Film & TV

Interview: Director Gerard Johnstone on embracing a more ambitious tone for M3GAN 2.0; “I felt like everyone wanted to give her a second chance and a redemption story.”

Following their chat earlier in the year when the M3GAN 2.0 trailer was released, Peter Gray and director Gerard Johnstone are speaking once again as the sequel to the acclaimed science fiction horror film M3GAN constructs itself for release. As the killer doll faces a new threat – a military robot called AMELIA (autonomous military…

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Interview: James Wan on producing M3GAN 2.0, his advice as a director, and not forcing a “pop culture” moment

The murderous doll who captivated pop culture in 2023 is back. And this time she’s not alone. The original creative team behind that phenomenon – led by horror titans James Wan for Atomic Monster, Jason Blum for Blumhouse and writer-director Gerard Johnstone – reboot an all-new wild chapter in A.I. mayhem with M3GAN 2.0. Two…

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Interview: Jane Larkin on transitioning from athletics to art with her debut feature film The Edge; “We need to know what makes us great and take that journey together.”

In The Edge, the dramatic feature film from debut filmmaker Jane Larkin (a former Australian representative sprinter), three young women (Larkin, Japanese paralympic swimmer Mei Ichinose and First Nations powerlifter Lily Riley) navigate life, love, education, and controversy while deeply embedded in the world of elite sport. The film is an honest and gritty portrayal…

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Interview: The stars of period drama Outrageous on bringing the Mitford sisters to life

The Mitford sisters are amongst some of the most well known people in the United Kingdom, gaining notoriety in the 1930s. What caused this fame and widespread attention was not the affluent and aristocratic status of these women (although their status did lead them to be targets for scandalous headlines in the press), but the…

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Sydney Film Festival: 5 key takeaways from Hideo Kojima and George Miller in conversation

The crossover between Australian film legend George Miller and Japanese video game auteur Hideo Kojima may seem odd to people unfamiliar with the two beyond their main works, but to those who follow more closely, this is a relationship that stretches back more than a decade. And when you consider the careers and creative outputs…

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Series Review: We Were Liars; occasionally slow and misguided drama is saved by its emotional complexity

From the beloved E. Lockhart book of the same name, We Were Liars is the highly anticipated Prime Video adaptation developed by Julie Plec and Carina Adly Mackenzie. With an all star cast featuring Emily Alyn Lind, Caitlin FitzGerald, Mamie Gummer, Candice King, Rahul Kohli, Shubham Maheshwari, Esther McGregor and Australian actor Joseph Zada, We Were…

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Film Review: 28 Years Later hones its horror with a needed sense of humanity

As evident by its title, 28 years Later takes up such a time period from the virus that first unleashed itself across Danny Boyle‘s 2002 post-apocalyptic horror effort 28 Days Later.  That film centered around the days that followed the actions of a group of animal rights activists who infiltrated a laboratory in Cambridge, where…

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Film Review: Elio; mid-tier Pixar adventure has character but lacks cohesion

A cohesive storyline or if it makes you cry? Sometimes the personal success of a Pixar movie doesn’t always rely on the former, with many taking the latter as enough of a justification for its existence.  In such a case, Elio may be enough of a charming win for family audiences who could find themselves…

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Film Review: Thirsty; interesting, but uneven, drama navigates the world of politics, domesticity, and the woman trying to perfect both

Whilst there’s a certain unevenness to how writer/director Emily Abt presents her story in Thirsty, there’s no denying it manages to maintain a sense of interest as it navigates the world of politics, domesticity, and the woman trying to perfect both. That woman is Audrey (Jamie Neumann), a sharp, some may say ruthless, defense attorney…

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Karma is a killer in the new trailer for I Know What You Did Last Summer

In the immortal words of Jennifer Love Hewitt, “What are you waiting for?” Well, it’s not the latest trailer for I Know What You Did Last Summer, as the Jennifer Kaytin Robinson-directed slasher legacy sequel dropped its brand new visuals ahead of the film’s release this July. Hewitt and fellow series subsister Freddie Prinze Jr….

