Outgrowing his first location in Fitzroy is something Andrew McConnell (Cumulus Inc., Supernormal) didn't expect to happen so quickly — but, after just two years, the acclaimed chef and restaurateur is set to open a second store, this time in St. Kilda. Along with co-owner and butcher Troy Wheeler, McConnell will bring his fancy meats, trademark club sandwiches and snags to the south. The pair will set up shop in the historic Gruner's, a butcher and deli with over 60 years of tradition. In a classic Australian immigrant tale, founders Endre and Rose Gruner arrived in Melbourne from Budapest in 1957, looking to establish a new life and opportunities for their children. Fellow Hungarians were said to have come from all over Melbourne to not only buy familiar food, but also to speak in their native tongue, and the shop still holds cultural significance for the area. "A long-standing business like Gruner's has been an integral piece of Melbourne food history," McConnell says. "Troy and I are thrilled to be part of continuing this tradition." With an old-meets-new philosophy, Meatsmith's Barkly Street location will inherit some of Gruner's most-loved recipes, with Hungarian, Polish and European smallgoods taking their spot next to Meatsmith's classics; including dry-aged beef, the Cumulus Inc. lamb shoulder and foie gras parfait. Architects Herbert & Mason (who fashioned the Fitzroy interior) will team up with award-winning, minimalist interior designer Fiona Lynch to ensure the new fitout is in line with the Meatsmith brand and feel — think clean lines and lots of white marble. The new store will open in August, with an exact date still to be confirmed. For those itching for a Meatsmith fix in the meantime, the original location has just kicked off a bi-monthly ode to the world's best food regions, starting with a celebration of Italy for the month of July. Meatsmith St Kilda is set to open in August at 227A Barkly St, St. Kilda.
When Sydneysiders want to spend a day carving up the snow, they usually have to jump in a car for at least five hours and head to one of NSW's ski resorts. But, in a few years, it might be as easy as jumping on a train to Penrith, thanks to a new $300-million indoor Winter Sports World that's been proposed for the city — and has just received Penrith Council's official endorsement. Set to be built in Jamisontown on the corner of Jamison Road and Tench Avenue, the centre will include a 300-metre indoor ski slope, an Olympic-size ice skating rink, and both ice and rock climbing facilities. If executed to plan, the proposal claims the ski slope will be one of the top ten high-performance training centres in the world. And yes, it'll use real snow. A food and drink precinct featuring bars, restaurants and cafes, and a 120-room hotel have also been included in the proposal. One of those eateries will be a revolving fine diner, too, and everything will have snow views. A snow play area is also part of the plan, alongside conference and function rooms. Visitors will be able to learn to ski onsite, as part of the resort's positioning as a feeder site to outdoor snow fields. The idea: that you'll learn the ropes indoors, then later head out of town to try the real thing. The development, which sought public feedback last year and is being put forward as a new major attraction for the area, is part of the Penrith City Council's plan to double visitors and tourism revenue in the area by 2025. If it goes ahead, Winter Sports World is expected to contribute $80 million to the NSW economy each year. Once built, the facility is hoped to provide a boost to Australia's Winter Olympians and their training, providing a venue for alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and figure skating, as well as ice hockey, speed skating and curling (and possibly cross country and biathlon as well). The Winter Olympics haven't traditionally been one of Australia's sporting strong suits — the national team first competed in 1936 and didn't win its first medal until 1994. The proposal has been in the works since November 2018, and in development for the past seven years in total. Site owner and developer Peter Magnisalis will now finalise the plans with the council and the NSW Planning Department, with an aim to start construction in 2022 ahead of a 2024 target opening date — in winter, of course. If construction does kick off, it certainly won't be the only big new development happening in Western Sydney, with Badgerys Creek set to become home to Sydney's next major airport. For more information about Winter Sports World, head to the proposed venue's website. Images: artists' impressions of Winter Sports World.
There's nothing like watching a film at the planetarium, but it's something that most of us mightn't do all that often. Daytime sessions often cater to school groups. While the Brisbane International Film Festival has hosted fulldome programs in the past, they aren't a regular occurrence. Here's something that might get you staring up at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium ASAP, however: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience. The band's iconic album turned 50 in 2023, so the Mt Coot-tha venue is celebrating with stunning visuals set to 42 minutes of the record — views of the solar system and beyond. Each track gets a different set of images, with some pondering the future, others delving into the band's history, and all toying with space and time. The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience is popping up around the world, but only at select places. In Australia, Brisbane joins a past season in Melbourne. The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium isn't just devoting a couple of days or weeks to it, either, with the mind-bending Pink Floyd tribute sticking around from September 2023–March 2024. Screening in Brisbane since the beginning of spring, The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience is already selling out — and expect that to continue. But, you have options for heading along, with the six-month-plus season including 3pm shows on Wednesdays, 6pm and 7pm sessions on Fridays, 4pm and 5pm projections on Saturdays, and a 2pm Sunday slot. If you haven't been to the planetarium since your school days, you will still be sitting in reclining chairs, peering up at the 12.5-metre domed ceiling and soaking in the fulldome experience — with a Pink Floyd soundtrack. The venue is almost as old as the album that it's celebrating, with the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium opening at the base of Mt Coot-tha in 1978 and celebrating its 45th birthday in 2023. Over that time, the domed building has played host to plenty of wonders — and, every week, it asks audiences to look up at programs on everything from the moon to stars to the dark universe, often with a guided run-through of Brisbane's own skies at the end. Check out the trailer from Melbourne's season of The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience below: The Dark Side of the Moon Planetarium Experience is playing at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Mount Coot-tha Road, Mount Coot-tha until March 2024 — head to the Brisbane City Council website for further details.
The end of the world is coming to Mona. Where a library once sat, nothing but sand, water and debris will soon lurk. The Tasmanian gallery is remaining where it is. Dark Mofo is still on the calendar for 2025. And no, after becoming the first museum to receive Wu-Tang Clan's rare Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album on loan earlier in 2024, it isn't dropping the mic and saying goodbye. For a year, however, the inimitable Australian venue will fill part of its interior with a post-disaster landscape, all thanks to a new sculpture by French artist Théo Mercier. Commissioned specifically for the site, DARK TOURISM will display from Saturday, February 15, 2025–Monday, February 16, 2026 in Mona's former library. Using only sand and water, Mercier will create a scene that looks like the aftermath of a disaster — hence the debris — with the piece commenting on humanity's need travel to locations with grim histories, as well as making a statement about planet's changing climate. [caption id="attachment_980537" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gut city punch, 2023, French Pavillon, Prague Quadrennial 2023. Photo: Ondrej Pribyl.[/caption] "What does it mean to sculpt catastrophe, or to construct collapse? Like others who have painted ruins in the past, DARK TOURISM is about sculpting contemporary ruins, which are also natural disasters," explains Mercier. "Faced with this frozen landscape, humans find themselves at the heart of the devastation, as spectators and consumers. But there's something contradictory about this project, something romantic and utopian at the same time. Because the sand allows the world to tremble and shuffle itself in infinite figures." [caption id="attachment_950179" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford. Image courtesy of the artists and Mona, Tasmania, Australia.[/caption] "When Théo was last in Hobart he said he was 'going for a walk'. He walked to the top of kunanyi. He's back, and he'll be doing something just as mad at Mona," added Mona Owner and Founder David Walsh. Crafting DARK TOURISM at the venue, Mercier will be using Tasmanian sand to ponder how people face the worst — in the past and impending — with the tourist trade in Pompeii, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Paris' catacombs and Port Arthur given as examples of the type of dark tourism that the sculpture will be in dialogue with. "Théo's work is a reminder of the fragile and temporary nature of the world around us, and of life itself," notes Mona's Sarah Wallace, who curated the piece alongside Jarrod Rawlins. "I hope visitors will be drawn in by the intricate detail in this captivating installation, while reflecting on the questions he raises about how we cope with catastrophe." [caption id="attachment_980535" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Théo Mercier, 2023 © Jérôme Lobato[/caption] DARK TOURISM will display at Mona, 655 Main Road, Berriedale, Tasmania, from Saturday, February 15, 2025–Monday, February 16, 2026. Head to the venue's website for more information. Top image: Gut city punch, 2023, French Pavillon, Prague Quadrennial 2023. Photo: Ondrej Pribyl.
One of Australia's first big music festivals of 2024 is no longer going ahead as planned, with Rolling Loud announcing that it won't be returning Down Under in January as previously announced. Mere weeks after revealing that it'd hit our shores again for the first time in five years, but after several delays in unveiling its lineup, the world's biggest hip hop festival has postponed its next Aussie jaunt. "We appreciate the love from all of our fans who are looking forward to Rolling Loud's return to Australia. We were hyped to bring the full Rolling Loud experience to our Aussie fans. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond our control, we're unable to give you a show that lives up to the Rolling Loud standard, so we are left with no choice but to postpone the festival to a later date," said festival organisers in a statement. "To those of you who have already bought tickets, we appreciate you. All ticket holders will receive an automatic, full refund. If your details have changed, or you have any refund enquiries, please contact your point of purchase." "Australian fans, we still got you: Rolling Loud will still be hosting a variety of smaller arena shows in early 2024. More info on that coming soon." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rolling Loud Australia 🇦🇺 (@rollingloud.au) As the statement advises, exactly when Rolling Loud will roll out its full festival experience no longer has a date, but it won't be at at Sydney's GIANTS Stadium on Friday, January 26 or Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Saturday, January 27. Also, details of the smaller arena shows that'll pop up instead haven't been revealed, either — including where, when and who'll be on the lineup. Rolling Loud last came to Australia in 2019 with a Future-led lineup in Sydney, which is the only time that it has made the trip. The 2024 tour was set to extend the festival's footprint to Melbourne as well. Since its first outing in Miami back in 2015, Rolling Loud has expanded to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, and also to Thailand, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands and Portugal as well. Past sellout events have seen names like Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Post Malone and Migos all grace the festival's stage. At 2023's Miami event, Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti led the bill, with Lil Uzi Vert, Ice Spice and 21 Savage also on the roster — and Turnstile becoming the first-ever rock band to hit the fest. Rolling Loud's postponement comes as The Weeknd just did the same with his Aussie tour, which was meant to kick off in November. Rolling Loud will no longer hold its full festival experience in Australia in January 2024, but has promised smaller arena shows in early 2024 instead. For more information, head to the festival's website. Images: Beth Saravo and Sebastian Rodriguez
Keep watching the skies, folks — drones are a-coming. They can ferry sushi, burgers, slurpees and pizza to your face. They can help you take killer selfies and spirit you away to places you can't get to. And, with Amazon and Australia Post among the companies trying to integrate them into their businesses, they're also shaping up to become the parcel delivery mechanism of the future. In Amazon's case, they want to take things a step further. From offering one-hour booze delivery to making the jump from their massive online operations to opening bricks-and-mortar stores — with their supermarkets rumoured to be headed to Australia — they're not known for doing things by halves, after all. After successfully completing their first fully autonomous drone delivery on December 7, 2016, they're thinking about where they're deploying their flying robotic helpers from. That's why they've filed a patent for flying warehouses that will house and dispatch drones. Known as "airborne fulfilment centres" or AFCs, and covered in an application first lodged in 2014, the vessels in question are zeppelin-like airships that will house a contingent of stock. From there, drones that can reach altitudes of 14,000 metres will glide down to deliver the goods in question to their intended destination. And to keep the AFCs' shelves filled and ready to go, shuttles will bring supplies, drones and possibly even people up from the ground below. Yep, some actual humans will probably need to work in the sky to help things run smoothly. https://twitter.com/zoe_leavitt/status/814212767041331202 Festivals and sporting events, aka activities that usually filled with people wanting to buy things but don't always boast the best access, were mentioned as potential sites for Amazon's AFC-dispatched drone deliveries. Sure, it's just an idea in a patent application for now, but keep watching this space (and the space above your head, of course). Via Tech Crunch / Dezeen.
It has been almost two years since a Marvel movie hit the big screen. If you're a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you've probably been feeling their absence. But, since the beginning of 2021, you've likely also been heading to Disney+ to check out a few new small-screen adventures. First came WandaVision, which focused on Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision's (Paul Bettany) story after Avengers: Endgame. It added something different to the MCU, overtly aping classic sitcoms such as I Love Lucy, Family Ties and Malcolm in the Middle as it puzzled its way through Wanda and Vision's small-town life — and had everyone wondering why Vision was even walking and talking post-Endgame at all. Now, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is also telling a story set after the last Avengers flick, this time with Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan's eponymous characters. Based on its first episode so far, it's much more conventional than WandaVision. It doesn't boast a fabulous performance by Parks and Recreation's Kathryn Hahn, either. But, it does explore the everyday existence of both Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, who'll team up over the rest of the show's six-episode season. It seems that plenty of people were keen to see what happened next for Wilson and Barnes, and to keep adding a new Marvel episode to their weekends after WandaVision wrapped up. Debuting last week, on Friday, March 19, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's first episode has become Disney+'s most watched premiere ever. Although the streaming platform hasn't given any actual numbers — which tends to be the case when such services boast about their viewership, as Netflix has also demonstrated — it has announced that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier earned the feat between Friday and Sunday, and was also the most-watched title overall globally over the three days. That means that more folks took a look than when WandaVision premiered, and when Star Wars series The Mandalorian did too, although those shows sit second and third on Disney+'s list of biggest opening weekends. Over The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's remaining five episodes, the series will bring back Daniel Brühl as Baron Zemo and Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter. As seen already, Wyatt Russell (The Good Lord Bird) is also joining the MCU as John Walker. And yes, the MCU's fourth phase will include more TV shows after this — such as Loki, which hits in June; Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury; and a series set in Wakanda. For now, if you haven't viewed the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier already, you can check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWBsDaFWyTE The first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is available to stream now on Disney+, with new episodes added each Friday for the next five weeks. Top image: Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
UPDATE, April 24, 2021: The Witches is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. What's the one thing that every movie remake has in common? No matter how it turns out, the original film still exists. So, if the latest version doesn't cast a spell, you can return to the old one — revisiting it, appreciating it anew and steeping yourself in nostalgia in the process. Of course, film remakes aren't supposed to inspire viewers to flock back to their predecessors. While that possibility is a silver lining for movie buffs, it isn't the outcome intended by filmmakers. But, it's exactly what The Witches circa 2020 delivers. Writer/director Robert Zemeckis has everything from Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit to Castaway and The Polar Express to his name, and he co-wrote the screenplay here with Black-ish and Girls Trip's Kenya Barris and Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro; however, their main achievement with The Witches is reminding everyone just how great the 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl's book still is. No one should need a new movie to jog their memories; since hitting screens three decades ago, the Anjelica Huston-starring version of The Witches has been a creepy, dark and weird children's (and kidults') favourite. And it's definitely all of those things, as it should be — and not just because it's about witches who hate children to the point of attempted genocide. The Witches tells a tale about kids realising that all isn't what it seems in the world, and that danger, trouble and pain can lurk around any corner. It tears open the idea that life is always safe, happy and fun like it's ripping off a bandaid. This happens in a child-friendly away, of course, but it's meant to be unsettling, unnerving, upsetting and strange. On the page and in every screen adaptation, The Witches does start with a boy losing his parents in a car accident and being uprooted to a new place and a new life as a result, after all. This fresh iteration kicks off that way, too, as narrated by Chris Rock as the older version of the film's unnamed young protagonist (Jahzir Bruno, The Christmas Chronicles 2). It's 1968, and the boy in question moves to Alabama to live with his grandmother (Octavia Spencer, Onward), who struggles to coax him out of his grief-fuelled fog. But they bond over her shocking revelation: that witches exist, they're everywhere, they despise children and she has experience with them. Also, once a witch sets their sights on a kid, it never lets up. That's why, after one crosses the boy's path, grandma whisks him off to "the swankiest resort in Alabama", where she's certain they'll be safe among rich white folks. Of course, she couldn't have predicted that the group of women that have taken over the Grand Orleans Imperial Island Hotel's ballroom — the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, apparently — are all witches. Or, that the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway, Dark Waters) is in attendance, unveiling a plan to turn every kid in the world into a rodent via a potion called 'Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker'. Much that has endeared The Witches to readers and viewers over the years remains in the latest film — but tinkering with the details and tone makes an unfortunate impact. Brimming as it is with bright colours and overdone CGI, the new iteration of The Witches favours gloss and shine over chills and potential nightmares. It's the cosy and smooth version of the story, and the lack of sharp edges is noticeable. Zemeckis and company try to add scares in various ways, yet struggle with every attempt. The film's villains, especially the Grand High Witch, are given over-sized Joker-esque smiles teeming with jagged teeth, for example, but they just look cartoonish. At every turn, if there's a way to make something more blatant while also less disconcerting, The Witches always takes that choice. Its reliance upon special effects — to levitate the Grand High Witch, and for its talking children-turned-mice — also speaks volumes. Everything here is overt to an in-your-face extreme, and also far less intricate and much more bland. See also: the two significant narrative shifts, as designed to bring weight to the tale. This remake is set in the US, in the south and in the 60s, and its two lead characters are Black Americans. Via these changes, Zemeckis, Barris and del Toro endeavour to tap into historical horrors, as part of Hollywood's current reckoning with America's past. Alas, this slick film doesn't have anything much to say about either decision. Racism is a part of the on-screen world, and it's noticeable that the hotel's staff are all people of colour while its guests are almost exclusively white; however, rather than making an important point, these elements just seem like a calculated effort to make the movie more topical. Indeed, The Witches pokes fun of the portly Bruno Jenkins (Codie-Lei Eastick, Holmes & Watson), the other boy staying at the hotel, far more than it attempts to serve up even a cursory exploration of its grandmother-grandson central duo's experiences due to their race. It might be unfair to think that some remakes only eventuate because a studio executive thought it was time to wring some more cash out of a beloved story, but that's how The Witches feels. It's simultaneously broader and tamer — including Hathaway's over-the-top performance, although she does appear to be enjoying herself immensely — and it radiates big pantomime energy. Spencer and Bruno give the movie a hefty dose of heart, even when the latter is lending his voice to a critter with a tail. Stanley Tucci, Hathaway's The Devil Wears Prada co-star, is suitably amusing at the hotel's put-upon manager. But there's a lack of overall magic in The Witches, either of the twisted or charming type — unless sending viewers clamouring to find wherever the original is currently streaming counts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ekw85OqJck
With its latest movie-fuelled event, Immersive Cinema is hoping that you've never felt like this before — and that you love Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey dancing up a storm in a much-adored 1987 romantic drama. The second part is easy. As for the first, you might've actually stepped into this interactive Dirty Dancing experience back in 2019 when it first came to Australia. Who doesn't want to have the time of their life twice, though? For its second Aussie stint, Dirty Dancing: The Immersive Cinema Experience is only heading to Melbourne, taking over the Flemington Racecourse on Saturday, April 1–Sunday, April 2, 2023. If Francis 'Baby' Houseman can take a trip to Kellerman's Mountain House in the Catskills with her family, you can hit up the venue — and the Victorian capital if you're not a Melburnian — to get whisked away to the next best thing. Here, attendees will get plunged into the world of Dirty Dancing. Taking over the outdoor venue, Dirty Dancing: The Immersive Cinema Experience won't just screen one of Swayze's biggest film roles, but will recreate the world of the popular film. That means that attendees will travel back to 1963 in spirit, check into the flick's setting, and enjoy a day of painting classes, volleyball, croquet, mini golf and — of course — dance lessons. You can probably also expect a stint of carrying watermelons, and definitely a dance showcase. And yes, it all ends with an evening screening of Dirty Dancing on the big screen. You'd be just a fool to believe that's all that's on the agenda. Actors and dancers will roam around like the wind and, food- and drink-wise, Americana-style eats will be available at 12 different dining spots, while seven pop-up bars will sling summery cocktails — all on offer for those with hungry eyes (and stomachs). Also, there'll be a dedicated watermelon stand, plus a picnic area among the rose bushes. You'll also be able to wander through recreations of Kellerman's famous fictional spaces. That includes the staff quarters where Baby Houseman gets her first taste of dirty dancing, as well as the studios where she learns all the steps from and starts swooning over Johnny Castle. Wherever you head, nobody will be putting Baby in a corner. Like the film version of Kellerman's, the event is also an all-ages affair — and everyone is encouraged to dress up like it's the 60s, but appropriate footwear for dancing is a must. Also, because no one had phones back in the 60s, it's a technology-free experience as well. The only screen that matters: the big one showing the movie, of course. Dirty Dancing: The Immersive Cinema Experience will take over Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on Saturday, April 1–Sunday, April 2, 2023. Ticket presales start at 10am AEDT on Monday, November 28, with general public tickets available from 10am on Wednesday, November 30. Images: Mushroom Creative House.
