Jai Courtney is an Aussie name you'll need to know

Jai Courtney and Bruce Willis at A Good Day To Die Hard. Picture: Splash Source: news.com.au

Alison Stephenson, news.com.au, reports

You may not have heard of Jai Courtney's name before, but chances are you'll soon know it well.

The 26-year-old actor is enjoying a stellar rise to fame after booking three big-budget Hollywood movies in a row and is hotly tipped to become Australia's next big Hollywood star.

The humble Sydneysider has already starred alongside Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher and is in town to promote his latest flick, A Good Day To Die Hard.

Courtney stars as Bruce Willis' son in the blockbuster film, with intense speculation that his role was set up to one day allow him to take over the Die Hard franchise.

Next up, he star's alongside Kate Winslet and Shailene Woodley in the highly-anticipated Divergent.

Courtney spoke to news.com.au about his rise to fame, his likeness to Bruce Willis' and the ironic piece of advice given to him by Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis in a video (follow the link below).

A Good Day to Die Hard has so far grossed $256.7 million worldwide. It opens in Australian cinemas today.

http://video.dailytelegraph.com.au/2352297516/Australias-next-A-lister

Rebel Wilson in talks for The Hunger Games

Source: news.com.au

The Daily Telegraph reports

Rebel Wilson has revealed she is in talks to land a role in The Hunger Games.

The Aussie actor said it would be "awesome" to join Jennifer Lawrence and co. on the latest installment, Catching Fire.

"Um, seriously, I have had a meeting about being in The Hunger Games. Yes," Wilson told Buzzfeed.

"It was one of the people in the capitol. That's all I'll say...Yeah, because there aren't a lot of roles open, because they've all already been cast, but that would be awesome. I'd love to be in The Hunger Games."

The news comes after the Aussie actress declared she thinks Jennifer Lawrence is the sexiest woman in the world.

"I met her at a party and she was super-duper nice. She's really quite tall. Which I found - I don't know if you get that impression when you see her in movies, but she's quite tall. Yeah, and she's just really nice and I love The Hunger Games and I can't wait for the new one to come out."

Rob 'Millsy' Mills is our number one musical man

Rob Mills and Gretel Scarlett will star in the new production of the musical GREASE. Picture: Damian Shaw Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

There is officially only one male performer in the Australian theatre industry.

Following lead roles in Wicked and Legally Blonde: The Musical, Rob Mills walked into the last day of auditions for Grease and walked out with a new name - Danny Zuko.

As the cast for much-loved multimillion-dollar production was confirmed yesterday, the Australian Idol alumnus said he only got the part two weeks ago after appearing in a previous, smaller rendition of the show and had always wanted to be the T-Birds captain. "I don't think I'm a cool guy, but I really wanted the jacket," he said. "I had a sparkly number, but I just really wanted to be a T-Bird. I met some incredible people on that tour. That's when I fell in love with the musical theatre community.

"They opened their arms to me and gave me a big hug and I haven't let go since."

Mills joins an eclectic line-up that includes newcomer Gretel Scarlett as Sandy and seasoned performers Bert Newton, Todd McKenney and Anthony Callea .

Grease is expected to run for at least six months and will open in Brisbane in August.

Scary Mel B has talent for courts

Melanie Brown at one of her court-related visits last year. Picture: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

The current battle in the Australian courts involving former Spice Girl Melanie Brown (Mel B) may leave her last stoush with uber-pap Jamie Fawcett in the dust.

As recently reported, the Seven Network has taken the singer to court, alleging that she has broken a contract stipulating she will not appear on another Australian television network in 2013.

This was allegedly why Brown was allowed to go back to the US to take up a role on America's Got Talent, which is currently shooting.

She had also allegedly made it clear to Seven, where she appeared on The X Factor and Dancing With The Stars, that she needed to return to the US for personal reasons: Eddie Murphy wanted more access to the child he had with her.

