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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Katherine Smyrk |Bhakthi Puvanenthiran |Dan Condon |Nicola Heath
It could be argued that true crime is the genre that keeps podcasting alive. The countless mysteries unearthed, turned over and sometimes solved keeps audiences hooked to their headphones and coming back for more. Amanda Knox's conviction and subsequent acquittal is a different kind of crime story. The world looked on open-mouthed as the 22-year-old was convicted of murder in an Italian court in 2009.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Katherine Smyrk |Jamie Tram |Luke Goodsell |Michael Sun
With the film world in the golden grip of awards season, film recommendations are flying around thick and fast. It can be hard to know what to watch, and how. Some of the films generating awards buzz are still in cinemas; others finished their runs months ago. Some films, like Nickel Boys, didn't get a cinema release at all (it's coming to Prime on Feb 27). While many of the biggest films can be bought or rented online, they also carry a big price tag.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Katherine Smyrk |Rachel Rasker |James Brennan |Christian Harimanow |Jared Richards
For the past half-century, US sketch show Saturday Night Live has defied the odds, delivering weekly live shows and lifting up some of the most famous comedy creators in history. This Sunday, the show will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a big blow-out party set to feature former "Not Ready For Primetime Players" from across the decades. It's almost impossible to honour a full five decades of one show, and each devoted viewer will have their own favourite moments.
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2 months ago | 
abc.net.au | Katherine Smyrk |Christian Harimanow |Rachel Rasker |Beverley Wang
It's that time of February again, isn't it? The shops are full of paper hearts and teddy bears and bright pink representations of romantic love. Valentine's Day is arguably the rom-com "holiday", where meet-cutes, mixed messages and 11th-hour declarations loom large. But love doesn't always have to come in sickly sweet wrapping. It can be silly, platonic, angry, sexy, fun. In light of that, here are five unconventional Valentine's Day flicks to dive into.
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Dec 30, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Jared Richards |Jessica Riga |Katherine Smyrk |Beverley Wang
Pop culture moved hard and fast in 2024 — and it was undeniably led by TikTok. When looking at the year's viral moments and memes, almost all of them originated on TikTok — while X became a ghost town of bots, Facebook leaned into AI-generated slop and Instagram's reels continue to be dominated by reported TikTok content.
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Dec 18, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Nicola Heath |Mawunyo Gbogbo |Jared Richards |Katherine Smyrk |Anna Kelsey-Sugg
Few Australian books have been devoured and re-read by young people quite like those of John Marsden, who died this week, aged 74. For many of us, his work was a revelation: reading can be this good?!Marsden wrote more than 40 books in his lifetime, so narrowing the list to cherry-pick our favourites wasn't easy, but here are his books that most moved ABC Arts reviewers.
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Dec 17, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Jared Richards |Jamie Tram |Sonia Nair |Luke Goodsell |Katherine Smyrk
2024 was a big year for the film franchise. The top-grossing movie of the year was Inside Out 2, collecting almost $US1.7billion worldwide. The original Inside Out was a gorgeous surprise, an original and tender story that captured kids and grown-ups alike. Nine years later, Inside Out 2 was the first film released under Pixar's new marketing plan — where every second release from the studio will be a sequel or spin-off. And, as our review found, it shows. It's not just a Pixar thing.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Jared Richards |Katherine Smyrk
Welcome to ICYMI, where we recap the pop culture and entertainment news you might have missed over the past few days. Let us get you caught up. Wicked may have made a squillion (approx.) dollars at the box office, but The Wizard of Oz is still raking in the cash, after Judy Garland's original ruby slippers went under the hammer over the weekend.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Dan Condon |Katherine Smyrk
Whether you like music, data, viral marketing or just arguing with people on the internet, Spotify Wrapped day is always a lot of fun. It's one day of the year where we conveniently forget that they pay most artists a pittance while gleefully signing enormous cheques for controversial podcast hosts and celebrate the service for throwing our data back at us with some cute animation and, this year, a surprisingly condescending AI-generated podcast that wraps up your data. But how accurate is it?
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Kate Evans |Sarah L'Estrange |Declan Fry |Katherine Smyrk
As summer holidays steadily approach, the pile of bedside books you'll need to see you through isn't going to grow itself. Take note of these new releases our group of critics — The Bookshelf's Kate Evans, The Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange, ABC Arts' Katherine Smyrk and writer Declan Fry — have tucked into this month.
