Year: 2014

the AU review sits down with UK’s The Bohicas in Sydney ahead of their first Australian show at the Oxford Art Factory. Supported by Unity Floors, The Bohicas play Sydney tonight before hitting up the Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne tomorrow, supported by Drunk Mums. Interview/Edit/Camera: Larry Heath Filmed at AU HQ in Sydney, Australia…

Larry had the chance to catch up with Perth band Tired Lion late one night on the streets of Singapore, at Clarke Quay, to talk about their experiences at Music Matters. It’s an interview interrupted by bands from Canada (JPNSGRLS), crazy kids from Brisbane (Dune Rats) and all the good times that Singapore has to…

Twelve years is certainly a long time for P-Money. But during that time rather than looking for music work, music work looks for him. It all results in two releases with his name on it being released in quick succession. All the while, he expanded his hip-hop wings to take on dancehall with a collaboration…

After the stunning finale to the incredible fourth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, fans all over the world are hungry for any way to return to Westeros, and now it is possible. To celebrate the release of Season 4 on Google Play, HBO and Google Play are bringing Game of Thrones: The Exhibition to…

Ridley Scott has previewed footage of his upcoming biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, at the annual CineEurope presentation. As was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, the director also treated a select group of theatre owners with a peek at the unreleased trailer alongside his preview of the film’s opening. Exodus: Gods and Kings, which…

As was revealed today by Digital Spy, Mark Ruffalo has said Marvel is “entertaining” the idea of making a new Hulk film following the success of The Avengers series and spin-offs. This would be brave of Marvel after two previous attempts to devote an entire film to the big green man-monster that were commercially underwhelming….

The Iris’ Larry Heath talks to Michael Altman about the career of his father, director Robert Altman, as well as his own. Filmed during Sydney Film Festival in June 2014, where Michael presented a retrospective of his father’s illustrious career. ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and…

When it was first announced a few years ago that Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill would be starring in a comedy reboot of the popular 1980’s TV series 21 Jump Street, sceptics around the world raised their eyebrows. To put it bluntly, it sounded like a stupid idea. No one was really holding out for a…

Up until the mid-to late- twentieth century the Indian Act in Canada imposed various forms of control over its Native Indian citizens, most notably in the form of Residential Schools, which all Indian children under fifteen were forced to attend, and the Caucasian ‘Indian Agents’ that ran them. These rules are at the centre of…

the AU review’s Larry Heath in conversation with Glassnote Records’ Daniel Glass (pictured above on the right). Filmed during Music Matters in Singapore, the pair talk about the state of independent music, the future of Glassnote, the artists Daniel Glass wishes Glassnote had in their roster, working with The Temper Trap, excitement for other Australian…

As part of our brand new section AU Abroad, we bring you a birds eye view of the world of travel. In this article series, we let you in on the best airlines to fly with. We return to Australia for our latest addition, for the rather brief journey from the Gold Coast to Sydney…

Indie film and TV darling Zach Braff has taken a decade as well as a controversial Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to finally have his second feature brought to life on the big screen. Wish I Was Here examines the struggles of the thirty-somethings of our generation, including unemployment, marriage, raising kids and the inevitability of…

Village Roadshow Pictures Asia and Warner Bros. Pictures have signed on as co-financiers and co-producers of Desen International Media’s Chinese 3D fantasy adventure Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal. Directed by Zhao Tianyu (The Law of Attraction, Deadly Delicious), Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal stars Chen Kun (The Painted Skin),…

Well it looks like you just can’t keep those pesky teenagers away from the cinema, as young adult adaptation The Fault in Our Stars has topped the Australian box office chart again over the past weekend. The novel is a publishing phenomenon and fans are clearly loving the film. To be fair, Fault has received very strong reviews as…

So it ends; Game of Thrones’ excellent fourth season has come to it’s 10-episode conclusion, closing the book on George RR Martin’s A Storm of Swords and signalling a huge expansion in Season 5. Two pivotal characters – and consistent fan favourites – are now on journeys to places we never expected them to go;…

