You've binge-watched everything in your streaming queue, made your fair share of jigsaw puzzles, played plenty of board games and worked out a regular exercise regime. Now, as part of your new stay-at-home routine, you've decided to learn a new skill. That's understandable — who doesn't want to emerge from this current drastic change to our lives with not only their health, but a few nifty new tricks up their sleeves? If getting arty has always been on your to-do list, the National Gallery of Victoria's Virtual Drop-By Drawing sessions are here to help. They usually take place in person; however, in the current circumstances, the NGV is moving them online. Budding creatives just need to tune into the NGV Channel, watch video tutorials hosted by Victorian artists and take inspiration from the gallery's collection in the process — with a pencil and piece of paper in your hands, of course. Lily Mae Martin takes viewers into the NGV's 19th-century European paintings gallery — and spends plenty of time marvelling at the life-size marble sculpture Musidora, 1878 by Marshall Wood, while Minna Gilligan focuses on two standouts in the NGV's 20th-century galleries, with Andy Warhol's Self-portrait no. 9 (c.1986) and David Hockney's The second marriage in the spotlight. And Kenny Pittock will take you through sketching fruit and vegetables in your kitchen, using Édouard Manet's The melon. The NGV's Virtual Drop-By Drawing sessions are all available on the NGV Channel to watch. Images: Virtual Drop-by Drawing class with Kenny Pittock, Lily Mae Martin and Minna Gilligan at NGV, 2020.Image courtesy of NGV. Updated April 29, 2020.
You've probably heard of starting your day as you choose to go on, but how about starting your month in the same fashion? In the return of their popular series from 2017, Fortitude Valley's Institute of Modern Art wants you to kick off each of the 12 portions of the annual calendar in an engaging and artistic fashion, and they've curated the perfect events to help. At First Thursdays, artists are invited to take over IMA — and you're invited to enjoy the fruits of their efforts. Participatory art experiences will take over the Brunswick Street venue, be it performance, dance, visual art, food or music, for a fun night of experimentation from 6-8pm. Plus, the lineup changes each month, so it's never the same party twice.
Caxton Street's go-to for whisky, southern-style food and Americana rock, Lefty's Old Time Music Hall left Brisbane's nightlife scene with a considerable gap when it closed last November. Thankfully, the Petrie Terrace venue didn't permanently shut up shop — with new management swooping in, slightly amending its name and reopening the joint. While the dive bar-style spot is now called Lefty's Music Hall and is run by Hallmark Group Australia — the folks behind Jamie's Italian, Jamie Oliver's Pizzeria, Finn McCool's and Retro's Cocktail Lounge — not much else has really changed. If you've been a fan of its honky-tonk saloon theme, famed whisky apples and live music lineup since it originally launched back in 2013, that's all sticking around in the new iteration, which just launched at the end of February. So are Lefty's vintage chandeliers, crimson walls and the sizeable mirrors splashed around the place. Also staying put: its black leather booths lit by candles, giant curved bar, smattering of moose heads, wall-mounted bear and peacock, and heavily used stage and dance floor. Basically, it's a case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. That seems understandable given how popular the venue has always been, as well as the reaction when it was shuttered suddenly. Other than that popular blend of whisky and freshly juiced apples, the relaunched bar is serving plenty of boutique beers and, obviously, whisky. Food-wise, American-themed snacks are on offer — such as hotdogs, chicken wings, fried chicken burgers, and both cheeseburgers and cheeseburger spring rolls. As for its entertainment lineup, it's once again focusing on rockabilly and country music, showcasing local, Australian and international talent. Find Lefty's Music Hall at 15 Caxton Street, Petrie Terrace — open Thursday–Saturday from 6pm–2am.
There's never a bad time to drink gin. If you're a fan of juniper spirits, any day ending in 'y' is a great day for your favourite tipple. But Brisbane's annual Ginuary Festival picks one date on the calendar, pours plenty of the beverage in the spotlight and turns it into a celebration. In 2025, all that gin sipping is happening on Sunday, January 26. We recommend that you arrive thirsty, as always — and that you prepare for plenty of company. This shindig goes gin crazy and attracts a crowd. Covent Garden in West End is behind it, which is where the fest is being held this time around. Prepare to sip your way around eight gin degustation stations, at your choice of two sessions: from 12–3pm and 5–8pm. All samples are included in your ticket price, as are three hours of drinks, gluten-free canapes and live tunes. Also, you have options ticket-wise. A regular pass costs $99 and gets you access to the gin stations and their tastings. Or, go VIP from $119 for early entry (from either 11am or 4pm). While any fest can say cheers to gin just because, Ginuary is also counting down 2024's Hottest 100 Gins, as it does every year. Accordingly, whichever ticket you go for, you'll still get to enjoy the best juniper-fuelled Australian and New Zealand tipples. You can vote online in advance, then revel in the results live on the day.
Bridges and parklands. If there's two things that Brisbane's inner city has quite a bit of, it's places to cross the river and sprawling spots filled with greenery. This town of ours is getting more bridges, too, and it's now likely to nab a new riverside parkland as well — although the latter won't happen for at least 11 years. If that timeframe rings a bell, that's thanks to the city's biggest news this year (and of any other recent year, to be honest). As every Brisbanite definitely knows, will talk about for the next decade-plus and won't stop hearing about for the rest of their lives, Brisbane is set to host the 2032 Olympic Games, with the city officially getting the nod just last week. Obviously, that means that plenty of parts of town will be changing. Before the big announcement, the Queensland Government had already revealed that it'd tear down and rebuild the Gabba if the games were headed our way. Now, the Brisbane City Council has unveiled plans to transform a seven-hectare stretch of South Brisbane into the event's International Broadcast Centre, and then turn it into a new public space by the river afterwards. The latter is earmarked for Montague Road, where factories currently sit, and would give Brissie a second South Bank-type precinct. "The mayors of southeast Queensland began the journey to pursue these games because they realised the incredible legacy this would create for Brisbane and the rest of the region. This new area on the banks of the Brisbane River is precisely the type of legacy they envisaged — great new assets that would benefit all residents and make our wonderful city even better," said Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. "For a decade and more, people have talked about South Bank being extended along this part of our river and I am so pleased we're now moving forward to make those dreams become a reality," he continued. https://twitter.com/bne_lordmayor/status/1419616312632827905 It took Brisbane hosting World Expo 88 for South Bank to become the spot it is, with the location revamped as a public space afterwards. So, that's the exact template that BCC has in mind for Montague Road, with the council announcing that negotiations have begun with the owner of the industrial business currently on the site. Exactly what the parkland will entail is yet to be revealed, other than comparisons to South Bank, but the International Broadcast Centre will span a temporary 57,000-metre space. This isn't the first time that a plan for the area past the Gallery of Modern Art, the Kurilpa Bridge and Kurilpa Point Park has been floated, with the the State Government suggesting a similar idea back in 2012 — involving a combination of public and commercial space along the river, including an entertainment, retail and dining precinct, as well as parkland. Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympics from July 23–August 8, 2032. We'll update you with further information about the plans for Montague Road as they're announced. Top image: Google Maps.
When it happened, the global financial crisis wasn't funny, and frankly it still isn't. That The Big Short manages to find humour amidst the ruins is a credit to writer-director Adam McKay — even if it is a very different brand from his usual shtick, seen in Will Ferrell flicks Anchorman, Step Brothers and The Other Guys. "What else can we do but laugh?", the film asks, tell-it-like-it-is style. It's a brand of humour informed by outrage: horrified at what happened, determined to explain it and furious that little has changed. That air of impassioned incredulity suits the facts the feature concerns itself with, namely the bubble in the U.S. housing and mortgage market that very few people saw coming. It also suits the source material, a non-fiction book of the same name by Moneyball author Michael Lewis. If you're still not certain how such a film could garner laughs, that's understandable. In telling a true tale that still inspires disbelief — and sifts through some complex economic concepts in the process — The Big Short benefits from McKay's savvy stylistic choices. Accordingly, when viewers meet the rare folks who thought something was wrong prior to 2008, they're not just following a straightforward narrative. Rather, they're switching between larger-than-life players, and listening to knowing narration by Ryan Gosling in character. In between, celebrities playing themselves help break down the complicated economic jargon, while the audience is given a glimpse of society's obsession with wealth and excess through rapid, infomercial-like montages. Taken together, it paints a slick, cynical, at times farcical picture, though the details themselves remain potent. Dr Michael Burry (Christian Bale) first notices the potential for the bubble to burst and decides to bet against the market by buying credit default swaps, something that money-hungry bankers had to create because no one had asked for anything like them before. Deutsche Bank trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) starts shopping around the same products, convincing crusading hedge fund manager Mark Baum (Steve Carrell) that a collapse is imminent. Meanwhile, up-and-comers Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) are trying to move their garage-operated fund into the big leagues when they get wind of the situation. As the characters wait for the market to topple over, McKay delves into the shady practices that brought about such a precarious scenario. His sly tone and smart approach to the topic lays the circumstances bare in accessible terms, while making his anger perfectly clear. It's the closest a film can get to simultaneously educating, entertaining and shouting at its audience, and it makes for highly compelling viewing. The high-profile cast — which also includes Brad Pitt as a retired banker pal of Charlie and Jamie — are further weapons in McKay's arsenal. In fact, so skilled are their efforts that you might not grasp the movie's biggest joke until the end. Burry, Vennett, Baum and company might be the film's protagonists, but they're just as immersed in the fiscal mess as everyone else. In a situation where there can be no winners, they're the sympathetic parties only because they know that that's the case.
There are many things that the current situation is teaching us — one of the less-serious realisations being that we'll be spending more mealtimes at home. Some local eateries are still offering takeaway and delivery options, but with the government firmly advising Aussies to stay at home as much as possible, we're all going to become a lot more familiar with our kitchens. You may see this as an opportunity to crack out some of your favourite cookbooks, but with the restrictions on some grocery items, those elaborate 15-step recipes are probably going to be a little out of reach. Luckily, Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski has you covered. The Canadian, who is the food expert on the super-popular Netflix series, is hosting daily cooking tutorials on Instagram while in lockdown in Texas. The series, which he has dubbed Quar Eye, focuses on recipes that require only a handful of easily accessible ingredients with an aim to minimise waste. "It dawned on me that a lot of people in the country, and in the world, are actually going through this right now: when they go to the store and they can't find what they want. We're stuck at home so we might as well still be able to prepare good food that's good for us and makes us feel good," Porowski explained in his first video. https://www.instagram.com/tv/B90Oo5lHxYv/ Part one of the series saw Porowski create The Keep Calm-lette, an omelette served with a black bean salsa and, of course, avocado (fans of the show will know of Porowski's deep love for an avo). The punnily named dishes have continued from there, including Sequestered Salmon Squash, Cooped Up Chicken, Stripped of My Sanity Chicken Strips and Let Me Outside Leftovers. Porowski uploads his videos to IGTV and Facebook daily, so you can go back and watch them at any time. Image: Facebook
After authentic Japanese food without leaving Brisbane? Look no further than Rikyu Japanese Restaurant. Serving everything from set sashimi and salmon meals to Suntory and Sapporo on tap — and sake, too — it's the flavour-heavy dining experience anyone who can't afford a plane ticket to Tokyo should flock to. Located at the end of Park Road's busy eatery precinct in Milton, Rikyu keeps things simple but tasty. The usual starters like edamame and spring rolls are available, plus à la carte dishes such as yakitori, karaage, katsudon and gyoza, and green tea and black sesame ice cream for dessert, too; however selecting from the set menu is where the real action is at. Don't go thinking set options are only for those who can't decide what they want; instead, they're the best way to expose your tastebuds to the meals Rikyu does often and best. At lunch, gauge your hunger and then pick from one of seven mains with assorted sides — unless you're keen on sashimi or sushi, that is. Later in the day, $39.90 gets you an absolute feast, complete with an entree, sashimi, nimono, prawn and vegetable tempura, your choice of a grilled dish, pickles, rice, miso soup and two scoops of ice cream to top it all off.
Movie versions of best-selling young adult literature have become an exercise in taking the good with the bad. For every aspect book-to-film adaptations get right — presenting an intricate vision of a dystopian future, and championing strong female protagonists, for example — there are just as many elements that fail to hit the mark. The trend of splitting final instalments into two features typifies the latter, resulting in more screen time but less satisfaction. With The Divergent Series: Allegiant, the series' penultimate chapter proves its worst to date. Indeed, it's little more than filler. Having cottoned on to the manipulated, artificially manufactured status of her closed-in, factionalised Chicago society, series protagonist Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) is now determined to discover just what lurks beyond the city's imposing walls. With her trusty band of rebels by her side, including her boyfriend Four (Theo James), brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and the duplicitous Peter (Miles Teller), Tris hatches a plan to find the real puppet-masters behind the only way of life she has ever known. Cue a battle between the past and future, right and wrong, and any other opposing forces that returning director Robert Schwentke can throw into the mix. Allegiant endeavours to place its feisty heroine in the grey zone between two sides and mindsets, as illustrated not only by the rift between the crusading Evelyn (Naomi Watts) and the kindly Johanna (Octavia Spencer) back in Chicago, but also in the machinations of controlling newcomer David (Jeff Daniels) out in the wider world. Yet it does so in as blunt a manner as possible. The film is loaded with obvious clashes, be it between the bonds of love and family, moving forward or retaining the status quo, or spaces of dusty desolation and shiny innovation. These conflicts are designed to liven up a narrative that is largely treading water while waiting for the final film, but they're ultimately unsuccessful. Equally problematic are storylines about superior DNA strands, child soldiers and Truman Show-like surveillance, all of which add complication but are never especially compelling. Ramping up the bickering and the subplots also comes at the expense of the series' already tenuous sense of character. If Tris and her pals felt thinly drawn in Divergent and Insurgent, and more than a little similar to their counterparts in the likes of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner franchises, then this time around they're positively flimsy. Once again, that leaves Woodley to act grim and concerned, James to fulfil the eye-candy quota, Elgort to do very little, Teller to steal all the best lines, and all four to look very bored while doing so. Three films in, they're going through the motions, which may as well be the movie's motto. Of course, a big finale is due to be delivered by 2017's The Divergent Series: Ascendant. However with Allegiant's trying aspects clearly outweighing any lingering sense of intrigue about the underlying concept, an important question springs to mind. No, it's not whether the franchise can be redeemed, but rather if we should even care either way.
Weekends and curling up with a good book go hand-in-hand — but what if you've already worked your way through your reading pile? Dropping by Bulimba's Riverbend Books should solve that problem, as well as another Sunday morning struggle: where to go for brunch. As classic a Queensland setting as you can imagine with its big deck and leafy trees, Riverbend Cafe is a popular mid-morning spot for plenty of reasons. Try the croque madame if you're feeling extra indulgent; the breakfast menu is served until 11.30am. Cakes and pastries are also on offer, as well as Merlo coffee and T2 teas. Then, once you're done eating, head into the bookstore and browse away. If you're after recommendations, the staff will be quick to help — whether you want something you know you'll love, or are happy to jump outside of your reading comfort zone. Image: Atlanta Bell.