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The Travel Companion revels in the uncomfortable nature of friendships and their obligations: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Delighting in the type of self-centred behaviour that more of us are guilty of than not, the character at the core of The Travel Companion, Alex Mallis and Travis Wood’s debut feature, sprouts lyrical to anyone who’ll listen (or tolerate) about his forthcoming directorial feature – an experimental, hybrid docu-fiction-travelogue about the cultural bridges and…

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The Shadow Scholars looks at the true cost of the contract cheating industry: Sydney Film Festival Review

An education is viewed as an important thing. Former British PM, Tony Blair once ran on a platform where his party’s top three priorities were “Education, Education, Education.” The Shadow Scholars is a documentary that looks at the true cost of education and opportunity. First-time director Eloïse King shines a spotlight on the contract cheating…

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Tokito: The 540-Day Journey of a Culinary Maverick shows how every fine detail matters in gastronomy: Sydney Film Festival Review

There are some of us who have been fortunate enough to eat at a fine dining restaurant. But at a place like Japan’s Tokito, this experience is elevated so high it’s  almost like a religious experience. The documentary Tokito: The 540-Day Journey of a Culinary Maverick plays out like a real-life example of the TV…

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A Tree Fell in the Woods navigates relationship tension with self-reflecting musings: Tribeca Film Festival Review

The age-old question around if a tree falling in the forest makes a sound is asked in quite a compelling, pressure-cooker type of way in A Tree Fell in the Woods, Nora Kirkpatrick‘s debut dramedy about the implosion of relationships between two couples across a New Year’s Eve getaway in the snowy forests of Utah….

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It Ends is a horrifying road movie that questions one’s existence: Sydney Film Festival Review

Directed by Alexander Ullom, It Ends was originally a short film that turned into a feature (87 minutes, to be precise), which debuted at SXSW 2025. It tells the story of a group of college kids embarking on a road trip. However, when they miss a turn-off, they realise they are driving directly through a…

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Baby Tooth is a comedic short feature that indulges in its unanswered absurdities: Tribeca Film Festival Review

“Are you here for the boat or the tooth?” And with that sentence, writer/director Olivia Accardo welcomes us into the bizarre reality of Baby Tooth, a wild five minute short film screening as part of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival; it’s set to play before the feature The Trainer, as well as being included in…

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Everything’s Going to Be Great celebrates the arts and those that have always felt different doing so: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Whilst Everything’s Going to Be Great starts out a bit more eccentric and comedically minded than how it ends, the performances at the core of Jon S. Baird‘s dramedy, and the sense that it celebrates art and those that have always felt a little different in doing so, keeps it continually moving at an enjoyable…

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The Rose: Come Back to Me is a refreshing look at the Korean art rock collective: Tribeca Film Festival Review

One of the great things about documentaries such as The Rose: Come Back to Me is that it both provides further insight into a rock outfit for the legions of fans, as well as introducing uninitiated viewers into a world that proves endlessly fascinating.  I am personally of the latter, as going into this film,…

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Film Review: The Surfer; Nicolas Cage descends into madness in paranoid, bizarre Australian thriller

Intentionally testing audience patience across its increasingly bizarre, tension-laced 100 minutes, Lorcan Finnegan‘s Australian thriller The Surfer is more about breaking points than Point Break as it mashes surfing culture localism and toxic masculinity. Thomas Martin‘s script doesn’t give specific names to the majority of its players, instead referring to the film’s protagonist as simply…

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I Was Born This Way celebrates a trail-blazing gay icon with the love and respect he expressed to others: Tribeca Film Festival Review

If hearing the title I Was Born This Way immediately brings to mind the Lady Gaga song “Born This Way”, the coincidence is intentional.  Gaga, one of the few interviewees featured in Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard‘s beautiful, insightful documentary, talks about how Carl Bean‘s legacy influenced her songwriting, as he did for the likes…

