Film & TV

Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island, has just beaten Aussie Hugh to the top spot, in its first weekend at the box office. Kong: Skull Island took in $4.71m, and stars Tom Hiddleston and last year’s Best Actress Oscar winner, Brie Larson. Logan still did considerably well, sitting at no. 2 on the box office ladder and…

Bonnie is young and worldly, holds a job as an architect and lives in NYC. She has good friends, a pretty good social life and is in a stable relationship with a man who is equally as upwardly mobile, enjoying the same perks as anyone with a career in a city able to hold the…

As eloquently described by Catherine Zeta Jones‘s portrayal of two-time Academy Award winning actress Olivia de Havilland, feuds are never about hate…they are about pain.  And in the first season of Ryan Murphy‘s latest anthology series Feud, pain is running rampant for both Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon), two legendary actresses…

It’s no secret that The Walking Dead is beginning to lose momentum. Seven seasons in and it seems the monolithic survival-horror series keeps tripping over itself more often than not, with inconsistency now a defining trait. Unlike Game of Thrones which takes a vignette approach to it’s larger cast, TWD often features stretched bottle episodes…

During a special Q&A at the Lionsgate Lounge at SXSW, two-time Academy Award winner Justin Hurwitz hit the stage and the piano to discuss the processes behind composing the music for La La Land. At the end of the almost hour long talk, which included a number of brief performances from Hurwitz as he detailed how…

One of the most anticipated panels at SXSW this year was one featuring the cast and showrunner of the acclaimed HBO comedy series Veep, which returns for a ten episode sixth season on April 16th. The panel, which was the show’s first at SXSW, featured writer/executive producer David Mandel, executive producer/star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and cast…

A delightfully nasty horror movie that draws on real-life inspiration, Lake Bodom hopes to be more than just a Friday The 13th-type slasher, in large part to its true crime connection, but ultimately can’t overcome its conventionality – not that there’s anything wrong with that. What still remains one of Europe’s greatest unsolved mysteries, the…

Porn is a big business. In just six years the planet has watched over a million years’ worth of videos and 100 billion pages are visited and streamed annually. But is there a dark side to the industry? Ovidie, a French journalist and former porn-star attempts to answer this question in her documentary film, Pornocracy,…

A strong taste of the old is present in Planetarium, as Natalie Portman leads a dual-language spoken film about not only the ghosts of the supernatural around us, but also those which come from within before the dawning of a new war era. Directed and written by French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central) the film follows two…

As Donald Trump continues promoting his idea of building a wall between the US and Mexico it’s heartening to see that there are some people taking a different approach. Through The Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film is a documentary about a land art installation that attempted to reinforce the notion that borders are an…

It’s hard not to feel a large sense of relief after reaching the end of Mark Webber‘s latest directorial piece that is Flesh and Blood. Not because the film was a tough watch (which in a way, it is), but rather because you are given the chance to leave the cinema and return to what…

Best known for his contribution to Japanese horror, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa brings an interesting take on a ghost story. Daguerrotype (Le Secret de la Chambre Noire) follows a Parisian named Jean (Tahar Rahim) who is hired to be an assistant to the elusive photographer Stéphane (Olivier Gourmet). With Jean’s help, they create heart-stopping daguerreotypes, an old form of permanent…

When Mara (Jessica Kaye) returns to her childhood home of Belize bringing her lover Aaron (Daniel Ahearn) with the hope to reconnect with her estranged father and brother who live there. After landing, she is met with the heart-breaking news that her father has just passed away, shortly before his 70th birthday. Mara is distraught but does…

From writer, photographer and filmmaker Theo Anthony, Rat Film is a documentary that hooks you in and deserves a pedestal. The feature-length film focuses on rats and their lives as a way to explore Baltimore’s urban history and how humans interact with their world. It is clever yet confronting to see rats up close and…

If there was one thing Jiro Dreams of Sushi did, it was set a precedent that documentaries can be about literally anything. The evidence is in cable broadcasting and the phenomena of reality TV series. There are entire channels dedicated to reality TV programs, filling endless time slots with narratives on cat trainers or house…

