Under normal circumstances, when a new-release movie starts playing in cinemas, audiences can't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the pandemic forcing film industry to make quite a few changes over the past year — widespread movie theatre closures will do that — that's no longer always the case. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you missed something. Or, you could be under lockdown — again. Whichever applies, that doesn't mean we aren't eager to see the latest flicks. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their recent releases from cinemas to streaming lately — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here's ten you can watch right now at home. SAINT MAUD If humanity ever managed to cure or circumvent death — or even just stop being despairingly afraid of our own mortality — the horror genre would immediately feel the difference. Lives are frequently in peril in films that are meant to spook and frighten. Fears of dying underscore everything from serial killer thrillers and body horror flicks to stories of zombies, ghosts and vampires, too. Indeed, if a scary movie isn't pondering the fact that our days are inescapably finite, it's often contemplating our easily damaged and destroyed anatomy. Or, it's recognising that our species' darkest urges can bring about brutal and fatal repercussions, or noting that the desperation to avoid our expiration dates can even spark our demise. Accordingly, Saint Maud's obsession with death isn't a rarity in an ever-growing genre that routinely serves it up, muses on it and makes audiences do the same whether they always realise it or not. In an immensely crowded realm, this striking, instantly unsettling feature debut by British writer/director Rose Glass definitely stands out, though. Bumps, jumps, shocks and scares come in all manner of shapes and sizes, as do worries and anxieties about the end that awaits us all. In Saint Maud, they're a matter of faith. The eponymous in-home nurse (Dracula and His Dark Materials' Morfydd Clark) has it. She has enough to share, actually, which she's keen to do daily. Maud is devoted to three things: Christianity, helping those in her care physically and saving them spiritually. Alas, her latest cancer-stricken patient doesn't hold the same convictions, or appreciate them. Amanda (Jennifer Ehle, Vox Lux) isn't fond of Maud's fixation on her salvation or her strict judgements about her lifestyle. She knows her time is waning, her body is failing and that she needs Maud's help, but the celebrated ex-dancer and choreographer does not want to go gently or faithfully in that good night. Instead, she'd much prefer the solace that sex and alcohol brings over her palliative care nurse's intensely devout zeal. Saint Maud is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH The last time that Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield appeared in the same film, Get Out was the end result. Their shared scene in Jordan Peele's Oscar-winning horror movie isn't easily forgotten (if you've seen the feature, it will have instantly popped into your head while you're reading this), and neither is Judas and the Black Messiah, their next exceptional collaboration. With Kaluuya starring as the Black Panther Party's Illinois Chairman Fred Hampton and Stanfield playing William O'Neal, the man who infiltrated his inner circle as an informant for the FBI, the pair is still tackling race relations. Here, though, the duo does so in a ferocious historical drama set in the late 60s. The fact that O'Neal betrays Hampton isn't a spoiler; it's a matter of fact, and the lens through which writer/director Shaka King (Newlyweeds) and his co-scribes Kenneth Lucas, Keith Lucas (actors on Lady Dynamite) and Will Berson (Scrubs) view the last period of Hampton's life. The magnetic Kaluuya has already won a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe for his performance, and is bound to be nominated for and likely win an Oscar as well — and if he wants to keep acting opposite Stanfield in movies this invigorating, ardent, resonant and essential, audiences won't complain. It's 1966 when O'Neal falls afoul of the law for trying to impersonate an FBI agent to steal a vehicle. With J Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen, Grace and Frankie) directing his employees to "prevent the rise of a 'messiah' who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement" — his real-life words — the car thief is offered a deal by actual FBI Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). If O'Neal cosies up to Hampton, then reports back on his comings, goings, political moves and general plans, he'll avoid jail. Initially apprehensive, he acquiesces to keep his freedom. With Hampton's raging speeches earning him a firm following, and his charisma and canny strategies broadening the crowds hanging on his words, O'Neal's task isn't minor. And the further he ingratiates himself into Hampton's confidence, becoming his head of security, the more he's torn about keeping tabs and doing the government's increasingly nefarious bidding. This isn't just a story about one young Black man coerced into bringing down a rising leader and revolutionary, however. It's also a tale about the figure who mobilised the masses as Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X had, until he was shot while he slept at the age of just 21. And, it's an account of the powers-that-be's abject fear of progress, equality, and the crusaders willing to put their lives on the line to fight for justice and a better world. Judas and the Black Messiah is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. GODZILLA VS KONG Given that neither of Godzilla vs Kong's towering titans are truly terrors, and therefore neither should really emerge victorious over the other, getting them to face off seems pointless. "They're both big, so they can't get along" is the simplistic concept. This isn't a new train of thought, or new to the American-made Monsterverse that's been nudging the beasts closer together for seven years. Thankfully, in the hands of You're Next and The Guest director Adam Wingard, Godzilla vs Kong has as much in common with its superior Japanese predecessors as it does with 2019's terrible Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The follow-up to 2017's Kong: Skull Island, too, this new battle of the behemoths doesn't remake the duo's first screen showdown in 1962's King Kong vs Godzilla. And, sadly, it hasn't ditched the current Hollywood flicks' love of unexciting human characters. But it crucially recognises that watching its titular creatures go claw-to-paw should be entertaining. It should be a spectacle, in fact. The film also realises that if you're not going to make a movie about this pair with much in the way of substance, then you should go all out on the action and fantasy fronts. In other words, Godzilla vs Kong feels like the product of a filmmaker who loves the Japanese Godzilla flicks and Kong's maiden appearance, knows he can't do them justice thematically, but is determined to get what he can right. Wingard is still saddled with a flimsy script with a tin ear for dialogue by screenwriters Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok) and Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island), but his massive monster melees are a delight. Also welcome: Godzilla vs Kong's eagerness to lean into its genre. When it surrenders to its pixels, and to a tale that involves a journey to the centre of the earth, subterranean asteroids, altercations with giant flying lizards and an underground tunnel from Florida to Hong Kong, it's equal parts loopy and fun. That trip to the planet's interior is guided by Kong. Now kept in a dome that simulates the jungle, the jumbo primate is under the watch of researcher Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall, Tales from the Loop), and bonds with Jia (newcomer Kaylee Hottle), the orphan also in the doctor's care. But, after Godzilla surfaces for the first time in three years to attack tech corporation Apex's Miami base, CEO Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir, Chaos Walking) enlists geologist Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård, The Stand) on a mission. Testing the latter's hollow earth theory, they plan to track down an energy source that could be linked to both Zilly and Kong's existence — if Kong will lead them there. In a plot inclusion that'd do Scooby Doo proud, teenager Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown, returning from King of the Monsters) and her classmate Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) are certain that Apex is up to no good and — with podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry, Superintelligence) — start meddling. Godzilla vs Kong is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. NOMADLAND Frances McDormand is a gift of an actor. Point a camera her way, and a performance so rich that it feels not just believable but tangible floats across the screen. That's true whether she's playing overt or understated characters, or balancing those two extremes. In Fargo, the first film that earned her an Oscar, McDormand is distinctive but grounded, spouting midwestern phrases like "you betcha" but inhabiting her part with texture and sincerity. In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, her next Academy Award-winning role, she's an impassioned mother crusading for justice and vengeance, and she ripples with deep-seated sorrow mixed with anger so fiery that it may as well be burning away her insides. Now, in Nomadland, McDormand feels stripped bare and still a commanding force to be reckoned with. She's tasked with a plucky but struggling part — defiant and determined, too; knocked around by life's ups and downs, noticeably; and, crucially, cognisant that valuing the small pleasures is the hardest but most rewarding feat. It earned her another Oscar nomination. It saw her nab a third shiny statuette just three years after her last, too. Along with the attention the movie received at the Golden Globes, both are highly deserved outcomes because hers is an exceptional performance, and this was easily 2020's best film. Here, leading a cast that also includes real people experiencing the existence that's fictionalised within the narrative, she plays the widowed, van-dwelling Fern — a woman who takes to the road, and to the nomad life, after the small middle-America spot where she spent her married years turns into a ghost town when the local mine is shuttered due to the global financial crisis. A slab of on-screen text explains her predicament, with the film then jumping into the aftermath. Following her travels over the course of more than a year, this humanist drama serves up an observational portrait of those that society happily overlooks. It's both deeply intimate and almost disarmingly empathetic in the process, as every movie made by Chloe Zhao is. This is only the writer/director's third, slotting in after 2015's Songs My Brothers Taught Me and 2017's The Rider but before 2021's Marvel flick Eternals, but it's a feature of contemplative and authentic insights into the concepts of home, identity and community. Meticulously crafted, shot and performed, it truly sees everyone in its frames, be they fictional or real. Nomandland understands their plights, and ensures its audience understands them as well. It's exquisitely layered, because its protagonist, those around her and their lives earn the same term — and Zhao never forgets that, or lets her viewers either. Nomadland is available to watch via Disney+. Read our full review. WILLY'S WONDERLAND If you've ever wondered how Nicolas Cage might've fared during cinema's silent era, Willy's Wonderland has the answer. A horror film about killer animatronic restaurant mascots, it's firmly a 2021 feature. It wasn't made a century ago, before synchronised sound forever changed the movie business, so it's definitely a talkie as well. Cage doesn't do any chattering, however. He groans and growls, and often, but doesn't utter a single word. The actor's many devotees already know that he's a talent with presence; whether he's cavorting in the streets under the delusion that he's a bloodsucker in Vampire's Kiss, grinning with his locks flowing in the wind in Con Air, dousing himself with vodka and grunting in Mandy or staring at a vibrant light in Color Out of Space, he repeatedly makes an imprint without dialogue. So, the inimitable star needn't speak to command attention — which is exactly the notion that Willy's Wonderland filmmaker Kevin Lewis (The Third Nail) put to the test. First, the great and obvious news: Cage doesn't seem to put in much effort, but he's a joy to watch. Playing a man simply known as The Janitor, he glowers like he couldn't care less that furry robots are trying to kill him. He swaggers around while cleaning the titular long-abandoned Chuck E Cheese-esque establishment, dances while hitting the pinball machine on his breaks, swigs soft drink as if it's the only beverage in the world and proves mighty handy with a mop handle when it comes to dispensing with his supernaturally demonic foes. Somehow, though, he's never as OTT as he could be. Cage plays a character who doesn't deem it necessary to convey his emotions, and that results in more restraint on his part than the film demonstrates with its undeniably silly premise. Accordingly, cue the bad news: as entertaining as Cage's wordless performance is — even without completely going for broke as only he can — Willy's Wonderland is often a ridiculous yet routine slog. Willy's Wonderland is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. THE LAST VERMEER Dutch artists Johannes Vermeer and Han van Meegeren picked up their brushes more than two centuries apart. Mention the latter, though, and you need to mention the former. Just why that's the case makes for a fascinating tale, as The Last Vermeer tells — one filled with twists, subterfuge, investigations, a trial and post-World War II efforts to punish anyone who conspired with the Nazis. Directed by producer turned first-time helmer Dan Friedkin (All the Money in the World, The Mule), and adapted from Jonathan Lopez's 2008 book The Man Who Made Vermeers, The Last Vermeer relays the Hollywood version of the story, of course. Big speeches and massaged details consequently abound. Attention-grabbing performances jump across this cinematic canvas, too, with Guy Pearce (Bloodshot) resembling Geoffrey Rush as van Meegeren and Claes Bang (Dracula) adding his third recent art-centric feature to his resume after The Square and The Burnt Orange Heresy. There's enough here to keep viewers interested, as there should be given the real-life basis, cast and handsome staging, but this is the type of film that's nicer to look at than to dive into. Its subject: art forgery, a topic that leaves an imprint beyond the movie's narrative. The Last Vermeer doesn't steal from elsewhere, but it also sinks into a well-populated list of other dramas about art and the war (see also: The Monuments Men and Woman in Gold ) far too easily and generically than a feature about this specific tale should. Bang plays Dutch Jewish officer Captain Joseph Piller, who is tasked with hunting down artworks illegally sold to the Nazis during the war and bringing everyone responsible to justice. That leads him to Christ and the Adulteress, a piece credited to Vermeer but found after his death — and to van Meegeren, the man who is suspected of selling it to key Nazi figure Hermann Göring in the world's biggest art sale at the time. Turning on the rakish charisma even when he's being interrogated by Piller and his offsider (Roland Møller, The Commuter), van Meegeren denies the accusation. Piller isn't convinced, but then police detective Alex De Klerks (August Diehl, A Hidden Life) tries to take over the case. Soon, van Meegeren has been secreted away, is painting while in hiding and, when eventually charged and brought to court, offers an astonishing theory. Also arising in The Last Vermeer: an exploration of the costs of and sacrifices involved in surviving wartime, although Friedkin and screenwriters John Orloff (Anonymous), Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (The Expanse) happily stick to the surface as they do elsewhere. As a mystery, the film suitably zigs and zags. As a courtroom drama, it boasts stirring moments. But, as well as wasting Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) in a thankless part, The Last Vermeer is never more than passable. The Last Vermeer is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. SONGBIRD If there are any words that absolutely no one wants to see when they're watching a COVID-19-inspired movie, it's these: produced by Michael Bay. The filmmaker who gave cinema the Bad Boys franchise and five Transformers flicks isn't behind the lens of Songbird, but writer/director Adam Mason and his frequent co-scribe Simon Boyes (Hangman) have clearly mainlined Bay's work, then decided to use its worst traits as a how-to manual. Set in 2024, when a virulent mutation of the coronavirus known as COVID-23 is on the loose, their tactless thriller is gimmicky and misguided at best. It's derivative, dull and has a plot that's so stale it really should also feature a tornado full of sharks, too. Wondering what might happen if the pandemic was even more horrendous and tragic than it is — and if America's handling of it, as based on 2020's response at least, was skewed even further towards corporate interests and the rich — the film decides to opt for quarantine concentration camps and a gestapo-like sanitation department. When it's not tastelessly taking cues from the holocaust to supposedly turn a shattering event the world is still experiencing into entertainment, it also attempts to tell a Romeo and Juliet-style love story about a couple separated by lockdown. And, if you've ever wondered what might happen if a Bay wannabe remade David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Bradley Whitford's (The Handmaid's Tale) role as an oxygen-huffing record executive preying on a young singer (Alexandra Daddario, Baywatch) answers that question as well. Bicycle courier Nico (KJ Apa, Riverdale) is resistant to COVID-23, and has an immunity bracelet to prove it; however, his girlfriend Sara (Sofia Carson, Feel the Beat) and her grandmother (Elpidia Carrillo, Euphoria) aren't so lucky. The coveted wristwear can be bought on the black market, though, which is why Nico is trying to make as much cash as he can working for delivery kingpin Lester (Craig Robinson, Dolemite Is My Name). The obvious happens, of course, sending unhinged sanitation head Emmett Harland (Peter Stormare, John Wick: Chapter 2) to Sara's building — and putting a deadline on Nico's quest, which wealthy couple William (Whitfield) and Piper Griffin (Demi Moore, Rough Night) might be able to assist with. The latter are also meant to be a picture of stay-at-home disharmony, all while trying to protect their immunocompromised daughter Emma (Lia McHugh, The Lodge) from anything outside their sprawling mansion. A PTSD-afflicted ex-veteran (Paul Walter Hauser, Richard Jewell) who flies drones to experience life beyond his walls also forms part of the story, although not a single character is given enough flesh to make viewers care about their plight. Even only clocking in at 84 minutes, this thoroughly unsubtle and exploitative film overstays its welcome — and the fact that it's shot and edited like Bay's glossiest and most bombastic action fare doesn't help. Songbird is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. MORTAL KOMBAT No one enjoys watching someone else mash buttons. While it's a passable way to spend a few minutes, losing interest quickly simply comes with the territory. That's how viewing Mortal Kombat feels as well, except that watching your friends play any of the martial arts video game franchise's 22 different arcade and console titles since 1992 (or any game at all) would be far more entertaining. Shot in South Australia and marking the feature debut of filmmaker Simon McQuoid, the latest attempt to bring the popular series to the big screen — following a first try in 1995 and a sequel in 1997 — feels like watching cosplay, too. The movie's cast literally dresses up in the outfits needed to recreate the game's characters, of course, but the film shouldn't so overtly resemble fans donning costumes at a pop culture convention. And yet, Mortal Kombat evokes this situation from the moment its 17th century Japan-set prologue, which is also its best scene, comes to an end. After establishing a mythic and bloody backstory for the movie's narrative as a whole, the character that'll become an undead ninja ghost called Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada, Westworld) and his prophecised descendants, this B-grade flick is happy to, in fact. It's not just the violence that's cartoonish here; it's every glare exchanged and word uttered, with much of the script trading in cliches, dramatic pauses and catchphrases. Mortal Kombat's gaming fanbase may be eager to see their beloved characters given flesh and blood, face off against each other and spout lines that usually emanate from a much smaller screen, but that doesn't make a movie engaging. Nor can a flimsy screenplay by first-timer Greg Russo and Wonder Woman 1984's Dave Callaham, which follows the battle between Earthrealm and Outworld — one that'll be lost by the former if an MMA fighter named Cole Young (Lewis Tan, Wu Assassins), who bears a dragon birthmark, doesn't team up with the other figures with the same marking to stop humanity from losing for the tenth time. That's where the no-nonsense Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee, Black Water: Abyss) comes in, and also the grating, wisecracking Kano (Josh Lawson, Long Story Short). The villainous Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim, Warrior) might be threatening to freeze all of earth's champions so that Outworld's Shang Tsung (Chin Han, Skyscraper) can rig the tournament before it even happens, but Mortal Kombat still has time — and far too much of it — to spend pondering supernatural destinies and letting an over-acting, always grating Lawson mug for attempted laughs. The end result is intentionally ridiculous, and presumably unintentionally dull, all while setting up an unearned sequel. And although brutal enough amidst the silliness for an R rating, even the film's fight scenes merely