“The melancholic has above all a feeling for the sublime” – Immanuel Kant

More than 100 paintings trace JMW Turner’s life and art in the South Australian Art Gallery’s ambitious offering, Turner from the Tate: The Making of a Master. We begin at a safe place, landscapes full of light, paintings of traditional skill, strength and finesse. We travel with Turner, from the Swiss Alps to Venice to Wales. Suddenly, the landscapes become less of a still life and more a catharsis of colour. We knew that Turner was a master, but now we see that he was also a maverick. We find vision in his work, not just talent.

Ringleader of the dark realms Travjamjar returns with his second and last exhibition in Australia, as he gears up to pursue a career in the U.S. On display at Wedge Gallery in Kinokuniya (The Galleries, Sydney) and finishing up at the Foresight Gallery in Newcastle, the macabrely titled “Infanticide”, is the latest batch of creations to spring from the artist’s humorously twisted brain.

From one brief look at its poster, you very much know what to expect from Safe Haven, the latest film from Dear John director Lasse Hallström, based on a novel from the author of The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks. Even that sentence will tell you all you need to know, let alone the loving embrace of the two leads on the poster. Yes, Safe Haven is the latest sappy romantic novel to be adapted to the big screen, naturally marketed towards the female under 25 demographic, featuring two sexy stars who fall in love - but not before a few bags of emotion and secrets are kicked out onto the curb. And in this film, there are more dirty bags than an episode of Home and Away.

This past week in the US marked the end of yet another fantastic series, 30 Rock, which finished up its 7th season with a fantastic series finale - ahead of the premiere of Community next week for its final season! Ah, it's the end of an era. We thought we'd take a moment and commemorate the loss of one of TV's greatest comedies, by looking back at ten of the best shows to grace our screens over the last ten years. The only rule for this list was that the series must have started (and in many cases finished) in the last decade... so without further adieu, here we go...

It’s all fun and games until you enrage a pair of witch hunters.

Another badass, stylistically daring marvel from Tarantino.

Every now and then a romantic film comes along that avoids a vast amount of the clichés that plague the majority of the genre (especially from the US). It’s usually a refreshing, entertaining, well produced take on the concept. The latest film to tick these boxes and save us from the romantic tripe that the box office usually delivers is Silver Linings Playbook, the surprise Oscar nominated, Golden Globe and SAG winning film from acclaimed director David O. Russell (The Fighters, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees).

To watch a great band tear up the stage is one thing. To experience that band not only do that, but whip the crowd up into a frenzy shortly after being completely engrossed in the documentary that filled us in on the extraordinary story that saw them here before us, is very much another. That was the predicament the crowd found themselves in this past Sunday as we watched the Thunder Soul documentary followed by the downright dirty funk of the Kashmere Stage Band at Paradiso at Town Hall as part of the 2013 Sydney Festival, presented by Funkdafied.

The 22nd annual Bondi Short Film Festival culminated in a night with awards and accolades followed by a screening of some of the best short films from the festival. A packed theatre at the The Pavilion was on hand to support the fine talent of writers, producers, directors and filmmakers in an festival that has gained international recognition with entries up for consideration in the next year's Oscar Awards.

Last year, our AU Review contributors listed The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers as their favourite movies of 2012, highlighting our love affair with all things comic book and hero related. Judging by our contributors most anticipated films of 2013, this year, it seems fantasy and sci-fi adaptations are going to overtake our beloved comic book heroes but with the second Hobbit installment, as well as the latest Star Trek movie, can you really blame us? Take a look at our top 10 most anticipated movies of 2013.

The inspired and creative minds behind the world’s most famous show, Cirque du Soleil, have arrived in Melbourne with their latest production OVO. The AU were front and centre under the iconic blue and yellow Grand Chapiteau for the premiere.

The world premiere of The Secret River is an Australian epic that has been some six years in the making. An adaptation of the Kate Grenville novel, the book was the winner of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and was short-listed for the Booker. It’s a tragic, historic tale based on facts that are as important to marking the birth of this country as the choice of the Australian flag.

The 22nd instalment of the Flickerfest International Short Film Festival was opened at Bondi Pavillion on a balmy summer’s evening. The “Blue Hawaii” theme was a perfect fit for the event as the Sydney arts alumni came out to experience the best short films from Australia and the world.

In the 80's, people never did anything by halves. The shoulder pads were bigger, the hair permed higher and the technology that was supposed to be portable was the size of a small chid. School Dance is a new play that has a small crew but a big heart. It captures the period so well and is one of the reasons why – even a quarter of a century after the fact – people still like to look back on it with a misty-eyed and nostalgic glee.

As we speak, there are three Spiegeltents doing the rounds (pun intended) in and around Sydney. Two are for Sydney Festival - The Famous Spiegeltent in Hyde Park you're probably already familiar with, and the newer addition, The Idolize Spiegeltent, sits in Parramatta (and was also part of the Darwin Festival last year). The third comes straight from Broadway, currently sits at The Entertainment Quarter (I'm not the only one who still just calls it Fox Studios am I?) and exclusively houses Empire, a New York* cabaret from Spiegelworld, the folks who previously produced Absinthe (which you can now see in Las Vegas).