Assuredly disturbing and revelling in its ability to flip the conventions of the serial killer genre, Ben Young‘s debut feature Hounds of Love is one for those that appreciate their stories without gloss. Counterbalancing its Christmas setting with a tale unflinching in its disturbing nature, this Australian thriller manages to escape the confinements of the “torture porn”…

Al Capone ruled Chicago with absolute power. No one could touch him. No one could stop him. Until Eliot Ness and a small force of men swore they’d bring him down. On March 17th, Event Cinemas George St in Sydney will present a special screening of The Untouchables, Brian De Palma’s all-star cast gangster classic with Kevin…

As the 28th annual Alliance Francaise French Film Festival makes its way across the major Australian states through March and April, the toast of French cinema will be at the ready for audiences seeking a sense of European style.  One film sure to hold interest throughout the festival is Planetarium, a lush pre-war drama starring…

We are hot on the heels of the 15th annual Gold Coast Film Festival. The event will screen 32 feature films from 13 countries, including four World premieres, nine Australian premieres and eight Queensland premieres, plus a host of short films, events, panels, and intimate Q&A’s with filmmakers. The city’s flagship film event has confirmed…

At Disney’s recent shareholders meeting, CEO Bob Iger spoke about the prospects of the Star Wars franchise. After relishing the success of The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which made a combined total of 3.1 billion USD at the box office, his attention has turned to Episode VIII The Last Jedi. After discussion about the momentous difficulty of toppling the success…

Kicking off in Austin tomorrow, this year’s SXSW has one of their most eclectic line-ups ever, full of hidden treasures through the entire line-up. Trying to cut it down to just ten picks of the event proved impossible, so here are our 11 picks of the films you can’t miss at South by Southwest 2017:…

A talented ensemble of Australian actors have been cast in Mortal Engines, a film based on the award winning book series of the same name from British author Philip Reeve. Australian actors Sophie Cox, Menik Gooneratne, Andrew Lees and Terry Norris join the cast, as well as Kiwi actors Mark Hadlow, Nathaniel Lees, Caren Pistorius,…

Warning: Massive Spoilers Ahead! Season four of Vikings concluded in Australia this week and amongst its brutal body count one death was felt most profoundly: that of Ragnar Lothbrok, portrayed by our own Travis Fimmel. The Norse hero died as legend foretold, in a pit of snakes. It is no secret that Fimmel was a…

Three British lads on holidays in Australia for a wedding face a dilemma that would put a damper on any getaway. One of the groomsmen has died (after a drunken romp through the Australian outback, it seems), and now the two remaining groomsmen and the groom, the dead bloke’s three best mates, make it their…

US network AMC have revealed its biggest ever presence at SXSW in Austin, Texas, with a pop-up Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant from Better Call Saul amongst its most prominent activation at the iconic festival. The network also will have presence from their brand new series The Son and returning favourite Preacher – which originally premiered…

When Sonos announce a new speaker, the whole world takes notice. This is a company that has spent the last 15 years focused on quality over quantity, with years of R&D behind every new speaker that hits the shelves. In fact, as of today, this is their entire range of products: On the bottom left…

Today, iconic Speaker manufacturer Sonos have unveiled their latest speaker, the PLAYBASE (read more about that HERE). I had the chance to test out the system last month at Sonos HQ in Boston, and while I was there I sat down with Sono’s director of platform strategies, Michael Papish, who, in his own words, “works…

It should come as little surprise that the highly-anticipated “final” Wolverine film, Logan, should do so well in its premiere week. The film shot straight up to no. 1 at the box office and earneda massive  $7.85m in the process.  This is Hugh Jackman’s last foray as Logan/Wolverine, and it’s been well reported that he and director James…

The first season of Judd Apatow‘s LOVE wasn’t the most hyped series of Netflix’s roster, but regardless it proved a refreshing take on what a romantic comedy series could be. For the most part, it leaned away from the tropes and kept the focus not on this idealised way we expect romance to be, but…

Grab a box of eggos (or your nearest waffle substitute) and crack out the Dungeons And Dragons kids, coz Supanova Pop Culture Expo has us going to the Upside Down! In massive guest announcement news for their Sydney and Perth tour in June this year, Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour, stars from the hugely…