We Steal Secrets is the story of Wikileaks, and from the outset it fast becomes apparent how little you know of an organisation dedicated to transparency and the sharing of information. Directed by Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), the documentary mirrors the real-world by focusing on two key individuals: Wikileaks' Australian founder Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, the US soldier whose disclosure of classified documents thrust Assange onto the world stage. The stories of the two men are told with surprising sensitivity, particularly in the case of Manning, who — on account of his ongoing incarceration — is represented exclusively by typed words on a screen. Sent over the course of his deployment in Iraq, the catalogue of Manning's brief online exchanges with various hackers reveals an extraordinarily lonely soul unable to reconcile serious questions about both his own identity and what he perceived to be the ongoing cover-up of atrocities by the US Government. "I want people to see the truth," he wrote, just before leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Assange. "It affects everyone on earth." The altruistic tone of Manning's narrative seems entirely genuine, particularly when set against the supposedly similar motivations driving Assange. The now infamous 'hacktivist' refused to be interviewed for the film unless he was paid $1 million; however, his willingness to jump in front of cameras over the preceding years provided Gibney with more than enough material with which to paint a fascinating portrait of the Wikileaks founder. Coupled with interviews from the organisation's supporters, employees, detractors and pursuers, Assange emerges as a largely paranoid narcissist, championing free speech whilst doing everything he can to ensure no one speaks freely about him. And yet, as is pointed out during the film, Assange's paranoia isn't necessarily always unjustified. The rhetoric (and hypocrisy) of the US Government's condemnation of him is at best fascinating and at worst quite concerning. Both the New York Times and the Guardian collaborated on the publication of the leaked documents, yet neither of those organisations' editors have been indicted or even publicly criticised. In all, We Steal Secrets achieves a fine balance in its depiction of two men whose lives became inextricably linked and, thereafter, changed almost certainly for the worse. Assange sits seeking political asylum within a small room inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and Manning's trial has only now just begun in the United States. In attempting to justify his impending leak, Manning ultimately wrote: "I...care?" This documentary will compel you to do the same, though where you'll fall in your opinion will depend on who you choose to believe. https://youtube.com/watch?v=SdezJrNaL70
Whichever caped crusader is your favourite, and whichever comics-to-screen film franchise you like best, you've seen plenty of superheroes on screens large and small over the past decade or so. They're everywhere — including at Brisbane City Hall at present. The heroes gracing the walls here aren't your usual icons, though. Instead, Dylan Mooney's Blak Superheroes gives First Nations characters a comic book-style makeover. The aims: representation and empowerment, all while championing survival, pride and power. The Yuwi, Torres Strait Islander and Australian-born South Sea Island artist explains that, in the past "Blak characters' representation in history has always been in the background, never the focal point, and characterised by racist stereotypes" — so his works seek to uplift, to showcase First Nations figures, and to show that surviving and thriving in Australia has required resilience and innovation. Mooney uses drawing, printmaking and street art techniques to illustrate his creations, which are on display for free until Monday, April 18, 2022. [caption id="attachment_818265" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Dylan Mooney, Resist from the ongoing series 'Blak Superheroes', digital drawing. Courtesy the artist and N Smith Gallery, Gadigal Country.[/caption]
The problem with Spider-Man movies — all Spider-Man movies — can be summed up in one word: villains. With names like 'Green Goblin', Doc Oc', 'Sandman' and now 'Electro', they're just too 'comic booky'. It may seem a ridiculous argument given these are films based on comic books, but consider the Batman model. There, the villains were also possessed of suitably villainous names like: Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow, Joker, Two-Face and Bane, but they were — without exception — just men. Specifically, a man with a face, a man with a sack over his face, a man with paint on his face, a man with half his face missing and a man with half his face covered in a Dyson vacuum cleaner. As men, however, mortal and tangible, no matter how outlandish their schemes, they remained believable. Again, it may seem an unfair to invoke plausibility given we're talking here about a franchise built around a man/spider hybrid, but believing in Spidey has never been the problem. We're on board with that. A freak, near-spontaneous mutation definitely pushes the bounds of probability, but it stays just enough inside to feel okay to audiences, helped in no small way by the constant, private and human moments from Peter Parker's life to which we're given backstage passes: the experimentation, the girl troubles, the laundry and even the sniffles. There has been one outstanding Spider-Man villain — a complex, tormented and conflicted soul with whom Spider-Man has battled constantly throughout every film — the only problem is, it's Spider-Man. Not Topher Grace's 'bad Spidey' from 2007's Spider-Man 3, it's literally Spider-Man. "With great power comes great responsibility" proclaimed Peter's grandmother way back in the original Spider-Man, and that dark concord has been the most compelling dynamic to all the films that followed. All great superheroes are, in a way, tortured by their abilities, forced to choose between desire and duty. The demons from Peter's choices make his version of the superhero conundrum all the more engrossing, because (causality scepticism aside) they've led to people's deaths. First his grandfather, then his girlfriend's father — the latter's dying wish being that Peter leave his daughter Gwen alone. For these reasons, of the two concurrent plot lines in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, one is far more appealing than the other. The weaker thread is the 'villain plot', featuring a loner electrical engineer (Jamie Foxx) turned furious spectral Tesla coil by the name of 'Electro'. He's somewhere between a bullied high school kid and an emotional Doctor Manhattan, whose motivations for citywide chaos and suffering are as gossamer as his translucent skin. Ultimately, Electro's only worth to this film is to highlight the choice Peter (Andrew Garfield) must make between the love of his life, Gwen (Emma Stone), and his self-imposed duty to protect the city. This is the story that makes The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a film well worth watching. In fact, if it were just two hours of Garfield and Stone flirting and quipping with each other, not only would it have possibly been a better movie, it would have smacked down most of the other supposed romantic comedies of the past decade. The real-life couple has an outrageously appealing on-screen chemistry, and their exchanges are so well-written that it's a crime when actual crimes are committed to interrupt them. The special effects are, of course, spectacular, and the use of 3D is a rare example of the technique adding to, rather than distracting from, the storytelling. The music, too, is excellent, employing a body-shuddering pseudo dubstep whenever Electro crackles into action. But it's the small-scale, romantic moments that shine most brightly, culminating in an ending that'll have you humming 'We have all the time in the world' as you make you way home. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nbp3Ra3Yp74
When you find yourself on a small island in Norway, you start contemplating how humans make sense of their place in the world. We haven't been there and done that, but we're not just making assumptions. Melbourne-based artist Emma Hamilton spent part of 2015 and 2016 on Sørværet in the Scandinavian country, conjuring up By Way of Navigation based on her stints there. Hamilton's exhibition is interested in one key line of thinking: the difference between how we actually interact with the landscape around us and the methods we use to turn what we can see, touch and experience into maps, photos and navigational calculations. Capturing the Norwegian terrain, her mix of images and sculptures attempt to blend and probe the two, and merge visual and scientific observation. If the end result gets your brain pondering the wide world around us, then it has done its job. Get lost in thought at By Way of Navigation from March 22 to April 8 at Metro Arts. Image: Emma Hamilton, The distortion of landscape by the camera, 2016, digital collage.
