Three major debuts could not unseat Jennifer Lawrence from her box office throne in Australia this week. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which has a fair chance of cracking $1 billion worldwide) retained its top spot despite strong competition from animated sequel Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 and new Vince Vaughn comedy Delivery Man. Hopeful franchise-starter Ender’s Game came in with…
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Presented by APRA, AMCOS and the AGSC, the winners of the 2013 Screen Music Awards have been announced at a gala event at the Sydney State Theatre. Hosted by The Chaser’s Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor, the winner’s list features an impressive group of composers who reflect the diversity and depth of the Australian screen…
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“Rhyme, meter, conceit. Without this balance, a poem becomes slack.” Allan Ginsberg’s poetry professor proclaims this line in the earlier moments of Kill Your Darlings, and throughout its runtime I found myself wishing that the film had heeded this advice. Kill Your Darlings is a schizophrenic trip through the origins of the Beat Generation that never…
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After receiving rave reviews from its debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year, buzz has been building for James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now. So, does it live up to the hype? No, not really, but films rarely do. Despite being overrated by critics during its currently-brief lifetime, the film still impresses in many ways. It…
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The Iris brings you the brand new official trailer for the cinematic sequel (or “sidequel” as it’s being called), 300: Rise of an Empire, which is released in Australian cinemas on 6th March 2014. The film will be released in 3D, 2D and in IMAX. Starring Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro, Lena Headey and more… ———-…
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Released in Australian cinemas on the 17th of April 2014, part two of the four expected Amazing Spider-Man films, starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, just had its first full trailer unveiled. The title of the film on the official Australian site seems to suggest that we’ll be getting a tagline for the film that…
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Check out the recently released companion piece for the acclaimed film Gravity. It’s a short film entitled Aningaaq, and though it was originally planned as an exclusive feature on the Gravity Blu-Ray/DVD release, the makers have ended up with an Academy Award eligible live-action short after showcasing the film alongside selected festival screenings of Gravity….
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The Iris talks to Marc Fennell to talk about his upcoming co-hosting duties for the 22nd Tropfest short film festival in Sydney, Australia, broadcast on SBS2 around the country. The broadcast is happening this Sunday, December 8th from 8.30pm! For more details head to http://www.tropfest.com/ ———- This content has recently been ported from its original…
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Following their nomination announcements earlier this week, we caught up with three of the AACTA nominees to discuss what this recognition meant to them, learn a little bit more about their films and find out what they thought about the broader nominations. With thanks to Chris Singh for taking on these interviews: CATHERINE KNAPMAN: PRODUCER,…
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Sad to say I was a little disappointed when this week’s episode of New Girl began. It was worrying to see it turn down a cliché Thanksgiving/camping ‘everything goes wrong’ path that most sitcoms seem to have gone down at one time or another. New Girl is usually quite consistent in its originality, and while…
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The zombie sub-genre can produce gory fun and easy thrills but the incorporation of the undead in Episode 5 of American Horror Story: Coven is nowhere near the standard of a George A. Romero picture. The zombie encounter is the highest point of the episode and it concludes half way through. Following on from the…
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Growing up, we always have a couple of books we connect with. For me, before there was Harry Potter and before I could fully appreciate the sheer brilliance of the Hitchhikers series, there was a little 1985 Sci-Fi novel called Ender’s Game. It was the sort of novel, that at nine years old – or…
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Opening on Boxing Day in Australia is the long awaited second part of The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug. Today Warner Bros / Roadshow have presented four clips to get you excited about the film, featuring Golbins, the return of Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Gandalf, Hobbits and much more. Also see Legolas get told…
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The Iris meets funnyman Will Ferrell on the red carpet of the Sydney Anchorman: The Legend Continues premiere to find out what happened to the Anchorman musical, if a trilogy is in store and how Australia ahas treated him in an all too brief visit to our shores. Interview: Chris Singh Camera: Nathan Atkins Edit:…
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Hunger Games‘ sequel Catching Fire held onto the Number One spot over the weekend, taking in an additional $6.75m at the local box office, followed by Bad Grandpa which held onto the Number Two position with $1.1m and Thor 2 which took in just under $900,000, returning to the number three spot. Newcomers Carrie and…
