Year: 2016

A millennial coming-of-age story, Teenage Cocktail has been making waves through the SXSW film festival. The plot centers on two teenagers and their turbulent escape from a small town to NYC, with the monetary help of theft and webcam modelling. Larry sat down with the cast members Fabianne Therese and Nicole Bloom along with director…

With its sixth and latest entry, Hitman will be making one particular part of the series’ fanbase very happy indeed. Hitman: Blood Money, released back in 2006, has become a perrenial fan favourite, its sandbox of inventive and improvisational gameplay proving an unbeatable formula. Developer Io Interactive returned to a more cinematic style in 2012’s…

Hot off the heels of the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (and long after the dust has settled around the critically-reviled Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Disney have confirmed that a fifth Indiana Jones film is in the works with Harrison Ford set to reprise his role as the titular archaeologist. Steven Spielberg…

The American cable service has announced the premiere dates for the upcoming Preacher and Outcast, renewing the latter for a second season. Premiering on May 22nd, Preacher is a twisted and darkly comedic drama that follows Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), a preacher who is inhabited by a mysterious entity and bestowed with supernatural powers. Meanwhile,…

The Iris’ Larry Heath took some time with screenwriter Adam Hirsch at the SXSW film festival to talk about the motives for his new film The Trust and the origins of his partnership with the film’s directors Ben and Alex Brewer. Larry: Congratulations on the film, tell me a little about how you and Ben…

American nationalism is back on-screen once again in full display in the action sequel to Olympus Has Fallen. On a minor note, Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and others from the previous film are back as well. But seriously, the first film, by director Antoine Fuqua of Training Day fame, was a…

Based on the short film of the same name, My Blind Brother is an uplifting comedy featuring raw, authentic characters played by some of comedy’s brightest actors. Stars Zoe Kazan, Jenny Slate and Charlie Hewson and their wonderful director Sophie Goodhart sat down to talk with us about the characters, themes and process behind the film. Sophie,…

Japanese rock band X Japan have had a tumultuous and downright devastating career. Plagued by the subsequent deaths of band members, the band led by Yoshiki, soldiers on and still find success to this day. A documentary has been made chronicling the dramatic life of X Japan called We Are X. Larry sat down with…

Emily Brontë’s classic novel, Wuthering Heights has inspired many different adaptions and other art forms since its initial publication in 1847. It has inspired everything from a Kate Bush song to a Hindi movie and a Death Cab for Cutie track, to name a few. Australia’s very own, shake & stir theatre co will also…

Brisbane’s Jazz Music Institute (JMI) and New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) are teaming up to bring a new and exciting festival to Australia in August this year. The Essentially Ellington Down Under Regional Festival will be making its debut in Australia and be swinging by Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney offering high school…

Groovin’ the Moo already does great work getting live music in to some more regional areas of the country and now they have announced a bunch of different local and emerging acts to each of the six events. Make sure you add these incredible artists to your “must see” list on the day, and remember…

“For Good”, the name of the new track and upcoming Australian tour from Melbourne wunderkind emcee Remi, is the first single from the long awaited follow-up to the highly regarded raw x infinity project – an album which cemented his position as not just one of the brightest in Australia’s hip hop scene, but also…

The nominations for the 2016 APRA Music Awards (to be held on 5 April) have been announced and show, again, just how strong our scene is. Up for four awards each, and both contending for ‘Most Played Australian Work’ and ‘Pop Work of the Year’, are Jarryd James and Sia Furler. Other acts with multiple nominations…

The internationally celebrated Record Store Day is coming up next month, and has already uncovered rare unreleased tracks from the likes of Foals. Now, details have been revealed of Australia’s involvement in the celebration this year, which includes bringing on award-winning artist Ella Hooper as the 2016 ambassador. Hooper, the youngest person and first woman…

It’s been a hot day in Austin, potentially indicative of the calibre of musical talent punters are still to see at SXSW; as the temperatures continued to soar this afternoon, venues throughout the city began kicking into high gear, with SXSW Music just around the corner. The Spotify House returned for another year and their…

