Film & TV

It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since we last saw Angelina Jolie on the big screen (the tepid 2010 thriller The Tourist sitting as her most recent live action affair) and in the time waiting to see her as the titular Maleficent we’ve been teased and taunted with imagery greatness, leading us to believe that…

In Lake August, screening as part of the Sydney Film Festival, what little drama occurs is almost completely subsumed by the landscapes of the film. A young man, Ah Li, drifts across a remote corner of rural China, smoking and drinking beer, but mostly just standing there, for almost two hours in a film comprised…

Since premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Lenny Abrahamson’s new film Frank has become one of the most talked about films of the festival circuit, lighting up cinemas with its iconic papier-mâché head from SXSW all the way to Sydney Film Festival, where it had its Australian premiere this weekend; the place where Abrahamson’s What…

Director David Michôd has been in high demand ever since the stunning Animal Kingdom was unleashed in 2010. So it’s pretty much a given that his 2014 follow up The Rover be met with the same ecstatic enthusiasm with which AK was received. With positive reviews pouring in from every corner in response to to…

When renegade director Anna Broinowski decided to make a film to stop a planned gas mine near her Sydney home she sought help… from North Korea? Anna gained unprecedented access to the North Korean film industry and got hot tips from Kim Jong Il’s propaganda protégés. The story makes Vice Mag’s little North Korean ditty…

“Australia – Ten Years After the Collapse” This is as explicit an explanation as David Michôd gives in terms of explaining where we find ourselves in his second full length feature, The Rover. Following on from the remarkable Animal Kingdom, this could not be more a different film. In place of a multitude of characters,…

20 years after they first hit the big screen in the much-loved comedy classic Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are returning as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in the upcoming sequel, Dumb and Dumber To. The first full trailer for the film has just been released online, and it is such a treat to see these characters again. The…

Larry Heath caught up with producer Helen Bowden (The Slap) while at Sydney Film Festival to talk about the new Foxtel TV series Devil’s Playground. The six-part series, which will premiere in September, sees its first two episodes screen at the Festival tonight. They talk about the direction the series has taken, operating as a sequel…

Chris Singh caught up with lead actor Ellar Coltrane and producer Cathleen Sutherland of the unique film Boyhood to gain some insight into how this unprecedented project came together during the 12 years it took to make, what Ellar’s mentality was like during filming, and what they have both learnt from working on it. Directed…

It can be a bit frustrating to read about all of the awesome films that are screening at film festivals over the world if you are unable to get to any of them, and it’s a feeling that most film fans would have felt at one time or another. It’s great to hear then, that just…

Agnès Varda – the Grand Dame of French New Wave Cinema – has lived one rich and vibrant life. And in Les plages d’Agnès (The Beaches of Agnès) this is captured perfectly. The film is a strange documentary that is helmed by the doyenne art house director and lovable eccentric, as she candidly takes us…

Paula Malcomson plays Abby Donovan, the wife of the lead character and namesake of the series Ray Donovan, which will see its first season released on DVD in Australia this week. The acclaimed Showtime series follows Ray, a professional “fixer” for the rich and famous of Los Angeles, and the ongoing dramas that surround him thanks…

Supanova is set to light fires in the bellies of pop culture fanatics in Sydney this weekend and to be honest, it’s one of the strongest guest line ups they’ve pulled yet. Actors from highly successful series’ including Game of Thrones, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, The Walking Dead and more are set to spend their weekend…

Pulp are a band of the people. So it should come as no surprise that the film about their last concert performance in their Sheffield hometown is at times more about their fans and the locals then the self-deprecating group itself. Florian Habicht’s (Love Story) documentary, Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets plays…

The Iris’ Larry Heath talks to Kitty Green, director of Ukraine Is Not A Brothel, about the conception and creation of the documentary, the Ukrainian protest movement, and her goal of creating a new level of intimacy within the film – “I was conscious of making it quite cinematic… I really wanted to get that…

