Author: Peter Gray

It seems almost baffling that Neil Armstrong’s account of being the first man on the moon hasn’t been told prior to Damien Chazelle‘s First Man.  Clearly an intimidating figure but still reserved, sensitive and aloof enough to not be placed upon a pedestal as some flawless being, Chazelle’s film seeks to uncover the more human…

It goes without saying that Paul Walker was blessed with the type of face destined to be in front of the camera.  And as much as this dedicated documentary, I Am Paul Walker, celebrates his Californian-blessed aesthetics, it seeks more so to highlight that behind the tanned skin, sun-kissed blonde curls and baby blue eyes…

Although The Miseducation of Cameron Post‘s 1993 setting may have people believe that the gay conversion camps at the film’s centre are a thing of the past, and therefore easy to mock as a symbol of how backwards society’s thoughts on therapy was, this treatment is still sadly legal in a large number of American…

Before Melissa McCarthy’s involvement essentially fast-tracked The Happytime Murders into production, the dark comedy had languished in development limbo for the good part of decade with both Cameron Diaz and Katherine Heigl attached at various moments as potential headliners.  With the final product now upon us, McCarthy’s penchant for vanity-free comedy feels like the most…

Taking place at Cronulla Beach between the 7th and 9th November, Australian Music Week is Australia’s most accessible grassroots music industry conference. Bringing together an 80-strong speaker line-up, Australian Music Week is about discovering real music and relevant industry knowledge from the artists and insider professionals who live and breathe all things musical. Conference manager…

The average woman is said to criticise herself around eight times each day. It is in this headspace and society that a rom-com like I Feel Pretty exists. The film had the best of intentions and tries to tackle some complex topics like how hard we women can be on ourselves and the feelings of…

Whilst no one is going to go out of their way to suggest The Spy Who Dumped Me is here to reinvent the wheel in its chosen hybrid genres, Susanna Fogel’s kinetic spy caper does a bloody good job at delivering on its advertised packaging.  An action-comedy that proves both consistently amusing and alarmingly crazed…

Based on the oft-adapted French satire Knock by writer and poet Jules Romains, this name-same feature fails to embrace the dark satirical properties of its source material and instead plays out all too predictably and implausible. At the centre of the film is a suitably charismatic turn from the reliable Omar Sy, and had Knock…

Up to this point each Mission: Impossible film has operated on their own mechanisms.  The 1996 Brian De Palma-directed original felt like an organic extension of the 1960’s television series it drew its inspiration from; the 2000-released sequel was an orgy of unsubtle combat buoyed by the favoured-slow motion of Hong Kong filmmaker Jon Woo;…

Is there anything Dwayne Johnson can’t overcome? Earthquakes, tsunamis, oversized gorillas, Vin Diesel’s ego…the hulking man mountain has tackled them all and emerged victorious.  For his latest spat with big screen-worthy roadblocks, the man no longer credited with his “Rock” moniker faces his biggest challenge yet – a skyscraper some three-times taller than the Statue…

Given that we can almost outsource every chore, errand, and activity that come our way, it only makes sense that the unfortunate responsibility that is breaking up with someone be a lucrative business too.  Enter The Breaker Upperers, a duo of frozen-hearted, screwed-over singletons who appear more than happy to break the heart of someone…

Aided by a sense of retro charm and bathed in a yellowy hue that appears to be the go-to filter for Hollywood’s take on anything Middle East, Brad Anderson‘s Beirut is an absorbing thriller that doesn’t break convention, but manages a certain robustness that keeps it sailing along with intrigue. Opening in 1972, the titular…

Despite scene-swallowing work from Annette Bening (fabulous, as to be expected), the quiet mastery of Saoirse Ronan, and a brilliantly comical Elisabeth Moss, Michael Mayer‘s The Seagull (adapted from Anton Chekhov‘s classic play) fails to deliver them material worthy of their considerable talent. The story has all the right ingredients to be a farce of…

Whilst it may not quite boast as impressive an ensemble as the original Ocean’s trilogy managed to concoct (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts to name a few), Ocean’s 8 still steers ahead on charm and glamour, proving that an octet of women can do anything just as capable as an eleven-strong…

Music and movies will collate as one throughout this year’s Sydney Film Festival with the Sounds On Screen program.  Highlighting a series of musical-themed documentaries, as well as several feature films with a strong musical influence, the titles on hand promise to both entertain and inform. Influential rock singer Joan Jett (Bad Reputation), controversial British-Sri…

