Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan featured in the original live-action / animation blend Space Jam back in 1996. Now MJ has been replaced by another NBA superstar in LeBron James in the sequel – Space Jam: A New Legacy. James learnt the hard way that only total commitment will bring rewards. But he feels his…
A gritty piece about the travails of an ageing Las Vegas showgirl and those around her, The Last Showgirl feels real. Back in the day, decades ago, Shelly (Pamela Anderson), was one of the headline acts in Le Razzle Dazzle, which was fashioned on erotic Paris shows, like the Lido. Now, at 57, she is…
I suppose it’s almost impossible to use an exuberant color palette for a film situated in a Slavic country. Every time the story takes place in such a communist or ex-communist country, the screen is filled with depressing colors. The closer one approaches Russia (the motherland of communism) the more gray, grizzled, and duller the…
Slim Dusty was an Australian icon. No arguments there. He was the first Aussie to have an international number 1 hit song with A Pub with No Beer. One hundred plus albums, record sales topping eight million and an unrivalled 45 Golden Guitar awards. Impressive numbers by any measure. Born David Gordon Kirkpatrick in 1927…
What’s in a name? For Jon Dwyer, it doesn’t seem to matter much as his OCS/The Oh Sees/Thee Oh Sees/Oh Sees project continues to morph its 20 year psychedelic garage rock arc and it just keeps getting more interesting. Orc is Oh Sees 19th record and feels as fresh and new as anything the band…
Where did it all go so wrong? After several era-defining movies, the Marvel franchise seems to be sputtering. Judging by the ill-conceived and frankly illogical The Marvels, it seems to have run out of ideas for these characters. The Marvels draws together Captain Marvel (2019), the Disney + mini-series Ms Marvel and a few scattered…
“Way to go Jennifer”. For me she’s the first one who succeeds in removing the yoke of the sitcom Friends and play a character that doesn’t remind you of that caricature appearance she played in it. Look at David Schwimmer in The Iceman and you see Ross with a totally wrong, fake moustache. Even Matthew…
Before The Book of Mormon, the equally delightfully-offensive Avenue Q was wowing audiences with its combination of childlike whimsy and adult issues. The hilariously vulgar puppet show features similarly skillful lyrics in its catchy soundtrack, from the upbeat sounds of “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” to the sentimental reflections of “I Wish I Could Go…
Gustave Flaubert’s 1865 brooding and bittersweet tragedy about a 19th century self destructive woman and her tragic fall from grace has been filmed many times. There was even a recent contemporary take on the character with the recent French film Gemma Bovary. And Woody Allen used Flaubert’s famous character as the template for his Blue…
Directed by Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines) and starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful looking, heartbreaking story about love and sacrifice. It is based upon the bestselling Australian book by M.L. Stedman, her first novel. Stedman’s novel became somewhat of a literary sensation upon its publication…
