Don't let La Niña ruin your summer. Do you know where it rains all the time? England. And do you know what the Brits do well? Garden parties. We've teamed up with Whitley Neill Gin to help you transform your outdoor space into a charming, verdant oasis that, despite not featuring Keira Knightly in that green dress or Colin Firth emerging from a fountain, will have you living out your British country manor dreams in excellent taste and style. [caption id="attachment_839393" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paul Liddle[/caption] THE SET-UP No matter what space you're working with, you'll want to include plenty of beautiful blooms. Check out your local florist for English varieties such as peonies, lavender and delphiniums. Arrange them in rustic vases — these can be easily sourced from your neighbourhood op-shop. Next up, set up a long table — a tressell will do — and cover it with a crisp linen tablecloth. Have some fun practicing your calligraphy (and playing guest matchmaker) with some old-timey seating placeholders. When it comes to napkins and tableware, opt for softer pastel shades — try using the flowers for colour palette inspo. And, if you've got the space to hang them, add some decorative bunting, which can be found at most party stores. Or if you're up for a crafternoon, make your own. [caption id="attachment_839389" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paul Liddle[/caption] THE FOOD Start off with finger sandwiches. They're dead easy to make and can be adjusted to suit all dietary requirements — plus, they look super cute. We'd recommend keeping it simple and classic with chicken, curried egg, and, of course, cucumber. For something a little more substantial to complement the refreshing botanicals of Whitley Neill London Dry Gin, serve delicious barbecue pork buns with coleslaw or rare roast beef with horseradish potato salad. And for something sweet to finish, go old-school with a classic like eton mess, jam roly-poly or scones with jam and cream. Opted for the latter? Sit back and watch the all-important debate as to which goes first — the jam or cream — ensue. [caption id="attachment_839379" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paul Liddle[/caption] THE DRINKS With eight generations of gin distilling to its name, and a range of 15 100-percent grain-distilled gins with a wide spectrum of flavours, it should come as no surprise that Whitley Neill has some cracking recipes when it comes to booze. Give the Johnny's Ritual Gin and Tonic a whirl and dress it with a wedge of lime or orange and sprig of rosemary. Or, make use of one of the more out-there flavours and knock up a jug of the Queen's High Tea using the Whitley Neill Rhubarb and Ginger Gin, topped up with a dash of prosecco and ginger ale. The tartness of the rhubarb mixes beautifully with the warming ginger for a full-bodied, yet refreshing, summer cocktail. THE FUN It's time to ditch the beer pong (or Goon of Fortune) for more sophisticated games. If you've got the space, why not give badminton a try? Or go full Alice in Wonderland and opt for croquet — but please refrain from using actual flamingos. Chances are you or one of your mates will have a boules or quoits set knocking about, so make good use of it. You'll be surprised how much fun you'll have. For more information on Whitley Neill's innovative gin range, head to the website. Top image: Paul Liddle
On July 3, 1973, Ziggy Stardust left the world. The on-stage alter ego of David Bowie played his final gig, and Ziggy played guitar for the last time. Documentary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars captured the occasion, much to the delight of everyone who couldn't be there, not to mention the generations of fans that would follow. Thanks to the 90-minute concert film, the inimitable character's last hurrah would always live on. With Bowie himself leaving the world this week, revisiting the movie is a must — and one of the best ways to pay tribute to the iconic artist. Thanks to Kristian Fletcher and the New Globe Theatre, Bowie devotees can do just that. In fact, the flick is the centrepiece of their big-screen video tribute evening. When it comes to the real cool cat that was Bowie, there's always more, so that's not the end of the celebratory event. A compilation of other documentary clips, performance footage and music videos will also feature, including 20-minute short Jazzin' for Blue Jean. With so much of his work to choose from — Bowie made 25 albums over five decades, after all — it's bound to be an emotional ride through the career of a musical genius. Our advice: BYO tissues.
Undoubtedly the best way to explore the Whitsundays is by boat — and if you have a group of mates to split the cost with, you should be able to make it happen. The beauty of sailing is that it gives you the unbridled freedom to whizz from island to island, visit secluded coves and drop anchor wherever takes your fancy. Of the 74 islands, only eight are inhabited, meaning that basically everywhere you visit is your own private beach. The Whitsundays is also one of the few places in the world where you don't need a boat licence to hire one, as it's protected by the reef and has heaps of sheltered inlets to drop anchor for the night. Go Bareboating, which is based out of Abell Point Marina at Airlie Beach, is the company that lets you actually do that, and it has a pretty comprehensive fleet of sweet water rides (motor and sailing) that you can rent out for a period of time —around a week is ideal to leisurely explore the islands. Hiring one of these boats is by no means loose change, but if you're doing this in place of an overseas holiday, it can be justified. A low-range boat like this one costs around $3250 for five nights and can fit four people (plus a skipper). Boats go all the way up to the Open 46 at around $2000 a night for 10–12 people, which is insane luxury. Once you're on the boat and have stocked up on beers and food and snacks for the week (from Whitsundays Provisioning), you won't have any way to spend more money. Most boats will have a barbecue and what you need to cook breakfast, make sandwiches and brew coffee. [caption id="attachment_648438" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Whitsunday Island, Damien Dempsey via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] You'll need to do an induction before they hand over the keys but, that said, if you have little experience and want to actually, y'know, relax, it would be best to hire a skipper to steer the ship for you. You can still help out with the cool stuff like dropping the anchor and lifting the sails without worrying that you're going to run aground. This'll cost you around $250 extra per night, but it's worth it to wake up with the sun and the sounds of turtles, then stargaze in serene silence after the sun goes down. Top Image: Tourism and Events Queensland
When we take that first sip of our barista-brewed coffee on a workday morning, a lot of us can't actually imagine living without coffee. But what about living without a roof over your head or a guaranteed meal? Unfortunately, this is what many homeless people around Australia face each day, but on Friday, August 4, you can help your fellow Aussies out simply by buying a coffee as part of CafeSmart. CafeSmart is an annual event from StreetSmart that raises money and awareness for the homeless and is back for its seventh year running. This year over 500 cafes will aim to raise more than last year's total of $160,523. So how does it work? From every coffee purchased on August 4 at a participating cafe around Australia, $1 will be donated towards local projects. So if your go-to local isn't participating, shake things up for a day and head to one that is. Prefer a hot chocolate? You can also donate at the counter. Simply by aiming for a bighearted cafe, you'll be helping some of our country's most in-need humans, so treat yourself to a third or fourth coffee guilt-free. There are a heap of cafes participating across the city, but some include: Felix for Goodness Campos Mylk and Co Grinders Dovetail on Overend
What came first, the chicken or the egg? This age old question is one without an answer, though there are those that use this question as a launching point for their own ideas regarding the origin of our species. Peter Alwast is an artist that revels in the uncertainty regarding our beginnings and existence. His newest exhibition, The Origins of Humanity tackles the issue head on. This series of work takes a look at the origins of humanity and creates a running dialogue on his ideas regarding the topic. Using paint, video and computer graphics, Alwast challenges the established perceptions about our beginnings and attempts to alter the perception of reality and meaning of life. It is a complex topic to examine, yet Peter Alwast has created a series of visually stimulating work that offers food for thought as well as a good lot of eye candy. This exhibition will be on display until October 4th.
UPDATE, February 12, 2021: Booksmart is available to stream via Binge, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. When Booksmart premiered at SXSW in March to widespread acclaim, it earned immediate comparisons to another teen-centric comedy. Like Superbad, it follows two high-school outsiders who finally let loose before graduation. The film also stars a member of the Feldstein family — Beanie Feldstein, who is best known for Bad Neighbours 2, Lady Bird and the television version of What We Do in the Shadows, and happens to be Jonah Hill's sister. But likening this hilarious exploration of female friendship to a male-centric flick doesn't do Booksmart justice. Nor does badging it a gender-swapped twist on its ostensible predecessor. Drawing upon a smart, sharp script (by seasoned TV writers Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, as well as The Spy Who Dumped Me's Susanna Fogel and Isn't It Romantic's Katie Silberman), actor-turned-filmmaker Olivia Wilde isn't trying to create a female clone of anything. Rather, the first-time director brings an insightful and amusing story to the screen, plus two relatable characters that make it shine. Yes, they're young women. Yes, the film is filled with gross-out gags and other outlandishness. And yes, this type of fare doesn't usually focus on girls, favour a feminine perspective or stem exclusively from female voices. That says as much about the film industry as it does about Booksmart, however, and it isn't a new issue. As seen with Bridesmaids and the spate of comedies that followed, comparing female-fronted movies to their supposed male counterparts has become society's way of coping with a clear failing. We don't have much of a framework for films like these because they're much too rare and, even as they gradually increase in number, we're not conditioned to seeing women in these situations. Addressing that gap by broadening the range of tales told really couldn't be more crucial. But it's equally important to recognise a standout picture not because it recalls another flick, but because it's truly a delight on its own merits. With its affectionate energy, inclusive vibe, side-splitting gags and excellent lead performances, Booksmart boasts plenty of cheer-worthy highlights, each making the movie's generally familiar narrative feel fresh. The day before they're due to don their caps and gowns, listen to speeches and farewell everything they know, firm best friends Molly (Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) suddenly come to a realisation: they've actually wasted the past few years. While the studious duo worked hard to secure spots at impressive colleges, their partying peers also scored places at prestigious schools. An overachiever who'll never be told that she can't do something, Molly is especially incensed, convincing Amy to use their last night as secondary students to make up for what they've been missing. Coordinating outfits, hopping between celebrations, dealing with pesky adults, chasing their respective crushes, trying mind-altering substances — that's Molly and Amy's big leap from brainiacs to party gals. As they jump around Los Angeles, they not only navigate a series of raucous antics, but encounter a lively roster of supporting players, including Jason Sudeikis as their Lyft-driving principal, Jessica Williams as the teacher who's ready to rage with them, and scene-stealer Billie Lourd as a free-spirited classmate. Charting her protagonists' eventful evening, Wilde always finds the right approach for every moment. Booksmart segues effortlessly between spirited soundtrack choices, anarchic comic set-pieces and one of the most memorable animated scenes to hit cinemas in years, with each directorial selection intimately tied to the picture's central pair. That's the key to this astute coming-of-age comedy, because none of the revelry means anything if it doesn't take the characters on a journey. If Booksmart had just stuck with wild hijinks and kept its fun skin-deep, it would've still proven an enjoyable night at the movies, immersing audiences in its upbeat party atmosphere. And yet, the film ventures beyond hedonistic thrills and straightforward life lessons. While those elements are part of the movie, they're the equivalent of streamers and balloons — nice to have, but not the main attraction. Instead, Booksmart uses its madcap merriment to delve into Molly and Amy's close bond, and the reality that it too will change along with everything else in their lives. Each episodic escapade speaks to something within their complex friendship, unpacking a connection that's loving and messy, shifting yet solid, and supportive but sometimes overwhelming all at once. Relationships, especially lifelong platonic friendships between adolescents on the cusp of adulthood, are like that — something which this equally hilarious and heartfelt film embraces. It's no understatement to say that, even with everything else turning out swimmingly, this would've been a completely different movie without Feldstein and Dever. Wilde asked the duo to live together to develop a genuine rapport, and the naturalistic results show in every scene. Booksmart isn't short on dialogue, but it conveys just as much via body language, with the talented actors wearing their camaraderie like a second skin. That said, they're not just a complicated, compelling, compliment-slinging double act. Whether Feldstein is standing up to Molly's taunting peers, or Dever is showing how the out-but-uninitiated Amy remains awkward about love and sex, Booksmart's rising stars ensure that their on-screen alter-egos couldn't feel more authentic. With its frank and funny snapshot of one crazy, revelatory night, the film does the same with the entire teenage experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwojM2j0Xb0
American Samoa's 31–0 loss to Australia in 2001 wasn't the biggest-ever defeat in football history, but it set the world record for the largest trouncing in an international match. It's also the scoreline behind an impassioned quest to achieve something that the US territory in the South Pacific Ocean had never done before in soccer: kick a goal. And, it's the starting point for a documentary and a comedy both called Next Goal Wins, with the first arriving in 2014 and the second now Taika Waititi's eighth feature. Each charts the squad's attempt to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and each tells an underdog tale. One strikes charmingly and winningly, the other keeps deserving red cards — and it's Waititi's long-delayed flick, which was initially filmed before the pandemic, underwent reshoots in 2021, then finally premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, that shouldn't be on the pitch. Since leaping from New Zealand indies Eagle vs Shark, Boy, What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Waititi might've won an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit; however, his best post-Thor: Ragnarok work has been on the small screen. Neither Jojo Rabbit nor Thor: Love and Thunder reached the filmmaker's past heights, but the hilarious US TV spinoff of What We Do in the Shadows, sublime Indigenous American dramedy Reservation Dogs and heartwarming pirate rom-com Our Flag Means Death have all proven gems. The current underwhelming cinema streak continues with Next Goal Wins, which is as forceful as his last non-MCU picture in wanting to be a quirky, silly and sweet crowd-pleaser, and as clumsy, awkward and thinly sketched. While new takes on already-covered stories never mean that the originals are binned, sending viewers sprinting towards Mike Brett and Steve Jamison's (On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World)) iteration of Next Goal Wins can't have been Waititi's intention. The dramatised Next Goal Wins covers the same overall details as its doco predecessor, with American Samoa enlisting Dutch American coach Thomas Rongen to endeavour to help turn their footballing fate around. The Bad News Bears, Slap Shot, The Mighty Ducks and Cool Runnings have just as much influence upon latest spin on the story as reality, though, in an uncomplicated join-the-dots, tick-the-boxes, revel-in-the-tropes and keep-serving-up-montages fashion. Accordingly, whether or not you actually know the specifics — and regardless of your awareness of American Samoa's sporting talents or just soccer in general — you know the path that Waititi's movie follows. So, in comes a down-on-his-luck outsider being given a final shot at success through training and guiding others, and reluctant about it, to whip a ragtag group with potential into shape. Michael Fassbender plays Rongen, finally making his acting return with two roles in the same year — in The Killer and this — after being absent from screens since 2019's X-Men: Dark Phoenix. For audiences Down Under, it has worked out for the best that his hitman turn for David Fincher made it to the big screen first; Fassbender does what he can in Next Goal Wins, but only one person could've made the most of Waititi's material. That figure: the helmer himself, who is the first person seen on-screen, in fact, as a priest welcoming the audience to a story of "whoa" not woe. Fassbender was never going to bend it like Waititi, and he's given a thankless task in being asked to try — including while Next Goal Wins' writer/director (who co-scripts with The Inbetweeners' Iain Morris) gets him quoting Taken. Sent to American Samoa by a soccer board led by his estranged wife Gail (Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale) and her new boyfriend Alex (Will Arnett, The Morning Show), rather than given much choice, Rongen sees the gig as a demotion. His response: doing the bare minimum, drinking, being combative and showing such little interest in the team that he may as well not be there. At least his one-note behaviour is grounded in the narrative, albeit with tugging at heartstrings the main aim as more of Rongen's history is slowly revealed. The same can't be said for the film's lack of care about anyone but the imported coach, plus centre back and faʻafafine Jaiyah Saelua (debutant Kaimana). As the first trans woman to play in a World Cup qualifier, the latter, a member of Polynesian society's third gender, should be at the forefront of the movie. That said, she shouldn't simply be the force motivating Rongen to grow up, take his job seriously, and deal with his issues and traumas — and his journey shouldn't involve deadnaming her, then asking about her genitals. Luminous, thoughtful and engaging, Kaimana gives Next Goal Wins' best performance. A better picture would've made Jaiyah its focus, avoided using her as a mechanism to push along Rongen's redemption arc and not left her achievements to postscript, but that isn't Waititi's approach. As such, in a film that heroes not dwelling on what might've been as long as you're giving your all, wondering how this flick could've turned out if more than a cursory effort was evident is another outcome. The cast is there — Oscar Kightley (The Breaker Upperers) gives the second most-memorable performance as Tavita, who leads American Samoa's Football Federation, hosts a popular TV show about who's getting off the plane at the airport and has a son (Beulah Koale, Bad Behaviour) on the squad; Our Flag Means Death's Rhys Darby, David Fane and Rachel House also feature; and even a Hemsworth (Bosch & Rockit's Luke) pops up — but not the willingness to deviate from the easiest game plan. When Next Goal Wins pilfers Taken's "special set of skills" speech early, it's a believe-it moment: believe that embracing cliches while purporting to wink and nod at them is the film's strategy, that is. The Karate Kid and Any Given Sunday also get referenced — and sometimes have lines of dialogue lifted — and Ted Lasso, just with a cantankerous drunk rather than a perennial optimist, provides blatant inspiration. IRL sports figures do indeed glean cues from screens. In Australia in 2001, AFL coach Leigh Matthews famously quoted Predator's "if it bleeds, we can kill it" to stir the Brisbane Lions to an upset win against reigning premiers Essendon, which started a 20-game streak that saw them beat the same team again to claim that year's premiership. All that's sparked in Next Goal Wins is a filmmaker's certainty that an inherently rousing true tale will remain exactly that no matter how cartoonishly and formulaically — including in its sunny visuals — it's presented. Alas, cheering for the American Samoa men's national football team isn't the same as cheering with the latest movie about them.
