This month’s free game haul for Xbox Live subscribers is a pretty solid one. This month sees the usual drop of four free titles, ranging from strategy to indies, family games and retro gems. So here’s what you get: Xbox One: Prison Architect — available Sept. 1 to 30 Livelock — available Sept. 16 to…
Sony’s had a few up-and-down months with their PlayStation Plus freebies. After the 2018 high water mark of Bloodborne, they’ve haven’t really had another title come through that lives up to the same lofty stature. Until now. September’s offerings bring both Destiny 2 and God of War 3 Remastered into the PlayStation Plus freebie fold. That’s…
Oh, look! We have another Berg-er joint coming in cinemas! Mile 22 is the fourth collaboration between actor Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg after the three dramatic films that were based on true stories i.e. the biographical war drama Lone Survivor, the disaster film Deepwater Horizon and the crime drama Patriots Day. All of…
Private theatre service Revels In Hand is teaming up with Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London to present four evenings of intimate, luxury theatre. Revels In Hand, the brainchild of actors Melanie Fullbrook, Freddie Hutchins and Lucy Eaton, are passionate about reviving the lost leisure of theatre done intimately; something which was all the rage…
I don’t know when it happened precisely, but at some time in the last few years I became a huge fan of the Yakuza series. If I weren’t working as a games critic, it’s likely I never would have played them. And to not have played them would have been a tremendous shame. The Yakuza…
To everyone who’s ever asked me what camera to buy “to take nicer photos than my phone” — get a Lumix GX9. You’re welcome. In all seriousness, I did not expect to become so enamoured with this camera. Smaller mirrorless cameras usually leave me underwhelmed, with their noisy after-dark shots, clunky menus and plastic feel,…
Australian cinema has produced some of the finest comedy the screen has ever seen. But the romantic comedy genre is not a territory we Aussies explore particularly well. For every groundbreaking example like last year’s sublime Ali’s Wedding, there’s something as generically safe as The Flip Side, the debut feature film from producer-turned-writer/director Marion Pilowsky. There’s nothing…
The BenQ Zowie range of esports monitors has become something of a quiet achiever in the world of PC gaming. They represent a viable alternative to bigger, sometimes much more well-known brands and place a higher premium on user consideration than any of them. The Zowie XL2546’s full name, the “BenQ Zowie XL2546 240Hz DyAc…
I recently wrote that there were some record labels that were invariably on the money. Here’s another example: Colemine Records. Based out of Loveland, Ohio this independent label consistently pumps out high quality 45’s and LP’s from the best Soul and Funk bands you’ve maybe never heard of (but you should have). One of my favourite…
“Devestation laced in my presentation” Ka’s delivery of this line from Orpheus, part of a collaboration project with producer Animoss, is one of the best stylistic summations of an album written in recent memory. The duo, operating under the pseudonym Hermit and the Recluse have worked together on a beautifully dark piece of music, heavily…
It takes quite some time before Kin ramps into its intergalactic promise, with Aussie directors Jonathan and Josh Baker stretching their indie short Bag Man into an odd hybrid feature to try thin the chunky line between on-the-road family drama and sci-fi. And while the uneven plot can be frustrating to witness as it slowly…
Field Day is returning to Sydney in 2019 for another New Years Day celebration. Now in its 18th year, the annual music festival held at The Domain has become renowned for it’s friendly atmosphere and killer line-ups. The 2019 instalment is no exception judging by the stellar line-up that dropped this week, featuring artists such…
The Sydney Opera House will play host to seminal alt-rockers The Breeders, and founding member of Animal Collective, Panda Bear in November and December. Making their return to Australia with their iconic lineup, The Breeders are celebrating the release of All Nerve, their first album in a decade. Meanwhile, Panda Bear is also making his Australian debut…
Sydney based producer and musician Oh My My stuns with his scintillating new single, “Woe, My Heart”. Breaking onto the scene earlier this year with the dark and sultry “Animal House”, this latest effort sees him switch lanes, opting for a brighter, more sincere sound. If “Woe, My Heart” is a sign of things to…
One of the few country rock bands set to play BIGSOUND next week are WAM Award winners The Little Lord Street Band, and today we’re excited to premiere their new music video “Waking Up Next To You” from their third EP of the same name. Here’s everything you need to know about the single and…
A film like Crazy Rich Asians is a long time coming. For the past 25 years, since the release of Wayne Wang‘s expansive drama, The Joy Luck Club, there haven’t been a lot of films in the Hollywood system that featured Asian-Americans in substantial roles; let alone managed to assemble a talented ensemble cast. Whilst, the…
Multiplayer is something that, over the years, has moved further and further into the online-only space. All but gone are the days of friends or family paying with (or against) one another on a single console. The days of couch party titles like Mario Kart 64 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 are gone, replaced…
Once scorned, we return. After months of speculation, the highly anticipated trailer for the third season of HBO’s True Detective has arrived, leaving viewers wondering, can the show redeem itself? When True Detective first hit our screens in 2014 it was a critically acclaimed success. Starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the first season of…
On the back of the soulful and romantic The Divine Feminine, Mac Miller has returned with another album cut from this cloth. Swimming is similar in style, but more mournful and self-reflective than romantic and starry-eyed, with welcome introspection from Mac, reminiscent of his earlier rap-oriented projects like Watching Movies With The Sound Off and Faces….