Given that the Anywhere Theatre Festival is now in its fifth year, you probably know what it is all about by now. If you didn't before, you did the moment you read its name: this is a festival for theatre that could happen anywhere. Sure, it sounds simple — but anywhere really does mean anywhere. Yoga studios, Boggo Road Gaol, cafes, bookshops, bars, bowls clubs and markets are all set to become playgrounds for the next breed of eccentric, experimental physical theatre, dance and circus. The festival program does feature 57 productions and 337 performances in 24 Brisbane suburbs, after all. Here are just five of the best.
A jaunt around Victorian-era Europe, a destination wedding in Sydney or hopping between Greek islands? Animated ducks or a kingdom based around wishes? An affecting true tale of heroism or superhero fare? Cinemagoers of Australia, they're among your choices on the annual movie calendar's release day to end all release days. That'd be Boxing Day, which always packs picture palaces with new flicks, plus eager audiences keen to see them. Indeed, along with hitting the sales, enjoying the beach and recovering from your Christmas food coma, seeing a movie on December 26 is a yearly tradition. Feel like you're spoiled for choice? Not sure which film should tempt you out of the summer sun and into an air-conditioned darkened room? Keen to see a few movies, but don't know where to start? Thanks to Boxing Day's hefty array of newcomers, plus Wonka still a fresh arrival on big screen, there's plenty of picks. We've watched them all — and here's our rundown. POOR THINGS Richly striking feats of cinema by Yorgos Lanthimos aren't scarce. Sublime performances by Emma Stone are hardly infrequent. Screen takes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein couldn't be more constant. For Lanthimos, see: Dogtooth and Alps in the Greek Weird Wave filmmaker's native language, plus The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Favourite since he started helming movies in English. With Stone, examples abound in her Best Actress Oscar for La La Land, supporting nominations before and after for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Lanthimos' aforementioned regal satire, and twin 2024 Golden Globe nods nods for their latest collaboration as well as TV's The Curse. And as for the best gothic-horror story there is, not to mention one of the most influential sci-fi stories ever, the evidence is everywhere from traditional adaptations to debts owed as widely as The Rocky Horror Show and M3GAN. Combining the three results in a rarity, however: a jewel of a pastel-, jewel- and bodily fluid-toned feminist Frankenstein-esque fairy tale that's a stunning creation, as zapped to life with Lanthimos' inimitable flair, a mischievous air, Stone at her most extraordinary and empowerment blazing like a lightning bolt. With cascading black hair, an inquisitive stare, incessant frankness and jolting physical mannerisms, Poor Things' star is Bella Baxter in this suitably wondrous adaptation of Alasdair Grey's award-winning 1992 novel, as penned by Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara (The Great, and another Academy Award-nominee for The Favourite). Among the reasons that the movie and its lead portrayal are so singular: as a character with a woman's body revived with a baby's brain, Stone plays someone from infancy to adulthood, all with the astonishingly exact mindset and mannerisms to match, and while making every move, choice and feeling as organic as birth, living and death. In this fantastical steampunk vision of Victorian-era Europe, London-based Scottish doctor Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe, Asteroid City) is Bella's maker. Even if she didn't call him God, he's been playing it. But curiosity, the quest for agency and independence, horniness and a lust for adventure all beckon his creation on a radical, rebellious, gorgeously rendered, gloriously funny and generously insightful odyssey. So, Godwin tries to marry Bella off to medical student Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef, Ramy), only for her to discover "working on myself to get happiness" and "furious jumping" — masturbation and sex — and run off to the continent with caddish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) instead. Read our full review. ANYONE BUT YOU Greenlighting Anyone But You with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell as its leads must've been among Hollywood's easiest decisions. One of the rom-com's stars has been everywhere from Euphoria and The White Lotus to Reality of late, while the other is fresh off feeling the need for speed in Top Gun: Maverick. They both drip charisma. If this was the 80s, 90s or 00s, they each would have an entire segment of their filmographies dedicated to breezy romantic comedies like this Sydney-shot film, and probably more than a few together. Indeed, regardless of his gleaming casting, Anyone But You director and co-writer Will Gluck makes his first adult-oriented flick in 12 years — since Friends with Benefits, with Annie and the two Peter Rabbit movies since — as if it's still two, three or four decades back. The gimmick-fuelled plot, the scenic setting, swinging between stock-standard and OTT supporting characters: even amid overt riffs on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, they're all formulaically present and accounted for. So is the fact that Anyone But You's story always comes second to Sweeney and Powell's smouldering chemistry, and that most of its obvious jokes that only land because the pair sell them, as well as the whole movie. Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) meet-cute over a bathroom key in a busy cafe. That first dreamy day ends badly the next morning, however, with more pain in store when Bea's sister Halle (Hadley Robinson, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty) gets engaged to Ben's best friend Pete's (GaTa, Dave) sister Claudia (Alexandra Shipp, Barbie). Cue their feud going international at the destination wedding in Australia, then getting a twist when Bea and Ben pretend that they're together. They're trying stop their fighting ruining the nuptials, get her parents to back off from pushing for a reunion with her ex (Darren Barnet, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) and make his own past love (model-turned-acting debutant Charlee Fraser) jealous. Every expected narrative beat is struck, then, while nodding to other rom-com wedding flicks — My Best Friend's Wedding co-stars Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths play Bea's mum and dad, with the latter also a Muriel's Wedding alum — and getting cheesily Aussie via koalas, endless shots of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, and Bryan Brown (Faraway Downs) and Joe Davidson (Neighbours) playing the stereotypical parts. And yet, Sweeney and Powell ace their performances and rapport, and also couldn't be more watchable. Read our full review. ONE LIFE Nicholas Winton's "British Schindler" label wasn't invented for One Life, the rousing biopic that tells his story; however, it's a handy two-word description that couldn't better fit both him and the film. In