News

The 69th annual Sydney Film Festival has announced a sneak peak look at 22 film titles that will be featured during this year’s event, running 8th-19th June, 2022. Ahead of its full program announcement on 11th May, this first taste of of programming “gives audiences a snapshot of the selection and flavour of films featured…

Talking to director Joel Crawford on the eve of the release of the trailer for the long-awaited sequel Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, the enthusiasm for the project was palpable. A storyboard artist for some of DreamWorks Animation’s biggest titles – he can claim his hand in such productions as Kung Fu Panda, Shrek…

Have you ever had an experience or an idea that would make a great movie?  A first of its kind film competition open to everybody is hoping to turn your creativity into reality. Never been done before in Australia, Feature30 is a competition with a difference.  Not only will it reward its winner with a…

With only just over a week away until SXSW 2022 (March 11th-20th), the festival has revealed Keynotes and Featured Speakers made up of prominent industry leaders and creative visionaries from the world’s of tech, film, music, and beyond. The Keynotes announced include three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Lizzo; 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee…

Fitzroy North residents can enjoy Aussie classics under the stars, with a free open air cinema program launching at Linear Park next month. Running on Fridays throughout March, the project – dubbed Neighbourhood Watch – is a collab between film distributor Umbrella Entertainment and Yarra City Arts. Locals will be able head to Linear Park…

In a new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic thriller from the producers of The Invisible Man, Firestarter tells of a girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic powers fighting to protect her family and herself from sinister forces that seek to capture and control her. For more than a decade, parents Andy (Zac Efron; Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile;…

Oscar® winner Jordan Peele disrupted and redefined modern horror with Get Out and then Us. Now, he reimagines the summer movie with a new pop nightmare: the expansive horror epic, Nope.  The film reunites Peele with Oscar® winner Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah), who is joined by Keke Palmer (Hustlers, Alice)…

A new dimension of Strange is upon us. With Spider-Man: No Way Home STILL going strong at the global box office, the Marvel hype for the anticipated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is at an all-time high, with Sam Raimi‘s sequel seemingly looking to pick up where Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Strange left off. A…

Halfway through 2021, the AU review was invited to visit the set of Wyrmwood: Apocalypse which was being filmed under strict COVID-19 regulations in the outskirts of Sydney. It’s the long-awaited big-budget sequel to Australia’s “most pirated film” Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, a title the team are proud to boast about, which was released…

The South By Southwest Festival has announced its 2022 Film Festival slate for its 29th edition, with this year’s acclaimed program being a largely in-person event, with select titles being offered online.  Running from March 11th to the 20th, the 2022 program will include 99 features, including 76 World Premieres, 4 International Premieres, 4 North…

New year.  New cinema. 2022 is here (can you even believe?) and the multiplexes are doing their darndest to make you forget what’s going on in the real world with a heft of escapism entertainment. Between a killer sequel, A-list horror, Oscar bait dramas, and female-fronted action, the first taste of the new year promises…

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try…forget it! The adventure is real but the heroes are not in the first trailer for the new romantic action adventure film, The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe. Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Bullock) has spent her career writing about…

For so many of us the theatrical experience remained out of reach for a large portion of 2021.  With cinemas back open and thriving in the wake of a double dosed population, these coming weeks look to end the year that was with a considerable bang. From the much-hyped multiverse tease of (potentially) multiple Spider-men…

Once it was revealed that Spider-Man: No Way Home would be exploring the multiverse and introducing a slew of characters that appeared in previous Spider-Man films separate from the current slate, fans were convinced that both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would be making return appearances as the respective web-slinger from their own films; Maguire…

ABC TV and Mushroom Studios’ The Sound is returning for its 3rd season this weekend, just in time for Ausmusic Month. And they’ve got a stacked lineup for its season premiere. Series 3 promises to be focused on the live performances, with a  big-name guest dropping in to chat with one of the featured acts. This…

