Carina Nilma

Film Review: Pixels (PG, USA, 2015)

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…

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Film Review: Hitman: Agent 47 (MA15+, Germany/USA, 2015)

Hollywood hasn’t had the greatest track record when it comes to translating video games into films. There’s been but a handful that have been worth watching, the Resident Evil series, Lara Croft Tomb Raider and cult classic Mortal Kombat all rank amongst the good ones. With Hitman: Agent 47 this is actually a reboot and…

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Film Review: The Man From U.N.C.L.E (M, USA, 2015)

You’d not be wrong in thinking that 2015 could be the year of the spy movie, with Kingsman: The Secret Service, Spy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation having all been released already and Spectre due later in the year. We also have another contender in the genre, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. With a ridiculously attractive…

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Film Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (M, USA, 2015)

So if you’re fresh off the blockbuster wave of dinosaurs and teeny tiny superheroes and are ready for some more action packed fun, then this week’s big release Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation will be able to fill that gap nicely. As with any of the Mission: Impossible (aka MI) films, you need to suspend…

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Film Review: Ant-Man (PG, USA, 2015)

Trailing behind the release of the enormous The Avengers: Age of Ultron comes the final film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 2 line up of films, Ant-Man. After much talk surrounding the production prior to its release, and always ongoing questions of ‘what if’ we’re now witness to the final product. It’s surprisingly small…

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The Iris’ 10 Silliest Super Hero Names of all time…

In the lead up to the July 16th release of the next Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man we’re taking a look into the comic realm and some of the silliest super hero names. Generally the ridiculous names also mean that our heroes have some pretty ludicrous super powers too, and some of them are just…

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Film Review: Jurassic World (M, USA, 2015)

It’s been 22 years since Jurassic Park, and long have us fans of that very first film waited for a sequel that was worthy and lo we finally have it in Jurassic World. We can now safely relegate those other two films into extinction and rest assured that this is now an honourable contender for…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Mr Holmes (UK/USA, 2015)

Mysteries and detective stories have long been popular in literature, arts, films, with the story of Sherlock Holmes long enduring time and remake after reboot after re-imagining. In Mr Holmes we take a look at the world’s greatest detective in his twilight years long since retired but still troubled by one unsolved case. Sherlock Holmes…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Results (USA, 2015)

Being an adult is hard. Relationships are hard. Making new friends is hard. Exercising and eating right is hard. Having big dreams is hard. But what we really want is the result. The thing at the end of all that hard work that makes it worthwhile. Sometimes getting to that point can be a little…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Last Cab To Darwin (Australia, 2015)

On the surface Last Cab To Darwin is not just a film about euthanasia, but a film about the people you meet on the greatest journey you take of all, living the one single life you have. A road movie that’s a drama with heart and emotion at its core and a cast of genuine…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: AMY (UK, 2015)

For singer songwriter and musician Amy Winehouse the last couple of years of her life were fodder for tabloids and the entertainment news machine monster. You may not have been a fan of her music but you were familiar with her and her drug-fuelled antics. But sometimes what gets overlooked when her name is brought…

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Lawrence Mooney talks celebrity gossip ahead of Season 3 of Dirty Laundry Live on ABC

Dirty Laundry Live is part panel game show, part celebrity tabloid gossip discussion. Lawrence Mooney is the host with his partner in crime Brooke Satchwell and has rotating special guests, to help discuss who did what to whom and test their knowledge of the week’s click-bait news and rumour mill. Returning for its third season…

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Film Review: Tomorrowland (PG) (USA, 2015)

What do you get when you put one perpetually optimistic scientifically curious teenager with one former boy-genius now middle aged man jaded by disillusionment on a mission to find a mysterious place in time and space? A quintessential Disney film that somehow manages to be an action-adventure-secret joyride with a surprisingly funny cast that tries…

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Film Review: Mad Max Fury Road (MA15+) (Australia, 2015)

There will be many adjectives thrown about when it comes to describing Mad Max Fury Road and I can guarantee you that all of them will be accurate. Breathtaking, explosive, relentless, spectacle, intense, awesome, mind-blowing, and even epic. This film lives up to all of those and quite possibly does the impressive job of surpassing…

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DVD Review: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (USA, 2014)

We’ve all had bad days, and on the eve of Alexander’s twelfth birthday he has had one of the worst days ever. To make it hurt just that little bit more, it seems his entire family is riding a wave of positivity and enjoying all the good things in their lives and unaware of how…

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Film Review: The Avengers: Age of Ultron (M) (USA, 2015)