Seven's executives were understandably gobsmacked when it was recently revealed that Mel B had signed on as a judge on the rebooted Australia's Got Talent on Channel 9, which will film later this year.

Last week, a NSW Supreme Court judge granted an injunction preventing her from appearing on any Australian TV network other than Seven until January 31 next year.

This is where it gets interesting because, according to a well placed source, if Brown contests the injunction, her producer husband Stephen Belafonte may be called to testify.

It's understood that Belafonte is claiming there was a verbal agreement to release Brown from her contract, while Seven are contesting this.

Unfortunately for Belafonte, being called to the stand may give Seven's lawyers the opportunity to examine his record with the American courts under his birth name of Stephen Stansbury.

This pesky and well-documented past stood in the way of the couple being granted permanent residency in Australia under the stringent guidelines from the Department of Immigration, which does not look kindly on anyone with a criminal record.

According to a departmental spokesman, it is not something that is automatically ruled out but there are lengthy further investigations.

Exactly where all this leaves Mel B's position on the AGT judging panel is unclear but if Belafonte is called to testify in the Supreme Court, it could potentially be more riveting than Jersey Shore.

Sydney puts a spring in Ellen DeGeneres' step

Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi feed the giraffes at Taronga Zoo in Sydney for her TV talkshow in the US. Picture: Adam Taylor Source: News Limited

Simon Black, Holly Byrnes and Alice Coote, The Daily Telegraph, report

In comedy, as in politics, timing is everything. Even accounting for her delayed arrival, Ellen DeGeneres was undoubtedly the most popular woman in Australia yesterday, given the kind of public reception PM Julia Gillard can only dream about.

Such is the TV favourite's appeal, DeGeneres and her Aussie posse, including Geelong-born wife Portia and mum Betty, was mobbed from the moment she danced her way through Sydney Airport's arrivals hall to her first brush with our wildlife on the tourism trail.

Shaking off jet lag and the lurgy which forced her first visit to Sydney and Melbourne to be postponed by a week, the 55-year-old hit the ground running. She shunned a secret VIP arrival and chose instead to stroll down the public entrance into Sydney Airport, holding hands with Portia.

The Emmy-winner was welcomed by thousands of fans and the Qantas choir, who set the tone for the celebratory trip ahead, which DeGeneres will use to acquaint herself with her wife's home country and those devoted to her brand of positivity and fun.

Instead of a luxury yacht or speed boat for a trip to Taronga Zoo, the Ellen show boarded the Borrowdale - a 1985 steel twin catamaran owned and operated by Sydney Ferries Corporation.

With no time to waste, on a schedule abbreviated after her illness last week, the Harbour cruise doubled as a cultural lesson for the American visitors, treated to a traditional welcome to country ceremony by indigenous deckhand Tracy Keys.

At the zoo, Ellen headed to the koala enclosure before excited fans caught another glimpse of the star as she fed the zoo's four giraffes.

The group of 40 Ellen fans, who had won a competition run by Destination NSW and The Sunday Telegraph to spend the day touring Sydney on the official fan bus, joined up with the star at the zoo. Not missing her chance to hitch her wagon to a brighter star, PM Gillard also got in on the act, tweeting: "Welcome to Australia @TheEllenShow. Hope you get to see as much as possible of our beautiful country."

DeGeneres picked up the local lingo quickly, tweeting her mock take on Sydney's coffee addiction: "I'm learning Australian. For coffee, you can get a flat white, a long black or a bad bad Leroy Brown. OK, maybe not the last one."

Local fans first got their opportunity to play an official part in Ellen's TV adventure on Saturday during filming of an abridged version of her chat show on the edge of Sydney's Botanic Gardens.

A makeshift stage, purpose-built for the new season of the opera Carmen, was converted overnight to accommodate the production.

Destination NSW chief Sandra Chipchase said The Ellen Show's diverse audience (not to mention her global Twitter following of 17.7 million fans) had the potential to deliver better outcomes than the Oprah experience, which failed to convert exposure into visitors.

