TV & Streaming

Interview: Hushidar Kharas, head of Prime Video Australia and New Zealand, on searching for “the Prime Video Buff”

Australians are obsessed with content, with new research from Prime Video Australia revealing the average Australian has watched 67 movies and TV series this year alone. With tens of thousands of titles to choose from on Prime Video, choosing what to watch can be hard. And let’s be honest, sometimes you just want to leave…

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Film Review: Disenchanted sadly lacks the magic of its predecessor

With Hocus Pocus 2 proving a sizeable success, The Princess Diaries 3 now officially in the works, and both Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan discussing their interest in a Freaky Friday sequel, the House of Mouse is more than proving itself in the business of revisiting original titles for the sake of nostalgia, fan…

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Film Review: The People We Hate at the Wedding lives up to its title as it wastes a talented cast on a tired premise and unlikeable script

Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned that with such a title as The People We Hate at the Wedding we’re unprepared to be subjected to people at a wedding that we do indeed hate.  A “comedy” that commits the cardinal sin of trying to make its hateful characters relatable and forgivable of their actions,…

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Amazon Australia announce first stop-motion holiday movie to help raise money for Starlight Children’s Foundation

Amazon Australia has today released a heart-warming stop-motion film with the help of the Amazon Playmakers – ten kids selected by Starlight Children’s Foundation to be the official toy testers for Amazon’s annual Top 100 Toy List. The Playmakers were sent a selection of the top 100 toys to test and review to help Australians…

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Interview: Deirdre Mullins on female-centric horror film Mandrake and equal representation within the industry

Premiering exclusively on Shudder from November 10th, Mandrake is a Northern Irish folk horror tale that marks the directorial feature debut of Lynne Davison. Premiering earlier this year at FrightFest Glasgow the film follows probation officer Cathy Madden (played by Scottish BAFTA-winner Deirdre Mullins), who is given the task of rehabilitating notorious killer ‘Bloody’ Mary…

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Prime Video offering $40K for brand new Prime Video Buff role

Just when you thought remote working was good, along comes remote-control working. Prime Video Australia today announced a nationwide search for a content junkie to fill a brand-new role—the Prime Video Buff. Prime Video is on the hunt for someone who lives and breathes entertainment to be employed in a full-time role** over summer and get…

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Film Review: Jennifer Lawrence’s stirring performance punches through Causeway‘s subtle nature

A low-key slice of independent cinema that you imagine wouldn’t be given as big of a spotlight had it not been for lead Jennifer Lawrence, Causeway nonetheless deserves its attention as it’s a determined and moving picture about one’s healing, both emotionally and physically. Adhering to the stripped-away mentality that drove her to her first…

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Film Review: My Policeman has grand intentions but mediocre execution

Given how wild everyone – or teenage girls, to be a little more accurate – are for pop’s main man-candy Harry Styles, it will no doubt throw much of his female following off as to how graphic the sexual scenes are in My Policeman, a queer love story that perseveres with grand intentions but, sadly,…

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Interview: Jennifer Blanc-Biehn on career highlights, global foreshadowing and what she’s surprisingly recognised from

Though she was born in New York, was on the Broadway stage by age 13, and working in Hollywood only years later, securing roles opposite such talent as Matthew Fox (1994’s Party of Five), Jared Leto (Cool and the Crazy in 1994) Shannen Doherty (1997’s Friends ‘Til The End), and Jessica Alba (in James Cameron’s…

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Interview: Todd Lasance on crossing over from television to film, dream projects and attempting comedy

From the beaches of Home and Away to starring opposite Michael B. Jordan in Without Remorse, by way of the acclaimed sword-and-sandals epic series Spartacus, Australian actor Todd Lasance is another homegrown success story carving his own international career. In the lead up to the Brisbane and Adelaide legs of the Supanova Comic Con &…

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Interview: Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne on The Good Nurse; “He’s America’s most prolific serial killer, and you’ve never heard of him”

Based on an incredible true story centred in the world of hospitals and health care, about how one woman’s growing suspicion of her co-worker led to America’s most prolific serial killer being brought to justice after 16 years of quietly killing patients across the US, The Good Nurse is a chilling true crime story that…

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Film Review: The Good Nurse overcomes any true crime narrative mechanisms with a strong, honest core

There’s something incredibly refreshing about The Good Nurse in that its true-crime temperament isn’t marred by overt manipulation – as so many of such adapted tales can be. Jessica Chastain (as typically great and committed as expected) is Amy, the titular good nurse, a single mother who is hiding her own ailment as she dedicates…

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Film Review: Rosaline is a charming reimagining of the world’s greatest love story

Before Romeo & Juliet, there was Romeo & Rosaline. Adopting a personality that takes inspiration from the likes of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet, 10 Things I Hate About You, and A Knight’s Tale, Rosaline is a charming romantic comedy that manages to present its meta commentary on the pros and cons of Shakespeare’s work…

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Six episodes in, is The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power worth watching?