the late 1930s, when the then-Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland was occupied by Nazi Germany, the London-born banker spearheaded a rescue mission to get children — mostly Jewish — out of the country. After being encouraged to visit Prague in 1938 by friends assisting refugees, he was so moved to stop as many kids as possible from falling victim to the Holocaust that he and a group of fellow humanitarians arranged trains to take them to England. The immense effort was dubbed kindertransport, with Winton assisting in saving 669 children. Then, in the decades that followed, his heroic feat was almost lost to history. In fact, it only returned to public knowledge in 1988 when his wife Grete Gjelstrup encouraged him to show his scrapbook from the time to Holocaust researcher Elizabeth Maxwell, who was married to media mogul Robert Maxwell. Smartly, One Life captures both remarkable aspects to Winton's story, flitting between them as it tells its powerful and stirring true tale. The film's jumps backwards and forward also allow room for two excellent performances, enlisting Anthony Hopkins as the older Winton and Johnny Flynn (Operation Mincemeat) to do the honours in his younger years. With The Two Popes, his Oscar win for The Father, Armageddon Time and now this, Hopkins has been enjoying a stellar run in his 80s. If matching one of Hopkins' great portrayals in a period filled with them — a career, too, of course — was daunting for Flynn, he doesn't show it. As with Kurt and Wyatt Russell on the small screen's Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, they're playing the same man but also someone who changes, as everyone does, through his experiences. Accordingly, a lively Flynn captures Winton's zeal and determination, while a patient Hopkins wears the haunted disappointment of someone who has spent half of their life thinking that he hasn't done enough. When he finally realises the full impact of his efforts, it's a devastatingly touching moment in a potent feature that looks the standard sombre part, but also knows that flashiness isn't what leaves an imprint in a story as important as this. AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM The DC Extended Universe is dead. With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the comic book-to-screen franchise hardly swims out with a memorable farewell, hasn't washed up on a high and shouldn't have many tearful over its demise. More movies based on the company's superheroes are still on the way. They'll be badged the DC Universe instead, and start largely afresh; 2025's Superman: Legacy will be the first, with Pearl's David Corenswet as the eponymous figure, as directed by new DC Studios co-chairman and co-CEO James Gunn (The Suicide Squad). Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ends up the old regime about as expected, however: soggily, unable to make the most of its star, and stuck treading water between what it really wants to be and box-ticking saga formula. Led by Jason Momoa (Fast X), the first Aquaman knew that it was goofy, playful fun. Its main man, plus filmmaker James Wan (Malignant), didn't splash around self-importance or sink into seriousness. Rather, they made a giddily irreverent underwater space opera — and, while it ebbed and flowed between colouring by numbers and getting entertainingly silly, the latter usually won out. Alas, exuberance loses the same battle in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Having spent its existence playing catch-up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DCEU does exactly that for a final time here. As with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there's such a large debt owed to Star Wars that elements seem to be lifted wholesale; just try not to laugh at Jabba the Hutt as a sea creature. 2018's initial Aquaman used past intergalactic flicks as a diving-off point, too, but with its own personality — no trace of which bobs up this time around. Wan helms again, switching to workman-like mode. He's co-credited on the story with returning screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Orphan: First Kill), Momoa and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett (The Last Manhunt), but there's little but being dragged out with the prevailing tide, tonal chaos and a CGI mess on show. Now king of Atlantis and a father, Arthur Curry has another tussle with Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ambulance) to face, with his enemy aided by dark magic and exacerbating climate change. Only Aquaman teaming up with his imprisoned half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson, Insidious: The Red Door) will give the world a chance to survive. Even with an octopus spy and Nicole Kidman (Faraway Downs) riding a robot shark, a shipwreck results. Read our full review. MIGRATION It mightn't seem like Migration and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget should be twin films. The first is Illumination's latest non-Minions effort. The second is the long-awaited sequel to 2000 claymation favourite Chicken Run. But this pair of animated movies is definitely the newest example of the long-running cinematic déjà vu trend. Past birds of a feather have included Antz and A Bug's Life, Deep Impact and Armageddon, Churchill and Darkest Hour, and Ben Is Back and Beautiful Boy — and oh-so-many more — aka pictures with similar plots releasing at around the same time. The current additions to the list both arrive in December 2023, focus on anthropomorphised poultry, and initially find their clucking and quacking critters happy in their own safe, insular idylls, only to be forced out into the scary wider world largely due to their kids. Chaos with humans in the food industry ensues, including a life-or-death quest to avoid being eaten, plus lessons about being willing to break out of your comfort zone/nest/pond. Famous voices help bring the avian protagonists to the screen, too — Elizabeth Banks (The Beanie Bubble) and Kumail Nanjiani (Welcome to Chippendales) are the parents in Migration, for instance, and Thandiwe Newton (Westworld) and Zachary Levi (Shazam! Fury of the Gods) in Dawn of the Nugget — although that's long been the industry standard in animation in general. If you've seen Chicken Run's return, then, Migration will instantly feel familiar. This is an instance of two studios hatching near-identical films that both have their own charms, however. With Migration, a voice cast that also spans Awkwafina (Quiz Lady), Keegan-Michael Key (Wonka), Danny DeVito (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Carol Kane (Hunters) brings plenty of energy. As the key behind-the-camera talents, director Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine) and screenwriter Mike White (yes, The White Lotus' Mike White) know how to enliven the narrative. That tale tells of mallards Mack (Nanjiani) and Pam (Banks), one nervous and the other adventurous, who follow another family from New England to Jamaica via New York City with their eager ducklings Dax (Caspar Jennings, Operation Mincemeat) and Gwen (first-timer Tresi Gazal), and cantankerous uncle (DeVito). But the Big Apple brings a run-in which a chef, after