Eight years since the last of four Hunger Games movies hit the big screen, the franchise refreshes with this prequel, which had me invested. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes tells the story of the evolution of the eventual president of Panem, the role filled by Donald Sutherland in the original Hunger Games. Here it…
Freelance is a disposable action-comedy from French filmmaker Pierre Morel, best known for putting Liam Neeson through his paces in the thriller Taken in 2008. Freelance stars former wrestler turned actor John Cena as Mason Pettits, a former special forces operative who left the military after a mission in the fictitious South American country of…
Paul Auster is one of the great American novelists. His previous novel 4321 (2017) was a magnum opus that traced four alternative lives of its main character. But it was a bit of an outlier compared to his many much shorter novels, such as Leviathan and Mr Veritgo, that deeply investigated the lives of their…
Social media is a language. Those you speak it will appreciate the authenticity of the early scenes of Lewis Treston’s IRL, which sees 17-year-old Alexei (Will Bartolo), back and forthing in messenger conversation with his closeted internet crush Thaddeus (Byron Lankester Howells), complete with the awkwardness and overthinking insecurity the manifests itself in any such…
More than ever, in 2023 the theme has an ick factor. It made my skin crawl. Today, cyberbullying is unfortunately rife, with physical appearance being a common reason why. Dogfight, in the context of this musical, refers to the practice among Marines of placing bets on ugly women. This is the story of Eddie Birdlace, who is…
Forty years on, the winner of 11 Tony Awards remains so much rambunctious fun. This all-new Australian production stars five-time Helpmann Award winner Paul Capsis in the lead role of Albin. By his side is renowned singer and actor Michael Cormick (Beauty and The Beast, The Phantom of The Opera) as husband Georges. Georges and the flamboyant,…
This exhilarating hip-hop musical from Queensland Theatre is a huge crowd-pleaser, ending the year of productions on a high note. Set immediately post-Vietnam predominantly in a refugee camp in Arkansas, U.S.A., with flashbacks to Saigon, Vietgone is written by Qui Nguyen (who’s since gone on to write for Disney animation projects since penning this in…
The lavish Italian/French co-production Caravaggio’s Shadow by actor-director Michele Placido looks at the final years in the life of Caravaggio (born Michelangelo Merisi). This is something of a passion project for Placido, who had been fascinated with the artist for over half a century and had long wanted to explore his life and legacy on…
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…
There is something wicked and subversive about storybook villains rising and trying to rewrite their fate. That’s the premise of the world premiere musical Villainy. Druzilla (Olivia Charalambous), one of Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters, who bemoans the fact that she is always walked over, is hosting a party. Mind you, the atmosphere is hardly festive. In the house are several…
