Film & TV

Imagine The Inbetweeners if they were an aspiring jangly rock quintet living in Manchester in 1990. The result would be Spike Island.The film tells the story of a gang of lads who just want to get off with girls, be in a band and meet their idols, The Stone Roses at the latter band’s Spike…

Two films down and one to go. And this week we finally got a good taste of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the third in a trilogy of films adapting the J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece The Hobbit, in the form of a brand new, epic trailer that has already received some 8 million views…

Stephen Lance continues showing love for the unexpected in his first foray into a full length feature, My Mistress, dabbing an angsty coming-of-age story with just enough difference to keep things interesting, drawing upon his own teenage experiences to make for a semi-autobiographical exploration of pain, distraction, and healing in a young kid. In this…

Ahead of the Screen Music Awards, which take place in Sydney this Wednesday, we caught up with film and theatre composer Christopher de Groot to discuss his nomination for his work on the low budget film Sororal. You worked with director Sam Barrett on a film noir project in the past (Esoterica). How did your approach…

By Kimberley Veart This week’s Bones episode was truly fantastic, cleverly managing the topic of human trafficking with compassion and sensitivity, and also exploring the relationships of the characters we have grown to love, all while solving a murder of course. Rather unconventionally, the episode opens with a scene between Dr. Cam Saroyan and intern…

By Kimberley Veart Monday Goodfellas, Gem, 8:30pm AEST “As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a gangster.” This critically acclaimed film follows the true story of gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), and his associates Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy Devito (Joe Pesci) as they climb up the Mob…

Star Wars fans responded with a mix of happiness and disappointment when it was announced on Twitter this week that the anticipated Star Wars franchise’s Seventh episode would called The Force Awakens. Disney simultaneously announced that the film’s principal photography has been completed. Naturally, this is a film with a lot of post production and its release…

Next Monday 10th of November on ABC, 9:35pm (AEDT), Tony Jones, will be joined with a panel of strong-minded people across all disciplines of politics, science and public affairs: Baroness Susan Greenfield who is a British neuroscientist that believes technology is altering our brains; Environmental Minister, Greg Hunt, who is overseeing the rollout of Direct…

Those loveable folk at Disney have announced the return of their immensely popular Toy Story series with a fourth installment, planned to be released on June 16th 2017. The news has understandably sent waves of giddish joy throughout the world today. In addition, John Lasseter, who helmed the first two Toy Story films, will return…

By Amy Nancarrow Mindy’s back after a two week hiatus and, surprise, surprise, Danny and Mindy are having relationship troubles again. This time, Danny is angry that Mindy is late to everything: to work, to dates, to the Italian stand-up comedy night that Danny likes – and Mindy can’t understand why it’s such a big…

Comedian and musician Reggie Watts is a pretty big Doctor Who fan. He even sung a song with Amanda Palmer about the show. So when he was in Australia recently for Just For Laughs, and so as pretty big Doctor Who fans ourselves, we’re thought we’d find out what he thought about the latest Doctor,…

It’s easy to write about a film that was a bit more average than you’d expected; it’s much, much more difficult writing about a film like this, without making it sound like you are just gushing through a stream of superlatives between cast names and plot points. What Christopher Nolan has done with Interstellar is…

Thursday: Gus Worland: Marathon Man, A&E (Ch. 122), 7:30 pm AEST Exclusive to Foxtel, this new documentary series follows the journey of Australian radio presenter and avid couch potato, Gus Worland as he attempts to transform himself into a lean, mean marathon man in time for the New York marathon. The Happenings, Ch. 7, 9:45…

By Erica Enriquez Based on the novel by Cecelia Ahern (who also wrote P.S I Love You), Love, Rosie is a British film directed by Christian Ditter, about two best friends, Rosie Dunne (Lily Collins) and Alex Stewart (Sam Claflin), who, despite their mutual attraction for each other, go their separate ways after high school,…

Entries are now open for the 62nd Sydney Film Festival, set to run from 3-14th June 2015. Last year, out of 2,500 films 192 were invited to the Festival, and was viewed by 156,000 audience members. Two new award categories were also introduced: the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary and the Event Cinemas…

