The Morrigan review – spirit of pagan demon queen unleashed in Irish burial chamber horror

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Archaeologists blunder into an ancient and unwittingly release a vengeful monster – with predictable and conventional results In Irish folklore, the Morrígan is a powerful goddess of death and war. This horror movie imagines her as an actual historical figure: a pagan queen massacred with her followers by Christians. A quick scene at the start of the film shows the dirty deed. The Morrígan’s rage against misogyny has screamed down through the centuries – so it’s a shame the film frames her not as a feminist icon but a highly conventional horror movie nemesis; a malign vengeful female to be crushed and destroyed. There is nothing to punch the air about in the end. Saffron Burrows plays an archaeologist called Fiona who has been repeatedly passed over for tenure at her US university. When Fiona presents her radical theory that the myth of the Morrígan may have a basis in real life, her slippery colleague Jonathan (Jonathan Forbes) is made the lead on the dig. Fiona is forced to bring al...
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Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles review – documentary will wiggle its way into your heart

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Film about the Australian musical phenomenon, who are akin to the Beatles for toddlers, is bubbly and insightful, if a tad long

As a longtime admirer of the hit song Hot Potato, a profoundly poetic if slightly repetitive celebration of simple cuisine and the temperature at which it can be served, I was excited to have its origins unpacked in a new film exploring its creators.

Early in, director Sally Aitken’s bubbly and quite well-made documentary about the Wiggles – the phenomenally successful troupe up there with Bluey and Bananas in Pyjamas as Australia’s biggest family friendly exports – we hear a sound bite of veteran interviewer Andrew Denton suggesting these barmy, toot-tooting, Shimmie Shaking entertainers ought to be taken seriously.

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