Month: January 2023

Romanie shares endearing tribute “Anthony” and five things you didn’t know about her

Melbourne indie-pop artist Romanie has returned with the heartfelt single “Anthony”, her first new music since 2021 debut EP Little Big Steps (which we premiered right here). The latest offering – released 12 January – is a story about dementia and an endearing tribute to her grandfather who passed away from the disease last year….

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Persona 3 Portable Review: A worthy port that shows slight signs of age

While Persona 4 Golden stands as one of my favourite JRPG titles of all time, I feel as though I never gave Persona 3 Portable a fair chance. This time around, I was delighted to find that this entry holds up in many ways, thanks to its deep and nuanced combat and dark story, even…

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WWE 2K23 announced with John Cena as cover star

It only feels like we recently reviewed WWE 2K22, but it turns out 2K Sports are ready for yet another round. WWE 2K23 has been announced, with legendary wrestler John Cena set to grace this year’s cover. Before we go any further, yes we agree, we couldn’t see him on the cover art either. WWE…

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EA Sports PGA Tour Preview: Return to the fairway

EA Sports’ golfing games may have missed the spotlight for the better part of seven years, but that won’t stop the franchise from heading back onto the fairway for another round. We recently got an inside look at EA Sports PGA Tour, as they unpacked the new and exciting features, licenses, gameplay and inclusions that…

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Universal Studios reveals new micro parks and Super Nintendo World Hollywood details

It’s been a busy few years for Universal Studios, as the theme park side of the company (Universal Parks & Resorts) continues to expand the size and scope of operations. Once just a backlot tour in Hollywood, Universal Parks can now be found in 5 cities around the world, with their latest Beijing location opening…

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Film Review: What’s Love Got To Do With It? is an agreeable romantic comedy that answers its own question with charm and vigour

Don’t let the title fool you, What’s Love Got To Do With It? has nothing to do with Tina Turner.  Instead, the titular question is a rhetorical of sorts that documentary filmmaker Zoe (Lily James) ponders when she hears that her life-long best friend (Shazad Latif‘s Kaz) is interested in an arranged marriage, and subsequently…

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Magazine Dreams is a brutal, affecting drama bolstered by the terrifyingly perfect Jonathan Majors: Sundance Film Festival Review

A brutal movie to endure, Elijah Bynum‘s Magazine Dreams speaks to the strive for physical perfection within men and how such toxicity can consume them from the inside out. On that outside, Killian Maddox (Jonathan Majors in a demanding, raw performance that should already be favourited come award season next year) has the type of…

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Win a double in-season pass to see Brendan Fraser’s acclaimed performance in The Whale

Thanks to Madman Films we have 10 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see the new drama The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser in his acclaimed comeback role and directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, mother!), in cinemas from February 2nd, 2023. A reclusive English teacher living with severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage…

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Mad Cats is a high-art-meets-low-brow martial arts extravaganza of melodramatic proportions: Slamdance Film Festival Review

Sometimes an artist’s vision is best conveyed through the use of metaphorical imagery.  Reiki Tsuno is not one of those artists! Leaning bombastically far into literal chaos and absurdity, Tsuno’s Mad Cats is a high-art-meets-low-brow martial arts extravaganza that embraces melodramatic nonsense – and is all the better for it. When he receives a message…

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Ben Stevenson shares five tips for planning a funeral ahead of Ratbag

Coffs Harbour comedian Ben Stevenson is coping with grief in the best way that he knows how: through comedy. Using his wit as an outlet for the emotions surrounding the loss of his mother, Stevenson created Ratbag – a stand-up routine combining the darkest point in his life with uplifting stories from his childhood. The…

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Sometimes I Think About Dying‘s at-times tedious pace doesn’t take away its emotional resonance in tackling the themes of social anxiety: Sundance Film Festival Review

Whilst it isn’t always moving at a tolerable pace, nor does it necessarily answer the questions it raises throughout, Rachel Lambert‘s at-times dreamy dramedy Sometimes I Think About Dying still manages an emotional resonance as it tackles social anxiety and the feeling of disconnection that can stem from such. Daisy Ridley – in a beautiful,…

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Photo Gallery: Elana Stone + Butternut Sweetheart – Seymour Nights (21.01.23)

Seymour Nights in association with Sydney Festival has produced an outstanding series of free concerts this January at the Seymour Centre in Chippendale. Last night it was Elana Stone and Butternut Sweetheart who graced the stage. The weather nearly got the better of proceedings, with a downpour curtailing Butternut Sweetheart’s set.  The advantage of an…

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Mahogany Drive is a layered comedy detailing racial and gender bias on a subconscious level: Slamdance Film Festival Review

The unexplained corpse of a white woman at the feet of three Black gentlemen doesn’t look good.  Four dead white women looks even worse, and it’s a situation at the centre of Mahogany Drive that writer/director/star Jerah Milligan navigates with precise wit and a social commentary that doesn’t quite travel where we expect it to. Before…

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5 International Tours not to miss in Australia this February

The international tours are back and there are some incredible acts touring Australia in February. We’ve picked five of our favourites bands and artists  that are performing. Ed Sheeran Hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold to Ed Sheeran’s upcoming stadium + – = ÷ x Tour – (pronounced ‘The Mathematics Tour’). It’s going to be…

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Dizzy

New Music Discoveries 20th January: Dizzy, DMA’S, Dulcie and more

Happy New Year! We’re back from our summer break and we’ve had ten new tracks added to our Discovery playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. Our Track of the Week is “Birthmark” from Ontario-based band Dizzy.  The vocals from lead singer Katie Munshaw are gorgeous, with a constant beat, dreamy feels and modern production as…

