Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owner of Death (Malthouse) – theatre review
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…
Pimped – movie review
The subject matter of Pimped is tawdry; nasty in fact. This is a film that starts out without much promise, but gradually draws you into its deviant web. It’s a psycho-sexual thriller in which the protagonist is emblematic of the #MeToo era. Sarah Montrose (Ella Scott Lynch) is a conflicted, mysterious woman. I say that…
Baywatch – movie review
After the failure of movies like Snatched and CHiPs, good humour, hijinx, pecs and genetalia abound in this welcome return to form for lighthearted comedy. Baywatch follows devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – The Fate of the Furious) as he butts heads with a brash new recruit (Zac Efron – Bad Neighbors). Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) directs…
The Partisan (Patrick Worrall) – book review
There cannot be a better metaphor for the Cold War than the game of chess. But more than the metaphor, of course, was the very real rivalry between the West and Russia across the chess board. Both of these aspects are used to great effect by Patrick Worrall in his Cold War debut The Partisan….
Endless Arcade (Teenage Fanclub) – music review
In 1991, when Scottish band Teenage Fanclub first broke in No. America with their third album, Bandwagonesque, their sound was brimming with electric guitars turned up so they were humming on the edge of feeding back, brisk pop song rhythms with Beatlesque hooks and harmonies, and two strong singles in “Star Sign” and “The Concept.”…
Shrek The Musical (Her Majesty’s Theatre) – theatre review
Fun, funny, light hearted, colourful and energetic, Shrek The Musical surprised me with its warmth, relatability and good natured banter. Of course, the 2001 Dreamworks Animation film starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow – upon which it is based, along with the 1990 book by William Steig – was a huge box office…
Red Queen (Juan Gómez-Jurado) – book review
The first book of Spanish author Juan Gómez-Jurado’s crime thriller trilogy, Red Queen (translated by Nick Caistor) demonstrates (if it needed demonstrating again) that English-speaking authors do not have a lock on any genre. That said, while absolutely referencing American serial killer and terrorist thrillers, the book series it seems to draw on most also…
New music round-up (for w/e 22 March 2024)
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 22 March 2024. Here comes something. It’s a record; it’s called Celebrate and it lives up to its name. It’s the second album by Halo Maud. Halo Maud writes songs that touch, that grab hold, that astonish, that excite….
Heather Redman & the Reputation – music review
It’s safe to say that soul music has been experiencing a major revival the last few years. The rise of independent labels like Colemine Records or Daptone Records has produced an abundance of new top-shelf acts, from Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Charles Bradley to Monophonics and Durand Jones and the Indications. With…