Film & TV

The first teaser trailer for the next James Bond film, SPECTRE has just been released – and it’s a doozy. The film appears to pick up soon after the disintergration of Skyfall, depicting ruins of the bombed out headquarters still smouldering. Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) also has a surprise for Bond (Daniel Craig) – a piece…

A crude comedy starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, fraught with cliche stereotypes and offensive humour. This is going to be the description a lot of people who watch Get Hard will jump to, but – assuming they are offended by one of the many exaggerated stereotypes in the film – they will probably throw…

Annual Ideas festival, TEDxSydney has unveiled its 2015 Film program, giving Australians access to a wide variety of bold, thought-provoking and inspirational film debuts. You saw it here first! One of the most celebrated TEDx events in the world, TEDxSydney will take place on Thursday, 21 May 2015 at the Sydney Opera House in front…

To celebrate the official launch of Netflix in Australia we were lucky enough to pop along to the red carpet event at the Museum of Contemporary Art the other night. Attending the event was a stack of celebrities, most of whom all feature on programs we’ll get to see on the streaming service provider. We…

Will we or won’t we? The Mindy Project’s fourth season has yet to be given the go ahead by US network Fox, but here’s hoping that we’ll see Mindy again – if for no other reason than I want to finally meet Mindy’s parents! I find it a little hard to believe that Danny’s never met Mindy’s…

There have been rumblings for months about The X-Files and whether the cult hit 90’s TV series would be making a comeback. Well, Fox (the network, not the character) has made it official. On their website Fox made a bold statement “The next mind-bending chapter is coming!” and stated that six episodes have been confirmed…

Loved TV series Entourage has always been a hot spot for celebrity cameos, and it’s looking like the film won’t be any different. With everyone from Kid Cudi and T.I to Liam Neeson and Kelsey Grammar set to appear in the film, Entourage is beginning to look like a whole heap of fun. Main cast…

After just finishing up after seven seasons on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, Aubrey Plaza certainly hasn’t slowed down. Not only does she star in another SXSW film, Fresno, she also stars as Susan in writer/director Hal Hartley‘s film Ned Rifle. The AU Review spoke to the film’s star and writer/director about religion, Kickstarter, and all…

Having worked on housing estates in London for over a decade, Rebecca Johnson is no stranger to the world portrayed in her feature film, Honeytrap. Starring Skins actress Jessica Sula as Layla, a young girl who has recently arrived in London from Trinidad, Honeytrap examines one young woman’s determination to maintain her new-found power in…

“Family is what you make of it”. This sentiment, by Twinsters co-director Ryan Miyamoto, is somewhat of a mantra for reunited twins Anias Bordier and Samantha Futerman. The two women were both born in South Korea and adopted to two different families on two different continents. They found each other over social media, and have…

  For nearly 40 years, Tower Records stood as the largest and most successful record store chain in the world, regularly raking in the millions of dollars in profit per year. In 1999, they managed to pull in a staggering $1 billion dollars. Five years later, they went suddenly bankrupt. It was an astonishing rise…

“No one else had done it, so I figured…well I’ll do it!” Colin Hanks laughs, then adds: “he said naively.” Standing on the red carpet moments before the premiere of his documentary on fallen powerhouse record chain Tower records, All Things Must Pass, Hanks is characteristically calm, dressed down in a bright red checked shirt…

Last year’s Divergent introduced us to Beatrice (later known as Tris) Prior (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) in a post-“war” Chicago split into factions which are organised around the different character traits of its citizens. You can read our Divergent review here. Still hot on the heels of the YA post-apocalyptic phenomena, Insurgent hits our screens as the much-anticipated part…

Doug Sahm lived and breathed Texas music. But he was also largely unknown outside of that particular American state. Until now. The documentary film, Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove looks at the chameleon musician and gets at the heart of all of his layers of complexity. Sahm was a charismatic bloke who…

UnReal is a TV series that will appeal to fans of Frontline or Ben Elton’s Chart Throb or Dead Famous books. The series looks at the chaotic world of filming a fictional reality dating program. It’s an insightful and honest account of the depths of manipulation that are employed by a reality show’s production staff…

