The combination of New York street food and burgers, a laneway, and restaurateurs Bonnie Shearston and Tom Sanceau first gave Brisbane Red Hook, with the Gresham Lane favourite opening its doors in 2014 and satisfying River City tastebuds ever since. Now, it's time for one of the best questions that the hospitality industry can inspire. What tops one eatery from the duo throwing it back to the Big Apple? Two, which is where Dumbo is about to come in from September 2024. Also behind Ruby, My Dear in Newstead — and with a past lineup of ventures spanning Coppa Spuntino, London Fields, Canvas Club and Pollen as well — Shearston and Sanceau are now joining the influx of venues that are making Portside Wharf their home. For their addition, a 121-square-metre space opposite 2023 arrival Fosh, not just NYC but 90s NYC is the guiding force. The name? It hails from the Brooklyn neighbourhood, aka Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. The food? More dishes that'll make you think that you've headed to the US. "The concept behind Dumbo is to bring a slice of New York's bustling laneway and bar culture to Brisbane's Northshore. Guests can expect a more-sophisticated and elevated take on a traditional burger restaurant, with its design echoing the charm of New York's 90s dining scene, and providing a welcoming space for people to catch-up, unwind and connect," explains Shearston. "New York street food and burgers have always had a way of bringing people together, which is what we are wanting to achieve at Portside Wharf with Dumbo." For both dining in and taking away, the menu will span Brooklyn cheeseburgers, Philly cheesesteaks, duck tacos and burrito bowls — and plenty more — while craft beers from both local and international breweries will be on offer to wash down your meal. Among the sips, so will spirits and wine. "We have operated Dumbo's sister venue Red Hook in the CBD on Creek Street for more than a decade. We wanted to continue Red Hook's legacy and build on its offering, which has been loved by so many people over the years, by opening a similar concept restaurant with a unique style and flair," added Sanceau. "However, it was crucial for us to wait for the right time and location to bring Dumbo to life. When the opportunity presented itself to join Portside Wharf's community as part of its new chapter, and in the wake of its exciting new openings and multi-million-dollar redevelopment, we couldn't pass it up. We knew its riverside location would perfectly suit our vision and that its customers and residents would embrace Dumbo's offering." The inner-north precinct's current $20-million revamp also saw Rise Bakery, Rosé Gelateria and Birds Nest Yakitori set up shop at the Hamilton spot in 2023. Portside Social, a gastropub from the Newstead Social crew, is also on the way, as is Italian restaurant Sbagliata. [caption id="attachment_778600" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Find Dumbo at Portside Wharf, 39 Hercules Street, Hamilton from September 2024, with the exact opening date still to be revealed — and keep an eye on the eatery's website for further details in the interim.
Ever woken up from a deep sleep, only to forget what you were dreaming about? Well the problem may be that your dreams just aren't memorable enough. A new iPhone app can solve this problem, as it apparently allows sleepers to control their own dreams. The app, named Yumemiru (translates to "see the dream" in English), uses a microphone to somehow detect when you are in your deepest sleep and most prone to mental influence. It then plays a soundtrack according to which dream scenario you have selected. Yumemiru currently offers eight different scenarios for users to choose from. These include a walk through the forest, a lazy day at the beach, getting rich, flying, and falling in love. Importantly, the romantic scenario has options for both men and women. Although this is a fascinating concept, I think that some of these scenarios are pretty pedestrian. If I'm going to stimulate my own dreams, I want my subconscious to come out with both guns blazing. There should be an option that allows you to become Godzilla or rob a bank. Regardless, give this app a try and see if your sleeps become any more exciting. After all, they may be so enjoyable that you'll never want to wake up. [via PSFK]
Museum lovers, we know you miss visiting your favourite galleries and taking in all the beautiful art the world has to offer, so we have some good news for you: you can now join The Museum of Modern Art's top curators every Thursday (or Friday, Down Under) to explore the famed museum's exhibitions. Different gallery tours will be uploaded to the museum's website every week, ranging from film exhibitions to deep dives into the work of some of America's most iconic artists, including Great Depression photographer Dorothea Lange and sculptor Donald Judd. If you prefer to get a bit more hands-on with your art, the gallery is also offering a heap of free online courses, covering everything from postwar abstract painting to fashion and photography. Top image: MoMA by Gorup de Besanez for WikiCommons
After 18 days of the world's finest and most cutting edge films back to back to back, the Melbourne International Film Festival has packed up the popcorn and projectors. Here's what our critics loved, loathed, admired and squirmed over. The Best Films MOMMY The latest film from 25-year-old enfant terrible Xavier Dolan pours unconstrained emotion into a claustrophobic space. Shot in boxy 1:1 aspect ratio, the film tells the story of fiery widow Dianne and her troubled teenager Simon, a pair of bombastic outsiders in a white-bread, buttoned-down world. Anne Dorval and Antoine Olivier Pilon are both stunningly good, their performances positively glowing with uninhibited feeling. The tightness of the frame, meanwhile, reflects Di and Simon's limited options, even as their energy threatens to force the edges apart. This is a funny, earnest, devastating film, one that's vitalised, rather than limited, by its intriguing technical conceit. -Tom Clift https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ifhu51tLv5g FORCE MAJEURE I really wish this wasn't my favourite film of the festival. For the sake of my own credibility, I would prefer that my favourite film wasn't a film released by the company for whom my wife works as marketing manager. But the heart wants what it wants, and I'm talking about both her and the film when I say that. Force Majeure, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is a film that manages to completely deconstruct the concept of masculinity while also being utterly hilarious at almost every moment. It leaves you in a state of shock, but it's so entertaining and funny, you immediately want to watch it again regardless. An amazing achievement on every level. -Lee Zachariah https://youtube.com/watch?v=Jkjn5ICqmJI LISTEN UP PHILIP The blending of ambition, arrogance, inspiration and irrelevance troubles Jason Schwartzman's titular Philip in Alex Ross Perry's third feature. His second novel isn't garnering the requisite attention, and his girlfriend, Ashley (Elisabeth Moss), is better off without him. So when his mentor, Ike (Jonathan Pryce), offers up his holiday home, Philip quickly accepts. Yet, as astute as Perry's rendering of the familiar writer's self-absorbed struggle is, the film tells not just his story but Ashley's and Ike's too. Such structural daring matches an embrace of the abrasiveness of artistry, as played with acerbic comedy, cast with perfection and shot with the warm texture of super-16mm. -Sarah Ward https://youtube.com/watch?v=cX4Hhqjt6J8 BLIND Forgive the pun, but sometimes at a festival, it's best to go in blind. A film without a huge amount of pre-MIFF buzz, the directorial debut of acclaimed Norwegian screenwriter Eskil Vogt concerns a woman named Ingrid struggling with the loss of her sight. Alone in her apartment, she constructs an elaborate fictional narrative through which she works through her fears and insecurities — particularly in regards to her husband, who she fears may be having an affair. It's compelling, self-reflexive, sensual and funny. Think Stranger than Fiction — only full of incredibly graphic sex. -TC The Boldest Experiments MAIDAN You'd think that a largely static camera quietly observing the protests in Ukraine, with no narration and very little context, would be dull as dishwater. Yet Maidan is one of the most incredible documentaries I've seen in a very long time. When the protests begin in the Ukrainian square, they are peaceful and friendly. Children sing on a stage to an appreciative crowd. As the months drag on, the authorities become more tense, and we observe the situation devolve into something horrific and violent. The final moments, which include possibly the most beautiful sequence ever captured on film, leave not a dry eye in the house. -LZ https://youtube.com/watch?v=UgwSi3XVT4E LA ULTIMA PELICULA Alex Ross Perry didn't just direct one of the best features of the festival, he also stars in a creative highlight. Focused on a filmmaker trekking through Mexico circa 2012 to make an apocalyptic effort on the last reels of celluloid, La última película channels a distinct sense of the disjointed in its pseudo-documentary callback to Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie. Formats switch alongside tone and intention, the narrative meanders and rambling improvisation reigns — yet so does affection for its thematic aspiration and aesthetic beauty. That Mark Peranson and Raya Martin's film both probes and parodies the conversation surrounding its conceit also adds to its offbeat appeal. -SW https://youtube.com/watch?v=r2GN3wdfqbA OBVIOUS CHILD A brilliant response to weirdly conservative pregnancy comedies like Juno and Knocked Up, Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child is probably the most entertaining movie about abortion you'll ever see. Former SNL cast member Jenny Slate is hilarious as Donna Stern, a struggling New York comedian who gets pregnant after a drunken one night stand. The film's progressive, level-headed treatment of abortion makes it a rarity amongst American films, which when you think about it is fairly depressing. In any case, Obvious Child was early one of smartest, funniest comedies at the fest. -TC Most WTF Moments https://youtube.com/watch?v=ibffxoK5gs0 GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE 'Trolling' is something that is usually the domain of adolescents on social media. It's rare that an 83-year-old director will engage in such behaviour, but that's where Jean-Luc Godard — hero of the French New Wave — disagrees. Following on from his nigh-unwatchable Film Socialisme in 2010, Godard again creates something deliberately designed to irritate his audience. Goodbye to Language is filmed in 3D, and some shots contain the most impressive 3D I've ever seen. There is a depth to many of these shots that no Hollywood film has yet achieved. Yet for the majority of the running time, the 3D is specifically designed to make you cross-eyed, pushing the two angles just a little too far away from each other. Or in some cases, way, way too far away from each other. Detachable eyes are essential to watching this film without incurring a migraine. -LZ OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE The entirety of Jacques Rivette's 13-hour opus invites exclamation; it's not called the cinephile's holy grail without reason. Seemingly impenetrable extended sequences of experimental theatre, intertwined with a man (Jean-Pierre Leaud) caught in a conspiracy and a woman (Juliet Berto) fleecing the unsuspecting, evolve into a patchwork portrait of a time, place and mood. As it ebbs and flows, plays and provokes, everyone strives for but struggles to achieve their target. Though Out 1 offers no neatness in narrative or certainty in climax, neither does it leave the viewer unsatisfied. Instead, Rivette constructs an experience unparalleled in its insidious intrigue. Once you commit, you can't look away. -SW https://youtube.com/watch?v=_-ZtW5fWRjI WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL The shining star of the otherwise tepid Night Shift section, the latest film from Japanese splatter-head Sion Sono is a blood-soaked love letter to the movies. An absurd, exuberant mix of western, mob movie and samurai flick, the story follows a group of amateur filmmakers who get hired to 'direct' the showdown between two rival Yakuza clans. Packed with profanity, gore and over-the-top action, Why Don't You Play in Hell? is two straight hours of cinematic insanity. -TC Most Disappointing Films https://youtube.com/watch?v=aCponfeWNOI WISH I WAS HERE To say we were disappointed by Zach Braff's Wish I Was Here implies we were looking forward to it. Even those with fond memories of his debut Garden State (and hey, we count ourselves among them) will find it hard to stomach this privileged, tone-deaf family dramedy. It's a shame the phrase 'first world problems' has now been overused into oblivion, because it would be aptly deployed in this film, where very few of the problems faced by the leads are possible to sympathise with. Rich people struggling with not being quite rich enough? Yeah, it's not exactly Sophie's Choice. -LZ JACKY IN THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN It's a premise with promise and a production and pedigree with the same potential: a Monty Python-esque skewering of gender stereotypes and fundamentalism, filtered through a Cinderella-like story from graphic artist turned filmmaker Riad Sattouf (The French Kissers), and brought to life by a cast including Charlotte Gainsbourg and The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius. It's also a plain example of an idea ill served by its execution, with everything broad and blatant in the role-reversal comedy that eventuates. Laughs are few, as are subtleties, despite the spirited attempts of the director and performers. Jacky in the Kingdom of Women should boast ingenuity but instead languishes in obviousness. -SW https://youtube.com/watch?v=9KrhMbS9uh8 THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby was one of the more unique entries of the program, in that it's actually two separate films that together recount the breakdown of a marriage. Eleanor Rigby: Her is told the perspective of the wife, Eleanor, played by Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain. Unfortunately, while the formal conceit is fascinating, the script leaves a lot to be desired. Dull, mopey and full of unconvincing dialogue, the first film ended up being so disappointing that we didn't even bother with part two. -TC By Tom Clift, Sarah Ward and Lee Zachariah.
13 albums is an achievement that most bands never reach. It is a testament to their musical ability and endless creativity that they reach such a milestone. Wire have 13 albums under their belt and the fact that they’ve had 40 years to reach it is irrelevant except for the fact that 40 years of activity is also a hell of an achievement to reach. Influential is probably one of the better terms to describe Wire, yet it still doesn’t do them justice. They are influential mostly because of the way they have managed to keep re-inventing themselves and their music to avoid stagnation; something that many bands of the modern era seem to fail at. Blending hard and soft elements into their brand of post-punk has kept their music interesting since their breakthrough album, Pink Flag, released in 1977. Wire will be playing at The Zoo with two of Brisbane’s best in support. Per Purpose with their blend of abrasive Australiana and Multiple Man, whose sonic sound-scapes are earning them quite a name in the ‘biz’. This will be a great night of great music. I can guarantee it.
