Film & TV

Film Review: Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition is an entertaining and surprisingly accessible portrait of one of heavy metal’s most enduring bands

Heavy metal has always carried a certain mythology around it, but few bands have embodied that larger-than-life aura quite like Iron Maiden. With their undead mascot Eddie, operatic stage shows, and literary-infused lyrics about war, history and mortality, the British legends have spent five decades building a legacy that stretches far beyond music. Iron Maiden:…

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Interview: Director Simon McQuoid on fan expectations, fatalities, and finding the soul of Mortal Kombat II

As Earthrealm prepares for its most brutal battle yet in Mortal Kombat II, director Simon McQuoid returns with a sequel determined to go bigger, bloodier and far more ambitious than its predecessor. Bringing the long-awaited tournament to the screen, the film introduces Karl Urban’s swaggering Johnny Cage into a sprawling war against Shao Kahn, while…

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Interview: Karl Urban, Jessica McNamee and Josh Lawson on Mortal Kombat II, action icons, complexity and escapist cinema

In Mortal Kombat II, Earthrealm’s champions return for a bloodier, louder and far more chaotic showdown against the forces of Shao Kahn – this time with Karl Urban’s swaggering Johnny Cage entering the arena. Leaning fully into the outrageous spirit of the iconic video game franchise, the sequel embraces brutal fatalities, self-aware humour and the…

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Film Review: Mortal Kombat II; bigger, bloodier sequel embraces the game’s chaotic spectacle

Mortal Kombat II understands exactly what fans wanted more of after the 2021 film: brutal fights, outrageous fatalities, fan-favourite characters, and a stronger sense of the video game’s gleefully excessive identity. While Simon McQuoid’s first film may have been the more technically controlled entry, the sequel is easily the more entertaining one, operating with the…

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Interview: Mark Kassen on his paranoid, political thriller PH-1; “The film is less about what’s revealed and more about what’s being explored.”

Set almost entirely within the confines of a luxury penthouse, PH-1 unfolds over one harrowing night as rising politician Payton Burnham watches his carefully constructed public image disintegrate in real time. Held hostage by an unseen force, he’s trapped not just physically, but within a media ecosystem that thrives on speculation, spin, and viral outrage….

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Interview: Nicholas Braun on The Sheep Detectives and playing the cop no one believes in; “He just wants to matter.”

In The Sheep Detectives (read our review here), a delightfully offbeat mystery led by Hugh Jackman’s well-meaning shepherd George, it’s not just the sheep quietly observing – it’s also the humans scrambling to keep up. Enter Tim Derry, the endearingly outmatched small-town cop played by Nicholas Braun, who might be more afraid of his own…

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Interview: Kevin Interdonato on building tension, capturing emotion within violence, and remembering Patrick Muldoon through Dirty Hands

Dirty Hands is a bruising, tightly contained crime thriller that turns a botched drug deal into something far more emotionally volatile. On paper, the story is simple: the Denton brothers, Danny and Richie, have one night to survive after everything goes wrong. But writer-director-star Kevin Interdonato is less interested in the mechanics of survival than…

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Interview: Mabel Li unpacks The Testaments, the power of psychology, complicity, and the quiet sacrifices of the characters

In a world where devotion is demanded and dissent is deadly, The Testaments ushers in a chilling new chapter of The Handmaid’s Tale – one that shifts its gaze to the next generation raised within Gilead’s suffocating grip. At the centre are Agnes and Daisy, two young women navigating the brutal indoctrination of Aunt Lydia’s…

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Film Review: It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley is an intimate, emotionally layered portrait of an artist beautiful and unresolved

Access can be a dangerous crutch in documentary filmmaking – all the unseen footage and unheard audio in the world won’t save a story that doesn’t know what to do with it. Amy Berg’s It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, however, understands that access is only the starting point. What she builds from it is something…

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Prime Video’s YA obsession: A fandom-first strategy for the next generation

