Author Archives: lisathatcher

November 01

The Butler – Lee Daniels and strength of character. (Film Review)

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A fine scene in The Butler, defined by power and message (in a film that tries to deliver both in every frame) occurs when Cecil Gains (Forrest Whitaker) and his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) attend a gala dinner at The White House as guests, invited by Nancy Regan (a weird-looking Jane Fonda).  Cecil has been […]

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October 29

Hay Fever – Noel Coward, The New Theatre, and the joy of the Blisses. (Theatre Review)

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Theatre legend has it that Noel Coward’s Hay Fever, and Noel Coward himself, stopped being popular with the rise of play writes such as Harold Pinter in the 1950’s, largely because funny was not seen to equal deep or complex. And yet, after a revival of Hay Fever in the 1960’s (the play was written […]

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October 25

The Good, The Bad and the Lawyer – Tony Laumberg satirizes the Australian Upper Middle Class. (Theatre Review)

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An underbelly of debate  – I wouldn’t say “rages”, perhaps “whispers” is a better word – its way around Australian society occasionally regarding the modes and methods of our own personal brand of introspective satire. This debate centers around a pre occupation we have with satirizing our country folk (think Crocodile Dundee), our immigrants (the […]

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October 16

Four Tet Beautiful Rewind Review at Slant Magazine

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I am pleased to announce that I am writing music reviews for Slant Magazine. Slant Magazine is a publication I have admired for some time and I am very excited to be writing for them. To add to the fun and pleasure, my first review there is Four Tet’s latest – Beautiful Rewind. Check it […]

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October 13

The Luminaries – Eleanor Catton and the knowing influence of the infinite sky. (Book Review)

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The Luminaries is a character driven novel in the style of the Victorian novel, meaning particular details about each character are written in small sidelines and circular explanatory asides that draw the reader close to each character, but also result in the kind of distant analysis that, for example, Jane Austen is so famous for. […]

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October 08

Metallica Through the Never – Nimród Antal and Metallica burst into 3D. (Film Review)

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There’s not much point decrying thrash metal for the “showmanship” the hyper-machismo or the overtly empty gestures it is famous for, as the fans can see this just as well as the critics can, and metal has always carved its niche from the disdain of the “non-metal-community.” The metal concerts I’ve attended became acts of […]

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October 07

King Lear: 2 PLayers / 60 Minutes – Shakespere expanded into the unspoken. (Theatre Review)

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This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune,–often the surfeit of our own behavior,–we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, […]

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October 07

Prisoners – Denis Villeneuve misses his “one shot”. (Film Review)

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If the title alone doesn’t inform you Prisoners is a film about war, the opening shots leave the viewer in no doubt. A beautiful image of a deer walking a snowy path is soon framed by a forest of irenic trees as the camera pans slowly back, Hugh Jackman’s voiceover recites the Lords Prayer eventuating […]

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October 02

Singled Out – Augusta Supple and the ecstasy of alone. (Theatre Review)

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The question of living alone is a very modern one.  Not that people haven’t lived alone before, but this is the first time in recorded history that human creatures, on mass are choosing to live alone. In Paris, more than half the households contain single people, and in Stockholm this figure rises to sixty percent. […]

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September 30

The East – Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij go Freegan. (Film Review)

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Zal Batmanglij comes from a family of overachievers. His Mother, Najmieh Batmanglij is the award-winning cook book author and his brother is one of the members and primary song writers for the band Vampire Weekend, so it isn’t such a stretch to see how Brit Marling could have been impressed with his short film and […]

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