If you've ever found yourself wondering how certain foods and recipes are made, you're not alone. After all, the great Australia vs New Zealand pavlova debate fails to answer the question of who in their right mind thought whipping egg whites was a good idea. Most foods go through several iterations to come to the form we know them in today. Maybe it's because we have too much time on our hands with nearly 12 million of us locked down right now, but we decided to delve into the weird and wonderful history of some of Australia's most-loved food and drinks. From dinner party favourites to footy game snacks, here are a few brief backstories that took these foods to where they are today. PRAWN COCKTAILS Prawn cocktails reigned supreme at dinner parties in the decades leading up to the turn of the century, but the legend of this dinner party delight harkens back to the 19th century. Folklore has it that a worker came to a bar in California and ordered a plate of oysters and a whiskey after a day in the mines. After downing the whiskey, the prospector emptied the oysters into the glass and combined them with ketchup, horseradish, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. When asked what he was doing, the worker replied that he had created an 'oyster cocktail'. Somehow the bar owner thought this was a winning idea and begun selling oyster cocktails, launching the seafood cocktail. The dish popped up in Australia around the 1930s. In 1936, Adelaide's The Mail newspaper published a recipe for the seafood cocktail under the title 'Drinks For The Beach'. The recipe featured grilled shellfish in a small glass of sherry with "two dashes Tabasco sauce, a teaspoon lemon juice, two tablespoons tomato sauce or catsup, a teaspoon Worcester sauce, half teaspoon chopped chives" which would be mixed well, served over ice and with brown bread. BANH MI The Vietnamese banh mi's history is tied closely to European colonialism. The French invasion in the 1800s and subsequent global trade brought France's bread and European ingredients including cold cuts into Vietnam. This would eventually lead to the banh mi's crispy bread roll, reminiscent of a French baguette. The first banh mi was a simple sandwich featuring butter, cold cuts and paté. More traditional Vietnamese fillings became popular later, but the butter and paté stayed. The sandwich was most popular in the southern warmer parts of Vietnam as an alternative to Vietnamese staples like pho. Banh mi begun to spread far and wide in the 1960s and 70s following the Vietnam War, arriving in places like Australia where the warm climate mirrored that of south Vietnam. FOUR'N TWENTY PIES In March 2020 the Four'n Twenty pie became the Official Pie of the AFL. The crowning of this humble Australian pie brand had been a long time coming, but it was a long road to get there. The Four'n Twenty was created in Bendigo in 1947 by Les McClure, a dairy farmer who opened the Dad & Dave cafe. The pies were originally named after McClure's cafe before they were, apparently, renamed as a nod to the nursery rhyme 'Sing a Song of Sixpence' and its "four and twenty blackbirds backed in a pie". The pie's ability to be eaten with one hand while you hold a beer in the other no doubt contributed to its popularity as a stadium food, with the Four'n Twenty a frequent supplier to AFL food stands after its purchase by Peters Ice Cream in 1960. The thing that really solidified this particular brand of pies in the minds of footy fans was iconic ads that ran through the 1980s and 90s featuring catchy jingles and AFL stars. ESPRESSO MARTINI While some drinks have been around for centuries, the fun-lovin' espresso martini is fairly new to the bar scene. First created by revolutionary London bartender Dick Bradsell back in the early 80s, the cocktail's birth is attributed to a supermodel asking for a booze-fuelled drink that would simultaneously wake her up. As vodka back then was the spirit a la mode, Bradsell threw a generous shot of it in with a shot of coffee pulled from the barside espresso machine, plus some coffee liqueur (our money's on Kahlúa) and sugar syrup, then shook away before pouring it into a martini glass. It's rumoured that Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell could be the model behind the birth of the espresso martini. Initially, the drink was simply called a vodka espresso, before being known as the Pharmaceutical Stimulant in the late 90s and then the espresso martini. BOMBE ALASKA The bombe Alaska, or baked Alaska as it's known in its country of origin, has a storied past featuring former presidents and the sale of Russian land. Reports date dishes similar to the baked Alaska back to 1800s USA where President Thomas Jefferson dined on ice cream encased in a dried crust at the White House. It was apparently US inventor Sir Benjamin Thompson, the inventor of the kitchen range and a British loyalist in the American Revolutionary War, that was the first to discover meringue could be used as an insulator. The dessert's name comes from Parisian-American chef Charles Ranhofer who created a banana ice cream and walnut spiced cake version of the meal Jefferson had eaten and labeled it the Florida-Alaska. DOUGHNUTS The Smithsonian Magazine claims doughnuts have been around in some form or another for thousands of years, with archaeologists discovering fossils of doughnut-like cakes in prehistoric settlements. References to the doughnut can be found in publications as far back as 1808. A recipe from 1896 combines flour, salt, soda, cream tartar, nutmeg, cinnamon, butter, sugar, egg and sour milk to create its doughnuts. There seem to be two stories surrounding how doughnuts got their famous shape. The first is simply that the dough wouldn't cook all the way through to the middle when they were first being made so they were hollowed out. The second is a much more interesting story, involving adventures of the high seas. A New England ship captain had been given cakes from his mother to eat on a journey across the sea in order to ward off scurvy. When the captain needed to hold the wheel with both hands, he speared one of his mother's cakes onto the wheel, gifting the world the hollowed-out shape of the doughnut. MANGO PANCAKES The story of mango pancakes is one of mystery more than certainty. The bright yellow desserts are such a staple of Australian yum cha, some locals may be surprised to find out they are, for the most part, a uniquely Australian thing. The only other place across the globe that seems to have the same level of deep adoration for these creamy mango delights is Hong Kong. The dish is the signature dessert of Honeymoon Dessert, who have a strong claim to starting the craze in Hong Kong, however Honeymoon was established in 1995 and reports of Mango Pancakes online date back to the early 90s in Australia. This is all anecdotal of course, but, if there are any pancake detectives on the case, reach out as the mystery remains unsolved. Illustrations by asu_ad
The Queensland Ballet are taking part in International Gala, a showcase of dance in many of its varied forms. The event will see many guest dancers participate alongside established Queensland performers in a night of truly exquisite 'music meets dance' performances. Directed by Francois Klaus, International Gala will blend contemporary elements of ballet with iconic Australian flair, with music including didgeridoo performed by William Barton providing a new spin on classical favourites. Guest dancers feature past members of the Queensland Ballet who have since gone on to achieve international recognition. Dancers returning for the performance also perform with notable ballet groups such as the Vienna State Opera Ballet, Semperoper Ballett Dresden and The Australian Ballet. This is a fantastic night of dance not to be missed.
Stormwater drains do not immediately spring to mind as the most likely of subjects for a photography exhibition. Dank, dark and deliberately hidden from view, the humble drain is generally seen as a necessity of modern life but one that should be left in the deep underground recesses beneath our feet. Sydney artist Oliver Hopes begs to differ. After a boyhood adventure gone awry left Hopes stranded in the blackness of one of Sydney's innumerable stormwater drains, surrounded on all sides by an army of swarming cockroaches, his "most hated of animals", Hopes developed a permanent fascination with this unseen world of underground mazes. "I had a bunch of mates that would go and explore stormwater drains, and I don't know how they got the idea," Hopes told us. "We built a flaming torch out of a stick and torn T-shirt and kerosene ... and that was the first time I went down the drain." It certainly wasn't his last. These days, the artist finds himself lost in Sydney's drain system as often he can. Unlike this first encounter, which was inspired more by a sense of boyhood adventure than artistic expression, Hopes now always makes sure he has his digital camera with him and his latest exhibition is on display as part of the Head On photo festival at the Robin Gibson Gallery. Yet Hopes' art is no accident; it's the work of a man who knows how to find incredible beauty in the most unexpected of locations. The images are a cinematic delight, bathed in an evocative contrast of light and dark. If it weren't for the subtle details of the drains — the water stains and faded graffiti — the photographs could easily be mistaken for location shots from a Godfather film. Despite the grandiosity of the images, Hopes' process is amazingly DIY. Having experimented with elaborate camera set-ups, studio lights and plenty of work in the editing studio, Hopes found that often the most effective approach was also the most simple. Just a digital camera and then "it's basically me and what I see down there." "Most of them have a pretty natural cinematic quality, that special something that needs very little manipulation," Hopes said. "They are pretty powerful spaces naturally, which is what inspires me more to keep going. They are just so amazing and different and powerful." Thankfully for us, these atmospheric chiaroscuros hide some of the less appetising aspects of drains — though Hopes describes seeing everything from bats to rats to eels to cats. "You name it, it's down there," he says. Check out some of our favourite drains from Hopes' amazing collection of photographs below. Images courtesy of Robin Gibson Gallery and © Oliver Hopes.
Ask writer/director Sally Aitken about more than a year spent celebrating her documentary about Los Angeles' hummingbirds — a movie that premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, also screened at SXSW in Austin and Hot Docs in Toronto, then made its way Sydney and Adelaide's film fests as well, and was nominated for an AACTA Award across that journey — and she answers with a sense of humour. "I was about to make a little joke about 'it's like a little hummingbird migrating everywhere'," she tells Concrete Playground. That's a parallel drawn with the utmost of affection, however, as anyone that has seen Every Little Thing and witnessed the immense care that it has for the gorgeous tiny birds in front of its cameras will instantly recognise. "It's amazing," the Australian documentarian also notes about the film's global tour, flitting to Greece, Poland, New Zealand, the UK, the Netherlands, Estonia and Sweden, too, before it opened in Australian cinemas to kick off March 2025. When Aitken turned her lens towards beloved Australian film critic David Stratton in 2017 doco David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, the end result played at Cannes. 2023's Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles, the movie immediately prior to Every Little Thing on her resume, screened at the first-ever SXSW Sydney. The last time that the filmmaker peered at nature on the big screen, in 2021's Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks, she also scored a Sundance premiere. Together, those four titles paint a picture not just of an Aussie director's success and recognition around the world, or of her versatility, but of her desire to dig into an array of different stories of our humanity. "I like to make films that look at this incredible world through a new lens or through the other end of the telescope," she advises about a recent resume that's spanned appreciating cinema, reappraising ocean predators, the origins of iconic childhood entertainers and now a hotline for hummingbirds. Every Little Thing is indeed about hummingbirds in LA, but it's also about a person who has dedicated decades to tending to the birds' injuries. It was Terry Masear's book Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood — a review of it, to begin with — about her Los Angeles Hummingbird Rescue that sparked Aitken's second film of the 2020s about women and their connection with animals. That text was a memoir of its author's endeavours since 2004, but Every Little Thing's personal aspects, stepping through Masear's experiences beyond rehabilitating the smallest mature birds there are as well, is exclusive to the documentary. In interweaving the two, Aitken has crafted a pivotal chronicle of resilience among winged critters and humans alike. Wildlife rescue is a field of highs, hopes, healing and heartbreaks, as the film captures in detail. Existence is for all creatures anyway, great and small, as the documentary also examines. A phone call for Masear, a retired UCLA professor, usually means that a hummingbird in the City of Angels is in trouble. The reality of human life in the Californian city isn't always kind to the American-native species, but Masear unceasingly is. Every Little Thing flutters through her efforts as birds after birds are brought to her door — and as she attends to them in their various stages of need, aiming to get each one back flying over LA in the wild. Cactus, Jimmy, Wasabi, Alexa, Mikhail: they're just some of the hummingbirds that flap in and out, and that Masear treats with the sincerest of compassion. [caption id="attachment_995806" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacquie Manning[/caption] Every Little Thing surveys the ins and outs of the rehab process, including syringe-feeding fruit flies to babies as dawn breaks, taking birds through workouts to test their flying capacity, and transitioning them from incubators to aviaries and ideally back into the sunny skies. It explores the characters, feathered and human — and among the former, it is also well-aware that some under Masear's supervision won't make it. This deeply empathetic film sees the hummingbirds in all of their glory, using cameras capable of capturing their super-fast speed, and also peers at Hollywood as they do thanks to bird's-eye view imagery. Crucially, it's as much about what it means to devote your time to another creature, to commit to riding the rollercoaster of their wins and setbacks, and to truly care. After watching Every Little Thing, no one should look at feathered friends above, or at any animal life, in the same way again — and while viewing it, everyone should enjoy witnessing its critters in detail that they've likely never seen before. This is a touching movie, for audiences, those in it and the folks behind it. We also chatted with Aitken about the kindness at the picture's core, the inspiration to bring Masear's work to the screen, the film's personal turns, the extensive editing process thanks to hundreds of hours of footage, its often-breathtaking visual approach, and weathering the act that bird rehab involves both soaring joy and aching sorrow. On Every Little Thing's Year-Plus-Long Journey From Premiering at Sundance to Releasing in Australian Cinemas, Via Playing at Other Film Festivals Around the World — and the Reaction to It "It's so incredible as a filmmaker when you can see, very visibly in these kinds of scenarios like film festivals and in front of cinema audiences, how people are affected by the film. And I don't mean you perversely sitting there waiting for people to clap, or to cry or whatever, but the fact that the film is an emotional film for people. I think that's the affirming part of it, because we set out to make something that would be an invitation and something that would be a work that wasn't necessarily literal — that invited people to these ideas of compassion and kindness in a very beautiful way, with the sunny cinematography and the delicate hummingbirds — and that was supposed to also be about us as much as the birds. To have a film that premieres at Sundance is a thrill. To then be consecutively invited to all of these incredibly prestigious marquee film festivals, and then now to be in a cinema run, that's extraordinary — especially, especially right now, in the marketplace right now, where most of the offer is murdered bodies and people in office doing pretty crazy things. So, yeah, it's lovely." On What It Means as an Australian Filmmaker to Have Your Work Repeatedly Embraced by Festivals Across the Globe, as Aitken's David Stratton, Valerie Taylor, The Wiggles and Now Terry Masear Docos Have Enjoyed "It's funny because all those films are really quite different, but maybe they're also helmed by something that you're not even conscious that you're necessarily reaching for when you're making the film. I am very interested in our humanity. I like to make films that look at this incredible world through a new lens or through the other end of the telescope. So it's a thrill when that work gets invited to any of those festivals that you're mentioning. These are extraordinary environments to see work from all around the world. And I think it just speaks to the fact that we have an industry in Australia that is pretty challenged right now, and we are making work that that is as good, on par, right up there with everybody else — and that feels really good to be part of this global independent filmmaking sector." On Why Aitken Was Inspired to Bring Masear's Work with Hummingbirds to the Screen "Initially, I was sent the review of Terry's memoir and I genuinely thought 'what the heck? A hotline for hummingbirds?'. 'That is really very particular' was my initial thought. The curiosity of that was amazing to me. Not that I'm unaware that wildlife rescue happens, but I just never conceived that somebody would have such a singular focus — that hummingbirds would have this 24/7 helpline. And what on earth did that look like? So it was very much initially a curiosity, and when I read Terry's book, I realised it was so much more than that. The way she writes about the birds, it's very metaphorical. I realised in that moment there was an incredible opportunity to see these birds not just in their cinematic beauty — obviously the visual appeal of this film was always there — but that they could be this carrier of these much bigger philosophical ideas, these universal truths about our humanity. They were like a mirror to us. So I thought 'that is a really interesting film', that possibility, that invitation. It felt to me like this was much more than the story of someone just rehabilitating the hummingbirds that may be in that rehabilitation. It was actually a rehabilitation for ourselves. That was the starting point." On Making Two Films in the Past Four Years About Women and Their Work with Animals, and Their Place Among Aitken's Diverse Filmography Otherwise "It's certainly no secret that I am a huge champion of women's stories — women who are brilliant, women who are badass, women who are dastardly, women who are heroic. I think we can't scream those stories enough. But actually, what was quite funny, especially at Sundance — because Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks played at Sundance, and then this just played three years later — so many of the moderators, exactly like you, observed, they say 'oh, Sally was here three years ago with this film about this woman and the natural world, and what draws you to these stories of women?'. And the truth is that I make films about all kinds of things. I do true crime. I do music. I do all sorts of stories. So what I would say was 'well, fun fact, between Playing with Sharks and Every Little Thing, I made a small film about a small group called The Wiggles'. And actually the crowd, who are American by and large, they all cracked up laughing because it's so incongruous, right? This story about this childhood band in the midst of these films about ourselves and the interconnectedness with the natural, amazing, wonderful, miraculous world that we live in. But I think it's the same thing as what we were talking about before: it's finding a story that you think you know and telling this totally different story about that thing. So whether that's about sharks and the demonisation of sharks, and actually seeing them through the eyes of a woman who's quite literally been playing with them since the 1950s; or whether that's seeing the most well-known yellow-, purple-, red-, blue-clad characters that we see every day or every week on our breakfast television, and suddenly seeing them not in those colours, but seeing them as an incredible, incredible story of chasing your dreams, and this audacious idea of school teachers making it to Madison Square Garden; or whether it's hummingbirds, which in America are ubiquitous, they're just in everybody's backyard, and actually seeing them as these kind of magical fairy creatures — it's that same idea. It's just taking these things and putting a whole new lens on them, and telling a really hopefully cinematic, emotional story in the process." On How Every Little Thing Also Became About Masear's Personal Story "So it is really an act of faith, making a documentary. She says in the film she doesn't trust easily. That is true. What is also true is that when I read her book, her book doesn't talk about her personal story at all. Her book very much deals with the hummingbirds that she has looked after in the last 20-odd years, and it takes a few of those very memorable hummingbirds and explores the stories of how she came to care for those birds and what happened to those birds through rehab. That's essentially what the book is talking about. So the book is very much about her and the work with the rehabilitation. But it's this funny thing when you're making a film, especially a film that is observational — and documentaries on that kind of film, you're a very small crew. You're very, very tight. You're very intimate. And you're all signed up to this unknown adventure, because it's not like a drama. I always joke, I always think this is so much harder because we don't have a script, you don't have paid actors, you're not able to write your way out of the scene. You're actually filming real life. But she became increasingly comfortable. I'm very transparent in the way that I work. I like to tell people what my intention is, and also share my own vulnerabilities. I don't know how it's going to work out. Certainly that's not a statement that's not confident, but it's saying 'we're all in this together' — and I think that's very disarming for people, and certainly for Terry. She felt like she was among people who really valued her work, and so of course she started to trust us. And then so what actually happened is that she started opening up about her personal life — and of course, as soon as she did that, that was amazing, because so much fell into place in relation to some of the motivations for why she does the work that she does, or what might inspire her to do this work in the first place. So while that all happened, I also then, when I got into the edit with my brilliant, brilliant editor Tania Nehme [Monolith], I didn't want to make a film that was completely didactic. And so, like I said before, it was really an invitation. I wanted to draw this idea of Terry's biography, but to do it still in this lyrical, poetic way that just revealed the layers of her biography as we moved through the rehab process." On the Challenges of Editing, Including the Difficulties of Whittling Down the Footage and Deciding Which Hummingbird Stories to Tell "You are not wrong: the edit is absolutely the challenge, the moment that you go 'oh my god, I think I need to go and open a florist shop. Can I do it? It's really hard. How can these tiny birds be so goddamn heavy?'