Year: 2015

With Chris Rock’s super comedy Top Five headed for Australian cinemas, the man himself will be coming to Sydney to showcase the film in March. Information about what exact date he will be visiting Sydney is still to be confirmed but the important thing is that he is locked by Paramount to be the city…

If I Stay shares a few things in common with a Nicholas Sparks’ story. The film is based on a best-selling young adult novel by Gayle Forman and is about the adolescent love between two likeable characters. It’s also a slow-burning yet emotional film about choices and existential quandaries. This is the feature debut for…

Known for their bold, brash but ultimately engaging music, punk band A Wilhelm Scream put on one hell of a live show! They’ve appeared at big name festivals such as Soundwave and Hits and Pits but now it’s time for A Wilhelm Scream to embark on their own tour, visiting five locations. Heavy riffs and unapologetic honesty is what you can expect from these boys when they tour in April and May.

After an unfortunate hiatus, Loon Lake are back with the ever-so-catchy ‘Surfin’ and a wave of new confidence. Inspired by the band’s want to get back to their carefree roots, the single is a thrashing party number inspired by a bunch of mates hanging out and jamming to music they love. And one thing’s for sure, this is one infectiously catchy song. To top it all off Loon Lake are performing two intimate shows this March to launch Surfin, at Melbourne’s Shebeen and Sydney’s Brighton Up Bar.

Indie Pop four-piece Day Ravies will be hitting the road in celebration of their latest release “Hickford Whizz”. Starting in March and continuing into April, the tour will hit five capital cities – Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra. This is the next single to be released from the band’s sophomore LP and showcases what Day Ravies do best. “Hickford Whizz” is a high energy number with blazing 60’s rock that is sure to get you pumped for the tour!

US rock group needtobreathe are currently touring Australia for the first time as part of a run of special shows for World Vision. They stopped by the AU review to record two tracks for the AU sessions series, featuring artists from around the world performing intimately, acoustically and exclusively. In this video, three parts of…

Meet Philadelphia based outfit Literature, and their track “New Jacket”, taken from their second album Chorus (Out now on Slumberland Records). At first, it sounds like so much of the same lo-fi “we want to be in the 80s” sort of band that have been floating around the traps for the last few years. But…

At this year’s Golden Globes, hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey took aim at a little movie called The Interview during their anticipated opening monologue. And it sums up the lifespan of the film to date pretty well: “The biggest story in Hollywood this year was when North Korea threatened an attack if Sony Pictures…

Colin Firth isn’t exactly the type of guy you would imagine as a highly capable master spy, but after watching Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service it’s quite hard to get the image of him in badass mode out of your head. Firth (code name Galahad) portrays a dapper, and quite ridiculous, super spy in…

It’s very evident at the end of “Dinner at the Castellanos” that The Mindy Project is shifting into unchartered territory.  We started out with a show about a young, professional woman trying to “get her life together”, and here we are, two and a half seasons later, and she’s pregnant, pursuing her professional dreams and…

Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’, will be stepping down later this year, the president of the network confirmed on Tuesday. Stewart, who became the host of The Daily Show in 1999, has had a huge influence on American politics and satire. It won the outstanding variety series Emmy continuously for…

In this new section, we’re going to guide you through the new DVD release of each week – giving you a little insight into each film and our verdict. If I Stay – February 11 Starring Chloe Grace Moretz as Mia Hall, If I Stay depicts the story of Mia – a girl who falls…

The SXSW Film Festival kicks off on March 13th, in Austin Texas, and as always, a few Australians are showing off their works. We’ll take you through the Australian screenings which have been announced so far: Happy with Bear, Director: Yianni Warnock. A Singaporean exchange student struggles with her inner turmoil by vicariously living through her…

Disney fans will have the opportunity to experience an advanced screening of the new Cinderella film in style – at the beautiful, iconic State Theatre in Sydney on the 19 – 25th of March, 2015. “This event is an opportunity for audiences to experience movie magic in Sydney’s majestic State Theatre,” said David Seargeant who…

