Although directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse, The Dressmaker has the stamp of its writer and producer P.J. Hogan all over it. Like Hogan’s classic Muriel’s Wedding, The Dressmaker is a quirky Australian comedy that pits a sophisticated outsider against prejudiced Aussie bogans, celebrates femininity and glamorous reinvention while satirising both, has a wedding scene but also makes frequent turns into darker
Read moreBurnt is a clichéd story of redemption where a troubled (alleged) genius – in this case a chef – who has squandered his talent through a self-destructive lifestyle of booze, drugs and one night stands, has a second chance at success. Bradley Cooper plays two Michelin star chef Adam Jones who, after a disastrous drug-induced meltdown in Paris, tries to
Read moreIs Ghost Dimension the end of the Paranormal Activity saga? A taped announcement from director Gregory Plotkin before the screening implied as much by claiming that this film would answer every question raised by the other Paranormal films. While this movie may not answer every question, it does offer a resolution of sorts. Like all the other Paranormals, Ghost Dimension uses
Read moreThere have been countless big screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s works and they’ve varied in quality from stunning (Roman Polanski’s Macbeth and Franco Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shrew) to hideous (the recent Kiwi caravan park version of Romeo and Juliet). Australian director Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of Macbeth falls somewhere in the middle, it’s an ambitious attempt to capture the raw
Read moreThe Wrecking Crew were a group of gun LA studio musicians who, often unknown to the public, played on many of the big pop music hits of the 50’s and 60’s. They provided much of the musical accompaniment to The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Sonny and Cher, The Byrds and perhaps most famously The Monkees. They also worked on
Read moreThere have been some bizarre casting choices in movies over the years, John Wayne as Mongol Warlord Genghis Khan in The Conqueror or Marlon Brando as a Japanese man in Tea House of the August Moon. It is unlikely, though, that we will ever see anything as jaw-droppingly weird as the casting of former Watergate burglar and FBI spook, G.
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