Jane Campion’s masterpiece ‘The Piano’ will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital on the 10th December 2014 to celebrate its 21st anniversary. The story revolves around Ada (Holly Hunter), a young mute woman who reluctantly arrives in 19th century New Zealand for an arranged marriage. Loneliness grips her, and she has only her daughter (Anna Paquin) and…

  War drama Fury has secured a second week on top of the Box Office bringing in $1.8 million. The Brad Pitt WWII epic has only just kept Gone Girl from re-acquiring number 1 position again. Praised for its loyalty driven narrative and thrilling action sequences, Fury has revitalized a genre, clearly helping it lead…

It’s looking like The Walking Dead crew have found a nice little formula where occasionally they’ll venture away from Rick and catch up with with the plights of peripheral characters every now and then. We got two episodes focusing on The Governor last season, and while they had their faults, the show established that it…

Cinema Nova in Carlton and Yah Yah’s Collingwood in Melbourne are set to host Monster Fest, a 10 day marathon dedicated to cult horror movies. Running from November 20-30, the two venues will be hosting over 40 films, trivia nights, master classes, Q&A’s with film directors and parties. Films on offer include the follow up to the…

  As Australian Doctor Who fans still reel from last weekend’s adventure, Adelaide and Brisbane Whovians are preparing for a member of the current cast to journey out to Australia for the Supanova Pop Culture Expo! With both Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman causing chaos on the Doctor Who World Tour earlier in the year, plus Coleman’s return last month to meet…

Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed is a Spanish film inspired by the iconic lyrics from “Strawberry Fields Forever”. I stumbled across at the cinemas last week and attended on title alone. As a Beatles fan I wasn’t disappointed, but how about as a film fan? It just so happened that in my spontaneous choice…

With his highly anticipated new film Interstellar opening on Thursday, it’s easy to be confident that Christopher Nolan has delivered us a cinematic marvel. A quick look at his track record shows that his level of quality makes him one of the best filmmakers of our time. He pushes the boundaries of technology, limiting the…

Following up from episode 3, we have Part 2 of the “Edward Mordrake” story. Episode 4 is where Freak Show starts to get really interesting. I would consider this to be the ‘Origin Story’ episode. We see Edward Mordrake visit various members of the Carnies in his search for the one he’s been summoned for…

By Kimberley Veart After a one week hiatus, Bones is back with an eventful episode that sees Hodgins become a suspect for murder; intern Wendell’s (Michael Grant Terry) return from cancer treatment and a National Forensic Scientists’ Convention which has the ‘squints’ all excited. The episode begins with Brennan nervously preparing for her keynote speech,…

Universal Pictures has released the first official trailer for the seventh installment in the hugely successful Fast & Furious franchise, which comes from Aussie director James Wan (The Conjuring, Saw). The trailer features glimpses of the late Paul Walker who shot scenes for the film before his tragic passing, as well as regulars Vin Diesel,…

By Kimberley Veart Monday Louis Theroux’s African Hunting Holiday, ABC 2, 8:30 pm AEST Louis Theroux, the British documentary maker who goes where angels fear to tread, explores the hobby of the wealthy: hunting. He follows cashed up Americans to Africa where they pay for the chance to shoot big game. It is a fascinating,…

  Well, did you see that one coming? The eighth season of Doctor Who has begun its lurch towards the finish line and in true Steven Moffat fashion, the showrunner has managed to produce a suitably chilling, dark and satisfying result. If we’re honest, this season of Doctor Who hasn’t really maintained the consistency it has in previous years. Peter…

The James Brown biopic, Get On Up captures the very essence of the legendary, Godfather of Soul. It is a frenzied account that goes through story arcs like some people change clean clothes. But first and foremost is the amazing music by a true vanguard and the electric and infectious performance by Chadwick Boseman (42)….

In the new film John Wick, our protagonist’s dog is killed by thugs, which leads him on a epic tale of revenge that our own Chris Singh called Keanu Reeves’ “best role in years” (read the review here). Yes, it’s a film whose main plot line is driven by just how much this man loved…

Paramount Pictures has released the new international trailer for their new Spongebob film, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Formerly known for his role in Shrek as Puss in Boots, Antonio Banderas steps in as the super villain, Burger-Beard the Pirate, causing havoc and chaos amongst Spongebob and his friends as he is the accused thief…