The mid-19th century efforts to educate two aboriginal boys in Italy, who could become missionaries to their own people, started with the best intentions but finished badly.

Coming off the back of the worst global economic slowdown since the Great Depression, this year’s Federal Budget has the monumental task of delivering economic recovery for a nation still reeling from stay-at-home restrictions, border lockdowns and the virtual disappearance of the hospitality and tourism sector, let alone the ongoing hit to retail and industry.

Satan does seem to be having his way around the clock in the harrowingly grim, mayhem-ridden drama The Devil All the Time (Netflix). In fact, various forms of perversity are so pervasive in the film that it skirts the border of the offensive.

The early medieval Ballad of Mulan tells of the exploits of a heroine who, disguised as a man, distinguished herself as a warrior.

Bassendean parishioner Xavier Jarvis is the new Organ Scholar at St Mary’s Cathedral Parish after successfully securing a one-year scholarship grant.

Of the numerous film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ autobiographical 1850 novel, The Personal History of David Copperfield (Fox Searchlight) may rank as the happiest.

Sixty years ago, Rod Taylor hopped on a fancy sled for a loopy journey into the future in The Time Machine. Twenty-five years later, Michael J Fox went in the opposite chronological direction – with a DeLorean and much more comedy – in Back to the Future.

Billed as the 13th and final instalment of the X-Men film series, The New Mutants (20th Century) slams the lid on the coffin of a once-mighty franchise with a resounding thud.

This Italian-inspired four-cheese sauce (salsa ai quattro formaggi) is comfort food at its finest and works great with any type of pasta or gnocchi.

Fatima (Picturehouse), a fact-based drama from director and co-writer Marco Pontecorvo, recounts what may rank as the most remarkable series of religious events of modern times.
Namely, the 1917 apparitions of the Virgin Mother Mary (Joana Ribeiro) to three shepherd children near the Portuguese city of the title.