Month: July 2015

The BOFA Devil Awards is one part of the Launceston event which examines the changing screen landscape through master classes attended by makers, actors and technicians. This year’s BOFA Festival will run from November 4th to 8th with industry master classes and Award presentations on Saturday, November 7 and submissions for the Filmmaker awards are closing soon.

The creators of Disney and Pixar have teamed up once again for the upcoming release of The Good Dinosaur, which is expected to be out at the end of this year (November 25). The trailer showcases snippets of the film that resonates a story filled with adventure and friendship with a little boy being protective…

Another entrant in the found-footage genre of horror that might have reached its expiry date. The Gallows would have had to do something exceptional (and exceptionally different) to tear it apart from the usual suspects. This all started with Blair Witch Project, reprised by the Paranormal Activity franchise, and many many others that never saw…

Just as he did five years ago, Kratos, the patron saint of temper tantrums that would make a two-year-old go “Dude, relax”, has embarked on his latest unstoppable butchery spree and, as usual, anything that gets in his way – from animals to the gods themselves – will receive a profound thrashing.

the AU review’s Larry Heath had the opportunity to speak with frontman Max Kerman of Canadian alternative rock band, Arkells at Ottawa Bluesfest. He spoke highly of his fan base and made an interesting observation on the crowd ratios. Since their release of their third studio album, High Noon, their music has been well-received by…

Jasmine Rae has accomplished a lot in her career since taking out the top prize at Telstra Road to Tamworth in 2008. As a fan of the three-time ARIA-nominated and two-time CMC Music Award winner’s previous albums; Look It Up, Listen Here and If I Want To respectfully, I was excited to hear the new…

At the beginning of this year, the pop-punk acoustic duo of This Wild Life made an appearance at Soundwave Festival and needless to say – they held a fantastic set! I remember coming across one of their acoustic covers of A Day To Remember’s “If It Means A Lot To You” and the brilliance of the acoustic vibes that resonated in…

Last week we flew to Ottawa, Canada, to cover the 21st annual RBC Bluesfest (you can view our coverage HERE), featuring some of the world’s finest artists – alongside a selection of great Australians too! Along the way we had our highlights, in addition to our favourite discoveries! Here now are our five favourite from…

Mankind’s eternal search for the fountain of youth has seen Hollywood explore more than one scenario where immortality is a reality, always at some morally reprehensible dystopic expense. Films such as Elysium,The Island, Transcendence or more recently Chappie have approached the idea from different angles with great success. Whether director Tarsem Singh’s (The Fall, Immortals,…

The hosts of ABC2’s wildly popular video games review program Good Game are once again putting their collective wits to the test in front of a live audience. The live quiz show features personalities from the show, interactive trivia and many IRL lols.

Academy award winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest  feature film  The Revenant has just released its official trailer. Featuring an impressive ensemble cast,  this immersive depiction of the human spirit will be shown in cinemas from January 7th. Inspired  by real events, the film tells the tale of one man’s epic adventure of survival and redemption. In…

CinéfestOZ has announced the five finalists who will be in the running for the second annual Film Prize worth $100,000. The Film Prize encourages excellence in filmmaking in Australia, and supports the nation’s film industry. The Film Prize goes to the producer of an Australian feature film or feature-length documentary and this year there were more…

In our 64th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Lex , the re-incarnation of Brisbane’s Lex Rüsten, chat about reforming as a three piece, the mental health release of rock’n’roll and get a sneak peak of their latest EP, Cactii. Band Name: Lex Website / Social Media: lexlikesyou.com Facebook / Triple J Unearthed / Twitter…

Following the success of the Classic Cinema’s first 8K Radius series, Hawthorn’s newly minted Lido Cinema will be getting its own 8-part series of these five-minute film portraits of Hawthorn locals who live and work within an eight kilometre radius of the cinema. Directed by Clayton Jacobson (Kenny), the films are a rich and varied…

A fun blend of period piece and gothic horrorshow, the first season of Penny Dreadful wasn’t quite the slam-dunk Showtime might have hoped it would be – but it still managed to be solid debut for a show refreshingly different to much of the prestige and genre drama on offer these days. Season 2 is…

Fans of the tabletop strategy game Warhammer have a lot to be excited about in Total War: Warhammer. Developer The Creative Assembly have released the game’s first “in-engine” trailer to give fans a taste of what the game will look like.

Ubisoft have released the hour-long playthrough of their July 15 Assassin’s Creed Syndicate livestream onto YouTube. The video shows off the developer’s E3 demo in full.

CD Projekt Red have released the 1.07 patch for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt over the weekend. The patch fixes a staggering number of bugs and issues and also adds an alternate control scheme.

Most films get a cinematic release and then, a couple of months after their run, are released to DVD for viewers to purchase and keep. In a different take on the release strategy, the new film Kill Me Three Times from Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) and starring Simon Pegg will receive a unique press tour and release…

Pictured: Dropkick Murphys. Photo by Mark Horton. Though Friday marked the ninth day (of eleven) of the 21st RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa, it would also mark our last. And with a focus on bands more suited to a traditional Bluesfest – accompanied by the sort of rainy weather that our own Byron Bay Bluesfest is…

Arriving Tuesday for Kombat Pack owners, Tremor is the latest character to be added to the Mortal Kombat X character roster. Check out his absolutely brutal move list in the brand new character trailer.

Adam Lambert, the runner-up for the eighth season of American Idol, returns; following the success for his first two albums For Your Entertainment and Trespassing and now, the commercial success of his latest single “Ghost Town”. I take a listen to his third album The Original High.

Last week, the AU headed to Calgary in Alberta, Canada for the Calgary Stampede. Now in its 103rd year – though with origins dating back to the 1800s – the event is steeped in tradition and an icon of the Canadian Summer. It’s the sort of festival you have to attend to fully comprehend, and,…

The fifth episode of Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series will start rolling out July 21, developer Telltale Games have announced.

In our new weekly feature, we take a look back at some of the biggest stories in the world of film and TV this week… just in case you missed it. Suffice it to say, it’s been a great week of film and TV news, thanks in part to the annual San Diego Comic Con event,…

Getting a huge 24 nods for the 67th Emmy Awards, HBO smash hit Game of Thrones once again leads the nominations which were announced this week (last year the show received 17 nominations). The awards will be handed out at the traditional ceremony on September 20th 2015, which is this year hosted by Andy Samberg…

Making the third film in the Insidious series a prequel was the smartest move this franchise could have pulled; a respectable decision that could completely be overshadowed if a fourth one is ever released. Cutting the franchise off as a trilogy would be a good idea; the second Insidious was underwhelming and came nowhere close…

The 2015 Scandinavian Film Festival is currently underway at cinemas around Australia, bringing audiences together to view some exemplary pieces of film from the other side of the globe. Continuing through until July 29th, the festival has already premiered some true highlights from some great European directors. One on the program’s exciting features this year…

In our 63rd instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Wollongong’s The Pinheads, and chat about ten pin bowling, sitars and other possible fabrications, but best of all, we get a listen to the title track off their upcoming debut EP, I Wanna Be A Girl. Band Name: The Pinheads Website / Social Media: Facebook /…

Photo: Run The Jewels. Captured by Mark Horton. North American Hip Hop was a dominating force on the 7th day of the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa, though a last minute cancellation from De La Soul may have disappointed some (this writer included! They always put on a great show). US powerhouse Run The Jewels, Canadian…