You might have thought King George Square looked pretty fine during the day and maybe a tad finer at night, but it's at twilight City Hall really shows off its colours. And what better backdrop when you're shopping the evening away — especially when the King George is filled with some of Brisbane's best designers and makers, and you're looking for Christmas presents, The festive offshoot of the regular Brisbane Twilight Market, this event will show off a sizeable array of stalls — more than 80, in fact — all staffed by some pretty nifty and talented local artists. Expect an eclectic selection of items, so prepare to browse and buy. You'll be perusing everything from handmade clothing, accessories and leather goods to paper goods, homewares, art and ceramics (and more). And seasonal gifts, obviously. This market is all about sound, smell and sales — so live music will provide a soundtrack to the evening, and expect to be hit with that spring flowerbed smell that always lingers when there's a soap stall around. Food trucks are also on the agenda, with the market running from 4–9pm on Saturday, November 28. So take along some cash and stock up on all things crafty. [caption id="attachment_666947" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] BrisStyle[/caption] Top image: Brisbane City Council.
Before the pandemic, compiling a travel bucket list was limited only to your imagination. Now, after years of international border closures, and also the shutting down of overseas travel into and out of many countries, it's also guided by COVID-19 rules, requirements, restrictions and entry procedures. But if you've been keen to add Bali to your itinerary, the Indonesian island has good news: it's now open to double-vaccinated Australian and New Zealand tourist without quarantine. Back in February, Bali started welcoming back select tourists — including folks from Down Under — but with a shortened isolation period, requiring arrivals to quarantine for five days once they hit the island. Now, since Monday, March 7, that rule has been scrapped. There's still mandatory testing, as well as a few other procedures to abide by, but you no longer have to factor in a lengthy stint confined to your hotel before your getaway genuinely kicks into gear. Firstly, the new rules only apply to travellers who have had at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine — and, in the 48 hours before you get to Bali, you also need to get a PCR test (and, obviously, it needs to return a negative result). Then, thanks to Bali's newly implemented Visa on Arrival program, you'll fill out the paperwork and pay the fee (around AU$50) when you hop off the plane, and also take another PCR test. You will need to isolate until you get a negative result from that one, but that's clearly better than spending five days in quarantine. Upon arrival, you'll also need to show proof of a paid hotel booking for four days/three nights, as well as health insurance that covers COVID-19 up to at least US$25,000. And, you'll have to download the Bali COVID app as well. Then, three days after you get there, you're required to take another PCR test as well — but there's no isolation requirement attached. Countries covered under Bali's Visa on Arrival program since Monday, March 7 include Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Qatar, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Italy, Turkey and UEA, with the scheme expanding to 42 nations on Monday, March 21. Indonesia has also just dropped its quarantine requirement nationwide, effective from the same date. That yearning you now feel? It's the need to pull out your dusty suitcase, get packing and book yourself a beachy Bali holiday. For more information about the requirements for travelling to Bali, head to the Indonesian Government's website.
Back in 1999 and 2000, Baz Luhrmann's beloved movie musical Moulin Rouge! was filmed in Australia. Since 2021, the Tony-winning stage version of that hit feature has been doing the rounds of the country, too. And, in spectacular (spectacular) news, it's finally heading to Brisbane, marking the show's fourth Australian stop following its Aussie-premiere season in Melbourne, current Sydney run and upcoming Perth stint. This time, Brisbane's QPAC will stand in for the Montmartre Quarter of Paris — the backdrop for a heady romance between lovestruck young bohemian Christian and performer Satine, star of the legendary titular cabaret. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will spin that story in the Lyric Theatre from sometime in May 2023, with exact dates yet to be announced. And yes, it's set to be a huge year in the River City, and at the South Brisbane venue, giving both their next blockbuster production after Hamilton arrives just a few months earlier. When it was first announced back in 2016 that Moulin Rouge! was being turned into a stage musical, fans around the world thought the same thing in unison: the show must go on. Since then, the lavish production premiered in the US in 2018, then hit Broadway in 2019, and finally made its way Down Under in 2021. But if you're a Brisbanite, you've probably been wondering when it would bring its excitement our way — as well as its dazzling on-stage thrills, Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the first-ever Aussie-produced show to win the Tony for Best Musical. As Luhrmann's award-winning, Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor-starring movie — which celebrates its 21st anniversary this year — did before it, the stage musical is heavy not just on star-crossed romance, but with a loaded soundtrack that celebrates iconic tunes from across the past five decades. Indeed, Moulin Rouge! The Musical backs up those favourites with even more hit songs that have been released in the two decades since the movie premiered. The musical comes to Brisbane in the hands of production company Global Creatures. CEO and producer Carmen Pavlovic said that the organisation is "so proud to bring this spectacular show with an all-Australian cast to Brisbane in May 2023". "Brisbane audiences are always so wonderfully engaged, and we can't wait to see their reaction to this big, bold production that has been adored by audiences in Melbourne and Sydney. We look forward to seeing QPAC ready to rouge when the production arrives next year." Directed by Alex Timbers, the Australian production stars Alinta Chidzey as Satine, Des Flanagan as Christian, Simon Burke as club impresario Harold Zidler and Andrew Cook as The Duke — plus Tim Omaji as Toulouse-Lautrec and Ryan Gonzalez as Santiago, Montmartre's resident artistes; and Samantha Dodemaide as Nini, Olivia Vásquez as Arabia, Ruva Ngwenya as La Chocolat, and Christopher J Scalzo as Babydoll, aka the 'Lady M's'. Pre-sale tickets for the Brisbane season will be available from Monday, November 14, with general sales kicking off on Thursday, November 17. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will take over the Lyric Theatre after Hamilton, meaning that the latter definitely has to finish by May, even if its current March end date is extended — so don't throw away your shot to see that, either. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will hit QPAC, Grey Street, South Brisbane, from May 2023, with exact dates yet to be announced . For further details or to join the waitlist for tickets — with pre-sales from Monday, November 14 and general sales from Thursday, November 17 — head to the QPAC website. Images: Michelle Grace Hunder / Matthew Murphy.
It's that time of year, again. After another 12 months interrupted by the pandemic, summer is almost here, Christmas is creeping closer and you're probably thinking about your end-of-year holiday shenanigans. While jetting overseas is about to become an option for Australians once more, exactly when that'll kick in is set to vary state by state. So, depending on where you live, you still might want to make plans to roam around this very country — and, if you're a Queenslander, South Australian or Western Australian who'd like to head down to Tasmania before 2021 is done and dusted, the Tassie Government wants to give you an extra incentive. As part of the new Tassie Holiday Voucher Program, the Tasmanian Government is giving away $300 vouchers to use in the state between Thursday, November 4–Friday, December 31. There are 10,000 on offer, and you have to use them in a set way — with $200 available for accommodation and $100 able to be put towards tours and attractions. When other states have run these types of programs, such as South Australia's 2021 scheme to attract interstate visitors, they've proven immensely popular. Accordingly, the Tassie vouchers are being allocated via ballot, with entries opening at 9am AEDT on Friday, October 29. Again, these vouchers are only open to residents of Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, with the ballot closing at 5pm AEDT on Tuesday, November 2. After that, lucky recipients will be informed via email and SMS on Wednesday, November 3. And, to book, you'll be directed to an online Tasmanian tourism marketplace. Announcing the scheme in a statement, Tasmanian Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events Sarah Courtney said that the Tassie Government knows "that visitors from Victoria and New South Wales traditionally make up 70 percent of total interstate visitation to Tasmania, and the ongoing border restrictions with these markets have significantly impacted our visitor economy." "This program is expected to stimulate travel from interstate markets that currently have open borders with Tasmania, providing vital economic support for our accommodation, tours and attractions sector," the Minister continued. Border-wise, Tasmania currently doesn't require visitors from Queensland, SA and WA to quarantine; however, it does have rules in place if you're from those states and you've been to a venue in your state that's classed as high-risk. In the latter case, you won't be permitted into Tassie — so, as has always proven wise during the pandemic, keeping an eye on border rules is recommended. For further details about the Tassie Holiday Voucher Program — or to enter the ballot between 9am AEDT on Friday, October 29–5pm AEDT on Tuesday, November 2 — head to its website.
"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair". The fingerprints of Shelley's timeless poem Ozymandias are all over Ridley Scott's latest foray into the Alien franchise. Perhaps more so than he intended. While the inexorable decline of leaders and their empires forms the central theme of Alien: Covenant, it also feels neatly appropriate for a franchise in dire need of an original idea. Put simply, Alien: Covenant feels like a beat-for-beat remake, which is at once good news and bad. It's good because Scott's original Alien from 1979 remains one of the best films he has ever made, and is arguably the strongest entry in the now eight-film franchise. But it's also bad because, by sticking so closely to a tried and true formula, Scott robs us of the possibility of seeing anything much new. The reason they've gone in this direction is obvious. The previous film in the series, Prometheus, was a wildly divisive effort, splitting audiences over its sudden and sweeping shift away from the killer xenomorph story towards a far more philosophical one built around questions about mankind's origins and purpose. Factor in the movie's many, many plot holes and absurdities, and you at least understand why Scott felt the need to rein things back in. Even so, the extent to which Covenant so quickly dispenses with everything Prometheus established is both remarkable and disappointing. And yet, at the end of the day, this is still a Ridley Scott film, meaning that even at its worst it still has much to offer. Visually, for example, it's another spectacular piece of cinema, combining stunning panoramas with gritty, claustrophobic closeups. We also get some excellent work from the likes of Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup and – in an impressive dramatic turn – comedian Danny McBride. That said, the MVP gong absolutely belongs to Michael Fassbender, although in order to avoid spoilers we can't really say why. Finally, there's the action. For all of his film's shortcomings, Scott manages to craft at least one set-piece, in which the aliens first appear, that proves absolutely gripping. This is a gory, frenetic and xenomorph-heavy return to safe and familiar territory for the Alien saga, which will doubtless come as pleasing news to all of Prometheus's detractors. And yet, to quote Shelley, nothing beside remains round the decay of this colossal wreck. No more questions. No more mystery. Just lone and level sands stretching far away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svnAD0TApb8
First, it turned Speed into a play. Then, it gave Titanic the same treatment. They're not the only two classic flicks that've earned Act/React's attention, however — so get ready to say "yippee-ki-yay" to its version of the mother of all Christmas-set action films. Break out the white singlets, get festive and prepare to spend plenty of time watching someone crawl around in vents, because that's what happens with Die Hard hits the stage. This comedic theatre performance will transform the Brisbane Powerhouse's Turbine Platform into Los Angeles' Nakatomi Plaza, let European terrorist Hans Gruber do his worst and task New York cop John McClane with saving the day — with help from the dad from 80s and 90s sitcom Family Matters. Throw in more than a few one-liners, incredibly low-fi special effects and an all-round comic atmosphere, and that's Die Hard: The Movie, The Play, which'll unleash its mayhem from Sunday, December 12–Thursday, December 23. Yes, this is one hijacking that you'll want to witness.
Already home to gelato, doughnuts, Mediterranean cuisine, Hungarian pastries, Greek eats, the second outpost of one of Brisbane's favourite cafes and more, West End's West Village has just added a new culinary go-to to its lineup: Ippin Japanese Dining. Initially announced in 2022, and welcoming in patrons since Wednesday, April 12, it's the first Brisbane venture from Sydney restaurateur Kenny Lee, owner of the New South Wales capital's Kuon Omakase, Allta and Funda restaurants — and he has brought his popcorn lobster with him. That beloved dish from down south sits on a seafood- and meat-heavy menu heroing Queensland produce, plus products imported from Japan, in a space that also takes the same mix-and-match approach. Located in West Village's Garden Pavilion, Ippin's decor ties into its both its culinary influence and its setting, featuring minimalist Japanese design but working with the timber and brickwork that's prominent around West Village. Also a supremely Brisbane touch: the greenery views, including peering down on openair lawn The Common from its second-floor perch. Diners ascending above West Village's hustle and bustle — literally, given the levelled-up location — to the 140-seater will tuck into Japanese eats overseen by head chef Tatsuya Miwa. With owners Helen Lea and Jane Ma, too, Miwa and Lee have devised lunch and dinner menus that feature traditional seafood starters, sides, mains and desserts. You can kick off your visit with that famed lobster fare or karaage chicken, for instance, then enjoy wagyu beef tataki, soft-shell crab rolls, chargrilled octopus and yuzu panna cotta. If you're fond of bites from the robata grill — wagyu, chicken and prawn skewers; miso-marinated toothfish; honey, coriander and mint duck breast; and 48-hour dry-aged coral trout, to name a few options — your tastebuds will also be tempted. The same goes for raw bar fans, with 12- and 24-piece sea-to-table sashimi sets on offer, plus a salmon-only ten-piece set. Or, go for kingfish carpaccio, and catch-of-the-day sushi sets in six or 12 pieces. The dessert lineup also spans to dark chocolate hemispheres filled with red fruits and topped with raspberry icing, plus caramel puddings. And, while all of the above dishes spring from the a la carte menu, Ippin is launching with a $118 chef's menu until Monday, April 17 — an 11-course range that starts with bluefin tuna paired with sea urchin and caviar, also includes wagyu tartare and tempura Moreton Bay bugs, and finishes with roasted green tea warabi mochi over vanilla ice cream. No matter when you drop by, with the restaurant open for lunch from Friday–Sunday and dinner Monday–Sunday, sake is a big drawcard, sitting alongside a lineup of cocktails and spirits, and a list of Australian, French and Italian wines. So, expect to sip Umenoyado's fruit-flavoured sakes (think: peach, orange, lychee and pineapple), yuzu whisky sours and Matcha-gronis (made on matcha-infused gin, matcha powder, Midori and vermouth), plus a range of Japanese gins and whiskies. Although the entire space is both secluded, diners can also choose between two private dining spaces that seat ten–12 guests. Find Ippin Japanese Dining at West End's West Village precinct, 97 Boundary Street, West End — trading from 11.30am–10pm Monday–Sunday.
Peanut butter and jelly, that beloved lunchbox combo, was a trendsetter. Before every other food mashup anyone can possibly think of started tempting tastebuds, it had the concept down pat. You know how the idea works, because it just keeps happening: take two edible items that don't usually go together, mix them into one dish and, voila!, a new culinary marvel has emerged from Frankenstein's kitchen. The latest such dishes: pizza burgers and burger pizzas, all courtesy of a collaboration between OTT burg joint Milky Lane and Crust pizzas. How you feel about it will probably depend on how you normally react to decadent burgers and fruit on pizza. So, you're either ravenous already or instantly know it's not for you. A Hawaiian pizza, but as a burger? Milky Lane's beef burg, but as a pizza? You can try both for a limited time. They're two of the key offerings during this team up, which hits menus at both brand's stores Australia-wide from Tuesday, August 30. Over at Milky Lane, there's that pineapple pizza-inspired burger, called the 'Notorious P.I.G.'. It comes with a double-smashed beef patty on a cheese, bacon and pineapple milk bun, and is then topped with mozzarella, streaky bacon, shaved leg ham, Mexican shredded cheese and deep-fried pineapple. Or, you can opt for the 'Peri J Blige', which mashes up Crust's peri peri chicken pizza and Milky Lane's chicken burger. That means southern fried chicken on a peri peri milk bun, alongside peri peri sauce, red capsicum strips, mozzarella, Napoli sauce and mixed Italian herbs, with a deep-fried mozzarella patty on top. If you're heading to Crust instead, their pizza-burger hybrids span 'The Big P' and the 'Chic-Kanye'. The first takes its cues from a Milky Lane favourite, and combines slow-cooked pulled pork, ground beef, caramelised onions and mozzarella on a barbecue base with an onion-ring crust. It then adds dill pickles, maple bacon bits, a Mexi cheese mix and Milky Lane's signature burger sauce. Crust's second special pays tribute to one Milky Lane's chicken burgs, featuring fried chicken tenders coated in Milky Lane's southern seasoning, as well as bacon, caramelised pineapple, roasted potato and mozzarella. That's all popped on a barbecue base, and topped with maple bacon bits, a Mexi cheese mix and Sriracha aioli. Yes, just reading the above should make you hungry. Milky Lane and Crust's mashup menu is available at both brand's stores Australia-wide from Tuesday, August 30 — for a limited time.
