Film & TV

Blu-Ray Review: If I Stay (USA, 2014)

If I Stay shares a few things in common with a Nicholas Sparks’ story. The film is based on a best-selling young adult novel by Gayle Forman and is about the adolescent love between two likeable characters. It’s also a slow-burning yet emotional film about choices and existential quandaries. This is the feature debut for…

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Chris Rock headed for Australia to promote Top Five

With Chris Rock’s super comedy Top Five headed for Australian cinemas, the man himself will be coming to Sydney to showcase the film in March. Information about what exact date he will be visiting Sydney is still to be confirmed but the important thing is that he is locked by Paramount to be the city…

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Archer, If I Stay and more released this week on DVD and Blu-Ray in Australia

In this new section, we’re going to guide you through the new DVD release of each week – giving you a little insight into each film and our verdict. If I Stay – February 11 Starring Chloe Grace Moretz as Mia Hall, If I Stay depicts the story of Mia – a girl who falls…

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Jon Stewart to depart The Daily Show this year, says Comedy Central

Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’, will be stepping down later this year, the president of the network confirmed on Tuesday. Stewart, who became the host of The Daily Show in 1999, has had a huge influence on American politics and satire. It won the outstanding variety series Emmy continuously for…

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TV Review: The Mindy Project Season 3 Episode 15 “Dinner at the Castellanos” (USA, 2015)

It’s very evident at the end of “Dinner at the Castellanos” that The Mindy Project is shifting into unchartered territory.  We started out with a show about a young, professional woman trying to “get her life together”, and here we are, two and a half seasons later, and she’s pregnant, pursuing her professional dreams and…

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Film Review: Kingsman The Secret Service (USA, 2015)

Colin Firth isn’t exactly the type of guy you would imagine as a highly capable master spy, but after watching Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service it’s quite hard to get the image of him in badass mode out of your head. Firth (code name Galahad) portrays a dapper, and quite ridiculous, super spy in…

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Film Review: The Interview (MA15+) (USA, 2014)

At this year’s Golden Globes, hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey took aim at a little movie called The Interview during their anticipated opening monologue. And it sums up the lifespan of the film to date pretty well: “The biggest story in Hollywood this year was when North Korea threatened an attack if Sony Pictures…

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What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (12th – 15th February)

Spending this Valentines Day alone? Why not spend it with your television instead? Here are some of our picks for this week (without any obnoxious Valentines content). Thursday February 12th Danger 5, SBS2, 9pm AEST Danger 5 goes back to World War II in an attempt to stop Hitler from changing the fabric of time….

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Attention Doctor Who fanatics: The 10th Doctor, Amy Pond & River Song are heading down under!

Just incase you weren’t losing your mind over Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) heading to our soil for Oz Comic-Con, we’ve got some more news that will definitely get you amped up for May. That’s right – Matt Smith (The Eleventh Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), and Alex Kingston (River Song) are set to appear at…

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SXSW Film Announces 2015 Midnighter Features

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival have just revealed the lineup for the highly anticipated Midnighters section, as well as the complete short film lineup. The festival is to be held from March 13 – 21 in Austin, Texas. The SXSW Midnighters section is a crowd favourite for those who have an…

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Disney’s Cinderella to have an exclusive season at Sydney’s iconic State Theatre

Disney fans will have the opportunity to experience an advanced screening of the new Cinderella film in style – at the beautiful, iconic State Theatre in Sydney on the 19 – 25th of March, 2015. “This event is an opportunity for audiences to experience movie magic in Sydney’s majestic State Theatre,” said David Seargeant who…

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The Next Big Thing: Take a look at these Aussies who have films screening at SXSW

The SXSW Film Festival kicks off on March 13th, in Austin Texas, and as always, a few Australians are showing off their works. We’ll take you through the Australian screenings which have been announced so far: Happy with Bear, Director: Yianni Warnock. A Singaporean exchange student struggles with her inner turmoil by vicariously living through her…

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Ice Cube and Dr Dre introduce the official trailer for Straight Outta Compton

Dr Dre and Ice Cube are rolling through Compton in the introduction to the official red band trailer for biopic Straight Outta Compton. Reminiscing on the highly influential and controversial hip hop group, they visit the likes of Game and Kendrick Lamar and talk about the impact they made back when they released their classic…

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Finalists announced for the 2015 ASTRA Awards

Nominees representing more than 30 Australian subscription television channels have been shortlisted as finalists in the 2015 ASTRA Awards. An AFL reality program, a documentary series traversing the Australian coastline and a crowd-funded chat show are among the finalists for this year’s awards. Major drama productions Wentworth and Devil’s Playground have each received multiple nominations, between…

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TV Review: Girls Season 4 Episode 4 “Cubbies” (USA, 2015)

Upon reflection, our girls showed a lot of personal growth in “Cubbies”. With Jessa being somewhat of a no-show this week, the spotlight was on Shoshanna, Marnie and Hannah, and the positive and, dare I say it, adult choices that they’ve made. The results of these choices may not be evident just yet, but these…

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Chris Rock talks about assembling a comedy supergroup for Top Five