Among cinema's many wonders, its ability to explore other worlds really can't be underestimated. Behind every superhero story or alien invasion effort are real fears and worries begging to be examined — and, in the case of Shin Godzilla, Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and Hiroshima Mon Amour, specific concerns about nuclear power. Screening at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art from March 2 to 18, Two Minutes to Midnight: Nuclear Cinema steps through a series of films with that very topic at their centre, including Them!, La Jetee and On the Beach as well. Overall, the program aims to demonstrate how the globe's filmmakers have approached the topic across various stories, styles and genres. Stepping into this cinematic dystopia is free, with an illustrated talk about atomic fears and their lingering presence after the Second World War among its highlights. And if you're wondering about the name, it's derived from the very real Doomsday Clock, which represents the world's proximity to nuclear war. Just as it did when the device was introduced back in 1953, it currently sits and two minutes to midnight.
Winter is upon us, the gloves and beanies are out of storage, and it's time to start loading up on sweets and carbs. That's how every June starts — and, this year, Krispy Kreme wants to help with the latter. How? By giving away an extremely excessive number of doughnuts. You're probably now wondering what constitutes an excessive amount of doughnuts. No, polishing off a packet by yourself doesn't count, at least in this instance. Krispy Kreme's giveaway is going big, with the chain slinging 10,000 original glazed doughnuts on Friday, June 7 in conjunction with National Doughnut Day. Whether or not you're a big fan of food 'days', we're guessing you are quite fond of free doughnuts. To snag yourself a signature glazed freebie, head to your closest Krispy Kreme store. Queenslanders can hit up eight different locations, with the most central in Albert Street in the CBD. The National Doughnut Day deal isn't available anywhere other than Krispy Kreme stores, or via online orders or third-party deliveries. There's also a limit of one freebie per person, and the giveaway only applies to the original glazed variety. The 100,000 doughnuts will be spread across the participating stores around the country, so you'll want to get in relatively early if you want to kick off your Friday with a free sweet and doughy treat. Obviously, whether you nab one or not is subject to availability.
When it comes to high-profile, eye-catching art exhibitions, Brisbane's galleries have lately been packed. In a short space of time, we've had everyone from Yayoi Kusama to Patricia Piccinini and David Lynch. The only downside to all of these blockbuster shows is that they can't stick around, so it's a good thing this creative city isn't short on epic artwork of the permanent kind either. To bring you this round-up of current exhibitions and installations worth seeing and capturing, we've partnered with Samsung, whose new Galaxy S9 and S9+ phones have the low-light capability to give you clear photographs even in the most dimly lit of indoor environments. Some of these works have earned quite the reputation, others are hidden secrets and at least one you'll kick yourself if you forget about. We'd say they're all worth the price of admission, but as an added bonus, they're all also free to view. IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL AT QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY Brisbane artist Judith Wright invites us into the mind of a lost child in this spooky installation of dolls and shadows at Queensland Art Gallery. In the Garden of Good and Evil is an at-times nightmarish journey into the heart of love and loss — themes Wright has been exploring since the early noughties. Featuring found objects like wooden mannequins, it also features a silhouetted dreamscape cast across the walls – ideal fodder for photography and trippy Insta stories if you have a camera with the low-light ability. Heightening the sensory experience, a sound piece called The Garden will bring your ears into the game as well. In the Garden of Good and Evil will be kicking around until early September, so there's still time to take to the banks of Brisbane for this peculiar display. ANISH KAPOOR AT GOMA British sculptor Anish Kapoor's red ring is a transfixing commission that you may not be able to take your peepers — or, let's face it, phone screens – off. Made of resin fibreglass and red lacquer, it hangs heavy and bold on the wall of GOMA. The red in this doughnut-shaped piece is significant, as it represents the red that flows through our bodies and the idea that inside and out are often interchangeable. This work leans into the field of architecture as well, and certainly plays on the senses. Having not been shown since all the way back in 2008, it's also a rare sight, so one worth catching. And if you head along to GOMA's Up Late series on Friday evenings, you'll also be able to hit up the bar, grab a bite and hear some DJs spin — mandatories for any decent weekend. PABLO PICASSO'S LA BELLE HOLLANDAISE AT QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY Pablo Picasso is considered one of the greatest artists that ever lived, and one of his early paintings sits in the Queensland Art Gallery for everyone to see. Long-term Brisbanites will remember GOMA and QAG hosting several different Picasso shows, but you can see his La Belle Hollandaise every day of the week. Painted in 1905, bought by QAG in 1959 and permanently stationed in its Gallery 9, it's a depiction of an unknown white-bonneted Dutch woman, whipped up when Picasso was holidaying in the Netherlands. You won't spy his famous cubist style here, but you will see an intricate, delicate work that also ranks among his most realistic efforts. CURIOUS AFFECTION AT GOMA Great art should inspire, challenge and provoke — and the 20-year retrospective by renowned Australian artist Patricia Piccinini's Curious Affection, certainly does all of the above. Taking up the entire ground floor of GOMA, the ambitious exhibition features her fantastic hybrid beings and includes a large-scale inflatable sculpture. Explore Piccinini's inspiration for the exhibition via audio stories, tune in to her matching YouTube playlist, or head to the Cinematheque for a series she's curated of sometimes scary films, with horror and sci-fi classics in the lineup. Night-time screenings and talks are worth leaving your doona for this winter, as is the prospect of being challenged on your notions of perfection and humanity. YAYOI KUSAMA'S NARCISSUS GARDEN AT QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY No big deal, but you can see one of the most iconic and praised works by Yayoi Kusama in the middle of Queensland Art Gallery. Actually, it is rather a big deal. Featuring hundreds of mirrored balls floating in water, the epic Narcissus Garden installation fills a central walkway of the gallery. The water is symbolic, as in Greek mythology, Narcissus, staring into his reflection in a pool, falls in love with it and stays transfixed there until he dies. That makes this the perfect spot for your most self-aware selfie. Instead of spending your winter nights on the couch, discover all the after-dark happenings in your city here — and don't forget to document it all on the new Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, designed especially for low light so you can capture your best moments no matter what. Images: Cole Bennetts.
Everyone's always talking about cheese and wine, but what about cheese and beer? It's not as crazy as it might sound. In fact, it's delicious. But don't just trust our tastebuds on this important matter. Instead, let Holgate Brewhouse and Black Pearl Epicure walk you through the wonderful combination of craft brews and creamy dairy products during this year's Brewsvegas. Individual food stations featuring raclette, charcuterie, paella, caviar and chocolate will also feature, all matched with an appropriate ale. Whatever you eat and drink throughout the afternoon, you're certain to come to one realisation: beer really is more versatile than you think. Image: Dollar Photo Club
Sydneysiders who have been to two council areas in the city's southwest will no longer be able to enter Queensland, with the Sunshine State today, Tuesday, July 14, declaring both Liverpool City Council and Campbelltown City Council in NSW COVID-19 hotspots. Last week, on July 10, Queensland opened its borders to visitors from all states and territories — except Victoria, which is also declared a hotspot — but from midday today, visitors from one of the two new Sydney hotspots will be turned away at the border. Returning Queensland residents or those entering for a range of essential reasons will be required to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days. The move comes as a cluster of 21 positive COVID-19 cases are linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney's southwest. Earlier this week, both the Queensland and NSW Governments sent out public health alerts urging those who had visited the pub between Friday, July 3 and Friday, July 10 to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days. Queensland currently has only four active cases of COVID-19, but 18 Brisbanites who visited the Crossroads Hotel have been tested and are in isolation awaiting results. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1282814220304650246 When asked what classifies a hotspot, Queensland's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said, "It's when there's clearly a growing numbers of cases and there's community acquisition of cases — so we've seen that here." From midday, Tuesday, July 14, anyone who has visited Liverpool City or Campbelltown City in the past 14 days will not be allowed to enter Queensland unless they are a returning resident or are entering for one a few essential reasons. For more information, head to the Queensland Government website.
When you read, you assume a character's voice. What if you donned their clothes as well? Or, what if you listened to a group of authors read over-the-top short stories while wearing costumes to match? That's the concept behind Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary, aka reading aloud meets dressing up, and all for the audience's entertainment. Join the likes of best-seller Amie Kaufman, local talent Michelle Law and more for the kind of reading aloud you probably haven't experienced since you were a kid. It's free, it's some early Saturday night fun and it's taking over the Brisbane Writers Festival precinct's Top Shelf Bar.
After more than a couple of false starts due to the pandemic, Brisbane's Nine Lives Festival finally returns this weekend, taking place at The Tivoli on Saturday, March 5. But it's obviously a difficult time for the city, and West End record store Jet Black Cat Music, which is behind the fest, knows it — so it's hosting a recovery gig the next day that doubles as a flood fundraiser. We can tell you when the show is happening: from 1pm on Sunday, March 6. As for where, that's a secret for now. It will take place on a driveway somewhere in West End, we know that — but for any other details, you'll need to buy a $20 ticket and wait for an email with location to come through the day before. We can also advise who'll you'll be listening to: Girl and Girl, plus Moreton. Get ready for an ace afternoon dancing to their tunes, wherever it happens to occur. And, because this is a fundraiser, all proceeds from the gig are being donated to Loop Growers, who've been flooded out during the wet weather. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jet Black Cat Music (@jetblackcatmusic)
It has been 12 years since RuPaul's Drag Race first premiered in the US, and its mission to unearth the next drag superstars shows no signs of stopping. Currently, the original series is reaching the pointy end of its thirteenth season, while international versions also exist in the UK — also hosted by RuPaul — plus Thailand, Holland, Chile and Canada. Next, it's finally making the leap to Australia and New Zealand. RuPaul's Drag Race already airs locally, but now it's being made here as well. The eight-part RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under will focus on Aussie and NZ drag queens battling for supremacy, and will air on Stan in Australia and TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand. That was announced back in January; however, now you can mark your calendars for the show's debut on Saturday, May 1. While not all overseas iterations of Drag Race are hosted by RuPaul, RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under definitely is. RuPaul is also taking on judging duties, alongside show veteran Michelle Visage and Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson. If you're wondering just who'll be competing, too, that was unveiled back in March during the 2021 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Ten contenders will strut their stuff for drag supremacy, spanning seven Australians and three New Zealanders. So, prepare to see plenty of Art Simone from Geelong, Melbourne's Karen from Finance, and Sydney's Coco Jumbo, Etecetera Etcetera and Maxi Shield. Newcastle's Jojo Zaho and Perth's Scarlet Adams round out the Aussie queens, while Auckland's Kita Mean, Anita Wigl'it and Elektra Shock comprise the NZ contingent. Fans already know the format, which features fashion challenges, workroom dramas and lip sync battles aplenty. If you're a newcomer to all things Drag Race, you'll watch these Australian and NZ competitors work through a series of contests to emerge victorious, and join the likes of US contenders Jinkx Monsoon, Sasha Velour and Sharon Needles in being crowned the series' winner. Until next month hits, you can check about the RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under cast reveal video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSLPdMi0b8U&feature=youtu.be RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under will start streaming via Stan and TVNZ from Saturday, May 1, with new episodes airing weekly. Top image: RuPaul's Drag Race.
If you find yourself in the sunny Whitsundays, there are tonnes of walking tracks across all the islands, which take you into bush, rainforest, tiny coves and top-of-the-mountain spots to look out across the islands. One you shouldn't miss is Hill Inlet. Head to the largest of the 74 islands, Whitsunday Island, and make a beeline for the northern end of Whitehaven Beach. Then, walk up to the Hill Inlet viewing platform at Tongue Point, where you get the killer view over the beach and, if you come at the right time, the swirling sands that appear when the tide changes. You can get here via Tongue Bay and a walk up a short track. Images: Tourism and Events Queensland
It's the night before the night before Christmas, and you know what that means. All through The Gap, everyone will be stirring — and shopping, listening to live sets and eating at food trucks. That's what's on the agenda at the Sunlit Sounds Festival, in what's proving a case of different name, same festive fun. After 2016's The Gap Farmers' Market Christmas Twilight Music Festival, the powers that be are doing it all over again, with Major Leagues, Julia R Anderson, The Double Happiness, Candybomber and Weekend Hysteria on the bill. When you're not catching some tunes, you'll be munching from an array of meals-on-wheels vans, or doing some last-minute browsing and buying. Entry costs $5, buying artisan gifts will likely cost whatever you have in your wallet, and the sense of merriment you'll be enjoying is an added bonus. Image: Pip Hicken via Major Leagues' Facebook.
When Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) scolds a man for approaching her in a courtyard and threatens to have him whipped, she thinks nothing of it. After her friend and confidante Alicia (Chloë Sevigny) seems shocked, she advises that she actually knows him well; "I would never speak to a stranger like that," she laughs. Slinging sharp words is what the recent widow does well, along with scheming to secure herself a new husband while also trying to find someone suitable for her teenage daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). How better to battle for the important things in life, such as a wealthy partner, being able to live comfortably, and escaping a scandalous reputation? Yes, all's fair in love, marriage and the war that accompanies the pursuit of both, as this comedy of manners, money and match-making aptly demonstrates. Adapted by writer-director Whit Stillman from Jane Austen's unfinished, letter-based novella Lady Susan (but renamed after one of her other short stories), the fast-paced film is the comedic gem you probably didn't know the 18th century author had in her. Indeed, Love & Friendship is a sparkling satire that's as insightful as it is amusing, anchored by the kind of protagonist that might not be entirely sympathetic, but is still both relatable and entertaining. When Lady Susan sets her sights on the young and handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), she won't let his meddling relatives derail her future happiness — though Frederica's courtship with the buffoonish Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett) might just get in the way. That said, Lady Susan hasn't been labelled "the most accomplished flirt in England" without good reason. Whether her character is telling off passersby, spouting insults with a smile or choosing to remain oblivious to the response she causes whenever she enters a room, Beckinsale is in career-topping form as Lady Susan, oozing the perfect combination of charm and calculation. While she's surrounded by an excellent cast — Samuel, Bennett and a brief appearance by Stephen Fry are the standouts — there's never any doubting that she's the star of the show. And yet, though Beckinsale commands attention every moment she's on screen, it's Stillman who proves the film's most important figure. The material isn't just an ideal fit for a filmmaker who has previously found humour in interconnected sections of society in movies like The Last Days of Disco and Damsels in Distress. It's also the feature the lifelong Austen fan was clearly fated to make. At home in the period setting, he takes every opportunity to survey the sumptuous production design, while still furnishing the film with a sense of intimacy, peppering it with hilarious reaction shots, and finding joy in the wordplay that drives the dialogue. In short, it's a delicious blend of Stillman and Austen at their comic best.