Tranquility and Lutwyche now go hand in hand. So do pastels and Lutwyche; Mediterranean-style bathhouses and Lutwyche; and escaping life's chaos in saunas, steam rooms and ice baths in Lutwyche. The reason: Contro Wellness. First announced earlier in April and now welcoming Brisbanites through the doors from Monday, April 29, the venue is the River City's latest place to relax, slow down and put your wellbeing first. Brisbane has no shortage of wellness studios — indeed, Albion is also set to score a new bathhouse before the middle of 2024, opening in June — but adding more is always welcome. With its soft and calming hues, Contro Wellness has gone dreamy with its bathhouse setup. Patrons will find both traditional and infrared saunas, float therapy, mineral soaks, red-light therapy and salt therapy inside, too. Also, if you're keen on not just relaxation, but some alone time — or sharing your experience with a date or mate — this isn't the kind of place where you'll be using the facilities with other folks. All services are private, which is handy if you're also the type of person who finds trying to de-stress surrounded by people who don't know anything but calming. Price-wise, you'll be forking out at least $40, which is where Contro Wellness' services start. Sessions are also available in packs of five and ten, so you can plan out your future visits. And, the bathhouse lets you book in via its app, letting you lock in your next stint of unwinding at the touch of a button. "Contro Wellness is the ultimate escape from the everyday hustle and bustle of city life," said Madeleine Snaith and Jake Salomone, the venue's co-founders, when the wellness spot was first announced. The pair are Brisbanites, but are opening Contro Wellness as part of their homecoming after establishing pilates and yoga studios — also called Contro — in north Queensland, in Mackay and Rural View. "Our extensive range of private health solutions offer calm amongst the chaos. Whether you're after a float, sauna or ice bath, we've got something for everyone to help rebalance, revive and rejuvenate." Find Contro Wellness 488 Lutwyche Road, Lutwyche, from Monday, April 29, 2024. Head to the studio's website for further information. Images: Contro Wellness, Luke Donegan.
Fred again.. is currently in Australia, as everyone knows thanks to his Tuesday, February 27 announcement that he was playing Sydney Opera House that night. Missed out? As he mentioned on his Instagram, the British producer and DJ didn't make the trip Down Under just for one show. So, he's gone and announced a three-city tour for the rest of his Aussie stay. Melbourne will next welcome everyone's favourite chaotic electronic musician, for three gigs all at Rod Laver Arena. After that, he's heading to the Gold Coast — at a pop-up location TBC — for a single show. Then, it's back to Sydney, this time to Qudos Bank Arena for another trio of gigs. All seven shows are taking place in March, giving fans more notice this time after 145,000 people attempted to get tickets to Fred again..'s Sydney Opera House set. Also, you've been given more warning about tickets going on sale, too. They'll be available to purchase from Thursday, February 29, with times staggered depending on the city. The tour came out of nowhere, after a post to Fred again..'s Instagram showing him boarding a flight with his buddy and collaborator JOY (ANONYMOUS), teasing that they'd be performing wherever the plane landed. Next, he popped up on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, announcing that ultra last-minute performance at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. Before now, Fred was last in town for Laneway 2023 alongside Haim, Joji and Phoebe Bridgers, at which time he created pandemonium by performing at a slate of pop-up DJ sets around Australia and New Zealand alongside his festival appearances. At this upcoming shows, he'll be bringing his catalogue of hits, of course. So, if you want to catch 'Delilah (pull me out of this)', 'Marea (we've lost dancing)' and 'Rumble' — and new single 'stayinit' with Lil Yachty and Overmono — this is your latest chance. JOY (ANONYMOUS) will be on supporting duties at all seven shows. Fred again.. Australia 2024 Tour: Monday, March 4–Wednesday, March 6 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Saturday, March 9 — pop-up location TBC on the Gold Coast Tuesday, March 12–Thursday, March 14 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Fred again.. is performing in Australia in March 2024, with tickets on sale on Thursday, February 29 — from 9am AEDT for Melbourne, 10am AEST for the Gold Coast and 1pm AEDT for Sydney. Hit up the tour website for more details. Live images: Maclay Heriot / Daniel Boud, Laneway 2023.
Radiance in the face of conflict, determination amid oppression, striving for basic human rights at your most vulnerable: these aren't easy experiences to live through, or to bring to the screen. Iranian Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari knows both firsthand, with her debut feature Shayda based on her childhood. Aged five, she resided in a women's shelter with her mother. The latter fought for freedom by moving to the other side of the world, away from everything that she knew, and carving out an existence anew. As Niasari's mum battled for agency and independence, and for the ability to divorce and also retain custody of her daughter, she still taught the young Noora Farsi, and Persian dance. She passed on Nowruz, or Persian New Year, traditions as well. "I think that was the element of the process that I underestimated — how challenging it would be, just on a very psychological, emotional level," Niasari tells Concrete Playground about the sifting through her own experiences to make the Melbourne-set and -shot Shayda. "It's one thing to direct your first feature film with a much bigger crew than you've ever had, much bigger cast, a lot of different personalities. And then to be triggered by your childhood trauma every day in the process — it's not something I would recommend to anyone." "It's something that I'm still struggling with, to be honest," Niasari continues, noting that she continually comes back to why she made the movie. "The fact that this story is much bigger than me and my mum, that it's already touching women and families all over the world, that really means something to me. I feel like it's a catalyst for healing, not just for me and my mum, but for so many people. That's what drives me to keep going and keep putting the putting the story out there." [caption id="attachment_910860" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Taylor Jewell/Associated Press[/caption] Niasari started Shayda from her mother's unpublished memoir, adapting it and fictionalising elements — and while it doesn't tell an easy tale, it's an easy film to fall for. Named for her mum's on-screen surrogate, who is played by 2022 Cannes Best Actress-winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider), Shayda is clearly deeply personal. With engaging first-timer Selina Zahednia as Mona, Niasari's own in-film double, naturally it feels not only lived-in but like it has materialised as a movie from memories. As it charts its eponymous character's quest to start afresh, it tells of resilience and perseverance, strength and self-determination, and courage and community. It doesn't ever shy away from its protagonist's struggle to be permitted to be her own person, or from the pain and distress that she's forced to feel as she maintains that mission; however, in heroing its eponymous figure's fortitude, bravery and spirit, Shayda is also a hopeful film. Audiences at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival agreed; in January, Shayda won the US fest's World Cinema — Dramatic Audience Award. That world-premiere berth in Park City was just the start of the feature's festival run. Next stops: opening this year's Melbourne International Film Festival, then closing Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival. Internationally, Amir Ebrahimi's name is a drawcard. Cate Blanchett's, too, given that the Australian Tár and The New Boy actor executive produced the feature. The Tehran-born, Australian-raised Niasari is equally as talented behind the lens, after studying architecture then film; being mentored by iconic Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami; making documentaries in Wales, Lebanon and Chile; and beginning to focus on the Iranian diaspora community with her shorts and now this. Ahead of Shayda launching MIFF in early August, then hitting Australian cinemas in late September, Niasari chatted Concrete Playground through turning her own childhood into this powerful and important feature — plus balancing darkness and hopefulness, casting, engaging Melbourne's Iranian community, the Sundance experience, MIFF's coveted opening-night slot and her journey to becoming a filmmaker. ON NIASARI REALISING THAT SHE NEEDED TO TURN HER CHILDHOOD INTO A FILM "I lived in that women's shelter with my mum when I was five years old, and the woman who was running the shelter, who the character Joyce [played by Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson] is based on, she's kind of my godmother now. She's been a family friend, my mother's close friend, for over 25 years. We often talk about those times, and it's an experience that's stayed with me through my whole life. Whenever I told people about living in a women's shelter, they were so surprised. I feel like there's not enough awareness of what services are available, and what those experiences are. But I was compelled to tell this story of female empowerment, and to show the world of a women's shelter that we haven't really seen on screens before." ON DECIDING WHERE TO STAY TRUE TO REALITY, WHERE TO FICTIONALISE AND WHY "I was lucky to have an amazing script editor throughout the scriptwriting process. The first draft was very much adapted from my mum's unpublished memoir, which I encouraged her to write before I did the adaptation. But the drafts after that were a departure from the autobiographical details of our life, of that memoir. There's certain things that in real life seem far too dark for a cinema audience — and it's important to prioritise the cinematic experience over what really happened. It very about finding the cinematic potential of the story beyond what happened to us. Thankfully I had my script editor, and a lot of amazing notes from producers — and also just a lot of kind of soul searching, and finding the moral compass of each character, and what they would do in this given scenario and that given scenario. It very much became a fictional exercise at a certain point, and it also incorporated not just my mother and I's story, but stories from my godmother — a lot of her personal experience of working in the shelter is in the film as well. So it's really an amalgamation of fact and fiction, and blurring those lines in order to tell a cinematic story." ON MAKING A FILM THAT SEES BOTH DARKNESS AND HOPE "From the start, I wanted there to be a lot of grounding in the mother-daughter connection, which is a beautiful one that they have. And in the celebration of Persian New Year — the film takes place over the course of that time. Celebrating the cultures and traditions, the poetry, the dance, those are things that kept my mother and I buoyant through those difficult times, and that's something I wanted to capture in the film. Whenever there's darkness, there's light as well. Finding that balance was really a priority for us — my cinematographer, production designer, all of us, we were always thinking about that, whether it came to the lighting or the set dressing or the costumes. Despite the fact that there's difficult themes, we wanted the audience to feel the hope and the joy, and the strength of Shayda and the other women in this in this shelter and in this situation, because there's more to life than the darkness." ON CASTING ZAR AMIR EBRAHIMI AS SHAYDA "We cast her before she won Cannes. It was very, very fortunate timing. Zar is an incredible woman, incredible human being, what she's been through. Just her story is amazing, but I'll leave that to for readers to Google. From the very first self-tape I received from Zar, within a few seconds I knew she was Shayda. It was that powerful. She has this dual strength and vulnerability happening all at once, just in her gaze, in her presence, the way she carries herself. This is a quality that I was always looking for in the character. And Zar also brings so much of her life experience to this film, and has so many parallels to my mother. They also became good friends in the making of the film, which was a beautiful thing as well because you could feel the sisterhood and bonding, and the deeply felt connections — which I feel came across in the performances, too." ON FINDING SOMEONE TO BASICALLY PLAY NIASARI HERSELF AS A CHILD "We auditioned Iranian girls all over Australia, through Persian schools, mostly grassroots casting. And Selina was one of the shortlisted applicants in Melbourne, which was lucky because we were shooting in Melbourne. She came to the callback and to the audition room, and my assistant and I were just blown away by her ability to lock into a situation emotionally and respond to it. For a six-year-old, her emotional intelligence was just phenomenal. She cried in the audition, not prompted by anything but the actual situation we gave her. Then she was able to snap back to the joy and dancing that she loves. She's actually very different to who I was as a child. She has a really happy family. She's got a beautiful childhood, no trauma — she's a really happy kid. As soon as the audition finished, when knew it was her, we were like 'that was remarkable, she's the one'. But then we were like 'but we have to protect her; we have to protect that joy and that light and spark'. So that's what we went about doing — protecting Selina from the material, and making sure that she stayed who she is. She has, and I'm glad that we went above and beyond to do that." ON ENGAGING WITH FELLOW MEMBERS OF MELBOURNE'S IRANIAN COMMUNITY "Their collaboration was really important when it came to preproduction and the making of the film. There's a place called House of Persia in in Melbourne — one of the founding members is my cinematographer's mum. We ran a lot of our rehearsals and auditions there. And we had huge amounts of volunteer extras and people helping us set up the fire-jumping festival, like multiple stall owners. It was a remarkable show of support from the community. They were very excited, very collaborative and just happy to be a part of something like this. It doesn't happen every day for there to be an Iranian Australian feature film financed by Screen Australia. I'm pretty sure that ours is the first. People were really, really excited, and generous and kind and supportive. And we're super grateful to everyone who supported us in the community." [caption id="attachment_910852" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Michael Loccisano/Getty Images[/caption] ON PLAYING SUNDANCE AND WINNING AN AWARD WITH NIASARI'S DEBUT FEATURE "It was definitely a dream come true to screen at Sundance, and to win an award was such a huge honour. It meant a lot to me, and to the whole team, because it just showed that the film is not just a film about my mother and I's personal experience — that it's a universal story that crosses borders, that audiences from all over the world and all different backgrounds are connecting with the film. That's what the audience award meant to me. For me, the most important thing is making a connection with the audience, so it was a wonderful thing to happen." ON OPENING MIFF "It feels surreal at the moment. I've had three shorts at MIFF. I was in the Accelerator Lab [a workshop for emerging short-film directors]. I became a filmmaker in Melbourne, and I really love Melbourne. In so many ways, it feels like a graduation to even just be at the festival with my feature. The opening-night spot, it's important in so many ways, but at the same time I just want to have fun with it and celebrate our hometown screening. But it does signify something new, in a sense, because I don't know how many Australian films have opened MIFF that are the majority in the different language, from a different cultural perspective to what we're used to, from a filmmaker who's lived that and who is from that world. I'm proud, and I'm grateful that my community is being seen and represented in this way." [caption id="attachment_910851" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images[/caption] ON THE JOURNEY FROM ARCHITECTURE TO DOCUMENTARIES TO SHAYDA "My mum used to take me to the Brisbane Film Festival, and I think one of the first films I saw in the cinema was a Jafar Panahi film. He was Kiarostami's assistant, and then I continued watching his films and Kiarostami's films. Just Iranian cinema in general was pivotal in my adolescence through to university. It always stayed with me, and the poetry and everything. I feel like I always had that undercurrent or simmering desire to tell stories, but I just didn't see it as a possible career path. It was never made mention to me until I was in architecture school. Even when I was in high school, I wanted to go to art school and I had a great art teacher, but filmmaking — nobody ever handed me a camera and said 'you could be a director one day'. It just never came to be. And especially with my mum, it was a single-parent family, and she was working, she was studying, she was hustling my whole childhood and adolescence. It was kind of amazing to discover it at that age of 19. I'm not one of those filmmakers who's like 'oh yeah, I watched E.T. when I was growing up and decided I want to be a director'. I think it was just something that was inside me, and was discovered slightly later based on the circumstances of what I was doing. I loved architecture school, too. I did work for a year and was definitely at a crossroads. But I just fell in love with storytelling, with making movies and being able to make a connection with people through that medium, so I haven't looked back since then." Shayda opens the 2023 Melbourne International Film Festival on Thursday, August 3, then releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, October 5. Read our review.
