Film & TV

Film Review: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is bombastically ambitious, beautifully imaginative and emotionally rich

June 1, 2023

Expanding everything that made 2018’s revolutionary Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse work so wonderfully, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is bombastically ambitious, beautifully imaginative and emotionally rich.  It’s also drastically complicated for anyone not (Spider)versed in the ways of its animated predecessor, so – like many comic book movies that are specifically intertwined with their own franchise […]

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Win a double in-season pass to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry starring Jim Broadbent

May 27, 2023

Thanks to Transmission Films we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the remarkable journey of Jim Broadbent in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, in cinemas from June 8th, 2023. Recently retired, Harold Fry is well into his 60s and content to fade quietly into the background of life. Harold’s life with […]

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Film Review: The Machine; Bert Kreischer fans are likely to enthusiastically gel with exaggerated comedy actioner

May 26, 2023

Bert Kreischer is not a personality I’m familiar with.  And having no idea as to who he was in a professional capacity meant The Machine – a star vehicle centred around his most famous  stand-up story – was a film I entered with zero expectations. Perhaps that was what ultimately got me over the line […]

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Film Review: With its bouts of ultraviolence, hard-hitting dark humour and an unruly Lulu Wilson, beware The Wrath of Becky!

May 26, 2023

The Wrath of Becky continues the story of its titular character, played by Lulu Wilson, who reprises her role from the 2020 film, Becky. Two years on, she has moved on from foster parent to foster parent after the loss of her real parents in the events from the first film while keeping up with […]

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Film Review: Halle Bailey rules the uneven ocean of The Little Mermaid

May 25, 2023

Whilst, for the most part, there’s a certain unnecessary mentality that comes along with Disney and their incessant need to live-action-update their animated back catalogue, some of these efforts have given way to adaptations that are inherently interesting (Jon Favreau’s 2016 take on The Jungle Book), undeniably charming (Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella from 2015) or have […]

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Film Review: Maybe I Do is a little too safe for audiences to embrace its proposal

May 25, 2023

When you have a film led by such reliable talent as Richard Gere, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and William H. Macy, it’s understandable to believe that the hands you’re in will guide you to a safe destination.  And perhaps that’s the problem.  Maybe I Do is entirely too safe to make any lasting impression beyond […]

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Win a double in-season pass to The Machine

May 23, 2023

Thanks to Sony Pictures Australia we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to the new action comedy The Machine, starring Bert Kreischer and Mark Hamill, inspired by Kreischer’s viral story of his booze-soaked misadventures with the Russian mafia. Set 23 years after the original story which inspired it, The Machine finds Bert (Bert Kreischer) facing familial crisis and the arrival of […]

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Interview: Ben Schwartz on Renfield; “How in the world would I pass on a movie where Nic Cage is playing Dracula?”

May 23, 2023

As we mentioned in our review of Renfield (which you can read here), Nicolas Cage is too perfect a casting addition as the legendary Count Dracula.  And it would seem that was the enticing reason Ben Schwartz took on the film as well; “How in the world would I pass on a movie where Nic […]

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Film Review: Renfield; Nicolas Cage sinks his teeth into goofy, gory vampire flick

May 23, 2023

If ever there was a role Nicolas Cage was going to sink his teeth into, it’s that of Dracula.  And the eccentric character actor is undoubtedly Renfield‘s biggest asset, but, despite top billing, this isn’t the Count’s movie – though it’s not for a lack of trying. The titular Renfield is R.M. Renfield (the film’s […]

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First Nations Film Festival returns as part of National Reconciliation Week

May 22, 2023

Now in its fifth year running, the First Nations Film Festival (Formally known at the Virtual Indigenous Film Festival) is returning with a new name and, once again, as part of National Reconciliation Week. The festival runs from the 30th of May to the 3rd of June, 2023, and features a selection of award-winning films, […]

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The Top 10 actors we’d like to see join the Fast & Furious franchise