go through the motions, especially given the heights that films like The Raid and John Wick have scaled in with their eye-popping action choreography over the past decade. Mortal Kombat is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. CHAOS WALKING Adapted from the book series of the same name, Chaos Walking has weathered a difficult path to cinemas. The tedious and generic space western releases ten years after the rights to turn Patrick Ness' novels into films were first acquired, four years since the movie was originally shot and two years after major reshoots following unfavourable test screenings. It went through a plethora of rewrites, too, with I'm Thinking of Ending Things' Charlie Kaufman on scripting duties at one point, and Ness (A Monster Calls) and Spider-Man: Homecoming's Christopher Ford getting the final credit. Navigating such a mess rarely bodes well for a movie, so the fact that Chaos Walking proves dull and derivative shouldn't come as a surprise. Even with its cast filled with impressive talent, and with Edge of Tomorrow filmmaker Doug Liman begin the lens, it's hard to see how it might've fared better, with its premise an instant struggle. Set in 2257, the film follows colonists from earth on a planet called New World, who are plagued by a strange phenomenon. A multi-coloured haze hovers around men's heads — and only men — showing their every thought. The sensation has been dubbed 'the noise', and experiencing it while watching sure is rackety. Indeed, 'noise' is the absolute right word for the entire movie. In his pioneer village, teenager Todd (Tom Holland, The Devil All the Time) can rarely control his noise. While the Mayor (Mads Mikkelsen, Another Round) is able to filter the words and images that project from his mind — and also rock a furry red coat and wide-brimmed hat far better than anyone should — few others have the same ability. Seeing what everyone is thinking is a tricky way to live at the best of times, and it applies to the entire population, because women have been wiped out in a war attributed to the planet's original inhabitants. But Todd's troubles multiply when he discovers a spaceship, as well as Viola (Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), its sole surviving occupant. The mayor and his followers don't take kindly to the first female in their midst for years; however, supported by his adoptive fathers Ben (Demian Bichir, The Midnight Sky) and Cillian (Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter), Todd isn't willing to surrender the only girl he's ever seen to an angry mob. Cue a tale of toxic masculinity that dates back to 2008, when first instalment The Knife of Never Letting Go hit bookshelves, and feels timely in the current social, political and cultural climate. That said, this isn't a complex, layered or thoughtful film. Instead, it's content to stress its themes in such a broad and easy manner that getting Holland to hold up a sign saying "the patriarchy is bad" would've been more subtle. Indeed, Chaos Walking really just uses these notions as a backdrop for a predictable and formulaic dystopian story, and as a handy reason to motivate its conflicts, in a movie that plays like a hodgepodge of far better sci-fi and western fare. Chaos Walking is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. TOM & JERRY Before Itchy and Scratchy started terrorising each other well beyond the bounds of normal cat and mouse antagonism, another feline and rodent pair got there first. Of course, The Simpsons' adversarial four-legged critters were designed to parody the characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera more than 80 years ago, but they've long since supplanted Tom and Jerry as popular culture's go-to fighting animal duo. Perhaps the new Tom & Jerry movie is an attempt to push its titular creatures back to prominence. Perhaps it's just the latest effort to cash in on nostalgia while hoping that a new generation of children will be interested enough to warrant more big-screen outings, and therefore more chances to make some cash. Watching this all-ages-friendly hybrid of cartoon and live-action, it doesn't seem as if anyone involved knows quite why the film exists — not director Tom Story (Ride Along and Ride Along 2), who cares more about stressing the feature's hip hop soundtrack than paying much attention to its eponymous figures; not screenwriter Kevin Costello (Brigsby Bear), who pens a dull and derivative script about celebrity wedding chaos; and definitely not a cast that spans Chloë Grace Moretz (Shadow in the Cloud), Michael Peña (Fantasy Island), Rob Delaney (Catastrophe), Ken Jeong (Boss Level), Colin Jost (Saturday Night Live) and Pallavi Sharda (Retrograde), all of whom will forever have this misfire on their resumes. The animated animal action starts with Tom's latest vendetta against his long-time rival Jerry, after the latter destroys the former's keyboard and his music stardom dreams along with it. In his quest for revenge, the cat follows the house-hunting mouse to his newest abode at Manhattan's upmarket Royal Gate hotel, where the pair soon wreak havoc. Story and Costello prefer to focus on the resourceful and human Kayla (Moretz) at almost every turn, though. After talking her way into a job onsite, she's soon given two important tasks. The first: help ensure that the nuptials of two nondescript celebs (Jost and Sharda) go smoothly, which of course doesn't happen. The second: track down Jerry, which involves hiring Tom to assist. Somehow, Tom & Jerry is both lazy and overcomplicated. It does the bare minimum with its flesh-and-blood and pixel characters alike, all while completely forgetting that viewers have always loved Tom and Jerry for its fast, smart and entertaining slapstick antics (and definitely not because one day the duo might become bit-players in yet another flick about bland wedding dramas). When the film starts with pigeons rapping A Tribe Called Quest's 'Can I Kick It?' in its entirety, it begs an obvious question: who is this for? No one that's brought this movie to fruition seems to know the answer there, either — and they certainly haven't expended any energy on trying to make the feature funny, because laughs are absent from start to finish. Tom & Jerry is available to watch via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video.
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer keeps exploding through awards season, making a big impact at the 2024 Golden Globes and now leading the just-announced Oscar nominations. The Cillian Murphy-starring biopic of Robert Oppenheimer has picked up 13 nods from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, leading this year's contenders for Hollywood's night of nights. And yes, its Barbenheimer partner Barbie also earned a swag of recognition — but not in two pivotal categories. The Margot Robbie-led, Greta Gerwig-directed spin on the famous doll collected eight nominations; however, Robbie is absent in the Best Actress field, as is Gerwig among the helmers. As one of the movie's producers, Robbie is in the running for a Best Picture gong, though, while Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) received a Best Adapted Screenplay nod. Barbie's other nominations include Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Supporting Actress for America Ferrara, as well as two entries for Best Original Song. Falling in-between Oppenheimer and Barbie numbers-wise: Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon, the two films with the two most-likely Best Actress contenders. For the former, a glorious riff on Frankenstein that earned 11 nominations, Emma Stone could win her second Oscar after La La Land. For the latter, aka Martin Scorsese's latest masterpiece with ten nominations, Lily Gladstone is the first Indigenous American to be recognised in the field. Oppenheimer, Barbie, Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon are also among the ten movies competing for Best Motion Picture. Their company: American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers and Maestro, as well as Poor Things and The Zone of Interest. History was made in this category, too, with three female-directed films in contention for the first time ever. That said, only one woman is among the Best Director nominees, with Justine Triet following up her Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or win with an Oscar nomination — competing against Nolan, Scorsese, Poor Things' Yorgos Lanthimos and The Zone of Interest's Jonathan Glazer. While deserving movies miss out among every list of awards nominations, 2024's Oscar highlights include both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest earning so much attention beyond the Best International Feature Film field — which Anatomy of a Fall wasn't submitted for — complete with their shared star Sandra Hüller receiving a Best Actress nomination for the first. The Boy and the Heron's Best Animated Feature nod, El Conde's for Best Cinematography, Godzilla Minus One's for Best Visual Effects and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar in the Best Live-Action Short Film all also stand out. Among the notable omissions, Saltburn, Ferrari, Priscilla, All of Us Strangers and The Iron Claw didn't receive any love, May December missed all of the acting categories and Leonard DiCaprio wasn't included among Killers of the Flower Moon's picks. Who'll ultimately emerge victorious will be revealed on Monday, March 11, Australian and New Zealand time, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting. Here's the full list of nominations: Oscar Nominees 2024: Best Motion Picture American Fiction Anatomy of a Fall Barbie The Holdovers Killers of the Flower Moon Maestro Oppenheimer Past Lives Poor Things The Zone of Interest Best Director Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Annette Bening, Nyad Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall Carey Mulligan, Maestro Emma Stone, Poor Things Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Bradley Cooper, Maestro Colman Domingo, Rustin Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple America Ferrera, Barbie Jodie Foster, Nyad Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Sterling K Brown, American Fiction Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer Ryan Gosling, Barbie Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things Best Original Screenplay Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet and Arthur Harari The Holdovers, David Hemingson Maestro, Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer May December, Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik Past Lives, Celine Song Best Adapted Screenplay American Fiction, Cord Jefferson Barbie, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan Poor Things, Tony McNamara The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer Best International Feature Film Io Capitano, Italy Perfect Days, Japan Society of the Snow, Spain The Teachers' Lounge, Germany The Zone of Interest, United Kingdom Best Animated Feature The Boy and the Heron Elemental Nimona Robot Dreams Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Best Documentary Feature Bobi Wine: The People's President The Eternal Memory Four Daughters To Kill a Tiger 20 Days in Mariupol Best Original Score American Fiction, Laura Karpman Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix Best Original Song 'The Fire Inside', Flamin' Hot, Diane Warren 'I'm Just Ken', Barbie, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt 'It Never Went Away', American Symphony, Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson 'Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)', Killers of the Flower Moon, Scott George 'What Was I Made For?', Barbie, Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell Best Cinematography El Conde, Edward Lachman Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto Maestro, Matthew Libatique Oppenheimer, Hoyte van Hoytema Poor Things, Robbie Ryan Best Film Editing Anatomy of a Fall, Laurent Sénéchal The Holdovers, Kevin Tent Killers of the Flower Moon, Thelma Schoonmaker Oppenheimer, Jennifer Lame Poor Things, Yorgos Mavropsaridis Best Production Design Barbie Killers of the Flower Moon Napoleon Oppenheimer Poor Things Best Visual Effects The Creator Godzilla Minus One Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One Napoleon Best Costume Design Barbie, Jacqueline Durran Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacqueline West Napoleon, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman Oppenheimer, Ellen Mirojnick Poor Things, Holly Waddington Best Makeup and Hairstyling Golda Maestro Oppenheimer Poor Things Society of the Snow Best Sound The Creator Maestro Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One Oppenheimer The Zone of Interest Best Documentary Short Subject The ABCs of Book Banning The Barber of Little Rock Island in Between The Last Repair Shop Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó Best Animated Short Film Letter to a Pig Ninety-Five Senses Our Uniform Pachyderme WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko Best Live-Action Short Film The After Invincible Knight of Fortune Red, White and Blue The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar The 2024 Oscars will be announced on Monday, March 11, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
Covering no more than 6 square metres of space, Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed XS House encompasses all the domestic necessities of a home in adorable miniature. The world's smallest house, valued at AU$37,325, has recently gone up for eBay auction; all proceeds will go to help fund early art education at the Toledo Museum of Art. The current bid on the house is AU$24,300 with 20 days left to bid. Contained within this tiny home is a sleeping loft fit with a queen-size bed, a bathroom complete with a shower, a kitchenette and a living area. The house is fully furnished, right down to the space-saving mini-fridge. RV-style water and electricity hookups are featured too, so the only amenity the buyer would have to provide is an external sewage tank. As the art museum says, "The small house movement is about quality of space and design, not quantity." The Tumbleweed XS House was originally commissioned to be a part of Toronto's Museum of Art exhibition 'Small Worlds'. Building materials and a workspace were donated by a local mercantile, The Andersons. 'Pared down' may be an understatement for this little home and the lifestyle which accompanies it, but for those seeking a simplistic way of life these 6 square metres may be the perfect fit.
In 2018, it was the book that everyone was talking about. In 2020, it was the TV adaptation that we all watched in one sitting. That'd be Normal People, with Irish author Sally Rooney enjoying a big couple of years thanks to her dramatic romance — even co-writing the screenplay for the television series. If you've been enjoying all this time spent singing Normal People's praises, but also wondering what's next for Rooney, it's time to rejoice — because 2021 has the answer. In great news for fans of not only of her most popular work, but of her 2017 debut Conversations with Friends as well, the writer will be releasing her third book later this year. Beautiful World, Where Are You is set to hit shelves on September 7, Rooney's UK publisher Faber has announced. Readers can expect another tale about complicated relationships, this time focusing on novelist Alice. She meets warehouse worker Felix, and asks him to travel to Rome with her — while her Dublin-based best friend Eileen is flirting with Simon, who she has known since she was a kid, to help get over a breakup. "Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young – but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart," says the official synopsis for the book. "They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?" it continues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Faber Books (@faberbooks) That's just one of two new Rooney-related projects to put on your radar, too, with Conversations with Friends following in Normal People's footsteps and getting the TV treatment. It's being adapted as a 12-episode mini-series, with Normal People co-director Lenny Abrahamson and co-writer Alice Birch leading the charge behind the scenes. Just when it'll hit screens hasn't yet been revealed — but you can obviously rebinge Normal People while you're waiting for it to land. Beautiful World, Where Are You will be published on September 7, 2021. For further details, head to the book's website. Top image: Normal People.
There's nothing quite like getting spirited away by a Hayao Miyazaki movie. Studio Ghibli isn't short on enchanting on-screen wonders hailing from a range of filmmakers, but the Japanese animation house's best-known co-founder truly does make films like no one else. Since 2013, however, fans have had a Miyazaki-shaped gap in their lives, ever since the director's last feature The Wind Rises reached screens. In fact, the movie maestro even announced his retirement, but thankfully changed his mind quickly. Since news that director wasn't farewelling filmmaking came to light, no new Miyazaki-directed features have hit screens as yet — but that's finally changing in 2023. After gifting the world a short trailer for the now-open Studio Ghibli theme park, the filmmaker will release his latest full-length effort midyear in Japan. Fingers crossed that it arrives Down Under around the same time. That film? How Do You Live, which has been in the works ever since it was announced that Miyazaki was returning from his short-lived retirement. Few details have been unveiled since, but Ghibli has just locked in that July 14 Japanese release date, and dropped a poster. The new feature film from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli has been announced! HOW DO YOU LIVE (tentative title) opens in theaters in Japan on July 14, 2023. https://t.co/fHnLM6epTS — Studio Ghibli (@GhibliUSA) December 13, 2022 As reported by Variety, How Do You Live is believed to be based on a YA book from 1937 by Genzaburo Yoshino, and to focus on a 15-year-old boy. Ghibli films are always about journeys of some sort, and this one is expected to hone in on its central teen's efforts to understand the meaning of life, and cope with poverty, via advice from his uncle in a journal. How Do You Live will mark Ghibli's fifth film since Miyazaki's last feature, following Isao Takahata's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, page-to-screen treat When Marnie Was There, gorgeous French co-production The Red Turtle and the CGI-animated Earwig and the Witch. おはようございます。 pic.twitter.com/ayRkppbmT1 — スタジオジブリ STUDIO GHIBLI (@JP_GHIBLI) December 12, 2022 The movie gods are clearly shining upon 2023, and every film lover's must-watch list now has a couple of spectacular entries for the new year — with My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle icon Miyazaki's new flick set to drop around the same time as Wes Anderson's latest Asteroid City. Like that film, it's easy to predict that How Do You Live might premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May ahead of its Japanese release — and ideally hit the midyear film festival circuit Down Under (aka the Sydney Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and New Zealand International Film Festival). There's no trailer for How Do You Live yet, but you can get excited by revisiting the trailer for Miyazaki's The Wind Rises: How Do You Live will release in Japan on July 14, 2023. The film doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced. Top image: How Do You Live poster, Studio Ghibli.
When there's all that vino to drink, no one really needs another reason to book in a holiday to the Barossa. Still, a towering new six-star hotel smack bang in the middle of the vineyard is certain to catapult the South Australian wine region to the top of your must-visit list. That's what's coming to the famed Seppeltsfield winery, as first announced back in 2020 — and the $50-million, 12-storey spot has just gotten the official tick of approval. Given that the Oscar Seppeltsfield has only just received that planning go-ahead after a period of community consultation, don't go backing your bags just yet — it isn't set to open until 2024. But it'll make one helluva impressive spot to visit when it does start welcoming in wine-loving guests, and also give the Barossa a new landmark. Named after winemaker Oscar Benno Seppelt, the hotel will be surrounded by century-old bush vines — and every room will feature a private balcony so that you can soak up that view. Speaking of spots to slumber, there'll be 71 rooms in total, including penthouses and suites. Also included: a fine-dining restaurant, private dining room, boardroom, fitness studio, day spa and infinity pool. And, to literally cap it all off, a top-floor viewing deck with 360-degree views over the region will sit on the highest level. Just think, after hitting up a bunch of cellar doors, sipping local vinos and eating lots of cheese, you can come back and have a dip in the pool, peer out over the vines from a great height, then sit down for more wine and a white-tablecloth dinner. If you're looking for indulgence, this is it. Designed by Adelaide-based firm Intro Architecture, the towering 12-storey design was inspired by wine barrels and is set to bring a modern edge to Seppeltstfield, which is one of Australia's oldest wineries and was lauded as one of the top 50 vineyards in the world in 2019. The new hotel also looks a lot like La Cité du Vin in Bordeaux, also one of the world's most prestigious wine destinations. Construction on the Oscar is expected to start this year. And yes, it's destined to become a tourist attraction. It's anticipated that the hotel will bring in an extra $90 million in tourism dollars, and also drive an increase in both Aussie and international visitors, within the first five years of opening alone. "The Oscar Seppeltsfield will complete the grand vision of our tourism master plan — to be the most desirable epicurean destination for tourists worldwide. A national icon for South Australia, a Sydney Opera House for the Barossa," said Seppeltsfield proprietor and Executive Chairman Warren Randall. Oscar Seppeltsfield is slated to open at Seppeltsfield Winery's Great Terraced Vineyard, Barossa Valley, South Australia, in 2024. For more information, head to the winery's website.
