Film & TV

It’s hard to know what to make of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the landscape of superhero television. It lacks the allegorical nuance of Jessica Jones, the gritty hyperviolence of Daredevil and the comic-book stylings of The Flash and Arrow. The show has always been a bit of a hybrid with an appeal of its own – though one…

Aussie John Noble has some pretty prolific pop culture roles under his belt. Since his time as an All Saint, John has found himself the covetable intelligent, slightly wicked choice for Hollywood producers looking to cast someone with that versatility (it’s not by his choice he swears). The result has been a flourish of eloquent…

Online streaming service Stan this week announced its first feature-length project, The Second, to be funded by Screen Queensland. Billed as a psychological thriller, The Second will be given a cinema release before streaming exclusively on Stan (jointly owned by Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax media). Mumbrella reports that the film will follow “two female…

Presto announced yesterday, that NBC’s period crime drama Aquarius will return to the online streaming service in a special triple episode premiere event. Episodes one to three of the 1960s drama will stream express from the U.S on Friday June 17. Following the three-episode premiere, episodes will continue to steam week-by-week, direct from the U.S…

Sharmill Films has acquired director Bruno Dumont‘s French comedy Slack Bay (Ma Loute) for cinematic release following its new-in-competition premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Set in the north of France in 1910, Slack Bay explores the mysterious disappearance of tourists from a picturesque coastal community and the increasingly odd behaviour of its local…

The first season of Gotham had a lot of potential but it’s hard not to call it out for being the mess it is. Characters were too one-dimensional and its convoluted plotting left a lot to be desired. By the mid-season finale, I wasn’t really watching Gotham because I wanted to know what happened next as…

The Hateful Eight is (fittingly) iconic auteur Quentin Tarantino‘s eighth film, which this week opened in Australian cinemas for a limited 70mm Ultra Panavision release – the first film to do so since 1966’s Khartoum and the first Western since The Hallelujah Trail (1965). For cinephiles around the world, the day couldn’t have come soon enough,…

It has been a long time coming, but it is here. It is finally here. A brand-spanking new film by renowned action-maestro Shane Black. For those who don’t know, Shane Black is responsible for writing cult-classic 80’s/90’s films like Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Last Action Hero and The Monster…

Adding to an already fantastic cast, Jeff Goldblum and Karl Urban have been cast in Thor: Ragnarok. The pair will joining Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba Tessa Thompson and Mark Ruffalo who will be showing up as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. “The continuation of the epic Thor franchise will be powerful and unique, and with…

Universal Pictures has enlisted screenwriter James Vanderbilt to help craft a cinematic universe based on the works of Robert Ludlum, author of The Bourne Identity. First up in this universe will be the adaptation of Ludlum’s The Janson Directive, which will star Dwayne Johnson. Vanderbilt will adapt Janson Directive from a story co-authored with Academy Award-winner…

The follow-up trailer for the third Purge movie, Election Year has dropped and it looks grim. Director James De Monaco (who has helmed all three films) returns with newbies Elizabeth Mitchell (Revolution) Frank Grillo (Captain America: Winter Soldier & Civil War). When Senator Charlene Roan (Mitchell) vows to eliminate the annual “Purge” – a night where all…

That title is just all over the place. However, the laughs look to be delivered at rapid pace if the second trailer to The Lonely Island’s newest film Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is something to go by. Former boy band member Connor4Real (Andy Samberg) looks to maintain his celebrity status when his solo album is a…

The St Kilda Film Festival, now Australia’s longest running, publicly-owned short film festival, has today released the nominees for the festival’s title award, best short film. Prevailing against the country’s best 100 short films were Red Rover, Death in Bloom, Slingshot and The Orchestra. Other award categories and nominees were; Best Documentary: You Better Take…

Given its status time-travelling superpowered team adventure, it feels safe to say Legends of Tomorrow is probably the most ambitious effort yet in the CW’s ever-growing lineup of superhero TV shows. Set around the time-travelling Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), who snatches various DC heroes and villains out of the present to go on a sprawling…

The Goosebumps novel series was one I read religiously as a child growing up – in fact I don’t know many 90’s children who weren’t invested in this wonderfully ghoulish series – so the idea of a (long overdue) cinematic adaptation of R.L. Stine’s classic tales was one I embraced wholeheartedly.  The type of subject matter…