Westside story for our Lincoln Lewis

US TV role ... Australian actor Lincoln Lewis / Pic: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Lincoln Lewis is growing up fast.

The 25-year-old has gone from Home & Away hunk to Hollywood actor after starting to shoot his first big role in the United States.

The son of rugby league great Wally Lewis was spotted yesterday working on the set of Westside, a modern TV retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

The Brisbane boy, who has been in Tomorrow, When The War Began and Australian dramas SLiDE, Underbelly and Tricky Business since leaving the soap in 2010, plays the lead in the show. It's about two warring families in Venice Beach. Another former Summer Bay resident, Luke Bracey, appears as Lewis' brother.

Although American TV networks commission dozens of pilots at this time of year only to go ahead with a select few, Westside has a lot going for it, including the flamboyant McG, who directed the Charlie's Angels big-screen remakes and Terminator: Salvation.

Lewis will also appear in Will Smith's new flick After Earth, out in June.

Movie review: Goddess

Enthusiastic: Laura Michelle Kelly. Source: Supplied

Leigh Paatsch, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Movie review: This chirpy little Australian-made feelgood affair goes quite well in its own happily unpretentious way.

The crucial need-to-know for most intrepid film goers will be the unavoidable fact Goddess is a musical. An original musical at that, chock full of tunes your ears have never heard before.

While I'm no card-carrying fan of musicals myself, I can honestly report Goddess should not be dismissed just because its lead character has the potentially annoying habit of suddenly breaking into song.

To the film's credit, its accessible plot has a very relevant reason for all the wanton warbling.

What's more, the songs themselves are actually quite catchy - if middle-of-the-road pop a la Mamma Mia! is your thing.

British import Laura Michelle Kelly stars as Elspeth, a housewife in rural Tasmania who finds fame and fortune when her video blog goes viral.

With her husband (Ronan Keating) often away working in Antarctica, Elspeth (an aspiring singer-songwriter in her youth) kills all that spare time performing her own compositions to a webcam stationed in her kitchen.

Elspeth's ditties are generally jaunty, genial grizzles about cleaning house and rearing kids, which soon has the whole world logging on and nodding knowingly in unison.

The Elspeth phenomenon soon gets the attention of a cynical Sydney advertising guru (Magda Szubanski), who whisks her up to Sin City to become the face of a new lady-friendly campaign of some sort.

As daft as the premise proves to be, this likeably lightweight movie never works its way out of the viewer's good graces.

The key is the sheer infectious enthusiasm Kelly brings to her role. Though the supporting ranks are packed with corny turns, she does not allow the real warmth and sincerity of her performance to subside for a moment.

--

Goddess [PG]

Rating: 3/5

Director: Mark Lamprell (My Mother Frank)

Starring: Laura Michelle Kelly, Ronan Keating, Magda Szubanski, Dustin Clare

"Vocal, viral, very nice"

Nicole Kidman's seven-year itch to get married - again

Nicole Kidman on her wedding day in 2006 / Pic: Justin Lloyd Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

At the time it was Australia's answer to a royal wedding - all the way from her house in Darling Point to the church in Manly, the streets were lined with hundreds of well-wishers having barbecues and clinking champagne glasses in toast of their fairytale romance.

Now rumours abound it's all set to happen again ... on something of a smaller scale, Confidential imagines.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are said to be planning to renew their vows at the Cardiell Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the St Patricks Estate, the site of their exquisite 2006 nuptials.

Reports out of the US say American Idol judge Urban is the one pushing for the intimate ceremony in June to mark their seven-year anniversary and involve their two daughters, Sunday Rose, 4, and Faith Margaret, 2.

It certainly fits with recent comments Kidman made about how "crazy" Urban's love is for his family, who are currently staying in London.

Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet hits Sydney with exclusive show

Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet is putting on an exclusive show in Sydney . Picture: Tepper Katrina Source: The Daily Telegraph

Kathy McCabe, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Modern Family fans will get an intimate behind-the-scenes expose of the top rating comedy when its star Eric Stonestreet hosts an exclusive show in Sydney next week.

The award-winning actor, who plays the larger-than-life Cameron Tucker in the American sitcom, will host a chat and audience Q and A at the Metro on March 26.

Joined by Modern Family's writer and executive producer Danny Zuker, the chatfest taps into a growing market for similar style shows where fans get a chance to delve deeper into the television programs they love.

The recent sold-out gigs by Will and Grace star Megan Mullaly, which also featured her singing Broadway favourites, also featured the actress being "interviewed" by her pianist Seth Rudetsky.

Tickets for the one-off show, decribed as "us being in your living room", go on sale tomorrow.

Human nature for Toby Allen to want to be a dad

Darren Weller, Amanda Burns and Toby Allen / Pic: Richard Dobson Source: The Daily Telegraph

Joel Christie, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Human Nature star Toby Allen will be a father in a matter of days, with the singer confirming he and long-term partner Darren Weller are eagerly awaiting the birth of twins via a surrogate.

The couple - who met at a charity tennis game in Sydney in 2005 but have until now kept their relationship quiet - live together in Las Vegas, where Australia's most successful boy band are currently on a two-year performance residency at The Venetian casino.

It's understood the pair spent years researching the surrogacy process before selecting a woman in California, who is due this month.

Weller, a 34-year-old stage actor last seen playing Julian Assange in the 2011 Seymour Centre production Stainless Steel Rat, will act as the stay-at-home dad while Allen takes to the stage seven times a week with the Human Nature Motown show.

"They are really lucky because (Toby) works at night, so they will be together with the kids during the day," a source told Confidential.

"On Tuesdays and Wednesdays he has matinee shows but will be home after that, and then does evenings Thursday through Sunday."

The pair have decided not to find out the gender of the twins before the birth.

Allen, 39, says his sexuality has been an open secret among the band.

"I think a lot of people knew I was gay but it never became an issue, which was really lovely," he told New Idea.

"I haven't hidden away from it, but I haven't searched out that publicity either.

"All of us in Human Nature have always preferred to keep our private lives private and just let people enjoy the music."

The other members of the quartet - brothers Andrew and Mike Tierney and Phil Burton - are excited and supportive, Allen told the mag.

Robert Pattinson goes bush and loves peace and quiet

The Rover ... David Michod , Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce on set / Pic: Nettheim Matt Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Robert Pattinson has left the building.

And when we say "building" we mean Australia.

The British-born Hollywood superstar jetted back to LA this week, just hours after enjoying a final night out in Adelaide after being based down south for the last two months.

The Twilight heart throb has been shooting futuristic western The Rover with Guy Pearce in the Flinders Ranges, north of Adelaide, and celebrated wrapping the film by hanging out with some locals.

Pictures have since emerged of R-Patz enjoying drinks at the nearby Marree Hotel, which catered the David Michod flick.

Confidential understands Pattinson happily posed for fan photos, but asked them that they not post any on social media until after he had finished filming.

Sources on the set say the 26-year-old has "loved" the "peace and quiet of the Outback and being away from the city life" during his time Down Under.

Having spent over seven weeks alone, it will be interesting to see if he returns to the arms of on/off girlfriend and co-star Kristen Stewart.

Channel Seven wins legal injunction to stop Mel B moving to Nine Network for new Australia's Got Talent series

Source: news.com.au

 

Holly Byrnes and Amy Dale, The Daily Telegraph, report

An ugly TV court battle has erupted over Channel Nine's new signing Mel B after her former employer Channel 7 won an injunction against the Spice Girl appearing on another network before next year.

Still smarting after being side-swiped by the defection to Nine’s reboot of Australia’s Got Talent, Seven took the celebrity judge to the NSW Supreme Court, crying foul over the pop star's poaching by Nine just weeks after she gave her notice.

