Author: Peter Gray

Seasoned film critic and editor, music reviewer, occasional lifestyle collaborator. Gives a great interview. Penchant for horror. Unashamed fan of Michelle Pfeiffer and Jason Momoa. Voter for the 84th Annual Golden Globes. Contact: [email protected]

Australian theatrical release date and trailer revealed for indie-breakout Alphabet Lane

A delightfully off-kilter new Australian film is about to arrive, with the first trailer now unveiled for Alphabet Lane, set to open in Australian cinemas on April 23rd, 2026. Written and directed by James Litchfield in his striking feature debut, the film pairs Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Apple Cider Vinegar, Jimpa) and Nicholas Denton (Talamasca, Dangerous Liaisons)…

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Win a double in-season pass to see Glen Powell in How To Make A Killing

Thanks to StudioCanal Australia and Think Tank Communications, we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see Glen Powell in the wicked new comedy How To Make A Killing, now screening in Australian cinemas. Disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, blue-collar Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) will stop at nothing to reclaim his…

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Scarpetta: Inside the 36-year journey to bring Patricia Cornwell’s crime icon to TV

Bringing a beloved literary character to the screen is never simple – but in the case of Scarpetta, the journey has been particularly long. The television adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling crime novels has been decades in the making, and now a powerhouse cast led by Nicole Kidman is finally stepping into the world of…

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First Impressions: Scarpetta; Nicole Kidman dissects a dark past in gripping crime series

For decades, readers of Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling crime novels have followed the meticulous, morally driven investigations of medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Now, the character finally makes the leap to television in Scarpetta, with Nicole Kidman (possibly the busiest woman working in Hollywood) stepping into the blood-spattered lab coat. It’s a fitting match. Kidman brings…

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Interview: Charithra Chandran on finding bravery in fear as she joins the global phenomenon of One Piece Season 2

When One Piece premiered on Netflix in 2023, it achieved something many believed impossible: successfully translating Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga phenomenon into a live-action spectacle that delighted longtime fans and newcomers alike. Based on the highest-selling manga series of all time – with more than 500 million copies sold worldwide – the high-seas adventure quickly…

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Interview: Jacob Romero Gibson, Emily Rudd and Mackenyu on finding courage, freedom and purpose in One Piece Season 2

When One Piece debuted on Netflix in 2023, it achieved the rare feat of translating one of the world’s most beloved manga into a live-action adventure that thrilled both longtime fans and newcomers. Based on Eiichiro Oda’s record-breaking manga – with more than 500 million copies sold worldwide – the series quickly became a global…

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Interview: Iñaki Godoy and Taz Skylar on chasing impossible dreams in One Piece Season 2

Few adaptations have carried the weight of expectation quite like One Piece. Based on Eiichiro Oda’s record-breaking manga – the highest-selling of all time with more than 500 million copies in circulation – the series sailed onto Netflix in 2023 and quickly became a global phenomenon, topping charts in more than 75 countries and racking…

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Interview: James Barr on comedy, abuse, and taking back the narrative with his stand-up show, Sorry I Hurt Your Son (Said My Ex To My Mum)

Multi-award-winning comedian, podcaster (A Gay And A NonGay), radio presenter (The Hits Radio Breakfast Show), TV host – and unapologetic gay icon – James Barr is bringing his fearless, critically acclaimed stand-up show Sorry I Hurt Your Son (Said My Ex to My Mum) to the Adelaide Fringe Festival. A deeply personal hour of comedy,…

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Interview: Patton Oswalt on passion, perseverance, and playing coach in GOAT

From Sony Pictures Animation – the powerhouse behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – comes GOAT, a high-energy, all-animal sports comedy about a small dreamer trying to muscle his way into a game built for giants. Set in the roarball arena, where claws are sharp and egos sharper, the film follows undersized underdog Will as he…

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Rebirth at 21: The Jennifer Lopez album that quietly refused to repeat itself

