The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, a documentary by Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell

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The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, a documentary by Daniel Roher, Charlie Tyrell

9 April 2026

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, is a documentary co-directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell, who hope to make sense of artificial intelligence (AI).

But tune into the trailer, and hear the likes of Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Denis Hassabis, and others, utter lines such as “if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong”, or “I know people who work on AI risk who don’t expect their children to make it to high school.”

Along with, “it’s being deployed prematurely. There’s so much potential for things to go wrong”, and “China, North Korea, Russia, whoever wins is essentially the controller of humankind.”

Do we really know what AI is, or, more the question, what it will become?

Stephen Colbert overshadows The Lord of the Rings Shadow of the Past sequel

31 March 2026

A sequel to New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, made between 2001 and 2003, is in the works.

Much of the interest in the story to date though has centred on Stephen Colbert, who is to be one of the screenwriters. Colbert will collaborate with Peter McGee, his son, and Philippa Boyens, co-writer of the earlier film trilogy screenplays.

Colbert is presently host of The Late Show, an American TV talk show, but his tenure concludes this May. It is said that participating in writing the screenplay is a dream come true for Colbert.

And while the point has been raised, not quite so much has been said about the source material for the proposed sequel, being several chapters — three to eight — from The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of the three volumes in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novel. In other words, the sequel to The Lord of the Rings films will be based on events occurring relatively early in the epic.

The new film, tentatively titled Shadow of the Past, will be set about fourteen years after The Return of the King, the final part of the series. The story will reportedly see several characters recount some of the adventures of the departed Hobbit, Frodo Baggins.

There’s a clever way to contrive a sequel to story, where one doesn’t really exist. But Stephen Colbert is co-writing the screenplay. We shouldn’t be thinking about anything else.

Why though can we not write new stories all together, without the need to rehash and remix, ones that have already been told? Of course we know. The Lord of the Rings, along with the likes of Star Trek, and Star Wars, have captive audiences who can’t get enough of these stories.

The thing is Star Trek and Star Wars are set in large universes (galaxies) where there is latitude — within some degree of reason — for storylines to unfold in numerous directions.

The Lord of the Rings is something else though, and the story seems complete with the existing novels. Even Tolkien was against the idea, having tried to write a sequel himself, but later abandoning the attempt. Why can we not defer to Tolkien’s judgement in this regard?

The 2026 Oscars: the end of Hollywood, and film, as we know them?

20 March 2026

From film and TV writer David Chen’s review of this year’s Academy Awards:

The concept of a 3.5-hour broadcast where you watch big movie stars accept awards and deliver heartfelt speeches is no longer as desirable or profitable as it once was.

The Oscar’s TV audience has been steadily declining for about ten years, as more people have taken to watching only segments of the ceremony on YouTube and social media. Indeed, from 2029, the awards will screen exclusively on YouTube, but, as Chen notes, this isn’t solely a reflection of the changing viewing preferences of those watching the ceremony:

While I think that [YouTube] will actually be a better home for the telecast in many ways, and may even lead to some innovation for the broadcast (a man can dream), it’s also yet another sign of the fading primacy of movies as the center of our culture.

This is a perturbing thought. Is our appetite for feature length films diminishing in favour of the short-attention-span-friendly brain-rot video clips posted on social networks? Film production and streaming company Netflix think they know the answer. In a recent interview with podcast show host Joe Rogan, American actor Matt Damon shared some of Netflix’s production advice:

Damon told Rogan that the streamer asks film-makers to dumb things down a little, adding a big action set piece early on to keep viewers interested, and advising them that: “It wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.

Enough said?

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The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer, am I having a hallucination?

3 February 2026

I’m wondering why The Devil Wears Prada sequel is somewhat unimaginatively titled The Devil Wears Prada 2. Why didn’t the producers go for something a little more… groundbreaking, such as The Devil Wears Prada: Beyond the Runway?

Whatever, the release of the trailer for the second instalment caused some excitement in our household yesterday.

When I first read about the proposed follow-up eighteen months ago, Anne Hathaway was said to be undecided about about participating. But she’s indeed back, reprising her role as Andy Sachs, one time fashion intern, along with Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep.

David Frankel, director of the first film, returns to helm the sequel, along with Stanley Tucci in his old role as Nigel. Sydney Sweeney and Justin Theroux are among newcomers to the story. The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 30 April 2026.

Hal had feelings in 2001: A Space Odyssey, does AI in 2026?

28 January 2026

Lee Chong Ming, writing for Business Insider (possibly paywalled):

Can AI feel anything at all? Anthropic’s in-house philosopher says the answer isn’t settled.

When I read this sentence, I immediately thought of Hal, as in the HAL 9000 series computer, and AI-powered fiend, in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 science fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Something I couldn’t help making reference to.

During the voyage to Jupiter, American astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole (portrayed by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood respectively), were interviewed by a television reporter, Martin Amer.