In Seven’s successful claim today, it was alleged Scary Spice, aka Melanie Brown, was under a conditional contract preventing her from signing with any person or company other than Seven until January 31, 2014.

The terms of Brown’s X Factor deal were thought to have expired after Nine inked its new contract with the singer to join its new panel of judges, alongside British comedian Dawn French and Sydney radio host Kyle Sandilands, on a revamped version of the talent search series the network had secured after it was shelved by Seven.

Seven were clearly taken by surprise by Nine’s announcement this week that it had secured Brown’s services, after she told them she would not be returning to this year’s series of The X Factor for family reasons.

She has since left Sydney and taken up a role as a judge on the US reality series, America’s Got Talent, but now faces a fight to join the Aussie version of the global TV franchise.

The court ruled Brown was “restrained from entering into or performing any agreement with any person other than (Channel 7) for her to appear on television in Australia at any time before 31 January 2014.”

It also ordered her husband Stephen Belafonte against "assisting, inducing or otherwise procuring (Brown)” to enter into a deal with any network other than Channel 7.

The court heard the Nine Network will be added as a defendant alongside Brown in the case, when it returns for further hearings on March 25.

A spokeswoman for Channel 7 was tight-lipped, telling News Limited: “The court needs time to explore the facts and we await its decision.”

Her opposite at Nine publicity was more optimistic, stating: “We’re really excited to be working with Mel B on the bigger and better Australia’s Got Talent. We’re surprised Seven has taken this action.”

Australian actor Jai Courtney takes Hollywood by storm with starring role in A Good Day to Die Hard

Jai Courtney is making his mark in Hollywood, playing Bruce Willis's son in the new Die Hard film. Picture: Nicole Cleary Source: News Limited

Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Twelve months ago, Jai Courtney snuck into the Australian F1 Grand Prix on his bicycle.

The red carpet rolled out for the Sydney actor this past weekend as he returned a movie star - co-starring with Bruce Willis in A Good Day to Die Hard.

"It was a very different experience, there was no corporate hospitality, that’s for sure," Courtney laughed of his previous Grand Prix adventure. "Next year, I’m going to put a little more pressure on them to get me in that celebrity race - that looked like fun."

Courtney, 26, is already in top gear on the big screen, facing off against Tom Cruise in January’s Jack Reacher and now playing son to Willis’s iconic Die Hard cop Jack McClane.

A Good Day to Die Hard has so far grossed $256.7 million worldwide. It opens in Australia on Thursday.

"It’s certainly opening up some more interesting opportunities for me,” said the now LA-based Courtney. “I don’t think life has changed dramatically, but it’s a great thing."

Courtney said the toughest part of following in Willis’s action hero footsteps was “how confusing things can be”.

"This film is in a sense one big action sequence - it’s like a 90-minute chase. So many times you’ll forget where it is you are. You might sustain an injury and then three weeks later you’re shooting the scene that immediately follows that and it’s like, ‘Hang on, didn’t I have a piece of glass in my shin?’

"It’s quite a chaotic thing to do."

Kate Winslet could be Courtney’s next co-star, with the Aussie confirming he has “jumped on board” the movie Divergent, based on a series of best-selling young-adult novels.

Australian musical Goddess a hit with audiences at box office

Laura Michelle Kelly plays a housewife who finds an international audience via her webcam in Goddess. Source: Supplied

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Goddess, the kitchen-sink musical starring British actress Laura Michelle Kelly, Ronan Keating and Magda Szubanski, hit the right note with Australian audiences at the weekend.

Following in the footsteps of song-driven crowd-pleasers such as Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires, the film took $500,000 and the No 4 spot, overtaking Oscar-favourite The Silver Linings Playbook in its seventh week at the box office.

Kelly, who originated the role of Mary Poppins in the stage musical, stars as an isolated housewife who finds an international audience via her webcam.

