Tower Heist **
December 21, 2011 by Arts Editor
Whether suffused with tension or laced with humor, the heist movie has enjoyed enduring appeal since the heyday of film noir. Good heist movies proceed according to an established template that includes meticulous attention to the details of the scheme both in the planning stage and in its execution. The twists – there are often many but always at least one – are ingenious and the screenplay is often referred to as “smart” and “cunning.” Unfortunately, few (if any) of these characteristics apply to Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist, as sloppy a heist movie as I can remember. It is redeemed, at least to a degree, by the comedic performances of lead actor Ben Stiller and supporting player Eddie Murphy. The pace, emphasized by Christophe Beck’s relentless score, is so fast that viewers might miss some of the king-sized plot holes (although not all of them). But the caper is a dud – so stupid and implausible from beginning to end that it’s impossible to take it seriously for even the briefest of moments.
Watch the trailer
The Adventures of Tin Tin ***
December 21, 2011 by Arts Editor
Had The Adventures of Tintin been a live motion picture rather than a motion capture-driven animated endeavor, it would have been compared to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Pirates of the Caribbean. Read more
Confronting play
November 1, 2011 by Arts Editor
Helen Gottstein has been performing her one woman play Four Faces of Israel in Melbourne and will bring it to Sydney on Thursday. Read more
New Aboriginal Art Star featured at Shalom Gamarada
September 21, 2011 by Arts Editor
Lydia Balbal will make her first trip to Sydney in September to attend the seventh annual Shalom Gamarada Indigenous Art Fair. It’s a long way from Bidyadanga, the remote coastal town south of Broome where she grew up, especially for a woman whose first contact with white people came at the age of 24. Read more
SUREFIRE LEGAL SCHEME IS A FARCE
June 21, 2011 by Arts Editor
FIND ME A LAWYER! – by Tony Laumberg Read more
ABC to screen top Holocaust documentary
June 14, 2011 by Arts Editor
UK distributor Mercury Media has sold Inheritance, an Emmy-winning documentary telling the story of a woman facing the legacy of her Nazi leader father, to Australia’s ABC. Read more
New Holocaust film for Australia
March 31, 2011 by Arts Editor
THE ROUND UP (LA RAFLE) Read more
The Rite **+
March 10, 2011 by Arts Editor
It has long been my opinion that Hollywood is more fascinated by the subject of exorcism than the public in general. Read more
Rango ***+
March 10, 2011 by Arts Editor
The first animated film from ILM is also the first memorable motion picture of 2011. Read more
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest ***
March 3, 2011 by Arts Editor
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the third and final piece of the cinematic adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Millennium Trilogy, is an entertaining thriller. That said, it’s the weakest of the films, falling a length or two behindThe Girl Who Played with Fire, and considerably more than that with respect to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Read more
I Am Number Four *+
February 24, 2011 by Arts Editor
For someone who has never seen another movie, I Am Number Four might be an astounding experience, cobbling together bits and pieces of other, better productions as it does. It’s very loud, very fast paced, and very derivative. Read more
Conviction **+
February 24, 2011 by Arts Editor
Take a real-life feel-good story about personal heroism and use it as the basis for a generic screenplay. Lather on some prestige. Hire an Oscar-winning actress and a bunch of supporting performers with nominations on their resumes. Promote the hell out of it using words like “inspirational”, “incredible”, and “uplifting”. What’s the result? Read more
Mar-23 London: Major Sale of South African Art
February 4, 2011 by Arts Editor
Bonhams next South African Art sale on March 23 has attracted so many outstanding works following the breaking of the record for South African art last year in New Bond Street, that the sale will now include an evening auction of 20 masterpieces. Read more
March 28 – April 4 Sydney: Dorryce Rock – Dank St Depot
February 4, 2011 by Arts Editor
Dorryce Rock p. Justine Perl
The nature of Dorryce’s work are a great example of how modern Australian artists and the design world work together these days: she has been involved in major collaborations with fashion designer Kit Willow (August 2010) and for this year has two paintings being produced as carpets by Designer Rugs.
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