(courtesy French Film Festival/Palace Cinemas) The end of romantic love is generally portrayed as a piece of cataclysmic, antagonistic trauma with hopes sullied, joy vanquished and that cost sense of belonging messily ripped asunder. In short, it is very much a Dickensian worst of times. But in What is Love? Continue Reading
A monstrously fun family adventure: Trailer debuts for Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom
(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTShaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom sees the residents of Mossy Bottom Farm looking forward to Halloween – until the clumsy Farmer trashes the Flock’s beloved pumpkin patch! When Shaun turns into mad scientist to help fix the problem, things rapidly spiral out of control… Continue Reading
Book review: Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
(courtesy Hachette Australia) The Emily Wilde trilogy by Heather Fawcett – read my reviews of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands and Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales – are a delight to read. Not only do they offer vividly imaginative escapism and an original Continue Reading
Way in over their heads: Phones ring and you answer in Big Mistakes
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTBig Mistakes is a crime comedy series created, co-written, and executive produced by Dan Levy alongside Rachel Sennott. The show follows two deeply incapable siblings, Nicky (Dan Levy) and Morgan (Taylor Ortega), who inadvertently become entangled in organized crime after a misguided theft intended to help their dying Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Haru (Book 2) – Summer by Joe Latham
(courtesy Simon & Schuster) Heroes are often portrayed as larger than life, towering giants capable of great things and possessed of qualities we mere mortals can only hope to dream of. But in the 21st century particularly, another sort of hero has emerged, one which has feet of clay, human Continue Reading
Book review: You & Me and You & Me and You & Me by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) The multiverse, as the name suggests can accommodate many things but a place in which love can be renewed? Theoretically possible, true, since pretty much anything is in a sprawling assembly of endlessly diverse universes, but not exactly where you see Cupid doing his best work, Continue Reading
Oh my, see how they grow! Final thoughts on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy S1 (E4-10)
(courtesy IMP Awards) As I wrote the review for the first three episodes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, I was impressed by how sophisticated a show it was so early in the piece. There are a great many shows that wobble and stumble in their first season, showing promise and Continue Reading
Movie review: Leave One Day (Partir un Jour) #AFFFF26
(courtesy IMDb) Mixing the past and the present can always be a little awkward and more than a bit emotionally unsettling. But much of the time that’s not an issue for anyone, with the past and the present separated by a sizeable gap of years; that is, of course, until Continue Reading
Book review: This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Books have power, real, life-transforming, soul-restorative power. If you been a reader for any length of time, you will know this quite well, especially if, like this reviewer, reading got you through some quite harrowing parts of life where the real world was desperately unkind and Continue Reading
A 165-million year journey: Thoughts on The Dinosaurs
(courtesy IMP Awards) While time has moved on for this reviewer in many emphatically life-altering ways, one thing that hasn’t changed is the boisterous love my inner-five-year-old has for dinosaurs. Like many millions, likely billions of people across the globe, I am as fascinated by these prehistoric creatures now as Continue Reading