Prime Video is officially launching “Obsession is in Session,” a global initiative positioning the platform as a leading destination for young adult storytelling. But unlike the YA boom of the late 2000s and early 2010s – defined by blockbuster franchises like Twilight, The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner – this new wave is less…

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Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein’s aren’t suitable for work in first trailer for Netflix’s Office Romance

Office Romance is clocking in – and it’s bringing a whole lot more than coffee runs and calendar invites with it. Jennifer Lopez returns to the genre she helped define, but this isn’t the glossy, safe-for-work flirtation audiences might expect. The first trailer for Office Romance pairs Lopez with Brett Goldstein in a workplace relationship…

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Zach Cregger promises a new era of evil with first-look Resident Evil trailer

A new era of evil has arrived – and if this first teaser is anything to go by, Resident Evil is being dragged back into the shadows where it arguably belongs. Directed by Zach Cregger, the filmmaker behind Weapons, this reinvention of the long-running franchise looks less interested in bombastic action and more committed to…

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Film Review: Hokum; Adam Scott elevates ghost story that’s more familiar than frightening

After the breakout success of both Caveat and Oddity, expectations were understandably high for Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy’s next move. With Hokum, he steps into a more expansive, studio-backed arena – bringing with him the same commitment to atmosphere and unease, but struggling to sustain it across a film that ultimately feels more familiar than…

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Film Review: The Devil Wears Prada 2; long awaited sequel proves not only worthy, but surprisingly vital

Two decades after The Devil Wears Prada first carved its place in pop culture, its sequel arrives with both the weight of expectation and the benefit of distance – and against the odds, The Devil Wears Prada 2 proves not only worthy, but surprisingly vital. What could have easily felt like a nostalgic cash-in instead…

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Interview: Callum Turner, Monica Barbaro and director Will Gluck on their high-concept rom-com One Night Only

High-concept romantic comedies often hinge on a single irresistible “what if,” but One Night Only takes that question and quietly builds an entire world around it. In New York City, where the film unfolds, intimacy is governed by an unusual rule: pre-marital sex is permitted just once a year. It’s a premise that could easily…

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Australia’s first ever HayU FanFest announces reality star line-up

If you’ve ever wished your group chat could come to life – with all the chaos, shade, and unforgettable one-liners – Hayu is about to make that happen. For the first time ever in Australia, Hayu FanFest is landing in Sydney on Saturday, 15th August 2026, transforming The Hordern Pavilion into a full-blown reality TV…

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Interview: Warwick Thornton and Deborah Mailman on exploring the possibility of healing in Wolfram

At the Queensland premiere of Wolfram during the Gold Coast Film Festival, the conversation around Warwick Thornton’s latest felt as expansive and layered as the film itself. Set against the colonial frontier of the 1930s, Wolfram follows a fragile outback community upended by the arrival of two violent outsiders, triggering a chain of events that…

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Film Review: Wolfram; a visually arresting addition to Warwick Thornton’s unique body of work

Few filmmakers working in Australia today understand the land the way Warwick Thornton does. With Wolfram, he once again turns the Central Australian desert into something more than a backdrop – it becomes a living, breathing force that shapes every character, every decision, and every moment of survival. Wolfram unfolds as a loose companion to…

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Dakota Johnson can’t get Anne Hathaway out of her head in first-look Verity trailer

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover, Verity marks a sharp pivot from the author’s signature romance into darker, more psychologically charged territory. The first trailer leans into that shift, teasing a story where desire and danger are tightly intertwined. Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway stars as Verity Crawford, a celebrated author whose life…

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Interview: Cassidy Krygger and Matty Wilson on the inspiration behind proof-of-concept romance Love in the Moonlight, feature aspirations, and creative exposure

Love in the Moonlight is a romantic ghost story that drifts between modern-day Australia and the golden glow of 1950s Hollywood, drawing inspiration from classic cinema such as The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. In the newly released 3-minute proof-of-concept, the film introduces Samantha, a driven event manager who inherits a long-abandoned estate – only to…

