fbpx

The Wind in the Willows (The Australian Shakespeare Company) – theatre review

Hijinks abound in The Australian Shakespeare Company’s fun-filled treat The Wind in the Willows at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Populated by favourites from British novelist Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 book, families on picnic rugs are given much to smile about during the 90-minute show without interval, set in magnificent surrounds. The first location is by the lake and…

Read More

Licorice Pizza – movie review

Few directors have as formidable a reputation as Paul Thomas Anderson. Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Phantom Thread – his films deal in big themes in majestic ways. So his latest, Licorice Pizza, might seem a change of pace for him. After all, this could be seen as a rom-com – complete with…

Read More

Don’t Look Up – movie review

Writer-director Adam McKay’s new film, Don’t Look Up, spoofs the materialistic, pop-culture world we live in. Earth is about to be destroyed by a comet, but do people care? Apparently not and the lack of interest is led by no less than the US president. PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discovers the comet. At…

Read More

The French Dispatch – movie review

Are you into French culture? How about classic American writing of the 1950s and ’60s? Haute cuisine? Student politics? Post-modern art? Balloon-assisted crime? Chess? If you said yes to any of those, chances are you’ll love Wes Anderson’s new film, The French Dispatch. Anderson is, let’s face it, a divisive filmmaker. In my experience, few…

Read More

Encanto – movie review

Disney enlists Lin-Manuel Miranda for Encanto, an animated family adventure that comes off a bit like In the Heights transplanted to rural Colombia. While this is a film filled with colour and energy, its rather muddled plot and lashings of treacle diminished its impact for me. Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Charise Castro Smith share…

Read More