When Jennifer Lopez released Rebirth in March 2005, expectations were enormous – perhaps impossibly so. The album arrived in the long shadow of two pop-cultural juggernauts: J.Lo (2001) and This Is Me… Then (2002), records that helped define early-2000s pop and R&B. Both albums produced major hits, iconic imagery, and a public persona that blurred…

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Opinion: The fabulous Michelle Pfeiffer, the piano, and the Oscar that got away

When The Fabulous Baker Boys arrived in 1989, it carried the modest shape of a character drama: two weary lounge musicians drifting through a career of half-empty hotel bars and forgotten standards. What transformed the film into something electric was the arrival of Michelle Pfeiffer as Susie Diamond – a character who, in lesser hands,…

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Beyond Matt Damon: five actors who could become the next Jason Bourne

Rumours are swirling that the Jason Bourne franchise could be gearing up for another reboot – this time without Matt Damon, the actor who defined the role across the majority of the series; The Bourne Identity in 2002, The Bourne Supremacy in 2004, The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007, and Jason Bourne in 2016, with only…

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Interview: Miranda Tapsell on family, grief and finding joy after the fairy tale with Top End Bub

When Miranda Tapsell first brought audiences into the vibrant world of Top End Wedding, it felt like a joyous corrective to the romantic comedy formula – a film bursting with culture, community and the unapologetic warmth of family. But the story doesn’t end with the fairy-tale wedding. In the new series continuation, Top End Bub,…

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Interview: Director Patrick Hughes and Alan Ritchson on War Machine, positive charges and peak suffering

During the final stage of U.S. Army Ranger selection, a routine training exercise mutates into something far more dangerous in War Machine – a survival thriller that hits the ground running and never lets up. Speaking with director Patrick Hughes and star Alan Ritchson, our Peter Gray unpacked the film’s pulse-pounding rhythm, from meticulously engineered…

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Film Review: GOAT; a brash and colourful fable about believing in yourself and lifting others up

There’s something undeniably infectious about GOAT. It moves at the speed of a sugar high and rarely stops to breathe, which is either part of its charm or its greatest flaw depending on your tolerance for chaos. At its core, this animated sports comedy follows a scrappy young underdog (or under-goat, technically) – Will Harris…

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Brisbane’s Boom Boom Room is back – louder, later and ready to party again

Brisbane’s underground favourite Boom Boom Room is ready to make some noise again. After a short break, the Ghanem Group venue reopens tonight (Friday 6th March) with a refreshed concept that leans harder into late-night energy, live entertainment and bold modern Asian flavours. The idea is simple: a night that evolves. Early evenings begin with…

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Album Review: Willa Ford oscillates between unapologetic pop excess and vulnerable reflection on playful LP amanda

More than two decades after bursting onto the pop scene, Willa Ford returns with amanda, a record that feels less like a comeback and more like a personal exhale. Ford has been open about the fact that the album “was never supposed to happen,” describing how music unexpectedly resurfaced in her life during a period…

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Interview: Cédric Klapisch on Colours of Time, memory and cinema’s relationship with the past

When Cédric Klapisch makes a film about time, he doesn’t treat it as something fixed or distant. Instead, it becomes something fluid – memories bleeding into the present, generations speaking to each other across decades. His latest film, Colours of Time, screening at the Alliance Française French Film Festival, begins with a simple discovery: in…

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Gold Coast Film Festival 2026: Bold stories, big oceans, and a fierce local spirit

Gold Coast Film Festival returns from 22nd April to 3rd May, 2026, and if this year’s opening and closing night films are anything to go by, it’s shaping up to be one of its most emotionally charged editions yet. Fresh from critical acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival, Warwick Thornton’s Wolfram will open the festival…

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Film Review: The Bride! is a beautiful, baffling monster of a movie

There’s something undeniably thrilling about watching a filmmaker swing this hard. From Maggie Gyllenhaal – whose directorial debut The Lost Daughter announced a fierce and precise new voice – The Bride! arrives as a bold, operatic reimagining of Mary Shelley’s mythos. On paper, it’s intoxicating: a 1930s Chicago-set fever dream starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale,…

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Interview: Max Norman and his champagne-fuelled alter ego Coco the Time Travelling Tart on their Adelaide Fringe show; “I’m interested in joy and irreverence.”

