USA

What is Sunaana? The new U.S. festival with big ambitions

Consider the size and scope of a “discovery” focused destination event like Iceland Airwaves. The reputable decades-old showcase festival has grown to such an extent that it now spreads not just through, but beyond Reykjavik and has become not only a platform for rising talent in live music, but also a way to highlight the…

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Sunaana Festival set to rock Portland, Maine with a weekend of craft beer, food and music

Heating up for its second year in Portland, Maine will be Sunaana (an inuit word meaning “what is it”), a winter beer and music festival taking place across the enormous 30-acre Thompson’s Point and representing a surprising connection between the New England city and the Nordic country of Iceland. It was such a roaring success…

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Portland, Maine set to embrace winter with a music and beer festival inspired by Iceland Airwaves

Heating up for its second year in Portland, Maine will be Sunaana (an inuit word meaning “what is it”), a winter beer and music festival taking place across the enormous 30-acre Thompson’s Point and representing a surprising connection between the New England city and the Nordic country of Iceland. It was such a roaring success…

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Stan Original series No Activity returns stateside for its second season

Australian streaming service Stan and CBS All Access have confirmed that a second season of the US adaptation of the Australian comedy series No Activity, Stan’s first original series to hit the US. The first season of No Activity is currently streaming on Stan, coming from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.  Nick Forward,…

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Portland, Maine to channel the spirit of Iceland Airwaves with music and beer festival ‘Sunaana’

Heating up for its second year in Portland, Maine will be Sunaana (an inuit word meaning “what is it”), a winter beer and music festival taking place across the enormous 30-acre Thompson’s Point and representing a surprising connection between the New England city and the Nordic country of Iceland. It was such a roaring success…

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Seven bars and restaurants you have to visit in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee. Though perhaps best known around the world as being the home of Elvis and Graceland, the American city is also the home to some of the best BBQ in the country. And in popular revitalised areas like Overton Square and the Cooper-Young district, the city is finding that its cuisine is reaching even further, often…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: 10,000km (Spain/USA, 2014)

Alex (Natalia Tena) and Sergi (David Verdaguer) are very much in love, living in a poky apartment in Barcelona and planning to have a baby when Alex is offered an un-missable career opportunity. In Los Angeles. Living 10,000 kilometres apart, they make the best use of modern technology to stay in touch – Skype features…

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Mid-Season Recap: The Walking Dead – Season 4 (USA, 2013)

***MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*** With AMC doing their whole standard mid-season split, fans of The Walking Dead are left with a few months to ponder the long overdue prison break our nearest and dearest survivors have now been forced to make. For a second there, it looked like we might have a repeat of the slow-burning…

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Film Review: Muscle Shoals (USA, 2013)

The Muscle Shoals documentary is as soulful as the music that came out of the Alabama County of the same name. The documentary is filled to the brim with the rich musical history of the town that gave the world The Swampers, and countless hits from The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and way too many others…

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First Look Trailer: Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (USA, 2014)

The Iris brings you the first look official trailer for Interstellar, directed by the acclaimed Christopher Nolan and starring Matthew McConaughey. The trailer introduces us, vaguely, to the film’s premise, with a brief period of shots from the film and found footage from the history of American space exploration. Interstellar opens nationally in Australia on…

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BIFF Review – All Is Lost (USA, 2013)

“I’m sorry. I know that means little at this point, but I am. I tried. I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right. But I wasn’t.” With these few words, so begins All Is Lost, an incredible film about one man’s struggle…

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Film Review: Bad Grandpa (MA15+) (USA, 2013)

It’s been a few years since the last Jackass film; the hit and miss formula of ridiculous public stunts, aimed to shock and confuse bystanders is incredibly fun to watch at times, which is why the brand has always been entertaining. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa threads this formula throughout an actual narrative, much like one…

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BIFF Film Review: Six Degrees of Separation (USA, 1993)

One of the great things about Brisbane International Film Festival is not only the celebration of new films and innovations but also the celebration of old ones. Six Degrees of Separation is almost incidentally nostalgic of New York, the 90s and the fantasy of socialites. Though there’s been enough time to get informed, it’s obvious…

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Film Review: Runner, Runner (M) (USA, 2013)

The plot of the recently released Runner, Runner centres around Richie Furst (played by Justin Timberlake), a Princeton student who loses all of his tuition money on Midnight Black, an online poker site run by Ivan Block (played by Ben Affleck) who then ends up working for him, moves swiftly from the get-go, but begins to pace…

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Film Review: Gravity (M) (USA, 2013)

