With her feature debut Idiotka, filmmaker Nastasya Popov delivers a spirited satire that skewers influencer culture and reality television while grounding the chaos in something surprisingly tender: family. At its centre is Margarita – or Margusya – played with precise comic timing and quiet vulnerability by Anna Baryshnikov. A young Russian American woman living in…
The Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF) is marking a major milestone in 2026, unveiling its tenth-year program with a bold and celebratory lineup championing women and gender-diverse filmmakers from Australia and beyond. Running March 19th – 23rd across ACMI and Federation Square, the festival continues its decade-long commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices on screen….
With Scream 7 stalking its way into cinemas this week, there’s no better time to revisit the franchise’s most sacred tradition: the opening kill. From subversive fake-outs to era-defining terror, the first ten minutes of a Scream movie are its thesis statement – laying out the rules, the tone, and the body count to come….
Lismore has long worn its floods as a badge of resilience – a town that rebuilds, again and again, along the banks of a river that refuses to be tamed. But in Floodland, director Jordan Giusti looks beyond the mythology of grit and endurance to ask a far more unsettling question: what happens when resilience…
I began my gaming journey long before the God of War franchise launched in 2005, but since that very first game, I’ve felt it’s been an incredible and important staple, with many entries ranking among my favourite games of all time. Be it the setting, the storytelling, the memorable characters, or the gory action, it…
In the adrenaline-charged action-adventure The Bluff, Priyanka Chopra Jonas stars as Ercell “Bloody Mary” Bodden, a former pirate forced to confront her violent past to protect her family. Director Frank E. Flowers spoke with our Peter Gray to discuss bringing the Cayman Islands’ rarely seen history to life on screen, the meticulous authenticity behind the…
The Bluff is a spirited dive into pirate-infused action, set against the jaw-dropping Cayman Brac, where towering bluffs and Skull Cave provide the perfect backdrop for a story about revenge, family, and redemption. At its heart is Priyanka Chopra Jonas as Ercell “Bloody Mary” Bodden, a woman dragged back into the violent world she thought…
The darkened stage contains little but a white telephone upon a table. It rings. Young dancers, clad in harlequin-style outfits race to answer it, reminding us of the time that was commonplace in our homes. It becomes a dance of calling, answering and connecting, setting the scene for what is to come. The young Taiwanese…
The Sunday rain couldn’t keep eager concertgoers away from 170 Russell in Melbourne, where Broadside, This Wild life, Hot Chelle Rae, Cartel and Anberlin rolled into town for Destroy All Lines’ An Emo Extravaganza. Announced late last year, there was lots of hyper surrounding this event. Still, a last-minute venue downsize for Melbourne hinted that…
Nestled amongst the attractions of sideshow alley at the rear of the Garden of Unearthly Delights is an unassuming collection of white ocean containers. They house three of the Darkfield experiences, Seance, Flight and Invisible. The nearby screams of patrons being flung high in the air on the various rides lend a strange contrast to…
History is often told in sweeping gestures – conquest, empire, survival. But in Zumeca, David Maler narrows the lens. Set against the violent collision of worlds in the early days of the Americas, the film reframes the so-called “discovery” of the New World through something far more intimate: the relationship between a Spaniard, Miguel, and…
There’s a particular kind of audacity required to make a film like The Testament of Ann Lee. It’s a historical epic. It’s a spiritual fever dream. It’s a full-bodied musical about celibate 18th-century dissenters who worshipped by trembling and dancing themselves toward transcendence. And somehow, under the assured direction of Mona Fastvold, it coheres into…
From the outside, The Testament of Ann Lee might sound like an unlikely cinematic proposition: a period biopic about the founder of the Shakers, structured as a musical, rooted in ecstatic song and movement rather than spectacle. But in the hands of writer-director Mona Fastvold and star Amanda Seyfried, the film becomes something far more…
There’s nothing like a good Irish pub show to get your evening off to a grand start. The Shamrocks have finally made their way to Adelaide to show how to do exactly that. The six Irish lads, including two sets of brothers have an instantly likeable energy about them. Raymond Walsh created the Shamrocks back…
Oscar Wilde‘s farce The Importance of Being Earnest is all about two young men about town who lead double lives, avoiding their social obligations. It is normally played in a rather rigid format by rather experienced thespians. It’s a play that explores explores themes of identity, social expectations, and the nature of truth and deception. Which…
