Film & TV

It’s been promoted for months, anticipated for years, and now the day has arrived… The X-Files is back! Well… if you live in America that is. And it seems that Australian fans of the popular series are understandably perplexed as to why Channel Ten are making them wait almost a week before screening the first…

It happens far too often. Someone decides that a franchise that was mediocre in the first place, needs to continue despite losing its lead and competent director. I’m not saying that Transporter: Refueled is a work of incompetence, it is certainly polished enough to stand among it’s predecessors, but it lacks virtually any of the redeeming…

Sometimes a film comes along that challenges your thinking and opinions and leaves you with an emotional suckerpunch. Spotlight is one of those films where the sum of all of its parts results in a perfect film, a balance between emotional drama, gripping suspense, challenging subject matter and all based on a true story. There…

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, the MMORPG, kicks off the new year with details on the next upcoming DLC pack called the “Thieves Guild”. Bethesda announced that the DLC will allow players to join the iconic Thieves Guild – an organization of pickpockets, burglars and robbers, and thieves. The Thieves Guild DLC story line…

Over the weekend HBO unveiled three new promotional videos for the upcoming sixth season of Game of Thrones slated to air on HBO on Sunday, April 24. The three promos were part of a social media campaign played out by HBO’s Game of Thrones twitter page. Fans were encouraged to pledge their allegiances to one…

Big news for fans of the long-running BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who today with the announcement that showrunner Steven Moffat will be stepping down to make way for Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall. The story broke early this morning through RadioTimes, and was later confirmed by both the official Twitter account for the show and the…

Though relatively unknown in Australia, Key and Peele have one of the biggest comedy series in the US on Comedy Central and have become some of the country’s most popular comics. Aside from their series, both actors – Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele – have appeared in TV series and films separately and in rare instances…

In what is increasingly becoming one of the best viral campaigns for a film in recent memory, the upcoming non-MCU Marvel film Deadpool – starring Ryan Reynolds as the iconic comic book character – has released a special message just for Australian fans. In commemoration of Australia Day 2016, let’s watch how Deadpool tries to connect…

Hollywood hasn’t had the greatest track record when it comes to translating video games into films. There’s been but a handful that have been worth watching, the Resident Evil series, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and cult classic Mortal Kombat all rank amongst the good ones. With Hitman: Agent 47 this is actually a reboot and…

It has been confirmed that Academy Award winning filmmaker, George Miller and respected film critic, David Stratton will be Patrons of this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival 27th edition. With his groundbreaking Mad Max franchise, Miller has been well-respected by French cinema and was honoured with France’s prestigious ‘Order of Arts and Letters’ (Ordre des Arts…

It’s a sad time for fans of the Star Wars franchise as Disney have announced that there will be a 7-month delay until Episode VIII‘s release date. It’s been reported that the next film instalment won’t hit US cinemas until 15 December 2017.  Although this will be seen as bad news for most, with its original US release being May…

It’s about time female superheroes got their spotlight! As of yesterday, DC films have released a sneaky preview of female superhero Wonder Woman’s first ever big screen solo adventure. It has taken 75 years for this engaging character to get her spotlight in film and she’s been described by director, Patty Jenkins  as “good,  kind…

Streaming giant Netflix has unleashed a barrage of details on what to expect from it in 2016, outlining some of the new and returning series the service will make available over the next nine months. February will see the release of Judd Apatow’s contemporary romantic comedy LOVE on the 19th and the rebooted sitcom Fuller House on the…

Vanishing before our eyes in a far more detailed manner than what he achieved with his Oscar-winning role of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne’s transformation into The Danish Girl is nothing short of outstanding. A multi-faceted performance that never crosses into parody, Tom Hooper’s subtle drama allows the actor both a…

The Ritz Cinema in Randwick – who recently received a surprise visit from Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L Jackson – is hosting the Australian premiere of the anticipated film Noma: My Perfect Storm next month (Monday 8th February), featuring a special Q&A with world renowned chef René Redzepi – the subject of the film. And we…

US comedian Kevin Hart is undeniably on top of the world right now and it looks like he has no sign of slowing down. The trailer for the film of mammoth, sell out show What Now? has dropped and this thing his huge. The show they’ve filmed was the first comedy show ever to sell out a…

Following on from three highly praised telemovies, Jack Irish is set to return in an expanded six-part series on February 11th that will lead the charge on ABC TV’s season of Aussie drama. The all-star cast is led by Emmy Award-winner Guy Pearce and includes Jack Irish regulars Marta Dusseldorp, Aaron Pedersen, Roy Billing, Shane Jacobson…

While Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ time in the sun isn’t exactly over, it has been relegated to second spot this week as awards season pushes The Revenant over the line. Earning a cool AU$3.6 million in its second week here, The Revenant was able to take advantage of Star Wars’ earlier opening as the…

Fans of 2014’s Bad Neighbours will be excited to see the trailer for the sequel to the newlyweds-versus-fraternities comedy released earlier today. Titled Bad Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising, it seems like a fun, if obvious, escalation of the first film with returning cast members Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne and Dave Franco teaming up…

The newest trailer for David Ayer’s Suicide Squad debuted earlier today and it breaks away from the more self-serious tone of the first teaser towards something more comedic. Set to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the trailer runs through the film’s cast of ‘worst-heroes-ever’ including Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis. Robbie’s…

The cult classic action RPG Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen has finally launched on PC after a long 4 year wait. Japanese publisher and developer Capcom, the company behind the critically-acclaimed game only released the game and expansion for console back in 2012 and 2013. PC users can now dive into the game with the addition…

The winner for the 25th Annual Flickerfest International and Australian awards were announced on Sunday Night at the Bondi Pavillon, Bondi Beach. Taking out the Flickerfest Award for Best International Short Film was Toby Fell-Holden’s Balcony (UK). French short-animation, He Who Has Two Souls / Celui Qui Deux Åmes won the Yoram Gross Award for Best International…

Palace Cinemas will be holding two exclusive special event screenings of their new film, Looking For Grace on Monday January 25, and its star Richard Roxburgh and its director Sue Brooks will be in attendance. The pair will introduce a screening at Palace Norton Street in Leichhardt at 7:15pm and following a screening of the…

Bravely Second: End Layer, sequel to the epic JRPG Bravely Default will arrive on the 3DS in Australia on February 27. The sequel will offer both newcomers and returning fans a vast role-playing adventure, filled with deep strategic combat, unforgettable characters and much more. The story begins when evil Kaiser Oblivion abducts Agnès Oblige, the…

Sunday night in California, the winners of the 21st Annual Critics’ Choice Awards were announced – as voted by the BFCA (Broadcast Film Critics Association), a group made up of approximately 250 television, radio and online critics. Like the Golden Globes, which is voted by the relatively smaller Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the event recognises the…

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…

Doctor Who and Torchwood fans are in for a treat this April, with this latest bit of Supanova news dropping! For the pop culture expo’s Melbourne and Gold Coast events coming up, cast members from both hit TV shows will be attending, giving fans the opportunity to connect with some favourites, past and present. Eve…

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,…

In the third and final part of our interview series, The Iris’ Larry Heath sits down with Kurt Russell and Samuel L Jackson to talk about what makes Quentin Tarantino a great filmmaker – both from the perspective as actors and film goers. We also find out where they think The Hateful Eight will rank among…

One of the most anticipated events of this year’s Sydney Festival was the special screening of the film Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), with a live, mostly improvised score from Mexico’s Antonio Sanchez – the acclaimed jazz drummer who delivered us the original and unique soundtrack from the Oscar winning movie. So what…