Lovers of Die Hard references and 'title of your sex tape' jokes, rejoice — and start planning your next Halloween heist. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the beloved sitcom that all of the above gags form an important part of, has just been renewed. And if this feels a little like deja vu, there's a good reason for that. Basically, what a difference 18 months can make. This time back in May 2018, the show was cancelled after its fifth season by Fox, its original American network. An outcry followed, so rival US channel NBC came to the rescue, picking up the series just 31 hours later and committing to a sixth season of cop comedy. It was the latest tense move in the B99's history, with the threat of axing looming over the show since it premiered in 2013. Now, much to delight of fans, that's no longer the case — at least for the next two seasons. Back in March, the series was renewed for a 13-episode seventh season. Just last week, it was announced that those new episodes (and gags) will hit screens in both the US and Australia from early February. But there's even more exciting news in store for the fine fictional detectives of Brooklyn's 99th precinct, with NBC now renewing the series for an eighth season even before the seventh season airs. It seems that the network is rather fond of Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) and Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) — and even Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller). https://twitter.com/nbcbrooklyn99/status/1195037124342378497?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Enews%7Ctwgr%5Etweet Yes, Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans can't utter "noice" fast or often enough. Or, as Peralta would say: cool cool cool. Expect season eight to air during the 2020–21 US TV season — although just when it'll screen obviously hasn't been revealed this far in advance. We do have season seven to get through first, after all. Aussie fans have been very fortunate in recent years, with SBS dropping new episodes in line with their US screenings, and that'll continue with season seven from February 2020. Here's hoping the same proves the case when season eight rolls around. As always, there are plenty of B99-appropriate ways to mark this development. Breaking out a celebratory yoghurt, Terry Jeffords-style, is definitely in order. If you're more like Captain Raymond Holt, perhaps you'd like to treat yourself to a trip to a barrel museum. Or you could channel your inner Gina Linetti and dance about your happy feelings. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's eighth season will air sometime in 2020 or 2021. Before that, the show's seventh season will start screeening from Friday, February 7, 2020, Australian time on SBS Viceland. Via Variety.
Normally, no one plans to go to sleep at the movies. If an uninspiring film, being in a cavernous darkened room, the comfort of recliners and daybeds, simple tiredness or any combination of the above can cause your eyes to get heavy, however, there's now a session where dozing is encouraged. More than that, having a nap is exactly what patrons are meant to do at southeast Queensland's Limelight Cinemas when its new Snooze Sessions kick off. Is this the first trip to the flicks that's all about drifting off? This chain thinks so. Its Ipswich venue initially floated the idea as an April Fool's gag, but it's now officially on the lineup, kicking off on Monday, July 14, 2025. If you hear snoring during it, well, don't be surprised. Those chaotic A Minecraft Movie screenings with "chicken jockey" screams and other mayhem that were packing cinemas earlier in 2025? Consider Snooze Sessions the exact opposite. The projectors will still get whirring, but there'll be no shouts and thrown popcorn. Also, you won't be slumbering through a big franchise hit, side-splitting comedy, affectionate rom-com or any other type of movie. Instead, relaxing visuals are on the agenda. At its first edition, Snooze Sessions is going with a rainforest theme, not just in what graces the screen but in the dialogue-free soundscape as well. "Snooze Sessions isn't about catching the next blockbuster — it's about catching your breath. It's a unique experience that proves you don't have to watch a movie to feel transported. It's an invitation to take a break, enjoy the quiet, and reset in a darkened cinema," said CEO Ross Entwistle. Tickets cost $10 for a recliner and $20 for a double daybed — and places are limited to ensure that it truly is a restful experience Maybe this is your moviegoing dream, because picture palaces always make you sleepy. Perhaps you already know that dropping off will be impossible. Or, if you're spending cash at a cinema, you could want to actually see a film. Whatever fits, Limelight Cinemas is giving Snooze Sessions a try for a short time — and it's not joking about it. Snooze Sessions are taking place at Limelight Cinemas Ipswich, Riverlink Shopping Centre, The Terrace, North Ipswich, for a limited time from Monday, July 14, 2025. Head to the venue's website for tickets and more details.
There's something rather cool about being ahead of the curve when it comes to cinema, watching the latest and greatest flicks on the silver screen well before anyone else. And at Australia's biggest short film festival, you can do just that. The internationally acclaimed Flickerfest is also celebrating its 32nd year in 2023, so you can expect an A-class lineup of cinematic delights. The annual short film festival is Australia's leading Academy Award-qualifying short film fest, and is backed with BAFTA recognition too. For one-night only in March, you can catch a long night of short films at the James St Palace Cinemas. [caption id="attachment_888955" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Katele'[/caption] Get a window into the most exciting contemporary short films with both national and international acclaim. The films featured are handpicked as the most inspiring, provocative and entertaining among the whopping thousands of submissions this year. Six out of eight films screened on the night are Queensland-made, and all starred in the Academy-qualifying Flickerfest competition in Sydney earlier this year. Thursday, March 2 will be a night for the Best of Australian Shorts, kicking off at 7pm with complimentary drinks on arrival. Here, you'll get to mingle with a bunch of incredible Queensland filmmakers fresh from their Flickerfest premieres. The local filmmakers will be sharing the big screen with Australian festival award-winners and acting legends — ready to enjoy Australian premieres like Wonder Down Under and A Stretching Moment. There'll also be Katele (pictured above), a Torres Strait drama shot in Brisbane and on Sabai island, which scored Flickerfest's Best Australian Short Film Award. To see the full Flickerfest 2023 program and grab tickets, head to the website. Flickerfest hits Brisbane for one-night only on Thursday, March 2 from 7pm to 9.15pm, and will continue touring nationally until October 2023. Top images: 'Wonder Down Under', 'A Stretching Moment'
Do you like doughnuts? Of course you do. And even though you think your love is peak right now, you're probably going to like them a whole lot more when you taste what Doughnut Time has to offer. That's right — one of Queensland's favourite sources of doughy deliciousness is heading down south. A Doughnut Time pop-up has just opened in Topshop in Sydney's Market Street, which is just the start of their interstate venture. New stores in Newtown, Bondi and Chippendale will soon be serving up the likes of the Cate Blanchett (with milk and dark chocolate glaze, Tim Tams and white chocolate curls) and the Wake Me Up Before You Vovo: a doughy with a light strawberry glaze, jam and coconut marshmallows. After that, a couple of Melbourne-based pop-ups and standalone shops in Fitzroy and Hawthorn will follow suit. So pretty. A photo posted by DOUGHNUT TIME (@doughnut_time) on Oct 29, 2015 at 4:01pm PDT Of course, the full rotating range of delectable iced, filled bites will be on offer, so prepare to devour the Melon Degeneres with watermelon and sour green glaze, the pretzel-topped George Costanza and the Fruit Loop-laden Cereal Killer, among others. Picking something based on its name alone is completely acceptable. Branching into New South Wales and Victoria caps off what has already been a massive year for Doughnut Time — they only started trading in Queensland earlier in 2015, after all. Since that first Fortitude Valley store opened its doors to lines down the street, three other Brisbane outlets have been added to the mix, plus two on the Gold Coast and a roving Doughnut Time van. Yes, it's a good time to love those damn fine orbs of pastry goodness. For the moment, you can find Doughnut Time's pop-up at Topshop at 45 Market Street, Sydney. For more information about their upcoming openings in Sydney and Melbourne, keep an eye on their website and Facebook page. Via Good Food.
Get ready to embark on a tantalising culinary journey that will transport you straight to the sun-kissed shores of the Amalfi Coast — all without leaving Aussie soil. Together with Aperol, we've scoured every corner of this vast land to curate a guide to the bars and restaurants that capture the essence of coastal Italy's gastronomic wonders. From echoing laidback osterias to swanky harbourside bars exuding Riviera-style opulence, our roundup is a tribute to the vibrancy of Italian culture infused with an Australian twist. So, fasten your seatbelts and prepare for an unforgettable expedition. Your table overlooking the azure seas awaits — no boarding pass required.
In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she pulls up a chair in the basement of the orphanage she calls home and demands that janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, The New Mutants), she plays whenever she's able, earning a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part Netflix miniseries firmly proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados. But it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen, whether projecting imagined matches onto the ceiling or peering down on competitive bouts directly from above. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. Indeed, from its very first moments, the series peppers all that chess gameplay throughout a knotty coming-of-age tale — because, while this is definitely a show about chess that serves up an underdog sports narrative, it's really a story about Beth's journey. After a family tragedy, she arrives at a Kentucky orphanage as a defiant slip of a girl. Forced to navigate a stern and strict environment, she finds solace in the tranquillisers that are handed out to the children like lollies, and in the game that instantly piques her curiosity from the moment that she spies Mr Shaibel playing it. Both will change her life, not only during her stint in institutionalised care, but when she's later adopted by the lonely Alma Wheatley (Marielle Heller, who is best-known for directing The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood) and her frequently absent husband (Patrick Kennedy, Peterloo). By the time that Beth is busing around the US and jetting around the world to compete with the game's most formidable players, however, she's also leaning on alcohol as a coping mechanism. Taylor-Joy has had a busy 2020 — or, to be more accurate, audiences Down Under have been spoiled for opportunities to see her on-screen this year. The New Mutants finally reached cinemas after hefty delays, Radioactive just arrived locally after debuting overseas in 2019, and Emma released back before the pandemic changed 2020 forever. But The Queen's Gambit is her best role of the year and, alongside 2014's The Witch, her best work yet. Playing a teen and then a young woman who is constantly changing from moment to moment, and making that reality feel authentic and relatable, she's one of the key reasons that the series is so compelling. She's also crucial to all those chess scenes, with her determined stare and the gleam in her eyes the source of much of the show's weight and tension. She's in excellent company, too, not only thanks to Heller and Camp but also first-timer Moses Ingram as Beth's fellow orphanage resident and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones, Love Actually) as the cowboy hat-wearing reigning US chess champ; however, she's always the most pivotal piece on the board. Before his death in 2008, Heath Ledger had been preparing to bring The Queen's Gambit to cinemas. It would've marked his directorial debut, and he would've co-starred alongside Ellen Page as Beth. We'll never know how that might've turned out, but this tale works exceptionally well as a miniseries, with the longer duration giving it room to breathe and affording its central character and the themes she's grappling with the space they need to ferment. The Queen's Gambit also benefits from arriving post-Mad Men, a show that it shares a time period with, and visually resembles again and again. And it now reaches viewers at a time when more stories about women fighting their way through male-dominated realms are being made; Frank himself was also behind Netflix's seven-part western Godless, for example. When you start dreaming about chess after watching a single episode, you'll know you're hooked. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Top image: Phil Bray/Netflix.
Only one Cantonese eatery in the middle of the Brisbane CBD is located inside a three-storey former shipping office that dates back to the 1800s. Only one such restaurant is nestled into a historic (and heritage-listed) building's top floor, perched above a brasserie plus a supper club-style cocktail bar and lounge, too. That place: The Fifty Six in Naldham House, the Felix Street building that also boasts Naldham House Brasserie & Terrace on its ground level, plus the second storey's Club Felix. The site itself relaunched as a multi-venue hospitality hub in 2024, but its final piece was still a work in progress until February 2025. Now, the landmark waterfront building's third reason to drop by is welcoming patrons through the door, then upstairs. Traditional recipes made with modern techniques are the star under Chef Gerald Ong (ex-Tiger Lane, Chairman & Yip, Mrs Wang, Lucky Duck and Golden Panda in Canberra) — and, decor- and vibe-wise, so are arched windows peering out on leafy views, plus looking at the river while getting comfortable on the 48-person balcony. Ong's culinary inspiration: both the initial wave of Chinese immigration to Queensland, and also the influence since that cuisine in both Brisbane and Australia has taken from Chinese culture and food. Accordingly, if you're hankering for familiar Cantonese dishes, they're on the menu, but given a contemporary spin. Seasonal local produce is also in the spotlight. Think: Hervey Bay scallops paired with house XO, Queensland blue swimmer crab baked in its shell and Queensland baby lobster pao fan paired with shellfish broth. Elsewhere on the menu, when scallop and prawn siu mai isn't tempting your tastebuds, or the oysters with pink ginger mignonette and the drunken prawn tart, then raw Hirasama kingfish, salted egg prawns, duck pancakes with house hoi sin, tea quail egg with caviar, sweet and sour Berkshire pork, and steamed Murray cod should be. There's more menu highlights where they came from — including more dishes from the dim sum range curated by Ka Wai Kwok, such as the prawn toast that's paired with house-made chilli sauce; black pepper beef tenderloin and scallops as well as dry-aged five-spiced half duck with davidson plum sauce among the bigger options; and desserts like mango pudding, chocolate brownie mochi and deep-fried toffee ice-cream with char siu caramel. Can't decide what to order? Three separate tasting menus will come in handy, with one dedicated to vegetarian dishes and another focusing on seasonal options. The beverage selection is just as carefully constructed, whether a banana-infused old fashioned takes your fancy, or a margarita made with shiso-infused tequila and yuzu does the trick. The Fifty Six's take on a manhattan uses roast duck fat rye, the wine list is hefty — complete with a section dedicated to 'aromatics of intrigue' — and 11 different picks sit among the premium tea selection. Images: Dexter Kim and Markus Ravik.
If you're starting to pencil in some strategic long weekends and well-deserved trips this year, here's one to add to the mix: Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort in Port Douglas has just launched a Bali-inspired floating breakfast. Designed for a loved-up pair or two partners-in-crime, this luxurious floating breakfast is available exclusively for guests staying as part of the Sheraton's Float Into Paradise accommodation package, which includes a three-night stay in a Mirage Studio Garden View Room. The menu runs to the likes of smashed avocado with perfectly poached eggs, charred sourdough and kale with whipped feta and seeds. A vegan-friendly scrambled tofu is paired with avo and tomato bruschetta, or a climate-appropriate coconut acai bowl is made with an almond-milk base and loaded with yoghurt, banana, macadamia and goji berries. If you take a more flexible approach when it comes to holiday nutrition, look towards the indulgent part of the menu. You can expect a three-cheese and tomato sourdough toastie, fresh banana bread or a brekkie burger with hash brown, smoked bacon, cheese and a fried egg. [caption id="attachment_888044" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Ellen Seah[/caption] The crowning jewel of the floating breakfast menu is a succulent half-lobster, served stuffed with creamy scrambled eggs, chives and garlic Turkish bread. Fresh fruit, yoghurt, pastries, a pair of coffees and juice are also included. The Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort itself boasts over two hectares of sparkling saltwater pools in Tropical North Queensland, meaning you can spend more time lounging by the water and less time travelling. Lagoons on-site include spots with sandy beaches, as well as serene private cabanas nestled on the waterfront. The five-star resort is also home to 147 hectares of lush tropical gardens, an 18-hole golf course and seven restaurants and bars on-site. In particular, the hatted Harrisons headed up by Spencer Patrick is a must-visit as one of Port Douglas' best restaurants. [caption id="attachment_888046" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Sunset Sessions[/caption] While the pool (and poolside) food and cocktails will keep you plenty busy, the hotel also runs Sunday sunset sessions complete with tapas and live tunes, or you can head along to a monthly rum masterclass. If you are keen to venture further during your stay, there are a variety of eco-friendly and sustainable tour options you can book. Locally-run Back Country Bliss runs swimmable tours through the Daintree Rainforest, which includes a snorkel and float tour of Mossman Gorge. Sailaway is a family business running half-day and full-day charters to Great Barrier Reef, including the Low Isles and Mackay Coral Cay on the Outer Reef. Finally, Four Mile Beach adventures with a twist can be booked with locally-operated Port Douglas Segway Tours. You can book the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort floating breakfast via the hotel website. It is available until December 18, 2023. If you want to extend your Queensland getaway, check out our curated Whitsundays packages on CP Trips which includes a four-day stay, snorkel and sail adventure with a day cruise.
