Film & TV

Twilight actor Kellan Lutz arrives in Australia this week for The Osiris Child

Best known for his role as Emmett Cullen in the Twilight Saga films, Kellan Lutz will be in Australia this week to attend the Gala premiere of the new sci-fi film The Osiris Child: Science Fiction Volume One, at the 2017 Gold Coast Film Festival. In addition to the premiere, Lutz will also pop into…

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TV Review: Outcast Season 2 Episode 2 “The Day After That” adds more questions

Episode two of the FX series Outcast‘s second season hits the ground running with a crash outside of town being discovered by a local police officer. It seems that rather than following the original fabricated alibi Giles had created (Mark taking his own life), due to Maggie’s wishes of her husband not seen giving up…

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Win a double in-season pass to see The Innocents in Australia

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Anne Fontaine (Coco Avant Chanel, Nathalie, Gemma Bovery), The Innocents is based on actual events and set in Poland at the end of world War 2. It tells the story of Mathilde, a young doctor at a Red Cross hospital, who responds to a desperate plea to visit a local Benedictine…

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The first teaser for Star Wars: The Last Jedi trended worldwide across the Easter weekend

Currently the number one trending video worldwide on YouTube and attracting 25 million views in less than 72 hours, it’s safe to say that Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s first teaser trailer made its impact over the Easter weekend. And that number just takes into account the ONE official YouTube channel. The trailer had its…

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The 10 Best Comic Stories That Should Be Made Into Video Games

Comic book stories make for some great game adaptations, with the likes of Batman: Under the Hood and Ultimate Spider-Man receiving the video game treatment. As mentioned in our previous article, XII and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction were both based on stellar comic runs, while games like Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Injustice took only…

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The 10 most outrageous moments in the Fast and Furious franchise

The Fate of the Furious is out in cinemas today and to celebrate the release of the 8th installment (8th?! Really?!), we are looking back at the ten most outrageous moments in the long-running franchise, in no particular order. Who needs the laws of physics when you got family? Reckless flirting (2 Fast 2 Furious,…

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Legendary composer Hans Zimmer is touring his classic soundtracks in Australia in less than three weeks

Legendary composer Hans Zimmer has won just about every award in the book – but he’s never performed in Australia. In less than three weeks, however, he’ll be changing that, with a massive arena show called Hand Zimmer Revealed, set to hit the capital cities, shortly after performing in California at the iconic Coachella Music…

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TV Review: The Merge returns in the Outcast Season 2 premiere “Bad Penny”

Robert Kirkman’s Outcast returned this week and I had the pleasure of being around for its return. I am so glad that a well written and tight nit team of characters and story has graced the screen for another round and I will happily be reviewing the series on a weekly basis. Over the course…

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Palace Cinemas to hold ‘American Essentials’ indie film festival in May

Palace Cinemas are set to screen 20 independent American films for their nationwide Australian debut, as part of the ‘American Essentials’ showcase. The three-week festival will screen various new international film festival debuts, as well as restored American classics. The festival will open with the screening of the Oscar-nominated 20th Century Women, starring Annette Bening…

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David Stratton to present a 10 film retrospective on Akira Kurosawa at the Sydney Film Festival

The Sydney Film Festival, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) and The Japan Foundation have announced that David Stratton (much beloved co-host of ABC’s former critic show At the Movies) will present a program of 10 essential films directed by the great Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa….

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Film Review: The Fate of the Furious (USA, 2017) is completely aware of how ridiculous it is

An impressively persistent beast of sorts, the Fast & Furious franchise has become one of the most lucrative commodities of today’s industry, despite an initial series of less-than sequels that threatened to burn the title out before it had a chance to properly compete. Whereas most sequels fail to maintain momentum (especially when dealing with the…

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The 7 Best Classic Point and Click Adventure Games

Some of the first games that I ever played were desktop point and clickers, a genre that has waned in popularity ever since the introduction of console video games. From classic MS-DOS titles like The Treehouse and The Backyard to the gorgeous and cartoony Putt-Putt series, the point and click genre really ignited my passion…

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Win a copy of the brilliantly dark comedy War on Everyone on DVD

Written & Directed by John Michael McDonagh (The Guard & Calvary) the hilariously dark comedy War on Everyone follows corrupt cops Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) and Bob Bolaño (Michael Peña) as they break the law for a living in New Mexico. Terry is an alcoholic who loves Glen Campbell, and Bob is a closet intellectual who…

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Win a double pass to For Film’s Sake Festival to see a film of your choice in Sydney

April is shaping up to be an absolute cracker for Sydney peeps. The For Film’s Sake Festival (formerly WOW) runs from April 26th to 30th. You’d be hard pressed to find a more interesting and innovative festival in Australia. Determined to help overcome the gross disparity in the Australian Film Industry, FFS showcases female and…

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Australian Box Office Report: Beauty and the Beast remains a monster of a hit for the school holidays

Not surprising that the great reviews, great publicity and release around the school holiday period for Beauty And The Beast has earned this another no. 1 spot for this week.  Generating $4.96m, it has also made a total of $34m since its premiere.  It’s already the biggest release of the year so far, and has even beaten Disney’s biggest earner…

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Are modern gamers expecting too much from their favourite developers?

