After 25 years, Ed Boon and company still haven’t hit a drought when it comes to their inexorable flow of creative juices. Whether it was Midway or NetherRealm, Injustice or the venerable Mortal Kombat, each game is always jam-packed with gaming goodness and Injustice 2, the sequel to 2013’s Injustice: Gods Among Us, is no different.
It’s alive! Coinciding with the Sydney premiere of The Mummy, Universal Studios have given a name to their long gestating shared universe. Entitled the “Dark Universe”, the franchise has also received some big name casting choices too. Johnny Depp has signed on to play The Invisible Man while Javier Bardem has been cast as Frankenstein’s Monster. The two stars…
After 2012’s Kon-Tiki went down in history as the first Norwegian film to pick up nominations for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg were well-placed to score a job helming one of the most ambitious franchises in modern mainstream cinema: Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney’s monstrously successful billion-dollar…
Handsome Devil is cut from the same cloth as Sing Street and Dead Poet’s Society, but it also leaves a few things deliberately ambiguous. This is a pleasant, coming-of-age tale set in a private, all-boys boarding school in Ireland. The story ends on an encouraging and positive note where you should be yourself because it…
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer is a light comedy film about a human of New York. But he’s not just any human. The eponymous Norman is a wheeler/dealer and the undisputed king of networking. The film is what you’d get if The Ides of March were directed by…
It supposedly didn’t do as well as expected in its opening week in the USA, but Australians haven’t been quite so tough on King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. In its first appearance at the Australian box office, it earned $2.32m. That’s not to say it’s been hugely successful here. Its performance at the box office so far has…
One of Melbourne’s most iconic arthouse cinemas is set to celebrate 30 years of business, with a throwback to iconic arthouse films from last three decades set to screen next month. First opened in 1987 in the hub of Collins St, The Kino quickly became Melbourne’s prime spot for international and domestic feature films, from art house…
With the release 2015’s Beasts of No Nation, the streaming giant Netflix began producing their own Netflix Original movies and to this day their library of original content starring high profile actors and actresses continues to grow. Now we see the release of Netflix’s biggest original movie to date, War Machine. Written and directed by David…
Do you ever sit back and take stock of your life, and wonder how things might have been if you followed another path? A path you were so adamant you’d pursue at some point? This is the premise for Rooster Teeth’s newest documentary Haus of Pain which sees James Willems of the popular YouTube channel…
Neruda is a film that truly embodies its subject matter. But this proves to be one double-edged sword because it is also to its betterment and detriment. This bio-pic about the eponymous, beloved Chilean poet uses the lyrical qualities the writer employed to bend the narrative in so many ways that the result is virtually…
One film we’re particularly excited about here at The Iris is Wilson, a new comedy staring Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern and Judy Greer which hits select cinemas on Thursday, May 25th. The film chronicles the life of a lonely, neurotic and hilariously honest middle-aged man (Harrelson), as he reunites with his estranged wife and meets…
After twenty-six years Twin Peaks breathes once more. The series formerly declared dead by director David Lynch, will return following two and a half decades of speculation and fan civil war (born by the closing scene of the final episode – Beyond Life and Death). Its revival beckons the Lynchian cult to raise their lighters…
The 34th annual St Kilda Film Festival has officially commenced for another year, and the program is nothing short of exciting. Incredibly, the festival is Australia’s longest running short film festival ever, and for opening night to take place at the iconic and newly refurbished Palais Theatre, well, what could be more historic than that. Last…
The In The House series at the Event Cinemas on George Street in Sydney brings back cult classics to the big screen. The next screening is on May 26th and will see John Carpenter and Kurt Russell at it again in the 1981 hit Escape From New York. To accompany the screening, David “Quinny” Quinn from…
Today marks the day we have gained an exciting new look into CBS’s highly anticipated new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Discovery, which will screen internationally (including in Australia) on Netflix. Check out the trailer below. It must be a science fiction extravaganza this week as Fox’s new Seth McFarlane series The Orville also planted a trailer online…
