SPOILERS AHEAD … AND WEIRD SIGNALS AND ALTRUISTIC ALIENS (AND AMISH BUTTER?) No matter how imaginatively-captivating it may be, a premise is only ever as good as its execution. Nowhere is this more evident, this week at least, than with episode two of Star Trek Discovery‘s sophomore season which was a Continue Reading
Mash-up mania: Men in Black meets up with The Blues Brothers
Has it ever occurred to you to mash up Men in Black and The Blues Brothers? No? Me neither. But it did, pop culture gods be praised, occur to French filmmaker Fabrice Mathieu who has quite the inventive track record of coming up with mash-up videos that make merry with Continue Reading
Book review: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
There are many predictable, known things in this life but grief, alas, is not one of them. The form it takes is as individual as the person grappling with it, a contrary beast that demands different things of different people, and which is never, ever left behind, though its impact Continue Reading
One long adventure: The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot
SNAPSHOT Sam Elliott stars as Calvin Barr, an American legend who’s haunted by a secret from his past. Once upon a time, he was the man who managed to get close enough to Hitler during World War II to shoot him dead. Now, decades later, he’s a man of mythic Continue Reading
You love them, you really love them? A montage of this year’s Oscar-nominated films
SNAPSHOT As they’ve done in past years, movie theater chain Cineplex has put together a wonderful montage of celebrated scenes from films, actors and director nominated for an Academy Award in 2019. This year includes The Favourite, BlackKklansman, Roma, Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star Is Born and Vice. (synopsis Continue Reading
Wonder Twins powers … activate! (comic preview)
SNAPSHOT Exiled from their home planet, alien heroes Zan and Jayna must navigate life as teens on Earth at South Metropolis High School, where they’re even bigger outsiders than the typical awkward young adults. Under the watchful eye of Superman, the brother and sister pull monitor duty at the Hall Continue Reading
Can you sing 22 musicals in just 12 minutes? Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda and James Corden can!
James Corden, host of, as luck would have naming-wise, The Late Late Show with James Corden, love musicals. And Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda are currently starring in a musical at the moment by the name of Mary Poppins Returns (which is a supreme delight, and yes you must see Continue Reading
Rip’d from the pages of my childhood: Bottersnikes and Gumbles by S. A. Wakefield
(cover image courtesy Penguin Australia) SNAPSHOT Set in the landscape of the Australian bush the stories recount a series of conflicts between the lazy, destructive Bottersnikes and good-natured, hardworking Gumbles. Inspiration for the series came from the emerging environmental movement. The two species were intended to represent opposing attitudes towards Continue Reading
Sweet arachnid music: Lucas the Spider and his one man band
Lucas the Spider might be little but boy can he create some beautifully-big music. In this delightfully musical piece from creator Joshua Slice, Lucas uses violin, xylophone, drums and other instruments to create a jauntily-upbeat slice of mellow rockabilly that’s sure to get you up and dancing. (Just watch where Continue Reading
Songs songs and more Australia Day songs: KAIIT, Carmouflage Rose, Eilish Gilligan, Samsurah, Jesswar
Australia’s national day is not without controversy. Situated since 1994 on 26 January when European settlement of Australia began, displacing an indigenous people who had been on the continent for 60,000 years, the day is increasingly seen as marking invasion rather than a celebration of nationhood, with calling to #changethedate Continue Reading