Month: June 2018

Sydney Film Festival Review: Nature and nurture square off in the fascinating Three Identical Strangers (UK, 2018)

BAFTA-nominated documentary director Tim Wardle has an enviable subject with the highly publicised reunion of long-lost-triplets Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman, who found each other at the age of 19, tracking three identical New Yorkers separated at birth by a prominent Jewish adoption agency. It’s the kind of stranger-than-fiction story that the most…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: The Seagull (USA, 2018) is a charming bore

Despite scene-swallowing work from Annette Bening (fabulous, as to be expected), the quiet mastery of Saoirse Ronan, and a brilliantly comical Elisabeth Moss, Michael Mayer‘s The Seagull (adapted from Anton Chekhov‘s classic play) fails to deliver them material worthy of their considerable talent. The story has all the right ingredients to be a farce of…

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Kamila Shamsie takes home 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Home Fire, the British Pakistani author’s seventh novel, is a contemporary re-imagining of Sophocles’ Ancient Greek tragedy, Antigone. Freed of the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings, Isma Pasha heads to America to study. But she can’t help but be drawn back into the lives of the twins; headstrong Anneeka alone in London, and…

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E3 2018: WB Games reveals Hitman 2

In a week of leaky boats ahead of E3 2018, one of the leakiest has been WB Games’ Hitman 2 reveal. Now we have a trailer and a first look at gameplay, all ahead of the biggest week in games.

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Bad Pony’s top five tips for getting the best out of any recording session

If you’ve not yet heard Deficiency, the new EP from Sydney’s Bad Pony, stop what you’re doing – hit the Spotify link below and enjoy some of the freshest rock sounds out of the east coast in recent months. For the band, the first few months of 2018 have proved to be quite fruitful, with their SXSW…

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Exclusive Single Premiere: Audrey Powne “Flowers” (2018)

Having already established herself within the Melbourne music scene through work with Au Dré and Leisure Centre, singer songwriter Audrey Powne has now stepped out on her own, releasing music under her own name. Debut single “Flowers” positions Powne firmly within the embraces of lush pop, bringing together swelling orchestral production with a vocal quality rich in soul and melody….

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Review: Primavera Sound in Barcelona cements itself as the world’s finest music festival

Over the weekend, I made my way to Barcelona in Catalonia for the second time; a return to the iconic festival Primavera Sound, a sprawling four day event that showcased the finest acts in the world, alongside the hottest, buzziest new acts to watch. With the main music starting around 7pm and running all the…

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Interview: Lauren German on Lucifer, #SaveLucifer, TV network business and Oz Comic Con Melbourne

For some actors, a role comes along that becomes particularly special, and special for a number of reasons. For the last three years Lauren German has been working on Lucifer, as the lead co-star Chloe Decker. The show centres on the character of Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis), the devil, who decides to take a holiday…

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PSA: You can watch UFC 225 on your PS4 this weekend

Are you down for a bit of biffo? Do you own a PS4? Great news! You can combine your interests this very weekend when Robert Whittaker takes on Yoel Romero at UFC 225 in Chicago. How, you ask? Great question. It’s all part of PlayStation Live Events.

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E3 2018: Avalanche Studios announces Generation Zero

It turns out Rage 2 won’t be the only game that developer Avalanche Studios has to talk about at E3 this year. The developer has announced a new IP all their own called Generation Zero, an open world action title set in their native Sweden.

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Marriott have launched their own online marketplace for activities and local knowledge

In an ambitious attempt to zone in on enriching, local experiences for their guests, Marriott’s considerable network of properties around the world have been tied together by the roll out of an online platform dubbed “Marriott Moments”, seeking to offer local-area expert recommendations, bespoke categories and hand-curated lists of things to do across various destinations….

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Gang of Youths may as well call Melbourne home; seventh show added to ‘Say Yes To Life’ tour

This forthcoming Gang of Youths Australian tour is getting a bit outta hand now, guys. The ‘Say Yes to Life’ run that will have the Sydney band return from London has grown from a handful of shows to a mammoth venture on the band’s part to meet the demands of their fans and squash scalpers from…

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10 surefire highlights of Bonnaroo’s 16th anniversary this weekend

The 2018 edition of Bonnaroo is about to kick off with a lot of fresh new faces, big names and a huge dose of early 2000’s nostalgia. Muse, Eminem and The Killers were three of the biggest bands in the world 10 years ago and a decade later they will be headlining one of the…

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Single of the Day: Kira Puru “Molotov” (2018)

It was pretty much guaranteed that with the release of “Tension” last year, Kira Puru was at the beginning of a new musical chapter that was bright, strong and definitely not here to mess around. She’s gone and one upped it this week, releasing new single “Molotov” – fiery and tempestuous as the title suggests. Absolutely…

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Nominations open for the inaugural Australian Women in Music Awards

The first of its kind in Australia, the Australian Women in Music Awards have begun their official roll out for 2018, with categories and calls for nominations announced today. 14 categories acknowledging and celebrating performers and industry creatives have been unveiled, with the winners to be announced in Brisbane this October. “The music industry is clearly a…

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E3 2018: Sony confirms Days Gone release date, drops new trailer

After dropping off the radar for a little while, Sony have reminded everyone that that other post-apocalyptic survival title they’ve been working on is still on the go. Days Gone has dropped both a release date and a fresh look at the game, just days out from Sony’s E3 press briefing.

