Film & TV

So it appears that Game of Thrones isn’t the only HBO hit returning to screens on April 6, as the third season of comedy series Veep begins on the same day. The show stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer, and Louis-Dreyfus has already won two consecutive Emmy’s for her brilliant performance. The new…

The musings of a self obsessed man-child might have been a more apt title for this film. Whilst on one-hand it could be held up and examined as a simple artful drama revolving around human behaviour spiralling out of control, it could just as easily be seen as a self indulgent, unsympathetic look at a…

Jump throws its hat into the ring alongside other intricately woven crime comedies such as Rock n Rolla and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, working with situational humour and solid investment in story set-up, to unravel a finale that falls into place almost seamlessly. Based on a stage play of the same title by…

The Time Being is one of those slow burning films that seems to take hold of one’s mind in a gentle unrealising way. The poignant undercurrent of the film would be nought, without the skilful persuasion of notable actors Frank Langella (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Robot & Frank, Superman Returns) and Wes Bentley (Lovelace,…

Scarecrow is another disenchanting cookie cutter, urban legend based horror TV movie, in a long list of similar movies under Director Sheldon Wilson’s belt. It’s not that the actors aren’t semi-decent, in fact there are some familiar names amongst the cast, Lacey Chabert from Party of Five anyone? Or that the special effects aren’t top…

So Maggie wants to go one way; Sasha wants to go the other way; and Bob is just happy that he isn’t left alone – as he has been two times prior to joining the group. ‘Alone’ presents us with a group that has less ties to each other than the other groups; splintered together…

Smart, sobering and quietly haunting, Blue Caprice recounts the horrors of the notorious 2002 Beltway sniper attacks. The poisoning and corruption of rational thought creates a chilling portrait of insanity and at its core, a toxic father-son relationship. The Iris sit down with Isiah Washington who stars in the film, ahead of its Australian release…

With Jess’ sister thrown into the mix, we were expecting only one thing from this episode: trouble. New Girl did not fail us, kicking off immediately with a game of “Sky Knife”, in which knives are thrown into the ceiling. From there, the crux of the episode was gotten to quite quickly: Abby wants to…

3D action sequel 300: Rise of an Empire came out victorious at the Aussie box office over the weekend. The long-gestating sequel to 2007’s 300 took an impressive $3.17 million over the weekend, beating out last week’s top film, Non-Stop. The goodwill held over from the original film definitely helped Rise of an Empire, and…

RAKE goes into courtroom procedural overdrive this week when Cleaver Greene agrees to represent no less than four men at four separate hearings in one day. Sydney is in a legal frenzy: there are five royal commissions and seven ICAC hearings taking place at the same time. Every other lawyer in town is tied up,…

Sometimes out of the horror of war there are unusual and intriguing stories to be told. One of these is that of The Monuments Men, a group of civilians tasked with rescuing stolen art masterpieces and culturally important work from the Nazis and returning them to their rightful owners. From the opening sequence we are…

Just days after the opening of 300: Rise of An Empire, the trailer has dropped for another long-awaited sequel to a stylised graphic novel adaptation from the mid 2000’s. Released in 2005, Robert Rodriguez’s film adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City was an experiment in how visually faithful a film can be to its source…

Lars Von Trier’s latest film, Nymphomaniac is quite an ambitious project for the Danish director. The film is split into two parts (Volume I and Volume II), the first of which was screened in its extended form at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. The commercial release of the film is another matter though….

