Year: 2014

‘The Monolith’ – what a title for an episode of anything not directly related to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The one shot that recalls 2001 comes early is blink-and-you-miss-it quick; a shot of the SC&P elevator doors, black and imposing against a white background. And like the monolith in 2001, this doors represent all the…

Anyone who’s chuckled madly at the 4 minute animated slices of goodness that make-up Minuscule, will no doubt be welling with excitement at the thought of a full length feature delving into this charming insect world. French creators Hélène Giraud and Thomas Szabo have taken the plunge, writing and directing a film crammed with action…

Directed by Riley Blakeway, Corona Extra Presets Someplace Else is a special short film which follows an eclectic group of artistic individuals as they embark on the ultimate road trip along the Mexican coast. They piled into a transporter bus for 7 days and 7 nights, traveling the coast, meeting locals along the way while…

Though our last two articles looked at some of the lesser known acts at Jazz Fest, let’s face it – it’s the headliners that get us through the door at these events. It’s their incredible and anticipated sets that we spend the day holding our breath for, while we enjoy weeks of anticipation in the…

The program for the 61st Sydney Film Festival was officially launched today by Tony Grant, the NSW Minister for the Arts. The Festival will run from the 4th to the 15th of June and will showcase a wide and exciting range of incredible films. This year the Festival consists of 183 titles from 47 countries, including 15 World Premieres (including 6 World Premiere short…

Raising a disobedient 7 year-old child while working shifts at a nursing home and maintaining what remains of your home after your husband is gone – killed in a car crash on the way to the hospital to deliver your unborn child – is pretty damn tough. This is what Amelia faces (Essie Davis) with…

Continuing the show’s dominance of 60s soundtracks, Field Trip concludes with Jimi Hendrix’s If 6 Was 9 – a song that essentially about the counter cultural movement of the 60s and how the hippies are the really aware ones against the white collar conservatives. Whilst the show does flirt occasionally with the 60s counter culture,…

Directed by Riley Blakeway, Corona Extra Presets Someplace Else is a special short film which follows an eclectic group of artistic individuals as they embark on the ultimate road trip along the Mexican coast. They piled into a transporter bus for 7 days and 7 nights, traveling the coast, meeting locals along the way while…

Corona Extra presents this very special short film titled “Someplace Else”, which documents Corona’s artist residency on the road in Mexico Directed by Riley Blakeway, Someplace Else features Ozzie Wright, Dylan Graves, Hanni El Khatib, Rose Ashton, Jeff Canham and Andrew Brophy. Corona Extra pulled together this eclectic group of individuals for the ultimate road…

2014 marks the 45th Year of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, one of the world’s longest running music events; and for yours truly, it marked my second visit to the iconic event. Every year, over seven days spread across two weekends, the musical world descends on New Orleans for some of the world’s…

Excitement is steady buzzing in the air for Michael Bay’s latest blockbuster Transformers: the Age of Extinction. The film’s leading man Mark Wahlberg is set to keep that anticipation high with a special visit to Sydney to help promote a footage screening event on Wednesday May 21. The film also stars Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer,…

It was quite a slow weekend at the Australian box office, which is understandable given the end of school holidays. The reduction of family audiences has meant that the top two spots have been taken by two comedies skewed towards (slightly) more mature audiences. The top spot was taken by new Seth Rogen-Zac Efron comedy…

If Jon Favreau’s film, Chef were a food it would be garlic. It’s a product adored by some, hated by others and is not rare. This light comedy with hints of drama does hit the mark, in some respects. But on other points it is a half-baked, lukewarm pie that will underwhelm fans of his…

Music is honestly the best gift in the entire world and if I had the choice of losing my hearing or eyesight forever, I’d choose my eyesight because without my hearing, music would cease to exist in my life and the thought of that makes me want to cry. If you’re looking for a quick…