Before August 2024, it was normal to spend at least $5 per day to get to and from work via public transport in Queensland. Now, for all trips there and back across a five-day week, no one should be forking out more than $5 in total. As promised during the state's election, the 50-cent fare trial that's been in place since midyear is no longer just a pilot — it's sticking around permanently. What do you have more cash for when each journey on your commute to and from your job only costs 50 cents (and to get to wherever else you might need) via the Sunshine State's Translink public transport? Queensland residents will keep finding out. The bargain fares were introduced as cost-of-living relief measure, discounting tickets to a shiny dodecagonal coin. Unsurprisingly, they've proven so much of a hit that the move is now here to stay. Slashing the price of public transport was always going to be popular. In its first month, the 50-cent fare trial saw more than 15-million trips taken across southeast Queensland alone, increasing patronage by 2.4 percent on pre-COVID-19 levels. Up until the end of October 2024, patronage went up 5.1 percent on the same pre-COVID-19 period. During the election campaign, the then-Labor Queensland Government committed to keeping the reduced price. So did the Liberal party, which won power. Now, the Crisafulli government has locked in cheap public transport on Translink's buses, trains, ferries and trams on an ongoing basis. The price-slashing move is also an effort to reduce traffic congestion, and impacts a hefty range of travel options. Translink, which falls within Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads, runs trains, buses, ferries and trams in southeast Queensland, for starters. So for Brisbanites, whether you ride the rails as part of your daily commute, hit the road or hop on a CityCat, you're now scoring a hefty discount, getting there and home for just $1 a day. This is a statewide measure. Translink also runs buses in Bowen, Bundaberg, Cairns, the Fraser Coast, Gladstone and Gympie — and in Innisfail, Kilcoy, Mackay, Rockhampton, Yeppoon, the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Toowoomba, Townsville, Warwick and The Whitsundays. The 50-cent price applies to everyone, including concession cardholders, but is only available on Translink services. As such, privately operated transport services aren't doing the cheap fares. [caption id="attachment_958247" align="alignnone" width="1920"] John Robert McPherson via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] [caption id="attachment_857365" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] [caption id="attachment_796727" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] [caption id="attachment_703636" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Philip-Mallis via Flickr[/caption] [caption id="attachment_754201" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] [caption id="attachment_630654" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew Thomas via Flickr[/caption] [caption id="attachment_749921" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] John via Flickr[/caption] All fares across Translink's Queensland public transport services only cost 50 cents on an ongoing basis. To find out more about Translink's services, head to the company's website.
Since 2015, winter Down Under has brought bloody excellent news. That's when Four Pillars introduced the world to its now cult-favourite Bloody Shiraz Gin, which is made by steeping shiraz grapes in its OG Rare Dry Gin for eight weeks, then pressing the fruit and blending it with the gin. When the tipple returns for 2024, you'll be able to add the Healesville-based distillery's ninth bloody vintage to your gin shrine. While 2023 gave the world a Bloody Pinot Noir Gin, too, Four Pillars is sticking with shiraz in 2024. There's a reason that this is one of the most coveted tipples of the year, however: this limited-edition wine-infused concoction is bloody tasty. Spirits fiends familiar with past vintages will already know that this is a delicious drop — and that the infusion of shiraz grapes gives it its cerise hue. The grapes also provide sweet undertones, but mean that the gin avoids a higher sugar content. It is boozier, though, with an alcoholic content of 37.8 percent (compared to an average 25 percent in regular sloe gin). Initially it came about when Four Pillars came into possession of 250 kilograms of Yarra Valley shiraz grapes, then did some experimenting. 2024's Bloody Shiraz Gin uses fruit from both the Yarra Valley and Faraday, which is near Bendigo. The end result features notes of citrus and raspberry — and expect to taste spice as well. Whether you're keen for a single bottle or several, the 2024 gin goes on sale on Saturday, June 8 for $84 at the brand's website, and from Wednesday, May 29 if you're a Four Pillars subscriber. If you have a date with the Four Pillars Healesville Distillery and Four Pillars Sydney Lab in your future, you'll find it there as well. Bloody Shiraz Gin fans over the years will also be aware that it always comes in a limited-edition bottle, with year's featuring a tablescape artwork by Kris Leombruni. And the best way to drink it? Four Pillars recommends using it in G&Ts, with just tonic, a squeeze of lemon and a lemon slice as a garnish. The 2024 Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin will go on sale around the country on Saturday, June 8, or on Wednesday, May 29 if you're a Four Pillars subscriber. Head to the Four Pillars website to make a purchase — or hit up the Four Pillars Distillery at Healesville, Victoria and the Four Pillars Lab in Surry Hills, Sydney. Four Pillars bloody range images: Benito Martin.
It landed in Melbourne last year and is currently showing in Sydney theatres, and now it looks like Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical The Book of Mormon is finally bringing its hilariously irreverent self to Brisbane. At least, that what's all the signs are pointing to, with a series of vague posters popping up on bus shelters across Brisbane this week, including ones near South Brisbane station. The Book of Mormon also posted this teaser on its Facebook page, with some readers saying the building in the top right corner is Brisbane's Meriton. https://www.facebook.com/BookOfMormonAU/photos/a.440788296092223.1073741828.408949012609485/1018654428305604/?type=3&theater Announcing simply that 'the mormons are coming', the teasers are pretty short on facts, though they've inspired plenty of locals to jump over to the website and sign up to the email list for first dibs on any info that does surface. Even The Book of Mormon's publicity company is keeping hush and refusing to comment on the prospect of a Brisbane run. Looks like we'll just have to sit tight and wait for confirmation. Written by South Park and Team America's notoriously puerile creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Robert Lopez of genius grown-up muppet show Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon is probably one of the most lauded comedies ever to have centred on the Church of Latter Day Saints, African missions, AIDS, bum jokes and super ironic racism. If it wasn't so smart and so funny, few would forgive it. But since it is, The Book of Morman has picked up nine Tonys, four Olivier Awards and a Grammy since it debuted in 2011, and has been called "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years". If you've been among the throngs to see the musical in New York, Chicago or London, then you'll be plenty excited that your Melbourne friends will now get the chance to go learn all the idiosyncratic details of Mormonism, meet war criminal General Butt-Fucking Naked and know the true meaning of the hakuna matata-like saying 'Hasa Diga Eebowai'. The Book of Mormon is due to wrap up in Sydney on October 21. We'll keep you updated on any official announcements.
As Bruce Wayne's private jet streaks through the skies high above Gotham, Jeremy Irons' steadfast butler Alfred quips: "One misses the days when one's biggest concerns were exploding wind-up penguins." "The good old days" replies a burly, sentient frown in the shape of Ben Affleck. "THEN PLEASE GOD BRING THEM BACK!" screams the audience's frustrated internal monologue from within its collective skull. Welcome to Justice League, the least bad entry in the DC movie universe after this year's smash hit Wonder Woman – not that that's saying a whole lot. Given how low the bar has been set by the likes of Suicide Squad and Batman vs Superman, this superhero team-up flick would have to be truly abysmal not to offer some kind of improvement. Just like its special-effects-laden trailer, Justice League feels like a CGI showreel shot almost entirely in front of a green screen. Its strongest scenes are also its quietest ones: a battered Bruce Wayne being assisted by a sympathetic Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot); Martha Kent and Lois Lane (Diane Lane and Amy Adams) brave-facing their way through hardships in a staff-room cafeteria; The Flash (played by a scene-stealing Ezra Miller) speaking with his incarcerated father. It's in these rare, intimate moments that the film's characters actually begin to feel like characters, each possessed of complicated personal histories, private anxieties and meaningful relationships. Sadly, it's soon back to aliens with lasers, fear-eating bugs, and buildings crashing down in clouds of debris. With a story that feels like it's been lifted from Ghostbusters II, Justice League depicts an earth where hatred and cynicism have reached such heights that it compels the return of a great evil determined to enslave mankind. So arrives Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), a CGI-monster of such poor quality he wouldn't cut the mustard in a cut scene from Gears of War. Steppenwolf is bent on reuniting three powerful Mother Boxes, magic cubes which, when combined, permit him to reshape any planet to resemble his barren home-world. The origins and power of these otherworldly McGuffins actually offers an enticing mystery to be solved in the film's early stages – which is why it's so disappointing when it's all explained away in a single expository scene. The same applies to each of the film's new heroes. Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) arrive with such little fanfare or backstory that even comic book fans already in the know may end up feeling robbed. The exception is The Flash, who imbues the franchise with a long-overdue dose of comedy. The character, as played by Miller, is endearingly awkward, enthusiastic yet timid, and note-perfect in his fanboying around the other superheroes. Likewise, his action sequences are thrilling, amusing and innovative in what is otherwise a highly derivative film. Perhaps the most egregious failing of Justice League, however, is its treatment of Batman. Weary, joyless and stammering, Affleck's Dark Knight acts more like a corporate recruiter than a caped crusader. A joke about his powers stemming from his wealth might get a laugh, but it also wholly undermines what makes the Batman character so compelling: a mortal, unexceptional being who still proves himself capable of holding his own in a world of gods and monsters thanks to his intelligence, discipline and unassailable belief in justice. In Justice League he spends most of the fights on the periphery, and quite often on his back; the superhero version of Lethal Weapon's Danny Glover complaining of being too old for this shit. It's a sad relegation for such a DC icon and speaks volumes as to how mishandled this franchise has been from the moment Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy) handed over the reigns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiAmnKUaNmc
No one likes it when their phone rings from an unknown number, whether "no caller ID" or digits that you don't recognise flash up on your mobile's screen. Telemarketers isn't going to change that response. It won't dampen the collective ire that the world holds towards the pushy people on the other end of the line, either. HBO's thrilling three-part docuseries doesn't just reinforce what viewers already feel about the nuisance industry that thinks it can interrupt your day and life with a spiel that no one wants, and impact your bank balance in the process. In addition, it spins a true tale that demonstrates why a deep-seated dislike of telemarketing is so well-founded, and also why cold-calling operations can be so insidious. This true-crime story about the New Jersey-based Civic Development Group surpasses even the most call centre-despising audience member's low expectations of the field — and it's gripping, can't-look-away, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed stuff. "Every other telemarketer who drives you crazy in the whole world is because of CDG," advises one of the series' interviewees. That might seem like a big claim, but co-directors Sam Lipman-Stern (Live From the Streets) and Adam Bhala Lough (The New Radical) step through its truth. The former knows the outfit's approach from experience, working there for seven years from the age of 14 after dropping out of high school, while the latter is the filmmaker cousin he wasn't aware of. Lipman-Stern is Telemarketers' on-screen guiding hand, too, but his ex-colleague Patrick J Pespas is its heart and soul. As seen early — with the show streaming its trio of chapters weekly via Binge since Monday, August 14 — Pespas is called a "telemarketing legend". Although he's happy snorting heroin on-camera in 2000s-era footage, he's switched on to CDG's shonkiness; more than that, he's determined to expose it even if it takes two decades. When Lipman-Stern began earning $10 an hour convincing ordinary Americans to donate to charities represented by CDG, he found himself at a place where anyone could get hired with few questions asked. The only requirement: bringing in funds while hitting the phone. As long as the company's employees kept making money, anything went. Those workers are a motley crew of vulnerable misfits in Lipman-Stern's low-res fly-on-the-wall footage, spanning not just dropouts and addicts but also ex-cons recruited directly from halfway houses and folks who didn't fit the usual nine-to-five grind. And their work environment? It "was like you was just going to a big-ass cookout every fucking day," one past staff member notes. Drinking, drugs, sex, nodding off on the phone, getting tattoos in the office, baby turtles crawling over keyboards, general seediness and raucousness that even telemarketing sitcom Workaholics didn't dream up: that was all a part of cashing a CDG cheque, as Lipman-Stern captured at the time, then uploaded to YouTube. Telemarketers' main pair and their boiler-room colleagues were paid to ring their way through the organisation's sales lists, rustling up financial support for police officers, their widows, veterans, firemen, dying children and cancer survivors. When it's the cops they're touting — typically under the Fraternal Order of Police, which is akin to a law-enforcement union — they also send out stickers emblazoned with the particularl lodge's logo. It usually goes unspoken, but those decals come with shifty promise: if you display them on your car, house or shop because you've slung some funds towards the police, you might get favourable treatment if an officer ever has cause to cross your path. Yes, that's dodgy. If only it was the most dubious aspect of CDG's gambit. Everywhere that Lipman-Stern and Pespas look, this tale gets worse. It's no wonder that Uncut Gems and Good Time filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie are among Telemarketers' executive producers, plus Eastbound & Down's Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. Barely giving any of the money raised to any of the charities represented? Tick. Using underhanded and forceful tactics, flat-out lying and adopting voices resembling a "cartoon caricature of police officer", all to con people into donating? Check there, too. Unsurprisingly attracting legal attention across several states, and multiple levels of government, yet managing to keep operating? Tick again. Slippery founders — two sets of brothers, one of which includes the member of a Christian rock band — who aren't fussed about CDG's ongoing legal troubles? Check once more. Turning nonprofit fundraising into a complete sham? Keep on ticking. Constantly devolving, whether by letting fear-inducing convicted murderers loose on the phones, using artificial intelligence to keep calls going without needing staff or capitalising upon America's increasingly polarised political landscape? That's all part of this story as well. Making for jaw-on-the-floor viewing, Telemarketers is a wild portrait of greed, exploitation and corruption — and while screens aren't short of those of late, this isn't a Succession or Squid Game-style eat-the-rich effort. There's nothing luxurious or stylish here. All that's on display is pure predatory behaviour from CDG's owners and their cronies towards everyone below them, employees and folks picking up the phone alike alike. Lipman-Stern and Pespas are as much scam victims as the people they called. But, when a disguised player in the industry notes that "it's not the telemarketers you should be worried about", Telemarketers gets even more sinister. When the strikes end, expect Hollywood to pounce on a dramatised remake. The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach could easily slip into Lipman-Stern's shoes, and Saturday Night Live and Mr Mayor's Bobby Moynihan into Pespas'. Fantasy casting aside, any future retelling of CDG's exploits needs Lipman-Stern and Pespas at its centre — because Telemarketers wouldn't be what it is without them, or even exist. As much as HBO's series is a takedown of a horrific swindle, it's also an ode to guerrilla journalism by a couple of average guys fighting back, and a character study of the pair as well. As the show jumps across 20 years, it surveys who Lipman-Stern and Pespas are, what changes in their lives, their evolving friendship, their commitment to exposing their old workplace and why they took up this battle. It also doesn't shy away from the fact that they're plucky amateurs doing what they feel compelled to. The Safdies were approached to direct Telemarketers, only to glean what audiences can now see: that authenticity couldn't be more crucial. When 2022 became a banner year for true-crime deceptions on-screen, unravelling real-life stories through Inventing Anna, The Dropout and more, polish reigned supreme. Getting an inside view from everyday sleuths taking on the crooks who gave them a gig, as chronicled through rough-around-the-edges footage and scrappy chats — that's a raw, like-you're-there experience, and it's both powerful and electrifying. So too is Lipman-Stern and Pespas' transformation as they get immersed in their investigation over the years. Initially, Lipman-Stern just wants to film office pranks, while the ever-earnest Pespas has his own personal tussles. Before our eyes, they become the tenacious duo revealing a billion-dollar fraud and bringing this stunning whistleblower documentary to the world. Check out the trailer for Telemarketers below: Telemarketers streams via Binge from Monday, August 14.
