Film & TV

The Antenna Documentary Film Festival has delivered us a snippet of what’s to come in their 2016 program, releasing the titles of twelve of the documentaries set to air over the festival period (Tuesday 11 – Sunday 16 October) at the Palace Cinemas in Paddington, Sydney. The film festival will focus on highlighting the diversity…

Believe it or not, this isn’t a film about Simone Biles latent fifth gold medal that became a bronze. Aside from the scenes of gymnastics, this film is about as far from the grace of the American superstar as any film could possibly be, but unabashedly so. The Bronze is what happens when The Big…

Gary Ross’ Civil War drama Free State of Jones recounts one of the most interesting, albeit lesser-known, tales from the 1860s and 70s in Mississippi. Matthew McConaughey’s Newton Knight, disillusioned with the Confederate forces, deserts the war and builds himself a ragtag army comprised of poor farmers and runaway slaves, bent on fighting back against…

Based on the incredible true story of Pablo Escobar, Narcos is an inside look at the men who would stop at nothing to take down the notorious cocaine trafficker and ruthless boss of the Medellin cartel. From the Colombian government to the DEA agents who would risk their lives, to the US officials who would…

The Martian is the much anticipated adaptation of Andy Weir’s acclaimed debut novel of the same name – a book which is as fascinating in its rise to notoriety as the content itself. Released in 2011 as a self-published, free-to-download ebook by the author (he released it chapter by chapter on his website before sticking it…

This Wednesday, The Martian follows its huge box office and home release success with an updated release on DVD and Blu-Ray. The Martian – Extended Edition comes with two cuts of the film, the theatrical release,  and a new extended version that runs an extra ten minutes. You can read a full review of the…

Currently airing on SBS to rave reviews, Trapped is an Icelandic TV series that tells the story of recently re-located police officer Andri Olafsson, who moved his life to a small town at the bottom of a beautiful fjord in the northeast of Iceland, leaving behind a questionable past in Reykjavik. It’s the first Icelandic…

Australia’s only free-to-air children’s channel and otherwise guilty pleasure for Degrassi reruns, ABC3, will become ABC ME on September 19. ABC ME will feature an accompanying digital app, and debut new shows including weekly pop culture review show News to Me, sci-fi action animation series Prisoner Zero and short-form documentary series This Is Me. The channel,…

It’s hard to witness any Hollywood film franchise released in this day and age without an Aussie attached. Names like Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Rebel Wilson and the brothers Hemsworth are but a few who have found stardom in the land of the rich and famous. However, the names you now know well are…

It was reported exclusively this week by Variety, that, according to sources, the iconic DC character Cyborg will make an appearance in the standalone The Flash movie, due for release in 2018. The inclusion in the film – alongside the character’s appearance in next year’s Justice League –  is expected to line things up for…

Variety reports that writers Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch are in negotiations to pen Legendary’s upcoming live-action Pokemon film (yes, that’s a thing) based around the recently introduced character “Detective Pikachu”. This news follows the announcement earlier this year that Legendary had gotten their hands on the rights to the Pokemon franchise. The deal came about…

Finding Dory was a sequel 13 years in the making, but it appears it was worth the wait. Pixar have romped it in at the box office this year with Finding Dory their fourth film to exceed the worldwide US$900 million box office mark this year. Dory currently sits at a worldwide box office figure…

Based on the best-selling non-fiction book of the same name, Same Kind Of Different As Me is the story of international art dealer Ron Hall (Greg Kinnear) who must befriend a dangerous homeless man (Djimon Hounsou) in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife (Renee Zellweger), “a woman whose dreams will lead all…

Pain and Gain. The Wolf of Wall Street. Scarface. What do these films have in common? The characters are all on a quest to achieve their own versions of the American Dream. They are all about greed and the seduction of power that shows that absolute power corrupts absolutely. But what makes the first two…

If all was right in the highly politicised world of award shows, Logan Lerman would be looking at a good upcoming season, seeing as his performance as Marcus Messner in James Schamus’ Indignation will be almost impossible to overlook. The Cold War-era film is an adaptation of Philip Roth’s period novel of the same name,…

In collaboration with Telltale Publishing, Night School Studios have officially released a text adventure game based on the TV series, Mr Robot. The mobile title, Mr.  Robot:1.51exfiltratiOn is currently available for IOS and Android-based devices.

