TV & Streaming

Series Review: The Better Sister escapes its familiar set-up thanks to strong performances and a genuine sense of unpredictability

The type of intriguing, wealthy-white-centered murder mystery that feels as if Nicole Kidman is going to swan in at any given moment, The Better Sister manages to escape its familiar set-up thanks to strong performances and a genuine sense of unpredictability surrounding the “who” and “why” of it all. That familiar set-up involves the murder…

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Film Review: Summer of 69 is a hilarious, heartfelt ode to 1980s sex comedies

Despite its raunchy, suggestive title – yeah, there’s a reason there’s no comma alluding to 69 being a year – Jillian Bell‘s directorial debut, Summer of 69, is actually a particularly sweet, coming-of-age comedy that injects more than enough heart into proceedings to offset its teen-sex-comedy mentality. Much like Superbad, Booksmart and Bottoms before it,…

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Series Review: Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2 commits to a darker, more emotional personality

If there’s one thing Nicole Kidman is going to commit wholeheartedly to in any of her multitude of projects, it’s that her character will indulge in a wig or an accent.  In the case of Nine Perfect Strangers, it’s both. Four years ago, hot off the success of her “Big Little Lies” being transformed into…

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Series Review: Tucci In Italy reheats the tested format of the travel and cooking show to grand, charming effect

Furthering his effortless charisma and likeability, Stanley Tucci makes his lifestyle of Italian region hopping and delighting in their signature gastronomic feasts a real treat to behold. Usually having to endure other people – and rich people, at that – having the time of their (and our) lives isn’t the most enjoyable experience, and whilst…

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Series Review: Overcompensating is everything you want in a queer coming of age story…and more

Known for his beloved comedy shorts online, Benito Skinner quickly rose to fame in 2020 with his hilarious celebrity impressions, skits, and original characters. The sense of humour he brought during such (and I hate to say it) unprecedented times made Benny Drama an iconic internet hall of famer, and it doesn’t look like he’ll…

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Series Review: The Four Seasons; Tina Fey’s new Netflix outing is a more dramatic affair than expected

Despite being created by Tina Fey, whose previous television ventures have adhered to a more satirical, exaggerated mentality (see 30 Rock and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), her Netflix offering, The Four Seasons, is considerably more grounded and dramatic.  Sure, there’s genuine bouts of humour peppered across the 8 episodes, but audiences expecting raucous laughter best…

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Film Review: Another Simple Favour is a twisted, delicious black comedy that savours its melodramatic flair

Whilst it shouldn’t have taken as long as 7 years for us to be gifted a sequel to 2018’s comedic thriller A Simple Favour – a quirky piece that played out like Gone Girl rinsed through the cycle of a soap opera – director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy) and writers Jessica Sharzer (who also penned…

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Nicole Kidman and her Nine Perfect Strangers are back for Season 2 in first look trailer

Following the star-studded intrigue of its first season (you can read our review here), Prime Video’s Nine Perfect Strangers has finally returned for a second helping of a gloriously accented (and wigged) Nicole Kidman and her questionable methods of therapy in the first look trailer for the anticipated new seasons. In the latest episodes, nine…

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Series Review: Étoile is a visually beautiful and wonderful celebration of the world of ballet

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, the Emmy winning showrunners and collaborative couple who created shows like the beloved Gilmore Girls and the critically acclaimed The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, are diving into the world of ballet with Étoile. The Palladinos are far from strangers when it comes to world of music and dance, with both aforementioned series…

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Series Review: The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 is a fierce final march

The Handmaid’s Tale has always meant different things to different people; a cautionary tale, a grim prophecy, or a dramatised echo of historical truths. Over its run it’s drawn praise and criticism in equal measure, and now, as it enters its final season, it faces the daunting task of delivering a satisfying conclusion, while also…

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Series Review: The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a towering achievement that revels in its atmospheric brutality

Though there’s usually always a sense of unflinching violence that laces the filmic work of director Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Nitram, The Order), his debut detour into episodic television, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, is considerably more blunt in its brutality.  Perhaps because the prose at the series’ center – Richard Flanagan‘s winning novel…

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Interview: The Narrow Road to the Deep North writer Shaun Grant and producer Jo Porter on bringing the acclaimed novel to the screen

Based on Richard Flanagan’s acclaimed 2013 novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a savagely beautiful five-part series charting the life of Dorrigo Evans (played by Jacob Elordi as a young man and Ciarán Hinds as the older iteration), through his passionate love affair with his uncle’s wife (Odessa Young), his time held…

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Should you stream Netflix’s Ransom Canyon this Easter weekend?

The type of show where the melodrama is ripe, the ranch settings are lush and the aesthetically pleasing cast go by such names as Yancy and Staten, Ransom Canyon has the right temperament to be the next easily digestible Netflix streaming obsession.  The type of generic show people put on to not pay attention to,…

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Interview: Luke Arnold on returning for Scrublands: Silver; “It’s about making the inevitable conclusion not too obvious.”