You know the part in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy first enters the Land of Oz and everything transforms into glorious technicolour? That's what it feels like when summer hits the UK. Every single corner of the country pulls out all stops to make the most of the sunshine and clear skies which, let's face it, don't last long. Suddenly, everywhere from teeny country villages to the massive cities are abuzz with markets, festivals, live performances and general merriment. With so many festivities to choose from, it's hard to know where to start. To make sure you don't miss out, we've partnered with Contiki to scope out ten of the best things to see and do in the UK this (Northern Hemisphere) summer. We've covered everything from age-old classics, like wandering among the prehistoric mysteries of Stonehenge and seeing a play at Shakespeare's Globe in London, to rocking out to your favourite musicians at one of the country's biggest music festivals. We hope you know where your passport is — you're going to need it very soon. [caption id="attachment_719400" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew and Annemarie via Flickr.[/caption] CATCH 'MACBETH' AT SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Opened in 1997 on the banks of the River Thames, Shakespeare's Globe is a replica of the original theatre, which was built just 250 metres away in 1599 (and then demolished in 1644). Each year, from April to October, the stage fills with larger-than-life actors, performing Shakespeare's works. There are 700 standing room ('groundling') tickets available to every show for just £5. So, even if you're travelling on a budget, you don't have to miss out. Afterwards, take a stroll along the river to visit the Tate Modern and South Bank — a hub of theatre, live music, talks and more. [caption id="attachment_719453" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Martie Swart via Flickr[/caption] DISCOVER A NEW ACT AT EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the biggest arts event in the world. To give you an idea of the scale, 2018 saw 55,000 performances of 3548 shows across 317 venues over 25 days. Yep, it's absolutely huge. Whatever you're into — from cabaret and comedy to storytelling and live music — it's on the program. You can even put on a show of your own. Quite a few legends cut their teeth here — Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly and Tim Minchin, among them. If there's a show you need to see, book tickets in advance. But, if you're open-minded, it's just as fun to turn up and see what happens. As you wander down the street, burgeoning performers will hand out tickets to their shows for free. It's a great way to discover some up-and-coming talents — we know how everyone loves to proclaim "I saw them before they were famous". DANCE ALL NIGHT AT READING FESTIVAL Since the inaugural event in 1989, Reading Festival has become a major happening on the UK's musical calendar. Every August, it takes over Little John's Farm for three days of live music. Some of the musical heavyweights to have played there over the years include Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys. Head along this year and you'll be grooving to the likes of Foo Fighters, The 1975, Post Malone, Billie Eilish and loads more. To make the most of this epic musical experience, hop on board Contiki Sounds. This ten-day (or seven-day) tour will be like a roaming musical education with visits to the country's best towns and cities (and their most historically important musical sites) and will finish with a VIP camping experience at Reading. [caption id="attachment_719456" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gary J. Wood via Flickr[/caption] GRAZE YOUR WAY THROUGH BOROUGH MARKET For more than 1000 years, farmers, fishers, bakers and cheesemakers have been gathering at Borough Market to peddle their wares. It's London's oldest market. You'll find it just south of London Bridge, which for hundreds of years, provided the only river crossing into the city. Grab a coffee from the ever-popular Monmouth Coffee Company, located just outside the market entrance, and spend a morning roaming through the stalls and filling up on samples. Prepare for a cornucopia of bread, baked goodies, fruit, veggies, olive oils, cheeses, meats and much more. There's a busy events program, too, covering workshops, talks and tours. The market is open Monday to Saturday — the best days to go are Wednesday to Saturday when it's in full operation. WANDER AROUND STONEHENGE One folk story goes that the devil bought the stones in Ireland, wrapped them up and carried them to their present position. Another says that Stonehenge was created by Merlin the wizard in the age of King Arthur. Many mysteries still surround the history of Stonehenge, but historians are now fairly convinced it was built 5000 years ago by thousands of hardworking Neolithic humans. This World Heritage-listed site lies around 140 kilometres west of London near the village of Amesbury. EAT FISH AND CHIPS BY THE SEA IN CORNWALL No summer in the UK is complete without at least one serving of fish and chips (with a liberal dousing of vinegar) by the sea. And one of the prettiest places to partake is Cornwall, England's most southwestern county. If you're in the north, head to the coastal village of Padstow for Rick Stein's Fish & Chips. For a longer feast, visit The Seafood Restaurant — Stein's flagship — which opened over 40 years ago. If you're in the south, go to Looe and eat at The Catch, a chippy run by celebrity chef James Tanner and his brother Chris, who serve only premium quality, sustainably fished seafood. [caption id="attachment_719446" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shawn Spencer-Smith via Flickr[/caption] IMMERSE YOURSELF AT BRISTOL HARBOUR FESTIVAL This entirely free festival attracts 250,000 people to Bristol every July. Now heading into its 48th year, it's a cornucopia of live bands, dancers, circus acts, spoken word, street performers and food stalls, all backdropped by Bristol's sparkling harbour. In 2019, the party is slated for the weekend of July 19–21. While you're in town, be sure to explore the cobbled laneways of Bristol Old Town, walk over the Clifton Suspension Bridge — built in 1864 to span the dramatic Avon Gorge — and swing by 6 O'Clock Gin for an exceptional G&T. [caption id="attachment_719840" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Image via The Fat Duck Restaurant[/caption] SPLURGE ON DINNER AT THE FAT DUCK Heston Blumenthal has cooked all over the world, but his adventures began in Bray, a village on the River Thames situated around 50 kilometres west of London. In 1995, he took over a 16th-century building formerly called The Bell Pub and transformed it into The Fat Duck restaurant. By 2004, it had earned three Michelin stars. Dinner here isn't so much a meal as a journey into the unexpected, so kick back, relax and let the chefs take over. Reservations aren't easy to get, especially in the height of summer, so be sure to book in advance. EAT YOUR WAY AROUND A HUGE FOOD FESTIVAL Foodies Festival was founded in Edinburgh in 2006 and has since grown into a nationwide celebration of good food. Between May and August, events take place in Brighton, Bristol, London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Tatton Park, Edinburgh and Oxford. So, wherever you are heading, there's bound to be a festival there at some point. Count on an array of food stalls, masterclasses, live music and a chefs theatre, where Michelin-starred chefs and MasterChef champions take to the stage. This year, Foodies Festival is teaming up with Musicians Against Homelessness, which will coordinate hundreds of performers across the country to raise money for UK charity Crisis. [caption id="attachment_719451" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rozsagab via Flickr[/caption] DRINK A PINT IN A PROPER BRITISH PUB British pubs have been imitated all over the world, but there's quite like drinking a pint — or two — in an original. On a sunny day, seek out one on a river or canal, like The Angel on the Bridge in Henley-on-Thames or The Grain Barge in Bristol (yes, it used to be a barge). To mix history with your beverage, visit one of the UK's oldest pubs, like Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem — which is rather spectacularly set into a sandstone cliff in Nottingham and claims to have been established in 1189. Check out this list for more inspiration. Travel around the best spots in the UK with Contiki at Reading Festival. Unearth the UK's musical heritage, then experience an unforgettable party at one of the world's best and biggest music festivals. Contiki wants to take you there — all you have to do is choose from the 7- or 10-day trip. Plus, if you bring a mate, it'll give you both $200 off. Find out more here.
How much yum cha can you eat in one sitting? The answer to that question will soon be on the menu at Queen's Wharf. The $3.6-billion addition to the Brisbane CBD's north bank has welcomed its latest eatery: Cantonese spot HUĀ. And while the restaurant opened its doors to kick off February 2025, one of its big drawcards is still to come, with bottomless yum cha set to be on offer in the future. There's plenty of reasons to visit HUĀ already, however, including enjoying a lineup of dishes crafted in collaboration with culinary veteran Ling Lee. The 77-year-old chef — and alum of Melbourne's Flower Drum, Silk Crown and Sun Kitchen — has helped oversee the menu, with Head Chef Danny Lui (Mei Wei Dumplings) leading the kitchen. Expect modern takes on Cantonese cuisine, plus a focus on sustainability, on a menu that'll change seasonally. "HUĀ represents a unique blend of Cantonese heritage and modern innovation. Not only does the menu offer an enticing selection of expertly crafted dishes, but the space itself is designed to completely elevate the dining experience," said Adam Duca, General Manager of Dining Concepts, which is behind HUĀ alongside The Star Brisbane. Wild-caught seafood, free-range meats and locally sourced organic vegetables feature across bites that include prawn-and-chive dumplings, seafood san choi bow, stir-fried scallops, deep-fried black truffle duck rolls and pan-fried kimchi lamb dumplings, to name just a few dishes — all pairing traditional Cantonese cooking techniques with fresh flavours. As for the decor, it skews elegant; think: a combination of rich and pastel hues, including greens and reds; floral touches, as seen on the wallpaper; lantern-style wall lighting flourishes; and booth seating. In addition to its main dining area, plus private rooms for gatherings, HUĀ features an al fresco terrace and a cocktail bar. From the latter, standout sips include a signature boozy iced tea, a lavender-heavy drink made with vodka, and a fruit tea-based concoction. Classic cocktails are also available, as is a selection of beer and wine by the glass. Alongside bottomless yum cha — which'll feature endless tea — a happy-hour menu is also on its way. Already on offer, though: two signature banquets, one for $88 per head and the other for $128. Or, for weekday lunch diners, an express banquet is available now as well, spanning three courses and a drink for $55.80 per person Monday–Friday from 1130am–3pm. Find HUA at Level 4, Terrace, The Star Brisbane, 33 William Street, Brisbane, operating from Tuesday–Sunday for lunch and dinner. Head to the venue's website for more information.
If soaring down a snowy mountain is your idea of fun, then Switzerland's icy peaks have long been on your bucket list. And if you've always wanted to zip down the country's famous frosty alps but don't all have the coordination and dexterity to ski or snowboard — which is perfectly acceptable — then you can now enjoy the trip via train on one of the world's steepest railways. Opening in mid-December after a 14-year construction period — and 52 million Swiss francs (AU$68 million) in funds — the Stoos Bahn journeys from the town of Schwyz to the nearby village of Stoos, carrying 34 people at a time in less than five minutes. Replacing an older funicular railway, aka a cable-attached railway used near cliffs and on inclined surfaces, it not only spans a distance of 1738 metres, but a height difference of 744 metres. Overall, it boasts a maximum gradient of 110 percent. That makes the Stoos Bahn the steepest funicular railway in Europe, the steepest in the world that regularly ferries passengers and second on the planet overall. If you're wondering which other dizzy-inducing train track pips it for the top spot, that honour goes to an Australian tourist attraction. First created for mining purposes in 1878 and now operating as part of Katoomba Scenic World, the Katoomba Scenic Railway in the Blue Mountains holds the Guinness World Record for the steepest railway gradient, clocking in at 128 percent over its 310-metre expanse. Via Lonely Planet. Image: Stoos-Muotatal
Sydney has no shortage of history, both owned and borrowed, to learn about this summer. From the long cultural history of the First Nations custodians of the land to the colonial bones of Sydney's architecture to the modern-day melting pot of cultures and stories, every era leaves its mark. We've combed through the Harbour City and found some historical gems that deserve your attention, whether you're a local or a visitor, starting with a new and exciting opportunity that will only be in the city for a few months. RAMSES & THE GOLD OF THE PHARAOHS — THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM The Australian Museum is always a top choice for history in Sydney, and this exhibit running until May 2024 is unlike anything the museum has ever hosted before. Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs is a multi-sensory, immersive experience for all ages and is exclusive to the Australian Museum. The exhibition explores the life and reign of the late Ramses the Great, Egypt's second longest-reigning Pharaoh, and is comprised of over 180 objects, each dating back approximately 3000 years. Ramses II lived well into his 90s, old even for a monarch, and each object captures important details of the era and his life. Items on display include jewellery, ceramics, small mummified animals, royal masks, and even the actual sarcophagus that Ramses was entombed in in 1213 BC. You'll also find an optional multisensory VR experience that will transport you virtually to two of the era's most significant monuments, the tomb of Queen Nefertari and the temples of Abu Simbel. [caption id="attachment_923966" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] QUEENSCLIFF TUNNEL AND HOTEL STEYNE — MANLY Sydney's own history spreads well beyond the centre of the city, from bush to coast. On the coastal side of town is a suburb that is one of the most well-known to the culturally, coastally and historically inclined — Manly. On the north side of Manly Beach, on the border of Queenscliff, is the Queenscliff Tunnel. It could easily be dismissed as a detail in the rocky headland, but it is actually a manmade tunnel, supposedly carved in 1908 by local fishermen to act as a shortcut between Freshwater and Manly Beaches. It's open to visitors but on an elevated cliff face, so remain cautious. Back on flat ground is another historical highlight, Hotel Steyne. Originally built in 1859, the pub has been destroyed by two mysterious fires, but the current building dates back to 1923 and is one of the best pub feeds in Manly. ILLOURA RESERVE AND THE FENWICK — BALMAIN EAST Among some of the lesser-known harbourfront historical areas, specifically in Balmain East, is Illoura Reserve. Before the arrival of European settlers, the area was a swamp, only established in land purchases in the early 19th century as a part of a 222-hectare grant to colonial Surgeon Dr William Balmain. Seeing the connection? Since then, the area has been used as a harbourside industrial precinct and a tip. One building that has stood since the 1880s is The Fenwick. Originally a store for harbour tugboats, it evolved alongside Illoura Reserve and is now a stunning waterfront cafe and art gallery. The menu stars local and seasonal produce, and the second-floor gallery showcases a range of local and international artists, with everything available for purchase. [caption id="attachment_923971" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tim Downey via Flickr[/caption] PADDINGTON RESERVE GARDENS — PADDINGTON Away from the harbour, in the inner east hub of Paddington, we find a historical site that holds great significance to the city. More than just a public park, these are the Paddington Reservoir Gardens. This was where most of Sydney's water was pumped from its construction in 1866 to its closure in 1899. In its prime, it had a hefty capacity of just over 9000 megalitres. Still, it was closed and repurposed into a storage yard until 1934, when it was partially converted into a service station. When the roof collapsed twice in the 1990s, the station was again closed. Following a major restoration, the site was reopened as a park in 2009, combining elements of its history with overland reserves that had been constructed prior. Now, it's known for its beautiful but eerie appearance, almost like post-industrial Roman undercity ruins, but on Oxford Street. [caption id="attachment_826667" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] CREMORNE RESERVE AND MACCALLUM POOL — CREMORNE POINT Across the city and harbour is the suburb of Cremorne, one of the most disputed shorelines of Sydney Harbour's history. Once a site of great significance to the Cammeraygal people, the land was acquired by Europeans in 1833. Over the following years, it would be a public amusement park, residential development, and even almost a coal mine in the early 1890s. Thankfully, the point and reserve are now protected as a heritage conservation area. One of the gems of the location is MacCallum Pool, a harbour swimming pool originally constructed by local residents. It was maintained by locals until hygiene concerns of harbour swimming prompted North Sydney Council to take over maintenance in 1930. Renamed to MacCallum in tribute to one of its most loyal civilian carers, Hugh J MacCallum, the council has since restored the pool and added decking, landscaping and fencing to secure the pool and its visitors. [caption id="attachment_827016" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Anna Kucera[/caption] FOUNDATION PARK, FORTUNE OF WAR AND THE DOSS HOUSE — THE ROCKS The Rocks precinct is synonymous with Sydney's history, being one of it's oldest and most iconic heritage precincts. One hidden detail, an unmarked alleyway off Argyle Terrace, is Foundation Park. At first glance, it looks like a collection of discarded furniture, but it's actually a living museum designed to recreate the space and feel of Sydney's oldest homes. The history of The Rocks extends to some of its extremely popular venues, such as Fortune of War and The Doss House. Fortune of War is regarded as Sydney's oldest pub, originally built by a former convict settler in 1828. The name comes from its regulars, sailors and soldiers who were leaving and arriving in Sydney for (or from) war. The Doss House is equally historic, a heritage-listed underground whiskey bar with rooms that pay tribute to the building's many past identities, from a bootmaker workshop to a cheap accommodation for the desperate and even an illegal opium den. [caption id="attachment_923973" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Ryan Frank via iStock[/caption] BADU MANGROVES AND HOMEBUSH BAY — HOMEBUSH When you think of Homebush, history and nature might not be the first thoughts that come to mind. But one of the best-kept secrets of Sydney can be found in Homebush. Badu Mangroves is a 56-hectare slice of wetland between Homebush Bay and Bicentennial Park. Overlooked for most of Sydney's history, this haven of local wildlife was choked by pollution for decades but is now thriving again thanks to a restoration program and can be explored via an elevated boardwalk. The mangroves, as mentioned, are adjacent to Homebush Bay, and from the boardwalk, you can spot the famous 'floating forest', the wreck of the SS Ayrfield. Originally built in 1911 and part of a fleet of cargo ships that ferried coal, oil and wartime supplies, it survived WWII but is now being slowly broken down by a mangrove forest. A small slice of history, forever locked in the waters of the Parramatta River. For more information on Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs, or to book tickets, visit the website. For more experiences in Sydney, keep exploring Concrete Playground.