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The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) have unveiled the nominations for the 39 categories that will comprise the 3rd annual AACTA Awards, and The Great Gatsby tops the list with 14 nominations. The big-budget film faces competition from Kim Mordaunt’s The Rocket, a-low budget film, shot in Laos with unknown actors. Both…
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Note: This Review May Contain Spoilers How I Live Now is at once strange and intriguing. Set in the 21st century, How I Live Now tells the story of a young, American girl who is sent to live with her cousins in the English countryside, when a world war breaks out across the country. Daisy, the American, and…
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It’s the final year of high school and Sutters life is falling apart. Dumped by his girlfriend, ditched by his friends and failing his way through class, he starts sliding quietly into alcoholism. When he meets the quiet, geeky Aimee she seems to offer him a path out of the murk, but Sutter may not…
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“I’m sorry. I know that means little at this point, but I am. I tried. I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right. But I wasn’t.” With these few words, so begins All Is Lost, an incredible film about one man’s struggle…
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Darlene Love. Merry Clayton. Lisa Fischer. Claudia Lennear. Táta Vega. Judith Hill. Jo Lawry. Stevvi Alexander. The names of these women may not seem familiar, but I can guarantee that you have heard at least one, if not all of them sing. How? Because all of these women are backup singers, and among the most celebrated of…
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The grandmaster of animation, Hayao Miyazaki, made the somewhat unexpected announcement of his retirement from filmmaking a few months back when his film The Wind Rises played at the Venice Film Festival. The film’s trailer has arrived, and after great reviews from the festival circuit I’m hoping it’s a great watch. The film tells the…
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The Iris meets Steve Carrell on the red carpet of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues in Sydney, Australia. We talk about his experiences in Australia and about how his character Brick Tamland handles having a new love interest (Kristen Wiig) in the film! Interview: Chris Singh Camera: Nathan Atkins Edit: Larry Heath Filmed at the…
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The Iris presents the international trailer and Australian poster for the anticipated new film HER, released in Australian cinemas on January 16th, 2014. Directed by Spike Jonze, this original love story is garnering high praise from critics after showing at the New York and Rome Film Festivals. <iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/GTtDo0-w4LQ?rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe> Starring Joaquin…
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the AU review’s The Iris meets David Koechner aka Champ Kind from Anchorman 2 on the red carpet at the Australian premiere in Sydney. We talk about the film – getting back into character, the script and the “one liners” and we ask: would you consider doing a third film? WHAMMY! ———- This content has…
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Seeing Only Lovers Left Alive at the Brisbane International Film Festival was the best kind of surprise. The title alone had piqued my interest, and the synopsis ensured that this would at least be an unusual film, if anything. But Only Lovers Left Alive completely and utterly stole my heart right from the first frame…
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Tropfest has recently announced the 16 finalists who’s films will be screened across the nation when the world’s largest short film festival kicks off on Sunday December 8th. An eclectic assortment of films will be on show, ranging from thrillers and comedies to documentaries and dramas, which have all been inspired by the Festival’s signature…
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Ron Burgundy, known to most as Ánchorman, has released his highly anticipated autobiography Let Me Off At The Top! My classy life and other musings. The book has coincided with the release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues which premiered in Australia last Sunday. Burgundy will reveal, in his own words, his most private thoughts,…
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The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) has announced the winners of the annual Screen IT competition, Australia’s largest competition for school-aged filmakers, animators and game makers. This year there were over 373 entries from all around Australia creating live-action films, computer games and animations to fit with this years theme, Connect. ACMI’s Screen Education Manager, Christine…
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As everyone is talking about the new ABC series Ja’mie: Private School Girl at the moment, lets take a look back at Chris Lilley’s last project Summer Heights High. Set at an Australian public high school, Summer Heights High is a mockumentary starring Ja’mie King, Jonah Takalua and Mr. G – all played by funny man Chris Lilley. We all know…
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Three cheers for the return of Ferguson! Winston’s intense love of that cat remains a very amusing theme of this season and it was nice to have it brought to the forefront yet again. Winston also took on a bigger role in this episode, although he still seems the odd man out of the gang….
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