May 22, 2023

Over 22 years and 10 films (thus far), the Fast & Furious franchise has defied all expectations – and physics – and driven its players to constant peril, but ultimate safety, all in the name of family. With Fast X now riding high in cinemas across the globe (you can read our review here), in […]

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Win a double in-season pass to see Nicolas Cage as Dracula in Renfield

May 19, 2023

Thanks to Universal Pictures Australia we have 5 digital double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult in the vampiric new comedy Renfield, in cinemas from May 25th, 2023. Evil doesn’t span eternity without a little help. In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury […]

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Film Review: John Farnham: Finding the Voice is a warm reminder of one of Australia’s leading talents

May 18, 2023

Given how attached John Farnham is to the song “You’re The Voice”, it’s hard to believe that it almost didn’t make the cut for his 1986 signature record, “Whispering Jack”.  His 12th album at the time, “Whispering Jack” reignited Farnham’s solo career, and off the back of the aforementioned single, it drove itself to 25 […]

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Film Review: Fast X; Forget family. Furious 10 is all about the flamboyant Jason Momoa

May 18, 2023

The Fast & Furious films live in the ridiculous – or, at least they have predominantly for the last decade or so – and, at this point, that’s practically a compliment to call so.  Whether you think they have evolved or devolved over time from their humble 2001 beginnings of car-jackings and street races is […]

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Film Review: Marlowe; Liam Neeson’s detective feels tired in fizzling thriller

May 17, 2023

There’s a distinct lack of energy and unfortunate fizzle present throughout Neil Jordan‘s Marlowe.  It’s stylish, has an impeccable cast, and certainly isn’t lost on narrative potential, but the titular character as played by Liam Neeson – based off Raymond Chandler‘s famous detective – feels like they’d much rather be sipping a cuppa than solving […]

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Film Review: Plane embraces genre simplicity and delivers on B-grade popcorn thrills

May 14, 2023

With Gerard Butler‘s name attached, and the most simplistic of titles on hand, you’d be right in thinking such a film as Plane is going to deliver on the bare minimum; It’ll be big, loud, non-sensical, heavy on testosterone and light on narrative. And whilst aspect of those expectations aren’t far off the mark, Jean-François […]

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Film Review: Hypnotic is an enjoyable throwback thriller that embraces its genre nonsense

May 12, 2023

Watching Hypnotic and noting its mid-2000 mentality makes all the more sense when you know that Robert Rodriguez wrote the screenplay back in 2002, with the filmmaker calling it one of his favourite stories that he’s created.  It may have been written in 2002 but the film very much lives in the shadow of Christopher […]

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Film Review: Love Again is everything that is expected from a rom-com that is all coming back to us now, for better or worse

May 11, 2023

Love Again tells the story of two intrepid, lovelorn strangers who find themselves back into the spotlight of love. Mira (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) is a talented children’s author/illustrator who is undergoing a time of grief after the untimely passing of her loving fiancé John (Arinze Kene). She becomes inconsolable that her grief affects her work […]

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Film Review: Infinity Pool indulges in body horror and sexual imagery as it pushes past its social commentary

May 11, 2023

The wealthy whites and their easy skewering is a narrative mentality that we have been witness to in a variety of practices as of late.  But unlike The White Lotus and The Menu, two of the most recent examples of such a temperament, Brandon Cronenberg‘s Infinity Pool pushes further past being just a little wicked […]

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Win a double in-season pass to see the furious new sequel Fast X

May 11, 2023

Thanks to Universal Pictures Australia we have 5 digital double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the Furious new action sequel Fast X, in cinemas from May 18th, 2023. The end of the road begins. Fast X, the tenth film in the Fast & Furious Saga, launches the final chapters of one of cinema’s most storied and popular global […]

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Sydney Film Festival unveils stellar program for its 70th anniversary

