Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.
Port Macquarie’s Festival of the Sun – over a weekend packed with festivals around the country – helped kick off the Summer Festival season in style earlier this month, coinciding with the start of Summer holidays for many university students. The event, which has taken over the Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park on the beaches of…
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As with every year, Port Macquarie’s Festival of the Sun provides a stage for not only some of Australia’s best known talent, but the fresh and emerging faces of our music scene, to show off their skills and continuously cut their teeth as live performers. This year, we met Mild West, who took out the triple j…
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Starring Judi Dench and Ali Fazal, Victoria and Abdul is Stephen Frears’ latest film, chronicling the unlikely friendship of Queen Victoria and her Indian attendant, Abdul Karim, in the late 1800s. The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, and to get some more perspective on the project, I caught up with British…
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On Friday, after a couple of 15 second teasers sent tails wagging all over the internet, the first full length trailer dropped for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. After feasting our eyes on it for the first time, we had the chance to catch up with the film’s director, J. A. Bayona, to talk about lending…
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Wednesday marked the second and final performance of the legendary Sir Paul McCartney in Sydney, as he continues his One by One Tour around the country. By now, you’ve likely heard just how brilliant these shows have been, cramming in upwards of 40 songs in 3 hours – the vast majority of those tracks Beatles…
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Much loved Canadian artist Feist has been in the country this past week, touring her latest LP Pleasure, the six-years-in-waiting follow up to 2011’s acclaimed Metals. Her brief jaunt in Australia came to an end last night at the Sydney Opera House; a night that also called to an end her Pleasure world tour. The…
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The legend of The Beatles, Wings and countless songs and projects from the last fifty-plus years returned to Australia tonight for his first tour in almost 25 years. Paul McCartney‘s show at NIB Stadium in Perth – ahead of five dates along the east coast – brought with it a jam packed, three hour setlist…
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The third instalment in the Avengers film series, Infinity War, will be hitting Australian cinemas at the end of April, and today we get our first taste of the film. This will be the first time a number of iconic Marvel characters will be a part of an Avengers film, including The Guardians of the…
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In 2018, Brand USA will be embarking on an ambitious promotional strategy that will see them highlight the vast musical history of the United States. It makes sense – the US not only produces the vast majority of the world’s most recognisable artists, but also some of the world’s most iconic events. Coachella. Lollapalooza. New…
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The latest instalment in the Saw franchise hits cinemas today – Jigsaw – which is being helmed by the Aussies who brought us the incredible Predestination (among others), The Spierig Brothers. The film currently sits with the best reviews since the original, which of course was directed by another Aussie, James Wan. I caught up with…
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There’s set to be a strong Canadian wave of music coming through Sydney over this next week, with some exciting new artists popping up to perform as part of this year’s Australian Music Week, as well as part of the great ‘Canada Down Under’ event in Newtown next Thursday night. Ahead of all this goodness…
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On Monday, November 6th, no less than five Canadian artists are coming to Sydney – and they’re going to be performing completely for free at the Leadbelly in Newtown. The artists represent some of the best new music out of our friends in the North, and this special showcase, dubbed “Canada Down Under” is being…
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Thor: Ragnarok hits Australian cinemas tomorrow, and by now you’ve heard that this Marvel series’ third instalment lives up to expectations. Helmed by the great Kiwi director Taika Waititi, who assembled a cast of returning favourites and a few excellent additions from his own repertoire, Thor: Ragnarok takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe to new heights,…
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Winnipeg is the capital and largest city in the Canadian Provence of Manitoba, and is known as the “Gateway to the West” thanks in part to its location on the country’s rail network; sitting almost exactly halfway between Toronto and Vancouver on the itinerary of the iconic train experience that is “The Canadian”. Recently I…
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The first annual Australian Music Week Film Festival got bigger this week with the announcement that legendary Australian Director Richard Lowenstein will be taking part in a Q&A following a special 30th Anniversary Screening of the classic Aussie Rock Documentary Australian Made, which will be closing the festival on Friday November 3rd at Cronulla’s GU…
