Office lackey day-job. Journalist for The AU Review night-job. Emotionally invested fangirl.
In a world dominated by sensationalist news, Kill The Messenger is part biopic part political thriller part ethically charged drama, that follows the story of investigative journalist Gary Webb and his attempts at uncovering the US Government and CIA’s involvement with Nicaraguan drug cartels. Adapted from the book of the same name by Nick Schou…
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They are one of Australia’s most loved and lauded live acts and sadly, they are calling it quits. Those crazy cats from Bluejuice have decided it’s time to hang up the ridiculous home-made costumes and move on to new projects and lives. In the span of 13 years of touring, if you hadn’t seen them play at…
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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…
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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…
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Alexander Wolfe is not a household name here in Australia however in his native England, he’s already beginning to build a bit of an underground following. Even now thinking back on it, how I came to discover him as an artist was tenuous at best, courtesy of the theme song he supplied for a quirky BBC…
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There have been plenty of movies made about the infamous character of Dracula, most of which centre around his blood-sucking, bat shape shifting, and supernatural ways. There have been less films made that focus on his beginnings and how he came to be this villainous monster, and even less that have some grain of truth…
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Tonight would be a night of some mystical and magical music, a chance to be immersed in the wild and occasionally wacky sounds that some of Australia’s indie pop folk have to offer. Tonight would be the launch for Dan Kelly’s new single “Melbourne VS Sydney” and coincidentally his main support Richard in Your Mind are Sydney locals, whilst…
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Marvel Studios and the Disney team had a huge amount of reputation riding on this film after setting the bar ridiculously high with their ensemble action superhero fest that was The Avengers. With a bunch of characters who are mostly unknowns unless you’re a comic fan, this film would need to pull out some wicked…
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From the man that brought you La Femme Nikita, Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element comes yet another stylised badass individual out to settle some scores whilst simultaneously attempting to advance humankind through a very thinly veiled pseudo-science and psychology subplot. Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is our hapless damsel unwittingly roped into being a drug…
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It’s a simple question with no straight-forward answer, “What would you do?” if it really was your last day on the earth, if you knew it was all going to end, how would you spend your final waking moments? These Final Hours examines the dystopian world that James (Nathan Phillips) must navigate as the remaining…
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Lorde is barely even legal, but her music and live performance speaks volumes for someone so young. Filled with an energy that radiates outwardly you can’t help but be amazed and a little entranced by what you see on stage. Tonight would be first of two shows at the Hordern Pavilion for this New Zealand singer…
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For those who are yet to experience a pop culture convention, The IRIS paid a visit to Oz Comic Con Melbourne this past weekend to experience what a convention is like on-the-ground and in the thick of it.
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The movie version of the musical of the same name, Jersey Boys, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel here, and director Clint Eastwood does a solid job and even manages to retain a little bit of that musical flair but it’s not altogether brilliant, nor is it terrible. We’re given the fairly routine storyline…
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This is it, we have finally reached the end of Noah Hawley’s black comedy-crime-drama Fargo, inspired by the Coen Brothers film of the same name. Without further ado, let us launch into a recap of the episode and a little discussion, beware there’s thin ice and spoilers ahead. We open with a long tracking sequence,…
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Michael Bay has managed to somewhat redeem himself with Transformers: Age of Extinction with a too long but well worth it rollercoaster ride. Just remember, it’s Hollywood, it’s Bay, it’s not really supposed to make sense and you’re really going to watch the giant robots and cars and see things blow up. Firstly, lower your…
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For anybody who thinks that going to a Keith Urban concert is going to be littered with a country-hoedown-experience, they’re way off the mark. It’s a fast-paced rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza with some notable guest-stars hopping on stage and some fine showmanship from one of the nicest guys in the music business.
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It’s the penultimate episode of Fargo and there are so many questions remaining unanswered that we could potentially fill up an entire additional season. Yet in Noah Hawley’s script we trust, and somehow he’s going to give us all the answers, if not in this instalment, then at least in the finale. Once again we’re…
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Indie film and TV darling Zach Braff has taken a decade as well as a controversial Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to finally have his second feature brought to life on the big screen. Wish I Was Here examines the struggles of the thirty-somethings of our generation, including unemployment, marriage, raising kids and the inevitability of…
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“It’s life, you go to bed unsatisfied” in the words of police chief Bill Oswalt, and he’s expressing how we feel too, we’re unsatisfied, and this episode does leave you feeling a little bit that way. Not in a negative sense at all, more in a “we’re at episode 8 of 10 and we still…
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Not everything or everyone is quite what it seems in this gripping thriller that brings a wealthy American couple and a young shady tour guide together on an increasingly tense journey across the Mediterranean as they try to evade the law. Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his gorgeous young wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) are holidaying…
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In life we are more often than not reactive creatures, responding to our environment and those around us. Sometimes the unlikeliest of people and the most random of circumstances can shape our lives, in both good and bad ways. Based on the novel by Larry Brown and directed by David Gordon Green, Joe is the…
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This time around we’re given a reprieve from the hefty violence and an opportunity to see the intricate web revealed as well as some surprisingly touching and sensitive moments. For a series that has been so brutal, dark and twisted this is a much brighter albeit still emotionally heavy episode to take in. At the…
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The tension levels increase exponentially as we now hit the back end of the series and the finale is now edging ever closer. The title of this episode is a paradoxical parable that is loosely thematic of what we see in the episode and relates to free will. Interestingly we see a lot of that…
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You know those tag lines they use to promote films? Well the tag line for Edge Of Tomorrow is “Live. Die. Repeat” and this movie does exactly what it says on the tin. Not to mention throw tons of sci-fi action in your face and manages to deliver an interesting story that stays focused and…
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Episode 2 in ‘Taboo Week’ examines the struggles of gay surfers and the surfing subculture and also a revealing look into the workings of a BDSM master/slave relationship. But before that the main headline of the news was the very public arrest of former detective Roger Rogerson over the alleged murder of uni student Jamie…
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There are few voices in the Australian music scene that are as ethereal, magical and awe-inspiring as that of Kate Miller-Heidke. We are all the more fortunate for her veering down the path of the alternative indie pop scene, than sticking with her classically trained operatic roots. Tonight’s performance is a fairy-tale showcase of how Heidke…
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We’ve officially reached the half-way point of the series and with the plans of most of our characters now in full motion, it’s looking a lot clearer cut. But the clean-up crew of both the hit-men and the police are now hot on the trails and making in-roads to getting things wrapped up, or so…
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Sydney outfit The Great Conjunction are fairly new onto the scene with their cavernous alternative indie-rock sounds. They write music that’s deeply intricate on so many layers, think like Arcade Fire or The New Pornographers or The Dears, that it can take quite a few listens to really appreciate it. I’ll openly admit it took me some proper spins to get the…
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In the next two episodes of Unplanned America the lads Gonzo, Parv and Nick tackle some interesting stereotypes and turn them all upside down and make us re-evaluate what we think we know about the rap music industry, gangs, the parody porn scene and nudists and nudity. Landing in south-side Chicago the boys meet up…
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In the next two episodes of Unplanned America the lads Gonzo, Parv and Nick tackle some interesting stereotypes and turn them all upside down and make us re-evaluate what we think we know about the rap music industry, gangs, the parody porn scene and nudists and nudity. In episode 4 “Inhibition and Exhibition” the boys…
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