Year: 2015

Oh the movie Barely Lethal could have been had it been in the hands of the right people.  There’s a neat little premise here, even a hint of charming self-awareness, but sadly director Kyle Newman and screenwriter John D’Arco have ignored the multitude of opportunities presented to them and ultimately made just another high school comedy…

Between Solar Systems is the latest work from emerging Perth theatre group Second Chance Theatre. Written and directed by Scott McArdle the play centres on the actions of Vincent, the sole survivor of Earth’s cataclysmic sea level rise, or is he? I’m going to try and get through this review without giving away too many…

Officially confirmed as seventh act for next year’s Soundwave Festival, much hype has surrounded UK metalcore giants, Bring Me The Horizon, with the announcement taking place on release day of their latest LP, That’s The Spirit. It’s interesting to see how the band have developed over time, looking at their past roots of deathcore in Count Your Blessings and Suicide…

Performing at BIGSOUND last week, Tim and Oscar from Holy Holy sat down with the AU’s editor-in-chief Larry to chat about their national tour, the reception for their album When The Storms Would Come and what the future holds for the rock group… Following a string of sold-out shows and festivals, the last couple of…

The last time seasoned actor Tom Hanks teamed with seasoned Director Steven Spielberg was 2004, with romantic-comedy The Terminal, now 11 years later the dynamic Actor-Director duo have re-teamed to deliver a Cold War drama with Bridge of Spies. The forthcoming film, which also stars Amy Ryan and Mark Rylance, is about an insurance claims…

It would be hard to deny Unfriended as an imaginative and innovative film; Director Levan Gabriadze takes an initially uninspiring concept and makes it work with admirable attention to detail and a genuine sense of tension. However, in the film’s pursuit of as much realism as possible, the viewer is left unable to escape from…

Disney has released a trailer for the live-action remake of classic The Jungle Book, giving us a really epic look into how the 1967 animation will be adapted by Director Jon Favreau. With an impressive cast, including Bill Murray (as Baloo) and Idris Elba (as Shere Khan) along with newcomer Neel Sethi as the very…

The illegitimate child of an alcoholic mother and an absent father preoccupied with his pre-existing family, youngster Stet (Garrett Wareing) spends most of his time in detention, acting out. However, he has tremendous musical talent, in which Ms. Steel (Debra Winger) recognises, and organises for him to audition for the ‘Boychoir’, fronted by the great…

Room – not to be confused with the classic and often named worst film of all time The Room – is a new movie hitting Australian cinemas in January. It’s based on the book of the same name by Emma Donoghue, who also wrote the film, directed by Lenny Abrahamson (What Richard Did) and stars William H. Macy, Brie Larson, Joan…

There are some movies that you need to see on a big screen, that their scale can’t be contained or properly appreciated on a small screen or even on your own home theatre system. Everest is one of those films because it can take your breath away with how visually stunning it is. But the…

Need to catch a TV break and don’t know what to watch? Simon takes us through his top picks on must-see shows and films for the week. Click through to see what’s showing for your entertainment needs. Wednesday 16th September 2015 Tom Felton Meets the Superfans-ABC2-8.30pm AEST You may not recognise the name Tom Felton,…

Straight Outta Compton’s time at the top was short lived after Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials opening last week, but the N.W.A biopic is still going strong. Indeed, The sequel to last years Maze Runner has fared slightly better in Australia in its opening weekend. It made $3.5 million, just beating out its predecessor which…

Following the release of new record Beautiful You and as they kick off their national tour in support of that record, we caught up with Vikki Thorn; one third of folk-rock band The Waifs. With the west coast leg of the tour now well and truly under way we found a little bit more about…

Sometimes bands need to catch a break and Californian metalcore quintet, Atreyu did exactly that four years ago. Since their reunion last year, the band have had great things come by them with a new LP, Long Live releasing this Friday, as well as gracing the stages of this year’s Soundwave Festival. Before the band’s new release, we had…

Last week, BIGSOUND broughtsome of the best young talent to the massive. This definitely included singer JOY. who sat down with the AU to about her new EP Ode and her passion for producing music. Click through to read more… “You wouldn’t think may people go out on a Wednesday night but it was pretty…

Soulfest has just announced the stage schedule for its 2015 festival dates in Sydney and Melbourne. This year welcomes the best in soul featuring the one and only Mary J. Blige, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Miguel, De La Soul and many more, for performances on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of October in Sydney and Melbourne,…

Photo: David Edwards. Alex Kapranos of Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand, together with his band of Franz brothers, recently formed what can only be described as a ‘supergroup’, in FFS. Having teamed up with rock legends Sparks, they’ve created an exciting, unpredictable album, titled FFS. Talking at this year’s Lollapalooza Berlin festival with Sosefina Fuamoli, Kapranos shares…

Led by what is described in their bio as the “fanciful charm” of Tim Karmouche, Melbourne-via-Ballarat five piece Crepes are making some truly great music right now, with the sort of music that you can’t quite stop listening too. We love their debut EP Cold Summers here at the AU and so their latest single…

Pictured: WAAX The Brisbane based music festival and BIGSOUND has come and gone for another year, but the amazing performances we saw have stuck with us for the days since. We’ve spend the weekend reflecting on all the incredible showcases we saw, and now we’re bringing you our list of the 15 best… in no…

Project Morpheus, Sony’s proprietary virtual reality headset, has been rechristened. The hardware’s new title, PlayStation VR, was announced by SCEJ&A president Atsushi Morita during Sony’s pre-TGS presser tonight.

The first expansion for From Software’s demonically difficult adventure title Bloodborne will land on PS4 this November. The news comes from Sony’s pre-TGS showcase.

Sony plan to release an updated edition of their popular PSVita title Gravity Rush onto the PS4 later this year. The news came straight from Sony during their pre-TGS 2015 press conference.

Sega have announced during Sony’s pre-TGS 2015 press event that a remaster of their original Japanese crime adventure Yakuza (called Ryo Ga Gotoku at home) is on its way to PS3 and PS4 in Japan this year.

Ni-Oh was originally announced as a PS3 title back in 2010. It dropped off the radar and many assumed it was cancelled. Not so. Sony have announced during their TGS press con that the game will see the light of day on the PS4 next year.

In a wild departure for the Resident Evil series, Capcom have announced a tactical team-based competitive shooter called Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps. The game will arrive next year on PS4 according to producer Masachika Kawata, who made the announcement during Sony’s pre-TGS 2015 presser.

Square Enix are bringing a total of three Kingdom Hearts games to the PS4. The games will come as a package deal called Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The announcement came during Sony’s press conference ahead of TGS tonight.

The brand new full length trailer was released today for the seventh film in the Rocky series, titled Creed, which brings back Sylvester Stallone into his iconic role, this time as he meets the son of Apollo Creed. The film is released in November. Here’s a bit more about the film, and then check out…

In the early 1960’s a movement was beginning to grow amongst the African-Americans in the United States. It began in the south led by Martin Luther King Jr with a pacifist push but soon a group emerged in the west coastal city of Oakland (near San Francisco), founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale came…

If you had seen what Madison has seen over the course of Fear the Walking Dead‘s first two episodes would you gather your two kids for a good ol’ game of Monopoly before following them out into the night to find a shotgun, while leaving a barking dog in your house, with the damn back…

Girls just wanna have fun. Except that in the film, A Royal Night Out, those two ladies are Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at ages 19 and 14, respectively. The film is a fun and warm-hearted historic romp that does feel like it’s being played a little too safe at times. On V.E. Day (8…