If the individual movies a director makes can be seen as chapters from an ongoing book, then consider Noah Baumbach the author of a sharp, sweeping coming-of-age chronicle. Whether dissecting mature malaise in Greenberg, the attempts of a twenty-something to find her place in life in Frances Ha or the clash of the two in While We're Young, he remains fascinated with the process of growing up at any stage. In Mistress America, Baumbach offers another instalment on his beloved topic, all while re-teaming with Greta Gerwig. Almost by design, their previous collaboration — both co-writing, him directing and her starring in Frances Ha, as remains the case here — looms large over their latest effort. Consider Frances Ha the fate that could've befallen Mistress America's teenager Tracy (Lola Kirke) after college if she hadn't crossed paths with her stepsister-to-be Brooke (Gerwig), or the past that might've delivered 30-year-old Brooke to her current predicament. The two are brought together by their parents' impending marriage, with Tracy seeing Brooke as the big sis — and guide to life, both in New York and in general — she's never had. They're opposites: Tracy is quiet, lonely and wants to be a writer; Brooke is confident, constantly talks about herself and has an endless array of future plans. As they spend more time together, the seeming differences between the two become less pronounced. That fact isn't lost on Tracy, who starts to imagine Brooke as 'Meadow', the deeply flawed character in her new short story. While finding commonality in Baumbach's films has become unavoidable, that doesn't make his work any less enjoyable or astute. There's a level of comfort to Mistress America's return to the filmmaker's well-traversed terrain, as well as his trademark intelligence and energy. Here, as in the rest of his efforts, he's fleshing out recognisable ideas and anxieties, but done so with slightly different parts. And while the overall message is starting to sound a little repetitive even as it remains accurate, the individual elements still have plenty of charms. The feature is at its best in its wonderful midsection, where it plunges into a superbly executed farce. When a series of circumstances sends the not-quite-siblings plus some of Tracy's friends (Matthew Shear and Jasmine Cephas Jones) on a road trip to Connecticut to visit Brooke's former boyfriend (Heather Lind) and BFF (Michael Chernus), Baumbach takes his favourite themes into shrewd, smart and incisively funny screwball territory. In some of the best sequences the director has committed to the screen, infectious laughter ensues, as does insight and urgency that the rest of the film can't quite match. Of course, that plays into Baumbach's usual oeuvre: what is a coming-of-age story, and his entire output, if not an examination of how to keep going after pivotal moments and turning points?
After bringing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban back to the big screen with a live orchestra soundtrack, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is giving the fourth film in the franchise the same movie-and-music showcase. Across five sessions between August 15–18, the Sydney Opera House will come to life with the sights and sounds of the Yule Ball, the Triwizard Tournament and the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, because JK Rowling's boy-who-lived and his pals are never far away from a theatre — or a concert hall. This time around, viewers can expect something a little different. While the event will run as usual, it's the score itself that'll stand out. After doing the honours on the first three HP flicks, veteran composer John Williams stood aside for the fourth film, with two-time Oscar nominee Patrick Doyle (Hamlet, Sense and Sensibility) in charge of whipping up a wondrous wizarding soundtrack. Tickets for the Sydney shows are now on sale — and if you're a Melburnian or Brisbanite muggle keen to catch the next film in the series, watch this space (or, to be exact, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Symphony Orchestra websites) . Although screenings haven't been announced in Melbourne or Brisbane yet, they're bound to follow, complete with live scores by each city's symphony orchestra. In fact, that's exactly what has happened with the first three movies to date. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Concert teams up with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House from 15–18 August 2018. For more information, head to the SSO website.
It may have dropped the $2 price from its moniker, but there's nothing quite like the Sunnybank Food Trail on Brisbane's culinary calendar. The appeal is all there in the name, with the Brisbane suburb's shopping hubs becoming a diner's delight in quite the affordable fashion. Think of it as the ultimate self-guided foodie adventure, for nothing more than spare change — and, pre-pandemic, with around 22,000 people taking part. The latest time that the Sunnybank Food Trail popped up was in 2019. As many food-focused events were, it was forced to take a break when COVID-19 hit; however, now this southside feast is finally returning. Mark Saturday, July 22 in your calendar and get ready to tuck in from 12–8pm at both Sunnybank Plaza and Sunny Park. How does it work? Attendees walk between a heap of local cafes and restaurants, all at their own pace. The range of eateries taking part is usually hefty — in 2018, more than 45 places served up dishes. From chicken katsu and wontons to mochi ice cream and bubble tea, every participating joint will feature a range of authentic Asian cuisines. You'll feast on Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kong-style, Vietnamese, Korean, Malaysian and Taiwanese bites, with prices starting at $2 per tasting plate. With such an array of steaming soups and sizzling stir-fries on offer, we don't recommend eating lunch or dinner first; in fact, you'd best arrive feeling as hungry as possible. Snacking on signature dishes is the main course — or several — but there's also plenty of non-edible appetisers, too. Enjoy live music, watch traditional lion dancers, and and check out the roaming entertainment as you feast and wander, adding the perfect garnish to every meal by setting the mood. Sunnybank Food Trail will pop up at Sunnybank Plaza and Sunny Park from 12–8pm on Saturday, July 22 — head to the Sunnybank Plaza website and event Facebook page for further details. Top image: Sunnybank Food Trail.
The abject, the dark, the forgotten and the strange are the characters in Daydream Believers. Abstract figures and landscapes inhabit the sculptures, photographs, prints and figurines in the latest exhibition at IMA. The exhibition responds to the essay ‘Figures of Authority, Ciphers of Regression’ written by Benjamin Buchloch in 1981. In this essay Buchloch explores the early-twentieth-century avant-gardists and their movement away from abstraction to return to more traditional figurative themes and styles. Daydream Believers is an exhibition of works by people who share Buchloch’s sensibilities. These artists explore history in all its horror, detailing abstract mythical beasts, dark landscapes and strange behaviours of earlier times. The exhibition includes glass paintings, monoprints, tapestries, furniture and figurines created by some of Australia and New Zealand’s most interesting modern artists. Featured in the exhibition are gothic prints by Jason Greig alongside decaying black and white photographs and layered images by David Noonan. John Spiteri creates eclectic glass paintings, sculptures and figurines and Francis Upritchard has produced mythical sculptural installations for this exhibition. This is a journey into the fantastical and the avant-garde, all with a historical bent.
Prepare to say "accio remote!" and get comfier than Hermione Granger in a library. In the latest news that'll keep you glued to your couch this summer — and your latest fodder for an at-home movie marathon — everyone's favourite boy wizard will soon be working his magic on Netflix. You won't need the Marauder's Map to find these enchanting flicks. Come Tuesday, January 15, all eight movies in the Harry Potter series will hit the streaming platform, bringing their Hogwarts-set adventures to both Australian and New Zealand audiences. If you've watched your DVD copies from the 2000s so many times that they're showing a little wear and tear — or your laptop no longer has a disc drive — this is butterbeer-worthy news. Yes, everything from Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) first visit to Platform 9 and 3/4, the Yule Ball, the Triwizard Tournament, many a fluttering snitch and He Who Must Not Be Named will be at your fingertips. Prime viewing for wizards, witches and muggles alike — all 19 hours and 39 minutes of it. The Fantastic Beasts films won't be joining them, with this journey through JK Rowling's wizarding world keeping its focus on the original franchise. The news comes hot on the heels of Stan's announcement that it's now home to a hefty batch of Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and Disney movies and TV shows. If you're thinking that a time-turner might come in handy over the next few months, we completely understand. Find Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 on Netflix from Tuesday, January 15.
When Normal People became the streaming sensation of the pandemic's early days, it made stars out of leads Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, and swiftly sparked another Sally Rooney adaptation from much of the same behind-the-scenes team. It wouldn't have been the hit it was if it hadn't proven an exercise in peering deeply, thoughtfully, lovingly and carefully, though, with that sensation stemming as much from its look as its emotion-swelling story. It should come as no surprise, then, that cinematographer Kate McCullough works the same magic on The Quiet Girl, a Gaelic-language coming-of-age film that sees the world as only a lonely, innocent, often-ignored child can. This devastatingly moving and beautiful movie also spies the pain and hardship that shapes its titular figure's world — and yes, it does so softly and with restraint, just like its titular figure, but that doesn't make the feelings it swirls up any less immense. McCullough is just one of The Quiet Girl's key names; filmmaker Colm Bairéad, a feature first-timer who directs and adapts Claire Keegan's novella Foster, is another. His movie wouldn't be the deeply affecting affair it is without its vivid and painterly imagery — but it also wouldn't be the same without the helmer and scribe's delicate touch, which the 1981-set tale he's telling not only needs but demands. His focus: that soft-spoken nine-year-old, Cáit (newcomer Catherine Clinch), who has spent her life so far as no one's priority. With her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, Shadow Dancer) pregnant again, her father (Michael Patric, Smother) happiest drinking, gambling and womanising, and her siblings boisterously bouncing around their rural Irish home, she's accustomed to blending in and even hiding out. Then, for the summer, she's sent to her mum's older cousin Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley, Extra Ordinary) and her dairy farmer husband Seán (Andrew Bennett, Dating Amber). Now the only child among doting guardians, she's no less hushed, but she's also loved and cared for as she's never been before. Clinch is another of The Quiet Girl's crucial figures, courtesy of a downright exceptional and star-making performance. If you were to discover that she was a quiet girl off-screen, too, you'd instantly believe it — that's how profoundly naturalistic she is. Finding a young talent to convey so much internalised, engrained sorrow, then to slowly blossom when fondness comes her way, isn't just a case of finding a well-behaved child who welcomes the camera's presence. Clinch makes Cáit's isolation and sadness feel palpable, and largely does so without words: again, this is The Quiet Girl in name and nature alike. She makes the comfort and acceptance that her character enjoys with the instantly tender Eibhlín feel just as real, and kicks into another still-composed but also visibly appreciative gear as a bond forms with the tight-lipped Seán. Pivotally, Clinch plays Cáit like she's the only lonely girl in Ireland, but also like she's every lonely and mostly silent girl that's ever called that or any country home. That astonishing performance, and the empathetic and absorbed gaze that beams it into the film's frames, tap into the lingering truth at the heart of this soulful picture: that overlooked and disregarded girls such as Cáit rarely receive this kind of notice on- or off-screen. The warm way that the movie surveys her life, and is truly willing to see it, is never anything less than an act of redress — and, even with dialogue sparse, The Quiet Girl screams that fact loudly. It gives the same treatment to loss, which is an unshakeable force in Eibhlín and Seán's home despite remaining unspoken. "There are no secrets in this house," Eibhlín tells Cáit, but that doesn't mean that the type of pain that defies speech doesn't haunt the place, as it does the lives lived in it. Grief, too, is usually pushed aside, but The Quiet Girl sees how it persists, dwells and gnaws even when — especially when — no one is talking about it. The Quiet Girl, and Bairéad and McCullough with it, sees everything with attentive eyes: chaos at home, bullying at school, and uncertainty mixed with relief when Cáit cottons onto why she's taking such a long drive with her dad, for starters. It watches as the girl's summer getaway teems with promise and wonder — on the farm, in its woods, in the gleaming rainwater well, simply watching Eibhlín in the house or shadowing Seán outside — and as her relationship with her surrogate parents has the same fantastical allure. It spots the tentative curiosity that Cáit has about the train wallpaper in her new bedroom, as well as the boy's clothes she's given to wear. And, it can't avoid the gleeful gossiping-slash-interrogating by neighbour Úna (Joan Sheehy, End of Sentence), when she gets her chance to spill Eibhlín and Seán's past, and also grill their new charge about their present. Viewers peer on intently as well; using the Academy ratio, the almost-square frame that was once the cinematic standard, has that effect. That stylistic choice can say more than words when a character feels boxed in or trapped — see Happening and The Tragedy of Macbeth — which The Quiet Girl uses to its advantage in its earliest scenes. The tighter canvas also hones focus, which is this film's entire purpose anyway. Thanks to the straightforward but nonetheless riveting narrative, and the emotional journeys that it charts, Bairéad didn't need to restrict the movie's visuals so blatantly. The Quiet Girl would've captured its audience's undying attention anyway. But a closer look begets a closer look, both at otherwise-shunned children and at the minutiae they only start to spy themselves when their lives get cosier and kinder, yet also bigger and more assured. When it premiered at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, The Quiet Girl made history as the first Gaelic-language film to compete at the prestigious event, and also won an award in the process. When it reached Irish cinemas midyear, along with those elsewhere in the UK, it broke box office records for Gaelic-language movies, too. Small things, big impact: that's this wonderfully heartrending, deeply resonant, exquisitely fleshed out feature over and over, within its poetic images and beyond.