May 10, 2023

“A film festival is a gathering of diverse perspectives that offers a collective snapshot of the global zeitgeist, allowing us to delve deeper into our present reality,” said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley as he unveiled this year’s stellar line-up of programming, running from June 7th – 18th. “For 70 years, Sydney Film Festival has […]

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Film Review: Eldritch, USA is a weird and wonderful genre piece that wears its make-shift mentality with a gleefulness

May 10, 2023

Eldritch, USA wears its miniscule budget and make-shift mentality with a gleeful pride over the course of its 108 minutes.  Its limitations are obvious, but there’s a certain scrappy charm to it all that you can’t help but be a little taken by its ambition and camp B-movie mindset; there’s a certain Little Shop of […]

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Interview: Bill Holderman and Erin Simms on creating Book Club: The Next Chapter, reuniting THAT cast and location scouting in Italy

May 8, 2023

When Bill Holderman and Erin Simms wrote the script for 2018’s Book Club they envisioned both Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda in their respective roles; now you know why Keaton’s character’s name is Diane! Such was the power of their own determination, both Keaton and Fonda signed on, with fellow industry titans Candice Bergen and […]

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Film Review: Book Club: The Next Chapter turns pages as it lifts up the power and beauty of female friendship

May 8, 2023

Only a few weeks after Jane Fonda navigated pedestrian, older-skewered comedy in 80 For Brady, the legendary actress is working with similar, though admittedly better material in Book Club: The Next Chapter, an unnecessary, but serviceable laugher that reunites Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen for another round of mostly safe, occasionally suggestive […]

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Win a double in-season pass to see Marlowe starring Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange

May 8, 2023

Thanks to Madman Entertainment we have 10 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see Liam Neeson, in his 100th film, take on the underbelly of 1930’s Hollywood in Neil Jordan‘s mystery Marlowe. When private detective Phillip Marlowe (Liam Neeson) is hired to find the ex-lover of a glamourous heiress, it looks to be an open […]

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Interview: Dylan Sprouse and Virginia Gardner on Beautiful Disaster

May 5, 2023

Based on the 2012 New York Times best selling self-published novel by Jamie McGuire, Beautiful Disaster is a sexy, modern-day romance film from the director of Cruel Intentions and After We Collided, Roger Kumble. Detailing the “will they/won’t they” between Abby Abernathy (Virginia Gardner), a college freshman eager to focus on her studies and start […]

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Film Review: Johnny & Clyde sadly shoots blanks in its overly wild attempt at rebranding a familiar tale

May 5, 2023

Even though the title of Johnny & Clyde may indicate that writer/director Tom DeNucci has gender-flipped the classic criminal couple of Bonnie & Clyde – which could actually be quite a fun, progressive angle – audiences are in for no such change; at least from a gender point of view. DeNucci, unfortunately adopting an “everything […]

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Series Review: Bupkis is a semi-autobiographical comedy series that defines the charm of creator Pete Davidson

May 5, 2023

Whilst some could accuse Pete Davidson of repeating (or, re-Pete-ing, sorry) himself in Bupkis, given that he already gave us an “inspired by” piece in 2020’s The King of Staten Island, his 8-episode dramedy series at least gives the actor/writer more breathing room to delve into what makes him tick and heighten the situation accordingly. […]

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Film Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an emotional send-off to the MCU’s most endearing outlaws

May 4, 2023

Since Avengers: Endgame – arguably the last great Marvel movie to be created – the cinematic universe of Kevin Feige‘s box office-conquering superheroes has been creatively rocky.  Sure, they’re still bringing in considerable bank, but the audience enthusiasm has seriously waned in the wake of too many cooks in the kitchen, and their served dishes […]

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Film Review: Judy Blume Forever is a fitting tribute to an author who’s never played by the book

May 1, 2023

Teenage girls the world over would be familiar with author, Judy Blume. The Jewish-American writer has published 29 books and sold over 82 million copies. This includes the famous, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, which has recently been adapted for the big screen and winning fans some fifty-plus years since its release. Blume […]

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