Stan Walker's feature debut, Mt Zion, also punched above its weight. The Kiwi drama had the highest screen average ($7,755) of any film in the Top 20.

Oz the Great and Powerful remains at No. 1, with Jim Carrey and Steve Carell's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone at No. 2.

The figures were a welcome boost for the Australian box office after a disappointing start to the year. The cricket film Save Your Legs, with Stephen Curry and Brendan Cowell, and the AFL film Blinder performed well below expectations.

Robert Pattinson dreading leaving Australia when filming on The Rover wraps

Rob Pattinson has less than three weeks left of filming The Rover Down Under, but he doesn’t want to go home. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph reports

Robert Pattinson is reportedly having such a good time shooting his new movie in Australia he's dreading returning to Los Angeles.

The Twilight star is currently filming near-future western The Rover in South Australia and is said to be loving life away from the spotlight.

Production wraps on the film in three weeks and Pattinson is allegedly dreading returning to LA and the looming crisis talks with his on/off girlfriend Kristen Stewart.

"Temperatures may have topped 50 degrees at times during filming, but Robert's been happy to be away from Los Angeles. The set really is in the middle of nowhere, a good drive from Adelaide, so it's been the ideal setting for him to forget all his troubles and bury himself in his work.

"After filming, Robert's been keen to socialise with the cast and crew and loves being in the outback, away from city life. It's the peace and quiet he has needed since his relationship woes with Kristen and the perfect way to re-evaluate things," a source told Radar Online.

"But, with just short of three weeks left of filming, Robert's beginning to get nervous about returning to LA and Kristen. He left in frosty circumstances and needs to make a decision on what to do next. Either way, it will involve a big sit down chat with Kristen and that's something he’s not looking forward to."

The pair's relationship was rocked when Stewart admitted having an affair with married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders. The actress is said to be distraught about the prospect of losing R-Patz and has been confiding in Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner.

"Kristen has been spending a lot of time with Taylor of late because she’s been using him as a sounding board for her relationship with Robert. She thinks that he may have some insight in how she should proceed with Robert - and where their relationship is going," an insider previously revealed.

Stan's feeling anything but idol

Singer, former Australian Idol winner and now actor Stan Walker. Source: Supplied

Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Walking the streets, Stan Walker has become used to plaudits and back-slapping. But it's all getting a little old.

"People are still coming up to me like, 'Congratulations'. I'm like, 'Have I won an award or something?' They're still talking about Idol. I understand they're excited and all that but ... I've done so much since then ... "

However, around 3 1/2 years after Walker was crowned Australian Idol, the tide of recognition is starting to turn - especially in NZ.

"Oh man, it's awesome, people on the streets are calling me 'Turei!' That's, ohhhh, refreshing," he sighs. "It's refreshing to be able to make your mark on something else and for people to be able to see you in a different way."

Turei is Walker's character in the film Mt Zion - the singer's first attempt at acting and a rather successful one at that.

Set on the outskirts of Auckland in 1979, the film centres on Turei's dream to be support act on a tour by his idol, Bob Marley. The quest clashes with his duties as a potato-picker, as a son (his father is played by Temuera Morrison) and as part of the local Maori community.

The funny, sweet and moving story had the second-best opening weekend for a local movie in NZ history when it opened there last month.

"It's such a beautiful film," Walker says. "I've seen it four times. The first few times I'm just sitting there analysing what I did wrong. But the fourth time I watched it as a film, I didn't judge it or anything and, yeah, I loved it."

Walker was pretty fresh off his Idol victory when writer-director Tearepa Kahi decided he was the perfect candidate to lead Mt Zion.

To prepare, Walker "did a few acting classes - just to get my confidence up". Then he worked on changing his appearance, covering tattoos and ... "I was huge," Walker says.

But that's just all the layers of make-up it took to cover the tatts, right?

"Oh no. I was a lot heavier than what I am now - I put on 18kg on that film."