Spring is right around the corner! The night’s will be getting longer, and a helluva lot warmer. So there’s no better time to get out and enjoy some live music, and Melbourne, you’ve got some killer gigs coming up next month! Here are our picks for the best live music events not to miss in…
Untitled Goose Game, the goose vs farmer trolling simulator from Melbourne developer House House, captured the internet’s imagination last year with its hilarious debut trailer. The biggest question that trailer failed to answer was “When can I play this, and why isn’t the answer ‘right now’?” The answer might be sooner than you think. House…
With their debut EP now only a couple of months away, the latest single from up-and-coming Norwegian indie rockers Charlotte & Thieves, “The Machine,” offers a tantalising glimpse at what’s to come from the band. For a group still very much in their infancy, they are one very much on the rise at home in Norway, garnering…
Ahead of her Melbourne Recital Centre show this Thursday, we caught up with Australian composer and pianist Sophie Hutchings to chat about her new EP Candela, the composing process behind her serene recordings, and find out how her Sydney show went last week! What are your earliest memories of the piano? Were you experimenting or enchanted from a young age…
As Gamescom wraps up for another year, we’ve put together a list of the most exciting trailers Europe’s biggest gaming show had to offer. Fallout 76 You will emerge! But only after spending two months eating nothing but Doritos in your dark bedroom trying to finish this game. Fallout 76‘s latest trailer, “A New American…
Beginning the evening strongly, Essie Holt had a large role to play in building the atmosphere for the rest of the night, with the Melbourne producer perfectly setting the scene and helping to harness the rooms burgeoning energy with her dance-pop anthems. Her earlier singles “Magnetise” and “Underwater” held their own through her set, and…
The games that make the biggest splash at E3 are the ones that debut a big, bombastic trailer to the public. What was remarkable about CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 was that it didn’t do any of that, and still became the talk of the show. The game didn’t even have a trailer that was…
Recently nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), Cindy O’Connor has just ended a seven year run composing music for the TV series Once Upon a Time. We caught up with the composer to look back on the series, learn more about her and talk about the fact…
Streaming service Amazon Prime Video have just shown off the first footage from the anticipated third season of their critically acclaimed series The Man in the High Castle. Based on author Phillip K. Dick’s award-winning alternate history novel, The Man in the High Castle paints a daunting picture, placing the axis powers in a state of…
Two-time Oscar nominated actress Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) will lead an all-star cast in the upcoming Stan Original series Bloom. The six-part drama series from Playmaker will be distributed by Sony with principal funding from Screen Australia. The all-star cast will also include Bryan Brown (The Light Between Oceans, Red Dog True Blue), Phoebe Tonkin…
Whenever Father’s Day comes around Sydneysiders are tempted in every direction by some of the city’s top restaurants, all of which offer up special menus to help you treat dad the right way. It’s often one of the best days of the year to really tease out a dining destination’s finest dishes at reasonable prices,…
