Director Paul Cox (My First Wife, Human Touch, Innocence) had a second chance at life when he received a liver transplant on Christmas Day 2009. The experience profoundly affected him and Force of Destiny, the first film in the new phase of his life, is in many ways an outpouring of his renewed love for…
I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while but after a run of books focusing on the Nazi regime, I held off reading it until I was ready. When I finally picked up the novel, I discovered a quirky character tale that lingered with me. Here’s the blurb: Aged 105, Rose has endured more…
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding this fascinating but unusual coming of age documentary on the festival circuit since it won the grand jury prize at Sundance earlier this year. The film looks at six brothers from the Angulo family, who have basically been raised isolated from society. Along with their intellectually disabled…
This is the type of noir-inspired film that Australian filmmakers do really well when they tackle the genre. Written by first time writer James McFarland Kill Me Three Times is a vicious and offbeat black comedy take on the noir genre with a high body count. McFarland uses a non linear narrative structure reminiscent of…
I think I like adaptations rather than translations – especially from Russian and German. Turgid prose tends to translate to turgid prose. Daniel Evans is good at the adaptation business – Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Any More is a good example and this one bears his unique in-your-face style, with bad language, lots of smoking,…
Talk about creative writing that starts out in one tone and suddenly becomes something entirely unexpected. That’s what you get if you know nothing about American Ultra when you enter the cinema. Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) spends most of his time getting stoned, sitting behind the register of the local convenience store and writing a…
Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson star in this heartwarming comedy based upon a book of the same name by celebrated travel writer Bill Bryson. Reluctant to settle into retirement, Bryson (Redford) challenges himself to hike the legendary Appalachian Trail. That extends to more than 3,000 kilometres and stretches across 14 states through some…
Another week, another reboot of a defunct film franchise. This time it is The Transporter series, which was first created by Luc Besson in 2002. Besson is the French filmmaker who makes kinetically exciting, fast paced but formulaic Euro thrillers and vapid Hollywood-style action movies like Lucy, Kiss Of The Dragon, etc. But it’s been…
Gritty and raw, this is no film for the feint hearted. During the late ’80s, the streets of Compton, California were some of the most dangerous in the country. The plague of crack cocaine was escalating at a rate as alarming as the violent, gang-driven business that propelled its use. The LAPD and its specialised…
After a two-year hiatus and a restructure, JYM Theatre Co, Australia’s only Jewish musical theatre company is back, re-launching with a Stephen Sondheim musical, from a book by George Furth. Born in 1930, Sondheim has a rich and enduring legacy in musical theatre. He has received an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards,…