initially falling afoul of a flock of pigeons, befriending their leader (Awkwafina) and endeavouring to rescue the homesick parrot (Key) who knows the way to their sunny winter getaway. WISH Arriving in the year that Walt Disney Animation Studios celebrates its 100th birthday shouldn't mean that Wish needs to live up to a century's worth of beloved classics. And it wouldn't for viewers, even with the Mouse House's anniversary celebrations everywhere, if the company's latest film didn't bluntly draw attention to Disney hits gone by. Parts are cobbled together from Cinderella, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. Not just fellow animated efforts get referenced; alongside shoutouts to Bambi and Peter Pan, Mary Poppins earns the nod well. Overtly elbowing rather than winking, directors Chris Buck (Frozen and Frozen II) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (head of story on Raya and the Last Dragon) plus screenwriters Jennifer Lee (another Frozen alum) and Allison Moore (Beacon 23) ensure that their audience has the mega media corporation's other fare in their heads. It's a dangerous strategy, calling out other movies if the feature doing the calling out is by-the-numbers at best, and it does Wish no favours. No one might've been actively thinking "I wish I was watching a different Disney movie instead" if they weren't pushed in that direction by the flick itself, but once that idea sweeps in it never floats away. While the importance and power of dreams is Wish's main theme, the film forgot to have many itself. If it hoped to be a generic inspiration-touting fairy-tale musical, however, that fantasy was granted. Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) and Chris Pine (Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves) star as teenager Asha and all-powerful sorcerer Magnifico, respectively. The latter created the kingdom of Rosas as a sanctuary to protect people's wishes, which hover in his castle — but he's stingy with granting them. When Asha discovers that the land's sovereign isn't as benevolent as he seems, then wishes on a star that becomes her beaming friend (and makes her goat Valentino talk, sporting the voice of Peter Pan & Wendy's Alan Tudyk), she decides to topple his rule and free the deepest desires of her fellow townsfolk. Oscar-winner DeBose brings her best to the movie's songs, which would've fallen flat and proven forgettable in anyone else's hands, but they're the most vivid part of a film that starts with the storybook cliche, leans too heavily on chattering critters and can't match its classic look with an instant-classic picture. TWO TICKETS TO GREECE Laure Calamy is heading away again. In Full Time, France's current go-to actor could only dream of a getaway. Around that career-best performance, however, she's trekked with a donkey in Antoinette in the Cévennes, enjoyed family reunions on Côte d'Azur island Porquerolles in The Origin of Evil and now holidays on the Balkan Peninsula in the likeable-enough Two Tickets to Greece. Her latest packs more than a few other familiar elements into its suitcase: chalk-and-cheese protagonists, midlife crises, confronting the past, seizing the future, reviving old friendships, making new pals and finding oneself. Writer/director Marc Fitoussi, who reteams with Calamy after Call My Agent!, knows that every trip swims or sinks based on the company, though. He explores that very idea in his narrative, and has the film live it via Calamy as the chaotic Magalie, Olivia Côte (The Rose Maker, and also in Antoinette in the Cévennes) as her strait-laced childhood bestie Blandine — who she hasn't seen for decades after a teenage falling out — and an against-type-and-loving-it Kristin Scott Thomas (Slow Horses) as the go-with-the-flow Bijou. Scott Thomas puts in such an earthy-yet-layered performance as Magalie's friend, who lives the island life in Mykonos with artist Dimitris (Panos Koronis, The Lost Daughter), that Two Tickets to Greece is a better movie once she's on-screen. It's a more-rounded film, relying less on an odd-couple dynamic — even though both Calamy and Côte perfect their parts. Fitoussi first introduces his main duo as high-schoolers (Les invisibles' Marie Mallia and Vise le coeur's Leelou Laridan) who obsessively adore 1988 diving drama The Big Blue. They only meet again as adults after Blandine's son Benjamin (Alexandre Desrousseaux, Standing Up) pushes them back into each other's lives out of worry for his divorced-and-unhappy-about-it mum. He's meant to be going to Greece with his mother, in fact, but soon the erratic and impulsive Magalie has his ticket. Their destination is Armogos, The Big Blue's setting, although every detour that can redirect the pair's sun-dappled path away from a stock-standard luxe hotel stay — ferry mishaps, cute surfers, dancing on restaurant tables, island-hopping, big fights, hard truths, health scares and the like — does. COUP DE CHANCE A stroke of luck starts Coup de Chance, befitting the name of this French-language romantic thriller-slash-farce from Woody Allen. On the streets of Paris, gallerist Fanny (Lou de Laâge, The Mad Women's Ball) is recognised by writer Alain (Niels Schneider, Spirit of Ecstasy), with the pair classmates during their school days abroad in New York. He had a hefty crush all those years back, he reminds her. Even in their first reacquainted encounter, it's plain to see that he still does now. Reminiscing leads to future plans to catch up, then to leisurely walks and sandwich-fuelled picnics in parks on her lunch breaks. And, with Fanny clearly unhappily married to flashy, self-made millionaire wealth manager Jean (Melvil Poupaud, One Fine Morning), who possessively and controllingly considers her a trophy more than a person, an affair springs, too. Cue the suspicions of Jean, complete with a private detective doing his snooping and a raging case of entitlement seeping from his pores. Cue Fanny's mother Camille (Valérie Lemercier, Aline) figuring out the situation, and getting involved as well. Also, cue Allen in familiar territory from 2005's Match Point, which was set in London rather than Paris. Only a non-French filmmaker would have his Parisian characters order foie gras and frogs' legs in a restaurant. Working in Europe almost by necessity, and a writer/director whose output will always lurk under a cloud, only Allen would make the movie's yearning romantic alternative a bookish sort called Alain that's his latest on-screen surrogate. But those cliches and box-ticking elements don't stop Coup de Chance from being his best film in some time — since 2013's Blue Jasmine, which won Cate Blanchett an Oscar — with considerable help from his cast. The helmer's 50th movie sports warm autumnal hues via cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (who also shot Cafe Society, Wonder Wheel and A Rainy Day in New York), a jazzy soundtrack, plus actors who can effortlessly ride the plot's conveniences, twists and constant musings on fate alike. That said, almost any filmmaker could point their lens de Laâge, Schneider, Poupaud and Lemercier's way with engaging results; however, Allen's first film in a language other than English is repeatedly buoyed by their presence.