Welcome to the joys of major film festivals in spring, Sydney. Getting holed up in a cinema for a week or so is usually a winter activity in the Harbour City, because that's when Sydney Film Festival takes place; however, the first-ever SXSW Down Under is arriving in 2023 with its very own celebration of peering at screens. So, for eight October days, movie lovers can wander in and out of darkened rooms while the weather is pleasant outside, not frosty — and see everything from Saltburn, the new Jacob Elordi (Euphoria)-starring thriller from Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennell, to the freshly remastered 4K version of iconic Talking Heads concert flick Stop Making Sense. SXSW Sydney's debut Screen Festival will boast 75-plus sessions that'll get projectors a-flickering from Sunday, October 15–Sunday, October 22. It all starts with opening night's Australian thriller The Royal Hotel from Casting JonBenet and The Assistant director Kitty Green (and starring the latter's Julia Garner), then features the world premiere of documentary Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles and everything from features starring Indonesian rappers and docos about Tokyo Uber Eats riders. Saltburn will enjoy its Australian premiere at SXSW Sydney, while Stop Making Sense will get The ICC's Darling Harbour Theatre echoing in glorious 7.1 surround sound. The venue will be home to the fest's biggest titles, which also includes opening night and The Wiggles doco; ONEFOUR: Against All Odds about the eponymous drill rap band; and Ryuichi Sakamoto|Opus, which covers the recorded concert by the late, great The Revenant composer, who passed away in March 2023. Also on the bill: supervillain parody The People's Joker, which gives the caped-crusader realm a queer coming-of-age spin; TLC documentary TLC Forever; Sleep, a Korean horror-comedy by Bong Joon-ho's former assistant; the Hugo Weaving (Love Me)-starring The Rooster, which follows a hermit and a cop who form a bond during a crisis; and a retro session of Aussie classic Lake Mungo. Or, SXSW Sydney's film fans can see Black Barbie, a Barbie flick that isn't filled affection; the Indian Australian Sahela, which tells a queer tale set in Western Sydney; Satranic Panic, a homegrown road movie and a creature feature; Milli Vanilli, another of the event's music docos; and Uproar, as starring Hunt for the Wilderpeople's Julian Dennison, Our Flag Means Death's Rhys Darby and Starstruck's Minnie Driver. Among a feast of screen content that also encompasses 40 shorts, plus 20 music videos and 13 XR projects, TV will get some love — that's why the event is called a Screen Festival, not a film fest. Standouts span Night Bloomers, a horror anthology from both Korea and Australia; Erotic Stories, another anthology that'll deliver exactly what it sounds like; and Doona!, a Korean rom-com led by Suzy Bae. Alongside indoor sessions at Darling Harbour Theatre and Palace Cinemas Central, free outdoor screenings are also on the bill at the SXSW Sydney 2023 hub in Tumbalong Park. The complete lineup there is still to come, but the program will survey the OG fest's best and brightest, starting with Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's What We Do in the Shadows — the movie, not the also-ace TV show — as well as classic anime masterpiece Ghost in the Shell and Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused. As well as viewing movies and TV shows aplenty, the 2023 SXSW Sydney Screen Festival also features an array of speakers. Black Mirror's Charlie Brooker is one of the headliners — not just of the screen component, but of SXSW Sydney overall. Similarly getting chatting: Indigenous filmmakers Leah Purcell (The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), Kodie Bedford (Mystery Road: Origin) and Jub Clerc (Sweet As); Osher Günsberg recording an episode of his podcast Better Than Yesterday with a yet-to-be-announced special guest; and Gone Girl, The Nightingale, The Dry, Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers producer Bruna Papandrea and Binge's Executive Director Alison Hurbert-Burns. [caption id="attachment_917938" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix[/caption] If you're keen to make the most of Australia's first SXSW, take advantage of our special reader offer. Purchase your SXSW Sydney 2023 Official Badge via Concrete Playground Trips and you'll score a $150 credit to use on your choice of Sydney accommodation. Book now via the website.
The Grand View Hotel, overlooking North Stradbroke Island, enters a new era following a major refresh and upgrade. The significant transformation future-proofs the pub, modernising the venue so that it will remain a cornerstone of the Cleveland community for many decades to come. The project, undertaken by Kickon Group, has given close consideration to preserving the heritage of the pub, while also looking to the future. Craig Shearer, CEO and Founder of Kickon, says, "The Grand View isn't just a pub — it's a part of Queensland's story, and we're proud to keep that story alive for generations to come…We can't wait to welcome locals and day trippers alike back to the Grand View for a cold beer, great food, and the kind of amazing hospitality that turns a visit into a lasting memory." Considering the pub was proudly established 174 years ago, it's no surprise it was due for a facelift. In the kitchen, a multimillion-dollar rebuild has seen the introduction of a Josper grill, an Italian Rotary pizza oven, and a state-of-the-art expanded bar. The new menu showcases chargrilled meats and rotisserie chickens cooked over the Josper, pub classics such as parmis, fish and chips, burgers and pastas, as well as fresh seafood and snacks. There are the likes of sesame-crusted squid, Korean chicken wings, braised lamb nachos, and a 1kg mussel pot. It's not just the kitchen that scored a massive upgrade. The pub is now home to a marquee, which can accommodate up to 150 guests for cocktail events, a pet-friendly lawn, and an upper dining terrace. "The transformation is not just a facelift, it's a safeguard for one of Queensland's most historic venues, ensuring it remains a cornerstone of the community and a place where new memories continue to be made," says Shearer. While the renovation has modernised the space, the venue still pays tribute to its past. The heritage-listed hallway and the Cleveland Room remain untouched, and a historic cistern, featured in an 1855 advertisement, which was unearthed on-site, has become a centrepiece of the reno. "Discovering the 1855 [cistern] reminded us of the Grand View's deep history, and now we've created a venue that honours that past while offering something truly exciting for the future." Images: Supplied.
Struggling to pay the electricity bill this month? What would you say to jumping rope instead? Innovative technology-with-a-conscience company Uncharted Play has come up with PULSE, a skipping rope that harvests energy with every single jump. That’s energy that can later be used to power electronic devices — including smartphones — and lights. Made of strong, resilient plastic, the device features 3D-printed handles which store the kinetic energy created by each spin. It’s converted to electricity via an adaptor. One hundred PULSEs, priced at US$129 each, comprise the first run. But Uncharted Play’s higher goal is to make the invention accessible to individuals and communities in the developing world, where electricity can be insanely expensive and resorting to high-risk alternatives such as kerosene is often the only option. If the initial distribution takes off, the company will start looking at ways to bring the price down. Previous Uncharted Play successes include the SOCCKET — an energy-harvesting soccer ball connected to an LED lamp — and a foldable, sustainable, recyclable, eco-friendly water bottle. All sales proceeds go towards providing SOCCKETs to disadvantaged children and lifting educational standards in remote areas. Via Springwise.
Encompassing York, Clarence and Kent Street in Sydney's CBD, the Harbour City's YCK Precinct has just been recognised in an international pilot program as an outstanding hub of nightlife, becoming Australia's first designated Purple Flag district. The Purple Flag program is an international accreditation scheme dedicated to recognising nightlife areas that are diverse, vibrant and safe. Each recognised district must meet a set of criteria judging its public transport, street lighting, food and beverage offerings, and entertainment. YCK Precinct will join areas across England, Sweden and New Zealand as Purple Flag districts, as the program strives to highlight the best after-dark cultural spots the world has to offer. [caption id="attachment_654874" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alana Dimou[/caption] "We are working to deliver a better night out for all and Purple Flag will boost Sydney's reputation as a global nightlife destination, creating a thriving 24-hour economy across the state as more precincts apply for accreditation," said New South Wales' 24-Hour Economy Commissioner Mike Rodrigues. "A collaborative and coordinated effort is required to build a vibrant and strong 24-hour economy and the YCK team has shown considered planning and a willingness to innovate in earning Purple Flag status." Boasting beloved and accomplished venues like Since I Left You, PS40, Esteban, Cash Only and The Prince of York, the YCK Precinct launched in 2021 in order to bring more attention to the three busy inner-city streets. Since then, it has worked to capitalise upon its venues, and the forces behind them, to promote the vitality of the Sydney CBD — and host several multi-day food, drink, music and arts festivals in the process. "Whether it's for some retail therapy, to visit one of the superb small bars, grab a late-night bite or enjoy one of our regular arts and cultural events, we are committed to delivering our patrons a safe, friendly and fun experience," YCK Laneways Association Vice President Karl Schlothauer said. Also in Sydney, the Purple Flag pilot program is still running in the Parramatta CBD, Haldon Street in Lakemba and Marrickville, with these three hotspots still yet to be given the official go-ahead as a Purple Flag district. Don't live in New South Wales? Sydney's latest accolade is bound to reignite Australia's capital-city rivalries. [caption id="attachment_805684" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Lobo[/caption] Learn more about the Purple Flag program in Sydney at the NSW Government's website.
In the space that an average-sized Australian home sprawls across, how many smaller houses could fit instead? This question won't just be a topic of conversation outside the National Gallery of Victoria from November 2024. Each year at the venue's Melbourne grounds on St Kilda Road, the institution unveils its annual Architecture Commission, a site-specific pop-up construction that experiments with design concepts while pondering subjects of public importance. This year's pick is a tiny house — which might sound standard, except that it's a pint-sized abode within the frame of the standard Aussie home, and the contrast between the two is obvious. Created by Melbourne-based architecture and design studio Breathe, Home Truth continues the firm's focus on sustainable architecture that'll endure and has a purpose — and, from Wednesday, November 13, it'll get NGV visitors wandering through a house-within-a-house labyrinth. First, you'll step inside the larger abode, which represents the average 236-square-metre Australian residence. Then, drawing attention to alternative modes of housing, you'll enter the smaller-scale nestled within it. [caption id="attachment_706568" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NGV International[/caption] To get from one to the other, you'll enter via the larger house's garage door, then mosey through rooms and hallways. When you reach the tinier home, you'll feel like you've hit the centre of a maze. Attendees will notice two different materials distinguishing each abode, too, with the bigger spot constructed from framing pine and the smaller house from the waste-made saveboard — offering up a comment on how homes are currently built in Australia as well. "Through its clever play on scale and materials, this thought-provoking work of architecture sparks a fascinating conversation about housing and sustainability in this country," explained NGV Director Tony Ellwood, announcing the 2024 Architecture Commission. "Home Truth speculates that overconsumption of space and materials translates into ecological and social consequences — for both us and the planet. But importantly, it offers a provocative vision of a new way of thinking about building — seeing the value of living in spaces that are of smaller scale — a vision that prioritises people and planet," added Ewan McEoin, NGV's Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture. [caption id="attachment_927585" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Installation view of the 2023 NGV Architecture Commission: (This Is) Air designed by architect Nic Brunsdon in collaboration with ENESS. (This Is) Air is on display from 23 November 2023 until June 2024 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Ben Hosking.[/caption] Home Truth follows 2023's stunning pick (This is) Air, a giant inflatable sphere that breathed, as created by Australian architect Nic Brunsdon with Sky Castle, Airship Orchestra, Cupid's Koi Garden and Lost Dogs' Disco' ENESS. The 14-metre-high piece did indeed expand with air, then release it — so, yes, it inhaled and exhaled all day — to get everyone thinking about humanity's need for and relationship to air, how essential it is, how dependent we all are upon the element, how finite it is and how its quality is being impacted. In the past, NGV's Architecture Commission has also seen a colourful mini Parthenon, a bright pink pool to wade through, a bamboo garden with its own deck and an unforgettable pink carwash pop up, all as part of an initiative that started in 2015. [caption id="attachment_890113" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Temple of Boom, NGV, Michael Pham[/caption] [caption id="attachment_840624" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pond[er], NGV, Derek Swalwell[/caption] [caption id="attachment_602904" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Haven't You Always Wanted..?, Sean Fennessey[/caption] 'Home Truth' by Breathe will be on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne from Wednesday, November 13–April 2024 — head to the NGV website for further details. Image: Render of NGV Architecture Commission 2024 'Home Truth' by Breathe. Image courtesy of Breathe.
When Reservation Dogs first breezed into streaming queues in 2021 — including via Binge in Australia and Disney+ in New Zealand — it did so with heart, style and purpose, delivering a rarity in the current TV landscape. Authentic depictions of life for Indigenous North Americans are scarce on the small screen, or any screen. Such shows that riff on a Quentin Tarantino movie with their moniker, start with a brazen and entertaining heist, unfurl their stories through creative cinematography, serve up a stunningly thoughtful coming-of-age tale and survey an entire community obviously are, too. And a series that does the above with Taika Waititi's (Thor: Love and Thunder) brand of deadpan humour, befitting his role as co-creator and executive producer, as well as co-writing the very first episode — doing so alongside showrunner and Seminole Nation filmmaker Sterlin Harjo (Mekko) — is genuinely unclaimed territory. In Reservation Dogs' first season, the end result was one of the best new TV shows of 2021. This year, its second season is one of the best and most moving returning shows of 2022. This gloriously heartfelt and perceptive series is dedicated to diving deep into the Indigenous North American experience today — as a teenager, primarily, but constantly broadening its focus to the parents, elders and spirits so instrumental and influential in its central foursome's life in Oklahoma's Muscogee Nation. It's no wonder that season one earned a Peabody Award, which celebrates US media's most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories. It's no wonder, either, that the show has been picked up for a third run as well. Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Beans), Elora (Devery Jacobs, Rutherford Falls), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Cheese (debutant Lane Factor) are those restless adolescents at the heart of Reservation Dogs, and they've shared a California dream since the series' very first episode. But when the debut season wrapped up with a tornado, plus a figurative storm of hard truths and buried feelings, the gang's relocation fantasy didn't play out as expected. The lure of family and culture remained strong, as did holding onto a past that's brought happiness as well as hurt. While losing one of their best friends, Daniel (first-timer Dalton Cramer), to suicide was big motivation for wanting to head away — it was also his plan, too — actually following through proved a far trickier prospect when it became tangible. In season two, the more things change, the more they stay the same — until they don't. Elora still attempted to go west anyway to close out season one, but being on the road with enemy-turned-travelling companion Jackie (Elva Guerra, Dark Winds) gets tumultuous. For Bear, Willie Jack and Cheese, staying on the reservation requires facing life on the reservation and all that it entails, including the pain that no one wants to shoulder and plotting out a future that no one ever thought would exist without Daniel. Bear tries by getting a job in roofing, which ends up being beside Daniel's dad (Michael Spears, 1883). Willie Jack and Cheese feel like the group is cursed, and turn to town elder Uncle Brownie (Gary Farmer, First Cow) for assistance. Elora is called back, confronting loss, tradition and the friends she left behind. Reservation Dogs can be a series of side-splitting comedy. The lines that the writers find for Spirit aka William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth, Rutherford Falls), the warrior who died at (but not in) the Battle of Little Big Horn and is quick to dispense advice Bear's way, are comic gold every time he's on-screen. (Wanting him to get his own spinoff comes easily.) It's also a show filled with goofy capers, from the opening Flaming Flamers chip-truck heist through to a hilarious late season-two episode where lighthorseman Officer Big (Zahn McClarnon, Westworld) unwittingly takes acid, then stumbles upon a racist land-grabbing conspiracy that's fuelled a local myth, all with salvage yard owner Kenny Boy (Kirk Fox, Parks and Recreation) by his side. This is and always has been a sitcom about home, though, a term that's oh-so-loaded in a First Nations context. What does it mean to want to flee land that's been taken from Indigenous communities from centuries? That was one of the first season's key questions. What does it mean to rediscover that homeland, even knowing how much heartache lingers? That's a pivotal consideration in the second season. California — the oasis it represents, including fresh scenery, leaving everyday troubles behind and seeing the ocean for the first time — still can't be shaken, however. Sometimes, the only way to weather life's ups and downs is to realise how much you'd miss what you already have if it was gone, too. Made with such an evident commitment to minutiae, and to feeling lived-in at every moment, Reservation Dogs spins both its episodic stories and its long-running arcs, themes and emotions into something wonderful and insightful again and again. One season-two episode departs to the yearly Indian Health Summit with the Aunties, including Bear's mother Rita (Sarah Podemski, Resident Alien), who get their own time away. Another follows Cheese to a group home run by the misguided Gene (Marc Maron, Respect), where he's sent through no fault of his own — while yet another goes to prison, where Willie Jack visits Hokti (Lily Gladstone, Certain Women), her aunt and Daniel's mother. From the engaging cast and complex narrative to the incisive examination of everything it means to be an Indigenous North American right now, plus the crucial commitment to telling Indigenous stories with Indigenous on- and off-screen talent (every writer, director and series regular is Indigenous), Harjo deserves all the kudos that can be showered his way for this gem of a show. Seeing where each episode heads, what surprises are in store, and how it keeps giving the USA's First Nations people on-screen representation and a voice, is a continual and rewarding delight. Seeing how Reservation Dogs values both personal tales and fleshing out a community portrait, and excels equally in realistic and magical storytelling, is as much of a highlight. As for Waititi, his way with sitcoms shouldn't be astonishing. The Eagle vs Shark, Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople helmer is three for three in America — including not only this, but also Our Flag Means Death, which will return for a second season after 2022's debut run; and the What We Do in the Shadows TV spinoff, which just aired its fourth season and has a fifth and sixth on the way. Indeed, while there are many reasons to be thankful for the New Zealand filmmaker as his resume keeps attesting, using his fame to help bring the gift that is Reservation Dogs into the world is firmly one of them. Check out the trailer for Reservation Dogs season two below: Reservation Dogs streams via Binge in Australia and Disney+ in New Zealand. Images: Shane Brown / FX.
For better or worse, you always know what you're getting at McDonald's. Whether you're stopping off on a road trip for something quick and easy or hitting the dodgy end of a long night with nothing but tequila in your belly, Maccas delivers the same mysteriously flat, delicious mess. But now, Aussie McDonald's stores are stepping it up a notch. With the introduction of table service and customisable burgers with new, quality ingredients, Maccas is getting a little bit gourmet. Sydney's Castle Hill store is the first in Australia to trial the idea, with this new service starting this week. Customers can order their burgers via digital kiosk and choose from 19 ingredients including fancy brioche buns, grilled mushrooms, tortilla chips and nine different sauces. The burgers are then served directly to your table on fashionable wooden boards and newspaper with the hallmark shoestring fries in a wire basket. Without that familiar red and yellow packaging, the meals look a whole lot like what you might find at popular burger joints like Grill'd — a move which is anything but accidental. As strange as it may seem, burgers are all the rage now. No longer relegated to shameful hungover binges, big brioche buns and quality meats are front and centre on Australia's foodie scene, and McDonald's are getting in on the action. "All of our innovations have been led by Australians," said McDonald's CEO Andrew Gregory. "What we're really doing here is just what our customers have asked us to do." But it's a move which doesn't come cheap. It's reported that this remodelling strategy will set the fast food titan back a whopping $1 billion. Though Castle Hill is currently the only Australian store offering the new menu and service, McDonald's plan to introduce it elsewhere soon. If all goes to plan, it will be in place nationwide within 12 months. As The Courier Mail so tactfully put it, look out: "Maccas is going hipster". Via news.com.au and Daily Mail.
