Film & TV

With 68 exceptional, international premiere features and documentaries and 7 shorts, the Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) proudly returns to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Auckland from late October, and tours to Canberra for the first time in the Festival’s history. Embracing a global selection of features and documentaries from 19 countries including Argentina, Denmark,…

From Superheroes to Gordon Ramsay and everything in between here are our TV picks for Foxtel and free-to-air in Australia for the week ahead… Tuesday, 18th October Supergirl, Fox8, 8:45pm AEST Supergirl gets seriously injured by a villain who’s powered by kryptonite. Cold Feet, Ch 7, 9:00pm AEST Adam returns and announces his upcoming wedding…without…

Thanks to a slew of hit films this year, Disney has set a new record for itself at the international box office. Driven by Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, Zootopia and The Jungle Book, Disney reached US$3.566 billion as of Sunday, only just surpassing their previous record of US$3.565 billion set last year –…

It seems many are still willing to take a thrilling ride (sorry) with Emily Blunt and Co., as The Girl On The Train retained its top spot on at the box office this week, earning $2.61 million.  Although the earnings were down by 35% since last week, this film still managed the best revenue retention of any…

A new TV series from the team behind How I Met Your Mother and The Goldbergs has been given an eight-episode go ahead by Netflix. Atypical will be written and produced by Robia Rashid with Seth Gordon directing the pilot and serving as co-producer. The TV series will follow an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum…

Imagine a scenario where a computer virus has the ability to affect a country’s power supply. It sounds like the plot of a thrilling, science fiction film. It is frightening to think that this could be the future of cyberwarfare, especially when one considers this in light of the Stuxnet event. Zero Days is a…

Square Enix has announced a new expansion, StormBlood, for the popular online RPG Final Fantasy XIV. The announcement was made during the sold-out player’s event, Las Vegas Fan Festival, where Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida took the stage to present a new trailer and reveal exciting details about the expansion, which is expected to be…

Australia’s home grown comic-con, Supernova Pop Culture Expo, has announced a superstar line-up for Brisbane and Adelaide this year. The 2016 line-up will see exciting guest appearances from stars of our most beloved geeky films and television shows including, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Suicide Squad and Back to The Future. Natalia Tena…

The Hunter Valley Dungog Festival has announced its full film program two weeks ahead of its launch. The festival will feature a restored screening of Australian 1982 cult classic StarStruck, as well as a series of short film screenings, a short film competition, and announcement about two new Metro Screen Scholarships. Stage and screen designer,…

ABC Cyber-thriller, The Code, steals the show at the 49th annual Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, becoming the only series in history to take home two Major Awards for both its seasons. More than twenty-five Australians were honoured at this year’s award show, which was hosted by The Chaser’s Julian Morrow. Leading Australian screenwriter, Shelley Birse,…

Foxtel has announced that Australia’s own version of the beloved UK and US series Whose Line is it Anyway? will premiere November 27, hosted by Aussie Television presenter and comedian Tommy Little. As announced earlier in the year, Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia will welcome seven prominent comedy stars to their cast, including, Rhys Darby (Hunt…

Movement Sydney will be presenting Insert Coin(s)’s very first Halloween Party Halloween Spooktacular, on the day of Count Dracula’s Birth. The event promised to scare with a special showcase of Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, gruesome horror installations, and some “killer” DJ’s (DJ Levins and Glenn B Trippin). Fans will get their first chance to play Resident Evil…

PlayStation VR has officially landed and it’s off to an excellent start as a great piece of hardware that just goes above and beyond a peripheral. It makes the PlayStation 4 the very gaming system that will set it apart from the rest this holiday season (If you can get your hands on a VR…

The first time I came across Eoin Macken was in 2013. Fresh off the back of the success of BBC fantasy drama Merlin, the Irish actor and filmmaker was deep in production of his latest project, an independent film he was directing in Cold. Fast forward three years and here we are again but instead of chatting from London, he’s in…

We at The Iris and The AU Review are excited to be teaming up with TCL, who are entering their 12th consecutive year as a partner of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. As the official television supplier of the carnival, they want to give you the chance to experience the Cup on one of their state…

