The film Funny Girl is celebrating its golden anniversary but this story feels so young and vital it could have been made yesterday. Theatre & Co. present their version of Funny Girl at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre. It’s something often associated with Barbra Streisand because it once catapulted her to fame. These are some big shoes to…
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It’s a tale that is – by its own admission – one that is as ‘Old as time’. The story of Beauty & the Beast has inspired two-hit Disney films and the stage production has played all over the world. Stage Artz reprise their production to deliver an entertaining and family-friendly charity event. Stage Artz…
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Johnny English Strikes Again is the third film in this popular franchise. This latest spy spoof follows its predecessors in once again offering audiences a funny romp with an unlikely secret agent. There are predictable scrapes and outrageous hijinks but one thing’s for certain, you are in for a fun ride. David Kerr directs this…
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Ladies in Black could have been named “Shopgirl”, but that title was already taken. The film, set over the summer of 1959 in a Department store like David Jones, is a gentle story about some Australian women who are standing on the precipice of change; but often feels like the entrée before the main. This…
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Bruce Beresford’s new film, Ladies in Black is a charming look at some department store shop girls working in Sydney in 1959. The story is adapted from a novel by the late, Madeleine St John who attended university with Clive James and the famous director. The film was a labour of love that was some…
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“Our house is a very, very, very fine house.” Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young might have been singing about the suburbs, but the same can be said about the Sydney Opera House. A building beloved by Sydneysiders and tourists alike, many people may not realise the project was a doomed one. It was almost thwarted…
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The Wharf Revue have been proudly entertaining audiences by skewering politicians since 2000. This year’s instalment was the troupe’s first without co-founder and musical director, Phil Scott, but the show remained strong and funny. The opening night at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre was a rollicking one with a vaudeville feel that hit some really high notes….
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Did you know Pamela Des Barres inspired the Penny Lane character in Almost Famous? Rock’s original groupie, Des Barres released her first-kiss-and-tell memoir I’m With the Band back in 1987. Earlier this year the book was re-released with additional chapters, and a new introduction by music journalist Roisin O’Connor. The result is one warm and rollicking read,…
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We all know the story where the butler did it. But Agatha Christie’s Crooked House isn’t like that. Published in 1949, the novel was one of the author’s favourite stories. This is also a beautifully-shot period film. It’s an adaptation that leads you down the garden path and around the maze of an eccentric family’s…
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Ziad Doueiri’s Oscar nominated film, The Insult (L’insulte) could be called Pride & Prejudice. This isn’t because this Lebanese drama has anything to do with Jane Austen. Rather, it is because this film is all about how one minor conflict between two men escalates because of a combination of hubris and hatred. It seems that…
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You can imagine the meeting. “We need a film for the grey-dollar à la Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” “How about a story involving a book club? Older women like those.” “Sure, but let’s make it into a rom-com.” “We need to include sex because that sells.” “But they might be a bit old for Sex…
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The coming-of-age story, Breath is based on the acclaimed, Tim Winton novel of the same name. It is about two adolescent boys named Pikelet and Loonie who learn to surf thanks to a chance meeting with a former professional named Sando (Simon Baker). The film has just been released on Blu-ray and features several hours…
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The secret’s out about the excellent drama/thriller series, Mystery Road. It’s actually a gripping, Australian detective story that sees the character, Jay Swan reprised from Ivan Sen’s films, Mystery Road and Goldstone. This time around the crime takes place in the small outback town of Patterson where the locals are elusive and tight-lipped about what…
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Adam Hills is the nicest guy in comedy. Thanks to his memoir, Best Foot Forward, he can also claim to be a “top bloke” in the world of publishing. In this book he reflects on both his personal life and his career, offering up lots of funny anecdotes and inspirational stories. As with his stand-up,…
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Madame Butterfly is a timeless love story involving a beauty and a beastly character and Opera Australia are currently staging a regional tour of the renowned Puccini’s opera. In doing so, they have made one of the world’s most famous operas accessible to a wider Australian audience thanks to a scaled-down, English language version. This…