“Today is gonna be a good day. Because, today is ideal day to commit suicide.” The tagline for Yuichi Suita’s short film is both poignant and funny in an absolutely guilt-inducing way. It’s also telling of how viewers are likely to feel throughout the seven-minute film. We watch the un-named and silent protagonist as she…

It was a busy Queen’s Birthday long weekend at the Australian box office, with the top six films all making over $1 million each. There was something for everyone at the movies this past weekend, and audiences spread the love over a diverse range of films. In a cinematic showdown between two vastly different films,…

Much like ‘Blackwater’ from Season 2 “The Watchers on the Wall” was big, cinematic, and focused on just one of the many poly-rhythmic arcs dancing around Westeros. While this season has remained consistently exciting throughout, some story lines have been relatively muffled and haven’t been as fleshed-out as they have been in earlier seasons; Jon…

The 61st Sydney Film Festival has been dazzling the city so far with an excellent curated line-up of films. Due to popular demand, the 12-day event has announced additional screenings of three SOLD OUT sessions; all of which are on sale now. Fela Kuti documentary Finding Fela!, Australian documentary China’s 3Dreams, and Palo Alto will…

This beautiful documentary offers an insight into the daily life of the National Gallery in London. Unfolding over three hours, Frederick Wiseman with his characteristic unobtrusive touch allows conversations and activities to unfold in real time, giving the viewer the ability to observe in true ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style. The impressive collection housed by the gallery is…

American buffalo are so physically and culturally linked to North America that it is difficult to imagine them living in any other country. So wouldn’t it be interesting to see them roaming the harsh, wet plains of Scotland? This is the basis for Maurice O’Brien’s short documentary Buffalo Dreams, which sees the struggles of buffalo…

John Donne once famously wrote that “a man is not an island”, referencing the many connections that seep into even the most insular of spaces and tug at certain sides of our human psyche even at times when we are physically alone. It’s a sentiment which rings entirely true in Locke, a truly fascinating minimal…

In Vienna resides the Kunsthistoriches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), a jewel in the city’s crown and home to thousands of paintings, sculptures and artefacts from all over the globe. The Great Museum follows the preparation for the opening of the Kunstkammer Gallery – a specialty gallery devoted to thousands of artefacts collected by Habsburg…

From June 19th until the 29th, Melbourne will enjoy the Melbourne International Animation Festival at ACMI, featuring over 450 films from 35 countries over 11 days. Needless to say, fans of animation will have more than their fair share of excellent films to sink their teeth into. One of these screenings will see the world premiere of The…

In life we are more often than not reactive creatures, responding to our environment and those around us. Sometimes the unlikeliest of people and the most random of circumstances can shape our lives, in both good and bad ways. Based on the novel by Larry Brown and directed by David Gordon Green, Joe is the…

Viewers are gifted a film which is undeniably Nick Cave with (sort-of) rock bio-pic 20,000 Days on Earth ditching everything we have come to dread of rockstar-centric films and giving us something which truly seeks the mind of this infinitely interesting artist. Filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard employ various techniques to twirl around an…

Played with deadpan composure by writer and feature debut director Desiree Akhavan, we meet Shirin in the last stage of her breakup with long-term girlfriend, Maxine (Rebecca Henderson). In the opening scene she is collecting her remaining belongings, exchanging final barbs and discussing the future custody of a shared strap-on dildo. The scene closes on…

This time around we’re given a reprieve from the hefty violence and an opportunity to see the intricate web revealed as well as some surprisingly touching and sensitive moments. For a series that has been so brutal, dark and twisted this is a much brighter albeit still emotionally heavy episode to take in. At the…

Last night, with the premiere of Nick Cave’s film 20,000 Days… the Sydney Film Festival kicked off its 2014 season in style. Today, we look ahead to the rest of the film calendar to bring you our 10 film picks – in no particular order. Wish I Was Here Struggling actor Aidan (Zach Braff) has…

Well I sure feel like one of those beatles Tyrion was so eloquently advocating for in “The Mountain and The Viper”; even if you knew what was coming, the sheer brutality of it all was shockingly affecting and – even though it crushed me – was beautifully done. Many characters moved forward in leaps and…