. You definitely have these moments where you think 'what?', and the volume of the footage was a big part of that. Terry takes so many calls through the season, and of course we captured as much as we could, but it's really a process, an iterative process. And so we got into the edit suite, and the one clear thing that I remember discussing with Tania was that our task in the edit was really to make the smallest things feel giant, to feel epic, to feel the stuff of grand cinema. So with that aspiration in mind, it was really just a process of working and working our way through the volume of footage. And then some of the characters, they reveal themselves to you. Jimmy is hilarious. Cactus is vulnerable. Alexa and Mikhail are thwarted love. In the mix of things, we wanted these characters to — in a way — be this mirror to the human experience as much as they were their own individual heroes, or are their own individual heroes, in the film." On Capturing Stunning Footage of Birds Known for Their Super-Fast Speed, and Pairing It with a Bird's-Eye View of Los Angeles "Right from the beginning, it felt like a film that had all of this visual potential. So if you've seen a hummingbird in real life, you know that they are incredibly fast — and magical. They look like fairies. They just whip in, they kind of come up and look at you, and then they whip off again. But the way that Terry wrote about them was very metaphoric, like I was saying. So I wanted to reach for a visual style and a visual treatment that was really replicating the way that Terry sees the birds — and the way that she sees them is otherworldly. So in the same way that a hotline for hummingbirds is quite specific, there is also a cinematographer whose specialty is hummingbirds. That's also pretty specific. So her name is Ann Johnson Prum [Terra Mater] and she lives in America. She is American. And she's an expert cinematographer with a camera called the Phantom Flex. The Phantom Flex is a camera that shoots at an incredibly high frame rate — it goes up to 1000 frames a second. And what that means is that when you film footage at a high frame rate, you can then really slow it down. So from the beginning, we wanted to lean into this idea of being able to enter into the hummingbirds' realm and not just be in our human limited sensory experience of them. And the other thing is that we have also two other cinematographers in the camera team, two Australian DPs, Dan Freene [Skategoat] and Nathan Barlow [a Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks alum]. And so we leant into cinematic time lenses, and that gave us macro lenses. So that gave us an ability to be really close to the birds — so close, in fact, that at times you can see their eyelashes. I mean, who knew that hummingbirds have eyelashes? So it was a huge challenge, but we really wanted to meet that challenge in order to make the birds feel worthy of this big-screen treatment, because they are worthy of a big-screen treatment. And it's really quite trippy, actually, when you know that a hummingbird is quite literally the size of your little finger, and then you're looking at it on a giant cinema screen — it's quite trippy, the experience for the viewers. So I was quite interested in playing with all of those ideas." On Every Little Thing's Crew Coping with the Casualties in Masear's Line of Work — as Newcomers to Facing It — But Ensuring That This Is a Film of Hope "That's a really perceptive question. And we were talking before about that intimate relationship — absolutely, of course, every time you make a film about whatever subject, it changes you or it affects you, not only because you're learning new things, but because you're working with, encountering, engaging with, being trusted with other people's experiences and their stories. So I found the whole experience incredibly moving. I think that, at the same time that I was in the edit — and Tania and I worked incredibly closely together. The shoot is very intense, you have the whole team, but when you're in the edit, it's really just the two of you. And the algorithms didn't make this film. It's a film that really, really does come from the heart, and it's exploring things that aren't always talked about or aren't always obvious. So to circle back to your first question, which is about the reaction, it's hugely affirming when people respond to that because it tells you that that need is there in all of us to have these stories about what is good in our humanity, what is kind, what is empathetic in a world that's actually constantly cynical — and constantly telling you that people are bad and politics is awful, and the world is existentially threatened with climate change. When you are in this news cycle, which is a horror show, when there's a story that comes along that reminds you that humans are resilient, imaginative, kind and empathetic, that's a good news story. And it's not like a Pollyanna good news — as you say, birds die. Life is tragic. Life is unfair. Life is awful. But the message, I suppose, in the film is that what matters is how you respond to that and the compassion that you put in when you're engaged in life. And I just thought that was such an extraordinary idea, along with the idea that if you take the time to get on bended knee for something that is so small, that's a giant act of your own humanity. I just thought that was such a strong, compelling call to arms for all of us, for how we can be — we can just be better." Every Little Thing opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
The annual Chilli Cook Off is back for a third round at Kettle + Tin in Paddington. Some of Brisbane’s best restaurants will battle for the honour and glory of winning the Chilli Pot Trophy. Head along to show support, stuff yourself silly with chilli and cast your vote. This event is one of our top picks of Brewsvegas. Check out our full top ten picks of the festival.
Ivan Sen has always gone it alone. In the world where we live, filmmakers have set decorators, editors, production managers, post-production technicians, concept artists, storyboard artists and legions of other scurrying assistants. Not Ivan Sen. He's an Australian filmmaker who does it all himself, and his outsider approach has so far taken him from his native rural New South Wales to places like Sundance, Cannes and Berlin film festivals. This directive — hands-on, honest, thoughtful, singular filmmaking — now stretches into the guts of his latest film, an outback murder case, Mystery Road. It's a quiet, steady yet thrilling film, held together by Aaron Pedersen's staggering performance as a lone, Aboriginal detective. To talk about Ivan's films, you have to talk about equality. In Sen's film worlds (Toomelah, Beneath Clouds), as in this world, some people are more equal than others. When Julie Mason, an Indigenous girl, is found with her throat cut off Mystery Road near Massacre Creek, no one gives a shit — not the cops, not anyone. This is the crime genre plot-point that opens up to a chasm of inequality. Underneath the high skies and low plains of Mystery Road, something else surfaces — a frighteningly beautiful, dead-on look at a troubled country. THE START OF MYSTERY ROAD "It's been a bit of a journey, this film," says Ivan. "I first mentioned it to Aaron in 2006 in Kings Cross, around midnight. We were passing like ships in the night, and I said, 'brother, I got an idea for you'. And he said, 'alright'. Then five years later, I ring him up and say, 'here's this idea, here's the script, it's time to do it'. It's a story that's come from my own experiences, my own heart, from my family and their experiences. So everything you see in some way comes from reality. The whole thing about Jay Swan being this cop caught between two worlds is something that's very close to my heart, coming from a small town, growing up, not quite belonging to the Aboriginal part of town, and not quite belonging to the white part of town. That's what I've always been fascinated by: the turncoat, the black tracker, the black trooper, the Native American scout. The person who's got a foot in both worlds, walking along the edge." Mystery Road comes at the crest of a wave of Indigenous storytellers making movies for all audiences — films like Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires. "There are all kinds of young warriors trying to change the face of the industry, trying to tell our stories," says Aaron. "I've done a lot of mainstream material before on television. People used to always tell me, 'you play too many coppers!' Not now, because all those cops got me this job! Ivan wrote the role for me. It's something I'll never forget and a job I'll never get again." "I think [the murder storyline] is something that affects a lot of Indigenous families," says Ivan. "A distant cousin of mine was found underneath the roadway in very similar circumstances, a long time ago now. The killer has never been brought to justice. If you actually pursue reality in a film, that can make things more interesting and suspenseful than all this artificial and contrived conditioning." Adds Aaron, "This film is important to this country, the lessons of healing and understanding. It's about our lives. There are a lot of cold cases in this country, a lot of people left behind after murders." THE ONE-MAN BAND What's behind the all-encompassing role of director, writer, camera operator, editor and composer? "It's just easier to do it yourself," Ivan says. "I just started doing it a long time ago, back in the 1990s. And now technology's caught up and I can edit on the laptop, soundtrack on the plane, write in a cafe. For me, why should film production be the way Hollywood says it is? What right do they have to define all these things?" "Let's hope he doesn't learn how to act, because then there'll be no work for actors!" Aaron's having a go, but you suspect he might be right. "Ivan had all these hats that he'd been wearing [on set], but I'll keep saying 'till the day I die, if he was stressed out, you wouldn't have known. Incredible leader. I was so glad to be part of the project on this big scale — not just as a hired gun, but as someone who helped implement the operation. It was kind of like ceremony in a way. It was really beautiful, really personal. You don't usually have that relationship with a director. We became brothers." SEN GOES SCI-FI I've heard Ivan's next film is a science-fiction epic set in China, his new home. "Yeah, sci-fi," says Ivan. "Set in the future. Big action, romance. Commercial." At first it seems worlds away from the art-film vibe of Mystery Road. How do you cater for the largest possible audience without turning your film to shit? "Someone like Christopher Nolan is in massive demand," Ivan continues. "He puts his heart and soul into what he does, and really wants to give the audience something unique. There's not many other guys with the talent and heart trying to give the masses something special. Because it's all controlled by suits. Chris Nolan's not a suit, but he wears one. He gets the deals without losing any freedoms or destroy his personal approach." It's true — you see a big budget movie with heart and talent and intelligence (Robert Zemeckis's classic space movie, Contact, springs to mind), and you think, hey, that's what Hollywood could be for, that's what all those big budgets and beautiful faces could be doing all the time. They could have big ideas, too. "There's a big hole there, in the commercial arena, for quality," says Ivan. "There's so many shit films for big audiences. You go to the cinema and it's like, 'which crap movie do I have to pick?'" "I actually don't go to the movies very much 'cause of that," admits Aaron. "Too many people are spoon-fed their opinions in this world. That's another audience [than the one for Mystery Road]." Ultimately, for Ivan, leaping into sci-fi just makes sense to him as a filmmaker. "I don't want to make the same film over and over. It's boring. I'm a lover of cinema. Watching cinema gave me emotions that I'd never felt before in my whole eight-year-old life. I'd never felt that connection before." Mystery Road carries this sensibility — beyond being a genre piece, is cuts to the emotional heart of a country that's been torn by dysfunction for too long. At a screening of the film in Sydney's inner west, Aaron spoke plainly, and passionately. "History did not start 225 years ago in this country ... This role is more than a job, it's a chance for me to show my ancestral trauma. This film is larger than this script: it's a cinematic campfire. Sit around it. Take something from it. Be smarter for it. Be a better nation for it."
Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman are Eric Lomax and Patti Lomax, lovers at the centre of a world torn apart by Eric's repressed memories as a prisoner of war in The Railway Man. Marcus Costello spoke with the film's Australian director Jonathan Teplitzky, who also made a big impression with 2011's Burning Man. The life of Eric Lomax, a quintessentially British man from another generation, set between Scotland and South-East Asia. How does an Australian director's perspective lend itself to this story? Going into this production, I thought the code of silence thing was a distinctly English POW character trait. I soon realised that it doesn't matter where you're from, if you were part of WWII, you come home with stories you will never share. Is that still the case for soldiers today? Yeah, sadly, I think it is. The irony is that we send young, impressionable people to war under morally dubious reasons, morally bankrupt, even, and we hold them to account for every moral decision they make when they're out there. If you think about how young these guys actually are, it's almost a 'Lord of the Flies' situation. No wonder they come home confused and reluctant to talk about it. I was talking with journalists at the Dubai Film Festival the other week and they were saying how important this film is for that part of the world as it struggles to deal with the warfare surrounding it. To that end, did you think about how your film would be received by present-day soldiers? Absolutely. In so many the face of warfare has changed beyond recognition since WWII, and yet, completely ineffective techniques like water-boarding are still used today. We live in a tell-all age of social media. Presented with an intensely private character, Eric Lomax, how do you expect/hope young people to respond? That's a really interesting question. The core audience we had front-of-mind when we were making the film was men above 35. In the test screenings we've noticed that younger people are genuinely interested in it. For all the negative press that the social media generation gets, I actually think it's a very inquisitive, socially aware group. The film looks beautiful. But war isn't beautiful. Can you talk me through your aesthetic choices? Sure. As a 20-year-old, going to War — to Thailand no less! — was a big adventure for Eric, so mixed up in fear and anxiety was a genuine sense of excitement. Of course we know the story of WWII — it was no exotic holiday — but to portray it like that wouldn't have been an accurate view of the world through his eyes. The heat, the incredible lushness of South-East Asia's forests was unlike anything this young Scot had ever experienced or really known about. To convey that wonder we heightened the contrasts between the countries: we sought out blues and greens when we where in Scotland, and hot colours when we where in Thailand, for example. I ask because there were a couple of moments during the film where I was in there with Eric then he'd see something like an explosion framed by silhouetted palm trees, and all of a sudden I was made aware that I'm looking at a representation. Did you ever feel a need to hold back because Thailand is just so photogenic? But I relish those moments! I try to do it as much as I can in the films I make! For me, the visual irony is key. It brings into question the absurdity of what's happening. Naturalism isn't always the only or the best way to give an authentic impression, as strange as that may sound. Given that taste for flourish, where there times when you felt constrained by having to tell a true-to-history story We were very lucky to have such a good relationship with Eric and Patti who were both so open but even still, I never felt obliged to tell something a certain way. I honestly never felt constrained. I can say that because I don't think getting every factual detail perfect is the aim of this kind of story. I think it's about capturing an essence and finding a way of expressing that. The Railway Man is in cinemas now. Read our review here.
The Big Green Idea is an initiative of the British Council, and it's all about treasuring Australia's creative people and and people who want to make the world a better place. The project is aiming to attract and encourage local entrepreneurs to develop new sustainable projects which will help people adapt to the effects of climate change in cities. It's all a part of a region-wide initiative begun by the British Council to encourage environmental sustainability across East Asia and the Pacific. And they have some very attractive grants up for grabs. This year up to six grants will be awarded to environmentally conscious kids which have the potential to make a dramatic impact on the country's environmental future. You can apply for either a $10, 000 or $20, 000 cash grant. The successful applicants will also get project mentoring by business and sustainability leaders, as well as the British Council, to help the projects have the greatest and widest positive impact they can. Applications are open now. They can address issues such as resource efficiency, travel, water, sustainable design, communications campaigns and the effects of climate change on disadvantaged communities. So if you've been inspired by the upcoming Earth Hour, get your idea submitted for a chance to make a real change.
When Coachella was the only thing that everyone could think and talk about in autumn, South Brisbane's sky-high bar Lina Rooftop embraced the occasion, giving itself a Californian-style temporary revamp. Now that winter is here and bringing a chill, the venue is also going all in, this time via a two-month-long seasonal makeover that'll help Brisbanites make the most of the frostier weather — well, Queensland's version of cold — and pretend they're somewhere snowier. And yes, there will be snow. Obviously, the fact that this snow will be on a rooftop is a hefty point of difference. That also applies to another winter favourite that's part of the Lina Rooftop Winter Wonderland from Wednesday, June 28–Sunday, August 27: igloos. Those private igloos can welcome in up to six people, and will come equipped with a heater, mini bar and fairy lights. Because they're clear, you'll still be able to soak in the view as you get snacking on cheese and chocolate fondue, plus marshmallows, and while sipping mulled wine. The snow around the place will help set the mood, and so will the firepits and logs, with Winter Wonderland running from Wednesday–Sunday weekly. Eager partygoers have two options in terms of food-and-drink packages, too: a $79 fondue-heavy offering and a $99 spread with raclette. Go with the first pick and you'll tuck into cheese fondue, baguettes, rosemary- and garlic-roasted chats, cured meats, gherkins, on-vine cherry tomatoes, and porcini and truffle arancini. From the sweet side of the menu, there'll also be chocolate fondue, plus strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, marshmallows, brioche and apple to dip in it. If raclette has your tastebuds watering, that package includes the same chocolate fondue lineup as outlined above, but swaps cheese fondue for a 1.8-kilogram block of raclette melted on a hot grill. Also, it pairs the cheese with a French-style platter including potatoes, gherkins, baguettes, cured meats and Swiss brown mushrooms. Everyone gets a glass of mulled wine as well, because it really wouldn't be winter without it — and two-hour seatings take place from 12–2pm, 2.30–4.30pm, 5–7pm and 7.30–9.30pm.