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While in Australia last week for the premiere of the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we sat down with Thor: Ragnarok producer Brad Winderbaum to talk about filming on the Gold Coast, working with New Zealand director Taika Waititi and Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, bringing in Matt Damon and Jeff Goldblum – and we ask the…
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Currently based in Los Angeles, Australian tour manager, engineer and label head Liam Clifford has a lot on his plate. His company, the Howlaround Entertainment Group, was initially established as a production rental business but as 2017 reaches its end, the Howlaround brand has enjoyed much expansion and has brought Clifford many more experiences that have helped bolster his…
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Over the last two weeks, since The New Yorker published a damning article exposing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein as a sexual deviant (which puts it mildly), the fairly swift response from the entertainment community has been nothing short of overwhelming. Even surprising. Though certainly deserved. But if this is really endemic of a larger issue,…
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There’s something to be said for expectations. When you go to a Cirque du Soleil show, you have plenty of them. In their new production Toruk: The First Flight, set in the world of the 2009 film Avatar, the iconic Montreal circus company have taken the expectations of a Cirque audience and thrown them out…
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One of Australia’s most iconic songwriters, Steve Kilbey, will be amongst the special guests set to appear at the inaugural Australian Music Week Film Festival from October 31st through until November 3rd. The festival itself, held in Cronulla, will be preceded by an event at the Event Cinemas on George Street however, accompanied by special Q&As at…
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When you first jump into South Park: The Fractured But Whole, you pick up from where the last game, The Stick of Truth, and the last episode of the TV series (Season 21, Episode 4 “Franchise Prequel”), leave off. The boys have stopped playing a Lord of the Rings style quest and are now building their own…
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The world is full of incredible destinations – plenty of which you know well. But the number of gems this wonderful planet has to offer that you don’t know is immeasurable. Here’s just six of them…. Thousand Islands (Gananoque, Canada) Once you behold the majesty of this region, you’d be surprised to know that even…
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Aussie duo Hockey Dad have found quite a bit of love for themselves in the US and Canada, and from later this month they’ll be capitalising on that for a massive tour around the North American countries. The tour begins up north in the Canadian city of Calgary, on the 24th of October 2017, and…
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I’ve been a big fan of Wolf Parade for years – one of Canada’s most iconic indie rock groups, with chronic overachievers Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs, Operators, Divine Fits etc.) and Spencer Krug (Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown etc.) serving as the band’s chief songwriters. I’ve spoken to Dan quite a few times over the years…
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Those who have flown in and out of Darwin know that many flights to and from Australia’s only 24 hour airport are red eyes – and if my recent flight with them is any indication, it seems that Qantas remains the red eye service to Sydney to beat. Here’s a look at the experience in…
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When the original Blade Runner was first released in cinemas in 1982, it made waves for its stunning cinematography and special effects, moody and now iconic soundtrack from Vangelis, and its truly innovative adaptation of a short story from sci-fi writer Philip K Dick; the rare instance where a film has outdone its source material….
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Ever since burger makers cottoned on to the quality and popularity of the iconic In-N-Out Burger in the US, they’ve been trying to replicate it. And this trend isn’t restricted to Australia – many on the East Coast of the US will know Shake Shack, whose own take on the In-N-Out style burger has made…
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If you know where to look, you could stumble across a music industry conference and festival just about every week of the year. It’s a rare week, however, you’ll find a barrage of events happenings simultaneously around the world. A little over a week ago now there were no less than four major festivals happening…
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It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since Joss Whedon’s now classic, short running TV series Firefly hit the airwaves. Possibly because so many of us discovered it years later. But with just 14 episodes and a movie (2005’s Serenity), the Firefly universe didn’t expand as much as fans might have liked –…
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If you fly regularly to US with Virgin Australia, as I do, chances are you may have ended up on a Delta aircraft on one of your trips; with the two carriers codesharing services across the Pacific, providing ticketed passengers for either the option to fly with the other. I recently did just that, flying…
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