Film & TV

Interview: Megan 2.0 director Gerard Johnstone on bettering sequels and exploring relationships with A.I

The murderous doll who captivated pop culture in 2023 is back. And this time she’s not alone. The original creative team behind the original $180m phenomenon – led by horror titans James Wan for Atomic Monster, Jason Blum for Blumhouse and director Gerard Johnstone – reboot an all-new wild chapter in A.I. mayhem with M3GAN…

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Jungle warfare gets prehistoric in first trailer for survivalist actioner Primitive War

This ain’t no walk in the park! Based on Ethan Pettus’ cult-favorite novel, Primitive War is a 1968-set action film that follows an elite recon unit, Vulture Squad, who are sent deep into the Vietnamese jungle to locate a missing Green Beret platoon—only to discover a far more lethal threat: dinosaurs. Written and directed by…

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Persian Film Festival Australia announces daring 2025 program

The Persian Film Festival Australia 2025 returns this April and May to offer a unique cinematic experience that brings together the best of Persian cinema from the past year, presenting stories that transcend borders and connect people across the globe. Now in its 11th edition, the festival continues to be a key platform for Persian…

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Full program announced for the 2025 Palestinian Film Festival Australia

The 13th Palestinian Film Festival Australia is set to return this May with a bold and innovative program of new cinema from and about Palestine, offering a powerful and resonant exploration of resilience, love and freedom in the face of ongoing war and dispossession. Running across five cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra…

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Film Review: Novocaine – No Pain; Jack Quaid elevates brutal, quirky action flick

Playing with a character that’s as if Clark Kent didn’t entirely realise the pros of having superhuman strength, or, perhaps, a more reluctant John Wick, Novocaine – No Pain (which is the title being pushed here in Australia for the otherwise known as Novocaine, presumably off the notion that local audiences aren’t entirely aware of…

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The Gold Coast Film Festival unveils 2025 program

The Gold Coast Film Festival (GCFF) unveils their fantastic program with 5 World, 11 Australian and 4 Queensland Premieres along with the return of SIPFEST: Shorts in Paradise in this year’s festival, running between April 30th and May 11th, 2025, at HOTA, Home of the Arts. Included in the 12-day festival are some incredible events…

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Film Review: A Minecraft Movie is far more enjoyable than it has any right to be

As someone who has never played Minecraft the game, and is only vaguely familiar with its building premise, to say there was a major detachment – and perhaps an unenthusiasm – towards A Minecraft Movie would be an understatement.  But in that uninitiated mentality is perhaps the perfect embodiment to review such a film as…

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Sydney Film Festival announces its first slate of films for 2025 edition

The 72nd Sydney Film Festival (4–15 June) has today revealed a sneak peek of 16 bold new films set to screen this June, offering a taste of the 2025 program ahead of the full Festival announcement on Wednesday, 7th May. “This first look offers a cross-section of the bold storytelling and distinctive voices that can…

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Series Review: The Bondsman proves the perfect blend of gory horror and situational comedy

The Bondsman is a horror-comedy series that tells the story of Hub Halloran (Kevin Bacon, comical and ever charismatic), a murdered bounty hunter in the south whose bound for Hell due to his own sins, before being brought back to life by the Devil to hunt demons on Earth that have escaped the pits of…

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What happened at the Garden State 20th Anniversary Concert in Los Angeles (and how you can watch the whole thing!)

In 2004, actor Zach Braff, best known for fronting the TV sitcom Scrubs, released his debut feature film Garden State to critical acclaim. The film – co-starring Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, the late great Ian Holm, and many others – was praised for its smart script (penned by Braff), clever editing, endearing performances and an…

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Series Review: Mid-Century Modern; Hilarious, nostalgic sitcom breaks down queer stereotypes as much as it embraces them

Watching something like Mid-Century Modern you’re reminded of both the golden age of the multi-cam, live audience classicality of a sitcom, as well as the shift in televisual consumption, with this nostalgic itch-scratching firecracker of a show taking advantage of its streaming setting with boundary-pushing humour and considerable profanity; once you hear the stupendous Linda…

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Film Review: Holland; Nicole Kidman anchors ambitious, twisted mystery thriller

If there’s one thing about our Nicole Kidman, it’s that she’s going to work! Fresh off three of last year’s buzziest shows (Expats, Lioness and The Perfect Couple) and a criminally Oscar-oversighted performance in the erotic drama Babygirl, the perennially busy actress/producer is at the centre of another twisted thriller of sorts in Prime Video’s…

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Film Review: Death of a Unicorn is a blackly comic creature feature that eats the rich and delights in mythological madness

Movies about unicorns have a certain fantastical nature to them, so it makes sense that Death of a Unicorn adopts such a mentality – albeit with a serious case of nastiness and surprising class commentary. A blackly comic creature feature with an evident love for the back catalogue of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron –…

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Film Review: A Working Man; Jason Statham’s latest vehicle is a serviceable slice of action

At this point you know what you’re going to get with a Jason Statham vehicle, and when it’s one penned by Sylvester Stallone and directed by David Ayer (who, in addition to such actioners as Suicide Squad and End of Watch, was behind last year’s Statham surprise The Beekeeper), you shouldn’t be remotely taken aback…

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Interview: Mid-Century Modern creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick on evolutionary comedy and ensemble casting

After changing the way network television viewed queer comedy with their revolutionary sitcom Will & Grace, creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are set to alter the landscape of the streaming space with Mid-Century Modern, a classic multi-cam comedy series about old friends, new roommates and chosen family. Executive produced by Ryan Murphy, directed by…

