Stage musicals adapted for the screen are like wine. Some are best consumed fresh and are soon forgotten. The best improve with age. The latter include Hollywood’s golden decades of the 1930s, then the 1950s, and finally a brief spurt up to 1975. More recently, the box office has not been kind to musicals; Cats, for example, … Read More about Singin’ on the screen
Reviews
Marvel’s back in business
Cinema operators feared for their industry when ... Read More about Marvel’s back in business
De Gaulle’s darkest hours
Unlike their World War II allies, the French ... Read More about De Gaulle’s darkest hours
Festivals make comeback
Festivals have returned to cinemas and look here ... Read More about Festivals make comeback
The annual bounty from the New Zealand International Film Festival contained some recurring themes. This year’s offering followed overseas trends of going online because of cinema closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, New Zealand’s cinemas are now open, and a small selection of entries hit the big screen. Habits gained through … Read More about Festival hits recurring notes
THE FINAL CHOICE — End of life suffering: Is assisted dying the answer?, by Caralise Trayes (Capture & Tell Media, 2020) 276pp, $29.99. Reviewed by PAT McCARTHY. What happens when an enquiring Kiwi journalist seeks the truth about the End of Life Choice Act that the country will vote on … Read More about A compassionate approach to the question of assisted dying
Long-term relationships between filmmakers and actors usually indicate mutually rewarding rapport. The empathy between director Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan has resulted in a laid-back travelogue series over the past 10 years and a handful of offbeat movies. Winterbottom is one of Britain’s most productive film-makers – 30 feature films and … Read More about Greece and greed
“I’m Catholic. Now What?” by Shaun McAfee. Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, Indiana, 2019). 335 pp., US$19.95. “What to Say and How to Say It: Discuss Your Catholic Faith With Clarity and Confidence” by Brandon Vogt. Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, Indiana, 2020). 235 pp., US$16.95. Reviewed by MITCH FINLEY (CNS) … Read More about A black-and-white view of what it means to be Catholic
The wave of global protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement would have been no surprise to African-American writer-director Spike Lee. Since his debut feature, She’s Gotta Have It in 1986, he has provoked black and white audiences alike with movies that range from the highly personal and … Read More about Racial spin on Vietnam war
Critics of the creative arts occasionally attempt their own artistic expression, while others try the reverse. Hollywood filmmaker Paul Schrader was brought up in a strict Protestant household that banned access to movies and television. He studied movies in his university days, resulting in a 1972 book, Transcendental Style in Film. It … Read More about Putting theory into practice
Current Digital Edition: November 28
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