Soaking in really hot, mineral-stacked water with a dozen naked strangers is one of the most important traditions in Japan. And that’s saying a lot in a country that has turned intentional stillness into a life-giving art form, whether it’s at a gentle tea ceremony or along a quiet path in a scrubby forest. This…

For more than a decade, Lincoln Lewis has been a familiar presence on Australian screens, but his journey from eager newcomer to seasoned performer has been anything but static. Starting out at just thirteen with early roles in The Sleepover Club, Mortified and H2O: Just Add Water, Lewis quickly built a foundation that would lead…

Sometimes the wrong place is exactly where you’re meant to be. That idea sits at the heart of You, Me & Tuscany, a sun-drenched romantic comedy that leans into chaos, coincidence, and the courage it takes to follow your instincts – even when they lead you somewhere wildly unexpected. Produced by hitmaker Will Packer, whose…

There’s something deeply fitting about Rebel Wilson making her directorial debut with a musical. Joyous, scrappy, and unmistakably Australian, The Deb feels like a love letter to the kind of films that shaped her – the bold, eccentric classics like Muriel’s Wedding, Strictly Ballroom, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert that didn’t…

Towards the end of the new Australian musical The Deb there’s an uplifting song-and-dance sequence to a ditty titled “Pretty Strong”, and that’s an acceptable enough term to describe Rebel Wilson‘s directorial debut.  The comedienne makes for a serviceable presence behind the camera as she injects an infectiousness and often-home-grown-specific humour into the proceedings of…

There’s always something special about premiering a debut — that first moment an artist steps out into the world and introduces themselves on their own terms. Today, the AU review is thrilled to bring you that moment for Naarm/Melbourne artist Hannah Potter, premiering both her debut single and video for “Snow Day” ahead of its…

We’re thrilled to be premiering the new single “Come On Back For Good” from St. Louis alt-country artist Adam Gaffney, heading overseas for this raw, remorse-soaked road song ahead of its release this Thursday — a track that leans into self-reflection and hard-earned honesty. Adam Gaffney writes country songs that don’t look away from the…

For anyone who grew up on a steady diet of Saturday morning television, Jennie Kwan is a face – and voice – you’ve likely carried with you far longer than you realise. From her breakout as Samantha Woo on California Dreams to voicing fan-favourite warrior Suki in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Kwan’s career has quietly…

There’s something almost fitting about how The Boys bows out: loud, messy, confrontational, and completely sure of itself. Season 5 doesn’t attempt a reinvention. Instead, it doubles down on everything that made the series essential viewing in the first place, delivering a finale that feels both earned and unflinchingly true to its identity. Developed by…

It’s been years since TikTok and Instagram made curated visual storytelling part of everyday life. Stories and reels have become the two most common methods of self-expression, and this has required people to think differently about content. Can you even remember what travel was like before we had new and creative ways to tell a…

Few fictional worlds have embedded themselves into the cultural consciousness quite like The Handmaid’s Tale. In the decades since Margaret Atwood first published her landmark novel, Gilead has become shorthand for a very real kind of fear – one that has only felt more immediate with time. So when she released The Testaments more than…

Few television worlds have felt as fully realized – or as suffocating – as Gilead, the theocratic regime at the heart of The Handmaid’s Tale. But with The Testaments, showrunner Bruce Miller isn’t simply returning to that world – he’s reframing it entirely. Based on Margaret Atwood’s sequel novel, the series shifts perspective to a…

You know how when you go and see a scary movie, you’ll either be one of those people who covers their ears or their eyes when they can sense something bad is about to happen? Well, when it comes to Undertone, I really couldn’t advise which is the best move. Because although this film is…

Robotic pool cleaners are having a moment. And it’s about time; why should your carpet have all the fun? These cute little techies are like benevolent submarines, diving into your pool and promising to keep it spick, span and hygenic forever. That’s the idea, anyway. What used to feel like a luxury add-on has quietly…

Liverpudlian five-piece STONE returned to their home-town last night, on the back of the release of their second album, AUTONOMY, to play at the iconic Arts Club to a buoyant crowd. They are mid-tour, with a bunch dates in the UK, including Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester nad London before heading to Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and…

