Year: 2025

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond probably needs no introduction, given its long-awaited announcement and subsequent release, but here we are, with a build that was playable at PAX Aus 2025. The 15-minute demo was packed with a few things that laid down the overall tone and gameplay for what’s to come, complete with mouse controls on…

\ Tied to a tree with no recollection of how he got there – or why – when Bark opens with its interesting set-up of seeming Average Joe, Nolan Bentley (Michael Weston), in this predicament, Marc Schölermann‘s horror effort wants us to question if he’s a victim or a perpetrator. Over the course of its…

The First Annual Liberty Ball took place at Sydney’s Liberty Hall, featuring incredible international and local artists. Headlining the night was  Nashville-based American singer Nikki Lane and her band. Nikki has that cool vintage Americana twang sound with raspy vocals and absolutely killed it. On the outdoor stage were Laid Back Country Pickers all the…

A little over a year since the release of his Sincere LP, R&B singer Khalid has decidedly changed his tune from those airy, harmonic rhythms to a more pop-forward, liberating sound with After The Sun Goes Down, a confident, at times sexually charged collection of beats that leans into an almost Y2K sense of sound….

If you’re a popular-enough movie with a strong feminine edge, there’s a good chance you have been, will be, or are receiving the screen-to-stage treatment.  Over the last near-two decades we’ve seen such titles as Legally Blonde, Bring It On, 13 Going On 30, and Mean Girls all get the musical treatment, and now, the…

We’re back with another playlist update with a slew of great new tracks added to our Discovery playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. Naarm-based artist Kee’ahn takes our Track of the Week with her new single “The Way I Love” – the final single from the new EP for me for you, which is out…

Australian pop sensation Samantha Jade has long been a powerhouse in the music industry – from winning The X Factor in 2012 to topping charts with her platinum-selling hits and captivating audiences with her dynamic performances.  Known for her stunning vocals and undeniable stage presence, Samantha has continually evolved as an artist, expanding her talents…

Fresh off the back of her sold-out Australian dates earlier this year, UK indie-folk standout Billie Marten has announced she’ll return in early 2026 for a headline tour. The Dog Eared Tour celebrates her critically acclaimed fifth album of the same name. The run will see her bringing her unmistakable sound to intimate stages in Brisbane,…

Whilst there is a certain initial familiarity in Jessica Rothe portraying someone who’s in something of a cyclical environment in her latest horror effort, Affection, it becomes all too evident in the early minutes of BT Meza‘s genre outing that this is no retread of the more humorously minded Happy Death Day – the film…

The Tron series has always existed in an interesting space within cinematic history.  The 1982 original (Tron) and its 2010 sequel (Tron: Legacy) were more a cult phenomenon than box office successes, with the first film something of a visual revolution as it introduced audiences to the notion of entering a digital world, before Joseph…

Bri Lee‘s latest novel takes us deep into the wilderness of Antarctica, to an area that some might call barren while others call it beautiful. Lee uses this landscape of dualities, in which two scientists undertake the final stages of a seed vault project to protect the biodiversity of the world’s flora, to unravel issues…

An uncomfortable drama inspired by true events, Sovereign is a quiet, muscular outing from first-time feature filmmaker Christian Swegal, featuring a terrifying, layered turn from Nick Offerman at its core that speaks to the actor’s undeniable presence. Jerry and Joseph Kane were a father-son duo of anti-government extremists; Jerry was a self-proclaimed “sovereign citizen” who…

Inspired by true events, Sovereign stars Nick Offerman as Jerry Kane, a radicalised “sovereign citizen” who, with his 16-year-old son Joseph (Jacob Tremblay), gunned down two West Memphis police officers in 2010, sparking a deadly manhunt. Directed by Christian Swegal, and also starring Dennis Quaid, Nancy Travis and Martha Plimpton, Sovereign draws chilling parallels to…

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…