After a near two-decade absence from the Australian film industry, Simon Baker makes a glorious (ahem) splash with the soulful Breath.  Taking cue from the evocative descriptions set about in Tim Winton‘s 2008 novel, Baker proves both assured and affectionate as he takes directorial duties for an equally vivid and placid coming-of-age tale that benefits…

First and foremost it must be noted that Super Troopers 2 is indeed a film made for a particular audience. The original 2001 comedy came and went theatrically without much notice, but over the years it earned rightful cult status as its receptive audience came to appreciate its random, low brow humour. As successful as…

Before Truth or Dare even begins, you know exactly what kind of movie you’re about to see.  Hoping to be some sort of new-era Final Destination, but failing miserably in the process, Truth or Dare follows every beat you expect it to, and it’s in this predictability that the film succeeds in being a massively entertaining ride for all the…

Even when working off a plot device that doesn’t exactly test the limits of originality, a clever script and utter dedication from its workers can transform the familiar to something beyond our expectations.  Such is the case with A Quiet Place, an impossibly eerie chiller that presents civilisation as a fallen project, and those who…

Love, Simon has quickly become something of a phenomenon.  Before it officially hits Australian cinemas, its critical response worldwide has been unanimously positive (its Rotten Tomatoes score currently sits at 91%), and celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and Kristen Bell, neither of whom have had anything to do with the film personally, have bought…

Given his penchant for dark, more gothic views on material, Guillermo del Toro‘s foray into big budget filmmaking – 2013’s Pacific Rim – always seemed a little odd.  Capable of delivering so much more than what that film ultimately was able to, del Toro may have injected some of his usual fantastic-ness into proceedings, but…

Spearheading a $150 million dollar movie sequel would be daunting for even the most experienced of directors, so you can only imagine how Steven S. DeKnight felt when he was handed Pacific Rim: Uprising following the departure of original director Guillermo del Toro.  Best known as the creator, head writer, and producer of the Spartacus…

Rousing its fair share of controversy over Paramount Studios’ decision to release it to streaming service Netflix the world over (save for North America and China) instead of in cinemas for which it was initially intended, Alex Garland‘s ambitious Annihilation is certainly a unique production for such a risk-adverse studio. Whilst there’s a certain arthouse…

Depending how you look at it, 12 Strong‘s insistence on bypassing the usual heavy-handed political messages and overt emotional punches that pertain to war genre films will either be a welcome or rejected additive.  It’s a film that’s pretty standard (at least in comparison to genre greats like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down),…

A film that appears more episodic than cohesive, The Square is an indulgent and uncomfortable piece of work from a filmmaker who’s clearly enjoying himself as he dissects human behaviour and the pretension of modern art. Excited to present his latest art installation to the public – the titular Square – chief curator at a…

Known for his rapid-fire flair for dialogue, writer Aaron Sorkin proves ideally suited to tackling the true story of Molly Bloom.  Bloom, a former professional skier, earned her stripes working under one of the co-owners of the infamous Viper Room as she recruited high-profile talent to take part in secretive poker games in the club’s…

In cinemas now, Sweet Country director Warwick Thornton sat down with The Iris’ Peter Gray to talk about the film and the importance of storytelling as an Indigenous filmmaker. You’ve been involved in other projects since Samson and Delilah, but would you classify Sweet Country as your official follow-up? Yeah sophomore project.  The second album,…

To think that a notorious figure like Tonya Harding could be, in any way, made out to be sympathetic is no mean feat, yet screenwriter Steven Rogers, director Craig Gillespie, and star Margot Robbie (also serving as one of the film’s producers) have achieved just that in I, Tonya. For the uninitiated, the saga of…

Returning to her homeland on the eve of an eventual Oscar nomination, Margot Robbie was all light and levity as she walked the pink carpet at the Australian premiere of I, Tonya. Understandably a figure in high demand from a media standpoint alone, The Iris’s Peter Gray was fortunate enough to nab a brief moment…

Director Craig Gillespie wasn’t particularly interested in making a biopic about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding when he was offered the script.  But the simple uttering of the name “Margot Robbie” was enough to change his mind, and the rest, as they say, is history. As both the film and Robbie’s performance dominate the current…