In this modern age we live in, there’s no doubt in my mind that games today are as good as they have ever been. This is not to suggest that the importance of games that came before are diminished, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for instance is and will remain a classic, but rather a way…

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Film Review: Colossal (Canada/Spain, 2017) is a miraculous achievement

Nacho Vigalondo has always been an exciting filmmaker for me. Ever since I saw his first feature film Timecrimes, I’ve always wanted to see more of this work. His handling of genre film and melding it with themes of humanity or topical themes has always fascinated and thrilled me. Timecrimes was a great time-travel film that…

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Film Review: Power plays and the clearing out of idiocy in Denial (UK, 2016)

The question a film critic often wants to ask, but is discouraged from for fear of offending someone, is why make this film? The answer is, more often than not, “because now was the right time.” And for Denial, this is most certainly true. In a world of newly termed ‘disenfranchised voters’ that are seemingly comfortable…

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Workaholics‘ Adam Devine to host the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards as Get Out leads the nominations

Formerly known as the MTV Movie Awards, all the details have been revealed about the 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards, set to be held in Los Angeles on May 8th at 10am, Sydney time. This year’s host will be Workaholics‘ Adam Devine, who takes over from last year’s duo Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson….

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VR Pods Make For An Egg-splosive Attraction At The Sydney Royal Easter Show

This week, I was given a preview of the newest attraction at the Sydney Royal Easter Show – VR Land, a virtual reality experience with a host of different and exciting games. The set up at the Easter Show features several double-cabin egg pods, as well as single or three-person pods, and smaller game-based machines…

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Michael Bonfiglio talks about his new HBO Documentary May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers, co-directed with Judd Apatow

While in Austin last month, we caught up with Michael Bonfiglio, co-director of May It Last: A Portrait of The Avett Brothers (the much loved US band) with Judd Apatow. We spoke about premiering the film at the iconic SXSW festival and working with (and discovering) the band across the album three years it took…

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Blu-Ray Review: The single disc release of Doctor Strange (USA, 2016) arrives jam-packed

As we now roll into Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe we are pulled to the beginning of one character’s story. Doctor Strange is Marvel’s step back to delivering an origin story for a new superhero but in some ways this film is a giant leap forward in universe building. It’s hard to fathom…

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Film Review: A Silent Voice (Japan, 2017) is an authentic and delicate coming-of-age story

Naoko Yamada’s A Silent Voice is an authentic and delicate coming-of-age story exploring a tale of romance and redemption. The animation is based on the manga series of the same name from 2013-2014 by Yoshitoki Ōima. A Silent Voice provides a fruitful outlook on the future of Japanese anime, and its success in western markets,…

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Win a double pass to a special screening of NT Live’s Amadeus in Sydney

Lucian Msamati (Luther, Game of Thrones, NT Live: The Comedy of Errors) plays Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s iconic play Amadeus, captured live from the National Theatre, with orchestral accompaniment by Southbank Sinfonia, with cinematic screenings set to take place around the country. So what do you need to know about the play? As the name…

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The first teaser trailer for Thor: Ragnarok has dropped and it looks like the Marvel film to beat

Take direction from New Zealand’s Taika Waititi (What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople), film in Australia and add cast members like Australia’s Cate Blanchett and the one and only Jeff Goldblum, then consider the strong track record of the last two Thor standalone films, and the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok has just…

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Film Review: Personal Shopper (USA, 2016) falls flat with its supernatural elements

Poor Maureen (Kristen Stewart). Her boss, Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten) is impossible, sending her all over Europe for clothes and shoes she is too rich and famous to buy for herself. On top of that, her twin brother died a few months ago, and he still hasn’t contacted her from the beyond, even though he…

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ACMI and Golden Age Cinema to exclusively screen Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women

Director Kelly Reichardt‘s (Meek’s Cutoff) award-winning latest release Certain Women, starring Michelle Williams, Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart, will be exclusively screening at selected venues later this month. ACMI will also be screening a limited season of Reichardt’s previous works, including Meek’s Cutoff,  Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy, to be screened on 35mm film. ACMI…

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Gone Before Their Time: The Video Games That Never Made It – Part IV

In our final instalment, we’re looking at some of the more obscure, lesser known and forgotten titles that never got the chance to show off what made them so special. While many mourn the loss of blockbuster games, there are often great video games from smaller studios that slip under the radar and are never heard…

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The Rise and Fall of the Video Game Film

Recently released photos of Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider film have sparked much attention and interest for the newest in a long line of video game films. By their very nature, video game films spark scepticism, and a hefty dose of it already accompanies the release of the film. The…

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Video Game Review: Bye-Bye Box Boy (3DS, 2017) is a brilliant blend of puzzle mechanics new and old

For the third year in a row Hal Laboratory has developed a Box Boy title for the 3DS, each time adding fresh and fun ways to navigate each level. The current iteration, Bye-Bye Box Boy is as addictive as the former games and if it’s possible, even cuter.

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