For a while there it looked like the only version of Deadpool we’d ever see on the big screen was the somewhat cringe-inducing one we saw in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Studio execs at Fox were unsure about how to move forward with the character and make it a viable film. But when some test footage…

Taika Waititi‘s New Zealand-set and produced Hunt for the Wilderpeople releases this week and we were lucky to be in attendance at the film’s Sydney premiere. Alongside getting to see the film itself (look for our review later in the week), we were also treated to a short Q&A with director Taika Waititi and cast members Julian…

Hi Folks, We see a few changes this week with regards to #1. X-Men: Apocalypse sits at the top spot with $6.4 million – a pretty good turnout but not the same figures as Captain America: Civil War or even Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice on their openings. In second place we have The Angry Birds Movie, the comedy-adventure based on the video game. The…

The first teaser to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has landed.  Disney has opted with something in much the same vein as The Jungle Book and Maleficent when it comes to retelling this classic as a live-action feature. Watch it below: In this very small teaser – breathtaking yet understated – we can make out a few things. Emma Watson is…

It has been confirmed True Detective‘s Cary Fukanaga will direct and Steven Spielberg will co- produce Stanley Kubrick’s long term project Napoleon as a miniseries for HBO. We can also get excited that this project will have Kubrick’s long time producer Jan Harlan along for the ride. If you’re not aware, this is something  Kubrick spent a great deal of…

After the longest deliberating process in the history of the festival, the Cannes Jury announced that British filmmaker Ken Loach won the Palme d’Or for I, Daniel Blake. This is now Loach’s second d’Or, though some have suggested it will be his last film. I, Daniel Blake is a social drama about a man’s struggles in the bureaucracy of the healthcare system. After collecting the award Loach thanked…

After a strong fourth episode, “Blood in the Streets”, Fear the Walking Dead made the smart move of getting us off the open water in order to make a big push for season 2, bringing us to Strand’s promised compound in Mexico to deal with the intricacies of death and, surprisingly, split the group into…

“God has forgotten me. He can’t find me here.” – Vanessa Ives Like season two’s memorable “The Nightcomers”, this week Penny Dreadful hones in on a pair of characters portrayed by two remarkable actors in “A Blade of Grass.” With the support of Dr. Seward (Patti LuPone), Vanessa (Eva Green) recalls the events that took place while…

Among all of the hearsay regarding season three of FX drama Fargo, we finally have some concrete news. Ewan McGregor will star and play two characters:  brothers Emmit and Ray Stussy Emmit Stussy is the Parking Lot King of Minnesota. A handsome, self-made, real estate mogul and family man, he sees himself as an American success story….

This year’s upcoming VIVID is set to be Sydney’s biggest yet. For VIVID Ideas, in particular, it’s hard not to call this year’s lineup their most ambitious effort with over planned 180 events and over 400 unique speakers including the House of Cards writer Beau Willimon and Orange is the New Black showrunner Jenji Kohan.  We caught up with the curator of…

Mad Tiger is such a strange and brilliant film it’s hard to know where to begin. Donning Power Rangers-inspired costumes and describing themselves as a “Japanese Action Comic Punk band”, Peelander-Z are a band you’ve probably never heard but aren’t unlikely to forget once you encounter them. In their own words, their performances are probably…

Just because Benioff & Weiss are somewhat free from George RR Martin’s murderous ways in Game of Thrones’ source material, doesn’t mean the showrunners are any less capable of bringing us to tears. In what will be one of the most talked about scenes of the year when this season is over, a simple phrase…

The Iris here with this week’s picks to make your relationship with the small screen captivating and special. Tuesday  Catalyst, ABC, 8:00pm AEST Biomedical engineer Jordan Nguyen and 13 year old Riley with cerebral palsy work together on a technology that grants Riley superpowers. Lincoln, One, 8:30pm AEST Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day Lewis) struggles to…

Captain America: Civil War star Daniel Bruhl is in talks to join the cast of J.J. Abrams sci-fi thriller The God Particle, directed by Juliuis Onah. Bruhl will join David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, John Krasinski and Elizabeth Debicki who have all been cast to play a team of astronauts. The sci-fi thriller will be set…

Written and Directed by Lorene Scafaria, The Meddler is tender in its approach to comedy-drama; light on the former and heavy on the latter as it follows the highly likeable and sympathetic Marnie Minervini, who is portrayed with considerable depth by the supremely talented Susan Sarandon. The simple, soft touch with which Scafaria handles the…