Film & TV

As was revealed today by Digital Spy, Mark Ruffalo has said Marvel is “entertaining” the idea of making a new Hulk film following the success of The Avengers series and spin-offs. This would be brave of Marvel after two previous attempts to devote an entire film to the big green man-monster that were commercially underwhelming….

Ridley Scott has previewed footage of his upcoming biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, at the annual CineEurope presentation. As was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, the director also treated a select group of theatre owners with a peek at the unreleased trailer alongside his preview of the film’s opening. Exodus: Gods and Kings, which…

After the stunning finale to the incredible fourth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, fans all over the world are hungry for any way to return to Westeros, and now it is possible. To celebrate the release of Season 4 on Google Play, HBO and Google Play are bringing Game of Thrones: The Exhibition to…

Humans need water. People are also made of water. And we affect water. The documentary, Watermark looks at the different experiences that society has with water, from celebration to pure science; from duress to progress and through spirituality and work, the many facets of this subject are covered by this ambitious project. But audiences will…

So it ends; Game of Thrones’ excellent fourth season has come to it’s 10-episode conclusion, closing the book on George RR Martin’s A Storm of Swords and signalling a huge expansion in Season 5. Two pivotal characters – and consistent fan favourites – are now on journeys to places we never expected them to go;…

Well it looks like you just can’t keep those pesky teenagers away from the cinema, as young adult adaptation The Fault in Our Stars has topped the Australian box office chart again over the past weekend. The novel is a publishing phenomenon and fans are clearly loving the film. To be fair, Fault has received very strong reviews as…

Village Roadshow Pictures Asia and Warner Bros. Pictures have signed on as co-financiers and co-producers of Desen International Media’s Chinese 3D fantasy adventure Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal. Directed by Zhao Tianyu (The Law of Attraction, Deadly Delicious), Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal stars Chen Kun (The Painted Skin),…

Indie film and TV darling Zach Braff has taken a decade as well as a controversial Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to finally have his second feature brought to life on the big screen. Wish I Was Here examines the struggles of the thirty-somethings of our generation, including unemployment, marriage, raising kids and the inevitability of…

Last night saw the end of the 61st Sydney Film Festival, with the festival’s prestigious awards handed out at the Closing Night Gala at the State Theatre. Of the 12 films competing in the Official Competition, the Sydney Film Prize was awarded to the French film Two Days, One Night, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc…

La Petite Mort translated as The Little Death, is a French euphemism for orgasm, referring to the post-orgasmic state of consciousness some people go through after a sexual experience. Josh Lawson’s (Any Questions for Ben?, Anchorman 2) low budget directorial debut based on this intriguing concept, is an extension of a short film he’d put…

The Iris talks to Peter O’Donoghue, the editor and co-writer of Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets about the film while in Sydney for the Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival – June 2014. ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and may have formatting errors…

Agnès Varda is a director who has a nose for a good story and an eye for the sublime. The Grand Dame of French New Wave Cinema started her career as a stills photographer and it is clear that she has brought these skills to her feature films. Her movies are often quite sensual and…

When we see those pre-empting words of ‘based on a true story’ at the beginning of a film, we are usually left thinking about how much of what we see is fiction, and how much is fact. In the case of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, the latest offering from the Zellner Brothers, the protagonist is…

It’s 1997 and the Asian Financial Crisis is in full swing. Companies are downsizing, people are feeling the pinch and the burden of providing for one’s family is high. It’s in this pressure-cooker environment that first-time Singaporean director Anthony Chen brings Ilo Ilo. For many, Ilo Ilo is not just about class systems but also…

Awarded the Special Jury Award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, Love.Love.Love is a charming short documentary film about the notion of love as seen through the eyes of a group of woman ranging from young girls to elderly women. Love.Love.Love was developed via the Cinetrain initiative, a cinema event that takes place in Russia…