What'd happen if the Hulk was a teenage girl, and turned into a giant, fuzzy, super-cute red panda instead of going green and getting ultra-muscular? Or, finding a different riff on the ol' werewolf situation, if emotions rather than full moons inspired a case of not-quite-lycanthropy? These mightn't be questions that most folks have ever even thought of, but writer/director Domee Shi certainly has — and they're at the core of Pixar's Turning Red, her debut feature after winning an Oscar for gorgeous 2018 short Bao. As many of the acclaimed animation studio's movies do (see also: Finding Nemo, Up, Brave and the Cars franchise, for instance), Turning Red takes its title literally. But, for the second time in the past year following 2021's Luca, it sees Pixar ask a question that isn't simply "what if toys/bugs/monsters/vehicles/fish/superheroes/rats/robots/dinosaurs/elves had feelings?" (or even if feelings had feelings themselves, or if souls did as well). It still ponders a spin on that notion, wondering what'd happen if red pandas sported human-style emotions; however, the Disney-owned company has also been musing on people becoming other kinds of critters of late, with particularly astute and endearing results here. Now streaming on Disney+ after bypassing cinemas completely, Turning Red spends its time with 13-year-old Chinese Canadian high-schooler Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang, also making her movie debut). The year is 2002, and she loves three things: meeting her strict but doting mum Ming's (Sandra Oh, The Chair) expectations; hanging out with her pals Miriam (Ava Morse, Ron's Gone Wrong), Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Never Have I Ever) and Abby (Hyein Park, also Bao's story artist); and ridiculously popular boy band 4*Town. And while her mother doesn't approve of her friends or her taste in music, and would prefer for her to either be at school or helping out at the family's temple at all times, Mei has become quite accustomed to juggling everything that's important to her. Then, after a boy-related mishap — Mei realises that she has a crush on a 17-year-old convenience store clerk, but Ming finds out and embarrasses her in public — the red panda appears. Mei goes to bed feeling normal, albeit angsty and upset, then wakes up looking like a cuddly creature. Like werewolf tales about teenage boys tend to be, Turning Red is all about puberty and doesn't hide it, with Mei forced to face the new version of herself that's awakened overnight. This is both Pixar's 25th full-length flick and its first solely directed by a woman, and the result is one of the studio's instant classics; when the company isn't throwing love towards childhood obsessions such as toys, monsters and cars, it also adores exploring what it feels like to be a kid — and Turning Red fits the mould perfectly. Of course, while it's easy to spy commonalities among Pixar's 27 years of movies so far, it rarely makes blandly formulaic fare. That's one of its key skills, after all: throwing around familiar parts, premises and patterns, but almost always making whichever movie eventuates feel new, thoughtful and specific. That remains the case with Turning Red, which is as savvy and delightful as the very best entries on the studio's resume. A charming coming-of-age effort, it flows with warmth and insight as Mei navigates an array of hugely recognisable high-school antics — being certain that you stand out, getting teased, wanting to go to concerts, developing your own interests, growing away from your parents and forging your own identity all included — while also grappling with sometimes being a red panda. Indeed, as struggles and pressures mount, and their protagonist yearns for the space to work out who she really is and what she truly wants, Shi and her co-scribe Julia Cho (Halt and Catch Fire) have also penned a tale of teen rebellion. The movie's heavy use of crimson hues represents many things, from its chosen animal to raging hormones, and a feisty can-do temperament sits high on the list. This is a Pixar movie that asks "has the red peony blossomed?" when Ming thinks that Mei has gotten her period, rather than turned into a red panda, for instance — if there was any doubt on how eagerly and openly it embraces everything that growing up means for teenage girls. It's a film that finds the relatable in the specific in a cultural sense, too, giving Toronto's Chinese community a hefty embrace, pondering generational trauma, and also creating an on-screen world that both looks and feels lived-in. And, it's as joyous about boy bands and their status as an object of obsession for adolescent hearts and minds as the wonderful Aussie documentary I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story was as well. Bright, perky but never generic animation brings Shi's vision to life, and a soundtrack peppered with boy band-style songs by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell (the latter also voicing one of 4*Town's members) helps set an upbeat tone. But don't mistake all that gloss, those earworm tunes and that endearing red panda for fluff, though: Turning Red has sweetness, soul and smarts, and it's another of Pixar's gems. Check out the trailer below: Turning Red is available to stream via Disney+ from Friday, March 11. Top image: © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
A television tie-in certain to leave a bad taste in people's mouths both popped up and vanished this week — an incredibly ill-advised range of Handmaid's Tale-themed wines. Unsurprisingly, the idea of drinking vino named after a dystopian series about oppression wasn't really what fans of the show, or anyone, was after. Similarly unsurprisingly, turning a program about women being forced into servitude and made to bear children for society's leaders isn't the kind of thing that makes you think 'yes, this persecuted character that's fighting for survival against institutionalised exploitation needs to have a wine named after her'. Unveiled and then cancelled in the same week, Lot 18's 'Handmaid's Tale Trio' was comprised of a pack of two reds wines and one white wine named after three of the show's main figures. "The bold characters of The Handmaid's Tale are celebrated in these three collectible wines, specially crafted to highlight the personalities of Offred, Ofglen and Serena Joy," states the wine's now-defunct online listing. Offred was badged as a "smooth, earthy, and similarly seductive" French Pinot Noir, Ofglen a Cabernet Sauvignon that supposedly offered "a daring testament to the heights that Oregon Cabs can reach" and Serena Joy a sophisticated, traditional and austere" Bordeaux Blanc. First reported by People Magazine, the wines were swiftly scrapped after being made public. Adapting Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel into a television series might make for compelling viewing — and might even make viewers keen for a few soothing drinks while watching the grimly gripping show — but using its female characters for merchandising purposes is a badly thought-out move to say the very least. And, unlike Sydney's forthcoming Gilead development, it was a marketing tactic undertaken with full knowledge of the show, its content and its themes. In the case of the masterplanned New South Wales community that shares its name with The Handmaid's Tale's dystopian society, the term Gilead springs from the bible and has been used in Sydney for two centuries — even if now trying to promote a site with that moniker is incredibly unfortunate.
Every last trilby-wearing tween celebrity, President's daughter and your smug, smug US-based friends will be rubbing their paws together after this morning's Coachella festival lineup announcement. Running over two weekends from April 14–23, the Californian festival has delivered their usual jaw-dropper of a lineup. Big gun headliners Beyoncé, Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar mark the top of the weekend bills, with a bonafide metric fucktonne of squealworthy buds filling out the rest — the xx, Bon Iver, Justice, Lorde, The Avalanches, New Order, Future Islands, and Kaytranada to name a few. Even German composer Hans Zimmer is getting in on the action. Homegrown Aussie and New Zealand legends are heading on over and representing with gusto, with Pond, King Gizzard, Broods, Jagwar Ma, Anna Lunoe, What So Not and Empire of the Sun — as well as the aforementioned Avalanches and Lorde — on the bill. Anyway, let's be honest, you haven't truly read any of those words — you'll be wanting this: Coachella runs over two weekends, from April 14-16 and 21-23 in Indio, California. Tickets go on sale at 11am PST on Wednesday, January 4. For more info, visit coachella.com.
The festive season might be one of the happiest times of year for many, but there's no denying it can come with an all too heady financial hangover in the new year. And that's a shame because summer's most unmissable events do waggle a price tag. That's why we've teamed up with American Express, which offers a solution for Amex Credit Card card members to split a big cost into manageable sections. That's the idea behind Plan It® Instalments, a feature that allows you to split payments into instalments with no interest to be paid over 3, 6 or 12 months — T&Cs apply. But how can you use Plan It Instalments to live your best life? All over Australia's east coast, there are headline events you can secure a ticket to right now. [caption id="attachment_978661" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on March 2, 2023[/caption] Sydney The Harbour City rarely has a shortage of things to do. Many summer events take place in the prettiest (and busiest) parts of town, which only increase ticket prices. For a more relaxed but oh-so-luxurious alternative that's just as close to the water, a Sydney must-see is the Westpac OpenAir Cinema. With a program of indie films and blockbusters alike and food supplied by three on-site eateries from top Sydney chefs against a backdrop of the Sydney skyline and harbour, this isn't your average cinema experience. The pricing is worth it and easily broken down with Plan It Instalments. Finally, one of Sydney's biggest events returns in February to round out the season: Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. This citywide celebration runs from Friday, February 14 to Sunday, March 2 and has a whole host of offerings. Sure, some events, like the main parade, are free — but many of Mardi Gras' most fun experiences are ticketed. Be it drag brunches, boat parties, concerts and more; you can secure a spot for yourself and any fellow partygoers today. [caption id="attachment_913351" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Daniel Boud[/caption] Melbourne Down south in Melbourne, the offering is as stacked as ever in the heat of summer. Don't let the adverse weather stop you from having a good time. Melbourne is kicking off 2025 with a culture-heavy events program and Plan It Instalments will prevent the headline items from denting your savings when you need them. A truly fabulous event is at the top of the cards, TINA: The Tina Turner Story. The musical tells the story of an icon beloved by Australians and is so much more than just a biography. It's a toe-tapping dive into the life of the queen of rock 'n' roll and includes 20 of her most popular songs. Book using Plan It Instalments and get some seats before the show leaves Melbourne for good on Sunday, March 2. If you fancy heading further afield, up in Falls Creek is Feastival. Sure, this alpine town is generally a winter destination, but this three-day festival at the tail end of February will bring a new level of festivity outside of peak season. What's on the cards? Feasting (duh), comedy shows, paint and sips, pilates, heritage walks and a massive weekend of music featuring The Cat Empire, Budjerah, Azure Ryder and more. Make it a great getaway that goes steady via Plan It Instalments. Brisbane Up north in the River City, summer is the season of concerts. The regular summer offerings go on in force, but some of the hottest tickets in town are courtesy of artists stopping by on global tours. Then, on Tuesday, February 25, comes the long-awaited return of The Goo Goo Dolls to Australian shores. On their first visit in 20 years, they'll be joined by Thirsty Merc as they blow the roof off of the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre with banging ballads like 'Iris', 'Slide', 'Just the Way You Are' and more. Finally, an icon among icons, Kylie Minogue, is playing two shows at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre as a part of the Tension Tour on Wednesday, February 26 and Thursday, February 27. Plan It Instalments is available for American Express Credit Card Holders for plans over $100. For more information, visit the website. Plan It Instalments Terms and Conditions: You can create an Instalment Plan as long as your account is in good standing. We may withdraw this offer, prevent you from creating any new Instalment Plans or cancel any of your existing Instalment Plan(s) at any time if your Card Account is overdue, or if you do not comply with your Card Conditions. The minimum Plan amount is AUD$100. We may also limit the amount that can be transferred to an Instalment Plan. You will be charged a Monthly Plan Fee for each Instalment Plan created. This fee will be charged each month your Instalment Plan is active and will be disclosed to you at the time of creating your Instalment Plan. Each Instalment Plan will begin from the date it is successfully created, as communicated to you in your Online Account. Payment of your first Monthly Instalment will be due in your next payment cycle. You may request to cancel your Instalment Plan(s) at any time through your Online Account or the Amex App. Any billed Monthly Plan Fees will remain payable, but no further Monthly Plan Fees will be billed after cancellation is effective. As cancellation can take 24-48 hours to process ("Processing Time"), you may be charged a further monthly plan fee after requesting cancellation if the Processing Time occurs on your payment date. View the full Plan It Instalments Terms and Conditions here. 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Here's a way to make an entrance. Ever-evolving ride service Uber has announced their next alternative transportation method and it's set to be a whirlwind (ha). The UberCHOPPER will see 20 racing punters touching down on the Caulfield Cup helipad this weekend, where they'll be greeted (of course) with champagne and VIP passes for the day. A continual do-gooder, this year Uber has saved people on the move from the mediocre arrival methods known as buses, trains and conventional taxis by giving them other options — like luxury cars, water taxis and Optimus Prime. They've repeatedly come to your drunken 3am rescue, and even brought you food and taken you shopping. Like many of these other initiatives, it's unlikely the chopper service will become a regular feature. For now you'll just have to pray you get through in the frantic scramble when the FREECHOPPER code goes live this Saturday, October 18 at 10am. Here's how to book: 1. Download the Uber app onto your smartphone and make an account, if you haven't already. 2. Enter the promo code "FREECHOPPER" when signing up, or in the promotions section of the app if you've already got Uber. 3. At 10am on Saturday, select UberCHOPPER in the app. Get your friends to do it too. Don't be discouraged if at first you don't succeed — it's just that the rest of Melbourne is trying at the same time. 4. Hit "REQUEST CHOPPER". If your booking is accepted — don't panic. (Or do.) You've got 15 minutes to get your race face on before an UberMINI picks you up and transfers you to the helipad.
Each month, Netflix adds a whole heap of new movies, shows and specials to its lineup. It's impossible to watch all of them, and if you tend to gravitate towards its big series and films — Stranger Things and The Witcher, plus features such as Marriage Story and The Trial of the Chicago 7 , for instance — that's understandable. But don't scroll your way past the service's comedy offerings. As with everything on every streaming platform, the selection can be a bit hit and miss; however, Netflix was responsible for the best sketch comedy of 2019,I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. It has also now claimed that title again in 2020 with the just-released Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun. If you're familiar with Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna, then you'll know what to expect. Writers and performers Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, director and writer Sam Lingham, filmmaker Max Miller and composer Tom Armstrong have been treating audiences to absurdist gags, satire, wordplay and songs since forming in 2011. Over that time, Aunty Donna has played gigs everywhere from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, toured the country several times, made a number of web series and released an ARIA-nominated album — but now the group has channelled all of its silliness and surreal gags, and its astute ability to make fun of daily life in a smart yet ridiculous way, into a six-part Netflix series that's the funniest thing you'll watch in 2020. Now available to stream, Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun stars Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane as themselves — and housemates. Each episode revolves around a theme, starting with the search for a fourth member of their household when they decide to turf their annoying talking dishwasher (voiced by Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal). The second episode, focused around treasure, also features an out-there recreation of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, while other instalments serve up everything from a pitch-perfect takedown of trendy barber shops to a parody of male posturing when the guys turn their house into a bar. 'Weird Al' Yankovich also pops up, as does executive producer and The Office star Ed Helms (claiming that his name is actually Egg), and a tea party with the Queen of England features as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1gwkJP64xU While it's showing on Netflix worldwide, there's no doubting that this is an Aussie sketch comedy. Viewers will spot the references to Crazy John's, Four'n Twenty pies, Eagle Boys Pizza, the Hoodoo Gurus and Grant Denyer — and there's an instance of name-dropping about a well-known TV and AFL figure that's brief but sublime. Skewing more broadly, the series' parody of Family Feud is both clever and bonkers, and the show manages to touch upon the 2000 Sydney Olympics, silly wi-fi names, table manners, sports injuries, pirates and today's dating scene, too. There's nothing too over-the-top for Aunty Donna, or too trivial. The series opens with the group's existing song 'Everything a Drum' — which really is self-explanatory — after all. And, it nears its end with a tense trip to see a stylist that's a descent into chaos and madness, and yet also 100-percent relatable. Understandably, binging the 20-minute episodes in one go is very easy to do. So is starting the whole show over again once you've already watched it through. At the beginning of 2020, no one could've picked how this year would turn out. And while longtime Aunty Donna fans already knew what the group is capable of, few folks would've tipped that Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun would be just the dose of side-splitting absurdity this hectic year needs. Or, that it'd get the most preposterous and catchy song about caffeine there is well and truly lodged in everyone's heads until 2021 hits. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVoYKwTc4E Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun is available to stream via Netflix.
A new, family-run distillery in Byron Bay is committed to two important missions. The first is to bring you an outstanding gin, made with native rainforest botanicals under the watchful eye of master distiller Jim McEwan. The second is to regenerate the rainforest that provides these very ingredients. For you, this is a win-win situation. You get to sit back and linger over a world-class drop, while doing your bit for the environment. And, even more exciting is that the distillery's first release was made possible thanks to crowdfunding dollars raised via Pozible. Cape Byron Distillery's home is a family property in Byron Bay's hinterland. It's where co-founder Eddie Brook grew up and where his parents, Pam and Martin, have been regenerating rainforest for years. "[The land] used to be part of a giant rainforest that stretched from Lismore in the south, past Byron Bay, up to the Nightcap Ranges. Today there is less than one percent of that rainforest left," Martin says. A few years ago, Eddie, who's worked in alcohol and hospitality all his life, ran a sold-out Australian whisky tour starring Jim McEwan. The two got chatting about the Brook's passion for rainforest and came up with the idea of creating a rainforest-infused gin. "I'd idolised Jim McEwan. I learned about whisky, watching his YouTube videos," Eddie says. "It was amazing to develop a friendship with him." Fast forward to 2016. McEwan and Eddie have a built a distillery and – after numerous trials and tastings – put their first bottle on the market. It's a signature gin called Brookie's Byron Dry Gin. "We're passionate about creating products that really represent our area," Eddie says. "We used 18 native botanicals, including Davidson plum, aniseed myrtle and cinnamon myrtle. They're not just native to Australia, but to the Northern Rivers region." A percentage of profits from every sale goes to rainforest regeneration efforts, as well as to Big Scrub Landcare. Eddie describes it as a "great foundation", which is "protecting remnants of rainforest ... bringing corridors back to life". Brookie's Byron Dry Gin is currently available in and around Byron Bay. For online orders, go mybottleshop.com. UPDATE 25 JULY 2017: Cape Byron Distillery has just opened up its doors for public tours every Friday and Saturday. It includes a gin tasting of Brookie's two gins, a G&T and a tour of the surrounding rainforest. Tours cost $35 and can be booked here.
