Film & TV

Film Review: Trainwreck (USA, 2015)

Amy (Amy Schumer) is a writer for a men’s magazine, along with her friend Nikki (Vanessa Bayer). One morning, they sit in adjacent cubicles of their office bathroom, comparing Johnny Depp(s) from different films based on their fuckability. They aim for the funniest answers, such as: Edward Scissorhands (1990) because you’d always have a great…

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Box Office Report: Fantastic Four is no match for Amy & co.

After a couple of weeks of chopping and changing, Traninwreck has settled in at top spot. Earning $3.1 million this past week Amy Schumer and Paul Fieg have overcome superheroes and Tom Cruises as it rolls toward comedy of the year status. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation has dropped to second spot after a short spell at…

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What To Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (12th August-18th August)

Need to catch a TV break and don’t know what to watch? Simon takes us through his top picks on must-see shows and films for the week. Click through to see what’s showing for your entertainment needs. Wednesday 12th August 2015 The Last Leg-ABC-9.30pm AEST First airing as a companion show to the 2012 Paralympics,…

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TV Review: True Detective Season 2 (USA, 2015)

The second season of True Detective was always going to be a hard-sell. The first season of Nic Pizzolatto‘s crime anthology series combined exceptional writing, acting, direction and cinematography to great success. As a result, the pulpy and philosophical series became an instant classic amongst critics and audiences. However, this left the inevitable follow-up burdened…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: Colin Hay: Waiting For My Life To Begin (USA, 2015)

Who can it be now? The documentary, Colin Hay: Waiting For My Life To Begin is about the affable Men At Work front man-turned-solo troubadour who is now known for his appearances on the TV show, Scrubs. The film is a fascinating and honest one that is a little in-cohesive at times but still manages to…

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Disney to go ahead with Lion King TV revival Lion Guard

Lion Guard: Return of the Roar  may not be a title which inspires much confidence in Disney’s Lion King television revival project, but at least we’ll be getting some of the original voice-cast reprising their roles. Firstly, James Earl Jones will be returning to as Mufasa, alongside Ernie Sabella who will once again voice that…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: The Diary of a Teenage Girl (USA, 2015)

We open in San Francisco in 1976. Minnie Goetz (Bel Powley) has just had sex for the first time. With Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård), her mother’s (Kistin Wiig) boyfriend. Based on Goets’ graphic novel memoir of the same name, The Diary of a Teenage Girl charts a dark and disturbing journey of a young woman, going…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: Mississippi Grind (USA, 2015)

Mississippi Grind commences with a fixed camera shot of a pastoral landscape, a glorious rainbow stretches across the horizon in the background. Yet, when Ben Mendelsohn’s Gerry remarks on the spectacle with wonder around a local casino poker table later that evening, he is seemingly the only player to have witnessed it. At least, he…

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Sydney Underground Film Festival reveals program for 2015 with films by Eli Roth and Gasper Noe

Sydney’s leading festival for cult and underground films, the Sydney Underground Film Festival (SUFF), will once again spread over 100 experimental, subversive, and controversial screenings over four days this September. These screenings include various Australian premieres, special retrospective screenings, and Q&A sessions alongside masterclasses and live music. Provocative and notorious Writer-Director Gaspar Noe will be…

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Supanova lands Shaun of the Dead star Nick Frost for Adelaide & Brisbane expos!

The Supanova Pop Culture Expo has added another ‘Supastar’ guest to their growing roster of actors, authors, voice artists and illustrators set to appear at this year’s events in Adelaide and Brisbane – Nick Frost! The British actor best known for his work with Simon Pegg in the classic ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, World’s End)…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: How To Dance In Ohio (USA, 2015)

How To Dance In Ohio is an intimate documentary that allows viewers to see the world through the eyes of a young person on the autistic spectrum. It’s an uplifting film that shows three young women who are coming-of-age and the challenges and triumphs they experience. The story is a gentle, subtle and uplifting one…

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The first teaser for HBO’s Vinyl is here. Prepare for the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.

Vinyl – HBO’s new series from Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire) – is set to take us into the sex and drugs fuelled rock n’ roll lifestyle of the 1970’s. And with the new trailer, it looks like we should get ourselves set for some stylised mayhem that would make Guy Ritchie proud, a…

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Fox officially admits it has no new ideas; announces new Prison Break season for 2016

Hot off the heels of the announcements over the past few months of a new series of X-Files, a 24 reboot (sans Jack Bauer) and a TV version of Minority Report, it seems that Fox – the TV network who over the years have brought us the likes of game changing series like Arrested Development and…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 (Germany, 2015)

B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 is a historically-oriented documentary that takes you through the unique underground music scene of the titular city that emerged during the 80s. Though clumsily-titled, it’s a fascinating portrait of a lost world of almost-surreal parties, rampant counter-culture and uninhibited artistic potential. Structurally, B-Movie follows the gradual immersion of…

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This Week’s DVD Release Picks: Bellas vs Underwoods

The Bellas battle it out with the Underwoods in this week’s DVD releases. Here are our three picks of DVDs and Blu-Rays you can pick up in Australian stores this week: PITCH PERFECT 2 Becca (Anna Kendrick) and the Barden Bellas are back for an international aca-battle in Pitch Perfect 2. Whilst the sequel to…

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The Iris’ Weekly Film and TV Round Up! (7th August 2015)

Before we get started on this week’s film and TV round up, we’d like to pay our respects to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, a great of professional wrestling entertainment, inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, has passed away at the age of 61 on 30 July 2015. Rest in peace, Hot Rod. 

