To bastardise a popular expression, those flying closest to the sun shine brightest before they burn up. That set of words could be the starting point for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton) Sunset Boulevard. Set in Los Angeles in 1949 and 1950, the villain is Norma…
A diligent young teacher is caught up in a seemingly never-ending downward spiral in Ilker Catak’s film The Teacher’s Lounge. Try as she might, whichever way she manoeuvres seems to make matters worse. Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is in her first job at a German school. She teaches 12-year-olds (sixth-graders) and cares a great deal….
George Miller’s latest opus in the “extended Mad Max Universe [TM]” is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The film delivers two things Australian audiences love: fast cars and, um… Greek mythology (?). Yep, Miller takes a page from the likes of Theo Angelopoulos (Ulysses’ Gaze) and the Coen Brothers (O Brother, Where Art Thou) by…
Devastating bushfires and a baby koala and miner in peril. These are just two of the interwoven threads that run through the excellent, interactive solo work KOAL, in which sound, music and lighting play a critically important role. The piece was conceived by performer Jacinta Yelland. In 2019, she was sitting in her living room in the United…
La Boite’s second mainstage offering for the year is the Queensland premiere of Blue, a one-man show co-produced by Belvoir St Theatre and written by Thomas Weatherall of Heartbreak High fame. It is a work of deeply personal fiction, which was inspired by Weatherall’s own experiences with depression as a young adult. Developed for the…
Renny Harlin was one of the great action directors of the late 80s and early 90s, with films like Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight to his credit. But lately he seems reduced to directing second-rate formulaic action films like The Misfits and episodes of various TV series. And now he’s helming…
Billy Elliot The Musical remains as moving and evocative as when I first saw it at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 1stJanuary, 2009 … and what a magnificent show it is. For me, this is up there with the best musicals brought to the stage. It is based on the successful 2000 film, which starred Jamie…
Discard any preconceived notions of an ancient Greek play by Euripides about a woman who kills her children. Adaptations of Medea usually have the titular character front and centre, but this unique take on the story by Kate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks has her two sons as the focal point. In fact, the two young…
Being identifiable as Jewish today is more fraught than at any time since the Holocaust. Since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, the growing tide of antisemitism has been relentless. That is why Ron Elisha’s thought-provoking work could not be more relevant or timely. Many words are spoken in Rootless Cosmopolitans, at the heart of which…
Intrigue and subterfuge abound in the rich and engaging period action drama The Three Musketeers: d’Artagnan. This is Part I in the sprawling adventure, to be followed by Part 2, Milady, in a few weeks. Based on Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel, the film opens in 1627 France. Spirited young swordsman Charles D’Artagnan (François Civil) is…