Whether you're embracing being at home, or itching to get out of the house and into a bar as soon as possible, we expect you've experienced many mood changes with every 'new normal' moment. Perhaps you've been unexpectedly thrilled with your baking skills? Mortified with your home hair dye efforts? Proud of your Zoom hosting skills? Each day comes with its own highs and lows, so, we've teamed up with Jimmy Brings to suggest a drink and a snack for the small wins through to the mini meltdowns. Jimmy Brings is known for its 30-minute delivery times, so even when all you're doing is cleaning out the fridge, you can order a spontaneous drink to mark the occasion. Find the iso moment you relate to most, below. UNEXPECTED JOY AT YOUR BREAD BAKING SKILLS Deserves: a mini celebration with Covielle sparkling. In times like these it's all about celebrating the little things. Is your starter bubbling and doubling as it should? Are you proving your dough without having to watch the clock? Sounds like you're nailing it. When you're ready to slice into that crusty loaf, pair it with a selection of deli cheeses, from one of these cheese shops in Sydney, these ones in Melbourne, or from Le Fromage Yard in Brisbane. And make yourself an Aperol spritz with Covielle sparkling, which has a citrus tang and a clean, crisp finish that pairs well with the gooey cheese and that proud grin on your face. UTTER PUZZLE FRUSTRATION WHEN THAT BLUE PIECE DOESN'T SEEM TO FIT Deserves: a comforting bowl of pasta and a Mists & Shadows Chardonnay. You're 300 little blue shapes from completing that masterpiece of dots and swirls, and though you don't remember caring about puzzles before 2020, this is now all you think about. Why. Won't. It. Fit? Just remember, it's the little things that cause us most angst. No, your friends probably don't understand. But, you know what will help? A warming hug in a bowl. Order in a lamb ragu from Tottis or a cacio e pepe DIY pasta kit from Ragazzi, if you're in Sydney. Melburnians, Tipo 00 has its braised duck gnocchi for pick up, and much-loved vegan spot Smith & Daughters is delivering its penne carbonara and vodka-spiked spaghetti. In Brisbane, you can get spaghetti, rigatoni and carbonara to take away from 1889 Enoteca. The white peach and nectarine notes in the Mists & Shadows chardonnay pairs particularly well with lighter pasta dishes. [caption id="attachment_770129" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tim Mossholder[/caption] BOTCHED ISOLATION HAIRCUT BLUES Deserves: a treat-yourself moment with Heritage House Shiraz. Too scared to embrace the grombre, you decided it was a good idea to touch up those roots yourself and now… well, it's a good thing all those social catch ups come with a 'no video' mode. At least you didn't cut yourself a fringe, or decide now was the time to grow a beard. Console yourself with a treat meal — after all, you've saved all that money avoiding a professional. We suggest ordering Walter's dry-aged steaks, if you're in Brisbane. Or you can get wagyu sirloin steaks and beef fillets from Vic's Meat in Sydney, and Meatsmith can deliver a porterhouse or marinated minute steaks to you by the next day if you're in Melbourne. Get Jimmy to bring you a full-bodied red to match it. The Heritage House Shiraz has rich berry flavours and hints of oak that complement a sirloin or porterhouse served with buttery veggies. [caption id="attachment_770049" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Creative Exchange[/caption] PURE HAPPINESS AT A SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL DANCE PARTY Deserves: a cheeky Jolly Trotter Pinot Grigio to set the mood. If you've been tuning into Hot Dub at Home every weekend, you'll know a dance party is all about the details. Balloons? Check. Glitter on your cheeks? Check. A raving outfit ready for that 'Sandstorm' drop? Triple check. When you're in the mood to dance, it doesn't matter if you're in a sweaty club or jumping around the sofa — so to help you get into the spirit, crack open a bottle of pinot grigio. Jolly Trotter is a crowd-pleaser with an orchard fruitiness to it that leans on the dry side. And, because you're planning to recover like a champion, prep an order of bacon and egg rolls for the morning. Sydneysiders can order a BKE roll and coffee combo from Paramount Coffee Project. In Melbourne, Egglab has its full menu available for delivery. And Brisbanites, you can order crispy bacon and fried egg baps from the masters of the humble brekkie roll, Yolk. WHOLE BODY SATISFACTION AT FINALLY CLEANING OUT THE FRIDGE Deserves: Mists & Shadows Cabernet Merlot on the couch, with a chocolatey treat. Look at that: you've organised the dairy to the top shelf and everything. You deserve to put your feet up on the couch (once again) and give yourself a much needed pat on the back. We all made lists during lockdown, but you actually achieved something. May we suggest having your cake and eating it? Our pick would be this decadent baked cheesecake from Attica. But if you're too far from Melbourne and want something you don't have to share, Koi Dessert Bar is delivering its weekly rotation of cakes around Sydney, from mascarpone tiramisu to mango yuzu tarts. And in Brisbane, you could order Gelato Messina's bombe alaska, or just a jar of its housemade dulce de leche. Pair it with Mists & Shadow's South Australian cab merlot that has a smooth mouthfeel and plum and blackcurrant aromas. GIDDY ANTICIPATION FOR YOUR UPCOMING FIVE-GUEST DINNER PARTY Deserves: Kiwi Hawk Sauvignon Blanc, because you're the host who knows the most. There's a reason everyone's looking to you to host the first catch-up dinner: you're the social alpha. You always know the best bars to visit and the newest restaurants in town, so now we're allowed friends over once again, it's your turn to impress with all that local knowledge. Not that you need our help, but if you're in Sydney, stock up at Paddington's Fish Butchery, which also has Mr Niland at Home meals if you're feeling lazy. Pair your seafood feast with a Marlborough savvy-b with a difference — Kiwi Hawk's is crisp and medium-bodied and works well with shellfish and herbaceous salads. In Melbourne, you can buy sashimi platters and green ocean king prawns from restaurant seafood supplier Clamms. And Brisbane's oldest seafood market, The Fish Factory, has plenty of whole fish and freshly shucked oysters to choose from. [caption id="attachment_770050" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Unsplash[/caption] NERVOUS BUTTERFLIES BECAUSE YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH YOUR HOUSEMATE Deserves: a bottle of Arcadian Tryst Shiraz and a couple of bowls of ramen. So you hooked up with your housemate during iso, and you liked it more than you expected. In fact, you want to take this out of the friend zone and into an IRL relationship. That's a ballsy move, so you may want some dutch courage. Better yet, make it a romantic dinner date for your do-you-feel-the-same? chat. First, order a bottle of date-night worthy shiraz from the cool climate Langhorne Creek; its sweet berry flavours, with crushed plum and smoky spices, pairs well with rich food, like the pork broth of a tonkotsu ramen. In Sydney? Order The Darkness from Rising Sun Workshop or RaRa's tonkotsu shio. Global ramen chain Hakata Gensuke is delivering across Melbourne. And Brissy lovers can enjoy Taro Ramen's DIY home packs. Even if things don't pan out, at least you ate good food. Download the Jimmy Brings app and use the code 'CONCRETE' to get $10 off your first order. Offer expires July 30, 2020. Top image: Andrea Piacquadio.
Jamie's Italian Australia has had a rocky few years — with ownership changing hands and the closure of a few local stores. Luckily, the Brisbane-based Hallmark Group took over the management of the Australian restaurants and, now, perhaps in an attempt to help us put our faith back in the brand, Jamie's Italian on Edward Street is bringing back its super-popular $50 bottomless prosecco lunches. The one-month deal will run every Saturday and Sunday (from 12–4pm) in October — and it includes a lot more than just two hours of endless sparkling wine. Each table will be served small bites to share (including those crispy polenta chips), and everyone will get a big bowl of pasta. You'll be be able to choose which one you want, too — think classics like prawn linguine and carbonara, and signatures including the truffle tagliatelle and fresh crab spaghetti. Plus, you can top it off with a dessert or an espresso martini for just $10. If we know anything, it's that people really love Jamie's Italian. As such, these lunches are sure book out fast, so front a pineapple and book it already.
This article is part of our series on the diverse highlights of NZ's Canterbury region, from city to snow. To book your Christchurch trip, visit the 100% Pure New Zealand website. Bars on buses, pop-up public buildings and shipping container shopping centres — it's what you expect to see in some of the most cutting-edge cities in the world, but is it what you expect to see on the South Island of New Zealand? This is the land of the long white cloud's inventive, industrious and inspiring city of Christchurch today. Excitement and opportunity are stirring everywhere in a city with a fresh slate. It's in the small bars that have appeared in deserted streets, the designers who have started working a disused tannery and the locals who just want to contribute to the new incarnation of their city. For most, it's an inspiring time to be in New Zealand's second largest city, and there's no better time to visit. Here are four areas in which the city is thinking laterally and pulling off big things. Hospitality: C1 Espresso Christchurch is catching up to Auckland and Wellington in the cool stakes and forging its own rep for great coffee, small bars and a focus on local produce.. "We're all starting again and we've got an opportunity to redefine ourselves," says Sam Crofskey, owner of High Street's C1 Espresso. Pioneering the second wave coffee movement through to the third in Christchurch since 1996, C1 is famous for its pneumatic tube system that delivers burgers and fries to you at 100 km/hr. While there is something very Fifth Element about it, but this system is actually more in tune with the past than the future, as the tubes are part of the building's former life as a bank. "There is so much opportunity in the city," Sam says. "You can open a bar in an alleyway or upstairs above a shop or whatever." And people are. Bars specialising in whiskey, craft beer and local wine have popped up in unlikely places and are almost always buzzing with crowds. Retail: Re:START A temporary structural solution is driving the retail industry: shipping container shopping. Re:START encouraged retailers to establish temporary spaces in shipping containers to grow their businesses. Located in Cashel Square, Re:START has been one of Christchurch's biggest successes. (It's also home to Dimitri's, possibly the best souvlaki in the South Island.) In addition to what's happening in the city centre, retail has found an unlikely home-away-from-home in the industrial side of town. Ten minutes drive from the CBD in Woolston, an old tannery has become the new home of Christchurch's boutique designers and retailers. After owning the site for near on 20 years, Alasdair Cassels was able to redevelop the space into an arcade-like shopping mall, aptly dubbed The Tannery. Giving designers a place to create and sell their wares, The Tannery became a meeting place as well as a shopping destination — at a time when the city had nothing else like it. Art: Gap Filler Colour flows through Christchurch in the form of street art. From almost any vantage point you're bound to be in viewing distance of at least two pieces of work, with murals painted on the sides of buildings both abandoned and inhabited and outdoor installations littered over disused blocks. What's happened in Christchurch has shown that adversity exemplifies creativity. Seeing a way to breathe new life into the city, artists have used bare walls to redefine the mood and vision of the urban area. A mural painted We got the sunshine lights up Madras Street, a super-size Rhone portrait sits on one side of Cathedral Junction and local artist Wongi 'Freak' Wilson has left his mark all over town. As well as this, 'Gap Filler' projects are placed all over the city, activating vacant spaces with interactive installations. Walking around, it's likely that you'll hear someone playing the drums (in the Sound Garden), see someone having a boogie in front of a washing machine (at the Dance-O-Mat) or sitting on a giant Astroturf couch. Once a super conservative city, Christchurch now thrives on new work that will continue to shape and develop with it. If you're an artist with a crazy idea, Christchurch is the one city that might just let you do it. Infrastructure: Cardboard Cathedral As well as Re:START, which can be moved at any time, the Cardboard Cathedral is an incredible example of how great transitional architecture can be. Erected as a place of worship by emergency architect Shigeru Ban, the structure is made largely from cardboard tubes and looks like a picture of perfect symmetry from the inside. It's temporary, but it's meant to last around 50 years. But permanency is the ultimate goal, and plans for infrastructure and urban living are well underway. New Christchurch looks like it's going to be one hell of a city. Feature image and Rhone mural image courtesty of Jocey K, Cardboard Cathedral courtesy of Forgemind ArchiMedia via photopin.
How much of what we draw is memory and how much is imagination? It's a tricky question, that has no concrete answer, but it's something two Brisbane artists have been exploring for some time now. Michelle Roberts and Sony G Peters are diverse in their art practices, creating work and artistic theories that compliment as often as they clash. Their joint exhibition re: cognition/re-cognition delves into themes and concepts of subjective reality and autobiographical memories, through intense research of both artist’s behalf. Michelle Roberts is a PhD candidate at Griffith University Queensland College of Art, and she currently investigates the capabilities and influence memory and imagination can have on the future. Her counterpart Sonya G Peters is currently completing her Doctorate in Visual Studies at the same school, where she also teaches. Her current research focuses on the act of drawing, and the notions of what is remembered and what is imagined from an autobiographical perspective. Opening night for re: cognition/re-cognition is this Wednesday at 5pm, and you can catch the exhibition until the September 1. Don’t forget.
Not one, but three, designers have put their two-wheeling brains together to come up with tokyobike's latest offering: the company's first ever Designer Series. It's a trio of bikes that will make you seriously want to shell out (and at this price, you'd be skipping more than a few meals). The first, a schmick golden number, is the work of Everything Elevated, who are based in New York and Oslo. It's a single speed with dropped handle bars that gets its inspiration from early minimalist track racing bikes. The second you'll want with you next time you're in Paris. Calico Wallpaper, a Brooklyn-based company run by couple Nick and Rachel Cope, based their concept on the bikes you see in 1930s French films. It's so comfy you can ride all day. The dreamy blue, white and burnt orange paint job reflects the transition from dawn to dusk. Not good at making decisions? The third in the series is your pick. It's white on one side and grey on the other. Joe Doucet, award-winning Brooklyn-based designer, is behind this third bike, with half-canvas, half-rubber handles, which are handmade in Italy. This kind of design doesn't come cheap. Each limited edition bike will set you back $2,500 a pop. Orders are available online. Images: Tokyobike.
When the annual World's 50 Best Restaurants announced its picks in 2023, Australia was completely absent, missing out on spots in both the top 50 itself and the 51–100 longlist. Which eateries have made the cut in 2024 is only just starting to be unveiled, beginning with the tail end of the choices — and trust Josh and Julie Niland to help get Aussie hospitality back among the rankings. Saint Peter has taken out 98th place on the 2024 51–100 longlist, and it's the only Australian restaurant named so far. The top 50 itself will be unveiled on Wednesday, June 5, so there's still hope that some more love will be sent Down Under. The last time that there was an Aussie showing in the full 100 was in 2022, when Andrew McConnell's Melbourne diner Gimlet at Cavendish House came in at 84 for its World's 50 Best debut. [caption id="attachment_952313" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Christopher Pearce[/caption] Named ahead of its move in July into The Grand National Hotel, Saint Peter is similarly a new entry, earning praise for the Nilands' famed nose-to-tail approach to the ocean's finest. That ethos has already seen Josh's applauded The Whole Fish Cookbook win him the prestigious James Beard Book of the Year Award back in 2020, becoming the first Australian to ever take out the prize. In 2022, he was the only Australian chef to feature in The Best Chefs Awards for 2022 — aka the list of the top 100 best globally — too. The same year, both Josh and Julie picked up the Game Changer Award from France's La Liste. "Not every restaurant can legitimately claim to be spearheading a movement. Yet this cool concept from Josh Niland takes the great Australian seafood tradition to previously unexplored heights," said the team behind 2024's World's 50 Best Restaurants 51–100 list in this year's rankings. "Known as 'the fish butcher', Niland favours techniques typically associated with meat. With a gill-to-fin approach, he utilises as much of the fish as possible, from eyes to organs, bones to scales – and everything in between. The innovative menu changes daily to reflect that morning's catch," the shoutout went on. [caption id="attachment_952314" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Christopher Pearce[/caption] Australia's hospitality scene hasn't ever dominated the World's 50 Best Restaurants gongs, but not placing at all for 2023 didn't escape attention. Just two Aussie restaurants claimed spots in 2021's awards, both of them Victorian, with Dan Hunter's Brae placing 57th and Ben Shewry's Ripponlea fine diner Attica coming in at number 97. There were no awards in 2020, but Brae and Attica also placed in the longlist in 2019. In 2018, Attica came in 20th and Brae 58th. Australia has had up to four restaurants in the top 50 before, including three when the awards debuted in 2002. The World's 50 Best awards are chosen by a panel of over 1000 culinary experts, guided by a strict voting procedure. They're now hosted by a different country each year, with Melbourne playing host city back in 2017. In 2023, Central in Lima, Peru acme in first. The year's other picks included Disfrutar in Barcelona in second, Diverxo in Madrid in third, Atxondo's Asador Etxebarri in fourth and Copenhagen's Alchemist in fifth. Next came Maido in Lima, Lido 84 in the Gardone Riviera, Atomix in New York, Quintonil in Mexico City and Table by Bruno Verjus in Paris to round out the top ten. Wondering about the best places to eat Down Under, regardless of what the World's 50 Best Restaurants chooses? Check out our picks for the best Sydney and best Melbourne restaurants. [caption id="attachment_811440" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] To check out the World's 50 Best Restaurants 51–100 list, head to the awards' website. The top 50 will be announced on Wednesday, June 5 — and we'll update you then. Top image: Christopher Pearce.
Put down your Kit Kat, for we’ve just discovered a break that's even better than snappable chocolate-covered wafers: smashing stuff. To be more specific, we mean smashing stuff with a baseball bat — and it's a legitimate, all above-board activity at new Melbourne pop-up, The Break Room. Currently housed in the back of a Brunswick shoe warehouse-turned-espresso bar Kines, an appointment at The Break Room is a five-minute, sweaty task that puts you behind thick, plastic walls, wields you with a pink baseball bat and some protective headgear and lets you go to town on some very satisfyingly smashable items. For the moment, they’re using plates and glasses as collateral. But if anyone can produce it, our ‘ultimate smashable’ would be a ceramic Matryoshka filled with glitter. The Break Room was born in a moment of frustration (and through the efficacy of podcasts) by founder Ed Hunter, after he realised that everybody wants to blow off steam in their own way. And while some might prefer to hit the gym, Hunter is inviting you to hit some crockery off a stool instead. Speaking of the stools, notches of pink residue from the so-coloured bats have been passionately left on them; reminders that other members of the baseball bat cathartic club (do I hear badges?) have bashed their way to sanity before you. For anyone studying their swatch patterns, the pink is Baker-Miller, and has been used in correctional facilities across America to help calm violent inmates. Yet Hunter heeds that The Break Room’s goal isn’t violence, but rather to reduce stress and harness those destructive tendencies in a controlled and fun way. A video posted by The Break Room (@thebreakroom) on Feb 10, 2016 at 8:46pm PST At $50 to smash your way to calmness for five minutes, this emotional outlet may seem a bit on the spenny side, but the beauty is in the fact that you’re not breaking your own stuff — and some other guy will be picking up the pieces after you. These pieces are, in fact, added to the pile that hides further out back, where both shattered crockery and snapped pink swords from liberated brethren lay, which is a good indicator that the allocated time is probably ample. So wait until the shutters go down, don your best Joaquin Phoenix impersonation and swing away at those inner aliens of yours by taking your aggression out in some organised chaos. The Break Room is currently located in Brunswick, Melbourne and is open from 3pm every day. For more information, visit thebreakroom.com.au.