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E3 2018: Microsoft confirms Crackdown 3 delayed to 2019

With only days left before Microsoft’s E3 press conference, the company has confirmed to Windows Central that Crackdown 3 has been delayed yet again, this time into February 2019.

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Film Review: Ocean’s 8 (USA, 2018) proves acceptable escapism that’ll steal your attention during its running time

Whilst it may not quite boast as impressive an ensemble as the original Ocean’s trilogy managed to concoct (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts to name a few), Ocean’s 8 still steers ahead on charm and glamour, proving that an octet of women can do anything just as capable as an eleven-strong…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders (USA, 2017) is more than just the making of two murderers

In a small town in Kansas the residents kept their doors locked until the day a brutal, quadruple murder rocked the neighbourhood. The scene is a tragic and hard one to fathom but in a complicated turn of events these also became famous thanks to the writer, Truman Capote and his seminal book. Cold Blooded:…

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Amazon Prime Video Announces Three New Cast Members for American Gods Season Two

Streaming service Amazon Prime Video has announced three new cast members will be joining the second season of the Starz original series American Gods Dean Winters (Divorce, John Wick), Devery Jacobs (Cardinal, This Order) and Kahyun Kim (Shameless, Freaky Friday) have been cast as Mr. Town, Sam Black Crow and New Media respectively. Season two…

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Australian Independent Film My Pet Dinosaur roars into Chinese Box Office Top 10

The independently produced Australian film My Pet Dinosaur has cracked the Chinese Box Office Top 10, taking the number seven spot, grossing $870,000 USD on its first day of release. My Pet Dinosaur sits alongside worldwide blockbusters such as A Quiet Place, Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story. My Pet Dinosaur follows…

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Streaming service Stan flies by the 1 million subscriber mark, creating multi-year deals in the process

Online streaming service Stan has officially passed the 1 million subscriber mark, only 3 years after launch. As this number continues to grow rapidly, Stan shows no signs of slowing down, announcing various multi-year deals with powerhouse studios such as Lionsgate and MGM, while reinforcing Stan as the home of American studio Starz. A recent…

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Games Review: The Banner Saga (Switch, 2018) Take Me Home, Nordic Roads

The Banner Saga has had a long journey to appearing on the Switch, having first arrived as an indie PC and mobile title in 2014, and being ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016. It’s surprising that the title didn’t appear sooner on the Switch, because for all intents and purposes, it’s the…

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First Impressions: Future Man is unmissable television; a keen mix of hilarity and moreish action

Future Man, starring Josh Hutcherson and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is an action comedy series that has genuinely flown under the radar since its release on Hulu in the US back in November. Boasting all of the trademark Rogen flair, it’s social commentary presented through dirty but well delivered humour and a healthy dose…

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Sydney Film Festival Review: The Heiresses (Paraguay, 2018) is a low-key, yet compelling character study

If one were to describe this film briefly, The Heiresses could be seen a cross between Wong Kar-wai‘s Happy Together and Albert and David Maysles‘ Grey Gardens. As Kar-wai says about the title of his film, being happy together is being happy with oneself, and it is within that context is where the journey in…

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Interview: Author Raymond A. Villareal gives us the lowdown on his debut novel, A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising

A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising isn’t your everyday horror novel. Presented as an oral history, it’s a chilling mix of witness statements, legal documents, and interviews, and it should come as no surprise that the film rights have already been snapped up by Fox and 21 Laps, the team behind Stranger Things. AU…

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Tasmania’s SUMNER win the 2018 Josh Pyke Partnership

Tassie duo SUMNER have become the latest emerging artist to be named the recipient of the Josh Pyke Partnership – an initiative established to help unsigned musicians receive mentorship and funding to further their careers. The grant has given SUMNER a $7,500 grant to go towards their career, along with mentor sessions from Josh Pyke, Gregg Donovan (Wonderlick…

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Justine Clarke leads Little Splendour festivities for 2018

Splendour in the Grass has expanded its output this year to accommodate for the little’uns – if you’ve got kids keen to get amongst the festivities, Little Splendour is here. Justine Clarke is holding reign over the event at the North Byron Parklands on the Saturday of Splendour, performing from 3:30pm. Dress ups, sandpits, arts, crafts,…

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Nominations for the 2018 ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award now open

Nominations for the ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award are now open, with any teacher working on a music program at a school, kindy, early childhood centre, youth centre or in private tuition, able to be put forward for nomination. Last year, Renee McCarthy (pictured) from South Australia’s Woodcroft College, won the Music Teacher of…

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Red Carpet Photos: The Breaker Upperers opens the 2018 Sydney Film Festival

The stars came out for the Opening Night of the 2018 Sydney Film Festival at the State Theatre earlier tonight for the premiere of the anticipated New Zealand film The Breaker Upperers. Nathan Atkins was on the caroetband brings us these photos: [print_gllr id=50064] ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home…

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