Review

The OPPO A79 5G might take smaller steps forward, but they’re still in the right direction

We’ve reviewed a few OPPO phones over the years, and have enjoyed most of them for their sleek design and decent performance. While they’re great value for money, the train seemingly keeps rolling with new solid options on the market each year. Enter the OPPO A79 5G. Its predecessor, the A78 5G, might have been…

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The Ring Battery Doorbell Pro is a safe bet for new and existing users alike

Ring has been responsible for a range of doorbell iterations and cameras alike over the past few years, best known for their reliable quality and ease of use. While there are many ways to work around a security setup for your home, the Ring Battery Doorbell Pro takes many previously exclusive premium features and packs…

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The Tineco Floor One S6 Pro Extreme makes small, yet solid improvements over its predecessor

We recently took the time to review the Tineco Floor One S5 Combo and were pleasantly surprised with the results. The next iteration, the Floor One S6 Pro Extreme takes every opportunity to bolster the multiple features of its predecessor, ultimately making it a success for anyone looking to pick up a vacuum and mop…

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Rise of the Ronin merges fantastic combat with bloated open-world design

My past couple of weeks with Rise of the Ronin have left me feeling a little conflicted. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between the logic of my mind and the feeling of my heart. In many ways, this is a true cut above developer Team Ninja’s previous efforts with something like Nioh. Its combat…

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Film Review: Wicked Little Letters; Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley flex their profane vocabulary in wicked little comedy

Before the internet gave way to the keyboard warriors of the world, if there was a bystander of sorts that you wished to give a piece of your mind to (however warranted or not), one had to put pen to paper and post such. In the early 20th century these were the days of the…

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Film Review: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire needs to unthaw its grip on series nostalgia

Nostalgia undoubtedly has its place within the realms of IP revisitation, but there are certain ways to utilise such a notion without completely falling back on them.  2021’s Afterlife, the 3rd Ghostbusters , chronologically, following 1984’s debut and its 1989 sequel – or the 4th iteration if counting Paul Feig’s much maligned, but vastly underrated…

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Contra: Operation Galuga provides some safe, old-school fun

I’ve been a huge fan of the Contra series over the years, and still go back to the original when it pops up. Upon hearing that Contra: Operation Galuga would reimagine the first entry with some fresh visuals and gameplay, I was pumped. Contra: Operation Galuga is certainly a good time as far as 2D…

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The SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL gaming keyboard is a safe, yet solid bet

I’ve reviewed a few SteelSeries keyboards over the years, and they have ultimately become my go-to option for both general everyday use and gaming. I currently use a SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL as my daily driver, and it has not really disappointed me in the slightest. In many ways, the Apex 9 TKL is an…

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Film Review: Immaculate; Sydney Sweeney commits to disturbing, potentially triggering, religious horror outing

Given Sydney Sweeney‘s dedication to Immaculate as a production, it makes sense that the actress gives her all across the 89 minutes of Michael Mohan‘s disturbing, occasionally blackly comic, religious horror film. A decade-or-so ago, Sweeney, who was still mainly working in C-grade film fare at the time, read the Andrew Lobel-penned script and knew…

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The Netgear Nighthawk RS700S Wi-Fi 7 router packs a huge punch, if you’re willing to pay the price

It only feels like we just got Wi-Fi 6 and 6E up and running in most of our routers and devices. But Netgear has decided to move things forward once again with Wi-Fi 7, introduced via their new RS700S Tri-Band router. This review might feel a little heavy, but we’ll do our best to punch…

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Film Review: Road House is trashy escapism that revels in its own dirty masculinity

Whilst some of the beats are the same between Doug Liman‘s surprising take on Rowdy Herrington’s resilient 1989 trashy actioner of the same name, Road House 2024 proves removed enough to justify its existence as a similarly-themed junky piece of escapism that revels in its own dirty masculinity. Jake Gyllenhaal shares the same name as…

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Film Review: Love Lies Bleeding is deliciously wild and audaciously brutal

If her prominent post-Twilight work hasn’t convinced you to join the Kristen Stewart appreciation club, then may I suggest signing up in the wake of Love Lies Bleeding, a deliciously wild, brutal noir crime comedy that gleefully breaks your jaw in the process. And there’s a reason I specified a breaking jaw in that analogy,…

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Film Review: The Nut Farm cracks charm out of its undecorated nature

Whilst The Nut Farm undeniably goes for simple, perhaps obvious humour over the course of its brisk 80-ish minutes, audiences looking for clean(ish) humour and a sense of family fun should have an easy time digesting Arj Barker‘s absurd, well-intentioned comedy. Barker, an American comedian whose very much made Australia his second home over the…

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Kryptic is a Lynchian-like thriller that indulges in its confusing, confronting narrative: SXSW Film & TV Festival Review

Towards the beginning of the creepy and ambiguous Kryptic, a tour guide overseeing the Cedar Springs Women’s Walking Club explains what cryptozoology is.  “It means the study of the hidden,” he states as he details Barb Valentine, a cryptozoologist who went missing in the very same British Columbia hinterland the group is currently hiking through….

