The Winter’s Tale: a fitting production to put on in this mild weather, it would seem. This is one work by Shakespeare I hadn’t seen before and am now quite happy to add it to my memory’s library. The play was performed by the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble and directed by Michelle Miall. This tight knit…
“A broken bird and a scarecrow. An artist and a fish-peddler. A mismatched pair. Two souls existing on the fringes of society who find one another and change each other in the course of their lives together.” So says director Aisling Walsh (The Daisy Chain) about the two outsiders who form the nucleus of Maudie….
Killing Ground is part of a long tradition of Australian cinema, which delves into our sense of unease in our own backyard. When young urbanites Ian (Ian Meadows) and Sam (Tiarnie Coupland) go camping, they arrive at their isolated destination to discover a tent already set up, but no sign of its owners. With the other campers at…
Intense and compelling, The King’s Choice is a historical drama is based around Norway’s entry into World War II. Inspired by a book of the same name by Alf R. Jacobsen, it concerns three dramatic days in April 1940. The King of Norway is presented with a monstrous ultimatum from Nazi Germany: surrender or die….
If you’re scared of sharks, 47 Metres Down isn’t the film for you. It isn’t Jaws, but cut from the same cloth … the same well of fear. Two sisters are holidaying together in Mexico. The conservative elder sibling, Lisa (Mandy Moore), has been dumped by her boyfriend. Devastated and hurting, Lisa fails to tell her sibling, Kate…
Pain, depression and death get a working-over in killers. The Owl & Cat’s production is the world premiere of New York playwright Kevin Armento’s work. Miranda’s (Holly Chadwick) earliest memories are destructive thoughts – mayhem, torture and split blood. At primary school she meets and befriends Bobby Barrett (Charles Russell). The pair bond over their collective negativity. In no time, they are dishing…
Based on an epic book series by Stephen King, The Dark Tower lacks the gravitas I would have expected. The last gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the man in black (Matthew McConaughey). Deschain is determined to prevent O’Dim from toppling the Dark…
It was bound to end badly, but what a rollicking ride. Tom Cruise (Top Gun) reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman, in the international escapade American Made. The film is based on the outrageous (and real) exploits of a hustler and pilot unexpectedly recruited by the CIA to run one of the biggest covert operations…
What is a life worth and what is its impact on others? That is at the heart of the Australian premiere of Di and Viv and Rose by British writer (and actor) Amelia Bullmore. It is a reflection of friendship and how ties that bind can be oh so strong. Rose (Mandy McElhinney) is a…
Kindertransport is an English play written in 1993, by Diane Samuels. Samuels has written: In early November 1938 an intensive series of ‘pogrom’ attacks on Jewish property and arrests of people were launched in Nazi Germany. This became known as ‘Kristallnacht’, The Night of Broken Glass, and has subsequently been called “pogromnacht’ or Novemberpogrome’. In…