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for television lovers; we are mere weeks away from the season premiere of the fourth season of TV juggernaut Game of Thrones. Fans have been waiting patiently since the third season ended last year, with the fate of the Seven Kingdoms unknown (unless you’ve read the books…

“Sometimes silence is a scream.” Such is the conclusion the unnamed protagonist of The Missing Picture comes to, after pondering his father’s starvation-suicide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. The unusual style of this poetic documentary is anchored by the intricate clay figurines made for the film, representatives of the Old and New people…

Following the SXSW special screening of the new Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel, Austin was graced with the presence of Mr. Anderson himself, in conversation with director Richard Linklater and accompanied by the film’s music supervisor Randall Poster and actor/long-time collaborator Jason Schwartzman. During the Q&A, Anderson was asked by an audience member…

The third of four film keynote speakers at SXSW was performed by writer, actress and general voice for a huge portion of Gen X and Y, Lena Dunham. The creator and star of the successful Girls series shared her experiences of entering the film industry with a packed out Vimeo Theater, and held the attention…

The Iris talks to actor Nicholas Cage and director David Gordon Green about their new film Joe. Nicholas Cage talks about the father and son relationship between him and Tye Sheridan, and David Gordon Green talks about what drew him to adapt the book… Filmed at SXSW 2014 in Austin, Texas. ———- This content has…

Following the SXSW special screening of the new Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel, Austin was graced with the presence of Mr. Anderson himself, in conversation with director Richard Linklater and accompanied by the film’s music supervisor Randall Poster and actor/long-time collaborator Jason Schwartzman. In addition to the comment on the possibility of sequels,…

When fans associate an actor with one particular role, it can be hard for the actor to distance themselves from said character. For Doctor Who fans, this may be the case for some, as former companion Karen Gillan takes on the horror genre for one of her first feature film roles outside the franchise. Directed…

The Iris at SXSW presents an exclusive interview with Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords to talk about his new mockumentary film What We Do In The Shadows which he co-wrote, co-directed and starred in with Taika Waititi. We talk about the serious plight of Vampires in Wellington, New Zealand, and plans for the…

What better way to spend a Sunday morning than in the presence of one of the funniest faces on television at the moment? Mindy Kaling of The Office and The Mindy Project fame came to Austin to partake in an ‘In Conversation’ session hosted by Marie Claire’s Anne Fuldwider and also featuring her cast mates…

When such a well-loved TV series like Veronica Mars is given a new lease on life, it’s that much more special and significant when it is made possible by the fans. The Kickstarter campaign which saw a $2 million goal attained in rapid time brought the Kristen Bell-led cast back to loving arms of the…

SXSW premiered the The Horror/Thriller film 13 SINS from director Daniel Stamm. Stars Ron Pearlman, Mark Webber and Devon Graye walked the red carpet tonight at Stateside Theatre. Photos by Johnny Au. ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and may have formatting errors – images may not…

Put “from the producers of Breaking Bad” in front of the announcement of a new TV series and everyone is going to take notice. Indeed, as part of this year’s new “episodic” programming at SXSW in Austin, Texas, one of the most buzzed about screenings was a premiere preview of a series with one such…

Veronica Mars had its world premiere at SXSW and we were there on the red carpet to bring you all the glamour from this star studded event. Photos by Johnny Au ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and may have formatting errors – images may not be…

The Iris meets Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman on the red carpet for the world premiere of his new film 13 Sins at SXSW 2014! Plus, see our chats with Mark Webber from the cast and the director Daniel Stamm! ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and may…

We just jumped off the red carpet at the SXSW Film Festival for the world premiere of Veronica Mars. We kick off our interview series with Veronica herself, Kristen Bell, and Jason Dohring, who played Logan Echolls on the popular series, which is enjoying a rebirth in the form of a new feature film! Released…

It looks like things are slowly but surely returning to their natural state of comical disequilibrium in the world of Cleaver Greene. His career is given a boost when he receives his first personal request for counsel, and he finally has his bachelor pad to himself, now that Nicole and her crazy mother have taken…

In a surprise announcement this morning, it was revealed that global superstar Benedict Cumberbatch will be making an appearance at Oz Comic-Con in Adelaide, as well as two exclusive Q&A sessions during Oz Comic-Con in Sydney. This is a serious coup for these events given the fact that Cumberbatch is one of the most popular…