Going back to uni after an extended break can be an intimidating prospect. But, the stereotype of all students as bright-eyed eighteen-year-olds fresh out of high school is outdated. While it's true that a large number of students (670,000) in Australia are in the 18–22 years age bracket, the latest available figures from 2015 show that there were over 270,000 students aged 30–49. This means that thousands of Australians know the mixed feelings associated with returning to uni but also ultimately feel the rewards of finishing a degree they really want. Some study on campus, others study online; whichever you prefer, here are five hacks to help get you back into the rhythm of uni life. START WITH THE SUBJECTS THAT INTRIGUE YOU MOST Make it fun. If you know what degree you want to do, but are worried about finding that initial drive to kickstart that self-motivated study mindset, start off with the subjects that seem the most engaging to get back in the swing of things. Alternatively, if you're not set on doing a whole degree, you can take a single subject with no entry requirements. Seriously. Try studying in a particular area and see if online study suits you, or upskill in a specific career-related subject or two. Head to the single subjects and degrees page at Open Universities Australia and start perusing. CHOOSE A DEGREE YOU'RE REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT The number one way to make uni work for you is to pick a course that excites you. So select something you like regardless of whether or not it's in fashion or earns you status points from your extended family. Maybe the first time you went to uni, you picked law or commerce because it sounded 'good'. Or dentistry, because that's what your parents did and you frankly didn't have a clue what to do straight out of school. Fair — but this time around, find something that fits more with your true passions. Because, at the end of the day, it's you doing the degree, not anyone else. GO PART-TIME AND STUDY ONLINE Going back to uni doesn't have to mean fully adopting the classic student identity of all study, endless caffeine and extreme budgeting. If you love your current job and want to keep one toe in the workforce, but also want to finish a degree, why not have the best of both worlds? Instead of going back to full-time student status, opt for part-time and study online. Take your degree at your own pace outside work hours, and enjoy a bit more flexibility when it comes to studying and completing assignments. Plus, you'll get the exact same degree that you'd get on campus. IDENTIFY ANY CREDITS THAT COULD CARRY INTO YOUR NEW DEGREE If you've started a course in the past, but didn't end up finishing for whatever reason, all is not lost. You may very well be able to count some of your previous study towards completing your new choice. If a previous course is related to your chosen degree, you can potentially use these as credits to reduce the number of subjects you will need to complete. And even if you don't have any previous study that relates to your new degree, you may be able to use those credits toward elective and non-core subjects. Being able to use previous credits will help you finish your studies faster. You can identify any potential credits you may already have here. CONNECT WITH OTHER STUDENTS IN THE SAME SITUATION AS YOU Solidarity is crucial for getting through any experience. University is meant to be challenging — that's where the growth is — but not to the point of feeling so tough you can't get through it. Connecting with other students via Facebook groups and IRL is key to building a support system. Even if your squad is just you and one other person to talk over assignments with, having that help can change the game. There are so many other people also feeling that mixture of excitement and trepidation about going back to uni — you're not alone! Take the plunge and explore all the degrees on offer from leading Australian unis, online through Open Universities Australia. You've got this.
UPDATE, August 21, 2022: Cyrano is now available to stream via Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Love can spring quickly, igniting sparks instantly. Or, it can build gradually and gracefully, including over a lifetime. It can be swift and bold like a lightning strike, too, or it can linger, evolve and swell like a gentle breeze. In the sumptuous confines of Cyrano, all of the above happens. The latest adaptation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac, this time as a musical via playwright Erica Schmidt's own song-filled on-stage version, lends its attention to two men who've fallen for the plucky Roxanne (Haley Bennett, Hillbilly Elegy) in opposite ways. Charming soldier Christian de Neuvillette (Kelvin Harrison Jr, The Trial of the Chicago 7) gets the fast-and-infatuated experience, while the movie's namesake (Peter Dinklage, I Care a Lot), a poet also handy in battle, has ached for his childhood pal for as long as he can remember. Roxanne's two suitors make a chalk-and-cheese pair, with their contrasting approaches to matters of the heart — specifically, to winning her heart and helping ensure that she doesn't have to marry the rich and ruthless De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn, The Outsider) to secure her future — driving much of Cyrano's drama. Also present and accounted for, as all takes on the tale have included (see also: 80s rom-com Roxanne with Steve Martin, the Gérard Depardieu-starring Cyrano de Bergerac, 90s rom-com The Truth About Cats & Dogs with Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo, plus recent Netflix teen flicks Sierra Burgess Is a Loser and The Half of It): insecurities about appearance, a way with words and a ghostwriting gambit. Short in stature given Dinklage's casting, Cyrano can't even dream that Roxanne could love him. But he wants her to be happy above all else and knows that she's smitten with Christian, so he secretly lends his romantic rival his letter-penning abilities to help woo her by lyrical prose. This Cyrano may have a different reason for not believing that Roxanne could reciprocate his feelings, even as she gets giddy over the correspondence he scripts for Christian — traditionally, a large nose gets in his way — but his slow-and-steady affection is especially apt in this particular film. The latest period piece from Joe Wright, it slips into the British director's resume alongside Pride & Prejudice, Atonement and Anna Karenina, and initially seems as standard a silver-screen staging of Cyrano as a musical as he could reliably muster. But all three of those aforementioned movies are stunning in their own ways, especially the gutsy Anna Karenina. Unsurprisingly, his newest feature is as well. Doing his best work since that Tolstoy adaptation, and clearly back in his comfort zone after Pan, Darkest Hour and The Woman in the Window, Wright lets Cyrano take its time to bloom and blossom. And, when it flowers partway through, it makes viewers realise that it's been a gorgeous gem of a film all along. Like on-screen love story, like surrounding flick, basically. That said, the routine air that initially seems to float through Cyrano's first act can't have been by design. Rather, the film winds up to its full heart-wrenching powers so patiently that it appears a tad too expected while its various pieces are being put into place — a fact hardly helped by how often this exact narrative or variations of it have made it to screens — until it's just simply and unshakeably wonderful. Wright doesn't change anything in his approach, helming a handsome, detail-laden, rhythmic piece of cinema from the outset, but the emotions that truly make the movie sing strengthen minute by minute. And yes, when it all clicks in just so, it's with its three main players literally crooning, conveying so much about their huge, swirling, all-encompassing feelings that normal dialogue couldn't have done justice to. That swooning sensation — because this is a feature that it's easy to tumble head-over-heels for — helps answer the obvious question that needs asking whenever a famed tale gains songs. That query: why? Wright and screenwriter Schmidt, the latter of whom is married to Dinklage and wrote her crooning-heavy stage version for him in 2018, reply by making it rousingly plain how much yearning and desire resides in each musical number. The movie's tunes come courtesy of The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner, fresh from their efforts scoring C'mon C'mon, and prove worlds away from big, barnstorming Broadway numbers. Emotionally sweeping, they survey the full range from longing to heartache, while also navigating an immensely tricky task: relaying what simmers inside each character that not only goes unspoken, but isn't inked in the feature's back-and-forth love letters. Thank goodness for not just Wright's finessed handling of these musical scenes, which lets those sung-about feelings echo with weight and heart-swelling resonance, but also for his clear passion for the musical genre. This marks his first entry, although both rhythm and music have been key to so much of his back catalogue — not the least of which being spy thriller Hanna with its melodic Chemical Brothers score — and he whirls properly into the fold like he was always meant to dance there. Even when no one is singing, Cyrano has the soul of a musical in its lush staging, Seamus McGarvey's (Bad Times at the El Royale) fleet-footed cinematography, the pace instilled by Valerio Bonelli's (The Woman in the Window) lithe editing and its performances. It has its own beat and vibe, and every element drums and hums along in time. Also trilling the right tune, regardless of whether they're singing (which they each do well): Dinklage, Bennett and Harrison Jr. Australia's own Mendo still gives exceptional villain, and darkly and cunningly so; however, being enamoured with Cyrano's main trio is inescapable. The decision to cast Dinklage and Bennett straight from the stage production is a winner. He imparts melancholy, wit and spark into his romantic lead, as he so consistently did in Game of Thrones, too, while she ensures that Roxanne's quest for a big and fulfilling life — and love — cuts deep. And, as much chemistry buzzes between the two, enlisting Luce and Waves' standout Harrison Jr as the man between them is another masterstroke. Indeed, Cyrano adores Roxanne and Christian's romance as much as it feels its eponymous figure's pining, loves his rhapsodic words and wants his heart's desire to come true — and sharing it all comes, gradually but still overwhelmingly, with the cost of admission.
Horror franchises like their doors to stay open: years may pass, stars and filmmakers may come and go, but every popular series eventually waltzes back onto screens. That's been true of Halloween, Scream, Candyman, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Friday the 13th and more. It's also accurate of Insidious, which is up to five features in 12 years and returns after its longest gap to-date. For viewers, half a decade has elapsed since this supernatural saga last hit cinemas in 2018's underwhelming Insidious: The Last Key, one of two prequels alongside Insidious: Chapter 3 (because that was the only way to keep bringing back MVP Lin Shaye). For Insidious' characters, though, Insidious: The Red Door takes place nine years after the events of Insidious: Chapter 2. That flick was the last until now to focus on Josh (Patrick Wilson, Moonfall) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne, Platonic), plus their haunted son Dalton (Ty Simpkins, The Whale) — and it's their tale the franchise leaps back into. Not only starring but debuting as a director, Wilson makes Insidious: The Red Door an answer to the question that no one, not even the most dedicated horror fans, has likely asked: how are the Lamberts doing after their demonic dalliances? The portrait painted when the movie begins is far from rosy, with Josh and Renai divorced, Dalton resenting his dad, and something niggling at both father and son about their past. Neither the Lambert patriarch nor his now college-bound boy can remember their experiences with unpleasant entities in the astral plane, however, thanks to a penchant for handy hypnotism. So, Insidious: The Red Door poses and responds to another query: what happens when that memory-wiping mesmerism stops working? Seasoned Insidious viewers already know what's in store: ghosts and evil spirits jump-scaring their way back into Josh and Dalton's minds and lives, and also into Insidious: The Red Door's frames. In the saga's mythology, such beings hail from a form of purgatory known as The Further and can't easily be suppressed. Accordingly, when Dalton's university art professor (Hiam Abbass, Succession) encourages him to dive into his subconscious, then splash what he sees onto a canvas, it's obvious where Scott Teems' (Firestarter) script is going. When the snappy Josh tries to glean why his brain is so foggy and his mood so peevish, he too has an unpleasant awakening. For the elder and younger Lambert men alike, first comes snippets of creepy visions, then unshakeable sights, then astral projection to get the Lipstick-Face Demon and The Bride in Black to stop. "If only this portal had remained shut" isn't only something that Josh and Dalton are thinking in Insidious: The Red Door. Early, often, and until the weary and creaky film comes to an end, audiences share that wish. The picture keeps its central pair largely apart, one navigating his cursed chaos in his otherwise empty home, then endeavouring to reconcile with Renai (although Byrne is still woefully underused), and the other at school with new pal Chris (Sinclair Daniel, Bull). Splitting them up just plays like a quest to lengthen the movie's duration — extra running time that isn't put to good use. This isn't a meaningful exploration of trauma's lingering impact, the current genre go-to, as much as it wants to be. Similarly, it doesn't cause Wilson or Simpkins to turn in anything but workmanlike performances, either. Plenty of horror franchises are resurrected with by-the-numbers instalments — that's become as much of a horror convention as constantly reviving spooky series again and again — but this is dispiritingly routine and repetitive, and also rarely even barely scary. It doesn't help that the better Insidious fare, aka the first two that sported Aquaman and Malignant's James Wan behind the camera, weren't ever exceptional. What they boasted was effectiveness in executing their bumps, capitalising upon their uneasy sights, slowly building their suspense and tension, and ramping up the unsettling atmosphere. Wan did start both the Insidious and Saw sagas with The Invisible Man's Leigh Whannell, and The Conjuring Universe solo. Whannell has penned every Insidious screenplay until now, and helmed 2015's Insidious: Chapter 3. The duo produces this time around, while Whannell came up with the story behind Teems' script. As a filmmaker, Wilson is happy to go through the motions rather than try much new. He's also fond of closeups, which might stem from spending the bulk of his career in front of the lens. As a horror veteran — on-screen, he's a mainstay of The Conjuring movies as well, as last seen in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It; he popped up in Annabelle Comes Home, the third feature in that series' spinoff series, too — he's reluctant to attempt to put a new stamp on one of his franchises. He knows where and how to sprinkle in unnerving figures and faces in the peripheries, and to elicit jumps, but only by sticking to the Insidious template. His best fright? It plays with and preys on medical anxiety, because anyone that's ever had an MRI has harboured fears about getting stuck in the claustrophobic machine — no forces from The Further needed. Although it also doesn't work, the biggest and most interesting swing that Wilson takes comes over the closing credits, when Insidious: The Red Door busts out a version of late-80s track 'Stay' by Shakespears Sister. Swedish metal band Ghost are behind the cover, and Wilson himself sings on it. That truly is something that no other Insidious chapter has offered. Wan and Whannell genuinely couldn't have foreseen inspiring it, unlike sparking a wave of post-Saw torture porn, or the many movies about sinister kids, jinxed items and paranormal investigations that the Insidious films have influenced. Still, that isn't what any Insidious chapter should be best known for, let alone justify keeping the franchise's hatch open — but sixth flick Thread: An Insidious Tale, which'll broaden out the Insidious Universe with Mandy Moore (This Is Us) and Kumail Nanjiani (Welcome to Chippendales) starring, plus Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight) writing and directing, is already in the works.
A big Friends reunion just hit streaming. Sex and the City is getting a television sequel. Saved by the Bell returned to the screen last year, too. Yes, it's still 2021 — and no, you haven't hopped in a Delorean or phone booth and ventured back to the past. Based on plenty of recent and upcoming TV and streaming options, though, you'd be forgiven for looking at your viewing choices and wondering if a bit of time-travel trickery was afoot. The latest revived series heading to your streaming queue won't dispel that notion, but you know you'll love it anyway. Come Thursday, July 8 on Binge, you'll be saying XOXO to Gossip Girl once again. The new series has been billed as both a reimagining and an extension — which means that it will take place in the same world, but with different characters. Gossip Girl circa 2021 is set nine years after the eponymous and anonymous blog went dark. As the just-dropped first teaser trailer makes plain, it's obviously back in some shape or form — otherwise the series wouldn't have a premise. This time, a new bunch of private school-attending teenagers are at the ever-present, seemingly all-knowing gossip blogger's mercy, all while they navigate New York's Upper East Side and its non-stop dramas. Whether any familiar faces will pop up is yet to be revealed; however, in the most important news there is regarding this revival, Kristen Bell is returning to voice the titular figure. She's already revisited Veronica Mars a couple of times now, so bringing back another of her famous characters fits the trend. Bell will narrate the comings and goings of a group played Jordan Alexander (Sacred Lies), Eli Brown (Wrath of Man), Thomas Doherty (High Fidelity), Tavi Gevinson (Halston), Emily Alyn Lind (Every Breath You Take), Evan Mock, Zion Moreno (Control Z), Whitney Peak (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Savannah Lee Smith. The cast has changed, but the social-climbing chaos is bound to be familiar. And, if you were a particular fan of the threads worn by Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and company during Gossip Girl's original 2007–12 run, you'll be pleased to know that costume designer Eric Daman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) is back for a second go-around. The creators of the initial show, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (The OC), have nabbed executive producer credits on the revival — so they'll have a hand in yet another adaptation of Cecily von Ziegesar's books. And the new series' showrunner, Josh Safran (Smash), was a writer and executive producer on the original series. Check out the new Gossip Girl trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reiGW6LTLok Gossip Girl will start streaming via Binge from Thursday, July 8.
