The Husband Poisoner: Suburban women who killed in post-World War II Sydney. “Shocking real-life stories of murderous women who used rat poison to rid themselves of husbands and other inconvenient family members.” After World War II, Sydney experienced a crime wave that was chillingly calculated. Discontent mixed with despair, greed
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War movies – by which I mean depictions of military adventures in the Middle East this century – are not my cup of tea. Like my parents and grandparents (whose experience of World War Two was so painful they avoided flag-waving cinematic reconstructions of Allied victory for the rest of
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Redfern rising: the story of Aboriginal activism in the 1970s. By Adam Phelan New book explores the people, places and achievements at the centre of Aboriginal activism and self-determination in the 1970s. Redfern: Aboriginal activism in the 1970s is published by AIATSIS and is available now. On edge of the
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James Comey: Boy Scout or Partisan Hack? When Director Billy Ray bluntly told James Comey “Well, sir, you got him (Trump) elected,” while pitching him a mini-series The Comey Rule, it turned my mind to events in November 2016. James Comey (Jeff Daniels) left, and Donald Trump (Brendan Gleeson) at
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Walking in Styx Creek. A teenage Throsby and a gathering of oddball mates took to walking the drains around Newcastle at night, decades ago. We were – nearby locals soundly asleep at those wee small hours would have been comforted to know – far too nerdy to be hooligans. We
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Map to find Meaning in Ageing. A new guide co-designed with seniors is the focus of a crowdfunding campaign by not for profit Meaningful Ageing Australia. The Map of Meaning and Ageing: a self-reflection guide, is the next phase for the organisation’s ‘See me. Know me.’ campaign, designed to speak
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University lecturer’s film to premier at international Film Festival. A new feature film by the University of Newcastle’s Dr Stuart McBratney, Don’t Read This on a Plane, will premiere at the Dances with Films festival in Los Angeles on 29 August 2020. The travel-filled drama – with a dash of
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In the genre of Movies Most Likely to Bore People to Tears, Mamoru Oshii’s animé adaptation of Hiroshi Mori’s novel stands well against Kubric’s 2001~A Space Odyssey. Now that I have your attention, if you came here to read a glowing review – welcome, friend. I’ve only met one Japanese
Read more...NFSA Presents Online Screening of Sunday Too Far Away. Enjoy a free, online screening of iconic Australian film Sunday Too Far Away (1975), followed by a special Q&A with producer Matt Carroll. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) will screen Sunday Too Far Away at 6pm AEST
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Review: The Beach, created and directed by Warwick Thornton. By Brooke Collins-Gearing Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle. Filmed by Thornton’s son Dylan River… Every shot is a living, breathing piece of artwork. Watching Warwick Thornton’s The Beach is a journey into place and self. It made me want to breathe
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The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) presents a free online screening of Storm Boy. ‘Wild things should be free’ – Storm Boy, 1976 The original 1976 classic, now digitally restored, will have a free virtual screening on Friday 15 May 2020 as part of the NFSA Live program of
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…all the lonely misguided people in this dark city … experts at avoiding reality. And with good reason. I’m not sure any of us wants to know what goes on out there at 3 am in some stink-ridden alley. God knows who doing God knows what. Best not to think
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Hot chips by the beach, Romper Room on Channel 3, a job at the steelworks and live music at the Star Hotel. A crowded Newcastle Beach, the old pavilion, and Royal Newcastle Hospital. Photograph by Ron Morrison. That was “Our Town” as many fondly recall. Greg and Sylvia Ray’s 11th
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You might be interested to hear from someone who watched 2001: A Space Odyssey at the big-screen theatre when it was a new release. It was not only a great experience and everything you might imagine, it was DOUBLY so. Because until that day (52 years ago) science fiction movies
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Bruce Beresford’s 1991 film Black Robe, the first feature film co-produced by Australia and Canada, has been digitally restored by the National Film and Sound Archive’s NFSA Restores program. The new digital print will premiere at Melbourne International Film Festival on 17 August, followed by an In conversation session
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Who doesn’t long for the good old days when we could not only insult at will, but the recipients could take it in good spirit. And I’m not talking about bullying. It’s all in the attitude of the giver, not the “victim,” as to whether it’s bullying or not. Providing
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When we touched the moon the universe paused. When we created a mind, God stirred. A formidably smart tech boss, Nathan, invites his lowly coder Caleb to Turing test a living doll. The location is remote and houses two humans and two gynoids, one of whom, Ava, must convince Caleb
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I was in the old country – you know, the one that burned the capitol of the U.S.A. to the ground some century or so ago – and was perusing the local stage offerings. Charmed, to say the least, I was by a musical based on one of my favorite
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The sun is harsh in Mexico City. Highlights burned, shade evil dark, and saturation in the eye of the beholder. As usual, our friends the film critics have been too long in the hot sun – and forgot to remove their shades come curtain-rise. Tony Scott gets a right rogering
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Great Dane tale darkens ciné Illuminati doorway. Dogville caught U.S. film reviewers like stunned dogs in headlight glare. Intangibles of a great film winked elusively through the directed downplay of Dogville’s staid delivery. Patrons shifted uneasily, personal prejudices starkly mirrored (Dogville left no place within to hide), while box-office boffins
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