Another year and another Jazz Fest has come and gone in New Orleans. With performances from the likes of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, John Fogerty, Robert Plant, Santana, Arcade Fire, Eric Clapton and a never-ending list of some of the world’s finest talents, all who attended the seven day event will have…

The 61st Sydney Film Festival, which is running from June 4th to 15th this year, has recently announced an exciting new awards partnership with the Documentary Australia Foundation. The Foundation will award the $10,000 Australian Documentary Prize to one of the Australian documentaries screening at the festival. The winner of this awesome prize will be announced…

Doctor Who fans can breath a sigh of relief, as it seems that Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith is on track to make the big leap from television to Hollywood. Already set to appear in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River later this year, it has just been announced that Smith will be appearing in a major role in the…

The name, Belle brings to mind a beautiful, English rose. But Dido Elizabeth Belle, the real-life woman and beauty at the heart of Amma Asante’s second feature is a little more complicated than that. The illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is sent to live with her distant, aristocratic family at their estate,…

On the surface, the promise of Daddy I’m a Zombie’s Tim Burton animation style and horror/comedy sensibilities is appealing. Given the rising popularity of animated films within the genre (such as Coraline and Paranorman), there was hope that this Spanish feature might solidly deliver the same type of visual enchantment. Unfortunately it’s unpolished production, puzzling…

the AU review meets Chromeo in Austin, Texas, to talk about their music, their next record White Women (out in Australia May 9th), their South by Southwest (SXSW) experiences and more…

Elephents, the latest brainchild from writer Jeffrey Jay Fowler, has all the hallmarks of a good soap opera; love triangles, dramatic deaths and even the odd elephant or two. It’s sort of like Neighbours or Home and Away, you know, if either were set in a dystopian world plagued by power cuts and where going…

From taking a one way flight to Melbourne eight years ago to touring internationally with headline shows, the Kiwi lads from Bonjah have put a lot of hard work into their sound which is clearly evident in their third studio release, Beautiful Wild. Every track exudes that bluesy rock fuelled confidence, with frontman Glen Mossop’s…

This weekend, the AU returns to New Orleans to cover Jazz Fest for the event’s second weekend of 2014, and our second time covering the event (look back on our coverage two years ago). The first weekend’s three days has already seen acts like Eric Clapton, Robert Plant and Phish come through the festival’s massive…

The sun is beginning to set and the excitable predominantly young female crowd is getting antsy. Before the performance begins we get a super brief glimpse of the man of the night arriving onto our floating barge via a super cool speedboat and that sets off the crowd even more.

“One Day I’m going to die.” “My energy will disperse into the universe.” “I will become dust.” “I will shed this mortal coil.” “Everything will be over.” “Everyone I know will be gone.” “Everything I do in my life will be forgotten.” “Everything is meaningless.” If the above quotes don’t already disturb you, consider them…

“And then man created time, and spent eternity trying to outrun it” From this opening piece of text set before a cascading cosmic landscape, it’s quite clear that Three Poems is no run of the mill short film. The debut effort from writer director Jake Houston Harris is exactly what it says it is- three…

  After months and months of rumours and speculation, we have finally been told who will be starring in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII. Aside from the confirmation that Original Trilogy stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford will be reprising their roles in the film, we now have the list of incredible actors who…

The footage of the captain and crew being hauled to safety from the sinking Sewol ferry is how The Feed chose to open their April 29 show, and good on them for doing so. This South Korean ferry tragedy is being crazily under-reported this week, despite some 190 people now being confirmed dead. The photos…

As he was waking up and we at the AU were closing up shop for the night, I had the opportunity earlier this month to chat to Rodrigo Sanchez, one half of the infamous guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela. By now, you probably know their story – a couple of musicians from Mexico get discovered…

New York City quartet Skaters capture their hometown with charm as they maintain their electric, punk roots. Headed our way later in the year to play Splendour in the Grass, vocalist Michael Ian Cummings takes some time out for a casual chat with Larry about the band’s relentless touring schedule, Carson Dailey, and the art…