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Most Memorable Movie Bromances

Today, Sony announced 16 films set to be released in the near future, including the sequels Bad Boys 3 and 4. It’s been 20 years since Will Smith and Martin Lawrence graced the big screen as a budding bromance duo fighting crime. With the release of Straight Outta Compton in September we’ve decided to compile some of the…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: A Poem Is A Naked Person (USA, 1974)

A Poem is a Naked Person was completed back in 1974 and has only found wide release in this year. That has to do with legal issues, or creative differences, or some other things, all of which means little to you and what you intend to watch. Suffice it to say that you can very…

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Australian Film Alex & Eve Premiering at 22nd Greek Film Festival

This October, the 22nd Greek Film Festival returns to Melbourne with feel-good Australian story, Alex & Eve. Based on the hit Australian stage play by Alex Lykos of the same name, this big screen sensation will be this year’s Opening Night film at the World Premiere event at the iconic Astor Theatre. Directed by Peter Andrikidis,…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: 7 Chinese Brothers (USA, 2015)

Larry (Jason Schwartzman) is on the road to nowhere in notoriously chillaxed Austin. He’s just lost his job for a string of misdemeanours, and his only friends appear to be his very beloved French Bulldog Arrow (Schwatrzman’s pet in real life), a prescription medication dealer and aged carer, Norwood, and his grandmother (Olimpia Dukakis), a…

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Ice Cube and Son, O’Shea Jackson Jr. Heading to Australia for Release of Straight Outta Compton

Universal Pictures just announced that Ice Cube and O’Shea Jackson Jr. will be heading to Sydney in September in support of one of the hottest films of 2015 – Straight Outta Compton. Joining them is visionary director of the film F. Gary Gray  (Friday, The Italian Job). All three will be attending the Australian Premiere in Sydney on Tuesday 1st September. Straight Outta Compton  follows the true…

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M. Night Shyamalan heading to Australia for new film The Visit

Exciting news for fans of terror and suspense, Universal Pictures has announced Oscar nominated director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable) is coming to Australia to introduce his new thriller The Visit. Starring Australian rising stars, Olivia DeJonge (ABC TVs Hiding) and Ed Oxenbould (Paper Planes, Puberty Blues) lead as brother…

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Win a double pass to the Q&A screening of Kill Me Three Times in Sydney!

As a special Ritz exclusive, the Ritz Cinema will present Sydney’s only Q&A screening of Kill Me Three Times with Director Kriv Stenders and Producer Tania Chambers live on stage to answer all your questions after the film! Hosted by Sydney journalist Caris Bizacca. Directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) and features an all-star cast…

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Watch the Official Trailer for Deadpool

After yesterday’s teaser featuring ‘5 time academy award viewer, Ryan Reynolds’ we’re all hanging out for the actual Deadpool trailer, well here it is… Deadpool has always been the most sarcastic antihero of Marvel’s characters and from this trailer, things haven’t strayed. With lines like “The cancer’s only in my liver, lungs, prostate and brain. All things…

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Win a double pass to the Q&A screening of The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? in Sydney!

Nic Cage as Superman!?! Find out why this film never got made! The Australian Premiere and exclusive Sydney screening and Q&A event of The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? The Death of Superman Lives; What Happened? delves into one of Hollywood’s most enthralling ‘what could have been’ stories. In 1996, Warner Brothers engaged Kevin…

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What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (5th August-11th August)

Need to catch a TV break and don’t know what to watch? Simon takes us through his top picks on must-see shows and films for the week. Click through to see what’s showing for your entertainment needs. Wednesday 5th August 2015 If You Are The One-SBS2-6.30pm AEST If You Are The One is not only…

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Exclusive preview screening announced for Everyman

The latest Carol Ann Duffy stage adaptation Everyman  has announced an official preview screening at Melbourne’s Cinema Nova . Captured live from the London stage, this modern adaptation starring Academy award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor and  directed by Rufus Norris, will be screened from August 8th. The tale of Everyman (Ejiofor) is one of success, popularity and…

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Official trailer released for gripping film Spotlight

The official trailer for  Thomas McCarthy’s highly anticipated film Spotlight has finally been released. Scandals, fabrication and justice drive this star-studded cast featuring Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams into a truly gripping and thrilling film, screening nationally from November 15th. The film focuses on the  relentless efforts of The Boston Globe,  an investigative news team,  in their…

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Watch the teaser trailer for Zoolander 2

Epic, hilarious, beautiful. Tears of joy are streaming around the world today as the teaser trailer for Zoolander 2 is officially released, delivering a enormously profound talkany.exe type robot. Ben Stiller is back as the spiky-haired fabio-like Derek Zoolander for a sequel that has been waited on hands and knees for ever since the first…

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Get the answer to our In The House question for Akira!

At Friday’s In The House screening of the classic anime film Akira, held at Sydney’s Event Cinemas on George Street, we asked the audience the following question: And today we bring you the answer! The reason was quite a simple one: because it was almost entirely set at night.  Typically, night settings are a rare…

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