On purpose? "Ah, it was a little bit accidental. It was the food they were feeding us!"

Couldn't you just say you were in character?

"Oh, yeah. A little bit of that!"

The film features a handful of roots-reggae music performances, all captured live on set, a la Les Mis. That was "the easier part of the film", says Walker, because singing is what he does.

The hard part was the potatoes (and not just eating them all).

"Oh man," Walker groans, "we actually did spud picking for about three weeks, so we knew what we were doing. I'm no good, I don't want to do that ever. It's full on."

While spud picking is not for Walker, acting might just be.

"It was one the most fun, refreshing, amazing experiences I've ever had," he says. "I don't think I'm a good actor or anything, but I'd love to try some more."

Walker says life since winning Idol in 2009 has been "full-on".

"This is a tough business, it's very cut-throat. You've gotta play the game. It's been a challenge, but I've kept on keeping on."

But like Turei in Mt Zion, he knows what it's like to wish for something and to, one way or another, find it.

"We had the some passion and the same goal," says Walker. "We wanted to be more, we wanted to live the dream."

* SEE Mt Zion - opens today.

Movie review: Goddess

Enthusiastic: Laura Michelle Kelly. Source: Supplied

Leigh Paatsch, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Movie review: This chirpy little Australian-made feelgood affair goes quite well in its own happily unpretentious way.

The crucial need-to-know for most intrepid film goers will be the unavoidable fact Goddess is a musical. An original musical at that, chock full of tunes your ears have never heard before.

While I'm no card-carrying fan of musicals myself, I can honestly report Goddess should not be dismissed just because its lead character has the potentially annoying habit of suddenly breaking into song.

To the film's credit, its accessible plot has a very relevant reason for all the wanton warbling.

What's more, the songs themselves are actually quite catchy - if middle-of-the-road pop a la Mamma Mia! is your thing.

British import Laura Michelle Kelly stars as Elspeth, a housewife in rural Tasmania who finds fame and fortune when her video blog goes viral.

With her husband (Ronan Keating) often away working in Antarctica, Elspeth (an aspiring singer-songwriter in her youth) kills all that spare time performing her own compositions to a webcam stationed in her kitchen.

Elspeth's ditties are generally jaunty, genial grizzles about cleaning house and rearing kids, which soon has the whole world logging on and nodding knowingly in unison.

The Elspeth phenomenon soon gets the attention of a cynical Sydney advertising guru (Magda Szubanski), who whisks her up to Sin City to become the face of a new lady-friendly campaign of some sort.

As daft as the premise proves to be, this likeably lightweight movie never works its way out of the viewer's good graces.

The key is the sheer infectious enthusiasm Kelly brings to her role. Though the supporting ranks are packed with corny turns, she does not allow the real warmth and sincerity of her performance to subside for a moment.

Baz Luhrmann directed Great Gatsby to open Cannes Film Festival

The Great Gatsby reunites Leonardo DiCaprio with director Baz Luhrmann. Picture: Village Roadshow / Warner Bros Source: Supplied

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Baz Luhrmann's hotly-anticipated 3D film adaptation of The Great Gatsby is to open the Cannes Film Festival.

"We are thrilled to return to a country, place and festival that has always been so close to our hearts, not only because my first film, Strictly Ballroom, was screened there 21 years ago, but also because F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the most poignant and beautiful passages of his extraordinary novel just a short distance away at a villa outside St. Raphael,'' said Luhrmann.

The film, which was shot in Sydney and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character, will screen out of competition on May 15.

It is scheduled to open in the US on May 10 and Australia on May 30.

Lurhmann has a long association with the prestigious event. Strictly Ballroom was selected for a midnight screening in 1992. The reaction was so positive that the independently financed film sold around the globe.

And Moulin Rouge! opened the festival in 2001, where it screened in competition, making it eligible for the Palme D'Or, the festival's top prize.