Australian audiences will be some of the first in the world to see the new The Avengers: Age of Ultron film courtesy of global positioning, time zones and release dates. All of these things combined plus the constant hype surrounding this film will no doubt ensure its rampage through the box office like an enormous…

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Film Review: The Age of Adaline (M) (USA, 2015)

The quest for the fountain of youth is always fraught with danger but did anybody ever stop to think of the possible other outcomes of remaining eternally young? Perhaps there’s something inherently beautiful in the notion of growing old. Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) born near the turn of the 20th Century suffers a near fatal…

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Film Review: X+Y (M) (UK, 2015)

Navigating life, school and love can be tricky even for the best of us but for those with mental and social disorders it can be even harder. X+Y takes us into the fictional world of a teenage math prodigy who is diagnosed on the Asperger’s/autism spectrum at a young age and his journey to competing…

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DVD/Blu-Ray Review: Night At The Museum 3 – Secret of the Tomb (PG) (USA, 2014)

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is back and we’re quite a few years on from the previous two films. He’s in charge of the “night program” and about to put on a big show of all the museum displays to a large group of rich supporters and benefactors when suddenly all of the displays start acting…

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Our 13 favourite episodes of The X-Files

With the news officially breaking last week that cult hit 90’s TV show The X-Files would be making a come-back we decided to take a look back at the show and pick out some of our favourite episodes. One of the things we discovered is that over the course of the 9 seasons picking favourites…

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Film Review: Cinderella (G) (USA, 2015)

If you can imagine the Disney fairy tale animated film of the same name brought to the screen in all its resplendent glory as live action, then Kenneth Branagh’s version certainly fulfils that. A consistently visually bold film even though it does lack a sense of originality or uniqueness in the story. Regardless it’s still…

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Film Review: A Little Chaos (M) (UK, 2015)

17th Century France brings to mind a number of words, opulence, beauty, indulgence, but it was also when the Palace of Versailles and its gardens blossomed under the reign of Louix XIV and the design and construction of André Le Nôtre. But in this film with some slight tweaks on the truth, we meet Sabine…

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Film Review: Chappie (MA15) (USA, 2015)

In the not too distant future robots will soon become part of the police force helping to stave off rising crime rates. But what happens when the machines we program and command can think and feel for themselves? How do we reconcile the human concepts of consciousness and a soul if a robot can feel…

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Film Review: Focus (MA15) (USA, 2015)

Sometimes in a film, particularly when it’s about con artists and heists a case of less is more is a better approach. Focus manages to start off interesting but ends up becoming a little too convoluted and confusing along the way. Providing us of too much of some things and not enough of others. Nicky…

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Film Review: Seventh Son (M) (USA, 2015)

Adapted from Joseph Delaney’s book The Spook’s Apprentice the first book in The Wardstone Chronicles this film provides yet more YA fantasy fodder, but sadly doesn’t live up to any promises. It’s not for lack of trying but more that its sheer ridiculousness is just all too much to bear in one film. Master Gregory…

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Film Review: What We Did On Our Holiday (PG) (UK, 2014)

Take one dysfunctional family of a soon-to-be divorced couple with their three oddball children. Another family of a high strung husband with his depressed wife and their aloof teenage son. One elderly apathetic patriarchal grandfather who is dying of cancer. Set it in an elaborate 75th birthday party in the Scottish Highlands. Awkward hilarity and…

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Film Review: Foxcatcher (M) (USA, 2014)

You’ve probably heard or read some of the reviews for Foxcatcher already, and possibly seen the slew of award nominations it and along with its cast have been receiving recently. To say that this film warrants the accolades is fair, because for once a movie based on a true story manages to deliver not only…

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Film Review: The Imitation Game (USA, 2014)

In this dramatic thriller biopic The Imitation Game examines the life of Alan Turing, an English mathematician and logician who along with his team of code-breakers, crack the German Enigma code and helped the Allies win World War II. The film examines the parallels of Turing’s personal and early life and how it shaped him…

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Film Review: Night at the Museum 3 – Secret of the Tomb (USA, 2014)

In the next installment of the Night At The Museum film franchise our hero, night security guard Larry must discover why the magical tablet that brings all the museum displays to life is beginning to lose its power. As one of a handful of family friendly films released for the Christmas holiday period we check…

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Film Review: Men, Women & Children (USA, 2014)

In the last decade society has experienced an enormous upheaval with technology and the effect of that on people and their social relationships has also changed drastically. In Men, Women & Children we take a stark look at the interactions between parents and their kids and how the digital age is both a help and…

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