If you like your sleep, chances are you missed catching Saturday morning's eclipse, when a red hued moon and the planet Mars put on a rare show at 5.30am. Well, luckily, that wasn't the last of the celestial treats in store this week — last night saw Mars really making its presence known, as it hung out closer to Earth than it's been in 15 years. According to NASA, the red planet only travels close enough to ours for these spectacular views once or twice every 15 or 17 years. Back in 2003, it made its closest approach in almost 60,000 years, and after this week's events, it isn't expected to make its next 'close approach' until October 6, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/nasasolarsystem/photos/a.164320877917.120400.79209882917/10155603764502918/?type=3&theater If you've been skygazing over the past few days, you would have seen Mars appear brightest from July 27 to 30, as it reached the point in its orbit that puts it closest to Earth. It was on show for most of last night, sitting just 57.6 million kilometres away from us — a relative sliver compared to the 401 million kilometre distance it reaches at its farthest. You'll be able to glimpse the planet for a few more nights, though it's set to get fainter by mid-August as it continues on its orbit. To catch the Red Planet, look east. "Mars will be rising as the sun sets, and rising high and high in the eastern sky during the evening," University of Sydney astronomer Tim Bedding told The Age. "Later in the evening it will be more prominent, passing overhead at midnight." If you find yourself stuck with anther cloudy night, NASA has kindly uploaded a four-hour video of the planet's approach from the Griffith Observatory in LA. Image: NASA
The teenagers of Point Place are at it again: hangin' out down the street, that is, usually in the Forman family basement. This time, decades have passed on- and off-screen since the world first met a group of high schoolers happily doing the same old things they did last week in the fictional Wisconsin town. Netflix's new That '90s Show picks up just over 15 years after That '70s Show's timeline, embracing all that the mid-90s had to offer from raves and Alanis Morissette's initial fame to video stores and Donkey Kong. (Yellowjackets isn't the only series going all-in three decades back right now.) For viewers, the 1995-set series arrives 17 years after its predecessor said farewell. The years might've changed, but the basics stay the same in a wave of familiar places, faces, scenarios and themes — and the overall formula. From 1998–2006, Eric Forman (Topher Grace, Home Economics), girl-next-door Donna Pinciotti (Laura Prepon, Orange Is the New Black), and pals including Michael Kelso (Ashton Kutcher, Vengeance), Jackie Burkhart (Mila Kunis, Luckiest Girl Alive) and Fez (Wilmer Valderrama, NCIS) earned That '70s Show's attention as they chatted through their hopes and dreams, got stoned frequently, and tried to work out who they were, who they loved and what they wanted. Now, doing the same is Eric and Donna's 14-year-old daughter Leia (Callie Haverda, The Lost Husband), plus the new friends she makes while visiting her loving, supportive but sometimes embarrassing empty-nester grandparents. It's during a July 4th weekend stopover at Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp, WandaVision) and Red's (Kurtwood Smith, The Dropout), aka her dad's childhood home, that Leia finds something she doesn't have in Chicago: peers that truly understand her. Despite dashing Eric's dreams of a father-daughter space camp trip just as Red is informing him and Donna that they're now "upstairs people", Leia decides to stay in Point Place for the summer. As perky as ever, Kitty is thrilled to have the house — all levels — filled with kids once more. The perennially cantankerous Red doesn't share or even feign her enthusiasm, but he is eager to start threatening another generation with an emphatic kick in the rear — and to call them all "dumbass". Those new teens? The elder Formans' neighbours Gwen (Ashley Aufderheide, Four Kids and It) and Nate (Maxwell Acee Donovan, Gabby Duran & The Unsittables) — one a feisty riot grrrl getting Leia to rebel for the first time in her life, the other the airhead successor to Michael Kelso — and their existing friends. There is a genuine Kelso, too, in the form of hunky ladies' man Jay (Mace Coronel, Colin in Black & White), who's firmly his dad's son. Rounding out the gang: the witty Ozzie (Reyn Doi, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar), the openly gay member of the group, and Nate's super-smart girlfriend Nikki (Sam Morelos, Forgetting Nobody). Including recognisable character traits and the entire new pot-smoking, basement-dwelling crew's dynamic, as well as their hijinks — and spanning the chaos brought by Gwen and Nate's mother Sherri (Andrea Anders, Ted Lasso) as a replacement for Eric's elder sister Laurie, plus the return of the same theme tune (but given a decade-appropriate makeover), the stoner circle and each episode's interludes — That '90s Show is the blatant doppelgänger of TV sequels. Reviving teen-centric hits from decades back is one of pop culture's favourite recent trends, covering everything from Saved by the Bell and Gossip Girl to Bel-Air, but this comeback is deeply determined to give exactly what worked the first time — and for 200 episodes at that — another spin. In a series developed by That '70s Show creators Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner alongside their daughter Lindsey Turner and also That '70s Show producer Gregg Mettler, cue layer upon layer of nostalgia — for That '70s Show and for the new series' own titular decade alike. Entertainingly for fans of the original, That '90s Show's love of nods and references to its predecessor is as vast as Eric's still-buzzing love for Star Wars (see: Leia's name, and Eric's job as a professor exploring the religion of Star Wars). Obviously, the Netflix continuation couldn't be called That '90s Show if it didn't embrace its namesake as well, complete with references to Clerks, Home Alone and Free Willy, and a Beverly Hills 90210-inspired fantasy sequence. The extra dose of nostalgia? Not only getting viewers thinking about That '70s Show and the 90s, but recalling watching it in the 90s and 00s, and also wading through its affection for the 70s at the same time. Here, nostalgia and familiarity are in, making any big new moves is out — other than for Leia when she decides to stay with Kitty and Red the summer, putting herself out there to make new friends and chasing her heart. Sticking with what this franchise knows could've been unambitious and straightforward, but it couldn't suit both That '70s Show and That '90s Show better. Before it made stars out of Grace, Prepon, and the now-married Kutcher and Kunis, a considerable part of the first series' appeal was its low-key vibe; it was a show to hang out with, just as its main players did with each other while they navigated recognisable and relatable suburban teen life. This follow-up knows not to depart from that key trait, just as it knows that the mechanics of being in high school haven't shifted no matter how long has passed. Could this be a continuation of That '70s Show if the old gang didn't show up at various points, including the OG Kelso, Jackie, now-celebrity hairdresser Fez and always-high hippie Leo (Tommy Chong, Color Out of Space)? Of course not. Could this new series escape the temptation to have Leia fall for Jay and use that will-they-won't-they situation as one of its ongoing threads? Of course not again. That '90s Show is an endearing, laidback, easily bingeable throwback all the same — well-cast, too, although Doi and Morelos deserve more focus if it returns for a second season — and one that gets its levels of dripping nostalgia exactly right. Case in point: when it opens, it's with Kitty dancing in her kitchen to the apt 'Groove Is in the Heart', that 1990 Deee-Lite hit that hailed back to the 70s. Check out the trailer for That '90s Show below: That '90s Show streams via Netflix. Images: Patrick Wymore/Netflix © 2022.
A chat with Moritz Mohr about Boy Kills World is a chat about the things that he loves. His DVD copy of Battle Royale comes up, and his DVD and Blu-Ray collection in general. So does spending "months and months and months" listening to the soundtrack to Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, and the fact that the iconic South Korean revenge thriller is now being turned into a TV series. Boy Kills World, the German filmmaker's first feature, is a movie eagerly and overtly made from the things that Mohr adores. "That's a very correct assessment of the situation," he tells Concrete Playground. "We — me and all my collaborators, the writers — we really put into that movie everything that we love. So it should feel like that because that's basically what it is," he continues. Accordingly, yes, Mohr and the Boy Kills World team are fond of vengeance stories, martial arts films and fight-to-the-death flicks. And, they've worked that affection into a wild ode to action cinema starring Bill Skarsgård (John Wick: Chapter 4), featuring the voice of H Jon Benjamin (Bob's Burgers) and produced by Evil Dead filmmaker Sam Raimi (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). The involvement of each of those key figures also stems from enthusiasm. Skarsgård was the first actor cast, for a role that makes him a silent film star — Boy, the movie's protagonist, is an orphan who has spent his childhood training for a quest for retribution, and is also deaf and mute — and trades on his physicality as a form of expression as a result. It required him to get ripped, too. "I was like 'are you up for that? Are you up for the training and all?'. And he promised me he would be up for it," explains Mohr. Was he ever; the proof is in the movie. Boy doesn't speak, a choice that plays with the usual strong and silent action-hero archetype; however, viewers are still clued into his every thought and feeling thanks to Benjamin. He gives the flick Boy's inner monologue, and his involvement came about exactly as you'd expect. "I love H Jon. I love his comedy. I love Archer. I love Bob's Burgers. So that's the reason — that's the only reason, because I love him and I thought he would be a great fit," says Mohr. As for Raimi, getting him onboard — and getting compliments from him at Mohr's very-first meeting with him — had Boy Kills World's helmer thinking "oh my god, I can die now", he tells us. It's an inspirational result for anyone who has ever dreamed with their friends of making a movie, and specifically making the kind of movie you'd love to see yourself. Indeed, that's exactly the starting point for the film that premiered at 2023's Toronto International Film Festival, has scored a spinoff video game and is also seeing that button-mashing title get an animated series. [caption id="attachment_954583" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julian Leshay[/caption] Story-wise, Boy Kills World plunges into a dystopian world that brings The Hunger Games to mind, complete with death as a televised spectacle. When Boy is a boy (Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti, Goodnight Mommy), he loses family at the hands of a despot (Famke Janssen, Locked In), then commits himself to revenge. Cue carnage once he's an adult, as brought to the screen with energetic glee — and with a cast that also includes Yayan Ruhian (The Raid, The Raid 2) as the Shaman who teaches Boy his ferocious fighting skills, plus Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey: A New Era), Sharlto Copley (Monkey Man), Jessica Rothe (the Happy Death Day franchise) and Andrew Koji (Warrior). How did Boy Kills World evolve from an idea bandied about in Berlin to bouncing through cinemas? What goes into making the movie a balancing act of action and comedy, and also genres and styles? With Mohr, we also discussed the above, adding complexity to vengeance tales, casting Skarsgård, directing a wordless performance and ensuring that the film goes on a helluva ride. On How Boy Kills World Went From Idea and Proof-of-Concept Short to Getting Sam Raimi Producing and Hitting the Screen "In 2016, there were five people in Berlin: producer, writer, director, fight choreographer and action guy. And we're like 'we really want to make something that we would watch ourselves', because we're all working in advertising and TV, and there's not much of an action scene in in Germany — there's basically no action movies, never have been. And we were like 'we want to do something and we want to feature the unique talent of our brilliant action designer Dawid Szatarski [an alum of Black Widow and Kingsman: The Golden Circle]. And that's why we shot this proof-of-concept trailer, which I think we shot for like five days. It took us a year to wrap it up. And at one point, I got a call from a friend who went to the AFM, the American Film Market in LA. He's like 'hey Moritz, do you want to come along? I'm kind of lonely and I have a couch'. So I was like 'yeah, sure, I'll finish the trailer, wrap it up, stop tinkering with it and just go over there and give it a shot, and see what happens'. When I arrived there I had like four meetings, and the first meeting was like 'this is a great trailer, cool — do you have a script?'. I was like 'no, I don't have a script yet'. So like 'oh sorry, then we can't help you'. And I thought that's how it would stay, basically because I knew everybody told me 'if you want to sell something, you need a script'. Yeah, well, I don't have one. We had a treatment, a five-pager or something. But through very nice people who kept connecting me to other people, about four days later I was in contact with Sam Raimi. And I met him. He's the nicest guy ever. We had this beautiful moment that I will probably remember forever: it was the first meeting and I was like 'I'm such a huge fan of yours' — he's just like 'and I'm a big fan of yours Moritz'. And I was like 'oh my god, I can die now. This is great'. So after that meeting, it's basically sort of a handshake agreement, we're going to do this together. Also Stuart Manashil [Irma Vep, Malcolm & Marie] and Roy Lee [Late Night with the Devil, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire]. Roy Lee, he's a great producer in his own right, he did the IT movies and Lego and The Ring remakes and all that. Then we found a studio, basically, developing a script — and then it just took us five little years and lots of lots of detours. When we finally found our final partners Nthibah Pictures in South Africa and Hammerstone studios, that were ready to put all the money we needed in the film and really make the movie as it was intended to be made — and really believed in us — that's when we started shooting in Cape Town three years ago." On the Film's Balancing Act in Mashing Up Genres and Styles, and Getting the Mix of Action and Comedy Right "That's what I was worried about the entire time — it was like 'alright, we've got the comedy, but we've also got the drama. And we've got the action, and putting that in in the right amount'. Can we cut this joke? Is the movie still funny enough? Can we linger on that dramatic scene a little longer, or is it dragging everything down? Or is it too much action? Are the action scenes too long? Obviously lots of that stuff is very subjective, but it's definitely something you're worried about the entire time." On Adding Complexity to Boy Kills World's Revenge Tale "I really think there's so many revenge movies out there that I just didn't want to add something that is exactly like anything else. And as a thinking human being, usually in a revenge movie you go like 'isn't that enough revenge now? You killed like 50 people. You don't think this is enough now for whatever happened to you?'. Because it is never black and white, right? And it shouldn't be. One of my favourite directors is Park Chan-wook and his revenge trilogy — and with every one of the three movies, he put a different spin on revenge. And that definitely heavily inspired me because it just shouldn't be that easy. If you add something to the great, great genre of revenge movies, I feel like you should these days put a slight twist to it." On Boy Being a Literally Silent Hero — and Unpacking the Trope in the Process "The whole voiceover concept was there pretty much from the start. It was like 'hey, let's combine this young hero with an old narrator voice', that split. It's definitely a disconnect for the audience that the audience has to get used to, but it also makes it special. That's what was, in the beginning, when pitching the project and developing it — besides everything else, besides the story and all — it was one of the things that was like 'oh yeah, that's what makes the whole thing special, that's what sets it apart'. That was very, very deliberate. I read a comment once that was like 'oh, they probably added the voiceover after the fact when they realised that the mute hero doesn't work'. I was really hurt at that moment. I was like 'oh, no, I hope people don't think that'." On Casting Bill Skarsgard as Boy "Bill's a terrific actor, obviously. He was basically the first person we cast, and the only caveat besides him being a great actor and obviously having a super-expressive face that felt very right for role, was that he had never done any action — or not as a lead in an action movie. For a moment I was like 'ohh, can he do that?'. And in my first call, I asked him about it. I was like 'are you up for that? Are you up for the training and all?'. And he promised me he would be up for it. And I was like 'alright, you're good enough for me'. And he really delivered on his promise. He started training in Stockholm. We sent somebody over to go through the basics, the punching and kicking, and then just the motions, and he really put in the work. Like, he got in shape. He got ripped. He trained. The action scenes are basically dance routines to a degree, where you have to remember the movements and the punches and all. So that just takes time, and he was fully, fully committed to this— and spent hours and hours and days and weeks in the gym with our guys creating these scenes." On the Direction That You Give Someone When Their Performance Is Purely Expressive with No Dialogue "It is absolutely, right. So this may sound very stupid, but it was literally – because, giving direction, usually you talk to the actors and then they give you their performance. And then most of the time, if you have good actors, you just go 'oh yeah, can you go a little bigger there in the end? Or take a break?' Just like small things. When I started directing people back in the day, I just talked at them, like 'oh, you need to do this, this and this' — 15 years ago, film school days, basically. But now I'm working with all these great actors, and you really work with what they give you. And you watching the first take is usually magic, or the rehearsal — when you're like 'ohhh, this is amazing. I could never have dreamed to get something like this. That's the perfect start to these scenes'. With Bill in particular, since there's no lines, it was usually very simple directions. We're basically just 'oh yeah, do a little more here, be a bit more expressive, be more intense — or less intense'. And that's the way to go, because I did not have a lot of work with Bill in that regard; he delivered on that." On Making the Film a Wild Ride Where It Feels as If Anything Could Happen "Balancing all that, that's the big task, and we had created a canvas for ourselves where we could do some crazy stuff — and since we created our own world, nobody told us how things should be, so we had all the freedom in that regard. There are some major tonal shifts in the movie, and I was definitely worried that the audience wouldn't be along for them or [would be] like 'oh my god, the tone of that movie is all over the place'. I was literally waiting for — I'm still waiting for somebody to just call me out on that. But I actually love movies where you don't know where they're going to go, and I think that's the most exciting kind of movie — where you can be actually surprised where it's going to go." Boy Kills World opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, May 2. Read our review. Film stills: Roadside Attractions.
Gin has come a long way in the past few years. Once relegated to the back of your nana's pantry, reserved for particularly rough nights on the bingo circuit, this infamous clear spirit is now front and centre in Australia's bars. With tonic and citrus, it's your ideal summer refreshment, and in its various other forms it's the perfect winter warmer. Though Australia doesn't have a huge part to play in today's World Gin Day celebrations — c'mon it's still the most British thing around since bangers and mash — we do sure love to drink it all the same. So, in honour of this spirit that's known less as a drink and more of a mascara thinner, we've compiled our favourite creations. Swing by the bottle-o on your way home, roll up your sleeves and get a little classy — here are five perfect ways to toast World Gin Day (or any other day for that matter). Negroni This Italian classic is not for the faint-hearted. A more alcoholic version of the Americano, this hard-core aperetif is perfect for a luxurious nightcap or after-dinner punch in the mouth. While the other spirits definitely dwarf the flavour of the gin, it's also a stereotypically gin-drinker's beverage — no nonsense, no fuss, and no prisoners. 30 ml gin 30 ml Campari 30 ml sweet vermouth orange rind Method: Stir and pour over ice in short glass. Drink: In the comfort of a leather armchair in the smoking room of a swanky Italian restaurant. Gin Fizz This is a fun, summery drink with a bunch of variations. Though each cocktail bar likes to put their own spin on this versatile hit, anything with St Germain or elderflower liqueur is guaranteed to be a winner. With the rich flavour of rosemary thrust among the citrus tang of the lemon, this is a drink any cocktail pro will rave about (and happily sit on all night). 30ml gin 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 30ml elderflower liqueur 1 lemon slice 1 rosemary sprig soda Method: Shake alcohol and lemon juice, then strain over ice into highball and add garnishes. Drink: Under the sun with a smug, satisfied look on your face. Southside Though its history is widely contested, it's widely established that this mint and lemon concoction dates back to the 1920s. Yet another gin cocktail with no mixers, the Southside is definitely for those with class. With a single sip it's guaranteed to transport you back to the late-night cafes of Hemingway's Paris or the dingy clubs of 1920s Chicago (depending on your historical biases). 60 ml gin the juice of 1 lemon 15 ml sugar syrup a decent handful of mint leaves Method: Shake all ingredients until the mint is pulped, and finely strain into a coupe glass. Drink: With an outstretched pinky and a 1920s cigarette holder. Tom Collins Are you sick of gin and tonics? Does the thought of one more Gordon's London Dry and home brand tonic make you cringe? It's probably time to spice it up a bit (or alternatively, stop drinking). The Tom Collins is a classic cocktail that doesn't vary too much from the well-trodden G&T terrain. Swap that tonic for soda, sweeten the deal with some cherries and sugar, and away you go — a convenient twist on a summer classic. 30 ml gin 30 ml sugar syrup 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice 2 lemon slices 1 glazes cherry soda Method: Stir and pour over ice in a highball glass. Drink: At your next picnic or beach getaway. Martini While a vodka martini may be the standard (for James Bond fans at least), gin martinis are undoubtedly for the more refined palette. And either way, the martini is a drink for the purist. This is a cocktail with no junk in it — it lives and dies on the quality of its spirits. Of course, there are a million types of variations out there (Espresso, Apple, Marshmallow etc) but really those are all amateur hour. To raise a drink to World Gin Day, it has to be the real thing. 60 ml gin 30 ml dry vermouth olives or a twist of lemon for garnish Method: Shake gin and vermouth with ice, stir for 30 seconds, then strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish. Drink: In a morose fashion while at a bar you feel slightly intimated by. Photo credits: Oriol Lladó, sushiesque, and Isabelle @ Crumb, Clint Gardner, and RenaudPhoto via photopin cc.
