Entertainment
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Laughs in store at The Wedge Zoe Askew
AFTER the past few years, it is safe to say we could all do with a good laugh, and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow at The Wedge this Friday, guarantees to have you in stitches. The people of Sale were quick to tell their dads they were sorry and that their jokes just aren’t that funny, with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow selling out faster than hotcakes and hash browns at the Melbourne Central McDonald’s at 6am on a Sunday morning. Hosting the show is Ben Lomas, a man, who is a boy, who is a dad ... who doesn’t want to grow up. Lomas is one of Australia’s most-acclaimed comedians, famous for his ability to have audiences in raptures. When Lomas isn’t performing on stage, he frequently appears on some of Australia’s best comedy shows, such as Mad As Hell, The Front Bar, The Weekly, and The Project. “I love Gippsland,” Lomas told the Gippsland Times. “I get so excited to perform here. My favourite gigs are in the country, partly due to the people, partly due to the bakeries. “The show (Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow) has some of Melbourne’s finest comedians, and this line-up is absolutely spectacular.” Performing at The Wedge are some of the country’s biggest and best upcoming comedians, including Bronwyn Kuss, Claire Hooper, Lewis Garnham and Takashi Wakasugi. Kuss performed her debut solo, Any Goss, at the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival earlier this year. Kuss was nominated for the prestigious Best Newcomer Award and won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s Director’s Choice Award.
Stand-up comedian, writer and broadcaster, the hysterical Hooper is best known for her role as team captain on the Good News Week, the Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott, airing from April 1996 to May 2000 and February 2008 to April 2012. Hooper is a regular guest on Channel Ten’s The Project and co-host of The Great Australian Bake Off. Graham, who represented South Australia at the 2016 RAW Comedy National Final, has since captivated audiences around the country with his laconic, intelligent, and introspective comedy. When Graham isn’t on stage, on the radio or recording his podcast Can I Borrow Your Mind, he is interested in birdwatching. He wishes to become Australia’s least pretentious and obsessive twitcher. Wakasugi, a stand-up comedian from Japan, will be performing his critically acclaimed show, Stay Home Stay. Like so many, COVID-19 destroyed Wakasugi’s comedy life. Just before the national lockdown, Wakasugi decided to move to Australia with his Perth-born girlfriend. We all know what happened next, and Wakasugi, well, he was stuck at his girlfriend’s parent’s place for nine months. Nine. There were good times. There were great times. There were bad times. And even though his girlfriend broke up with him, he still lives in and loves Australia. Brilliantly diverse, Kuss, Hooper, Garnham and Wakasugi bring their take on life for a night MC Lomas says is “all about the laughs”. “The show will be a lot of fun,” Lomas said. “These are big heavy hitters in Australian comedy who love being on stage, performing.” This star-studded line up will have the audience roaring, so much so that even the oldies hard of hearing up at Wilson’s lodge will hear the echoing of laughter.
Lightyear a great holiday movie for the kids Stefan Bradley LIGHTYEAR is a sci-fi action adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voice of Chris Evans), the hero who inspired the toy. The all-new story follows the legendary Space Ranger on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits (voices of Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi and Dale Soules), and their robot companion Sox (voice of Peter Sohn). The premise of Lightyear is that this is the film that Andy from Toy Story watched in 1995, and that’s why he went out and bought a Buzz Lightyear toy. Other than that, there’s no real connection to the Toy Story franchise. On its own, Lightyear is a fine nod to space opera films released decades ago. It explores an interesting science-fiction idea on how space travel affects the flow of time, but it doesn’t get too bogged down in the details. From the very beginning, you’ll find the animation is top notch, as Pixar movies usually are. By the end, Lightyear has presented a simple story with plenty of heart and engaging characters. It may be a standard space adventure, but it’s
strongly executed and makes great use of its relatively short 105 minute run-time. Tim Allen voiced Buzz in the Toy Story movies as a comic relief character, which is apparently why they replaced him with Chris Evans of Captain America fame for Lightyear, as Evans plays a human being struggling to fulfil his mission,
rather than a toy. Evans is very convincing in the role, even when he says one of the most famous lines in film history - “to infinity and beyond”. These movies aimed at kids often attempt to put in a mascot character to sell merchandise or appeal to a certain audience, and this time they’ve introduced a talking robot cat named Sox.
Director Angus MacLane even said in an interview they wanted a “cute thing” for the movie, but he gets a pass for Sox, because Sox is absolutely one of the highlights of this movie. His animation is on point and hilarious, his dialogue charming and he plays an important role in Buzz’s emotional journey. Lightyear is not as good as the top-tier Pixar movies, like Up, Inside Out, The Incredibles or all four Toy Story movies, but it’s a perfect family movie for the school holidays. Lightyear is rated PG for mild science fiction themes and animated violence, and is currently screening at Sale Cinema.
Lightyear is a sci-fi action adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voice of Chris Evans), the hero who inspired the toy. The all-new story follows the legendary Space Ranger on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits (voices of Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi and Dale Soules), and their robot companion Sox (voice of Peter Sohn). Directed by Angus MacLane. Photo: Disney
Photo: Disney.
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Times-Spectator, Tuesday, 28 June, 2022 – Page 13
