Year: 2014

Alaina Huffman of Stargate Universe, Supernatural and Smallville speaks at the Armageddon Expo in Melbourne.

The Armageddon Expo dropped by Melbourne this weekend, providing a fun environment for geeks to well, ‘geek out’ on their favourite fandoms and share their obsessions for all things television, sci-fi, mystical and comical with other fans. On the first day, Alaina Huffman of Stargate Universe, Supernatural and Smallville fame spoke in front of a…

Read More

TV Review: Doctor Who Season 8 Episode 9 “Flatline” (UK, 2014)

If there is one thing Doctor Who has become stellar at over the years, it’s throwing a spanner into the works, just when the audience is comfortable and thinks they know what is happening. “Flatline” is that point for Season 8. While it takes the ‘Doctor Lite’ format and shows off Clara more than ever as a strong and…

Read More

TV Review: American Horror Story: Freak Show Episode 2 “Massacres and Matinees” (USA, 2014)

This week on American Horror Story: Freak Show, Episode 2 “Massacres and Matinees” has brought us deeper into the lions pit and introduced us to the new Dell Toledo Aka the strong man and with him his lady-man, three breasted wife Desiree Dupree. We see hints of Emma Roberts making an appearance in later episodes…

Read More

TV Review: Bones Season 10 Episode 4 “The Geek in the Guck” (USA, 2014)

The charm of this week’s Bones was its return to everyday routine, even more so than the previous episode which still dealt with the emotional fallout from Sweets’ death. The show begins with young Christine refusing to eat her breakfast, while Booth and Brennan try to reason with her. It seems Christine is taking after…

Read More

What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (20th – 22nd October)

By Kimberley Veart Monday The X Factor, Ch. 7, 7:30 pm AEST It’s the grand final of the X Factor, so tune in to see who will be crowned the winner. It’s between folk group Brothers 3, fifteen-year old vocalist Marlisa and singer-songwriter Dean Ray. Tensions between the judges have been running high this season,…

Read More

Film Review: Son of a Gun (MA15+) (AUS, 2014)

Australian film Son of a Gun looks at a number of different themes, primarily it’s a heist movie but it also examines the desire for a stable family life and the father/son and brother/brother relationships that can evolve in prison. Loyalty, honour and morality are all tested and questioned and all served up with a…

Read More

Film Review: Before I Go to Sleep (MA15+) (UK, 2014)

What would it be like to wake up each morning not knowing who you are? What if you could not recognise your loved ones? How would it feel to completely forget over a decade of your life? These are the very intriguing questions posed by the central concept of Before I Go to Sleep. This…

Read More

the AU sessions: Watch Gideon and Husky from Husky (Melbourne) perform "Saint Joan" off their new LP.

the AU review captures Melbourne’s Husky performing in stripped back duo mode, bringing us their latest single “Saint Joan” Live and Acoustic for the AU sessions. The track is taken from their brand new LP Rucker’s Hill, in stores now. Rucker’s Hill was released in stores yesterday and don’t miss the band on the road…

Read More

Watch This Exclusive Clip from the new DFA 1979 Documentary "Life After Death From Above"

In 2006, Jesse Keeler and Sebastien Grainger called it quits on a band they “started out of boredom and necessity”. That band was Death From Above 1979. In 2011, after five years of silence between them, they reunited for Coachella – and as we now know, this went pretty well. The new documentary Life After…

Read More

the AU interview: Jim Gaffigan (USA) talks Meat Pies & playing the Sydney Opera House for Just For Laughs.

Jim Gaffigan sits down with the AU to talk about his first ever visit to Australia – eating meat pies, how he feels like he’s accepted in Australia being an American and playing the Sydney Opera House as part of the Just For Laughs Festival in Sydney as part of his “White Bread Tour”. Jim…

Read More

Single Stream: Foo Fighters "Something From Nothing" (2014)

With Dave Grohl’s latest documentary project Sonic Highways kicking off on GO! in Australia this weekend, the Foo Fighters are ready to tease us for the full length record of the same name with the release of its first single, “Something From Nothing”. The highly anticipated new album is out worldwide November 10th. Listen to…

Read More

the AU interview: Dana Roskvist of Sydonia (Melbourne) talk "Reality Kicks" and crowd-funding their tour.

Dana Roskvist from Sydonia sat down with the AU’s Larry at BIGSOUND last month to chat about their latest album Reality Kicks, their successful crowd-funding campaign that allowed them to tour, getting more radio play than they’ve ever had and concentrating on writing new, faster and heavier songs.

Read More

Just For Laughs Comedy Review: Jim Gaffigan "The White Bread Tour" – Sydney Opera House (16.10.14)

Jim Gaffigan is funny. He’s an American comedian in every respect, filling his set with American themes, references and characters – though that’s not to say he doesn’t work hard at being accessible. His set on Thursday Night at the Sydney Just for Laughs festival (his second of three) was filled with his first impressions…

Read More

Film Review: A Walk Among The Tombstones (USA, 2014)

Liam Neeson had a career revival back in 2008 film Taken, showing the world that his scowl and straight-faced determination naturally lends itself to playing the kind of outside-the-law American hero he has now been sort of typecast in to. In Scott Frank’s A Walk Among The Tombstones, Neeson adapts to a similar role, albeit…

Read More

Album Review: Alt-J – This Is All Yours (2014 LP)

With every new release, there stands the universal question “Will it be as good as their last?”. This is often the biggest hurdle faced when producing a sophomore album, even more so for bands such as Alt-J who broke the scene with their debut An Awesome Wave. Two years later and without the presence of…