One of the best performances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes from the man who was first charged with getting villainous, but now leads his own spinoff series as a complex and playful hero. While Tom Hiddleston's acting talents are well-established far beyond playing the God of Mischief — see: The Deep Blue Sea, The Hollow Crown, Only Lovers Left Alive, High-Rise, Crimson Peak and The Night Manager, for instance — the MCU has been all the better for his involvement for more than a decade. A scene-stealer in 2011's Thor, his parts in film after film kept getting bigger until streaming series Loki arrived. Amid Disney's rush of greenlighting shows for Disney+, starting this one couldn't have been easier; as Thor: Ragnarok in particular demonstrated, adding more Hiddleston has always been a winning move. When it slid into queues in 2021 as just the third series in the MCU's small-screen realm, following WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki proved that more Hiddleston in a six-part TV show was also a delight. Immediately one of Marvel's standout shows, it came as no surprise when this stint of time-hopping trickery confirmed that it was returning for a second season in that run's final episode. Now back for another half-dozen instalments from Friday, October 6, Loki becomes the first of Marvel's television entries to earn a second go-around. That isn't an achievement that it takes for granted. Picking up exactly where season one left off, Loki season two sticks to some familiar beats but also makes its own leaps, and remains fun, funny, lively and smart in the process. It feels more lived in, too, a description that rarely applies to any franchise about caped crusaders and their nemeses, gods, multiverses and temporal chaos, this one among them. Audiences may know and love Loki, including in his small-screen guise as an alternate version of the movies' scamp who turns time cop to save the world, but the figure himself isn't as swiftly recognised when Loki's second season kicks off. Although nothing has changed about him visually, the first season's climactic showdown with Time Variance Authority creator He Who Remains (Jonathon Majors, Creed III) has had repercussions. Now, the Norse rogue is glitching. With multiple timelines in play thanks to fellow Loki variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), the series' eponymous character is being pulled between different worlds. "It looks like you're being born, or dying, or both at the same time," observes Agent Mobius M Mobius (Owen Wilson, Haunted Mansion). He isn't wrong. Time is an inescapable concept in the MCU, especially as it keeps expanding and sprawling. 2023 marks 15 years since Iron Man started the franchise, with The Marvels set to notch up its 33rd film when it reaches cinemas in November. On streaming, five other Marvel shows have joined the fold since Loki's debut season, beginning with 2021's Hawkeye; then spanning 2022's Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law; and seeing Secret Invasion already drop in 2023. In the mechanics of the superhero saga, the MCU stresses the same message that Loki now is: as time keeps elongating, jumping here, there and everywhere is inevitable. Once Loki and Mobius are back in their entertaining old rhythm, they need help getting time under control. Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku, Black Mirror) takes up the battle to save timelines beyond the sacred timeline, plus the people living their lives within them, while Loki and Mobius seek help from TVA tech go-to Ouroboros aka OB (Ke Huy Quan, American Born Chinese). Bringing Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winner Quan into another temporal jumble is as great on-screen as it sounds on paper, even as he's saddled with mentioning time, manuals, looms and pruning repeatedly. There's a weightier air to Loki season two as Loki, Mobius and Hunter B-15's arcs deepen, plus more meaningful emotional paths, but the boilersuit-clad OB is a gloriously energetic addition. Also fun: when Loki flits around, inserting its main duo into different places and times on various legs of their mission. The MCU's penchant for cycling through genres instalment by instalment pops up here in miniature; where the broader saga can be a thriller in one flick (Black Widow, for example), a comedy in others (the Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man vibes), dive into horror elsewhere (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) and spin coming-of-age stories as well (the Spider-Man movies), this series goes from 70s-set London spy antics to a 19th-century Chicago caper and an existential stop at McDonalds in the 80s. The bouncing around doesn't just serve the narrative or suit the tone, but also fits Hiddleston and Wilson's central pairing. Loki does the odd-couple buddy dynamic swimmingly no matter where Loki and Mobius are, and gains another of Marvel's most engaging performances from Wilson as a result. Getting Loki falling in love with himself, aka Sylvie, was as Loki a move as there ever was in season one. In the show's return, their relationship is still complicated. Also, Sylvie remains on a quest to vanquish the man who sparked the TVA, this time via his variant Victor Timely (also Majors). The season has everyone looking for Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Summerland) and Miss Minutes (Tara Strong, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), too. And, it has a He Who Remains/Timely/Kang the Conqueror problem. As the big bad for the MCU's phase five and beyond — the next Avengers movie due in 2026 is called Avengers: The Kang Dynasty — the latter as pivotal in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The domestic violence allegations against Majors since that film now cast a shadow, unsurprisingly, as does knowing that recasting could happen. There's no doubting Loki's look, though; it's up there with the Hiddleston-and-Wilson banter and Quan's verve as one of the season's highlights. The colour palette, the technology, the outfits, the retro sheen: it all works a charm. Marvel is obsessed with linking its array of on-screen chapters as it constantly grows and stretches its cinematic universe, which isn't about to change from here. With its aesthetics, plus Hiddleston and Wilson's excellent work — and Quan's, Martino and Mosaku's as well — Loki keeps making the opposite argument, however. If ever there's a segment of the MCU that could happily stand alone and thrive, it's this one. Of course, that isn't the show's route, but leaving viewers wanting more isn't the given that it once was for this franchise as time has passed. Check out the trailer for Loki season two below: Loki season two streams via Disney+ from Friday, October 6. Images: © Marvel Studios 2023. All Rights Reserved.
Master sommelier Madeline Triffon describes Pinot Noir as 'sex in a glass', while winemaker Randy Ullom calls it 'the ultimate nirvana'. One of the most challenging grapes in the world of vinification, it's also one of the most surprising and rewarding. No wonder Bottle Shop Concepts — the good folk who bring Game of Rhones our way — are coming back to town with Pinot Palooza, an epic travelling wine festival celebrating all things Pinot Noir. For just one day, wine connoisseurs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will have the chance to sample more than 150 drops, direct from the Southern Hemisphere’s best producers. Think Ata Rangi, Yabby Lake, Bay of Fires, Rippon, Kooyong, Mount Difficulty — and that’s just the first few leaves on the vine. Whether you’re a newbie who wants to start with something light and inviting, or a Pinot pro ready for the biggest, most complex mouthful on the menu, there’ll be an abundance of selections at either end — and plenty along the spectrum, too. You’ll even be able to vote for your favourite and go in the draw to win some wine-driven prizes. If, at any point, you need to take a pause in your tasting adventures, you’ll be catered for. There’ll be cosy places to sit and mull over your chosen Pinot, loads of food and the epic Burgundy Bar – a kind of Pinot Noir mecca where you’ll be able to sample bottles worth $150+ at affordable, by-the-glass prices. Expert sommeliers will also be on hand to help you make selections. What's more, those keen to fuel their brains (and not only their tastebuds), can indulge in a 'Back Stage Pass'. It's a chance to partake in a master class with some of Australia's smartest wine educators and learn all about what's happening in Burgundy, France — Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. Pinot Palooza will hit Brisbane on Sunday, October 11 at Light Space. Tickets are $60, which includes tastings and a take-home Riedel 'Heart to Heart' Pinot Noir glass.
How many ways can getaways go wrong? In The White Lotus, each season brings a new list of chaos — and the show isn't done sending characters off to exclusive resorts to deal with whatever life throws at them just yet. The show's third season will arrive in February 2025, but there's already more on the way after that, with HBO announcing that season four has been greenlit as well. Accordingly, before anyone even watches a second of The White Lotus season three — which'll stream from Monday, February 17 Down Under — season four has been locked in. There's no word yet on which destination will follow Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand, however. There's also no details on who'll be in the series' fourth cast, and if any familiar faces will return. While the world waits for more information about season four, season three is worth getting excited about, too. A new batch of travellers is checking in, and a third The White Lotus hotel is ready and waiting. As Lisa from BLACKPINK says in both the initial look at footage from season three in a broader HBO trailer and in the anthology hit's first teaser, "welcome to The White Lotus in Thailand". A getaway at a luxurious hotel is normally relaxing, but that isn't what vacationers find in this show. It was true in the Hawaii-set first season in 2021, then in season two in Sicily in 2023, each with a largely different group of holidaymakers. Based on the sneak peek at season three, that's of course going to be accurate again in the third season's eight-episode run. Walton Goggins (Fallout), Carrie Coon (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Jason Isaacs (The Crowded Room), Michelle Monaghan (MaXXXine), Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale) and Parker Posey (Mr & Mrs Smith) are among the folks checking in season three, alongside Sam Nivola (The Perfect Couple), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Gen V), Sarah Catherine Hook (Cruel Intentions) and Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education). Families, couples and friends on getaways: they're all covered by the above cast members. And as Monaghan exclaiming "what the fuck is this place?" indicates, they're in for some chaos. Bad feelings, seeking pleasure but finding pain, threatening to drink oneself to sleep: alongside guns, dancing, judgemental pals, missing pills, snakes, monkeys, ambulances, complaints about gluten-free rice and a body bag, they're all featured in the teaser as well. From season one, Natasha Rothwell (How to Die Alone) is back Hawaii spa manager Belinda, who advises that she's there on an exchange program. Season three also stars Lek Patravadi (In Family We Trust) and Tayme Thapthimthong (Thai Cave Rescue) as one of The White Lotus' owners and security guards, respectively. Where the Mike White (Brad's Status)-created, -written and -directed satire's first season had money in its sights and the second honed in on sex, eastern religion and spirituality is in the spotlight in season three, which also co-stars Nicholas Duvernay (Bel-Air), Arnas Fedaravičius (The Wheel of Time), Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest), Scott Glenn (Bad Monkey), Dom Hetrakul (The Sweetest Taboo), Julian Kostov (Alex Rider), Charlotte Le Bon (Niki), Morgana O'Reilly (Bookworm) and Shalini Peiris (The Ark). Check out the first teaser trailer for The White Lotus season three below: The White Lotus returns on Sunday, February 16 in the US, which is Monday, February 17 Down Under. At present, the series streams via Binge in Australia and on Neon in New Zealand. The White Lotus season four doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Images: HBO.
If you needed more evidence that teenagers are becoming even smarter at a younger age, look no further. A new trend has emerged in Midwest America, where teenagers are reportedly soaking candy in alcohol in order to get drunk. Long gone are the days when young hooligans would wait outside the bottle shop and desperately beg the first bloke with facial hair to buy them a case of Bacardi Breezers. Instead, candy is being soaked in spirits before being consumed in a seemingly harmless practice. These teenagers were even able to pick the cutest and most innocent candy as their method of intoxication: the gummy bear. Darcy Jensen from Prairie View Prevention Services works in South Dakota to stop underage drinking. She notes that whilst the problem has not yet become widespread, she has already sent out warnings to schools across the state about the dangerous new practice. "Maybe someone has offered the candy and they didn't even know. So telling the kids ahead of time this could be something to be aware of is important," she said. Darcy raises a valid point. Teenagers might think twice about accepting a drink from a stranger, but a gummy bear? Never. She notes that this new trend will provide parents with a good opportunity to talk to their children about the hazards of underage drinking, and describes the gummy bears as "a good conversation starter." Maybe confectionery giants should start selling candy in brown paper bags from now on. [via Keloland]
Most families have road-trip stories and vacation tales embedded not only in their memories, but in their lore. Cherished holiday moments, whether joyous, chaotic or everything in-between, help cement the picture of who a brood is beyond the bonds of blood. So too does recalling those getaways in frequently wheeled-out anecdotes. This is all true for the Hammar family, which spent every summer during now-journalist, TV presenter and writer Filip's childhood heading from Sweden to France. With patriarch Lars behind the wheel, they'd venture for a stint of fun and sun — plus Lars whipping up ratatouille in the kitchen — at Beaulieu-sur-Mar in the French Riviera. Plenty of families talk about recapturing that magic years later. Some make the same pilgrimage again. For Filip, taking Lars back to the spot between Nice and Monaco, driving there in the same type of orange Renault 4, staying in the apartment they always did, and re-orchestrating some of treasured incidents and instances, wasn't just about nostalgia, however. That's an undeniable aspect of the trip captured in documentary The Last Journey, but so is rekindling the now-octogenarian Lars' lust for life — which was flagging after retiring from his beloved job as a teacher after 40 years and biding most of his time in an armchair at home, with his energy, physical and emotional alike, waning. Co-directed with Fredrik Wikingsson, who Filip has collaborated with professionally for a quarter of a century, the film that chronicles the Hammars' new south-of-France jaunt is now Sweden's highest-grossing doco in history. "We didn't expect this," Filip tells Concrete Playground about the reaction to the movie, which premiered in March 2024 in Swedish cinemas, was selected as the Scandinavian country's submission for the 2025 Oscars' Best International Feature category, and opens in Australia on Thursday, February 27, 2025 and in New Zealand on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Included in that sentiment: the response to the film as it has played well beyond Filip, Lars and Fredrik's homeland. "This was just a small, small project that we thought would be very domestic in a way," Filip continues. "Yeah, this is incredible for us," adds Fredrik. With Fredrik also travelling to Beaulieu-sur-Mar with Filip and his father, this is a deeply personal picture. A son trying to help his dad reclaim his zest for living was always going to be — even if the travelling party hadn't had to navigate setbacks such as Lars' hotel-room fall, which results in a broken bone, a hospital stay and almost calling the whole thing off. But as specific to the Hammars as the whole endeavour is, as filled with recreated moments for Lars and Filip, and as layered with minutiae from their family's experiences, The Last Journey also achieves the holy grail of personal filmmaking: ensuring that such an individual quest is always movingly universal. Again, road trips and fondly remembered holidays, tales about them, nostalgia and wanting to recapture family glory days are familiar to almost everyone; however, The Last Journey resonates well beyond the obvious, and long past the broad strokes. While they mightn't have when they were starting work on the movie, Filip and Fredrik — as they're known in Sweden, including via TV shows such as Sunday Party with Filip and Fredrik and Breaking News with Filip and Fredrik — understand this as filmmakers. Their documentary charts their French trip, plus Filip's journey to accept his dad's ageing and his grappling with mortality, through Filip's eyes, but its guiding forces now know that their viewers will see themselves in every Hammar family-centric detail. [caption id="attachment_991498" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Margareta Bloom Sandebäck[/caption] There's a moment in the film in France, in the apartment that he visited yearly when he was a boy, where Filip comments that being there now feels like being in a museum — and that the memories of his dad from past holidays are everywhere you look. There's so much in that statement about the way that we adore and look back on memories and experiences with our loved ones, as there is in the film. Indeed, amid The Last Journey's efforts to recreate key memories for Lars, and its commitment to not shying away from tough moments, Filip's words and the sensation they describe — a feeling that viewers will be able to recognise instantly in their own lives — perfectly sums up the entire documentary. That's an immense achievement for a movie that its directors were "very nervous about this being a very personal, small story that maybe nobody would give a shit" about, as Fredrik advises — even if they did come to realise that for audiences, "when you watch the film, you probably sit and think about the stuff you did with your parents when you grew up and the places you stayed at," Filip notes. Digging into the reaction to the doco, exploring why it's so relatable, unpacking that museum-like sensation, stepping through Lars' seemingly reluctance at various stages, examining why it was so crucial to include difficult moments, uncovering what Filip learned along the way: that's all a part of our chat with Filip and Fredrik as well. On Filip and Fredrik's Journey with the Film So Far, Including Notching Up the Highest-Grossing Swedish Documentary in History Fredrik: "First and foremost, we were very nervous about this being a very personal, small story that maybe nobody would give a shit, because it was just like maybe people will think 'good for you, good for your dad, you made a trip, why should we care?'. And especially abroad, that's even crazier. But the reactions from so many people, we got emails and text messages and stuff of people having seen the film and made their own versions of this journey. Like going to Italy with their 97-year-old grandfather, having one last beer at his favourite restaurant, or a smaller, more reasonable version — 'I just went to a museum with my mother' — and that whole almost-movement has been incredibly rewarding." Filip: "I think that when you start out, when we had this idea — this started out as just me and my dad going on a trip without cameras, when me and Fredrik started talking, 'maybe we should document this somehow'. And we decided to do that. I'm not sure it's a good idea if you start thinking about 'will this resonate?'. Of course you ask yourself those questions, like 'what's the story here?', but I don't think we understood how well it would resonate with people. Because this was my sort of issue — I felt like 'this is me, this is my dad, I want to reverse time, I want him to be the guy he used to be'. I think we underestimated how common that is in a way, how people could truly relate to this. And first off, we discovered that 'hey, they can relate to this in Sweden' — and then we started slowly to screen it outside of Sweden, and then you realise that 'hey, this is a very universal thing'. I mean, it's not that we're stupid. We knew that some people would relate. But I think it's really common now where you don't want your parents to get old, because it also makes you aware of your own mortality. And you also love your parents. So it's a very universal story, I think." On the Movie's Museum Comment, How It Sums Up the Film and How We All See Our Memories in Spaces That Are Important to Us Filip: "Thank you, first of all — that was just something I improvised. It just came." Fredrik: "Yeah, yeah." Filip: "I think people could relate to that as well. I remember, just a while ago, I went down to an apartment, my grandad's apartment — that's not in France, that's in Sweden — and I opened the door and immediately the smell was the same, and I immediately see my granddad was sitting there in his oversized bathrobe in the mornings, whatever. So there are several museums, because you associate places with certain things and memories. And I think that for everyone, like Fredrik talks about — I mean, in the beginning of the film, I talked about that last bend. We drive down to France and my dad always said 'kids, this is the last band. Then we arrive in our paradise'. But Fredrik had his own paradise. You probably had your own paradise. And those are museums, I guess, for all of us. So that's also one of the reason I think you can relate, because when you watch the film, you probably sit and think about the stuff you did with your parents when you grew up and the places you stayed at." On the Quest to Help Lars Recapture His Lust for Life — Even with His Seeming Reluctance About the Journey at Times Fredrik: "I've known Filip since the mid-90s and I've known Lars for as long. And he knows me well, and we love each other. We had a very, very small crew — and I think there is a part of him being a teacher for 40 years, a very beloved teacher. And he was he was beloved because he was also a performer. He was one of those like Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society-type teachers. So I think in a way, I think the camera for him was like a return to performing again." Filip: "That's true. You never said that before." Fredrik: "So even though it could be strange to be on-camera for a person who's not used to it, he was such a natural, if you want to call it that. Also, I think the camera made Lars listen better, because he has all kinds of diagnoses, so he is not the greatest of listeners. But everything, because of the camera, because we filmed everything, the tempo was really slow, and I think he just loved being seen and heard because he hadn't been that for a while sitting at home." Filip: "Some people perceive it as him being reluctant, and that's true at times, but also everything, I try to with my mum, I want her to greenlight everything first. She really approved of this idea. She felt he has to do this. She's there with him every day, and if you're depressed, like my dad is, you rather say 'no' than 'yes' — because you are worried, that's just part of it. We wouldn't, of course, have pushed him if he said 'no, no, no, no, no'. We wouldn't have done it. Or if a doctor would say 'this is not possible'. But I know my dad good enough, my mum knows her husband good enough, to understand that, well, you need to convince him — and sometimes you just need to tell him 'Lars, this is what you've got to do', because we knew that he would enjoy this. There were times when he's worried, of course, because he's lost a lot of self-confidence maybe. But he also enjoyed it. Even Fredrik knows this, because he'd seen my dad throughout the years. You can see when he suddenly tells the story about the parrot, when he starts remembering stuff that happened during the heydays of his life on the French Riviera, he smiles. He loves this. He forgets that he's depressed." On the Importance of Recreating Pivotal Moments From Lars and Filip's Family Holidays — and Managing to Pull Them Off Fredrik: "I think this trip could have been only sunsets and beautiful dinners, and having a good lunch with some great French food, but for us that would not do justice to who Filip's dad is. He is original, and the way he looks at France is not like the typical Eat, Pray, Love bullshit, which is all like the good food and stuff." Filip: "Fredrik sometimes calls this film 'an Eat, Pray, Love for smart people'." Fredrik: "Occasionally. But we wanted this to be a fun trip for him, and we wanted it to be like a reverse bucket list, if you will. Instead of doing things he never did before, let's make him — and for god's sake also let Filip, because he wanted this as well — experience the greatest moments of their lives together, and maybe that could reignite his zest for life. It didn't really work out that way, but I think it made the movie better. And also I think that it made the journey more memorable for him." Filip: "Instead of having him experience new things, like 'oh, my dad wants to swim with dolphins' — for some reason that's always on top of a lot of people's lists. It's hanging in there for decades. It's still there — for him, I think we knew that it's better. It's like you get a ticket to your own museum. Let's do this. And I think that was the key to why it felt, for us, relevant to make this film. And also, this is a film about a good human being — but like Fredrik said, then if it could be only like sunset sand great talks, what's good? There's an edge to this film as well that we're both proud of, and I think it's a funny film, and I think those moments we want him to re-experience are obviously not your average moments. It's like having him retell a pretty shitty story about Harry Belafonte, but he loves that story, and it was part of our summers when he tells this story about Harry Belafonte. And I think that's important for the film. Otherwise film could have become quite ... " Fredrik: "Predictable, I guess." Filip: "Yeah, I guess — and bland, like nothing. There is an oddness to it. But still a relatability. Because you probably have that story in your family when your dad is about to — and 'okay, here we go again, he's going to tell this story'. So we all have our Harry Belafonte stories in our families." On Knowing How Crucial It Was to Share the Tough Turns Along the Film's Journey Fredrik: "You never plan for those. When Lars claims, Filip's dad claims, that he makes the best ratatouille in Europe — and every summer, he made that once every summer, and that was the highlight of his summer, spending hours in the kitchen — so of course we wanted that to happen again. And when you plan that as a co-traveller and also filmmakers, you have an idea, 'this is going to be a beautiful scene, one last ratatouille'. And then when you realise quickly that 'oh my god, he can't even cut through the vegetables anymore because he's too frail', your first instinct is panic, to feel like 'oh whoa, this is not what we planned'. But after a while, if you embrace the truth of the moment, which is 'okay, this is a different Lars now, and maybe this means something for this whole experience' — then, if you include that in the film, which we of course did, it becomes more true, and I think even more relatable. Filip: "This film plays a bit, I think, like a feature. It's a doc, but it could just as well almost been a film based on some book or a script or whatever. But what we love is, talking about whatever plot points, that scene, we didn't see it coming. It was just like 'hey, have dinner'. But we realised that, wow, me being desperate — I can't, I don't remember this hardly — how desperate I am trying to find a sharper knife because I really want my dad to be able to cut through that eggplant. That's a very surprising plot point, but that is probably the scene where I give up, or where I come to terms with my dad's age. 'Hey, he's not going to be the same again'. It's hard to write that. That's why I love making documentaries. It's a scene that would have been hard to come up with if you just fantasise. On What Filip Learned on His Trip with His Dad and Fredrik — and From Making a Documentary About It Filip: "It sounds like it's a film about my dad, like his last journey, but I think the person that makes the biggest journey is definitely me. Because I think I really come to terms, or I finally just come to terms, with 'okay, my dad is not going to be who he once was. This is who he is now. But please, Filip, enjoy this'." Fredrik: "Embrace it." Filip: "And embrace it. This chapter in his life and in our lives together also has a silver lining. So I think that has really, truly changed me. And I think maybe people can relate to that as well. Or if you haven't really come to terms with that, maybe people will. And now me and my dad's relationship is better. Before this, every time I called him, I really pushed him. I told him 'come on, stop being depressed, show some fighting spirit' or whatever. Now I feel like 'okay, it's fine. Let's complain, if you want to do that. Then we can talk about other things'. Because I think he felt the pressure before to sort of perform to make me happy, by saying 'no, I'm really trying, Filip'. So that is good. There's a moment in the film where he says 'I hope you're not disappointed with me', and that sort of reveals a lot how, I guess, a lot of parents feel — how they feel like 'oh, I want to be someone else because my kids want me to be who I once was'. I think that's sad. When I think about that line, I think that changed me in a way. 'Of course, I'm not disappointed in you, dad. You can be whoever you want.'" The Last Journey opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, February 27, 2025 and in New Zealand on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson are in Australia for preview screening with Q&As on Sunday, 16 February at Sydney's Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, and on Tuesday, February 18 at Cinema Nova and The Astor Theatre in Melbourne.
