Egyptian-born Akmal emigrated to Australia with his family when he was 11 years of age. From the roof of his 20-storey apartment building in Cairo he could see the pyramids and the sphinx. Imagine what it was like then when his parents took him to see the Big Banana in Queensland. That is just one of the…
Desire is a powerful emotion. Perhaps the most powerful, alongside hunger, but sometimes it leads you in directions that aren’t the best for you. I was reflecting upon that as I watched Drama, a rather quirky slice-of-life reality piece starring Sophie Mathisen. Anna (Mathisen) travels to Paris to meet John (Tom Wren), unintentionally causing tension…
– The Magnificent Seven – Only in cinemas from 29 September 2016 We have 10 double in-season passes thanks to Sony Pictures Releasing. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Director Antoine Fuqua brings his modern vision to a classic story in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ and Columbia Pictures’ The Magnificent Seven. With the sleepy…
Hugh Grant was once the affable if slightly awkward star of romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. But since Guy Ritchie cast him against type in a couple of his gritty thrillers, Grant has carved out a niche for himself in playing villainous types. He was great as the main…
I can’t help thinking the latest Thor outing, Thor: Ragnarok (which introduces several Marvel Universe characters) is yet another elongated, derivative outing. In the story, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer. He finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to…
Sassy and darkly humourous, the stage musical Chicago circa 2019/2020 remains a sordid tale of corruption, given new life by headliners Natalie Bassingthwaite, Alinta Chidzey, Casey Donovan and Jason Donovan. With lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse, the time frame is jazz-age Chicago. The musical is…
Three recent drama school graduates – Katie Cawthorne, Jessica Arthur and Laura Lethlean – formed The Anchor company to produce theatre work. Over the past year they have developed this 60-minute play, Two Hearts. It comes from their experiences of past personal relationships and their perception of how important the small details of their relationships…
The hype has been enormous, but does Barbie, the movie, live up to expectations? Well, some elements do and others not so much. The film is populated by the Barbies and Kens of Barbieland, where women rule the roost and men trail in their wake. The chief Ken (bleach blonde Ryan Gosling, with a six-pack…
Accompanied by a lone cellist (Thomas Veitch) and dressed in period costume, Michael Veitch weaves a deeply personal and tragic tale with aplomb. It is one he wrote with Peter Houghton. In August 1852, Michael’s great great grandfather, James William Henry Veitch, was the surgeon on board the emigrant clipper Ticonderoga when it sailed from Liverpool…
Every now and then I watch a movie and afterwards I can’t decide whether it’s good or bad. iBoy is such a movie. I thought the initial idea was fascinating. The fact that Tom (Bill Milner – Broken), got a bullet through his head, while fleeing from robbers, and his iPhone (which he was using…
