The Guilty Feminist, by Deborah Frances-White

Comedian and scriptwriter Frances-White grew up on the Gold Coast but has lived in the UK since escaping the Jehovah’s Witnesses to attend university. In 2015 she started The Guilty Feminist podcast with fellow comedian Sofie Hagen and her career has boomed. The weekly podcast is topical, political and laugh-out-loud funny, recorded at raucous live shows featuring a wide range of special guests who are mostly women. Comedians, performers, writers and activists – some are recognisable from stage and screen; others rarely get that opportunity despite their ability and interesting work. This book is an expansion and reiteration of the podcast; the themes and some of the specific jokes and stories will be familiar – and occasionally repetitive - to regular listeners. The book goes more in depth than it is possible to do in a podcast that is tightly organised for an evening of live entertainment then edited before release. It includes a series of interviews with activists and performers who have appeared on the show. The values demonstrated are intersectional, asking everyone to check their privilege and become allies towards achieving equality. Frances-White argues for a feminism that is kind, compassionate and inclusive, opening up space and opportunities for women of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds. It is not anti-men, but anti-patriarchy, wanting to break down the rigid rules and expectations that damage and restrict women and men. Her book is a call to action – for all of us to do whatever we can, however small, to make a difference and contribute to change for the better of all.

A Star is Born (2018), directed by Bradley Cooper

When a film has been overhyped and you see it late in its run it can often be a disappointment. Not so with this fourth iteration of A Star is Born, which is engaging and moving despite its familiarity. Lady Gaga is a revelation as Ally, a budding singer-songwriter discovered and nurtured by rock star Jackson Maine. Pretty boy Cooper is attractively weather-beaten as the alcoholic Jack, who is suffering from career-threatening tinnitus. He also sings really well. The music is strong; the largely anonymous supporting cast is solid; the central relationship is mostly believable. There are a few negatives: some of Cooper’s dialogue is mumbled and lost; except for Ally there is a striking lack of female characters and the film therefore doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, which is a pity; Ally’s total devotion to Jack occasionally strains credulity. In the end Gaga carries the day. She was born to play the role, so it will be interesting to see what she does next.

Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), directed by David Yates

The usual wonderful special effects create the required magical universe, spiriting the audience into 1920s New York, London and Paris. Grindelwald has escaped custody to search for and use the incredibly powerful Creedence. Everyone else is searching for him too – either to kill him or to save him; who will get there first? With the wizarding world divided familiar characters make some unexpected choices as they pick sides. The geeky appeal of Eddie Redmayne as Newt and the charm of Jude Law as the younger Dumbledore carry the film, which makes some unsubtle parallels with real word populists who twist and manipulate the gullible and vulnerable to victimise a segment of society. The film is too long and its inconclusive ending exists solely to set up the next film, without generating any great expectation that it will be worth waiting for.

The Biographer’s Lover, by Ruby J Murray

This is a very Melbourne book, although chunks are set in Geelong and bits in Sorrento. A hand-to-mouth writer is hired to write a biography of an uncelebrated deceased artist, Edna Cranmer, by her daughter, who is determined that her mother will receive the recognition she deserves. Other family members are not keen and provide obstructions to the writer digging into the artist’s life. Chapters alternate between the anonymous biographer and her subject. She describes her own life and troubles at the time of writing the biography in her personal chapters, while uncovering the secrets of Edna’s past in the others. Both stories are fascinating, examining the role of female artists and the career obstacles they face; touching on rape; and looking at the impact of war on women. The biographer chapters occasionally leap ahead 20 years to give hints of what develops from that earlier time. This is sometimes jarring and unnecessarily intrusive – do we really need a preview? The strange name of the biographer’s son is never explained and seems to have been chosen in a clumsy attempt to misdirect. Edna and the biographer are both women of their time and the book uses this to show the changing lives of women from the 1930s to the 1990s. Chunks of history and art history are shoehorned into the narrative, which Murray largely gets away with by making it part of a ‘life and times’ biography. It makes the character of Edna totally believable and only occasionally strays towards the didactic.

Robin Hood (2018), directed by Otto Bathurst

Did we really need yet another remake of Robin Hood? Probably not, although this version does attempt something different. It declares from the start that we should forget the actual history, despite keeping the names and ranks of the key players and maintaining the overall theme of challenging corrupt authorities that oppress the poor. Apart from the Crusades it avoids all reference to historical events and dates and both language and costumes are vaguely modern and vaguely Game of Thrones – in fact very odd. It is a pity therefore that the filmmakers didn’t depart from the traditional story in other ways – such as creating some leading female characters besides Marian instead of sticking to the usual sausage fest. Taron Egerton is surprisingly charming as Robin; Ben Mendelsohn upholds his villainous reputation as the Sheriff of Nottingham; Eve Hewson plays a suitably feisty Marian, although her Irish accent seems out of place - as does Jamie Dornan’s as Will Scarlett; Jamie Foxx seems to enjoy himself as a slightly different little John; and Tim Minchin is delightful as a skinny and revolutionary Friar Tuck. The action is packed in hard enough to mostly overcome the many plot improbabilities; the film is never dull, if often stupid.

Daughter of Albion, by Ilke Tampke

Ailia is a foundling, raised in the Royal kitchen of a British tribe under threat of Roman invasion. The girl is well cared for but her future is limited by a lack of family; regardless of her talent or ability, learning and marriage are forbidden. But Ailia’s talents are remarkable and she finds herself called to a higher purpose. She must overcome her shortcomings to achieve her potential and help her tribe to survive. Tampke seamlessly fuses ancient history with fantasy elements based on druid lore to create a thoroughly believable culture and an appealingly flawed heroine. Some bizarre time shifts are very convenient to the plot, but are made more acceptable by their patent inconvenience to the heroine. There is a bit of a rush to the finish, with one glaring inconsistency not adequately explained. It paves the way for a sequel, which will hopefully build on a promising start

The Botanist’s Daughter, by Kayte Nunn

Gardener Anna is renovating an old house in central Sydney, left to her by her beloved grandmother. She uncovers an old box full of botanical illustrations and starts to investigate the mystery of how they came to be in her house. Anna’s story is alternated with that of Elizabeth in 1880s Cornwall. The daughter of a botanist/explorer, Elizabeth is determined to continue her father’s legacy of discovering and documenting rare and useful plants. The scene is set for a rollicking adventure story of a woman breaking boundaries, with interesting parallels and lessons to learn in the present day story. Not exactly ground breaking storytelling, but potentially enjoyable. Unfortunately it is undermined by the poor quality of the writing, with paper-thin characterisation and horrendously clunky dialogue. There are lots of good ideas bubbling around and the botany angle is interesting, but it suffers from the same over-exposition as the history. There is just too much telling and not enough doing, compounded by a few gaping plot holes and some literally incredible coincidences. The book finishes on an odd, unsettling note that possibly flags a sequel, or just indicates a continuation of the ostensibly solved mystery to lift it above a bog-standard romance novel.

The Good Place (Netflix) season 3

Back on earth for a second chance at their separate lives, at first everything goes well for Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason. But they all too soon revert to their true characters so Michael and Janet decide to break the rules and interfere. They bring the four together in Australia (because of course where else?), so they can again influence each other for good. Nowhere near as sharp and funny as the first two series, this one is mildly amusing at best and therefore disappointing. With so many Australian actors in Hollywood it’s a pity more of them weren’t employed here, as some of the attempts at the accent are very bad indeed. The quality picks up a bit once the gang returns to the afterworld, with some fun cameos but it’s still a bit meh. The ending goes back to the future, leaving things open for another series, but they probably shouldn’t bother.