Launched during VAMFF last week in Melbourne, Bared Footwear's collaboration with artist Carla McRae is one to slip your tootsies into immediately. The limited edition sneaker collaboration is a first for Victorian footwear label, kicking off the first of many, or so we're told. Suffice to say, these are some sneaks to freak over. Capturing the carefree spirit of McRae's playful illustrations and street murals, the Pintail shoe brings to life McRae's iconic female character, who appears in many of her works. We're keen to take a walk in these chunky soled shoes with swirling embroidery and metallic details — also apparently imbued with extreme comfort factor. After all, Bared was founded by Victorian podiatrist Anna Baird with the design ethos of creating modern, wearable shoes, so you know these shoes will treat your feet well. For the collaboration launch, Carla McRae painted one of her cheery, colour-blocked murals out the back of the Bared store in Armadale — the perfect backdrop for these sweet, minimal kicks that come in white with rose gold, and black with silver. The Carla McCrae x Bared Footwear Pintail shoe is available now for $229 from the Bared website.
Summer smells like sunscreen in your eyes, feels like sand between your cheeks and looks like old men in speedos. And while it mightn't be the most glamorous season, we wouldn't have it any other way. Put down the hair straightener and forego makeup, summertime weekends are made to be spent outside the city's confines – it's time to hit the beach once more. [caption id="attachment_591645" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Michelle Robinson.[/caption] BURLEIGH, GOLD COAST Downtown Burleigh has gone from the small-town fish and chips, thai takeaway and cold rock ice-cream I knew well to a hive of small bars, boutique shops, #cleaneating green juices, craft beers and hipsters on fixies. What happened and why, I don't know, but it's made apré beaching a whole lot more fun for 20 to 30-somethings. The fruit shop on James St sells those juices topped with fruit everyone has, The Pocket serves up delicious filled pitas for lunch and Ze Pickle, Bin 12 or Justin Lane are great places to go after dark. COOLANGATTA, GOLD COAST As far as my knowledge alludes me, Coolangatta is the only beach across the road from a cinema. So when the middle of the day hits and UV rating is simply too hot to handle, check the times and catch a blockbuster. We're always told to keep out of the sun in the middle of the day, so combine beach and movies and you've got yourself a relaxing day. If you're feeling extra adventurous and the conditions are right, swim your way around the headland to Rainbow Bay. [caption id="attachment_591646" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Andy Hay.[/caption] COOLUM, SUNSHINE COAST Not only does Coolum offer great surf on its patrolled beach, the surrounding restaurants and shops will keep you entertained long after the summer season ends. For a post-swim bite to eat try Harvest and Raw Energy, and if your sweet tooth is calling stop in at Gelato Mio which serves up delicious ice cream – try the mascarpone with pear and walnuts. If DIY dining is more your style, take a picnic to devour as you look over the beach from the adjacent park. Or, you could throw a few snags on one of the free BBQs and watch the waves roll in. [caption id="attachment_591647" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] CURRUMBIN, GOLD COAST Currumbin is a favourite for it's small-town vibe that other beaches lack. Off the main drag, the small road is home to houses, small shops and cafes on one side and grass, dunes and beach on the other. Enjoy breakfast from the top floor of The Beach Shack, or grab a beer at Vikings Surf Club for panoramic beach views. Climbing Elephant Rock for your own Titanic moment is also a must. [caption id="attachment_591649" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] KINGS BEACH, SUNSHINE COAST A jewel in the crown of the Sunshine Coast's beaches, Kings Beach is bit of a busy family spot, but nonetheless a great place to bake. Before laying your towel out, and if you make it up early enough, on Sunday mornings the Caloundra Street Fair markets are at Bulcock St until 1pm are worth a visit. A highlight is warm croissants from the bake-on-site French patisserie – heaven. For the young, or the young at heart, Kings Beach also has it's very own water park. You'd be crazy to not want to run through what is essentially a giant sprinkler. [caption id="attachment_591650" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] MOOLOOLABA, SUNSHINE COAST The beauty of Mooloolaba not only lies in the pristine sands themselves. See and be seen strolling the well-landscaped Esplanade where you can pop into boutiques, grab a coffee with friends or enjoy a long lunch. Mooloolaba offers more than a beach day, but a day to be out and about socialising and shopping. But if your goal is to get away from the hustle bustle of city life, be sure to stroll south from Mooloolaba the point of The Spit. [caption id="attachment_591652" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Michael Dawes.[/caption] NOBBY BEACH, GOLD COAST One for those who like a beach less travelled. On my last visit there were four lifeguards just for us - drowning is not possible. Down the beach, next to the surf club is BSKT cafe. They serve up all sorts and cater to those only eating coyo, bee pollen and kale. Along the GC Highway is the main Nobby's strip and here you'll find tapas bars, boutique stores and The Smoothie Shack (yeah, that one the bikies love - live a little). So like Burleigh, this place has hip aprè beaching but with more space to lay your towel. From Nobby take the 15 minute walk south and climb North Burleigh headland. From here you get spectacular views of the GC skyline. [caption id="attachment_591755" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Petra Bensted.[/caption] TALLEBUDGERA CREEK INLET, GOLD COAST What many probably don't know is that just around the corner from the ever-getting-busier Burleigh is Tallebudgera Creek inlet. If you're a chump with navigation walk around Burleigh Headland until you find where Tallebudgera Creek meets the ocean – here are two generally quite empty surf-less beaches. Surf-less needn't mean boring – take the chance to relax without dumping waves (here's looking at you Kurrawa), re-teach yourself to float or challenge yourself to swim from one beach bank to the other. With the green forest of the headland, golden sand and bright blue ocean this truly is picturesque. TALLOW BEACH, BYRON BAY We've all been to main beach at Byron, but if you were local, wouldn't you want somewhere more, er, private? Popular with Byron's residents (and by popular we mean quiet, peaceful, serene), Tallow Beach is south of the lighthouse and backs onto total bushland. Bringing your own snacks is a must, and if you look closely, in the surrounding dunes the locals have created hidden tables and chairs to while the hours aways. Pure escape, pure cool. WOORIM, BRIBIE ISLAND Unsuspecting, Bribie Island's Woorim Beach is both beautiful and mostly flat. With Moreton Island situated 15km east, it creates a sort of wave break meaning swell never makes it above 1m high – hello baby waves. While there isn't too much happening on Bribie (except maybe a tea party with your nan, or someone else's nan), the surf club serves up a mean fisherman's basket and you can always cross to the inland side of the Island, hire a boat and cruise up and down Pumicestone Passage for the afternoon.
As the home of Stranger Things, Netflix has been serving up big doses of 80s-themed nostalgia for the past five years. The platform has just found another way to get viewers thinking fondly about the past, however, all thanks to its new acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) — which includes all of the British author's beloved books. If this sounds familiar, that's because the big friendly giant of the streaming world first found itself a similar golden ticket back in 2018, when it announced that it was bringing 16 of the writer's classic novels to the service in animated form. That's still happening — including via two new series from Taika Waititi based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — but this new purchase will significantly expand the amount of Dahl-inspired content hitting the streamer's catalogue. As part of the earlier deal with the RDSC, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Matilda and The Twits are all slated to get adapted into animated television shows, so get ready for Oompa Loompas, everlasting gobstoppers and everyone's favourite book-loving schoolgirl with telekinetic abilities. They're already set to be joined by basically every Dahl novel you read and adored as a kid — including The BFG, Esio Trot, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Henry Sugar, Billy and the Minpins, The Magic Finger, Dirty Beasts and Rhyme Stew. The author's autobiographical efforts Boy – Tales of Childhood and Going Solo had also already been earmarked to hit the platform, with one detailing Dahl's youth and the other delving into his journeys to Africa as well as his service in World War II. For many of these works, including the tales about the author himself, it'll be the first time that they've been adapted for the screen. 🚨 Some very exciting breaking news🚨 https://t.co/uovvO3SYye — Netflix ANZ (@NetflixANZ) September 22, 2021 In its new announcement, Netflix advised that an adaptation of Matilda the Musical is also headed its way, but remained vague about exactly what viewers can expect otherwise. "As we bring these timeless tales to more audiences in new formats, we're committed to maintaining their unique spirit and their universal themes of surprise and kindness, while also sprinkling some fresh magic into the mix," the service advised in a statement. In other words, expect the tales you know and love, as well as tales that expand upon those tales. And, expect to have plenty of them to watch in years to come. Netflix also hasn't said when all this Dahl-based content will hit the platform, so you can't mark any dates in your calendar as yet. But if you just can't wait, Wes Anderson's delightful stop-motion animation version of Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox is currently streaming on the service, as are a number of other flicks adapted from the writers' works — including both the original and recent versions of The Witches, plus 1996's Matilda. For more information about Netflix's acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company, head to the Netflix website.
Following its local premiere last year, Love Actually? The Musical Parody is set for an encore run — with dates confirmed for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The NSW premiere lands first at Sydney's Darling Quarter Theatre from November 27, before the production heads south to Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from December 5, then up to Brisbane Showgrounds from December 11. The show, based on the famous hit 2003 Christmas film, will return to Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from December 5, after its NSW premiere at Sydney's Darling Quarter Theatre from November 27, and a Queensland premiere season playing at Brisbane Showgrounds from December 11. The musical follows "nine quirky couples seeking love across the pond, the cheeky show delivers all the awkward meet-cutes, over-the-top grand gestures, and side splitting moments that fans crave." "This show is like Christmas dinner after a few too many champagnes — loud, ridiculous, and way too much fun. Whether you're obsessed with Love Actually, love to hate it, or just want some musical theatre laughs, Love Actually? The Musical Parody is pure festive chaos: outrageous jokes, over-the-top romance, and songs that'll have you humming into New Year," promoter Ashley Tickell said. "It takes all the bits you secretly giggle at in the movie and dials them up to 100. Grab your mates, a date, or your mum — this is a night out that you'll actually love! It's like wrapping yourself in tinsel and good vibes." Love Actually? The Musical Parody will boast all local casts, with auditions already underway. Tickets are on sale now. Images: Supplied.
How do you jump back into a superhero saga — a caped-crusader franchise within a sprawling, seemingly never-ending franchise, too — without your star? When Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives in cinemas in November, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will find out. With Chadwick Boseman sadly passing away in 2020, the sequel to 2018's excellent Black Panther obviously isn't the film that returning writer/director Ryan Coogler (Creed) originally intended. Based on the just-dropped first teaser trailer, it's going to be unsurprisingly emotional, however. Marvel released the initial sneak peek at the eagerly awaited movie during this year's San Diego Comic-Con, and it's big on swirling, swelling feelings. "I am queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone," exclaims Ramonda (Angela Bassett, Gunpowder Milkshake), T'Challa and Shuri's (Letitia Wright, Death on the Nile) mother, in a particularly climactic moment. While the teaser isn't overly concerned with Wakanda Forever's plot, it's firmly sets the mood. And yes, there's a tribute to King T'Challa among its frames. Story-wise, Ramonda, Shuri, M'Baku (Winston Duke, Nine Days), Okoye (Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba, Deutschland89) are charged with protecting their nation from world powers after T'Challa's death — and they'll need help from War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o, The 355) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman, Breeders). Among the cast, joining the film are Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You) and Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico) — as well as Dominique Thorne (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Riri Williams, ahead of the character's solo Disney+ series Ironheart. Accordingly, the first glimpse at Wakanda Forever shows faces old and new, the same dazzling look and feel that was so essential to Coogler's initial film, and the Kingdom of Wakanda in a state of change. Dropping the trailer during a wide-ranging panel session that also included the latest look at Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Marvel revealed that Wakanda Forever will wrap up the MCU's phase four — because this ever-growing on-screen superhero world is broken up into different chapters. Obviously, more caped-crusader stories are still in the works, though, with the Disney-owned entertainment behemoth also plotting out its plans across phase five and phase six, taking it up to 2025. One thing that wasn't mentioned: the previously revealed Black Panther Disney+ series set in Wakanda that was announced in early 2021. Check out the first Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer below: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases in cinemas Down Under on November 10.
Don't sweat it. Just don't. That's a great sentiment, but putting it into action isn't always so easy. Humanity has long wanted to care less about all of the things that really don't matter, including since before self-help was a book genre — and since before there were books. Nothing else has quite summed up that concept quite like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, though, even just in its title. It sits among a seemingly endless array of texts about living your best life and forgetting pointless strife, but Mark Manson's 2016 hit perfectly captured the idea that we should all devote less attention to matters that simply aren't worth it. First came the book. Then came the film version of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Since Manson's famous tome hit shelves, he's also popped up to chat about it and offer his brutally honest self-help advice — and he's returning Down Under in November 2024 to do exactly that again. Consider heading along to this The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck live tour as the next step in pursuing the ultimate goal: giving less fucks. More than 20-million copies of the book have been sold, so you're probably familiar with Manson's take on living more contented and grounded lives already, but there's something to be said about hearing about it in person. Couldn't be arsed reading the text? Then this is another way to soak in its contents. Of course, Manson's spin isn't about never giving a fuck. Rather, he knows that it's wise to choose where to direct our fucks, what to give a crap about and what genuinely bloody matters. The book's chapter titles are as telling as its overall moniker, boasting names such as 'Don't Try', 'Happiness is a problem', 'You are not special', 'You are wrong about everything (But so am I)', 'The importance of saying no' and 'And then you die'. Also the author of Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope, Manson will be onstage exploring this train of thought on a seven-stop trip around Australia and New Zealand, including in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland. Attendees can expect a deeper dive into the principles stepped through in his book, plus practical tips and stories from real life. This is an event to give a fuck about, clearly. Here's the trailer for the film, too, if you haven't yet seen it: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Live with Mark Manson Dates: Monday, November 4 — Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Sydney Wednesday, November 6 — Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Thursday, November 7 — QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane Saturday, November 9 — Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Sunday, November 10 — Festival Theatre, Adelaide Monday, November 11 — Perth Concert Hall, Perth Friday, November 15 — Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Live tour hits Australia and New Zealand in November 2024, with ticket presales from 10am local time on Wednesday, July 17 — except in Melbourne, where ticket sales start at 11am local time on Monday, July 22. Head to the tour website for more details.
After throwing open the doors to its new development in Brisbane in 2018 and announcing it'll be laying foundations in Sydney as well, the next destination on the horizon for luxe hotel chain W Hotel will be Melbourne. W Melbourne is slated to open in December 2020 on Collins Street in the middle of Melbourne's shopping heartland. Following Brisbane's ten-gallon baths and Sydney's flashy pool deck overlooking the harbour, the Melbourne digs look to be no less indulgent. W Melbourne will encompass 294 rooms and 29 suites, including an 'Extreme Wow Suite', which has its own 40-square-metre balcony with views of the Yarra, a jukebox and cocktail bar. Designed by New York-based Shop Architects, global design firm Woods Bagot and interior designers Hachem, W Melbourne will also house a 14th-floor spa, gym and a heated indoor pool with a gold-adorned roof, as well as a poolside bar and DJ decks. And, for those needing function space, W will have more of it than you can physically fill (under current COVID-19 restrictions, at least) — a 830-square metre space for conferences, meetings or holding lush balls. [caption id="attachment_673553" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Collins Arch[/caption] On the food and drinks front, you'll have four in-house venues to choose from. The 30-seat Warabi will be your go-to for Japanese fine dining, while Lollo will be run by a "renowned local chef" — we'll let you know exactly who that is when it's announced. Curious bar promises an "all-night experience" like "falling down a rabbit hole" and Culprit will flip from a cafe during the day to a wine bar at night. Functioning, too, as the bottom 20-storeys of a towering new precinct called Collins Arch, W Melbourne will sit on Flinders Lane. The $1.3 billion new precinct will be comprised of two towers of commercial, residential and retail spaces, joined at the top by a dramatic sky bridge. With international travel looking like it'll be off the cards for Australians for a little while longer, the opening of the dramatic W Hotel may be a good excuse to plan a trip to Melbourne or staycation when the hotel opens. W Melbourne is slated to open on Flinders Lane in December 2020.