When Josh and Julie Niland announced in 2024 that they're launching their debut Queensland restaurant this year, with Hamilton Island their destination, it was huge news. As the venue gets closer to welcoming patrons in the door — from Thursday, April 24, in fact — it remains one of the big culinary openings of 2025. You'll find the pair's first Sunshine State eatery at The Sundays, a brand-new hotel that's launching on the same date. But Catseye Pool Club, as the Nilands' venture is called, stands out from the pair's other restaurants. There's the location, of course — and eating here does indeed mean dining at an oceanfront spot in The Whitsundays. Then there's the fact that Catseye Pool Club isn't a seafood joint. Whenever Josh and Julie's names come up, it's usually in the same breath as their preferred form of protein. Acclaimed Sydney restaurants, award-winning cookbooks, global kudos, a sustainable seafood restaurant in Singapore: championing a fin-to-tail approach to the ocean's finest, their footprint spans all of the above. Whole-fish cookery remains a feature at Catseye Pool Club, though, but it's just one part of the menu. The plan is to hero Australian ingredients and celebrate shared dining, with dishes designed to be tucked into communally. Taking your time in the sun, making the most of the fact that you're on an island and relaxing in general are also key aspects of the vibe — and the pool club part of the restaurant's name says plenty. Yes, it the eatery is by the pool, too, so you'll be peering at water from multiple sources. "Whilst 'family-style' or 'share-style' dining is very much a way restaurants have operated for many years, the Catseye Pool Club approaches its menu with each item very much designed to be enjoyed as a whole table, with all the trimmings coming with each dish," explains Josh. "The menu is still undergoing final deliberation, but guests can expect beautiful fresh pastries made by the team, 'CPC' spanner crab royale, and coconut and verjuice honey bircher." The Nilands have released a sample menu, to give a further idea of the types of dishes that might be on offer. Think: eastern rock lobster with white bread rolls and tarragon mayonnaise; roasted chicken for two and four, paired with slow-cooked zucchini, chicken-fat roast potatoes, and tomato and grilled bread salad; grass-fed beef rib eye for four, accompanied by boiled greens and house fries; hard line-caught coral trout in salt pastry, again for four; and a neapolitan sundae for dessert. Catseye Pool Club will also serve up breakfast just for hotel guests — and you'll be able to enjoy its range of meals if you're hanging out by the pool rather than sitting at a table. "It's about creating an atmosphere where everyone can detach, unplug and simply enjoy being together. We will also extend our hospitality offering to the guest's pool and sun loungers, with a Queensland ingredient-focused cocktail menu curated by Sam Cocks, the Saint Peter Bar Director," explains Josh. While The Sundays is a luxury boutique hotel, being family friendly is part of the point of difference for the 59-room venue at Catseye Beach's northern end. That mindset applies to the new restaurant, too, with catering to family holidays a guiding principle. At a hotel run by Hamilton Island Enterprises, which is also behind qualia, guests can also look forward to that oceanfront swimming pool surrounded by private cabanas, alongside a pickleball court and tropical gardens. Room options include balcony and terrace, plus interconnecting family rooms, all decked out in calming hues. Find Catseye Pool Club at The Sundays, Catseye Beach, Hamilton Island, from Thursday, April 24, 2025. Head to the hotel's website for more details in the interim. Images: Hamilton Island Photography, Sharyn Cairns, Adam Rikys, Nick Leary.
Across nine initial seasons between 1993–2002, an additional two seasons that aired in 2016 and 2018, and two big-screen movies as well, FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigated all manner of weird and wonderful cases. They all involved the paranormal, supernatural and conspiracies, of course, spanning everything from aliens and psychic abilities to sewer-dwelling man-worm creatures and teenagers who could channel lightning — and they made The X-Files both a sci-fi hit while it was airing and a sci-fi classic ever since. Sometime in the near future, The X-Files will serve up a range of new cases. This time, though, expect them to be silly, funny and particularly preposterous. As reported by Variety, the show is coming back again, but as an all-new animated comedy spinoff that'll focus on a team covering investigations considered too ridiculous for Mulder and Scully. As fans of The X-Files will know, there's nothing too out-there for Mulder and Scully. The former's nickname was 'Spooky', after all. And, even though the latter was often highly skeptical of her partner's theories, she was also known to suggest some creative ideas of her own. But 'too wacky for Mulder and Scully' is the premise that 20th Television and Fox Entertainment seem to be sticking with for the new show — which sounds more than a bit like The X-Files meets Scooby-Doo. While few other specifics have been revealed as yet, the series will be called The X-Files: Albuquerque, and will focus on "an office full of misfit agents... they're basically the X-Files' B-team", as Variety notes. There's no word on when it'll reach screens, but neither Anderson nor Duchovny are currently involved — so don't go getting your hopes up for an animated Mulder and Scully (well, another one, after their appearance on The Simpsons back in 1997). Behind the lens, The X-Files creator Chris Carter is an executive producer, while Movie 43's Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko will be writing the series. The X-Files: Albuquerque will mark The X-Files' franchise's fourth TV series, following the original; 1996–9's Lance Henriksen-starring Millennium, which was set in the same universe; and 2001's The Lone Gunmen, about three conspiracy-obsessed characters initially seen helping Mulder and Scully. If you need a reminder of what made The X-Files so great, check out the below trailer for the 2008 movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe. You can also stream all 11 series of The X-Files in Australia on Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9KV4ESQ8HU Via Variety.
After putting on a spectacular footballing show as the host of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup — and the Matildas making history in the process — Australia will next roll out the green carpet for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup. The Asian Football Federation has given the Aussie bid for the event the go-ahead, meaning that the country will host two major women's soccer tournaments in the space of just three years. Get ready for a sea of green and gold again. Australia has welcomed the Women's Asian Cup to our shores before, back in 2006, with the tournament taking place in Adelaide. In 2026, you'll be able to check out the football action in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. All three states were put forward as locations during the bidding process. And yes, that means that the tournament won't head to other parts of the nation — so there'll be no games in either Victoria or South Australia, notably. Twelve countries will compete in the 2026 Women's Asian Cup — including Australia, of course, with the hosts automatically qualifying. So, the Matildas will get another moment to shine on home soil in a major contest. China will also compete, defending their title from the last edition in 2022, which took place in India. The Tillies were knocked out in the quarter finals — and were runners up in 2014 and 2018. Back in 2010, we won the competition, our only time as champions so far. "Securing the AFC Women's Asian Cup is a testament to our nation's dedication to football. It is not only a victory for the sport but for every Australian, offering significant economic and cultural benefits," said Anter Isaac, Chairman of Football Australia, about hosting the 2026 tournament in a statement. "We are profoundly honoured to host the 2026 edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup™. This decision reflects the global football community's confidence in our capability to deliver outstanding events. Following the resounding success of last year's FIFA Women's World Cup™, we are eager to create another tournament that celebrates women's football and inspires a new generation," added James Johnson, CEO of Football Australia. Exactly when the in 2026 the Women's Asian Cup will take place hasn't been locked in as yet, so you can't mark your calendar just yet. The Matildas next play in Australia at the end of May and beginning of June, hosting two games against China in the lead-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics. At the latter, in July and August, they're in the same group as Germany, Zambia and the US. During the team's next Aussie leg, goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold and Mackenzie Arnold and coach Tony Gustavsson will also hit the stage at Vivid Sydney 2024 to talk all things Tillies. [caption id="attachment_912895" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matildas: The World at Our Feet[/caption] The 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup hasn't yet announced its exact dates — we'll update you when they're revealed. Head to the AFC website for more details in the interim. Images: Tiffany Williams / Football Australia.
Right now, it seems there's no end to the list of things you can have delivered to your door. Craving a midweek bottle of wine while social distancing? Naked Wines has your back. Fancy a fresh addition to your plant collection, dropped at your doorstep monthly? You're in capable hands with Botanic Box. Want sweeping views of some stunning Sydney coastline? Well, now you can thanks to Australia Unseen's new jigsaw puzzles. Sure, you can't physically take in the sights right now, but can get hours of at-home entertainment. Because let's face it, there are only so many times you can watch Tiger King. Australia Unseen's Vincent Rommelaere takes photos of Australian beaches and rock pools and usually sells them as prints on his website, but now he's turning these pics into puzzles and bringing the beach to your living room. Seeing as you can't just go down for a quick dip at Bondi at the moment, it may be the closest you get to feeling sand between your toes for a little while. At the moment, there are five different puzzles available as either 500-piece ($49) or 1000-piece ($59) jigsaws. If you're into ocean pools, you can choose a puzzle of Bondi's famed Icebergs, the Bronte Rock Pool or Coogee's Ross Jones Memorial Pool. Otherwise, there's a shot of Clovelly or one of people sunbathing at Bondi. More puzzles are expected to hit the online store this week, too, of Sydney's northern beaches and Byron Bay. All are aerial photographs and are sure to bring Aussie summer vibes in spades. Delivery within Australia is $10 and estimated to take two or three weeks. International shipping is also available, with cost and delivery time dependent on region. Australia Unseen jigsaw puzzles are now available to buy over here.
Mysteries to solve, eye-catching landscape to traverse and Eric Bana (A Sacrifice) playing sleuth: it worked in Australian film The Dry and its sequel Force of Nature: The Dry 2, and it has again in Netflix's unrelated series Untamed. The streaming service is betting it will once more when it brings back the latter mystery-thriller for a just-announced second season. After Untamed debuted in Netflix's global English-language top ten in mid-July 2025, the platform has revealed that more is on the way. This show was only originally envisioned to run for one season; however, it's set to return with a new investigation in a new national park. In Untamed, Bana plays Kyle Turner, an Investigative Services Branch agent of the US National Parks Service. Also starring Sam Neill (The Twelve), Rosemarie DeWitt (Smile 2), Lily Santiago (La Brea) and Wilson Bethel (Daredevil: Born Again) — portraying chief park ranger Paul Souter, Kyle's remarried ex-wife Jill, Los Angeles police officer Naya Vasquez and former army ranger-turned-park wildlife management officer Shane Maguire, respectively — the first season saw the Chopper, Dirty John, Blueback and Memoir of a Snail star's character looking into a death in Yosemite National Park, a case that forced him to confront his own past in the course of the investigation. "I am absolutely thrilled that we get the chance to bring another season of Untamed to life," said Bana in a statement as per Netflix's Tudum. "The response to season one has been a testament to the incredible effort by our crew to deliver something truly unique. I can't wait to take Kyle on his next journey. Massive thanks to Netflix, John Wells Productions, Warner Bros Television and our fans." There's no release date for Untamed season two, which was created by Mark L Smith (American Primeval) and and boasts The Pitt's John Wells as another of its executive producers, as yet. But stepping back into the show's world, rather than leaving the project as a six-episode limited series, eventuated because "the more that we got into it, it was just such a great cast ... it was just like, 'oh yeah, how do we keep this going?'", said Smith. Of the new setting, "this won't be the first park he's been in since Yosemite. He's been to a lot of parks. He's been busy, taking on a lot of cases. This will be the latest and it'll be more impactful for him," Smith also shared about Turner. Viewers can also expect Untamed's protagonist to be the newcomer in his surroundings, while digging into a different type of case from the first season — and for the new park, which hasn't yet been revealed, to be a key character the way Yosemite is in season one. Check out the trailer for Untamed season one below: Untamed streams via Netflix — and we'll update you with a release date for season two when more details are announced. Images: Ricardo Hubbs / Netflix © 2025.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. HOUSE OF GUCCI For the second time in as many movies, Lady Gaga is caught in a bad romance in House of Gucci. Yes, she's already sung the song to match. The pop diva doesn't belt out ballads or croon upbeat tunes in this true-crime drama, unlike in her Oscar-nominated role in A Star Is Born, but she does shimmy into a tale about love and revenge, horror and design, and wanting someone's everything as long as it's free. Eschewing the earthy naturalism of her last film performance and tapping into her famed on-stage theatricality instead, she's perfect for the part of Patrizia Reggiani, aka Lady Gucci, aka the daughter of a trucking entrepreneur who wed into one of the world's most prestigious fashion families, helped unstitch its hold on its couture empire, then went to prison for murder. She's exceptional because she goes big and lavish, and because she knows that's the type of feature she's meant to be in: a soapy spectacle about money and power that uses its depiction of excess as an interrogation technique. Complimenting Gaga for nailing the brief — for acing it so dazzlingly that she's sauntering down her own catwalk as most of her co-stars virtually watch from the floor — gives House of Gucci a tad too much credit, though. Ridley Scott's second film in mere months following The Last Duel, and his third in a row to examine wealth and influence after 2017's All the Money in the World, this fashion-world saga skews large, lush and luxe with each choice, too, but doesn't land every sashay with quite the outsized lustre of its crown jewel. If House of Gucci's veteran director was picking an outfit instead, he would've chosen a killer gown, then wavered on the accessories. Some of his other decisions gleam, as seen in the movie's knowingly maximalist and melodramatic air. Others prove fine, like its jukebox-style soundtrack of 70s and 80s bangers. A few moves are so cartoonish — Jared Leto's ridiculousness, and the Super Mario-style accents sported by almost everyone on-screen — that they play like cheap knockoffs. The story itself is a standout, however, as adapted from Sara Gay Forden's 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed. When Patrizia meets law student Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver, Annette) at a 70s-era party, mistakes him for a bartender, then realises who he is, it sparks a rollercoaster of a relationship — starting with Maurizio being disinherited by his father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons, Love, Weddings and Other Disasters) for their marriage. Still, the newest Gucci knows what she wants: a place in the family's dynasty. She isn't the lone cause of the Guccis' unfolding, thanks to Rodolfo's brother Aldo (Al Pacino, Hunters), his penchant for watering down the brand and tax evasion, and his wannabe-designer son Paolo (Leto, The Little Things), but she's the Lady Macbeth pushing Maurizio to seize the company by any means. And, because the reason that House of Gucci even exists was written in news headlines over a quarter-century ago, she's behind Maurizio's killing in 1995. "I don't consider myself a particularly ethical person, but I'm fair," Patrizia offers partway into the movie, a moral code that still sees her order his hit after their divorce — helped by a TV psychic-turned-pal (Salma Hayek, Eternals), because that's the kind of tale this is. Interviewed in 2016, Patrizia called herself "the most Gucci of them all", an idea that Scott and his screenwriters Becky Johnston (Arthur Newman) and Roberto Bentivegna (short El otro lado) don't ever give Italian-lilted voice to, but still use as their basic pattern. In the sartorial realm, Gucci might stand for high-end indulgence, but House of Gucci sees both the allure and the cost of the brand reflected in Patrizia's status-hungry actions. Read our full review. GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Spraying reboots, remakes, sequels and prequels across cinema screens like a spirit supposedly sprays ectoplasm — gushing reimaginings, spinoffs and seemingly never-ending franchises, too — Hollywood ain't afraid of no ghosts. It loves them in horror movies, obviously, but it adores the spectre of popular intellectual property even more. These phantoms of hits gone by can be resurrected again and again, all to make a profit. They haunt both cinemas and box-office blockbuster lists, making film-goers and the industry itself constantly feel like they're being spooked by the past. With 14 of Australia's 15 top cash-earning flicks of 2021 all falling into the been-there-done-that category in one way or another, looking backwards in the name of apparently going forwards is now mainstream filmmaking 101, and the big end of town rarely likes bustin' a money-making formula. After more than a few pandemic delays, that's the world that Ghostbusters: Afterlife floats into — a world that's made worshipping previous glories one of the biggest cash-spinners show business could've ever dreamed up. The fourth feature to bear the Ghostbusters name, but a new legacy sequel to the original 1984 film, this reanimated franchise entry certainly sports a fitting subtitle; treating its source material like it's nirvana is firmly filmmaker Jason Reitman's approach. To him, it might've been. Although he established his career with indie comedies such as Thank You for Smoking and Juno, he's the son of director Ivan Reitman, who helmed the OG Ghostbusters and its 1989 follow-up Ghostbusters II. To plenty of fans, those two initial comedy-horror flicks were something special as well; however, acknowledging that fact — and trying to recreate the feeling of being a kid or teen watching the first Ghostbusters nearly four decades ago — isn't enough to fuel a new film. To be fair, the younger Reitman isn't particularly interested in making a new movie; Be Kind Rewind's "sweded" Ghostbusters clips are more original than Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Instead, he directs a homage that sprinkles in links to its predecessor so heartily that it's probably easier to name the scenes and details that don't scream "hey, this is Ghostbusters!" as loudly as possible. And, even when Reitman and co-screenwriter Gil Kenan (Poltergeist) appear to shake things up ever so slightly, it all still ties back to that kid-in-the-80s sensation. Sure, Ghostbusters: Afterlife's protagonists aren't adult New Yorkers, but they're small-town adolescents who might as well have ambled out of one of the era's other hot properties: Steven Spielberg-helmed or -produced coming-of-age adventure-comedies about life-changing, Americana-dripping, personality-shaping escapades. Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, Malignant) is one such child, and a new inhabitant of the cringingly titled Summerville, Oklahoma at that. With her mother Callie (Carrie Coon, The Nest) and brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, The Goldfinch), she's made the move because the granddad she never knew just passed away, leaving a dilapidated rural property to his estranged family. The townsfolk speak his nickname, "dirt farmer", with mocking and intrigue, but his actual moniker — and all that equipment he's left behind — brings big changes Phoebe's way. While being Dr Egon Spengler's granddaughter doesn't initially mean too much to her, other than giving her love for science a genetic basis, she's soon segueing from testing out ghost traps with local teacher Mr Grooberson (Paul Rudd, The Shrink Next Door) to cracking Egon's secret efforts to stop a world-shattering supernatural event. Read our full review. NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN Start how you mean to go on is common-sense filmmaking advice. It's the medium's obvious first step, but it's also an elusive achievement. And, it's a feat that's usually only evident in hindsight — when a viewer can see if a stellar introduction really did signal just as sublime things to come, or vice versa. Never Gonna Snow Again perfects the concept, however. In its arresting opening moments, a man walks out of a forest and into a gated community in eastern Poland, and everything about the scene ripples with moody intrigue. The grey fog infusing the film's setting, the enigmatic look on the mysterious protagonist's face, the feeling that anything and everything could happen: filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska (Mug) and Michal Englert (also the movie's cinematographer) deliver it all at the outset, and then back it up over their feature's 116 minutes. In Never Gonna Snow Again's initial images, that inscrutable man is Ukrainian masseur Zhenia (Alec Utgoff, Stranger Things), who walks out of a forest and into a gated community in eastern Poland. His destination is lined with lavish identical houses — the kind that the song 'Little Boxes' has satirised for almost six decades now — but he's about to be its most extraordinary visitor. His hands can help knead away physical troubles, a must for everyone with his profession. But as he works his physical magic, his touch can soothe minds as well. Trundling his massage table from well-appointed home to well-appointed home, he quickly builds up a devoted client list of well-to-do residents desperate for his help. He steps into their worlds, spying their outward gloss — the similar wreaths on each door, the doorbells chiming with snippets of classic music — and palpating away their inner pain. As that glorious opening scene establishes almost-unnervingly well, there's a surreal, seductive and otherworldly atmosphere to Never Gonna Snow Again, which Szumowska and Englert let float through their frames like a lingering breeze. There's also a devastatingly savvy interrogation of the type of rich lives that pine for Zhenia's involvement, including their complete obliviousness to him as anything more than a salve for their ennui. Much festers in the feature's McMansions. As it contemplates the everyday malaise that dulls wealth's superficial glow, as well as the vast chasm between gleaming exteriors and empty insides, much haunts Never Gonna Snow Again, in fact. Thematically, it wades into familiar territory — at a time when Succession and The White Lotus are the best shows on TV, and Parasite won the Best Picture Oscar just a year ago, it's probably easier to name movies and TV shows that don't shred the rich to pieces — but it stands out like a pink-hued home in an estate plastered with white and grey. Plenty dazzles in Never Gonna Snow Again, too, including Szumowska and Englert's confident handling, which knits together magical realism and razor-sharp observations about class — and about modern life's rubbish in general as well — with canny precision. Indeed, the movie could've easily crumbled in other hands, and likely will if anyone ever erroneously decides it needs an English-language remake. Perhaps the filmmaking duo's smartest decision is also their most visible, however, because Utgoff's performance is just that magnetic. He's the presence that all those well-to-do clients warm to, lean on and rely upon, and the source of comfort so reliable and cosy that they aren't ever challenged to shatter their bubbles to think about him as a person rather than a set of helping hands — but he has Never Gonna Snow Again's audience constantly pondering and questioning. CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG Nostalgia might be one of pop culture's most-called-upon forces — see also: Ghostbusters: Afterlife — but it can't turn every childhood favourite that reaches cinemas into a winner. Leaping from the pages of Norman Bridwell's illustrated books, the new live-action Clifford the Big Red Dog film is a huge generic slog, shoehorning its oversized, crimson-hued hound into a jumble of routine scenarios that are about as rare as wayward dog faeces in a public park. The giant scarlet woofer gallops into a by-the-numbers, family-friendly action-adventure flick that's a missive against judging things by their appearances, a cautionary tale about bullying and a takedown of nefarious corporate interests. Ron's Gone Wrong barked up all the same trees recently and, while it was hardly an instant classic, it runs circles around this. The point of Clifford the Big Red Dog, no matter what the narrative spins, is right there in the title: it's a story about an abnormally large, unusually ruby-coloured canine, and that's what people want to see. Despite 80 books to the character's name, it's a one-note idea that screenwriters Blaise Hemingway (Vampires vs the Bronx), Jay Scherick and David Ronn (Baywatch) — working with a screen story by Justin Malen (Yes Day) and Ellen Rapoport (Desperados) — unsurprisingly set about fleshing out, but also often sideline their eponymous mutt in the process. Clifford's hijinks couldn't sustain an entire feature, but he's really just a big red sidekick for the bulk of the film. He's an enormous cherry-toned sign for accepting things that are different, too, a well-intentioned message that couldn't be more glaring given that a big red dog yaps the very concept. Clifford isn't originally a giant pet when Emily Elizabeth Howard (Darby Camp, Dreamland) first makes his acquaintance in a Central Park animal-rescue tent run by the mysterious Bridwell (John Cleese, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee). He's definitely the same shade as a tomato, though, and his bond with Emily is instant — even if her mess of an uncle, Casey (Jack Whitehall, Jungle Cruise), says she can't take him home. And yet, this little critter still finds his way into his new pal's backpack. The next morning, he's also no longer a tiny pup. Plus, when he starts attracting attention around New York, he's targeted by a tech billionaire (Tony Hale, Being the Ricardos) who wants him for scientific purposes — but the already-teased Emily, who is taunted at her private school for being there on a scholarship, won't let anyone either take or victimise Clifford for standing out. The look and mood in Clifford the Big Red Dog is sunny with a side of saccharine, and it has John Debney's (Home Sweet Home Alone) relentlessly cheery score to match. With the movie's namesake blazing away in every frame he's in — not due to his hue or size, but via the terrible CGI bringing him to digital life — director Walt Becker (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip) was never going to helm a subtle film, but everything here is exactly as nuanced as a towering vermillion puppy. The result isn't quite as doggone awful as pooch-driven buddy cop flick Show Dogs, although that's an extremely low bar. It's never as goofy as it should be, however, and it really should sport all the goofiness it can dig up (smatterings of toilet humour don't count). Clifford the Big Red Dog can also only wish it was as visually creative and emotionally endearing as the recent page-to-screen all-ages movie standard: the Paddington films, which keep being pushed into a menagerie of their own by every pale imitation. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on September 2, September 9, September 16, September 23 and September 30; October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; and December 2, December 9, December 16 and December 26. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Streamline, Coming Home in the Dark, Pig, Big Deal, The Killing of Two Lovers, Nitram, Riders of Justice, The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter, The Scary of Sixty-First, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, The Matrix Resurrections, The Tragedy of Macbeth and The Worst Person in the World.
Buying a plant is a bit like getting a pet — except, at times, even more difficult. You see a fancy-looking fern in the plant store and think, whoa, this would look great on the kitchen bench. So you take it home and try your best, really, to take care of it, and dream that one day it might love you back (hopefully). But then disaster happens; you see a few brown leaves and it looks a little wilted. What do you do? Truth is, some plants can be pretty needy, and some just don't flourish in certain environments. It can be really hard to figure out what your plants require and where they grow best, so we spoke to Georgina Reid, founder and editor of online magazine The Planthunter. She's given her seasoned advice that'll help you keep those plant babies alive, organised by the different parts of your home. THE SUNNY, NORTH-FACING, INDOOR SPACE This is your well-sunned living room or kitchen with a nice big window. There's a lot that can grow here due to the amount of sunshine pouring in. Many succulents will work well in this space; look to hen and chicks (Echeveria spp.), jade plant (Crassula spp.) and even mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis spp.). Aesthetically, the fiddle-leaf fig looks snazzy in a well-lit, white room (although apparently a little cliché in the plant community), and so does peperomia with its thick, slightly succulent leaves. Just be aware if this space doesn't get that direct afternoon sun — this may be good for you in the middle of summer, but not so much for any cacti or herbs. These guys need a big dose of sun so this spot may be a bit depriving. THE SUNNY, BACKDOOR COURTYARD Conveniently located at the other end of your house, the courtyard is most likely at ground level so there's a good chance you can plant directly in the soil and keep things in pots. As a result, consider this spot the all-rounder. It's an ideal location for succulents, flowers, vegetables and herbs. Oregano, rosemary and thyme are quite easy to grow, and the great thing about them is that they're perennial — they'll live for more than one year (unlike basil, coriander and parsley who live fast and die young). Many veggies need roughly four to six hours of sun each day, making a sunny courtyard an ideal space for them to thrive. And if you're not after edibles, Reid recommends checking out the spaghetti-like hanging fronds of the mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis spp.) which provide an eye-catching, refreshingly sculptural addition to a shadier outdoor space. THE OFTEN HUMID, STEAMY BATHROOM Plants might do a great job of freshening up the bathroom, but the steam from your shower is enough to drown a large number of genera — FYI, that's the plural of genus— so Reid suggests looking for tropical climate plants. Ferns are great here as they love that moisture. The Boston fern is a great bathroom addition visually. They're also pretty tough and grow very tall. Maidenhair fern is also a popular bathroom addition, but be warned: this one may be for the greenest of thumbs. According to Reid, the Maidenhair can be quite temperamental if not provided with near-perfect growing conditions. THE LOW-LIT STUDY OR BEDROOM Our bedrooms and studies aren't reliably bright, so the desk cactus doesn't like this part of the house, regardless of how cute it looks next to that lamp. Reid recommends you swap it for a big leafy plant or fern instead. She suggests looking for rainforest plants: "They've evolved with large, glossy leaves to grab as much light as possible." Although not applicable to all plants, many of these have 'drip tips'. You can identify these by the point at the end of the leaf that water spills off. Some of Reid's favourites include the hoya, a beautifully sculpted climbing plant with incredible flowers, and Devil's Ivy — the name comes from the fact that it's near impossible to kill this guy. Also, the Fruit Salad plant (also known as monstera) doesn't really need a whole lot of sun and grows really well in dim light. THE HOT, WEST-FACING BALCONY The west-facing balcony might be the hottest part of your place, after the oven. In summer, the afternoon sun will roast this area, making it scorched and dry. So, it's best to put those plants that require a lot less moisture out here. Cacti love this setting: if at all, they require very little watering — they thrive in the desert, after all. Herbs are great too and so are veggies: they all need a good showering of sun. Succulents will grow well in the heat, too. Reid recommends plants from the aloe genus, particularly picatilis or Fan Aloe. Like other succulents, it's the perfect plant to survive a heatwave as all the moisture is stored within its leaves. So how much water do succulents need? You'll notice when they need more moisture; they'll be trying to draw water from itself and will look a little withered. "It's best to give your plants a good soaking every week or two, rather than a trickle every day," says Reid. You can tell if they need a water by sticking a finger into the soil. If there's moisture, it's probably fine. There's no need to drown the poor thing. All in all, getting your plants to thrive can be tricky and often needs more than one go. But if it doesn't work out, try again. "Plants die," says Reid, "that's just how it is." Plant Life Balance is a new initiative designed to get Australians excited and confident about styling their homes with plants while promoting the healthy benefits plants bring. The initiative also delivers an Australian-first, virtual greening app. The Plant Life Balance app, asks Aussies to rate their space, then improve their health score by choosing a look for their room or outdoor area, grabbing a plant list and hitting the nursery. Download the app here.
Across the first few months of 2025, HBO is bringing back both The White Lotus and The Last of Us — and if you feel like you've been waiting a while for the two hit shows to return, then you mustn't be a Euphoria fan. 2022 closed with the second season of the US network's vacation anthology. 2023 began with the debut run of its game-to-TV smash. It was before all of that, at the start of 2022, that Euphoria last dropped new episodes, though — and its third season isn't expected to arrive until 2026. Here's the good Euphoria news, however: HBO has finally started production on season three of the award-winning favourite. And, while there's still a wait to see how it pans out, a first-look image of Zendaya in the new season has also arrived to give viewers a sneak peek. View this post on Instagram A post shared by euphoria (@euphoria) The show's cast haven't been sitting around doing nothing for the past three years. Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Colman Domingo and company have been busy — and our screens have been full of movies and TV shows to prove it. Challengers, Dune: Part Two, Saltburn, Priscilla, Reality, Anyone But You, Madame Web, Immaculate, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Cuckoo, Kinds of Kindness, The Color Purple. Drive-Away Dolls, The Madness: they're just some of the projects that've featured Euphoria stars since 2022, and the list goes on. Elordi has been back in Australia making miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which hits streaming in April — and will also be seen as Frankenstein's monster for Guillermo del Toro (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio) before 2025 is out. Domingo was nominated for an Oscar for Rustin, then scored another nomination for Sing Sing. Storm Reid won an Emmy for The Last of Us. Maude Apatow has been doing voice work on Pantheon, Alexa Demie popped up in Fantasmas, Dominic Fike was in Earth Mama — and played Laneway 2024. Season three of Euphoria has experienced delays for a heap of reasons. Back in 2024, it was reported that scripts were still being worked on, but shooting had been pushed back. "HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season. In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities," a HBO spokesperson told Deadline and Variety in a statement at the time. Apparently the idea of doing a movie instead of a new season was floated, but obviously isn't the plan that's moving ahead. Given the passage of time — come 2026, it will have been four years since season two — there'll be a time jump within the narrative in season three and the show's main characters will no longer be in high school, Zendaya has mentioned in interviews. There's obviously no trailer for Euphoria season three yet, but you can watch HBO's 2024–25 roundup trailer below: Euphoria season three doesn't have an exact release date yet, but is expected to arrive in 2026 — we'll update you when further details are announced. Images:HBO.
When it comes to what we drink, we can be creatures of habit. We reach for our go-tos: a cheap-yet-standout bottle of vino, ready-to-sip cocktail cans and brews we know and love. But, if you knew how simple it is to craft winning cocktails, you'd be stocking up your bar cart, filling your ice tray and inviting your mates round for a few cheeky ones ASAP. So together with The Bottle-O, and in honour of World Gin Day — which on Saturday, June 10, is fast approaching — we've found a few easy-peasy, three-step wintery cocktails that'll have you sipping gin like a pro. Ready to up your G&T game? Impress your mates with a martini? Add a slice of summer to the cooler months with a gimlet? We've got you. MALFY ROSA G&T The classic G&T is a favourite among many. It's deliciously bitter, spotlights your gin of choice and always refreshing. In this recipe, there's the added juiciness of Malfy Gin Rosa's grapefruit notes and the sweet kiss of a Med-inspired tonic. A wedge of citrus will add some party to your glass (and a sprig of rosemary will jazz it up further), but it'll be just as delicious without. And, if you're pressed for time (or really cannot be bothered), opt for a four-pack of Bombay Sapphire G&Ts or Gordon's Pink Gin & Sodas (if you'd rather leave the tonic) — just stealthily pour the fizz into a glass and your pals won't know the difference. Ingredients Serves one 30ml Malfy Gin Rosa 60ml Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic Grapefruit to serve Method Add Malfy Gin Rosa to a glass with ice and top up with tonic water. Garnish with a wedge of grapefruit and enjoy. ROKU GIMLET If you're starting to feel the winter blues — and a tropical holiday is nowhere in sight — this short, sweet, citrusy cocktail is the drink for you. It looks fancy, but once you've secured your coupe, the hardest part is done. You want your glass to be chilly, the liquor to be a delicious pour like Roku Gin and a selection of salty snacks alongside. If you can't find the Japanese spirit, opt for any of the other top-quality (yet affordable) options, like Hendrick's or Four Pillars. Ingredients Serves one 50ml Roku Gin 50ml lime syrup Lime to garnish Method Add Roku Gin and lime syrup to a mixing glass with ice, then stir until the glass feels very cold. Strain into a chilled coupe glass, top with a slice of lime and enjoy. FOUR PILLARS RARE DRY GIN MARTINI If you're looking to impress, the martini is having somewhat of a resurgence. Although its taste divides cocktail-lovers everywhere (some think it's perfection, some know it's too strong), it's the hero on many a cocktail list. Well, the secret to a good martini is in the quality and temperature of your gin: you want something special, and you want it ice cold. Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin is the bottle for you. It's classic, herbaceous and citrus-forward — and it's Aussie made. Just quietly, a nip or two of Hendrick's would do nicely too. Ingredients Serves one 60ml Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin 15ml dry vermouth 2 dashes orange bitters Lemon peel to garnish Method Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice, stir and then strain into a chilled martini glass. Top with a twist of lemon peel and enjoy. Whether you're a seasoned gin lover that's looking for a hot new way to enjoy your pour this winter, or you're a newbie looking to take a delicious dive in, these three recipes will sort you out. Celebrating World Gin Day on Saturday, June 10 will be that much more exciting with a group of friends, some gin chilling in the freezer and a trio of recipes that are easy to nail. To begin with gin, head to your local The Bottle-O and take your pick. The Bottle-O is the independent store slinging your favourite boozy sips all over Australia — and a standout spot to nab the gin for your cocktail of choice this World Gin Day. Ready to dive in? Head to the website. Imagery: Declan Blackall.
