Another week, another superhero movie. Last week saw the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro, the sequel to the 2012 original. Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan and Jamie Foxx, the film has opened in the top spot over the past weekend with an amazing $5.3 million. Australian audiences are clearly…
When people think of John, Paul, George and Ringo, a name that doesn’t immediately spring to mind is Freda Kelly. But this humble, Liverpudlian woman was the group’s secretary; manager, Brian Epstein’s assistant; and the head of their fan club for 11 years. Good Ol’ Freda is a quaint little documentary about an inspiring woman…
When audiences flocked to watch the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk The Line, they did not learn much about his one-time manager, Saul Holiff and they probably didn’t mind. But the pair had a troublesome relationship which started off with the two arguing and becoming enemies (and their association ended in a similar fashion) plus they…
We pick up right where we left off, and the sweet sight of Joffrey’s lifeless, purple face gives us cause to cheer once more before we are reminded of the grim reality Game of Thrones deals with. The realm is a world far removed from our own, and the writers were out to remind us…
When True Blood first debuted into our lives it came with the usual HBO-driven dose of gratuitous sex, excessive violence, brilliant production, and nuanced characters. As it unfolded True Blood became more like a comedy-drama, as the show that took Vampires away from cheesy Twilight territory started to overdo it on the absurdity. If it…
Back in 2010, Australian director David Michôd made a big splash in Australia and overseas with his crime thriller Animal Kingdom. The film was a critical success and boosted the Hollywood careers of Aussie actors Joel Edgerton, Sullivan Stapleton and Jacki Weaver, with Weaver even scoring an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress. Michôd is…
This was another huge weekend at the Australian box office, with six films earning over $1 million! The hugely popular The LEGO Movie was able to overtake last weekend’s champ Captain America: The Winter Soldier by around $1.5 million. Considering we are now in the school holiday period, expect The LEGO Movie to continue making…
Give a good-hearted frat boy a bunch of super powers and you have Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The characterisation of the timeless superhero as an off-the-wall, overconfident, but overall decent young man is in stark contrast to the awkward, mild-mannered Peter Parker we saw from Tobey Maguire and automatically puts this current franchise ahead of…
The internet is dark and full of spoilers, so if you are reading this review I consider your eyes permission to write about what happened in the outstanding ‘The Lion & the Rose.’ “The viewers send their regards.” It was always going to be a well-received event; the pent up blood lust of every single…
David Fincher is one of those directors that can drum up a large amount of excitement for any film that has his name attached to it. Since hitting it big with Se7en (1995) and Fight Club (1999), Fincher has consistently thrilled and amazed audiences with each film he has made. With the awards attention given…
This is the beginning of something – do you have time to improve your life? Would we ever have expected this kind of speech ad pitch Freddy Rumsen? His brilliant opening monologue (impeccably delivered by Joel Murray, in what was his work of the series thus far) belies every notion we’ve had of his character….