“What’s your favourite scary movie?” 25 years ago it was a question posed to Neve Campbell in Wes Craven’s now genre classic Scream, and come January 2022 a new generation of fresh blood will have their knowledge similarly tested in, well, Scream. Less a sequel and more a reinvention, Scream will pay homage to Craven’s…

Launched on September 9th on all major podcast platforms, No Time To Die: The Official James Bond Podcast features unrivalled behind the scenes access to one of the world’s most successful franchises. Hosted by British film critic James King, the six-part series features interviews with director Cary Joji Fukunaga, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara…

Sparke Films has secured the television rights to the “Axis of Time” trilogy, the best-selling novels by John Birmingham. The epic drama television series, tentatively titled Weapons of Choice after the first book in the series, is in late development with offers out to first-choice cast. Weapons of Choice will explore the far-reaching effects of…

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival is welcoming back a sense of normalcy after the year that wasn’t.  Ticket buyers – both those attending TIFF in person and those staying at home with TIFF’s virtual platform – are spoilt for choice, with over 100 films on the line-up, ranging from blockbuster special events, gala screening…

Filmed in a “revolutionary” manner, the trailer for the new Peacock thriller My Son highlights the improvisation from actor James McAvoy, who during filming wasn’t given a script or any outline of the story at hand. A remake of the 2017 film Mon Garcon, My Son, co-starring Claire Foy, details the missing persons case of…

In light of the current COVID situation in Melbourne, and with the safety of audiences and staff at the forefront of their thinking, the board and management of Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) have taken the very difficult decision to cancel the in-cinema component of this year’s festival, planned to be delivered from Thursday 12th…

In light of the Sydney lockdown extension announced by the NSW Government on 28 July, Sydney Film Festival will postpone the 68th edition of the Festival until 3rd-14th November, 2021. “Sydney Film Festival looks forward to returning to cinemas for a COVID-safe event in November, when we’ll come together to celebrate the films we love,…

Celebrating its 69th edition, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has revealed its 2021 program, with an astonishing lineup of 283 international and Australian films and transformative screen experiences. Presenting 199 feature films, 84 shorts and 10XR experiences, the program includes 40 world premieres — the most in the festival’s history — and 154 Australian premieres,…

Legends aren’t born.  They’re made. The prequel to the groundbreaking, award-winning HBO series The Sopranos, The Many Saints of Newark is set against the backdrop of the explosive 1967 Newark riots as it explores the rising tension between the Italian-American and African-American communities. Directed by Emmy winner Alan Taylor (TV’s Game of Thrones) and written…

Evil dies tonight. After slaughtering the box office in 2018, earning over $250 million at the global box office and setting a new record for the largest opening weekend in history for a horror film starring a woman – genre icon Jamie Lee Curtis – Halloween breathed new life into the four-decade long franchise. And…

As the Sydney Film Festival prepares to return to theatres for its 2021 season, running from the 18th-29th August, it has teased a line-up of art titles ahead of its official program launch. Set to screen alongside such already announced titles as Mads Mikkelsen‘s crime comedy Riders of Justice and The Kids, a revisit with…

Building on the success of last year’s 2020 online-only festival – which had the largest audience reach in their history – The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will afford its largest platform to date, with the 2021 festival presented as a hybrid with both digital and physical access. Returning August 5th-22nd, MIFF 2021’s packed program…

“Nothing is more addictive than the past” Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy marks her directorial debut with the upcoming Reminiscence, a science-fiction laced thriller that has unleashed its trailer ahead of its August release. Written and directed by Joy, the films follows Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman, in a role specifically written for him), a rugged and…

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are prepped for adventure in the new trailer for Jungle Cruise as it sets sail for a confirmed Australian theatrical date of July 29th and Disney+ with Premier Access* on July 30th, 2021. Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Disney’s Jungle Cruise is an adventure-filled, rollicking thrill-ride down the Amazon with…

Set for an exclusive theatrical release in July this year, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins stars Crazy Rich Asians breakout Henry Golding as the titular ninja commando made famous from his appearance in the G.I. Joe line of action figures, comic books and animated series. Known for his concealed appearance behind all-black attire and lack of vocals,…