Plans, pathways, roadmaps, rollouts: no matter which state you live in, Australians have heard these terms more than a few times over the past year and a half. As the country has grappled with COVID-19, our state and federal leaders have unveiled all types of outlines that run through what we can do, what we can't do whenever restrictions are in place, how we're getting vaccinated, where we can travel and how life might someday return to normal. Following the latest National Cabinet meeting between state and territory leaders and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, which was held today, Friday, July 2, the latter has just announced a new plan — 'a National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response', to be precise. It steps through four phases that Australia will now work through to get life back to normal in this pandemic-affected world. Timeframes haven't been noted, so really it's just a list of things that should happen at some point; however, it's a plan nonetheless. Now 16 months since the country first introduced lockdowns and border restrictions due to the pandemic, Australia is currently in the first phase. Here, the aim is to suppress the virus to minimise community transmission, and much of it either sounds familiar or plans to tweak existing arrangements. Lockdowns will be used as a last resort, caps on incoming passenger arrivals will be cut in half to help stop the possible spread of the Delta variant, and the Commonwealth will run more repatriation flights to Howard Springs. Hotel quarantine is set to be reviewed, too, and alternative options — such as home quarantine for returning vaccinated travellers — will be trialled. In this first stage, everyone will be offered their chance to get vaccinated — which, given how slow the rollout has been progressing so far, might explain why no hard dates have been attached to this overall roadmap. Also in the initial phase, the Medicare Vaccination Certificate will be rolled out, Australia will work out how to authenticate digital vaccination status at our international borders and the vaccine booster program will be prepared. Whenever that's all achieved, the nation will move into phase two. That's when restrictions will be eased on folks who've had the jab — including around lockdowns and border controls. It's aimed that, by then, lockdowns will only happen "in extreme circumstances" if needed to prevent increasing hospitalisation rates and deaths. Also in phase two, inbound passenger cabs for unvaccinated returnees will go up, and more vaccinated returning travellers will be allowed to come home. If you're a vaccinated Aussie and you're coming back into the country, there'll be reduced quarantine arrangements. And, this is when the vaccine booster program should be rolled out, too. Up next: a third phase that has absolutely no lockdowns, and frees vaccinated Aussies from all domestic restrictions — and allows them to travel internationally as well. At this point in the plan, there'd be no caps on returning vaccinated travellers at all, and more travel bubbles, like the one floated with Singapore, would open. Also, vaccine boosters would keep being delivered. Finally, phase four sees COVID-19 just treated like other infectious diseases. It'd still be around, but it'd get the same kind of response as the flu. So, there'd be no lockdowns or domestic restrictions ever, vaccinated folks could come and go as they like, and non-vaccinated travellers would just have to get tested before they depart and when they arrive. Again, there are no timeframes attached to any of these phases as yet. That's dependent upon setting vaccination targets for each phase of the plan, based on modelling. And, if Australia's pandemic response so far is any guide, this could all change, take forever or simply not happen — but, if nothing else, it's the stated plan at the time of writing. For further details about the National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response, head to the Prime Minister's website.
Art galleries don't just showcase great works by renowned talents on their own walls. They also loan out their collections, touring them to other sites around the globe. That's great news for Australians, who've been able to check out pieces from London's Tate Britain and New York's Museum of Modern Art in recent years, all without leaving the country. In 2021, you'll also be able to feast your eyes on two big collections of European masterpieces from two different overseas institutions: from New York's The Met, which is heading to Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, and from London's National Gallery, which'll take over the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. The latter, called Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London, will hit the Australian Capital Territory from March 5–June 14, 2021. If you were looking for a reason to take a local holiday interstate this year, the NGA has not just one but 60, because that's how many works this huge exhibition will feature. The gallery isn't joking about the showcase's title, either. When you'll be exhibiting Van Gogh's Sunflowers, you can throw around the word 'masterpiece' as much as you like. Other high-profile works include Rembrandt's Self Portrait at the Age of 34, plus Vermeer's A Young Woman seated at a Virginal. And, artist-wise, Titian, Velázquez, Goya, Turner, Renoir, Cézanne, Botticelli, El Greco, Constable, Van Dyke, Gainsborough and Gauguin are all also on the bill. [caption id="attachment_792837" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers 1888, National Gallery, London, Image courtesy the National Gallery, London[/caption] When peering at the exhibition's pieces, art aficionados will be taken through seven important periods in Western European art history, from a range that spans 450 years. That means exploring work from the Italian Renaissance, checking out the Dutch painting of the Golden Age, and feasting your eyes on British portraiture — as well as scoping out pieces from the 17th- and 18th-century Grand Tour, Spanish art from the 17th century, works that focus on landscape and the picturesque, and examining the birth of modern art. When Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London hits our shores, it'll mark a big milestone, too — as the largest batch of works to venture beyond the United Kingdom in National Gallery's 192-year history. Announcing the exhibition, National Gallery of Australia Director Nick Mitzevich mentioned exactly what you're probably now thinking — that is, that the showcase is a nifty way to see the world in a period when we can't venture far physically. "At a time when Australian audiences are unable to travel overseas, we are thrilled to be able to welcome visitors to Canberra to see this exclusive showcase of world-class art," he said. Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London exhibits at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra from March 5–June 14, 2021, with tickets on sale now. Top images: Installation view, Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, The National Gallery, London © The National Gallery, London; installation view, Anthony van Dyck, Lady Elizabeth Thimbelby and Dorothy, Viscountess, The National Gallery, London © The National Gallery, London; installation view, Giovanni Giralomo Savoldo, Mary Magdalene (far left), The National Gallery, London © The National Gallery, London.
Grab your vomit bag: one of the most notorious and disgusting franchises in the history of horror movies is slithering into cinemas for round number three. From the demented mind of writer-director Tom Six, The Human Centipede 3 is being touted as the most extreme film in the series so far, featuring a centipede more than 500 people in length. It’s also currently sitting at a whopping 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is roughly seven percentage points more than we expected. The Human Centipede 3 will have its sole Brisbane screening at New Farm Cinemas on Thursday July 2, marking the only time you’ll be able to view the film on the big screen in all its repulsive glory. Actor Laurence R. Harvey will be on hand for a post-film Q&A, assuming the entire audience hasn’t already fled the theatre.
Loving Christmas is easy, especially when Brisbane delivers plenty of ways each year to get into the festive spirit. But here's the secret about Christmas markets: even if you're not usually a fan of the season and all the trimmings, who doesn't adore an excuse to spend an evening browsing, buying, eating and drinking, all under glittering lights? The West End Christmas Twilight Market is one such place to do all of the above in 2023, taking place from 4–10pm on Friday, December 1. Once quittin' time comes for the week, make a beeline to the West End Markets' usual spot in Davies Park and prepare to get jolly — or to make the most of another night market, no matter your feelings on the theme. A familiar festive spread will be on offer, which involves a heap of stalls — 180-plus, in fact — to shop for artisanal gifts, Christmas decorations all over the place, live entertainment and Mariah getting a spin on the stereo. Kids can also get the obligatory snap with Santa. And, the food and drink menu will go all in on Christmas fare. Try saying "bah, humbug!" to that.
Back in July, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will tie its efforts to manage COVID-19 to vaccination rates moving forward. As the country reaches certain jab milestones — 70 percent of Aussies over the age of 16 receiving two doses, and then 80 percent — the way that Australia handles the pandemic will evolve. Restrictions will start to ease, lockdowns will be less likely, international travel will open back up and people who've been fully vaxxed will live life under loosened rules. As both New South Wales and Victoria have dealt with COVID-19 outbreaks over the past few months, vaccination rates have continued to be thrust into the spotlight. Both NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Victorian counterpart Daniel Andrews have highlighted specific jab thresholds, and announced that lockdown rules will begin to change when they're met — at 70-percent fully vaxxed in NSW and 70 percent with at least one dose in Victoria. So, that means that we're all now paying extra attention to those vaccination figures. They're mentioned at each state's daily COVID-19 press conferences, of course, but you can also check out how your state is going and how the nation overall is faring thanks to a heap of online resources. Wondering why you might be interested in the Aussie rate, and not just vax numbers in your own state or territory? As part of that plan announced by the PM — the National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response — vaccination rates have to reach the 70-percent and 80-percent fully jabbed marks across the entire country before an individual state or territory can start easing the rules. That state or territory also has to reach those thresholds itself before it can do anything, of course, but that isn't the only important figure. This daily infographic provides the total number of vaccine doses administered in Australia 🇦🇺 as of 6 September 2021 📅 💻Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccine information here: https://t.co/lsM33j9wMW pic.twitter.com/XTydxJH0sK — Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) September 7, 2021 For Australia-wide data, the Federal Government Department of Health issues several daily reports on the vaccine rollout, complete with handy infographics if you like looking at diagrams more than numerals. You can see the total doses administered, how many people are fully vaccinated, and the breakdown state by state — and, nationwide, also a breakdown of doses by age group and gender. Vax rates among Indigenous Australians, people with disability and the disability workforce, and in residential aged care are also singled out. Or, there's also the COVID Live website, which collates information on new cases, tests, hospitalisations and vaccinations, and lets you dive further into each. With jabs, it gives a breakdown by state and then by day, and also counts down how many days remain until the country and each state and territory hits 60-percent, 70-percent, 80-percent and 90-percent first doses and fully vaxxed, as based on the seven-day average. [caption id="attachment_824786" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] COVID Live as at Wednesday, September 8.[/caption] Each state and territory also has its own online resources, with different details on offer depending on the state. In NSW, for instance, you can access a COVID-19 vaccination dashboard that highlights the number of doses that've been given, or you can check out a nifty map that breaks down jabs by postcode and Local Government Area. Victoria's COVID-19 vaccine data portal lists doses given over the past 24 hours, and also links to a weekly report that tracks the state's progress. Here, you'll find overall and weekly rates, a breakdown via vaccine type and dose — so listing first and second doses of AstraZeneca and of Pfizer — and also breakdowns by age and gender. For Queensland, the overall stats can be found on Queensland Health's COVID-19 page, with further detail on offer if you click through to its statistics summary. Vaccinations are then listed by vaccine site area, including both overall and hospital/vax hub-specific figures. You can see how many doses were administered the day prior and in total so far. Queensland #COVID19 update 7/09/21 Today we have recorded 0 new cases of COVID-19. Detailed information about COVID-19 cases in Queensland, can be found here: https://t.co/kapyXpSIAP pic.twitter.com/G4J57unlPc — Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) September 7, 2021 In Western Australia, there's a vaccination dashboard filled with infographics about doses, rates and age breakdowns. In South Australia, you'll find an overall daily vaccination figure on the state's overall COVID-19 dashboard. Tasmania has a statistics section on the government's COVID-19 website, and includes both a cumulative tally and the daily increase — and both the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have their own COVID-19 dashboards with relevant figures. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
At the moment, you can't go down to your local, order yourself a pint and chat with the bartender, but that doesn't mean you have to go thirsty. While you're at home, it could be a good chance to shake things up, sample new liquors, brews or wines instead of your go-to VB and even maybe brush up on your cocktail making skills. The only thing holding you back will be your supply — and right now, after a few weeks of staying at home more, we're betting it's looking a little lacklustre. One way of making sure your liquor cabinet is always well-stocked is signing up to an online subscription service — and in Australia there are many. Whether you're after wine, tinnies or whisky, a number of local booze subscription services are ensuring you don't go thirsty while social distancing. Here are eight of the best. CRAFT BREWS AND NATTY WINES FROM GOOD BOOZE PROJECT (MR WEST) Mr West is known for many things, but its bottle shop packed with craft beers and minimal-intervention wines is a standout. Previously, you had to visit the Melbourne bar to get said tipples, but now you can have them delivered with its subscription service, the Good Booze Project. Its mission is simple: deliver incredible booze to your door. So, expect to be sipping top-notch tipples from independent producers from around the globe. You can opt for boxes of three, six or 12 wines and six or 12 beers delivered to your door every month. There's the Explorer, Lover or Buff subscription levels for both wine and beer — and you can upgrade anytime. The Good Booze Project delivers across Australia and your box will arrive chilled every month, too, so you can crack open a cold one as soon as it hits your front porch. Right now, new members can nab a free Mr West crystal wine or beer glass pack (valued at $35), too — just enter SIGNMEUP at checkout. Plus, if you want something a little stronger to see you through iso, you can add on an order of Mr West's 1.5-litre 'bagnums' of negroni and espresso martini. For more information on the subscription levels and to sign up, head here. ARTISANAL GINS FROM GIN SOCIETY If you're a G&T person or a lover of a dry gin martini, look no further than Gin Society, which treats its subscribers to a full-sized bottle of a small-batch gin every two months. The company launched back in 2018 and features a range of local and international gins, with a focus on drops you won't find at your local bottle shop. Each time one of these hand-picked, premium gins lands at your doorstep, it'll be accompanied by an edition of Gin Journal magazine, too, featuring expert tasting notes, suggested cocktail recipes, bartender profiles, reviews and details about the gin's origins. Everything you need to ensure you enjoy that bottle of artisan booze to its fullest. So if you're not a gin whiz yet, you will be soon. The subscription will set you back $95 bimonthly, which includes a full-sized bottle of gin, the magazine, exclusive invitations to future Gin Society events and cost of delivery, no matter where you live in the country. Sign up for your bimonthly gin fix here. [caption id="attachment_765523" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Naked Wines[/caption] BOUTIQUE LOCAL VINOS FROM NAKED WINES Online cellar door Naked Wines launched in 2012 with the aim of connecting at-home wine drinkers with winemakers across Australia and New Zealand. Since then it's grown to include more than 53 winemakers, including the likes of Enfant Terrible from Adelaide Hills, Le Petit Mort from Queensland's Granite Belt and Hilltops, NSW, plus Blindside from Margaret River. So, if you're looking to stockpile your cellar, you could be doing it with some top-notch drops from around the country. Its subscription service is a little different to others, and instead of signing up for a delivery every so often, you become a 'wine angel' for $40 a month. The money will go into your Naked Wines account and you can spend it how you wish, plus get a stack of discounts, exclusive wines and a free bottle once a month, which you'll receive with your next purchase. You can get cases of six, 12 or 15 bottles delivered to your doorstep. And right now you can nab a $100-voucher to spend on a case if you're a first-time Naked Wines customer (and over 18). Just head here to make your purchase. If you're based in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth, your Naked Wines could be winging their way to you by the next working day. For Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra, delivery is within two-to-four business days. It's also free delivery for members if you're in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, however there are delivery costs of up to $20 outside of those cities. To order your first box — and get $100 to spend on it — head here, then sign up to become a wine angel. HARD-TO-FIND AND NEW-WORLD WHISKIES FROM WHISKY LOOT Keeping you suitably soused while you're stuck at home is Whisky Loot. And while it mightn't be new, there's never been a better time to get small-batch and hard-to-find whiskies delivered straight to your door. The monthly subscription service delivers a box of three 60-millilitre bottles, with a different theme every time, so you'll never drink the same tipple twice. The aim is to expand your palate and educate you along the way. So, if you're just entering the world of whisky or looking to sample something other than your go-to firewater, this is for you. As well as three tasty ambers, you'll receive expert tasting notes and a tasting journal (with your first box), both of which will help take you from whisky novice to aficionado. And although it's