Month: October 2025

Karen Herbert‘s fourth novel is described as a ‘psychological medical thriller’; but, if you’re worried about gory surgical scenes or murderous doctors, then perhaps it might be better to think of The Ghost Walk as a mystery with an unlikely detective at its heart, and focus more on the psychological aspect. The protagonist of The…

You might have heard the news already, but Xbox Game Pass has received another price increase. Now what’s the big deal here? Streaming services and subscriptions get increases all the time, and almost every year. Well in this case, it’s one of the steepest single price increases we’ve ever seen on a service such as…

The demand for the 21st edition of our beloved Laneway Festival in 2026 has been off the charts. Already Sydney and Melbourne are sold out, and tickets for Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast are running hot. Details for the sideshows has just dropped, and we’ve got all the essential details to help you get…

Known as ‘Sensible Emily’ at the ABC, where she is an award-winning journalist specialising in business and finance, Emily Stewart released her first book in July 2025 – a clever piece of scheduling, as July is when many people start to panic about money as they start to work on their tax returns! Emily championed…

It’s been a good ten years since alternative legends Motion City Soundtrack last dropped a full-length record, making The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World feel like both a long-awaited reunion and a bold new chapter. Taking a break in 2016, the group returned for a string of live shows in 2019, not knowing where this…

It has been years between drinks for Gearbox and 2K’s pioneering looter-shooter. Borderlands 4 arrived shortly after one of the most nonsensical and unwatchable game-to-screen adaptations of all time, and yet it more than makes up for any damage Jack Black and his crew inflicted on this otherwise fantastic IP. If you take anything away…

When I play these titles year after year, I’m always asked the same type of questions. What could be so interesting about this new one? Isn’t it the same as last year? Don’t they slap a new name on it and send it out again? While some of these questions are warranted, the answers usually…

Hailing from Canberra, but now calling Brisbane home, singer/songwriter Sam Wrangle has found his groove in the Australian indie scene. We are delighted to premiere the first taste of his upcoming fourth album, Guinness Soup, due this November, with the buoyant and joyful “Delicious Delights” ahead of its release on Tuesday. Sam has a keen eye…

Approaching one year on from the release of their tenth studio album The Night the Zombies Came, Alt Rock legends The Pixies are headed back to Australia this November for a run of special double-night performances across the country. Celebrating the anniversaries of Bossanova (1990) and Trompe le Monde (1991), the band will play both…

Mario Marchese, known to his adoring fans as Mario the Maker Magician, is a fireball of energy. This is what you will expect for the 60 minutes he graces the stage in his high-octane magic show. Not only is Mario the Magician absolutely hilarious, but he is also the most friendly and personable man you…

Christine Newell is a professional musical theatre performer with a lifelong love of telling stories. In February 2025, she released her debut memoir, Five Seasons in Seoul, a record of the time she spent in South Korea in the early 2000s after responding to a call for Hi-5 style children’s performers. Prior to this, Christine…

There aren’t many of us who can imagine our lives changing in an instant. But many years ago, journalist, Nathan Dunne found that this was his reality. He contracted an illness called depersonalisation, a misunderstood and highly mysterious condition, as this book highlights. When Nothing Feels Real is Dunne’s first book. But,  he manages to…

Jonathan Larson’s RENT musical was first performed on stage on 26 January 1996, the day after he passed away suddenly in his kitchen. Larson didn’t get to witness the lasting impact his creative work has had at a global level. Almost 30 years later, RENT returns to our country and finds itself in the most…

Chicago neighbourhoods are just as diverse as New York neighbourhoods. “Think of Chicago as New York City, but just the right size.” That’s how the city was described to me when I first arrived at O’Hare. I was 22 back then, wide-eyed and full of energy, looking forward to my first overseas trip as an…

Michael Stahl-David first burst onto the scene with his breakout turn in the seminal sci-fi horror hit Cloverfield. Since then, he’s built an impressively varied screen career, appearing in HBO’s Golden Globe winning Show Me a Hero, Netflix’s acclaimed juggernaut Narcos, the medical drama Good Sam, and Almost Family, an adaptation of the Australian series…