When Woody Allen started shooting Wonder Wheel back in 2016, perhaps it seemed like a good idea. Or maybe he just picked an old script up off the pile and didn't think much more about it. Either way, there's no escaping the uncomfortable feeling that accompanies the film. For decades, the prolific writer-director has continued to work while immersed in controversy stemming both from his marriage to his stepdaughter, as well as from allegations of abuse made by his adopted daughter. That his latest movie is about a writer falling for his former actress girlfriend's stepdaughter is particularly astounding, and feels well and truly on the nose – especially at a time when Hollywood's look-the-other-way attitude to inappropriate sexual behaviour is finally starting to change. Even if Allen's own past didn't loom over the film's narrative, and even if the #metoo movement wasn't moving forward in leaps and bounds, Wonder Wheel wouldn't rank among his best work. Pumping out a movie a year has given the director more misses than hits in recent times – and his latest definitely falls into the first category. It doesn't help that Allen attempts to pre-emptively counter criticism of his approach by having his narrator highlight the movie's melodramatic nature via to-camera addresses. Calling something out yourself, via Justin Timberlake as your screen-surrogate, doesn't make it go away. Timberlake plays lifeguard and aspiring playwright Mickey. It's the 1950s, and with summer in full swing on New York's Coney Island, Mickey has a crowded beach to patrol — and, before too long, a waitress to woo. Sweating it out serving clams while she dreams of a stage heyday long passed, Ginny (Kate Winslet) warms to her younger lover easily. After all, he's certainly an improvement on her lunk of a husband Humpty (Jim Belushi), and a distraction from her fire-starting pre-teen son Richie (Jack Gore). But things are soon complicated by the arrival of Carolina (Juno Temple), Humpty's daughter from a previous marriage, who runs from her mobster husband straight into Mickey's affections. It all plays out as predictably as it sounds, but credit where credit's due: even saddled with problematic material and trying dialogue to match, Winslet knocks her performance out of the (amusement) park. In her hands, Ginny's furrowed brow is lined with both well-worn creases and years of wearying disappointment, while the glint in her eye when someone finally starts seeing her as more than a wife, waitress and mother could light up a room. Like Blue Jasmine's Cate Blanchett, the British actress knows how to find depth in a character that could've been an over-the-top joke (and, given the real-life history tying into this film, it's easy to assume Allen intended for Ginny to amuse). Though a committed Belushi does his best alongside her, with Temple proving dutifully alluring and Timberlake routine, Winslet is the movie's undoubted wonder. That said, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (Cafe Society) comes a close second. As Wonder Wheel tries to turn fact into overheated fiction, its visuals positively glow — in sunny beachside encounters, in its use of shadows, and whenever the light of the titular attraction shines on the movie's frames. Subtly infusing the alternating red and blue hues of the ferris wheel's neon sign over the drama not only results in gorgeous images, but also mirrors the changing mood as scenes move from rosy to sorrowful. If only they belonged to a movie worthy of such eye-catching charms. Wonder Wheel might be the story of a man won over by something pretty, but viewers are unlikely to make the same mistake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx4Jp13Afpk
2018 was a great year for cinema. If you've been thinking otherwise, then maybe you just haven't had time to watch enough flicks or you haven't ventured out of your viewing comfort zone. Indeed, the past 12 months have served up a feast of films that show why we all love catching a movie, whether we're heading to our local picture palace or getting cosy on the couch. The very best films aren't just an artful, entertaining combination of sound and vision — they're a reminder that, even though this medium is more than a century old, it's still full of surprises. Don't worry — we have examples. There's Black Panther with its engaging embrace of its vivid on-screen world, all while carving out a new space in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's the combination of dance and horror that made both Suspiria and Climax two of this year's highlights, all while doing something completely different from each other. Widows boasted smart heist thrills, packaged with an all-star cast and a stunning statement, while A Simple Favour offered a delightfully twisty time at the cinema. There's also First Reformed's soulful and provocative contemplation of faith, The Favourite's wickedly funny royal hijinks and Can You Ever Forgive Me?'s involving account of literary forgery too. Each offered up something unexpected — and they're all unlucky to make our best-of list. Throughout 2018, Concrete Playground's film critics watched all of the above and more, and reviewed over 120 films. Now, they've whittled down their favourites to the below ten movies. Maybe you saw them. Maybe you didn't. But that's another great thing about cinema — you can always rewatch the flicks that you loved and seek out the ones that you missed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQyDaGWQ43w YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE In Lynne Ramsay's long-waited fourth feature, an ex-soldier and former FBI agent grapples with his own trauma while trying to save others from theirs. Joe rescues children abducted and abused by pedophile rings — and if that sounds like an astonishing story, just wait, because You Were Never Really Here isn't done yet. Indeed, it's hard to pick what's more stunning here: Ramsay's empathetic and expressive direction, which keeps making unexpected choices to immerse viewers in Joe's headspace, or Joaquin Phoenix's internalised performance as the movie's protagonist, which won him the best actor prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Call it a tie, and call this film an exceptional achievement that isn't easily forgotten after watching. — Sarah Ward Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSYHHLk12x8 COLD WAR After the Oscar-winning Ida, Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski plunges into a sweeping love story that's also a portrait of his post-war homeland. In fact, it's a personal tale inspired by his parents (and dedicated to them as well), with Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) their on-screen surrogates. As Poland adjusts to the titular period, the ups and downs of the intertwined duo's lives spill across the screen. A film of deep yearning as well as a clear-eyed understanding of the way that the world works, especially in times of conflict, every aspect of Cold War borders on flawless, from its intimate performances to its moving soundtrack to its Academy ratio, black-and-white images. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3__y-uPwbe8 HEREDITARY In a banner year for the horror genre, no film provided a more anxious or uncomfortable viewing experience than Hereditary. Director Ari Aster takes his time, immersing viewers in the unsettled life of the Graham family, which teeters on the brink of collapse long before demonic forces take hold. It's a smart move, one that makes the film's eventual descent into madness that much more disturbing. Toni Collette gives a career best performance as a mother consumed by grief, while the recurring dollhouse motif further emphasises the feeling that the characters — and the audience as well — are merely the playthings of a far more powerful force. — Tom Clift Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_i7cnOgbQ ROMA In a stellar year for excellent directors doing what they do best, Alfonso Cuarón sits at the top of the heap. And yes, Roma does showcase the Gravity filmmaker doing what he often does — that is, peering at someone who doesn't usually take pride of place on the screen. Taking inspiration from his own upbringing, the Mexican helmer tells the tale of housemaid Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), splicing together slices of her life working for a well-off family in the early 70s. Whether watching Cleo clean up after the family dog or delving into her problems beyond her job, every moment proves both emotionally intricate and visually sumptuous. Roma earned Cuarón the Golden Lion at this year's Venice Film Festival, and he's only going to keep picking up more trophies. — SW Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYKBG1znk4A SWEET COUNTRY When Sweet Country emerged victorious at this year's AACTA awards, it was truly a case of the best film winning. Warwick Thornton's Australian western is a sight to behold, with the Samson and Delilah filmmaker seeing every inch of the Northern Territory's outback landscape. The film also makes a firm statement, as becomes clear when an Indigenous stockman (Hamilton Morris) kills a white station owner in self-defence. He's forced to flee with his wife Lizzie (Natassia Gorey-Furber), but a local posse is soon on their trail. As Sweet Country decisively confronts this all-too-real situation, it also confronts the country's history of racial prejudice. The movie might be set in the 1920s, but Thornton purposefully, convincingly and heartbreakingly holds a mirror up to Aussie attitudes today. — SW Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqy27Bk0Vw0 A QUIET PLACE The dreadful quiet before the scare has always been a crucial of horror moviemaking. But with A Quiet Place, actor-turned-director John Krasinski weaves the idea into the very DNA of his story. Silence is the key to survival in this gripping creature feature, which makes the most of its brilliant premise and benefits from standout (and largely dialogue-free) performances from Krasinski, Emily Blunt and young newcomer Millicent Simmonds. And while the film suffers somewhat from the Jaws effect in that the monsters are scarier before you see them, A Quiet Place is nevertheless a masterclass of tension. — TC Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8mJT7wEtkA CUSTODY A marriage crumbles. A woman leaves and takes her children with her. After a difficult ordeal in court, life should go on, except that Miriam's (Léa Drucker) husband Antoine (Denis Ménochet) won't accept the new status quo. In weekend visits, he resorts to bullying his pre-teen son Julien (Thomas Gioria), who is now forced to flit between his parents. Forget action blockbusters and spooky thrillers — the seemingly routine events of Custody provide this year's most suspenseful viewing experience. The extraordinary debut of French writer/director Xavier Legrand, this is a bleak, tough, raw, involving and unforgettable film from start to finish. — SW Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpxJIWz8MNQ BLACKKKLANSMAN Director Spike Lee fires on cylinders with this funny, compelling and uncomfortably timely story about a black cop's mission to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. Lee has never been an especially subtle filmmaker, and his allusions to contemporary American politics — and one politician in particular — are impossible to miss. But the approach works perfectly in this stranger-than-fiction true story, which delights in hammering home the overwhelming stupidity that drives so much prejudice and hate. With a perfect mix of outrageous comedy and sobering drama, BlacKkKlansman truly is the perfect film for these troubled times. — TC Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVkX1qAyMrY LEAVE NO TRACE In another world, it wouldn't have taken Debra Granik eight years to direct another feature after Winter's Bone. That's not the world that we're living in — but, thankfully, we do now have this affecting and sensitive portrait of a father and daughter trying to live their own way. Making an Oregon forest their home, military veteran Will (Ben Foster) and teenager Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) try to avoid attention so that they can continue to do as they please — but life has other plans. Watching them adjust, and watching the wise-beyond-her-years Tom realise that her own path might be different from her dad's, Leave No Trace steeps viewers in an empathetic exploration of America's increasingly fractured society. — SW Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOOcpb48Oyo SHOPLIFTERS Few filmmakers are as adept at crafting intimate family dramas than Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda. His latest effort, Shoplifters, won the prestigious Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and its hard to imagine a worthier recipient. Charting the highs and lows of an unconventional family unit living on the margins in Tokyo, the film shines a light on a side of Japanese society that's rarely seen, while tugging deftly at the heartstrings. There's no sense of emotional manipulation in Kore-eda's work, but audiences will invariably be in tears by the time all is said and done. — TC Read our full review. These are our favourite films of 2018, but we've also put together a list of the best films hardly anyone saw this year — y'know, the ones that sort of went in and out of cinemas without much fanfare but definitely deserve a watch.
If you're fond of eating out, having a drink with dinner and not splashing around all your cash in the process, then you're probably fond of the words 'bring your own'. When it comes to gathering the gang to share a meal and still feel good about your bank balance afterwards, this simple phrase ranks among the best there are. Pair it with an affordable eatery, too, and you're dining out in style while still keeping your pennies in check. Whether you feel like pizza, pasta, an Asian feast or a nice fish 'n' chips spread, we're directing you toward spots that you and your mates should head to for your next dinner catch-up.
Hanging out by the river in Brisbane isn't the same as hitting up Italy's coastline, but it'll still give you a tase of la dolce vita at Howard Smith Wharves' Festa Italiana. The waterfront CBD precinct debuted its first-ever Italian food market in 2023, and now it's bringing it back in 2024 for two big four-day weekends celebrating cuisine and beverages from the other side of the world. When it pops up from Thursday, May 23–Sunday, May 26 and Thursday, May 30–Sunday, June 2, the event will again boast a guest of honour: Naples-born and -raised, Sydney-based D'Elia chef Orazio D'Elia of Bondi Beach's Da Orazio. He isn't just making a second trip to Brisbane. The culinary figure with experience as Head Chef at Sydney's iconic Icebergs Dining Room and Bar alongside Maurice Terzini, who has then been keeping that collaboration going by opening Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta, is once more behind Festa Italiana alongside HSW. "The energy, people and sunshine in Brisbane reminded me of my hometown, evoking a sense of nostalgia. Brisbane's love for food only deepens the connection, adding to the familiar warmth I feel when I'm there," said Orazio about last year's fest and market, and 2024's return. This year, he'll be bringing back two dishes he's known for — vodka rigatoni (made with tomato and vodka sauce) and focaccia con porchetta (with the meat fresh from the rotisserie, and paired with chilli-marinated grilled eggplant, cos lettuce and mayonnaise on schiacciatina bread) — alongside a few new menu additions, some of which he's keeping a surprise until the event. "The other dishes I'll be cooking are inspired by my latest trip to Napoli," he advised. "Napoli is a city with a lot of energy and every Neapolitan loves food. The food in Napoli is tasty and has punchy flavours. Once you've tried them, you'll never forget." "At this year's Festa Italiana, expect to see dishes like caserecce alla genovese (Neapolitan-style veal ragù) and fusilli alla luciana (tomato-braised baby octopus, black olives and capers). I think the hero dish will be the caserecce alla genovese, famous for its simplicity — it's a 'must-try'." Timed to wrap up autumn and say hello to winter over its two weekends, as it was last year, Festa Italiana will take over HSW's main lawn with its Italian bites and sips — which will also span a live pasta station making fresh pasta onsite, a pop-up spritz bar, buffalo mozzarella, woodfired bread and fritto misto, all to live tunes providing a soundtrack. Entry is free, with everything you're keen to eat and drink purchased as you go. The event will run from 4pm–late Thursday–Friday and from 12pm–late Saturday–Sunday. Festa Italiana takes place at Howard Smith Wharves in the Brisbane CBD from Thursday, May 23–Sunday, May 26 and Thursday, May 30–Sunday, June 2. Head to the precinct's website for further details.
Have you ever been to a play where, no matter how prominent the lead was, your attention was always drawn to one of the secondary performers off to the side? That's the case with X-Men: Dark Phoenix, a film where everything's pretty decent except for anything to do with the actual title character. Ultimately it's an issue of interest. There just isn't enough in the Jean Grey character (or at least, not in this iteration of the character, played by Sophie Turner, compared to Famke Janssen's version from the origial X-Men trilogy) to justify giving her such a prominent role in a universe already jam-packed with compelling fan-favourites like Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). To appropriate that iconic line from Mean Girls: stop trying to make Jean Grey happen. In a franchise that adroitly positioned itself as one of 'films with special effects' rather than 'special effects films', the masterstroke of the early X-Men movies was ensuring there were always human stories at their core, even if they were about super-humans and mutants. On that front, the original trilogy stands as a sublime allegory for the discrimination of minorities, no matter the kind. The franchise's first ever scene took place in a Nazi concentration camp, bars and restaurants featured mutant and non-mutant sections, and a narrow-minded mother asked her son: "have you tried... not being a mutant?" Beyond the us and them theme, they then added two more critical threads: a complex friendship between Magneto and Professor X, and a love triangle between Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean. It was these stories that made the films so engaging, whilst the special effects just added loads of cool. X-Men: Dark Phoenix forgets that lesson after its first few (excellent) scenes, placing far too much emphasis thereafter on visual pageantry that adds very little to the story. Set mostly in 1992, Dark Phoenix begins with a confronting car-crash sequence, followed by a dramatic space rescue. Both, in their own way, set in motion plot lines involving Professor X arguably overstepping his mark, which inevitably has dire consequences. The problem is, until now, Turner's Jean Grey was little more than a bit-part, so her elevation to leading lady and the subsequent transformation (or descent?) into the all-powerful Dark Phoenix both feel rushed and unearned. You know you're meant to think oh no, but you simply don't care. Added to that is a subplot so forgettable that this writer literally forgot about it until just now. An alien villain named Vuk (Jessica Chastain) pursues and manipulates Jean's transformation into Dark Phoenix for reasons that are barely clear and even less interesting. Chastain's staid, hollow stare throughout the film feels neatly reflective of the audience's expression as it watches another actor of incredible talent relegated to spouting cliched nonsense. With the exception of its early scenes, the only other high point in Dark Phoenix is its climactic battle aboard a speeding armoured train (and it speaks volumes that throughout that scene, Jean Grey is passed out and largely ignored). Mutants being mutants and deploying their abilities in means as violent as they are inventive is ultimately why you'd see this film over other, more conventional action movies. To give us so little of that condemns it to forgettable status from the get-go. Dark Phoenix is almost certainly the last entry in the franchise before the reigns are handed over to Marvel, courtesy of Disney's recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Hopefully in their capable hands we'll see a return to the quality delivered in the early days of the saga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvR__GRQic