With Spiral: From the Book of Saw, what came first: the decision to call its protagonist Ezekiel, or the casting of Samuel L Jackson as said character's father? Either way, the film's creative team must've felt mighty pleased with themselves; getting the Pulp Fiction actor to utter the name that's been synonymous with his bible-quoting, Quentin Tarantino-penned monologue for more than a quarter-century doesn't happen by accident. What now four-time franchise director Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV) and Jigsaw screenwriters Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger mightn't have realised, though, is just how clumsily this choice comes across. The Saw series has made almost a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, but now it's resorting to winking and nodding to one of its latest stars' past movies. Perhaps Bousman and company didn't notice because almost everything about Spiral feels that forced, awkward, clunky and badly thought-out. Jackson and Chris Rock might gift the long-running franchise a couple of high-profile new faces; however, this ostensible reboot is exactly as derivative as you'd expect of the ninth instalment in a 17-year-old shock- and gore-driven saga. Focusing on a wisecracking, gung-ho, about-to-be-divorced police detective known for exposing his dirty colleagues, Spiral tries to coil the series in a different direction, at least superficially — and pretends to have meaty matters on its mind. Ezekiel 'Zeke' Banks (Rock, The Witches) has been crusading for honesty, integrity, fairness and honour in law enforcement for years. Starting back when his now-retired dad Marcus (Jackson, Death to 2020) was the precinct's chief, he's been vilified by his peers for his efforts. When a killer appears to be targeting rotten cops, too, Zeke is desperate to lead the case. Initially, he just wants to avenge the death of the first victim, one of the only co-workers he called a friend, but he's soon trying to track down a murderer that seems to be following in franchise villain Jigsaw's footsteps. A lone wolf-type not by choice but necessity, Banks also happens to be saddled with a rookie partner (Max Minghella, The Handmaid's Tale) as he attempts to stop the bodies from piling up. Even if Spiral had reached screens in May last year as was initially intended pre-pandemic, it would've arrived in a social, cultural and political climate that has been rightly taking a stand against police brutality. The film doesn't have much to say about the topic, however. Recycling the usual cop movie tropes — corruption is endemic, a select few battle against it, but the bad routinely outmuscles the good — it uses the subject as nothing more than a gimmick. Forget weight, depth, nuance or resonance. Spiral just wants a reason for its killer to keep offing cops within its grimy, dankly lit, often jittery fames, and for Zeke to have almost zero backup. Like the pig's heads used by its new agony-inflicting maniac, the end result is bloody yet empty. It smacks of trying to dress up a well-worn idea in fresh packaging, but then only making a half-hearted attempt that relies upon on another genre's conventions. Indeed, the police procedural format, the cast, the topical themes, the 70s thriller look and the focus on a different murderer are all part of a big bait-and-switch act; they might lure viewers in, but a torture porn flick that's rarely even standard is sadly the only thing that awaits. The deaths, which are largely seen in flashbacks devoid of any tension, are characteristically nasty and gruesome. Covering severed tongues, ripped-off appendages, flayed carcasses and drowning via hot wax, they're designed to get the squeamish to avert their eyes again and again. But testing the audience's threshold for blood, guts, gore and complicated torture devices isn't the same as engaging them. Nor is combining the series' brand of gratuitous one-upmanship and supposed lessons with Seven-esque box deliveries and the kind of by-the-numbers serial killer taunting that wouldn't have even made the first draft of any David Fincher project. Spiral doesn't just do the bare minimum in its purported attempt to tackle problematic cops, but demonstrates the same contentedness to merely tick boxes with the franchise's grisly staples, too. A word to the easily nauseated: the film's panic-inducing traps and macabre dismemberments aren't pleasant, which is wholly in keeping with the template set up by Australians James Wan (Aquaman) and Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man) back in 2004's first movie, but it's hard to be put off by something that's this dully formulaic. Perhaps driven by a dream to wake up on-screen chained to a pipe — with a saw within reach, of course — Rock instigated his own involvement in Spiral. A big fan of the series, and of horror movies in general, he came up with the idea for the feature's detective storyline as well. While he's the best thing about the film, he also often feels as if he's mixing his stand-up routines with his far-superior performance in last year's fourth season of Fargo. Yes, with both Jackson and Rock alike, Spiral just can't stop reminding its viewers that its talents both have better projects to their names. Don't go expecting much of their collaboration here, either, with the picture pairing them up sparingly and leaving the audience wanting more — which is the only instance where that statement proves true throughout the entire movie. When the film abruptly comes to an end, it unsurprisingly sets up its next chapter, but it certainly hasn't earned anyone's continued investment. And, in case you'd missed how little it cares for its police brutality narrative, it chooses to end with an image so cliched that it makes the hackneyed dialogue about playing games and the clues delivered on USB drives seem positively fresh in comparison. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuINvoFAnng
They start off in text, drawing in readers with their mysteries, twists and psychological thrills. They focus on women in murky situations, and make that fact known in their titles. Then, after literary success, they jump to the screen. That's the path that Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train both took — for better in one case, for worse in the other — and now it's The Woman in the Window's turn. Based on the 2018 novel by AJ Finn, The Woman in the Window follows Dr Anna Fox (Amy Adams, Hillbilly Elegy), a psychologist who also suffers from extreme agoraphobia. After befriending Jane Russell (Julianne Moore, After the Wedding), the woman who lives across the street, she cries foul when her new pal disappears — but neither Jane's husband Alistair (Gary Oldman, Crisis) nor the cops (including Godzilla vs Kong's Brian Tyree Henry) are willing to listen. As well as firmly falling into clear genre — aka mystery-thrillers that reference women in their monikers — The Woman in the Window is obviously taking some cues from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. And, in both the initial theatrical trailer and the just-released Netflix trailer, director Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna, Darkest Hour) doesn't shy away from that comparison. Whether it's worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as one of Hitchcock's best films or suffers a fate closer to The Girl on the Train won't be discovered until the movie hits Netflix on Friday, May 14 — a year to the day it was originally scheduled to release in cinemas, but then the pandemic hit. Now, The Woman in the Window is going straight to streaming, as the likes of Hamilton, Mulan and Soul all have over the past year. However it turns out, The Woman in the Window has amassed a wide-ranging cast, with Possessor's Jennifer Jason Leigh and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier pair Anthony Mackie and Wyatt Russell all popping up. Lady Bird and Little Women alum Tracy Letts pops up too, and wrote the film's screenplay. Check out the latest trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_0GJg_Jnlo The Woman in the Window will be available to stream via Netflix from Friday, May 14. Top image: Melinda Sue Gordon.
Thanks to the chaotic weather that saw out summer, the past month has been immensely difficult across Queensland and New South Wales. That includes in the Northern Rivers region, which has been impacted by the floods to a devastating degree. Eager to help? Not sure where to start? Here's an event that'll get you to Byron Bay, showcase the area's fresh produce and put some cash towards flood-relief efforts. Just block out your calendar on Saturday, March 26 and prepare to do your part by attending a long lunch. Taking place at Crystalbrook Byron at 1pm local time, this Flood Relief Long Lunch says it all in the name. You'll hang out at the hotel's restaurant Forest, eat your way through a leisurely two-hour meal, sip cocktails and assist an enormously worthy cause. Menu highlights include oysters paired with a granita made from Brookie's Byron Slow Gin and davidson plum; hand-stretched Byron Bay mozzarella with house-made pickles; that cheese outfit again, this time with a ricotta gelato atop treacle tarts; and zucchini flowers stuffed with green and sundried olives, them battered in Stone & Wood Pale Ale. Your $160 ticket includes two cocktails — and the complete price will be donated to aid locals via Givit.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including 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, 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. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE What a difference Mads Mikkelsen can make. What a difference the stellar Danish actor can't, too. The Another Round and Riders of Justice star enjoys his Wizarding World debut in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, taking over the part of evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's Johnny Depp — who did the same from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them's Colin Farrell first, albeit in a scripted change — and he's impressively sinister and engagingly insidious in the role. He needs to be: his fascist character, aka the 1930s-set movie's magical version of Hitler, wants to eradicate muggles. He's also keen to grab power however he must to do so. But a compelling casting switch can't conjure up the winning wonder needed to power an almost two-and-a-half-hour film in a flailing franchise, even one that's really just accioing already-devoted Harry Potter fans into cinemas. Capitalising upon Pottermania has always been the point of the Fantastic Beasts movies. Famously, this series-within-a-series springs not from a well-plotted novel, where the eight Boy Who Lived flicks originated, but from a guide book on magical creatures. That magizoology text is mentioned in the very first HP tome, then arrived IRL four years later, but it was only after the Harry Potter films ended that it leapt to screens. The reason: showing the Wizarding World's powers-that-be the galleons, because no popular saga can ever conclude when there's more cash to grab (see also: Star Wars and Game of Thrones). For Fantastic Beasts, the result was charming in the initial movie and dismal in its followup. Now, with The Secrets of Dumbledore, it's about as fun as being bitten by a toothy textbook. Nearly four years have passed since The Crimes of Grindelwald hit cinemas, but its successor picks up its wand where that dull sequel left off. That means reuniting with young Albus Dumbledore, who was the best thing about the last feature thanks to Jude Law (The Third Day) following smoothly in Michael Gambon and Richard Harris' footsteps. Actually, it means reuniting Dumbledore with Grindelwald first. And, it involves overtly recognising that the pair were once lovers. The saga that's stemmed from JK Rowling's pen isn't historically known for being inclusive, much like the author's transphobic statements — and it's little wonder that getting candid about such a crucial romantic connection feels cursory and calculating here, rather than genuine. The same applies to The Secrets of Dumbledore's overall message of love and acceptance, which can only echo feebly when stemming from a co-screenwriter (alongside seven-time HP veteran Steve Kloves) who's basically become the series' off-screen Voldemort. Referencing Dumbledore and Grindelwald's amorous past serves the narrative, of course, which is the real reason behind it — far more than taking any meaningful steps towards LGBTQIA+ representation. Years prior, the two pledged not to harm each other, binding that magical promise with blood, which precludes any fray between them now. Enter magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and his pals. Well, most of them. Newt's assistant Bunty (Victoria Yeates, Call the Midwife), brother Theseus (Callum Turner, Emma), No-Maj mate Jacob (Dan Fogler, The Walking Dead), Hogwarts professor Lally (Jessica Williams, Love Life) and Leta Lestrange's brother Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam, Stillwater) are accounted for, while former friend Queenie (Alison Sudol, The Last Full Measure) has defected to Grindelwald. As for the latter's sister Tina (Katherine Waterston, The World to Come), she's spirited aside, conspicuously sitting Operation Avoid Muggle Genocide out. Read our full review. AMBULANCE Michael Bay movies, Michael Bay movies, whatcha gonna do? Since the action-film director leapt from commercials and music videos to his big-screen debut Bad Boys more than a quarter-century back, there's only been two options. Slickly and unsubtly dripping with gleeful excess, his high-concept flicks embrace explosions, chases, heists, shootouts, jittery chaos and perpetual golden-hour hues with such OTT passion that you surrender or roll your eyes — having a blast or being bored by the bombast, basically. Too often, the latter strikes. That proved true of all five of his Transformers films, which are responsible for more cinematic tedium than any filmmaker should legally be allowed to crash onto screens. That his pictures are lensed and spliced as if lingering on one still for more than a split second is a heinous crime usually doesn't help, but it's what Bay is known for — and yet when Bayhem sparkles like it mostly does in Ambulance, it's its own kind of thrilling experience. Following a high-stakes Los Angeles bank robbery that goes south swiftly, forcing two perpetrators to hijack an EMT vehicle — while a paramedic tries to save a shot cop's life as the van flees the LAPD and the FBI, too — Ambulance is characteristically ridiculous. Although based on the 2005 Danish film Ambulancen, it's Bay from go to whoa; screenwriter and feature newcomer Chris Fedak (TV's Chuck, Prodigal Son) even references past Bay movies in the dialogue. The first time, when The Rock is mentioned, it's done in a matter-of-fact way that as brazen as anything Bay has ever achieved when his flicks defy the laws of physics. In the second instance mere minutes later, it's perhaps the most hilarious thing he's put in his movies. It's worth remembering that Divinyls' 'I Touch Myself' was one of his music-clip jobs; Bay sure does love what only he can thrust onto screens, and he wants audiences to know it while adoring it as well. Ambulance's key duo, brothers Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, The Matrix Resurrections) and Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal, The Guilty), are a former Marine and ostensible luxury-car dealer/actual career criminal with hugely different reasons for attempting to pilfer a $32-million payday. For the unemployed Will, it's about the cash needed to pay for his wife Amy's (Moses Ingram, The Tragedy of Macbeth) experimental surgery, which his veteran's health insurance won't cover — but his sibling just wants money. Will is reluctant but desperate, Danny couldn't be more eager, and both race through a mess of a day. Naturally, it gets more hectic when they're hurtling along as the hotshot Cam (Eiza González, Godzilla vs Kong) works on wounded rookie police officer Zach (Jackson White, The Space Between), arm-deep in his guts at one point, while Captain Monroe (Garrett Dillahunt, Army of the Dead), Agent Anson Clark (Keir O'Donnell, The Dry) and their forces are in hot pursuit. Everything from Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and The Island to 2019's Netflix flick 6 Underground has trained viewers in what to expect from Ambulance — plus the movies name-checked in Ambulance's frames, obviously — but Bay is also the filmmaker who gave cinema 2013's exceptional Pain & Gain. His latest doesn't reach the same savvy heights, and it's both boosted by its hearty embrace of Bayhem and occasionally a victim to it, but it's rarely less than wildly entertaining. As the director's best efforts have long shown, he boasts a knack for heist-style films. Capers about break-ins of various sorts, even into Alcatraz, suit Bay because they're typically about chasing hefty scores no matter the cost. Ambulance was made for only $40 million, which is a fifth of most Transformers movies and somehow around half of non-Bay-directed recent release Morbius' budget, but bold moves with eyes on a big prize aren't just fiction in Bay's orbit. Read our full review. MEMORIA When Memoria begins, it echoes with a thud that's not only booming and instantly arresting — a clamour that'd make anyone stop and listen — but is also deeply haunting. It arrives with a noise that, if the movie's opening scene was a viral clip rather than part of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's spectacular Cannes Jury Prize-winning feature, it'd be tweeted around with a familiar message: sound on. The racket wakes up Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton, The Souvenir: Part II) in the night, and it's soon all that she can think about; like character, like film. It's a din that she later describes as "a big ball of concrete that falls into a metal well which is surrounded by seawater"; however, that doesn't help her work out what it is, where it's coming from or why it's reverberating. The other question that starts to brood: is she the only one who can hear it? So springs a feature that's all about listening, and truly understands that while movies are innately visual — they're moving pictures, hence the term — no one should forget the audio that's gone with it for nearly a century now. Watching Weerasethakul's