When trying to navigate city streets on a bike, it's not exactly the safest move to pull out your phone to use the GPS. With new product Hammerhead Navigation though, riders no longer have to worry about losing focus to find directions on an unfamiliar route. The appropriately named device looks like a hammerhead and features LED lights that guide directional change and indicate hazards on a course. The Hammerhead is mounted right in the cyclist's peripheral vision, making it safer to ride on terrain they've never biked on before. The purpose of the simple design is to not distract bikers with complicated screens and graphics. Instead, it uses simple intuitive signals that are not distracting. The route comes from the user's smartphone, which syncs with Hammerhead using a system based on biking apps MapMyRide and Strava. In addition, their app will utilise crowdsourcing to gather information about the best routes (depending on user-set preferences) and potential road hazards. Hammerhead users will also be able to suggest routes to their fellow riders. Once a user chooses a route from their phone, Hammerhead can function from a locked and stored smartphone. No GPS information is stored in the Hammerhead device; rather, it uses location information from the smartphone to navigate the predetermined route. Hammerhead benefits from having a 14-hour single charge lifespan, so you can be sure it will stick with you on longer rides. Because users' smartphones connect to the device using Bluetooth, it will not drain phone batteries like other GPS devices. Like most innovative products these days, the team behind Hammerhead Navigation used crowdfunding to develop their product. Hammerhead is expected to ship to its first backers by September 2014. Go ahead, bike the path less travelled. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lHtwvvKf65w Via Fast Company
Articulate, enthusiastic, candid, and at least a little bit enamoured with the sound of his own voice — you only have to be in a room with John Landis for a few seconds to see he was born to be an entertainer. In town for a career tribute as part of this year's Melbourne Festival, the 63-year-old director behind beloved Hollywood films including The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and the music video to Michael Jackson's Thriller, seems totally at ease in a room full of journalists, as he recalls anecdotes from a career that spans more than 40 years. YOU CAN'T PICK WHICH WORKS WILL HAVE A LASTING IMPACT While we now look back at movies like Animal House and The Blues Brothers as era-defining comedies, when asked if he had any notion that his films would still be celebrated 30 years after being made, Landis shakes his head with a smile. "The truth is," the filmmaker explains, "you work the same on a successful movie as you do on an unsuccessful movie. [Peter] Bogdanovich was the one who said 'the only true test of a film is time'. And unfortunately we're in a very schizophrenic business, because according to the media and the industry, the only true test of success is money. So many great films come out and tank, and many terrible movies are huge hits. So there's no rule of thumb." "The one that surprised me the most was Thriller," Landis says. "The album was already the most successful album of all time when we made the short … The Thriller video, on Beta and VHS, was $29.95, and they sold 8 million of them. That amazed me. And I think what still delights me, because it's so nuts, is Thrill the World, where they do the thriller dance. And if you go online, they do the thriller dance at weddings and bar mitzvahs … I guess it's the power of Michael Jackson." BAD MOVIES DON'T ALWAYS START OUT BAD Of course, not all of Landis' films have been so successful. Asked about the woeful reception to Blues Brothers 2000, he grins and responds, "the biggest problem with Blues Brothers 2000 is that it's lousy. We had terrible interference from the studio. It was rewritten something like 17 times before they gave us the green light… it was a terrible script. But I'm very proud of the music." Another one of Landis' lesser known works is 1996's The Stupids, which sat unreleased on a shelf for years after the financing company went bankrupt. Upon release, the film tanked at the box office and was panned by critics, although as Landis points out, eventual distributor New Line Cinema bought the film for more than it cost to make, and so "we all made money." "It was mis-sold. It's a children's film, and they sold it as a teenage tits and ass comedy. It was a horrifying experience." IF YOU DOWNLOAD RATHER THAN GOING TO THE CINEMA, IT'S YOUR LOSS Perhaps it's in part due to his rocky relationship with the Hollywood studios that Landis has spent most of the last decade working in documentary and television. "Hollywood as it used to be hasn't existed for a long time", Landis reflects. "I started in the mail room at Fox in the '60s, and it was already dying then. The film business has changed just like every other business, because of globalisation and economics and all kinds of things. Now, Universal, Fox, MGM, Warner Brothers, they're small subdivisions of huge multinational corporations. And these giant corporations, they're their own nation states. They don't even fucking pay taxes! So it has changed, and it continues to change." Even so, Landis remains mostly optimistic about the state of affairs in the movie business. "I think good movies will always be made. One of the big ironies is that technology improved, so now literally anyone can make a movie. The only thing I don't like, the only thing that makes me feel like an old fart, is that it breaks my heart that generations will see Lawrence of Arabia on their cell phone. Because nothing can reproduce the theatrical experience. Big house; beautifully projected — and you know that film is communal. The more people you are with watching a movie, the better the movie works. Comedies are funnier. Scary movies are scarier. Sad movies are sadder. It's contagious." A retrospective of John's films will be screening as part of the Melbourne Festival during October. Check it out here.
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. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this months latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from September's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW THE MAD WOMEN'S BALL Hitting streaming mere days after premiering at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, The Mad Women's Ball marks the latest thoughtful and enthralling stint behind the camera for Mélanie Laurent. The French actor who'll forever be known for Inglourious Basterds features on-screen in this, too, and turns in a layered and textured performance. But, behind the lens for the sixth time — and the first since 2018's Galveston — she transforms an already-gripping tale into a film that's vivid, passionate, empathetic and resonant. You could compare The Mad Women's Ball to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, although that's oversimplifying things. Both are primarily set within comparable facilities, with the Salpêtrière neurological clinic the key location here, and both hone in on the power imbalance between those admitted and those running the show. But the Salpêtrière's patients are all women, most have been checked in against their will, the word 'hysteria' is thrown around too often by the male doctors, and 19th-century Paris treats anyone who doesn't conform to to the placid, dutiful female norm with contempt. That's what Eugénie Cléry (Lou de Laâge, who also starred in Laurent's 2014 film Breathe) learns after she starts hearing spirits. When her wealthy family find out about her new ability to communicate with the dead, she's packed away despite her pleas and protests, and confined to a place where she's little more than an inmate for men to torture with ice baths and other supposed cures. Laurent plays a nurse who becomes sympathetic to Eugénie's cause, but the film has just as much time for the sense of camaraderie that springs between the facility's wrongly institutionalised charges. It also offers space for other on-screen women to make an imprint, and serves up not just a potent but a handsomely staged adaptation of Victoria Mas' novel Le bal des folles. The Mad Women's Ball is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. SQUID GAME Exploring societal divides within South Korea wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but its success was always going to give other films and TV shows on the topic a healthy boost. Accordingly, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between the acclaimed movie and Netflix's new highly addictive Squid Game — the show that's on track to become the platform's biggest show ever (yes, bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton) less than two weeks since it released. Anyone who has seen even an episode knows why this nine-part series is so compulsively watchable. Its puzzle-like storyline and its unflinching savagery making quite the combination. Here, in a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup, 456 competitors are selected to work their way through six seemingly easy children's games. They're all given numbers and green tracksuits, they're all competing for 45.6 billion won, and it turns out that they've also all made their way to the contest after being singled out for having enormous debts. That includes series protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae, Deliver Us From Evil), a chauffeur with a gambling problem, and also a divorcé desperate to do whatever he needs to to keep his daughter in his life. But, as it probes the chasms caused by capitalism and cash — and the things the latter makes people do under the former — this program isn't just about one player. It's about survival, the status quo the world has accepted when it comes to money, and the real inequality present both in South Korea and elsewhere. Filled with electric performances, as clever as it is compelling, unsurprisingly littered with smart cliffhangers, and never afraid to get bloody and brutal, the result is a savvy, tense and taut horror-thriller that entertains instantly and also has much to say. Squid Game is available to stream via Netflix. MIDNIGHT MASS No one can accuse Mike Flanagan of being lazy. In the past three years, he's made four different Netflix horror series, plus The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep. In the two years before that, he directed four other movies. Yes, he's prolific, and he also knows and loves his unsettling niche. Midnight Mass is the third of those aforementioned shows, and forgoes the ghostly setup of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor — and it spins its musing on loss in multiple forms, faith in just as many varieties, and mortality and everything it means into a commanding seven-part miniseries. For Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford, Good Girls), the show's narrative begins with the biggest mistake of his life. After killing a woman while drunk driving, he spends four years in prison, haunted by her bloody face whenever he tries to close his eyes. Upon his release, he has no choice but to head home to Crockett Island, where his god-fearing mother (Kristin Lehman, Altered Carbon) is thrilled, his Ron Swanson-esque dad (Hill House and Bly Manor alum Henry Thomas) barely says a word, and his now-pregnant childhood sweetheart (Kate Siegel, Gerald's Game) has just made a comeback after her own absence. Also upsetting the status quo: the arrival of Father Paul (Hamish Linklater, Legion) to fill in for the island's ailing priest, and a wild storm that wreaks havoc. When he's spinning episodic stories, Flanagan likes to tease. He likes fleshing out his always-eclectic range of characters, too, and Midnight Mass is no different. Here, he adores monologues as well, but that's hardly surprising given the stellar cast he's writing for. It's been a great year or so for disquieting miniseries set on small, sparsely populated islands, thanks to The Third Day as well, and this is just absorbing. Midnight Mass is available to stream via Netflix. STRONG FEMALE LEAD When The Final Quarter opted to explore AFL footballer Adam Goodes' career purely using footage from the time — focusing on his stint on the field during its last stages, as the name makes plain — it weaved together media clips from his games, general AFL coverage, news stories, press conferences and interviews from the era. The result: a heartbreaking picture of the ex-Swans captain's experiences with racism that couldn't paint a clearer picture. Strong Female Lead does the same, but swaps sports for politics and discrimination based on race for prejudice predicated upon gender. Given that Australia has only ever had one female Prime Minister, that's where this fast-paced documentary heads, with director Tosca Looby (See What You Made Me Do) and editor Rachel Grierson Johns (Roller Dreams) letting existing media materials about Julia Gillard do all the talking. Anyone who can remember the headlines, news commentary, panel shows and talkback radio discussions from her 2010–13 spot in the nation's top job will know what they're in for, but seeing it all so deftly sliced together couldn't be more powerful. The sexism she faced at every turn isn't a relic of that not-at-all-distant past, of course. Indeed, Looby's approach makes all the horrendous words flung Gillard's way cut like a fresh wound, and simultaneously also sting like an old scar that won't heal. That's the cumulative effect of enduring the horrific things said, her overall treatment as PM, the odious behaviour of her parliamentary peers, and the belittling comments and placards, too. Strong Female Lead is a film to get angry with, as it's meant to be. It's also a celebration of Gillard's achievement in becoming Prime Minister, her work both along the way and in the role and other world leaders who've broken the glass ceiling. What lingers, though, is the fierce and formidable indictment of what women in positions of authority have been forced to navigate. Strong Female Lead is available to stream via SBS On Demand. EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE They're both underdog stories, they're both set in Sheffield in England's north, and they both have the accents to prove the latter. They each follow struggling locals trying to carve out a better life, and feature the entertainment industry prominently. And, they both chronicle characters breaking out of their comfort zones, shocking plenty around them, and working towards a big show, event or both. The movie that got there first: The Full Monty. The newcomer: Everybody's Talking About Jamie. That's about where the similarities between the two end, however, other than the inescapably feel-good vibe they both stir up. In this case, that crowd-pleasing sentiment springs from teenager Jamie New (first-timer Max Harwood), his quest to become a drag queen and his determination to chase that dream by first frocking up for his school prom. Already bullied, considered a disappointment by his soccer-loving father (Ralph Ineson, Gunpowder Milkshake), but adored by his mother (Sarah Lancashire, Yesterday) and best friend (fellow film debutant Lauren Patel), he isn't certain about showing his drag side to the world. He needs mentoring by a former drag icon (Richard E Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?), in fact, to even get the courage to do so. And, from there, the path to unleashing his inner queen is nowhere near as sparkly as the red heels his mum gives him for his 16th birthday. Where Everybody's Talking About Jamie isn't at all surprising, whether you're familiar with the stage production it's based on, or the real-life tale it's inspired by — or if you've just seen other against-the-odds British flicks such as Kes and Billy Elliott. Nonetheless, from its first frame to its last, this lively and sweet musical still shimmers, glows and charms. Everybody's Talking About Jamie is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE In the initial two episodes of Scenes From a Marriage, Mira (Jessica Chastain, IT: Chapter Two) and Jonathan (Oscar Isaac, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker) brush their teeth in front of their ensuite mirror. It's an everyday task in a familiar place, spanning something we all do in a space we all use, but this five-part HBO miniseries turns these two scenes into a complex snapshot of its central couple. It takes not just skill but feeling and understanding to turn such a mundane activity into a must-see; however, that's this weighty show's remit. Scenes From a Marriage gets viewers engrossed in cleaning teeth because it's ordinary, and because everything within its frames fits the same description. Its central relationship careens from happy to heartbroken, comfortable to distraught, and assured to messy, but it also charts a path that countless others have. Accordingly, Mira and Jonathan start the series cemented in their routine, but with each of its five episodes dedicated to a significant day over the course of several years, much changes. The ambitious tech industry executive to his ex-Orthodox Jewish philosophy professor, Mira drops a bombshell, their lives shift over and over, and yet plenty stays the same as well. As penned and helmed by The Affair's Hagai Levi — remaking the 1973 Swedish TV miniseries by iconic film director Ingmar Bergman — Scenes From a Marriage is a show about patterns, cycles and echoes, in fact. It ponders how they ripple through relationships and, when broken or changed, how their absence is felt. The result is devastating and powerful, shot and scored with intensity, and home to exceptional performances from Chastain and Isaac, who prove just as irresistible in their second collaboration in a stormy union as they did in 2014 also-stellar A Most Violent Year. The first three episodes of Scenes From a Marriage are available to stream via Binge, with new episodes dropping weekly. Read our full review. ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING If you've ever listened to a true-crime podcast, decided that you'd make a great Serial host yourself and started wondering how you'd ever follow in Sarah Koenig's footsteps, then you should be watching Only Murders in the Building. The Disney+ series follows three New Yorkers who follow that same process. Actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die) are all obsessed with a series hosted by the fictional Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, Girls5eva), to the point of bonding over it as strangers. Then, when someone turns up dead in their building, they decide that they can sleuth their way through the case — by getting talking themselves, naturally. But being a true-crime podcast diehard and making a true-crime podcast clearly aren't quite the same thing, and turning amateur detective isn't clearcut either. Entertaining and exceptionally well-cast, Only Murders in the Building makes makes the most of its main trio's mismatched vibe. It's filled with hearty affection for everything it jokes about, resulting in an upbeat satire of true-crime obsessions, podcasting's pervasiveness and the intersection of the two. It adores its single-setting Agatha Christie-lite setup, it's always empathetic, and it also loves peppering in highly recognisable co-stars and guest stars such as Fey, Nathan Lane (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels), Amy Ryan (Late Night) and even Sting. The series is also written and acted with enough depth to pair relatable character insights with its bubbly, clownish fun. If Knives Out was a sitcom, and also a little goofier, it'd turn out like this — and that's a delight, obviously. The first seven episodes of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream via Star on Disney+, with new episodes dropping weekly. Read our full review. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS How do you match a season of TV that introduced the world to yet another ace Matt Berry character? That's a question What We Do in the Shadows faced with its third season, after its last batch of episodes featured Jackie Daytona — the "regular human bartender" persona adopted by Berry's bloodsucker Laszlo Cravensworth. Thankfully, this vampire sharehouse comedy found an easy solution. It's still doing what it does best, which includes gifting the glorious Berry (Toast of London) and his co-stars Kayvan Novak (Four Lions), Natasia Demetriou (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), Mark Proksch (The Office) and Harvey Guillen (Werewolves Within) reams of witty and hilarious dialogue. Picking up where the last season left off, the show's vamps now have a new job running the local Vampiric Council; however, the mockumentary-style series still knows that it's at the best when its stars are riffing either together or directly to the camera. Obviously, the Staten Island-dwelling bloodsuckers' new gig comes with ample chaos and, as it dives into everything that follows, What We Do in the Shadows is still one of the silliest yet smartest horror-comedies that's ever been made. But as proved the case with the movie it sprang from — aka Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's 2014 film of the same name — so much of the joy and laughs here come from watching exceptional comedic talents inhabit their characters' fangs, banter about undead tropes and bounce off of each other. That hasn't changed in season three, and the entire series is still a side-splitting gem in each and every episode. The first five episodes of What We Do in the Shadows' third season are available to stream via Binge, with new episodes dropping weekly. Y: THE LAST MAN On paper, Y: The Last Man sounds familiar, even if you haven't read the source material. Based on the 2002–08 comic book series of the same name, it steps into a post-apocalyptic time where an eerie illness wipes out everyone with a Y chromosome — humans and other mammals alike. Accordingly, it initially resembles a reverse version of The Handmaid's Tale and Children of Men. Thankfully, this dystopian tale heads in its own direction. First, it spends an episode plotting out the pre-plague status quo for Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer, The Grizzlies), his US Congresswoman mother Jennifer (Let Him Go) and his paramedic sister Hero (Olivia Thirlby, Goliath). Then, it dives deep into the world-changing event that sees males wiped out en masse. It isn't a spoiler to say that Yorick survives, because the title ensures that's clear. Also making it through: his Capuchin monkey Ampersand. As the globe's women react, adjust and endeavour to traverse a whole new way of life, Yorick endeavours to do the same — and, based on its first episodes, it makes for gripping viewing. It's the type of show that starts out with an obvious been-there-done-that vibe, especially at the moment. Anyone who has filled even part of the pandemic binge-watching movies about contagions, outbreaks and infections will recognise plenty of elements, but this is also the kind of series that takes its time to settle in, and to expand and grow. It's ongoing focus on what comes next, rather than simply exploring what happened, is also filled with possibilities — timely ones, too, given the current state of reality. The first five episodes of Y: The Last Man are available to stream via Binge, with new episodes dropping weekly. A RECENT MUST-SEE YOU CAN (AND SHOULD) STREAM NOW ANOTHER ROUND Even the most joyous days and nights spent sipping your favourite drink can have their memory tainted by a hangover. Imbibe too much, and there's a kicker just waiting to pulsate through your brain and punish your body when all that alcohol inevitably starts to wear off. For much of Another Round, four Copenhagen school teachers try to avoid this feeling. The film they're in doesn't, though. Writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (Kursk) and his co-scribe Tobias Lindholm (A War) lay bare the ups and downs of knocking back boozy beverages, and also serve up a finale that's a sight to behold. Without sashaying into spoiler territory, the feature's last moments are a thing of sublime beauty. Some movies end in a WTF, "what were they thinking?" kind of way, but this Oscar-winning Danish film comes to a conclusion with a big and bold showstopper that's also a piece of bittersweet perfection. The picture's highest-profile star, Mads Mikkelsen (Arctic), is involved. His pre-acting background as an acrobat and dancer comes in handy, too. Unsurprisingly, the substances that flow freely throughout the feature remain prominent. And, so does the canny and candid awareness that life's highs and lows just keep spilling, plus the just-as-shrewd understanding that the line between self-sabotage and self-release is as thin as a slice of lemon garnishing a cocktail. Another Round is available to stream via SBS On Demand. Read our full review. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August this year — and our top straight-to-streaming movies and specials from 2021 so far, and our list of the best new TV shows released this year so far as well.