The Iris meets director John Magary and young actor Cory Nichols to talk about their new film The Mend, which premiered at SXSW Film Festival 2014. The pair tell us about the film, how they got involved in the project and much more. The film also stars Josh Lucas (Red Dog, Stephen Plunkett, Mickey Sumner…
Having premiered at Tribeca, this debut feature from director Andrew Semans offers a scathing and surgical depiction of obsession, privilege and inertia all the while advancing like a white-knucke thriller in the acclaimed film Nancy, Please and we’ve got TEN DVD copies to giveaway! Paul a graduate student at Yale is two years behind delivering…
Dreamworks Animation pleasantly surprised everyone when they released How to Train Your Dragon back in 2010. What could have been a generic kids movie about dragons turned out to be a moving portrait of friendship and acceptance that viewers of any age could enjoy. Four years later and we are a few months away from…
The film, Chinese Puzzle (Casse-tête chinois) could be re-named “Xavier’s Travels” or “It’s Complicated”. The French film and final instalment in director and writer, Cédric Klapisch’s trilogy puts middle-aged life and all of its vagaries and difficulties under the microscope. In some ways the John Lennon quote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re…
Ralph Fiennes takes the director’s helm a second time and reinforces his versatility portraying infamous writer Charles Dickens, in Abi Morgan’s beautifully scripted tale The Invisible Woman, an account of Dickens secret affair with young Ellen Turnen, a woman whose existence nearly faded from the pages of history. Period pieces have a misconception as appealing…
The Big Bang Theory‘s Simon Helberg makes his directorial debut alongside his wife Jocelyn Towne in the film We’ll Never Have Paris. We talk to the co-directors about the film, which Helberg also wrote and stars in, as it premiered at SXSW in Austin, Texas last month. ———- This content has recently been ported from…
We interviewed director Andy Landen about his film Sequoia at the SXSW Film Festival last month. We talk about how he got involved in the project, the soundtrack featuring one of the members of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, working with Aly Michalka and Dustin Milligan, filming in the famous National Park and more!…
The Iris had the opportunity to sit down with New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures , The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Maggie Grace (Lost) and Jason Ritter (Parenthood) at SXSW last month to talk about their roles in the film We’ll Never Have Paris, which premiered at the festival. Watch the full chat…
Balancing work with family life can be difficult, regardless of what industry you happen to be working in. I find that entertainment and the arts can be awfully tricky, however. It’s been nice to see partners and families of Oz Comic Con guests be a part of their trip over – sometimes I think about…
Few show-runners are as tight lipped about their forthcoming seasons as Matthew Weiner is with Mad Men. For this reason, a certain amount of wild guessing is required… yet as is so often the case, this can lead to over analysis and needless extrapolation of minor plot points (let’s not forget the Megan Draper is…
Robin Dunne is quick to break the ice when we meet in the established ‘media room’ (read: hotel room) for the Oz Comic Con Adelaide press day. “I was told I could lie in bed for this interview, is that okay?” The Canadian actor, who stars alongside fellow Oz Comic Con guest Amanda Tapping in…
“Here’s the thing. Mostly, what makes these trips for me, is the people. You just walk around this city and you get to know how lovely people are and how welcoming and open they are.” It’s the general consensus I’ve been getting from Oz Comic Con guests who have been discussing the vibe of the…
Corin Nemec is one of the Oz Comic Con guests who, when I told friends I would be interviewing him, there were some swoons to follow. The American actor, known to many as Jonas Quinn on Stargate: SG-1 and also as the Winchester brothers’ cousin Christian on Supernatural, Nemec has been a favourite of the…
The Muppets are returning to the big screen with Muppets: Most Wanted, a sequel to 2011’s critical and box office smash The Muppets, or, as it’s humorously put in the film’s brilliantly meta opening number – the seventh sequel since their original film in 1979. But who’s counting, right? The film stars the Muppet gang…
Divergent is the latest in a line of post-apocalyptic teen dramas that have been churned through cinema since the ever-popular Twilight and Hunger Games franchises. Adapted from the novels by Veronica Roth through the eyes of director Neil Burger, Divergent plays around with some similarity to The Hunger Games via a post-“war” Chicago that is…
Stylistically, Wes Anderson remains one of the most exciting directors in the business, constantly infusing imagination into each and every one of his whimsical masterpieces. In many ways, The Grand Budapest Hotel supplants his classic works likes Fantastic Mr Fox and The Darjeeling Limited to shine as Anderson’s greatest film to date. 100 minutes just…
Stunning, visceral immersion into one of the world’s most important and historically rich cities is exactly what one will get when they settle into the IMAX to watch Jerusalem 3D. This documentary is a virtual visit to the gorgeous land and infinitely intriguing architecture, taking you through everything from the vibrant marketplaces to the historical…
In a move that will excite many but surprise few, HBO have announced that their flagship series Game of Thrones has officially been renewed for two more seasons. The announcement comes on the heels of the hugely successful fourth season premiere this week. The episode gave Game of Thrones its highest-ever ratings (6.6 million), and…
Aside from J.D and Turk on Scrubs, who would be your favourite character? It’s a hard question, as with the medical comedy, there is something to love about each one of the characters who work and operate in some way at Sacred Heart. Two such characters would have to be Ted and The Todd. In…