Arcade Fire already established themselves long ago as pioneers in the realm of music video interactivity: 'We Used to Wait' used HTML5 and Google Maps to feature the viewer's own home in the video, and a flock of new windows popped open all over your screen as the song progressed, birds flying in each of them. 'Neon Bible' similarly tapped new technology to create a fresh way of experiencing the band's sounds. Now the band has shown it has the finger on the pulse once again, with a dazzling interactive video (one of two videos, actually) for their song 'Reflektor'. Between its groovy beat and whisperings in French, 'Reflektor' is already uber cool. But the video Just A Reflektor, filmed in Haiti, is next level: a short film whose visuals you can affect, just so long as you have three basics of the modern tech era: Google Chrome, a computer webcam and a tablet or smartphone. That's when the real magic begins. Director Vincent Morisset takes us on a journey with a beautiful young woman who switches between her world and ours. Dancers in motion-tracking costumes, gyroscopes and mixed video assets add to the technological melee. Depending on how close you wield your handheld device to the screen, and its tilt, you can watch the action unfold from a variety of viewpoints and both conceal and reveal what you're seeing via whacky kaleidoscopic tunnel vision. Presto: the theme of reflection is seamlessly woven into the multimedia experience, with light effects swimming over the screen at your command in ways that are totally mesmeric and super fun to play with. The team consciously aimed for a strong visual metaphor that would chime with the song's lyrics, as you can see in the behind the scenes video below. They've even made it possible for computer geeks to mess around with the code, which is downloadable from the Just A Reflektor Technology page. Via PSFK
In season one of Netflix's Ugly Delicious, Momofuku founder David Chang and his cohort of famous chefs, comedians and street artists ate pizza in Naples, streetside tacos in LA, hot chicken in Nashville and deer tendons in Beijing. In season two of the non-fiction food show, which hits the streaming platform on March 6, Chang and co are heading Down Under. The four-episode second season will see Chang travel around Istanbul, Tokyo, Mumbai and Sydney with actors Nick Kroll and Danny McBride, comedian Aziz Ansari, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, food writers Helen Rosner and Chris Ying, and street artist Dave Choe, among others. While the just-dropped trailer doesn't give too much away in terms of Sydney locations, it does feature a Crocodile Dundee 'that's not a knife' gag at an Outback Steakhouse. It's possible Chang visited one of the 700-plus Australian-themed, American chain stores located in the US, but it's also possible he tracked down one of the eight scattered around the countryside in Australia — for the sake of, perhaps, authenticity. You also see a flash of Paul Carmichael, head chef at Sydney's Momofuku Seiobo, and taking into account how often Chang waxes lyrical about Golden Century's pipis in XO on Instagram, you can assume the chef will head to both of those spots, too. It also looks like the show will dive into Chang's personal life a little, with the trailer teasing discussions about his and wife Grace's nearly one-year-old baby Hugo. Chang will do a bit of a Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, too, and cook a meal for schoolchildren. While you wait for the second season to hit Netflix next month, you can wait the trailer below. https://youtu.be/1eyFq3addMs Ugly Delicious 2 hits Netflix on March 6.
Australia is no stranger to boasting venues on worldwide best bar and restaurant lists. In 2021, four local favourites were named among the 50 best in the world, while two Melbourne spots landed on the longlist for the best restaurants across the globe. Now, another beloved eatery Down Under can now claim to be among the upper echelon of its respective field, with Sydney's Firedoor making an appearance in the top ten of the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants rankings for 2022. The renowned Surry Hills spot took out third place, being beaten out by Buenos Aires' Parrilla Don Julio at number two and London's Hawksmoor in first. Anyone with a trip to the US planned for the near future should take note, with Keens in New York and Gibsons Italia in Chicago rounding out the top five. Cut in Beverly Hills came sixth, while Bavette's Steak House in Las Vegas was named in seventh place. And, while Carcasse in Koksijde in Belgium sits in eighth spot and El Capricho in Spain's Jiménez de Jamuz ranked ninth, Nick and Stef's Steakhouse in Los Angeles wrapped up the top ten. Other Australian steak houses could be found further down the list. Narrowly missing the top ten, Rockpool Bar and Grill came in at number 12, while fellow Sydney spots Chophouse and Kingsleys clocked in at numbers 17 and 34 respectively. [caption id="attachment_695230" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chophouse[/caption] Still on the local front, while Sydney dominated the top half of the list with four entries, those Harbour City spots weren't the only local venues to make an appearance. Three Melbourne restaurants also placed — Butcher & Vine (#77), Macelleria (#90) and Entrecote (#97). And across the ditch, Auckland's Jervois Steak House popped up at number 65 on the list. Firedoor is the creation of British-born chef Lennox Hastie, who possesses a string of Michelin stars. All the meats on the restaurant's menu are wood-fired and paired with seasonal and locally sourced produce. Reservations at the inner-city spot are notoriously hard to score, opening three months in advance and often snatched up quickly after they become available. If you want to secure a table, you'll have to head online at midday on the first Wednesday of each month. For the full rundown of the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants, head to the list's website. Top image: Nikki To
Victoria's seemingly endless supply of incredible walking trails offers everything from waterfalls to coastal landscapes and rugged terrain covered in glistening rainforest. But best of all, you don't actually need a car to get to and enjoy these wonderful adventures. Many are well within reach of Melbourne's sprawling public transport network. And even when you're not trekking into the far-flung hills, it's a great idea to have some high-quality hiking gear to keep you warm and prepared for anything. That's why we've teamed up with Macpac to do something different the next time you're in Melbourne and venture to some of the region's most convenient hiking destinations. Don't stress about hiring a car or mapping out your route. Instead, head to the train station or tram stop and climb aboard, because these five hikes are all accessible via public transport and will have you surrounded by incredible scenery in no time at all. [caption id="attachment_711648" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Robert Blackman.[/caption] LILYDALE TO WARBURTON RAIL TRAIL Opened in 1901, the Warburton railway line once ferried farm produce back and forth from Melbourne. But nowadays, it's been transformed into a charming pathway through scenic sights of the Yarra Valley that can be leisurely walked or cycled. With trips through historic vineyards and views of the Yarra Ranges towering in the distance, this trail is without a doubt one of the most satisfying that can be easily reached from Melbourne. Conveniently beginning at Lilydale Station, the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail sticks close to the original railway path as its 38-kilometre route winds its way through active farms and across 17 restored bridges. You don't need to complete the entire journey within a day; many of the individual sections are worthy of the trip all on their own. For example, the six-kilometre stretch between Mount Evelyn and Wandin (an hour's walk from Lilydale Station or a 20-minute bus ride) is particularly special, as you head downhill flanked by ferns and forestry and find yourself surrounded by native birdlife and wildflowers. Pack this: Rapaki 26L Daypack ($109.99) FRENCH ISLAND NATIONAL PARK Getting to French Island by public transport may require a few changeovers, but once you arrive, your efforts will be instantly rewarded by perhaps one of Melbourne's best-kept secrets. Take the train to Frankston Station, change to a Stony Point V/Line service and then make the short trip by ferry to Tankerton Pier. Much of the island is covered by French Island National Park, which offers visitors a myriad of hiking and cycling trails surrounded by some wonderfully diverse landscapes. There are mangrove marshes, wild woodlands and native bushland that are all worth delving into. Plus French Island is also home to one of Australia's largest populations of koalas, so keep your eyes peeled. And when you need a break, make tracks to the French Island Vineyard, which is open every Sunday for wine tastings and wood-fired pizzas. Pack this: Graphic Organic Cotton T-Shirt in women's and men's styles ($39.99) GOLDFIELDS TRACK A slightly more serious undertaking than some of the other walks on this list, the Goldfields Track is a journey through one of Victoria's most prominent gold-rush era regions. The full length of this trail measures out to be a remarkable 210-kilometres, so unless you're prepared to take on a multi-day excursion up some challenging mountains, we recommend the much friendlier 20-kilometre route from Harcourt-Sutton Grange Road to Castlemaine. This section remains a tough hike at times, but you won't regret taking it on after soaking up the astounding views and the fascinating historical landmarks that dot the way. If you're coming from Melbourne, it's a good idea to make an early getaway on the V/Line, which departs the city toward Bendigo or Castlemaine about every hour. Pack this: Fiord 1.1 40L Pack ($189.99) SHERBROOKE FALLS WALK This lush forest is an oasis that's found within touching distance of the city. Catch the train to Upper Fern Tree Gully or Croydon stations and hop aboard the 688 bus to immerse yourself deep within this outer suburban pocket of greenery. There are a lot of hikes you can follow around here, but the Sherbrooke Falls Walk is an easy-going wander through the gullies and grasslands that has a spectacular end. Completed in around 45 minutes, the tranquil journey through the hills features towering mountain ash trees and a peaceful soundtrack from the suburb lyrebirds. Arriving at Sherbrooke Falls, you'll be met with some of the most impressive sights that can be discovered anywhere this close to the city. Pack this: Trekker Pertex Equilibrium Softshell Shorts in women's and men's styles ($89.99) [caption id="attachment_718793" align="alignnone" width="1920"] AmelieAuPont via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] PLENTY GORGE WALK Ride the 86 tram to the second to last stop, and you'll come upon one of Melbourne's best tucked away spots. For those in the know, Plenty Gorge Park and its picturesque Blue Lake always take up a spot on the summertime calendar once the temperature cranks up and the city's pools become overloaded. But this sprawling parkland offers a lot more than just a deep blue place to swim — and the Plenty Gorge Walk undoubtedly covers much of it. Making for a top-notch trek any time of year, the trail ventures through native bushland that's home to everything from kangaroos to echidnas to swans. Complete the loop around the former mineral quarry and admire the bushland views across the lake. At less than 20-kilometres from the city, this place is a top-notch half-day escape, perfect for a weekend trek. Pack this: Tui Fleece Pullover in women's and men's styles ($129.99)
Facebook might have spawned its fair share of hook-ups over the years, but now the site's taking the whole matchmaking thing to the next level. As announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company's annual F8 developer conference, a new Facebook feature for dating and relationships is just around the corner. According to Facebook's blog post about its latest technology announcements, the dating service is designed to improve the experience of meeting new people. You'll be able to use it to create a dating profile (separate to your regular one, thankfully), which will then throw you potential love matches, based on information about your mutual friends, preferences and things you might have in common. Users will also be able to scout out compatible matches through Facebook's 'Groups' and 'Events' features. The service is being built as we speak, with testing slated to kick off later this year. Other nifty new Facebook services announced at the F8 conference include a blood donations registrations feature for communities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and new ways of sharing to your 'Stories'. Also in development is a 'Clear History' feature, which will show you what websites and apps send Facebook your information, and enable you to switch off the process going forward. It's a feature that might make users feel more secure after the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach.
No matter how you feel about the Super Bowl, American football's night of nights for 2023 is a dream for Vin Diesel fans. Before and during the big game each year, film studios unleash their latest sneak peeks at some of the upcoming year's huge movies. And this year, that's included a first trailer for Fast X in the days leading up to the match, plus a mid-game new look at Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. If a franchise features Diesel, does it have to go heavy on family and last rides? According to both glimpses at both films, yes, yes it does. When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 soars into cinemas in May, it's poised as a hefty farewell for Marvel Cinematic Universe's ragtag space-hopping superhero — and the current trailer makes that plain. When this threequel arrives, it will have been six years since 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, although they popped up in Thor: Love and Thunder and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in 2022. Here, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt, Jurassic World Dominion), Mantis (Pom Klementieff, Westworld), Drax (Dave Bautista, Knock at the Cabin), Groot (Vin Diesel, Fast & Furious 9), Nebula (Karen Gillan, Dual) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper, Nightmare Alley) have been settling into life in Knowhere, but then Rocket's past upends their fresh status quo. There's no Kevin Bacon in either the new trailer or 2022's first sneak peek, or likely in the movie, but there is the return of another familiar face — Gamora (Zoe Saldana, Avatar: The Way of Water) — because Vol. 3 is serious about getting the team back together. Off-screen, that includes usual writer/director James Gunn (The Suicide Squad), after a chaotic few years that saw him fired by Marvel, then make the switch to the DC Extended Universe, where he's now actually co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios. Gunn returned to the MCU, however, for the holiday special and Vol. 3. The new film picks up after the festive episode, after the rest of the MCU's mayhem over the past few years, and with Quill still coping with big events. Even with Gamora (Zoe Saldana, Avatar: The Way of Water) back, that isn't as straightforward as it sounds. Also returning is Sean Gunn (The Terminal List) as Kraglin, while Bodies Bodies Bodies and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan's Maria Bakalova voices Cosmo the Spacedog as she did in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Plus, Will Poulter (Dopesick) joins the cast as Adam Warlock — and Chukwudi Iwuji (Peacemaker) as The High Evolutionary. Check out the latest trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 below: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 releases in cinemas Down Under on May 4, 2023. Images: Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
When you step inside an IKEA superstore, it feels as though you have been transported to a different world entirely. Endless floors filled with endless shelves, filled with endless minimalistic, cost-effective products. It's planet IKEA. And now we might not be too far from the real-life version. Not long after launching fully furnished IKEA homes, IKEA has published plans to build a private neighbourhood. Set to start construction next year, the neighbourhood will cover 11 hectares of land in London to be named 'Strand East'. It will incorporate 1,200 homes and apartments, all owned by the Swedish furniture company. “We are in keeping with the IKEA philosophy: we don’t want to produce for the rich or the super-rich; we want to produce for the families, for the people,” says Harald Müller, the head of LandProp, the property-development branch of Inter IKEA, told The Globe and Mail. IKEA promises that the all-rental homes will appeal to a variety of income levels, and 40% will be large enough to house a family. The neighbourhood will be peppered by condominiums and offices, and will include a hotel as well. Underneath it all will lie an underground parking lot to avoid cars cluttering the interior streets. It all sounds rather Utopian, but does a furniture company really have what it takes to manage 6,000 residents? “We’d have a very good understanding of rubbish collection, of cleanliness, of landscape management,” Andrew Cobden, the project manager, says. “We would have a fairly firm line on undesirable activity, whatever that may be. But we also feel we can say, okay, because we’ve kept control of the management of the commercial facilities, we have a fairly strong hand in what is said in terms of the activities that are held on site.” Mr. Müller says that IKEA will act much like a municipal government to its neighbourhood, organising community events and creating a "sense of place". Looks like IKEA execs have had a lot more on the brain than "Ektorp" sofas and Swedish meatballs. Welcome to Ikea-land. [via PSFK]
We enjoyed the tenth annual Bicycle Film Festival last year, and the 2011 instalment is already brewing. But obviously, there can be no film festival without films – that’s where you, dear cycling-and-film-making reader come in! BFF want you to make a bike film and be a part of the global event. Submitting an entry is free, and films can be of any style, as long as they’re bike-related. With the festival travelling to over 25 cities worldwide, successful entries are guaranteed some great exposure, and being an entrant will give you a great excuse to attend the screenings, parties and other events that make up the festival itself. If you’re in need of some inspiration check out the BFF trailer below, or consider using your bike in the film-making process. Entries close on April 1 so get your camera and get on your bike!
Good bagels are few and far in Australia. Sure, you can find a sausage roll or pie any time of any day, but no amount of flaky pastry and questionable meat filling can satisfy a fresh, soft dough hankering. A need for something dense, doughy and bagelly delicious. However, you might not have to travel as far as you thought to get your fix, because Brisbane's experiencing a rather tasty bagel boom, and it's hitting taste buds hard. Scout Scout has perfected everything a bagel should be: packed to the brim with a glorious amount of meat, a wholesome dollop of tomato relish and a touch of rocket to keep things healthy. Their breaky bagel is a menu stunner, lashed with rich kaiserflesch, egg, chedder and a dynamo relish and aioli duo. Scout's lunch menu holds more bagel treats, with spiced chicken, guacamole, cucumber, chipotle mayo and iceberg headlining alongside haloumi, roasted zucchini, Moroccan spiced carrot, hummus, aioli and rocket. Pair your Scout bagel with a coffee, or better still a banana milkshake, and find yourself in a tummy-hugging daze – beware the addiction. 190 Petrie Tce, Red Hill The Bagel Boys Hailing from the Sunshine Coast, these guys dot up all around Brisbane with their tasty selection of bagels and a crowd to complement. The boys mix, roll, boil and bake their bagels in a traditional recipe that took them four weeks of practice to perfect – they've even been praised by New Yorkers, saying their recipe is better than any yankee bagel. You can find them selling bagels at Noosa Farmers Market on Sundays, Queens Street Mall Markets, Brisbane every Wednesday and Powerhouse Markets, New Farm on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month, Eagle Farm, Rocklea, Manly and now also Mitchelton. You could say they are the masters, the boys also supply their goods to Scout and Bagel Nook. 58 Commercial Road, Newstead, Brisbane, 4006 La Vosh Patisserie With 11 different types of bagels, this small bakery knows what’s what in the bagel world. Founded by Steve Day after an all too persuasive trip to New York, this café relishes the simplicity of the bagel – sometimes all it takes is a cream cheese and chive filling to spark a bagel addiction. You can eat your bagel, while watching one of the skilled bakers make the next batch from the comfort of your seat – it's the perfect in store entertainment. 154 Musgrave Rd, Red Hill Brewbakers The original masters of the Brisbane bagel, well worth travelling across town for. With a blackboard that boasts the daily bagel special, and a cabinet of classics, they show a no-fear approach to the perfect bagel. Swoon over the sweet bagels or dig into to something far heartier at one of Brisbane's most established bagel breeding bakeries. 1/337 SandgateRd Albion, QLD Betty's Espresso Fresh faces on the West End block. Betty's Espresso holds a not-so-secret cure to any hangover – bagels. Down your Bagel of Death Metal with a salted caramel shake, and find yourself spiralling into a John Hughes movie scene as a truly satisfied member of Betty's Breakfast Club. 11 Browing St, South Brisbane Flour and Chocolate The bagel philosophy at Flour and Chocolate Bakery is a simple one - keep it traditional, and do it well. You won't find a ritzy selection of fillings at this Parisian-style bakery - the bagels alone are enough, and needn't be compensated with lavish partners. Flavours include plain, sesame, caraway and rock salt, spanish onion with black sesame, cinnamon raison - our favourite - and if you're lucky, blueberry, all going for just $1.80 a pop, or 6 for $9.50. There's a pack of effort that goes into making a traditional boiled bagel so you can only catch them at Flour and Chocolate on a Friday, making it the perfect place to stock up on bagels of every flavour for the weekend. 621 Wynnum Rd, Morningside Bagel Nook A classic New York bagel feel right in the heart of our CBD - even if you don't have wheels, you've no excuse for trying this bagel joint. With a bagel filling selection that carries every cuisine and calorie-count, Bagel Nook can be the ideal lunch-break health-kick or indulgent snack. Where there's a bagel vendor within a 10 meter radius of anywhere in New York, Bagel Nook is Brisbane's answer to a closeby bagel fix that won't exhaust the bank or belt line. 100 Creek St, Brisbane City In conclusion:
It just might be Australia's most famous man-made structure, and it'll soon be home to the Australian Aboriginal flag on a permanent basis. That'd be the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which only flies the Aboriginal flag for 19 days each year at present — for Australia Day, Sorry Day, Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week — but will do so every day "as soon as possible", as New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has just announced. The Sydney Harbour Bridge currently has two flag poles, with one flying the Australian flag and, when the Aboriginal flag isn't on display on its allocated days, the other flying the NSW state flag. To display the Aboriginal flag permanently, the bridge will gain a third flag pole — with the Premier advising that the government has "been working through this for some time." Speaking at NSW's daily COVID-19 press conference on Saturday, February 5, Perrottet said that "the first advice I received is that it would take two years. Two years. I mean, in the 1920s, it took nine years to build the Harbour Bridge, but apparently today it takes two years to put a flag pole on top of the Harbour Bridge. I'll climb up there myself to put it up if I need to". He continued: "I can't see why it would take that long. The new advice that I've received is that it can be expedited — I think it went down to two years, and then to six months — so as soon as possible". A 5 year struggle worth while. WE BLOODY DID IT 🎉 Thank you to everyone who participated. The @ChangeAus petition & @gofundme won't stop until the flag is flying proud. Let's see it to the end.@AIA_SydneyCBD @MayorDarcy @david4wyong @GaryNunn1https://t.co/Xbqhunc8m7 — Cheree Toka (@Chereetoka) February 4, 2022 The announcement follows a five-year-long campaign by Kamilaroi woman Cheree Toka, who also launched a Change.org campaign in 2020 to continue to call on the NSW government to make this exact move. "The Aboriginal flag is a reminder that the country has a history before European arrival," Toka said two years ago. "I think it's really important to have a symbolic gesture on the bridge that identifies the true history of Australia, which is a starting point for conversation around greater issues affecting the Indigenous population." After the first three years of Toka's campaign, she had amassed more than 157,000 digital signatures and the required 10,000 paper-based signatures to bring the issue to NSW parliament. However, when it was debated in the final NSW parliamentary session of 2019, the result then was that it would cost too much to construct a third flagpole to see the Aboriginal flag flying daily — which was what sparked her crowdfunding campaign to raise the $300,000 quoted by the government to 'fund the flag'. [caption id="attachment_841962" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vakrieger via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Announcing the change of policy on the weekend, the NSW Premier said that "we can't truly be proud of our country unless we are working together to achieve true reconciliation. That's a combination of both symbolic reconciliation and practical reconciliation." The move to permanently display the Aboriginal flag on the Sydney Harbour Bridge comes just weeks after 2022's other big flag news, with the Australian Government unveiling a copyright deal at the end of January with Luritja artist Harold Thomas, who designed the symbol, to make it freely available for public use, Exactly when the Aboriginal flag will start flying permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge hasn't yet been revealed — we'll update you when further details are announced. Top image: Mary and Andrew via Flickr.