If you have been glued to Amazon’s new show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power each week, you wouldn’t be alone. The first five episodes have firmly established the Second Age setting, filled with a lot of back story and establishment of Numenor, Southlands, Khazan-dum and Lindon. It feels all of this…

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Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel’s nuptials ignite in explosive trailer for Shotgun Wedding

It’s time to literally save the day for Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel in the first explosive trailer for Shotgun Wedding. Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) gather their lovable but very opinionated families for the ultimate destination wedding, just as the couple begin to get cold feet. And if that wasn’t enough of a threat…

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Interview: Casting director Jill Anthony Thomas on assembling Apple TV+ series Loot; “My favourite thing is finding and fostering new talent”

As casting director Jill Anthony Thomas states herself, those involved in the casting process are “the unsung heroes of the industry”.  Actors aren’t always handed a role.  And two performers on paper doesn’t equate to them working well in person.  So, thank the movie and television Gods that we have people like Jill to steer…

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Interview: Queer For Fear producer Bryan Fuller on uncovering the history of queer subtext within the horror genre

From its literary origins with queer authors Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde to the pansy craze of the 1920s that influenced Universal Monsters and Hitchcock; from the “lavender scare” alien invasion films of the mid-20th century to the AIDS obsessed bloodletting of 80s vampire films; through genre-bending horrors from a new generation of queer creators; Queer for Fear re-examines genre stories through a queer lens, seeing them not as violent, murderous…

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Interview: Melanie Zanetti on Raven’s Hollow, exploring psychological horror and the increased prominence of strong female roles

There’s always a certain joy in seeing someone you know personally excel in their chosen field of expertise. And for Peter Gray it was chatting with Queensland actress (and long-historied friend) Melanie Zanetti in conjunction with the release of Raven’s Hollow. After catching up and filling more than a few interview minutes on celebrating each…

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Film Review: Hocus Pocus 2 is campy, nonsensical, and bathed in a self-aware musicality

Like so many of the House of Mouse’s IPs, Hocus Pocus has been conjured once more.  Disney weren’t entirely sure they had a success on their hands some 30 years ago with the release of the original film – what with the studio releasing a Halloween-themed family film in July, for starters – and were…

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Why we have Cate Blanchett to thank for the return of Documentary Now!

Earlier in the month, three episodes from the new season of IFC’s iconic mockumentary series Documentary Now! premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).  And during a post-screening Q&A, it was revealed that we have Australia’s own Cate Blanchett to thank for its long awaited return. In front of a sold out audience at…

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Interview: Raven’s Hollow director Christopher Hatton on navigating gothic horror and upsetting genre purists

As the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired Raven’s Hollow begins to haunt horror streaming service Shudder just in time for the spooky season (you can read our review here), Peter Gray spoke with writer/director Christopher Hatton about navigating gothic horror, what he hopes Poe purists will take away from the film, and their own personal connection to each…

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Film Review: Raven’s Hollow is an atmospheric gothic horror tale that favours story over scares

Not exactly an origin story in the traditional – or autobiographical – sense, but a healthy start all the same as to how legendary horror writer Edgar Allan Poe fuelled his creativity for all things macabre, Christopher Hatton‘s Raven’s Hollow indulges in the author’s aesthetic for an atmospheric chiller that favours story over scares. In…

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My Policeman suffers from a glossy sheen that doesn’t naturally represent its queer merit: TIFF 2022 Review

Given how wild everyone – or teenage girls, to be a little more accurate – are for pop’s main man-candy Harry Styles, it will no doubt throw much of his female following off as to how graphic the sexual scenes are in My Policeman, a queer love story that perseveres with grand intentions but, sadly,…

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V/H/S/99 flexes its creative muscle with a shaky form: TIFF 2022 Review

One of the more unlikely franchises of a resilient nature, V/H/S/, a retro-appearing horror anthology effort that often compiles a series of genre directors flexing their creative muscle through short horror narratives, is now in its fifth iteration in the form of V/H/S/99. The horror tales that often are confined within the V/H/S/ films are always…

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Film Review: Confess, Fletch; the long awaited sequel we didn’t know we needed

The idea of a Fletch remake/reboot/sequel has long been discussed for almost three decades now.  The obvious suggestions of Jason Lee and Jason Sudeikis were thrown around for contention to follow in Chevy Chase’s comedic footsteps during its production, but after consistent stop/starts it has fallen to Jon Hamm to pick up the mantle and…

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First Impressions: Amazon’s The Rings of Power is a sensual feast of Tolkien goodness

Set in the middle age of Middle Earth, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and the One Ring, Amazon Prime Video’s new series The Rings of Power. After watching the first two episodes, it is clear the studio squeezed every cent out of the reported $465 million dollars for its first season…

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Interview: Director Daniel Roher on controversial political documentary Navalny; “It’s really important that the world remembers that not all Russians are evil”

In August 2020, Alexei Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition was poisoned with a lethal nerve agent in an assassination attempt.  In the months following, the shocking revelations about the attempt on his life came to light during his road to recovery, a process that was captured by award-winning director Daniel Roher in his…

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Interview: Director Rebekah McKendry on her philosophical scarer Glorious

The pandemic gave many a creative time to think as so much of the entertainment industry faced an uncertain future. For director Rebekah McKendry through, it played into her favour. Presented with a unique, near-singular-set horror film that mused on philosophy and existentialism, Glorious seemed like an idea born from a world that was unsure…

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Film Review: Glorious is surprisingly contemplative for a lightly demented horror film

With a rest-stop bathroom glory hole serving as a type of universal gateway between a confused, confined Ryan Kwanten and an unseen, but very heard, J.K. Simmons, one would be forgiven for thinking Glorious may be, well, just a little filthy. Sure, it’s dirty at times and leans into a gory mentality when it sees…

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ABC iView reveal new miniseries Soundtrack To Our Teenage Zombie Apocalypse

What do you do when you get trapped in an abandoned building during a zombie apocalypse? Write a song about it, of course. ABC iView have today revealed the exclusive new miniseries Soundtrack To Our Teenage Zombie Apocalypse (STOTZA for short). The 10 half-hour-episode feature follows four teenage musicians on a mission to win triple…

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