work has always engaged the ears intently, with the writer/director behind the Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and just-as-lyrical Cemetery of Splendour crafting cinema that genuinely values all that the filmic format can offer. Enjoying Memoria intuitively serves up a reminder of how crucial sound can be to the big-screen experience, emphasising the cavernous chasm between pictures that live and breathe that truth and those that could simply be pictures. Of course, feasting on Weerasethakul's films has also always been about appreciating not only cinema in all its wonders, but as an inimitable art form. Like the noise that lingers in his protagonist's brain here, his movies aren't easily forgotten. With Weerasethakul behind the lens and Swinton on-screen, Memoria is a match made in cinephile heaven — even before it starts obsessing over sound and having its audience do the same. He helms movies like no one else, she's an acting force of nature, and their pairing is film catnip. He also makes his English-language debut, as well as his first feature outside of Thailand, while she brings the serenity and magnetism that only she can, turning in a far more understated turn than seen in the recent likes of The French Dispatch and The Personal History of David Copperfield. Yes, Weerasethakul and Swinton prove a beautiful duo. Weerasethakul makes contemplative, meditative, visually poetic movies, after all, and Swinton's face screams with all those traits. They're both devastatingly precise in what they do, too, and also delightfully expressive. And, they each force you to pay the utmost attention to their every single choice as well. As Jessica, Swinton plays a British expat in Colombia — an orchidologist born in Scotland, residing in Medellín and staying in Bogota when she hears that very specific din. After explaining it in exquisite detail to sound engineer Hernán (Juan Pablo Urrego, My Father), he tries to recreate the noise for her, but only she seems to know exactly what it sounds like. At the same time, Jessica's sister Karen (debutant Agnes Brekke) is in hospital with a strange ailment. Also, there's word of a curse that's linked to a tunnel being built over a burial ground, and Jessica consults with an archaeologist (Jeanne Balibar, Les Misérables) before heading from the city to the country. Grief echoes as strongly through Jessica's life as the bang she can't shake, and she wanders like someone in a dreamy daze, whether she's roaming around an art gallery or crossing paths with a rural fisherman also called Hernán (Elkin Díaz, Besieged). Read our full review. NOBODY HAS TO KNOW Before Belgian actor and filmmaker Bouli Lanners started gracing screens big and small — writing and directing projects for the former as well — he trained as a painter. If you didn't know that fact, it'd be easy to guess while watching Nobody Has to Know. He helms and scripts, as he did 2011 Cannes award-winner The Giant, plus 2016's The First, the Last. He acts, as he has in everything from A Very Long Engagement and Rust and Bone to Raw and Bye Bye Morons. But it's the careful eye he brings to all that fills Nobody Has to Know's frames that immediately leaves an impression, starting with simply staring at the windswept Scottish scenery that provides the movie's backdrop. It's picturesque but also ordinary, finding visual poetry in the scenic and sweeping and yet also everyday. That's what the feature does with its slow-burning romantic narrative, too. On a remote island, Philippe Haubin (Lanners) has made a humble home. Working as a farmhand, he stands out with his arms covered in tattoos and his accent, but he's also been welcomed into the close-knit community. And, when he's found on the beach after suffering a stroke, his friends swiftly rally around — his younger colleague Brian (Andrew Still, Waterloo Road), who spreads the word; the latter's aunt Millie (Michelle Fairley, Game of Thrones), who ferries him around town; and her stern father Angus (Julian Glover, The Toll), who welcomes him back to work once he's out of hospital. But Phil returns with amnesia, which unsurprisingly complicates his daily interactions. He doesn't know what Brian means when he jokes about Phil now being the island's Jason Bourne, he has no idea if the dog in his house is his own, and he has no knowledge of any past, or not, with Millie. As a filmmaker, Lanners splits Nobody Has to Know's attention between Phil and Millie as they're drawn to each other — through natural chemistry, thanks to her kindness in helping him learn to navigate his life again, and courtesy of secrets and twists that speak to emotional truths even if they involve lying. And, it's due to finessed performances on both parts that the film always resonates with both tenderness and authenticity, befitting its restrained but still affecting tale of pain, guilt, regrets, isolation, identity and yearning. He plays a man who quickly made an imprint in a new place, but has a past he's been fleeing, and now finds himself facing them both anew. She plays a woman cruelly nicknamed 'the Ice Queen' because she's single, quiet and of a certain age, and remains just as eager to unearth her true self. Indeed, as she copes with Phil's new situation, she makes a bold leap to follow her heart. In lesser hands — with lead actors who weren't so adept at understatement, or didn't possess as convincing natural chemistry; with a writer and/or director more fond of leaning into melodrama; with a cinematographer other than the poised Frank van den Eeden (Patrick, Girl), too — Nobody Has to Know could've been relegated to a movie-of-the-week-style weepie. Thankfully, that isn't Lanners' film, which cannily eschews the easy for the deep and evocative. He takes as much care with the feature's sensitive pace, reflecting how tentatively his characters have been willing to embrace their real feelings, as he does with that painterly scenery that makes the utmost of the Scottish islands of Lewis and Harris, and with key performances that convey a lifetime of worries without uttering a word. His is a picture that builds in impact, quietly but unmistakably, like taking the time to truly stare at and soak in everything about a piece of art hung on a gallery wall. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; February 3, February 10, February 17 and February 24; and March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, The King's Man, Red Rocket, Scream, The 355, Gold, King Richard, Limbo, Spencer, Nightmare Alley, Belle, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Belfast, Here Out West, Jackass Forever, Benedetta, Drive My Car, Death on the Nile, C'mon C'mon, Flee, Uncharted, Quo Vadis, Aida?, Cyrano, Hive, Studio 666, The Batman, Blind Ambition, Bergman Island, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, The Souvenir: Part II, Dog, Anonymous Club, X, River, Nowhere Special, RRR, Morbius, The Duke and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Top image: ©Kick the Machine Films, Burning, Anna Sanders Films, Match Factory Productions, ZDF/Arte and Piano, 2021.
The jolliest time of the year is almost here. And, that means the most festive movie-viewing window of the year is nearly upon us, too. We all know that it wouldn't be Christmas without rewatching a heap of suitably themed flicks, whether you've loved Elf since you can remember, prefer a classic such as It's a Wonderful Life or will only watch Die Hard — but Stan is hoping that you'll add a new Australian comedy to your end-of-year rotation. Sometime around Christmas, the streaming platform's subscribers will be able to watch festive Aussie flick A Sunburnt Christmas. And yes, you are probably just now realising that Australian doesn't actually have that many Christmas films to its name. This newcomer will join the likes of Bush Christmas, both the 1947 and 1983 versions; the animated Around the World with Dot; and recent horror movies Red Christmas and Better Watch Out — and it seems to be really leaning into the fact that it's a seasonal Aussie film. Directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren (Bondi Hipsters, The Other Guy), A Sunburnt Christmas follows a group of kids who mistake a runaway criminal for the real Santa. Daryl (Snowtown and Acute Misfortune's Daniel Henshall) happens to be dressed appropriately, red suit and all. He has also just crashed a van full of toys. But as well as not being Father Christmas, he's being chased by a mobster called Dingo (Animal Kingdom and Ride Like a Girl's Sullivan Stapleton). Kids, crims, hijinks — if you're currently thinking about Home Alone or Bad Santa, that isn't surprising. But these children live on an outback farm with their a single mother (The Gloaming's Ling Cooper Tang), and neither Joe Pesci nor Billy Bob Thornton are anywhere to be seen. The all-ages-friendly flick doesn't yet have a release date, but you can obviously expect it to hit your streaming queue just as you're breaking out the eggnog. A Sunburnt Christmas will be available to stream via Stan later in 2020 — we'll update you with an exact date when one is announced.
UPDATE, December 4, 2020: Mank is available to stream via Netflix. In 2010's The Social Network, David Fincher surveyed the story of an outsider and upstart who would become a business magnate, wield significant influence and have an immense impact upon the world. The applauded and astute film tells the tale of Mark Zuckerberg and of Facebook's development — but it's also the perfect precursor to Fincher's latest movie, Mank. This time around, the filmmaker focuses on a man who once spun a similar narrative. A drama critic turned screenwriter, Herman J Mankiewicz scored the gig of his lifetime when he was hired to pen Orson Welles' first feature, and he drew upon someone from his own life to do so. Citizen Kane is famous for many things, but its central character of Charles Foster Kane is also famously partially based on US media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who Mankiewicz knew personally. Accordingly, Mank sees Fincher step behind the scenes of an iconic movie that his own work has already paralleled — to ponder how fact influences fiction, how stories that blaze across screens silver and small respond to the world around them, and how one man's best-known achievement speaks volumes about both in a plethora of ways. Mank is a slice-of-life biopic about Mankiewicz's (Gary Oldman) time writing Citizen Kane's screenplay, as well as his career around it. It's catnip for the iconic feature's multitudes of fans, in fact. But it also peers at a bigger picture, because that's classic Fincher. The director chased killers in Seven, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Mindhunter, painting meticulous portraits of obsession each time. He unpacked the myths we make of our own existence in Fight Club and Gone Girl, and interrogated the societal perceptions such self-told tales play with and prey upon along the way. Naturally, with him at the helm, Mank was never going to simply serve up a straightforward snapshot of a Hollywood figure. That isn't Fincher's style, and it wouldn't suit Mankiewicz's story, either. When Mank introduces its eponymous scribe, it's 1940, and he's recovering from a car accident. In a cast and confined to bed due to a broken leg, he has been dispatched to a Mojave Desert ranch by Welles (Tom Burke, The Souvenir) and his colleague John Houseman (Sam Troughton, Chernobyl) — all so he can work his word-slinging mastery. As Mankiewicz toils, the movie wanders back to times, places and people that inspire his prose, especially from the decade prior. Dictating his text to British secretary Rita Alexander (Lily Collins), he draws upon his friendships with Hearst (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones) and the news baron's starlet mistress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried) in particular. And yes, as anyone who has seen Citizen Kane will spot, Mank's nonlinear structure apes the script that Mankiewicz pens. Many of the latter film's glimmering black-and-white shots do as well, although you won't spot a sled called Rosebud here. The authorship of Citizen Kane has long been a point of controversy, with Mankiewicz agreeing not to take any credit, as Mank shows. (When the screenplay won the film's only Oscar, however, it was awarded to both Mankiewicz and Welles.) Fincher's movie doesn't actually scrutinise the matter too deeply. It recognises that Mankiewicz was frequently asked to work uncredited — he's known to have polished the script for The Wizard of Oz, for example — and sides with the idea that Citizen Kane's screenplay was largely his creation. Of far more interest to the film is the role that Mankiewicz held not just for Welles, but also throughout his time in such an ambitious, ruthless, ethically dubious and uncaring industry. As such, it's impossible not to notice how, with Houseman trying to keep Mankiewicz's notorious love for a drink under control, the scribe feels trapped by his task for Welles. In flashbacks, the way that Mankiewicz is expected to ply his alcohol-addled wit to entertain Hearst and MGM studio chief Lous B Mayer (Arliss Howard, True Blood) is similarly inescapable. And so, Mank posits, it's little wonder that Citizen Kane became an epic takedown of the type of man whose success depends upon enlisting others to do their bidding. In a script by Jack Fincher — father of David, who wrote the screenplay in the 90s before passing away in 2003 — Mank suggests other factors that made Mankiewicz the person he was, and that shaped Citizen Kane's script as well. Scenes of Mankiewicz and his co-workers spitting out whatever ideas came to mind while lapping up the Golden Age of Hollywood and its studio system show the writer at his most content. His response to the use of movie-making trickery to create a fake news campaign to sway a 1934 Californian election by Mayer and film producer Irving Thalberg (Ferdinand Kingsley, Doctor Who) show Mankiewicz at his most passionate about something other than booze and bon mots. Also evident: the abundant cynicism that helps him wade through Tinseltown's trappings, the melancholy shared with Davies, and his reliance upon his wife Sara (Tuppence Middleton, Downton Abbey). Combine all of the above, and a dense and detailed movie results. That's Fincher's wheelhouse, after all. Mank is also visually ravishing and textured, and tonally cutting and icy — which, along with weighty performances, are all Fincher hallmarks. But there's both depth and distance to Mank. Its shadowy monochrome images, as shot by Mindhunter alum Erik Messerschmidt, dance across the screen. The Jazz Age score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is just as delightful. Oldman's certain-to-be-Oscar-nominated portrayal demands attention, and Seyfried's luminous efforts prove the best kind of surprise. And yet this movie about a man observing and interrogating a particular world, made by someone doing exactly that, always feels like it should be more intimate and resonant. It peers in and pokes about, but it never wholly lures the audience in — and watching Oldman and Seyfried's rich scenes together, viewers will wish it did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSfX-nrg-lI&list=PLsRQmb9N_1G9EZgWWwmSyr_fS0nrjZOBA
Haunted house films tend to follow an obvious formula: things go bump in the night, people get scared, and an escalating array of supernatural hijinks ensue. If you've seen one, you probably feel like you've seen them all — and The Conjuring 2 isn't going to change that. Thankfully, it isn't going to make horror fans abandon building-based scares either. Given that the latest movie — based on the exploits of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren — is a sequel, a certain amount of predictability is to be expected. Still, knowing how the follow-up to 2013 surprise hit The Conjuring will play out doesn't render its creaking floors, slamming doors and ghostly visions any less effective. Both frights and fun can be found as an English family attempts to break free from a malicious force, with the former largely springing from sudden noises and ghastly faces, and the latter resulting from the screams they inspire. Six years after Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farming) helped the Perrons through the events of the first film — and a year after the Amityville case that still remains their biggest claim to fame — the Hodgsons of Enfield need their expertise. Trying to raise four children alone, single mother Peggy (Frances O'Connor) is already doing it tough before spooky occurrences start targeting her 12-year-old daughter Janet (Madison Wolfe). When the Warrens are called in, they're not just asked to assist; they're also tasked with determining whether the otherworldly infestation is real. Of course, relishing the chilling ordeal inflicted upon the bewildered Hodgson clan is the film's primary focus, rather than exploring the hoax side of the story or even spending too much time with the evangelical exorcist and psychic assessing the situation. And as easily foreseeable as the jumps and jolts that follow prove, they're also teeming with tension thanks to the film's other significant presence: director James Wan. After kicking off the Saw and Insidious franchises, Wan did the same for The Conjuring, investing what could've been a routine horror movie with the right amount of vintage thrills and visual flair. Returning to the series after an action-packed stint at the helm of Fast and Furious 7, he does the same again, even if lightning doesn't exactly strike twice. Whether you've heard of the Enfield poltergeist before or you've simply seen The Exorcist, there's no escaping the been-there, seen-that status of The Conjuring 2. Thankfully, Wan's fondness for letting the camera prowl around the house in question, and his precise sense of timing when it comes to both the unexpected and the lingering, ensures that familiarity doesn't breed contempt. Instead, it's the length of the film, and the raft of repetitive scenes that help pad it out to 133 minutes, that may end up stretching your patience. Accordingly, the Hodgsons aren't the only ones fated to think that everything goes on too long — and the last thing horror viewers want is to feel bored and anxious at the same time. Luckily, when the movie works, it really works, a versatile performance by Wolfe at the centre of the sinister proceedings included.