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Film Review: Materialists defies genre expectation with a meditation on love and its transactional properties

The female matchmaker.  The handsome singleton.  And her familiar ex-boyfriend. The set-up feels ripe for the most standard of romantic comedy practices, and perhaps in the hands of a more traditionally-minded writer/director that’s what we would have received.  But under Celine Song (Past Lives), Materialists defies genre expectation with a meditation on love and its…

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Interview: Will Bates on sonically interpreting the emotional undercurrent of Rosemead at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival

Set in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley and based on a harrowing true story, Rosemead is a gripping, emotionally charged portrait of a mother’s love pushed to its limits. Lucy Liu delivers a transformative performance as a terminally ill Chinese immigrant who uncovers her teenage son’s disturbing fixation with mass shootings. As her health deteriorates, she takes…

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The Things You Kill is as confusing as it is profound: Sydney Film Festival Review

A self-awareness regarding certain specifications in getting his film made along with a universality in conjunction with its narrative, writer/director Alireza Khatami goes beyond genre conventions with The Things You Kill, a twisted thriller that breaks apart what it is to transform. At one point in the film, the language professor at the centre of…

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Interview: Liam Greinke on navigating the on-screen horror of Dangerous Animals; “It was kind of like paying for the art.”

This interview contains SPOILERS. As a Brisbane boy in the early stages of his career, Liam Greinke is all too aware how lucky he is to be able to share the screen with Jai Courtney in the serial killer-cum-shark attack thriller Dangerous Animals – even if he doesn’t make it to the final frame! Talking…

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Interview: Sean Byrne on finding the “dark side of Steve Irwin” in killer shark romp Dangerous Animals

It’s been a whole decade since Australian genre director Sean Byrne graced the screens with his unique brand of horror with The Devil’s Candy.  But proving the wait has been worth it, he has unleashed a series of Dangerous Animals into theatres with his latest outing – a relentless, edge-of-your-seat survival horror starring Hassie Harrison,…

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Beat the Lotto wants us to crack the system with the craic: Sydney Film Festival Review

As far as hair-brained schemes go, Beat The Lotto has this down pat. The story of how a syndicate in Ireland tried to rig the lotto, this documentary is an absolutely thrilling spectacle that will leave you guessing right up until the very end. Ross Whitaker does an excellent job of telling this stranger than…

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Together; 2 become 1 in hilarious, horrific body horror flick that delights in the disgusting: Sydney Film Festival Review

It feels inevitable that something like Together will earn comparisons to last year’s The Substance, purely off the fact that the horror it indulges in – that would be the body variety – escalates considerably leading into its wild climax.  Sure, The Substance being a great example of body horror is all well and good,…

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Fwends highlights the bittersweet reality of drifting apart in a conversational, frustrating manner: Sydney Film Festival Review

The feeling that your childhood ride-or-die will remain so is something that many of us – if not all – have experienced.  But whether it’s through distance or altering priorities, it’s a common practice that adulthood (and everything that comes with growing up) can wedge itself between even the strongest of connections, and it’s that…

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Film Review: How to Train Your Dragon flies high with warmth and excitement, despite the familiarity of its footing

Whilst it’s predominantly the House of Mouse that have been transforming their animated back catalogue into live-action features that have all varied in their quality output, DreamWorks have entered the chat with one of their most ambitious updates in How to Train Your Dragon.  Hoping they can avoid a lot of the soulless critiques that…

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Horsegirls is a sweet natured drama that speaks to the importance of independence and inclusivity: Tribeca Film Festival Review

A film that embraces a more eclectic hobby over ridiculing its eccentricities, Horsegirls is a sweet natured drama that speaks to the importance of independence and inclusivity. Written and directed by Lauren Meyering, Horsegirls embraces the defiance of its lead character, Margarita (so beautifully embodied by Lillian Carrier), and how her perceived fragility gives way…

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