Games Review: Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventure (Switch, 2018): More of the same

Ubisoft returns to Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, the surprise strategy hit of 2017, with a lengthy new slab of DLC with Donkey Kong in the spotlight. To call Donkey Kong Adventure an “expansion” in the strictest sense might be to oversell it. It doesn’t really add much to the game that wasn’t there already….

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Review: Shangri-La Hotel – Supreme Comfort in the Heart of Tokyo

As forward-thinking Tokyo is, the idea of classicism still very much permeates many of the city’s institutions. Elegance and efficiency is a pathological expectation, and more often than not, those expectations are met tenfold. This is a large reason why, despite an overwhelming language barrier and high degree of cultural shock (for first-timers anyway), Tokyo…

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Single of the Day: Holiday Sidewinder “Leo” (2018)

Holiday Sidewinder has long been one of our favourite songwriters and more recently, if you’ve seen Alex Cameron on the road with The Killers, you’ll have been lucky enough to see this lady performing on home soil for the first time in forever. The spotlight has swung right back onto Holiday though as focus turns…

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Behind the scenes of the making of Sweater Curse’s new clip for “Can’t See You Anymore”

The video clip for “Can’t See You Anymore” was shot at my parents’ house (also her childhood home) in Annerley. Jennifer Embleton directed the film, with Short Stack Productions as the filming crew. We filmed the clip in one day and Jen got a first cut back to us within 24 hours – she is…

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Datarock return with wild new record Face the Brutality and new single “Everything”

Norway’s Datarock have been riding a pretty sweet wave recently with the release of their latest record Face the Brutality; with the recent debut of their wild new music video for “Everything”, the electronic group is continuing their hot streak. Find out a bit more about the band’s new single, straight from the horse’s mouth! Can you…

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30 Minutes with Superorganism: Don’t call them a cult, but compare them to Regurgitator and chat about Adelaide

It’s the end of May and I’m in Brighton, England for the annual The Great Escape conference and festival; possibly the world’s best event to discover new talent, and see the artists that everyone’s been talking about over the last six months or so. One act who fit very much in the latter category are…

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Red Carpet Photos: Skyscraper holds its Australian Premiere in Sydney

The new movie starring Dwayne Johnson hits cinemas this Thursday, but a few lucky ones got to see the anticipated action film before anyone else today at the Australian premiere in Sydney. Nathan Atkins was there and brings us these photos from the Skyscraper red carpet. [print_gllr id=51360] ———- This content has recently been ported…

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Oz Comic Con Brisbane and Sydney Commence Guest Announcements

As the days continue to pass we move slowly away from the wintry delight of Oz Comic Con Melbourne and look ahead to the Brisbane and Sydney events to be held in a hopefully sunshine-y spring time. And a couple of the names are local home grown talent. Most recently starring in the critically acclaimed…

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Win an in-season double pass to see Whitney in cinemas

She sold over 200 million albums. She’s the only solo recording artist to score 7 consecutive number 1 singles. Her song “I Will Always Love You” is the most sold single ever by a woman singer. Behind the records, the rumours, the scandals, the secrets and the glory, here is the real Whitney. Directed by…

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The cast of Twin Peaks to head down under in unique Conversation with the Stars Tour

In an Australian first, five stars from the hit series Twin Peaks will be touring Australia for an exclusive ‘Conversation with the Stars’ evening from 25 August to 2 September, 2018. The event will take place in Melbourne at the Palais Theatre 25 August, Brisbane’s Eatons Hill 26 August, Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre 29 August, Sydney’s…

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Screen Australia Makes Historic Change to Story Development Guidelines

Screen Australia has announced that new development guidelines have been finalised and are now in effect, following two months of industry consultation. These guidelines will look to make funding more accessible, while supporting talent with a strong idea and concise target audience. Senior Development Executive at Screen Australia Nerida Moore commented on this change, saying “Industry support…

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Baker Boy, Kardajala Kirridarra, Jessica Mauboy amongst National Indigenous Music Award nominees

The finalists for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards have been revealed today, as well as the artists who are set to perform at the ceremony in Darwin on August 11th. Baker Boy (pictured), Jessica Mauboy, Dan Sultan and Kardajala Kirridarra are among the nominees, each having had absolute belters of 2018 thus far. Both Baker Boy and Kardajala Kirridarra are…

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Music Video of the Day: Mojo Juju “Native Tongue” (2018)

Mojo Juju has long been one of Australia’s most dynamic performers and in her songwriting over the last few years in particular, has demonstrated her talent as an intense and driven artist unafraid to wear her personal stories – challenges and wins – on her sleeve. The new single from Mojo, “Native Tongue”, is a…

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Interview: Motez chats about his latest EP, Late Thoughts

Off the back of achieving ARIA Gold on his charismatic 2017 record “The Future” featuring Antony & Cleopatra, with upwards of a staggering 10 million online streams, Adelaide producer Motez has released his first new music of the year, the Late Thoughts EP. Motez chats to the AU Review about touring and making the EP. How’s…

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MIFF to screen record number of films direct from the Cannes Film Festival

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will include a whopping 43 feature films and special shorts hand picked from this year’s Cannes Film Festival. For many of these films, this will be their first screening outside of Cannes. Ahead of the full program announcement on 10 July, the Cannes line-up will feature festival award winners…