There’s only one time in my life that I can recall having something that I can only describe as an anxiety attack. It was at a Brian Cox lecture in Sydney last year and I believe it was when the rockstar physicist was describing the moment when the Earth would cease to exist. The very…

“It’s life, you go to bed unsatisfied” in the words of police chief Bill Oswalt, and he’s expressing how we feel too, we’re unsatisfied, and this episode does leave you feeling a little bit that way. Not in a negative sense at all, more in a “we’re at episode 8 of 10 and we still…

Dior & I could be renamed “Dior & Co.” or “Dior & Us”. The documentary film goes behind the scenes at the French fashion house as the new creative director for Dior Haute Couture, Raf Simons prepares his debut collection. After John Galliano was unceremoniously fired amid controversy (he’d made anti-Semitic comments at a Parisian…

Quickly cementing his status one of the most talented actors of his generation, Tom Hardy is currently undertaking one of his most challenging roles yet. Or rather, two of his most challenging roles yet. Hardy has started shooting period biopic Legend this week, in which he portrays real-life twins Reginald and Robert Kray. To mark the start of shooting,…

  Of all of the films screened at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival, At Berkeley is perhaps the timeliest, considering the recent reveal that the budget here in Australia could see considerable changes to the tertiary education landscape. At Berkeley acts as a peek into how the University of California, Berkeley, is run in the…

The Melbourne International Animation Festival kicks off next week at ACMI (Running from June 19th until the 29th). Ahead of opening night, we caught up with Malcolm Turner, the Director of the festival, to discuss the program for 2014, his recent trip to Paris, his advice for young animators and much more… What are the…

Erin Gray may be known for her role as “Colonel Deering” within the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century franchise, but over an extensive career in television and film, Gray has been able to expand and integrate her passions as a public speaker, writer and Tai-Chi teacher into her career as well. In Australia for…

Abuse of Weakness, the latest offering by French filmmaker Catherine Breillat, is an intriguing and compelling film that unflinchingly portrays Breillat’s own curious story. The autobiographical film is based upon Breillat’s experiences, beginning with her suffering a stroke in 2004 and following her through the long recovery process and adapting to life partly crippled. During…

The theme of two lovers kept apart from their families or individual circumstances is hardly anything new. But Gabrielle is a film that deals with another rarely discussed subject and one that is infrequently depicted in cinemas. It is the love lives of the disabled and this film shows this with dignity and for the…

Fish & Cat feels like a dream that’s forever threatening to turn into a nightmare. This bizarre and unsettling film, by Iranian director Shahram Mokri, is supposedly based on true events where a restaurant served human flesh, and its roughly two hours of runtime is filmed entirely in one shot. Imagine a re-enactment of a…

With the Supanova Pop Culture Expo set to kick off in Sydney this weekend before hitting up Perth on June 20-22, the organisers have given fans in Adelaide and Brisbane a taste of their convention line ups for November. More guests are to be announced in coming months, but in the meantime get a hit…

Oz Comic-Con Melbourne just got a whole lot more exciting, with the addition of Once Upon a Time’s Jennifer Morrison to it’s July lineup! The American actress, who currently stars in the fantasy drama as ‘Emma Swan’, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming – yeah, it’s a big mash up of a show, but…

The Queen is a gritty and dazzling short presented by Argentinean director Manuel Abramovic. I’ve called this one gritty and dazzling because it is full of sequins, incredible glittering costumes but also suffering. This film is a short 15-minute vignette of Memi’s life. Memi is only 11 years old and she is going to be…

Brad Pitt is one of those actors who can drum up a huge amount of buzz for any project that has his name attached to it. He always delivers solid performances and is endlessly watchable. Next up for Pitt is WWII drama Fury, which sees him leading a tank crew through the tail end of the war. Joining…

The 61st Sydney Film Festival comes to a close this Sunday, but you still have a chance to see some incredible films before the festival ends. Particularly exciting is the terrifying program that the Festival has in store for tomorrow, which just happens to be Friday the 13th! The Festival presents a packed program of…