It may be hot outside, but it's not quite 'our city in summer' until the Sydney Festival starts up on January 9, bringing with it a tidal wave of performance, music, art and other festivities. Tonight the Sydney Festival has launched its 2014 program, a massive conglomeration of 104 events, featuring 722 artists from 80 companies across 17 countries. Look out for a much bigger festival garden (so big, in fact, it's now the Festival Village) in Hyde Park, the return of music venue Paradiso at Town Hall and everyone's favourite duck, and a version of Stonehenge that you can bounce on. Yes, bounce on. But let's get the bad news out of the way first: crowd favourite Festival First Night has been shrunk down even further than last year's 'Day One', to the point where it's completely disappeared. This has been blamed on NSW state funding cuts, as the escalating event requires a large amount of dedicated resources. While the loss of Festival First Night is a little hard to swallow — especially when Parramatta gets one (the POP Parra Opening Party features public concerts and 'Boxwars', a street parade/brawl in cardboard costumes on January 10) — but you can understand the festival's insistence on there needing to be proper funding for such an undertaking. We say it's a unrivalled street party that for one day makes Sydney feel like a great, open, international city, and we hope it returns in the future. In the meantime, there are many free, public events to occupy ourselves with. Now, on with the show. Performance Sydney Festival is, above all, a means to get the most appealing, innovative and agenda-setting international performing arts works to visit our town. This year there's nothing topping the already-announced spectacle of Dido & Aeneas. This 'underwater opera' starts with a dance in a 7500L water tank and moves on to sumptuous feats of dance, costume, singing, music and stagecraft. But the one-woman La Voix Humaine promises to floor with conversely little. This Dutch production based on the monologue by poet and film director Jean Cocteau features actor Halina Reijn as a woman pleading with her lover down the phone line after a break-up. There are plenty of other acclaimed international theatre works with experimental, thrilling or just plain WTF twists. Bullet Catch (from the UK's The Arches and Rob Drummond), for instance, is about the notoriously dangerous magician's trick that took the life of William Wonder. We hear if you stay till the end, you may have a very direct part to play in the climax. Less unnerving is Othello: The Remix, a charming "ad-rap-tation" by Chicago hip hop outfit the Q Brothers that uses the words of Shakespeare and obliterates the memory of so many terrible modernisations. Also in the mix is Cadavre Exquis, a game of theatrical Exquisite Corpse played by some truly cool international artists; Tim Crouch's underdog tale I, Malvolio (we recommend going on the adults-only late show on January 18); and Pan Pan Theatre's All That Falls, a radio play you take in communally, while on rocking chairs. Of course, it's not festival time without a Spiegeltent somewhere, and this year's is grounded in some solid and frequently sexy circus. Strut & Fret are back with a follow-up to last year's Cantina, Limbo, which takes as its premise an otherworldly party between heaven and hell. There's also a second travelling tent, which belongs to Belgium's Circus Ronaldo, a genuine line of circus performers six generations long. Their La Cucina Dell'Arte is a more family-friendly brand of buffoonery set in a pizza parlour. They're sharing their tent with rowdier late-night act Scotch and Soda, which includes the stylings of the Crusty Suitcase Band. In the non-funny vein of circus arts, look out for Ockham's Razor, a unique blending of philosophy and acrobatics over three acts taking place at Carriageworks. There are also a few really exciting local productions that shouldn't be eclipsed: Black Diggers is a major new work by Tom Wright built on extensive research into the largely untold history of Aboriginal Diggers in WWI. Directed by Wesley Enoch, it's making its world premiere at the festival. Belvoir and post's Oedipus Schmoedipus will be an epic lark, Am I sees choreographer Shaun Parker and composer Nick Wales venture into a new civilisation, My Darling Patricia's The Piper is one to capture the imagination (and abduct some children), and Forklift required several dancers to get heavy machinery licences. Music This year’s Sydney Festival music lineup doesn’t quite have the ‘wow’ factor of former years, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find a tonne of events that underline why the festival makes Sydney such an exciting place to be in January. The headline event is undoubtedly Amanda Palmer, who will be playing 10 solo shows in the intimate surrounds of The Spiegeltent. Palmer has become an object of much debate after her incredible success at crowdfunding her latest album, but whatever you think of that whole deal you cannot deny she is a fascinating performer. Dating right back to The Dresden Dolls, her shows have always been fascinating amalgamations of pop, cabaret, punk, performance and songwriting, and even the Festival organisers can’t tell you exactly what to expect when Palmer plays solo. Big Star’s Third is an absolute cult classic, with bands as diverse as Belle & Sebastian, The Replacements, The Flaming Lips and R.E.M. citing it as an inspiration. Despite (or perhaps because of) the deteriorating mental health of frontman Alex Chilton, and the fact that the band had totally fallen apart between its recording and its release, it is regarded as one of the great records of all time. And you can hear the whole thing in all its broken, twisted beauty when an all-star band including original drummer and sole surviving member of the band, drummer Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.) and Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) take to The Enmore stage for one night only. Kurt Vile has quietly become a cult guitar hero in recent years, bringing together influences from psych to folk to garage to create beautiful, enchanting music. It might not seem like it sometimes – Vile is so laidback he’s almost horizontal – but the man is a virtuoso guitarist and a compelling performer. And he’s playing in two formats at this year’s festival: a solo “special midnight performance” in the Circus Ronaldo Tent, and again with his band, The Violators, at Paradiso and Town Hall. Not to be missed. And that’s not even mentioning Amadou & Mariam’s Eclipse (a “live, multi-sensory experience in pitch darkness telling the amazing story of the blind couple from Mali that includes scents inspired by Mali and their second home Paris pumped into the building”), performances from ex-Battles frontmant Tyondai Braxton, a collaborative performance with Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, etc), or dozens of other exciting acts. Even the classical music program is phenomenal. It might not seem like it at first glance, but Sydney Festival is once again putting on the best party of the year. Art Art-wise, the Sydney Festival offerings are incredibly choice. The focus is on large-scale, multimedia and installation-type pieces that pack an impressive visual punch. Christian Boltanski’s mega installation, Chance, on show at Carriageworks (10 January – 23 March), will prove to be a highlight of the program. It will be the first major work ever presented in Australia by the French artist, who is one of the more important figures of the international artworld. The piece will make full use of the architecture and size of Carriageworks and will chart births and deaths across the globe. The award for coolest festival event goes to 100 Million Nights, the collaboration between artist Daniel Boyd and electronic duet Canyons. The musicians have created an original score based on their interpretation of Boyd’s pieces. On 21 January, in the concert hall of the Sydney Opera House, the performance will be staged in front of three large projections of Boyd’s artwork. The show will also include a sight and sound work by former Battles frontman Tyondai Braxton. Hive will blend modular synthesisers, sound design and percussion with custom built “architecturally designed” illuminated platforms. Billed as an “inter-faith minibus tour (with a sonic and visual dreamscape)”, The Calling will take you on a tour of religious architecture and sacred music in Western Sydney. Beginning at the crack of dawn with the Adhan (the Islamic call to prayer), you will explore selected mosques, temples and churches throughout Auburn, Granville and Parramatta. Also thrown into the mix is a delish traditional Lebanese breakfast. Slovakian artist Roman Ondák is teaming up with Kaldor Public Art Projects (the group that brought us 13 Rooms) to present a trio of performative works. The artworld superstar will present Project 28 at Parramatta Town Hall. Swap, explores process of exchange and barter with humour and audience participation. The second work, Measuring the Universe, at first glance looks like hundreds of thousands of black strokes on a white wall. Look closer and you’ll see it’s tiny records of various visitors’ heights and the dates the measurements were taken. The final work, Terrace, will be a brand new work created specially for the Parramatta event. And that bouncy Stonehenge? That's Sacrilege by Jeremy Deller, direct from the 2012 London Olympics cultural program. Frighten off the tiny children and get jumping. Multipacks are available from October 24 at 9am. General tickets are available on October 28 at 9am. For full details see the Sydney Festival website. This year, the festival is offering an interactive, walk-through version of their program before tickets go on sale. A careers-counsellor-like service will help you find the events you most want to see. Take a gander from October 24-27 at Lower Town Hall. By Rima Sabina Aouf, Hugh Robertson and Rebecca Speer.
UPDATE: June 24, 2020: Pain and Glory is available to stream via Google Play and YouTube — and, from Friday, June 26, from Amazon Prime Video. Perhaps it's the brightness, with each splash of colour feeling like it comes straight from the heart. Maybe it's the array of familiar faces that fill his frames, as though he's building a cinematic world populated by his favourite people. Or, it could be his sensitive yet vivid way of seeing the world, and the expressive images that arise as a result. Whether one, two or all of the above are responsible, a film by Pedro Almodovar usually proves a highly personal affair — although there may be no more intimate a movie on his four-decade resume than Pain and Glory. Enlisting one of his go-to stars, Antonio Banderas, to play his on-screen surrogate, this rich and reflective drama follows a filmmaker aching with unhappiness, trawling through his memories and being haunted by his inertia. In a way, Pain and Glory is the Inception of Almodovar films. An acclaimed director steps into his own history by making a movie about a famous director doing just that, with both real and fictional helmers reuniting with an actor who's shaped their career. In Almodovar's case, that should be actors. Banderas leads the show, while Penelope Cruz, the other great Spanish talent that came to fame under the filmmaker's 90s-era gaze, appears in flashbacks as the protagonist's mother. This casting, and the fact that Banderas has been styled to look like Almodovar, is crucial. The actor even wears some of the writer/director's own clothes, and his character lives in a recreation of Almodovar's home. Although Pain and Glory isn't the filmmaker's first movie to include personal elements, he purposefully draws parallels between fact and fiction here — grappling with the idea of revealing a piece of himself with each work, something all artists do, in a wholehearted manner. Salvador Mallo (Banderas) also ponders the same notion. His glory years seemingly behind him, he thinks his days of leaving a bit of himself in each movie are long gone as well. Fans still clamour for his work, as an anniversary screening of his breakout hit shows, but his focus is elsewhere. Mainly, he's consumed by pain from various ailments. When his former star Alberto (Asier Etxeandia) re-enters his life and introduces him to heroin, he becomes preoccupied with glimpses of his childhood that swirl through his mind. Still, Mallo has been working on an autobiographical text — and when he reluctantly lets Alberto turn its contents, including his 80s affair with his great love Federico (Leonardo Sbaraglia), into a one-man theatre show, the experience is revelatory. There's a quiet, thorny and tender core to Mallo's plight but, as the likes of All About My Mother, Volver and Julieta have shown, Almodovar operates in sumptuous, sweeping mode. Far from struggling with the contrast, Pain and Glory is equally restrained and resonant, making exceptional use of its softer and livelier moments alike. So too does this year's Cannes Best Actor award-winner Banderas. Across his layered, multi-decade filmography spanning both Spanish and Hollywood cinema, he's never been better. Indeed, he's the best he's been since following Almodovar into completely different territory his last great performance in 2011's The Skin I Live In. Understated, introspective, gentle and melancholic, rather than the vastly more overt characters he has often played for the director, Banderas frequently conveys all of Mallo's hurts, anxieties and fears without saying a word. It's little wonder that cinematographer José Luis Alcaine (a veteran of Almodovar's work for decades, too) can't find anything as interesting to stare at as Banderas. The actor is a moving canvas within the film's broader frame and, every time you peer his way, the picture changes to something just as astonishing. Unsurprisingly, Cruz comes close to matching him. As the feisty mother to a pre-teen Mallo (Asier Flores) in the 60s, she lights up the screen the way that she lit up the boy's formative years. Her scenes are wistful by design, as you'd expect when an ageing man escapes into his head to take stock of his life. That said, few filmmakers can so seamlessly integrate the ghosts of the past with the woes of the present as Almodovar. Perhaps his genius stems from the reality that, amid the evocative colour and movement, Almodovar is unafraid to glare at hard truths while he's opening up his heart. If only we could all sift through our lives, losses, needs and desires as meticulously and beautifully as the Spanish auteur. Heaving with emotion, his Pain and Glory is a movie to get lost in — and, as anyone who's ever faced their own crossroads or confronted their mortality can attest, it's also a film of sublime and unwavering honesty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJEDh4ikcWA
It never gets all that cold in Brisbane. It doesn't snow, for instance. Still, it's fun to pretend that it's frostier than it is. One way to do exactly that: In the Snow at Customs House, which sets up igloos and wintry decor by the river each year. It's the Queen Street venue's regular seasonal makeover when the mercury drops, and it comes complete with see-through domes for you and your mates to hang out in — while getting cosy under faux-fur blankets, peering at the river and knocking back a range of Veuve Clicquot tipples. Or, if you'd prefer cocktails for your chalet-style waterside hangs, the Berries and Bubbles pairs raspberries, citrus, Belvedere Pure and Veuve Clicquot Brut. There's also the Whiskey Business, as made on Woodford Reserve with chilli, citrus and bitters, plus espresso martinis. Open Thursday–Sundays weekly from Thursday, May 18 until Sunday, September 3 — operating from 4pm on Thursdays and Fridays, and from 1pm on Saturdays and Sundays — the pop-up is also serving up a selection of bites to line your stomach. Start with up to three cheeses with truffle honey, or the baked whole brie. Your tastebuds can enjoy oysters, duck terrine, pumpkin provolone arancini as well, and wagyu beef tartare and mac 'n' cheese croquettes. There's the always-popular Moreton Bay bug croissant, too — it wouldn't be a Custom's House igloo pop-up without it — which you can also pair with truffle fries. Just rocking up, walking in and enjoying the Aspen-inspired vibes is more than welcome. Gathering the gang? You can also book igloos for between six and 11 people — with a minimum spend of $80 per person.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around Brisbane, as happens each year once Halloween ends and November arrives. But come Friday, November 25, for a whole month leading up to the big day, the Brisbane CBD and South Bank will be brimming with festive cheer — whether you're keen on shopping your way through markets, peering at dazzling lights or getting comfy (and merry) with a drink in your hand. Brisbane City Council and Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner have unveiled the lineup of Christmas events that'll be decking out the city's two major inner-city precincts, and it's filled with both beloved returning highlights and new reasons to get merry. Some, like the Enchanted Garden in Roma Street, are popular favourites set to dazzle again — so much so that tickets to see its 22,000 square metres of lights have already sold out. Others, like the 'Tinsel Tavern' and Christmas jazz lounge, are fresh additions to your seasonal itinerary. It all kicks off on Friday, November 25 with the annual lighting of King George Square's 22-metre-tall Christmas tree, as well as the Enchanted Garden's launch. If you missed out on a booking to the latter, mark out most of December in your diary, as that's when the bulk of the rest of the events take place. For nabbing gifts, Brisbane Arcade's two-day Christmas markets, the BrisStyle twilight Christmas markets in King George Square and The Collective Markets' six-day Christmas edition at South Bank all return, joining the city's hefty list of places to browse and buy beyond shopping centres. In the CBD, there'll also be nightly light shows at City Hall, running from 7.30pm–12am from Friday, December 9–Saturday, December 24; daily roving performances in the mall across the same dates; and the Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols on Saturday, December 10 at the Riverstage. Or, kick back at the jazz lounge around the Queen Street Mall's stage, with performances by Scat Jazz. South Bank will concentrate its festive fun between Saturday, December 17–Thursday, December 22, including daily pantomime shows, a free Santa photo station at Flowstate, and the return of Christmas Cinema by the river — complete with free double features, with Elf, Last Christmas, Arthur Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Holiday, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Happiest Season among the flicks on the bill. And, the Tinsel Tavern will set up on Little Stanley Street Lawn, serving tipples nightly from 4.30–10pm — and thoroughly saying cheers to the silly season. Brisbane City Council's 2022 Christmas program will take over the Brisbane CBD and South Bank from Friday, November 25–Saturday, December 24. Head to the Visit Brisbane website for further details.
When Andrew Haigh surveys the world, he sees its small, quiet stories. Peering deeply at everyday life, the British filmmaker finds tales that couldn't be more commonplace — and, as a result, are often simply overlooked. In queer romance Weekend, he spots two men meeting for the first time, connecting and spending three unforgettable nights together. In melancholic drama 45 Years, he gazes at long-married retirees taking stock of a past gone too quickly. And in Lean on Pete, he trains his soulful stare not only at a struggling teenager, but at the horse that the boy loves unconditionally. That said, it's not just Haigh's willingness to tell these tales that makes his filmography stand out. It's how the writer-director explores these stories that's just as important, with his pictures overflowing with empathy. Haigh couldn't look more kindly, warmly and thoughtfully at the characters in his movies, especially Lean on Pete's 15-year-old protagonist Charley (Charlie Plummer). The lanky boy is someone that the world doesn't see, just like his beloved steed, whose winning days are long behind him. In patient moments that show the unspoken bond between teen and animal, in detailed wide shots that place them both within harsh surroundings, and in rare close-ups that make plain the pain in both of their eyes, Haigh notices, cares and feels for them both. Lean on Pete isn't really Charley's horse. He belongs to trainer Del Montgomery (Steve Buscemi), but when Charley stumbles upon them at the local racetrack, the boy finds a kindred spirit in the ageing sprinter. As a respite from his desolate home life — where the dad he idolises (Travis Fimmel) is more interested in his job and girlfriend (Amy Seimetz) and regularly leaves the teenager alone in their ramshackle house — Charley begins to work for Del. While the boy doesn't shy away from hard tasks, it's Pete that keeps him coming back. Jockey Bonnie (Chloë Sevigny) tells him that "horses aren't pets", but that's not what Charley sees in Pete. Rather, he sees his first real friend. With the film based on Willy Vlautin's novel of the same name, Charley and Pete aren't Haigh's original creations, however that's part of the point of Lean on Pete. Its protagonist is every person who's found more kindness on four legs than on two, every soul that's been cast adrift by society, and every child living in less-than-ideal conditions. And, when Charley's father ends up in hospital, the boy's already difficult life becomes even more so. When he takes off in Del's trailer with Pete in tow, hoping to find his estranged aunt, there's even more heartbreak in store. The second of this year's stellar films about young men, desolate plains and caring animals (after fellow festival favourite The Rider), Lean on Pete is an exquisitely tender and affecting picture. Haigh's handling of loneliness, isolation and tragedy is raw yet delicate yet devastatingly authentic, in a movie that's always sensitive yet never sentimental. Scene by scene, it builds a compassionate portrait of life in the margins in America's midwest that dares to look where others don't. Assisted by lingering and visually striking observational shots by cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck (Hold the Dark), the film crucially doesn't avert its gaze when the going gets tough. Of course, with Plummer to focus on, why would Haigh look away? Last seen being kidnapped in All the Money in the World, the young actor carries Charley's woes with few words but with a world of hurt evident in his every move — and with just as much love beaming from his face when Pete is by his side. It's another great internalised performance under Haigh's direction, and a portrayal that does what only the best can. Not only does Plummer feel like he's walked across America's heartland and straight into this film, but he makes it seem like he's not even acting. Haigh might see Charley, but his lead actor lives and breathes him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdJonibBDx4
Think Lunar New Year, and you likely think Chinatown. That's understandable — but it's not the only Fortitude Valley spot celebrating the occasion. Over at Bakery and California lanes, the two patches of pavement are putting on a Lunar New Year party. There'll be food. There'll be booze. There'll be lion dances, live music and roving performances as well. On Saturday, February 1, 2025, the festivities for the Year of the Snake will get into full swing with a lively laneway shindig. Fat Dumpling will be serving up its titular dish (naturally), Gung Ho! Dumpling Ramen Bar will also help fill your stomach, and Chicken of Rock will similarly be doing its respective thing. Also on offer: cocktails and other boozy beverages at the two laneways' bars. All that celebrating is thirsty work, after all. Plus, there'll be lion dances and live music — and you're just a short stroll from the rest of the Valley's celebrations. Top image: Fat Dumpling.