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ACMI and Film Victoria Announce Full Program for Series Mania 2018

ACMI and Film Victoria have officially announced the full lineup for Series Mania 2018, packed with a program of 23 series set to launch in Melbourne at ACMI in Melbourne’s Federation Square later this month. The program consists of 20 TV series and 3 web series, including highlights in the form of 5 world premieres,…

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Games Review: Mario Tennis Aces (Switch, 2018) nails the sports-fighter hybrid

Introducing fighting elements to a tennis game was a clever move from Camelot, and its one which carries much of Mario Tennis Aces into uncharted territory, giving the gameplay just enough depth to justify stamping this as the finest Mario Tennis title to date. While there is most certainly a feeling of missed opportunities peppered…

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Film Review: The Second (Australia, 2018) is a slow-burning look at the blurred lines between art & real life

When you think of words like “The Second” it’s easy to be dismissive and consider it something sub-par. In the context of the new Australian film, it’s all about a writer grappling with penning her sophomore novel. But this plodding, psychological drama ultimately comes off as second-best due to some issues with its pacing and…

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Scandinavian Film Festival Review: A Horrible Woman (En frygtelig kvinde) shows us all how not to have a relationship

It may be cliché to say, but it takes two to tango. That is certainly the environment that the film, A Horrible Woman (En frygtelig kvinde) operates in. This Danish dramedy is a provocative observation of a dysfunctional relationship. It is also one that will prompt some serious discussion by audiences in its wake. The…

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Game Review: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (Switch, 2018) spins its way onto all Major Platforms.

I had the pleasure of diving back into the way back machine with the old overgrown, orange marsupial last week with Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on the Nintendo Switch. Crash, despite a few niggling flaws, it still holds up magnificently after 22 years thanks to its wonderful remaster of the very first 3 games in…

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Mantra opens a new $40 million hotel in the heart of Albury, New South Wales

Furthering their presence in regional areas around Australia, Mantra – whose Mantra Group was recently acquired by AccorHotels for $1.2 billion – has opened a shiny new property in the border city of Albury, overlooking its section of the vast Murray River in the heart of the Riverina town. This is the first hotel to…

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Book Review: Michelle Scott Tucker’s Elizabeth Macarthur is a love letter to a successful businesswoman in a fledgling colony

We so often read about history but what about her-story? At school many of us learned about the contributions of John Macarthur to Australia’s agricultural industry. But little has been said about his wife, Elizabeth Macarthur, another integral player in this story. Michelle Scott Tucker rectifies this  with her debut, the engaging biography: Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life…

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Queensland Film Festival announces its full 2018 program

The Queensland Film Festival (QFF) returns this year with one of the largest celebrations of film and art to date. From July 19 to 29, the Brisbane-based festival will boast 59 features and shorts, inluding 39 Australian premieres and an exhibition at Gallery of Modern Art, that will also run the course of the festival….

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Games Review: The Crew 2 (PS4, 2018) is a fun ride, but fails to transform the genre into anything new

The Crew 2 immediately presents itself as a different kind of racer, drawing on its arcade-like mechanics of the past, while infusing they with new mechanics encouraging transformation and an even bigger variety of vehicles to choose from, across the land, sea and sky. Seems like an improvement right? Well, not exactly. While The Crew…

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Emirates are now letting passengers book their seats via virtual reality

Emirates has become the world’s first airline to introduce virtual reality on its digital platform, allowing would-be flyers access to 3D seat models as part of a visualisation engine displaying a 360-degree view of the interior of both the Emirates A380 and the Emirates Boeing 777. This has been designed especially to give customers a…

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Review: Verdi’s Rigoletto is back, again (Sydney Opera House until 24th August)

Tackling Verdi’s Rigoletto in the #metoo era could have been a real opportunity for Opera Australia. A story featuring a leader who believes women merely objects for his desire and a disadvantaged subject who cheers on this behaviour until it is directed towards his own daughter – just think of the possible political parallels to…

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Review: Lucio Pizzeria celebrate “Australia’s Best Pizza” win (Sydney)

Walking away with the title of best pizza in Australia is nothing to be taken lightly. That’s exactly what Lucio De Falco did at this year’s authoritative World Pizza Championships, snatching the title from the usual suspects and bringing it home to his two Sydney restaurants, Darlinghurst’s acclaimed Lucio and its more recently opened Zetland…

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Review: Devon Cafe nail the winter truffle menu yet again (Sydney)

Now that all three of their venues across Sydney (the original Surry Hills location, North Sydney and Barangaroo) are well-established, Devon Café has never been in a stronger position. The highly influential and pioneering café, which arguably bolstered the cities offensive in its ongoing dining rivalry with Melbourne, remains one of the best and most…

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Interview: Strict Face talks playing Scouted in Adelaide this month

Adelaide’s Strict Face will be one of the talented artists set to showcase as part of this year’s Scouted event that will be taking over the city on July 27th. Quick to be welcomed into the NLV Records fold and also by music fans right around the country, the producer has been continuously building on his craft…

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POW! Negro debut new single “I Am the Judge” along with new name, SUPEREGO

WA group POW! Negro went off grid after whipping up a great deal of acclaim and hype surrounding their hectic live shows and impactful music, causing a bit of confusion and more interest, if we’re honest. Now though, it’s all made sense – they’ve re-emerged with a new name, refreshed approach and a kicking new single…

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