Japanese Film Festival Classics program returns to 2015 with an array of the best Japanese films selected from the works of renowned filmmaker, Kon Ichikawa. This tribute highlights Ichikawa significance in moulding the style of 20th Century Japanese films. All screenings are free and are to be held in the Domain Theatre, featuring a total…

Singapore, save the date! On January 30th, the annual St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival will be heading back to The Meadow, Gardens by The Bay. 2016’s lineup is ready to showcase the best international and local talent. The full lineup will be announced on September 22nd. The sixth edition of this annual event in Singapore will…

Over the past two years, Northlane‘s rise to the top has been a public one – from ARIA and triple j award nominations to being added to a slew of festivals and tours. And then, earlier this year, their brand new record Node debuted at number one on the ARIA charts. And now this week,…

For those pining for more Geralt of Rivia in their lives, CD Projekt Red have announced that Hearts of Stone, the first story-driven expansion for their fantasy RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, will release October 13. Geralt has been hired to take down a bandit captain named Olgierd von Everec, who is supposedly immortal. Geralt…

TV series Empire caused quite a stir with it’s first season, quickly becoming one of the most talked about shows of the year and establishing itself as a firm player amongst the likes of network big guns like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong with stand-out performances…

I’ve been thinking for a few days now about how I was going to approach my Mad Max review. I’ve found it an incredibly difficult game to review, for a number of reasons. It lacks the punch of Mad Max Fury Road and the vision of Shadow of Mordor. But it’s not bad. In fact,…

On Sunday 18th October at Village Cinemas Crown in Melbourne, the cast of new comedy-drama The Dressmaker will be on hand at a red carpet premiere. The impressive line-up includes Liam Hemsworth and co-stars Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving, and Sarah Snook. What’s more is that the highly acclaimed filmmaking team will also be in attendance,…

Need to catch a TV break and don’t know what to watch? Simon takes us through his top picks on must-see shows and films for the week. Click through to see what’s showing for your entertainment needs…. Wednesday 9th September 2015 9/11: The Lost Hero-ABC2-9.20pm AEST There are innumerable tales of heroism from 9/11; with…

The title of this film doesn’t really give much of an insight into its narrative and in fact, the word “life” has a bit of a double entendre. It couples as both the act of existing as well as the name of the publication that one of our leads works for. Not so surprisingly though,…

A deeply emotional and captivating film, Mia Madre (My Mother) stands as what is bound to be one of the many beautifully told Italian films on offer for the Lavazza Italian Film Festival. Having won awards from the likes of the Cannes Film Festival 2015 (Prize of the Ecumenical Jury), and being directed by Nanni…

Sunday evening saw Joshua Radin kick off his Australian tour with an intimate gig at Perth’s Rosemount Hotel. It might have been a Sunday night and it might have been father’s day but that didn’t stop a sizeable crowd come out for Radin’s first ever gig in Perth; “the chillest place on earth” apparently. Opening…

1996 classic Trainspotting, a landmark achievement in raw British cinema, has remained the crowning achievement of Director Danny Boyle. Adapted from Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name almost two decades ago, the black comedy is a reference point for the careers of all involved, particularly Ewan McGregor who played Renton, one of the four…

Variety is reporting that Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of the Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events book series is moving closer to production. Paramount Pictures, who also ran the ship on the last adaptation – the 2004 film starring Jim Carrey – have hired Mark Hudis (True Blood) as the showrunner and Barry Sonnenfeld to…

Kill Me Three Times is a black comedy/thriller that sees professional assassin Charlie Wolfe (Simon Pegg) tangled up in a web of deception tying together the rural lives of a dentist (Sullivan Stapleton), a bartender (Callan Mulvey) and his lover (Alice Braga) in Western Australia. Unfortunately, despite the messy fun of this premise and the…

In a small town in America’s Bible belt, Christianity and tradition reign supreme. For the past 88 years a community in the Holy City of the Wichitas have staged an Easter passion play/pageant that once saw audiences number the tens of thousands. Jesus Town USA is a documentary that is warm and sweet-enough but can…