There’s a moment early in The Drama where everything still feels deceptively perfect. The lighting is soft, the chemistry is effortless, and Zendaya and Robert Pattinson move through their relationship with the kind of easy, enviable rhythm that makes strangers roll their eyes and secretly take notes. It’s a rom-com fantasy – polished, aspirational, and…

There are standing ovations… and then there are the kind that feel inevitable. The opening night of MJ the Musical at Brisbane’s QPAC Lyric Theatre didn’t just earn one – it triggered waves of them. The kind that start mid-show, ripple through the crowd, and return again before the final curtain even has a chance…

I’m a casual anime fan, but a massive car fan, so most racing games usually grab my attention in some way. But when I saw Screamer’s blend of anime cutscenes and stylish racing sequences, I was ready to go. For what it’s worth, I’m also just finding out that this is the fourth game in…

In the early Manchester morning, Hannah Mee and Jim Shaw, two halves of punk/rock group Hot Milk, are keenly looking ahead to their upcoming Australia tour in May. Returning to Australia after their last visit in 2023, the group is back on familiar ground. “It feels like a second home”, Hannah describes. “I know the…

There’s a moment early in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie where a glowing Luma drifts into frame, wide-eyed and urgent, setting off a galaxy-spanning rescue mission. It’s the kind of whimsical, high-concept storytelling the Mario universe thrives on – colorful, strange, and full of possibility. Unfortunately, that promise quickly gets swallowed by a film that…

Winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2025 and the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award, The President’s Cake arrives with a wave of international acclaim – and it’s not hard to see why. Set in 1991 Iraq, during the final years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, the film follows nine-year-old Lamia, tasked with baking…

Sim Local has simplified the eSIM process to the point where it’s now much cheaper, easier and much less stressful to dial in high speeds when your overseas. Vicious roaming charges were once a bugbear for Aussies travelling overseas, but the widespread availability of SIM cards and the increasingly seamless set-up process changed that. And…

Adelaide-based songwriter Anna Jeavons continues her evolution ahead of her forthcoming debut album Anomie with the release of her striking new single “Smart Casual” — and today, we’re premiering the official video. Produced by Ben Stewart (Slowly Slowly), “Smart Casual” is a slow-burn that swells into something quietly powerful. Built on layered guitars and Jeavons’…

Fifteen years on, Femme Fatale sits in a fascinating, complicated place in Britney Spears’ catalogue – once dismissed as impersonal and overly synthetic, now increasingly understood as both a cultural pivot point and a quietly resilient achievement. Released in March 2011, Femme Fatale arrived at a moment when mainstream pop was aggressively chasing the club….

Continuing our series on Europe’s best festivals for 2026, Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival is gearing up for a landmark year, celebrating its 10th anniversary from 8th–11th July 2026 with one of its most expansive and genre-spanning line-ups to date. Held at the sprawling Iberdrola Music venue, Mad Cool has quickly established itself as one of…

This summer, fear doesn’t knock – it breaks in. Inspired by the chilling legacy of Cape Fear, a new nightmare begins when Cape Fear premieres June 5th on Apple TV. From executive producers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg comes a relentless psychological thriller where the past refuses to stay buried. Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson…

With his original upload, Kane Parsons redefined the landscape of horror for a new generation. Now, making his feature debut, Backrooms will expand the terror for the big screen, with Academy Award nominees Chiwitel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve leading the charge as a therapist ventures into an otherworldly dimension in the basement of a furniture…

  When Super Mario Bros. Wonder launched on the original Nintendo Switch back in October 2023, I called it “quite simply the best 2D Mario platforming game ever made” – and I stand by every word. So when Nintendo announced a Switch 2 Edition complete with the mouthful subtitle + Meetup in Bellabel Park, the…

There’s something quietly disarming about Father Mother Sister Brother – a film that unfolds not with grand declarations, but in glances, silences, and the emotional spaces left unspoken. Structured as a triptych spanning the Northeast US, Dublin, and Paris, it explores the fragile, often complicated bonds between adult children and their parents, as well as…

There’s something quietly radical about a filmmaker as singular as Jim Jarmusch making a film that feels this small. Father Mother Sister Brother doesn’t announce itself with narrative urgency or emotional fireworks – instead, it invites you to lean in, to notice, to sit with the awkward silences and half-truths that define family. And in…