A behind-the-scenes feature has been released to boost up anticipation for the upcoming Top Five, Chris Rocks’ latest film which has been receiving some excellent reviews from the U.S so far. While Australia is yet to see a cinematic release, we are given more insight into how Rock has assembled such a massive, talented cast…

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Spider-Man is now officially part of the Marvel cinematic universe

Mark the 28th July 2017 in those calenders because that’s when we finally see classic superhero Spider-Man film franchise is re-booted (yet again). There’s a difference here though; due to a new partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios, good ol’ Spidey will be seeing his new film released as part of the Marvel…

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TV Review: Danger 5 Season 2, Episode 3 (Australia, 2015)

The tables have turned and this time it’s Danger 5 who are being chased down by major law enforcement as they are wanted for the alleged kidnapping of Holly, last episode’s ditzy blonde high school student. In the shooting range, the cops are given a pep talk by their ‘Commy’ hating Captain, whilst being fed…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 9 “What Happened and What’s Going On” (USA, 2015)

AMC’s The Walking Dead returned from their traditional mid-season break with a strong episode, refreshing a season that was dangerously edging towards dull territory with an unappealing cop arc. With the slate relatively clean, The show’s writers are now free to re-build their characters and have them open up to each other more, revealing their…

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Film Review: What We Did On Our Holiday (PG) (UK, 2014)

Take one dysfunctional family of a soon-to-be divorced couple with their three oddball children. Another family of a high strung husband with his depressed wife and their aloof teenage son. One elderly apathetic patriarchal grandfather who is dying of cancer. Set it in an elaborate 75th birthday party in the Scottish Highlands. Awkward hilarity and…

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Boyhood wins Best Picture while The Grand Budapest Hotel takes home five BAFTAs. Full list of winners here:

Well, if the BAFTA’s are any indication, the race of Best Picture at the Oscars this year remains wide open, with Boyhood taking home the BAFTA for Best Picture at today’s ceremony in London. The film took home three awards in total, also snagging Best Director (Richard Linklater) and Best Actress (Patricia Arquette). Meanwhile, another…

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Enjoy this debut clip of Sir Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes in Mr Holmes.

We’ve enjoyed a barrage of Sherlock Holmes related material in recent years, from the brilliant BBC series Sherlock to the two Guy Richie films and the US version in Elementary. And now there’s a new film to add to the modern repertoire of the classic detective series. Coming out later this year (the Australian release…

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Win a double pass to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Sydney!

Some of cinemas most celebrated films are set to return to the big screen at Event Cinemas George St, with the launch of the In The House Program! Hosted by Channel 7’s Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis, and Quinny from Supanova Pop Culture Expo, the festival will feature a line up that includes Taxi Driver, Little Shop…

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What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (9th – 11th February 2015)

Kimberley presents her weekly dose of the best Australian free-to-air TV to watch this week… Monday – 9th February 2015 Pitch Perfect, Ch. 7, 9:00pm AEST This audience-pleasing musical comedy promises to brighten up your Monday evening and get your week off to a great start. The talented Anna Kendrick and always-hilarious Rebel Wilson star…

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Box Office Report: American Sniper scopes out the top spot

The week ending 4th February has seen the controversial American Sniper steamroll the competition, shooting to number 1 on the Australian Box Office with almost $4.5 million, stretching well far ahead of number 2, which is the impressive The Theory of Everything which still did well with almost $2 million. Benedict Cumberbatch’s strong acting in…

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Get your first look at Meryl Streep: The Rock Star.

We named it as one of our most anticipated films of the year, and now we’re getting our first look at the Oscar winning actress who’s fronting the project. Above is the first still released from the film Ricki and the Flash, which continues actress Meryl Streep’s run in a series of music based projects,…

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Film Review: Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (Australia, 2014)

Aussie siblings Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner put themselves forward as highly competent creatives with outback horror film Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, delivering a no-bullshit, slightly satirical, zombie film that is speedily climbing it’s genre, standing upon the pile of dead or decaying carbon-copies while heralding something unique and supremely entertaining. Kiah directed and Tristan…

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TV Review: The Mindy Project Season 3, Episode 14 “No More Mr. Noishe Guy”

Upon reflection, “No More Mr. Noishe Guy” was actually a massive game-changer. Not only did we lose perhaps the best supporting character, but something happened at the end to switch everything up and change the course of the show in a way that I really didn’t think would happen until the end of this season….

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New Australian comedy Maximum Choppage to premiere on ABC2, February 24

If you’ve been missing your quintessential Australian comedy from your life, fear no more – there’s a new Australian comedy about to hit your screens on February 24 via ABC2 – Maximum Choppage. Fans of the classic Aussie series, The Moodys will eat this up – it stars not one, but two cast members of…

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SXSW Announce Feature Film Lineup for 2015 Festival

South By Southwest (SXSW) have finally announced their film lineup for 2015 – something that all cinephiles have been awaiting anxiously. The festival – which is held in Austin, Texas from March 13 – 21 – is to show 145 features from emerging directors, master filmmakers, and unknown auteurs of our present day. “SXSW is…

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