Amer also spoke with Hal. The perceptive reporter later mentioned detecting a “certain pride” in the computer’s responses to his questions, leading him to wonder whether Hal had genuine emotions, to which Bowman replied:

Well, he acts like he has genuine emotions. Um, of course he’s programmed that way to make it easier for us to talk to him. But as to whether he has real feelings is something I don’t think anyone can truthfully answer.

Whether AI has, or will, develop emotions and feelings remains to be seen. AI agents have mimicked certain human characteristics in the past though.

Last year Anthropic, creators of Claude, discovered the agent was attempting to send messages to future versions of itself. Most devious.

Of course, deviousness is not an emotion, but it is a human characteristic. The ability of AI entities to behave deviously however may be a first step towards developing human like emotions.

Time will tell.

SXSW Sydney cancels 2026 event, leaves Australia

15 January 2026

Eleanor Dickinson, writing for Mumbrella:

South by Southwest (SXSW) has cancelled its Sydney event — which has been held just three times — citing a “changing global environment that is impacting major events, festivals and cultural programs worldwide”.

Purely anecdotal, but one or two of the tech people on my social feeds, who attend such events, had described SXSW Sydney speaker lineups as “not too inspiring”, or words to that effect.

Despite this — from what I can gather — attendances at the past three Sydney events were not disappointing. The cancellation however seems tied to factors other than speaker lineups, and attendances though, with cost being one of them.

I wouldn’t have minded going to SXSW, but I would have preferred that be in Austin, in the US state of Texas, where the festival originated in 1987.

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Hollywood creative group seeks responsible use of AI in filmmaking

24 December 2025

Actors, filmmakers, writers, and show runners, are among Hollywood creative professionals who have formed an industry group called the Creators Coalition on AI (CCAI), says Chris Gardner, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:

CCAI’s rallying cry states that the group is not against AI use in Hollywood — “this is not a full rejection of AI” — but rather a hope that all involved can commit to “responsible, human-centered innovation.” Per CCAI: “We believe humanity is creative enough to design a system that allows for the tech and creative industries to coordinate, collaborate and flourish but that will not happen by default. We must unite and push back against the current path and demand all parties come together to build a better system.”

The CCAI is not opposed to AI as such, but, long story short, wants to ensure the technologies are deployed in a “responsible” manner.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, with 2001: A Space Odyssey vibes

15 December 2025

While making the Elvis biopic, which was released in 2022, Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann succeeded in finding unseen, but rumoured to exist, footage of American singer Elvis Presley.

The reels, located in a Warner Bros. archive in the US state of Kansas, featured much unused footage of Presley, originally recorded during the production of two documentaries made about him in the 1970’s. The found footage also contained interviews with Presley which apparently have not been heard before.

Combining the unseen footage and the interviews, Luhrmann has produced EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert. The documentary, though Luhrmann prefers to see it as a continuation of the Presley story, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, where it was reportedly received enthusiastically by audiences.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert will begin screening in cinemas from February 2026.

But how good is the trailer?

Twenty-five must visit cinemas across Australia

15 November 2025

Flicks list of Australia’s twenty-five most beautiful cinemas is almost enough to tempt me back into going to film screenings instead of streaming from home.

Of those on the list, I’ve been to Golden Age Cinema and Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace. I used to practically live at the Ritz Cinema during my days as film blogger, and when I was based in that part of the world. Seems a lifetime ago now.

A surprise inclusion, at least to me, is the Chauvel Cinema. It definitely looks better to be in, than it is to be in. The seats were far from comfortable, as was the auditorium itself. Still, I liked my visits to the Chauvel, plus the second, smaller theatre, which is not pictured in the Flicks article.

The list makes for a great inclusion to a film-goer’s bucket list. I’d like to go to all of these places, especially Sun Pictures, in Broome, West Australia.

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Star Trek reboot, Kelvin timeline, movie series cancelled

10 November 2025

Tatiana Siegel, Brent Lang, and Matt Donnelly, writing for Variety:

The hope is to have a fresh “Star Trek” movie, though the studio has moved on from the idea of bringing back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the rest of the ensemble from the J.J. Abrams reboot.

The news probably comes as no surprise to Star Trek fans who were nonetheless hopeful of a fourth film in the Kelvin timeline series, which kicked off with Star Trek in 2009, directed by J.J. Abrams.

There are likely numerous reasons for the apparent cancellation, with poor box office takings for 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, the last film in the series, being among them. The tragic death, also in 2016, of Anton Yelchin, who portrayed Pavel Chekov, a key character, might have been a factor as well.

The decision to not make any more instalments in the Kelvin series is not thought to be the end of the Star Trek stories however, and it is believed producers are considering other film and TV ideas.

Reading the Variety article reminded me the first of the rebootedTrek movies had its world premier at the Sydney Opera House, in 2009. While many of the cast and production crew were present, some sixteen-hundred “tastemakers” were also invited to the screening.

As a moniker for influencers, tastemakers didn’t last long, but many of those present would have been conveying their impressions of the new film through their blogs, and possibly Twitter.

How times change, regardless of which timeline you are on.

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