One moment, you're watching Diego Luna sit down two rows in front of you in a cinema that seats 1600 people. The next, you're spotting Maggie Gyllenhaal and Patrick Stewart on the street. That's life at the Berlinale, or Berlin International Film Festival, which took place from February 9 to 19 — and it matches all of that star power with a massive, jam-packed program of movies. In its 67th year, Berlinale had everything in its 400-title-plus program, and we mean everything. Want big, mainstream efforts such as T2 Transpotting and Logan? Indie Aussie flicks like Emo the Musical and Monsieur Mayonnaise? A sci-fi retrospective and the world premiere of the 3D version of that other T2 — that is, Terminator 2, not the Aussie tea company or Trainspotting sequel? Geoffrey Rush getting an award? Charlie Hunnam traipsing around the jungle? Two movies filled with famous faces arguing over a meal? A flick about utopian world without men? A 1993-set Spanish coming-of-age effort that makes an impact? Another great entry in Romania's new wave? Yes, the festival delivered on all of the above and then some. Yes, you already know that the list goes on. Of course, not everyone can be there to experience films galore, below freezing temperatures, mulled wine aplenty and a newfound pretzel addiction. Don't worry, that's where we come in. We went, we watched, and we're excited about all of the movies that'll hopefully make their way to Australia at festivals or in general release. In fact, we can't wait to watch these ten again. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME If this film sounds more than a little familiar, that's because we were already mighty excited about it when it screened at Sundance. Oh boy, did Luca Guadagnino's (A Bigger Splash) latest and best feature to date more than deliver. Let us put it this way: when you're watching a 17-year-old become infatuated with his father's handsome research assistant, played by Armie Hammer, you're feeling every single emotion he's feeling. And, you're falling head over heels for everything about this masterpiece as well. Call Me By Your Name is the kind of effort that couldn't be more seductive, from the sumptuous sights of its scenic Italian setting to the summertime heat — and sizzling sentiments to match — that radiate from the screen. Keep an eye on Timothée Chalamet, too, who plays the teenager in question. If this movie is any guide, he should become one of cinema's next big things. A FANTASTIC WOMAN A Fantastic Woman? Yes, this sensitive drama and Berlinale best screenplay winner places one front and centre. A fantastic film? You bet. After using a compassionate gaze to explore the world of an older lady trying to find happiness in Gloria, Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio turns his attention to Marina (Daniela Vega), a waitress and singer whose life is thrown into disarray when tragedy strikes. The family of her much older lover are horrified, judging her transgender status rather than daring to let her into their lives — or let her mourn. The movie doesn't make the same mistake, in an effort that proves empathetic and engaging from start to finish, complete with an exceptional lead performance and one perfect song cue. THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE No one makes films like Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki. Sure, that's true of many directors, however the balance of deadpan humour and heartfelt drama he cultivates time and again isn't an easy one, even if he makes it seem otherwise. In this year's Berlinale Best Director winner The Other Side of Hope, Kaurismäki tackles the subject of refugees in Europe as Syrian Khaled (Sherwan Haji) finds himself in Helsinki, applies to stay and is forced to pursue other options when he's hardly given a hearty welcome. The tale of an unhappy salesman turned unlikely restaurant owner intersects with Khaled's plight, and so does absurdity, but in the filmmaker's warm but insightful way. THE PARTY It all seems so simple: gather a group of excellent actors together, stick them in a few rooms, give their characters plenty to argue about and watch what happens. At its most basic, that's what The Party does over 71 entertaining, black-and-white-shot minutes — of course, it does more than that as well. The scenario sees Kristin Scott Thomas' Janet securing a plum political appointment, with her friends and family — played by Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy and more — all gathering around to celebrate. As something other than joy starts seeping through their get-together, writer/director Sally Potter crafts a lively and hilarious comedy filled with sparkling dialogue and intent on unpacking the political climate in Britain. ON BODY AND SOUL When On Body and Soul took home Berlinale's top award, the Golden Bear for Best Film, the Hungarian feature caught everyone by surprise. That's the beauty of film festivals, though — little turns out as expected, including a contemplative, surreal romantic drama set in a Budapest slaughterhouse. Writer/director Ildikó Enyedi takes her time to spin a tale of austere lives and vivid dreams, letting the emotion build at a slow and steady pace, as well as glimmers of humour. While it won't be for everyone, two things other than its accolade and its filmmaker make it stand out: just how it brings its absurd yet ultimately still relatable story to a close, and its corresponding performances. CASTING JONBENET Good news and bad news, everyone keen to watch the second full-length effort from Australian filmmaker Kitty Green. On the one hand, it's headed to Netflix in April. On the other, the film really does provide an astonishing viewing experience if you ever get the chance to see it in a cinema. As the name gives away, murdered six-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsay sits at the centre of this documentary — however, a regular true crime offering, this most certainly isn't. Instead, in an approach that results in disarmingly revealing insights about how we filter the events of the world through our own experiences, Green asks the people of Ramsay's home town of Boulder, Colorado to audition for a film about her case, then captures their responses. SPOOR Even if you don't know it, you're already familiar with the work of Polish filmmaking great Agnieszka Holland. Over the past decade or so, she has helmed episodes of everything from The Wire to The Killing to House of Cards — and while we can say that the flavour of all three can be glimpsed in her latest feature, Berlinale Silver Bear winner Spoor, don't go expecting something as straightforward or obvious as that may sound. A series of deaths, an investigation in an insular community and the political fallout provide the storyline for this moody and sometimes amusing feature that flits between mystery, thriller, black comedy and even fairy tale elements. Another Agnieszka also deserves acclaim, this time lead actress Agnieszka Mandat who puts in a more than memorable performance. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO In I Am Not Your Negro, Samuel L. Jackson lends his voice to the words of American essayist James Baldwin. He does an outstanding job at capturing the tone and passion required, but it's the text itself, rather than the star uttering it, that's truly remarkable. Stepping through the state of race relations in the U.S. by focusing on the lives and deaths of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., every syllable spoken couldn't be more perceptive — or, even though they were written decades ago, still relevant today. It's little wonder that the film was nominated for best documentary at this year's Oscars, with director Raoul Peck matching the verbal content with an illuminating compilation of footage from the '50s and '60s. ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE Last year, South Korean director Hong Sang-soo's two most recent films (Right Now, Wrong Then and Yourself and Yours) played at various Australian film festivals. Yes, he's prolific. Expect his latest, On the Beach at Night Alone, to pop up this year — and, amazingly, he has two other features due out in 2017. That might mean that he returns to the same themes of love, identity and fulfilment again and again, and plays with the same kinds of structural devices, but every one of his efforts has their delights. Here, one of them is the fact that he riffs on his own rumoured real-life circumstances, relaying a narrative about the fallout of an affair between an actress and a director. Another is the leading lady herself, Kim Min-hee, who both sits at the centre of his own scandal and puts in a revelatory, Berlinale best actress-winning turn. GOD'S OWN COUNTRY The words "Yorkshire-set Brokeback Mountain" have been bandied about with frequency regarding God's Own Country; however, thankfully they're accurate in the very best way. Set on a struggling farm, it's a film of sprawling landscapes and surging urges — with both weathering hardships but proving rich and resonant. Forced to take care of everything due to his father's ailing health, to say that scowling, constantly booze-soaked Johnny (Josh O'Connor) is frustrated is an understatement, but, slowly and tentatively, the arrival of handsome Romanian farm-hand Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) helps brighten his unhappy days. First-time writer/director Francis Lee takes a raw, realistic approach to everything from the animals scenes to the feature's underlying emotions, with heart-swelling results.
Ricardo Cortés, who illustrated the hugely popular adult bedtime reader, Go The F*ck to Sleep, has released a third edition of his previously sold-out book, It's Just a Plant. This book is for the kids this time, but it's just as controversial, telling the story of a young girl's educational journey as she comes to understand cannabis, explained to her by her parents, a doctor and a kind gang of Rastafarians. The book covers difficult concepts like crime and the medical use of drugs in a thoughtful, non-propagandist manner, with beautiful illustrations to accompany. It's also an excellent way to guide your way through the awkward conversation you'll have to have if your kid catches you enjoying a sneaky joint.
If you're looking for your first glimpse of the latest Star Wars movie, there's no need to travel to a galaxy far, far away, because the initial teaser trailer has just dropped in this one. Nine months before the main franchise's ninth episode hits cinemas (and 11th theatrical flick overall), Disney has gifted audiences a sneak peek of what comes next — and the movie's moniker. Come December, fans will be getting comfy to watch Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker. Right now, there's a two-minute sneak peek to whet your appetite. Given the title, the way that Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi wrapped up and the theories that have been swirling around Daisy Ridley's Rey since she was first introduced in Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, it should come as no surprise that the scavenger-turned-pilot takes centre stage. Also popping up are Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron and John Boyega's ex-stormtrooper Finn, helping out the film's plucky heroine once more; Adam Driver's Kylo Ren, wielding his red lightsaber for the dark side yet again; and long-standing series favourites Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, of course. The late Carrie Fisher features as well, with the actor's appearance as General Leia Organa made possible by using previously filmed footage. And two other familiar characters also rejoin the fold, including Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian and a sinister figure who's heard rather than seen. The huge cast list keeps going, with Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran and Lupita Nyong'o all returning, Mark Hamill also included, and Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell and Naomi Ackie among the Star Wars newcomers. As he did with The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams sits in the director's chair. And while this isn't the end of the Star Wars story by any means — a new TV series, The Mandalorian, is headed to Disney's new streaming platform later this year, and two big-screen spinoff trilogies are in development from The Last Jedi helmer Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, respectively — The Rise of Skywalker is being badged as the finale of the Skywalker saga. Feel the force with the first teaser below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adzYW5DZoWs Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker releases in Australian cinemas on December 19.
There's something about a trip up or down the coast that brings out the kidult in all of us, as any Brisbanite who's ever made a mini golf pitstop on their visits north or south already knows. Here's something new to add to your next Sunshine Coast jaunt: a day at Maroochydore's three-in-one Holey Moley, Archie Brothers and Strike Bowling precinct at the Big Top Shopping Centre. Two of those venues — Holey Moley and Strike Bowling — aren't new at all; however, when Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq joins them, it'll create the first Funlab precinct in Queensland. Funlab is the group responsible for these boozy yet nostalgic spots, a niche that's clearly been going well for it. But even Brissie doesn't boast this trio of chains in the one location. Opening on Thursday, December 2 (yes, just in time for Christmas), Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq will bring its circus-themed arcade bar to its second Queensland venue. That means more dodgem cars, air hockey, basketball hoops, virtual reality games and arcade games, including perennial favourites Mario Kart and Dance Dance Revolution. (And, yes, you'll now have another spot to try to win tickets, then use them to nab something from the OTT assortment of random objects and plastic toys at the prize bazaar.) If the food menu is anything like its Brisbane sibling, it'll focus on over-the-top novelty American diner grub — and fit right in with the circus decor. Think three-meat burgers, giant pretzels, and potato gems and garlic aioli that's served in a syringe. You get the idea. The drinks lineup will definitely follow suit, with a ridiculously involved cocktails such as the boozy strawberry shakes (topped with whipped cream and candy kebabs) and butterscotch schnapps concoction garnished with popcorn. And, back to the activities, Archie Brothers includes bowling as well — so you'll have two places to knock down pins. Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq is opening at the Big Top Shopping Centre, 20 Ocean Street, Maroochydore, on Thursday, December 2. Images: Funlab/Zennieshia Butts.
During its debut Night Feast, Brisbane Powerhouse will be filled with people — and not just in the way you'd expect. Plenty of Brissie folks will flock to the riverside space for bites to eat, drinks to sip and fire pits to sit by, and they'll be joined by giant humanoids eager to explore our fantastic planet. Taking inspiration from the 1973 animated flick Fantastic Planet, this larger-than-life light installation from artist Amanda Parer will take over the New Farm venue with a towering spectacle of out-of-this-world sights. With the movie set in a world where such gargantuans roam the earth, rendering humanity as we know it savages, consider this bright, bold piece the next best thing to stepping into that realm. [caption id="attachment_890920" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Amanda Parer, Kanizaj for Klanglich[/caption] Operating 4.30–9.30pm from Wednesday–Sunday in its first two weeks — then starting at 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays from Saturday, March 18 — at the Powerhouse forecourt, Fantastic Planet will make its presence known next to the building's iconic facade. If you start thinking about how fragile and humble life is when faced with something so huge, that's the point. As for the rest of Night Feast, it pairs food from top Brissie chefs with roving performances and an impressive arts program — laser beams that look like intergalactic events included. [caption id="attachment_893196" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Markus Ravik[/caption] Top image: Lachlan Douglas.
Playing a 13-year-old in Atonement, Saoirse Ronan changed lives with a series of lies. As a twenty-something newlywed in On Chesil Beach, she slings the truth, but its piercing impact is just as sharp. Both roles stem from the pen of British author Ian McEwan and, while Ronan's career hasn't lacked highlights during the 11 years between the two, both demonstrate the depth of her talents. In the Brooklyn and Lady Bird star's hands, the two distinctive yet relatable characters are much closer than they might initially seem: a petulant, misguided teen misconstruing the facts as a way of coping with her own feelings, and a kind, exacting woman sharing what's really in her heart in an effort to do the same. Mere hours after saying "I do", Ronan's Florence has her whole married life in front of her. It's 1962, she's honeymooning by the pebbly shore of Dorset with her new husband Edward (Billy Howle), and when to have dinner seems like the duo's biggest worry. And yet, before darkness falls on their first night away, their wedded bliss will prove short-lived. First, they're playfully disagreeing about music choices. Next, they're trying to stay polite around interrupting wait staff. Soon, they're awkwardly trying to consummate their nuptials — which, instead of bringing the couple closer together, only drives them apart. Where romantic splendour becomes matrimonial sorrow, that's where On Chesil Beach finds its story. With a bittersweet mood painted across its frames, the film burrows into the heart of a fresh but fraught relationship — one that's just getting started, but is already saddled with heavy expectations and weighty complications. That said, this isn't a simple case of opposites attracting and then imploding, or of two besotted paramours following their feelings instead of their thoughts, although both ring true in some fashion. Classical violinist Florence is sweet and driven, from a middle-class family, and has a very clear view of her future. Edward is an English graduate with no set career path, harking from a much more modest background, and fond of rock and roll. What plagues the couple, however, is a dilemma that everyone faces at some point in their lives: the consequences of truly being honest with each other. As Florence and Edward's marriage wilts faster than the flowers that Florence undoubtedly carried down the aisle that same day, an intimate tale begets an intimate picture. Indeed, it's fitting that On Chesil Beach heralds the filmmaking debut of theatre and television director Dominic Cooke, with conversation — and the gaps between the sometimes passionate, sometimes tentative chatter — reigning supreme. Still, marking just the fourth time that prolific novelist McEwan has adapted his own work for the screen, the movie benefits from one of the writer's trademarks. Conveyed here through flashbacks to various points during the couple's courtship, On Chesil Beach never forgets that every single moment, act and discussion is the culmination of a lifetime's worth of desires, woes, emotions and experiences. Unsurprisingly, the resulting film is filled with complex characters not only navigating a difficult situation, but brandishing intricate histories. Meticulously and delicately directed by Cooke with an eye for the blandness of routine British life, the scenic glory of the movie's titular location, and the growing space between his protagonists, On Chesil Beach is also a film that's vastly improved by its stars. As astute and insightful as McEwan's narrative is, it's the performances that give texture to a tale that otherwise works better on the page — including in its ending. That Howle more than holds his own against three-time Oscar-nominee Ronan is no minor achievement, and together they make this thorny fictional romance seem devastatingly real. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ChbMk1e6Y
The dockless bike sharing phenomenon hasn't exactly proved a roaring success here in Australia, with rogue bikes clogging up footpaths, or winding up broken and abandoned in dangerous locations, and oBike withdrawing from Melbourne entirely. And still, yet another company is keen to give the concept a whirl locally — this time, featuring electric scooters. Aussie start-up Scootie has announced it'll launch a trial program of its ride share service in November this year, giving locals in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth the chance to be the first to road-test its fleet of electric scooters. Punters keen to get involved are invited to sign up now to Scootie's mailing list. Riffing on the scooter systems that have been going gang-busters over in the USA, the local company is still nailing down its technology, with plans to launch the pilot program in St Kilda, before rolling out across CBD areas. At this stage, riders will simply locate a scooter, scan and pay via the Scootie smartphone app, before jetting off on their two-wheeled adventure. According to Scootie spokesman Troy Taylor, details about specific scooter deposit zones and charging stations are yet to be confirmed, though there will be a bond taken to help deter people from damaging or abandoning the scooters. Trip costs are also in the process of being finalised, with Taylor suggesting they'll start at around 20-40 cents per minute. So, for example, a 40-minute journey would cost between $8 and $16. Scootie's trial program is slated to launch in November and run for several weeks. You can sign up to be a part of it here.
Hong Kong's T'ang Court restaurant has earned itself an impressive reputation, becoming a must-eat mainstay in the city's culinary scene, and also boasting three Michelin stars for seven consecutive years since 2016. For Australians keen to give its Cantonese menu a try, there's now another option — and it's easier than hopping on an international flight. Adding to T'ang Court's outposts overseas, The Langham hotel chain has opened an Aussie venue in its luxe new Gold Coast site. The Langham Gold Coast hotel itself launched back in June, after first revealing that it was in the works in May — and T'ang Court making the jump to southeast Queensland was announced then as well. But the restaurant was always set to launch later, in spring. It clearly took that opening date seriously, welcoming in patrons from Thursday, September 1. The fine-dining chain's name comes from the Tang Dynasty, with the restaurant taking a luxe approach to both its surroundings and its culinary spread. The decor pairs bold pops of colour with neutrals, including bespoke abstract art pieces by Australian Chinese artist Lindi Li. As for the food range, it spans perennial favourites and seasonal delicacies, including across both a la carte dishes and three set menus. A big drawcard at T'ang Court's first Australian location: a three-part tribute to Cantonese duck, which features duck pancakes with hoi sin sauce, duck buns with lychee and raspberry sauce (and caviar), and sliced duck breast and leg paired with with plum sauce. Or, the menu also includes sauteed pearl meat with ginger, shallots and Asian greens, plus spicy black tiger prawns with roasted garlic. "Our first Australian T'ang Court restaurant marks a significant leap forward for the local dining landscape. Authentic, traditional Cantonese fine dining is comparatively rare in Australia, so we're thrilled to bring this unique experience to life for locals and travellers, from other states and even internationally," said Howard Lam, Director of Chinese Cuisine for Langham Hospitality Group. "Diners at T'ang Court on the Gold Coast will be able to indulge in the same golden age Cantonese flavours that have earned T'ang Court at The Langham Hong Kong three Michelin stars and seen its many other award-winning sister restaurants across the world become highly-sought-after dining destinations." Located indoors on level three at The Langham, and seating 80, T'ang Court is serving lunch from 12–3pm and dinner from 5.30–11pm five days a week — operating from Wednesday–Sunday. If you're a keen to book in a visit from out of town, then stay the night afterwards, The Langham also boasts 339 rooms and suites, direct beachfront access, a pool bar you can swim up to while still staring at that ocean view, a number of other eateries and a wellness centre. Find T'ang Court at The Langham Gold Coast on level three, 38 Old Burleigh Road, Surfers Paradise — serving lunch from 12–3pm and dinner from 5.30–11pm from Wednesday–Sunday.
