Sam, a fearless young girl raised outside of her Māori culture, is determined to fulfil her mission of connecting with her mountain in the hope they can heal her from the cancer she battles. Along the way she meets some misfits and new kids in town – Mallory, hoping to find friends, any kind of…
Read more
An origin story 5 years in the making, Puerto Rican filmmaker Ángel Manuel Soto is finally seeing his vision of the Mexican-American superhero Blue Beetle brought to life in DC Studios’ Blue Beetle. Starring Xolo Maridueña in the lead role, the film tells of recent college graduate Jaime Reyes and his return home full of…
Read more
When Peter Gray last spoke with director Josh Greenbaum it was in conjunction with the trailer release for his foul-mouthed, furry-friended comedy Strays, a subversion of the dog movies we know and love, about the complications of love, the importance of great friendships, and the unexpected virtues of couch humping. When Reggie (voiced by Will…
Read more
In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake,…
Read more
Having breathed new life into the legendary Rocky franchise as the son of Sylvester Stallone’s long-time rival, Adonis Creed, Michael B. Jordan drove the Creed films to critical and commercial acclaim. Now, five years on from 2018’s $200 million success Creed II, Jordan is both stepping back in and out of the ring, putting on…
Read more
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…
Read more
As their nail-biting thriller Beast gears up to roar into Australian cinemas this week (you can read our review here), Idris Elba, co-stars Sharlto Copley, Leah Jeffries and Iyana Halley, director Baltasur Kormákur, and producer Will Packer spoke with our own Peter Gray about creating a familial bond on set, working on location in South…
Read more
Having directed the landmark 2010 shark thriller The Reef and the similarly themed Blackwater and Blackwater: Abyss, Andrew Traucki is no stranger when it comes to navigating the murky waters of the creature feature. However, for the upcoming sequel The Reef: Stalked, the acclaimed director wanted to do more than just retread similar water, instead…
Read more
Having played to sold out festival sessions across Australia, the female-focused dramedy How to Please a Woman is looking to continue its crowd-pleasing success when it opens nationally in Australian cinemas on May 19th. Ahead of its release, Peter Gray spoke with the film’s writer and director, Renée Webster, about its rapturous reception so far,…
Read more
To say director David Yates is synonymous with the Wizarding World would be putting it mildly. Having directed half of the Harry Potter film series – Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2 – and both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes…
Read more
A coming-of-age stage musical that won immediate critical acclaim from its opening in 2015, Dear Evan Hansen‘s inevitable stage-to-screen adaptation was always going to be a mammoth task to whichever filmmaker dared to take it on. For Stephen Chbosky, it was a challenge he tackled with open arms. As the film arrives in Australian cinemas…
Read more
Dubbed as “your favourite band’s favourite band”, Sparks are the Californian-bred, European-stylised glam rock duo you don’t know you love yet. As their documentary, The Sparks Brothers (read our review here), continues to screen across select Australian cinemas, Peter Gray caught up with famed director Edgar Wright to discuss the making of the film, why…
Read more
After over a decade of vacating the director’s seat on the Saw franchise, Darren Lynn Bousman has returned to the series that gave birth to his career as a staple within the horror genre. As the latest instalment releases in cinemas across the country, Spiral: From the Book of Saw (read our review here), our…
Read more
Neil Burger‘s 30-year career as a filmmaker has taken the director on a varied journey. From his beginnings as a music video director and faux documentarian, Burger became a staple name in mainstream cinema thanks to such commercial and critical successes as The Illusionist, Limitless, and Divergent. Now working off his first original script in…
Read more
As the trailer for Christopher Landon‘s body-swap horror-comedy Freaky premieres across the globe, The AU Review’s Peter Gray was fortunate enough to chat with the director, touching on the casting of Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, his love of the horror genre, and if we can expect a third Happy Death Day. After seeing…
Read more
The latest film from acclaimed Australian director Gregor Jordan (Two Hands, Ned Kelly), Dirt Music is a gritty, sexy drama with a haunting love story at its heart set against the powerful backdrop of Western Australia’s evocative landscape. Based on the novel by Tim Winton, the cinematic adaptation will be coming to Australian cinemas…
Read more
Under Taika Waititi’s imaginative direction and influence, Thor: Ragnarok single-handedly innovated Marvel’s Thor franchise forever. Waititi’s refreshing exploration with the established Thor-lore while expanding Thor: Ragnarok’s artistic palette by mixing New Zealand humour, unique scene-stealing characters and eye-catching visuals earned him acclaim from critics and fans alike. Before going behind the camera for Marvel, however,…
Read more
The Iris had the opportunity to chat to Anna Zlokovic, the director of the music video, “The Empty House,” for musician Jack Kovacs. In our exclusive interview, we talk to Anna about SXSW, recognising music videos as art, the challenges of the shoot and what it’s like working with Jack Kovacs. Anna also shares her…
Read more