Murder-mystery Only the Animals begins with a killer opening image: of a live goat being worn like a backpack. The animal is slung over the shoulders of a cyclist as he rides through the streets of the Côte d'Ivoire city of Abidjan, and the unique picture that results instantly grabs attention — for viewers, even if it doesn't appear to interest anyone in the vicinity on-screen. This French-language thriller doesn't explain its attention-grabbing sight straight up, though. Instead, it jumps over to the Causse Mejean limestone plateau in southern France, where snow blankets the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site and — unrelated to the weather — a number of locals are icily unhappy. Indeed, farmer Michel (Denis Ménochet, Custody), his insurance agent wife Alice (Laure Calamy, Call My Agent!) and Joseph (Damien Bonnard, Dunkirk), one of her clients, are all far from content before word spreads of a shock death in the area; however, the news has implications for all three. Doing house calls is part of Alice's job in her small, close-knit community, and it sees her embarking upon an affair with the awkward Joseph, who has shut himself off from everything beyond his property after mother passed away a year prior. The surly Michel barely seems bothered about his marriage or its possible downfall, spending all his time in the office attached to his cattle-feeding shed ostensibly working on the farm's accounts. Adapting the novel Seules Les Bêtes by Colin Niel, writer/director Dominik Moll (News from Planet Mars) and his frequent co-screenwriter Gilles Marchand switch between Only the Animals' characters and relay the details from their perspectives. First, Alice's take on the situation graces the screen. Next, it's Joseph's turn. Waitress Marion (Nadia Tereszkiewicz, The Dancer) earns the third chapter, which charts her hot-and-heavy rendezvous with Evelyne (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Let the Sunshine In), the woman who'll turn up dead — while the final and longest segment belongs to Armand (debutant Guy Roger 'Bibisse' N'Drin), without the goat, as he tries to catfish his way to riches, success and the girl of his dreams. A whodunnit, Only the Animals tasks its audience members with sleuthing their way through its fractured tale, all to discover who is responsible for Evelyne's demise and why. Thanks to its multiple parts, it also gets viewers guessing about events that initially appear unrelated, and how they'll end up linking into the broader story. But the film is filled with other questions, too, ruminating on the primal nature of love and pondering the ways in which pursuing it — or chasing a mere moment, however fleeting, with someone else — can lead down immensely complicated paths. It's here that Only the Animals' narrative structure proves more than just a way to make its plot seem more complex. That can happen with nonlinear yarns; try as many of them might, they can't all be Rashomon, the Akira Kurosawa-directed 1950 Japanese masterpiece that has become a shorthand term for movies with narratives unfurled from different but overlapping viewpoints. As effectively as Moll maintains the tension throughout the film — and keeps his viewers wondering, even as its strands start to converge — Only the Animals isn't Rashomon, either. No other movie is. Still, as the feature's four segments chronicle its characters' varying quests to connect, each one builds upon its predecessors in both a storytelling and an emotional sense. Piece by piece and layer by layer, Only the Animals' chapters combine to paint an intricate and involving portrait of potential, waning, stolen and fake romances, and of the ways in which the decisions of any one person can end up impacting others. Realising that almost everyone always acts in their own self-interest, regardless of whether they're pursuing a grand romance or just a brief fling with someone else, couldn't be more crucial. So is knowing the bliss that can spring when it feels like someone truly sees you, and how that sensation can inspire bold choices and terrible decisions alike (including seeking out the help of a gangster shaman, the film's weakest inclusion). Back in 2000, Moll made a splash with darkly comic thriller Harry, He's Here to Help — and while there are few laughs to be had in Only the Animals, a twisty tone still shines through. The film's plot developments and vignette-esque portions aren't the only elements that leap in sudden directions; love can be strained, strange, glorious and desperate here, for instance, and the movie's impressive actors all engagingly convey a wide range of feelings and reactions, including when only actions rather than words suit. That said, it just might be Moll's use of Benedikt Schiefer's (Exile) enticingly twinkling soundtrack against cinematographer Patrick Ghiringhelli's (Eden) naturally lit, cool-hued imagery that sums up the film best. Only the Animals doesn't just unravel a mystery, or several, but also recognises that sometimes enigmas and uncertainties arise simply because different things clash together and no one is quite prepared for the aftermath. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Fr1M2fjY0&t=26s
Australia can't win the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, as every currently heartbroken Aussie is well aware, but the Matildas have kept scoring on and off the field. They've kicked goals, won even more fans, sparked stunning scenes at live-viewing sites around the country and absolutely smashed the ratings — and, over the past month, made plenty of history. We know that you know that Sam Kerr, Mackenzie Arnold and their teammates lost to England in their semi-final match on Wednesday, August 16, because we know that you were probably watching. How? The just-released ratings figures for the game against the Lionesses. Based on statistics from OzTAM, which captures broadcast audience numbers, the Seven Network reports that the 3–1 defeat was seen by 11.15-million Australians nationally. That isn't just massive — it's the biggest audience for anything on TV since 2001. The squad's prior match, that thrilling, nerve-shredding win via penalties against France on Saturday, August 12, already became Australia's biggest TV sports program in a decade. The England game — the first time that Australia had reached the semi-finals in the World Cup, either for the men's or women's teams — beat it. In fact, the viewership was so huge that it's the most-watched TV program, sports or otherwise, since OzTAM started its audience measurement system in 2001. Yes, that record could go back even further; OzTAM just don't have the data from before then. While the 11.15-million number is the peak figure, the average audience on Seven and 7plus for the night was 7.13 million, including 957,000 viewers via streaming. The Matildas' Women's World Cup games are available to watch via free-to-air and also Optus Sport, which means that more folks were also viewing via the latter. And, OzTAM's data doesn't include people watching in pubs, clubs, sports venues and at other out-of-home sites, so the overall audience numbers go up again. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CommBank Matildas (@matildas) Unsurprisingly, the match is also now the most-streamed event ever in Australia. To put the Matildas' repeated TV feats in context during the Women's World Cup, 2022's AFL and NRL grand finals didn't even hit the 4.17-million average figure that the France game scored — or come close. Last years' AFL numbers? 3.06-million viewers nationally. All up so far, Seven advises that its coverage of the Women's World Cup has reached 14.05-million broadcast viewers, then another 3.4-million folks via 7plus — all while the bulk of the tournament's games, especially those that don't feature the Matildas, are only on Optus Sports. That Sam Kerr goal against England? 11.15-million Australians seeing that honestly isn't enough. "Australia was captivated last night as the Matildas played their hearts out and did us all proud. Although their FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 journey ended last night, the Matildas have rewritten the history books, and captured the hearts and minds of the nation with a performance that is sure to inspire generations of Australians for many years to come," said Lewis Martin, Managing Director Seven Melbourne and Head of Network Sport. "Seven is beyond proud to have played a part in bringing Australia together around our screens, as the Matildas' performance captured the Australian spirit like nothing we have seen in decades." The Matildas are out of contention for the ultimate Women's World Cup prize in 2023, with England and Spain now facing off, but they will play Sweden at 6pm on Saturday, August 19 to see who comes in third place. That game is another must-see, and another chance to smash viewership records. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CommBank Matildas (@matildas) The Matildas' 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup games are available to watch via the Seven Network and 7plus, and also Optus Sport — with select other games also on Seven, and the entire tournament streaming via Optus Sport. The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 runs from Thursday, July 20–Sunday, August 20 across Australia and New Zealand, with tickets available from the FIFA website. Top image: LittleBlinky via Wikimedia Commons.
It's been more than two decades since Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet changed the game when it came to screen adaptations of Shakespeare — and delivered a stunning soundtrack along with it. There are many things that make the 1996 movie great, from its stellar casting to the filmmaker's inimitable style. But tracks by everyone from The Cardigans to Radiohead to Everclear to Garbage rank right up there with its biggest strengths. It's no wonder, then, that The Tivoli is throwing quite the soiree to celebrate one of the best-ever collections of movie tunes. If you missed the same shindig at Brisbane Festival a few years back, don't make the same mistake again. At Young Hearts Run Free, the venue will become a rock masquerade, with patrons dressing up, dancing the night away, and listening to live performances of the entire soundtrack — with Tom Dickins leading the charge, as joined by other musicians and special guest performers. The full lineup is yet to be revealed, but prepare for quite the star-crossed night come Saturday, December 21.
Gone are the days when South Bank was Brisbane's only food-, drink- and entertainment-filled riverside precinct, with Portside, Northshore Hamilton and Howard Smith Wharves all popping up over the past decade or so. Here's another: Rivermakers Heritage Quarter, which has turned a patch of Colmslie Road in Morningside into a new must-visit destination. If you haven't had the chance to stop by the heritage-listed spot yet, here's an excuse, too: the Rivermakers Heritage Quarter Open Day from 11am on Saturday, April 9. That's when the eastside precinct wants you to head along to check out its sights — and everything you can eat, drink and do, from sipping brews and taking brewery tours at Revel's second site through to dancing to DJs and playing lawn games on the grass. Also on the agenda at the riverfront spot across the day, as part of an event that wants to become Morningside's answer to the James St Food and Wine Festival: drinking gin at Bavay Distillery, tucking into free sausages thanks to Low n Slow Meat Co, taking a steak workshop at the latter as well, and hitting up Mas & Miek Ceramic House for some ceramics. There'll also be art on display, showcasing Max Bennett — and a Heritage Quarter archives exhibit that'll step through the location's and Morningside's past. And, the event will be raising donations as well, with everything going towards flood-relief efforts in Queensland and New South Wales.
It's the closest that Brisbanites can get to Shake Shack, complete with juicy burgers, creamy shakes and desserts made from frozen custard. And, as of Saturday, December 22, all of the above is now on offer at three locations across the city — with cult favourite Betty's Burgers launching its third local outpost in Indooroopilly. Less than 18 months after finally making the move from Noosa and the Gold Coast to Brisbane, the fast-growing burg chain has added new digs in the city's west to its existing spread in Chermside and Newstead. As always, that means plenty of burgers, including the latest menu additions featuring double beef patties (and double cheese, too), plus spicy chicken. Located in Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, the store also boasts outdoor dining. That means you'll be able to enjoy the sunshine while Betty's slings its stacked burgers, beer-battered onion rings, chocolate peanut butter thickshakes and five types of 'concretes' — those aforementioned frozen custard sweet treats — right into your stomach. For those keeping count, this makes ten Betty's stores across southeast Queensland, meaning that you're never too far away from your next burger and shake fix. The company has also been expanding interstate, with four eateries in Sydney and two in Melbourne. Betty's Burgers is now open at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, 322 Moggill Road, Indooroopilly. Head to the burger chain's website and Facebook page for further details.
Finding a critter creeping around in your food is one of most people's worst nightmares; however at this year's Antenna Documentary Film Festival, it's all part of the fun. Not only is the fest screening Bugs, a doco about two researchers from René Redzepi's experimental Nordic Food Lab exploring the culinary value and environmental benefits of eating insects — it's also serving up ant-covered choc tops. Sure, we already knew that edible bugs were in the festival's 2016 lineup; however we didn't take it quite so literally. Gelato makers Cow & Moon are doing the honours, creating a guava-flavoured sorbet choc top crawling with tiny creatures. They'll give the dish a pop of acidity — and yes, the ants are 100% real. The daring desserts will only be on offer at the October 15 session of Bugs at the Chauvel Cinema in Sydney, and really turns film-viewing into quite the interactive and sensory experience. "I am excited for audiences to connect to this film in a real, adventurous and visceral way," says Antenna festival manager Kate Vinen. Who's hungry? The 2016 Antenna Documentary Film Festival screens in Sydney from October 11 to 16, Brisbane from October 26 to 30, and Melbourne from November 2 to 6. For more information, check out the festival website.
Partway through The High Note, lifelong music buff and aspiring producer Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) sits in a recording studio with the up-and-coming musician, David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr), she's certain will be the next best thing. He's singing while she's listening, but the latter doesn't like what she hears — so she slides into the booth with him, spins an inspiring story designed to get him both excited and comfortable, and coaxes out his smooth, melodic, possible hit single-worthy best. It's one of those exchanges that only exists in the movies, and in cinema's fantasy vision of the creative process. It also sparks an obvious train of thought among the film's audience. There's much that's likeable about this overtly formulaic feature, but The High Note always feels like it could've used a bit of coaxing and massaging itself — and a confidence boost to help it serve up some unexpected beats. After first crossing David's path in a grocery store, via a meet-cute that involves arguing over the merits of Phantom Planet's The OC theme 'California' while buying ice blocks, Maggie convinces him to let her produce his first record. But that's actually her after-hours job. By day, every day (and often at night, too), she's a committed and overworked personal assistant to 11-time Grammy-winning R&B superstar Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross). That's a demanding gig, albeit for a legend; however Maggie dreams of more than merely ferrying her idol around town, picking up her dry cleaning and administering enemas on tour. With Grace's latest string of shows wrapping up, a live greatest hits album in the works and no new music released for some time, the singer herself also wants more, but her long-time manager Jack (Ice Cube) is trying to push her towards the easy money of a ten-year Las Vegas residency. With 2019's Late Night, filmmaker Nisha Ganatra stepped inside the world of television, contrasting the journeys of a hardworking woman just starting out and a celebrated but stern female veteran of the field who is unsure of what she wants for the future. Switch the setup to music, then swap Mindy Kaling's smart Late Night screenplay for a thoroughly by-the-numbers affair by first-timer Flora Greeson, and The High Note is the end result — but without any of the resonant commentary that made its predecessor as clever and savvy as it was amusing and affecting. The fact that it isn't easy being a woman in music isn't ignored here, but it's pointed out via generic lines of dialogue that simply sound like throwaway soundbites. The reality that both ageism and racism blight the industry too, and that a hugely successful Black woman over 40 still gets ignored by those calling the shots, receives the same cursory treatment. Instead, The High Note is more content to keep any statements as superficial and easy as a disposable pop song, and to deliver as standard a feel-good fairy tale-style film about chasing one's dream as an algorithm would probably spit out. Also ranking among The High Note's struggles: a blatant, not-at-all surprising soap opera-esque twist that takes the plot into cringe-worthy territory, and a self-parodying cameo by Diplo as an autotune-loving remix specialist that overstays its short duration. Then there's the manoeuvring needed to get all the movie's main players — plus Bill Pullman as Maggie's widowed radio DJ dad, who has a thing for covers — to Catalina Island for a big climactic moment. This all smacks of a feature that could've used another few passes before making it to the screen, but tries to bop along by being be glossy and breezy. And The High Note most definitely is visibly slick and shiny, as well as light and upbeat in tone. While that isn't enough to significantly boost its fortunes, the film does benefit from a rousing soundtrack that spans both new tracks and vintage hits (including an appealing singalong to TLC's 'No Scrubs', and Harrison Jr crooning 1957 classic 'You Send Me' by the king of soul Sam Cooke). The High Note's best asset is its cast, of course, who constantly make you wish that they were working with better material. The movie's two female leads both follow in their famous mothers' footsteps — with Johnson's mum, Melanie Griffith, playing a put-upon lackey in 80s comedy Working Girl, and Ellis Ross easily sliding into the shoes of a fierce diva like her mum, Diana Ross — and yet neither ever feels as if they're merely going through the motions. After turning in such a forceful and powerful performance in Waves, Harrison Jr is all laidback charm here, and he's just as watchable. Ice Cube also adds texture to his thinly written part, but it's the fate of two supporting actors that completely sums up the movie. The comically gifted June Diane Raphael (Long Shot) steals every scene she's in as Grace's vain, self-obsessed housekeeper, while Eddie Izzard possesses both bite and spark as another veteran singer — and, although they're barely in the film, it would've hit far higher notes if it had spent more time with either instead of with its bland main storylines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAxtH_xwlnM Top image: ©2020 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Here's one way to warm up your winter: heading to Northshore Hamilton for wild nights filled with everything from cabaret, burlesque, circus and music to magic and a Shinjuku-inspired bar. From Wednesday, July 27, that's on the bill thanks to a new entertainment precinct pop-up called Twilight Electric. Yes, heading by when the sun is setting is highly recommended. This luminous limited-time venue will boast two big drawcards: Blanc de Blanc Encore, which has proven a Brisbane Festival favourite in the past; and a Brisbane season for Maho Magic Bar. And if you're wondering why, it's all happening in the lead up to this year's Bris Fest — which'll unfurl its jam-packed 2022 lineup, moon-focused events and all, in September. With the return of Blanc de Blanc Encore comes the return of the Spiegeltent, which'll be filled with the kind of party that'd make Jay Gatsby envious. Think: glamour, hedonism, opulence, an OTT vibe and extravagance aplenty, all thanks to Strut & Fret, who've also brought Feasting on Flesh, A Company of Strangers, Cantina, Dream Menagerie, LIMBO, Blanc de Blanc and Limbo Unhinged our way in the past. Blanc de Blanc Encore combines tunes, big dance numbers, acrobatics and other circus tricks, risqué humour and a vintage French aesthetic — so, there's a little something for everyone. The vibe is pure cheekiness, so if you're a little sensitive, this mightn't be for you. As for Maho Magic Bar, it's a bar, a performance space and a show all in one — all thanks to Broad Encounters, aka the folks behind that eerie Edgar Allen Poe-inspired warehouse experience A Midnight Visit that creeped out Brisbane in 2021. Here, neon lighting sets the mood, cherry blossoms hover above, and sake cocktails and shōchū lead the drinks menu. Also, magic shows happen at your table. An immersive event from the moment that you approach its glowing exterior, it's designed to replicate a night out in Shinjuku in Tokyo, and conjure up an 'anything can happen' feeling. The ace thing about the setup: whether you adore magic or don't think it's your thing, you'll still be entertained given the atmosphere (and the drinks and those lights) are a massive part of the allure. Still, magic is nonetheless a big part of it. Busting out illusions: Osaka's Shohgo Yamashita, the gender stereotype-busting Kaori Kitazawa and close-up magician Sarito. Find Twilight Electric at Northshore Hamilton from Wednesday, July 27. For further information and to buy tickets, head to the Twilight Electric website. Top image: Maho Magic Bar, Trentino Priori.
