THEATRE REVIEW: EVERY BRILLIANT THING Black Swan Theatre, Perth, Western Australia – 25th August, 2021 Written by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe Starring Luke Hewitt By Shane Pinnegar We cried true tears last night – equally from laughter, compassion and respect – as we experienced Luke Hewitt performing the one-handed play Every Brilliant Thing in […]
MOVIE REVIEW: BOSS LEVEL Written by Chris & Eddie Borey, Joe Carnahan Directed by Joe Carnahan Starring Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 72% Frank Grillo oozes charisma and cool as retired special forces officer Roy Pulver in this assassin-Groundhog Day action-fest. Waking up each day on the exact same day […]
MOVIE REVIEW: KING KONG (2005) Image: Wikimedia Hollywood is going through a phase of revisiting old properties of late. And just as recent years have brought us a reimagined take on an iconic Batman villain in 2019’s Joker, or a deeper look into the Alien franchise in Memory (which was reviewed here), we’re soon to […]
MOVIE REVIEW: Peninsula (2020) Directed by Yeon Sang-ho Starring Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, and Lee Re 7/10 Zombies have always had a unique place in modern culture. In fact, the horror sub-genre has established itself well beyond the realm of film and television. Zombie games such as Dying Light have been quite popular over the […]
MOVIE REVIEW: THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY Written by Scott B Smith from Charles Willeford’s novel Directed by Guiseppe Capotondi Starring Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland, Mick Jagger Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 64% Set in the rarified air of the high art world, The Burnt Orange Heresy is an intriguing tale with some hard-to-ignore flaws. […]
MOVIE REVIEW: THE KING Written by Joel Edgerton, David Michôd Directed by David Michôd Starring Timothée Chalamet, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Robert Pattinson Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 86% Set in the early fifteenth century, The King draws from a combination of accepted history, Billy Shakespeare’s plays, and modern dramatic licence to concoct a […]
MOVIE REVIEW: JUDY Directed by Rupert Goold Written by Tom Edge, based on the play End Of The Rainbow by Peter Quilter Starring Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Rufus Sewell, Finn Wittrock, Michael Gambon Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 80% Six months before her tragic death aged only 47, faded child star Judy Garland is almost unhirable […]
MOVIE REVIEW: AD ASTRA Written by James Gray, Ethan Gross Directed by James Gray Starring Brad Pitt, Tommy lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 80% If ever a film was desperately crying out for future cult status, it’s Ad Astra. My apologies, but there are a few minor spoilers ahead. Director […]
MOVIE REVIEW: MEMORY – THE ORGINS OF ALIEN (Screening as part of Revelation Film Festival) Directed by Alexandre O Philippe Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 77% If ever a film deserved a deep analysis of its roots, it is Ridley Scott’s Alien, released in 1979. Written by Dan O’Bannon, the story of a relentless alien creature […]
MOVIE REVIEW: THE GREAT BUSTER (Screening as part of Revelation Film Festival) Written & directed by Peter Bogdanovich Starring Peter Bogdanovich, Buster Keaton Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 100% I have to admit that I cannot recall ever watching a full Buster Keaton movie. For the record, yes, I am suitably ashamed and will endeavour to […]
MOVIE REVIEW: TUMBBAD (Screening as part of Revelation Film Festival) Directed by Rahi Anil Barve with Creative Director Anand Gandhi & co-director Adesh Prasad Written by Mitesh Shah, Adesh Prasad, Rahi Anil Barve & Anand Gandhi Starring Sohum Shah, Jyoti Malshe, Anita Date, Ronjini Chakraborty, Deepak Damle Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 84% Imagine a God […]
BLURAY: THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE Shock Entertainment, September 2018 Written by Bertram Millhauser & H G Wells Directed by Ford Beebe Starring Jon Hall, John Carradine, Leon Errol Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 52% Filmed eleven years after Claude Raines’ excellent 1933 turn on The Invisible Man, this one fails dismally to live up to the […]
BLURAY: LIFE Shock Entertainment, September 2018 Written by Robert Ramsey & Matthew Stone Directed by Ted Demme Starring Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 67% Eddie Murphy’s main problem is self-indulgence – as evidenced by the likes of Norbit and the Dr Doolittle and Nutty Professor films, which never came close to […]
BLURAY: THE GUARDIAN Shock Entertainment, June 2018 Written by Dan Greenburg, Stephen Volk & William Friedkin Directed by William Friedkin Starring Jenny Seagrove, Dwier Brown, Carey Lowell Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 57% William Friedkin made his mark with The Exorcist, Cruising and To Live & Die In L.A., all gritty, highly original and striking films. […]
THEATRE REVIEW: THE BOOK OF MORMON Crown Theatre, Perth – 5 September, 2019 Starring Blake Bowden, Nyk Bielak, Tigist Strode, Tyson Jennette, Joel Granger Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 100% The Book Of Mormon has been wowing – and I mean WOWING – crowds around the world for the better part of a decade now, with […]
BLURAY: JUNIOR Shock Entertainment, July 2018 Written by Kevin Wade & Chris Conrad Directed by Ivan Reitman Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito & Emma Thompson Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 40% On paper it’s a dream team – DeVito and Schwarzenegger teaming up again after the success of Twins and with a cavalcade of winners between […]
BLURAY: SNOW WHITE: A TALE OF TERROR Shock Entertainment, June 2018 Written by Tom Szollosi & Deborah Sella from the Grimm Brothers tale Directed by Michael Cohn Starring Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 70% The idea of delving into the dark heart of the Snow White fairytale, originally written by Medieval horror-lovin’ […]
BLURAY: ALIEN HUNTER Shock Entertainment, June 2018 Written by J S Cardone & Boaz Davidson Directed by Ron Krauss Starring James Spader, Janine Eser Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 53% Who can tell why good actors choose to star in average productions, but Alien Hunter doesn’t rate as James Spader’s finest achievement. He plays science cryptologist […]
BLURAY: DRAGNET Shock Entertainment, July 2018 Written by Dan Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel & Tom Mankiewicz Directed by Tom Mankiewicz Starring Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Harry Morgan, Dabney Coleman, Alexandra Paul Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 68% Dan Aykroyd co-wrote this reboot of the classic ‘50s television series created by and starring Jack Webb. In […]
MOVIE REVIEW: LATE NIGHT Written by Mindy Kaling Directed by Nisha Ganatra Starring Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 78% We’re at an exciting, pivotal point in history where equality and diversity and representation are more important than ever, and no-one is better experienced to provide an astute, real comic view than Mindy […]