a subscription service, you can do it month-to-month, with no lock-ins. Best of all, Whisky Loot is offering $10 off your first order if you opt for the subscription, making it just $49 for your first round, which includes free standard shipping across Australia. All you have to do is enter SUPPORT5 at checkout. Plus, it'll be donating $5 from each box to Hospo Voice in support of the hospitality industry, which is doing it pretty tough right now. So, you can cheers to a good cause. For more information about Whisky Look and to sign up, head here. WINES PICKED BY TOP SOMMELIERS FROM THE BOROUGH BOX Pick this and you'll pretty much be getting the cream of the crop of natural wines, with Lo-Fi Wine directors James Audas (Noma) and Tom Sheer (Love, Tilly Devine) behind every box. This monthly vino subscription has just launched and features a range of sustainable, organic and biodynamic wines from every corner of the globe, with a particular focus on small-batch producers. So, expect Aussie favourites such as Good Intentions Wine Co, Das Juice, and Jauma alongside European wines, including Matassa (France), Lammidia (Italy), and Gut Oggau (Austria). Every box will contain six wines and contain one or two whites, one skin contact, one rosé, a couple of reds and occasionally a sparkling — though the ratios will vary. Plus, every bottle will come with information on where its from, who made it, what's in it and some tasting notes. You'll be spending $180 a month, but if you're a lover of minimal-intervention drops — and hate deciding which ones to buy — it's worth it. In April, deliveries will happen every Monday, then from May, you'll get your box on the first Monday of the month. Currently, The Borough Box is only available for delivery across Sydney and Melbourne. Keen to try some top-notch natty drops — every month? Head here to sign up. DIY COCKTAIL KITS FROM COCKTAIL PORTER Trying to up your bartending game? Enter Cocktail Porter. Founded Sydney's Cameron Northway (co-owner of Rocker), this at-home cocktail making subscription is sure to deliver the goods. The subscription works similarly to most DIY food delivery services, except with booze — and is available nationwide. You'll get fixings for a different seasonal drink delivered to your door, along with a recipe card, pre-measured ingredient and premium spirits, for $135, which may seem a lot to fork up at once but it'll make 14–18 cocktails (about a tenner each). Each month will feature a different cocktail, curated by world-class bartenders and based on "global drinking trends". In past months, there's been the likes of a treacle old fashioned with sweet Italian vermouth, burnt orange-vanilla syrup and cacao-macadamia bitters; a classic gin martini with your choice of flavoured vermouth; and a bloody mary with turmeric vinegar. If you're not ready to commit, Cocktail Porter also has a heap of one-of cocktail box options, includes a mini espresso martini kit for $69.95. If you're keen to get shaking and stirring, sign up here. WINE (YES, MORE!) FROM VINOMOFO Vinomofo has made a name for its not-so-snobby, fun approach to wine nerdery, since starting life in a tiny Adelaide garage back in 2011. Its sprawling online wine selection now caters to over 500,000 members worldwide. So it's safe to say it knows what it's doing when it comes to grape juice. There are two subscription packages to choose from — The Black Market ($139) and The Mofo Club ($179) — and you can opt to get them dropped off every one, two or three months. Each includes 12 wines, which is a bargain compared to some of others. While both packs are mixed, The Black Market features more reds; The Mofo is a mix or white and red wines, plus you'll get a link to some tasting notes so you can up your vino game as you sip away. It delivers across the country — and we mention you can get $25 off your first order if you sign up now? No? Just click here and you'll see. To sign up — and get $25 off your first order — head to Vinomofo's website. NEW-RELEASE AND CRAFT BREWS FROM BEER CARTEL Sydney-based beer haven Beer Cartel knows a thing or two about the big wide world of ales and lagers. And its not just a bricks-and-mortar bottle-o either, with its online store stocking over 1000 craft beers, handpicked from top breweries across Australia and overseas. And, if you're after regular beer deliveries, you can sign up to its Beer Club, which first began in a Kennards storage unit in 2009 and claims to be 'Australia's longest running beer subscription'. A The Bootlegger six-pack subscription deal will set you back $39.99 per month and will include three new releases and three of Beer Cartel's core range. The Speak Easy (12 beers) costs $69.99, with six new and six of the Cartel's go-to brews, while The Black Market pack features 12 new and super limited-release brews, which will cost $89.99. It ships Australia-wide, too, so if you can't make it down to the shops to stock up, these guys have got you covered. To join the club, head here. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
In what would have been his 100th year, the late Nelson Mandela will be honoured in a travelling exhibition set to make its world debut in Victoria next September. Hosted by Melbourne Museum, MANDELA My Life is expected to be the most comprehensive collection of the human rights icon's memorabilia ever to be shown outside South Africa. Alongside a huge assortment of artefacts, including warrants of committal for Mandela's 27-year stint in prison, the exhibit will explore the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's life through a series of film and audio archives. Some of the other confirmed artefacts that will be featured in the exhibit include a boxing glove signed and gifted by Muhammad Ali, Mandela's shoes, walking cane and some of his vibrant Madiba shirts. Alongside these, there will also be images, sound and film footage of one of Mandela's earliest interviews — which took place during the 'Treason Trail' of the late 1950s. MANDELA My Life is supported by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which is the custodian of most of the revolutionary's personal photographs, documents and memorabilia. After premiering in Melbourne, the exhibition will embark on a five-year world tour of up to 20 international cities, expected to be seen by as many as 2.7 million visitors globally. Boxing Glove image: Jon Augier, courtesy of Museums Victoria
With performances from Velociraptor and Teleprompter Animal Farm 2 comes to Alhambra Lounge. A massive gang band with twelve members Brisbane’s Velociraptor are a mass of sound, a coherent chaos of screaming and shimmying sounds, garage pop gems brought to life by an orchestra of guitars and an orgy of vocals. Velociraptor, influenced by The Kinks and The Monkees, are the Hollies meets The Hives, beauty meets beast. Described by Faster Louder as “a danceable and charismatic treat” Teleprompter from Brisbane have an ever growing sound, one engorged by The Cure, Foals and Bloc Party, that has seen them share stages with legends at massive festivals across Australia. Support is provided by Little Casino, Teen Girls and The Lambda DJs.
It's been a couple of years since Munich Brauhaus announced plans for their first Brisbane venue — and the two-level Bavarian bierhaus is finally opening its doors. Come May 3, the brews, bratwurst and butter-filled pretzels will be flowing on Stanley Street in South Bank. You'll want to drop by on May 4, however, when they're throwing a huge shindig to celebrate. From 5pm, it'll be a Friday evening full of German-themed fun. In fact, it'll be enough to make you think Oktoberfest has arrived early. Actually, the whole joint will be done up in Oktoberfest colours, flags and decorations for the entire month. Unlike Christmas, the revelry really is coming twice this year. A street parade will also weave its way around the parklands from 5pm, starting and ending at Munich Brauhaus, so expect traditional slap dancers, oompah band and acrobats too. At 5.45pm, the traditional keg tap will get the party properly started, followed by live entertainment, games and challenges across both storeys of the venue. And if you want to match your merriment with a huge pork knuckle, one of seven types of schnitzel or an apple strudel — and many a stein, obviously — dinner sittings will take place at 6pm and 8.30pm.
Australian farmers are currently doing it rough. Really rough. Some areas of the country have been struggling with a years-long drought, and, this morning, the NSW Government announced that 100 percent of the state is currently in drought. While the government has pledged more than $1 billion in drought relief, there's still a lot to be done. And you can help. Early this week a 'Parma for a Farmer' campaign launched, encouraging pubs across the country to donate dollars from every parmigianas sold to charities helping drought-affected communities. Spearheaded by Amanda Kinross, the campaign — and the Parma for a Farmer Facebook group — quickly garnered the support of pubs and hotel groups, including the Australian Hotels Association. Whether or not you agree it should be parma (or, really, parmi), it's a great and tasty campaign to get behind. A slew of pubs have already committed to the cause, including hospitality group Australian Venue Co. For all of August, many of the group's pubs are donating $1 from every parma bought to the Buy A Bale initiative. The initiative, part of the charity Rural Aid, provides essentials — such as, yes, hay, as well as water, diesel and hampers — to farmers doing it rough. Australian Venue Co. has pubs located across the country, including Surry Hills' The Forresters and Petersham's The Oxford Tavern in NSW; Prahran's College Law and Richmond's Prince Alfred Hotel in Vic; and Brisbane's Fridays. You can see the group's full list of participating venues here. For the full list of venues participating in NSW, Vic and Qld, head to the Parma for a Farmer Facebook page. Image: Giulia Morlando
For five nights only, a seemingly ordinary Yeerongpilly warehouse will become a pop-up theatre — and the location for one of Brisbane Festival's big productions for 2019. From Tuesday, September 24 to Saturday, September 28, Invisible Cities will take over the cavernous site on Fairfield Road. As well as setting up a 1050-seat site that'll only operate for the show's run, the project will unleash a blend of theatre, choreography, music, water, sand, projection mapping and other dazzling technical elements, all to transport audiences to three fantastical cities. Here, you'll experience the joyful city of Zenobia, the golden confines of Beersheba and the seductive allure of Isadora. And, you'll feel the exploring spirit, too. Loosely based on the 1972 novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities follows the relationship between 13th-century Mongol conqueror and emperor Kublai Khan (Danny Sapani), and Venetian explorer Marco Polo (Matthew Leonhart). The production makes its Australian premiere at Brisbane Festival, direct from its debut at the Manchester International Festival.
It has been almost ten years since Franz Ferdinand released their game-changing track 'Take Me Out' and got the world banging their heads and shaking their hips to their guitar disco sound. Now almost a decade on they are still going strong, releasing their fourth studio album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action in August to critical acclaim. Franz Ferdinand were once one of the hottest bands on the planet and whilst their live performances have always remained electric, they have never quite musically matched their debut — until now. Their new LP has truly rediscovered the energy and sound that enthralled us all on that initial release and has set them back on the path towards greatness. Now the Glaswegian quartet are taking the right action and bringing themselves to Australia. Whilst originally slated to be here for the now-cancelled Harvest Festival, the band have thankfully elected to stay on for an east coast tour that will be stopping in Brisbane at The Tivoli on Sunday November 17. Why not head down and see what all the renewed fuss is about?
After an extra day under stay-at-home conditions due to Queensland's latest COVID-19 cases, the Brisbane and Moreton Bay Local Government Areas will emerge from lockdown at 6pm today, Saturday, July 3. Since the same time on Tuesday, June 29, residents in the two LGAs have only been permitted to their homes for the four reasons that were identified at the beginning of the pandemic — a lockdown that also covered the Logan, Redlands, Ipswich, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim, the Lockyer Valley and Somerset LGAs in southeast Queensland, plus Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island. Yesterday, Friday, July 2, the stay-at-home period was extended for an additional 24 hours for Brisbane and Moreton Bay only. "For our Brisbane and Moreton Bay regions, can I thank everyone for doing that extra day that we asked people to do," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at her daily press conference today. "That gave our contact tracers that extra time that was desperately needed," she advised. While ending the lockdown for these two LGAs is obviously welcome news, restrictions will obviously still apply — as also happened after Brisbane's January and March lockdowns — until Friday, July 16. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1411144704092106761 So, Brisbanites will be able to leave their homes again once 6pm hits today — and for any reason. That said, new rules will limit what you can do, where and with how many people, as we've all become used to during the pandemic. And yes, dancing is still banned, so Footloose might make for good weekend viewing. Before lockdown started on Tuesday, a number of rules were actually put in place across Queensland — and they're all back on the cards, after coming back into effect everywhere other than Brisbane and Moreton Bay at 6pm on Friday, July 2. These restrictions will now apply across the entire state for the next fortnight, finishing at 6pm on Friday, July 16. The 30-person limit on at-home gatherings is back, and that cap includes folks who live with you. And, as well as banning dancing, standing up at cafes, restaurants, bars and nightclubs has been scrapped again. So, to eat, drink and hang out, you'll need to be seated. Hospitality businesses will also have to operate under the one person per four-square-metres indoors and one person per two-square-metres outdoors rules — although venues smaller than 200 square metres will be permitted to welcome in one person per two-square-metres with a cap of 50 people. Outdoor events can go ahead, but only if they have a COVID-19-safe plan in place. Indoor events can too — and both can have 100-percent capacity if they're seated, or one person per four-square-metres indoors and one person per two-square-metres outdoors rules otherwise. Wearing masks is still required whenever you're not at home — and you'll always have to have one with you as a result. So, they must be worn in all indoor spaces other than your own house, all indoor workplaces unless it is unsafe to do so, on public transport, in taxis and ride share vehicles, and outdoors, unless you're doing vigorous exercise. The usual requests regarding social distancing, hygiene and getting tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms all apply, too, as they have since March last year. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1411143269161992192 In the past 24 hours, Queensland reported five new locally acquired cases, with 47 cases currently active in the Sunshine State at the time of writing. Queensland Health is maintaining an active register of locations that have been visited by positive COVID-19 cases, which you can check out on its website. You can also check out this nifty map that uses Queensland Health's data. The Brisbane and Moreton Bay Local Government Areas will come out of lockdown from 6pm on Saturday, July 3. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. More details about the lockdown and associated restrictions can also be found on the Queensland Health website. Top image: Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.
You know what's better than seeing Cloud Control perform an acoustic set at your local pub? Seeing Cloud Control perform an acoustic set at your local pub for free. It's a crazy dream, but it's one that the band and beer barons Corona have dared to make come true. The Blue Mountains alt-rock jammers' sophomore 2013 album, Dream Cave, was an experimental shift from their first offering, and the acoustic sound should be a cool twist again. As part of the March and April tour through bars, pubs and hotels all along the east coast, the guys are also releasing Dream Cave Unplugged, featuring stripped back versions of the whole album. Although they've won awards, and been nominated for a whole heap of others, Cloud Control stick to the Aussie music penchant for bringing as much music to as many people as possible. Thanks to Corona, we all get the chance. Here are the Brisbane dates: Saturday 12 April - Story Bridge Hotel Sunday 13 April - Paddington Tavern Sunday 13 April - Komune Saturday 19 April - Jubilee Hotel, Fortitude Valley Saturday 19 April - Boardwalk Tavern, Marina Village Shopping Centre, Hope Island Sunday 20 April - Coolangatta Hotel https://youtube.com/watch?v=G2VX2PAD0gU
The super-adorable Finders Keepers Markets have been home to Brisbane's most creative and quirky designers for more than six years. The independent hip-fest is returning to their home at The Old Museum in July for two days. The biannual, designer-centric, come-one-come-all mini-festival has managed to bridge the gap between local market and exclusive exhibition, creating a space for independent designers to engage with the wider community. You'll be able to nab some marvellous treats difficult to find anywhere else. From bespoke leather goods to bespoke stationary, upcycled journals to upcycled bicycle reflectors, every stall will be a unique shopping experience that combines innovative design with grassroots feel-goodery. As usual, there will be live music, a cafe, a bar and thousands of other Brisbanites celebrating independent art and design. Finder Keepers is open 10am-4pm on both days.
When Toto unleashed their single 'Africa' upon the world back in 1982, the drums echoed. Given the song's enduring success, it seems that everyone heard them. Now one particular patch of the Namib desert will hear the percussive reverberation for eternity, with a new art and sound installation playing the track on a never-ending loop. Toto Forever isn't just something screamed by die-hard fans of the American band. It's not merely the thinking behind one-night events that play the beloved tune over and over, such as an annual party in Brisbane. It's now the title of Max Siedentopf's new project, which the artist has set up as a "tribute to probably the most popular song of the last four decades". As seen on Siedentopf's site for the artwork, Toto Forever consists of seven plinths, arranged in a circle with one sat in the middle. Speakers sit atop the six boxes on the outside, with an MP3 player on the seventh. There's only one song loaded onto the device, so that's all that it can play. And if you're wondering about power, it's all attached to solar batteries. While Siedentopf has revealed the installation's general location — in the desert that stretches for 2000 kilometres along the Namib coastline — he's keeping the exact spot to himself. Whether he succeeds in gifting future generation some old forgotten words and ancient melodies will likely depend on the weather and environment, given that, as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti, electronic equipment isn't designed to be left in a sandy expanse until the end of time — whether or not they're blessed by the rains. Image: Toto Forever by Max Siedentopf.