Five writers. One evening. A single topic. Plenty of weighty matters to ponder. That's Brisbane Writers Festival's Literary Salon, which focuses on A World Without Writers. If you're going to ponder a realm without those ostensibly wedded to the written word — and without the materials they create — then why not ask for their thoughts? On September 8, The Family Law's Benjamin Law, Flesh Wounds' Richard Glover, Panchinko's Min Jin Lee and more will sit, talk and work through the subject — all while wedding an old tradition with new ideas. Dating back to the 16th century, salons are all about enlightening discussion. Expect a whole heap here.
Alright chinas, we need to have a rabbit and pork about Guy Ritchie's new $175 million rattle and clank buster: Kin Arfur: Jackanory of the Drum and Fife – an altogether pony and trap reimagining of the classic weep and wail that's light on the brass tacks, sore on the mince pies and pretty much tom tit. If you struggled to understand that, consider it our version of the "you must be this tall to get on the ride" sign for Guy Ritchie's calamitous take on the famous Arthurian tale. As with every Ritchie flick (see: Snatch, RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes, among others), cockney banter flies thick and fast between Arthur's merry band of streetwise vagabonds, all of whom sport names like Goose-fat Bill, Wet Stick, Back Lack and Chinese George. Unlike Ritchie's previous outings, however, there's little wit or charm to back up the slang. Instead, we're given in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword a CGI-heavy romp that moves at such a frantic and disjointed pace that simply keeping up with the story feels like a greater test of character and strength than actually pulling Excalibur from the stone. Worse still, there's nothing new about any of it. Between the giant elephants (Return of the King), the 'bullet-time' slow motion (The Matrix) and an enormous killer snake (Harry Potter), it's all far too much like a video game we've played many times before and know exactly how to beat. There are, at least, a few notable highlights. Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law both put in commendable performances as Arthur and his evil uncle Vortigern, with Law in particular ensnaring the eye for every second he's on screen. Villainy suits the actor, whose charm and cheekiness take on a decidedly darker turn when given the right material with which to play. There's also a neat little twist on the sword/stone component itself, which – at least for a time – raises King Arthur: Legend of the Sword to a level worthy of its storied subject matter. Unfortunately, there's far too much style and not nearly enough substance to hold the film's loose narrative threads together. Snap cuts and fancy editing helped put Guy Ritchie on the map, but in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword there's no duck and diving the fact that it's all gone proper pete and tong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIM4-HLtUM0
From moving road trip dramas and joyous concert documentaries to passionate anthologies and wondrous animation, plenty of excellent films reached screens large and small throughout 2020. Indeed, the past 12 months were filled with cinematic delights — even when we've been watching them at home while movie theatres were closed — but, sadly, they can't all be great. Each year delivers its fair share of exceptional and awful movies, of course. And, both the best and the worst of the bunch can all score awards. The Oscars and the Golden Globes rank among the accolades that recognise the former, while the Golden Raspberries devotes its attention to the other end of the spectrum. After announcing its nominees from the past year's films last month, the Razzies has just revealed its latest batch of winners. Leading the pack from the 41st Razzie Award recipients is the terrible Sia-directed Music, which picked up three of the four categories it was nominated for: Worst Director (for Sia), Worst Actress (for Kate Hudson) and Worst Supporting Actress (for Maddie Ziegler). It didn't take out the Worst Picture field, though, with that gong going to Absolute Proof. Peddling conspiracy theories about the 2020 US election, it also picked up the Worst Actor award for Mike Lindell as himself. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm similarly picked up two awards. Also linked to the election, it deserves its nods in a different way. The film is smart, funny and savage, and definitely not awful, but scored dual wins for Rudy Giuliani (for Worst Supporting Actor, and for Worst Screen Combo with his pants zipper). Although Polish erotic drama 365 Days nabbed six nods and became the awards' first-ever contender in a language other than English, it only won one, for Worst Screenplay. Dolittle, the Robert Downey Jr-starring remake that hit cinemas before the pandemic, also only received one award from its six nominations, emerging victorious in the Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel category. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEf412bSPLs Reflecting the past year's general chaos, the Razzies also handed out a special trophy to the 2020 overall, naming it 'the worst calendar year ever'. Check out the full list of winners and nominees below: GOLDEN RASPBERRY NOMINEES AND WINNERS 2020: WORST PICTURE 365 Days Absolute Proof Dolittle Fantasy Island Music WORST ACTOR Robert Downey Jr, Dolittle Mike Lindell, Absolute Proof Michele Morrone, 365 Days Adam Sandler, Hubie Halloween David Spade, The Wrong Missy WORST ACTRESS Anne Hathaway, The Last Thing He Wanted and The Witches Katie Holmes, Brahms: The Boy II and The Secret: Dare to Dream Kate Hudson, Music Lauren Lapkus, The Wrong Missy Anna-Maria Sieklucka, 365 Days WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR Chevy Chase, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee Rudy Giuliani, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Shia LeBeouf, The Tax Collector Arnold Schwarzenegger, Iron Mask Bruce Willis, Breach, Hard Kill and Survive the Night WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy Lucy Hale, Fantasy Island Maggie Q, Fantasy Island Kristen Wiig, Wonder Woman 1984 Maddie Ziegler, Music WORST SCREEN COMBO Robert Downey Jr and his utterly unconvincing Welsh accent, Dolittle Harrison Ford and that totally fake-looking CGI dog, Call of the Wild Rudy Giuliani and his pants zipper, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Lauren Lapkus and David Spade, The Wrong Missy Adam Sandler and his grating simpleton voice, Hubie Halloween WORST DIRECTOR Charles Band, All three Barbie and Kendra movies Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, 365 Days Stephen Gaghan, Dolittle Ron Howard, Hillbilly Elegy Sia, Music WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL 365 Days Dolittle Fantasy Island Hubie Halloween Wonder Woman 1984 WORST SCREENPLAY 365 Days All three Barbie and Kendra movies Dolittle Fantasy Island Hillbilly Elegy
Grab your bowling ball and swap your bathrobe for your best purple outfit — The Jesus Rolls, the two-decades-later sequel to the Coen Brothers' 1998 cult comedy The Big Lebowski, is due to hit the big screen in 2020. 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 and Pete Davidson. The movie will be released in the US early next year just in time for The Big Lebowski's 22nd anniversary — and while plans Down Under haven't yet been revealed, start crossing your fingers. As well as following Quintana's exploits post-Big Lebowski, The Jesus Rolls will also act as a remake of 1974 French film Going Places. As per the official synopsis reported by IndieWire, the picture will chart: "a trio of misfits [Turturro, Cannavale and Tautou] whose irreverent, sexually charged dynamic evolves into a surprising love story as their spontaneous and flippant attitude towards the past or future backfires time and again, even as they inadvertently perform good deeds. When they make enemies with a gun-toting hairdresser, their journey becomes one of constant escape from the law, from society and from the hairdresser, all while the bonds of their outsider family strengthen." The Jesus Rolls doesn't have a teaser just yet, but there's never a bad time to revisit its predecessor's trailer, should you need a reminder of Quintana's initial big-screen antics. If you're keen to watch the The Big Lebowski in its entirety, it's currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-go0oBF4Y The Jesus Rolls hits US cinemas at a yet-to-be-revealed date in early 2020. We'll update you with local release details when they come to hand. Via Deadline / IndieWire.
Dishing up desserts across Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland the Australian Capital Territory, Gelato Messina obviously specialises in frosty sweet treats. But, because the chain has amassed quite the following, it also has a range of merchandise. Over the past couple of years, it has released gelato-scented candles and decked out a line of clothing with pictures of its towering ice cream cones — and now it's collaborating with Lanolips on a gelato-flavoured balm. You can't spend all day every day eating Messina's desserts (sorry); however, you can slather your lips in its new salted caramel and mango coconut lip balm. Presumably, like those aforementioned candles, this'll give you a constant craving for a few scoops — so if you start eating more gelato as a result, you'll know why. The Messina x Lanolips collab takes its cues from Messina's most popular coconut milk sorbet — a flavour that features Murray River salt and Australian Kensington Pride mango salsa. In balm form, it's made with lanolin from local sheep's wool, vitamin E, natural coconut oil and mango fruit extract. You'll find the lip-smacking new product in all Messina stores, Messina's online store, at Lanolips' website and at Mecca. Head to Messina to pick some up before Tuesday, November 2 — or buy one from Messina's website — and you'll also nab a free scoop while stocks last. For more information about Gelato Messina's new Lanolips balm — and to buy some — head to the chain's website.