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Interview: Seven Snipers director Sandra Sciberras on action precision and reshaping the film in real time

Pressure settles in early and never lets up. What begins as a quiet, isolated life on a remote Australian farm quickly tightens into something far more dangerous in the lean, nerve-wracking thriller Seven Snipers. At the centre is Kris “Voodoo Child” Hendricks (Radha Mitchell), a former elite sniper who has spent years trying to outrun…

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Film Review: Seven Snipers; B-grade actioner knows its target

There’s no point pretending Seven Snipers is aiming for prestige – it knows exactly what it is, and to its credit, it rarely misfires because of that. Director Sandra Sciberras leans into the film’s B-grade action-thriller DNA with confidence, delivering something tight, tense, and just self-aware enough to stay engaging without tipping into parody. The…

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Film Review: The Sheep Detectives; a charming, quietly profound whodunit

The Sheep Detectives is exactly that kind of oddball triumph of a film that feels like it shouldn’t work on paper – until it absolutely does: A murder mystery where the sleuths are a flock of sheep, the victim is their beloved shepherd, and the emotional through-line quietly sneaks up on you when you’re least…

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Interview: Cassandra Scerbo and Adrianne Palicki on releasing the emotion underneath the horror of The Wolf and the Lamb

Grief, faith, and folklore collide in The Wolf and the Lamb, a haunting hybrid of western grit and supernatural horror from director Michael Schilf. At its centre is Jo Beckett, a schoolteacher pushed to the brink when her son vanishes, sending her spiralling into a world where belief and paranoia blur. But beneath the film’s…

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Film Review: Apex; well-crafted Netflix thriller leans into performance, place, and momentum

Grief sits at the centre of Apex, but it’s not the kind that asks for quiet reflection. It’s restless, disorienting, and constantly pushing forward – much like the film itself. What begins as a solitary escape into the wilderness gradually tightens into something far more dangerous, until it snaps into a lean, nerve-rattling game of…

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Interview: Author Isabel Allende and The House of the Spirits; how her landmark debut has been reinterpreted for a new generation

Few novels arrive with the sense of destiny that surrounds The House of the Spirits. For Isabel Allende, it began not as a grand literary ambition, but as something far more intimate: a letter written on January 8th to her dying grandfather. More than four decades later, that deeply personal act of remembrance has evolved…

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Interview: Alfonso Herrera and Nicole Wallace on inhabiting the pain and pleasure of The House of the Spirits

Spanning generations, heartbreak, and political upheaval, The House of the Spirits has long stood as one of the great literary portraits of love and legacy under pressure. Now, in its latest screen adaptation, that sweeping saga is reimagined with an intimate focus – anchoring its revolution not just in history, but within the fragile, shifting…

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Series Review: Running Point Season 2 makes a convincing case that it’s here to play for the long game

Season two of Running Point doesn’t just build on its breakout debut – it confidently steps into its own power, sharpening its voice, raising the stakes, and leaning even harder into the messy, addictive dynamics that made the first season such a bingeable delight. At the centre of it all is Kate Hudson’s Isla Gordon,…

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Interview: Writer/director James Litchfield on the unhinged romance of Alphabet Lane

There’s a fine line between connection and performance – and Alphabet Lane walks it with a quietly unnerving confidence. What begins as a joke between two isolated lovers spirals into something far stranger, as invented friends start to feel more real than the relationship they were meant to save. Darkly funny, subtly unsettling, and unexpectedly…

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Film Review: Beast; Daniel MacPherson anchors effective MMA drama

Beast doesn’t pretend to break new ground. It moves along a well-worn path – fall from grace, one last shot, the hope of redemption – but what sets it apart is how seriously it treats that journey. Directed by Tyler Atkins, working off Russell Crowe and David Frigerio‘s script, the film is less interested in…

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