The Mouse House is bringing some of its magic Brisbane's way, with Disney: The Magic of Animation making a date with Queensland Museum from Friday, June 24. Whether you've always been a fan of Mickey Mouse, can remember how it felt when you first watched Bambi, are able to sing all of Genie's lyrics in Aladdin or fell head over heels for Moana more recently, you'll find plenty worth looking at. And in its doors, too — because walking beneath mouse ear-shaped openings to move from one area to the next is all part of the experience. Running through till Sunday, January 22, 2023, Disney: The Magic of Animation explores everything from 1928's Steamboat Willie — the first talkie to feature Mickey Mouse — through to last year's Raya and the Last Dragon. Obviously, a wealth of other titles get the nod between those two bookending flicks. Fantasia, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book and The Lion King also feature, as do Mulan, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia. The big drawcard: art from the Mouse House's hefty back catalogue of titles, and heaps of it. More than 500 original artworks feature, spanning paintings, sketches, drawings and concept art. The entire lineup has been specially selected by the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, and will let you get a glimpse at just how the movie magic comes to life, how some of Disney's famous stories were developed, and which animation techniques brought them to the big screen. Get ready to peer at hand-drawn dalmatians (which is timely, given that Cruella released last year as well), stare closely at Mickey Mouse's evolution, examine Wreck-It Ralph models and pose next to Snow White. Wall-sized artworks pay tribute to a number of movies, too — The Little Mermaid piece is particularly eye-catching — and feeling like you're stepping into a Disney movie is an unsurprising side effect. Disney: The Magic of Animation is clearly designed to appeal to Mouse House fans of all ages. You, your parents, today's primary school kids — you've all grown up watching Disney flicks. So, while you're pondering tales as old as time, being QM's guest, contemplating the animated circle of life and definitely not letting your nostalgia go, prepare to be accompanied by aficionados both young and young at heart. Images: Phoebe Powell.
'The mormons are coming', posters popping up all around Brisbane promised last year. Until May, the mormons are officially here. Brisbanites have been waiting for years for The Book of Mormon to come to town, but it seems that we already want more. While the musical's first Queensland run has only just started, a return season has been announced for 2020. If you haven't nabbed tickets to the current slate of shows, don't worry — Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical will bring its hilariously irreverent self back to QPAC's Lyric Theatre from January 3, 2020. The production spent a year in Melbourne, then did the same in Sydney, and initially slated three months for Brisbane; however it clearly wasn't long enough. Tickets for the 2020 season will go on sale on Monday, March 25 and, given that The Book of Mormon has been enjoying sell-outs everywhere it has played, it's certain to prove a hot ticket. In Sydney, it set a record for the highest grossing musical in the city's history, and did the same at Melbourne's Princess Theatre. Written by South Park and Team America's notoriously puerile creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Robert Lopez of genius grown-up muppet show Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon is probably one of the most lauded comedies ever to have centred on the Church of Latter Day Saints, African missions, AIDS, bum jokes and super ironic racism. If it wasn't so smart and so funny, few would forgive it. But since it is, The Book of Morman has picked up nine Tonys, four Olivier Awards and a Grammy since it debuted in 2011, and has been called "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years". If you've been envious of the throngs seeing the musical in New York, Chicago, London, elsewhere in Australia or in Brisbane at the moment, then you'll be plenty excited that you'll now get another chance to go learn all the idiosyncratic details of Mormonism, meet war criminal General Butt-Fucking Naked and know the true meaning of the hakuna matata-like saying 'Hasa Diga Eebowai'. The Book of Mormon plays QPAC's Lyric Theatre until May 31, 2019, then returns from January 3, 2020. Tickets for the return season go on sale on Monday, March 25 from BookOfMormonMusical.com.au. Image: Ryan Bondy, Zahra Newman, Nyk Bielak and company in The Book of Mormon, AUS 1411. (c) Jeff Busby.
For more than six decades, fans of Disney have been able to step into the Mouse House's wonders IRL, thanks to a theme park empire that started in the 1950s with Disneyland. For even longer, touring your way through Universal Studios' wares — first during lot visits, then theme parks as well — has also been a reality. While Japan's beloved Studio Ghibli joined in back in 2001 via its Ghibli Museum, now it has launched its very own theme park. Get ready to get spirited away, and to skip around a sprawling place that's both gorgeous and magical. The venue at Aichi Prefecture Expo Park has been in the works since back in 2017, and has also been through a few delays over that five-year period — but as of Tuesday, November 1, it's finally and officially open to animation lovers. If that's you, Ghibli Park is welcoming in fans to wander its 200-hectare expanse in Nagoya's Aichi Prefecture, around a three-hour train trip from Tokyo, with the space's first three stages launching on opening day. Ghibli has been dropping early glimpses at the park over the past few months — even if its recent Hayao Miyazaki-directed cat train trailer was solely animated (but still wonderful) — and there's plenty of store for visitors. Part of the first phase is a space that's been dubbed Ghibli's Great Warehouse, aka the park's main area. Think of it like a fair within the overall attraction, featuring a video exhibition room, three special exhibition rooms, plus shops and cafes all in one space. Many movie lovers' first stop should be Orionza, a cinema that sets 170 patrons and screens ten Ghibli shorts — all of which have only previously been seen at the studio's existing museum in Mitaka, a city on the western outskirts Tokyo. The easy highlight: the 13-minute-long sequel to My Neighbour Totoro, which is an absolute delight, unsurprisingly. Fancy entering one of Ghibli's films? The park also includes recreations of 13 famous scenes from the company's cinematic catalogue that you can step into, including becoming Spirited Away's Chihiro by sitting next to Kaonashi on a mysterious train by the sea. Or, another exhibition focuses on Ghibli's knack for drawing delicious-looking food, and is certain to make you hungry. And, if you're curious how Ghibli's works — such as posters, videos, music and books — appear overseas, there's an exhibition about that as well. Because you'll want souvenirs, the Ghibli's warehouse store sells Ghibli goodies galore, including items specific to the park. Expect two things: to want to purchase everything, so much so that you'll contemplate whether it's worth getting another suitcase to take home with you; and plenty of company while you're browsing and buying. For a bite or a drink, the Great Warehouse's cafe and milk stand both take their cues The Wind Rises. One slings sandwiches and pizzas, while the other focuses on sips to drink — and a sweet made of red bean paste between two pieces of castella, as seen in the movie. Yes, it all truly does resemble the Japanese animation house's glorious frames in real life — as that aforementioned Studio Ghibli museum already does as well. Also open in the first stage: gardens, including the antique shop and verandah from Whisper of the Heart, plus Satsuki and Mei's house from My Neighbour Totoro. The latter was already a part of Aichi Prefecture Expo Park, but that doesn't make it any less stunning. Indeed, there's a reason that Ghibli Park was initially described as having a My Neighbour Totoro focus. Also slated to feature across the whole park: a life-sized version of Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's home from Kiki's Delivery Service, a village area that pays tribute to Princess Mononoke, nods to the cat from Whisper of the Heart and The Cat Returns, buildings with design elements that take their cues from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and a super-sized garden that'll make you feel like you're one of the tiny characters in Arrietty. If you're now planning a Ghibli-centric holiday, Japan reopened its borders to individual international tourists, and ditched its visa and package tour requirements, back in October — which, yes, is handy timing. A note re ticketing: like Ghibli's museum, Ghibli Park opens for bookings one day per month, working months ahead. On Monday, November 14, for instance, you'll be able to buy tickets for January visits. Ghibli Park is now open at Aichi Expo Memorial Park, 1533–1 Ibaragamama Otsu, Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture. For more information, head to the venue's website. Images: © Studio Ghibli.
It's Hollywood's night of nights for television, it usually takes place in September and it has already announced its 2023 nominees. This year's Emmys look set to delay anointing a new round of winners, however, with word circling that the awards ceremony will be postponed due to the current film and TV industry strikes. Both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are reporting that the 2023 Emmy Awards will ditch its scheduled date: the night of Monday, September 18 in the US, which is Tuesday, September 19. If the strikes are still ongoing, actors and writers won't be attending the ceremony — not the red carpet, nor the awards themselves — meaning that the bulk of the televised accolades wouldn't be able to be accepted by their recipients. Also, the shindig will look mighty empty. As per Variety, vendors have been told that the event will be postponed, with a new date yet to be confirmed. The Hollywood Reporter also advises that the rescheduled awards won't take place in September — and, in a best-case scenario, will be held off until the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers comes to an agreement with SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. TV lovers will have to wait a little longer, then, to find out which shows have been dubbed the past year's best by the voters in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — and how much they love HBO. The answer already: a whole heap. In 2023, the folks who decide which shows will score some Emmys love awarded a massive 74 nominations to three HBO series: Succession, The Last of Us and The White Lotus. TV's best case of family feud earned 27 nods, including for almost every actor who appeared in its fourth and final season in leading, supporting and guest roles. In the Best Actor category alone, Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin are going head to head. The most spectacular game-to-screen adaptation yet nabbed 24, while vacation chaos brought about 23 nominations. The other show that racked up a comparable tally? Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso with 21 nods. Similarly in the running: everything from Andor, Better Call Saul, House of the Dragon and Yellowjackets (all in the drama fields) to Abbott Elementary, Barry, The Bear, Only Murders in the Building and Wednesday (the comedy categories), plus the likes of Beef, Daisy Jones & the Six and Fleishman Is in Trouble (limited series) as well. Hollywood talents are fighting against diminishing residual payments for performers, and to establish firm rules about the future use of artificial intelligence in the industry, among other improvements to working conditions. When they took action in mid-July, SAG-AFTRA's members joined their counterparts in the Writers Guild of America, who've been striking since May. The current strikes are affecting film releases, too, with Australian crime-thriller Force of Nature: The Dry 2 already ditching its planned August date with cinemas given that star Eric Bana a member of the striking SAG-AFTRA. It's also been rumoured that big blockbusters such as Dune: Part Two, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and The Colour Purple might also delay their releases, including until 2024; however, none have officially shifted their dates as yet. The 75th Emmy Awards are currently scheduled to take place on Tuesday, September 19, Australian time, but may be postponed — we'll update you if/when a new date is confirmed. Check out the list of 2023 nominations, and keep an eye on the Emmys' website for further details in the interim. Via Variety / The Hollywood Reporter.
The eco-friendly craze has spread like wildfire in the past several years, and now the movement is even targeting the minds of young kids. Designer Leo Corrales and Precidio Design Inc. have developed Juice in a Box, a reusable juice box for children as an alternative to drinking the typical one-time-use juice boxes. The Juice in a Box containers are made of reusable plastic and come equipped with both a lid and straw, and are the perfect size to fit in packed lunches to bring to school. The outside of the containers cater to young children, featuring cartoon characters and colourful designs. Recently proposed at the International Home and Housewares Show, the design is aimed at making kids conscious of their impact on the environment from a young age so they continue eco-friendly practices throughout their entire lives. Getting the 'go green' initiative instilled in young minds may be what it takes to make a significant impact in long-term sustainable living.
For the "it's better down where it's wetter" crowd, Disney Cruise Line takes that The Little Mermaid sentiment to heart, albeit while remaining on top of the water. Mouse House darlings, if you like Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars-themed stints sailing the ocean, then you'll love holidaying on the huge entertainment company's ships. As announced in 2022, its 'Magic at Sea' cruises will initially launch Down Under this October — and, because Disney loves sequels, the cruises have already locked in their return visit. Not only will sailing with the Mouse House from Australia and Aotearoa become a possibility for the first time between October 2023–February 2024, but it'll also be on the cards for getaways between October 2024–February 2025 as well. And, once again departing from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, Disney Cruise Lines's second Down Under season will feature new itineraries, taking passengers to Eden in New South Wales, Hobart in Tasmania and Noumea in New Caledonia. [caption id="attachment_868737" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Todd Anderson[/caption] On offer for round two of this whole new cruising world (for Australians and New Zealanders wanting to depart close to home, that is) on the Disney Wonder: sailings for between two and seven nights — your pick — where you'll watch live musical shows, see Disney characters everywhere you look and eat in spaces decked out like Disney movies. Those musicals include a Frozen show; another production dedicated to the company's old-school favourites like Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Cinderella and Aladdin; and a Golden Mickeys performance, which is obviously all about Mickey Mouse. Or, there's a Mickey party set to DJ beats and a pirate shindig on the vessel's deck. While not every show and party is available on all cruises — especially the two-night option — the entertainment also includes Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Moana, Tiana, Cinderella, Woody, Jessie and more wandering around the ship. And, Chewbacca, Rey, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and Thor as well, if you like hanging out around folks in costumes. Also on the list of things to do and see onboard as you explore the Disney Wonder's 11 decks: fireworks, plus movies — Disney flicks, naturally — in the ship's own cinema. The dining setup rotates, so each day of the cruise takes you to a different location with a different theme. One day, you'll hit up the Animator's Palate, which focuses on bringing Disney characters to life — including getting patrons to draw their own characters — and on the next, you'll get munching in a restaurant inspired by The Princess and the Frog, and serving up New Orleans-inspired dishes. Or, there's also Triton's, which offers an under the sea theme given it's named after Ariel's father, and does four-course French and American suppers. For folks travelling with young Disney devotees, there's also a whole range of activities just for kids — but adults without littlies in tow are definitely catered for, complete with a dedicated pool for travellers aged 18 and over, an adults-only cafe, the Crown & Fin pub, cocktail bar Signals, Italian eatery Palo, and a day spa and salon. Dates for Disney Cruise Line's second round of trips from Australia and New Zealand vary per city of departure, as do prices, but you can expect to enter this whole new ocean-faring world from $1214 per person for two nights in a double-occupancy room from Brisbane, $1413 out of Auckland, $1477 from Melbourne and $1889 departing from Sydney. And, room-wise, there's ten different types to choose from — some with private verandahs, and some with ocean views through portholes. [caption id="attachment_868736" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt Stroshane[/caption] [caption id="attachment_904977" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt Stroshane[/caption] Disney Cruise Line's 'Magic at Sea' cruises will sail from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland for their first season between October 2023–February 2024, and for their just-announced second season between October 2024–February 2025. Bookings for season two open at 10pm AEST on Monday, June 26. For more information, head to the cruise line's website. Images: Disney.