Love Has No Age should be renamed “Love Has No Boundaries”. The documentary short is a blissful romance story spanning over four decades. It’s also a beautifully-shot film and a warm slice of pure joy. The film is directed by Eli Born who has previously directed music videos for the likes of: Jack White, Iggy…

A film about The Dull Men’s Club doesn’t scream “entertaining” but Born to Be Mild is the exact opposite of everything you think it is. The documentary short revels in celebrating the ordinary and mundane. And it’s packaged in such a warm and optimistic style and along with an upbeat soundtrack, this means it is…

17th Century France brings to mind a number of words, opulence, beauty, indulgence, but it was also when the Palace of Versailles and its gardens blossomed under the reign of Louix XIV and the design and construction of André Le Nôtre. But in this film with some slight tweaks on the truth, we meet Sabine…

Following the success of their iview comedy binge, which racked up over 2.6 million views across the summer period, the ABC is proud to announce Binge on the Best Australian Drama, set to kick off on April 1st. Throughout the month, you can look forward to watching some of the best Aussie drama the ABC has to offer….

The 2015 Spanish Film Festival has launched its full program, and its becoming clear that you’re a film aficionado of the Mediterranean kind you’ll be in for a real treat. Taking place exclusively at Palace Cinemas across Australia, the festival will feature 38 feature films and runs from April 21 until May 20. Highlights include special guest Elena…

Following the teaser which came out earlier this week, Paramount Pictures have released the first full-length trailer for Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation, and boy does it look like a doozy. Continuing the exploits of super spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), the film sees “Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate, an International rogue organisation,…

In my review for the first Girls episode of this season, I said that if the rest of the season was as good as that episode and back in the realm of season one form, that I would eat my words and stop hating on Lena Dunham’s show. Here we are, nine episodes later, and here I…

With Netflix finally launching in Australia and New Zealand today, all eyes are on the online entertainment service and it’s promising potential to shake up what we know of Australian subscription television/streaming. Already the service has attracted praise for their very reasonable price point and humongous collection of new and classic films, series, documentaries, and…

This week we’re seeing the appearances of several films that opened this week, pushing old favourites like The Theory Of Everything and American Sniper officially out of the top ten. Topping the charts was the latest instalment of The Divergent Series, Insurgent, grossing $4.1 million. This dystopic action film is sure to please any thrill…

Late in the film, iconic fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent is rumoured to have died. A few opportunistic journalists decide to get a head­start on the obituary. They discuss their angle: take it easy on the drugs, alcohol. They agree he was a visionary, that he transformed fashion. They say they ‘liked’ him. Maybe they mean ‘admired’, since…

First-time director Yann Demange’s historical drama ‘71, about a British soldier abandoned behind enemy lines in sectarian Belfast at the start of the Troubles, received nine nominations at the British Independent Film Awards. Unlike James Sheridan’s In The Name Of The Father and Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley, ‘71 doesn’t focus on whole families being torn…

As many fans expected, the reason for these episode titles lately is beginning to make a bit more sense. All these one-word titles seem to be in reference to a speech the ill-fated and loveable Dale gave in season 2; a moment in time when a confrontation between the relatively soft Rick and the relatively…

Full disclosure: Kurt Cobain has long been one of my music idols, and as a result, anything which grants any insight into his life is only going to receive the utmost of praise from me. I expected that Brett Morgen’s long in the works Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck would be no exception to this rule, but I…

“No one ever knows what we do.” Ever wonder where those captions on your TV come from? Do you know what a court reporter is? Both utilise the invisible art of stenography – “the act or process of writing in shorthand by hand or machine” – a tradition that dates back to the time of Cicero, who developed…

Sex, Love & Therapy (Tu veux… ou tu veux pas?) contains about as much insight and laughs regarding love as a garden hose and a bread basket. This French rom-com is a superficial tale about a sex-obsessed man and woman who have to work together. It’s a complicated romantic situation but the script is simple…