For two nights in March, your plans can include checking out more than 100 motorbikes, drinking, tapping your toes to DJs and listening to live music. That's all on the agenda at The Motorcycle Up Late, because the Gallery of Modern Art is doing what it usually does whenever it hosts a major exhibition — that is, throwing a couple of huge after-hours parties. Until the end of April, The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire is on display across GOMA's floors and walls. You can see the results everyday over the next few months, in fact. Or, you can head along from 6pm on Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20, wander the gallery, get revved up, watch performances, grab a bite and enjoy a few beverages. There'll various bars around the place, so a drink won't be hard to find. On Friday evening, you'll also be able to listen to tunes by The Hi-Boys, Tia Gostelow and WAAX, with Black Amex, Lori Lee and Sweaty Baby on DJ duty. If Saturday better suits your diary, prepare for JK-47, Tex Perkins and Friends, and VOIID, plus Eamon Sandwith, Paolo and Patience Hodgson on the decks. Tickets cost $34–38 for one night and $57–64 if you're keen on going to both. If you'd like to wear a leather jacket, that's up to you. Images: Installation view The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire. Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. Photograph: Chloë Callistemon, QAGOMA
If you've been looking to keep your wardrobe choices as ethical as possible, then shopping local just got a little easier. Long-running fashion not-for-profit Ethical Clothing Australia (ECA) has launched a new online map that pinpoints all the Aussie stores featuring ECA-accredited brands on their racks. The new digital tool currently maps out over 300 accredited ethical retail destinations, allowing shoppers to easily hunt down ethically conscious fashion with just a few clicks on their smartphone or other device. In order to nab that all-important ECA accreditation, a business must be able to show that all workers involved in its manufacturing operations are being paid properly, working in safe conditions and receiving all the necessary legal entitlements. ECA conducts these audits looking deep into the whole manufacturing process, from design to dispatch. [caption id="attachment_800970" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Clothing the Gap[/caption] Some of the ethical businesses to have earned themselves a spot on the map include 53-year-old brand Cue, popular jeans label Nobody Denim and high-end designer favourite Manning Cartel. And Victoria especially looks to be flying the flag for conscious fashion, with 120 store mapped in that state alone, including The Social Studio, Vege Threads, Remuse Designs and the newly opened Clothing the Gap store. The new map comes as more and more Aussies are choosing to hunt down ethical producers when they shop. A recent ECA survey showed that a huge 70 percent of local textile, clothing, and footwear manufacturers reported their customers were asking more questions about the labour rights of their workers than ever before. On its website, the ECA also has a comprehensive directory listing all of its ethically accredited fashion businesses. To check out the ECA Digital Shopping Map, jump over to the website. Image:
Got a pooch who loves a bit of socialisation? Don't have a pooch but just the mere sight of a dog puts a swing in your step? A visit to the dog park is exactly what you need. Wembley Dog Park is located on the eastern side of Wembley Park and is a fenced-off area to give your furry friends sweet, off-leash freedom. Let the pups play, wrestle and roll around while you have a sit and chat — or roll around with them. The grassed, shady area has water taps, benches and even a ramp for you to test out your dog's skills and smarts.
Cycle-fashion: most people consider the term an oxymoron, bringing to mind images of brightly coloured lycra, or even worse, cycling shorts worn so thin that they’ve become transparent. If you’ve been afraid of joining the cycling revolution for fear of committing a crime against fashion, then allow British fashion designer Paul Smith to put you at ease. His new collaboration with cycle clothing brand Rapha brings some style to the two-wheeled set. Their new spring/summer range blends Smith’s fashion sense with Rapha’s cycling nous to create cycle-wear with a stylish look, but maintaining the technical and functional elements needed to stay comfortable on a bike. Unfortunately, style comes at a price, so the hip pockets of hipster cyclists will be a little light if they’re sporting these threads. And of course, compulsory helmet laws in Australia mean you can’t legally look as cool as these models. [via Hypebeast]
If you've ever heard someone mention Botanica, then you've heard plenty of gushing. But if you've never been there, you might be surprised at just what everyone's about: their salads, all 19 of them. Yep, people talk about the plant-focused eatery and their kale, cauliflower and lettuce-heavy offerings with so much enthusiasm, you'd think they were talking about doughnuts and burgers. And while you'll find sweeter treats on their menu (particularly of the gluten-free kind), here you'll also find that dessert can actually be good for you. They're just some of the reasons that their second store has been causing such a buzz — both before it opened its doors on May 5 in Teneriffe, and since. It might look and feel the same as their original Red Hill location, which is definitely a good thing; however given that it boasts a kitchen the size of its sibling shop, the Doggett Street venue just might become the heart of the whole healthy-eating, breakfast box-serving, leaf-loving operation.
No strangers to a party, the Treasury Casino is getting into the swing of summer with not just one shindig, or two, but six. On the first three Friday nights in December and the last three in January, the inner-city venue is opening up its courtyard, setting up pop-up bars and letting the drinks flow. Taking place from 4.30–7.30pm on Friday, December 7, 14 and 21 — plus January 11, 18 and 25 — Summer Time Drinks is really all about kicking back when the working week is done, enjoying the sunny weather and letting the season wash over you. If you're heading out for a big night to celebrate the weekend, the festive season or the new year, it's a way to warm up for the evening. If you're just looking for a few tipples on the way home, consider it your stopover before the bus or train comes calling. Entry is free, and includes live entertainment in the Treasury's courtyard. And while the beverages aren't free, sorry, you'll be able to knock back a couple of particularly zesty selections of spritz cocktails.
Already one of the most scenic areas in Australia, the Whitsundays is giving visitors something else to look at: an installation of underwater and inter-tidal art. As part of the Whitsundays Reef Recovery and Public Art Project, six artists have created six artworks that sit beneath the sea, with the first four sculptures now in place. If you're heading to Blue Pearl Bay, Manta Ray Bay or Langford Spit, you can now check out the new attractions, as created by artists Brian Robinson, Col Henry and Adriaan Vanderlugt. Set up on Manta Ray Bay, Robinson's Migration of the Mantas is made from concrete and stainless steel, spans four metres by six metres and depicts six large manta rays, while Henry's Turtle Dream fashions a hawksbill turtle out of 15 tonnes of stainless steel at Langford Spit. As for Vanderlugt, he has two pieces in place: Maori Wrasse, which towers nearly four metres high in Blue Pearl Bay, and Manta Ray in Manta Ray Bay featuring indigenous markings from the Ngaro people, the Whitsundays' traditional owners. They'll soon be joined by another sculpture from Robinson, called Bywa, with the intertidal piece retelling a Dreamtime story about the reef, creation and marine life. It'll be put in place in Horseshoe Bay in Bowen later this month. Completing the set is a collaboration by Caitlin Reilly, Jessa Lloyd and Kate Ford, from the Arts Based Collective. Dubbed Anthozoa and headed to Blue Pearl Bay by late September, it "not only performs aesthetically in its sculptural form, but importantly doubles as a site for reef restoration," Lloyd explained when their piece was commissioned last year. "As the underwater form matures, visitors snorkelling and diving the site will see a sculpture festooned with a myriad of coral species, tentacles encrusted with soft and hard corals, marine animals sheltering in and peeking from small holes." [caption id="attachment_631230" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Lauren Vadnjal[/caption] Selected from 73 expressions of interest, the sculptures all sit in spots accessible to snorkelers and scuba divers — should you need something else to look at, other than marine life, on your next underwater adventure. Other than celebrating creativity, the Whitsundays Reef Recovery and Public Art Project aims give the region a new attraction, unsurprisingly. "This artwork will provide a new experience for people travelling to the Whitsundays and will help the marine tourism industry recover after Cyclone Debbie," said Queensland Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones in a statement in 2018. "Around the world — from the Caribbean, to the Maldives, Spain, Bali and Australia's west coast — underwater art has been used to lure visitors." Top image: Tourism and Events Queensland.
Over the past few years, Gelatissimo has whipped up a number of creative flavours, including frosé sorbet, gelato for dogs, and ginger beer, Weet-Bix. fairy bread, hot cross bun, cinnamon scroll and chocolate fudge gelato. Most recently, it made a bubble tea variety, and a gelato featuring Belgium's Lotus Biscoff cookie butter spread, too. For its latest offering, the Australian dessert chain is taking inspiration from other well-known sweet treats hailing from overseas — in case you've always wanted some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Hershey's Kisses in your ice cream. Yes, those very combinations are now on the menu, all as part of Gelatissimo's new American-inspired Flavours of the USA gelato range. Just launching this week, the lineup includes three new flavours — so if you needed an excuse to treat yourself to multiple scoops, you just might've found one. First up, it's pretty easy to guess how Gelatissimo's Peanut Butter Cup Made With Reese's flavour will taste. It uses peanut butter gelato, plus some Hershey's cocoa powder, then adds a ripple of chocolate that features roasted peanuts and big chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Not feeling quite so nutty? Chocolate Kisses Made With Hershey's is basically an excuse to eat chocolate, some more chocolate, and then even more chocolate. It's made with chocolate gelato — and the gelato itself is made with Hershey's kisses and Hersey's cocoa powder — which is then drizzled with more melted Hersey's Kisses. Lastly, Gelatissimo is pairing crushed candied pecans with bourbon caramel swirls in a flavour called, unsurprisingly, Bourbon Caramel and Pecans. While this is a US-inspired range, the boozy flavour comes via a collaboration with West Australian distillery Whipper Snapper, infusing its Upshot Whiskey into the gelato. Gelatissimo's new range just hit stores on Friday, October 9, with the three new flavours currently available nationwide. That said, they're only on offer for a limited time, although the chain hasn't specified an exact period — but you can nab them either by going into a shop or via delivery. Gelatissimo's Flavours of the USA range is available from all stores nationwide for a limited time.
Brisbane's new permanent food truck hangout has been home to all kinds of things since it set up shop earlier this year — festivals dedicated to all kinds of foods mainly — but, come May 20, it'll welcome something different through its doors. While there's always some sort of party going at Welcome to Bowen Hills, and doggos are always welcome, the venue's Big Dog Festival see the space swarmed by puppers of the super-sized variety. If it sounds familiar, that's because the venue is following in its own paw prints and taking its other pooch party — the Tiny Dog Festival — to the opposite extreme. Taking place the day after all things small and cute scurry through, this one will focus on massive mutts, so bring your own or prepare to pat plenty of others. In addition to bites to eat from the site's food trucks, and just celebrating big dogs over a few beers, the fest will also feature a big dog race and a best dressed giant dog competition. If your pupper is speedy or has great style, then you'll want to take part. Plus, Welcome to Bowen Hills also wants to find Brissy's biggest adult dog, so prepare to spend a day staring at huge hounds that look like they need their own human-sized houses and saying "awwwwwww".
There's no changing the iconic facade that surrounds the Fortitude Valley General Post Office building, which has stood on Ann Street since back in 1887. But when the venue known as GPO Hotel reopens its doors this winter after a massive makeover, Brisbanites can expect new spaces aplenty inside — including a Gatsby-themed lounge bar, a second bar called The Tax Office and a sprawling ground-floor restaurant filled with natural light. It was back in 2022 that Artesian Hospitality announced it was giving the locale a revamp behind its heritage-listed exterior, with more than $7 million set to flow into the renovations. Now, that figure has been upped to $9 million, all to help bring to life the GPO's new food- and drink-heavy guise. Clearly, it's a significant makeover for the 136-year-old site, which is targeting an early June opening for two of its spaces. The first is fittingly called The Gatsby, and it's a late-night cocktail and whisky bar that'll sit on the building's upper level. The vibe here will be luxe and upscale, as the name makes plain, including velvet booths, leather accents and brass features as part of the design. It'll also feature the building's original, now-restored 1887-era vault — and you'll be able to take private tours if that takes your fancy. "It feels like you're being thrown back into the soirees of the 1920s golden age — it's an incredibly unique venue, which will have exemplary service to match," says Alan Hunter. The sommelier and ex-General Manager at OTTO Brisbane is helping oversee the GPO's new guise, including TAMA, its contemporary dining venue. [caption id="attachment_896924" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Gatsby[/caption] That restaurant will take over the site's ground level, offering diners a radiant experience thanks to the high ceilings and double-storey windows. There'll be stone and marble flooring, bursts of greenery and soft furnishings, too, while making use of the original beams and custom chandeliers. And in the kitchen: Executive Chef Richard Ousby, who'll use his experience overseas and locally to shape the restaurant's menu. "TAMA offers something for all occasions with an expansive ground floor restaurant and a mezzanine that can play host to private dining for 40 guests, and more intimate rooms for parties of six to eight," Ousby notes. [caption id="attachment_896918" align="alignnone" width="1920"] TAMA[/caption] Hunter comes to the new GPO with plenty of accolades, including being named the Pol Roger 2013 Sommelier of the Year, and helping lead OTTO Brisbane to nabbing the Wine List of the Year award in the Good Food Guide in 2019. As for Brisbane local Ousby, he'll draw upon his time in England at Michelin three-star restaurant Waterside Inn, in Sydney at Sous Chef at Quay, and as Executive Chef of Stokehouse restaurants's in Melbourne and Brisbane. Both The Gatsby and TAMA are aiming for that June launch date, and will be joined by The Tax Office sometime afterwards. When it starts welcoming in patrons, it'll do so around an island bar with lounge-style seating — and it's being put forward as a go-to for post-work drinks and midweek dinners. [caption id="attachment_896926" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Tax Office[/caption] Outside, that Victorian Italianate facade has been preserved, as have the building's balconies, stairwells and ceilings (with heritage paint tones a big feature after a colour study). And back inside, the design pairs modern finishings with OG touches — so exposed beams and brick, plus fireplaces. The end product is the result of a collaboration between The Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Brisbane City Council, heritage architects, Zero9 Builders (The Dorsett Hotel, The Star, and Edwards and Co) and Space Cubed Design Studio (Donna Chang, Iris Rooftop and Boom Boom Room). "With a project of this magnitude, and a job requiring such impeccably high standards, we wanted to ensure every detail was carefully executed, from hand beaten copper detailing, one-off chandeliers to glass art installations," says Space Cubed Design Studio Director Arran Woollams. "It was recognised from inception that no expense would be spared to ensure the precinct was designed and constructed in line with the rising expectations of the Brisbane hospitality scene." [caption id="attachment_896919" align="alignnone" width="1920"] TAMA[/caption] [caption id="attachment_896925" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Tax Office[/caption] GPO Hotel is located at 740 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley, and will reopen sometime in winter 2023. We'll update you when Artesian Hospitality announces an exact launch date.
From Houseparty birthday bashes to Zoom weddings, celebrations have been looking a little different lately. But one thing is clear: not even a pandemic can stand between us and a good ol' party. And that includes marking World Whisky Day on May 16. We may not be able to head to a cosy bar and celebrate the legendary amber liquor in style, so Glenmorangie has partnered with Boozebud to bring the festivities to your living room via a virtual whisky masterclass. At 6pm on Boozebud's Facebook page, Glenmorangie's Director of Distilling, Whisky Creation and Whisky Stocks Dr Bill Lumsden will be guiding you through a tasting from the Scottish distillery's core range of single malts. You'll start with the classic Glenmorangie Original Aged 10 Years, then move through the Lasanta Sherry Cask Aged 12 Years, Quinta Ruban Port Cask Aged 12 Years and Nectar d'Or Sauternes Cask Aged 12 Years. The masterclass is free to stream but, to make the most of it, you'll want to snag one of the taster packs from Boozebud beforehand, which has the four smooth spirits in 100-millilitre measures — enough for you and a housemate to have a nip each. The pack costs $64.99 and first-time Boozebud customers will score 10-percent off and free shipping by using the code BESTBUD (terms and conditions apply). Purchase your Glenmorangie Scotch Whisky Taster Pack here, then head to Boozebud's Facebook page at 6pm on May 16 to take part in the virtual masterclass.
The BrisStyle team is a rather busy bunch. A few times a year, it puts on twilight markets in King George Square, but that isn't its only regular event. If you're particularly after a treasure trove of handmade goodies — and who isn't? — it hosts another 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 60 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 August 28 and October 30 in your calendars now. Head along from 9am–3pm, with it all taking place in the Queensland Museum's whale mall. Image: BrisStyle.
If the insanely beautiful Field of Light installation had you ready to blow two months' wages on flights to Alice Springs, the latest addition of light-focused cultural events in the outback might just nudge you over the line. For the first time, Parrtyeme - a Festival in Light will illuminate Alice Springs for ten nights this September. Announced by the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory Adam Giles this week, Parrtyeme — which comes from the Arrernte word parrtma meaning 'light up' or 'lighting up' — will be the first Indigenous festival of its kind. Featuring both contemporary and traditional indigenous artworks, the festival will also be Australia's biggest light installation, covering 2.5 kilometres of the MacDonnell Ranges. Among the works, you can expect to see a series of large illuminated 1950s-style circle skirts based on the watercolour artwork of Lenie Namatjira, who's the granddaughter of artist Albert Namatjira. Vivid eat your heart out. The festival will run for ten nights later this year in the Alice Springs Desert Park (about a ten minute drive from the centre of Alice Springs), from September 23 till October 2. It's a collaboration between the NT Government, AGB Events (who are known for their work on Vivid) and local Aboriginal artists. And if all goes well, they hope that the Parrtyeme will become an annual event. Parrtyeme will take place from September 23 until October 2, 2016. To register your attendance, visit parrtyemeaustralia.com.au.