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A Coveted Possession documents the popularity of the piano in Australia. Once a treasured member of the household, the piano fell out of favour once people became switched on to the likes of radio and television. Michael Atherton’s highly readable and intriguing book explores the rich cultural history behind this, at times, beloved instrument. Atherton, a professor,…
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If you’ve ever been on BuzzFeed and wondered what a day-in-the-life of one of their reporters is like, then think no more. Netflix’s Follow This is a short-form docuseries that looks at the weird and wonderful stories investigated by this famed website while showing the journalists hard at work. Here are five things you need…
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Futurama and Simpsons fans rejoice! Matt Groening’s new show – his first since the former debuted in 1999 – is Disenchantment. This animation is due to drop shortly on Netflix. Whereas The Simpsons and Futurama are set in the present and future, Disenchantment is all about celebrating the past. Here are five things you need…
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On Chesil Beach may be a boy-meets-girl story but this one doesn’t play as you would typically expect. The film is an adaption of an Ian McEwan novella and is a heart-wrenching, domestic drama. Set in 1962 in the period between the lifting of the ban on Lady Chatterley’s Lover and the release of The…
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Stronger is the second film to be released about the Boston Marathon bombing. While Patriot’s Day focused on the manhunt for the terrorists, Stronger is about the victims of the tragedy and one man’s story in particular. This film is ultimately an inspirational look at a man who was left a double amputee and how…
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A lot of travel programs follow a tried and tested formula. There’s a charismatic host. Pleasant and idyllic locations. There are the ingredients you’d typically associate with a fun holiday. But the opposite is true for the new, eight-part Netflix series Dark Tourist – New Zealand’s first original series for the streaming platform. This program prides…
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Whitney may not be the most necessary film but it’s certainly an entertaining one. This documentary comes hot on the heels of Whitney: Can I Be Me, but where this latest offering differs is in its unprecedented access to Whitney Houston’s family and friends. The result is an intimate and bittersweet portrait of her meteoric…
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Shelley Davidow is an author and academic who grew up in South Africa during the apartheid era. Davidow is white, and looking back she knows that during her formative years she experienced privilege and certain allowances due to her skin colour. This theme of race relations and how one family negotiated this oppressive arrangement is…
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In the nineties, The Go-Betweens’ Lindy Morrison made the documentary, Australian Women In Rock & Pop Music- Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves. Fast forward to 2018 and the film Her Sound, Her Story documents many of the same issues that are still relevant. Gender disparity in the music industry is a pervasive issue with…
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When you stop and think about pronunciation it’s very easy to break into a verse of “You sing potato and I sing potahto.” The academic, linguist, author and broadcaster, David Crystal certainly appreciates this. He has after all released the informative and scholarly guide: Sounds Appealing: The Passionate Story of English Pronunciation. Over the years Crystal…
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We so often read about history but what about her-story? At school many of us learned about the contributions of John Macarthur to Australia’s agricultural industry. But little has been said about his wife, Elizabeth Macarthur, another integral player in this story. Michelle Scott Tucker rectifies this with her debut, the engaging biography: Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life…
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It may be cliché to say, but it takes two to tango. That is certainly the environment that the film, A Horrible Woman (En frygtelig kvinde) operates in. This Danish dramedy is a provocative observation of a dysfunctional relationship. It is also one that will prompt some serious discussion by audiences in its wake. The…
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When you think of words like “The Second” it’s easy to be dismissive and consider it something sub-par. In the context of the new Australian film, it’s all about a writer grappling with penning her sophomore novel. But this plodding, psychological drama ultimately comes off as second-best due to some issues with its pacing and…
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The creator and writer of Everybody Loves Raymond, Philip Rosenthal is a man after our hearts because he loves to eat and travel. He enjoys this so much that he has his own Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil where he visits different countries and samples their wares. Rosenthal resembles Homer Simpson in that episode where…
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The show Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee has found its home on Netflix. The program sees comedian, Jerry Seinfeld driving around with a guest in a cool car where they chat and stop to consume coffee together. The tenth season is about to premiere and we have put together the top five things you need…
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