“Stars Are Blind” by Paris Hilton is, quite simply, a perfect pop song – and pop history hasn’t quite known what to do with that fact. Released in 2006, it arrived wrapped in the baggage of Hilton’s celebrity persona: heiress, tabloid fixture, reality TV punchline. The song was a moderate hit (a Top 20 placement…
There’s a certain poetic irony in the fact that Delta Goodrem‘s true debut single – “I Don’t Care” – is the one that rarely gets invited into the conversation. Overshadowed by the seismic impact of “Born To Try” and the era-defining success of her debut LP Innocent Eyes, this 2001 release has long been treated…
In 2005, when Tammin Sursok released Whatever Will Be, the pop landscape was in a fascinating state of transition. The glossy, hyper-produced dance-pop that had defined the late ’90s was still dominant – championed by figures like fellow soap-turned-pop players Kylie Minogue and Holly Valance – but there was a parallel wave surging forward. Artists…
Fifteen years on, Femme Fatale sits in a fascinating, complicated place in Britney Spears’ catalogue – once dismissed as impersonal and overly synthetic, now increasingly understood as both a cultural pivot point and a quietly resilient achievement. Released in March 2011, Femme Fatale arrived at a moment when mainstream pop was aggressively chasing the club….
A quarter-century on from its 2001 release, Get Over It stands as one of the most gleefully offbeat teen comedies of its era – a film that never quite fit the mold, and is all the better for it. Arriving at a time when the genre was dominated by glossy prom-night fantasies and raunch-heavy gross-out…
Twenty years on, She’s the Man remains one of those rare teen comedies that didn’t just survive its era – it quietly outgrew it. Released in the US on March 17th, 2006, the film arrived at the tail end of a very specific wave: glossy, high-concept teen comedies built around identity swaps, social hierarchies, and…
There are films that fail loudly, and then there are films that fail quietly; misjudged, misunderstood, and filed away under “not good enough” before anyone really figures out what they were trying to do. Awake belongs firmly in the latter category. Released in 2007 with a barely-there theatrical campaign, Joby Harold’s sleek medical conspiracy thriller…
When Hostel was released theatrically in 2006 (it technically debuted in 2005 at the Toronto International Film Festival), it arrived like a blunt instrument. Audiences recoiled, critics argued, and the term “torture porn” entered the mainstream horror lexicon almost overnight. Directed by Eli Roth and produced by Quentin Tarantino, Hostel quickly became a lightning rod…
What is it about cinematic advanced primates which makes them so fascinating? Is it the similarities they have with us homo sapiens? Is it because they are cute? Is it because they have such engagingly primal instincts that we cannot look away? Is it because they satisfy our need to see city-wide destruction? Or can…
In conjunction with the Museum of Old and New Art, Sydney’s Carriageworks will present Katthy Cavaliere: Loved later this year, a retrospective of the late artist’s body of work. Originally presented at MONA, curated by Cavaliere’s friend Daniel Mudie Cunningham, the exhibition provides an insight into the Italian born artist’s life. Cavaliere’s art was created…