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Film Review: Shotgun Wedding offsets its traditional romantic comedy sensibilities with bloodshed and a scene-stealing Jennifer Coolidge

If there’s one thing you can rely on when it comes to the romantic comedy genre, it’s that if there’s a wedding involved Jennifer Lopez can’t be too far from the fray.  The reliable superstar knows how to play the genre game, but if any audiences are concerned that Shotgun Wedding will play things a…

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Ghostface is “something different” in first full-length Scream VI trailer

After 27 years of slicing and dicing his (and sometimes her) variety of assorted victims over 5 films, it’s nice to see the iconic Ghostface rebrand themselves as “something different”; at least that’s what’s being promised to returning franchise player Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) in the first full-length trailer for Scream VI, the hotly anticipated…

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Thomas Headon

Interview: Thomas Headon is having fun. We chat about “Georgia”, his love of touring and more

Aussie-raised and London-based Thomas Headon has been gaining a legion of fans since he released his debut single “Grace” in 2019. His first two EP’s amassed over 40 million streams, and his 440+k TikTok followers are kept amused with his prodigious output. Last year Thomas embarked on a tour in the US with his good…

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Flight Review: Jetstar’s International Economy on the 787 Dreamliner – Honolulu to Melbourne (JQ2)

As part of their long haul fleet, Jetstar have the distinction of being the only budget carrier that takes Australian passengers directly to the USA. The airline travels a few times a week between Melbourne, VIC or Sydney, NSW and Honolulu, offering an affordable alternative to its competition, as well as being the only airline…

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The AU’s Most Anticipated Books of 2023: Jan – Mar

Happy New Year! 2023 is already in full swing and we in the AU Books Team are back and ready to look ahead at some of this year’s most anticipated books. With so many books published each week, month and year, it’d be impossible to read them all. So this is only the briefest snapshot…

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Film Review: The operatic, obscene vision of Babylon is a welcome reminder of the boundaries cinema can push

An elephant graphically defecates on its unsuspecting handlers, before stomping about in an uneven state amongst a storm of fornicating bodies.  An aspiring actress urinates on the face of a willing movie star in a coked-out stupor.  A tuxedoed lounge singer seductively croons about petting her girlfriend’s genitalia.  A party reveller bounces around on a…

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Arctic Monkeys

Live Review: Arctic Monkeys bring the nostalgia to The Domain in Sydney (14.01.23)

And so we have it, the biggest concert so far this year for Sydneysiders; a packed-out, uniformly excellent performance from indie rock legends Arctic Monkeys and DMAs on support duties. It felt like a festival; it basically was. The Domain has been used quite extensively as a venue over the past few months, jumping from…

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Win a double in-season pass to the new romantic comedy What’s Love Got to do With It?, from the producers of Bridget Jones’s Diary

Thanks to StudioCanal we have 5 double in-season passes (Admit 2) to see What’s Love Got to do With It?, a new romantic comedy from Working Title Films, the producers of Bridget Jones’s Diary and Love Actually, starring Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi and Emma Thompson. How do you find lasting love in today’s…

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Marlon Williams

Isabella Manfredi to support Marlon Williams on Australian tour

Marlon Williams will be bringing his My Boy tour to the East Coast of Australia next month, and has today announced that Isabella Manfredi will be joining him on all dates. This is a stellar addition to what was already promising to be a very special night. Isabella is well known from being the lead…

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Julia Jacklin

Download your Laneway Festival 2023 set times & final lineup additions here!

We’ve got the set times for Laneway Festival 2023, and some important lineup changes. Joining the bill is Windang’s favourite sons, Hockey Dad  – you will be able to catch them at the Brisbane and Sydney editions. Also, the fabulous Julia Jacklin has been added to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Unfortunately Baltimore’s Turnstile won’t be…

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Turpentine Babycino

Exclusive Single Premiere: Turpentine Babycino “Calamity” (2023)

We’re thrilled that the first slice of new music to be served up by the AU for 2023 is from newcomers Turpentine Babycino. The Mulubinba/Newcastle-based indie-punk rockers launched their debut track late in 2022 with the awesome gritty and catchy “Write A Song Sounds Shit”. Today we have the premiere of “Calamity”, an emotive salve…

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Lady Sings The Blues

Sydney Festival Review: Working through the power and the pain of women in music with Prinnie Stevens in Lady Sings the Blues

Best known as a finalist on the commercial television singing competition, The Voice, Prinnie Stevens is a singer and theatre performer, starring in productions including The Bodyguard and Thriller Live. In Lady Sings the Blues, Prinnie brings her Tongan Catholic heritage to stage and maps out a life and love of strong women in music….

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Werk It

Sydney Festival Review: Werk It will have you asking, “How’d they do THAT?”

Sitting in the audience at Werk It you’d be forgiven for rubbing your eyes and questioning what you’d imbibed prior. The 60-minute show performed by Circus Trick Tease was pretty much all killer, no filler. This was a crazy array of jaw-dropping stunts and circus artistry with lashings of sass and innuendo. As you walk…

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The Dead South sell out AU & NZ tour and share favourite slang

Canadian bluegrass four-piece The Dead South are heading to Australia and New Zealand for the first time ever this month, supported by The Hooten Hallers. The sold-out tour will see the beloved band play seven shows back to back up the East Coast, returning to Northcote Theatre in Melbourne before two shows at Auckland. Due…

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Review: Blanc de Blanc Encore is the best thing going in Sydney right now

Many Sydneysiders are already familiar with Blanc de Blanc. Strut N Fret’s incredibly flirtatious, Champagne-fueled stab at high-class cabaret has played around the city for years, popping up every so often at different views including a sell-out season at Sydney Opera House. Now, it’s back. And quite honestly, we should all be so glad that…

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