Film & TV

Nick Offerman, Stephen Root, Zoe Graham and Director Bob Byington talk about the mysterious Infinity Baby

Earlier this month, a “slightly futuristic comedy about babies who don’t age” called Infinity Baby premiered at SXSW. While at the infamous Austin festival, before having the chance to see the film, and knowing only this small byline, I caught up with the cast – most of whom hadn’t seen the film either at this…

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Win a double pass to see Personal Shopper in cinemas

From acclaimed director Olivier Assayas comes this evocative thriller starring Kristen Stewart as Maureen, a young American woman in Paris making her living as a personal shopper for a celebrity. In common with her twin brother, Lewis, whose recent death still haunts her, Maureen may have the psychic ability to communicate with spirits. In her…

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Win a copy of the first three seasons of hilarious Canadian series Schitt’s Creek on DVD

When filthy-rich video store magnate Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy, American Pie), his soap star wife Moira (Catherine O’Hara, Home Alone) and their two kids, über-hipster son David (Dan Levy) and socialite daughter Alexis suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup and rebuild their empire from within the rural…

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Film Review: Ghost In The Shell (USA, 2017) is a visual spectacle, but lacks original storytelling

The first scene of Ghost In The Shell is incredibly haunting, as a crimson-hued setting features a fresh, human brain being delicately placed into a robotic body. It’s an uneasy mixture of human and AI – and according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk – it is a reality that’s not too far into the future, once…

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Bring a change of pants: Stephen King’s It gets its first trailer

The second attempt at adapting Stephen King’s terrifying thriller It to the screen is only a few months away. And there’s no better time than now to put everyone on edge with its debut trailer. Fear grips the small town of Derry, Maine when kids start to go missing with some even turning up murdered….

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SXSW Film Review: Two Pigeons (UK, 2017) is raw, unsettling, and totally intriguing

Never have I been so disgusted and intrigued at the same time but after watching Two Pigeons – Dominic Bridges‘ directorial debut – its interesting how much we take our security and privacy for granted. After all, if you found you had a squatter living with you, would you ever really be the same? Vulgarity…

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

In our last two installments, we explored a slew of major franchises with promising games abandoned before they ever saw the light of day. From the enigmatic ambition of Peter Molyneux’s Fable franchise, to the never realised depths of the Pirates of the Caribbean games, it’s clear that even the most popular franchise often suffer…

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Mikman Grooming co and Fox team up for exclusive Vikings inspired Vax packaging

Fox has partnered with Milkman Grooming Co to create a limited-edition Vax packaging to coincide with the release of Vikings Season 4 – Volume 2 on DVD & Blu-Ray. Influenced by the show, Milkman Grooming Co has ensured every aspect of the design of the packaging is visually stimulating, incorporating clever historical references, themes and scents…

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Does the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer give away too much?

It is no secret that the Marvel Studios made the deal with Sony Pictures to bring Spider-Man to the MCU for not only a fresh new take on the character but also to be a forefront character moving into their so called ‘Phase 4’. It certainly stands that the return of the friendly neighbourhood web slinger was one…

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The AF French Film Festival is extending its Melbourne and Sydney Seasons until April 5

Fantastic news for anyone interested in catching some films they missed at the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival. The Event is being extended in Sydney and Melbourne until April 5. To satisfy public demand, the festival has added Festival favourites such as 150 Milligrams, A Bag of Marbles, The Dancer, From the Land of the…

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New Zealand actress Rachel House reflects on playing Moana‘s “Gramma Tala” (EXCLUSIVE)

One of the Summer’s biggest hits has been the Disney animated film Moana – which has its home entertainment release this week. To reflect on this film, we spoke to New Zealand actress Rachel House, who plays Gramma Tala in the film. We talk about what it took to bring the character to life, the…

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Take a first look at Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in next year’s Tomb Raider reboot

The first photos of Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander (Ex-Machina, The Danish Girl) as the iconic video game action heroine Lara Croft have been exclusively released by Vanity Fair overnight. The article also revealed more of the backstory for the new incarnation of Croft, who was last portrayed onscreen in the commercially successful Tomb Raider films by Angelina Jolie. This…

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Australian Box Office Report: Beauty and the Beast achieves the biggest box office opening of the year to date

There has been a lot of movement on the charts this week, thanks to a crowded pile of new entries into cinemas over the weekend. The highly anticipated Disney remake Beauty and the Beast went straight to the top of the ladder.  It sits comfortably at no. 1, having earned $13.14m, giving it the biggest…

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Netflix drops first teaser for Adam Wingard’s adaptation of Japanese Manga and Anime Phenomenon Death Note

Netflix has had many successes with its ‘Netflix Originals’ but in 2017, it tackles new ground with the live action adaptation of successful Japanese manga and anime series Death Note. The anime to live action track record are not in Netflix’s favour, however, this teaser trailer looks like they are far from concerned. Despite fans being split…

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We reflect on The Muppets with the man behind Miss Piggy, Director Frank Oz

Earlier this month at SXSW, the documentary Muppets Guys Talking: Secrets Behind the Show the Whole World Watched premiered to much jubilation. The film is exactly as the name implies: some of the team behind the original Muppets (as well as Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street and others), got together to talk about their time on…

