Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a romp in which an innocent act of cleaning rubbish leads to a whole lot of trouble. The first Goosebumps movie was a great box office success in 2015, so a sequel was inevitable. Goosebumps 2 follows the Quinn family – high school senior Sarah (Madison Iseman), her middle school…
I’m delighted to be able to say that Cabaret retains the edginess that saw it take the entertainment world by storm when it first appeared on the scene more than 50 years ago. Given the hostile political and cultural climate in which we are living today, its present-day relevance certainly wasn’t lost of me either. In fact,…
I admit I’ve been a bit tardy catching up with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the buzz US show that marks Tina Fey’s return to the television landscape following the end of 30 Rock. I’ve been so slack in fact that the show released here in Australia in late March and I’m only just getting around to…
Extremely contrived, but feel good entertainment, The Confirmation is a story about a divorced man, an alcoholic carpenter, who is struggling to get by and his intelligent and perceptive young son. Clive Owen plays the down-on-his luck Walt, whose God-fearing ex-wife Maria Bello has remarried. She and her new husband Matthew Modine head off to…
Disney gives The Lion King a Jungle Book treatment, turning animation into a blend of live action and computer-generated imagery. The visual effects are spectacular. If you haven’t seen the 1994 original cartoon version, I suspect you’ll be satisfied with this 2019 representation of the story of young Simba’s rise. Director of The Jungle Book,…
The Wider Earth is an extraordinary piece of theatre. It is visually brilliant with a lighting plot from David Walters and some amazing animation from Justin Harrison that flits around a screen that stretches the entire width of the stage, Add to this beautifully emotive music from Lior and Tony Buchen, an evocative sound design…
In her seventh novel, Rapture, Australian author Emily Maguire takes readers to ninth Century Europe and a story that feels like it could almost be true. That story, of a woman who dresses as a man to enter a monastic order, does have its roots in both reality and myth. Only in this case, the…
I saw Red Stitch’s Iphigenia in Splott three years ago and thought it was one of the finest productions I had seen. This return season serves to reinforce my original sentiment. What an ordeal! If Iphigenia in Splott is tough to watch because of the material it covers, just imagine what it would be like…
One of the most remarkable interactive theatrical experiences I have had, FOOD is about the palate, gluttony, sleight of hand and so much more. As you enter the theatre, you are confronted by a huge square table, around which 30 people are seated on three sides. Further tiered theatrical seating is also available. Suffice to say,…
She, Grace (Annette Bening) is intelligent, strong willed, heavily opinionated, volatile and fearsome – a force of nature. He, Edward (Bill Nighy) is intelligent, introverted and averse to confrontation. He likes to be left in peace. Married for 29 years, both are unhappy. She wants to work through it, believing they are a couple for…