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival have just revealed the lineup for the highly anticipated Midnighters section, as well as the complete short film lineup. The festival is to be held from March 13 – 21 in Austin, Texas. The SXSW Midnighters section is a crowd favourite for those who have an…

Just incase you weren’t losing your mind over Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) heading to our soil for Oz Comic-Con, we’ve got some more news that will definitely get you amped up for May. That’s right – Matt Smith (The Eleventh Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), and Alex Kingston (River Song) are set to appear at…

Spending this Valentines Day alone? Why not spend it with your television instead? Here are some of our picks for this week (without any obnoxious Valentines content). Thursday February 12th Danger 5, SBS2, 9pm AEST Danger 5 goes back to World War II in an attempt to stop Hitler from changing the fabric of time….

It’s a testament to the power of the Playstation 3 that in 2015 – over 8 years after it was first released – new games continue to be released for Sony’s popular console. Though most games set for 2015 are essentially ports of games that are next gen ready, the odd release is exclusive to…

The tables have turned and this time it’s Danger 5 who are being chased down by major law enforcement as they are wanted for the alleged kidnapping of Holly, last episode’s ditzy blonde high school student. In the shooting range, the cops are given a pep talk by their ‘Commy’ hating Captain, whilst being fed…

Mark the 28th July 2017 in those calenders because that’s when we finally see classic superhero Spider-Man film franchise is re-booted (yet again). There’s a difference here though; due to a new partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios, good ol’ Spidey will be seeing his new film released as part of the Marvel…

A behind-the-scenes feature has been released to boost up anticipation for the upcoming Top Five, Chris Rocks’ latest film which has been receiving some excellent reviews from the U.S so far. While Australia is yet to see a cinematic release, we are given more insight into how Rock has assembled such a massive, talented cast…

Upon reflection, our girls showed a lot of personal growth in “Cubbies”. With Jessa being somewhat of a no-show this week, the spotlight was on Shoshanna, Marnie and Hannah, and the positive and, dare I say it, adult choices that they’ve made. The results of these choices may not be evident just yet, but these…

Nominees representing more than 30 Australian subscription television channels have been shortlisted as finalists in the 2015 ASTRA Awards. An AFL reality program, a documentary series traversing the Australian coastline and a crowd-funded chat show are among the finalists for this year’s awards. Major drama productions Wentworth and Devil’s Playground have each received multiple nominations, between…

Dr Dre and Ice Cube are rolling through Compton in the introduction to the official red band trailer for biopic Straight Outta Compton. Reminiscing on the highly influential and controversial hip hop group, they visit the likes of Game and Kendrick Lamar and talk about the impact they made back when they released their classic…

In our 20th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Sydney’s Ed Wells, and chat his latest release, Sparrow and Seed. Musician: Ed Wells Website / Social Media: www.edwellsmusic.com Facebook / Twitter Genre: Alternative Folk/Soul Members & their roles: Ed Wells- Piano/Vocals What music or artists inspired you? I always liked music which had a certain…

the AU review presents Melbourne based artist Peter Bibby performing his track “Home Alone” in a park in Sydney – live, exclusively and acoustically for the AU sessions. Watch the performance after the jump (and head over to our Instagram channel to enjoy him taking over our feed…):

This Saturday, Valentine’s Day at the Taronga Zoo will see Anthony Callea take on the songs of George Michael in a very special concert as part of the Zoo’s Twilight at Taronga series – proudly presented by the AU review! In anticipation of the event, we asked Callea to share with us his five favourite…

The 2015 Grammy Awards have come and gone once again with their hundreds of awards categories – only a few of which are televised. Of those awards, Australia bound Sam Smith was the clear winner of the night, taking home four trophies, Record and Song of the Year, as well as best Pop Vocal Album…

the AU review sits down with Swedish group Little Dragon to talk about their time in Australia as part of St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, playing the event in Singapore, their anticipations of playing the Sydney Opera House (which they did later that night), their year ahead and much more…

And after three weekends of festival mayhem around Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, the 2015 run of St Jerome’s Laneway Festival dates have come to an end. And for each of us, we definitely had our favourite moments. We’re sure you did as well! But here are five of ours… Jon Hopkins Jon Hopkins’ timetable…