History has always belonged to the victors – but Coco The Time-Travelling Tart would like a word. Logging on to meet London’s self-proclaimed “Champagne enthusiast” and historical menace, our Peter Gray was immediately thrown into her gloriously unhinged orbit. Fresh from sold-out gallery tours and 30 million-plus online views, Coco is bringing her chaos Down…

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Interview: Sophie Power on breaking the shame cycle with her confrontational Adelaide Fringe cabaret show

*Interview contains adult language and references After completely sold-out runs at Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne Fringe – and taking home the award for Best Comedy – Sophie Power isn’t so much returning to Adelaide Fringe in 2026 as she is staging a full-scale uprising. Her debut solo show, CVNT, is exactly what it…

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The Wayans Brothers are back to cancel the Cancel Culture in first-look Scary Movie trailer

Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe. Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, and Regina Hall reunite in Scary Movie alongside returning favourites and fresh faces to slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin…

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Interview: True South director Dave Klaiber and creator Will Alexander on the cost of endurance

For 80 years, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race has occupied a rare place in Australian cultural life – a spectacle of endurance that unfolds each summer as the nation watches the fleet charge south into the Bass Strait, one of the most volatile stretches of water on earth. It is a race built on…

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From page-turner to prime time: The power of the crime adaptation

There’s something deliciously ironic about the fact that, in an age obsessed with spoilers, audiences are flocking to stories where many already know the ending. Prime Video’s “Crime On Prime” slate isn’t just ambitious – it’s strategic. With adaptations of novels by James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Catherine Ryan Howard launching…

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Film Review: Dolly; grimy hicksploitation horror flick is a feral love letter to the genre

There’s a particular kind of grime that clings to the best grindhouse horror – the sense that if you wiped your hand across the screen, it would come away sticky. Dolly, directed by Rod Blackhurst, leans into that filth with feral enthusiasm. This is not polite horror. It’s blood-caked, sun-bleached, and proudly nasty; a love…

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Film Review: Solo Mio is a breezy, lush romantic comedy grounded by the surprising softness of Kevin James

Romantic comedies don’t usually hand the microphone to the guy who gets left at the altar. Solo Mio does, and that alone gives it a slightly different flavor. Kevin James has flirted with the genre before (and memorably scene-stole in Hitch), but here he steps fully into leading-man territory. Reuniting with the Kinnane brothers (Directors…

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Interview: Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman on the value of sincere comedy with The Napa Boys; “It feels like we’ve forgotten what movies used to feel like.”

If legacy sequels are supposed to coast on nostalgia, Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman clearly missed the memo. With The Napa Boys – the entirely fabricated “fourth chapter” of a wine-soaked comedy franchise that never actually existed – the longtime collaborators have pulled off something both mischievous and oddly sincere. Co-written by Weitzman and Corirossi,…

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Melbourne International Comedy Festival unveils 40th Anniversary Program

The laughs feel a little different in 2026 – fuller, louder, maybe even a touch sentimental – as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival celebrates its 40th birthday. What began in 1987 as a relatively modest gathering of funny people has grown into something that now feels woven into the city’s DNA. For four decades, every…

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Film Review: Scream 7; nostalgia and camp abound in meta-heavy sequel

The road to Scream 7 has been so fraught with controversy that it could almost qualify as its own horror story. Following the success of 2023’s Scream VI – itself marked by the absence of franchise cornerstone Neve Campbell amid a pay dispute – the seventh entry endured director departures, cast exits, online backlash, and…

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