Restrictions on how many people can attend restaurants, entertainment sites and other venues have been a regular part of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, but they're about to become a thing of the past in Queensland. When the state reaches the 80-percent double-vaccinated mark, venue caps and density rules will no longer apply — because all of these places will only be welcoming in double-jabbed patrons. If you've already rolled up your sleeves twice by the time that 80-percent threshold is hit — which is expected around Friday, December 17 — you'll be able to head to all hospitality and entertainment venues, as well as stadiums, festivals, libraries, galleries and museums, all without needing to abide by any other density or patron restrictions. If you aren't double-vaxxed by then, however, you won't be able to go to any of these places at all. BREAKING: Fully vaccinated Queenslanders will be rewarded to keep our freedoms from 17 December or when we reach the 80% double dosed milestone. #covid19 pic.twitter.com/WICAlLvxl0 — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) November 9, 2021 Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the change today, Tuesday, November 9, in her second big piece of COVID-19 news for the day — after revealing that wearing masks indoors will be ditched at the 80-percent single-vaxxed mark, which should be reached either today or tomorrow. The new double-jabbed-only rule could kick in earlier than December 17 if the 80-percent double-vaccinated threshold is reached before then, too. The Premier noted in a statement that it'll "take effect from December 17 or once the state reaches 80 percent of eligible Queenslanders fully vaccinated, whichever comes first". It'll also affect everyone 16 years of age and older. Here's where it'll apply: at hospitality venues including pubs, clubs, hotels, bars, restaurants and cafes; at entertainment venues including cinemas, live music and karaoke; at both indoor and outdoor music festivals; and at government-owned galleries, museums and libraries. It'll also be in effect at all Queensland government stadiums — such as Suncorp, The Gabba, Queensland Country Bank and Metricon, and covering Big Bash, T20, One Day Internationals, NRL, AFL, State of Origin and concerts — as well as at weddings. And, it'll apply at hospitals, disability services, aged care and prisons as well, except in end of life, childbirth or emergency circumstances. There is another requirement for venues, however, with all staff needing to be double-vaccinated as well. Performers need to be double-jabbed at music festivals, too. #BREAKING From 17 Dec, only Queenslanders who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to enter: 🍽️ Pubs, restaurants & cafes 🎥 Nightclubs, live music venues & cinemas 🏈 Sporting stadiums & theme parks 🎨 Gov owned galleries, museums & libraries Full details to come. pic.twitter.com/hzwXgqRonp — Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) November 9, 2021 The change will kick in at the same time that Queensland will let double-jabbed interstate travellers arrive by either road or air and, if they've received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before arriving, ditch quarantine as well. And yes, it looks like this summer in Queensland is going to be mighty bright. This is the Sunshine State, after all. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. Top image: Somefx.
If you're a dinosaur fan in Australia, life keeps finding a way to indulge your interest in prehistoric creatures. In Brisbane, the Dinosaurs of Patagonia museum showcase is currently displaying impressive fossils. In Melbourne and later Sydney, Dinos Alive: An Immersive Experience is about to hit. And also in the Harbour City, Jurassic World: The Exhibition will soon roar into town with its own critters, as well as a celebration of 30 years since the first Jurassic Park movie initially rampaged across the big screen. Yes, it's a great time to fascinated with dinosaurs right now — we've seen two seasons of Prehistoric Planet on streaming in the past two years, too — and this latest exhibition arrives as part of a global tour. A showcase with the same name displayed in Melbourne back in 2016, but this visit comes after stops everywhere from London, San Diego, Paris and Madrid to Seoul, Shanghai and Toronto. On offer: life-sized, lifelike versions of the movie franchise's animals. Expect to feel like you've been transported to Isla Nublar, complete with a walk through the big-screen saga's famed gates. From there, you'll walk through themed environments featuring dinos, including a brachiosaurus, velociraptors — yes, get ready to say "clever girl" — and a Tyrannosaurus rex. Also linking in with the animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous series, there'll be baby dinos, including the show's Bumpy. Sydneysiders and visitors to the New South Wales capital will be able to get roaming, and staring at animatronic dinos, from Friday, September 22 at the 3000-square-metre SuperLuna Pavilion at Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park. Exactly how long the exhibition will hang around for hasn't been announced, except that it'll be a limited stay. If it'll head to other Australian cities afterwards also hasn't been revealed. Now, all that's left is to decide which Jurassic franchise character you want to emulate (the best choices: Laura Dern's palaeobotanist Ellie Sattler, Sam Neill's palaeontologist Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum's mathematician Ian Malcolm, of course). And no, when Michael Crichton penned Jurassic Park in 1990, then Steven Spielberg turned it into a 1993 film, they wouldn't have expected that this'd be the result three decades — and five more movies — later. Jurassic World: The Exhibition will display at SuperLuna Pavilion, Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park from Friday, September 22 — head to the exhibition's website to join the ticket waitlist.
If you were planning on murdering some dancefloors this spring, here's some news that definitely won't kill the groove: UK pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor is coming to Brisbane. She'll headline this year's Melt Festival, aka Brisbane Powerhouse's annual LGBTIQA+ celebration, playing a Queensland-exclusive show on the event's second evening. Melt 2022 will run from Thursday, November 10–Sunday, November 27, with Ellis-Bextor doing the honours on Friday, November 11. And yes, you should now have her hit 'Murder on the Dancefloor' stuck in your head — and Spiller's 'Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)' as well. DJ, gonna burn this goddamn house right down indeed. That DJ will be Jodie Harsh, in fact, who'll be taking to the decks at the same gig. While most of the lineup compiled by festival curator — and writer, director and producer — Daniel Evans won't be announced until Tuesday, August 30, a few other big names have been revealed. Also heading to Melt is New Orleans' Big Freedia, who you'll know from Beyoncé's 'Formation' and 'Break My Soul'. In another Queensland-exclusive, she'll open this year's Melt on Thursday, November 10, with Kinder in support. Jesswar and JessB also headline one of the fest's big nights as well, teaming up on Friday, November 18. As for the rest of the program, Evans has teased neon chapels, dance halls, secret cinemas and making use of Brisbane Powerhouse's new Pleasuredome, an outdoor venue that's set to join the New Farm site. "MELT 2022 is an unabashed celebration where queer art, artists, allies, icons and ideas — drawn from throughout Brisbane, around the country and across the globe — congregate and combust in an abrupt explosion of joy, volition, love and (be)longing," said Evans. "From thumping club nights with global icons to tiny shimmering spectacles and crowd-sourced come-togethers, MELT 2022 continues Brisbane Powerhouse's legacy of curating surprising, radical and disruptive experiences." Melt Festival 2022 will run from Thursday, November 10–Sunday, November 27 at Brisbane Powerhouse. First tickets are on sale via the fest's website now, with the full lineup to come on Tuesday, August 30 — we'll update you with the whole rundown then. Top image: Laura Lewis.
Australia has Lune fever. That's been the case for a few years now, as the world-renowned Melbourne bakery keeps serving up delicious pastries, and also spreading its wares around the country. At present, it boasts stores in Fitzroy, the CBD and Armadale in Melbourne, plus South Brisbane and Burnett Lane in Brisbane — and it has two Sydney shops on the way, one in Darlinghurst and another in Martin Place. Also slinging Lune's wares, just for three days: select Koko Black shops. Why? Lune Croissanterie has teamed up with Koko Black to unveil a limited-edition new croissant collaboration named The Belgian Truffle. Why again? To celebrate World Chocolate Day on Friday, July 7. This year's decadent creation takes Lune's signature pastry and adds a gooey Koko Black cocoa frangipane and Guanaja fondant centre. It's also topped with tempered chocolate shards, salted cookie crumb, mascarpone chantilly and Koko Black Belgian truffles. This delectable treat will be available at Lune's Melbourne and Brisbane outposts, plus selected Koko Black stores in Melbourne and Sydney, plus a special one-off Lune Sydney pop-up over the weekend. If you want to get your hands on a croissant, Friday, July 7–Sunday, July 9 are the dates to mark down in your diary. Melburnians can head to Lune's trio of outposts, plus Koko Black's shops at The Glen, Como Centre, Highpoint, Doncaster, Royal Arcade, Flinders Lane, Melbourne Central and Chadstone. Brisbanites, you're going to Lune and Lune only. "This pastry is a classic for a reason. Our traditional croissant, elevated to celebrate Koko Black's Belgian truffle. It's the ultimate, decadent chocolate treat," said Lune founder Kate Reid. These pastries are set to be in high demand, so it's best to head down early to avoid disappointment. Lune's own venues will be trading as normal, while Koko Black will be open from 9am on Friday and Saturday, and from 10am on Sunday. Lune Croissanterie and Koko Black's 2023 World Chocolate Day special The Belgian Truffle is available at all Lune stores in Melbourne and Brisbane, and select Koko Black stores in Melbourne, from Friday, July 7 – Sunday, July 9.
UPDATE, November 11, 2020: Goldstone is available to stream via Stan, Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Australian cinema has a new hero — or heroes, to be exact. In case 2013's neo-western crime thriller Mystery Road didn't make that apparent, Goldstone shouts it across the outback. On screen, Indigenous police detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) stalks through another remote desert town searching for the truth. Behind the camera, writer-director Ivan Sen guides another insightful examination of race, prejudice, inequality and exploitation inextricably linked to the Australian landscape. Indeed, across their two features to date, both the character and the filmmaker confront not only the challenging reality of present day Australia, but the deep scars left by the past. Accordingly, as much as Goldstone is a follow-up, it's also far more than just a narrative sequel to Mystery Road. Instead, the companion piece expands upon its predecessor's themes to explore a host of different topics, including human trafficking and the government-sanctioned mining of resources, in order to further push Sen's ongoing cinematic conversation about the state of his country today. Swan isn't quite the same no-nonsense cop viewers will remember from the previous film. When he's first spied driving drunk on the outskirts of the titular mining community, local officer Josh Waters (Alex Russell) is surprised to find a police badge stashed amongst his belongings. Reports of a missing Chinese woman, possibly linked to the town's brothel, have sparked Swan's visit, but he's hardly given a warm welcome. Josh is reluctant to help, mayor Maureen (Jacki Weaver) oozes malice behind her big smile, and goldmine boss Johnny (David Wenham) is clearly unhappy about strangers rolling into town. Given all that, it's hardly surprising when bullets start flying in Swan's direction. With the narrative also exploring Swan's links to his heritage via Aboriginal elder Jimmy (David Gulpilil), as well as the dynamic between a madam (Cheng Pei-pei) and her reluctant workers, Goldstone dives into complex territory. And yet, with Pedersen always front and centre as the unflappable Swan, the film filters its many threads through a confident, commanding central presence. Amidst an excellent cast, Pedersen demonstrates why he's one of the country's most talented actors, in a portrayal that conveys more through glances and body language than most say with words. His is a performance of quiet determination, and of breaking through pain to find a way forward. In fact, Pedersen is so convincing that Sen's decision to drop back into Swan's story after significant unseen turmoil feels completely natural. And just as the character refuses to give up, the writer-director (who also serves as producer, editor, cinematographer and composer) refuses to underestimate the audience's ability to piece the necessary parts together. Some of the dialogue is a little bit blunt, but sometimes both force and nuance are required to make a strong statement. It's how Sen balances the two that's pivotal. As it alternates between intimate close-ups and vast aerial shots, punctuating a contemplative pace with expertly choreographed gun battles, Goldstone proves a masterclass in maintaining that balance.