At the end of September, Newstead farewelled a recent favourite, with City Winery pop-up Carl's Bar and Bistro closing its doors on Wyandra Street as part of a move to a yet-to-be-revealed new location. But the team that gave Brisbane its first inner-city winery isn't done with the space, or with pop-ups there. Ahead of a new concept that'll also focus on vino — unsurprisingly — the crew has launched a temporary seasonal bar and bottleshop for the holiday period. Dubbed City Winery Christmas Pop-Up, the Wyandra Street site is currently serving wines by the glass, cheese and charcuterie, and pintxos-style bites — and selling bottles for customers to take home. So, you can stop in for a drink and something to eat, chat about ace vino and nab something for your wine rack. The pop-up is operating six days a week, from 3pm Tuesday–Friday and from midday on Saturdays and Sundays — with public holiday closures from December 25–27 and January 1–2 — and is likely to stick around until the end of January. When it says farewell, the City Winery team will move onto renovating the venue for that aforementioned new concept, with details about what'll settle into the space permanently still under wraps. While City Winery opened its doors in Fortitude Valley three years back, the Wyandra Street address has been in use for four, with Carl's initially starting as a pop-up before City Winery's Wandoo Street flagship launched. It proved so popular, however, that the hole-in-the-wall wine bar and bistro stuck around until outgrowing the venue. Hence the move, with City Winery co-founder Adam Penberthy still looking at new spaces when Carl's finished trading at its OG home. For now, patrons at Carl's short-term successor can expect Australian wines aplenty, as well as a curated selection of European drops. And, as for those bites, the City Winery Christmas Pop-Up has the likes of caramelised onion jam and goat's cheese tarts with candied walnuts, truffle mushroom duxelle tarlets with confit button mushrooms and sage, citrus-cured trout with smoked crème fraîche and dill, and mini pavlovas with house-poached strawberries on its menu. Find City Winery Christmas Pop-Up at 22 Wyandra Street, Newstead — operating six days a week, from 3pm Tuesday–Friday and from midday on Saturdays and Sundays — likely until late January. Keep an eye on City Winery's socials for further details.
If your Easter routine usually involves a seafood feast, you don't need to alter your plans in 2020. While heading to the shops looks a bit different in these COVID-19 times — and going out for a meal is on hold indefinitely — Betty's Burgers is serving up plenty of prawns for the occasion. Combining four juicy fried prawns, the chain's special garlic mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato, Betty's new prawn roll is available for takeaway from its restaurants spotted across Australia. If your stomach is already rumbling, you can tuck into one for $15 — or order a meal for you and your housemate and get two rolls and two serves of fries for $35. You'll need to get in quickly, though, with the prawn roll only available for a week from Thursday, April 9–Thursday, April 16. And, if it's anything like the chain's lobster roll, expect it to sell-out — fast. Known for its Shake Shack-style burgs and frozen custard desserts (called concretes), Betty's foray into prawns is also a celebration of its beachy roots. While you can now grab a Betty's burger at over 20 locations across Australia, including six Sydney outlets, four Melbourne spots, four Brisbane outposts, one Toowoomba eatery and one location in Adelaide, the company first began in Noosa, and then expanded to the Gold Coast. Over the Easter long weekend, Betty's Burgers stores are open from 11.30am–9pm daily, with the following stores temporarily closed: Coomera and Pacific Fair in Queensland, Central Station and Market Street in NSW, and The Glen and Exhibition Street in Victoria. The rest of the chain's stores are open for takeaway and most of them offer delivery via UberEats and Deliveroo. To check what options your local has, head to the Betty's Burgers' website or download the app for iOS or Google Play. Betty's Burgers' prawn roll is available at all Australian stores — except Coomera and Pacific Fair in Queensland, Central Station and Market Street in NSW, and The Glen and Exhibition Street — for takeaway for a limited time. To order, download the Betty's Burgers app for iOS or Google Play. If you choose to pick up these burgers, have a look at the latest COVID-19 advice and social-distancing guidelines from the Department of Health.
'Jumoo' means 'smoking' in the Turrbal language. And, to open this year's Brisbane Festival, Yuggera and Turrbal man Shannon Ruska will lead a city-wide smoking ceremony on Friday, September 4 that everyone is invited to watch and participate in. Ruska, who is the managing director of Custodianship of Tribal Experiences, will lead Brisbanites into the three-week festival peacefully, and with respect to his ancestors and First Nations communities in Brisbane today. After a whirlwind year, it's time to reset and start afresh. This celebration is open to all ages and starts at South Bank and Roma Street Parklands. Image: Atmosphere Photography
Snow White isn't just a German fairy tale committed to the page by the Brothers Grimm — it's also a piece of film history. Sure, Kristen Stewart has played the lovely lass deemed the fairest of them all, complete with Chris Hemsworth as her sequel-earning huntsman protector; however the story's movie heritage is much, much more significant. You've probably seen the colourful 1937 version, which holds the honour of being the first-ever full-length animated offering to ever reach the big screen. That take on the tale was actually inspired by a live-action, silent effort from 1916, which Walt Disney saw when he was a boy. "I thought it was the perfect story… It had the sympathetic dwarfs… the heavy… the prince and the girl. The romance… the perfect story," he said years later. To celebrate the legacy of Snow White in cinema, Brisbane Festival and the Gallery of Modern Art are joining forces to present both classic movies. So block out your diary for September 11 and 18, because you've got a raven-haired maiden, seven diminutive men, a magic mirror and a wicked stepmother to watch — and a day to spend dreaming about living happily ever after.
Few designers working today create pieces so idiosyncratic and fanciful they may as well be art. One is Romance Was Born, the Australian label started in 2005 by Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales. So it's perfectly fitting, really, that for this year's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, they're smashing out a full, multi-sensory exhibition that is more guided acid trip than runway show. Collaborating with them on Reflected Glory is artist Rebecca Baumann, a technicolour master of her own with a practice spanning kinetic sculpture, photography, performance, digital animation and installation. She also happens to have won a Visual Arts SOYA the same year Plunkett and Sales won for fashion. Together, they're translating the never-boring design of Romance Was Born into a truly unwearable work of art, opening at Carriageworks on April 8. The promo video, released this morning by Carriageworks, shows the exhibition will be a kaleidoscope that plays off the unique light and space of the industrial venue. "We're really inspired by nightclubs and lighting and the feeling of when you see something sparkling in all its glory [and] it just has this fully beautiful, uplifting feeling," says Plunkett. Don't expect mere retrospective or showcase; the exhibition represents a completely new approach for the duo. "It's not like a collection of work; it's kind of just one big work, so the whole thing just feels like one immersive experience," says Sales. Reflected Glory opens at Carriageworks on April 9 and runs until May 11.
UPDATE, January 29, 2021: Joker is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Lonely, isolated and struggling with a lifetime of trauma, a man exorcises his demons through violence. Plagued by troubling memories and mental health issues, but devoted to caring for his ailing mother, he finds catharsis in wreaking havoc on others. When Joaquin Phoenix played this part to perfection in Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, he explored the burdens of a crusading hitman who rescued violated children — saving them from the pain he still suffered, and punishing the abusers who treat kids as carelessly as he once was himself. And while he steps into similar shoes in Joker, the exceptional actor is now on a completely different mission, crossing the threshold from noble vigilante to deranged villain. It's impossible to watch Joker without thinking about You Were Never Really Here; by casting Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, the man who becomes one of Batman's worst enemies, that's an intended effect. It's impossible to see director Todd Phillips' (The Hangover) take on Gotham's clown prince of crime without thinking of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy as well. Phillips cakes his influences on thick and, if the connection wasn't already apparent in the film's 70s look and feel, he also enlists Robert De Niro as Arthur's favourite television host. It's a purposeful move, filtering one of popular culture's most infamous antagonists through such blatant touchstones — and, it ensures that viewers won't be contemplating the character's past guises, be it Cesar Romero's TV version, Jack Nicholson's unhinged late-80s spin, Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal or Jared Leto's cartoonish work in Suicide Squad. Focusing audiences firmly on the Joker at hand, this origin story asks a probing question: if the world's ills were to shove a tormented man over the edge in a volatile socio-political climate, what would that look like? In other words, how would You Were Never Really Here play out if its assassin killed to avenge a cruel, uncaring city's failings, rather than protect its victims? Or, what shape would Taxi Driver take if its cabbie was a bullied clown-for-hire? Phillips stops short of lifting the latter movie's dialogue, but it's easy to imagine Arthur uttering one of Taxi Driver's well-known lines: "here is a man who would not take it anymore". First seen grinning into a mirror as he puts on his makeup (and signalling the film's allegiance with his fraying mindset in the process), Arthur doesn't have much to smile about. He's beaten by street punks on the job, loses his mental health care due to citywide budget cuts and watches his mother (Frances Conroy) fruitlessly try to contact her ex-employer turned mayoral candidate, aka billionaire Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen). An aspiring comedian, Arthur is also taunted and jeered whenever he steps onstage. Basically, his life is one huge kick in the face after another. But his mum has always told him that he was put on this earth to spread joy and happiness, which he takes to heart. As Gotham descends into riots and widespread violence, Arthur finds a drastic way to put this belief into action. When Joker isn't shoehorning in undoubtedly necessary but still distracting Batman references (including yet another re-do of a scene that's been done to death), it just keeps inspiring questions. Is Arthur an inevitable product of a crumbling city that's failed its citizens in general, and its most vulnerable in particular? Or, clinging to his downtrodden status, does he capitalise upon his powder-keg surroundings, using it to excuse his psychopathic behaviour and demand that he's finally paid the attention he's certain he deserves? Penning a deliberately thorny narrative, Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver (The Fighter) keep both of these perspectives in their sights. Alas, the pair sometime struggle to juggle the opposing notions, or to flesh them out beyond the obvious. Indeed, for all the controversy that Joker has sparked since it nabbed the top prize at this year's Venice Film Festival, it's mostly happy to stick to the murky middle ground. The movie paints a thoroughly nightmarish image of modern-day capitalism and its devastating imprint on the 99 percent — one that instantly rings true — but remains content to dance along its surface rather than burrow meaningfully into its dark heart. Specifically, it calls out the conditions that lead to the Joker's rise, yet never quite decides if it's condemning, celebrating or commiserating with him. Joker is unflinchingly bold and brilliant in one inescapable fashion, though, as it was bound to be when it cast its lead. All skin, bone and sinew as he cavorts, frolics and chortles, Phoenix is in stunning, mesmerising, awards-worthy form yet again. His raspy cackle isn't easily forgotten; neither is his off-kilter demeanour, whether Arthur is connecting with his neighbour (Zazie Beetz), taking a stand against the latest folks to push his buttons or leaning as far into his crazed impulses as possible. When, towards the end of the film, Lawrence Sher's (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) textured cinematography peers up at Phoenix as he struts down some stairs, its hypnotised gaze doesn't feel out of place. In fact, it feels natural. That said, that the scene is accompanied by 'Rock and Roll, Part 2' by convicted sex offender Gary Glitter says much about a movie that's often as thematically muddled as it is emotionally and visually striking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-Lg-_KFHU
A decade ago, English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur FC scored a new American coach and assistant in an advertisement hyping up soccer coverage by US TV network NBC. In that four-minute commercial, Ted Lasso made his debut, taking a gig across the pond without knowing a thing about the sport — or letting that whole lack of familiarity with the world game stop him. At his side: a bearded, sunglasses-wearing, cap-donning offsider, who dutifully offered advice and tried to steer him in the right direction. Unsurprisingly given how successful Ted Lasso has now become as an award-winning sitcom, viewers warmed to the sketch and its characters. A year later in 2014, the clueless coach returned in another ad, this time back in the US and using his Premier League learnings on home turf. But it'd take six more years before the Apple TV+ series that's widely and deservedly loved would grace screens, and before Saturday Night Live alum Jason Sudeikis and his We're the Millers and Horrible Bosses 2 co-star Brendan Hunt would return to the roles of Ted and Coach Beard. Now, Sudeikis has two acting Emmys for the first two seasons of the smash-hit show, and another two as one of its executive producers — and Hunt has a nomination for his on-screen supporting part, and shared those latter two wins. "It's wonderfully insane," Hunt tells Concrete Playground while chatting about Ted Lasso's long-awaited third season, which starts streaming from Wednesday, March 15 after an almost two-year gap since 2021's season two. Even if you hadn't seen the two ads that sparked the show, Hunt's face might've been familiar when Ted Lasso first hit Apple TV+ — his resume also includes appearances on everything from Parks and Recreation and Community to How I Met Your Mother and Key & Peele — but co-creating, -producing, -writing and -starring in one of the biggest comedy smashes of the past four years has made him instantly recognisable. He's also the man behind one of the show's most beloved characters, which is no mean feat given how widely adored the AFC Richmond crew are. A man of few words who's always at Ted's side, Beard hasn't stopped intriguing viewers yet. When Ted Lasso started its run as a series, its namesake and his righthand man Beard moved to London, and switched sports. So far, so familiar from the ads. But Ted Lasso as a series has a warmer tone, a busy roster of other players and the hearty embrace of audiences worldwide thanks to its kindness as much as its comedy. The gap between season two and three has been keenly noticed and felt — and not just because season two ended with a bombshell, after AFC Richmond assistant coach Nathan 'Nate' Shelley (Nick Mohammed, Intelligence) defected to rival club West Ham United, burning bridges with his old team and, pointedly, with Ted. How will Ted and Nate handle their new status quo? How has Hunt handled the Ted Lasso rollercoaster ride so far? Why is Beard such a fan favourite? They're just some of the things that we discussed with Hunt — alongside season two's delightful Beard After Hours episode, of course. ON TED LASSO'S JOURNEY FROM A SKETCH TO A SITCOM — AND ITS HUGE SUCCESS "Yeah, it's bonkers. You know, we took that first gig in that first campaign, and the main selling point was 'oh and we get to go to London for three whole days!'. Cut to: last year when we're in London for ten months. I think last year we were in London so long, we were like 'eh, London'. But that first one was super fun, and it went well enough that they had us go the next year, and that was fun too. And then Jason, [Ted Lasso co-creator] Joe Kelly and I got together [and went] 'alright, we've got to find a way to do more of this'. And then we wrote a pilot and put together a season arc — that was in late 2014/early 2105, and it felt like 'oh wow, we're going to have a TV show any minute now!'. And we didn't. We didn't for years. Years passed. Jason's career, he's going fine. Joe's career, he's going fine. Me, I'm baking on a rock, holding on for dear life in Los Angeles. And I had officially gotten to the point where I had given up any hope of anything Ted Lasso happening — like I was no longer even asking Jason if anything was happening. Then one day out of nowhere, he was like 'hey, is that pilot we did, is that still online somewhere?'. Yeah man, of course it is, that's how online works. He goes, 'oh, because Im talking to [Scrubs creator and sitcom veteran] Bill Lawrence tomorrow'. And then suddenly things moved very, very quickly after years of nothingness and heartbreak. I mean the last four years — it is what it is, and I just cannot, cannot, still cannot believe what has happened. I try not to think about it. I try to just get on the ride and pull down the harness and shake it and make sure it's secure, and then 'weeeeeeeeeeeeee!' — and then not think about the actual physics of the loop-de-loops, because it's insane." ON WHY TED LASSO HAS STRUCK SUCH A CHORD WITH AUDIENCES "In the ads, it's a sketch. And a thin sketch idea can work really well for five minutes, but it's unlikely to work for 30. So we just had so much fun doing the first two — 'like, we've got to find a way to do this' — and as soon as were making the TV show, we knew from early on, and this was Jason's idea, that something has to be going on in Ted's life to make him do this crazy thing. And we came upon the idea that he's going through a divorce. We weren't going to play the divorce for laughs — we were going to play the divorce for real. Jason and Joe and I, we've all been through a divorce. It's nothing to mess with. It's a very hard time. And once we had that in there, then the reality of this character is more fully formed and is now baked in, and is something to keep returning to. That's what led the way to panic attacks. That's what led the way to finding out his history with his dad, and stuff like that. I think we wouldn't be sitting here still talking about this show if it was still what it was in the original campaign." ON COACH BEARD'S ROLE IN THE SHOW — AND HIS FAN APPEAL "I think the main thing was still have him standing next to Ted as much as possible, because then people understand why he's there. No, it's just the idea that Ted wouldn't do this crazy thing alone. He would do it with someone he trusts — someone who would help him with the finer points, such as offside. And Beard's whole mission — we come from an improv and sketch-comedy culture, and one axiom you hear in that world is while you're offstage, while you're watching your partners improvise, ask yourself 'what does the scene need?'. Then you come into the scene with that. Well, Ted is the scene that Beard is watching, and Beard is always asking 'what does Ted need?'. That is rarely for Beard to talk, because Ted's pretty good at that bit. So Ted and Beard just have a very unspoken yet incredibly clear relationship and dynamic, and one's not going to take such a journey like this without the other — they're bosom buddies. I think it's [Coach Beard's fan appeal] just sort of a happy ancillary result of how little he talks, because he's on camera a lot by dint of the aforementioned standing next to Ted, who will most often be in the centre of your screen. And when someone is on camera that much but isn't talking, well, that's mysterious. Now you don't know what that dude's really about. It makes him a bit if a blank canvas that people can project themselves on and make their own assumptions about, but they're still unable to fill up that whole canvas themselves. So that accidentally discovered air of mystery, once we knew that was there, then it was like 'we can play with this and have good fun with it'." ON SEASON TWO'S BEARD AFTER HOURS EPISODE "We started writing season two before season one had come out, and season two was going to be ten episodes as season one was. We'd been going for three or four months before season one came out, so by then we had the season worked out — we had it mapped out, we had the dynamics, we had the peaks and valleys, and where things were going to go. Then suddenly the show comes out and, as you may have heard, that went pretty well. Almost first thing Monday morning, Apple was like 'you have two more episodes, please do two more episodes!'. And we're like 'okay, alright'. But we can't just mess with the dynamics we'd created for the scenes, so we had to come up with two episodes that were kind of standalone. We had a bit of a discard pile of things we were thinking of doing, and one was the Christmas episode, and the other was an episode where we follow Beard around. On top of that, where it's placed in the season, we really liked from sort of a mischief standpoint — because the episode before is a very big episode where a lot of big things happen, and by the end of that episode, you're definitely ready for next week and to find out where these things are going to go. And instead we go 'no, no, sorry, you're getting Beard for 45 minutes'. 45 minutes! 'Yeah, sorry, his is how it worked out'. And then, the week later, then we finally get back to business. So it was a happy accident, essentially, and it ended up being a pretty fun diversion." ON SEASON THREE'S BIG THEMES "Certainly for Ted, he made a promise in season one if they ever got back he'd try to win the whole fucking thing. Well, now they're back, and he doesn't give promises lightly. So he has to decide if he's going to go whole hog with that and, if so, is that at the risk of the values that he's trying to teach? And at the same time, Nate is off at West Ham having to figure out if what he's done or what he's doing, and what he has now, is worth the bridges that he's burned. With Rupert in his ear, that can go a few different ways. Other than that, we're looking at some of the same things we always have — vulnerability and honesty, and love and pain. And every ten minutes or so, somebody apologises for something." Season three of Ted Lasso starts streaming via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, March 15. Read our full review.
