Question: How often can you watch a musical based on a 1939 MG movie musical? Answer: As often as they revamp the story the amazing way this production was. What a magical re-interpretation The Wizard of Oz is. You will be smiling all the way home when you leave the theatre. Jon Driscoll’s video designs were…
A middle-aged man gazes inward and doesn’t like what he’s seeing. That’s the premise of Brad’s Status, a bittersweet comedy from writer/director Mike White (The Good Girl). Ben Stiller plays Brad Sloan, a bloke on the edge of a meltdown. He’s reevaluating his life’s worth and achievements. A trip to Boston with his college-bound son Troy…
More of the same … with a twist. That’s what you’re in for with Bad Moms 2, the follow-up to last year’s original. What Bad Moms’ leading ladies Amy (Mila Kunis), Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) represented was freedom. Freedom to mess up. Freedom to do the best you can and still mess up. Now…
Ben Elton is back to bring us Three Summers, an ensemble comedy that embraces the diversity of modern Australia. At a summer music festival – “Westival” – the feisty lead singer of an Irish folk band (Rebecca Breeds) meets a folk-music-hating Theremin player (Robert Sheehan) and sparks literally fly. Characters surrounding this awkward romance include a…
A brilliantly re-imagined musical is on offer in The Production Company’s Brigadoon. Lerner and Loewe’s original opened on Broadway in 1947 and in the West End in 1949, before making its Australian debut in 1951. However, many will recall the 1954 film version, which starred Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse. It was nominated…
Brigsby Bear deals with themes of family, friendship, the loss of innocence, love, the indelible impact of pop culture, nostalgia, and the power of movies to heal and transform. This inventive and quirky independent film comes from debut feature filmmaker Dave McCary (better known as a writer on SNL), James (Kyle Mooney) has led a…
The Australian premiere of actor Andy Serkis’ directorial debut, Breathe will open the 2017 Cunard British Film Festival. Coming straight from opening the 61st BFI London Film Festival, the film stars Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) and Claire Foy (The Crown), in the inspiring true story of a couple who refuse to give up in the face…
Sally Robbins and Steven Bradbury featured in two of the most notorious moments in Australian Olympic history. Robbins is known as “Lay Down Sally” because she gave up and lay back in her boat 250 metres from the finishing line during the women’s eights’ final at the Athens Summer Games in 2004. She was reviled for…
“You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye” – Glenn Frey & Don Henley. Those lyrics from the Eagles song “The Last Resort” floated across my consciousness during a bravura sequence in this show where Chris Isaacs’s character describes the sights of an unexpected road detour in Bali. I won’t spoil the impact by providing further…
Between them, the husband and wife team of writer/director Nancy Meyers and director/producer Charles Shyer produced many of the popular but formulaic romantic comedies of the 80s and 90s Films like Baby Boom, the remake of Father of the Bride, and The Intern – many of which starred Diane Keaton. Now their daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer…