When Viking king Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) told his young sons as they sailed away from Kattegat: “Don’t waste your time looking back, you’re not going that way,” Michael Hirst, creator and writer of Vikings was reminding viewers that this is a show constantly moving forward. As Hirst reiterates during the extras of the Season…

Just over two months prior to its release, LucasFilm and Disney have revealed the second, and presumably final, trailer for the highly anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Rogue One is the first standalone film in the Star Wars franchise. The film stars Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, The Amazing Spider-Man), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal,…

Neighbours co-stars Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue, along with The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert crew, Aussie Director and Writer Stephan Elliot, and Producer Al Clark, reunite on set for the production of A-list Gold Coast film, Flammable Children, Becker Film Group has announced. Flammable Children is set in the 1970’s in a typical…

Be prepared for a fright, Resident Evil 7 biohazard has released a free demo in an unsettling kitchen setting. The popular horror series gives players the chance to experience a first-person perspective of the Resident Evil series for the first time, with the release of the demo ‘KITCHEN’. The bite-sized teaser has been made available…

Good news for those struggling with their journey on public transport, following the release of The Little Ones expansion on PC and Consoles earlier this year, 11 Bit Studios have finally released their biggest in-app DLC via itunes and Google Play. The game, which provided an entirely new playable experience of war, has once again…

Parrot is making drone flying immersive with their new FPV pack for Bebop 2 leisure drones. The Parrot Cockpitglasses use your IOS or Android smartphone to turn you into a pilot, getting a first-hand view of the action. The FPV headplay works through your smartphone by livestreaming air-born footage captured through Bebop 2’s full HD…

Bandai Namco Entertainment has released a new PVP video in the lead up to Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel, the first downloadable DLC that drops later this month. The video shows gameplay of fierce battle in the player-versus-player dedicated arena. Ashes of Ariandel is the first of two planned downloadable add-ons for Dark Souls…

Australian Screenwriter Craig Pearce is taking home an Australian Writers’ Guild Lifetime Achievement Award today, in recognition of his thirty-year contribution to the Australian screen Industry. Known for his contribution to some of Australia’s most Iconic films, The writer has worked extensively with Australian director Baz Luhrmann. Pearce has worked on BAFTA Award winning screenplay Romeo +…

Everybody has their own line with respect to what they consider funny versus what is taboo. For some people there is no topic or thing that is off limits while others believe that some subjects – irrespective of the quality of the joke –are in poor taste. The Last Laugh is a documentary that examines…

On Tuesday 11 October some savvy Marvel fans (and us media plebs) were able to attend an exclusive 15 minute sneak preview of Marvel’s upcoming film Doctor Strange. Initial teasers and trailers have already given us some pretty trippy Inception-like visual effects but if you’re itching to get an insight into what else you can…

Submissions are now open for the 2017 Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship, the largest cash fellowship (AUD$200,000) for short films in Australia. Hosted by the Sydney Film Festival and Lexus Australia for the second year, the event encourages aspiring Australian filmmakers to submit an eligible short film. A Sydney Film Festival panel will select 20…

Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro will no longer be starring in Fox’s The Predator reboot, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Luckily, Fox is targeting Boyd Holbrook, best known as one of the stars of Netflix’s series Narcos, to replace Del Toro in the lead role. Negotiations between Del Toro and Fox falling apart is suggested to be the reason behind the…

Australian distributor Sharmill Films has revealed they will be bringing three more films from the Toronto International Film Festival to Australia: Frantz, The Ornithologist, and Heal The Living, will join Lady Macbeth on the Sharmill Films 2017 release slate. Frantz is the latest film from French director François Ozon. The film is set in the wake of the…

After years of anticipation, the PlayStation VR (PS VR) has officially launched in Australia. The PS VR uses state-of-the-art technologies, such as 360 degree head tracking, wide FOV, high refresh rates, and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s own binaural 3D audio technology. Each of these features aim to add, and enhance the overall virtual reality gaming experience….

Coinciding with the today’s release of the PlayStation VR (PS VR), Plantronics have revealed the first headset designed exclusively for PS VR, the Plantronics RIG 4VR. The RIG 4VR is the first officially licensed audio headset which has been optimised for use with the PS VR. The headset aims to heighten the user’s sense and…