Based on a memoir by American writer James Lord and adapted for the screen by actor Stanley Tucci, Final Portrait is a concise passion project with committed performances and evident production care that sadly doesn’t overcome its bland setting. Anchored by a wonderful turn from Geoffrey Rush as eccentric painter Giacometti, this dramedy of sorts…
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Whilst animation in film has evolved immensely over the last 20 years, there’s something immediately charming about Phantom Boy‘s deliberately flat and simple palleted aesthetic. It may lack the emotional weight of the technically more refined Pixar offerings, but this film’s distinct look feels organically melded to its somber mentality. Coming courtesy of French directing…
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It has been an extremely busy few weeks for The Iris, with the video game world stuck in the lunacy of E3, Supanova in Sydney and the Sydney Film Festival, we have finally calmed down a little and sunk back into some great couch time with some excellent TV and it gave me some time…
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Ewen Bremner is a calm and thought provoking actor who has seen a broad variety of roles over the years in stage, TV (My Name is Earl, The Lost Room) and the silver screen (Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, Trainspotting 1 & 2, Wonder Woman). Some of the best characters Ewen portrays are very left…
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The Young Karl Marx (Le jeune Karl Marx) is a bio-pic that feels authentic because it captures the period well in a visual sense. But you also get the feeling that it is only telling a part of the story and not least because it is all about Karl Marx’s youth. This dramatic film is…
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Before I get into this review, let’s get this out of the way. Ever since I first saw one of his films on SBS, I’ve been a huge fan of Jackie Chan, due to his incredible dexterity, creative fight choreography, amazing stuntwork and his likable aw-shucks persona. But like every action hero, the thing that…
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I’d never visited Los Angeles before this week. After 17 hours in the air, a turbulent Auckland-Los Angeles leg and with the jetlag still in that quiet moment before your body realises everything is wrong, I was ready for a moment of quiet. Thankfully, quiet is exactly what the Hotel Palomar in Beverly Hills gave…
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It is the night we honour and celebrate Australia’s vibrant live performance industry, and recognise distinguished achievements within musical theatre, contemporary music, comedy, opera, classical music, theatre, ballet, dance and physical theatre, presentation for children, regional touring and cabaret. Live Performance Australia Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson said, “This year has been a remarkable year for live…
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We’re somehow half way through the year already! Thanks to international travel and the resulting jetlag this month’s list of the five books we think you need to be reading is a little later than planned. But here it is all the same. There’s still some time left to add them to your lists. This…
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Most people would be familiar with the story of Cyrano De Bergerac – doesn’t ring a bell? – perhaps you’re more familiar with the 1987 film adaptation Roxanne, with Steve Martin as the plays protagonist Cyrano. Written in 1897, the themes of Edmond Rostand’s play are as relevant today as when he wrote it. Questions…
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Outstanding performances from four extremely talented Australian actors make Sunset Strip worthy of the (relatively small) price of admission. The Uncertainty Principle and Griffin Independent Theatre have delivered a beautiful piece of theatre. Just don’t expect sunshine and laughter. By a dried up lake somewhere in regional Australia is a once-thriving holiday town called Sunset…
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After selling out their Sydney and Melbourne events in less than five minutes, the team behind the UK’s popular Bongo’s Bingo have decided to bring their quirky rave-bingo to Brisbane. For one night only, Fortitude Valley institution The Tivoli will host this unique spin on bingo on Friday 30th June, joining Sydney’s Paddington Town Hall…
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Sydney’s stunning open-air Zephyr Sky Bar are making the most of their first ever winter season, introducing a fresh new cocktail menu that includes a few innovative surprises for both guests of the Hyatt Regency and the general public. At the forefront is a gravity-defying Fig Leaf Sour, a levitating cocktail hovering over a magnetic…
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Restaurateur and British-born chef Paul Wilson has now added Brasserie to the series of eateries he plans to roll out under his Wilson & Market stable. The new restaurant joins the busy scene at Prahran Market, bringing at 250-seater that promises lively stretches of lunch and dinner put together by a team which includes Wilson…
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James Squire have opened up a new dedicated Brewhouse over in Frankston to bring Melbourne a fresh take on their awarded brews. Named The Cheeky Squire the just-opened pub serves as a substantial makeover to the former Davey’s Bar & Restaurant, which has long been a fixture on the famed “pub corner” that sits at…