Read More

the AU interview: Angie Hart, Katie Noonan, Sam Buckingham & Maples discuss "Songs That Made Me" Album & Tour!

the AU review’s Larry Heath interviews Australian artists Angie Hart, Katie Noonan, Sam Buckingham and Maples as they talk about the collaborative album Songs That Made Me. 100% of the album’s profits go to Cancer Council and it is released Friday, October 17th ahead of a October/November tour in celebration of the record. Songs That…

Read More

Five ways we want to see Converse give away their gig tickets…

Converse’s latest campaign SNEAKERS WOULD (celebrating the FA14 All Star Collection) will be seeing free concerts happening in Sydney and Melbourne next week, with the sneaker makers giving out tickets to fans in unique ways. So far, they’ve used job search service Seek to find a “front row fist-pumper” in Melbourne. With other giveaway methods…

Read More

the AU interview at BIGSOUND: Pierce Brothers (Melbourne)

Photo Credit: Hans Peter van Velthoven The Pierce Brothers sat down with the AU review’s Larry Heath at BIGSOUND last month to chat about snapping guitars, The Northern Lights Tour visiting new Australian regions, their first European tour, the Jack White Party, writing a lot and focusing on making an “interesting” album. The band are…

Read More

TV Review: South Park Season 18 Episode 4 “Handicar” (USA, 2014)

The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have entered the show’s eighteenth season (their second that runs over one ten week block rather than two seven episode periods over the course of the calendar year) by doing something a little different. Much like, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they’ve made the South…

Read More

Film Review: Tammy (USA, 2014)

Melissa McCarthy is Tammy and she is having a bad day. On her way to work, she hits a deer and wrecks her car. Because she is late, her boss Keith (Falcone) fires her. She arrives home to find her husband Greg (Faxon) having a romantic meal with neighbour Missi (Collette). She leaves Greg to…

Read More

Warner Bros and DC just announced 10 new superhero movies!

Today Warner Bros and DC Comics have hit the film and comic book world with some massive news. Between 2016 and 2020 they will be releasing at least 10 new superhero movies including new entries for Superman, Batman, and the Justice League. The move seems like a challenge to Disney and Marvel’s recent success at…

Read More

TV Review: The Mindy Project – Season 3 Episode 5 “The Devil Wears Lands’ End” (USA, 2014)

After weeks and weeks of constant Mindy and Danny relationship dramas and a struggling B-plot, this week’s Mindy Project episode is a return to the funny, self-deprecating, smart show we’ve enjoyed over the last two years. Mindy, Danny and the rest of the practice find themselves at the mercy of the new Chief of Obstetrics,…

Read More

the AU interview: Reggie Watts (Brooklyn) chats collaborations and more ahead of Just For Laughs in Sydney!

Photo: Allan E. Schoening Having been in Australia for a few dates already on his ‘Hello Humans’ tour, comedian/artist/musician and more, Reggie Watts, still has some time left in the country, currently gearing up for some shows in Sydney as part of Just For Laughs and a final gig in Perth. Larry chats with him…

Read More

Games Review: Alien Isolation (Xbox One, 2014)

When The Creative Assembly (the Total War series) announced their decision to create a survival horror game based on Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci fi masterpiece Alien, the sour taste of Aliens: Colonial Marines was still strong in our mouths. It was difficult to view the decision as anything other than a profound mistake. Thankfully, The…

Read More

Behind the Scenes: How an Adelaide studio created the best scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past

So you’re watching through the incredible X-Men: Days of Future Past on your Blu-Ray player, aching for that moment when the film reaches a certain scene. You aren’t discounting the overall quality of the universally acclaimed X-Men installment, but today you just want to re-live the sheer giddiness that you went through when you first…

Read More

What to Watch: The Iris’ Weekly TV Picks (16th – 19th October 2014)

Thursday The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, ABC 2, 7:40 pm AEST After showing off her flair for lip-syncing back in April, the oh-so-lovable Emma Stone is back again on The Tonight Show for another round of fun! Joined also by Logan Lerman and musical guest Sam Smith, this episode is sure to be a…

Read More

The first episode of the Foo Fighters’ Sonic Highways starts this weekend on GO!

Aussie Foo Fighters fans are getting keen, with the first episode of the highly anticipated Sonic Highways documentary scheduled to go to air on the free-to-air channel GO! at 4:30pm this Saturday! Just hours after it makes its premiere on HBO in the US, the ‘musical map of America’ will be available for us to…

Read More

Comedy Review: Rhys Darby Live – Astor Theatre, Perth (13.10.14)

Comedian Rhys Darby kicked off the Australian tour of his new show Rhys Darby Live! on Monday night with the first of two sold-out shows at Perth’s Astor Theatre. Whilst Darby is perhaps best known as the lovably inept band manager Murray Hewitt from Flight of the Conchords, he has had a long and successful…

Read More

Live Review: The Script + Taylor Henderson – The Metro Theatre, Sydney (14.10.14)

It doesn’t happen very often that when a band drops a new album we’re graced with a live show to go along with the promotion train that follows it. Sydney fans were fortunate to not only have Irish rockers The Script play for them, but it was at The Metro too, a considerably smaller venue than the…

Read More
marianas trench

Ian Casselman of Marianas Trench (Canada) on “Pop 101” and his journey as the drummer

Canadian pop rock band Marianas Trench are full of creativity and it’s safe to say that their songs can be quite entertaining. But for a band who focus heavily on the lyrical aspect of their songs as well, they’ve achieved so much more as musicians. Having released three studio albums and bouncing between genres of punk rock…

Read More