Struggling with the state of the world right now? Same, friend, same. So, it’s time to put some smiles back on those dials with a dose of Mindy Kaling. Mindy is a comedy powerhouse, and while there aren’t/better not be enough lockdown days to cover all her work, here are five favourites to get you started … and they’re all on Netflix. 1. The Office Haven’t watched The Office yet? First question, how dare you? Kelly Kapoor is iconic. Kelly Kapoor (Kaling) is neurotic, endear

I’d rather be there than here, says Melbourne writer and director Siobhan Paterson. There is the setting of the film Palm Springs , with sun, sand, and the heart-stealing Andy Samberg, and here is yet another Melbourne lockdown. Siobhan, who has written and directed many films during Melbourne’s lockdowns, says she found an escape through film. “Watching movies and making films is keeping me sane during the pandemic,” she says. Siobhan began producing her own short films duri

Warning: contains spoilers With more gold and more at stake, the suspense has increased tenfold in the second season of Netflix’s treasure hunt hit, Outer Banks. The familiar theme song of Alt-J’s Left Hand Free plays in the background as the new season follows four main plot points, seamlessly weaving in new characters and storylines. The most important of these is the continuation of last season’s hunt for the gold where we followed a group of teenagers from the wrong s

Warning: minor spoilers for seasons 1 & 2 The adult animated series Final Space , created by Olan Rogers, is odd to describe. At its core, it’s sci-fi, set in a future where space travel and alliances with other planets are completely normal. But it’s also a comedy, where wildly funny jokes balance hard-hitting, suspenseful drama and action. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a central love story and even some supernatural elements thrown into the mix. This impressive and

Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” music video is a joyful celebration of queerness in hip-hop, packaged in a tongue-in-cheek prison break story. After sliding down a stripper pole to Hell, giving Satan a lap dance and then taking his crown, Lil Nas X left some wondering what else he might do to keep fans coming back for more. In. response, Lil Nas X says, “hold my Grammy”, and comes out guns blazing (literally, if you count the amount of shirtless screen time). Sticking to his t

The new song from technical death metal stalwarts Rivers of Nihil begins with a lone, mournful guitar fit for a forlorn Morricone, before exploding.  From there, the Pennsylvania-based band effortlessly shifts from moments of quiet anguish to righteous anger, with a surprising number of clean vocals adding further deviation from their initial tech death label. The Pennsylvania-based band dropped their latest song and first single— Clean —in late July, from their upcoming alb

In honour of our latest lockdown, here are six movies that will help you weather the storm. 1. Sweet Virginia, a neo-Western thriller Jon Bernthal ( Widows, Sicario, Wind River ) delivers a career-best performance as a motel owner who unknowingly befriends a violent sociopath. What ensues is the tense unravelling of a story about an unlikely friendship. This thriller expertly plays on genre conventions and uses them to its advantage to create a chilling and utterly brillian

Jimmy McGovern’s latest project, Time , is a confronting prison drama that was captivating from beginning to end. The three-part series mirrors the gripping and controversial storytelling of McGovern’s previous works, Cracker (1993-1996) and Broken (2017 ) , in a mixture of a perfectly suspenseful script and a talented cast. The mini-series follows the life of Mark Cobden, an introverted teacher who is sentenced to prison and forced to acclimatise to the harsh system. He form

Eiichiro Hasumi’s Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is a missed opportunity. While it masterfully delivered the thrills expected of the franchise, it rushed through what might have been an exciting ongoing plot and failed to capture the personality and dynamics of well-established characters. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is the latest addition to the Resident Evil franchise, seeing the return of beloved characters Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The animated mini-ser

*This review contains spoilers for numerous Marvel films* After a two-year absence from cinemas, Marvel has finally returned to the big screen with Black Widow . Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow is the 24th film in Marvel’s ever-expanding cinematic universe (the MCU) and set directly after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016). Assassin-turned-spy and hero Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), is on the run and must confront her traumatic

Genevieve Nardella writes that Ryan Murphy's Halston cuts a fine figure, despite its patchy relationship with history.

It is impossible not to compare Lin-Manuel Miranda’s most recent film to his hit show Hamilton . While In the Heights showcases the best of Miranda’s humour and musical talent, for a 2 1/2 hours long, it was hard not to wonder, how many more musical numbers will I have to sit through? In the Heights is a film adaptation of the Broadway musical by the same name, which Miranda also had a hand in creating. It follows Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos), a bodega owner in the ti