Excitement has been mounting around The Smallest Gig for a while now. The novelty of a mystery venue, the scarcity of tickets, the unknown calibre of the performers (the set list generally kept under wraps, but on this first birthday celebration I was fortunate enough to learn who was appearing beforehand); all contributes to the popularity of the afternoon. Indeed, so ambiguous is the event that the venue itself seemed unsure where it was, changing at the last minute from an unsheltered suburban backyard in Stanmore to the sprawling, multi-purpose bonhomie of Hibernian House as rain clouds began amassing over the city. This is fine, and in fact allows for a larger audience, but I am certainly looking forward to catching The Smallest Gig again when the pop-up nature of the event has full reign.

Reviewed by Sue Bond

 

Architectures of Possibility: After Innovative Writing is not your average book about writing, which may be suggested by its title. Lance Olsen is interested in creative writing as a ‘series of choices’, whereby to ‘write one way rather than another is to convey, not simply an aesthetics, but a course of thinking, a course of being in the world, that privileges one approach to “reality” over another’ (13). He’s not interested in the ‘Balzacian mode’ of writing, a term introduced by Alain Robbe-Grillet to refer to the works of nineteenth century authors like Honoré de Balzac who preferenced realism, here defined as a ‘genre of averages’ (11). Rather it is writing ‘as a possibility space where everything can and should be considered, attempted, and troubled’ (13).

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

For those in the know, the Hammer logo that graces the screen at the beginning of The Woman In Black will be manna. Indeed, what follows is delicious proof that the studio responsible for the greatest horror films of all time is still alive with their eyes and ears still attuned to the best bumps and creaks. If you’re hoping to be scared out of your wits by this one, you may be disappointed. If however you’re looking for a spooky, old-fashioned night in the cinema filled with expertly designed visuals and atmosphere, Daniel Radcliffe’s visit to Eel Marsh House is one you shouldn’t miss.

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

“Where do you go when you’ve taken it right to the edge?” “tepid gruel”, “obscene, disgusting, and funny”, “entertaining”, “flat and uninspired”, and “nothing here is sustained” are just some of the weigh-ins by various critics regarding Sacha Baron Cohen’s new comedy, The Dictator. We critics rarely ever agree. It’s only in the rarest of cases that a film’s brilliance is undeniable and agreed upon yet Cohen, who doesn’t just inspire controversy but actively pursues it, always causes vexation with his audience-splitting tactics. Love him or hate him, he turns our heads and inspires the guiltiest giggles (here in The Dictator more than ever before).

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

The Women on the 6th Floor is a sweet blend of drama, comedy, heartache, and prejudice all stirred into a hearty concoction. Farcical and poignant, it is 1962 as we watch the battle lines drawn between the working class, maids that have fled Franco’s fascist paradise of Spain for the safety of France, and the bourgeoisie, who the maids attend to.

Reviewed by Leanne Weymans

Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks explores the taboo subject of sex offenders. Banks looks past the accusation, trial and conviction of the offenders to imagine the existence of predominantly male population who exist on the fringes of society as a result of their ‘depraved’ actions. Through characterisation, setting and a suspenseful plot Banks tells a morally challenging but intriguing tale of a friendship between a Professor and the Kid, a teenage sex offender. Banks also explores the blanket approach taken to the offenders by the law and the limited existence available to them. While readers may not be able to garner any sympathy for the questionable cast of characters which hide out under the Causeway, Banks is able to evoke empathy for the worthless position assigned to them by society, once they are convicted sex offenders.

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

He must dream of sushi. All the waking hours of this chef's life are consumed by it. In David Gelb’s documentary, Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, we meet Jiro Ono and his two sons, Yoshikazu, who has worked by his father’s side for years, and Takashi, who opened his own restaurant with his father’s blessing, and their obsessive pursuit of perfection is the platform. It’s a small film, and that may well be in keeping with the delicacy. It’s petite and compact, and delivered with the same focus the subject is possessed by.

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

Iron Sky is going to enjoy a vigilant support group. Partly funded by Internet donations, this overblown $10 million extravaganza filmed in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Finland and Germany, is fuelled by one of the most insane ideas to blow across our screens in many a year. The story of Nazis who have been hiding on the dark side of the moon since 1945 seems made for cult lovers who can't get enough of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Phantom Of The Paradise. Those films were ordained as bonafide cult classics (the greatest cult films have always been happy accidents) and while Iron Sky could be filed nearby and its desire to be considered off-the-wall equals those, it doesn't have quite the same edge.

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

I didn’t need to visit the trivia page for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows on imdb.com to discover the cast had no time for rehearsal. What a beautifully designed, visual feast this mess of a movie is. Is it a pledge of adoration to the campy, 1970s soap opera it looks to be an adaptation of or is it meant be a reimagining? There are certain elements here that are a direct nod yet there are others that couldn’t have moved it further afield. Perhaps the question should be: Whatever Happened To Tim Burton? As I say, it’s a mess (some might consider it gloriously so). While the stylization remains consistent, the direction keeps changing, the narrative (can we even call it that?) seems held together by cotton, and the leading man, such as he is, looks like a cross between Michael Jackson and a doorstop at Madam Tussaud’s.

Reviewed by Michael Dalton

One shouldn’t walk into a Jason Statham film expecting much. They’ve become much of a muchness although with confidence I can say Safe, his latest, is a superior model to his previous adventure Killer Elite which was too convoluted for its own good and limped through cinemas with a whimper. Safe, directed by Boaz Yakin, is a different animal. It’s compact and moves like lightning as Statham wages war with Chinese triads and the Russian mafia. The bullets fly of course yet there’s more intensity and despite the setting being Manhattan, there’s a fine sensation of that old “no escape” conceit.