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Following on from the meteoric success of their debut album, we had the chance to have a chat with front man and bassist, Mike Kerr, on the eve of the release of their second album How Did We Get So Dark, which is in stores now. How is it releasing an album the second time around in…
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With Sydney’s nightlife and arts community severely depleted in recent years on the back of a government seemingly going out of their way to deny any support to the community, one of Sydney’s more famed venues reopened its doors to a packed band room upstairs, and a bustling bar and bistro downstairs. Back after a…
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When “Liability” came out, it sucker punched me right in the face. You start listening to it and you’re like, ‘Oooo this is nice’, and then the lyrics sink in and your face turns red and the tears start welling and then BAM! Emotions! Lorde has a way of doing that. She knows how to…
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As part of her The Soloist National Tour, Sarah Blasko left her audience head over heels in love after her performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday night. Performing without a band for the first time, Blasko laid bare her iconic voice and melted the hearts of everyone present, triggering a stand ovation. Opening the…
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Thoroughly engaging, immensely poignant, and remarkably evocative, Call Me By Your Name functions as both a coming-of-age tale and a love story, likely to surprise viewers as to where it travels on both accounts. Based on the novel by Andre Aciman, and co-penned for the screen by director Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash), James Ivory…
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Fans of off-kilter comedy should find something of value in Jeff Baena’s quirky spoof The Little Hours, a play on the 14th-century Giovanni Boccaccio novella The Decameron. With hefty doses of witchcraft, torture, and pan-sexuality peppered throughout the script, it’s not hard to see some viewers being confounded by Baena’s film just as much as those…
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The story of The Go-Betweens had previously been largely untold save for Robert Forster’s autobiography, Grant & I. But the film, The Go-Betweens: Right Here is set to change that. It’s a wonderful music documentary that plays out like a love letter to a seminal, Australian band. It also dives head-first into the melodrama, adventure,…
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With a career spanning close to 30 years, Shepard Fairey is a veteran of world street art. In Sydney to talk as part of Vivid Idea’s Game Changers program as well as unveil a new mural work (his largest to date) and exhibition, he spoke of his early days building the now iconic Obey project…
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Canadian Club are running a string of “bad winter jumper” themed events across Sydney over the coming weeks in the bid to warm up your cold, winter evenings. Happening at venues Greenwood, The Bucket List and Casablanca, guests can expect the venues to be transformed into winter wonderlands with unique DJ line ups and giveaways…
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Yes you heard right, as if New South Wales wasn’t Nutella crazed enough, as if we already didn’t have enough Nutella cafes or Tella bars or chocolate festivals where Nutella is uber prominent in everything or infamous donuts filled with chocolatey hazelnut goodness (I’m looking at you Krispy Kreme). Those sexy evil geniuses at Nutella…
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Sydney Seaplanes with its fleet of five planes has recently completed the construction of a new upscale terminal at Rose Bay, featuring a lounge, restaurant, discreet VIP space, function area, and flying boat museum. A Sydney Seaplanes Flight to Palm Beach The Sydney Secrets 30-minute scenic flight ($285 per person, minimum 2 adults) tours around the Harbour…
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Having proven his worth as a screenwriter with both Hell or High Water and Sicario, Wind River serves as scribe Taylor Sheridan’s directorial debut. Arguably arriving with high expectations, Sheridan’s tight, often brutal thriller proves his workings with such professionals as David Mackenzie and Denis Villeneuve has paid off, showcasing an ease behind the lens…
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The Electronic Entertainment Expo is over for another year and before we finally rest our weary heads, we have to sort through our feelings, try and rebuild everything we saw and experienced over the last three days and figure out what we liked the most. The Iris Games team takes you through our favourite titles…
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It would have been too easy for a film like Una to result in something unreservedly perfunctory. The fable of the abuse victim confronting her perpetrator has been depicted more than one would wish to count, and the argument can be made that a fair share wishes to portray the subject matter no more than…
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A show five years in the making – Wireless is eerily eruptive, quietly volatile and infinite in a confined space. A slightly different experience every time, the show works on ambient technology bending to the will of the performers in this dance theatre conquest. Director and Choreographer Lisa Wilson explained the show is deeply rooted…
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