Category Archives: Reviews

THEATRE REVIEW: Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’

Posted on March 9, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Noel Coward’s spirited drawing room comedy “Blithe Spirit” is as ticklish and ephemeral as champagne bubbles but Thea Sharrock’s new production in the West End lets out most of the fizz and allows in all … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Wizard of Oz’

Posted on March 2, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – If ever a show was pre-sold it’s the new stage version of The Wizard of Oz with the 1939 movie a perennial favorite and Danielle Hope cast as Dorothy via a 10-week prime time BBC-TV … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’

Posted on March 2, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lightweight, amusing and frothy, Broadway hit musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” seems an odd choice for the serious-minded Donmar Warehouse, but its U.S. high school hijinks and a cast full of fizz … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Million Dollar Quartet’

Posted on February 26, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – “Million Dollar Quartet” is a straightforward jukebox musical but since the music comes from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records in the 1950s, it’s not your average jukebox. … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: Danny Boyle directs ‘Frankenstein’

Posted on February 24, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Fans of Danny Boyle’s movies such as “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours” will not be surprised to learn that his return to the stage directing a new play at the National Theatre based on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is … Continue reading →

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Julie Gavras’s ‘Late Bloomers’

Posted on February 19, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – William Hurt and Isabella Rossellini (pictured) play a couple whose long marriage runs into the bumps caused by intimations of mortality in Julie Gavras’s lightweight “Late Bloomers” but while it’s pleasant to watch these two … Continue reading →

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Jonathan Sagall’s ‘Lipstikka’

Posted on February 18, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Canadian director Jonathan Sagall’s intriguing drama “Lipstikka” tells of two women whose memory of a dramatic incident when they were teenagers is markedly different and affects their lives in complicated ways. Set in London with … Continue reading →

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: ‘The Terrorists’

Posted on February 16, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Thunska Pansittivorakul’s documentary “The Terrorists” is a message picture about the way the government in Thailand persecutes and exploits minorities. Oh, here’s one now, a pretty young man who happens to be naked, soaping himself … Continue reading →

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Paula Markowitch’s ‘The Prize’

Posted on February 16, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – The cold, bleak seashore of Argentina in winter matches the powerfully lurking threat of fascism in Paula Markowitch’s autobiographical Competition film “The Prize” about a young mother and her infant daughter in hiding from nameless … Continue reading →

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Michal Aviad’s ‘Invisible’

Posted on February 16, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Two women linked only because they were victims of rape by the same man 20 years earlier meet by chance and reveal how the trauma continues to affect their lives in Israeli filmmaker Michal Aviad’s … Continue reading →

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