As difficult as is it to name more than a handful of sequels that improve upon their predecessor, it's almost impossible to name a trilogy that gets progressively better from the first film to the third. After much contemplation, only two contenders spring to mind: Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, and Disney Pixar's Toy Story – each of which began from an incredibly strong position and yet somehow built upon and enriched each subsequent experience rather than draw out, repeat or simply ruin that which came before. Now, however, we can add a third series to the list. Beginning in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and followed up by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes three years later, this remarkable and consistently surprising franchise has saved its best entry until last with the thoughtful and deeply moving third installment: War for the Planet of the Apes. And it is a war film, although not in the conventional sense. With soldiers' helmets emblazoned with slogans like 'Bye Bye Bonzo' and 'Monkey Killer', there's a definite Full Metal Jacket vibe among the human characters. Yet this is a war film more in the vein of Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. Emphasising visuals over dialogue and backed by a sumptuous orchestral score, the movie largely eschews combat sequences in favour of exploring internal conflicts, as well as the absurdity of observing 'rules' to govern the means by which two peoples might slaughter one another. It is at once a summer blockbuster and a poignant tragedy, which is no mean feat given it involves machine-gun wielding apes that can talk and ride on horseback. There's not a moment in this film, from the opening frame to the last, where you question what you're seeing. The very name for what makes that possible, 'special effects', seems entirely insufficient to capture the extraordinary wizardry at play here. Pile all the transforming robots and world-destroying aliens together and you'll still get nothing as remotely impressive as what writer-director Matt Reeves and his team have delivered with this film. "My god, your eyes, they're almost human" exclaims Woody Harrelson's antagonist. Whatever flaw he sees, the audience cannot. These apes aren't simply special effects; they're characters, as real and as complex as any human standing opposite or beside them on screen. This brings us to Andy 'Who Needs A Face To Act?' Serkis. Truly, the man could play a dilapidated gate on an abandoned farm and still imbue it with more pathos than most of his contemporaries. To say he's overdue for an Oscar is an entirely overplayed record, but until it happens or he stops turning in performances of such astounding nuance and tenderness, we'll keep on resetting the needle. Alongside his fellow motion-cap actors Terry Notary, Karen Konoval and Michael Adamthwaite, Serkis's Caesar is the heart of the film. He's the reluctant general; a gentle soul whose only reason for fighting is to save his fellow apes and family from extinction. Like Pacino's Michael Corleone in Godfather Part III, Caesar's efforts to secure peace instead find him drawn further into darkness, imperilling those he loves and condemning his own soul to ruin. On the human front, each film in the Apes trilogy has featured fewer than the one before it, and in War there are only two of note: Harrelson's ruthless Colonel and an orphaned girl named Nova played by the captivating Amiah Miller. They are, in many ways, the best and the worst of us – tormentors and saviours whose interactions with Caesar shape his every decision throughout the film. We are unquestionably compelled to side with the apes in this, the final stage of the trilogy, which is an intriguing sensation given we're barracking for the very creatures responsible for wiping us out. Again, it's down to the remarkable work of the team behind the film, whose storytelling and performances have given us a Shakespearean tale full of heartache, betrayal, courage and redemption. War for the Planet of the Apes is an instant classic and a fine conclusion to a spectacular saga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDcAlo8i2y8
GOMA's latest exhibition works in a very specific fashion. Pieces travel between venues, and when they're at each particular place, the project stops, evolves and changes. It's the art equivalent of musical chairs — and we mean that in a good way. Indeed, in bringing together four of the Asia-Pacific's leading institutions for collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting contemporary art, Time of Others boasts an ingenious method for reflecting upon social and cultural relations in the region today. It does require a further note of explanation, though. The tinkering and alterations happen as the collection prepares to move cities, rather than occurring before audience's eyes. Still, as the curatorial collaboration makes its final outing after two years of flitting between galleries, it's impossible not to marvel at the concept — and the creativity on display, of course. Showcasing new works by artists from the area and diving into the depths of existing holdings at each of the participating museums, Time of Others aims to reveal multiple perspectives and differences to create a basis for discussion and reflection. Image: LE An-My, Vietnam 1960-, Damage Control Training, USS Nashville, Senegal (from 'Events Ashore' series) 2009, Archival inkjet pigment print on 380gsm Harman Professional Inkjet paper mounted on sintra, 101.6 x 143.5cm, Acc. 2011.218, The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 2011 with funds from Michael Sidney Myer through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation.
Queenslanders, it's holiday time. After a year largely spent staring at your own four walls, you probably don't need much motivation to head out of town, but the State Government is giving you some anyway. In an effort to encourage everyone to take a getaway up north within the state, it's handing out $200 vouchers for travel to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. The idea has two obvious aims: enticing Queensland residents to go venturing throughout the state, and helping support tourism businesses in the highlighted area. The move was announced today, Sunday, March 7, by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, including the details of what you can spend the money on, when you can spend it and exactly how you can get your hands on the vouchers. From Monday, March 8–Thursday, March 11, 15,000 vouchers will be available — and you'll need to head to queensland.com to nab one. You'll register for a voucher code, as part of a scheme that's been dubbed 'Cairns Holiday Dollars'. Obviously, it's likely that there'll be more people keen on scoring the $200 discount than there will be vouchers, so they'll be handed out as part of a draw. Those who successfully receive a voucher will then be able to use it between March 15–June 25 on tourism experiences in the tropical north area, which also includes Port Douglas and the Atherton Tablelands. The vouchers can only be spent on tourism experiences and attractions, and will enable you to get up to 50 percent off your booking, maxing out at $200. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1368288000619114497 While Victoria's similar scheme, which was announced in 2020, also covered accommodation, that isn't the case in Queensland. It's clearly hoped that most folks taking up the vouchers will need to pay for somewhere to stay anyway — and to eat and drink at cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars while they're there — which'll also inject more money into the region. If the vouchers are successful, Premier Palaszczuk said that they could be rolled out across the rest of the state. For now, though, the Premier advised that the government wants "to make sure that people across Queensland get to enjoy tropical far north Queensland". You can apply for one of the 15,000 $200 'Cairns Holiday Dollars' travel vouchers from Monday, March 8 at queensland.com.
In the 70s and 80s, it was Countdown. In the 90s and early 00s, it was Recovery. Now, the ABC is adding The Set to its roster of music-focused TV shows. Like its predecessor, the new television series will feature live music performances in front of a live studio audience — with triple j's Linda Marigliano and Dylan Alcott as the program's hosts. Kicking off on both ABC and iview at 9.30pm on Wednesday, October 31, The Set will feature a different main band each week, who'll then invite two guest acts to perform live as well. To end each show, the week's artists will all team up in a one-off musical collaboration. And with the whole thing taking place on a purpose-built share house set, which also includes a backyard, 250 folks will be there, in person, enjoying the gig. Headliners include Angus and Julia Stone, Vera Blue, Ball Park Music and The Presets, while the likes of Illy, Odette, Baker Boy, Wafia, Mallrat, Angie McMahon, Tia Gostelow, LANKS and Kult Kyss have been named among The Set's guests. The series will actually air twice each week — with a 30-minute episode running each Wednesday evening, and then an extended hour-long version screening on Saturdays at 10pm from November 3.
Less than a month ago, Queensland eased a number of COVID-19 restrictions, only to tighten them again not once but twice just a couple of days later. For the Sunshine State, it's definitely been a chaotic few weeks regarding measures to contain the pandemic, with parts of the region also undergoing lockdown conditions. When 6am hits on Friday, June 16, however, Queensland will start loosening its limits and caps once again. That means that the state is rolling back its current restrictions regarding gatherings, venues, dancing and masks — so great ready for bigger parties, more folks hanging out in the great outdoors, and busier bars, cafes, restaurants and venues. They'll all become a reality in Queensland from Friday, after the State has reported four days in a row without any locally acquired COVID-19 cases. Wondering what's changing? There'll no longer be any limits on how many people can gather in homes or outdoors — although if you are having more than 100 folks over to your house, you'll need to keep a list of attendees. Another big shift that'll hit at the same time: amending the rules for hospitality businesses, with a three people per four-square-metres capacity cap coming into effect. That'll apply to clubs, pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants, as well as to galleries, museums, convention centres and places of worship. If these types of venues have seated and ticketed capacity, they can fill those areas to 100 percent, too. And, dancing is coming back as well — after a few weeks of Queensland resembling Footloose. Masks will no longer be required anywhere other than airports and on planes, and there'll be no restrictions on hospitals and aged care either. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1414376694836649987 If you're wondering why the changes won't come into effect until Friday, Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young said that it's due to the numbers still in home quarantine at present. "I have too many people in home quarantine, and if any of those people were, for whatever reason, to be out and about, it could mean that we have got infectious people. There is just too many. I need more results," she said. "You have got to remember, the Alpha and the Delta variant, the incubation period for both of those is 14 days so we have just got to wait until the majority of those people have been tested and got through quarantine. There is just too many." Queenslanders are asked to keep social distancing, maintaining the hygiene practices that have been in place since March 2020, and checking the state's list of exposure sites — and to get tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. Top image: Atlanta Bell.
Laughing in a doubled-over, can't breathe, feels-like-you-have-a-stitch kind of way isn't a planned thing. It happens spontaneously. It happens without warning. It happens at times and from sources you mightn't expect. That's what Brisbane Comedy Festival's After Hours component is all about when it returns for 2023: making the humorous magic happen in a different fashion, away from the usual routines, well-oiled jokes and hilarious shows that unleash the same comic gems night after night. Taking over The Studio at Brisbane Powerhouse on Saturday evenings throughout the fest — on May 6, May 13 and May 20, to be exact — this always-changing late-night show is a chance for everyone involved to get loose. As for who that might be each evening, well, that's part of the surprise. The lineup changes weekly, and tickets to this variety show cost $25.
Wool Modern will open to the public this ANZAC Day, Wednesday, April 25, in a celebration of one of Australia's top industries. This year's exhibition aims to dissolve any preconceptions about the wool industry by demonstrating the new, fashionable 21st century platform for the natural fibre. Featuring the "modern, innovative, and avant garde" use of wool throughout today's creative industries, Wool Modern promises to upstage your thick winter socks. Prominent Australian fashion and interior designers (including Collette Dinnigan and Akira Isogawa) will display their creations among industry greats such as Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood. The exhibition was the highlight of the 2011 Campaign for Wool, and was visited by the Prince of Wales himself last year. Wool Modern will be held on Pier 1 & 2 in Sydney from April 25 to Tuesday, May 1. From there, it will be transplanted to the nearby Queen Victoria Building on George Street, where it will remain through June. Josh Goot Emma Elizabeth Gorman https://youtube.com/watch?v=0-QpsFLpoB8
Get excited, cinephiles. One of the biggest film festivals in the world just wrapped up for another year, after unveiling a wealth of new movies from around the globe over a jam-packed 11-day period. And even if you weren't at this year's 69th Berlin International Film Festival — enjoying the brisk but not unbearably frosty German winter, and sneaking in a few schnapps and schnitzels while rushing between cinemas — this huge, high-profile annual fest always brings good news. Between February 7–17, the highlights were many, especially for anyone looking to add a whole heap of flicks to their must-see list. Among the official competition titles sat everything from blistering dramas to topical real-life tales, as judged by the likes of Juliette Binoche, Toni Erdmann actor Sandra Hüller and A Fantastic Woman filmmaker Sebastián Lelio. Elsewhere, the stars and stories kept flowing, including Jonah Hill's first stint as a feature film director, Tilda Swinton sharing the screen with — and getting outshone by — her daughter, and an essential music documentary finally seeing the light of day. And it wouldn't be a Berlinale without a few controversies, including the last-minute withdrawal of Zhang Yimou's Cultural Revolution drama One Second and the grim reception received by Fatih Akin's serial killer flick The Golden Glove, which earned a hefty amount of walkouts. After emerging from Berlin's many, many picture palaces, that's just the short version. Here's the long round-up — aka the ten movies that'll hopefully be headed to Australian screens. These are the films that stuck in our head beyond the hustle and bustle. Fingers crossed that they'll be hitting a local cinema sometime soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Al2nC0vzY THE SOUVENIR With The Souvenir, another Swinton becomes an acting powerhouse. Honor Swinton Byrne stars in this 80s drama about aspiring filmmaker Julie and her older boyfriend Anthony (Tom Burke) — and while Tilda Swinton also features as her kindly mother, this is the younger Swinton's show. Struggling to pursue her passion and falling hopelessly for someone who's not quite who he seems, Julie's tale might seem familiar. And yet, with writer/director Joanna Hogg turning her own life into this stunning fictional effort, and unafraid to take aim at love, life, ambition and middle-class privilege, the film becomes a deeply moving adult coming-of-age story. Elegantly and insightfully scripted, lensed and performed, The Souvenir also acts as its own memento, leaving an imprint that lingers long after its frames have stopped rolling. [caption id="attachment_710369" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] © Guy Ferrandis / SBS Films[/caption] SYNONYMS A highly worthy winner of Berlinale's Golden Bear, the festival's top prize, Synonyms refuses easy categorisation. It's a fish-out-of-water affair, following young Israeli Yoav (Tom Mercier) upon his arrival in Paris, but it's also a savvy take on today's fragmented world, a blistering character study about a man who refuses to be pinned down, and a ruminative reflection upon the difficulties of starting life anew, even by choice. Yoav is eager to put his Tel Aviv days behind him as quickly as possible, renouncing his homeland, refusing to speak another word of Hebrew and doing whatever it takes to become French; however, his transition is far from straightforward. Mercier is electrifying in his first acting role, while filmmaker Nadav Lapid draws upon his own experiences to cement his spot as a rising directorial star. [caption id="attachment_710361" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] © BBP LOML[/caption] LIGHT OF MY LIFE The world mightn't necessarily need a Casey Affleck-written and directed survivalist movie about a father, his pre-teen daughter and a post-apocalyptic world otherwise absent of women. It mightn't seem to need a mash-up of Leave No Trace, Children of Men and The Handmaid's Tale either. But that's exactly what the Manchester By the Sea Oscar-winner delivers in his first fictional helming effort (although mockumentary I'm Still Here almost counts), and Light of My Life lives up to its concept and the obvious comparisons it inspires. Thoughtful and heartfelt from start to finish, Affleck's feature uses its dystopian premise to ponder the struggles of parenting a child who'll eventually need to make their own way in life. On screen, the actor-turned-filmmaker is at his nuanced best playing a man trying to protect his curious offspring (Anna Pniowsky) from the harsh reality of her existence, while his young co-star brightens up the movie in a manner wholly befitting its title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywE77VYpWc BY THE GRACE OF GOD Exploring sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, By the Grace of God was always going to prove both topical and sorrowful, regardless of its timing. Based on a real-life French case, the film's ripped-from-the-headlines storyline has recently seen two figures portrayed within its frames take legal action, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to block its release. In Australia, the movie arrives hot on the heels of high-profile local legal proceedings; however, the anger, dismay and empathy the Silver Bear recipient inspires is all its own. Focusing on three men (Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud) who were inappropriately taken advantage of by the same priest (Bernard Verley) as children, this is a measured, moving, sensitive and sobering picture from filmmaker François Ozon, who ventures worlds away from previous efforts such as Swimming Pool and Young & Beautiful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO6avRMFGSQ MID90s Thanks to all-girl flick Skate Kitchen and Oscar-nominated documentary Minding the Gap, the past year has ushered in a new golden age for teen-focused skateboarding films. Mid90s falls happily in the middle of both — exploring the exploits of a group of kick-flipping guys in a way that's both dreamily nostalgic and tenderly clear-eyed — and firmly belongs on the list. Marking Jonah Hill's first full-length solo effort as a writer and director, it follows 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic). The shy kid wants nothing more than to ollie his way around LA with his new older pals Ray (Na-Kel Smith), Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt), Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin) and Ruben (Gio Galicia), despite the wishes of his worried single mum (Katherine Waterston). As well as getting devastatingly naturalistic performances out of his cast, Hill directs this blast from the past exactly as it demands, with every inch feeling like the product of someone who's been there and seen it, even if he hasn't strictly lived through it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylJrxh-4MG8 VARDA BY AGNES Two years after gifting the world Faces Places, her delightful and insightful documentary about placing oversized portraits of villagers around the French countryside, Agnès Varda returns with another factual effort that's just as wonderful. While the cinema legend co-directed her last movie with much-younger artist JR, this time around she's back on her own, as the 90-year-old has been for much of her 65-year filmmaking career. Indeed, her lengthy life behind the lens is the subject of Varda by Agnes, with the inimitable figure taking viewers through her career as only she can. Spanning from her French New Wave beginnings to her adoption of digital technology, this is a self-portrait, a celebration and a masterclass — and, as always, it's an absolute pleasure spending time in Varda's company. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPdqXdN-Xtg AMAZING GRACE Told on screen via text, the story behind concert documentary Amazing Grace is worth its own movie. Over two nights in January 1972, Aretha Franklin recorded her best-selling gospel album of the same name at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, with the Southern California Community Choir as backing singers, and with filmmaker Sydney Pollack on hand to capture the whole thing. But, due to both technical and legal issues — including Franklin suing to stop the movie's belated release before her death — the end result hasn't made it to the big screen until now. 47 years is a long time to wait; however, this doco is worth it. Amazing Grace is joyous for many reasons, from witnessing the Queen of Soul's talent, to paying tribute in an intimate fashion, to seeing the effect of faith and artistry on the on-screen audience. And when Franklin sings the title track for 11 minutes, its a moment no one will forget in a hurry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTWLFlWJEWs GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY There's an alluring mood to this French-Canadian film, which isn't quite a horror flick but certainly isn't a standard drama either. An atmospheric kindred spirit to the Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara-starring A Ghost Story from 2017, of sorts, Ghost Town Anthology enters the remote Quebec village of Irénée-les-Neiges, population 215. Suddenly, after an accident, that number drops to 214, and the townsfolk don't know how to cope. Grief is an immensely difficult feeling to convey on screen, but Denis Côté's haunting movie does a stellar job of capturing the deep-seated yearning to reunite with lost loved ones — and the unnerving impact when mysterious figures start popping up around the tiny locale. The grainy effect of shooting on 16mm certainly enhances Ghost Town Anthology's ethereal tone, as does its willingness to let images and actions speak louder than words. SKIN It has been 19 years since Jamie Bell danced his way into audience's hearts in Billy Elliot, with his character escaping a harsh home life and a narrow view of masculinity through ballet. In Skin, the British actor is covered in tattoos and sports a shaved head as real-life figure Bryon Widner — and while the American white supremacist doesn't take to dance, he's similarly trapped in a restrictive environment and subconsciously yearning to break free. Widner's path changes when he meets a single mother (Danielle Macdonald), turns away from the right-wing scene and tries to say goodbye to his hate-spewing pseudo parents (Vera Farmiga and Bill Camp). Directed by Oscar-winning short filmmaker Guy Nattiv, Skin might be blunt as it charts Widner's journey; however, thanks to a potent performance from Bell and his co-stars, it's always effective. [caption id="attachment_710366" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] © Rafael Winer[/caption] BUOYANCY In recent years, Australian filmmakers have explored the plight of refugees and immigrants in a variety of compelling ways — in hard-hitting documentary Chasing Asylum, in the more meditative Island of the Hungry Ghosts, and now in Buoyancy. Shot in Cambodia and Thailand, and spoken in Khmer, Thai and Burmese, this Aussie drama examines human trafficking, with 14-year-old Chakra (Sarm Heng) leaving life on the rice fields in search of something more, but finding himself tricked into slave labour on a fishing trawler. Informed by real-life experiences, Rodd Rathjen's feature debut doesn't pull its punches, as Chakra's time at sea proves bleak and brutal to say the least. Indeed, every moment and frame is designed to immerse viewers in the boy's despairing, a feat that the film achieves.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures will do that, and so will plenty of people staying home because they aren't well — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Perhaps you've been under the weather. Given the hefty amount of titles now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are 12 that you can watch right now at home. ASTEROID CITY In 1954, one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest thrillers peeked through a rear window. In Wes Anderson's highly stylised, symmetrical and colour-saturated vision of 1955 in Asteroid City, a romance springs almost solely through two fellow holes in the wall. Sitting behind one is actor Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow), who visibly recalls Marilyn Monroe. Peering through the opposing space is newly widowed war photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), who takes more than a few cues from James Dean. The time isn't just 1955 in the filmmaker's latest stellar masterpiece, but September that year, a month that would end with Dean's death in a car crash. Racing through the movie's eponymous setting — an 87-person slice of post-war midwest Americana with a landscape straight out of a western, the genre that was enjoying its golden age at the time — are cops and robbers speeding and careening in their vehicles. Meticulousness layered upon meticulousness has gleamed like the sun across Anderson's repertoire since 1996's Bottle Rocket launched the writer/director's distinctive aesthetic flair; "Anderson-esque" has long become a term. Helming his 11th feature with Asteroid City, he's as fastidious and methodical in his details upon details as ever — more so, given that each successive movie keeps feeling like Anderson at his most Anderson — but all of those 50s pop-culture shoutouts aren't merely film-loving, winking-and-nodding quirks. Within this picture's world, as based on a story conjured up with Roman Coppola (The French Dispatch), Asteroid City isn't actually a picture. "It is an imaginary drama created expressly for the purposes of this broadcast. The characters are fictional, the text hypothetical, the events an apocryphal fabrication," a Playhouse 90-style host (Bryan Cranston, Better Call Saul) informs. So, it's a fake play turned into a play for a TV presentation, behind-the-scenes glimpses and all. There Anderson is, being his usual ornate and intricate self, and finding multiple manners to explore art, authenticity, and the emotions found in and processed through works of creativity. Asteroid City is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Pick your poison, action-franchise edition circa 2023: balletically choreographed carnage; cars, kin and Coronas; or Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick) constantly one-upping himself in the megastar stunts stakes. Hollywood loves them all. Screens keep welcoming them all. So, after John Wick: Chapter 4 and Fast X comes Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One to deliver the kind of movie spectacle that always looks best on the biggest and brightest of viewing formats. And, as its lead actor's gleaming teeth do, the seventh instalment in the TV-to-film spy series shines. Like Cruise himself, it's committed to giving audiences what they want to see, but never merely exactly what they've already seen. This saga hasn't always chosen to accept that mission, but it's been having a better time of it since 2011's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, including when writer/director Christopher McQuarrie jumped behind the lens with 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Rubber masks so realistic that anyone on-screen could rip off their face to reveal Cruise's Ethan Hunt? Of course they're present and accounted for. Espionage antics that involve saving the world while traversing much of it? Tick that off ASAP. The saga's main Impossible Missions Force operative doing whatever it takes, including sprinting everywhere and relentlessly exasperating his higher-ups? Check. A trusty crew faithfully aiding the always-maverick Hunt, plus slippery adversaries to endeavour to outsmart? Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One gives them a hefty thumbs up as well. Shady forces with globe-destroying aims, being able to trust oh-so-few folks, wreaking slickly staged havoc, those jaw-dropping stunts, top-notch actors: Cruise and McQuarrie, the latter co-writing with Erik Jendresen (Ithaca), feel the need to feed it all into the flick, too. They're also rather fond of nodding to and reworking the franchise's greatest hits. Happily playing with recognisable pieces while eagerly, cleverly and satisfyingly building upon them isn't the easiest of skills, but it's firmly in this team's arsenal. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLUE BEETLE Buzzing at the heart of Blue Beetle are two contrasting notions: fitting in and standing out. Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña, Cobra Kai) wants to feel at home not just in his own slice of El Paso-esque Texan spot Palmera City, but beyond his neighbourhood. When he assists his sister Milagro (Belissa Escobedo, Hocus Pocus 2) working at the well-to-do's houses, he searches for opportunities, especially given that he's in need of a steady job to help his family save their home as gentrification swoops in. Thanks to a run-in with Kord Industries, its warmongering CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon, Maybe I Do) and an ancient artefact known as the scarab, however, the recent Gotham Law University graduate will soon be his hometown's most distinctive resident. Getting covered in blue armour, being able to fly — wings and other bug appendages come with the suit — and hearing a robotic voice (Becky G, Power Rangers) chatting in your head will do that, as will having a multinational company try to swat you down because it wants to deploy the technology RoboCop-style. So scampers the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe — a movie that grapples with the same concepts as the ever-earnest Jaime beyond its storyline. It slots into its franchise while providing something new 14 entries in, before the DCEU comes to an end with the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (under fresh DC leadership, a different silver-screen saga is coming, which might still link in with Blue Beetle). Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings), this is the superhero genre's first live-action flick with a Latino lead, be it from DC or Marvel. It's a family drama as much a caped-crusader affair. It's a story about immigrants striving to thrive and retain their own culture. And, it revels in an 80s sheen and sound. Blue Beetle battles enthusiastically to claim its own space, then, as almost constantly seen and felt. Alas, that doesn't stop it from getting generic as well, as much save-the-world fare is. Blue Beetle is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLACKBERRY There's rarely a still moment in BlackBerry. Someone is almost always moving, usually in a hurry and while trying to make their dreams come true everywhere and anywhere. Those folks include Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel, FUBAR) and Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson, who also directs and writes as he did with The Dirties and Operation Avalanche). The pair created the game-changing smartphone that shares this movie's name. Also always frenetic: Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), the executive they pitch to, get knocked back by, then hire as co-CEO. That near non-stop go-go-go look and feel — cinematography that's constantly roving and zooming to match, too — isn't just a stylistic, screenwriting or performance choice. It's a case of art imitating the impact that the BlackBerry handsets and their tiny QWERTY keyboards had on late-90s and early-00s life. Before the iPhone and its fellow touchscreen competitors took over, it was the key device for anyone with a work mobile. The big selling point? Letting people do their jobs — well, receive and send emails — on the move, and everywhere and anywhere. Should you blame Research in Motion, the Canadian technology company that Lazaridis and Fregin founded, for shattering work-life balance? Dubbed "crackberries", their phones played a significant part in extending the office's reach. Is anyone being inundated with after-hours emails on a BlackBerry today? Unless they have an old handset in their button-pressing hands, it isn't likely — and BlackBerry the film explains why. Spinning on-screen product origin stories is one of 2023's favourites trend, as Tetris, Air and Flamin' Hot have demonstrated; however, history already dictates that the latest addition to that group doesn't have a happy ending. Instead, this immersive and gripping picture tells of two friends with big plans who achieved everything they ever wanted, but at a cost that saw the BlackBerry become everything, then nothing. Like its fellow object-to-screen flicks, it follows a big leap that went soaring; this one just crashed spectacularly afterwards. BlackBerry is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. CHEVALIER "He is the most accomplished man in Europe in riding, running, shooting, fencing, dancing, music." Writing in his diary in 1779 about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, American Founding Father and future second US President John Adams didn't hold back with his praise. But the world has barely taken his cue in the nearly two-and-a-half centuries since, letting the tale of this gifted French Creole violinist, conductor and composer slip from wider attention. Within a sumptuous period drama that's charmingly, confidently and commandingly led by Kelvin Harrison Jr — with the Waves, The High Note, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Cyrano star full of mesmerising swagger, and also endlessly compelling as a talent forced to struggle as a person of colour in a white aristocratic world — Chevalier endeavours to redress this failing of history. Veteran television director Stephen Williams (Watchmen, Westworld, Lost) and screenwriter Stefani Robinson (Atlanta, What We Do in the Shadows) begin their Bologne biopic boldly, playfully and with a front-on confrontation of the "Black Mozart" label that's surrounded their subject when he has been remembered — even if they also commence Chevalier with likely fiction. In pre-revolution Paris in the late 18th century, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Joseph Prowen, Father Brown) has an enraptured crowd in his thrall as he both plays and conducts. He pauses, then prompts his audience for requests. The response comes as a surprise: Bologne striding down the aisle, asking if he too can pick up a violin, then getting duelling with the musical instrument against the acclaimed maestro. Williams and Robinson start their film with a statement, announcing that they're celebrating a life that's been left not only ignored and erased — especially in a realm that's so often considered old, stuffy and definitely not culturally diverse — but also been stuck lingering in someone else's shadow. Chevalier is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. SANCTUARY Succession with BDSM. A reminder that love can sear. A slinky two-hander that's sometimes about only having one free hand. Sanctuary is all of the above, plus a psychosexual battle and a romp of a twisty erotic thriller-meets-romantic comedy — and also a reminder that there's something about Christopher Abbott in chic hotel rooms being teased out of his comfort zone by blonde sex workers (see also: Piercing). There's something about the actor in confined settings in general (see there: Possessor, The Forgiven and Black Bear), but only this supremely confident affair about a significantly complicated affair pairs him with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood breakout Margaret Qualley. As they verbally tussle and sometimes physically tumble, unpacking class, control, chemistry, intimacy and authority along the way, they're a chamber-piece dream. Sanctuary's chamber: a sleekly appointed suite decked out in saturated colours and ornate patterns at one of the 112 hotels that share Hal Porterfield's (Abbott, The Crowded Room) surname. And the piece's point? The thorny, horny relationship between the born-to-privilege heir and Rebecca (Qualley, Stars at Noon), who enters his room with a sharp knock, a no-nonsense stare, business attire and a briefcase filled with paperwork. Hal's father has just passed away, and he's now Kendall Roy awaiting the anointing that he's been promised since birth. His companion runs through background-check questions, veering into the highly personal. Soon, after drinks, dismay and a snappy debate, he's on his hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom while she watches on. Now he's Roman Roy, complete with dirty-talk banter, but in a film directed by sophomore helmer Zachary Wigon (The Heart Machine) and penned by Micah Bloomberg (Homecoming). Sanctuary is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BIOSPHERE If an apocalypse ever brings humanity so close to extinction that there might only be two people left, one thing is certain: if that duo is together and can communicate, they'll spend most of their time nattering about nothing. They'll talk. They'll argue. They'll fill the days, months and years by talking and arguing. They'll still be human, in other words, doing what humans do. Biosphere sets up house within this very scenario, and in that exact truth. Here, lifelong pals Billy (Mark Duplass, Language Lessons) and Ray (Sterling K Brown, This Is Us) are the only folks left after the planet has met a catastrophic fate — one that, because he was the US President when things went dystopian, Billy likely had a hand in — and they're now confined to the movie's titular structure. So, they talk. Sometimes, they argue. When first-time feature-length filmmaker Mel Eslyn plunges the audience into this situation, her characters have been talking and arguing, then arguing and talking, for so long that it's just what they do. Working with a script that she co-penned with Duplass, Eslyn introduces Biosphere's viewers to a self-contained ecosystem of discussing and disagreeing. In the abode designed and built by Ray, a scientist and Billy's former advisor, this pair has no other choice. "Self-contained" perfectly sums up the sensation when the film begins flickering, too — as Ray and Billy go for their daily jog around the sphere, talking and arguing as they trot, their dynamic and their routine is conveyed with such efficiency that it feels like you've been watching for longer than you have. Biosphere doesn't drag, though. Rather, it's excellent at constructing a lived-in world with Billy and Ray as they live through what could be the end of the world. It's ace at storytelling as well, but the talking, the arguing, and the immersive and relatable air all smartly say plenty about a movie that recognises from the outset how adaptable people are. Biosphere is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. EGO: THE MICHAEL GUDINSKI STORY Post-viewing soundtrack, sorted: to watch Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is to take a trip down memory lane with the Australian music industry and hear homegrown standouts from the past five decades along the way. Unsurprisingly, this documentary already has an album to go with it, a stacked release which'd instantly do its eponymous figure proud. His tick of approval wouldn't just stem from the artists surveyed, but because Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story's accompanying tunes comprise a three-disc number like Mushroom Records' first-ever drop, a 1973 Sunbury Festival live LP. To tell the tale of Gudinski, the record executive and promoter who became a household name, is to tell of Skyhooks, Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Yothu Yindi, Bliss n Esso, The Temper Trap, Gordi and Vance Joy, too — and to listen to them. Need this on-screen tribute to give you some kind of sign that the Gudinski and Mushroom story spans a heap of genres? Both the film and the album alike include Peter Andre. Any journey through Michael Gudinski's life and career, from his childhood entrepreneurship selling car parks on his family's vacant lot to his years and years getting Aussie music to the masses — and, on the touring side, bringing massively popular overseas artists to Aussies — needs to also be an ode to the industry that he adored. The man and scene are inseparable. But perhaps Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story plays as such an overt love letter to Australian music because it's an unashamed hagiography of Gudinski. Although the movie doesn't deliver wall-to-wall praise, it comes close. When it begins to hint at any traces of arrogance, moodiness or ruthlessness, it quickly does the doco equivalent of skipping to the next track. Australian Rules and Suburban Mayhem director Paul Goldman, a seasoned hand at music videos as well, has called his feature Ego and there's no doubting his subject had one; however, the takeaway in this highly authorised biography is that anything that doesn't gleam was simply part of his natural mischievousness and eager push for success. Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. DRACULA: VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER In the Bram Stoker vampire novel that's inspired almost all other vampire novels, Dracula is undead. In popular culture since and forever, the fictional Transylvanian bloodsucker will never die. Regardless of his fate on the page back in 1897, the most-portrayed character in horror movies ever keeps baring his fangs on-screen, rising again and again like the sun that this creature of the night can never bask in. 2023 brings two new Dracula films, which isn't overly notable, but this crop of Stoker-influenced flicks doesn't simply retell the usual 126-year-old tale. Leaning into comedy and action, Renfield sunk its teeth in by giving the vampire's long-suffering familiar some love. Now the dread-dripping Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter hones in on one chapter of the book that started it all, detailing the captain's log from the neck-munching fiend's journey to London via ship. Starring for Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark director André Øvredal: Corey Hawkins (In the Heights) as physician Clemens, Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) as stowaway Anna and Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) as Captain Eliot. The former hops onto the latter's ship in Eastern Europe, where a promised job falls through due to his race, forcing a pivot onto the Demeter's crew to return to England. Clemens isn't the only new boarding, with the vessel also welcoming 50 unmarked crates from the Carpathian Mountains. Given that the film is named Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter Down Under — elsewhere, it's known as just The Last Voyage of the Demeter — there's no surprises about what's among the cargo. So, as initially told in Dracula's seventh chapter, in the epistolary format of letters, journals and clippings that Stoker's tome deployed across the entire novel, the key contents of those mysterious wooden chests soon begins offing fellow seafarers. Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. GRAN TURISMO: BASED ON A TRUE STORY Speeding onto screens with instant brand awareness is 2023's big trend. Air, Tetris, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Flamin' Hot and Barbie: they've all been there and done that already. Now it's Gran Turismo's turn, albeit with a film that isn't quite based on the video game of the same name. Directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium, Chappie), and penned by Jason Hall (American Sniper) and Zach Baylin (King Richard), it also doesn't tell the racing simulator's origin story. Rather, this pedal-to-the-metal flick focuses on the real-life Nissan PlayStation GT Academy initiative from 2008–16, and the tale of British racer Jann Mardenborough specifically. The overall program endeavoured to turn the world's top Gran Turismo players into IRL motorsports drivers — and the Cardiff-raised Mardenborough is one of its big success stories. The ins and outs of GT Academy receives hefty attention in Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, plus Mardenborough's (Archie Madekwe, Beau Is Afraid) life-changing experience along with it; however, much is also made of a massive marketing push. Here, Nissan executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom, Carnival Row) wants to attract new customers, ideally those leaping from mashing buttons to hitting the road. Accordingly, he conjures up the console-to-racetrack idea to help make that sales boost happen, even if racing veteran Jack Salter (David Harbour, Violent Night) is skeptical when asked to come onboard as a trainer. You don't see it in Gran Turismo the feature, but surely taking the whole situation into cinemas if the underlying concept proved a hit was part of that initial plan as well. Amid the ample product placement anywhere and everywhere that the film can slide it in, that certainty thrums constantly. Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. STRAYS Canines are so beloved in cinema that the Cannes Film Festival even gives them a gong: the Palm Dog, which has been awarded to a performing pooch (sometimes several) annually since 2001. Among the past winners sit pups in Marie Antoinette, Up, The Artist, Paterson, Dogman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — most real, one animated, some anointed posthumously and none scoring their prize for a quest to bite off someone's penis. That genitals-chomping journey belongs to the four-legged stars of Strays alone. They're played by actual animals, with CGI assisting with moving lips and particularly raucous turns, and they're unlikely to win any accolades for this raunchy lost-dog tale. The pooches impress. They're always cute. Also, they're capable of digging up laughs. But Strays is a one-bark idea that's tossed around as repetitively as throwing a tennis ball to your fluffy pal: take a flick about adorable dogs, and talking ones at that, then make it crude and rude. Games of fetch do pop up in Strays, but via a version that no loving pet owner would ever want to play. This one is called "fetch and fuck", with stoner and constant masturbator Doug (Will Forte, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) doing the pitching. He isn't a kindly human companion to Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell, Barbie). He's cruel and resentful — and constantly drives Reggie to various distant spots, sends him running and ditches the pooch. With unwavering affection, plus the naivety to only see the good in his chosen person, Reggie thinks that it's all meant to be fun until he's abandoned in a city hours away. There, he meets Boston terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx, They Cloned Tyrone), Australian shepherd Maggie (Isla Fisher, Wolf Like Me) and great dane Hunter (Randall Park, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). Realising the truth about his relationship with Doug, he's sent by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar director Josh Greenbaum and American Vandal creator/writer Dan Perrault on a canines-gone-wild revenge mission with his new dog squad trotting along to help. Strays is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HAUNTED MANSION There's almost nothing that's bold about Haunted Mansion, but making the Disney family-friendly horror-comedy about moving on from the past is downright audacious. What the film preaches, the company behind it isn't practising — with this specific movie or in general. This flick isn't the first that's based on the Mouse House's The Haunted Mansion theme-park attraction, thanks to a 2003 Eddie Murphy (You People)-starring feature. In 2021, the entertainment behemoth also combined the Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland highlight with The Muppets in streaming special Muppets Haunted Mansion. And, no matter how Haunted Mansion circa 2023 fares at the box office, there's no doubting that the idea will get another spin down the line. Nearly everything Disney does; this is the corporation that keeps remaking its animated hits as live-action pictures (see: The Little Mermaid), revelling in sequels even decades later (see: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), and getting franchises sprawling as films and TV shows alike (see: Marvel and Star Wars). When Dear White People and Bad Hair filmmaker Justin Simien begins his Haunted Mansion, it's with backstory that explains why astrophysicist Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield, Atlanta) is himself so unwilling to embrace the future. He meets Alyssa (Charity Jordan, They Cloned Tyrone), falls in love, then understandably falls apart when he's suddenly a widower — and, once he's consumed by mourning he's committed to staying that way. Then priest and exorcist Father Kent (Owen Wilson, Loki) ropes him into a gig at the movie's central abode, enlisting not just his help but the use of his specially developed camera that photographs dark matter and, ideally, spectres. The gadget was a labour of love for Alyssa, who worked as a ghost tour guide around New Orleans, a job that Ben has swapped science and the lab for after her passing. Now, he needs his invention to assist Gabbie (Rosario Dawson, Ahsoka), a doctor who has just relocated with her son Travis (Chase W Dillon, The Harder They Fall) — while calling in psychic Harriet (Tiffany Haddish, The Afterparty) and college historian Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) to also lend a hand. Haunted Mansion is available to stream via Disney+, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies of 2023 so far
It's always the way that on the one day you've got one bar of battery left, you forget your phone charger. A Universal Phone Charger is a clunky solution to such a problem, but here's something more elegant: a mobile which can recharge from ambient heat, even when it's sitting in your pocket! It's a clever concept from London-based designer Patrick Hyland. The Nokia E-Cu (E for environment, Cu for copper) creates a current from the smallest of energy sources like the heat from your pocket. The outer copper casing receives thermal energy and transforms it into battery power. It's still in concept-stage, with no plans from Nokia to develop it yet, but Hyland is keen to collaborate with anybody to get it off the ground. Hyland aims to create a charger-free cell phone future, noting that "annually, unwanted phone chargers produce 51,000 tons of waste in addition to the greenhouse gases created by the production of the electricity needed to charge them." [Via Good]
Today, Friday, September 10, marks a fortnight since Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last announced a change to Queensland's COVID-19 restrictions, and also confirmed that the rules around masks were remaining in place in many situations. At the time, the Premier advised that the new requirements would be effective for at least two weeks, and that they'd be assessed fortnightly moving forward. We've now reached that first review point — and all the current settings are staying for now, the Queensland Government has just revealed. If you live in the Brisbane City Council, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim Local Government Areas, it has been some time since you've been able to flash your smile at people outside of your own home. Since the end of June, in an effort to stop the region's recent COVID-19 cases from spreading, wearing masks has been compulsory across the region, although that mandate relaxed slightly in mid-August. The rules that've been in place since then aren't going anywhere for now, though, so you'll still be hiding that grin until at least 4pm on Friday, September 24. 📢 Mask wearing requirements will remain in place for South East Queensland until 4pm 24 September. For more information about what restrictions are in place, visit https://t.co/P0YcPprxOb pic.twitter.com/FPvOuAKKcf — Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) September 10, 2021 Need a refresher on the rules? Queensland has a standing mask mandate for flights, airports and stadiums, so you'll always need to mask up there — and, for the next two weeks, they'll remain mandatory in plenty of other spots. That includes on public transport, in ride shares and while waiting for both; in all indoor spaces other than your own home, including hospitality businesses, unless you're eating and/or drinking; in schools; and outdoors if you can't remain 1.5 metres away from people who aren't part of your household. Also, you will still need to always carry a mask with you. Queensland currently has 21 active COVID-19 cases, with one new locally acquired case reported in the past 24 hours. Exposure sites have started being named around Brisbane again, however, so you'll need to still keep an eye on the list of places that positive COVID-19 cases have visited. And, as always, the usual requests regarding social distancing, hygiene and getting tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms also still apply — as they have since March last year. Southeast Queensland's current mask rules will remain in place until at least 4pm on Friday, September 24. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website.
By this point, Archie Rose needs little introduction. One of Sydney's first distilleries in 160 years has reignited many an Aussie's appreciation of spirits since opening in 2014 thanks to its diverse range of premium whiskies, gins, vodkas and rums showcasing native ingredients. Along the way, it's become the nation's most awarded distillery, and it's also given us one-off collaborations, limited releases and interactive spirits experiences from masterclasses to fascinating distillery tours. If that weren't enough, now Archie Rose has only gone and created what it's calling its best-ever gin. Bone Dry Gin is a limited-edition run that's the brand's first from its new Banksmeadow distillery and its one-of-a-kind copper vacuum stills. The spirit extracts the diverse flavour profile of hand-foraged juniper berries from North Macedonia through hot and cold distillation, and it is lifted with notes of Australian coriander seed, Tahitian lime and lemon-scented gum. The result is a tipple with a supple start on the palate that gives way to bold citrus and herb notes that leads to a pine-accented, bone-dry finish. To celebrate the release of Bone Dry Gin, we've teamed up with Archie Rose to give two lucky readers the chance to win the ultimate Archie Rose prize pack. Enter below to go into the running to win a case of Bone Dry Gin (six bottles), a pack of Caperberry Martini cocktail bottles (two bottles) and a pair of tickets to an Archie Rose Blend Your Own Gin masterclass in Sydney (valid for three years). That's nearly $1000 worth of Archie Rose goods, on us, for you to enjoy the ultimate gin experience — including the chance to make your very own. [competition]828345[/competition]
And sell it. Mostly sell it. But you'll actually earn some money too. Despite original fears that digital music downloads would kill the industry and steal artists' royalties, the new distribution channel has been welcomed by many and often brings artists and their fans closer together. Some have even experimented with the medium and how to sell music online: Radiohead let fans pay what they want, and online concerts are now nothing out of the ordinary. Kaiser Chiefs have come up with an ingenious way of involving their fans in their new album The Future Is Medieval, asking them to create their own customised version of 10 tracks from the 20 on offer, and create the cover art. If you think your producing/artwork is pretty awesome, you can put your version up for sale on their Album H.Q. and if others buy it, you'll earn a portion of each sale. Gimmick? Perhaps. A clever way to get fans to pay for an album twice? Definitely. But the band could really be on to something here. Giving fans a role in the creation of the album, however token, gives them a sense of ownership and connection with the band/brand; the Album H.Q. provides a space for the community; and the cash reward means that fans get to share in the band's success. If the experiment proves a success, expect others to follow suit or push the envelope even further. The world of print media, whose death has often been falsely predicted, could perhaps take a leaf out of music's book when it comes to competing in a digital world. [Via PSFK]
James Bond might have no time to die in the espionage franchise's upcoming 25th instalment, but audiences now have plenty time to wait until they see the film. Originally slated to hit cinemas worldwide in early April, No Time to Die's release has been pushed back seven months, with 007's latest action-packed antics — and Daniel Craig's last stint as the suave spy — now reaching the big screen in November. In a Tweet, studios MGM and Universal, as well as Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced that the movie has been delayed "after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace". The film will now drop seven months after its original release date, releasing in the UK and Australia on November 12, and the US on November 25. https://twitter.com/007/status/1235248760260874241 The brief statement doesn't mention the specifics behind the decision, but the move comes amid growing concerns about the impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19, on the film industry. With the virus continuing to spread around the world, cinemas in some countries have been temporarily shuttered in an attempt to stop mass gatherings and help contain the infection. While that's currently only the case in China, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Italy and France, it's a tactic that could be rolled out elsewhere. Just this week, two Bond fan sites wrote an open letter calling for No Time to Die's postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic — in the name of public safety. Of course, there's clearly a financial motive behind MGM and Universal's decision to follow suit. Cinema closures, especially in huge markets such as China, obviously affect a movie's box office earnings. Although nothing else has been announced as yet, don't be surprised if other big movies take No Time to Die's lead and shift their release dates for the same reason. Plenty of other huge titles, such as Black Widow, Fast and Furious 9, Wonder Woman 1984 and Top Gun: Maverick are all currently scheduled to release in the upcoming months — and therefore face the same public health and financial concerns. Revisit the No Time to Die trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rohdh1I3efY&t=13s No Time to Die was originally due to release in cinemas on April 8, but will now release in Australia on November 12. Top image: Nicola Dove © 2019 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