Event Cinemas on George Street in Sydney has announced a one-of-a-kind event later this month, that will allow cinema lovers to see Australian actor David Wenham in a live 1-hour Q&A. Hosted by Luke Buckmaster, the insightful event will see the Lord of the Rings offer sage advice on the industry. This will immediately be followed by a screening…
You, Me and the Apocalypse was an underrated 10 episode mini-series that debuted on Sky 1 in the UK back in 2015, before making its way to the US the following year. Now, the show seems to be doing the rounds around the world – and having caught the series on some flights recently, I…
Netflix has announced its first Australian original series entitled Tidelands. Unveiled on social media, the supernatural crime drama that will debut exclusively on Netflix across the world. The drama follows a former criminal as she returns home to the small fishing village of Orphelin Bay. When the body of a local fisherman washes ashore, she must…
Just when you think you’ve seen and heard every iteration of the legend of King Arthur and Excalibur, comes a new take and telling of the myth, one that prefers its heroes dirty, its villains seething and its action ridiculously over the top. There are elements in King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword that really…
It’s been a pretty big opening weekend for at least two new release films, which both occupy the top two spots on the box office ladder this week. Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant opened this weekend and promptly took over the no. 1 spot (last week held by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) , earning $3.95m in its…
Perhaps I was a little harsh in my review of Above the Law. If Telltale’s Walking Dead games were judged on their level of interaction, then they would probably garner average scores across the board. I still maintain that the last episode served as a major turning point and definitely felt like the culmination of…
NBA Playgrounds aims to capture the fun of great games like NBA Jam and NBA Street that came before it. While it looks great, it fails to deliver the gameplay quality that either of the aforementioned classics did.
A gripping new sci-fi film is about to hit our screens thanks to the genius work of director and screenwriter Shane Abbess. The Osiris Child: Science Fiction Volume One follows the emotional struggles and warfare of a world in peril. With a strong Aussie cast shining through and Hollywood superstar Kellan Lutz in a leading role, there are plenty…
The majority of videogame films are, for a lack of a better term, complete tosh. From catastrophes like Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros. and most of Uwe Boll‘s filmography to films that are close to viewer satisfaction like Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children and Ace Attorney, the reputation of videogame films is not something…
The Surge is a game that we’ve seen before. But despite taking combat elements from games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, in addition to their world-building and narrative tropes, The Surge finds room to stand on its own, paving the way for an action-RPG experience that is mostly successful.
May I set the scene? On a farm in Queensland, 22-year- old Lyndall (Sara West) is talking to lawyer Stephen Roche (Aden Young) about her willingness to face the might of the Anglican Church in court over the abuse she suffered in boarding school. She asks about Bob Myers (Jack Thompson), the barrister who would represent her…
From comedic roles like his iconic slacker character, Ted “Theodore” Logan to the action heroes like Jack Traven from Speed and Neo from The Matrix films; dramatic roles like in River’s Edge and Hardball; and even villainous roles like in The Gift and Man of Tai Chi, Keanu Reeves is far more versatile an actor than he’s often given credit for. You certainly can’t…
Last week we filled you in on the first films we picked for the annual Sydney Film Festival – but that barely scratched the surface on the amazing catalogue of feature and short films that will grace the event. So here’s another six films we think you can’t afford to miss at the 2017 event……
A more appropriate title for the film Snatched would be “Botched” because this was a wasted opportunity. The movie is an uneven one starring comedian Amy Schumer and Hollywood’s own, the truly wonderful Goldie Hawn making her silver-screen comeback after a 15 year hiatus. It’s one that has some decent-enough ingredients but the overall combination…
With Justice League only six months away, fans have been speculating when the unknown seventh member of the Justice League would be revealed. It appears that we might now be a step closer to knowing who the potential member may be. On social media for the past few months, Superman himself, Henry Cavill , has been teasing that…
