group with her confident vocals. The middle sister was Maxene, a brunette, whose harmonic range gave the impression of four voices instead of three. Finally, completing the…
Christmas. The period everyone is jolly again. Family reunions. A brown-baked turkey with a tasty filling that was squeezed through its smallest hole. Christmas trees full of sparkling baubles, angel hair and soft-yellow LED lights. Every few moments a Christmas song is being heard on the radio. Christmas presents are piling up. And everyone hopes…
Man, was David Mamet angry or what when he wrote Glengarry Glen Ross? From the opening scene to the epilogue, this dialogue-packed production is full of the most colourful and lewd insults you are likely to hear. Did I feel intimidated? A little. Was I surprised by some of the language? Yes. Were the characters,…
Indigenous Australia’s fight for justice and equality is given superhero treatment in Blackie Blackie Brown. We may well be looking at the stage equivalent of the movies Deadpool or Kick-Ass. Exaggerated theatrics are liberally supplemented by evocative graphics, animation, mock television news reports, and mood lighting. The staging is most effective. A series of joined…
– St. ALi Italian Film Festival – In Palace Cinemas nationally from 13 September 2022 We have 5 double passes to a session at the Festival (excluding special events) Note: tickets are digital *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Australia’s pre-eminent event celebrating the culture and cinema of Italy, returns this Spring,…
Joe Lui is a vibrant and natural performer. He speaks from the heart and that comes through in his latest work and why shouldn’t it because it is autobiographical. Lui was only 17 when he left Singapore and went into exile after refusing more than two and a half years compulsory military service. That made…
I never thought I would miss Will Smith in a movie. Well, for everything there’s a first time. And damn, I missed our friend Smith in this sequel to the blockbuster Independence Day from 1996. Not because of his acting talent or his good looks; but because of his dry humor and his sometimes hyperactive…
Breaking News in Yuba County is a low-rent comedy that failed to ignite for me. Married for 30 years and working in a menial job, the awkward Sue Buttons (Allison Janney) is treated shamefully by everybody in small town California. It’s her birthday and she’s keen to share the occasion with her husband, Karl (Matthew…
Adapting work from screen to stage can be tricky, even more so when it is a beloved animated feature. Thankfully, the hit family-friendly Broadway musical Frozen rises to this challenge, with lavish production design, stunning costumes and impressive special effects to astound as much as entertain. The musical, adapted from the Disney film and Hans…
