(courtesy IMDb) The translation of this Finnish language’s original title, Mielensäpahoittajan rakkaustarina, literally translates, so say the good folks at Wikipedia, as The Grump’s Love Story. It’s a delightful grouping of words because it points to the central joy of this gorgeously delivered and emotionally nuanced film which is that Continue Reading
Big movie blockbuster double: Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash
(via Shutterstock) I love big epic movies! I also love small, highly emotional and deeply thoughtful indie films too because, well, they’re good for the soul, but there’s something about experiencing a big popular movie that everyone is watching at the same time that gives you a greater sense of Continue Reading
Book review: Happiness Forever by Adelaide Faith
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) By and large we flee from honest expression of heart, mind and soul like it’s the plague. Oh, we talk a big game about living authentic lives and place the idea of unfiltered, soul-freeing truthfulness up on a pedestal, but in practice, we go to Continue Reading
Christmas 2025 movie preview: The Baltimorons
(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTOn Christmas Eve, Cliff (starring Michael Strassner who also co-wrote the script), a newly sober improv comedian, cracks a tooth and lands in the emergency care of Didi (Liz Larsen), an older no-nonsense dentist. What begins as a routine check-up sparks an unpredictable evening of misadventures. Together, Continue Reading
A super low-key love story: Thoughts on Too Much
(courtesy IMP Awards) In the hands of most romantic comedies, love is a shiny, faultlessly perfect paragon of all that is good and lovely, and while there may be minor hiccups for anyone falling prey to its life-transformative charms, they are easily dispensed with via a peak hour rush to Continue Reading
Step into your future: Starfleet Academy teaser trailer drops at SDCC 2025
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTThe series is set in the 32nd century, the far-future of the Star Trek franchise where Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets are recovering from a cataclysmic event, as depicted in Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024). Starfleet Academy follows the first new class of Starfleet cadets in over Continue Reading
“You think you’re in control of this… You’re not.” The electric second full trailer for Tron: Ares
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTTron: Ares follows a highly sophisticated program, Ares (starring Jared Leto), who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind’s first encounter with A.I. beings. The highly anticipated sequel to the sci-fi classics Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010). Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly book review: Christmas is All Around by Martha Waters
(courtesy Hachette Australia) When you’re diving into a festive rom-com read, you hope and pray that you’ll be served up lashings of magical romance and renewal and healing in bountiful measure. That’s precise you get in the magnificently heartwarming joy and wonder that is Christmas is All Around by Martha Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly retro movie review: Christmas in July
A lot can happen in just one day! Just ask Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell), the protagonist of the 1940 Preston Sturges film, Christmas in July, who’s a grunt office worker from a working class neighbourhood of New York City who heads off to his menial day job in an office Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly book review: The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky
(courtesy Hachette Australia) Who doesn’t adore a good love story? Even better, one set at Christmas when everything is at a peak of wonderfulness, magic is in the air and anything and everything seems possible (bar finding a parking spot at the locla mall but then, that’s a whole other Continue Reading