Fan favourite Lee Chaolan, and his alter ego, Violet, will be returning for the latest King of the Iron Fist Tournament, it was revealed at Gamescom.  Lees appearance in Tekken 7 plays into the storyline of the game through his adoption by Heihachi Mishima, who was raised to be a rival to his son Kazuya. In some new screenshots, a…

A unique 3D B&W feature film will be released in conjunction with the new studio album by Australian alternative rock band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Directed by Andrew Dominik, whose known for his work on Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James, One More Time With Feeling. The film details the making of Nick Cave…

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, co stars of Step Brothers and Taladega Nights are set to reunite to play Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick John Watson, respectively. Etan Cohen, who wrote the screenplays for Tropic Thunder and Men in Black 3 will write and direct Holmes and Watson. Cohen also directed Ferrell in Get…

Th rumoured live-action movie for The Little Mermaid seems to have been confirmed with Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda and the film’s original composer Alan Menken signed on to write the songs for the film.  Miranda is known for his work on Broadway musicals such as Les Miserables and Hamilton, while Menken is known for his work on the original The Little Mermaid and Beauty…

Green Room is one of those movies that isn’t at all hesitant about sneaking up on you and showing you exactly what you’re in for, be it through taboo subject matter (white supremacy) ultra violence or a range of truly sadistic characters. And once you accept what your next hour and half is going to…

Activision has announced its line-up of game release news at Gamescom 2016, including Call of Duty: Infinite Warfares – Zombie in Spaceland, Skylanders Imaginators and Destiny: Rise of Iron.  Call of Duty: Infinite Warfares – Zombie in Spaceland takes players and zombies to a 1980’s theme park. Players will be able to kill the zombie…

The Melbourne Recital Centre became a cultural gala on August 12th as the winners of the Westpac Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and the Western Union Short Film Festival were announced. Amongst the crowds was Bollywood hallmark Rishi Kapoor who was awarded the Westpac Excellence In Cinema Award for 2016. Kapoor, who has as many…

With the documentary Tickled set for a limited release tomorrow, The Iris’s David Hunter was lucky enough to get a one-on-one interview with New Zealand co-director and star of Tickled, David Farrier. During out chat, we discuss the highs, the lows and the law suits for his new documentary. We touch on the differences between…

Mixed reviews and Jared Leto critiques be gone, because Suicide Squad remains firmly in first place on the Australian Box Office report.  Whilst it didn’t do as well in its second week against its unbelievable performance in its opening week (where it earned AU $13,904,557), its takings of AU$5.9 million mean that it’s stronger than Jason Bourne’s second week on…

If 2014’s World War Z set a precedent for anything, it was that you can unequivocally produce a zombie flick without copious amounts of gore and severed limbs and still have it be entertaining. South Korean film Train to Busan follows this blueprint and improves upon it in a number of of satisfying ways. When…

The trailer for Robert Zemekis’ (Back to the Future, Cast Away) new film, Allied has dropped. Set in 1942, in the heart of WWII, Allied tells the tale of intelligence officer Max Vatan (Brad Pitt), who joins French Resistance fighter Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. As the two fall in love, their relationship…

Roadshow Films have unveiled some media for their alien invasion film Arrival, including the debut trailer and official posters. When a mysterious spacecraft lands on earth expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is called in to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the her team (Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker)…

The Sega 3D Classics Collection is finally coming to Australia for the Nintendo 3DS, complete with previously unreleased games. The collection (which until now was only available in Japan) boasts nine classic games from the Sega Mega Drive, GigaDrive and Master System including Sonic The Hedgehog, Thunder Blade, Galaxy Force II and Altered Beast – all given the…

Laika Studios is an animation studio that is yet to become a household name. I honestly didn’t know them before hearing about their latest film, Kubo and the Two Strings. Though, without knowing it, I had already enjoyed their first studio film, Coraline, immensely. And reading about their other works like The Boxtrolls and Paranorman,…