What can Disney say except... yes, "you're welcome", Moana fans? A sequel to the 2016 animated hit is on its way to cinemas before 2024 is out, as announced earlier in the year. Now, the movie's first teaser trailer is here to make a splash, and to confirm that Auli'i Cravalho (Mean Girls) is back voicing Moana and Dwayne Johnson (Fast X) is also returning as demigod Maui. When Walt Disney Animation Studios had Johnson sing a ridiculously catchy tune that was penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the first Moana, it clearly gave itself the perfect response to all the love thrown the film's way. Adore the movie? You're welcome. Can't stop crooning its songs? You're also welcome. Excited about the sequel that'll hit cinemas on Thursday, November 28 Down Under? You're welcome for that as well. Story-wise, Moana 2 will see its namesake take to the seas of Oceania to answer the call from her ancestors, which is where new characters will come in. While eight years have passed for viewers, only three have elapsed within the film when Moana and Maui set off on their new — and dangerous — adventure. In the director's chair: Dave Derrick Jr, who was a storyboard artist on the original Moana. And on music duties this time are singer-songwriter Abigail Barlow, composer Emily Bear (Dog Gone), Opetaia Foa'i (returning from the first film) and Mark Mancina (also back from the initial movie). "This was originally developed as a series, but we were impressed with what we saw and we knew it deserved a theatrical release," said Disney CEO Bob Iger when he announced the sequel in the company's first-quarter earnings call for 2024. "The original Moana film from 2016 recently crossed one-billion hours streamed on Disney+ and was the most streamed movie of 2023 on any platform in the U.S." Moana 2 is one of two new Moana movies in the works, with a live-action adaptation of the first Moana also on the way — and with Johnson starring. "Along with the live-action version of the original film that's currently in development, Moana remains an incredibly popular franchise," continued Iger. Check out the first teaser trailer for Moana 2 below: Moana 2 will release in Australian and New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, November 28, 2024. Read our interview with Jemaine Clement about Moana. Images: © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Beer and yoga. An unlikely combination, but one that's gone gangbusters across the world. And after a few trials of the concept — including a class at Sydney's Wayward Brewing — Australia looks set to see the trend come out in full force with the launch of BierYoga. Having held weekly sessions across Berlin over the past 12 months, BierYoga has launched an Australian tour, announcing a string of dates for their beer-focused yoga classes in Melbourne and Sydney. Each hour-long session will see punters getting bendy while knocking back brews, with beer-drinking incorporated into each classic yoga pose. Think sun salutations and reverse warriors, interspersed with sips of your favourite ale. BierYoga's team of qualified yoga instructors (and, we're sure, seasoned beer drinkers) will get you loose, limber, and having fun — whether you're a total yoga novice, or a well-practiced pro. Each session's priced at a budget-friendly $10 — just bring a towel or yoga mat and you're good to go. You'll need to buy a beer at the bar separately. Classes are happening throughout January and February at the locations below. And while it's just in Melbourne and Sydney for now, we're betting this bizarre beery combo will catch on in other cities real soon. SYDNEY January 20, 6.30pm — The Sheaf, Double Bay January 22, 2pm — The Sheaf, Double Bay MELBOURNE January 26, 12pm (Australia Day Special) — Speakeasy Kitchen Bar, South Yarra February 8, 6pm — The Village, St Kilda Road February 15, 6pm — The Village, St Kilda Road February 22, 6pm — The Village, St Kilda Road
"What's for lunch?" It's an all-important question, and one that gets asked almost every day. If you find yourself anywhere near the heart of the CBD come lunchtime with no food in sight, the question has an easy answer: any one of the special lunch deals available at Heritage Lanes. Starting at $15, these lunch deals run until Friday, March 28, so your palate can be satisfied all month long. Whether you're after a quick bite or have the time to spare for a long, leisurely lunch, the many options at Heritage Lanes will cater to whatever whatever culinary needs the day may bring. Not only are the deals excellent value, Heritage Lanes' beautiful outdoor spaces also offer a reprieve from the austere setting of an indoor office. If you're after a midday feast that invites a slower pace of eating, head to Gather for the lunchtime steak special. A premium cut of wagyu can quickly blow out the budget, but Gather are doing a wagyu steak special for $35 that includes a side, your choice of sauce and a house drink too. Only steaks with a marbling score of 6–7+ will be served, meaning you're guaranteed a top-shelf cut every time. If you're after something that's more grab and go and less knife and fork, pick up a Bourdain-inspired mortadella roll that comes with chips and a drink for $15. Meat sandwiched inside bread is a classic combination for a reason — it hits all the macros and is oh-so-satisfying. Should steak or mortadella not quite hit the spot, there's always the option of a roast pork roll or a chicken schnitzel and coleslaw roll from Croatian-Greek fusion spot Frankie's Food Hall. For $15, both combos also include chips and a can of soft drink. At Vietality, the theme continues with traditional pork or chicken banh mis, which are also only $15 and include a spring roll and a beverage of your choice. The special sits alongside a wider menu of fast, fresh and flavourful Vietnamese lunch options. Finally, when it's almost the end of the day and you're ready for a glass of wine, why not go all out and order a cheese board to accompany an after-work tipple? Coming in at $40, Mumbleberry is doing a cheese and wine for two special, which includes a custom selected range of cheese and either Range Life pinot gris or nero. Cheers to happy hour and lunch hour at the same time. Long after lunch is over, if you find yourself hanging around after hours, The Merchant Exchange is Heritage Lanes' all-day venue to head to for after-work drinks and bites. The lunch deals might be over for the day, but a prestige selection of whiskeys are on offer long into the evening. For more information on Heritage Lanes, its venues and its specials, visit the website.
First postponed from July to October, Splendour in the Grass has now pulled the plug on all plans for a 2020 festival, announcing today, June 10, that its 20th-anniversary event will now be held in winter 2021. There is some good news, though, with the long lead time, the festival is intending to rebook as much of its 2020 lineup as possible. And, it's one helluva lineup. Flume was slated to head back Down Under, together with IGOR-creator Tyler, The Creator and The Strokes, who were set to perform their first new album in seven years, The New Abnormal. Of course, these artists heading to North Byron Parklands all hangs on the reopening of Australia's borders — which we hope, with a vaccine slated for 10-15 months, will be a reality by next winter. If the borders aren't open, Splendour in the Grass will still have a solid local lineup, including the one-and-only Midnight Oil, who have recently started recording music together for the first time in two decades. Also part of the OG local contingent, and hopefully set to return next July: Stella Donnelly, Violent Soho, Thelma Plum, Jack River and Alice Ivy. You can check out the full original lineup over here. https://www.facebook.com/splendourinthegrass/photos/a.140253397435/10158443101642436/ If you've already purchased a ticket for SITG 2020, you'll be happy to know that it's valid for the 2021 edition. If you haven't, more tickets will be available from 12pm on Monday, June 15. Yes, next week. Buying a festival tickets 13 months ahead is certainly novel, and kinda strange, but 2020 isn't so normal. The exact details — and lineup — for SITG 2021 are still up in the air, but we'll let you know as soon as anything is confirmed. Splendour in the Grass has been postponed again and will now take over North Byron Bay Parkland from July 23–25, 2021. All 2020 tickets are valid for 2021, and new tickets will go on sale at 12pm on Monday, June 15 via splendourinthegrass.com. Top image: Byron Bay's Splendour in the Grass 2017 by Charlie Hardy
When word first dropped in late 2020 that Surfers Paradise was about to nab a new sky-high beach club — a space that takes its cues from both California and Europe, sits right near the ocean, and features everything from pools and cabanas to restaurants and volleyball courts — the venue loomed as a must-visit summer destination. And, that's still the case, albeit almost a year later. Initially set to open over the 2020–21 summer, Cali Beach Club will now finally start welcoming in punters this month. From 5pm on Friday, September 24, you'll be able to mosey down to Surfers Paradise Boulevard, head up to a fourth-floor rooftop and get swimming and sipping — and enjoy lazing around on sun loungers and daybeds under both the sun and the stars. Bookings open at 12pm on Friday, September 10, too, if you're already keen to add the venue to your spring and summer plans. This new space inspires a few questions, the answers to which make quite the itinerary. Do you like hanging out by the beach? Splashing around in four pools, including three with beach edges? Enjoying a few games of volleyball on the sand? Watching a movie under the evening sky? If you nodded heartily in agreement at all of these queries, then you'll want to add Cali Beach Club to your must-visit list. If you also like to spend your time kicking back in a cabana, hopping between multiple restaurants and bars, dancing to DJs and gathering the gang on a rooftop with a view, you will as well. The site features all of the aforementioned facilities and activities in the one spot, so it's more than a little jam-packed with things to do. Perched on the corner of Surfers Paradise Boulevard and Elkhorn Avenue, sprawling across more than 5000 square metres, and boasting vantages over both the ocean and the Surfers' skyline, it's billing itself as an "adults-only playground" — but you might prefer to think of it as the boozy adult alternative to the theme parks that the Gold Coast is best known for. Australian hospitality group Artesian Hospitality is leading the charge here, putting almost $10 million into the entertainment precinct. Those funds have been spent on all of the aforementioned features, plus exercise areas and sports facilities — including that beach volleyball court — and an openair cinema and dance floor as well. In terms of food and drink, you'll have options courtesy of two restaurants and a couple bars. Exact details of what they'll be serving, and what'll make them different from each other, haven't yet been revealed — but one eatery will sit right by the ocean. Come evening, a moonlit cinema will screen flicks by the water — again, though, no other details have been revealed just yet. Showing Jaws and Point Break seems like a must, however, because everyone likes catching movies about the sea while they're literally right next to it. And, while it looks perfect for spring and summer shenanigans — 'tis the season for it — Cali Beach Club plans to operate year-round. Southeast Queensland does have the right weather right through autumn and winter, after all. Find Cali Beach Club on the corner of Surfers Paradise Boulevard and Elkhorn Avenue, Surfers Paradise, from 5pm on Friday, September 24.
No man is an island entire of itself. Except maybe Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal. Working in tandem with the Seasteading Institute, the Silicon Valley billionaire is making plans for the first floating city to be launched off the coast of San Francisco next year. As an organisation experimenting in the creation of floating island states, the institute is a hub of design and innovation in offshore communities. What can be best described as 'oil-platform like structures' will operate according to Mr. Thiel's ideas of a "more efficient, practical public sector model", unfettered by minimum wage, welfare, restrictions on weapons and tight building codes. Quite a list you say. The icing on the cake is Mr. Thiel's US$1.25 billion pledge, calling upon Seastead to 'open a frontier for experimenting with new ideas for government'. In an interview with Details magazine, founder of the Seasteading Institute has estimated the project to start small with 270 residents, and rapidly upscale to support over ten million by 2050. For those averse to the idea, Margaret Crawford, Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley, cites it as particularly shortsighted, and "without any urban-planning implications whatsoever". And she has a point. Many other concerns that have been raised, namely "What about pirates?" and "Are seasteading enthusiasts just a bunch of rich guys wanting even more freedom?" are also addressed as perfectly legitimate in the Institute's FAQ section.
When Felons Brewing Co opened at Howard Smith Wharves, it gave Brisbane a brand new hangout spot with plenty of beer to drink. The brewery was the first of the precinct's bars and restaurants to welcome customers. It's also marked the city's first riverside brewery — and plenty of people have been sinking hoppy beverages with one mighty fine view of the water, the Story Bridge, Kangaroo Point and the CBD ever since. Felons serves up brews made on the premises, with an Australian pale ale, crisp lager, middy and IPA always on tap — and a sparkling cider, too. A rotating array of other beers are also on offer, as well as a wine list; however, Felons' other big highlight is its food. Think shucked oysters, prawns rolls, hot burgers and woodfired pizzas, as well as mains that range from coral trout to crumbed veal and chicken parmigiana a 350-gram rib eye. From the dessert selection, the thin and crispy apple tart is a standout — and so is the sticky date pudding with butterscotch and vanilla bean gelato. Making one of HSW's heritage-listed sheds its home, Felons wants everyone to know that it's there — so much so that you can spot its name on the brewery's roof from afar. The black-lettered sign is designed to be a landmark that can be seen from the air, and measures 47 metres long and five metres tall. It's also a nod to the site's past, with the wharves' old warehouses decked out the same way back in the day. When HSW's other two sheds open, they'll do the same thing. Updated August 25, 2021.
"It's very important to me that Brisbane understands we are looking at an experimental way of dining, having fun and enjoying blending tradition with playful innovation," explains chef Dario Manca. He's talking about Attimi, which is now serving up lunch and dinner at a Paddington site with a long history in the restaurant business. But as NOTA, which closed its doors in August 2024, and as Montrachet before that, the focus at 224 Given Terrace has never been on Michelin-inspired degustations. Attimi's arrival since early September helps give a sad Brisbane hospitality development a positive spin. When word hit that NOTA was saying farewell after six years — with co-owners and chefs Kevin Docherty and Sebastiaan de Kort instead turning their attention to Newstead's Allonda, which they opened in 2022 — the pair thankfully revealed that a new eatery would take over. Attimi now turns the popular Brissie address into an Italian fine-diner, with cues gleaned from Europe's best. Manca should know a thing or two about Michelin stars, with a total of 16 of the coveted symbols featuring across his career so far. He started out at Villa Crespi under Antonino Cannavacciuolo, has worked beneath Gordon Ramsay and teamed up with Heinz Beck. Manca's resume also includes Sydney's Pilu at Freshwater, being mentored by Giovanni Pilu. His vision for Attimi is to give patrons an intimate experience, with Attimi seating just 28 people, while taking their tastebuds on a tour of Italy. He's also pushing boundaries with his experimental menu — and endeavouring to turn every meal in the abode an unforgettable visit. NOTA patrons still enter a familiar-looking space, with the exposed brick walls attracting the eye; however, Attimi has put its stamp on the minimalist design touches — think: Italian ceramic sculptures on the tables — and also revamped NOTA's bar to be smaller and cosier. Patrons can tuck into two set menus on weekends, with one described as a "quick Italian tour" with eight courses and the other spanning 12 plates. Dishes include crispy fish with preserved lemon gel, confit garlic tart with goat's cheese cream, beef tartare-filled savoury cannoli, Limoncello sorbet and Ferrero Rocher ice cream. Whether you go for the shorter or longer degustation, you'll be sticking with the established lineup — no amendments allowed — although dietary requirements will be catered for.
Rapidly developing technology sees damn great inventions pop up week after week — namely Snapchat’s scary new filters and this killer whale submarine that’ll set you back a cheeky 100k. The flipside of such speedy development comes when all those fully-functional, expensive devices suddenly become clunky and incompatible with new phones and laptops. But Google's come up with a nifty way to make old technology relevant again, your old Bluetooth-less speakers in particular. Paired with this week's release of the new Google Chromecast, Google has come up with a nifty little doodad that acts as a go-between for online tune streaming and old-school audio devices with 3.5mm audio jacks or RCA/optical audio outputs — the bit where your headphones plug in, for those feeling confused. It's called Chromecast Audio, a dongle that allows you to sync your phone to the once defunct speakers via wi-fi. This dinky doodad dongle (we'll stop) looks like a spy device but only costs $35 a pop — but you'll need one for each device you wish to make relevant. Chromecast Audio is compatible with iOS, Android and most laptops and can stream tunes from Pandora, Google Play Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Rdio. Where’s Apple Music, you might ask? We don’t know. Perhaps they fell down the village well on the way to the project signing or perhaps, as BGR suggests, they're just pulling a classic Apple and refusing to work with competitors. No synergy points for you, Apple. Via The Verge.
Love theatre? Desperate to see all the latest and greatest shows that London's West End has to offer, or the British theatre scene in general? Live in Australia, rather than the UK? If you answered yes to all of these questions, and you can't afford to zip over to Britain and back to indulge your stage fix — because who can? — then you're probably a huge fan of National Theatre Live. Since well before the pandemic, this theatre-to-cinema program has beamed live versions of hit London stage productions into Australian picture palaces. If you watched Danny Boyle's phenomenal version of Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, as everyone should've, then this is how you saw it. If you caught Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy in the also-phenomenal Skylight, it was thanks to NT Live, too. (And if you found yourself streaming other British theatre shows during lockdowns, that's because National Theatre set up its own online platform when we were all at home as well.) NT Live's Aussie cinema program has been back up and running as the venues themselves have been doing the same, and it has something massive in store in July: Prima Facie. The one-woman play marks the West End debut of Killing Eve star Jodie Comer, who plays a brilliant young barrister. And it'll be showing in movie theatres Down Under from Saturday, July 23. Penned by Australian British playwright Suzie Miller — and an AWGIE winner in 2020 at home for its Griffin Theatre premiere season — Prima Facie also sees Miller herself make her West End debut. Her play follows legal eagle lead Tessa (Comer, The Last Duel, Free Guy), who has succeeded in her field after working her way up from working-class origins. Then, thanks to an unexpected event, she's forced to examine power dynamics, the patriarchal force of the law, morality and burdens of proof. NT Live's recording of Prima Facie was captured live at the Harold Pinter Theatre — and, as all such stage shows that make the leap to cinemas as filmed versions of the original plays, the visual presentation is designed to make you feel like you're really there. Prima Facie will play in select cinemas around the country — including the Hayden Orpheum, Dendy Newtown, Palace Chauvel and Ritz Cinemas in Sydney; Cinema Nova, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Como, Palace Balwyn, Lido Cinemas, Classic Cinemas, Cameo Cinemas and Yarraville's Sun Theatre in Melbourne; and Palace James Street, Dendy Portside and Dendy Coorparoo in Brisbane. It'll also show in Palace Nova Eastend in Adelaide, as well as Luna Leederville and Luna on SX in Perth. And if you're wondering what else is on NT Live's schedule, it's doing Shakespeare — Henry V starring Game of Thrones and Eternals' Kit Harington, in fact — from Saturday, June 25. Check out the Prima Facie trailer below: Prima Facie will screen in Australian cinemas from Saturday, July 23. Images: Empire Street Productions, Helen Murray.
Been sharpening up your swing in anticipation of the Australian Open? Wondering how your skills might stack up in a match against Rafael Nadal or Li Na? The world's first 'connected' tennis racquet is at your service. Unveiled this week at the international CES, held January 7-10, in Las Vegas, the product is the brainchild of tennis equipment company Babolat. It's built according to the dimensions of a regular racquet, but with a difference. Sensors located in the handle measure pretty much every detail of your performance, including power, impact, spin, forehand, backhand, overhead smash and serves. An interface called 'The Pulse' collates and analyses the data, scoring your game in terms of power, endurance and technique. Some of the world's biggest tennis names have put their support behind it. Nadal thinks it's "great because you have the chance to know much more about your tennis, much more about the way you are hitting the ball, the way that you want to improve ... you can have fun with that." Na says, "You get a much deeper understanding of your game." An app allows the user to record statistics, thereby keeping track of when and how their performance is improving. There's also a limitless online community, where information can be shared and compared with others. The Babolat Play retails for US$399. Via PSFK.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many things, and reminded us of plenty of advice that we've all heard for years. We're all now well and truly aware that any situation can change quickly, for instance. In the latest example to prove those words accurate, the Australian Government has moved forward its vaccine rollout plans — just a day after announcing its last fast-tracked inoculation schedule. Yesterday, Wednesday, January 6, Minister for Health Greg Hunt said that COVID-19 vaccinations would begin at the beginning of March, which was earlier than the previous date of late March (which, in turn, had been brought forward from the second quarter of 2021). Then today, Thursday, January 7, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in a press conference that the timeline for kicking off vaccinations has now been shifted to February. First in the queue when jabs start being administered mid-to-late next month (with an exact date yet to be revealed): frontline workers — particularly those working at hotel quarantine sites and international border checkpoints — as well as health workers and residential aged care facility residents. They'll comprise the first of five priority groups, with elderly Aussies aged over 70, Indigenous Australians over the age of 55, other health care workers, younger adults with an underlying medical condition, and other critical and high-risk workers falling into the second group. From there, adults aged 50–69, Indigenous Australians over 18 and the next tranche of critical and high-risk workers will receive the vaccination, followed by the balance of the adult population. Department of Health Secretary and former Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy noted that children will fall into the last group. The Prime Minister also advised that that the rollout will begin with a target of giving 80,000 vaccinations per week, starting with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. By the end of March, it's expected that four million Australians will have been vaccinated — with capacity ramping up once the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is approved. Several vaccines have not only been created over the past year — much faster than the usual timeline — but have started being used in countries around the world. The latter is happening in places such as the UK and the US, where coronavirus case numbers have remained at enormous levels. In Australia, where the situation thankfully hasn't reached the same scale, the federal government has decided on a different approach. Vaccines need to be evaluated and approved locally by the Therapeutic Goods Administration before they can be rolled out anyway, and that process is currently underway for multiple different vaccines, including from Pfizer-BioNTech and University of Oxford-AstraZeneca. As the Prime Minister announced in mid-2020, vaccines will be provided to every Aussie for free when they are available. Australia currently has agreements to receive ten million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which will be manufactured overseas, and 53.8 million doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with production of the latter already starting locally. Both require two doses per person to be effective — and you have to get two doses of the same vaccine (so you can't mix and match them). If you're wondering how it'll all work logistics-wise, there'll be specific hubs to deliver the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — at 30–50 hospitals around the country — first up. After that, when the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine becomes available, vaccinations will be available at other sites, such as GPs and respiratory clinics. Obviously, it's expected that specific details about sites and dates will be revealed before vaccinations start in February. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Australia, visit the Australian Government Department of Health website.
At this point in human history, we've left the world 'normal' far behind us. We live in an age of out-there ideas across all mediums, from entertainment to food and beyond. So why limit yourself to routine plans, basic weekenders and tickets to the same old festivals when you could shake up your calendar with something a little more unique? There's no shortage of offbeat events taking place in New South Wales in 2023, so we've partnered with Destination NSW to showcase some of the more left-of-centre and memorable attractions across this vast state. From existential dread to fabulous festivals and some good old-fashioned silly fun, we invite you to consider the following...