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Film Review: Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up is a stupendously joyous family event

As someone who grew up with the Looney Tunes, there’s certainly a sense of nostalgic warmth when watching something as unapologetically wacky (and 2D) as Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up. Nostalgia only takes you so far though, and as much as The Day the Earth Blew Up is a bombastically entertaining cartoon…

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Film Review: Oh, Canada; Self-reflective drama is muddled, but unquestionably fascinating

Given that he’s experienced his own health problems over the last few years, it would seem Paul Schrader is a man reflecting on his own mortality if Oh, Canada is anything to go by, the filmmaker’s fourth effort in almost as many years. Reuniting with his own American Gigolo, Richard Gere, Oh, Canada centres around…

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Series Review: The Studio; Seth Rogen’s “inside baseball” series about the film studio scene is perfectly constructed comedy

Whilst there is a certain “inside baseball”-like mentality to The Studio – the Seth Rogen–Evan Goldberg-created comedy series about the moving and shaking of a new film studio head and his attempt to salvage the newly acquired company’s evidently floundering reputation – such is the genius of Rogen and Goldberg’s handling (the duo co-directing each…

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Interview: Michela Carattini on her new film Carmen & Bolude and the importance of multicultural representation on screen

A movie for international, mixed and third culture kids, Carmen & Bolude is a multicultural comedy based on the real-life friendship of Michela Carattini and Bolude Watson. Written by the duo and co-directed by Carattini, Carmen & Bolude tells of two friends who must travel from New York City to Sydney, Australia, where they have…

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Interview: Matt Moran on fusing food and celebrity recollections in his new show Memory Bites with Matt Moran

We all have a “memory bite” – a dish that unlocks a treasure trove of memories and reminds us that food is a gateway to the stories and emotions that shape who we are. In the brand-new series Memory Bites with Matt Moran, the iconic chef and restaurateur transports beloved famous faces back to pivotal moments in…

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Here’s why you should be making plans to stay at Netflix’s The Residence

A queer President. An occasionally profane Kylie Minogue. An unseen Hugh Jackman. A birder-obsessed detective.  And a murder most foul. An Agatha Christie-meets-Clue-like mystery series from the Shondaland factory (i.e. Shonda Rhimes, the figurehead behind such TV successes as Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder, and Bridgerton), The Residence is an intelligent, witty…

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Interview: MWFF director Sian Mitchell on this year’s festival program and amplifying female voices in film

The Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF) (March 20th – 24th, 2025) is an exciting, volunteer-run festival that aims to inspire and empower established and emerging women and gender diverse screen practitioners from Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the wider Moana region through the celebration of their work and artistry. MWFF exhibits work from collaborative teams…

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Film Review: Of all the live-action Disney remakes, how fair is Snow White of them all?

It’s a shame that there’s been so much controversy surrounding Snow White, the latest Disney classic to get the live-action treatment, as Marc Webb‘s harmless musical is hardly strong or memorable enough to warrant the reaction it’s detractors have already decided it deserves. Sure, lead star Rachel Zegler didn’t help matters with her comments on…

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Interview: Director Geremy Jasper on his 20-years in the making rock opera O’Dessa; “I always build characters through music and sounds and lyrics.”

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa is an original rock opera about a farm girl (Sadie Sink) on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom.  Her journey leads her to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love – but in order to save his soul, she must put…

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Film Review: O’Dessa; Post-apocalyptic rock opera delights in its audacious maximalism

Whilst his previous film – 2017’s crowd-pleasing Patti Cake$ – had a scrappiness to it, it beamed with a personality larger than its budget.  For O’Dessa, director Geremy Jasper delights in supreme maximalism, as his post-apocalyptic musical-romance hybrid projects its bigness through both its visuals and its central thematic of how love can transform one’s…

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Film Review: The Alto Knights; Robert De Niro pulls double duty in talky mobster drama

Robert De Niro and the role of a gangster have so often gone hand-in-hand that there’s an immediate sense of ease in entering The Alto Knights, with the feeling that, if nothing else, audiences can rest assured that the legendary actor will deliver a worthy performance. De Niro is ultimately the main reason to see…

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Interview: Barry Levinson on directing Robert De Niro in The Alto Knights and balancing historical accuracy with creative interpretation

Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Bugsy) is no stranger to both the crime genre and collaborating with Robert De Niro, and their collective experience are fusing with The Alto Knights, which follows two of New York’s most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese (both portrayed by De Niro), as they vie for…

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Interview: Bob Trevino Likes It writer/director Tracie Laymon on telling her unique story on film; “It was very important to me to speak to that truth and how I healed from the evolution of that.”

Inspired by the true friendship that writer/director Tracie Laymon found with a stranger when looking for her father online, Bob Trevino Likes It is a heartwarming tale about how even the smallest act of kindness can have the largest ripple effect on someone’s life. Often playing the role of caretaker to people like her father…

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Film Review: The Importance of Being Earnest; National Theatre Live’s fantastical take on Oscar Wilde’s classic is an absolute treat

This delightful reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is an absolute treat! Just over 130 years since the play first debuted at the St James’s Theatre in London, select cinemas across Australia are screening the play, filmed live at The National Theatre in London. The story follows Jack Worthing, played by the…

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Sydney Opera House will screen ‘In The Mood For Love’ with a full live orchestra

It was only a few months ago that the great Antonio Sánchez sat at a complex drum kit set up in one corner of the stage at City Recital Hall.  Alejandro González Iñárritu’s masterful 2014 hit, Birdman, screened to a sold-out crowd while Sánchez brought new meaning to the film with a live rendition of his…

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