Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi writes and directs gritty slice-of-life dramas and The Salesman, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, continues that fine tradition. The moral quandary at the heart of this picture is what helps maintains interest. Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and his wife Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) are a middle class couple –…
It’s been four years since the last Son Volt album, Honky Tonk (2013), and Jay Farrar describes his effort here as an attempt to climb inside the guitar tunings of two blues icons, Skip James and Mississippi Fred McDowell, and British folk artist Nick Drake. As such, we find Farrar approaching his songs intentionally with…
A surfeit of truisms comes to mind when describing what is behind the teen-awakening flick, Before I Fall. They include “you really don’t know what you’ve got until its gone”, “make the most of each day” and “make each moment count”. What’s the expression? This is Groundhog Day (the Bill Murray movie) all over again….
Sara Foster is one of my favourite writers – she combines suspense and mood in a way that never fails to keep me captivated. Keeping her secret may save her family. But telling it may save her life. Arabella Lane, senior executive at a children’s publisher, is found dead in the Thames on a frosty…
To call The Morrisons’ debut self titled album “long awaited” would be an understatement. For a band that’s been kicking around for well over five years (and longer if you count their previous incarnations) and has developed a loyal fanbase in the process, recorded music has been something of a rarity. But now with the…
This is Hugh Jackman’s swansong as Wolverine, after eight films in 17 years of playing the Marvel superhero. And what a great way to go out! He has saved the best till last. Not only is Logan the best film in the Wolverine franchise to date but it is also one of the best comic…
Richard III is a play written by William Shakespeare c. 1592, early in his career. The Bell Shakespeare’s Richard 3 is a dramaturgical collaboration between director, Peter Evans and actor Kate Mulvany using the Shakespeare original. The play has been hand-crafted with this actor and company in mind, it seems. This is their third collaboration…
What are the lengths to which people will go to get what they want? What does it mean to be a mother? These are the pivotal questions posed in the acerbic drama, Petty, Cash, a world premiere work written by prolific young playwright Thomas Ian Doyle. Centrelink has earmarked a wad of cash for development…
Michael Gow’s Away is a ‘classic’ Australian play much loved by Australian audiences. I have seen some countless numbers of productions and, I believe, this is the fifth professional production that I have seen. I saw the first production for the Griffin Theatre Company at the SBW Stables Theatre in 1986, directed by Peter Kingston….
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are a very prolific group. Their latest Flying Microtonal Banana is going to be the first in a series of 4 to 5 albums released this year. Flying Microtonal Banana-if you couldn’t already tell-is the group experimenting with specially built and tuned microtonal instruments, particularly the 24-TET tuning. What’s…