Is heading to Bribie Island to see if you can devour a one-kilogram doughnut on your to-do list? Does a coffee- or hot chocolate-filled doughnut sound like your perfect treat? Are you just a fan of giant baked goods and sweet treats-turned-beverage containers all year round? Then make plans to visit Kenilworth Island Bakery. The Kenilworth Bakery chain has launched its third outpost — and the Sunshine Coast favourite's closest to Brisbane. This one sees brother-and-sister pair Nathan and Jenna Sanders set up shop at a beachfront store near the Bribie Island jetty, adding to the brand's OG spot in its namesake hinterland town and its coastal store at The Wharf in Mooloolaba Everyone should love country bakeries for a pie, sausage roll, finger bun or lamington on any road trip, but Kenilworth Bakery isn't any old spot for a bite. If you're new to the bakery, it's particularly famous for its special menu item, which does indeed involve pouring coffee or hot chocolate into a doughnut. Ordering a cuppa and a round orb of dough separately is a thing of the past here, then. Instead, the doughnuts are hollowed out so they can be filled with your choice of beverage (an espresso shot and milk if you go for the caffeinated option). Also a highlight: one-kilogram bites both savoury and sweet. Cue chocolate-covered doughnuts, strawberry-iced doughnuts, jam- and cream-filled doughnuts, Nutella and cream doughnuts, Gaytime-flavoured versions and sausage rolls all on offer at that weight. If your tastebuds are tempted, you can take the challenge, which spans ordering one online in advance, finding it waiting when you arrive, eating it in-store, and then getting your money back and a plate on the bakery's wall of fame if you finish it all. The Bribie Island menu features dogaccinnos, doggie biscuits and doggie donuts, too, as well as sourdough bread baked onsite.
Perhaps you've always wanted to spend summer enjoying an island getaway, but haven't yet had the chance. Maybe spring to you means checking out Queensland's beaches. Or, you might like to start each new year with a holiday to wherever takes your fancy. Stop dreaming and start planning, because Virgin is doing another big flight sale. This time there's 500,000 cheap fares on offer to both Australian and international locations. Prices start low, at the usual $49, which once again gets you from Sydney to Byron Bay — the normal cheapest fare in any flight sale — and vice versa. From there, the domestic side of the sale spans everywhere from the Gold Coast, Launceston and Darwin through to Hamilton Island and Newcastle. Virgin's Get Set, Jet sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Wednesday, August 2 — unless sold out earlier, with fares to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide also covered. That means paying $69 one-way from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast, $79 from Melbourne to Hobart, and $99 for a trip from Brisbane to Cairns or Canberra to the Gold Coast. Or, still on local deals, the specials also cover $69 from Melbourne to Launceston, $109 from Adelaide to Sydney, $169 from Brisbane to Darwin and $209 from Melbourne to Perth. Internationally, trips to Fiji cost $519 from Sydney and $569 from Melbourne. Bali fares come in at $539 from Adelaide, $549 from Brisbane, $559 from the Gold Coast or Sydney, and $599 from Melbourne. And, you can head to Queenstown from Sydney for $269 and from Melbourne from $265. If you're wondering when you'll need to travel, the fares cover between October 11, 2023–March 14, 2024, all varying per route. Inclusions also differ depending on your ticket and, as usual when it comes to flight sales, you'll need to get in quick if you're keen to stack the rest of 2023 and the start of 2024 with holidays. Virgin's Get Set, Jet sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Wednesday, August 2 — unless sold out earlier. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
By this point in 2020, the year has served up all manner of challenges and surprises. But in one area at least, it's rolling on as planned. Because the world can't last too long without delivering multiple new film and/or television adaptations of Stephen King's work, viewers are about to score another one — a new miniseries version of the author's 1978 novel The Stand. Hitting Amazon Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand from Friday, January15 — after debuting in America in December — The Stand joins HBO's The Outsider as the two new TV shows bringing King's work to our eyeballs over the past 12 months. Of course, as avid fans will know, this isn't the first time this particular book has made the leap to the screen. Back in 1994, it aired as a big-budget, star-studded, four-part miniseries featuring the likes of Gary Sinise, Miguel Ferrer, Rob Lowe, Ruby Dee, Laura San Giacomo, Molly Ringwald and Ed Harris. Plenty of well-known names are onboard this time around, too, because there's quite the sprawling story to tell. And, quite the timely one, although that's obviously pure coincidence. The Stand is set in a world devastated by a plague. Here, the devasation is caused by a bioengineered super flu strain, which has wiped out 99 percent of the global population. Among those that survive, a battle between good and evil plays out — with the character of Randall Flagg, a common figure in King's work (see: The Eyes of the Dragon and The Dark Tower series), featuring prominently. Alexander Skarsgård plays Flagg, while the rest of the cast includes James Marsden, Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Heard and Heather Graham, as well as Watchmen's Jovan Adepo, Paper Towns' Nat Wolff, IT: Chapter Two's Owen Teague, Arrow's Katherine McNamara, and Australian Shirley and The Daughter actor Odessa Young. Behind the lens, The Stand is the latest project from filmmaker Josh Boone — whose latest movie, The New Mutants, hit cinemas in mid-2020 after years of delays. Check out the trailer for The Stand below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkZJSzeg7A The Stand will start streaming in Australia and New Zealand on Friday, January 15 via Amazon Prime Video, airing new episodes weekly.
International hotel giant Mantra Group has entered into an agreement to purchase the Art Series Hotels for a cool $52.5 million. The agreement will see the seven Art Series Hotels join the Mantra's ever-expanding family, which currently holds 128 properties and more than 21,500 rooms across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Hawaii. Each of the seven boutique Art Series Hotels is dedicated to and inspired by iconic Australian artists, meaning each location has a distinct personality and aesthetic — some of them even made it into our best boutique hotels feature. There's The Cullen in Prahran, The Larwill Studio in North Melbourne, The Olsen in South Yarra, The Blackman on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, The Chen in Box Hill (currently in the final stages of construction and set to open in November 2017), as well as The Johnson in Spring Hill, Brisbane and The Watson in Walkerville, Adelaide. "This is a rare opportunity to acquire a collection of exceptional hotels and one which is expected to make a significant contribution to Mantra Group's business," says Mantra group chief executive officer Bob East. "These hotels have been operated to the highest standards by a passionate and dedicated team, and we are delighted to welcome such iconic and favoured properties to our growing network of hotels and resorts." The acquisition is expected to be settled later this year.
Grab your bowling ball and swap your bathrobe for your best purple outfit — The Jesus Rolls, the two-decades-later spinoff to the Coen Brothers' 1998 cult comedy The Big Lebowski, is due to hit the big screen this year. Instead of abiding by The Dude (Jeff Bridges), this follow-up spends time with John Turturro's Jesus Quintana, whose love of flinging gleaming balls down lanes means that he obviously isn't a golfer. Of course, if you still want to pour a white russian to celebrate this return excursion to the Lebowski universe, that's both understandable and warranted. Turturro not only stars, but writes and directs The Jesus Rolls, which was actually filmed back in 2016. Cast-wise, he's joined by a heap of familiar faces, including Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Jon Hamm, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken and Pete Davidson. In addition to following Quintana's exploits post-Big Lebowski, The Jesus Rolls also acts as a remake of 1974 French film Going Places. As per the official synopsis, the picture is set joins its eponymous figure "hours after being released from prison", when he"pairs up with fellow misfits Petey (Cannavale) and Marie (Tautou), and embarks on a freewheeling joyride of petty crime and romance". And that's exactly what happens in The Jesus Rolls' just-dropped first trailer. As revealed last year, the movie will release in the US in March, just in time for The Big Lebowski's 22nd anniversary — and while plans Down Under haven't yet been revealed, start crossing your fingers. Check out The Jesus Rolls' trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLAmpku4fyg&feature=emb_logo The Jesus Rolls hits US cinemas on March 6, 2020. We'll update you with local release details if and when they come to hand.
He has filled the National Gallery of Victoria with silver bikes, thrown paint over his pals, had quite the public fight with Lego and set up a studio in Lesbos to draw attention to the refugee crisis. And, before he heads to Australia again for the 2018 Sydney Biennale, Ai Weiwei is continuing to contemplate and challenge the way that immigration and security are handled in his latest New York installation. It'll be his largest and most ambitious public exhibition to date, and he's asking for help to make it happen. Due to be unveiled in October, Ai Weiwei's next project is called Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, as presented by the city's Public Art Fund. To assist in the massive effort — which will feature site-specific pieces, plus 2D and 3D artwork, spanning more than 300 outdoor sites in all five boroughs — the Chinese artist has launched a Kickstarter campaign. At the time of writing, it has passed the halfway mark towards his US$80,000 goal. Given the exhibition's title, as well as Ai Weiwei's ongoing political activism, it's far from surprising that Good Fences Make Good Neighbors addresses the plight of migrants and refugees, immigration and border control policies, and the current global rise in nationalism. Drawing upon his own experience in detention, as well as his visits to refugee camps around the world, the project will adapt security fencing in a number of different ways, and in unexpected places, in order to make a statement about division and separation. New Yorkers can expect pieces at street level, on rooftops, between buildings, on lampposts, attached to frame bus shelters and elsewhere in the urban landscape, as well as site-specific installations in the likes of Central Park and Washington Square Park. With the project running through until February 2018, the artworks are designed to act "as powerful metaphors in a city that has long served as a gateway to the United States for millions of immigrants," according to the Public Art Fund website. For those unable to see the end result in person, it's not the only thing the always-busy Ai Weiwei has been cooking up of late. Human Flow, his new documentary about the global refugee crisis, has just premiered at the Venice Film Festival. It'll have its Aussie debut at the Adelaide Film Festival in October, before reaching cinemas around the country on December 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP5F7-RwVgM Images: Ai Weiwei studio via Kickstarter.
It was back in March 2022 that the world first learned of Mrs Davis, who would star in it and which creatives were behind it. Apart from its central faith-versus-technology battle, the show's concept was kept under wraps, but the series itself was announced to the world. The key involvement of three-time GLOW Emmy-nominee Betty Gilpin, Lost and The Leftovers creator Damon Lindelof, and The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon writer and executive producer Tara Hernandez was championed, plus the fact that Black Mirror: San Junipero director Owen Harris would helm multiple episodes. Accordingly, although no one knew exactly what it was about, Mrs Davis existed months before ChatGPT was released. A puzzle-box drama that's equally a sci-fi thriller, zany comedy and action-adventure odyssey, Mrs Davis now follows ChatGPT in reaching audiences — hitting screens, including via Binge in Australia, from Friday, April 21. Don't even bother trying not to think about the artificial intelligence-driven chatbot, or pondering the growing number of programs just like it, as you're viewing this delightfully wild and gleefully ridiculous series, however. There's no point dismissing any musings that slip into your head about social media, ever-present tech, digital surveillance and the many ways that algorithms dictate our lives, either. Mrs Davis accepts that such innovations are a mere fact of life in 2023, then imagines what might happen if AI promised to solve the worlds ills and make everyone's existence better and happier. It explores how users could go a-flocking, eager to obey every instruction and even sacrifice themselves to the cause. In other words, it's about ChatGPT-like technology starting a religion in everything but name. That premise isn't particularly outlandish, and nor is speculating where artificial intelligence might lead humanity; on the page, science fiction has been theorising about playing god and creations going rogue since Mary Shelley penned Frankenstein. In those footsteps has sprung everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and the Alien, The Terminator and The Matrix franchises to the TRON movies, WALL-E, Ex Machina and Her on the big screen, plus Alita: Battle Angel, After Yang, M3GAN and more. Indeed, endeavouring not to think about the latter — the unhinged horror-comedy that proved a box-office hit earlier in 2023 — is futile while watching Mrs Davis, too. It isn't just the prominence of AI that binds the pair, but the willingness to go all-in on OTT leaps, detours, and jumps in tone and genre. In fact, Mrs Davis thrusts that somersaulting to a gleefully berserk yet magnificent extreme. The titular Mrs Davis isn't actually married — not to anything but amassing users, then keeping them plugged in — and certainly isn't a person with a surname. In some countries, the AI is called mum or Madonna, such is the loving light that it's seen in by its devotees. But Simone (Gilpin, Gaslit) doesn't subscribe. A nun raised by magicians (The Dropout's Elizabeth Marvel and Scream's David Arquette), she enjoys sabbaticals from her convent to do whatever is necessary to bring down folks who practise her parents' vocation and the show's central technology alike. She also enjoys quite the literal nuptials to Jesus Christ, is divinely bestowed names to chase in her quest and has an ex-boyfriend, Wiley (Jake McDorman, Dopesick), who's a former bullrider-turned-Fight Club-style resistance leader. And, she's tasked with a mission by the algorithm itself: hunting down the Holy Grail. No summary of Mrs Davis can do its plot justice, or the rollercoaster ride it takes from the get-go. In its opening episode alone, the show throws in the Knights Templar sacking Paris for the fabled treasure to end all fabled treasures, Simone zipping about on a motorcycle in her habit, surreal diner chats between the nun and her husband Jay (Andy McQueen, Station Eleven), a car crash staged by magicians, a shipwrecked man called Schrödinger Ben Chaplin, The Dig) with a cat, Nazis, big Kill Bill vibes — well, it is about a blonde in a distinctive outfit kicking ass and seeking revenge, often while placed against western-esque backdrops — and a factory pumping out hippopotamus meat. There's more in that debut instalment, as there is in each that follows, so much so that any chapter feels as if anything can occur at any time. Battling an algorithm is firmly in Mrs Davis' circuitry, but it never seems like it was spat out by one. There's a scene approaching halfway through Mrs Davis' eight-episode run where Simone watches a screen, just as everyone streaming the series is doing. When she exclaims "what the fuck?", it isn't the first time that the show inspires that reaction. When this mind-bender isn't nodding to everything that's ever grappled with AI in pop culture, winking at Lost and obviously elbowing Indiana Jones, it's also skewering commercials, bringing Arrested Development to mind and hopping on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou's boat. It has heists and Arthurian legend, details out of Dan Brown and Robinson Crusoe, secret societies and Hands on a Hardbody-inspired endurance contests, the great Margot Martindale (Cocaine Bear) as Simone's Mother Superior and a comically exaggerated Australian (Daisy Jones & The Six's Chris Diamantopoulos, who definitely isn't an Aussie) as well — and it never stops ramping up its absurdity, its excitement to veer anywhere and everywhere all at once, and those what-the-fuck moments. Spin all of the above together and out comes infectious, addictive, must-watch-more fun — constantly surprising viewing, too, especially in these commissioned-by-algorithm times. Mrs Davies does genuinely contemplate what technology's constant advancements may mean for humankind; however, it wants to be rollicking entertainment as it does so. To that end, it helps that the show's three helmers each sport experience in twisty on-screen tales that often aren't afraid to take big steps into the unexpected. They direct a series now that's glossily made but always anarchic with its slickness, its pinballing from one out-there development to the next and its pacing, benefiting from Harris' time on The Twilight Zone and Brave New World, Alethea Jones' background on Made for Love and Dispatches From Elsewhere, and Frederick Toye being a Watchmen and Westworld alum. When Mrs Davies begins, going with the flow is the only response. Although a new burst of idiosyncratic madness is rarely far away, there's always meaning in whatever is happening, with the series examining not just AI and its influence but also parent-child bonds, plus also our species' undying need for both storytelling and something to believe in (and frequently the two at once). And, crucially, at the show's core is the always-phenomenal Gilpin. No matter how eccentric and ambitious Mrs Davies gets, she's its anchor, including while navigating everything that it catapults Simone's way. She's in excellent company — even Diamantopoulos ensures that what could've been a lazy Aussie caricature earns its comedic beats — and she has everyone on- and off-screen along for the ride with her. Check out the trailer for Mrs Davis below: Mrs Davis screens in Australia via Binge from Friday, April 21. Images: Binge/Peacock.
It feels like every second week some huge piece of hardware is unveiled to the world by wireless headset-wearing marketing execs with click-through presentations — indeed, Apple launched their new iPhone 7 in September — and today it's Google's turn. After 18 years in the biz, they're releasing their own phone: the Google Pixel. Now, before you Google what a Google Pixel is (and it comes up as the first result, naturally), you should know that this isn't just another Android phone. Unlike Samsung or Sony phones, which use the Google-developed operating system, the Pixel is the first phone that is fully Google — that is, they've designed it from start to finish, so both the hardware and the software is by them. What does this mean? Well it means everything's a a lot smoother and more integrated because Google has been able to develop both technologies to work closely together. Sort of like how Apple build the iPhone and then develop iOS to go with it. But aside from being the ultimate phone to run Gmail on, the Pixel has a heap of features to give the iPhone a run for its money. These include a camera which apparently wins out against all other smartphones, a super advanced Siri-like Google assistant and unlimited storage. But enough with the brand speak. Here's six details about the Google Pixel in dot point form that you can use for prime water cooler convo at work today (if not just to annoy your pro-Apple colleagues). THE CAMERA IS GOOD — LIKE, REALLY GOOD So good, that it's been given a rating of 89 by DxOMark Mobile, a body that tests and ranks smartphone features and camera. By contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge scored an 88 and the iPhone 7 an 86. So it's just a little bit better, supposedly. It boast 12 megapixels an f/2.0 aperture and a video stabilisation feature that'll really up the ante on your Snapchats. THEY'VE CREATED AN AUSSIE SIRI-LIKE ASSISTANT Just like how Google Maps recruited a local to help give you directions, Google Assistant (which is already being used with other apps like Google Home) will too be an Aussie. That doesn't just extend to its voice though — it will also recognise words that tend to blow tiny robot brains. Google Assistant will hear your "arvo" and "brekkie" and know exactly how to respond to it — with a list of places that do brekkie in the arvo. Assistant makes use of Google's insane web search algorithm, which makes it extremely intelligent. IT'S GOING TO MAKE VR AN ACCESSIBLE THING Come November, you'll also be able to buy a virtual reality headset to go with your Pixel — the Daydream View. The Daydream is like a way more advanced (and ergonomic) version of Google Cardboard. It works in the same way that you stick your Pixel (so far the only Daydream-compatible device) into the front and navigate using a wireless remote. It's also made of fabric and is a lot comfier that other clunky VR headsets — we tried it, and it was one of the better ones we've worn. It's clear Google think mobile VR can be the next big thing, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with it. THE FINGERPRINT UNLOCK 'BUTTON' IS ON THE BACK Pretty much the only thing that distinguishes the Pixel from the iPhone at a glance (while the Pixel is a bit bigger, it's very much the same shape and width as the iPhone) is its lack of home button at bottom centre. That's because Google has put it on the back. Like the iPhone you can choose to use fingerprint encryption (and/or a pattern) — you just use your pointer finger instead. THERE'S NO LIMITS ON STORAGE Because it's Google, it's kind of a given that this phone will be strongly tied to Google Drive and Google Photos. So the good folks at Google (perhaps to make you feel okay about backing up all your data ever with them) are throwing in unlimited cloud storage with your device — which means, unlike a regular free account, you have no limits on the size of the files you're storing. IT COMES IN TWO SIZES AND COLOURS They're very well-named as well. There's the five-inch and the five-and-a-half-inch (the Pixel and the Pixel XL, respectively) and they come in Quite Black and Very Silver. Self-explanatory. The Google Pixel will be available from today, Thursday, October 20. For more info, visit madeby.google.com/phone.
There aren't many better, or cheaper, ways to feed an entire family than a hot roast chook. And with the cool winter weather meaning the rich, tender, warming flavours hit even harder, now is the perfect time to load one into the oven. However, Portuguese chicken maestros Oporto are inviting you to put your feet up this winter with a special holiday giveaway. From 12pm on Tuesday, June 10, over 200 participating stores across the nation are handing out 10,000 Portuguese flame-grilled chickens for free. Coinciding with Dia De Portugal, aka Portugal Day, this festive event is the ideal excuse to get the whole family together — or your closest pals — with a free meal bound to fill your belly and lift your mood this cold season. "This is about more than just chicken," says Ben Simmons, head of marketing at Oporto. "Dia De Portugal, or Portugal Day, is a global event in Portuguese culture, and what better way to mark it than with our craveable, Portuguese flame-grilled chicken? It's our way of bringing people together with food, flavour and generosity." Made the Portuguese way — that means butterflied and basted in flavourful options like lemon and herb, original chilli or extremo picante — these flame-grilled treats are incredible on their own or served with plenty of hearty sides. Each participating restaurant has a minimum of 50 free chickens to give away, with a limit of one per customer. If you miss out, the good news is that Oporto's much-loved Bondi Burger is also available for $5 to mark the occasion, too. Oporto's 10,000 free chicken giveaway is available at participating stores from 12pm on Tuesday, June 10. Head to the website for more information.
