Film & TV

Series Review: Gen V Season 2 eases fans back into its world of exuberant violence and satire

Two years after the wildly popular spin off of The Boys, the highly anticipated series Gen V premiered the first three episodes of season 2 on September 17 2025, hitting the ground running from the get go. Developed by Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg, and Eric Kripke, the Prime Video series serves as the fifth instalment…

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Film Review: Swiped; Lily James elevates conventional biopic detailing the foundation of the dating app

Whilst the story behind how Whitney Wolfe Herd both co-founded Tinder and its eventual competition, Bumble, is exciting and full of suitable intrigue, Swiped, with its understandable embellishments, never quite graduates beyond surface level interest.  It’s an entertaining film, without question, with another committed Lily James performance at its core, but The Social Network this…

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The Jewish International Film Festival returns with 50 films across six major Australian cities

The Jewish International Film Festival (JIFF) returns from 19th October through to the 21st December 2025, presenting 50 new films, documentaries, shorts and a television series. Screening in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Canberra and Perth, the festival brings together the best Jewish-themed stories from around the world. Together they span history and contemporary life, the…

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Eleanor the Great; Scarlett Johansson directs bittersweet, moving drama: Toronto International Film Festival Review

One of the most poignant lines of Eleanor the Great is “Talk about the things that make you sad,” and it’s with such a notion that Scarlett Johansson‘s affecting dramedy takes it on as a throughline.  A film that so easily could have been about deception becomes something far greater and more profound, transforming itself…

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Couture; Angelina Jolie delivers understated, career-best work in delicate fashion-centric drama: Toronto International Film Festival Review

There’s a quiet sense of artistic rage that lingers under the surface of Alice Winocour‘s delicate Couture, a small drama that looks at the intersecting lives of a trio of women in Paris, all working in one capacity or another around the fashion industry.  Creation and the unexpected interruptions that can derail one’s own process…

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Buckle up for the first look at the star-studded Australian comedy Zombie Plane

Comedy, action, horror and nostalgic pop culture have fused together for the experience that is Zombie Plane, a wild new Australian feature that has everyone from Sophie Monk and Chuck Norris, to Sir Bob Geldof and Vanilla Ice teaming up as they have to save themselves from a plane overrun by zombies. Directed by Lav…

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Sydney Sweeney makes herself at home in first trailer for the thriller The Housemaid

After proving he’s just as adept at helming fear as he is farce, director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, A Simple Favour) takes on another thrillingly entertaining best-selling novel for The Housemaid, a film that plunges audiences into a twisted world where perfection is an illusion, and nothing is as it seems. Starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda…

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Paul Rudd and Jack Black like big snakes and they cannot lie in first trailer for Anaconda

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Amazon… Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) have been best friends since they were kids, and have always dreamed of remaking their all-time favourite movie: the cinematic “classic” Anaconda. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep…

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Film Review: Not even Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie can save A Big Bold Beautiful Journey from its own escapist ambition

Director Kogonada (After Yang) and screenwriter Seth Reiss (The Menu) ask a lot of their audience with A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.  It’s a hopeful romance of sorts that intends to utilise its magical realism to sweep viewers away into its odyssey of fantastical nature, with the added bonus of proven charm inhabitants Colin Farrell…

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Film Review: The Bad Guys 2; zany sequel delights as it celebrates its heist movie inspirations

There’s been no shortage of sequels thus far across cinema screens in 2025. And, for the most part, they’ve all proven themselves worthy of existence (Freakier Friday), been a satisfactory entrant in their franchise (The Final Reckoning), or, at least, gone for broke in their attempt to distance from their predecessor (M3GAN 2.0). So where…

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Interview: Ryan Corr on bonding with joeys and immersing himself in the spiritual energy of Alice Springs for Kangaroo

Kangaroo is a heart-warming family comedy about ex TV personality Chris Masterman (Ryan Corr), who becomes stranded in an Outback town outside Alice Springs. There, he teams up with 12-year-old Indigenous girl Charlie (Lily Whiteley). The pair form an unlikely friendship and work together to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned joeys in the remote but stunning…

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Interview: Kate Woods on returning to Australian feature filmmaking with Kangaroo; “It’s my happy place.”

Kangaroo is a heart-warming family comedy about ex TV personality Chris Masterman, who becomes stranded in an Outback town outside Alice Springs. There, he teams up with 12-year-old Indigenous girl Charlie. The pair form an unlikely friendship and work together to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned joeys in the remote but stunning Outback community – an…

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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery; Neo-Gothic-inspired sequel is as divisive as it is exciting: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Skilled filmmaker and whodunnit expert Rian Johnson has, once again, subverted the expectation of what should constitute a Knives Out mystery.  Whereas the first film in this now continuing franchise was a tight riddle and the sequel (Glass Onion) indulged in its vacation villainy, Wake Up Dead Man takes its cues from such gothic fiction…

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Dust to Dreams; Idris Elba directs rich short film that serves as a meditation on music and reconciliation: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Selected for the Toronto International Film Festival’s Short Cuts program, Dust to Dreams, courtesy of actor Idris Elba flexing his directorial muscle once more, is a soft meditation on on love, music, and reconciliation, set against the backdrop of Lagos, Nigeria. There’s such a rich tapestry of narrative and the emotional outlay that comes from…

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Interview: Director Andy Hines and stars Matt Walsh and Rhys Darby on their small town Canadian thriller Little Lorraine

Inspired by Adam Baldwin’s song “Lighthouse in Little Lorraine”, and based upon on a true story of a cocaine smuggling ring that ran through the eponymous small Nova Scotian town in the 80s, Little Lorraine is a harrowing dramatic thriller that served as one of the prime Canadian spotlight titles at this year’s Toronto International…