It's been a busy few weeks for new eateries on and around James Street, with both Essa and The Green opening their doors. And, they aren't the only new kids on the block. The bustling Fortitude Valley precinct has also welcomed in Gemelli Italian and Bar Tano — with the former setting up its first Brisbane location, and also launching the latter as a neighbouring watering hole. You might've eaten at Gemelli's Gold Coast spots, which include a restaurant in Broadbeach and a trattoria in Nobby Beach; however, now it has made the trip up north. Settling into the McLachlan and James street corner site that was previously home to Bucci, it's serving up pizza, pasta, antipasti and sweet dishes such as deep-fried dessert gnocchi and Nutella calzones, all inside a three-level dining space. Here, you can start with the cherry tomato, buffalo mozzarella and parmesan-topped bruschetta, then move on to a black olive and black anchovy pizza or the carbonara, or opt for bistecca or saltimbocca. The drinks list favours Italian beers and wines, too, and you can sip classic Italian cocktails — negronis, bellinis, rossinis and the like — or try house concoctions such as the Sicilian margarita. Those pizzas? They're cooked in a bespoke oven from Naples. Those tipples? They hail from the bar at the back. Fancy some salumi? There's a display fridge filled with it. Decked out with timber arches to break up the space, and featuring large windows as well, Gemelli's James Street eatery has a light and airy feel. That vibe particularly stands out compared to Bar Tano, which marks the Gemelli Group's first bar — and pairs snacks, drinks and people-watching over James Street. At this 55-seater, owners James and Alec Carney have gone dark and moody; think green marble, polished concrete and plenty of mirrors. They've designed the street bar-style hangout as an aperitivo spot — not just for a happy hour, though, but for catching up with friends over a beverage. "Italy has such a rich culture and we're incredibly passionate about bringing that to Australia in a way that respects our heritage and the customs we love," explains James. "Bar Tano is inspired by Milan which is the birthplace of aperitivo and we wanted it to be a destination where you meet friends to reconnect over a refreshing aperitif and complimentary small bites." Drinks-wise, more Italian wines and cocktails feature, as well as bespoke house tipples — like the Drive Me Nuts, which blends the negroni and the old fashioned; and the Better Than Butter, which gives whisky sours a buttery spin. For something to eat, there's ricotta dip, burrata, gnocco fritto and polpettini, plus a rotating selection of salumi and cheeses. Find Gemelli Italian and Bar Tano at 15 James Street, Fortitude Valley. Gemelli Italian is open Wednesday–Sunday 12–3pm for lunch and Tuesday–Sunday 5pm–late for dinner. Bar Tano operates from 3pm–late Wednesday–Thursday and from 12–late Friday–Sunday.
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 been under the weather. 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 are eight that you can watch right now at home. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 Almost a quarter-century has passed since Keanu Reeves uttered four iconic words: "I know kung fu". The Matrix's famous phrase was also the entire movie-going world's gain, because watching Reeves unleash martial-arts mayhem is one of cinema's purest pleasures. Notching up their fourth instalment with the obviously titled John Wick: Chapter 4, the John Wick flicks understand this. They couldn't do so better, harder, or in a bloodier fashion, in fact. Directed by Keanu's former stunt double Chad Stahelski, who helped him look like he did indeed know wushu back in the 90s, this assassin saga is built around the thrill of its star doing his violent but stylish best. Of course, The Matrix's Neo didn't just know kung fu, but gun fu — and Jonathan, as The Continental proprietor Winston (Ian McShane, Deadwood: The Movie) still likes to call him, helps turn bullet ballet into one helluva delight again and again (and again and again). Picking up where 2019's John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum left off, and once again so expertly and inventively executed that it's mesmerising, John Wick: Chapter 4 saddles its namesake with a new adversary: the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård, Barbarian), emissary of the death-for-hire business' powers-that-be, aka the High Table. After Wick puts the assassin realm's head honchos on notice during an early trip to the Middle East, the series' latest nefarious figure wants rid of him forever, wasting no time laying waste to the few things left that John loves. The Marquis has company, too — seeking a big payday in the case of the mercenary known as Tracker (Shamier Anderson, Son of the South), who has his own devoted dog; and due to a familiar deal with Caine (Donnie Yen, Mulan), a martial-arts whiz who is blind, and an old friend of John. That said, Wick has pals in this clash between the hitman establishment and its workers, which doubles as an eat-the-rich skirmish, including Winston, the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne, All the Old Knives), and the Osaka Continental's Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada, Bullet Train) and Akira (Rina Sawayama, Turn Up Charlie). John Wick: Chapter 4 is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BEAU IS AFRAID Beau is afraid. Beau is anxious. Beau is alone. Beau is alive. Any of these three-word sentences would make a fitting name for Ari Aster's third feature, which sees its titular middle-aged figure not just worry about anything and everything, but watch his fears come true, concerns amplify and alienation grow — and then some. And, in the Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker's reliably dread-inducing hands, no matter whether Beau (Joaquin Phoenix, C'mon C'mon) is wallowing in his apartment solo, being welcomed into someone else's family or stumbling upon a travelling theatre troupe in the woods, he knows that he's truly on his own in this strange, sad, surreal and savage world, too. More than that, he's well-aware that this is what life is inescapably like for all of us, regardless of how routine, chaotic or grand our individual journeys from emerging out of our mother's womb to sinking into death's eternal waters happen to prove. Aster has opted for Beau Is Afraid as a moniker, with this horror-meets-tragicomedy mind-bender a filmic ode to existential alarm — and, more than that, a picture that turns catastrophising into a feature. Psychiatrists will have a field day; however, experiencing the latest in the writer/director's growing line of guilt-dripping celluloid nightmares, so should viewers in general. Even with Chilean The Wolf House helmers Cristóbal León and Joaquin Cosiña lending their help to the three-hour movie's midsection, where animation adds another dreamlike dimension to a picture book-style play within an already fantastical-leaning flick frequently running on dream logic, Aster embraces his favourite deranged terrain again. He makes bold choices, doesn't think twice about challenging himself and his audience, elicits a stunning lead performance and dances with retina-searing imagery, all while pondering inherited trauma, the emotional ties that bind and the malevolence that comes with dependence. Beau Is Afraid is available to stream via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BROKER No matter how Hirokazu Kore-eda's on-screen families come to be, if there's any actual blood between them, whether they're grifting in some way or where in the world they're located, the Japanese writer/director and Shoplifters Palme d'Or winner's work has become so beloved — so magnificent, too — due to his care and sincerity. A Kore-eda film is a film of immense empathy and, like Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm and The Third Murder also in the prolific talent's past decade, Broker is no different. The setup here is one of the filmmaker's murkiest, with the feature's name referring to the baby trade. But showing compassion and humanity isn't up for debate in Kore-eda's approach. He judges the reality of modern-day life that leads his characters to their actions, but doesn't judge his central figures. In the process, he makes poignant melodramas that are also deep and thoughtful character studies, and that get to the heart of the globe's ills like the most cutting slices of social realism. It isn't just to make a buck that debt-ridden laundromat owner Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho, Parasite) and orphanage-raised Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won, Peninsula) take infants abandoned to the Busan Family Church's 'baby box' — a chute that's exactly what it sounds like, available to mothers who know they can't embrace that part for whatever reason — then find good families to sell them to. There's a cash component, of course, but they're convinced that their gambit is better than letting children languish in the state system. In Kore-eda's usual kindhearted manner, Broker sees them with sensitivity. Even if blue hues didn't wash through the film's frames, nothing is ever black and white in the director's movies. The same understanding and tenderness flows towards mothers like So-young (Lee Ji-eun, Hotel Del Luna, aka K-Pop star IU), whose decision to leave Woo-sung (debutant Park Ji-yong) isn't easily made but puts Broker on its course. Broker is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. PEARL 70s-era porn, but make it a slasher flick: when Ti West's X marked the big-screen spot in 2022, that's one of the tricks it pulled. The playful, smart and gory horror standout also arrived with an extra spurt of good news, with West debuting it as part of a trilogy. 30s- and 40s-period technicolour, plus 50s musicals and melodramas, but splatter them with kills, genre thrills and ample blood spills: that's what the filmmaker behind cult favourites The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers now serves up with X prequel Pearl. Shot back to back with its predecessor, sharing mesmerising star Mia Goth (Emma), and co-written by her and West — penned during their two-week COVID-19 quarantine period getting into New Zealand to make the initial movie, in fact — it's a gleaming companion piece. It's also a savvy deepening and recontextualising of a must-see scary-movie franchise that's as much about desire, dreams and determination as notching up deaths. In one of her X roles, Goth was magnetic as aspiring adult-film actor Maxine Minx, a part she'll reprise in the trilogy's upcoming third instalment MaXXXine. As she proved first up and does again in Pearl, she plays nascent, yearning, shrewd and resolute with not just potency, but with a pivotal clash between fortitude and vulnerability; when one of Goth's youthful X Universe characters says that they're special or have the X factor, they do so with an astute blend of certainty, good ol' fashioned wishing and hoping, and naked self-convincing. This second effort's namesake, who Goth also brought to the screen in her elder years in X, wants to make it in the pictures, too. Looking to dance on her feet instead of horizontally, stardom is an escape (again), but Pearl's cruel mother Ruth (Tandi Wright, Creamerie), a religiously devout immigrant from Germany turned bitter from looking after her ailing husband (Mathew Sunderland, The Stranger), laughs at the idea. Pearl is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. POLITE SOCIETY Fists fly in Polite Society. Feet as well. When the latter aren't suspended in mid-air attempting to execute stunning kung-fu stunts, they just might be busting out their best Bollywood dance moves. Words are screamed and shouted, often between sisters Ria (Priya Kansara, Bridgerton) and Lena Khan (Ritu Arya, The Umbrella Academy), who are thick as thieves until they suddenly aren't. Schoolyard fights rumble like they've spilled straight out an action movie, which budding stuntperson Ria dreams of being in. Showdowns with Lena's future mother-in-law Raheela Shah (Nimra Bucha, Ms Marvel) could've burst from a Quentin Tarantino film. Espionage missions are undertaken by high schoolers, as are heists at a spectacular Muslim wedding in a lavish London mansion. Lena scoffs down a whole roast chicken on a public footpath like it's the only thing she's ever eaten. Ria and Lena free themselves from their angst by letting loose in their living room to The Chemical Brothers' dance-floor filler 'Free Yourself'. And being a dutiful member of her community is the absolute worst fate that could await an ass-kicking British Pakistani teenage girl. In other words, a little bit of everything happens in Polite Society, the anarchic and eye-popping debut feature from We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor. That includes nods to Jackie Chan movies and The Matrix, plus Bond-style antics and Ennio Morricone-esque music drops. Add in riffs on Get Out, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-inspired wuxia, video-game flourishes, musical dance numbers, and nudges in Jane Austen and Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan's directions. Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Kill Bill leave imprints. When it examines intergenerational pressure, so do Everything Everywhere All At Once and Turning Red. Whatever this high-energy charmer throws at the screen, it always serves the narrative. It also showcases Manzoor's lively and bold filmmaking eye. But more importantly, Polite Society is the spin-kicking whirlwind it is because that's what it feels like to be a schoolgirl training in martial arts, yearning to pack a literal punch, desperate to become anything but what society demands and tired of being dictated to — and saddled with cultural expectations but determined to propel along one's own path in general, too. Polite Society is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. OF AN AGE You Won't Be Alone isn't just the name of Macedonian Australian writer/director Goran Stolevski's debut feature, which hit cinemas in 2022. It's also a phrase that applies now that his second film is here. Of an Age initially premiered in the same year as well, bowing in Melbourne International Film Festival's opening-night slot — and, while it tells of growing up queer in 90s Melbourne, falling in love for the first time, then sifting through the aftermath a decade later, it's a glorious companion piece to its predecessor. No one is chosen by a sorceress here. The place isn't Macedonia, the period isn't the 19th century and supernatural shapeshifting isn't part of the narrative. But even just a mere duo of movies into his helming career, Stolevski makes pictures that profoundly ruminate upon two of life's purest truths: that absolutely everything changes and, consequently, nothing completely lasts forever. 1999 is inching towards becoming Y2K when Of an Age begins, and 17-year-old Nikola aka Kol (Elias Anton, Australia Day) is only hours from taking to the floor at a Melbourne dance championship. That's how his day is meant to pan out, at least, and what he's preparing for when the film meets him practising his smooth ballroom moves in his suburban garage — conjuring up visions of John Travolta in a flick made famous two decades prior, in fact. Kol's ordinary morning fever breaks, however, thanks to friend and dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook, Savage River) and her bender of an evening. She's awoken on the beach in Altona with no idea where she is, scrounging up change for the payphone call to say she thinks she'll miss the recital unless Kol can pick her up. To attempt to make his big performance, he has to convince Ebony's older brother Adam (Thom Green, Eden) to play taxi — and he's still all aflutter with anxiety, and just the inertia of being so keyed up from endeavouring to sort things out, when he slides into the twentysomething's brown car and feels sparks fly instantly. Of an Age is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. EVIL DEAD RISE There will be blood in Evil Dead Rise, the latest addition to the Evil Dead fold, and not just inking The Book of the Dead's pages. There's gallons of it, in fact, with assistance from an elevator overflowing with crimson liquid. Writer/director Lee Cronin is clearly happy to jump from his 2019 debut The Hole in the Ground to this beloved horror franchise while giving The Shining some love as well. And yet, nods to past Evil Dead films and scary fare in general aren't the main point of Evil Dead Rise, even though they're still there — loudly when "dead by dawn", words that are also part of Evil Dead II's title, is yelled. It shouldn't feel so rare to see a feature that isn't solely kept beating by gobbling up as many pieces of its predecessors as possible, but that's these nothing-must-die times. (When intellectual property is revived repeatedly by Hollywood's intonations, bringing back Evil Dead over and over couldn't be more appropriate.) Familiar swooping and whooshing camerawork kicks Evil Dead Rise into gear, though, knowingly so. In a clever touch, it stems from a is doing the shooting, not due to supernatural nefariousness. There's a remote abode in the woods — an A-frame shack this time, levelled up to match 2023's travel aesthetic — and unsettling things afoot; however, the bulk of the film takes place a day earlier. That's when guitar technician Beth (Lily Sullivan, Picnic at Hanging Rock) cuts out a the worldwide tour to surprise her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland, New Gold Mountain). The latter is a tattoo artist and mother of three who has recently been left parenting solo, and is interrupted dying her hair 'cool mum' red when her sibling arrives. There's baggage between the pair, but there'll soon be viscera as well when Ellie's teenage son Danny (Morgan Davies, Blaze) finds a certain text — and, because he's a budding DJ, some dusty vinyl sporting words that no one in an Evil Dead movie should be saying or hearing. Evil Dead Rise is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE It took 30 years, plus a warp pipe from live-action to animation, but Super Mario Bros finally gained a cinematic mushroom. While these are peak product-to-screen times — see also: The Last of Us, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, Tetris and Air, plus the upcoming Barbie, BlackBerry and latest Transformers flick — Nintendo's plumber siblings were long flushed out of movies thanks to their underperforming first outing. 1993's Bob Hoskins (Snow White and the Huntsman) and John Leguizamo (Violent Night)-starring film, the first-ever live-action video game film, isn't terrible. It followed its own dark path and hit its own wild blocks, something that stands out even more now that slavish obsession to intellectual property and franchise-building is king. If 2023's The Super Mario Bros Movie is a response to its predecessor, it's a happily dutiful one, doing its utmost to copy the video game. The strongest feeling it inspires: making viewers want to bust out their old NES or SNES or Game Boy, or emulators of any of them, or Nintendo's current Switch, and mash buttons as the red-capped, moustachioed, overalls-wearing Mario. In images that look like they've been ported straight from consoles, Italian Americans Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt, Thor: Love and Thunder) and Luigi (Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) essentially find themselves in the Super Mario Bros version of The Wizard of Oz. Like the 90s flick, they're also transported to another realm where a villainous creature lusts for power— Bowser (Jack Black, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood) here, with an army of the turtle-like koopas doing his bidding. A sewer flood whisks Mario and Luigi out of their own world, after they try to fix it to drum up customers for their plumbing business. On the other side of the tunnel, Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi ends up Bowser's prisoner. Cue a quest, including along the rainbow road, to reunite the brothers, stop Bowser and keep him away from Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu) — who definitely isn't a damsel in distress, but the target of Bowser's obsessive affections. The Super Mario Bros Movie is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April and May, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies, plus movies you might've missed and television standouts of 2022 you mightn't have gotten to.