Diversity has always been at the heart of Brisbane's MELT Festival, which has celebrated all things LGBTQIA+ since 2015. The same concept sits at the core of Spencer Tunick's work as well. The acclaimed New York-based artist has spent his career staging mass photographs filled with both naked participants and an array of different bodies — and the results, including going to the Whitsundays with almost 100 Aussies in 2019 and briefly turning Bondi into a nude beach in 2022, are always stunning. Tunick initially turned his lens Australia's way in 2001 in Melbourne, when 4500 naked volunteers posed for a pic near Federation Square as part of the 2001 Fringe Festival. Since then, he's also photographed around 5000 nude people in front of the Sydney Opera House during the 2010 Mardi Gras, and returned to Victoria in 2018 shoot over 800 Melburnians in the rooftop carpark of a Prahran Woolworths. Next stop, and before spring 2023 is out: the Queensland capital during this year's Brisbane Powerhouse-run MELT. Brisbanites,or anyone who's keen to disrobe for a new piece of art will want to be in the River City on Saturday, November 18. The destination: numerous spots along the Brisbane River. And the work that's being created? It's fittingly called TIDE and will involve a series of photographic installations. "I love Australia and Australian people. Being able to create works in a new city in the context of an event celebrating LGBTQIA+ arts and culture is a real honour," said Tunick, announcing TIDE. "TIDE will hopefully speak to diverse groups of people, and everyone navigating their way through the difficult challenges of our current world. It is a privilege to be making art that centres around the LGBTQIA+ community with all its beauty and vibrance." Elsewhere, Tunick has photographed the public painted red and gold outside Munich's Bavarian State Opera, covered in veils in the Nevada desert and covered in blue in Hull in the UK. The list goes on, with more than 100 temporary installations on his resume since 1992. Exactly where in Brisbane he'll be training his camera hasn't been announced, but the Brisbane River's landscape will provide the backdrop. If you're keen to take part, Tunick is looking for volunteers. He hopes to have a diverse mix of bodies in the shoot — again, that's both MELT's and his own focus — with participants each getting a print of the photograph and, we're sure, a big boost of body confidence. Regarding the location, specific details of where the photographer's shoots take place are only given to folks who'll be in front of the lens — and, if you're not usually located in Brisbane, you will need to travel at your expense. The number of participants needed hasn't been announced as yet either, but interested parties are advised that there are only limited places — and that successful applicants will be informed via email approximately two weeks prior to the shoot. Also among the highlights on the 2023 MELT lineup from Saturday, November 11–Sunday, November 26: UK-born theatre show Overflow, which is set in nightclub toilets, and hails from British playwright and prominent trans voice Travis Alabanza; live tunes from Kah-Lo, Djanaba, Aluna and KUČKA; Rhys Nicholson on a book tour for Dish; and Paul Yore's BECOME WHAT YOU ARE, The Huxleys' Places of Worship and Multitudes by Tin Nguyen & Edward among the fest's art exhibitions. TIDE will be shot on Saturday, November 18 along the Brisbane River. Head to the installation's website to register to take part. Melt Festival 2023 runs from Saturday, November 11–Sunday, November 26 at Brisbane Powerhouse. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the fest's website now. Images: Spencer Tunick / Drew Lambert.
More and more Australians are reassessing their drinking choices, and choosing to ditch or simply limit the booze. In response, clever bartenders, winemakers and beer brands across the globe have been busy dreaming up new and creative alcohol-free beverages to make that no-booze night out a satisfying option. And, there's now one Melbourne haunt that'll leave teetotallers more spoilt for choice than ever before — with the Brunswick Aces Bar, the city's first dedicated non-alcoholic cocktail lounge, now open. From Saturday, May 1, local distillery and booze-free gin producer Brunswick Aces is welcoming patrons into its much-anticipated Brunswick East watering hole, which also marks the first of its kind in the country. The 150-person Weston Street space is not only a temptation-free drinking destination for the teetotaller or sober curious, but also just a neat spot to hang and imbibe when alcohol's simply not on your night's agenda. The bar's rocking a look best described as industrial baroque, with lots of plush furniture covered with velvety textiles, walls filled with gilded frames and moody floral arrangements trailing from the ceiling. While Brunswick Aces does make regular gin, it's perhaps best known for its range of sapiir — a non-alcoholic distilled drink crafted on botanicals. The brand uses aromatic ingredients like lemon myrtle, pepperberry, wattleseed and that all-important juniper to create a concoction that's akin to a gin, sans booze. And in this new bar, you've got a front-row seat to the sapiir distilling operations, while you sip the spoils just metres from where they're made. The menu might be short on alcohol, but it's sure not wanting for choice. In fact, there's more than 100 booze-free options available. You can expect to find an ever-evolving range of crafty cocktails, led by boozeless takes on the classics such as a negroni and an espresso martini. There's be a focus on local ingredients, too, with appearances from some premium international labels and regular product features. And, alongside the cocktails sits an impressive lineup of non-alcoholic beers and wines sourced from all over the world, as well as mixed drinks made on booze-free spirits and sapiirs. While you're there, you can browse and buy some hangover-free tipples in the country's first physical non-alcoholic bottle shop. This retail section will be slinging local brands including Heaps Normal, Ovant and Songbird Wine, as well as international offerings like the Netherlands' Vandestreek Playground IPA. [caption id="attachment_801275" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brunswick Aces' signature sapiir.[/caption] If you're hanging for the real deal, that's okay, too. In the spirit of inclusivity — and celebrating Brunswick Aces' other pursuits — the bar will be serving a single alcoholic option: a gin and tonic, made on the brand's own Spades and Hearts gin blends. Find The Brunswick Aces Bar at 124 Weston Street, Brunswick East, from Saturday, May 1. It's open Thursday–Saturday 3–11pm, with the bottle shop open Monday–Saturday 11am–5pm. Top images: Griffin Simm
By their very nature, festivals are a choose-your-own-adventure experience. Event organisers carefully curate their top picks, audiences head along to whatever suits them best and few folks follow the exact same fest path. South by Southwest embraces the concept a little heartier than most, however. When you're putting on not just one festival, but several within that broader festival, audiences can hop between them, mix and match here and there, or choose the one that aligns with their favourite interests. Making its debut in October, SXSW Sydney is keeping the format that's served the event so well in its OG Austin home, where it has always been held — and only been held — until now. That's been clear from the lineup announcements so far, including in its first batch of speakers and musicians back in February, more music highlights and must-attend parties in May, details of its gaming strand in June, then two more rounds of speakers in July. Up now: the first nine movies that'll be playing at SXSW Sydney's Screen Festival. [caption id="attachment_911084" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jane Greer[/caption] Among its recent news, SXSW's Down Under premiere revealed that Queer Eye star Tan France would be among its speakers, plus Indigenous filmmakers Leah Purcell (The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), Kodie Bedford (Mystery Road: Origin) and Jub Clerc (Sweet As). They fall into under Screen Festival, too. Also included: Osher Günsberg, who'll be on the SXSW Sydney bill recording an episode of his podcast Better Than Yesterday with a yet-to-be-announced special guest; Gone Girl, The Nightingale, The Dry, Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers producer Bruna Papandrea; and Binge's Executive Director Alison Hurbert-Burns. Film lovers love watching films, though. The SXSW Sydney Screen Festival isn't just about big-screen fare, covering both movies and TV — but its first round of titles are all features. In a varied bunch, one stars an Indonesian rapper, another is about Tokyo Uber Eats rider and yet another features viral Chinese dance crazes. American film Jamojaya is the flick led by Indonesian rap star Brian Imanuel, aka Rich Brian, enlisting him as an up-and-coming musician — and with Blue Bayou's Justin Chon directing. It's obvious what Tokyo Uber Blues is about, with the Japanese documentary's riding being done by a graduate film student with debts to pay. And Gagaland is responsible for that dancing in the street, and on social media feeds, which backdrops a boy-meets-girl tale. Also on the list: doco Anita, focusing on German Italian actor Anita Pallenberg, who was also a muse to The Rolling Stones; Cypher, a pseudo-documentary about rapper Tierra Whack; and The Last Year of Darkness, which dives into China's underground party scene with ample bass and neon. Rounding out the list so far: Japan's Plastic, which sees two teens go in search of psychedelic rock band Exne Kedy; France's Knit's Island, which is shot entirely in the DayZ video game (and from 963 hours spent in it); and Australia's You'll Never Find Me, about a caravan resident, a surprise visitor and a thunderstorm. Most of SXSW Sydney Screen Festival's announced titles have the tick of approval from other fests around the world, whether by screening at Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Sheffield DocFest in the UK, International Film Festival Rotterdam in The Netherlands, CPH:DOX in Denmark, Visions du Réel in Switzerland or elsewhere. As well as getting viewers watching movies and TV shows, with more titles to come — including First Nations Screen Festival programming by Winda Film Festival founder Pauline Clague — the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival will feature red-carpet premieres; digital and social content; an XR showcase; Q&As and panel discussions; parties and mentoring; and a screen market for industry deals. Free outdoor screenings are also slated, alongside indoor sessions at The ICC's Darling Theatre, Palace Cinemas Central and other yet-to-be-revealed venues. SXSW Sydney will run from Sunday, October 15–Sunday, October 22 at various Sydney venues, with the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival running from Sunday, October 15–Saturday, October 21 at The ICC's Darling Theatre, Palace Cinemas Central and more venues to be announced. Head to the SXSW Sydney website for further details. If you're keen to make the most of Australia's first SXSW, take advantage of our special reader offer. Purchase your SXSW Sydney 2023 Official Badge via Concrete Playground Trips and you'll score a $150 credit to use on your choice of Sydney accommodation. Book now via the website.
When it's claimed that Decision to Leave's Detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il, Heaven: To the Land of Happiness) needs "murder and violence in order to be happy", it's easy to wonder if that statement similarly applies to Park Chan-wook, this stunning South Korean thriller's filmmaker. The director of Oldboy, Thirst, Stoker and The Handmaiden doesn't, surely. Still, his exceptional body of on-screen work glows when either fills its frames — which, in a career that also spans Joint Security Area, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Lady Vengeance and English-language TV miniseries The Little Drummer Girl, among other titles, is often. To be more accurate, perhaps Park needs to survey the grey areas that loiter around death and brutality, and surround love, lust, loss, and all matters of the brain, body and heart that bind humans together, to find cinematic fulfilment. Certainly, audiences should be glad if/that he does. In Decision to Leave, exploring such obsessions, and the entire notions of longing and obsession, brings a staggering, sinuously layered and seductively gorgeous movie to fruition — a film to obsess over if ever there was one. In this year's deserved Cannes Film Festival Best Director-winner, reserved insomniac Hae-joon is fixated from the outset, too: with his police job in Busan, where he works Monday–Friday before returning to Ipo on weekends to his wife (Lee Jung-hyun, Peninsula). That all-consuming focus sees his weekday walls plastered with grim photos from cases, and haunts the time he's meant to be spending — and having sex — with said spouse. Nonetheless, the latest dead body thrust his way isn't supposed to amplify his obsession. A businessman and experienced climber is found at the base of a mountain, and to most other cops the answer would be simple. It is to his offsider Soo-wan (Go Kyung-Pyo, Private Lives), but Hae-joon's interest is piqued when the deceased's enigmatic Chinese widow, the cool, calm but also bruised and scratched Seo-rae (Tang Wei, The Whistleblower), is brought in for questioning amid apologising for her imperfect Korean-language skills. In the precinct interrogation room, the detective and his potential suspect share a sushi dinner — and, in the lingering looks gazed each other's way even at this early stage, this may as well be a twisted first date. Hae-joon then surveils Seo-rae, including at her work caring for the elderly, which also provides her alibi. He keeps watching her at home, where her evenings involve television and ice cream. In stirring scenes of bravura and beauty, he envisages himself with her in the process, longing for the illusion he's building in his sleep-deprived mind. As for Seo-rae, she keeps stoking their chemistry, especially when she's somehow being both direct and evasive with her responses to his queries. She knows how small gestures leave an imprint, and she also knows when she and Hae-joon are both desperately hooked on each other. Every intelligently written (by Park and frequent co-scribe Chung Seo-kyung), evocatively shot (by cinematographer Kim Ji-Yong, Ashfall) moment in Decision to Leave is crucial; the film is made so meticulously, with a precision its protagonist would instantly admire, that cutting out even a second is unthinkable. Equally, every scene speaks volumes about this spellbinding movie — but here's three that help convey its simmering potency. In one, Hae-joon ascends up the victim's last cliff by rope, tied to Soo-wan, Busan looming in the background. In another, detailed blue-green wallpaper filled with mountains surrounds Seo-rae. And in yet another, she reaches into Hae-joon's pocket to grab his lip balm, then applies it to his mouth. Perspective is everything in this feature, Park stresses. Minutiae is everything, too. Intimacy is more than everything, actually, in a picture that's also grippingly, electrifying sensual. A police detective drawn to a possible murderer, a woman unable to let the married subject of her own infatuation go: if Decision to Leave was made in English in the 80s, it'd star Michael Douglas. With its tumbling fall, rock faces, thin line between observation and desire, midway twists, and mix of romance and noir, if it had been crafted even earlier back, it'd be an Alfred Hitchcock film. Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction or Vertigo but South Korean, Park's pining, aching new jewel isn't, though. Exquisitely intricate aesthetically, emotionally, psychologically and thematically, it's one of the director's absolute best. He's never needed a hammer or live octopus to make a splash, either, even if it worked so strikingly with Oldboy nearly two decades ago; here, for example, a literal fish-eye lens is astounding. With every breathtaking visual composition and choice, including against cliffs and seas aplenty, Park keeps besting and challenging himself, and also utterly wowing his viewers. Already picked as South Korea's entry for the Best International Feature Film award at 2023's Oscars — a gong the country last won in 2020 with Parasite — Decision to Leave is as spectacular as it is sophisticated. It's an ambitious sight to behold, no matter which stylistic tricks it's pulling and deep-seated secrets it's spilling in tandem — and also as tender as it is melancholy, a swirling, yearning mood that the use of Jung Hoon Hee's 'Mist' on the soundtrack only cements. The film's core duo is deployed just as devastatingly well, so much so that it's impossible to imagine any other actors inhabiting the parts. Both Park Hae-il and Tang Wei have dazzled elsewhere, him in Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder and The Host, her in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, but they're as sublime as actors can be as wearied, troubled souls bouncing towards and repelling away from each other like revolving magnets. Formidable, revelatory and bold, too, are Decision to Leave's versions of two noir staples: complicated cops and femme fatales. That duo is virtually synonymous with the genre, so much so that Park wants viewers to believe that they already know all they need about Hae-joon and Seo-rae going in — only to keep unpacking them, their motivations and their feelings, as the pair unpack each other. How exhilarating, intoxicating and all-consuming that experience is, for the movie's characters and for its audience. How powerfully it ripples and resonates. How phenomenal an addition to South Korea's national filmography, and to Park's, Decision to Leave proves. Deciding that you never want it to leave your memory is a given.
Eye-catching and thought-provoking art has once again descended upon Sydney's coastline, with the 23rd Sculpture by the Sea exhibition kicking off today. Stretching along two kilometres from Bondi to Tamarama Beach, you'll find 111 sculptures from 19 countries. The exhibition is free, and you can catch it from October 24 through November 10. This year, you'll find sculptures by ten Czech and Slovak artists marking the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, a series of protests that led to the fall of communism in what was then Czechoslovakia, and the collaborative Succah by the Sea, which sets out to re-imagine the Jewish Festival of Succot. You'll also be able to hear directly from the artists every Saturday and Sunday. Among the 100-plus incredible installations, and the 450,000 people expected to visit the spectacle over the 18-day exhibition, it can be tricky to know where to look. And, considering this might be the last year Sculpture by the Sea is held in Bondi, it would be tragic if you missed any of the best pieces. Here are our pick for this year's highlights. [caption id="attachment_747672" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] WANG KAIFANG: THE STATUE OF MAD LIBERTY Made of 24-karat gold (and copper and stainless steel, but that's not quite as fancy), Chinese artist Wang Kaifang's The Statue of Mad Liberty reflects the chaotic nature of the modern world. The distorted figure represents the way freedom fills us with joy, before the panic sets in. It is meant to encompass all that goes into society, humanity, science and art. The swirling gold piece sits well among the artist's numerous previous works — Kaifang is considered one of China's most influential cross-disciplinary artists, and while his portfolio covers everything from architecture and fashion, through to painting and photography, shimmering metallics and abstract shapes are recurring motifs. [caption id="attachment_747796" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] ANGELA FEMIA, CAROLYN HUNTER, PAULINE PLUMB AND CRISTINA HARRIS: OUT OF REACH This is an artwork you could easily miss or dismiss as part of the scenery on a particularly bright day, but we think it's one you should keep an eye out for. A team of four local artists — all graduates of the Sydney College of the Arts and regular collaborators — is responsible for these quaint ceramic houses, nestled among the rocks alongside the trail. The tiny white homes of all different shapes and sizes were inspired by the current nationwide angst about the unattainability of the Australian Dream — something a lot of millennials can certainly relate to. Artists Angela Femia, Carolyn Hunter, Pauline Plumb and Cristina Harris created Out of Reach as a playful take on the pursuit of that white picket fence. [caption id="attachment_747676" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] JOEL ADLER: VIEWFINDER Emerging Sydney designer Joel Adler wants you to look a little closer at the undercurrents and the impacts of constantly demanding more. From its spot on a cliff by Marks Park, Viewfinder reflects the whirling waves below using a toughened double-sided glass mirror, like a periscope. The weighted sculpture is made from weathered steel, creating a rather aesthetically pleasing contrast between the rust orange of the structure and the ocean blue beyond. The sculpture allows you to see parts of the waves below that you can't usually see from the path, which the artist hopes will make you consider the possibilities created by new perspectives and how we view our relationship with the land. [caption id="attachment_747679" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] JIAO XINGTAO: YELLOW AND GREEN Another installation that hits close to home is Jiao Xingtao's two-piece Yellow (2015) and Green (2012). While these sculptures are made from painted fibreglass, its easy to see why his work is known for being hyperrealistic — the tears, scrunches and ripples of discarded packaging are carefully replicated. Even for art novices, the screwed up packets of Wrigley's Doublemint and Juicy Fruit gum are a clear commentary on waste and consumerism. If you want to check out more of his work, Xingtao is currently exhibiting as part of White Rabbit Gallery's tenth birthday retrospective Then — here are our picks for that one, too. [caption id="attachment_747680" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] LUKÁŠ RITTSTEIN AND BARBORA SLAPETOVA: BIRD OF PARADISE A large steel bird, bright and vibrant, emerges from a car in a symbol of purity and an optimistic outlook for the future, from Czech artists Lukáš Rittstein and Barbora Slapetova. A melding of the technological and the natural world, Bird of Paradise and its brights colours are meant to make you want to dance, love and search for something new. This striking piece is part of a showcase of ten Czech and Slovak artists exhibiting at this year's event, in honour of the 30 years that have passed since the Velvet Revolution (known as the Gentle Revolution to the Slovaks), which saw the end of more than four decades of totalitarian communist oppression of Czechoslovakia. [caption id="attachment_747764" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Clyde Yee[/caption] MORGAN JONES: THE SUN ALSO RISES New Zealand sculptor Morgan Jones is the recipient of the $70,000 Aqualand Sculpture Award for his piece The Sun Also Rises — so it's kind of a big deal. Made from weathering steel, the work is representative of the circular inevitability of our existence, designed to restate its rhythms. In that vein, Jones has referenced a quote from the book of Ecclesiastes, one of the books of the Old Testament, for the sculpture's title: "The sun also rises, and the sun goes down. And hastens to the place where it arose." It seems fitting to take it all in as the sun rises over the sea. Sculpture by the Sea runs until November 10. For more info, visit sculpturebythesea.com. Top images: Trent van der Jagt.