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Hunting Daze is a surreal visualisation of toxic masculinity: SXSW Film & TV Festival Review

Men behaving badly is at the core of Annick Blanc‘s Hunting Daze, a surreal visualisation of toxic masculinity that refuses to ever pigeonhole itself into one category.  It’s horrific without ever devoting itself entirely to that genre.  It’s blackly funny, though never satirical.  And it’s always engaging, even if the extreme manner in which Blanc…

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Interview: David West Read on blending Shakespeare and Max Martin-penned pop for & Juliet

What if Romeo’s ending, was Juliet’s beginning? The Emmy-winning writer of TV’s Schitt’s Creek flips the script on Shakespeare in this hilarious and poignant story of self-discovery and second chances. Legendary songwriter Max Martin delivers one of the most addictive and joyous soundtracks to ever hit the stage, in this inspiring new musical that proves…

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Cold Wallet finds a taut balance between crypto commentary and gripping escapism: SXSW Film & TV Festival Review

Though there’s an enjoyable “Robin Hood”-like mentality to the narrative of Cutter Hodierne‘s always watchable thriller Cold Wallet, this cryptocurrency-heavy tale takes a less jovial approach to the world of tech talk and monetary scams than last year’s similarly themed Dumb Money.  But, despite opting for a more intense, oft-violent approach, the emerging filmmaker has…

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth shows promise, but lacks the punch of its predecessor

When the Final Fantasy VII remake was initially announced, you could say it broke the internet. That original 1997 game changed the gaming landscape forever and hearing that it would be released to a new generation on a new platform made you feel like you were witnessing the second coming of Christ in gaming pop…

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Film Review: Kung Fu Panda 4; Jack Black’s loveable Po proves a welcome return in amusing sequel

Though there was a certain sense of the story coming to a natural close in 2016’s Kung Fu Panda 3, the powers that be at DreamWorks deemed another go-around with the loveable Po (once again voiced with vigour by Jack Black) necessary, and so families are gifted with the effortless joy that is Kung Fu…

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Film Review: Ricky Stanicky; John Cena livens up an otherwise missed opportunity of a comedy

After finding Oscar glory as a solo filmmaker – with arguably one of the more controversial Best Picture wins in the Academy’s history (see Green Book) – there’s a nice sense of coming back home in the case of Peter Farrelly helming Ricky Stanicky. Now, it does pale in comparison to the comedy works he…

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Film Review: Imaginary is light on scares and, ironically, imagination

Given that the promotional material for Imaginary has highlighted a certain stuffed teddy bear, one would be right in assuming that the film – boasting its from the studio that brought us Five Nights at Freddy’s and M3GAN – would be taking inspiration from those two successful properties.  Unfortunately, despite such promise, a committed turn…

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Album Review: Ricki-Lee claims pop throne on upbeat, euphoric On My Own

Given the longevity of her prolific career, it’s easy to forget that popstar-cum-media personality Ricki-Lee got her start within the Australian Idol space and that she didn’t win; Casey Donovan would ultimately be crowned the winner of said season. In the 20 years (!!!) since the commanding singer won us all over during her tenure…

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Film Review: The Great Escaper is an engaging, likeable true story that celebrates love and determination

There very easily could’ve been an air of farce and faux suspense about The Great Escaper.  A true story centring on Bernard Jordan (Michael Caine) – a near-90-year-old who staged a “great escape” from his retirement home in 2014 in order to join his fellow war veterans on a beach in Normandy to commemorate their…

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Live Review: The National make up for the long absence at world-class Sydney show

The National have been regulars to our shores for 16 years, so the six-year gap since their last show in Australia is a fair enough gap to have revived the appetite for the Ohio via New York City group.  Bringing Annie Hamilton along for the tour was a stroke of genius. Not only is she…

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Film Review: Dune: Part Two inimitably balances its blockbuster psyche with an uncomfortable morality

Given the absolute majestic, expansive nature of Frank Herbert‘s 1965 novel, it makes sense as to why director Denis Villeneuve insisted that his story be told across a necessary 5 hour split.  No doubt using David Lynch’s ambitious failure as something of a cautionary tale – the auteur continually rejecting his association with his own…

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Film Review: The Greatest Love Story Never Told is the most open and vulnerable aspect of Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me…Now experience

“What is this fucking girl’s problem?” As Jennifer Lopez states in the opening moments of The Greatest Love Story Never Told, she’s highly aware of what the media has pondered about the multitude of marriages (4, to be precise) she’s partaken in over the course of her resilient career. And it’s that self-awareness and hopeful…

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Helldivers 2 provides the humorous, light-hearted sci-fi fun we need right now

Helldivers 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the cult classic, has finally landed on both PlayStation 5 and PC, delivering intense action and strategic cooperative gameplay. Developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, this instalment brings significant changes, notably shifting from a top-down perspective to a first-person view. While this feels like a major departure from the…

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Film Review: The Rooster navigates its meditation on masculinity with dark humour and uncomfortable fragility

The opening imagery of Mark Leonard Winter‘s The Rooster is a nightmarish depiction of a body swinging in the wind.  It suggests a darker film than what transpires over the following 101 minutes, even though Winter’s script does indeed indulge in devastating themes. At the centre of The Rooster is Dan (Phoenix Raei, leaving no…

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Film Review: The Zone of Interest makes for a cruel and profound questioning of humanity’s dark underbelly

An idyllic family life juxtaposed with the genocidal holocaust horrors next door has made for one of the most gripping and intellectual cinematic gems in years.  The Zone of Interest is by far the most haunting and arresting depiction of Nazi family life and Holocaust bureaucracy you’ll get all year.  Directed by Jonathan Glazer, his…

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Film Review: Drive-Away Dolls is an unapologetic queer road movie that takes no prisoners on its journey

If there was ever an indication as to how separately the Coen Brothers think when they’re left to their own devices, one only needs to look at what Ethan Coen has concocted with Drive-Away Dolls.  Miles apart from Joel Coen’s ahistorical thriller The Tragedy of Macbeth, Drive-Away Dolls, a collaboration with Ethan’s wife, Tricia Cooke,…

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