Film & TV

For better or worse Liam Neeson has essentially become the Charles Bronson of the 21st century. No longer the brooding performer from fare like Schindler’s List, Neeson’s action quota is generally either the Taken films or features courtesy of Jaume Collet-Sera. It’s safe to say the Taken films have dwindled in quality over their run, but his…

It’s not about her. At least, that’s the mantra that Hannah’s repeating to anyone and everyone about the recent revelation that her father has come out as a proud gay man. Tad (guest star Peter Scolari) is spending time in New York to see Hannah, and also to learn from his new Obi-Wan: Elijah. Elijah takes Tad out…

Earlier today at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the new USA Network series Mr. Robot premiered its pilot episode to a packed out Vimeo Theatre crowd. The series, a psychological thriller which closely follows the life of a computer hacker as he gets in deep in a world of corporate espionage, was followed by a Q&A…

Finally, after months of preparation, the ultimate winners of South by Southwest were finally announced this week. The Jury and Special Award-winners of the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony at the historic Paramount Theatre. The awards were hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Vanessa Bayer, who…

“I wrote pages and pages of notes,” Rollins laughs, “the director told me to chuck it all out.” We’re on the red carpet, and Henry Rollins is deep into explaining how he prepared for the role of Jack, a cannibalistic immortal that’s the antihero of Jason Krawczyk’s new film, He Never Died. “I read the…

The Iris’ Larry Heath caught up with Irish actress Saoirse Ronan on the SXSW Red Carpet at the North American premiere of her new film Lost River, directed by Ryan Gosling. Saoirse discusses how she became involved with the film, as well as the unique filming experience that Gosling created on the set, and what…

When the Nine Network and Fairfax Media announced they were developing online streaming service Stan, it seemed like only a matter of time before they started producing original Australian content. Unsurprisingly, this announcement has been made sooner rather than later, though their first project may come as something of a surprise itself. Yes, Wolf Creek…

The Iris’ Larry Heath recently had the chance to chat with actor Iain De Caestecker on the Red Carpet at the North American premiere of his new film Lost River, directed by Ryan Gosling. De Caestecker shares his thoughts on the SXSW Festival experience as a whole, before discussing some of the intricacies that went…

Underneath what we see in our daily browsing – our emails, Facebook, people’s banal commentary on Twitter – is something called the dark web. It’s like looking under the hood of a car – a mind bogglingly immense and completely unseen part of the Internet that is mostly made up of lines of HTML code….

SXSW Film has kicked off with a bang with the “Witches Playground” event, celebrating the upcoming release of the second season of WGN America’s flagship show Salem. The party, held in the notoriously haunted Speakeasy on the Avenue venue in Austin on Friday the 13th, served as the opening event for the festival. The 1,300…

The day after the premiere screening of the Silk Road documentary Deep Web, director Alex Winter, Lyn Ulbricht, consulting producer Andy Greenberg and producer Marc Schiller answered questions about the trial of Ross Ulbricht, the longtime legal implications of the ruling, and the notions of online anonymity. Below are five key points that were discussed….

The Iris’ Larry Heath caught up with Will Ferrell, star of the new film Get Hard, at the film’s premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas. It was the actor’s first time at SXSW, “it’s wild to see it unfold,” he said. He spoke about the film, whether he’d be ready for jail after being a part…

They say the eyes are like a window to the soul. And the story of Big Eyes and specifically artist, Margaret Keane would show one sad and sinister tale. The latest film by director, Tim Burton (a Keane fan) throws his familiar clutch and styles away to instead present a biopic that is rich, honest…

The two main characters in The Foxy Merkins are not foxy ladies in the Jimi Hendrix sense. Smart? Yes. Sassy? Sure. But smouldering, not so much. The film is in fact, a fictional comedy based on the misadventures of two homeless, lesbian hookers. The film was directed by Madeleine Olnek who doubles as a writer…

This morning at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, a packed out Paramount Theatre enjoyed the World Premiere of the new music documentary Mavis!, telling the story of the legendary Mavis Staples. Making her feature length documentary debut with the film was Director Jessica Edwards, who joined Mavis and other members of the crew…