“I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy… but it’s brought you all here today.” Peter Greste knows that journalists don’t have the best reputation at the moment. He even puts them up with used car salesmen and politicians in public opinion. But all jokes aside, Greste spoke at this year’s Festival…

They’ve been coined “the next Tame Impala” and aside from sharing a home city of Perth, Methyl Ethel are experiencing a similar national hype with the former. The three-piece played to a packed room at Sydney’s Newtown Social Club, following a performance at the weekend’s Volumes Festival. Despite the crowd, they remained humble and ran their…

Pixels is not your usual alien invasion fare type film. It’s also not your usual Adam Sandler type film. And it’s also not your usual family type film either. You would think that being unusual would work in its favour but sadly it doesn’t. What this film does have is some funny moments, some really…

In our 75th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Stephen and Simon from I’m Not A Band an electro pop act from Berlin and chat about their latest track, ’Cages’. Musician/Band Name: I’m Not A Band Website / Social Media: www.imnotaband.com Facebook / Soundcloud Genre: Alternative Electro Pop Members & their roles: Stephan Jung: Violin,…

A brand new poster has been revealed for the upcoming 24th Bond film, Spectre. The film is the fourth film to star Daniel Craig as the iconic spy – and is contracted for a fifth and final turn. The film is released in November. Check out the “bone-chilling” new poster, here:

Sequels, prequels, adaptations, and spin-offs rule in this week’s Australian DVD and Blu-Ray releases. Here are our three picks for the week…

Every second Friday, guests to the In The House Screenings at Event Cinemas on George Street (Sydney) are treated to a trivia question from your friends here at The Iris. And here is where they come to find the answer! This week, the question concerns the classic 1986 film Highlander. And we made it a…

Call Me Lucky is a fascinating and compelling portrait of one of the most memorable and significant voices in comedy that you’ve never heard of. However, once you hear Barry Crimmins declaration – “I’d like to overthrow the government of the United States, and I’d like to close the Catholic Church” – it’s hard to…

At the Sydney red carpet premiere for N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton we talked to legendary emcee Ice Cube about the film’s success, the timeline of the plot, and find out if filming has inspired him, in a similar way to Dr Dre, to release new music. Having put his 10th studio album, Everythang’s Corrupt…

Straight Outta Compton is fresh of a huge three-week dominance in the U.S Box Office, holding onto the number 1 position despite some strong competition. The N.W.A biopic, which currently has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, has finally made it’s way down to Australia and at the Sydney premiere we caught up with O’Shea…

From the pages of young adult science fiction writer Rick Yancey comes the film The 5th Wave. Due out next January,  Chloe Grace Moretz will star as older sister and lone survivor, Cassie on an Earth dominated by Martians called “The Others”. With the Earth already in ruins just four waves in, the 5th wave is coming…

Among the lush landscapes of Sydney’s Harbour, Flicks at The Greens offers the perfect destination for an outdoor cinema experience. From September 16th till October 11th,  Flicks at The Greens is screening a movie every week from Wednesday to Sunday at sundown. The intimate movie sessions are being held at North Sydney at The Green’s freshly refurbished…

Wayward Pines is M. Night Shyamalan’s first venture into the world of TV and while it lives up to his legacy of telling stories with ridiculous plots, it has got way too many problems to hold its own against all the other compelling shows at the moment. Based on the book by Blake Crouch, the…

Based on the book by David Ebershoff, The Danish Girl is the inspiring love story based on the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (portrayed by Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander [Ex Machina]). Directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables), the film follows Lili and Gerda’s…

Street artist Anthony Lister (better known as just “Lister”) has directed a music video for Sydney band Fair Accompli. Though the single is a cover – of M.I.A’s “Born Free” – the video is unsurprisingly original. And it’s a superb reimagining of the song to boot. Enjoy our music video of the day, here, and…