The Sydney Morning Herald, August 2009
Nicola Scott knows how to do sexy. The Sydney artist, one of the rising stars of American superhero comics, came to prominence for her work on DC Comics’ popular Birds of Prey, about a mostly female team of superheroes. “Pretty hot chicks,” she laughs, unapologetically. In less enlightened times, when comics were blamed for practically every perceived youth problem, she could well be accused of drawing idealised women, fulfilling adolescent male fantasies.
The Australian, 4 July 2008
It wasn’t a typical awards night. The serial award-winner No Country for Old Men received only one award (the latest for actor Javier Bardem), while the four awards for best film went to the likes of Enchanted and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Meanwhile, Ratatouille and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End each won two awards, There will be Blood won nothing, and Juno wasn’t even nominated. It wasn’t televised free-to-air like the Oscars, but considering the box-office of the winning films, compared with any of this year’s Oscar frontrunners, perhaps it should have been.
The Canberra Times, 21 March 2007
In the mid-1980s, when it was difficult to avoid Howard Jones synth-pop songs on the radio, it was easy to describe them as, well, “nice”. Whether his name conjures up the infectious opening chords of “Life in One Day”, the super-catchy “Like to get to Know You Well”, or even the mournful (but eminently danceable) “What is Love?”, you could be forgiven for saying something as silly as “Gee, that’s a nice song.”
The Weekend Australian, 9 September 2006
It was promoted it as “the most shocking event in comic book history”. Long-term readers of the publisher Marvel Comics, well-acquainted with hyperbole, probably took the announcement in their stride – but in a medium where popular heroes are regularly killed (and usually resurrected), and controversy is not unusual, many were still surprised by what happened in one edition of the seven-part series Civil War.
The Bulletin, August 2006
When it was first released, The Story of the Kelly Gang was easily the movie of the year. It was a critical success, a box-office hit… and by current standards, the world’s first feature film. Before this film, it was unheard-of for films to run for longer than (or anywhere near) an hour. Directed by Melbourne entrepreneur Charles Tait, it attracted full theatre houses in 1906, wowed them in New Zealand, and toured England as “the longest film ever made”.
The Sun-Herald, 6 March 2005
Two thousand years ago, in the name of entertainment, the ravenous public could decide whether gladiators would live or die. In October, US television viewers voted on the life or death of Nicole Wallace (Olivia DíAbo), the duplicitous, child-murdering villain of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, who had kept them entertained for years. “This is the chance to do something new in a medium that is more than 60 years old,” said Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, “and you don’t get that chance very often.”
The Canberra Times, 24 June 2004 If you had never seen a Lindsay Lohan movie, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Nine months ago, the red-haired teenager seemed to appear out of nowhere, trading bodies with Jamie Lee Curtis in the remake of Freaky Friday. Since then, only two of her movies [...]
The Australian (Review), 13-14 March 2004
Of course, movie stars inspire fan clubs — and not just official, studio-based organisations. Mel Gibson and Samuel L. Jackson have outside fan clubs in the US, as do prominent legends like Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. But who remembers Sybil Jason, Bobby Driscoll, or Barry Bostwick? Never A-listers, even in their prime, they are certainly obscure today. But if you secretly admire any of them, there is a club for you — and yes, it has more members than you would expect. Fans of MGM musicals will be pleased to know that, according to their club memberships, fans of song-and-dance star Jane Powell outnumber Julia Roberts’ fans, 50 to one.
Feed Magazine, May 2000
HIDDEN IN THE SYDNEY SUBURBS, the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is Australia’s most prestigious drama school. Cate Blanchett studied there. So did Judy Davis, Toni Collette and Jacqueline McKenzie. Even Mel Gibson went there in the seventies, sharing a flat with fellow student Geoffrey Rush. It’s so exclusive that such talents as Rachel Griffiths and Sarah Wynter were turned down.
The Australian, 30 December 1998
Recently I was telling a colleague about The Truman Show, that intriguing movie about a man living a good life, in a happy town, blissfully unaware that it’s all make-believe.
“Have you seen that yet?” I asked.
“No, I don’t watch movies,” she said. “I haven’t seen a movie since nineteen eighty… three, I think.”
