Bette Midler

Film Review: Hocus Pocus 2 is campy, nonsensical, and bathed in a self-aware musicality

Like so many of the House of Mouse’s IPs, Hocus Pocus has been conjured once more.  Disney weren’t entirely sure they had a success on their hands some 30 years ago with the release of the original film – what with the studio releasing a Halloween-themed family film in July, for starters – and were…

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Film Review: The Addams Family 2 is a little too safe for a property built on creeps, kooks and ooks

Whatever creepiness, kookiness and all together ookiness that has been evoked by previous incarnations of The Addams Family is sadly nowhere to be seen in this safe-playing sequel, one that manages to bury any of the morbid humour and likeability we’d expect from the usually reliable pens of Dan Hernandez (Pokemon: Detective Pikachu), Benji Samit…

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Interview: The Addams Family 2 director Conrad Vernon on crafting a sequel and his relationship with animated films

Writer/director Conrad Vernon and the animated genre go hand-in-hand.  As both a voice actor and a director, the former storyboard artist has left his stamp on such films as Shrek 2, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Sausage Party. After the success of 2019’s animated update of The Addams Family, Vernon found himself back to the drawing…

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Film Review: The Addams Family offers a delightful spooky alternative to, y’know, that Other Family Movie

It’s been thirteen years since Gomez and Morticia Addams (Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron) were run out of town on their wedding day. Settling in an abandoned asylum, they’ve lived a life mercifully free of torch wielding villagers, (un)happily raising their children, Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard), in safety. Well, as safe…

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Review: Sierra Boggess wows Melbourne audiences and shows us what a true Broadway star is

Back in February I was privileged to interview Broadway star Sierra Boggess, and I remember getting off the phone feeling every chirpier than I normally am – and that’s a lot! I connected with her in many ways but one attribute of hers which really came through was her outlook on the world. She is…

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