Film & TV

What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (16th – 19th October 2014)

Thursday The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, ABC 2, 7:40 pm AEST After showing off her flair for lip-syncing back in April, the oh-so-lovable Emma Stone is back again on The Tonight Show for another round of fun! Joined also by Logan Lerman and musical guest Sam Smith, this episode is sure to be a…

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Behind the Scenes: How an Adelaide studio created the best scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past

So you’re watching through the incredible X-Men: Days of Future Past on your Blu-Ray player, aching for that moment when the film reaches a certain scene. You aren’t discounting the overall quality of the universally acclaimed X-Men installment, but today you just want to re-live the sheer giddiness that you went through when you first…

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Antenna Documentary Film Festival Review: Grey Gardens (USA, 1975)

When all you’ve known is wealth and privilege, it’s a long fall from the top of the social ladder. But some do fall, and that’s exactly what happened to Jackie O’s aunt and cousin, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (Edie) and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (Little Edie). The demise of two eccentric yet ultimately enigmatic…

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TV Review: Doctor Who – Season 8 Episode 8 “Mummy on the Orient Express” (UK, 2014)

So here we are at the midway point of the eighth season of revived Who. And what a ride it’s been. I’m not sure about anyone else but I feel like Capaldi’s first season as The Doctor has flown by and Jenna? Who’d have thought Clara would have developed into the character we’ve seen her become, especially in the last…

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Box Office Report: Audiences flock back to David Fincher’s Gone Girl

David Fincher’s Gone Girl has proven itself to be the must-see movie of the moment by smashing the competition to take the top spot at the Australian box office for the second weekend in a row. The film made an incredible $4.1 million over the weekend, only dropping around $0.6 million from last weekend, which is an incredibly…

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The Iris Interview: Peter Hambleton (NZ) on the end of The Hobbit ahead of Armageddon Melbourne!

Armageddon Melbourne is coming up this weekend, giving fans of sci-fi, pop culture, anime and more the chance to meet some amazing actors, animators, illustrators and more. Taking place at the Melbourne Showgrounds on October 18th and 19th, you can bet that there are going to be some killer cosplays, hilarious panels and more coming…

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Win a Blu-ray copy of War Story!

Lee (Keener) is a photographer who documents the plights of refugees in war torn countries. Her most recent assignment brings her to Libya where she is detained for brutal questioning. The plot commences with her release and soon-to-be isolation in a Sicilian hotel where she is content to hide out immersed in darkness and painkillers….

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Win a double pass to see The Crow on the big screen in Sydney!

Some of cinemas most celebrated titles are set to return to the big screen at Event Cinemas George Street, with the recent launch of the In The House Cinema Series. Featuring landmark films at their finest, the series will herald the return to the big screen of some of the greatest movie titles of the…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 1 “No Sanctuary” (USA, 2014)

In the world of The Walking Dead you are “either the butcher, or the cattle” according to the once-benevolent folk of Terminus, and so we continue exploring the rewritten rules of humanity in this horribly bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape. In “No Sanctuary”, the epic premiere of the fifth season, there was a perfect balance of this…

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Film Review: Hector & The Search For Happiness (UK, Germany, Canada & South Africa, 2014)

Hector & The Search For Happiness is about a psychiatrist who sets out on an overseas journey in order to find joy. The idea is hardly a new one, especially as the self-help genre has already seen the likes of Eat Pray Love and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, among others. Unfortunately, Hector’s story…

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TV Review: American Horror Story Freak Show Episode 1 “Monsters Among Us” (USA, 2014)

It’s safe to say that the anxious and impatient fans of the world’s currently most popular anthology series can rest at ease with the arrival of Season Four of American Horror Story. This Season, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have brought their devoted fans ‘Freak Show’. Like its previous season, Freak Show appears to be…

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Antenna Documentary Film Festival Review: Bugarach (Spain, Germany and France, 2014)

Do a quick Google search on the sleepy French village of Bugarach and you’ll find that its economy “is based on agriculture and tourism”. Sounds pretty quaint and quiet, right? You’d be right to think so. In Sergi Cameron and Ventura Durall’s documentary, also called Bugarach, the town looks like the set of Chocolat. When word…

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What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (13th – 15th October 2014)

Monday You Only Live Twice, GO! 9:30 pm AEST The 1967 instalment of the James Bonds series stars the suave Sean Connery as the famous 007 agent. A typically Cold War era film, Bond and the Japanese secret service must work together to prevent World War III breaking out between Russia and America, after one of…

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TV Review: Bones Season 10 Episode 3 “The Purging of the Pundit” (USA, 2014)

After the excitement of the last two stellar episodes of Bones, this week feels a bit like a return to routine. Everyone is concerned about Booth, especially Brennan, and the emotional drama of the episode centres around his loss of faith due to all the recent traumas. However, back to business, a murder must be…

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The Walking Dead: The Top 10 Episodes (So Far)

AMC’s The Walking Dead has really grown into something much more than what many initially thought it would be. Based on Robert Kirkman’s graphic novels, the series has gone from a six-episode Season 1 to the most in-demand, involving show on TV. It’s done this with a consistent, potent mix of high-end drama, genuinely terrifying…

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Men, Women & Children director Jason Reitman doing live Twitter Q&A tomorrow!

Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) is hitting Twitter tomorrow morning to do a live Q&A session to promote his upcoming drama Men, Women & Children. The Q&A will take place at 5:45AM AEDT tomorrow morning (Saturday October 11). This is an awesome opportunity for anyone with questions about the film-making process to get…

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Universal Pictures Announces World Premiere of Unbroken to take place in Sydney

Today Universal Pictures has announced that the World Premiere of one of 2015’s most anticipated films, Unbroken, will be hosted in Sydney by Director/Producer Angelina Jolie and cast members Jack O’Connell and Miyavi. Unbroken saw Angelina Jolie spend six months in Australia late last year during filming so it makes sense that she return to…

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DVD Review: American Cheerleader (USA, 2013)

By Nazia Hafiz Cheerleading’s become more than some spirited encouragement from a bunch of pretty young things, waving their pom poms at football sidelines. Founders of the art form come sport, Varsity, have transformed cheerleading into the highly disciplined and competitive exercise it is today, and just to prove a point, have released a no…

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Nominations announced for the 2014 Screen Music Awards

The nominations for the 2014 Screen Music Awards have just been announced, and they feature a selection of the best music from Australia’s best television programs, documentaries and feature films. The awards are staged jointly by APRA AMCOS and the AGSC (Australian Guild of Screen Composers), and “celebrate those quiet achievers of the Australian music…

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What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (9th – 12th October 2014)

Thursday Riding Giants, SBS 2, 9:25 pm AEST From its Hawaiian beginnings to its transformation into a global recreational phenomenon, Stacy Peralta’s Riding Giants is a dynamic, awe-inspiring documentary that looks at the origins of surf culture and the alluring power of the “big wave”. Friday Friday Night Crack Up, ABC, 7:31 pm AEST Part of…

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TV Review: The Mindy Project, Season 3 Episode 4 “I Slipped” (USA, 2014)

Now this is the kind of relationship stuff we need to see in the early days of The Mindy Project’s third season. This awkward, ‘getting to know you’ stuff that all couples face, it’s what fleshes out the central relationship and makes Danny and Mindy into a believable, solid couple. “I Slipped” is proof that…

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The Zombie Evolution: How Zombies have evolved on screen into the AMC TV series The Walking Dead

It’s hard to believe that AMC’s The Walking Dead began with a modest six-episode season and nowhere near the amount of anticipation that bubbles beneath it today. The survival-horror series has become one of the biggest and fastest success stories in recent television memory, benefiting from the perfect blend of mindless entertainment and rich, deep…

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Box Office Report: It’s no mystery why Gone Girl takes top spot in massive weekend

Australian audiences turned out in droves over the weekend to see David Fincher’s hugely anticipated adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel Gone Girl. The mystery drama took in almost $4.7 million, which is a massive haul for a film of its kind. It truly is that rare kind of blockbuster that challenges its audiences’ minds while entertaining them. The opening…

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Annual Russian Film Festival Russian Resurrection screening an incredible program around Australia this month

Russian Resurrection is the largest and most distinguished annual Russian film festival outside of Russia and is now in its 11th year. The festival will launch its 2014 season around the country on October 30, as well as in New Zealand for the first time ever. Russian Resurrection celebrates the finest of Russia’s film industry,…

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Twins Peaks will return in 2016 on Showtime

When Laura Palmer uttered the phrase “I will see you again in 25 years” I don’t think many people would have taken her too seriously. It seems we should be less cynical, because the mind-warping Twin Peaks will return to television in 2016, 25 years after the second season ended following a cancellation. Showtime has…

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Film Review: Tusk (MA15+) (USA, 2014)

By Jessica Shields If anything can be said about Kevin Smith, it’s that he’s a man of his word. Smith and long-time collaborator Scott Mosier stoner-rambled their way through an episode of their podcast, Smodcast, in which they dissected a fake Gumtree ad about a rent-free room for let in Brighton, UK. The only conditions…

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Ridley Scott gets biblical in the new trailer for Exodus: Gods and Kings

After resurrecting the genre with the incredible Gladiator in 2000 and returning to it with Kingdom of Heaven in 2005, director Ridley Scott is about to give us another of his huge historical epics. Exodus: Gods and Kings is Scott’s take on the biblical story of Moses from the book of Exodus. Most of us are familiar with the story, and…

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Matthew McConaughey races to save mankind in new Interstellar trailer

Christopher Nolan’s first non-Batman film since the critically and commercially acclaimed Inception hits cinemas in one month. Just let that sink in. We will be watching a new original Christopher Nolan film in a matter of weeks. That film is Interstellar, and it is shaping up to be something pretty spectacular. Plot details are incredibly scarce at the…

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What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (6th – 8th October 2014)

Monday Diaries of a Broken Mind, ABC 2, 10:04pm AEST This bold and thought-provoking documentary follows the journeys of twenty-five young people growing up with mental health issues in the UK. Using hand-held cameras to tell their stories from their own unique perspectives, the documentary is an intimate insight into their struggles. Tuesday Jamie’s Comfort…

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TV Review: Bones, Season 10 Episode 2 “A Lance To The Heart” (USA, 2014)

by Kimberley Veart After last week’s shocking twist, it’s time to say goodbye to Sweets. As promised by Bones producer Stephen Nathan, the death is handled respectfully and Sweets is still very much a part of this episode as the Jeffersonian team, together with a bitter Booth and the new Agent Aubrey, work desperately to…

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