Author: Matthew Arcari

Matthew Arcari is the games and technology editor at The AU Review. You can find him on Twitter at @sirchunkee, or at the Dagobah System, chilling with Luke and Yoda.

Australian director Leigh Whannell among winners of the SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards

Taking place between 9-18 March, the 2018 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas has come to a close, and with that, the Audience Award winners have officially been announced. The awards cover a range of categories, from documentary features to outstanding narrative structure and creativity. Amongst the list includes Australia director…

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New trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald takes us back into the wizarding world

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald takes fans back into the wizarding world for a sequel to an admittedly fun film in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  In this newest trailer, we are transported back to the 1920’s as we join protagonist Newt Scamander once again, with the introduction of Jude Law in his highly…

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Create NSW and ABC Arts applications now open for 2019 Documentary Feature Fund

Following the success of The Go-Betweens: Right Here and prior to the the release of the 2018 film Double Happiness: China Love, Create NSW and ABC Arts have put forward application opportunities for its 2019 Feature Fund which is now in its third year. Each project funded through the initiative will receive a world premiere…

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The Sydney Film Festival announces 2018 dates

The Sydney Film Festival returns once again to celebrate its 65th anniversary, taking place from the 6-17 June, 2018. The festival aims to bring the world’s best and newest films to Sydney over a 12 day period complete with premieres, talks, parties, director and actor guests and much more. Over 250 films from all over…

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Screen Australia and The Guardian to fund four online documentary short films

The Guardian have announced, in collaboration with Screen Australia, the four projects that have been selected to receive funding from their joint initiative announced in August last year: The Big Wait, Los Rambos, Operations from the Bottom and Where the River Runs Red.  All four films have been created by early career filmmakers, covering both…

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Actress Margot Robbie to attend Australian premiere of Peter Rabbit

Australian actress Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad, I, Tonya) is set to return to Sydney to attend the Australian premiere of the upcoming film Peter Rabbit. She’ll be joined by director, producer and writer Will Gluck (Easy A, Annie) and Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager) who voices Mopsy in the film. The screening will take place on…

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Games Review: Payday 2 (Switch, 2018) is a flawed heist with the occasional big score

Payday 2  bursts onto the Nintendo Switch as one of the most complete packages of the title that you can find score in one initial purchase. Through it’s performance issues and strange omissions of certain DLC packs, Payday 2 is mostly what you expect, but this time, allowing you to take your heists on the…

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History in the making: here are all the winners from The 90th Academy Awards

Earlier today, The 90th Academy Awards in Hollywood celebrated not only 90 years of the most prestigious and recognised achievement in film, but an era of diversity, ultimately proving that power of film knows no boundaries. Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water had entered the ceremony as the overwhelming favourites with a whopping 13 nominations,…

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Games Review: Metal Gear Survive (PS4, 2018) is tough to live through

To put it simply, Metal Gear Survive should not exist. Before evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the title, one must first address the point of its existence in the first place. The Metal Gear series is famous for its stealth mechanics and intriguing story about the changing landscapes of technology in our world, topped…

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New trailer released for Australian Crime-Thriller Brothers’ Nest ahead of SXSW premiere

Award-Winning Australian director Clayton Jacobson’s (Kenny) new feature film Brothers’ Nest has revealed its first trailer ahead of its world premiere next month at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Brothers’ Nest stars director Clayton Jacobson alongside famed Australian actor and brother Shane Jacobson (Kenny), in a dark crime thriller, infused with an even darker…

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Take your first look at the Lost in Space reboot as Netflix confirms release date

Netflix has given us our first look at the rebooted intergalactic adventure series Lost in Space. Exclusive to the streaming platform, Netflix’s take on Lost in Space proves to be modern reimagining of the 1960’s classic science fiction series, as the Robinson family is selected among others for a new life on a distant planet. However,…

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Games Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance (PS4, 2018) offers a deep and realistic, yet fun and captivating medieval experience

Kingdom Come: Deliverance attempts to give players a realistic medieval action-RPG, complete with a dense and diverse open world. Being heavily based on historical fact, the experience is mostly aimed at history buffs, but can also be enjoyed by casual fans thanks to its capable combat mechanics.

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Top End Wedding indigenous internships now open for application

Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department will fund internships for four Northern Territory-based indigenous screen practitioners, to take part in the upcoming Goalpost Pictures film Top End Wedding. Applications are now open for various positions such as First Assistant Director, Art Department, Camera Department, Production and Sound. Available exclusively to NT based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander…

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Stan Original series No Activity returns stateside for its second season

Australian streaming service Stan and CBS All Access have confirmed that a second season of the US adaptation of the Australian comedy series No Activity, Stan’s first original series to hit the US. The first season of No Activity is currently streaming on Stan, coming from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.  Nick Forward,…

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Award-Winning creators of The Killing Season to attend AIDC 2018

The 2018 Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) just got bigger, with the announcement that The Killing Season creators, journalist Sarah Ferguson and producer/director Deb Masters, will be in attendance. The conference consists of over 35 sessions, with this session adding an in-depth Dramatic Narrative in Journalism Masterclass, in which Ferguson and Masters will break down their journalistic…

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Transmission Films set to close output deal with Amazon Studios