UPDATE, March 8, 2021: Hidden Figures is available to stream via Disney+, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. Every parent tells their child to dream big. Unfortunately, for many people, a world of factors conspires to stop their hopes and aspirations from coming true. For the three women at the centre of Hidden Figures, the forces blocking them from fulfilling their potential aren't just obvious — they're quantifiable. Faced with both institutionalised sexism and institutionalised racism, friends Katherine (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) and Mary (Janelle Monáe) know exactly what's holding them back. But, as smart, savvy human computers at NASA's Virginia headquarters in the segregated 1960s, they're also driven to find a solution. Based on a real-life tale that most won't have heard before, and sending its spirited leading ladies on a fight for equality, Hidden Figures is exactly the kind of movie that you think it is. It's warm, broad and certain to please. It's designed to rouse and entertain as it sheds light on an overlooked part of history, with soft colours and an upbeat soundtrack. It brings together an engaging cast who prove endearing individually and even more so when their affectionate rapport is in the spotlight. Most of all, though, it combines all of the expected elements together just as anyone could easily predict, and still manages to be a thoroughly good watch. Katherine, Dorothy and Mary crunch numbers in the same department, share rides to work and spend time together with their families after hours, but it's ambition in the face of oppression that truly unites them. On any given day, they're expected to be grateful for their jobs, while constantly being underestimated, undermined, ignored, overlooked, and made to use separate bathrooms and even coffee pots. That's a struggle, especially in a place that wants to defy the accepted order by putting a man on the moon. Each of the three have their own goals: Katherine wants credit for her crucial efforts when she's moved into the team trying to send an American beyond the earth; Dorothy seeks the supervisor title and pay raise that goes with the tasks she's already doing; and Mary is trying to take the classes she needs — at a white's-only school — to become an engineer. There's not much surprising about the way that writer-director Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) brings Margot Lee Shetterly's non-fiction book to the screen, but honestly that's fine. In fact, it's rather apt. It's the sparkling individual components that comprise the ideal equation here, rather than any attempt to craft a new formula. Besides, just the fact that this story is being told at all is kind of revolutionary. Space movies and films about maths geniuses are a dime a dozen, but they're usually about one type of person: white men. Not here. A few pop up — Kevin Costner is memorable as Katherine's boss, while Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons plays the colleague constantly putting her in her place — but, refreshingly, this isn't their movie. Instead, it belongs to the women of colour at its centre. Played with vibrancy that matches the feature's own mood, there's nothing hidden about the core trio of black female mathematicians. Their real-world determination, infectious spirit, and the fine performances behind them, ensures that Hidden Figures adds up to something really special.
With the number of new cases of COVID-19 in NSW increasing over recent days — with 21 recorded in the 24 hours leading up up to 8pm on Thursday, July 30 — Woolworths is "strongly encouraging" its customers and staff to wear masks in stores across NSW, the ACT and parts of Queensland. While the wearing of masks is only mandatory in Victoria, Woolworths says it hopes the recommendation will help reduce community transmission of COVID-19 in the other states. "As the largest private sector employer with stores in almost every community, we feel it's important we lead the way in helping reduce community transmission of COVID-19," Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said in a statement. "Masks and face coverings are a highly visible symbol of the persistence of COVID-19. By encouraging and role modelling their use, it will further support the steps we need to collectively take to stop the spread of the virus and keep our team and customers safe." The retail group is encouraging all NSWand ACT residents to wear faces masks or coverings when visiting or working at Woolworths supermarkets, Big Ws, Dan Murphy's and BWS shops from Monday, August 3. It's also encouraging Brisbanites in hotspot areas to wear masks from tomorrow, Saturday, August 1. The decision comes as new COVID-19 clusters are recorded in suburbs across Sydney, with 94 cases linked to Thai Rock in Wetherill Park, 57 with Casula's Crossroads Hotel and 19 to Potts Point. Two of Brisbane's recent confirmed cases are also linked to Sydney's Potts Point cluster, but are both people in isolation. Queensland recorded just one new case in the past 24 hours, but Queensland Health sent out a public health alert on Wednesday, July 29 detailing places visited by two Queenslanders who returned from Melbourne via Sydney, failed to self-quarantine and tested positive to the coronavirus. These include restaurants, shops, school and medical centres in Brown Plains, Park Ridge, South Bank, Springfield, Springwood, Sunnybank and Woodridge. Queensland Health is continuing to update the list over here. Face masks will be strongly encouraged when visiting or working at Woolworths Group venues in NSW and ACT from Monday, August 3 and in Queensland hotspots from Saturday, August 1. You can find out more over here.
For the second time in just a few months, one of Lady Bird's boyfriends has turned to illicit substances. For the second time in his four-movie filmmaking career, Peter Hedges explores a black sheep's holiday homecoming. Both of these statements require some unpacking, but they demonstrate just how well-worn much of Ben Is Back feels. As Timothée Chalamet did in Beautiful Boy, fellow Lady Bird co-star Lucas Hedges portrays a young man grappling with drug dependence and disappointing the devoted parent who just wants him to get clean. And as the elder Hedges did in 2003's Pieces of April, the writer-director charts the drama of an awkward family reunion. There's another layer of familiarity to Ben Is Back, too: Peter and Lucas Hedges are father and son. As well as the movie's similarities to other accounts of addiction and reconvening relatives, perhaps that's why it largely seems like the product of folks firmly in their comfort zones. The plot rides the usual emotional rollercoaster, ending exactly where everyone expects. With the film's tone, Peter Hedges tries to find a balance between sensitive and tense, and between heart-wrenching and sombre as well. Visually, the picture makes the most of grey hues and anguished close-ups, each adding to the recognisable mood. And although Lucas Hedges' performance is reliably raw and multifaceted, the impressive young actor never quite reaches the heights that he demonstrated in Manchester by the Sea and Boy Erased. Still, Ben Is Back has a spark to it, with Julia Roberts proving the picture's powerhouse package. Wearing the weight of a mother's unconditional love in every patient step and searching gaze, she plays suburban mum-of-four Holly Burns. Arriving home from Christmas Eve church choir practice with her excited pre-teen kids (Jakari Fraser and Mia Fowler), she suddenly shares their enthusiasm when she spies Ben (Lucas Hedges) standing on their snowy doorstep. Only high-schooler Ivy (Kathryn Newton) is wary — thanks to his complicated history, her older brother is supposed to be in rehab, as paid for by Holly's second husband Neal (Courtney B. Vance). But Ben promises that he's happy, healthy and has his habit in check, which Holly chooses to believe, imploring the rest of the family to follow suit. With reminders of his past mistakes littered around both his home and his hometown, Ben's pledge to his mother and Holly's faith in her son each prove hard to maintain. While there's little that's surprising about Ben Is Back's story (even when it endeavours to chart its own path into near-thriller territory), Roberts remains a source of continual astonishment. A much rarer presence on cinema screens of late than in her 90s heyday, she steps into her second doting mum part in as many movies, after 2017's Wonder. And yet, nothing about her performance paints by the numbers. Indeed, this is really her film, and it tells her character's tale. Holly has experienced a life tougher than her well-appointed two-storey house makes plain, although not as rough as the places that Ben's return takes her to — and Roberts makes that difficult clash evident without needing to explain it in words. Also present in Roberts' fine-tuned portrayal is a narrative that everyone knows, yet is scarcely given such nuance and attention. Ben Is Back tells of parental sacrifice, as evident in everyday choices rather than grand or tragic gestures. It's a story about the cost of caring — the toll a mother willingly pays when always offering a shoulder to cry on, lending a helping hand, trying to see the best in her children and endeavouring to do what's right for one kid when she has three others at home. Hedges' script attempts to thread this idea into a broader statement on suburban addiction, and, specifically, the destructive influence of prescription drugs. It's a noble quest, and one of the movie's more ambitious moves. Ultimately, however, Ben Is Back works best when it focuses on the quietly expressive Roberts, and lets her commanding work turn an intimate snapshot into a bigger story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQI_hkFKlHc
Change has been sweeping through Eagle Street across much of 2022, with the floods affecting riverside venues, Eagle Street Pier closing to make way for a new precinct and new seafood restaurant Tillerman opening its doors. Something else to add to the list: a sizeable renovation at Riverland, the CBD stretch's bar and beer garden with a shimmering view. Open since 2017, Riverland sits behind 167 Eagle Street and boasts a hefty river frontage — and it's getting bigger. Australian Venue Co (AVC), the hospitality giant that runs the spot, has announced a $3.5-million revamp. In the works: adding to the outdoor drinking and dining area, courtesy of a new 800-square-metre deck extension with top-notch waterfront views. [caption id="attachment_648037" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anwyn Howarth[/caption] You'll need to wait till 2023 to make the most of it — and as well as giving you and your mates more room to knock back drinks, have a bite and just hang out, it'll help boost the venue's space for events and parties. In also welcome news, Riverland will remain trading while it's getting its makeover. So, if your spring and summer plans including hitting up the bar, they don't need to change. AVC has been refreshing Brisbane favourites all over town of late, thanks to considerable renovations at a heap of its local watering holes — as seen as spots such as Cleveland Sands Hotel, Salisbury Hotel, the Crown Hotel in Lutwyche and Bribie Island Hotel. The Wickham in Fortitude Valley is also making over its ground-floor bar, beer garden and second floor to the tune of $1.5 million, and is set to relaunch before 2022 is out. [caption id="attachment_648045" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anwyn Howarth[/caption] Find Riverland at 167 Eagle Street, Brisbane — it'll remain open during the renovations, operating from 11am–11pm Sunday–Thursday and 11am–3am Friday–Saturday.
He's one of the most critically acclaimed and successful hip hop artists of our generation. He has 14 Grammys to his name, plus an Academy Award nomination for one of his contributions to the Black Panther soundtrack. He won the 2017 Triple J Hottest 100, and also became the first ever artist to take out the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for contemporary music in 2018. His last stadium shows Down Under, back in that same year, sold out ridiculously quickly, too — and he's coming back to Australia and New Zealand to play five huge gigs before 2022 is out. We're talking about Kendrick Lamar, of course, who has just announced a huge 'The Big Steppers' world tour in support of his just-dropped fifth solo studio album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers — his first since 2017's DAMN., and also his first full-length release since 2018's Black Panther soundtrack. The Compton rapper will be heading to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland in December, to close out a global jaunt that starts in the US in July, then ventures through Europe before coming our way. The word you're looking for: alright. While fans can expect plenty of tracks from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Lamar's extensive catalogue is sure to get a whirl — including tracks from 2011's Section.80, 2012's good kid, m.A.A.d city, 2015's To Pimp A Butterfly and, obviously, DAMN.. Lamar won't be taking to the stage solo, with Las Vegas rapper Baby Keem, aka Lamar's cousin, in support on all dates. Just like his last trip Down Under — when he also headlined Splendour in the Grass — expect tickets to get snapped up quicker than Lamar can bust out lyrics when they go on sale at 12pm local time on Friday, May 20. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers literally just dropped yesterday, Friday, May 13, too, so there's your soundtrack sorted while you celebrate the tour news. KENDRICK LAMAR'S 'THE BIG STEPPERS' 2022 TOUR AUSTRALIA AND NZ DATES: Thursday, December 1 — RAC Arena, Perth Sunday, December 4 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Thursday, December 8 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Monday, December 12 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Friday, December 16 — Spark Arena, Auckland Kendrick Lamar's 'The Big Steppers' tour will hit Australia and New Zealand in December. Tickets go onsale online at 12pm local time on Friday, May 20. Top image: Renell Medrano (@renellaice).
Every Friday afternoon can be improved by heading outdoors, grabbing a bite to eat, enjoying a drink and saying farewell to the working week. At King George Square's returning Big City Barbecue from 4.30–7.30pm on Friday, March 26, that's all on the bill. So is live music as well — all smack bang in the middle of the CBD. Billy's Backyard BBQ will be grilling up dishes, Brat Haus will have bratwurst aplenty and Micasa Burger has your cravings for meat between bread covered. The Bun Mobile will be on hand, too, with its pork, wagyu and chicken buns. For dessert, that's where Gelato-a-Go-Go comes in. A licensed bar will be serving tipples as well — and, by heading along, you'll be doing a good deed. As well as livening up the last work day of the week, Big City Barbecue is raising funds for Drug Arm, Foodbank Queensland and the Lord Mayor's Charitable Trust. [caption id="attachment_804862" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] John Robert McPherson via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]
In A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet stepped into Bob Dylan's shoes in the 60s and charted his rise to fame. A trip to the past and aspiring to greatness is also on the actor's agenda in his next film. Instead of folk music, Marty Supreme's eponymous figure is passionate about ping-pong — and he's certain that it's going to be the next big thing. "I know it's hard to believe, but I'm telling you: this game, it fills stadiums overseas. And it's only a matter of time before I'm staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box," Marty advises in the A24 movie's just-dropped teaser trailer. Welcome to your first sneak peek at the second of two features that are filling a very specific niche: 2025 releases (in the US, at least) directed by a Safdie brother solo and focusing on sports. Josh Safdie helms Marty Supreme. His Daddy Longlegs, Lenny Cooke, Heaven Knows What, Good Time and Uncut Gems co-directing sibling Bennie has The Smashing Machine on the way, starring Dwayne Johnson's (Red One) as IRL MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Could 2025 nominee Chalamet and Johnson find themselves going head to head come awards season for different Safdie films? That's firmly a possibility. As Marty Supreme's Marty Mauser, Chalamet's task (or obligation, as his character puts it) is chasing the dream that is ping-pong success — for himself and for the game his loves, which no one else seems convinced of in the 50s-set flick's first sneak peek. Gwyneth Paltrow (The Politician) pops up in the Marty Supreme trailer as a famous movie star, while the eclectic cast also includes fellow actors Fran Drescher (A Tooth Fairy Tale) and Odessa A'zion (Until Dawn), rap star Tyler, The Creator, filmmaker Abel Ferrara (Turn in the Wound) and magician Penn Jillette. In America, Chalamet's latest film is a Christmas treat, releasing on Thursday, December 25. That's two years in a row that the merriest day of the year and Chalamet have gone hand in hand in the US, as A Complete Unknown also dropped on the same date. When Marty Supreme will hit cinemas Down Under hasn't yet been revealed. Josh Safdie co-wrote the movie with Heaven Knows What, Good Time and Uncut Gems co-screenwriter Ronald Bronstein, and helms a feature on his lonesome for the first time since 2008's The Pleasure of Being Robbed. Check out the first teaser trailer for Marty Supreme below: Marty Supreme releases in US cinemas on Thursday, December 25, 2025 — we'll update you on Down Under release details when they're announced.
Elisabeth Moss has been on our screens for more than three decades, dating back to when she was just eight years old — and she's amassed an enviable resume that spans everything from The West Wing and Mad Men through to Girl, Interrupted and The French Dispatch over that time. But of late, from Jane Campion's Top of the Lake onwards, the two-time Emmy-winner has been loving thrillers. So, it should come as no surprise that her latest series falls firmly within the genre. Joining Moss' resume after The Handmaid's Tale, Queen of Earth, High-Rise, Us, Shirley and The Invisible Man, Shining Girls sees the acclaimed actor play the victim of a violent attack — a traumatic assault that saw her character, Kirby Mazrachi, put her plans to be a journalist on hold. Now, she's a newspaper archivist in Chicago, but her old terrors and dreams both get pushed to the fore when she hears about a new murder with similarities to her own incident. Soon, she's teaming up with experienced reporter Dan Velazquez (Wagner Moura, Narcos) to hunt down the culprit. That's just part of the new Apple TV+ show's setup, however. Also a key aspect of the story, as the just-dropped trailer shows: a blurring of reality, which unsurprisingly gets in the way of Kirby's quest. In the first sneak peek, she thinks she has a cat, then suddenly she has a pet dog instead — and that's just the beginning of the tale's mind-bending chaos. Where the show goes from there will start to be revealed from Friday, April 29, with the first three episodes dropping all at once, then future instalments arriving weekly. And if it all sounds familiar, that's probably because you've read Lauren Beukes' best-selling novel of the same name. Moss executive produces as well, and is also joined on-screen by Phillipa Soo (Hamilton), Amy Brenneman (Goliath) and Jamie Bell (Rocketman). Of course, the latter has been part of the film and TV landscape since he was a kid, too. Here, though, in a trailer that's both twisty and eerie — and instantly gripping — he looks worlds removed from Billy Elliott. Been obsessing over Apple TV+'s exceptional Severance lately? This might help fill the gap when its first season wraps up. And, obviously, it'll help tide you over until Moss' The Handmaid's Tale comes back as well. Check out the trailer for Shining Girls below: Shining Girls will start streaming Down Under via Apple TV+ on Friday, April 29.