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AF French Film Festival Review: Being 17 (France, 2016) is a thoughtful coming-of-age story

If Being 17 is any indication, the 2017 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is off to a great start. Coming-of-age films are a genre that I deeply appreciate. With no need of a strong reliance on plot, seeing the progression of a protagonist through young adulthood can be compelling on a cinematic level. So when…

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AF French Film Festival Review: Tran Anh Hung’s Eternity (France, 2016) is a tone poem brought to life

Though I am Vietnamese, because I was raised in Australia for all of my life, I never really experienced much of Vietnamese culture. However, there were some films that I had watched that had always stuck with me, and those were the works of Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung. Showing the true beauty in the…

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We sat down with Director Mark Webber and his family to talk about Flesh and Blood at SXSW

Director and Actor Mark Webber premiered his new film Flesh and Blood at SXSW earlier this month; a docu-style film which stars his own family and blurs the line between fact and fiction. I sat down with Mark, his mother Cheri Honkola, brother Guillermo Santos, and actress Madeline Brewer (Orange Is the New Black) to talk…

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Director Robert Mockler talks about his debut feature Like Me and Terry Gilliam at SXSW

One of the films that made a splash at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin, Texas was Robert Mockler‘s directorial debut Like Me. A film that was set around society’s obsession with social media, I sat down with the director to talk about the kickstarter campaign that made the production possible, its…

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Australian Director Emma Franz talks about her poignant documentary Bill Frisell, A Portrait at SXSW

Australian Director Emma Franz‘s poignant documentary Bill Frisell, A Portrait premiered earlier this month at SXSW in Austin, Texas. The film is, as the name suggests, a portrait on the much loved musician Bill Frisell, both in his own words and through interviews with iconic artists like Bonnie Raitt and Paul Simon. I sat down…

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Film Review: The Lego Batman Movie (USA/AUS 2017) is hilariously self-aware of the superhero genre

Three years after we were wowed and bamboozled by The Lego Movie and that damn “Everything Is Awesome” song has now finally gotten out of our heads, it’s time to revisit one of its popular characters in his own standalone film. The Lego Batman Movie takes our dark, broody and narcissistic Dark Knight and puts…

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First trailer for Justice League sees DC’s potpourri of Superheroes come together

One of the year’s most anticipated superhero films is without question WB’s Justice League, which is bringing together a slew of DC’s most well known comic book heroes into one film – based of course after the comic books of the same name. They are to DC what The Avengers is to Marvel.  And over…

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The director of In Bruges looks set to bring us the Black Comedy of the year with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Having already brought us one of the best black comedies of all time with In Bruges, and a memorable follow-up with Seven Psychopaths, it comes as little surprise that director Martin McDonagh has us excited about his new film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. And with the release of the first red-band trailer for the…

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SXSW Film Review: A Bad Idea Gone Wrong (USA, 2017) steals all the right notes

A Bad Idea Gone Wrong is Jason Headley’s full feature length debut and I must say, Headley gives a simple concept a fantastic tune up. With this Comedy/Drama, two down on their luck thieves, Marlon (Matt Jones) and Leo (Will Rogers) land their next heist opportunity, a fancy mansion home while the owners are away….

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 15 “Something They Need” sets things up nicely for the finale

“Something They Need” wrapped up everything the way you would expect, setting some final pieces in place for the inevitable showdown in next week’s finale. The problem with this is that the absence of anything unexpected, outside of some nice bits of drama over at The Sanctuary, resulted in a clean episode that lacked any…

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Stan is highlighting Australian comedians over the next few weeks with “One Night Stan”

This year will see Australian SVOD service Stan bring out a sizable chunk of their original content, truly stepping up as their popularity increases across the country. A unique function of this is the commitment to Australian stories and artists, the latest of which is being realised in the recently debuted One Night Stan. The…

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AF French Film Festival Review: A Woman’s Life (France/Belgium, 2016) is a melancholy look into a past patriarchal life

A dark, moving yet warming adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s classic novel Une vie is eloquently created in to a period arthouse picture by director Stéphane Brizé (The Measure of a Man), as a young woman comes to grasp the turmoil that unfolds around her in 19th-century France. The aesthetic of the film is created perfectly by…

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Director Tommy O’Haver and writer Irene Turner on why we’ll love to hate Netflix’s The Most Hated Woman in America

Just released on Netflix, the biopic The Most Hated Woman in America is the true story of iconic Atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, starring a brilliant Melissa Leo in the title role. The film had is world premiere earlier this month at SXSW and while there, I sat down with the film’s director Tommy O’Haver…

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SXSW Film Review: Small Town Crime (USA, 2017)

Directed by Eshom and Ian Nelms, Small Town Crime is a neo noir that isn’t here to reinvent the wheel, rather attempt to perfect itself as a genre piece. Not that it can be pigeon-holed. Part western, part crime fiction, part family drama, and a lot of noir, the film doesn’t cut any corners for…

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Microtransactions: What Are They Good For?

Growing up playing video games, there was never any need to pay more after an initial purchase. You’d walk down to your local Toys”R”Us, pick up your brand new copy of Digimon World 3, plonk it in the disc drive of your scratched up PlayStation and you’d be off. If there was an issue with…

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