Each year, the team behind Vivid Sydney clearly asks itself a question: where else can we dazzle with lights next? Ranging from gardens and tunnels to buildings and bridges, the answers brighten up not only the festival's annual program, but the Harbour City. Letting a train lit up with an immersive glow and pumping techno tunes loose on the New South Wales capital's rails is a new answer for 2024, however. Meet Tekno Train. This isn't your ordinary, everyday, average commute — this is a 60-minute trip filled with lighting and music that changes to match the train's speed and the landscape outside. And the tunes? Like the event itself, they hail from Paul Mac. The result is a 23-night-only railway experience that's an Australian first, with its music newly composed specifically for what promises to be a helluva ride. Here's how it works: between Friday, May 24–Saturday, June 15, you'll hop onboard a K-set train at Central Station, either opting for a scenic route to North Sydney and then Lavender Bay via a secret spur line (the slower, more family-friendly trip), or hitting up City Circle and South Sydney (which'll be the livelier and faster-paced journey). Whether you pick The Scenic Route or Tech Express, as the two choices have been named, you'll see Tekno Train's custom lighting beam and hear its electronic dance music soundtrack pulse through all of the locomotive's carriages. If you're wondering how it links in with this year's Vivid theme of 'humanity', Tekno Train puts the power of music to unite — even when people are doing something that they don't normally think twice about — in the spotlight. It also celebrates public transport, mass transit and community. And, of course, it'll get you seeing riding the rails in a whole new light, literally.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from November. NEW STUFF TO WATCH NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QpnvmMmag&feature=emb_logo PALM SPRINGS It wasn't the first movie to play with temporal trickery; however, Groundhog Day has a lot to answer for. Films about folks stuck in a loop, repeating the same day or events over and over, now almost comprise their own genre — but, wearing its allegiance to the aforementioned Bill Murray-starring comedy on its sleeves, Palm Springs is one of the best of them. Here, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg plays Nyles, who has ventured to the titular location with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner, Brightburn) to attend a friend's nuptials. He gets drunk, makes a speech and a scene, befriends fellow wedding guest Sarah (Cristin Milioti, Modern Love) and disappears into a cave, warning the latter not to follow. When dawn breaks, it's the same day again. Then variations on the same events happen once more, and they just keep repeating over and over. Also featuring an initially intense JK Simmons (21 Bridges) as another ceremony attendee, Palm Springs has a wealth of fun with its concept, and becomes one of the year's most enjoyable movies in the process. Produced by Samberg alongside his Lonely Island colleagues Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, directed by feature first-timer Max Barbakow and written by Lodge 49's Andy Siara, it also finds its own way to grapple with the time-loop genre's usual elements — the repetition that feels like being stuck in purgatory, and the existential malaise that comes with it — in a smart and funny rom-com that boasts particularly great performances from Samberg and Milioti. Palm Springs is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-Mb4vTxj0 WE ARE WHO WE ARE Two on-screen tales about American teenagers in Italy. Two floppy-haired male leads oozing with uncertainty and yearning. One filmmaker. After Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino returns to familiar territory with HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are — and if its star Jack Dylan Grazer reminds you of the now ultra-famous Timothée Chalamet, that's completely unsurprising; in 2018's Beautiful Boy (not directed by Guadagnino), the former even played a younger version of the latter's character. But don't go mistaking Guadagnino's eight-part TV show for a mere or lazy rehash of the director's past work. Following two neighbouring 14-year-olds who live on a US army base with their enlisted parents, including Grazer's newly arrived loner, We Are Who We Are once again taps into universal themes about finding one's own identity and place in the world, and navigating affairs of the heart as well, but it definitely has its own story to tell. Also starring first-timer Jordan Kristine Seamón, plus Chloë Sevigny (Queen & Slim), Alice Braga (The New Mutants), Scott Mescudi (aka Bill & Ted Face the Music's Kid Cudi), Francesca Scorsese (daughter of iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese) and Tom Mercier (Synonyms), this patient yet involving series once again boasts Guadagnino's eye for gorgeous and revealing imagery, though, with every intoxicating shot (and every camera angle and placement used for each shot) luring viewers in. We Are Who We Are is available to stream via SBS On Demand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVoYKwTc4E AUNTY DONNA'S BIG OL' HOUSE OF FUN 2019's I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson was the best sketch comedy of that year. In 2020, the equivalent title goes to Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun. If you're familiar with Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna, then you'll know what to expect. Writers and performers Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, director and writer Sam Lingham, filmmaker Max Miller and composer Tom Armstrong have been treating audiences to absurdist gags, satire, wordplay and songs since forming in 2011 — but now the group has channelled all of its silliness and surreal gags, and its astute ability to make fun of daily life in a smart yet ridiculous way, into a six-part Netflix series. Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane star as themselves, and housemates. Each episode revolves around a theme, starting with the search for a fourth member of their household when they decide to turf their annoying talking dishwasher (voiced by Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal). There's nothing too over-the-top for Aunty Donna, or too trivial, including treasure hunts, an out-there recreation of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, a pitch-perfect takedown of trendy barber shops to a parody of male posturing when the guys turn their house into a bar. And there's little on offer in the extremely binge-able show that doesn't deliver just the dose of side-splitting absurdity that this hectic year needs. Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5FXjdKxgrA LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST First, a word to the wise: if you haven't already seen The Exorcist, you'll want to give it a whirl before checking out this new Shudder documentary. And even if you've watched the iconic horror movie so many times that you've memorised every crucifix and spinning head, revisiting it is never a bad idea; this in-depth examination of the 1973 hit by the filmmaker behind it will certainly make you want to as soon as possible. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is as straightforward as its title intimates. For the movie's 104-minute running time, the director also responsible for The French Connection, Sorcerer and Killer Joe chats through the feature he's best known for, explaining both behind-the-scenes and on-screen details. Expect an insight into the battles to even get The Exorcist to the screen, anecdotes about the quest to find the exact right stars for this unsettling tale of demon possession and insider recollections about the now-85-year-old Friedkin's wide-ranging career in general. Indeed, it's impressive just how wide a range of topics and themes this doco covers, proving absolute catnip for cinephiles. Leap of Faith's own filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe is known for diving deep into great screen works, as seen in 78/52 (about Psycho) and Memory: The Origins of Alien (about, well, Alien), after all. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEv0xy7p5Rg GANGS OF LONDON When crime kingpin Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney, Seberg) is killed unexpectedly after a 20-year reign over London's illicit dealings, the city's underworld is forced to react. The first order of business: find out who ordered the assassination, which is Finn's brooding, grieving and quick-to-react son Sean's (Joe Cole, One of These Days) only priority, and one he's determined to pursue at any cost. At first, it seems as if Gangs of London's nine-episode debut season is simply charting familiar territory — because many a movie and TV show about mobsters has focused on shock hits, succession scrambles and bloody fights over turf. But this British series has a particular strength that none of its genre compatriots can boast, aka filmmaker Gareth Evans. He's the director behind The Raid and its 2014 sequel The Raid 2: Berandal. If you've seen those two movies, that should be all you need to know. Here, Evans' penchant for balletic brutality and exquisitely shot and choreographed action scenes is on full display once again. He doesn't just rely upon intense, ultra-violent fights to keep viewers interested in this contemporary-set gang epic, though, plotting out an intricate world filled with meaningful, memorable and menacing characters (and just as impressive performances). Gangs of London's first season is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she demands that orphanage janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, Radioactive), she earns a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part miniseries proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados; however, it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4X9fQsiAOQ FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS Werner Herzog could make a documentary about absolutely any topic and, as long as the great filmmaker narrated it himself in his inimitable tones and with his lyrical, observational prose, it'd be worth checking out. As his on-screen acting roles in the likes of Jack Reacher, Parks and Recreation and The Mandalorian have shown, listening to his voice is one of life's purest joys — and, in Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, he spends his time talking about a riveting topic. Reuniting with University of Cambridge professor Clive Oppenheimer, who he worked with on the volcano-focused Into the Inferno, Herzog turns his attention to meteors. As well as searching for sites where they've fallen from the sky and made a literal impact, his new doco surveys experts from around the world, explores meteors in both ancient and recent times, and looks at the subject from a scientific, historical, archaeological and anthropological basis as well. From the Norwegian jazz musician who collects micrometeorites to the way that rocks descending from the heavens have played a part in Indigenous Australian culture, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is never anything less than fascinating. And, it also sees Herzog describe one part of the globe as "so godforsaken it makes you want to cry", which just might be one of his best turns of phrase yet. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is available to stream via Apple TV+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc HIS HOUSE Stories about fleeing persecution are innately horrifying, but His House makes viewers confront the scenario in a visceral and purposefully confronting way. That's what happens when you pair an unsettling real-world situation that's distressingly common with the horror genre — using the latter to augment and emphasise the terror of the former, as His House does commandingly. The first feature from writer/director Remi Weekes, this British-set movie follows Bol (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, the aforementioned Gangs of London) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku, Lovecraft Country) from war-torn South Sudan, across the Mediterranean by boat, into detention in the UK and finally to a home on the edge of London. They're thrilled to have made the journey safely, albeit at a significant personal cost that neither can shake, and they're initially excited to have a place to call their own. But, after their case worker Mark (Matt Smith, Official Secrets) gives them the keys, the couple's new abode turns into a nightmare. It doesn't help that Bol is certain that they need to farewell everything about their own culture to show the government that they deserve to stay, while Rial is rightly resistant to that idea. The pair are quite literally haunted, though, as Weekes manifests in eerie detail in a movie that cleverly and compellingly (and creepily, too) interrogates the refugee experience. His House is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiH_526qhY THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN Never let anyone tell you that SpongeBob SquarePants is just for kids. The long-running show about the absorbent, yellow and porous sea critter has always proved otherwise, but his big-screen adventures wholeheartedly make the case — because when you have Keanu Reeves playing a talking sage tumbleweed that's also a sage that dispenses wisdom, that pitch-perfect piece of casting is 100-percent aimed at adults. Yes, that's something that happens in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and more often than you might expect. Yes, it's delightful. There are more surreal and absurd gags where that came from, too, which has always been SpongeBob's appeal for older viewers. Story-wise, the movie — SpongeBob's third, after 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water — sees everyone's favourite Bikini Bottom resident leave his pineapple under the sea in search of his kidnapped pet snail Gary, with the vain King Poseidon (as voiced by What We Do in the Shadows star and Sponge Out of Water alum Matt Berry) the culprit. It's silly, it's sweet, it's chaotic and, although the flashbacks to SpongeBob's childhood are just a blatant way to promote a new TV spinoff, it's supremely entertaining. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is available to stream via Netflix. CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xENt3xZqA THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR Add this show about a west Philadelphia teen's life-changing move to Los Angeles to the list of classic series making a comeback in 2020. The Will Smith-starring sitcom hasn't returned in the proper sense. It is actually getting a reboot, in a darker, more dramatic form, because everything old is new again, but that was just announced a few months back and hasn't arrived just yet. Still, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's surviving original cast members have all come together for a brand new reunion special — which Stan now has available to stream alongside each and every one of the 148 episodes that initially aired between 1990–96. Accordingly, if you'd like to while away more than a few hours, days and weeks seeing where Smith's on-screen career kicked off, laughing at The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's fish-out-of-water premise and feeling mighty nostalgic for times gone by, now you can. You'll obviously be treated to a hefty array of 90s fashions, because that comes with the territory. And, you'll be certain to get the series' famed theme tune stuck in your head (if you haven't already while reading this paragraph, that is). Every season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is available to stream via Stan. Top images: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Paramount Animation; The Queen's Gambit, Phil Bray/Netflix; His House, Aidan Monaghan/Netflix.
As well as offering up alternative places to stay and opening up the holiday accommodation market, Airbnb has proven a gift to anyone interested in architecture and interior design. While you're sleeping in someone else's house, you're getting a glimpse of different styles and trends. Sure, you can also flick through house and garden-focused magazines, but looking at pics isn't the same as actually seeing design in action. At PlansMatter, bunking down in a space that demonstrates ace architecture isn't just an added bonus — it's the entire point of the Airbnb-like house-sharing service. Started in 2016 by architects Connie Lindor and Scott Muellner, it only offers up "places that have architectural intention and a story to tell," according to their statement on the service's website. Each listing provides a thorough description, runs through the usual features and also includes a rundown of why it's included on the site. In fact, as well as simply browsing through a sizeable list of eye-catching architectural beauties — which not only include spaces in the US, where PlansMatter is based, but in Canada, Austria, the UK, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Denmark, Japan, Germany and Australia as well — users can also search for somewhere to stay based on the amazing designers behind the houses. If you've ever dreamed of kipping in a home designed by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, or in artist James Turrell's Japanese House of Light, here's your chance. Of course, getting to live out your architecture nerd dreams doesn't come cheap, but if you're going to fork out a hefty stack of cash for a few nights away, there are much, much worse ways to spend it. For those keen on checking out the service close to home, a night in Magney House on the New South Wales south coast — and in a structure that was once featured on an Aussie stamp — will set you back $250 per night. Fairhaven Beach's landmark Pole House, which really is a house on a pole, starts at $434 per evening. Via Fast Co Design. Image: PlansMatter/Tsutomu Yamada.
When the clock struck midnight on December 31, 2019, this year began in a familiar fashion. All around Australia, beverages were raised in cheers to the next 12 months. But as we all know by now, 2020 hasn't delivered what anyone hoped for. If there has been a silver lining to this tough year, however, it has been the renewed focus on supporting local businesses. As well as spending more time at home, shopping local, eating local and sipping local have all been on the agenda. And that has been essential for two Queensland drinks companies, Brisbane's Aether Brewing and Far North Queensland's Mt Uncle Distillery. They've been forging ahead and doing what they do best — and what their local fans love — even under the most trying of circumstances. Queenslanders have certainly shown them both affection, with Aether and Mt Uncle picked as the Sunshine State's favourite tipples during the BWS Local Luvvas initiative. Aether's brews and Mt Uncle's Botanic Australis Gin will now receive an extra helping hand with getting both products stocked in more BWS stores. And we've spoken to the masterminds behind the two drops about their dream jobs, their love of making top-notch drinks and the importance of homegrown support. WHEN YOUR PASSION BECOMES YOUR JOB With Mt Uncle Distillery based on a farm in the Atherton Tablelands, head distiller and director Mark Watkins doesn't just spend his days making the most of FNQ's sultry weather — he also makes drinks perfect for those tropical climes, too. Indeed, his love of the region's climate is one of the reasons he is doing what he does today. "Given the inability to grow grapes up here, I decided to put my wine science degree to use and make rum," he explains. Watkins started his distilling journey before his studies, as a teenager. "Needless to say, I was popular with my mates," he notes. But when he dived into the botany side of his degree, he "fell in love with Australian native plants, and had the drive to pursue the production of the quintessential Australian gin" — which is where the concept of Botanic Australis began. For Aether's Dave Ward, his move into brewing arose out of a completely different field — fly-in fly-out jobs building gas plants. Meeting and working alongside his now-former business partner, they both realised that "FIFO wasn't exactly the life we wanted to live forever, and the thought of owning a brewery really just fit with what we wanted," he advises. The fact that Ward already had a lifelong passion for brewing and beer helped, unsurprisingly. Ward credits that affection for yeasty beverages, and for making them, to his father. "It is one of my earliest memories as a child, brewing with dad and his friends — the exploding bottles in the laundry, the dodgy stouts from extract and some pretty awful beer," he explains. "Those memories have stuck with me my whole life, and fuelled my love of brewing and great beer. I home-brewed on and off for most of my adult life, and eventually I found my life in a position where I was able to live my dream." GETTING CREATIVE — AND LOCAL Obviously, it takes more than just a fondness for a frothy beverage to make it in the drinks industry. As Ward advises, "brewing for me is an expression of creativity". He's now at the point where, when he's "on the brew floor or designing new beers, it comes naturally" — but he admits that getting to that point required hard work. "The real challenge started when I started studying and I realised that I knew nothing about beer. The more I learnt, the more I wanted to know, and the more I realised that my lifetime wasn't going to be enough for me to learn everything I need to be the brewer I want to be," he says. Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that when asked to describe a great beer, Ward notes that it "isn't a style, or a flavour, or even a taste". Rather, he sees it as "the ability to make a beer for everyone". At Mt Uncle, Watkins has a firm view of what makes a standout spirit, too. For him — like much of his approach to his work — it reflects his location. While it'd be hard not to love distilling gin in such scenic, relaxed and leafy surroundings, Watkins can't separate his tipples from his home base. "A great spirit should reflect the environment that creates it," he tells us. In practical terms, that means that Mt Uncle sources or grows all of its ingredients locally. It's a great source of pride to the distillery, with everything in its products either stemming from around the distillery or from a stone's throw away. ADAPTING TO TOUGH TIMES WITH HOMEGROWN SUPPORT In Mt Uncle's case, you could say that what goes around comes around — in a positive manner, of course. "We are a very small business and times recently have been quite trying," Watkins says, referring to this pandemic-afflicted year. "Local support is essential and a massive part of our business' DNA. If it wasn't for our local fan base we would not be here." For Ward, the embrace of Brisbane's beer community has been just as pivotal. "Honestly, if it wasn't for the amazing support that locals gave — whether they are in our neighbourhood or we are stocked in theirs — we would more than likely have gone under when COVID-19 hit," he admits. "Over the past few years, we have seen a shift towards local; people want to know who makes their beer, food or products," Ward observes, "and the last 12 months have pushed this further into the spotlight". To find these or other Queensland drinks as part of the BWS Local Luvva's initiative, head to your nearest BWS store.