Enough of the Dan Brown franchise. It was fun while the going was good, but, please…no more. The original film, The Da Vinci Code, ended up being surprisingly watchable, with director Ron Howard combining rollicking pace and genuine intrigue to keep audiences' hearts pumping from go to woe. Even the sequel, Angels and Demons, proved solid enough, albeit a film distinguishable from its predecessor more by scale than originality. By Inferno, however, it's more than clear that the well has truly run dry. Again we find our hero Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) in Italy, accompanied by a much younger female companion (Felicity Jones). Together they solve riddles and anagrams as they scramble from monument to monument, whilst dodging assassins from a mysterious organisation and passing implausibly through both heavy security and lines of queueing tourists. It's Dante this time, not Da Vinci, but the rest feels far, far too familiar. Even the film's ticking time bomb is again an actual time bomb, with only its contents (a world-destroying virus instead of anti-matter) being the point of differentiation. Hanks, fresh off his fantastic work in Sully, oscillates between looking bored, tired and confused – and not just because the script calls for it. The rest of the cast, meanwhile, seems far too blasé for a group possessed of the knowledge that the end of the world may be just a few short hours away. So are there any redeeming features? No, not really, although the film does raise one interesting idea: international audio guides for tourists narrated by Academy Award winner Tom Hanks. The only moments of note in the movie are those where, once again, Hanks's character offers clumsily inserted pieces of historical trivia into the narrative. They're crow-barred in, but remain undeniably interesting, and when coupled with Hanks' avuncular tone you can't help but indulge in the ad hoc history lessons. If Ron Howard needs a new project, we'd suggest just strapping a go-pro to his favourite leading man and letting him roam wild in the galleries and gardens of the world's grandest estates, pointing out tidbits and factoids as they arise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH2BD49sEZI
UPDATE, December 24, 2020: The Night Before is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Seth Rogen on drugs. It's as predictable a filmic theme these days as lens flares from J.J. or bleeding penises from Lars Von Trier. Good news is, if you're into that sort of thing (Rogen, not the…blood), then his latest flick The Night Before should keep you sufficiently chuckling from go to woe. Rogen's in wildly familiar territory here, spending almost the entirety of the movie completely off his nut. Joined by his 50/50 co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and The Avengers' Anthony Mackie, The Night Before is like a prequel to The Hangover; a tale of three friends embarking upon the final run of their decade-long Christmas Eve partying tradition. Heavy drinking, karaoke, Chinese food and a search for the infamous yet illusive 'Nutcracker Ball' form the chapters of this quirky, crass film by director Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies), and while there's very little new material here, those 'under the influence' staples are handled with an assured touch. The Night Before also boasts an extensive supporting cast, with amusing appearances from Mindy Kaling, Lizzy Caplan, Tracey Morgan, Jillian Bell, James Franco, Iliana Glazer, Miley Cyrus and – best of all – Michael Shannon as the philosophical drug dealer Mr Green. Shannon's character is as trippy as the visions he facilitates for his customers, but it's a fine performance that lends the film a touch of otherwise absent class. Predictably, there's not much of a plot to speak of, and what little there is suffers from more than a few glaring inconsistencies – most notably Rogen's heavily pregnant wife (Bell) playing both facilitator and chief critic of his yuletide drug binge. Still, story is rarely what beckons audiences to this genre, and the over-the-top set pieces do deliver a solid stream of pop culture nostalgia, stoner gags and crude one-liners to keep you chuckling throughout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As1zja2shsA
From slinging back a shot of whisky with a frosty lager to chase, to sampling a flight of single malts with paired craft brews, whisky and beer have walked hand in hand for years. But what is it about these two particular drinks that just works? What other possibilities exist on the horizon of adult beverages, beyond the humble boilermaker? We caught up with Michael Nouri, brand ambassador of single malt whisky, Auchentoshan (pronounced 'ock-un-tosh-un'), to delve deeper into the world of fermented grains. No stranger to the heavenly duo, Auchentoshan are serving up their own take on whisky and beer throughout June in Sydney and Melbourne with the Auchentoshan & Ale, a refreshing cocktail of Auchentoshan American Oak, pale ale, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup. So strap in, friends, to see why whisky and beer make up a power couple that rivals even the Underwoods. THE IRREFUTABLE FACTS OF CHEMISTRY While the idea of actually mixing whisky and beer together might seem a little counterintuitive, the result exposes a whole new level of flavours. By the very nature of their chemistry, the brew and spirit are simply destined to be partners in crime. "Whisky starts its life as beer," Michael explains, so from the get go, the two share characteristics that complement one another. "You're taking whisky back to its origins. The spirit has a great cereal-like, grain structure to its flavour profile, and so does beer," so putting the two together is a no brainer, like with the Auchentoshan & Ale, where the scotch's distinctive nut and citrus base notes match those of many pale ales. However, even though whisky and beer have so much in common, another important part of the pairing equation is the fact that they're also so different. As their shared characteristics are enhanced by combining the two, the differing aspects of their profiles are also accentuated. Since beer is so refreshing, it adds a nice counterbalance to the warmth and intensity of a straight spirit like whisky, Michael explains. Auchentoshan American Oak, for example, balances the sweetness of the oak with the subtle fruity hops and citrus acidity of pale ale; ice-cold frothiness meets with a slick heat, and that's where the magic happens. "You know what whisky tastes like, and you know what beer tastes like, but when you put them together, it's a completely different beast." AN ENDLESS WORLD OF POSSIBILITY When you've got two ingredients that both complement and contrast each other, you're left with a combination that's too great to fail, and what's even better is how there's an absolutely endless stream of pairing possibilities. From matching a young bourbon to a rich porter, to combining a crisp pale ale with a rounded scotch like in the Auchentoshan & Ale, there are endless whiskies and beers to try together, and the industry is always coming out with new variations. "The beer camp, just by virtue of the industry itself, is quite progressive," Michael says. And while the whisky world can be a little conservative, it is catching up with new trends and ideas. You have distillers like Auchentoshan who are challenging the norms, and triple distilling their whisky to create a delicate flavour that's great on its own, but also makes for an interesting drop to experiment with. "You've got a whole variety of experimentation happening now, with different grains, with rice, with quinoa and a whole variety of other stuff," and these new variations mean boundless products to pair up. BEYOND THE BOILERMAKER With these endless possibilities, comes a lot of experimentation. The boilermaker is almost old hat now that both brewers and distillers are trialling more and more combination styles. "That's the whole beauty of what we do, it's experimental. We're trying new things, we're discovering combinations, and we're finding new ways to bring something interesting to people that they've never thought was interesting before" — like combining scotch, pale ale, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup into one refreshing tipple. But when it all comes down to it, it's important to bear in mind that "ultimately, all you want to do is sit there, close your eyes and enjoy that drink." We couldn't agree more. Sit back, close your eyes and enjoy an Auchentoshan & Ale found around Sydney and Melbourne until the end of June.
Bill Murray playing the world’s worst babysitter; Michael Keaton washing up in a cinematic ballet; Timothy Spall muttering his way through an artist’s biopic; the Bolshoi doing real ballet — there are loads of reasons to hurry along to the cool retreat that is Palace Cinemas before summer cuts the ropes. Good news is, to make sure you don’t miss out, we’re giving away five double passes to a film of your choice at your preferred Palace location. What’s more, the movies needn’t be your only motivation. A brand new, uber-refreshing, summery drink has jumped onto the Palace menu: Appleton V/X and ginger beer with fresh lime wedges. It’s built in a tall glass, with plenty of ice, to make sure that it keeps you cool throughout any feature. V/X is a special blend of no fewer than 15 aged rums, hand-mixed by master blender Joy Spence, who’s been making rum for more than 20 years. It’s one of Appleton Estate’s favourite rums for mixology because of its sophisticated, multilayered flavour profile. To be in the running for one of five double passes to Palace Cinemas, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
Bulimba's Oxford Street might be the cafe capital of Brisbane's inner east, but it isn't the only place to grab a daytime bite and a caffeinated brew on that side of town. For breakfast, brunch and lunch over a coffee, Riding Road is no slouch — and, in the street's Fifth Avenue precinct, it's exactly where newcomer Hawthorne Coffee has set up. Every cafe wants to be known for its cuppas, and this one is no different. Brisbane's own Bancroft Roasters is behind its beans, which get a workout in the usual coffee lineup. The eatery's beverage range also spans other daytime standards such as iced and hot chocolates, tea, milkshakes, acai smoothies and cold-pressed juice, but it's just as much of a go-to for its toastie-heavy food selection. Welcoming customers into its light-filled corner space, Hawthorne Coffee knows the magic of a hot drink paired with a hot-toasted sandwich. Its food menu levels up the humble toastie with gourmet fillings, including garlic thyme truffled mushroom; basil pesto chicken with sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella; and a breakfast option with two eggs and streaky bacon. The classic ham-and-cheese combo still has a place, of course, and so does the simple gooey goodness of two types of cheese between warmed-up bread. Hawthorne Coffee also prides itself on its house-made muffins, which range in flavour from staples like raspberry and white chocolate and blueberry lemon curd through to whatever seasonal produce inspires.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kkZAKjkiw COLLECTIVE We can only hope that one day, likely in a far distant future, documentaries will stop doubling as horror films. That time hasn't arrived yet — and as Collective demonstrates, cinema's factual genre can chill viewers to the bone more effectively than most jump- and bump-based fare. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards (only the second time that's ever happened, after last year's Honeyland), this gripping and gut-wrenching Romanian doco starts with a terrible tragedy. On October 30, 2015, a fire broke out at a metal gig in Bucharest, at a club called Colectiv. Twenty-seven people died in the blaze, and 180 people were injured as they tried to escape via the site's lone exit; however, that's just the beginning of the movie's tale. In the four months afterwards, as burn victims were treated in the country's public hospitals, 37 more passed away. When journalist Cătălin Tolontan and his team at The Sports Gazette started investigating the fire's aftermath and the mounting casualty list, they uncovered not only widespread failures throughout Romania's health system, but also engrained corruption as well. This truly is nightmare fuel; if people can't trust hospitals to act in their patients' best interest after such a sizeable disaster, one of the fundamental tenets of modern society completely collapses. Early in Collective, director, writer, cinematographer and editor Alexander Nanau (Toto and His Sisters) shows the flames, as seen from inside the club. When the blaze sparks from the show's pyrotechnics, hardcore band Goodbye to Gravity has just finished singing about corruption. "Fuck all your wicked corruption! It's been there since our inception but we couldn't see," the group's singer growls — and no, you can't make this up. It's a difficult moment to watch, but this is a film filled with unflinching sights, and with a viscerally unsettling story that demands attention. Nanau occasionally spends time with the bereaved and angry parents of victims of the fire, even bookending the documentary with one man's distress over the "communication error" that contributed to his son's death. The filmmaker charts a photo shoot with Tedy Ursuleanu, a survivor visibly scarred by her ordeal, too. And yet, taking an observational approach free from narration and interviews, and with only the scantest use of text on-screen, Collective's filmmaker lets much of what's said rustle up the majority of the movie's ghastliest inclusions. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zadWJ8tPmnU VOYAGERS He's an Australian treasure, he's one of Hollywood's recent villainous go-tos and he definitely isn't in Voyagers. That'd be Ben Mendelsohn, who comes to mind anyway while watching this sci-fi thriller. In a softer mode, the Rogue One and Ready Player One star could've played Colin Farrell's part here. That's not why Voyagers makes him pop into viewers' heads, though. Rather, it's because his brand of slippery menace still slinks through this space-set flick, all thanks to its most vivid performance. Should an upcoming movie ever need a fresher-faced version of Mendelsohn's latest bad guy or next morally complicated figure, Dunkirk, The Children Act and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch's Fionn Whitehead needs to be on speed dial. He channels Mendo perfectly as Zac, one of 30 test tube-bred teenagers who are rocketed into the heavens as humanity's last hope for survival. In the latter half of the 21st century, Earth is near-uninhabitable, so he's on an 86-year mission to a newly located planet. The young Humanitas crew's main purpose is to beget the next generations who'll colonise their new home — but, after learning that he's being drugged into obedience, Zac decides not to play nice. Ten years in, when the quieter Christopher (Tye Sheridan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix) realises that the drink they all call 'blue' contains an unidentified compound, the decision is easy. First Christopher, then Zac, then the rest of their shipmates all stop sipping it and start letting their hormones pump unfettered for the first time in their intricately designed and highly controlled lives. Richard (Farrell, The Gentlemen), the lone adult and the closest thing any of the crew have ever had to a father, is suddenly treated with suspicion. Christopher and Zac begin testing boundaries, indulging desires and flouting rules, too — and realising that they're both attracted to dutiful Chief Medical Officer Sela (Lily-Rose Depp, Crisis). Then an accident changes the dynamic, with the two pals challenging each other while fighting to lead. Factions are formed, chaos ensues and the very folks entrusted with saving the species are now simply trying to outlast each other. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE5-hkHIZF4 WILLY'S WONDERLAND If you've ever wondered how Nicolas Cage might've fared during cinema's silent era, Willy's Wonderland has the answer. A horror film about killer animatronic restaurant mascots, it's firmly a 2021 feature. It wasn't made a century ago, before synchronised sound forever changed the movie business, so it's definitely a talkie as well. Cage doesn't do any chattering, however. He groans and growls, and often, but doesn't utter a single word. The actor's many devotees already know that he's a talent with presence; whether he's cavorting in the streets under the delusion that he's a bloodsucker in Vampire's Kiss, grinning with his locks flowing in the wind in Con Air, dousing himself with vodka and grunting in Mandy or staring at a vibrant light in Color Out of Space, he repeatedly makes an imprint without dialogue. So, the inimitable star needn't speak to command attention — which is exactly the notion that Willy's Wonderland filmmaker Kevin Lewis (The Third Nail) put to the test. First, the great and obvious news: Cage doesn't seem to put in much effort, but he's a joy to watch. Playing a man simply known as The Janitor, he glowers like he couldn't care less that furry robots are trying to kill him. He swaggers around while cleaning the titular long-abandoned Chuck E Cheese-esque establishment, dances while hitting the pinball machine on his breaks, swigs soft drink as if it's the only beverage in the world and proves mighty handy with a mop handle when it comes to dispensing with his supernaturally demonic foes. Somehow, though, he's never as OTT as he could be. Cage plays a character who doesn't deem it necessary to convey his emotions, and that results in more restraint on his part than the film demonstrates with its undeniably silly premise. Accordingly, cue the bad news: as entertaining as Cage's wordless performance is — even without completely going for broke as only he can — Willy's Wonderland is often a ridiculous yet routine slog. Read our full review. Willy's Wonderland opens in Sydney and Brisbane on April 8, and hits home entertainment on April 21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmgl4TkFBc ANTOINETTE IN THE CÉVENNES In some other parts of the world, Antoinette in the Cévennes is known as My Donkey, My Lover & I. Both titles summarise the French comedy in a literal sense, but only one taps into the unexpected survivalist thread weaved through its woman-and-animal antics. Parisian primary school teacher Antoinette (Laure Calamy, Only the Animals) does indeed travel to the Cévennes, the mountain range in France's south. The lovestruck fortysomething makes the trip to follow her married lover Vladimir (C'est la vie!), who has cancelled their plans for the school holidays to hike with his wife Eléonore (Olivia Côte, No Filter) and daughter Alice (first-timer Louise Vidal), the latter of which is one of Antoinette's students. And, setting off on a six-day trek, she walks with a donkey, just like Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde author Robert Louis Stevenson did in the 1870s — as he chronicled in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Chaos and convenient plotting ensues, with the film's eponymous figure unprepared for her journey, inexperienced at both hiking and walking with a donkey, quickly becoming the talk of the trail and greeted with awkward horror by Vladimir when they eventually cross paths. But as a tale of a woman finding herself — and finding out how to truly survive and thrive in her own skin — Antoinette in the Cévennes is both thoughtful and charming. Luminous star Calamy is so essential to Antoinette in the Cévennes, it's hard to see the feature working without her. She plays her titular part with the commitment rather than recklessness or naive confidence; Antoinette knows that her decisions are guided by her heart rather than by any amount of consideration, but she's determined to see them through. In the movie's opening sequence, when Antoinette dons a sparkly dress and overshadows her class during a performance, Calamy conveys both yearning and spirit. In the many moments that her character finds herself alone on the trail unburdening her romantic woes to Patrick, the stubborn donkey who becomes her unlikely confidante and much-needed animal companion, she's unguarded and without a drop of self-consciousness. Just as crucially, writer/director Caroline Vignal (Girlfriends) has penned a character who smacks of typical rom-com traits at first glance, yet continually proves anything but. Her script gives its central figure time and space not just to grow, but to realise who she really is. That time can pass more patiently than the film's 97-minute running time should, and that gorgeously lensed space — by Knife + Heart cinematographer Simon Beaufils — is as much the star of Antoinette in the Cévennes as Calamy and her four-legged co-star; however, the end result is never anything less than a winsome and perceptive jaunt. Antoinette in the Cévennes opens in Sydney and Melbourne on April 8, and in Brisbane on April 15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6vOhD_fI2I&feature=emb_logo ASCENDANT More than halfway into Australian sci-fi thriller Ascendant, Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best, Tidelands) finds herself facing one of the modern world's worst nightmares: a dying phone battery. She's trapped in a 120-storey Shanghai building, and in an elevator that plunges downward and jerks back up seemingly at random. She awoke bound, gagged and blindfolded, and with no recollection of how she came to be in such a predicament. She's at the mercy of sinister Russians (led by The Mule's Alex Menglet), who are holding her father (Jonny Pasvolsky, The Front Runner) hostage and live-streaming his torture into her suspended cage. But if her phone was to stop working, it'd be the movie's most monumental development. She'd no longer be drip-fed Ascendant's exposition, and first-time feature writer/director Antaine Furlong (co-scripting with fellow debutant Kieron Holland) would also lose his main way to relay those details to his audience. The low battery hardly comes as a surprise, given that Aria has spent the bulk of the film to that point using the device. Because logic is absent here, Aria's mobile keeps working long after she starts stressing about its demise, too. But the importance placed on her phone — both in relaying much of the feature's story, Buried- and Locke-style, and in providing an easy source of drama — speaks volumes about this muddled struggle of a film. The Russians want information, but Aria doesn't know what they're talking about. Enter flashes of memories from her childhood, which help fill in the gaps. Throw in flimsy supernatural elements as well, and that's the crux of Furlong and Holland's screenplay, which primarily feels like a series of one-upping "what if?" questions — "what if she isn't merely stuck, but she's being tormented?", "what if one wall of the elevator is a big TV screen?", "what if her name makes everyone think of Game of Thrones?", "what if it's all taking place in China?", "what if the CIA is involved?" and "what if there's an ecological aspect?", for instance. Living up to her surname as the feature's standout actor, Best turns in a convincing and layered performance as the perplexed Aria. Stunt double Marlee Barber (The Invisible Man) deserves ample credit given the amount of time that the film's protagonist spends being thrown around, and production designer Fiona Donovan (Back to the Rafters) makes the movie's eerie setting look both unsettling and striking. Their efforts can't lift a picture that's big on ideas but light on cohesion, though. Furlong has a keen eye and doesn't lack in ambition — but Ascendant sinks rather than rises. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; and March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody and The Father.