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Interview: Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee on the family drama and romance of Top End Bub

A TV series follow-up to the 2019 box office smash hit Top End Wedding, Top End Bub is a heart-warming eight-part series that sees Miranda Tapsell (Love Child, The Sapphires, The Artful Dodger) and Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Great) reprise their roles as Lauren and Ned. The couple are living their best lives in the city, which is…

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The Smashing Machine; Dwayne Johnson is a revelation in brutal, emotional biopic: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Despite his absolute monstrous size at the time of his career and just how brutal he proved in the ring of mixed martial arts, Mark Kerr was – and still is – a figure that defied the expectations many would presumably put upon him from a personal standpoint.  Softly spoken, with an emotional sense that…

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Eternity is a shining example of the romantic comedy: Toronto International Film Festival Review

There’s something rather amusing about what constitutes an “A24” movie.  There’s an expectation placed upon the studio as of late regarding the type of film it releases into theatres, and within its own genre, the A24 comedy has rarely been as wholesome as what Eternity projects.  Between the the darker fare of Sorry, Baby and…

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Interview: Paul Greengrass on directing The Lost Bus; “(It’s) the story of our world today.”

A white-knuckle ride through one of America’s deadliest wildfires, The Lost Bus is the real-life story of a wayward school bus driver and a dedicated teacher who battled the elements to save 22 children from a terrifying inferno. Starring Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey and Academy Award nominee America Ferrera, The Lost Bus – a…

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Interview: Shabana Azeez on embracing vulnerability and career specificity for the queer animation of Lesbian Space Princess

She’s a lesbian.  She’s in space.  She’s also a princess.  And she’s voiced by Shabana Azeez. After surviving the bachelor party weekend from beyond hell in Birdeater, and navigating the ins and outs of the medical world in HBO’s relentless new series The Pitt, Australian actress Shabana Azeez is, once again, throwing herself in a…

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The Lost Bus; Matthew McConaughey anchors tragic true story telling: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Paul Greengrass is a filmmaker who over the course of his career has quite masterfully tackled both the action and biographical genres; The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum and Captain Phillips just a slew of examples.  For his latest, The Lost Bus, he comes close to blending the two together, looking at the everyday man…

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California Schemin’ is an entertaining, if safe directorial debut from James McAvoy: Toronto International Film Festival Review

As confident as it is a little unsure of its tone, California Schemin’ serves as the directorial debut of James McAvoy, who takes the rather wilder-than-fiction tale of a duo of Scottish rappers (Silibil N’ Brains) who faked American accents in a bid to secure a record deal that they believed they wouldn’t have secured…

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Good Fortune is a sweet, timely comedy showcasing the genre prowess of Keanu Reeves: Toronto International Film Festival Review

A rougher slog to get to his directorial “debut” as a feature filmmaker than he would have liked, Aziz Ansari – seven years after he was accused of sexual misconduct and three years after his planned first feature, Being Mortal, was shut down over the inappropriate behaviour of its lead actor, Bill Murray – finally…

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Film Review: Bad Man; Seann William Scott exudes scrappy charm in neatly packaged crime flick

Despite being headlined by Seann William Scott (best known as Stifler from the American Pie films) and advertising itself as an action-comedy, Michael Diliberti‘s Bad Man leans into more of a sense of seriousness overall.  It isn’t without its chuckles, but it doesn’t have quite an entire hold of blending both genres, leaving the film…

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Carolina Caroline is a charming crime road movie that unapologetically steals your heart: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Looking at the premise of Carolina Caroline on the surface, it’s all too easy to compare it to something like Bonnie & Clyde.  Sure, Adam Carter Rehmeier‘s focuses on a loved-up couple and their cross country crime spree, but Tom Dean‘s script is far deeper than that set-up.  For starters, the initial “criminal” of the…

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Sydney Sweeney is a knockout in Christy: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Sydney Sweeney has really been doing a commendable job of proving that, as an actress, she’s so much more than what we see on Euphoria.  Whilst there have been the expected streaming filmic choices (a Netflix horror effort, an Amazon sex thriller) and a dip into the superhero subsect (farewell Madame Web, we hardly knew…

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Motor City; near-silent action film indulges in its gritty physicality: Toronto International Film Festival Review

In a time when so many action movies have a sense of the recycled about them, you have to admire the approach taken with Motor City.  It’s working off a gimmick, sure, and that in itself means Potsy Ponciroli‘s gritty, violent actioner won’t be for everyone, but if you want a genre feature that embraces…

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The Choral is a sweet-natured reminder of the power of music: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Set in 1916 during World War I, The Choral takes a look at a certain group of community who, in their time of hardship, come together to uphold a tradition that serves as a spiritual lifting. The choral society at the centre of the film have come to a crossroads.  Their choral director has been…

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Charlie Harper speaks to the beauty and emotional brutality of love: Toronto International Film Festival Review

Young love and all the amazing, traumatic things that come with such are explored in Charlie Harper, Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean‘s emotional, non-linear romance dramedy, anchored by the moving performances – and palpable chemistry – of its leads, Emilia Jones and Nick Robinson. Centering around the two halves of its titular coupling (so no,…

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Hamlet; Riz Ahmed dominates unrelenting modern-day telling of Shakespeare’s classic: Toronto International Film Festival Review

From the opening sequence of Aneil Karia‘s Hamlet it’s evident that the Shakespeare tale we know won’t be simply rehashed on screen.  This isn’t your school production or even Broadway, with Karia maintaining the classic tongue of the prose, but bringing its setting to modern day London within the South Asian community. Following the moment…

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