Seafood is a true treasure of Aotearoa — and there may be no better place to sample some of the freshest than in the South Island. The South doesn't tend to do fine dining, preferring informal eating spots that emphasise ingredients, comfort and making you feel well and truly looked after. The wines are some of the best in the country, and the views? Incredible. Here's your guide to finding the truly unmissable seafood experiences of Te Waipounamu (the South Island). Whether you're eating with a knife and fork or deep-diving to the bottom of a newspaper parcel sitting on a beach, it's all ka pai (great). SHARE A POT OF GREEN-LIPPED MUSSELS AT THE MUSSEL POT Havelock is a little blip on the road between Picton and Nelson in the northeastern Marlborough region — blink, and you'll nearly miss it. But clamber out of the car, stretch your legs and go for a walk around the sleepy little marina where you'll find The Mussel Pot on the main road. Marlborough produces 80 percent of New Zealand's mussel exports. You will not find fresher. The Mussel Pot's menu dedicates the majority of its repertoire to these little green-lipped marvels. Order a kilogram of fresh mussels in cream, white wine, garlic and herbs ($20.50), or coriander, ginger, chilli and coconut cream ($20.50). It also serves battered mussels ($21.50) or grilled on the half shell ($21.50) and whip up a mussel platter ($47.60) if you can't decide which way you like them. 73 Main Road, Havelock, Marlborough. [caption id="attachment_686918" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Boatshed Cafe.[/caption] EAT OYSTERS PERCHED OVER THE SEA AT THE BOAT SHED CAFE IN NELSON The Boat Shed Cafe is a genuinely lovely eating spot in a beautiful old boat shed on the waterfront in Nelson, in the north of the South Island. It will win you over with plates of fresh food, many of which star locally caught seafood — think beautiful Bluff oysters served naturally with just a squeeze of lemon ($5.50 each) and roasted whole sand flounder with paprika and lime ($27). You can also choose the Trust the Chef banquet ($70 per person). This is food to share with people you love, watching the sun set over the sea with a cold glass of chardonnay (Neudorf is the local choice). New Zealand eating doesn't get much better than this. 350 Wakefield Quay, Nelson. [caption id="attachment_687366" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Graeme Murray.[/caption] SHARE A CRAY BESIDE THE OCEAN (OR HAVE ONE TO YOURSELF) AT NIN'S BIN This third-generation roadside eatery has served fresh seafood from its blue and white cray caravan since 1977 and has become an icon on the drive down the east coast. Shuttered for a long time after the Kaikoura earthquake, Nin's is now back up and running. Fishing quotas mean that Nin's opening hours vary, so check its Facebook page for updates, or give 'em a call before you head in for the hot crayfish, mussels and chips in newspaper. On the days you catch it open, your heart will sing as you drive around the corner and see the steam rising from the caravan hatch and the happy patrons tucking into their feast beside the sea. State Highway 1, Half Moon Bay. EAT FISH AND CHIPS ON THE BEACH IN AKAROA A lovely day trip, Akaroa is a sleepy little French colonial town beside the sea, over the hills from Christchurch. Head out in the morning from Christchurch and wander around town, go for a swim, have a long lunch at Rona's and finish the evening eating fish and chips on the beach or on the hill overlooking the harbour. The food is simple. The experience is a classic. There's not much more to say. Every South Islander knows it, and you should partake, too. Just don't forget the rip n dip. 59 Beach Road, Akaroa. [caption id="attachment_687223" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rodney F.[/caption] SIT DOWN AT FLEUR'S PLACE IN MOERAKI Fleur's Place feels like it has sat at the edge of the jetty in Moeraki, near Dunedin since forever. The elements of the day's menu are literally purchased off the back of the fishing boats and carried a few metres to the kitchen. At the heart of the operation is Fleur Sullivan, a chef who has a firm place in Aotearoa's food heritage. She centres the menu around local, organic produce and seafood like blue cod, John Dory, moki, bluenose, gurnard, sole, flounder, groper and crayfish. Fleur's is also one of the best spots to try local titi, or muttonbird. The wines largely come from central Otago, which is world-renowned for its pinot varieties and fruity white varietals. Take a seat and watch the seals on the foreshore, the fishing boats pottering in and out and parcels of fresh fish being brought into the restaurant or smokehouse. 169 Haven Street, on the jetty at Moeraki. Start planning your trip to New Zealand's south with our guide to the South Island journeys to take here.
Brisbane welcomes Thai restaurant, TABOO, to its already booming restaurant scene. The monochrome pale-green, serene oasis, located above The Constance Hotel, is set to become an all-day drinking and dining destination, with contemporary Thai dishes and speciality drinks. Around the corner from the inimitable Calile Hotel, TABOO adds to the already thriving hospitality offering around the James Street Precinct in the valley. No strangers to the scene, this new venue comes from the team behind Mr. Vain, a modern pan-Asian restaurant in Fortitude Valley, loved for its signature dishes including duck spring rolls, coconut king prawns, cured kingfish pani puri and fried corn ribs with kombu butter. Set to open across three phases, the first includes a breakfast offering crafted by Executive Chef of the group, Benson Skelton, and Head Chef, Alec Kapitz. On the menu are brekkie classics reimagined with a modern Thai twist such as Thai eggs benedict with crispy roti, pork belly and red curry hollandaise, maple lime French Toast, and coconut pancakes with salted Thai coffee caramel. The Brunch Club Banquet will showcase the chefs' signature dishes and hints at what is to come for the future lunch and dinner menus, which will launch as part of phase two and three. Share-style plates may include the likes of oysters with nam jim granita, Crying Tiger wagyu striploin, kingfish and green mango ceviche, and coconut sago pudding. Signature drinks include a Thai basil matcha, and a spiced golden Mont Blanc. The venue unfortunately endured significant damage from Cyclone Alfred, causing unexpected delays, but proving the teams' resilience and determination. They describe their new venue as more than just a rooftop, "It is a destination designed for those who move with intention, dine with curiosity, and find meaning in detail. At every turn, the experience invites you to stay just a little longer." Images: Supplied.
Apologies to anyone who isn't a Harry Styles fan — 2022 clearly isn't your year. The former One Direction member has been everywhere over the past nine months, given that he's headlined Coachella, dropped a new album, and announced a big Australian and New Zealand tour. Oh, and he's also been the talk of the Venice Film Festival just this week for potentially spitting on Chris Pine at the premiere of Don't Worry Darling, one of two movies that'll be giving Styles' acting skills a workout on screens near you this spring. The upcoming second flick on Styles' resume? That'd be My Policeman — which will also send Styles back in time, to the 1950s to be exact, because starring in movies set seven decades ago is the ex-boy band star's own personal 2022 trend. As first revealed in the film's initial teaser back in June, this one gives off big Carol vibes, but in Britain, and focusing on a love triangle involving the titular cop, the man he falls for and the woman who loves him. Due to hit Prime Video Down Under on November 4, My Policeman sees Styles plays Tom, that eponymous law enforcement officer. In sweeping, emotionally resonant period-drama style, the movie gets him caught between teacher Marion (Emma Corrin, The Crown) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson, All the Old Knives). And as the just-dropped new sneak shows, heartbreak seems to be the prevailing mood. My Policeman will also flit forward to the 1990s, where the older Tom (Linus Roache, Homeland), Marion (Gina McKee, Phantom Thread) and Patrick (Rupert Everett, The Happy Prince) are still haunted by how things played out when they were younger. If the storyline sounds familiar, that's because My Policeman comes to the screen from Bethan Roberts' 2012 novel of the same name. For the film version, director Michael Grandage (Red) is doing the honours, with Ron Nyswaner (Freeheld, Philadelphia) on screenplay duties. Based on the handsome trailers so far, both of which sport a hefty mood of yearning, viewers can expect an exploration of love, social expectations, and the tumult that springs when the latter dictates the former. And, obviously, for Styles' latest on-screen stint after Dunkirk, Eternals and Don't Worry Darling, which releases a month earlier in October. Check out the full trailer for My Policeman below: My Policeman will be available to stream via Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand on November 4. Images: courtesy of Prime Video © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC.
If you're the kind of traveller who books their hotels based on their spa facilities, then we foresee a stay at JW Marriott Gold Coast in your future. The Surfers Paradise spot is about to become home to Spa by JW, where soaking, steaming, sipping and staring at scenic views will all be on the menu in the relaxing venue's hefty 2500-square-metre wellness space. The new spa joins the hotel as part of its $35-million transformation, and will open its doors on Wednesday, July 12. Inside, everyone chasing their bliss can expect the sounds of the ocean, a vantage over the hinterland, both tea and wine service, and a sizeable list of treatment options and spa packages. Fancy a massage solely designed to help you sleep? An aromatherapy facial? Hopping in the bath with your date or best mate? They're all on offer. Upon arrival, guests will first be greeted at Spa by JW's curator's desk, then hang out in a living room-style lounge setup before diving in. From there, six different rooms will unleash the venue's treatments, including one just for couples that comes with its own private lounge, ensuite stone bath and twin showers. Also onsite: saunas, steam experience showers, pods for relaxing and an outdoor area dedicated to exactly that as well. For those making a group hang out of their spa experience, Spa by JW features a space for private groups, too, that's intimate but still in view of the wider lounge. And, if you're keen to eat and drink while you're there, the tea service is all about local inspiration, the food menu is curated by the hotel's Executive Chef Paul Smart and vino is an option. This is the first Spa by JW in the Australia and New Zealand region, with Australian design studio DBI taking care of its look. As the building's original architects and interior designers, it has a history with the site, and has gone with a coastal Queensland vibe for the wellness space. Think: curves aplenty, translucent walls, natural materials and textures, and neutral hues, plus lighting to suit the mood. "As we've watched the world re-open from the challenges of the past few years, it is an exciting time for us at JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa to finally reveal this long-awaited chapter of our renovation and welcome back both locals, domestic and international travellers to relax, unwind and rejuvenate at Spa by JW," said Ravinder Dhesi, the hotel's General Manager. Spa by JW opens at JW Marriott Gold Coast, 158 Ferny Avenue, Surfers Paradise on Wednesday, July 12 — operating 9am–6pm Monday–Saturday and 10am–5pm on Sundays.
What's better than regular ol' mini golf? Putt putt with booze, as Holey Moley embraced back in 2016 when it opened its first-ever venue right here in Brisbane. What's better than one such OTT spot dedicated to tap, tap, tapping and sip, sip, sipping, too? Two, obviously, which the brand also acknowledged when it launched a second Brissie spot in the Wintergarden in 2019. Now, what's even better than just a couple of places to pick up a club and try to hit a ball around pop culture-themed holes, while pausing to drink bathtub cocktails? Yes, the answer is three, because that's how maths work. So Brisbanites, you've now got a date with Holey Moley Chermside — which announced its impending arrival back in October, and is up and running from Friday, November 18. Given that Holey Moley has also spread across the Sunshine State and interstate, the underlying concept is already familiar, just at Chermside shopping centre. If you're known to pick up your Christmas presents at the huge Gympie Road spot, consider this an extra-festive piece of news — this year's browsing and buying can now include a mini-golf break. Holey Moley Chermside isn't be small, catering to 350 people. Patrons can play their way around 18 holes, channelling their inner Happy Gilmore before hitting the Caddyshack bar. The general setup, vibe and menu carries over from other locations, just in a different spot. Those greens include four new designs that've been exclusively tailored for the Chermside venue: Surfs Up, Dart Board, Moonshot and the Sonic the Hedgehog-inspired Mini Sonic Loophole. They're joined by a heap of the brand's well-known decor from other venues, such as The Simpsons' Evergreen Terrace and The Flintstones' Bedrock n Roll. And, some holes take their cues from Brisbane and its weather; 'tis the place for it, after all. At the bar, expect an 80s and 90s theme, as well as creative concoctions and stomach-lining bites to eat. Again, well-known faves like the Sugar Caddy and Rub a Dub Tub cocktails are on offer — the latter served in a tiny bathtub that even has rubber ducks floating in it — while the snacks lineup features ingredients sourced from local Australian producers. The bar's decor goes big on hanging plants, in a savvy touch: sure, you're not out in the openair, strolling around the grass and taking a swing, but you can still get a dose of nature all around you. The Chermside Holey Moley marks the sixth site in Brisbane for Funlab, the company behind it (and Strike Bowling, Archie Brothers and B Lucky & Sons), as well as the ninth in Queensland. Find Holey Moley Chermside at Chermside shopping centre, on the corner Gympie and Hamilton roads, Chermside, from Friday, November 18 — open 10am–10pm Sunday–Thursday and 10am–12am Friday–Saturday. Images: Zennieshia Butts.
A film about memories, Aftersun is impossible to forget. Floating across the screen like it's sweeping in from a dream, it's too raw, too personal, too deeply felt and too tactile. Within its frames, 11-year-old Sophie (debutant Frankie Corio) enjoys a sunny late-90s getaway to Turkey with her father Calum (Paul Mescal, The Lost Daughter), cementing recollections that'll linger decades afterwards. In telling this "emotionally autobiographical" tale, as she's called it, Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells crafts a movie that's rich, resonant and haunting from its very first moments to its equally stunning and beautiful finale. Since the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Aftersun certainly hasn't been forgotten by the film world. Nearing a year later, it's still the talk of the industry — deservedly so. The list of accolades and nominations to its name keeps growing almost daily. A Cannes Critics' Week Jury Prize, five Independent Spirit nods, a Gotham Award, seven British Independent Film Awards and nine more nominations, the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: they're among the movie's ever-expanding list of gongs. So too is the Directors Guild of America's coveted prize for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film. And, of course, there's Mescal's Academy Award nomination for Best Lead Actor, a feat that the Normal People star achieved in just his third big-screen role. Making her feature directorial debut after shorts Tuesday, Laps and Blue Christmas, Wells didn't contemplate anything that'd follow simply making Aftersun. "With shorts, it most often ends at its premiere. You're so fortunate to have gotten to the point where you're showing the film with an audience at a festival that that is the end of the road, really," she tells Concrete Playground. "I had naively not thought about what came after making the film. I thought about the response only really in the narrative sense, about how legible the film was in its themes and its characters, and its intentions," she advises. "It's been really special. I don't think you set out to make films to get that type of award recognition, but it's been really nice to see the work recognised, and the work of my collaborators recognised." Special truly is the word for Aftersun, and for everything that it brings to the screen. It applies to the so-intimate-you-could-be-there look and feel, the heartwrenching use of a coming-of-age tale to ponder loss and depression, the meticulously specific yet also timeless use of 90s minutiae — songs like 'Macarena', 'Losing My Religion' and 'Tubthumping', plus Catatonia's 'Road Rage', All Saints' 'Never Ever' and Blur's 'Tender' as well — and Corio and Mescal's sublime performances. With the film now in cinemas Down Under, and still buzzing around the international awards circuit, too, we spoke to Wells about her journey with Aftersun — including what it's like to direct Paul Mescal to an Oscar nomination, and finding her perfect cast to begin with. ON CASTING PAUL MESCAL — AND WATCHING EVERYTHING HE WAS IN FIRST "We focused our attention first on casting Sophie, because we knew she would very likely be a discovery, somebody who'd never acted before, and that it would take time — which it did, it took about six months. And towards the end of that process, we started to consider Calum in earnest, and Paul's name came up. Obviously, I'd seen him in Normal People. It was about a year after that had premiered during the early days of the pandemic, and I watched everything that I could get my hands on. I was drawn, I think, just to his warmth and capacity for vulnerability, and his openness and playfulness and charm. You know, I was watching interviews, really anything and everything. There was like an Instagram video of him singing Sia, and reading a children's book — everything. I don't think I've said that to him. Then we had the opportunity to meet and to talk. There was a period where he wasn't available, so we had to dispel the idea, but it came back around because our dates had moved. Then we had the chance to meet, and we just had a really great conversation and connected. He was so thoughtful in the way that he spoke about the script and the character. It's always a leap of faith at every step of the process, from the second the script leaves your inbox, to bring on collaborators, particularly for a project like this. It was so long in the making, in the writing, and so personal in so many ways, and casting is a really big leap of faith — it's when things start to become concrete in a certain way. It was a leap of faith really well taken, and I feel really proud to stand beside those two when we present the film to people, when we're at awards together. It was a really good experience, and they connected in such a profound and unexpected way. I don't think anybody foresaw the relationship that they would build to be as real in some way as it was." ON HEARING THE OSCARS NEWS AFTER SUCH A COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCE "I can tell you what it felt in the moment that it happened, because I was on the phone with a couple of my producers. Paul rang the moment that it happened, and we both just jumped up and down around our respective apartments, yelling and swearing — and then took this moment just to appreciate the absurdity of the moment, and also the experience that we had together, which really was like a creative partnership and collaboration." There was a lot of trust that we placed in each other, I think. It really worked both ways. He put a lot of trust in me that I was creating meaning out of sequences of images, and things that may not be shot the way he'd imagined they'd shot — great stretches of dialogue shot while he was 50 feet away, sitting on a float out at sea for pivotal scenes in the film. He really trusted that I knew what I was doing in crafting this and building it, and allowing the feeling to shine through. I trusted him to just bring so much empathy to that character and to find meanings in unexpected places, and warmth in unexpected places. It was just a really special collaboration, and it feels like an amazing accomplishment on everyone's part in the film. And his performance being recognised, you know, it's such a small team. There weren't a lot of us. It was a really intimate film, and it's just very exciting and really, really nice." ON FINDING FRANKIE CORIO TO PLAY SOPHIE "We worked with [casting director] Lucy Pardee, who has worked with [Fish Tank and American Honey director] Andrea Arnold and [Birth and Under the Skin filmmaker] Jonathan Glazer, and has this amazing reputation for discovering new talent. She was my guide through that process, really. We had almost 800 submissions. These kids would submit various videos, and ideally we allowed them the space to grow with the process and become more comfortable in front of their camera at home. So, when we got into the casting room in-person — we met 16 of them — it felt like a natural step, a natural point of evolution in the process, even though that was still a new experience for them and for me too, really. That's where Frankie really stood out. That's where she was able to sit in front of the camera and become somebody different, and respond to direction, I suppose. And conjure emotional states that weren't what she was feeling in the moment, and then just shake them off when the exercise was over and cartwheel out the room. She was really, really, special and funny and never let me off easy in the best possible way. She's amazing to be around. She has so much energy." ON BRINGING 90S SIGHTS, SOUNDS AND CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES TO THE SCREEN "It was all about specificity in detail. The colours were just right. The length of the sleeves were just right, and that was down to our costume designer. The size of the tiles were just right or, if they weren't, we knew and we made a choice. There was just so much attention to detail in every department, and yet Greg [Gregory Oke, Aftersun's cinematographer] and I spoke about this, because we didn't want to excessively draw attention to detail. I think music is the most significant signifier of the period in the film. I played into a little bit, and enjoyed playing into a little bit. At the same time, I didn't want to always choose mega hits, because if I did I couldn't pay attention to the scene at hand. I wanted to choose things that were pop, and that felt real to the location, and also draw from slightly older tracks, too, because it's not only songs from 1997–8 that you would be hearing in 1997–8. We wanted it to feel really present and rich, and vibrant. 'Present' was our overriding adjective for the feel of the film, even though it was set in the past. We used our own holiday photographs as the basis of the look, the turquoise blues and the magenta skins and the rich blacks, quite saturated. We literally just handed holiday photographs to my colourist. I had been on one holiday to Turkey as a kid, and the photographs for that were the basis for the look for the film, and the types of tones that we went for. The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg's film, the first one had come out when we made the film. The second came out devastatingly in post. That was definitely a cue for how to portray a period that just felt very lived in and authentic, and never drawing attention to itself where it didn't need to, but just serving the story and the feel of the film." Aftersun is now screening in Australia and New Zealand cinemas. Read our full review. Images: Sarah Makharine.