Call it fate, call it destiny, call it feeling so deeply that you were always meant to cross paths with another person that no other outcome could ever be conceivable: in Korean, that sensation is in-yeon. Call it having a connection that sprawls yet binds like an endless piece of string, always linking you to someone no matter how far apart you each wander: stretch that out over many, many lifetimes and, yes, that is in-yeon as well. Watching Past Lives, which references the kismet-esque concept both in its three-part story and its title, gives viewers a brush with in-yeon, too. Writer/director Celine Song's feature debut is that affecting; that vivid, evocative and haunting; that alive with been-there-lived-that energy. Wading through layers of love, identity, roads taken and not, and the versions of ourselves that we are at each fork, Past Lives is that acutely able to make a very specific experience mirror everyone's experiences. Partway through the film, aspiring playwright and writer Nora (Greta Lee, Russian Doll) talks through in-yeon with fellow scribe Arthur (John Magaro, The Many Saints of Newark). She shares that in-yeon lingers with everyone that you meet, the very act of making one's acquaintance signifying that you've done so before — and if two people become lovers, it's because they've kept falling into step in life after life. As Nora speaks, Past Lives' audience are well-aware of an unshakeable truth, as is the movie's central figure: that she knows in-yeon in her bones. Indeed, this is what Song's sublime feature is about from its first frames to its last in every way that it can be. With Arthur, Nora jokes that in-yeon is something that Koreans talk about when they're trying to seduce someone. There's zero lies in her words, because she's working that move right there and then, and she'll end up married to him. But with her childhood crush Hae Sung (Teo Yoo, Decision to Leave), who she last saw at the age of 12 because her family then moved from Seoul to Toronto, in-yeon explains everything. That one perfect term sums up Nora and Hae Sung's firm friendship as kids, as chronicled in Past Lives' first third. As pre-teens, the duo (Voice of Silence's Moon Seung-ah and Good Deal's Leem Seung-min) are virtually inseparable — walking home from school together daily, competing over grades, bantering with effortless rapport — until half a globe separates them. Then, when they reunite in their 20s via emails and Skype calls after 12 years without each other, Past Lives' crucial word also describes their instant spark and pull. The latter is so magnetic that they're basically dating without saying it, and while he's still in South Korea but she's now in New York. Next, it captures the complicated emotions that swell when Nora and Hae Sung are finally in the same place together again after decades. Arthur is in the picture by then and, ever-adaptable, in-yeon even encapsulates that development. If Past Lives didn't leave its viewers certain to their core about its emotional authenticity, that'd be a greater surprise than how strongly and tenderly it resounds. The Korean-born Song also emigrated to Canada with her parents at the same point in her life as Nora. While she hasn't made a strictly autobiographical work, there's fact dwelling behind this fiction. Her picture would pair astoundingly well with Minari and Aftersun, in fact. In its way, leaping in souls and minds rather than through realms, it's a multiverse tale and companion to Everything Everywhere All At Once also. Feeling so intimately applicable to the characters loving, living, immigrating, yearning and growing within its frames, and yet echoing so universally, is that always-sought-after holy grail of storytelling feats. Although her film hones in on the heart — on-and off-screen alike — as it gets poetic and philosophical (and delivers a Big Apple-set Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight sequence), that Song studied psychology and once planned to become a therapist isn't astonishing to learn. Each time that Nora and Hae Sung slide back into each other's existences, a dozen years have passed, but it feels no time at all for both. Still, that sentiment can't and doesn't smooth their way onwards. Fittingly, Past Lives is crafted to resemble slipping into a memory, complete with patient looks and visuals (Skate Kitchen and Small Axe cinematographer Shabier Kirchner lenses) and a transportingly evocative score (by Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear, which gives the picture a bond with the also-heartwrenching Blue Valentine and its own knotty romance). This feature knows every emotion that springs when you need someone and vice versa, but life has other plans. It feels the weight of the trails left untrodden, even when you're happy with the route you're on. It understands what it's like to be see your past, plus the present and future it could've influenced, shimmering in front of your eyes. Past Lives is a film about details — spying them everywhere, in Nora and Hae Sung's lives and in their faces, while recognising how the best people in anyone's orbits spot them as well. Of course every second appears meticulous, then, but also equally dreamy and ripped from reality. Of course Lee, Yoo and Magaro are each magnificent, as is this entire sensitive, blisteringly honest and complex masterpiece. Lee charms Nora's two love interests and Past Lives' viewers in tandem, in a sincere and sharp performance as a woman who is as witty as she is wistful while grappling with who she is. Yoo hops from the best movie of 2022 to what'll be difficult to beat as the best of 2023 with quiet dedication and potency. And Magaro plays adoring, accepting but never elementary; Arthur knows how intricate the situation is, so his way through is just that, through, gleaning his part in helping Nora and Hae Sung be who they need to. Contemplating what's written in the stars also involves contemplating beginnings and endings, even when in-yeon has cycles and reincarnations all a-fluttering. Again, Song fashions Past Lives to embody all that it muses on, including via an opening that's utterly immaculate and a closing scene that's breathtakingly divine. Both are also unforgettable. To start, jumping forward before going backwards, Nora, Arthur and Hae Sung sit at a bar. Her body language is all about her lifelong friend, as fellow drinkers peering on comment on; regardless of how things appear, though, only Nora, Arthur and Hae Sung can ever truly grasp their own full story. To wrap up, simply walking and waiting is so impeccably considered and staged, down to the direction that events flow in across the screen, that they say everything about advancing, retreating and wishing you were doing one while going through the other. Past Lives is a movie to lose yourself in, and gloriously; a film to fall head over feels for, and fast; like it feels fated to be, it's also just extraordinary.
Not every ballet features dancers forming constellations, gramophone-shaped mirrors creating kaleidoscopic visuals, refractive and reflective surfaces making it appear as though performers are overlapping, and choreography created for every leaf in a 134-page text — but, not every ballet is Tree of Codes. Stemming from a dream team of creative forces, the production is currently wowing crowds in London, and for good reason. Music, dance, art and literature fans, hold on to your hats: Tree of Codes is a collaboration between Jamie xx, Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor, Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. First previewing in Manchester in 2016, it's named after and based on the latter's book-based artwork of the same name. Also described as a "sculptural object", the printed work took Bruno Schulz's Street of Crocodiles, cut out the majority of words and fashioned what remained into a new post-apocalyptic story. So, how do you turn that into a ballet? Foer's "blurred and disorientating worlds provide a powerful point of departure for our collaboration on stage — where constellations of light, shadows, bodies, objects and sound dance at the edges of darkness," says McGregor. "Lights panning over the audience cause its spectral image to appear on the stage's reflective, coloured scrims, integrating the viewers with the activity on the stage," states Eliasson's website, while Jamie xx created an algorithm to vocalise words from the book, transforming them into melodies. Tree of Codes' season at London's Sadler's Wells ended on March 11, and we'll keep our fingers and toes crossed that it turns up on our shores. Via Dezeen.
UPDATE, April 1, 2021: The Little Things is currently screening in Australian cinemas — and it's also available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. Before you've even seen a single frame of a film, much can sometimes be gleaned by merely knowing who's in it — if they've been cast to type. The Little Things features Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto, which means it can brag that it stars three Oscar winners, as its trailer does. The movie has also happily deployed its trio of main players exactly as you'd expect. So, adding yet another cop to his resume, Washington plays unflinchingly dedicated and determined, as well as a character who's far from perfect. Malek has a much shorter acting history, but once again combines the blend of awkwardness and meticulousness that seeped from his pores over four seasons of Mr Robot. As for Leto, he's asked to mine not just his recent cinematic past, but also his overall status in popular culture. From his overcooked take on the Joker in Suicide Squad to the misplaced swagger that's defined his off-screen persona and his rock stardom with Thirty Seconds to Mars, he's hardly widely beloved. The Little Things wants everyone watching to remember that, and perhaps to even stoke the flames of their existing Leto hatred. Washington's Joe 'Deke' Deacon was once a well-admired Los Angeles detective; however, when The Little Things begins, he's a deputy sheriff in Kern County. His current and former colleagues all see that shift as a step down, but he's just as dogged in his new job — and, when he's reluctantly sent back to LA to collect evidence for an important trial, then gets brought in on a new serial killer case by Malek's hotshot newcomer Jim Baxter while he's hanging about, he's downright unrelenting. A number of women have been found murdered, and in gruesome circumstances. Baxter doesn't realise it, but the details prove familiar to Deke from years earlier. As the pair's new investigation leads them to repair store employee Albert Sparma (Leto), neither Deke nor Baxter is willing to rest until they solve the case. Off-putting and unpleasant from the moment he's first seen, the creepy, possibly psychotic Sparma likes being seen as a suspect, though, and enjoys toying with the men following him. So far in 2021's awards season, Leto has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his greasy-haired turn as Sparma, and it's near-impossible to fathom why. Tasked with an overtly and explicitly unlikeable part, he simply leans in, makes the most obvious of choices he possible can and relishes the dismay he seems to already sense coming his way. He's so over-the-top that he's just operating in the same one-note register that plagued his work in Suicide Squad (and, presumably, is about to be witnessed again in the new four-hour version of Justice League). There are exactly two notable elements to Leto's performance in The Little Things, and neither do him any favours. Firstly, everyone with abhorrence already pumping through their veins whenever he pops up in a film will feel not just comfortable about but justified in having made that choice. Secondly, Leto plays such a caricature with such forceful commitment and utter lack of subtlety that it makes his fellow big-name co-stars look positively rich and nuanced in comparison. Neither Washington and Malek will add another statuette to their mantles for their efforts in The Little Things, but the film is at its best when it lets the pair share a scene (and to do so without Leto). More than just bringing a stock-standard chalk-and-cheese pairing to the screen, they infuse Deke and Baxter's dynamic with texture — demonstrating the similarities between the two men as much as the differences, which gives the characters' working relationship far more liveliness than it might've boasted otherwise. As written and directed by The Blindside's John Lee Hancock, The Little Things doesn't gloss over either cop's flaws, but it mightn't have interrogated them to the same extent if they'd been played by other actors. And, when the storyline takes its two detectives into murky territory — with Deke haunted by past choices from the feature's first moments, and Baxter destined to follow him despite his clear conscientiousness — it might've rung hollow without Washington and Malek to sell the specifically required blend of bleakness, ambiguity and inevitability. If it was easy to predict how Hancock was going to use his three stars before even watching the movie, it's just as easy to see how their on-screen fates encapsulate the film. When The Little Things is great, it does more than just hit its blatant marks. When it's terrible, it's grating to the point of being futile. For most of its running time, it sits in the middle, and in the shadow of far better police procedurals. Zodiac, this isn't, for instance — but there's no doubting that masterpiece's influence here, or the similar imprint made by cop flicks from the 90s, when The Little Things is set. Hancock actually wrote his screenplay three decades ago, so it predates David Fincher's multiple entries into the serial killer genre and many of the other movies it now seems to ape, but the passage of time has proven a double-edged sword. If the film had reached cinemas back then, it might've been able to carve itself a distinctive niche or at least felt like part of a pack. Now, it mainly reminds viewers that better pictures exist, and have for some time. Still, as well as Washington and Malek's memorable-enough performances, this moodily shot affair does tick another welcome box. As seen through the era-appropriate absence of mobile phones, the time spent stepping through traditional detective methods, the weight of investigating tough cases, and the fallout from making both wrong and right decisions, The Little Things revels in the physical and emotional labour of chasing a killer. That's not enough to make up for its generally routine feel, of course, but it makes the audience follow the title's advice and value the smallest of highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZAnkxdYuA
Every year, The Wickham hosts Little Gay Day. Despite the name, it's a sizeable party, all while doubling as a fundraising event for charities that serve the LGBTQIA+ community. And, in 2023, this sister shindig to the venue's Big Gay Day is returning — this time in April. These two fests have swapped spots on the calendar just for this year; however, they're both still attached to long weekends. For Little Gay Day, that means getting Brisbanites partying from 2pm on Sunday, April 30. There'll be live tunes and performances taking over the whole newly revamped venue. There'll be beverages, too, given the location. Zoë Badwi, SGT Slick, BRIEFS, Get Ready with Ruby Slippers, Clara Cupcakes' Good Time Corral, Henny Spaghetti, Dolly Kicks, Stefani Stefani and Reef VS Beef lead the lineup of musicians, drag queens and performers who'll be strutting their stuff, spanning both locals and interstate talents. This year, entry is ticketed, with funds going to Open Doors Youth Service.
Plenty of Aussies have found themselves captivated by US TV drama The Handmaid's Tale, and the image of a dystopian society that is — even 30-odd years after the book was published — a little too close to home. And now, you'll have the chance to dive even deeper into that world, as Margaret Atwood, author of the original books that inspired the show, heads Down Under for an exclusive Australian appearance. Taking the stage at the Sydney Opera House in March 2019 in the lead-up to International Women's Day, the acclaimed Canadian writer will speak as part of the UNSW Centre for Ideas 2019 program. Atwood, celebrated for her storytelling prowess, prescient imagination and thought-provoking ideas, will share her insights into how present-day behaviours might be used to foretell any grim futures coming our way — just like those fictional worlds that hit so close to home in the likes of The Handmaid's Tale and Atwood's other works like The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace and, more recently, the MaddAddam Trilogy. The author's set to dish up her thoughts on the key issues of today and the future realities they might herald, from extremist politics, to climate change. It should be an interesting, if not eyebrow-raising, talk — as well as being an obvious advocate for women's rights, Atwood came under fire this year for her controversial take on the #MeToo movement and her reluctance to call The Handmaid's Tale feminist. Maybe she can visit Gliead while she's here. Margaret Atwood speaks at the Sydney Opera House's Concert Hall, on Sunday March 3, 2019. Tickets are from $39, available here from 9am, November 8.
