Author: Peter Gray

There’s an ineffable magic to seeing dragons come to life on the screen – a blend of myth and marvel that speaks to the child in all of us. Few stories have captured this magic as masterfully as DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise, an adaptation of author Cressida Cowell’s best-selling book series….

Highlighting the drama behind the for-the-camera-smiles of the 1970s variety show, Kate McCarthy‘s The Hicks Happy Hour is a moment-in-time short feature that escalates with a certain tension, before it ultimately pivots for a more cathartic climax that speaks to one woman’s eventual truth. “Stars stay smiling” is the Hicks family motto, something mother Jill…

Premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Lemonade Blessing is a biting coming-of-age comedy about John (Jake Ryan), freshly tossed into a private Catholic high school by his devout mother, who falls head over heels for a devious classmate ready to push his faith (and morals) to the brink with a series of increasingly uncomfortable…

Finding truth in the absurd and writing what you know are so often two rules that filmmakers adhere to, and both apply heartily for writer/director Chris Merola, who speaks his veracity in Lemonade Blessing, a coming-of-age dramedy centred around religion and how one responds to its pressures. Inspired by his own childhood growing up under…

Will Jennifer Lopez finally secure herself an Oscar nomination? After the Hustlers snub that still hits hard these years later, the multi-hyphenate performer is in full movie musical mode in Kiss of the Spider Woman, an adaption of the 1992 musical based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Manuel Puig. The movie,…

From 7–24 August, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) proudly returns to Naarm and surrounds with some of the most talked about films arriving hot from Cannes, Berlin, Sundance and across the globe. Across 18 days of bold programming, this year’s festival slate is brimming with original storytelling that will ask audiences to Look Closer as…

As ridiculous a sport racewalking may seem – Aussies are sure to have images of Jane Turner and Glenn Robbins powerwalking with all their might come to mind – writing/directing duo Phil Moniz and Kevin Claydon lace such with a tenderness and respect that allows audiences to laugh with the sport’s quirk rather than at…

Playing with the beats you come to expect from such an exorcism feature, The Ritual sets itself up with two priests – the devotee and the doubter – who go head-to-head on hoping to save a poor soul who has been inhabited by a certain evil.  It’s a standard practice, and many films have made…

There’s a certain frustration felt when watching Predators, a 96 minute documentary centering around the series To Catch a Predator, itself an offshoot from NBC’s Dateline.  In the early 2000s, the show lured audiences in as it highlighted online predatory behaviour – primarily older men meeting underage boys and girls for the intention of sexual…

Author Stephen King and filmmaker Mike Flanagan have made careers predominantly out of their affinity for horror.  With The Life of Chuck, they have decidedly pivoted and leaned into another of their shared strengths; broadcasting emotional stories.  The result, however schmaltzy it may threaten to be, is a beautiful, weird celebration of life and all…

It’s been something of an arduous trek to the screen for one Ballerina – or, as it’s been marketed, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina – a serviceable action film that hopes to elevate its own being by attaching itself to a lucrative, acclaimed franchise, even though it originated as something else entirely. To…

There’s a certain bittersweetness in watching OBEX (the title specifically capitalised) following David Lynch’s sad passing, as Albert Birney‘s truly bizarre odyssey feels like a kindred spirit to Lynch’s Eraserhead, with the hallucinatory anxiety and surrealist mentality playing into a personality that is perversely into its own weirdness. Set in a pre-internet 1987, and expressed…

TIFF is thrilled to announce the World Premiere of John Candy: I Like Me as the Opening Night Gala taking place on Thursday, September 4, at Roy Thomson Hall. Directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds, this documentary is a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Canadian icon, with stories and memories from Candy’s…

Given that it’s merging two proven cinematic killers – one serial, the other a shark – it makes sense that Sean Byrne‘s horror-adjacent thriller is suitably tense and highly aware of its own madness. No stranger to executing unbearable tension and providing an antagonist that we can’t help but be utterly absorbed by (see The…

From his imposing turn in Jack Reacher to the Suicide Squad, Jai Courtney is no stranger to playing villains and anti-heroes on screen.  But his latest role in cult filmmaker Sean Byrne’s Dangerous Animals, the actor may be embodying his most unhinged yet, as Tucker, a shark-obsessed serial killer with a penchant for showing tourists the…