A sound reflection of the tranquil art of fishing, Looking Through Water is a calm, simple drama about the complicated relationships between fathers, sons and brothers. Now even more notable for being Michael Douglas‘s final screen role – the actor announcing his retirement earlier this year – Looking Through Water adopts a Princess Bride-like narrative…

Acclaimed London born singer-songwriter Joy Crookes has announced her long-awaited return to Australia in January 2026, with two special headline shows that promise to be as intimate as they are powerful. Since the release of her debut album Skin, Crookes has carved out her own space in modern soul, blending jazz, R&B and pop with…

Known for genre-bending hits like “Say So,” “Kiss Me More,” and the chart-topping “Paint The Town Red,” Doja Cat has become one of the most electrifying names in pop and hip hop. On stage blending razor-sharp choreography, surreal visuals, and a playful unpredictability that keeps fans on their toes. Every show is a full-throttle experience,…

Editorial Update: Sadly this event has been cancelled.  When I attended Coachella in 2017, I met the inclusion of Hans Zimmer with some skepticism. Not because I wasn’t excited to see such a bold choice on the lineup – but because I was worried it wouldn’t work with that sort of festival crowd. That all…

If you could restore youthful beauty and guarantee longevity by committing to a few days of mysterious treatments, would you? Would you trust your life and health to science and technology that might be more hype than healthy?  Enter Shell. Samantha (Elisabeth Moss) is thinking it over. She’s a slightly unkempt, earnest, talented actress who…

Arriving not long after The Substance doesn’t bode well for something like Shell, Max Minghella‘s campy, body horror ode to trashy escapist 90s cinema that similarly explores the world of ageing in Hollywood and how far someone will go to maintain perfection.  With both films screening within a week of each other at last year’s…

One of the most talked about titles out of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was the biographical sports drama Christy from acclaimed Australian filmmaker David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) and starring Sydney Sweeney in the titular role, one that generated Oscar buzz out of the festival last month; you can read our review here, where we…

Alienware has never really been shy about spectacle. Their machines are often the centrepiece of any setup, not just because of the performance under the hood, but because they look like they’ve been stolen from the set of a sci-fi film. The new Alienware Area-51 (2025) doesn’t break that tradition. It’s massive, unapologetically bold, and…

Creativity was centre stage as Sony unveiled the winners of its tenth annual Sony Alpha Awards 2025, honouring the most striking photography from across Australia and New Zealand. The competition, which has grown into one of the most anticipated events on the region’s photography calendar, attracted more than 3,000 entries across 13 categories, from astrophotography…

As we head into October, we have added ten new tracks to our Discovery Playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, including one premiere from earlier this week. Our track of the week goes to Bec Sandridge, with her lesbian yearning anthem, “At Last”, from her upcoming sophomore album, Happy Futures. “At Last” blends Nashville sparkle…

Audrey Hobert’s Melbourne debut at The Toff in Town was one of her first-ever Australian shows, with just 300 fans securing a spot through a ballot system. She played tracks from her debut album Who’s The Clown? to the tiny room, filled with warmth and anticipation, offering a rare close-up introduction to a rising songwriter. Eloise…

Beloved indie folk artist Iron & Wine will make his long-awaited return to Australia in early 2026, bringing a run of intimate solo performances and festival appearances to audiences across the country. It marks the first Australian visit in eight years for the project of US songwriter Sam Beam, who has been releasing music under…

Mr. Scorsese is a cinematic portrait one Martin Scorsese, detailing the man through the lens of his work, exploring the many facets of a visionary who redefined filmmaking, including his extraordinary career and unique personal history. With exclusive, unrestricted access to Scorsese’s private archives, the documentary series is anchored by extensive conversations with the filmmaker…

No stranger to helming both action and comedy, director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door, Let’s Be Cops) hilariously collides suburban dad life with high-stakes thrills, transforming an ordinary afternoon into an absurd action-packed adventure where minivan mayhem meets professional hitmen in Play Date, which Prime Video have revealed today through exclusive first-look images ahead…

The Japanese Film Festival (JFF), presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney, marks its 29th year with a line-up of major new releases, literary adaptations, thrillers and anime features. Touring Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth from 27th October to the 19th December, the festival continues to highlight the best of contemporary and classic Japanese cinema….