Given the current state of the world, it's impossible to dismiss historical accounts of power, conflict, bureaucracy serving the wealthy and the masses fighting to be heard as mere chapters from the past. The same applies to medieval-style television fantasies about squabbling over a throne, too, but true tales bite harder than Game of Thrones ever has. Peterloo is the perfect example. Chronicling an infamous clash between ordinary workers and the government-backed militia near Manchester in 1819, the period piece harks back to 200 years ago yet remains scarily, unsettlingly relevant today. Of course, that's part of filmmaker Mike Leigh's point — there's a reason that the 76-year-old veteran British director has just now turned his attention to this bloody battle for voting rights. After spending a dozen years tussling with Napoleon's armies, the British people were tired, poor and hungry as the 19th century neared its third decade. Work was hardly reliable, food was scarce, industrialisation was taking its toll, distressed ex-soldiers were a common sight and even the pettiest of crimes could see someone shipped off to Australia. To make matters worse, few had a say in the country's path, with less than three percent of the population eligible to cast a ballot. It's this agitated climate that Peterloo explores, all to show how its brutal namesake event came about. The rich, the religious and the ruling classes wanted to retain the status quo. Charismatic reformers riled up everyday folks to fight for their rights. In the resulting physical skirmish — during a peaceful demonstration led by orator Henry Hunt (Rory Kinnear) — 18 people were killed and up to 700 injured among the 60,000-strong crowd. Writing as well as directing, Leigh emphasises the scale and impact of the Peterloo massacre in an effective fashion, stepping through the wants, needs, emotions and motivations of the various players before unravelling the climactic confrontation. But there's a fire in his belly from the outset, as is made clear when he opens the film with the Battle of Waterloo, and those flames don't subside. Spending time with characters of all stations and piecing together vignettes of their experiences, he crafts a patchwork of a picture, each scene stitching on another crucial square with palpable urgency. Some of the people within his view scoff and laugh, while others struggle to get by. However it's the atmosphere of chaos, inequity, opportunism, exploitation and duplicity that was part and parcel of life at the time that earns the filmmaker's sharpest rebukes. That, and the eventual human fallout on the path to changing British democracy. For a film based around such a violent event, more talk than action results; of course, as Leigh knows, words can cut just as deeply as weapons. Indeed, it's because Peterloo takes the time to survey the state of the nation at the time — including clear-eyed, unsentimental dissections of both camps in the government-versus-workers divide — that the massacre, when it comes, feels so punishing and relentless. There's a difference between a slog and an onslaught and, while the movie clocks in at 154 minutes, its speech-heavy and fight-fuelled portions still fall into the latter camp. Likewise, there's a difference between wallowing in misfortune (or, worse, romanticising it) and showing it like it was, and again Peterloo finds the right side. What the film also finds is a fitting way to tell such a detailed and complicated story — not only in its narrative approach, but in its visuals. While Leigh's last release, the applauded Mr Turner, explored the life of a great 19th-century British artist, the term 'painterly' equally applies here. With cinematographer Dick Pope lensing his 11th title for the director, Peterloo's frames are alive with minutiae yet remain carefully composed. Pitch-perfect but never glossy costuming and production design helps. So too do solid performances across the board, including from the ever-reliable Kinnear, as well as Maxine Peake as a weary mother doing what's needed for her family. But it's Peterloo's look and feel that truly hammers home Leigh's intentions. To understand why the movie's real-life basis is so important, and to see the parallels between then and now, requires peering as closely as possible — staring steadfastly at the whole picture, warts and all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlvLWaueD_o
Playing an Australian freshly arrived in Florida in Rough Night, Kate McKinnon bafflingly calls everyone's favourite Italian meal "pizzer". When she's hungry, she pulls a jar of Vegemite out of her bag. And for some unexplained reason, she asks for toilet tissue rather than toilet paper. These are three things likely to make Aussie audiences cringe. And yet despite this, they're actually attached to the best part of the film. Much as she was in Ghostbusters, Masterminds and Office Christmas Party, McKinnon is in Rough Night a downright comic delight, the best part of an ensemble cast that also includes Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Zoe Kravitz. If only the material matched her skills. Unfortunately this unremarkable comedy proves to be little more than a blend of Very Bad Things, The Hangover and Weekend at Bernie's, with a few familiar, sentimental musings about female friendship thrown in. Indeed, writer-director Lucia Aniello and her co-scribe Paul W. Downs — both Broad City alum — are happy sticking to a formula. If their script simply read "women behave badly, then hug", we wouldn't be surprised. You already know exactly how this film is going to play out: aspiring state senator Jess (Johansson) and her pals Alice (Bell), Blair (Kravitz), Frankie (Glazer) and Pippa (McKinnon) converge on Miami for 55 hours of drinking, partying, penis-shaped paraphernalia and selfie-worthy raucousness. That's all well and good, until they hire a male stripper and then accidentally kill him. Following in the footsteps of Bridesmaids and Bad Moms, it's great that female-led comedies are finally hitting cinemas in increasing numbers, albeit slowly. It's also great that Rough Night is helmed and co-scripted by a woman and features five ace ladies in the lead roles. Still, we can't help but wish that the film delivered more than just by-the-book observations and stereotypical characters. Sensible, envious, posh, feisty, kooky Aussie: the women here have about as much dimension as members of a '90s girl band. Outside of McKinnon, the biggest chuckles stem from cutaways to Jess' fiance's bachelor party, which involves a civilised evening of wine tasting rather than knocking back shots and snorting drugs. Of course, the fact that more amusement stems from the men in the movie than the women is an enormous problem. With most of its great ladies sadly underused, Rough Night feels like a wasted opportunity. What the world wants is more smart, funny, female-led flicks. What the world didn't need is lazy gender-swapped hijinks packaged as girls-gone-wild fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlDvkRYrIlU
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced artists and musicians to come up with even more innovative ways to make money, as well as keep us beloved fans entertained. Despite all the live-stream festivals, fun merch and unexpected new albums, though, there is no substitute for seeing your favourite bands and solo performers in the flesh — even if we can't all be crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in a sweaty venue for the foreseeable future. Enter Great Southern Nights, the NSW Government-led initiative aiming to kick-start the live music industry by putting on 1000 COVID-Safe gigs across the state this November. Sydney might be the state capital, but that doesn't mean it's where all the action is. With summer fast approaching and no prospect of international travel on the horizon, there's no better time to explore our own backyard. We've partnered with NSW Government to bring you eight gigs we think are worthy of a road trip. So, load up your bags, put on your ultimate playlist and hit the road.
Recently reformed to celebrate the release of their landmark 1998 album No Touch Red, Bodyjar bring their similarly titled tour to The Hi-Fi, with special guests One Dollar Short and By Amusement Only. A tour that almost didn’t happen, one of the band members got his arm broken after intervening when he saw a woman being hassled by a gang of guys, it’s already been met with rave reviews, from critics and fans alike. With their first album You Can’t Hold Me Down released in 1993 under the name Helium, Bodyjar have since put out six studio albums along with two live albums and four EPS. Counting members of Millencolin, Bad Religion, The Foo Fighters and NOFX among their fans the band are true aussie punk legends.
UPDATE, APRIL 4: Due to concerns around the coronavirus, Paramount Pictures has announced that The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On the Run will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, July 2, 2020, with the film now hitting cinemas in Victoria and Queensland on September 17, 2020, and cinemas in other Australian states on September 24, 2020. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. Nostalgia and the big screen seem to go hand in hand these days. This is a year that's brought back everything from Dumbo, Pet Sematary and Aladdin to The Lion King, Zombieland and Charlie's Angels, after all. And next year is set to be no different, especially when it comes to two properties that were a staple of every 90s and 00s childhood: SpongeBob SquarePants and Sonic the Hedgehog. Flicks based on both will hit cinemas in 2020, although this isn't the first time at the movies for Bikini Bottom's resident yellow critter. The ever-perky SpongeBob has already featured in 2004's great The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and 2015's similarly entertaining The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, with the new The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On the Run marking the third in the film series. And yes, it looks as manic and irreverent — and as suitable for viewers young, old and in-between — as ever. Sponge On the Run does boast one particularly huge drawcard, too: Keanu Reeves. Fresh from voicing a character in Toy Story 4, he plays a sage shrub that's also a wisdom-dispensing sage. So, he gives SpongeBob advice when the eponymous figure's pet snail Gary is snail-napped, sparking a road trip with starfish Patrick to The Lost City of Atlantic City. Yep, of course that's what happens. As for Sonic the Hedgehog, the 90s video game character makes the leap to movies in a live-action film that co-stars Jim Carrey as his usual antagonist, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Ben Schwartz, aka Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, voices the speedy extraterrestrial blue hedgehog — and the picture isn't without its fair share of controversy. When an earlier trailer was released a few months back, Sonic's overall look caused a stir, with the film since undergoing a visual redesign to fix it. Check out the results — and the Sponge On the Run trailer, too — below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJJYewh4Nco&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ZCtiWvBLk&feature=youtu.be After being delayed from its original release date of July 2, 2020, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On the Run will now open in cinemas in Victoria and Queensland on September 17, 2020, and cinemas in other Australian states on September 24, 2020. Sonic the Hedgehog releases on February 13, 2020.
If your tipple of choice is a tasty local beer or homegrown spirit, the 2021–22 Federal Budget has served up some good news for your future drinking endeavours. In a push to support jobs and boost Australia's alcohol manufacturing sector, the government is set to offer around $225 million in tax relief for local small breweries and distilleries. Announced earlier this month and reiterated during this week's federal budget announcement, this move will allow eligible brewers and distillers to get back any excise tax they pay on the alcohol they produce, up to a cap of $350,000 each year. Previously, they were only entitled to a maximum refund of 60 percent, capped annually at $100,000. The Excise Refund Scheme changes will kick off from July 1, 2021, pulling the benefits for Australia's beer and spirits industries more into line with what the wine industry currently enjoys. It's expected that around 600 brewers and 400 distillers will benefit from the move. The tax relief should offer our local beer and spirits scenes a huge boost, according to Independent Brewers Association Chairman and founder of Sydney's Wayward Brewing Co, Peter Philip. In an interview with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg earlier this month, Mr Philip explained that small brewers and distilleries would be pushing this extra money into technology, capability, capacity and their people. "Consumers really want to support small, locally-owned independent beer in Australia. And this is just going to make that happen," he said. In the same interview, Bentspoke Brewing founder Richard Watkins called the excise change "one of the biggest things that's ever happened in the brewing industry", saying his Canberra-based brewery would be investing in new equipment and technology to make the beer even better and meet increased demand. [caption id="attachment_811815" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wayward Brewing's Camperdown taproom[/caption] The budget move will also prove a timely helping hand for two industries especially hard hit by last year's hospitality lockdowns. In a statement made last month calling for a drop in excise tax rates, the Brewers Association of Australia revealed its 2020 data showing draught beer sales had plunged by a third, compared to the previous year. According to the organisation, that translates to a drop of over $1 billion in beer sold by pubs and clubs in 2020 alone. For more information about the 2021–22 Federal Budget, head to the government's website.
Labour Day 2022 might be several public holidays away, but it's worth marking in your diary right now. Across the long weekend leading up to the May day off, southeast Queensland's newest music festival will unleash three days of live tunes on the Gold Coast — on Surfers Paradise beachfront, and with a jam-packed lineup. Between Friday, April 29–Sunday, May 1, Golden Shores will make its debut right by the water. Yes, it's making that moniker count. Attendees will check out Youngn Lipz, HP Boyz, Safia, The Presets, Vera Blue, San Cisco and more, all while getting some sand between their toes — and dancing against a killer backdrop. The new fest comes from Cross Promotions, the Gold Coast entertainment outfit who were originally behind festivals such as Beachlife and SummaFielddayze. And while giving music lovers a stellar three-day festival experience by the sea is one of the event's key aims, so is helping the local entertainment industry recover after a difficult couple of years. Tickets start at $89 per day, with Youngn Lipz and HP Boyz headlining the Friday bill, Safia and The Presets (doing a DJ set) hitting the stage on the Saturday, and Vera Blue and San Cisco doing the honours on Sunday. They're joined on the lineup by Triple One, Wombat, Lastlings, Motez, Winston Surfshirt and Last Dinosaurs — with the list going on. Check out the full details below. GOLDEN SHORES 2022 LINEUP: Day one: Youngn Lipz HP Boyz Triple One Wombat Day1 Jesswar Barkaa Skrub YNG Martyr Yung Gwopp Day two: Safia The Presets (DJ set) Lastlings Motez Stace Cadet Young Franco Dena Amy DVNA Day three: Vera Blue San Cisco Winston Surfshirt Last Dinosaurs King Stingray Teenage Joans Yorke Golden Shores hits Surfers Paradise Beachfront from Friday, April 29–Sunday, May 1, 2022. For more information, or to buy tickets from Thursday, November 25, head to the festival's website.
A hard day of wizarding deserves a fresh pint of butterbeer, and London could soon have just the spot for it. An eager Harry Potter fan is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund what might just become everyone's favourite magical watering hole: The Cauldron. You can taking the leaking out of the enchanted bar's name, but you can't take the wonder, with the pub promising to use technology to emulate all of the tricks you've read about in JK Rowling's books and watched in the subsequent film adaptations. That includes touch-sensitive magic wands that can be used to light fires, turn on the lights and even pour drinks, plus moving photographs and levitating candles. There's no mention of paying for your drinks in galleons, but that idea sounds right up this place's Diagon Alley. Speaking of beverages, in addition to their own signature brew — the Cauldron Ale, which will be served in a specialty bottom-filling pint glass — The Cauldron will provide wizarding-inspired wines, spirits and soft drinks, as well as "spectacular science-based cocktails that look and behave like potions that are described in fantasy books." There's no word on just how they'll achieve that feat, but we like their confidence. As for food, The Cauldron once again pledges to fill its menu with dishes mentioned in all of those novels you love, with fans also able to make suggestions. Their ambition doesn't stop there, with shelves filled with texts, plug-in listening stations for audiobooks, book clubs, book readings, book signings, games meet-ups and wizarding trivia all on the agenda if the venue gets the go-ahead. It's the latest in a long list of HP-themed fun (including a pasta restaurant, a sleepover wizarding school, yoga classes and a market, plus Toronto already has a bar); however if that floats your objects of choice, The Cauldron's fundraising quest kicks off on June 26. The proposed pub is aiming for a March 2018 opening — for more information, check out their website.
Brent Lyall is a man that has it all. At age twenty-three he has a beautiful girlfriend, two Brownlow medals, and he captains one of the country’s most illustrious and powerful football clubs - but he has a secret. From time to time the young captain enjoys dressing up in women’s clothes and, on discovering his client’s deep and dark secret, Brent’s agent Rohan Swift sweeps in to prevent the shocking, devastating truth from coming out. The media already have a whiff of Lyall’s corseted secret and, if they get proof and unleash their story, the athlete’s promising career, and the agents financial stability, could come crushing down in an instant. But Brent’s secret is intoxicating and, sooner or later, Carmen will be set free. With 40 year’s experience behind him, and a string of box office successes David Williamson has earned a reputation as one of Australia’s most well-respected playwrights. Managing Carmen is his latest laugh out loud creation, a hilarious parody of the personalities we know and love; the no holds barred businessman, the gold digger trophy wife and the flawed footy hero.
Next time you slather your hands with sanitiser, you could be covering them with your favourite booze as well. With alcohol a crucial ingredient in the now-essential product — especially sanitiser that's effective against COVID-19 — distilleries and breweries are doing their part to help boost supplies. To the delight of rum lovers, that now includes Queensland's iconic Beenleigh Rum and Bundaberg Rum. While gin aficionados can splash their digits with Manly Spirits Co's gin-infused hand sanitiser — and plenty of other boozy outfits are jumping on the trend, too — fans of fermented and distilled sugarcane juice can look forward to freshening their fingers with their preferred tipple. Well, in a way. Australia's oldest distillery, Beenleigh Rum is whipping up its own sanitiser and selling it online; however, the end product doesn't feature any of its branding. Still, if you order a carton of Wheel & Barrow hand sanitiser, you'll be ordering sanitiser made by Beenleigh Rum — with online orders available now, by the carton, for delivery from Friday, March 27. Beenleigh Distillery owner Angelo Kotses originally just planned to start making sanitiser to keep the company's own workers safe, but decided to pump out more when asked by the Queensland Government. The distillery will also provide the state with a supply of the product for schools and frontline workers. If you're a Bundaberg Rum devotee, the Coral Coast-based operation is focusing on producing ethanol for use in hand sanitiser. It won't be making sanitiser itself — so you won't see bottles all over the place with Bundy Rum's bear logo — but it is donating 100,000 litres of ethanol to the Queensland Government to be used in making sanitiser, which will produce around 500,000 bottles. Although there's no word yet on how the government will be using the Bundy-infused sanitiser, fingers crossed that it'll be made available to the public — given how much Bundy Rum is drunk across the state, it's certain to be popular. To buy Beenleigh Rum-produced hand sanitiser, visit the distillery's website. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Ever wanted to build your own community? And no, I don't mean spending every waking hour on The Sims renovating your virtual dream house. This big idea, straight from TED2011, could empower humans everywhere with the essential tools to create civilisations, DIY-style. TED fellow Marcin Jakubowski has identified 50 machines critical to our modern way of life — everything from tractors to ovens to brick-making machines. Determined to re-design these machines to be modular, long-lasting and made of local recyclable materials, Jakubowski began Open Source Ecology, a project uniting a community of farmers, engineers and supporters hell-bent on developing an open-source 'Global Village Construction Set'. In essence, it's a suite of machines that are essential for setting up any civilisation. The best bit? Machinery is made up of interchangeable life-sized LEGO-like parts, and has the potential to democratise industrial production and enhance supply chains to be more environmentally sustainable. Jabukowski says the Global Village Construction Set "lowers the barriers to entry into farming, building, and manufacturing and can be seen as a life-size lego-like set of modular tools that can create entire economies." https://youtube.com/watch?v=CD1EWGQDUTQ [Via GOOD]