Humans need water. People are also made of water. And we affect water. The documentary, Watermark looks at the different experiences that society has with water, from celebration to pure science; from duress to progress and through spirituality and work, the many facets of this subject are covered by this ambitious project. But audiences will…

Even though R18+ classification legislation was passed in Australia nearly two years ago, there have been lengthy delays around official game releases to the public. So unless local stores had exercised their right to parallel import games early (completely legal), gamers were left to frustratingly bide their time. For Mortal Kombat fans however, this may have been…

the AU review sits down with Australian hip-hop superstar Matt Colwell aka 360 to talk about his new album Utopia – which was released in Australia on Friday – the massive tour he has planned for September, working with Daniel Johns, Pez and much more…

Vivid Sydney has once again proven that the arts are en vogue, with more than 1.43 million people – that’s more than the population of Adelaide – attending the 18 day light, music and ideas festival. The number breaks the record set in 2013 by 79 percent. On this news, NSW Deputy Premier and Minister…

the AU review meets Laurent Saulnier – the Vice President of Programming & Production at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Canada – to talk about how he got started with the event, the highlights of his career (Leonard Cohen, naturally!) and we get excited about the event, which kicks off on June 26th. Find…

Destination: Niagara Falls, Ontario (Canada) Origin: Toronto, Ontario (Canada) Travel Time (Each Way): Two Hours Niagara Falls. The name alone conjures up a sense of mystic beauty, let alone the magnificent splendour that awaits its onlookers. So when I was given the opportunity to spend a day at the iconic natural wonder, following a week…

Awarded the Special Jury Award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, Love.Love.Love is a charming short documentary film about the notion of love as seen through the eyes of a group of woman ranging from young girls to elderly women. Love.Love.Love was developed via the Cinetrain initiative, a cinema event that takes place in Russia…

It’s 1997 and the Asian Financial Crisis is in full swing. Companies are downsizing, people are feeling the pinch and the burden of providing for one’s family is high. It’s in this pressure-cooker environment that first-time Singaporean director Anthony Chen brings Ilo Ilo. For many, Ilo Ilo is not just about class systems but also…

When we see those pre-empting words of ‘based on a true story’ at the beginning of a film, we are usually left thinking about how much of what we see is fiction, and how much is fact. In the case of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, the latest offering from the Zellner Brothers, the protagonist is…

Agnès Varda is a director who has a nose for a good story and an eye for the sublime. The Grand Dame of French New Wave Cinema started her career as a stills photographer and it is clear that she has brought these skills to her feature films. Her movies are often quite sensual and…

The Iris talks to Peter O’Donoghue, the editor and co-writer of Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets about the film while in Sydney for the Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival – June 2014. ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and may have formatting errors…

La Petite Mort translated as The Little Death, is a French euphemism for orgasm, referring to the post-orgasmic state of consciousness some people go through after a sexual experience. Josh Lawson’s (Any Questions for Ben?, Anchorman 2) low budget directorial debut based on this intriguing concept, is an extension of a short film he’d put…

Last night saw the end of the 61st Sydney Film Festival, with the festival’s prestigious awards handed out at the Closing Night Gala at the State Theatre. Of the 12 films competing in the Official Competition, the Sydney Film Prize was awarded to the French film Two Days, One Night, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc…

Dior & I could be renamed “Dior & Co.” or “Dior & Us”. The documentary film goes behind the scenes at the French fashion house as the new creative director for Dior Haute Couture, Raf Simons prepares his debut collection. After John Galliano was unceremoniously fired amid controversy (he’d made anti-Semitic comments at a Parisian…

“It’s life, you go to bed unsatisfied” in the words of police chief Bill Oswalt, and he’s expressing how we feel too, we’re unsatisfied, and this episode does leave you feeling a little bit that way. Not in a negative sense at all, more in a “we’re at episode 8 of 10 and we still…