I’ve never actually gotten around to getting a digital photo frame, but given my family’s ever-expanding shared folders and social media inboxes full of photos, I’m not really sure as to why. My wife and I constantly update our own shared albums and send photos to each other daily, and thanks to the Arzopa D14…
There would be very few people who, at some stage in their lives, hasn’t been labelled as “dramatic”. Let me rephrase. There would be very few WOMEN who, at some stage in their lives, hasn’t been ACCUSED of being “dramatic”. Perhaps this is why comedian Nikki Britton’s new stand-up Not To Be Dramatic at Adelaide…
The Greek mythological tragedy Orpheus and Eurydice is an epic tale of how the musician Orpheus descends into the Underworld to rescue his wife, Eurydice, after she dies from a snake bite on their wedding day. His music moves Hades, allowing her to return, on the condition that Orpheus walks ahead and does not look…
Holden Street is known as “Home of Theatre” during the Adelaide Fringe. For some 23 years, the artist-run hub has been at the forefront of cutting-edge theatre. Hidden away in Hindmarsh, it’s like a secret gem in the inner west. This reviewer saw a small selection of plays, each of which were world class, thought-provoking…
Three friends, one artwork, three very different perspectives. ART The Play, written by French Playwright Yasmina Reza and directed by Lee Lewis, is the story of three friends – Marc (Richard Roxburgh), Serge (Damon Herriman) and Yvan (Toby Schmitz) – whose 20+ year friendship is thrown into turmoil when Serge decides to spend 160,000 euro…
The circus spectacular, La Ronde made its debut at the Adelaide Fringe last year to rave reviews. Since then it has toured and transformed and is back at the Fringe better than ever. Created by the producers of Blanc de Blanc and LIMBO and with a blend of familiar and new characters, it is sure…
Enmore Road was full of alfresco diners last night, many of them meeting with friends ahead of seeing Morcheeba at Enmore Theatre. No doubt, their conversations went something like this: “I remember listening to the Big Calm album in my room at Uni!”, “Me too! It reminds me of my first love, job, heartbreak, trip…
After a sold out USA and UK tour, Freya Skye is officially heading Down Under this June, bringing her Stars Align tour on the road. Hinting at Australian dates in a recent post, fans waited patiently for the official announcement, which came at 2am AEDT today. The stars align tour will hit Brisbane’s Fortitude Music…
When How To Make A Killing hits screens, audiences meet Becket Redfellow, a charmingly ruthless heir-in-waiting determined to reclaim the fortune his estranged, high-society family denied him at birth. Disowned and raised in the working-class world of New York, Becket (Glen Powell) will stop at nothing – and kill anyone in his way – to…
John Patton Ford’s How To Make A Killing arrives disguised as a revenge thriller, but what unfolds is something far more sly, strange, and darkly delightful. Loosely inspired by the 1949 classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, the 2026 film swaps aristocratic Britain for modern American excess and delivers a wickedly funny meditation on class, greed,…
In 1967, two grizzly bear attacks nine miles apart shattered the illusion that America’s national parks were a perfectly managed wilderness. Nearly six decades later, Grizzly Night revisits that harrowing evening with a human-first lens – less creature feature, more reckoning with faith, fear and fragility. Directed by first-time feature filmmaker Burke Doeren and written…
There are pop tours that feel like victory laps – and then there are the ones that feel like reclamations. On the opening night of her Australian Tits Out Tour in Brisbane, Kesha’s return to the stage felt firmly like the latter: messy in places, minimal in production, emotionally raw – and undeniably hers. The…
With February flying by (how is it already the 20th?), we’re back with ten fresh tracks for your weekly rotation — a mix of rising stars, left-of-centre gems and undeniable earworms. Leading the charge is our Track of the Week, REDD. and best friend ixaras, with “juliet” — a track that’s been living rent-free in…
Thanks to Paramount Pictures Australia and Superdream, we have 10 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to the anticipated slasher sequel, Scream 7, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, Joel McHale, Mckenna Grace, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Asa Germann, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Ethan Embry, Tim Simons and…
Victorian singer/songwriter Chloe Violette has today released her stunning debut album, Colourfast. A collection of ten songs exploring identity, heartache, hope and our deep ties to people and place, the record feels both intimate and expansive. Written and recorded across seasons — beginning in March 2023 — Colourfast grew slowly and organically, shaped by patience…