I’ve started writing this review mere minutes after seeing the film. There was even more hyperbole than what the end product suggests. I have left the cinema with an uncontrollable sense of awe. Even hours and days later, I can’t escape what I witnessed. In spite of the emotionally engaging and thrilling sequences that leave…

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Film Review: Blue Jasmine (M) (USA, 2013)

Woody Allen’s directorial output has been decidedly uneven, particularly within the last decade. While highlights of the decade have included the thrilling Match Point (2005) and the joyous gem Midnight in Paris (2011), Allen has also underwhelmed us with films like You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) and To Rome with Love (2012). This is understandable given the sheer frequency of…

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Film Review: The Wolverine (M) (USA/Australia, 2013)

Logan (Hugh Jackman) is back in a decidedly darker take on the iconic X-Men character, marking Jackman’s sixth appearance as the steel-clawed “mutant”. The film takes place primarily in Japan and sees Logan reconnect with a man he saved during WWII, Yashida. The plot from there, for the most part, focuses on Logan protecting Mariko (Tao Okamoto)…

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Film Review: Pain & Gain (MA15+) (USA, 2013)

Michael Bay suffers a heavy stigma from the backlash against his grandiose, CGI-fests; yet despite nit-picking critics, he remains a highly skilled director who artfully plays with gorgeous shots of Miami to liven up what is essentially a very dark story in his latest blockbuster. The film – based on a true story – is simply…

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Possible Worlds Film Festival Review: You Make Me Feel So Young (2013, USA)

Some of you have seen it. Heck, some of you may have even been in a similar situation. You Make Me Feel So Young is centred on a deteriorating relationship between two American twenty-somethings. The film is the work of writer/director, Zach Weintraub who also doubles as the film’s star. He is the boyfriend of Justine (Justine Eister). After…

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Possible Worlds Film Review: White Reindeer (USA, 2013)

Surely everyone gets excited about Christmas, right? Well Suzanne Bennington does! White Reindeer, written, directed and edited by Zach Clark, follows a period of where Suzanne (Anna Margaret Hollyman), a real-estate agent, deals with the sudden death of her husband Jeff (Nathan Williams), the local TV weatherman. This so happens during her favourite holiday season…

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Possible Worlds Film Review: Rewind This! (USA, 2013)

It is almost hard to imagine that there was once a time when the only opportunity you had to see a film was in the theatre. Once it was gone it was gone. In our modern world, where technology is developing at a ridiculous rate, we often forget to appreciate the incredible access we have…

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Melbourne International Film Festival Review: It Felt Like Love (2013 USA – CTC)

A quietly devastating meditation on female adolescence, It Felt Like Love is the feature debut of director Eliza Pittman made on a tiny budget, and shot over 18 days in August 2012. The film opens with an awkward teenaged Lila (Gina Piersanti), childishly smeared in sunscreen at the beach. It’s this yardstick from which Lila’s character arc moves over the…

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Film Review: Behind The Candelabra (MA15+) (USA, 2013)

Liberace is a name known to many, but his story is often overlooked when it comes to Hollywood icons. Director Steven Soderbergh brings the classic performer and his story to the masses withBehind the Candelabra and goes big by recruiting both Matt Damon and Michael Douglas in what has undoubtedly been the most controversial roles of both of their impressive careers. After…

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Film Review: The Numbers Station (MA15+) (USA, 2013)

The Numbers Station is a government conspiracy based thriller, revolving around a concept which should have been an easy sell for Danish Director Kasper Barfoed. Unfortunately, ambiguous story telling and poor character development leave this film with only a few redeeming features, which are so subtle, you could blink and miss them. Emerson (John Cusack) is a burnt…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: What Maisie Knew (USA, 2012)

What Maisie Knew could actually be called Matilda. The former is an adaptation of the Henry Jamesnovel but it also shares a lot in common with the latter, Roald Dahl book. There is the brilliant and mature-beyond-her-years little girl who has to take care of herself because her parents only do so when it’s convenient. Although both sets of parents are…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Greetings From Tim Buckley (USA, 2012)

Jeff Buckley may have sung “So Real” on his ground-breaking, Grace album, but the bio-pic of his and his dad’s lives concentrates on their mystical qualities. Maybe it was their untimely deaths – Jeff by drowning in Memphis’ Wolf River at age 27 and Tim at age 28 from an accidental overdose – that turned them into alt-rock…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks (USA, 2013)

We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks looks set to polarise audiences as much as the organisation’s founder, Julian Assange does. The documentary is the latest film from the Oscar-winning, Alex Gibney (Taxi To The Dark Side, Enron: the Smartest Guys In The Room). It attempts to paint a portrait of this organisation with snappy animation and a good musical…

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