The Iris’ Larry Heath caught up with Ryan Gosling on the red carpet at the North American Premiere of his Directorial Debut Lost River last night. We asked Ryan about assembling a team of familiar faces for the project; people he’s worked with before – from Australia’s own Ben Mendelsohn to composer Johnny Jewel –…

Ahead of its US release on June 5th, the new action-comedy Spy had a special unofficial world premiere at SXSW tonight, with actors Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale joining writer/director Paul Feig to show off the film to the Austin, Texas crowd. The room was filled with laughter from start to…

Well that was..intense. After a few relatively calm episodes of slow bubbling tension and co-existence it’s beginning to look like Rick’s group and those inept, naive fools of Alexandria are speeding towards a collision, fueled by shockingly horrific deaths on both sides and a really frustrating betrayal from cowardly Father Gabriel. As I wrote in…

The Iris’ Larry Heath briefly caught up with Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn while on the Red Carpet at the North American premiere of his new film Lost River, directed by Ryan Gosling. Ben talks about getting to know Ryan on The Place Beyond The Pines, leading to him being a part of this project, the experiences of…

Earlier tonight, the upcoming Action-Comedy Spy, reuniting Melissa McCarthy and Australia’s Rose Byrne with Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, premiered at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. We were lucky enough to be on the red carpet at the screening, and briefly caught up with star Melissa McCarthy to talk about being an action star in…

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Bob and Linda have a life, one that doesn’t always revolve around their kids or the burger shop. Like all busy parents they need some ‘us time’ and “Adventures in Chinchilla-sitting” explores their kooky, cute relationship whilst setting the stage for the kind of shenanigans that children get to…

“I’m the luckiest human being in the world,” says Eugene ‘Gene’ Cernan. In December 1972, he was the commander of the Apollo 17 mission, the final moon landing. Leaving behind his footprints and his daughter’s initials in the dust, Cernan returned to Earth. From this simple and yet extraordinary premise, director Mark Craig weaves together Cernan’s story, from his…

Boxeadora, a short 16-minute documentary by American filmmaker Meg Smaker, starts with a brief foreword, “Since Castro’s revolution, Cuba has won more Olympic Gold Medals in boxing than any other country in the world”. Pretty mean feat for a small country, considering most of their opponents would be from nations with a lot more financial backing in sports….

John Hughes’ iconic coming-of-age film The Breakfast Club celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and to celebrate the release of a completely restored version of the movie, Universal and SXSW Film hosted the World Premiere and a special Q&A session with two of the movie’s stars, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. The Paramount Theatre was crammed early with fans of the…

Following its midnight screening at the Stateside Theatre, the AU sat down with actor and producer Jeremy Sisto to talk about Hangman, Sisto’s new film that sees him working as both lead actor and producer. Directed by Adam Mason, the horror flick sees a normal family return from vacation to find their house has been broken into….

Andrew Droz Palermo is no stranger to Austin, bringing and being a part of films premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in the past. This year however, he makes his narrative feature directorial debut with One & Two, a film revolving around a family unit isolated and mysterious, and the children of which who demonstrate special gifts….

How do you look at someone that’s committed a reprehensible act? Can they be forgiven, are they the devil and what do you do if they’ve achieved great success prior to this event? These are the sorts of questions that are raised in the documentary short, unmappable, which is about Denis Wood. The film is…

Ned Rifle is the final instalment in an American, satirical trilogy by writer and director, Hal Hartley. It fails to stand up as its own separate film and it is difficult for newcomers to follow (as Hartley gives little away and it has been so long between the release of this and the earlier instalments,…

For the love of food. For Grace is a documentary that follows world-acclaimed chef, Curtis Duffy as he embarks on a journey to open his dream restaurant called Grace. The film is an insightful look at the highs, lows and the meticulous and determined attention-to-detail that is required in opening a fine dining establishment. It…

Two young women from two continents live apart for a quarter of a century. Twinsters is the story of these two identical twin sisters who were separated at birth, adopted by different families and their subsequent reunion. This documentary is heart-warming, emotional and unique. In February 2013 LA-based actress, Sam Futerman received an odd Facebook…