Texan rockers The Black Angels are bringing their psychedelic music Down Under, fresh off the back of releasing their fourth album, Indigo Meadow. The band that was instrumental in raising the profile of the genre along with heavyweights such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were here for Harvest Festival last year, and their fans have demanded a solo show, a cry The Black Angels somehow heard over their pulsating guitars and driving drums. The Velvet Underground-inspired band will be gracing The Tivoli Theatre on June 13 with their cathartic style. If you are unfamiliar with the band, then take a listen to their most recent single, 'Don’t Play with Guns', which encapsulates their sound. It will be a kaleidoscopic evening that harks back to the much-hyped sound of a decade ago.
Men, Women and Children is no glossy Hollywood rom-com. There are no vacuous high school dramas, nor are there any cheesy family clichés. It's a film that looks at the paradox of connecting in the digital age: the persistent preoccupation with being active online, contrasted with difficulty remaining present in person. Directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno and Labor Day), the film features a pretty impressive cast including Ansel Elgort, Jennifer Garner, Adam Sandler and Rosmarie DeWitt. Throughout the interweaving story lines of the eleven main characters, the film dissects the impact that technology has on our relationships — dealing with pertinent issues such as video game culture, anorexia and infidelity. Men, Women and Children is in cinemas November 27. Thanks to Paramount Pictures, we have ten double passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
Queenslanders, it's vacation time again. For Brisbanites, it's staycation time, too. Back in March, the State Government gave residents an excuse to enjoy a getaway via its Holiday Dollars scheme. Now, it's bringing the initiative back for another round, with both $100 and $200 vouchers up for grabs across two regions. Last time, the vouchers were available for travel to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. This time, you have two options: hang around Greater Brisbane or once again head north. Under the Brisbane Holiday Dollars offering, 30,000 $100 vouchers will be available tourism experiences and accommodation in the Greater Brisbane region (which includes Brisbane, Scenic Rim, Moreton Bay, Redlands Coast, Somerset, Logan and Ipswich). As part of the Whitsunday Holiday Dollars package, 6000 vouchers are available — but only for folks who are already staying in the region during a set period. The idea has two obvious aims: enticing Queensland residents to go venturing both locally and further afield throughout the state, and helping support tourism businesses in the highlighted areas. The move was announced today, Thursday, April 22, 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 Tuesday, April 27–Friday, April 30, the draw for the Brisbane vouchers will be open to Queensland residents over the age of 18 — and you'll need to head to queensland.com to nab one. You'll register for a voucher code and, if you're successful, you'll be notified from Thursday, May 6. As happened last time, there's likely to be more interested folks than there are available vouchers, so they'll be handed out at random. Those who successfully receive a voucher for Brisbane will then be able to use it to book between Thursday, May 6–Friday, June 4, for use up until Sunday, August 15. The vouchers can only be spent on tourism experiences and accommodation, and they'll enable you to get up to 50 percent off your booking, maxing out at $100. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1384957613188820998 The Whitsundays vouchers, which will be on offer in conjunction with Tourism Whitsundays, will work quite differently. Value-wise, they'll cover 50 percent off your booking for tours and attractions up to $200, but Queensland residents over the age of 18 will need to already be in the region between Tuesday, May 4–Wednesday, June 30 to get their hands on one. Once you're up north, you'll claim your voucher through participating hotels, Visitor Information Centres and the campaign website. They're activated once you make a booking, and will operate on a first in, best dressed basis — and will be available until the quota of vouchers is exhausted. When the Cairns scheme was announced back in March, Premier Palaszczuk said that it could be rolled out across the rest of the state if the vouchers are successful. That's what's happening now, but there's no word as yet whether other parts of Queensland might be covered in the future. You can apply for one of the 30,000 $100 Brisbane Holiday Dollars travel vouchers between Tuesday, April 27–Friday, April 30 at queensland.com. The Whitsunday Holiday Dollars vouchers will be available to folks in the region between Tuesday, May 4–Wednesday, June 30, with further details available via Tourism Whitsundays. Top image: Tourism and Events Queensland.
Like beer? Like monsters? Like your brews named after creepy critters, with bottle, can and label artwork to match? Horror-loving drinkers, there's never been a better time to pair your beverages with your fondness for all things scary — but from 12pm on Saturday, October 14 will be even better than usual thanks to Netherworld's Monster Menagerie Beer Festival. The returning event, this year named Monster Menagerie VI: Beers of Blüdsbane, will bring together nine yeasty tipples, strange creatures and stellar collaborations, all for a day of boozing fun. And if you're wondering why it takes place in October, just think about it for a second. 'Tis the month of Halloween, after all. The big focus in 2023: brews with a vampiric spin, and of the red and black variety. Taking part: 3 Ravens Brewing, Range Brewing, Sea Legs Brewing, Common Ground Brewing and Helios Brewing, plus Revel Brewing, Seven Mile Brewing, Working Title Brew Co and the delightfully named Hohly Water. Tickets cost $35, which include a tasting paddle featuring 150 millilitres of each and every one of these beers, as well as a limited edition enamel pin and five game tokens. Top image: Cole Bennetts.
Summer is here, so keeping cool means heading to the beach, hiding under the air-con or knowing a moneyed mate with their own pool. However, you can now create your own backyard bliss — with the food to match — thanks to El Jannah's latest limited-time promo. Available for one weekend only, from Saturday, January 10—Sunday, January 11, the Lebanese-Australian charcoal chicken legends invite customers to score their own chilled-out pool. And all you have to do is order an OG Charcoal Chicken Meal, featuring two whole chickens, large chips, large garlic sauce and Lebanese bread. There are no tricky hoops to jump through, either. Redeemed on a first-come, first-served basis, customers simply need to snap a photo of their receipt and email it to El Jannah's team. If you're fast enough, you'll be lounging in the pool with your pals in no time at all. "Summer in Australia has always felt a little Lebanese at heart, family everywhere, food in the middle, and everyone talking over each other," says El Jannah Chief Marketing Officer, Adam Issa. "So this year, we wanted to make it even easier for Aussies to take those El Jannah moments wherever the day leads."
The BrisStyle team is a rather busy bunch, putting on markets around Brisbane with frequency. If you're particularly after a treasure trove of handmade goodies — and who isn't? — then you'll want to hit up its opportunity to browse and buy that's dedicated to exactly those kinds of objects. Fashion, art, jewellery, homewares — if someone's been using their nimble fingers to make it, then you can probably trade your hard-earned cash for their hard work. In fact, there'll be more than 50 artisans selling their wares. And, while you're shopping, you'll also be able to grab a bite at the onsite cafe and listen to live tunes from local musos. The Handmade Markets always take place on Saturdays, so mark Saturday, October 7 and Saturday, November 4 in your calendar now. Head along from 9am–2pm, with it all taking place in the Queensland Museum's whale mall. Images: BrisStyle. Updated: September 19.
From Monday, February 21, Australia will say goodbye to its remaining international border ban on double-vaccinated travellers and hello to plenty of overseas tourists. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the country will allow all visa holders to head our way — including folks simply coming out for holidays, and business travellers — as long as they've had two COVID-19 vaccine jabs. When the border fully reopens to all double-vaxxed visitors in two weeks, it'll do so just a month shy of the two-year anniversary of Australia's indefinite international border closure back in March 2020. Plenty has changed since then, and the nation — and the world — has seen various lockdowns and other restrictions come and go, and faced multiple new variants. Since November 2021, Australia has been slowly reopening its borders, too, but this new change will allow back anyone that's double-vaccinated, including tourists and business travellers, from all countries. Announcing the news, the Prime Minister said that "the condition is: you must be double-vaccinated to come to Australia. That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it. And it's very important that people understand that requirement if they're seeking to come to Australia." He continued: "but if you're double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia — and I know the tourism industry will be looking forward to that. And over the next two weeks they'll get the opportunity both for visitors to be coming and for them to be gearing up to welcome international visitors back to Australia." Exactly how many tourists and business travellers will be able to fly into Australia will still depend upon state-based caps — and on state-specific rules as well. Western Australia's border is still set to remain closed to not just international travellers but the rest of the country and, after delaying its last plan to reopen this past weekend, it hasn't yet set its new reopening date. Unjabbed travellers — which includes anyone who has only had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination — will still need to apply for permission to enter Australia, unless they can "provide proof that there is a medical reason that they cannot be vaccinated", said Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews. They'll also need to go into hotel quarantine if they are permitted to enter. If you have pals or colleagues eager to make the trip Down Under, this'll be fantastic news. Whether airlines will increase their flights to Australia as a result hasn't yet been revealed, but it wouldn't come as a surprise. Australia will reopen its international borders to all double-vaccinated travellers from Monday, February 21. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Nearly 100 years after the Titanic plunged into the freezing waters of the Atlantic, artist and inspirationalist Dodo Newman will commemorate the legendary journey and lives lost with the Titanic Project, a tribute that will combine the sorrowful history with the newest marvels of design. The project will erect a monument of the Titanic designed with luxury that the regal ship itself would not match. Newman's vision for the monument has a diamond and Swarovski crystal surface, 300 kg of jewelry and LED lighting all on a pyramid-shaped aquarium base structure. To add to the designer detail, over 50 luxury brands will be incorporated into the monument, the displays intertwined with sea life in the underwater enclosing. Newman has always been fascinated by the story of the Titanic, and has been hoping to finish the plan for the commemorative installation for the past several years. The project is intended to be finally completed by 2012, just in time to honour the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in 1912. [via Extra Vaganzi]
With all this time indoors, we're sure you've had your fair share of at-home raves by now. You've got to let your hair down after a week of WFH, after all. And, now that you can have five friends around with sensible social distancing in place, you can make it a real party, too. Luckily, if you're looking for your next excuse to cut some serious shapes, look no further because there's a new one-off party with pumping tunes and bad fashion is hitting screens across the country on Saturday, May 23. Canadian Club's annual Bad Sweater Party is going virtual. So, cancel whatever non-event plans you had, push your furniture aside and start a makeshift dance floor with five of your nearest and dearest. Bringing the dance-inducing tunes in spades will be Hot Dub Time Machine. For about a decade, he's been ripping up stages the world over with his rolling crossfades of pop music from the last six decades. And during lockdown he's been bringing the good times to your living room. Expect everything from 50s rock 'n' roll tunes to disco hits like ABBA's 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' and Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September'. Once you hit the more recent decades, there's often glam rock, a bit of 90s grunge, Darude's epic 'Sandstorm' and 'Toxic' by Britney. You get the idea — it's nonstop bangers all night long. Hang on, a Bad Sweater Party? The major point of difference for this party is that you've got a dress code. Don an ugly jumper — it's OK, you're partying at home. And, yes, you'll get pretty sweaty with all those killer moves you'll be busting. Kicking off at 7pm, the event will be live streamed via Hot Dub's Twitch account, with a live chat going so you can socialise with other partygoers. You may want to dust off that disco ball and find that old lava lamp, too. As you'll working up a sweat as you dance your way through the decades (in a sweater, remember), you'll want some cold ones on hand. To really get in the spirit of things, mix up some CC 'n' drys. Or save yourself the trouble and grab a case of the stuff. Canadian Club's Bad Sweater Party is going down on Saturday, May 23, from 7–9pm. You can tune in here — just don't forget your ugly jumper.
To some she was a caregiver. To others, a recluse. Now, the world knows her as an artist. Vivian Maier had a lot of faces, all of which are revealed in a problematic new documentary releasing in cinemas this week. Directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, the film pulls back the curtain on the life of its titular subject, a woman who, in the years since her death, has gone from a total unknown to one of the most acclaimed street photographers in history. That's the premise of Finding Vivian Maier. The problem is that it appears she never wanted to be found. The documentary begins in 2007, when Maloof, an author and amateur historian, was doing research for a book about Chicago. On a whim, he purchased a box of old, undeveloped photographs at an auction — photographs that just so happened to have been taken by Vivian Maier. Blown away by her talent, Maloof stuck her name into Google, only for his search to turn up a blank. So over the next few years, he continued to look, slowly uncovering more about the artist while shining an ever brighter spotlight on her work. As it turns out, Maier spent most of her life working as a nanny. Interviews with the children she cared for, now adults, paint an eccentric portrait of a bold, opinionated woman with combat boots and a phoney French accent, who would take them on outings to the rough side of town just so she could get an interesting picture. She was also a prolific hoarder, collecting not just photographs, but letters, receipts and stacks and stacks of newspapers. She never married, never had kids and, despite her remarkable body of work, appears to have died penniless and alone. It's certainly an intriguing story, one that Maloof and Siskel milk for everything it's worth. But, as the documentary goes on, it also becomes increasingly clear that Maier herself would have been uncomfortable with the attention she's being given. She never made any significant attempts to showcase her work while she was alive, and appears to have gone to great lengths to keep her private life hidden. Throughout the film, various people speculate, often rather tastelessly, about her feelings and state of mind. Ultimately, without the participation of Maier herself, it's simply impossible to know. Maloof, meanwhile, comes across as extremely unlikable; a self-congratulatory little hipster poking his nose where it doesn't belong. There are obviously a whole stack of moral issues at play here, but whether or not you can justify viewing Maier's work without her consent, it's pretty clearly not okay to rummage through her personal life just to satisfy a tawdry curiosity. Finding Vivian Maier smacks of gossip and exploitation. Let the poor woman rest in peace. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2o2nBhQ67Zc
You would think that having access to all of humanity's collective knowledge — from our darkest failures to our wildest successes — would make us, generally, smarter. Instead, we've just become overwhelmed — collectively. We've essentially somehow failed upwards, in that uniquely human way we have of doing things. But, who can blame us? Nearly half of us feel stressed all or most of the time (nice to know it's not just me), and we've all felt the deep financial, physical and emotional impact of living in a pandemic for more than 18 months. Most days, that uncertainty makes a lot of things scary. Slightly nerdy fun fact (stay with me here): A common term for the press and journalism is the Fourth Estate. It harks back to days in early modern France, just before the French Revolution, when there were three broad social hierarchies. The three estates were known as the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobility) and the Third Estate (commoners and bourgeoisie). The Fourth Estate is a term that recognises the not-insignificant power the media holds in influencing conversation, opinion and action in society. That power has even more weight in today's world. That's why Concrete Playground has committed to bringing you news and information about COVID-19 and vaccinations that is relevant, accurate, useful and actionable. And, without the doomsday spin. We've even teamed up with a group of other publishers on this — BuzzFeed, Junkee, The Latch, Man of Many, Urban List and Zee Feed. Together, we've committed to keeping harmful headlines and messages off our pages and to only publish COVID-related stories and information that will help inform Aussies and open up Australia. The industries, businesses and individuals that are essential to Australia's culture and lifestyle and all the things you like reading about on this website — the arts, events, live music and hospitality — are among those most impacted by the ongoing effects of the pandemic. We want those industries to get back to thriving and for the rest of us to be able to enjoy them again. Our part is to help young Australians feel informed in a way that makes them comfortable and confident in taking the steps to get vaccinated — but also alleviate some of the anxiety caused by alarmist headlines. So, expect everything from the latest information on mask-wearing rules to expert commentary on vaccines; couch potato recommendations and being a cheerleader for the little guys. This is your spot for feel-good stories, COVID-safe recommendations and informative news. We're thrilled to have you here. Concrete Playground is part of an Australian Publishers Partnership in a joint COVID mission and coverage pledge which includes: putting science first, standing for healthy headlines, considering image choices, avoiding triggering imagery and not partaking in alarmist headlines. The joint mission will be in effect until Australia gets 50% of the under 40s population vaccinated.