If there's one thing that's true in this life, it's that you've got to look forward to something. Maybe it's a nice sandwich you packed for lunch. Maybe it's a tropical getaway you've booked a couple of months down the track. Or maybe it's a slate of potential indie game releases over the course of the year, a constant drip feed of dopamine to last through to December. For this writer, as you may have guessed, the latter is the way to go. Before we dive in, it's worth reflecting on the nature of game development for a moment. While most of the following titles have set their sights on a 2024 launch (source: their Steam pages), and two have confirmed launches over the next few months, game release dates are notoriously slippery beasts. Sometimes teams just need a little extra time to squash bugs and polish – it happens, and it's for the best, but it makes writing lists like this a little fraught. So let's just say we're sending our best to all the developers and hope that they hit their launch windows without too much crunch. And now, without any further ado, here's 10 indie games you should wishlist and eagerly wait for. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCPIPieo-3c[/embed] PEPPER GRINDER Movement can make or break a platformer, so stepping out of the classic run-and-jump formula comes with risks and rewards. In Pepper Grinder, the upcoming title from Oregon-based team Ahr Ech, the payoff for breaking from tradition is, thankfully, huge. You play as Pepper, a swashbuckler washed up on the shores of a mysterious island. Your treasure has been stolen so you grab Grinder, your trusty conical drilling device, and set out to get it back. It won't be easy but it will be fun. The use of a drill for traversal is inspired, allowing you to essentially swim through terrain and perform dolphin-esque leaps and dashes as you fight enemies and collect your wayward riches. It's the type of movement that puts you in a flow state, supported by level design that rewards setting up perfect lines without punishing you too much when you stumble. Thankfully you won't have to wait too long to explore and excavate this bright tropical world, with a confirmed release date of March 28th for PC and Switch. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjGoS9rOSYw[/embed] ANOTHER CRAB'S TREASURE Ocean pollution is bad. That's not really something you can argue against. But… who's to say it can't lead to good things, such as Another Crab's Treasure? The sophomore game from U.S. dev team Aggro Crab has you scuttling around as Kril, a small hermit crab whose home has been repossessed from his back. You must don a variety of different pieces of rubbish as temporary shells, each with their own special strengths, and fight against the other denizens of the deep to find a treasure that will let you pay off your debt and reclaim your property. It's a Souls-like so prepare for unrelentingly difficult combat, unless you are a newcomer to the genre in which case there are a number of thoughtful assists available to help you on your journey. It has a confirmed release date of April 25th, so only a couple of months to go until you can battle across the bottom of the ocean on Xbox, PlayStation, Steam and Nintendo Switch. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6j0zKSXAFE[/embed] SKATE STORY Skateboarding has a long history in the realm of video games but, for such a radical sport, developers have generally played it fairly straight. That makes Skate Story, developed by NY-based solo dev Sam Eng, a big breath of fresh air in a genre seemingly locked in permanent X-Games adolescence. What really sets it apart is the narrative. You play as a demon made of glass and pain, to whom the Devil has given a skateboard and an impossible task: devour the Moon to earn your freedom. Already way more enticing than the standard 'get a high score to prove you're the raddest around'. So you set off through the Emptylands, grinding, flipping and ollieing to destroy demons and rescue lost souls on the way to your goal of cosmic consumption. With minimalist graphics depicting the Underworld as a moody, woozy space, and a soundtrack composed by mysterious indie outfit Blood Cultures, Skate Story is set to be a guaranteed GOTY list entrant for 2024 when it launches. Wishlist now on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T728E15XsMk[/embed] BROKEN ROADS The first Australian entry on this list, Broken Roads puts a uniquely Australian spin on the CRPG genre. Developed by Drop Bear Bytes out of Victoria, it's a post-apocalyptic trek across a desolate (well, more desolate) outback, searching out settlements, helping fellow travellers and tackling enemies both human and otherwise. CRPGs are currently having a moment (thank you Baldur's Gate 3), and while Broken Roads will definitely scratch your itch for turn-based combat, it's adding a new wrinkle to the genre with its Moral Compass system which shapes both your character and the wider story based on the decisions you make. No wussing out of an evil run with this mechanic in place. Fans of the early Fallout games, as well as the modern reincarnations of Wasteland, will definitely want to keep an eye out for the (hopefully imminent) release of this one. Wishlist now and play the demo on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTfZzwydEWQ[/embed] DEAD STATIC DRIVE The open road. The purr of the engine. The shrieks of eldritch horrors that are getting closer and closer in your rear-view mirror. This is the world of Dead Static Drive, a road trip simulator described as Grand Theft Auto meets the Cthulhu mythos. A journey to visit estranged relatives takes a sinister turn when it becomes apparent that the world is coming to an end, bringing forth all sorts of monsters. Sneak, steal and slaughter your way across a stylishly rendered version of 80s America. You can team up with people along the way but when the chips are down can they be trusted? Can you? It's been a long labour of love for the developers Reuben Games, based in Melbourne. Work started back in 2014, but with a projected release window of Q3 this year, the headlights at the end of the tunnel may be nearing. Wishlist now on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRLgwCslWsQ[/embed] BABY STEPS Walking is perhaps the most taken-for-granted mechanic in video games. You push your joystick/WASD keys and your character moves – simple, right? In Baby Steps, the script gets flipped and each wobbly footfall is taken at your peril. The game puts you in the bare feet of a onesie-clad schlubby failson called Nate, whose couch-bound existence is turned upside down when he is suddenly transported to a mysterious location in nature. The only way out is through, so you take charge of his feet and do your best to help him navigate the terrain as he hikes his way up a mountain. It's the product of a trio of developers – Gabe Cuzillo, Maxi Boch and Australia's own Bennett Foddy – who previously released the sublime Ape Out (seriously, stop reading this and go play it). There's shades of Foddy's viral hit QWOP in Baby Steps, along with the meditativeness of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, and a healthy dose of absurdism to boot. Wishlist now on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHF3WZOLN3g[/embed] JANET DEMORNAY IS A SLUMLORD (AND A WITCH) If you've had any dealings with the Australian rental market over the last few years, then firstly we see you and we're sobbing alongside you. Secondly, there's a game coming out this year that will definitely strike a chord. Janet DeMornay is a Slumlord (and a witch), developed by Australian duo Fuzzy Ghost, sees you setting up a queer-friendly share house in a Sydney terrace. There's mould, creaking pipes, decaying fixtures – the classic rental experience. There's also your landlord, Janet DeMornay, who just wants to pop by, why won't you let her pop by, it's