Movies about music have had a rough trot recently. From the sugary Trolls: World Tour to the super-serious Echo in the Canyon, for me at least, few have inspired (except maybe Bill & Ted Face the Music). Now director Nisha Gantara (Late Night) dives into a music industry fantasy/rom-com with The High Note. But the…
Dudes, welcome to the most bodacious time-travel, rock music, metaphysical mind-warp of the year. Bill & Ted Face the Music – the loooooong (30 years or so) awaited sequel to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) – brings laughs, weirdness and “the greatest song ever written”. Director Dean…
Slim Dusty was an Australian icon. No arguments there. He was the first Aussie to have an international number 1 hit song with A Pub with No Beer. One hundred plus albums, record sales topping eight million and an unrivalled 45 Golden Guitar awards. Impressive numbers by any measure. Born David Gordon Kirkpatrick in 1927…
Okay, a few caveats. I am most definitely not the target audience for Trolls: World Tour – because I’m not 8 years old. That disconnect makes reviewing this film difficult, because what I see isn’t what an 8 year-old sees. The character design alone made me nauseous; but they’ll love it. The film operates on…
Not everything is spelt out in writer-director Itay Tal’s drama God of the Piano. In Israel, Anat (Naama Preis), makes a shocking decision in hospital after receiving unexpected news following the birth of her son. The daughter of an elite piano teacher, Arieh (Ze’ev Shimshoni) Anat never reached his heights, despite her talent. She never…
Once upon a time, there was just music. Now the music scene has devolved into so many genres and sub-genres (avant-garde Norwegian deep trance, anyone?), it’s hard to keep up. Echo in the Canyon is a well-made but niche documentary about one of these sub-genres – specifically the Laurel Canyon sound of the 1960s. To…
Could Stan’s new series Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist mark the birth of a new sub-genre – the comedy-soap-musical? It certainly gets props for trying something new. But having gone out on a limb with the concept, the producers quickly scamper back to safety as the series falls into some very tired tropes. Austin Winsberg – who…
After seeing this doco, I fell in love with Suzi Quatro all over again. Growing up she was the “it” girl for me – this sexy, dynamic bass player and singer with that gravelly voice … all dressed in leather. I loved songs like “Devil Gate Drive”, “48 Crash”, “The Wild One”, “Stumblin’ In” and…
While the recent Yesterday concentrated on the music of The Beatles; Blinded by the Light, focuses on a young man heavily influenced by The Boss, Bruce Springsteen. This one is inspired by fact, which isn’t the case with the other. Set in 1987, during the austere days of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, Blinded by the Light…
Melbourne International Arts Festival was first staged in 1986 under a different name – Spoleto Melbourne – and has carried several other names since. Covering dance, theatre, music, visual arts and multimedia, as well as free and outdoor events, it is held every October. The 2019 Festival runs from the 2nd to the 20th of…