For over a decade now, Kris Marshall has called Paradise home. After leaving quite the lasting impression in the hit crime comedy/drama series Death in Paradise across four seasons, Marshall’s Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman moved Beyond Paradise to a more rural setting to continue his police procedural work. Returning to Shipton Abbott for a thrilling…

After a successful box office run, the Certified Fresh, SXSW Audience Award-winning film is coming to Prime Video! It’s been nearly 10 years since Ben Affleck debuted as Christian Wolff, aka The Accountant, in the same-name actioner that Gavin O’Connor pushed to a sizeable box office haul ($155m) despite tepid-ish reviews.  That being said, average reviews have never stopped a…

Despite Karate Kid: Legends centering itself around a new character, Jonathan Entwistle‘s legacy sequel is like a greatest hits package, taking all the things that worked from previous Karate Kid offerings, removing the psychological fat that should be traumatizing its plethora of players, and wrapping it neatly in a family-friendly bow, presenting itself as a…

In Los Angeles over the weekend, Netflix Tudum, a global pop culture event that showcases what’s on the slate for the streaming behemoth, was held to mass fanfare – and a Gaga performance – in celebration of all the most anticipated titles for the remainder of 2025. Here at The AU Review we’ve gathered all…

No syllabus.  Just chaos. Gen V, the acclaimed series that expands the Emmy Award-winning world of The Boys with its own chilling and satirical edge, is welcoming its legion of fans back for another session of school as Prime Video release the anticipated teaser for Season 2. As the rest of America adjusts to Homelander’s…

Director Wes Anderson has his devotees and his detractors in equal measure, but it can’t be denied that his films manage to assemble some of the most impressive ensembles put to screen.  And his latest, The Phoenician Scheme (you can read our review here), is no exception. Centering around Zsa-zsa Korda, “one of the richest…

The type of intriguing, wealthy-white-centered murder mystery that feels as if Nicole Kidman is going to swan in at any given moment, The Better Sister manages to escape its familiar set-up thanks to strong performances and a genuine sense of unpredictability surrounding the “who” and “why” of it all. That familiar set-up involves the murder…

Australian artist IVANA returns with her first global single release for 2025 with the dance-infused “Burning”, which is out now purchase and streaming on all major platforms.  The single is IVANA’s first major release since recently signing with German based dance label Place Called Home. Since arriving onto the Australian music scene with unparalleled force…

Gramy-nominated US band OneRepublic, headed up by acclaimed singer/songwriter and lead vocalist Ryan Tedder, have announced their highly anticipated return to Australia and New Zealand for The Sweet Escape Tour, set to kick off in Auckland, New Zealand, February 2026, before continuing across Australia. OneRepublic played to full houses across Australia and New Zealand in…

With over a dozen films made across three decades, Wes Anderson has very much honed what it is to be considered an auteur; he’s possibly even bent the term to his own liking with his distinct style.  And it’s that particular style that is once again on display in The Phoenician Scheme, a bizarre, nonsense-embracing…

Not that there was going to be any serious doubt about their ability to avoid a sophomore slump with their second go-around as filmmakers, but brothers Danny and Michael Philippou have easily cemented themselves as modern day horror auteurs with the highly disturbing Bring Her Back, a bleak, discomforting genre feature that makes their debut,…

After taking the world by storm with their horror debut feature Talk To Me in 2023, all eyes were very much on Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou to see how they would follow up such a mammoth success. Proving that they were no flash in the pan, the twins launched back into the genre…

The St Kilda Film Festival (SKFF) has proudly announced its 2025 program, marking the 41st year of Australia’s longest-running short-film festival with its most expansive program to date, running between June 5th – 15th, 2025. Proudly presented by City of Port Phillip, this year’s festival will screen over 150 films across 34 curated sessions, taking place…

Despite its raunchy, suggestive title – yeah, there’s a reason there’s no comma alluding to 69 being a year – Jillian Bell‘s directorial debut, Summer of 69, is actually a particularly sweet, coming-of-age comedy that injects more than enough heart into proceedings to offset its teen-sex-comedy mentality. Much like Superbad, Booksmart and Bottoms before it,…

If there’s one thing Nicole Kidman is going to commit wholeheartedly to in any of her multitude of projects, it’s that her character will indulge in a wig or an accent.  In the case of Nine Perfect Strangers, it’s both. Four years ago, hot off the success of her “Big Little Lies” being transformed into…