In the brand new season of Scrublands, it’s been a year since the life changing events of Scrublands and award-winning investigative journalist Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold) has returned to his coastal hometown, Port Silver, WA, to set up a new life with partner Mandy Bond (Bella Heathcote). When he arrives to find his childhood friend…

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High Potential Series Review: Why you should be watching Kaitlin Olson’s highly entertaining crime show

[This episode contains spoilers for the final episode of High Potential] If you haven’t been watching High Potential, the latest crime drama out of America created by Drew Goddard, then the good news is, you can now binge-watch all 13 episodes of season one on Disney +. The season finale, which aired on Thursday April…

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The Last of Us Season 2 returns with a compelling first episode

It’s been two years since The Last of Us Season 1 became a cultural phenomenon on HBO. The second season of the show is adapting the video game “The Last of Us Part II”, and strangely enough in the first 5 minutes of the season opener, the show just randomly spoils the big twist from…

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First wave of stars announced for Adelaide and Melbourne’s Oz Comic-Con 2025

It’s that time of the year again, and Oz Comic-Con 2025 is creeping around the corner, set to hit Adelaide and Melbourne with the first wave of pop culture stars revealed. Catherine Tate (Doctor Who, The Office), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, The Boys), and Brandon Rogers (Helluva Boss, YouTube) will all be in attendance for both the Adelaide…

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Series Review: Ten Pound Poms Season Two takes us further into 1950s Australia

Having made it to Australia in season one, the characters of Stan and BBC One’s collaborative historical drama series Ten Pound Poms find themselves faced with even more stark realities about their new life as the show returns for a second season. While each of the core characters came to the camp at Galgownie in New…

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Series Review: Love on the Spectrum Season Three will have you crying tears of joy

Love on the Spectrum is back for their third season on Netflix. The Emmy winning documentary-type series, which fittingly premiered worldwide on World Autism Day (April 2nd), is a reality TV show based off of the Australian version of the same name, created and produced by Karina Holden and Cian O’Clery. It follows the lives…

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Series Review: The Bondsman proves the perfect blend of gory horror and situational comedy

The Bondsman is a horror-comedy series that tells the story of Hub Halloran (Kevin Bacon, comical and ever charismatic), a murdered bounty hunter in the south whose bound for Hell due to his own sins, before being brought back to life by the Devil to hunt demons on Earth that have escaped the pits of…

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Series Review: Mid-Century Modern; Hilarious, nostalgic sitcom breaks down queer stereotypes as much as it embraces them

Watching something like Mid-Century Modern you’re reminded of both the golden age of the multi-cam, live audience classicality of a sitcom, as well as the shift in televisual consumption, with this nostalgic itch-scratching firecracker of a show taking advantage of its streaming setting with boundary-pushing humour and considerable profanity; once you hear the stupendous Linda…

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Film Review: Holland; Nicole Kidman anchors ambitious, twisted mystery thriller

If there’s one thing about our Nicole Kidman, it’s that she’s going to work! Fresh off three of last year’s buzziest shows (Expats, Lioness and The Perfect Couple) and a criminally Oscar-oversighted performance in the erotic drama Babygirl, the perennially busy actress/producer is at the centre of another twisted thriller of sorts in Prime Video’s…

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Interview: Mid-Century Modern creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick on evolutionary comedy and ensemble casting

After changing the way network television viewed queer comedy with their revolutionary sitcom Will & Grace, creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are set to alter the landscape of the streaming space with Mid-Century Modern, a classic multi-cam comedy series about old friends, new roommates and chosen family. Executive produced by Ryan Murphy, directed by…

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Series Review: The Studio; Seth Rogen’s “inside baseball” series about the film studio scene is perfectly constructed comedy

Whilst there is a certain “inside baseball”-like mentality to The Studio – the Seth Rogen–Evan Goldberg-created comedy series about the moving and shaking of a new film studio head and his attempt to salvage the newly acquired company’s evidently floundering reputation – such is the genius of Rogen and Goldberg’s handling (the duo co-directing each…

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Interview: Matt Moran on fusing food and celebrity recollections in his new show Memory Bites with Matt Moran

We all have a “memory bite” – a dish that unlocks a treasure trove of memories and reminds us that food is a gateway to the stories and emotions that shape who we are. In the brand-new series Memory Bites with Matt Moran, the iconic chef and restaurateur transports beloved famous faces back to pivotal moments in…

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Here’s why you should be making plans to stay at Netflix’s The Residence

A queer President. An occasionally profane Kylie Minogue. An unseen Hugh Jackman. A birder-obsessed detective.  And a murder most foul. An Agatha Christie-meets-Clue-like mystery series from the Shondaland factory (i.e. Shonda Rhimes, the figurehead behind such TV successes as Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder, and Bridgerton), The Residence is an intelligent, witty…

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Interview: Director Geremy Jasper on his 20-years in the making rock opera O’Dessa; “I always build characters through music and sounds and lyrics.”

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is an original rock opera about a farm girl (Sadie Sink) on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom.  Her journey leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love – but in order to save his soul, she must put…

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Film Review: O’Dessa; Post-apocalyptic rock opera delights in its audacious maximalism

Whilst his previous film – 2017’s crowd-pleasing Patti Cake$ – had a scrappiness to it, it beamed with a personality larger than its budget.  For O’Dessa, director Geremy Jasper delights in supreme maximalism, as his post-apocalyptic musical-romance hybrid projects its bigness through both its visuals and its central thematic of how love can transform one’s…

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Nathan Lane and Matt Bomer are old friends and new roommates in first trailer for their new sitcom Mid-Century Modern

Described as a sitcom in the same vein as the classic Golden Girls, Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick & David Kohan and executive producer Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story, Pose) have brought together a trio of friends by chance, but family by choice in Mid-Century Modern, which today has revealed its trailer ahead…

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First impressions: Disney+’s Win or Lose is a home run for Pixar

Animation studio Pixar take on their first Disney+ original animated television show with Win or Lose. In the eight episode series, Pixar return to their roots with a story following a middle-school softball championship league told in an anthology style, with each episode told from a different kid and adult that affects the baseball team’s…

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