If you like venues with punning names, the Gold Coast is already home to an ace one thanks to Chinese restaurant Miami Rice. Also taking its moniker from the same source of inspiration: newcomer Tropic Vice, which you'll now find sporting big summer vibes on a Mermaid Beach rooftop. In this instance, the nod to a certain 80s TV crime drama — and 2006 Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx-starring movie remake — stems from the bar's Palm Springs-meets-Miami vibe. And with pastel hues almost as far as the eye can see, umbrellas aplenty, oh-so-much greenery and even neon flamingos around the place, it certainly looks the part. Patrons have multiple sunny spaces to choose between — starting with the grassy-heavy garden bar with its brollies, and also including a deck covered with creeping vines and high tables, as well as a neon-lit podium space. And yes, almost every surface here is either pink, teal, green, white, or covered in tropical prints and/or plants. While you're pretending you're on a holiday without actually going on holiday — although, for Brisbanites, a night or two on the Gold Coast definitely counts as a getaway — you can tuck into a menu that takes its cues from Caribbean and South America. Highlights span oysters topped with watermelon chilli vinaigrette, kingfish ceviche, fish and potato balls, jackfruit and black bean salsa tacos, as well as chilli and garlic prawns paired with fresh mango salsa. For dessert, you can pick between coconut rice with homemade dulce de leche and fried bananas. The cocktail list sticks to the venue's theme, starting with the Miami Spice (with whisky, vanilla liqueur, lemon juice and spice syrup), Flamingo Spritz (pink gin, prosecco, blood orange seltzer and soda water) and Vice Martini (vodka, passionfruit puree, pomegranate syrup and mint leaves). Three kinds of margaritas are on offer, too — guava and goji, coconut and mandarin, and lychee and chilli — plus boozy slushies and salted caramel espresso martinis. And if you're keen to stick around for the long haul on a Sunday, there's both $79 and $89 boozy bottomless brunches from midday each week. Images: Mondae Studio.
Dozens of independent arts organisations are looking down the barrel of extinction, after being ditched in the latest round of Australia Council funding. The news makes for depressingly familiar headlines, and marks the latest in a series of significant blows to the country's artistic community since the Federal Government cut the independent funding body's budget to the tune of $60 million over four years. Among the 62 previously funded organisations to miss out are the National Association for the Visual Arts, Melbourne's Red Stitch Actor's Theatre and youth-focused Express Media, and Sydney's Force Majeure dance company and PACT Centre for Contemporary Artists. Organisations lucky enough to receive funding, meanwhile, include Queensland's Metro Arts, Multicultural Arts Victoria, and Carriageworks in Sydney. In total $112 million will be invested between 2017 and 2020. The full list of recipients can be found via the Arts Council website. "In a country with an ever growing population we should be receiving ever greater cultural investment and government support," said Arts Party leader PJ Collins. "Instead we have constant and major cuts to our communities and opportunity in developing and recognising our native talent." A number of the affected organisations also spoke out against the cuts. "This is devastating news not just for Next Wave but for all artists and the Australian community," read a statement from the organisers of Melbourne's Next Wave festival (which is on right now). They also pointed out that the decision to drop funding comes even as the festival is being met "with critical and audience acclaim, and record-breaking box office numbers." Likewise, Kath Melbourne of Sydney theatre company Legs on the Wall told ArtsHub that they and many other organisations were the victims of "political decisions [made] behind closed doors." Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski tried to put a positive spin on the announcement, stating that "while celebrating the success of the companies forming the new cohort, the Council acknowledges that the outcomes of this highly competitive process will be difficult for some companies and is committed to supporting the sector through this period of change. This support will take various forms, responding to the different needs of both individual organisations and practice areas." Via ArtsHub. Image: Next Wave.
UPDATE: May 10, 2020: Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Here's one of those sentences you never expect to see yourself writing: Hobbs & Shaw makes The Fate of the Furious look like gritty realism. Think about that for a moment. That film ended with a crew of street-racers-turned-international-super-spies being pursued by both Russian separatists and a remote-control driven nuclear submarine across an icy Siberian tundra...in Lamborghinis. And it still offered more realism and nuance than this spin-off. How is that even possible? It's better not to ask. Hobbs & Shaw is an offering that might finally have pushed things too far in a franchise defined by its ability to stretch things (plot, stunts, singlets and micro-shorts) to seemingly impossible levels. Escalation has always been the name of the game for the Fast & Furious franchise, the filmmakers forever seeking new and inventive ways of delivering essentially the same story. Like Mission: Impossible crossed with The Italian Job, each instalment sees our ragtag crew of racers tasked with pulling off ludicrous heists with fast cars and fancy driving. The villains grew larger and more megalomaniacal (from rival street racers to drug cartel bosses and Dr Evil-esque world destroyers), the cars gained enormous value (from a 1999 Nissan Skyline to the US$2 million Nissan IDx NISMO) and the cast began to approach Avengers levels of celebrity. Two of those additions were Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw. Both entered the franchise as pseudo-villains, only to then be drawn into the "family" by its patriarch Dom, played by the ever-growling Vin Diesel. As Hobbs and Shaw's popularity grew, a spin-off seemed inevitable. But whilst the demand was undoubtedly there, the delivery falls well short of expectations. This movie feels like the output of an AI that was fed the data set of the franchise but was incapable of identifying its humanity (and, dare we say, heart). Yes, it features insane stunts, amazing vehicles and unceasing bromance, but none of it ever gels. In particular, the supposed friction between the two leads lacks all substance, especially since The Fate of the Furious already saw them mostly resolve their differences and become buddies. Thrust together here and told to work together like the Russian and American agents from The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Hobbs and Shaw must track down Shaw's sister (The Crown's Vanessa Kirby) after she infects herself with a deadly virus to keep it from falling into the villain's hands (played this time around by Idris Elba). Borrowing heavily, then, from Mission: Impossible 2, the story sees the trio fight against time to extract the virus before it takes hold and wipes out most of humanity. Why? Remember, we asked you not to ask questions. Ever. Because you see, very little stands up to scrutiny. Why do Hobbs and Shaw actually hate each other? Unclear. Why are they tasked with this job when the agencies that recruit them are far better equipped and motivated? Unclear. Why is Hobbs able to pull a Blackhawk helicopter down from the sky when only moments earlier he and four other fully-laden cars weren't able to do it? Jeez, get off my back already. And sure, this is a series that not only invites you to suspend belief, but actively requires you to do so. Until now, audiences have willingly obliged. Here, though, it's one step too far. The heroes and villains are invulnerable, the plot is beffudling and logic has straight up Nos'd itself into the atmosphere. It's a pity, because there's so much to like about Johnson and Statham in these roles, especially when they work as a willing duo defined by their differences rather than simply bickering with forced (and unbearably unfunny) insults. Ultimately, Hobbs & Shaw may not have killed off the franchise, but it's certainly done it no favours. It's also a perfect example of the risk of branching too far from a clearly winning formula. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b736ZM_KfEk
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue in December. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery opens with a puzzle box inside a puzzle box. The former is a wooden cube delivered out of the blue, the latter the followup to 2019 murder-mystery hit Knives Out, and both are as tightly, meticulously, cleverly and cannily orchestrated as each other. The physical version has siblings, all sent to summon a motley crew of characters to the same place, as these types of flicks need to boast. The film clearly has its own brethren, and slots in beside its predecessor as one of the genre's gleaming standouts. More Knives Out movies will follow as well, which the two so far deserve to keep spawning as long as writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi) and Benoit Blanc-playing star Daniel Craig (No Time to Die) will make them. Long may they keep the franchise's key detective and audience alike sleuthing. Long may they have everyone revelling in every twist, trick and revelation, as the breezy blast that is Glass Onion itself starts with. What do Connecticut Governor and US Senate candidate Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision), model-slash-designer-slash-entrepreneur Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr, The Many Saints of Newark) and gun-toting, YouTube-posting men's rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista, Thor: Love and Thunder) all have in common when this smart and savvy sequel kicks off? They each receive those literal puzzle boxes, of course, and they visibly enjoy their time working out what they're about. The cartons are the key to their getaway to Greece — their invites from tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton, The French Dispatch), in fact — and also perfectly emblematic of this entire feature. It's noteworthy that this quartet carefully but playfully piece together clues to unveil the contents inside, aka Glass Onion's exact modus operandi. That said, it's also significant that a fifth recipient of these elaborate squares, Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe, Antebellum), simply decides to smash their way inside with a hammer. As Brick and Looper also showed, Johnson knows when to attentively dole out exactly what he needs to, including when the body count starts. He also knows when to let everything spill out, and when to put the cravat-wearing Blanc on the case. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery streams via Netflix. Read our full review. KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF Not once, not even jokingly, does Annie Murphy utter the words "ew, David" in Kevin Can F**k Himself. She's never ever just a little bit Alexis, either. Murphy is just as exceptional and awards-worthy here, however, in a superb show that's a clever and cutting dark comedy — and, perhaps more accurately, offers a clear-eyed unpacking of what sitcoms usually mean (Schitt's Creek excluded, obviously) for women. In its first season in 2021, Kevin Can F**k Himself cast its star as Allison Devine-McRoberts, wife to the manchild of a titular figure (Eric Petersen, Sydney to the Max), and clearly in the kind of TV show about obnoxious husbands and their put-upon spouses that've been a small-screen mainstay for far too long. In those segments of the series, the lights glow, the McRoberts home looks like every other abode in every other program of its ilk, multiple cameras observe the action and viewers can be forgiven for expecting Kevin James to show up. Also, canned laughter chuckles — always unearned. Consider the above setup Kevin Can F**k Himself's starting point, though, because the show itself does. From there, creator Valerie Armstrong (Lodge 49) exposes what life is truly like for Allison — who is considered Kevin's wife first and foremost by almost everyone around her — including by switching looks, hues and camera arrangements whenever its namesake isn't around. The visible change is smart and effective, with this two-season show keeping digging into Allison's bleak situation from there. In the spirit of the series' title, she's trying to rid herself of her horrible marriage, including with help from neighbour Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden, The Righteous Gemstones). Alas, as this second and sadly last batch of episodes shows — as its first did as well — nothing is ever that easy. In a better world, Kevin Can F**k Himself would've had more time to unfurl and interrogate its story, but in this world it doesn't put a foot wrong with the time it's been given. Murphy and Inboden make one of TV's best duos, too; fingers crossed that someone reteams them again sometime soon. Kevin can F**k Himself streams via AMC+. Read our full review of 2021's season one. LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER Neither Emma Corrin's nor Jack O'Connell's resumes lack past highlights — The Crown for the former, and Skins, Starred Up, '71 and The North Water among the latter's — but the two actors scorch up the screen in Lady Chatterley's Lover. There'd be a problem if they didn't, given that the film adapts DH Lawrence's famously steamy and even banned 1928 novel. (In Australia, even a book about the British obscenity trial that the tome inspired was censored.) To tell this tale about an upper-class wife, her unfulfilling marriage to a Baronet injured in World War I, and the sexual and emotional yearning she quenches with the family property's gamekeeper, chemistry has to drip from the images, sparks need to fly so furiously that the movie's frames almost ignite, and a feverish and all-encompassing mood is a must. Along with actor-turned-director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (The Mustang), Corrin and O'Connell bring all of the above to the latest take on Lady Chatterley's Lover, and help the sumptuous erotic period drama itself not just bubble but boil. As lensed with a sensual eye by cinematographer Benoît Delhomme (At Eternity's Gate), this achingly romantic film sees its titular Lady Connie (Corrin, My Policeman) meet her also-eponymous paramour Oliver Mellors (O'Connell, Seberg) following the war, after Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett, A Confession) has returned paralysed and moved his bride into his stately estate. Talk of an heir remains — pre-injury, it was the first thing mentioned in their wedding toast — but Clifford's condition, as well as his focus on writing a novel and then modernising the local mine, prove obstacles. Connie could have a discreet affair for the sole purpose of getting pregnant, however, as Clifford suggests. But it isn't just a head-over-heels clandestine love that springs with Mellors, who's also a veteran. Connie and Oliver are bowled over by the kind of adoration, affection and lust that inspires frolics in the fields and stripping down in the rain, all while their romance also helps interrogate class clashes. As well as woozily heady, vibrantly performed and handsomely shot, Lady Chatterley's Lover also enjoys eating the rich; yes, that's sexy, too. Lady Chatterley's Lover streams via Netflix. NANNY In Nanny, Aisha (Anna Diop, Us) is haunted, both when she's asleep and awake. Her slumbers are disturbed by nightmares, but seeing rising waters and unwelcome spiders isn't just relegated to when the Senegalese woman in New York closes her eyes. A gut-wrenching sense of unease also lingers while she works, after securing a childminding job for rich Upper East Side residents Amy (Michelle Monaghan, Echoes) and Adam (Morgan Spector, The Gilded Age). Their five-year-old daughter Rose (Rose Decker, Mare of Easttown) adores Aisha — more than her parents, it often seems. And, the nannying gig helps Aisha distract herself from missing her own son, who she's desperately trying to bring over to the US. She's haunted by his absence, too, and by the stolen snippets of conversation she gets with him on the phone, constantly juggling the time difference. The supernatural disturbances plaguing Aisha and her feelings about leaving her child in Senegal to chase a better future for them both are clearly linked, although Nanny is atmospheric and insightful rather than blunt and overt. The first horror film to win Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, this evocative effort hails from writer/director Nikyatu Jusu, who makes her feature-length debut with quite the calling card. 2022 isn't short on affectingly moody and evocative female-focused thrillers with a maternal bent — see: Resurrection, which also debuted at Sundance — but Nanny's addition to the fold is deeply steeped in Aisha's immigrant experience. Thanks to all that otherworldly water, it feels like it's always steeping, in fact, soaking in the troubles and struggles of trying to snatch even a piece of the American dream when you're not wealthy, white and originally from the so-called land of the free. Also prominent: the dispiriting minutiae of Aisha's day, aka exactly what she has to endure to even have a chance of gaining what comes easily and obliviously to her employers. Like its central figure, Nanny is haunted several times over, too. Nanny streams via Prime Video. COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS A girl, a guy and a meet-cute over an adorable animal: that's the delightful and very funny Colin From Accounts' underlying formula. When medical student Ashley (Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Patrick Brammall, Evil) cross paths in the street one otherwise standard Sydney morning, they literally come to an impasse. He lets her go first, she flashes her nipple as thanks, then he's so distracted that he hits a stray dog with his car. As these circumstances demonstrate, Colin From Accounts isn't afraid to get awkward, much to the benefit of audiences. There's a syrupy way to proceed from the show's debut moments, intertwining sparks flying with idyllic dates, plus zero doubts of a happy ending for humans and pooches alike. If this was a movie, that's how it'd happen. Then there's Dyer and Brammall's way, with the duo creating and writing the series as well as starring in it, and focusing as much on ordinary existential mayhem — working out who you want to be, navigating complex relationships and learning to appreciate the simple pleasure of someone else's company, for example — as pushing its leads together. Just like in the Hollywood versions of this kind of tale, romance does blossom. That Dyer and Brammall are behind Colin From Accounts, their past chemistry on fellow Aussie comedy No Activity and the fact that they're married IRL means that pairing them up as more than new pals was always going to be on the show's agenda. It's how the series fleshes out each character and their baggage — including those who-am-I questions, Ash's difficult dynamic with her attention-seeking mother Lynelle (Helen Thomson, Elvis), and the responsibility that running your own business and committing to care for other people each bring — that helps give it depth. Colin From Accounts lets Ash and Gordon unfurl their woes and wishes, and also lets them grow. Sometimes, that happens by peeing and pooping in the wrong place, because that's also the type of comedy this is. Sometimes, it's because the show's central couple have taken a risk, or faced their struggles, or genuinely found solace in each other. Always, this new Aussie gem is breezy and weighty — and instantly bingeable. Colin From Accounts streams via Binge. Read our full review. DREAMING WALLS: INSIDE THE CHELSEA HOTEL Part of Manhattan since the 1880s, the Chelsea Hotel is as much a New York City icon as the Statute of Liberty or the Empire State Building, and as influential over the cultural landscape as well. It's where 2001: A Space Odyssey was written by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, where Janis Joplin and Allen Ginsburg have resided — Patti Smith, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Leonard Cohen as well — and a key factor in the Andy Warhol co-directed 1966 film Chelsea Girls. It's the last place that poet Dylan Thomas stayed, and where Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious, was found dead. All of these details could fuel a documentary, or several, but that's not the approach that the Martin Scorsese-produced Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel takes. As the building undergoes extensive renovations that've been happening for years, upending long-term inhabitants and transforming historic apartments, filmmakers Amélie van Elmbt (The Elephant and the Butterfly) and Maya Duverdier spend time with the people determined not to leave. Everyone who still calls the Chelsea home knows the ins and outs of its past; "the ghosts who haunt it," as one puts it. But Dreaming Walls considers those everyday dwellers — most linked to creative fields in one way or another, of course — the life and soul of the current joint. That might be easy when so much of the place, and its gorgeous gothic architecture, is a construction site in the documentary's frames. The contrast between stripped-bare walls and jam-packed apartments that've been occupied by the same people for decades is haunting as well. It's no wonder that this ethereal and evocative film is largely content to loiter, to listen and to bear witness to the folks who've been there, seen it all, heard what they didn't personally experience and aren't willing to simply move just because a boutique spot is poised to take over. Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel streams via DocPlay. BUMP Time-jump alert: when Bump returns for its third season, four years have passed in this supremely bingeable Aussie dramedy's on-screen world. Oly (Nathalie Morris, Petrol) and Santi (Carlos Sanson, Sweet As) are no longer high schoolers, or even teenagers. They're also no longer the couple that took a big leap at the end of season two by moving into their own apartment, away from both of their chaotic families, while Oly finished her HSC, Santi started working full-time and both juggled all of the above with caring for baby J. Indeed, this new batch of Bump episodes begins with its central pairing taking the now almost five-year-old Jacinda (Ava Cannon) to her first day of kindergarten. All three are both excited and nervous amid the awkward co-parenting energy between the now-split Oly and Santi — and as Oly's mother Angie (Claudia Karvan, Moja Vesna) surprises them en route. Times and ages may have changed, and situations and appearances as well, but the warmth this series feels for its characters — and the complexity it works through in well-worn scenarios — steadfastly remains. We said it when the first ten-episode season dropped at the end of 2020, and we still stand by it today: Heartbreak High fans, Bump is for you, too. That isn't just because Karvan starred in The Heartbreak Kid, the movie that the OG Heartbreak High spun off from, but due to its dedication to chronicling the ins and outs of growing up and parenting in Sydney — yes, with school a focus as well. Bump has matured as Oly and Santi also have, however, even if the same can't always be said about Angie, Oly's dad Dom (Angus Sampson, The Lincoln Lawyer) and her older brother Bowie (Christian Byers, Between Two Worlds). A key theme in season three: what it means when life already hasn't turned out as planned when you still have so much of it left ahead of you. The show is called Bump, after all, and finds plenty of them paving everyone's paths. With the series also devoting its time to Santi's stepmother Rosa (Paula Garcia, Thirteen Lives) and best friend Vince (Ioane Saula, Preppers) among its broader look at Oly and Santi's support network, it also finds an array of ways to contemplate hopes, dreams, loves, losses, joys and disappointments. Bump streams via Binge from December 26. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK ABBOTT ELEMENTARY The Office did it, in both the UK and US versions. Parks and Recreation did so, too. What We Do in the Shadows still does it — and, yes, there's more where they all came from. By now, the mockumentary format is a well-established part of the sitcom realm. Indeed, it's so common that additional shows deciding to give it a whirl aren't noteworthy for that alone. But in Emmy-winner Abbott Elementary, which is currently streaming its second season, the faux doco gimmick is also deployed as an outlet for the series' characters. They're all public school elementary teachers in Philadelphia, and the chats to-camera help convey the stresses and tolls of doing what they're devoted to. In a wonderfully warm and also clear-eyed gem created by, co-written by and starring triple-threat Quinta Brunson (Miracle Workers), that'd be teaching young hearts and minds no matter the everyday obstacles, the utter lack of resources and funding, or the absence of interest from the bureaucracy above them. Brunson plays perennially perky 25-year-old teacher Janine Teagues, who loves her gig and her second-grade class. She also adores her colleague Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ray Donovan), the kindergarten teacher that she sees as a mentor and work mum. Actually, Janine isn't just fond of all of the above — she's so devoted to her job that she'll let nothing stand in her way. But that isn't easy or straightforward in a system that's short on cash and care from the powers-that-be to make school better for its predominantly Black student populace. Also featuring Everybody Hates Chris' Tyler James Williams (also The United States vs Billie Holiday) as an apathetic substitute teacher, Lisa Ann Walter (The Right Mom) and Chris Perfetti (Sound of Metal) as Abbott faculty mainstays, and Janelle James (Black Monday) as the incompetent principal who only scored her position via blackmail, everything about Abbott Elementary is smart, kindhearted, funny and also honest. That remains the case in season two, where Janine is newly single and grappling with being on her own, sparks are flying with Williams' Gregory and James' Ava can't keep bluffing her way through her days. Abbott Elementary streams via Disney+. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Is every vampire film destined to become a television series? Where Buffy the Vampire Slayer, What We Do in the Shadows and Interview with the Vampire have already tread — the latter just this year, too — Let the Right One In now follows. Originally a devastatingly haunting Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, then an entrancing 2008 film in its original language, then an American big-screen remake called Let Me In, this one just keeps drawing audiences in. In its present guise, it takes its tale to New York, where Mark Kane (Demián Bichir, Godzilla vs Kong) and his daughter Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez, Selena: The Series) are trying to live as normal a life as they can when the latter is a member of the bloodsucking undead. Other changes abound, including the fact that Ellie has been blighted by her condition for just a decade; that NYC is being plagued by a series of brutal but strange killings; and that former pharmaceutical executive Arthur Logan (Željko Ivanek, The Last Duel), his estranged daughter Claire (Grace Gummer, Dr Death) and afflicted son Peter (Jacob Buster, Colony) factor into the narrative. Because everything is a murder-mystery of late — see: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery above, and fellow recent streaming hits Only Murders in the Building, The Afterparty, Bad Sisters and Black Bird — so is Let the Right One In circa 2022 in its way. When Ellie befriends a boy, as has happened in every version of this tale so far, his mother happens to be a police detective investigating those aforementioned deaths. So, while the show chronicles Ellie and Isaiah Cole's (Ian Foreman, The Holiday Switch) affinity as outsiders, with the magic-loving neighbour kid bullied at school, it also charts his mum Naomi's (Anika Noni Rose, Maid) time on the job. And, this Let the Right One In is also a survival quest, chasing a cure for Ellie's predicament. In other words, creator and writer Andrew Hinderaker (Away) has taken the source material, filtered it through thoroughly 2022 obsessions, conjured up there requisite moody vibe and filled it with weighty performances. Sinking your teeth in is recommended. Let the Right One In streams via Paramount+. 2022 CINEMA HIGHLIGHTS WORTH CATCHING UP WITH AT HOME FLUX GOURMET Flickering across a cinema screen, even the greatest of movies only engage two senses: sight and hearing. We can't touch, taste or smell films, even if adding scratch-and-sniff aromas to the experience has become a cult-favourite gimmick. British director Peter Strickland hasn't attempted that — but his features make you feel like you're running your fingers over an alluring dress (In Fabric), feeling the flutter of insect wings (The Duke of Burgundy) or, in his latest, enjoying the smells and tastes whipped up by a culinary collective that turns cooking and eating into performance art. Yes, if you've seen any of his movies before, Flux Gourmet instantly sounds like something only Strickland could make. While it's spinning that tale, it literally sounds like only something he could come up with as well, given that his audioscapes are always a thing of wonder (see also: the sound-focused Berberian Sound Studio). And, unsurprisingly due to his strong and distinctive sense of style and mood, everything about Flux Gourmet looks and feels like pure Strickland, too. The setting: a culinary institute overseen by Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie, Wednesday), that regularly welcomes in different creative groups to undertake residencies. Her guests collaborate, percolate and come up with eye-catching blends of food, bodies and art — hosting OTT dinners, role-playing a trip to the supermarket, getting scatalogical and turning a live colonoscopy into a show, for instance. Watching and chronicling the latest stint by a 'sonic catering' troupe is journalist Stones (Makis Papadimitriou, Beckett), who also has gastrointestinal struggles, is constantly trying not to fart and somehow manages to keep a straight face as everything gets farcical around him. Asa Butterfield (Sex Education), Ariane Labed (The Souvenir: Part II) and Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed play the three bickering artists, and their time at the institute get messy and heated, fast — but this is a film that's as warm as it is wild, and stands out even among Strickland's inimitable work. Also crucial: riffing on This Is Spinal Tap. Flux Gourmet streams via Shudder. Read our full review. STREAMING HIGHLIGHTS FROM EARLIER IN THE YEAR WORTH CATCHING UP ON THE LAST MOVIE STARS Filmmakers adoring filmmakers is basically its own on-screen genre. Six-part documentary limited series The Last Movie Stars gives that idea a different spin: actors loving actors. Here, Ethan Hawke turns director, not for the first time — see: films Blaze, Seymour: An Introduction, The Hottest State and Chelsea Walls — to show his affection for the inimitable Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Unsurprisingly, he has a wealth of company, some chatting through their fondness for two Hollywood talents like no other and some contributing by giving voice to interview transcripts. For a memoir that didn't eventuate, Newman and Woodward compiled chats by a who's who of showbusiness during their careers; however, they also had the tapes destroyed. Cue George Clooney voicing Newman's chats, Laura Linney doing Woodward's, and everyone from Oscar Isaac, Sam Rockwell and Mark Ruffalo to Rose Byrne and Zoe Kazan also subbing in for other famous names. That's where The Last Movie Stars' audio comes from, echoing with insightful discussions given the emotion they deserve. Hawke also includes new zoom chats with his players, as well as with Martin Scorsese, his daughter and Stranger Things star Maya and more, but his engrossing and probing series is head over heels for pairing those recreated interviews with archival footage. Staring at Newman and Woodward is easy, as is celebrating them and their relationship. This isn't just a case of deserved worship, though, but shows its subjects as real people rather than just stars — all while exploring Hollywood at the time, stepping through their careers and contemporaries, and overflowing with clear-eyed warmth. Hawke doesn't avoid tricky traits or truths, and this in-depth doco is all the more enlightening and compassionate for it. Whether you already treasure Newman and Woodward or you've always wanted to know more about the two legends, this is a movie buff's pure and utter dream. The Last Movie Stars streams via Binge. MO For three seasons on Ramy, Mohammed Amer has played Mo, the diner-owning cousin to the show's namesake. For those three seasons, including 2022's batch of episodes, he's also been part of one of the best and most thoughtful shows currently streaming, especially when it comes to the immigrant experience and telling Muslim American stories. Instead of just co-starring in an art-imitates-life dramedy inspired by someone else's existence, however, Amer has taken a leaf out of Ramy Youssef's book with Mo — a show with the same underlying concept, as co-created by Amer and Youssef. This time, the pair draw upon Amer's background rather than Youssef's. So, Amer's on-screen alter-ego is a Palestinian living in America. He's a refugee, in fact, who fled the Middle East when he was a child and sought asylum with his family. His US home: Houston, Texas. IRL, every one of these points is drawn from Amer's existence, as fans of his Netflix standup specials Mo Amer: The Vagabond and Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas will recognise. That's the history behind Mo, with the series' eight-episode first season honing in on its protagonist's attempts to gain US citizenship. Mo Najjar (Amer, Black Adam), his mother Yusra (Farah Bsieso, Daughters of Abdul) and brother Sameer (Omar Elba, Limetown) have been waiting two decades to have their cases heard — another detail ripped from reality — and trying to forge new lives while remaining in legal limbo has long since taken a toll. Spanning losing jobs, trying to find a new one as an undocumented American resident, the Najjars' family dynamic, pain from back home they haven't processed, the weight of cultural traditions and expectations, and Mo's relationship with Mexican and Catholic mechanic Maria (Teresa Ruiz, Father Stu), there's no shortage of detail and drama to Amer's passion project. Indeed, every second of the series feels as personal and authentic as it clearly is, and does far more than merely give Amer his own Ramy. Mo streams via Netflix. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream 2022 shows as well — and our best 15 new shows of the year, top 15 returning shows over the same period, 15 shows you might've missed and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies of 2022.
'Tis the season to be jolly, or at the very least, the season is coming up very soon. As a rule proved year on year, there's no shortage of summer celebrations — so the human struggle is deciding how and where you want to spend your fun-filled time. In news that will bless the ears of aspiring partygoers, Hyatt Regency Brisbane has the entirety of the festive season covered with a month of Christmas feasting and an all-out New Year's Eve party. Traditionally, Christmas equals big portions, so why not feast from a bougie buffet? From Monday, November 28, Lennons Restaurant & Bar will be hosting a Festive Buffet from Monday to Friday (plus a cheeky Saturday for Christmas Eve). You can expect a hearty spread of mains like honey mustard roast ham, seared salmon and wild mushroom gnocchi, salads (like the much-loved potato salad and the fan fave that sees watermelon meet mint and feta), a carving station (for all carnivorous needs) and a dessert station (it'd be rude not to). It's an ideal place to plate up a meal worthy of Santa Claus. It doesn't stop there either. Should you be in need of a feed on the big day itself, you can make the most of the celebration with a bountiful food and drinks package. You'll dine till you're done (but no rush, you have three hours) with a flavour-laden buffet and drinks package, while you're serenaded by live musos. Also, we hear Santa himself may be making an appearance at some point... Once Christmas farewells for another year, New Year's Eve is hurtling in at full speed, and Sail Away NYE Party is taking over the Hibiscus Room. Expect a sparkling spritz bar, four hours of flowing drinks, canapés doing the rounds and a fully stocked food station to fuel you through an evening of live entertainment. Lineup for the photo booth early if you want to snap your entry to 2023 — which you will toast to with a glass of Taittinger champagne. The Hyatt Regency Brisbane's Festive Buffet is on from Monday, November 28 till Saturday, December 24; Christmas Lunch on Sunday, December 25; and Sail Away NYE Party on Saturday, December 31. For more information, head to the website.
Beer lovers of Brisbane, the drinking equivalent of Christmas is just around the corner. While the festive season delivers plenty of reasons for a tipple, Brewsvegas serves up ten whole days dedicated to little more than enjoying the nectar of the gods: beer. It's no wonder the festival has become one of the city's must-attend events since it first started in 2014. Indeed, the 2017 program boasts an array of experiences that'll prove just why that's the case — and make you thirsty just reading about them. Here, from March 10 to 19 at almost every Brissie pub, bar and place with beer in the fridge, a hard-earned thirst needs whatever type of bev is on the menu. That includes blending your own brews, trying duelling ales, tasting one-off concoctions, and swapping beer for cider and mead. There are many, many other excuses chances to grab a glass of something, or several — such as beer-flavoured ice cream, for example. Other highlights from the lineup span everything from the exact type of pub crawl we predicted last year (even if the Milton watering holes in question are calling it a beer trail), to every type of booze-appropriate sport or activity you can think of (putt putt, golf, a scavenger hunt, BASEketball, NES, a cartoon drawing competition, bowls, Japanese game shows, trivia, RPGs, live painting, beerlympics, an art tour and a chilli cook-off, just to name a few). For anyone worrying about lining their stomach, food also features heavily. Degustation, pizza pairings, oh-so-much poultry, a curated food lab, brekkie boozing and root-to-leaf antics are all on the menu. And then there's something from the state-proud drink-lover in all of us: the festival within a festival that is Pint of Origin. Seven pubs each showcase the beer of seven different states and territories, experts chat, everyone drinks — and, just like at Brewsvegas in general, everyone imbibing and indulging all prove the real winners. Brewsvegas 2017 runs from March 10 to 19. For more information, visit the festival's website.
