Author: Matthew Arcari

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

Netflix announces two new True Crime Documentary Series

Following the wildly popular Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country, comes two brand new true crime original documentary series, in Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist, and brand new episodes of the critically acclaimed series The Staircase, which will expand upon the exisiting original ten episodes. The Staircase will premiere…

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Sara West’s Mutt wins big at the 20th South Australian Screen Awards

The 20th South Australian Film Festival was held on Friday to celebrate the achievements of its peers, with the sold out gala event being hosted by Mat Kesting. Sara West’s critically acclaimed short film Mutt led the charge with four awards, for Best Directing (Sara West), Best Male Performance (Oscar Redding), Best Female Performance (Jordan…

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New Australian features Honour and Bollywood Downunder announced as part of ACCTA initiative

Honour and Bollywood Downunder were both announced this week at a gala function held in Mumbai, India, as two brand new Australian films, as part of the launch of the 2018 Asia International Engagement Program, an initiative of The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). Honour is produced by Jannine Barnes and co-produced by Anuya…

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The Third American Essentials Film Festival announces its packed program

The American Essentials Film Festival will celebrate its third outing from 8 May across Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, exclusively at Palace Cinemas. The festival will look to present twenty-two of the best contemporary American independent films in honour of L.A. The festival will be presented by Discover Los Angeles in association with American Airlines. The…

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Ocean’s 8 sneaks in with its newest trailer

Ocean’s 8 has just released its main trailer ahead of the film’s release on 7th June. The film centres around Debbie Ocean, as she has spent the last five years, eight months and 12 days devising the biggest heist of her “professional” career. Along with a team consisting of an entirely female cast, Debbie will…

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Games Review: Extinction (PS4, 2018): A Giant Disappointment

Extinction offers up an interesting premise that I was personally drawn to. Being a fan of The Shadow of the Colossus, which this game seems to borrow elements from, it seemed like a no-brainer. What we get however, is an underdeveloped pot of mediocrity that pulls off a few neat tricks, while ultimately crumbling under…

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Universal Studios Hollywood to host Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Celebration

Calling all Jurassic Park fans! Universal Studios Hollywood will be hosting the first ever themed Jurassic Park Celebration that will roar to life from 11-12 May to coincide with the film’s 25th anniversary. This event was created in partnership with Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment as a separately ticketed event, in which space is limited and…

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Ivan Drago & Rocky return as Creed II begins production

Production is officially underway for Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures (MGM) and Warner Bros. Pictures’ Creed II in Philadelphia, as Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) return to star in their respective roles. Creed II continues the Rocky saga as the sequel to the 2015 hit film Creed, as the illegitimate son of Apollo, Adonis Creed and Rocky…

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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands to receive second year of DLC

Since the launch of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, over 10 million players have taken on the Santa Blanca Cartel. As a result of the title’s success, Ubisoft have announced a second year full of post launch content for players to enjoy. The content offers a range of free contents on both campaign and PvP experiences. The first…

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Award-Winning Narrative Game Killing Time at Lightspeed coming to iOS

Killing Time at Lightspeed is now available for pre-order upon its imminent release on iOS. Developed by Gritfish, the award-winning narrative experience sees players aboard a spaceship travelling at the speed of light.

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ACMI and Film Victoria announce the return of Series Mania Melbourne

After last year’s inaugural Series Mania Melbourne turned out to be a huge success, the world-renowned TV festival will make its return to ACMI this year from 19- 22 July, 2018. The festival will give both fans and members of the local TV industry a look into global trends within drama, comedy and web series…

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The new thriller from the producers of Stranger Things reveals its first official trailer

The upcoming thriller The Darkest Minds has revealed its first official trailer packed with tense action, as a group of teens develop mysterious new abilities, and are declared a threat by the government as a result. The film comes to us from the producers of Stranger Things and Arrival, and stars Amandla Stenberg from The Hunger…

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Alex Gibney’s latest documentary to headline the 4th Annual Irish Film Festival

The Irish Film Festival has announced its program for 2018 for both Sydney and Melbourne, including a new documentary by US Oscar winning filmmaker Alex Gibney headlining the program. The 2018 festival will also mark the 20th anniversary of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, as the Irish Film Festival pays respects with four new films examining the…

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Deadpool 2 packs a flurry of hilarious punches in its newest trailer

Following the hilarious and wildly successful Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds is back for another ride in this heavily anticipated sequel, as Deadpool 2’s latest trailer brings the violence, and more importantly, the fun. The latest trailer is arguably the juiciest yet, not only introducing us to Josh Brolin’s heavily anticipated performance as Cable, but introducing us to X…

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First Look: George R.R. Martin novella Nightflyers to be adapted by Netflix

George R.R. Martin’s works will be seeing an television adaptation once again, as his novella Nightflyers is set to arrive exclusively to Netflix. Set sometime in the future on the eve of the Earth’s destruction, a crew of explorers pilot the most advanced ship known to man in a bid to reach a strange alien spacecraft…

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Film Review: Mary Magdalene (UK, 2018) does little to cement itself as a worthy biblical epic

Mary Magdalene extends the long list of biblical film adaptations, and with it, brings a competent yet flawed look at one of the most scrutinised and controversial figures surrounding the life of Jesus Christ. While Mary Magdalene brings some refreshing aspects to the table, it also becomes the victim of its own ambition, sacrificing any…

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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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