Keen for a sneak-peek at tracks from The Strokes' new album, 'Angles'? Not due for release until March 22, you cynically reply? Think again. Thanks to a glitch in the iTunes UK store, 30-second previews of every track from the album were prematurely uploaded. They've since been taken down, but not before being ripped by fans eager to hear what the band have been up to for the last couple of years. 'Angles' has been five years in the making. Check out snippets of the new songs, compiled conveniently into one YouTube video. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hjyIxgiryHo [Via Addict Music]
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 and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've had a close-contact run-in. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films 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's 15 you can watch right now at home. NIGHTMARE ALLEY Don't mistake the blaze that starts the exceptional Nightmare Alley for warmth; in his 11th film, Guillermo del Toro gets chillier than he ever has. A lover of gothic tales told with empathy and curiosity, the Mexican The Shape of Water filmmaker has always understood that escapism and agony go hand in hand — and here, in a carnival noir that springs from William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel and previously reached cinemas in 1947, he runs headfirst into cold, unrelenting darkness. That burning house, once home to the skulking Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza), is surrounded by America's stark midwestern landscape circa 1939. Still, the terrain of its now-former occupant's insides is even grimmer, as Nightmare Alley's opening image of Stan dropping a body into a hole in the abode's floor, then striking a match, shows. From there, he descends into the carny world after being given a job by barker Clem Hoatley (Willem Dafoe, Spider-Man: No Way Home) and doing whatever's asked, including helping clean up after the geek act — although, even with his ambiguities evident from the outset, stomaching a cage-dwelling man biting the heads off live chickens to entertain braying crowds isn't initially easy. While set in an already-despondent US where the Depression is only just waning, the shadows of the First World War linger and more are soon to fall via World War II, Nightmare Alley still gives Stan flickers of hope. Adapted from the novel by del Toro with feature debutant Kim Morgan, and filled to the brim with outstanding performances, the movie doesn't ever promise light or virtue, but kindness repeatedly comes its protagonist's way in its first half. In fortune-teller Zeena the Seer (Toni Collette, Dream Horse) and her oft-sauced husband and assistant Pete (David Strathairn, Nomadland), Stan gains friends and mentors. He takes to mentalism like he was born to it, and his gift for manipulating audiences — and his eagerness to keep pushing the spiritualism further — is firmly a sign. Soon, it's 1941 and he's rebadged himself as 'The Great Stanton' in city clubs, claiming to speak to the dead in the pursuit of bigger paydays, with fellow ex-carny Molly Cahill (Rooney Mara, Mary Magdalene) as his romantic and professional partner beyond the dustbowl. But then that scam attracts the attention of Dr Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett, Don't Look Up), and this drifter-turned-grifter gets caught in someone else's plan. Nightmare Alley is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. KING RICHARD In King Richard, Will Smith does more acting than expected with his back to the on-screen action. He does more acting in general — while the Ali and Concussion star can be a transformative performer, here he feels like he's overtly playing a part rather than disappearing into a role — but the way his eponymous figure handles his daughters' matches instantly stands out. Richard Williams is a tennis parent who despises the usual tennis parent histrionics. At the time the film is set, in the early 90s, he has also coached Venus (Saniyya Sidney, Fences) and Serena (Demi Singleton, Godfather of Harlem) since they were four years old, and penned a 78-page plan mapping out their futures before they were born. He's dedicated his life to their success, alongside family matriarch Oracene (Aunjanue Ellis, Lovecraft Country); however, he's so restless when they're volleying and backhanding that he can't bring himself to watch. These scenes in King Richard are among Smith's best. As directed by Joe Bell helmer Reinaldo Marcus Green — making another movie about a real-life person that makes his male eponymous figure the centre of someone else's story — he's anxious yet determined, and lives the feeling like he's breathing it. They're some of the movie's least blatantly showy and most quietly complex scenes as well. The Williams patriarch has wisdom for all occasions, forged from a tough childhood in America's south, plus the hard work and hustle of turning Venus and Serena into budding champions, so he'd likely have something to say about the insights gleaned here: that you can tell oh-so-much about a person when they're under pressure but nobody's watching. If he was actively imparting this lesson to his daughters — five of them, not just the two that now have 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them — and they didn't glean it, he'd make them watch again. When they see Cinderella in the film, that's exactly what happens. But his courtside demeanour is teachable anyway, recognising how all the preparation and effort in the world will still see you tested over and over. King Richard is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. SPENCER With two-plus decades as an actor to her name, Kristen Stewart hasn't spent her career as a candle in the wind. Her flame has both blazed and flickered since her first uncredited big-screen role in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas but, by Elton John's definition, she's always known where to cling to. After jumping from child star to Twilight heroine and then one of the savviest talents of her generation, she's gleaned where to let her haunting gaze stare so piercingly that it lights up celluloid again and again, too. Spencer joins Stewart's resume after weighty parts in Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper, Certain Women and Seberg, and has her do something she's long done magnificently: let a world of pain and uncertainty seep quietly from her entire being. The new regal drama should do just that, of course, given its subject — but saying that director Pablo Larraín (Jackie, Ema) has cast his Diana well, pitch-perfect head tilt and all, is a royal understatement. The year is 1991, the time is Christmas and the place is the Queen's (Stella Gonet, Breeders) Sandringham Estate, where the Windsors converge for the holidays (yes, Spencer is now prime seasonal viewing). As scripted by Peaky Blinders and Locked Down's Steven Knight, the choice of period puts Diana in one of the most precarious situations of her then decade-long married life, with her nuptials to Prince Charles (Jack Farthing, The Lost Daughter) turning into an "amicable separation" within 12 months. Spencer's focus is on three days, not all that defined the People's Princess' existence before or after, but she can't stop contemplating her past and future. The Sandringham grounds include the house where Diana was born, and those happier recollections — and time spent now with her children (debutants Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry) — give her a glow. Alas, all the monarchical scrutiny simmers her joy to ashes, unsurprisingly. Spencer is available to stream via Prime Video. Read our full review. WEST SIDE STORY Tonight, tonight, there's only Steven Spielberg's lavish and dynamic version of West Side Story tonight — not to detract from or forget the 1961 movie of the same name. Six decades ago, an all-singing, all-dancing, New York City-set, gang war-focused spin on Romeo and Juliet leapt from stage to screen, becoming one of cinema's all-time classic musicals; however, remaking that hit is a task that Spielberg dazzlingly proves up to. It's his first sashay into the genre, despite making his initial amateur feature just three years after the original West Side Story debuted. It's also his first film since 2018's obnoxiously awful Ready Player One, which doubled as a how-to guide to crafting one of the worst, flimsiest and most bloated pieces of soulless pop-culture worship possible. But with this swooning, socially aware story of star-crossed lovers, Spielberg pirouettes back from his atrocious last flick by embracing something he clearly adores, and being unafraid to give it rhythmic swirls and thematic twirls. Shakespeare's own tale of tempestuous romance still looms large over West Side Story, as it always has — in fair NYC and its rubble-strewn titular neighbourhood where it lays its 1950s-era scene. The Jets and the Sharks aren't quite two households both alike in dignity, though. Led by the swaggering and dogged Riff (Mike Faist, a Tony-nominee for the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen), the Jets are young, scrappy, angry and full of resentment for anyone they fear is encroaching on their terrain. Meanwhile, with boxer Bernardo (David Alvarez, a Tony-winner for Billy Elliot) at the helm, the Sharks have tried to establish new lives outside of their native Puerto Rico through study, jobs and their own businesses. Both gangs refuse to coexist peacefully in the only part of New York where either feels at home — but it's a night at a dance, and the love-at-first-sight connection that blooms between Riff's best friend Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch) and Bernardo's younger sister María (feature debutant Rachel Zegler), that sparks a showdown. West Side Story is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. HOUSE OF GUCCI For the second time in as many movies, Lady Gaga is caught in a bad romance in House of Gucci. Yes, she's already sung the song to match. The pop diva doesn't belt out ballads or croon upbeat tunes in this true-crime drama, unlike in her Oscar-nominated role in A Star Is Born, but she does shimmy into a tale about love and revenge, horror and design, and wanting someone's everything as long as it's free. Eschewing the earthy naturalism of her last film performance and tapping into her famed on-stage theatricality instead, she's perfect for the part of Patrizia Reggiani, aka Lady Gucci, aka the daughter of a trucking entrepreneur who wed into one of the world's most prestigious fashion families, helped unstitch its hold on its couture empire, then went to prison for murder. She's exceptional because she goes big and lavish, and because she knows that's the type of feature she's meant to be in: a soapy spectacle about money and power that uses its depiction of excess as an interrogation technique. Complimenting Gaga for nailing the brief — for acing it so dazzlingly that she's sauntering down her own catwalk as most of her co-stars virtually watch from the floor — gives House of Gucci a tad too much credit, though. Ridley Scott's second film in mere months following The Last Duel, and his third in a row to examine wealth and influence after 2017's All the Money in the World, this fashion-world saga skews large, lush and luxe with each choice, too, but doesn't land every sashay with quite the outsized lustre of its crown jewel. If House of Gucci's veteran director was picking an outfit instead, he would've chosen a killer gown, then wavered on the accessories. Some of his other decisions gleam, as seen in the movie's knowingly maximalist and melodramatic air, and in Adam Driver's (Annette) casting as Patrizia's ill-fated husband Maurizio Gucci. Others prove fine, like its jukebox-style soundtrack of 70s and 80s bangers. A few moves are so cartoonish — Jared Leto's ridiculousness, and the Super Mario-style accents sported by almost everyone on-screen — that they play like cheap knockoffs. House of Gucci is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST When Succession roves over New York's skyline — in its opening credits, as set to that bewitching theme tune, or just during its episodes — it gleams with wealth and privilege. Depiction doesn't equal endorsement, however, with the stellar HBO satire sharply cutting into its chosen world at every chance it gets. As one of the show's supporting cast members, Dasha Nekrasova slides into that realm, too, but that's not her only dalliance with the city's architecture, power brokers and all that both represent. The Scary of Sixty-First, the Red Scare podcast host's feature directorial debut, also savages the rich and seemingly consequence-free. It clasps onto a real-life story that's made that case inherently, abhorrently and monstrously. There's no gentle way to put it, but the fact that Nekrasova plays a woman investigating if a bargain Upper East Side duplex was one of Jeffrey Epstein's "orgy flophouses" says much about this purposefully provocative conspiracy thriller horror-comedy. College pals Addie (Betsey Brown, Assholes) and Noelle (the film's co-screenwriter Madeline Quinn) can't believe their luck when they find the cheap property, even if it does visibly need a clean — and have mirrored ceilings, as well as some questionable lock choices — and even if they don't appear completely comfortable with committing to live together. But from night one, the literal nightmares begin. Soon they're spying blood stains, scratched walls and eerie tarot cards, and feeling unsettled in a variety of ways. Enter Nekrasova's stranger, who comes sporting a dark-web rabbit hole's worth of paranoia and bearing the Epstein news. Addie and Noelle take the revelation in vastly different fashions, with the former seeming possessed by one of Epstein's child victims, and the latter diving deep into potential theories with her unnamed new friend. The Scary of Sixty-First is available to stream via Google Play and YouTube Movies. Read our full review. SCREAM Twenty-six years ago, "do you like scary movies?" stopped being just an ordinary question. Posed by a wrong-number caller who happened to be a ghostface-masked killer with a fondness for kitchen knives, it was the snappiest and savviest line in one of the 90s' biggest horror films, and it's now one of cinema's iconic pieces of dialogue. It gets another whirl in the Scream franchise's fifth movie, which is also called Scream — and you'd really best answer it now with the heartiest yes possible. Taking over from the late, great Wes Craven, who also directed 1997's Scream 2, 2000's Scream 3 and 2011's Scream 4 but died in 2015, Ready or Not's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett task their next generation of slasher fodder with showing their devotion to horror with all the subtlety of a masked murderer who can't stop taunting their prey. That'd be a new Ghostface, who terrorises today's Woodsboro high schoolers, because the fictional spot is up there with Sunnydale and Twin Peaks on the list of places that are flat-out hellish for teens. The same happened in Scream 4, but the first new attack by the saga's killer is designed to lure home someone who's left town. Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera, In the Heights) hightailed it the moment she was old enough, fleeing a family secret, but is beckoned back when her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega, You) receives the feature's opening "do you like scary movies?" call. Soon, bodies are piling up, Ghostface gives Woodsboro that grim sense of deja vu again, and Tara's friends — including the horror film-obsessed Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown, Yellowjackets), her twin Chad (Mason Gooding, Love, Victor), his girlfriend Liv (Sonia Ammar, Jappeloup), and other pals Wes (Dylan Minnette, 13 Reasons Why) and Amber (Mikey Madison, Better Things) — are trying to both survive while basically cycling through the OG feature again, complete with a crucial location, and sleuth out the culprit using their scary movie knowledge. Everyone's a suspect, including Sam herself and her out-of-towner boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid, The Boys), and also the begrudging resident expert on this exact situation: ex-sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette, Spree). The latter is the reason that morning show host Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox, Cougar Town) and initial Ghostface target Sidney Prescott (Skyscraper) make the trip back to Woodsboro again as well. Scream is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN Start how you mean to go on is common-sense filmmaking advice. It's the medium's obvious first step, but it's also an elusive achievement. And, it's a feat that's usually only evident in hindsight — when a viewer can see if a stellar introduction really did signal just as sublime things to come, or vice versa. Never Gonna Snow Again perfects the concept, however. In its arresting opening moments, a man walks out of a forest and into a gated community in eastern Poland, and everything about the scene ripples with moody intrigue. The grey fog infusing the film's setting, the enigmatic look on the mysterious protagonist's face, the feeling that anything and everything could happen: filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska (Mug) and Michal Englert (also the movie's cinematographer) deliver it all at the outset, and then back it up over their feature's 116 minutes. In Never Gonna Snow Again's initial images, that inscrutable man is Ukrainian masseur Zhenia (Alec Utgoff, Stranger Things), who walks out of a forest and into a gated community in eastern Poland. His destination is lined with lavish identical houses — the kind that the song 'Little Boxes' has satirised for almost six decades now — but he's about to be its most extraordinary visitor. His hands can help knead away physical troubles, a must for everyone with his profession. But as he works his physical magic, his touch can soothe minds as well. Trundling his massage table from well-appointed home to well-appointed home, he quickly builds up a devoted client list of well-to-do residents desperate for his help. He steps into their worlds, spying their outward gloss — the similar wreaths on each door, the doorbells chiming with snippets of classic music — and palpating away their inner pain. Never Gonna Snow Again is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET On a fictional New York street that's home to a cross-section of the city's multicultural population, young and old alike, and also to boisterous muppets, sunny days have been sweeping the clouds away since November 1969. Eager to educate preschoolers, Sesame Street has taught multiple generations of children the alphabet, to count — with help from Count von Count since 1972, of course — and about life in general, and both its longevity and the beloved turf it holds within popular culture speak to its enormous success. Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street knows that it's profiling a seminal piece of television, and that virtually everyone born in the past half-century grew up watching the adored series; however, it's also keen to tell the story behind that story. Nostalgia drips through this behind-the-scenes documentary, gleefully so, but so too does a chronicle of how Sesame Street became the icon it is — and against the odds. The show's backstory starts with TV producer Joan Ganz Cooney and psychologist Lloyd Morrisett, and with a dinner-party conversation that saw them float the idea of a television series that might help American children prepare for school — particularly kids of colour. The path to Sesame Street reaching the air wasn't smooth from there, or plain sailing once it got to screens (its focus on racial integration didn't go down well in parts of Mississippi, for instance), but education-meets-entertainment history was nonetheless made. Inspired by Michael Davis' 2008 non-fiction book Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, documentarian Marilyn Agrelo (An Invisible Sign) fashions her film as an insider's window into a miraculous program, blending informative details about how it came to be and its early years with clips of its muppet-fuelled magic. Both elements of the movie engage, as do its recent and archival interviews. Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. SHANE Paul Kelly named a song after him. Eddie Perfect went one better and wrote an entire musical. But if Shane Warne had lived out his childhood dream, he would've played AFL for St Kilda instead of becoming a tune- and stage show-inspiring star cricketer. That tidbit isn't new news; however, Warne talks it through in new Australian documentary Shane — an early inclusion that demonstrates the film's handling of its well-known central figure. Warne's sporting career rose spectacularly from his failed attempt at Aussie Rules, which he also chats through. It dipped via several scandals, professional and personal alike, which he takes to with considerably less glee. Warne is a candid and engaging interviewee and, while joined by other cricketing and celebrity figures in recounting his life to-date, he's Shane's main source of information, but the film still spins the story that he's happy to share. There's no shortage of details for directors David Alrich (Griff's Great Australian Rail Trip), Jon Carey (Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story) and Jackie Munro to cover, all of which they unfurl in chronological order. Warne was an AFL-obsessed kid who played under-19s and one reserves game, only to be told he wouldn't make it at the top level. He then considered tennis, but found his calling — and global renown and acclaim — in spin-bowling wickets. Even to viewers unfussed by cricket, Warne's achievements are common knowledge, as are his decades in the spotlight. So too are his controversies; the bookmaker situation, the match-fixing proposition put to him by Pakistani captain Salim Malik, the year-long suspension for taking a banned diuretic and the breakdown of his marriage all get a mention, and all earn Warne's current thoughts. He's also especially eager to discuss his prowess for sledging. Shane is available to stream via Prime Video, Google Play and iTunes. Read our full review. THE KING'S MAN When something shows you its true colours, believe it. The Kingsman franchise certainly did when it debuted in 2014, as viewers have been witnessing ever since. That initial entry, Kingsman: The Secret Service, gave the espionage genre an irreverent and energetic spin, and landed partway between update and parody. But, while making Taron Egerton a star and proving engaging-enough, it didn't know when to call it quits, serving up one of the most ill-judged closing moments that spy flicks have ever seen. Since then, all things Kingsman haven't known when to end either, which is why subpar sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle arrived in 2017, and now unnecessary mostly World War I-centric prequel The King's Man — all from filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, Another year, another dull origin story. Another year, another stretched Bond knockoff, too. It's in a prologue in 1902 that Ralph Fiennes (No Time to Die) makes his first appearance as Orlando Oxford, a duke travelling to South Africa during the Boer War — and soon made a widower, because The King's Man starts with the tiresome dead wife trope. Twelve years later, Oxford is staunchly a pacifist, so much so that he forbids his now-teenage son Conrad (Harris Dickinson, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) from enlisting when WWI breaks out. But the duke hasn't completely given away serving his country himself, overseeing an off-the-books intelligence network with the help of his servants Shola (Djimon Hounsou, A Quiet Place Part II) and Polly (Gemma Arterton, Summerland). That comes in handy when a nefarious Scottish figure known only as The Shepherd interferes in world affairs, with King George V of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (all cousins, and all played by Bohemian Rhapsody's Tom Hollander) his targets. The King's Man is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE After more than a few pandemic delays, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has finally reached screens — and it floats into a world that's made worshipping previous glories one of the biggest cash-spinners show business could've ever dreamed up. The fourth feature to bear the Ghostbusters name, but a new legacy sequel to the original 1984 film, this reanimated franchise entry certainly sports a fitting subtitle; treating its source material like it's nirvana is firmly filmmaker Jason Reitman's approach. To him, it might've been. Although he established his career with indie comedies such as Thank You for Smoking and Juno, he's the son of director Ivan Reitman, who helmed the OG Ghostbusters and its 1989 follow-up Ghostbusters II. To plenty of fans, those two initial comedy-horror flicks were something special as well; however, acknowledging that fact — and trying to recreate the feeling of being a kid or teen watching the first Ghostbusters nearly four decades ago — isn't enough to fuel a new film. To be fair, the younger Reitman isn't particularly interested in making a new movie; Be Kind Rewind's "sweded" Ghostbusters clips are more original than Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Instead, he directs a homage that sprinkles in links to its predecessor so heartily that it's probably easier to name the scenes and details that don't scream "hey, this is Ghostbusters!" as loudly as possible. The focus: Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, Malignant), a new inhabitant of the cringingly titled Summerville, Oklahoma. With her mother Callie (Carrie Coon, The Nest) and brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, The Goldfinch), she's made the move because the granddad she never knew just passed away, leaving a dilapidated rural property to his estranged family. The townsfolk speak his nickname, "dirt farmer", with mocking and intrigue, but his actual moniker — and all that equipment he's left behind — brings big changes Phoebe's way. While being Dr Egon Spengler's granddaughter doesn't initially mean too much to her, other than giving her love for science a genetic basis, she's soon segueing from testing out ghost traps with local teacher Mr Grooberson (Paul Rudd, The Shrink Next Door) to cracking Egon's secret efforts to stop a world-shattering supernatural event. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. BLACKLIGHT In most movies, Liam Neeson's Blacklight character wouldn't be the protagonist. Secret FBI fixer Travis Block likely wouldn't even be given a name. Instead, he'd merely be a brief presence who popped up to help other on-screen figures — the federal agents he gets out of tricky situations, for instance — as they went about their business and connected the script's necessary plot points. Turning someone who'd usually be seen as disposable into its lead is this action-thriller's one good idea, but the flattened henchman scene in Austin Powers gave the notion more thought than the entirety of Blacklight demonstrates. There's a difference between thrusting a character to the fore and fleshing them out, especially when a film is happy to define them solely by the actor in their shoes. Here, Travis Block is another prosaic entry on Neeson's action resume first and foremost. The film he's in is directed by Neeson's Honest Thief writer/director Mark Williams, too, who doesn't stretch himself or his star in their second collaboration. When Blacklight begins, Block has spent his career doing whatever FBI Director Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn, Elementary) has asked. Typically, that's assisting on-the-books operatives struggling with off-the-books missions — and Block is great at his job. But when he's tasked with aiding the suddenly erratic Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith, Shadow in the Cloud), he begins to see more in the rogue agent's story than his old Vietnam War pal Robinson wants to share. Crane has quite the wild tale to tell, tied to the assassination of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-style politician Sofia Flores (Mel Jarnson, Mortal Kombat) and filled with dark government secrets, and he's eager to share it with scoop-chasing reporter Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman, The Umbrella Academy). That's exactly what Block is supposed to stop, with his new crisis of conscience putting his daughter Amanda (Claire van der Bloom, Palm Beach) and granddaughter Natalie (debutant Gabriella Sengos) in peril. Blacklight is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. SING 2 Star voices, a jukebox worth of songs, anthropomorphic animated critters, cheesy sentiments: that's the formula fuelling far too many all-ages-friendly films of late. Back in 2016, Sing used it to box office-smashing success by doing little more than spinning a colourful version of American Idol but with zoo animals doing the singing. It wasn't the worst example of this kind of flick, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it was the skew of its soundtrack, which favoured songs that the adults in its audience would like more than the pint-sized viewers entranced by its bright hues, talking lions and koalas, and frenetic pacing. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sing 2 doubles down on that idea by not only mining the discography of U2, but by also casting Bono as a reclusive ex-rockstar. For the Irish frontman, the double payday must've been nice. Returning writer/director Garth Jennings begins Sing 2 with a saccharine rendition of Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy', but that song choice isn't instructional or descriptive; nothing here departs from the expected. This time around, after already gathering a gang of music-loving animals via a singing contest in the first flick, koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey, The Gentlemen) has a hit show filling his theatre — but he still wants to make it big in the bigger smoke. Alas, Suki (Chelsea Peretti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), a dog and a talent scout, advises that Buster's ragtag crew don't have what it takes. He's determined to prove otherwise, taking pigs Rosita (Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show) and Gunter (Nick Kroll, Big Mouth), gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton, Rocketman), porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow), and elephant Meena (singer Tori Kelly) to Redshore City to pitch directly to wolf and media mogul Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Canavale, Nine Perfect Strangers). Sing 2 is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2 As 2019's stop-motion The Addams Family did, The Addams Family 2 boasts a few stellar strokes of voice casting, but that can't save a film that's distressingly eager to be as bland, flat and lazy as possible. Once again, returning directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) — who team up with first-time co-helmers Laura Brousseau and Kevin Pavlovic — only manage to make viewers wish that Oscar Isaac (Dune) and Charlize Theron (Fast and Furious 9) could've played Gomez and Morticia in a new live-action film, instead of lending their voices to this mess. The lines they're tasked with uttering, as penned by screenwriters Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) along with Ben Queen (Cars 2) and Susanna Fogel (Booksmart), have less life (and inspire fewer laughs) than a corpse. And, as with the first animated movie, they're still caught up in a flick that has Snoop Dogg cast Cousin Itt so that it can drop in his songs (and yes, that's supposed to be funny, apparently). Story-wise, The Addams Family 2 focuses on Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz, Tom and Jerry), who feels she doesn't fit in with her relatives even before she's told she might've been switched at birth. But forget the dark humour that's always been the backbone of all things Addams since its first days on the page. Forget any sense of personality that isn't just "ooh, they're odd and they like grim things" — and forget anything that you wouldn't see in any other all-ages film, too. The script could've been written for any old characters, then had Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley (Javon 'Wanna' Walton, Utopia), Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll, Sing 2), Thing and company shoehorned in, although its family vacation setup does take all the wrong cues from the aforementioned Addams Family Reunion. It hardly helps that the animation style looks ghoulishly unpleasant, but at least the character designs nod to Charles Addams' original cartoons. Nothing else about this unwanted sequel even comes close, in a feature that proves the antithesis of its characters: mundane, safe, routine and only unnerving in how terrible it is. The Addams Family 2 is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon 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.
Ellen took a temporary break from her hosting duties to take and tweet a (slightly blurred) selfie Hollywood would be proud of, roping in a big bunch of willing A-listers including JLaw, Bradley Cooper, Brad and Angie, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep. After a bit of contention about who was going to actually take the photo (Meryl was the first choice but she seemed a little uncertain and admitted that she'd never tweeted before) and a sneaky late entry to the group (Jared Leto jumped in out of nowhere, apparently still riding a high from his best supporting actor win), it was Bradley Cooper who took the matter in hand and snapped the shot. The result was slightly surreal, with the Guardian's live Oscar coverage commenting on the spookiness of seeing "the most photographed people photographing themselves, live on camera, watched by millions". The pic was retweeted over 500,000 times in less than 30 minutes. Then temporarily crashed Twitter. Woah. After what was arguably an expectedly tame opening monologue, Ellen also wins big points for stirring things up a bit by ordering pizza and then distributing slices to the first few rows of smartly dressed stars, who she assumed must be pretty hungry after weeks of dieting to fit into their gowns and suits. Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Martin Scorsese were among those getting in on the action, with a bemused Leonardo DiCaprio firmly declining. Perhaps the best part was when, pizza devoured, Ellen announced she had no money for a tip and suggested that Sandra Bullock cover the costs. Keep up the good work, Ellen.
Society has drilled it into our heads that it's unethical to capitalise on the youthful vitality of small, underprivileged children, but Soccket might make you see things differently. A small company called Unchartered Play has developed a soccer ball that doubles as a portable generator, providing both fun and power to those who play with it. The Soccket uses Unchartered Play's patent-pending technology to capture the kinetic energy generated by a game of soccer, storing it in the ball for later use as an off-grid power source. Powering an LED lamp requires 30 minutes of play. The immediate advantages are threefold: Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, one in five people around the globe are without power, and most kids think soccer is fun — particularly kids who have never heard of Angry Birds and who are often denied the opportunity to be kids due to more pressing issues such as survival. It is hoped to bring particular relief to developing countries reliant on kerosene lamps, which can lead to severe health problems and are responsible for huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. The ball is currently produced very labour intensively in North America, but Unchartered Play have launched a Kickstarter campaign to take things to the next level. $75,000 will help Unchartered Play (a team of just eight people) bring on board more employees, purchase more tools and equipment, automate parts of the assembly process, and up their output of Soccket Balls from a few hundred to thousands per week. They've almost reached half of their goal with 24 days to go. $1 is the minimum, but pledging $89 or more will get you one standard Soccket Ball and lamp if the campaign is successful. You've then got the option of keeping it for a sweet-as camping gadget or, you know, giving it up to a child in need. Via Inhabitat.com.
Youth Music Industries is a fantastic organisation dedicated to helping high-school aged musicians develop and hone their craft. It is run by kids of the same age, so it is truly impressive that they have managed to become one of the best music development teams in Brisbane. The 4 Walls festival is an all-ages festival that is put on by the youth, for the youth. An astounding line-up has been organised for the day, including The Paper Kites, The Medics (pictured), Millions, Cub Scouts, The Belligerents and Fairchild Republic plus many more. Spread over 3 stages and lasting most of the day, 4 Walls Festival is a great event for music lovers of all ages and is sure to be a fantastic experience for all who attend.
It's the best new hangout Brisbane currently has to offer, it'll have a view of the fireworks and it's ending its first month of operation — and 2017, obviously — in house party style. South Bank's Little Big House wants to become the city's new boozy hangout and hotspot, so they're making sure it happens with their two-level New Year's Eve celebration. Given the history of the site — which has been many things, including a police station — LBH are looking to keep things open on the night everyone is out and about. How? Well their NYE shenanigans won't just be a house party; they'll be an open house party. Everyone is welcome for brews and dance-worthy tunes, with attendees even able to control the music downstairs. Even better — unlike most other places around town, registration is required but entry is free.
Bingo is definitely one of those games that everyone knows how to play. If you want to get really deep, in some ways it’s almost a metaphor for existence. Each day you’re dealt a hand of cards that influence everything you get up to. You get your playing card (life) pre-filled with numbers or similar, some higher being reads out a select list of the above, and you get to fight others to tick them off one by one – university degree, career, partner, house. Whoever fills up their sheet first wins! Yay! As a group of individuals working in advertising, media, marketing and communications, QLD Youngbloods love hosting networking events to help you get the job you want. This time they’ve gone retro with a re-worked Bloody Bingo idea. Attendees are given a bingo card and must network around the room to fill up each square. Once completed, you go in the draw to win two fabulous prizes courtesy of AdSchool. So if you’re a person who is less inclined to wait for life to deal them bingo numbers and would much rather make the bingo card yourself, this is the networking event for you.
Three years ago, Perth rockers Little Birdy decided to take a break. They'd been in the business since 2002 and, emphasising that their collaborative journey was on hiatus rather than at an end, explained that some solo exploration was nigh. While the boys embarked on various songwriting and production projects, Katy Steele jumped on a plane bound for New York City, drawn to "the largeness, the intensity, the struggle". 2010 saw two returns home — firstly for a massive, sold-out solo tour and secondly to support Richard Ashcroft of The Verve. Since then, Katy's been busy with a new album, and we're hoping to have it in our hands by the end of the year. March 13 marked the dropping of the single 'Fire Me Up', which you can download gratis via Bandcamp or hear on Triple J's Home and Hosed. Mind you, there's no substitute for the indie rock goddess doing her thing live. She'll be touring nationally in April, making her Brisbane appearance at Alhambra Lounge.
If you like beer and you live in Brisbane, then you've probably noticed a trend in recent years. In fact, you've probably been making the most of it. That's to be expected when a certain patch of turf starts welcoming new drinking spots with frequency. Thanks to Ballistic Beer Co in Salisbury, as well as Helios Brewing Company and Slipstream Brewing Company in Yeerongpilly, there's no shortage of breweries to have a beer at on the southside. And, while you've likely been hopping between them all anyway, Beermuda Triangle gives the area's boozy crawl an official spin. Head to any of the trio between 1–7pm on Saturday, April 30, get sipping, then catch a courtesy bus to the other two — and drink more frothy ales at each, obviously. Entry is free, more than 50 brews will be on offer, and there'll also be food trucks and live music at each brewery. Plus, you'll be able to just generally soak in the boozy Salisbury and Yeerongpilly vibes. Also, taking some cues from the place behind its name and its dark depths — that'd be the Bermuda Triangle, of course — Beermuda Triangle is putting the focus on dark brews for the day. There'll be a range of tipples on offer, but each brewery will whip up something dark that you'll only be able to drink at the event.