Mayfair Kytes offer us something a lil’ different with the music video for their new single “Sleepyhead”. Mixing folk and pop elements together in highlighting what’s definitely a great talent for harmonies, musical texture and arrangement, the Melbourne band have shown that they’re all for music that envelops the listener and brings forth a vibrancy all pop…

Melbourne’s Swim Season have followed up on the solid impression they left on industry and local music fans in “Soldiers” with the release of their new single, “Gold Cloak City”! The band has continued down this path of matching catchy guitar hooks with an undeniably classic indie-pop chorus mentality that just hits perfectly playback after playback. “Gold…

By the time I was Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, I felt as though Ubisoft had finally created the best possible version of their long-running series. It felt tightly wound, honed over years of tinkering and design evolution. However, in order for the series to endure, it also felt like it needed to take some time off…

Sony have used their PlayStation VR press event at GDC 2016 this morning to finally announce a launch window and pricing for their PlayStation VR headset. Update: We now have Australian pricing. Hit the jump to see it.

One of the strongest – and most violent – episodes in this season so far, “JSS”, drew most of it’s strength from Carol. “The Grove”, one of the show’s best episodes to date, drew most of it’s strength from “Carol”. Now, “The Same Boat” re-focuses back on in Melissa McBride’s complex character for another solid…

Not that it wasn’t already, but by the end it’s fifth season HBO’s phenom of a TV show Game of Thrones had shot straight up to the front of the list for most talked about television shows of all time. Memes, references, and general fandom surrounding the show become embedded in pop culture all around…

Graphic designer Alasdair Mott has put together some awesome Game of Thrones-style maps of Australia to tie into the DVD and Blu-ray release of the fifth season of HBO’s fantasy epic. Check them out below: Game of Thrones. Season 5 releases on DVD and Blu-ray on March 16th 2016. ———- This content has recently been ported from…

It’s been a long wait for fans of Tina Fey’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt but the Netflix comedy’s second season is almost here The trailer itself looks to be more of the same, with Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) continuing to adjust the rhythm of modern life, Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) trying to make it in the big city and…

In our second  interview with the War on Everyone cast and crew, Larry talks to Writer/Director John Michael McDonagh about his first film away from Ireland. John: I’ve just spent 3 months in Australia Larry: Of course! You’re working on some stuff down there aren’t you? I’d like to be making a movie over there. My…

Jenny Slate and Zoe Kazan were on-hand at the premiere of their latest film My Blind Brother at SXSW, along with co-star Nick Kroll, who all formed part of a panel to answer questions after a screening at the Topfer Theatre in Austin. The audience Q&A that followed didn’t quite start the way anyone expected…

Directed by John Michael McDonagh, War on Everyone sees Alexander Skarsgård and Micheal Pena as two corrupt cops in Mexico City who blackmail and frame criminals for their own benefit. That is until they cross someone with more power than them. It’s funny and it’s crazy, and Larry caught up with Alexander Skarsgård and spoke about the…

Who would have thought that a heist film starring Nicholas Cage and Elijah Wood would be one of the most talked-about films of SXSW? The Iris’ Larry Heath talked to Directors Alex and Benjamin Brewer about The Trust and moving from music videos to feature films on the red carpet interview with at SXSW 2016. Check it out…

Gathering from Arrow‘s frontman Stephen Amell teaser trailer, “Code 8” looks like a 10 Cloverfield Lane and District 9 combo. That’s a good thing, right? I think so. Amell shares this project alongside his cousin, Robbie (The Flash) who stars alongside Aaron Abrams, Chad Donella,  Alfred Robin Thompson with Jeff Chan to direct. The only bit of info we have about the…

It must be said before I review this documentary that I know little to nothing about rock ‘n roll. But what compelled me to watch this documentary was that I am a fan of Japanese culture; everything from food to film to settings so their musical culture should be a must see for me. The…

Reality-TV horror film Scare Campaign is making its way to select Australian cinemas this month and we’ve got some The film stars Olivia DeJonge, Meegan Warner and Ian Meadows and focuses on a pranking reality TV series that goes off the rails when they pick the wrong target for their latest prank. We’ve got two short clips from the…