Transmission Films has announced that it will be the exclusive theatrical distributor of Amazon Studios’ films in both the Australian and New Zealand markets. The deal will also cover the acquisition of Amazon Studios and its production titles. The output deal will include Mike Leigh’s anticipated historical drama Peterloo, and Tom Harper’s romantic epic The…

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Greta Nash and Tadji Ulrich announced as Tropfest Australia and Trop Jr Winners

Tropfest Australia have announced in partnership with CGU Insurance, the winners of both Tropfest and Trop Jr 2018. 23 year-old Greta Nash was announced as the winner for Tropfest with her  film Two Piece, while 15 year-old Tadji Ulrich has been announced as the winner of the world’s largest short film festival for kids, Trop…

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Great Gatsby and Shawshank immersive cinematic experiences are coming to Australia

After an impressive debut in Australia with Titanic, which saw over 1000 guests transported back to 1912 in an immersive, authentic recreation, Beyond Cinema have announced their second Sydney immersive cinema experience: The Great Gatsby, as well as a debut in Melbourne for another classic. The Gatsby experience will be set in an exclusive Sydney mansion, as…

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This is Me? This is You! The Greatest Showman sing-alongs are coming to cinemas

Six weeks after its release, fighting off Jumanjis and Star Wars, The Greatest Showman sits atop the Australian box office with an impressive $1.6 million. The uplifting musical opened in cinemas on Boxing Day, and has earned a whopping $26.6 million since its initial release. To leverage this success, the film is already lining itself up…

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Noomi Rapace to film psychological thriller Angel of Mine in Melbourne

Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) has been cast in the upcoming psychological thriller Angel of Mine, directed by Kim Farrant (Strangerland). Set in Melbourne, Angel of Mine follows a mother still struggling to cope with the loss of her daughter, becoming obsessed with a stranger’s daughter she believes to actually be her own. As her obsession…

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Jessica Jones confirms second series release date and drops new trailer

Marvel’s Jessica Jones is set to return to Netflix for a second season,  as its March release date is confirmed and a new trailer graces our screens. With arch-nemesis Kilgrave gone, Jessica finds that an exit from the world of vigilante justice isn’t as easy as she anticipated, as her disturbed past drags her back into a world…

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Bryan Brown, Sam Neil and Greta Scacchi to star in upcoming film Palm Beach

Entertainment One, Seville International and Screen Australia in association with Create NSW have announced that Bryan Brown (Breaker Morant, Dirty Deeds) Sam Neil (Jurassic Park), Greta Scacchi (The Entertainer) and Jaqueline McKenzie (The 4400) will star in the upcoming film Palm Beach. The film will be written by acclaimed playwright Joanna Murray-Smith (Honour, The Female of the Species) and be directed by the celebrated Australian…

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SXSW Film Festival announces huge 2018 lineup; here’s six films you can’t miss

The 25th South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas has announced the first 132 features we can expect to see in its lineup this year, with The Quiet Place set to open the festival, directed by an alumni of The Office. Across the festival’s nine days, no less than 132 features will be…

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From Avengers to Westworld: Here are the trailers you missed during Super Bowl LII

You may think the Super Bowl is an exciting day for NFL fans, and you’d be right. But did you also know that’s an exciting day for movie and television fans!? Film trailers have been known to appear all throughout the big day, so without further ado, let’s look at the trailers you may have…

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Games Review: EA Sports UFC 3: A worthy opponent

EA Sports UFC 3 marks EA’s the third tilt at creating an authentic, complex mixed martial arts experience. While it’s not a total knockout punch, it’s safe to say UFC 3 provides hardcore and casual fans alike with a reasonably accessible fighting sim.

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ABC’s Emmy Award winning series Nowhere Boys enters production for its fourth series

Production is now officially underway on the fourth season of the ABC’s Emmy award winning series Nowhere Boys. The series is currently filming in various Melbourne based locations, with the supernatural action-adventure series looking to premiere later this year on both ABC ME and the ABC ME app. The gang will return this season from…

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Netflix crime-thriller series Seven Seconds shows off first official trailer

Netflix original series Seven Seconds has recently revealed its first official trailer, with enough to unpack, and a lot for crime-thriller fans to look forward to. Seven Seconds centres around the death of a young African- American teen, as his death sparks a fire in the heart of his mother, but sets forth a series…

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Kaiju fights return on a grand scale in the latest Pacific Rim: Uprising trailer

The second official trailer for Pacific Rim: Uprising has been released, and looks to bring back awesome Kaiju fights on a grand scale. Filmed right here in Australia, the sequel sees Star Wars‘ John Boyega in the role of Jake Pentecost, the son of Stacker Pentecost, played by Idris Elba in the first film. Jake is…

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Alliance Française French Film Festival announces packed 2018 program

Returning to Palace Cinemas from late February until mid- April, the 29th annual Alliance Française French Film Festival will look to spoil audiences with a selection of 47 feature films, 2 documentaries and a TV series, all of which will seek to embody the passion, diversity and artistry of contemporary French cinema. Artistic Director Philippe Platel will…

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Rocket League Championship will mark Australia’s largest eSports Prize Pool

Throwdown eSports confirms The RLCS World Championship and next season of Rocket League will kick off from 4th February, 2018 with $100,000 AUD  prize pool; the largest seen in Australia to date.

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