her house, she has a right to know what you are doing in there, answer the door, why won't you let her in? From pedestrian beginnings blossoms an unsettling escape-room horror experience shot through with dark humour about the realities of tenant life in a society geared towards landlords. Special marks go to Janet's South African accent, a detail that will send chills down the spines of anyone who has tangoed with signing a lease in Sydney. Wishlist now on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXIX1GCZWGI[/embed] THE PLUCKY SQUIRE For many of us, children's storybooks were our first taste of the hero's journey. The Plucky Squire, by Brisbane studio All Possible Futures, puts a meta spin on these early forays into the battle between good and evil. You're Jot, the titular plucky squire who has been kicked out of his book by the villain Humgrump. And when I say 'kicked out', I mean literally - the protagonist is flung from the 2D pages into the surrounding 3D world. This obviously won't do, so you set out to reclaim your place as the hero. Jot's ability to leave the page gives the game scope to craft satisfying puzzles that involve manipulating the book itself, as well as setting off on genre-bending adventures with the objects on the surrounding desk. Mix in a truly delightful design aesthetic, and you've got a perfect experience for gamers both young and young-at-heart. Wishlist now on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39kuBXyKWo[/embed] LITTLE KITTY, BIG CITY If you're a diehard dog person, you might want to skip to the next entry in this list. If, on the other hand, you're a feline fan, then the perfect game for you is set to release this year. The title Little Kitty, Big City has a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin straightforwardness – you are a small kitten who has tumbled from your owner's apartment into the streets of a big city. You have to make your way back home, an adventure that involves dealing with a plethora of other urban wildlife, completing tasks and generally being a cat. You'll hop in and out of boxes, pounce on birds, chase your tail, knock items off shelves and ledges, and wiggle into nooks and crannies to discover the many secrets of the neighbourhood. At this point, it would be remiss of us not to mention the hats. You can collect a number of different hats for your kitten to wear, from froggy bonnets to tiny top hats to sunflower manes. Honestly, that alone should have you smashing the wishlist button. Wishlist now on Steam [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EthfB4JjQ2k[/embed] THE RISE OF THE GOLDEN IDOL It was only two years ago that The Case of the Golden Idol was released, a sleeper indie hit that saw you solving strange mysteries about a gold statue and the chaos and corruption it caused during the 18th century. Now the Latvian team Colour Gray Games are back with a sequel, something that should put a smile on the dial of every pseudo-sleuth. Set during the swinging 1970s, The Rise of the Golden Idol has you hunting once more for the elusive relic, which has seemingly disappeared since the first game. Against a backdrop of disco, fax machines and TV chat shows, you'll need to solve 15 mysteries to crack the case, using the tried-and-tested 'madlibs'-style mechanic from the first game. The developers are playing things close to their chest in terms of details about the game, but it's worth noting the graphics, which have seen a big upgrade while maintaining the essence of pixelated grotesqueness of the first one. Wishlist now on Steam
Your flights are booked, your bags are packed and your holiday excitement/anxiety has begun. And the last thing you want to be doing is dropping a stack of spending money on getting to the airport, either in a cab or — for those lucky enough to have an airport rail link this century — on the train. So, you'll be happy to know that, this month, ride share service Ola is offering its customers a pretty sweet deal, dropping the price of trips to and from major Australian airports to a flat $25. Customers in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and the Gold Coast can score the budget-friendly flat fare on rides right throughout April. The flat fare will only be applied on trips 20 kilometres or less. If a trip clocks in at over 20 kilometres, the extra distance will be charged at the usual price and added onto the $25 deal. Tolls will also be at an extra cost. No idea what 20 kilometres from the airport looks like? In Sydney, you could get Ola's $25 deal from as far as Bondi or North Sydney, while down in Melbourne, it reaches north and west suburbs including Thornbury and West Footscray (it's about 23 kilometres to and from the CBD). In Brisbane, the offer stretches to places like West End or Greenslopes, and over in Perth, customers can travel from as far as Canning Vale or Stirling. To take advantage of the offer, you'll need to sign up to Ola and download the app, and use the codes OLAPICK (for pick-up) or OLADROP (for drop-off). Depending on where you live, it promises some pretty tidy savings. Ola's $25 flat fare offer is valid up until April 30. You can use it up to ten times before then.
This review was written about the Melbourne run of this Absinthe production in April 2015. What do you get when you combine seriously chiseled muscles, cheeky lace underwear, a few nipples, death defying acts, and more laughs than you’ve had in a while? Oh, how we wish we knew where all your minds went first. But we’ll put you out of your misery. The answer, Absinthe by Spiegelworld, currently touring Australia. Did we mention it’s MA15+? After opening in Las Vegas in 2011 and then hitting the streets of New York, this show has drawn sold-out crowds for four years straight. The modern circus is a constantly rotating door of performers, dancers, singers, burlesque performers, and comedians from all over the world with unique abilities, leaving you with no clue what will come up next. And it’s hosted by the somewhat sleazy Gazillionaire and his weirdly funny sidekick Penny. Word of warning, the things that come out of her mouth are not for the faint-hearted. As the performance is inspired by the booze-soaked cabarets of the late 19th Century, the Spiegelworld tent is the perfect location for the show. The rooftop of Crown, for the night, feels like a secluded and sensual bar — ideal for saucy acts and dirty comedy. Without ruining too many surprises, the show opens with a pile of ten or so chairs and one small man doing handstands on top of it, we move to an almost naked girl and a very large balloon, to fire breathing, to towers of just men who drink shots of absinthe between acts, to girls who swing on a hoop and each other while kissing in the meantime. Don’t be surprised if you gasp, a few times for the sexy, sexy performers and a few times for when you think they're going to fall right in front of your eyes. This show literally keeps you on the edge of your seat, a cliché we wouldn’t use lightly.
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. ZOLA It wasn't just a Twitter thread — it was the Twitter thread. Whether you read Aziah 'Zola' King's viral 148-post stripper saga live as it happened back in October 2015, stumbled across the details afterwards as the internet lost its mind or only heard about it via Zola's buzzy trailer, calling this stranger-than-fiction tale a wild ride will always be an understatement. Its instantly gripping opening words, as also used in Janicza Bravo's (Lemon) savvy, sharp, candy-hued tweet-to-screen adaptation, happen to capture the whole OMG, WTF and OTT vibe perfectly: "you wanna hear a story about how me and this bitch fell out? It's kind of long, but it's full of suspense." In the film, that phrase is uttered aloud by Zola's eponymous Detroit waitress (Taylour Paige, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom). Still, the movie firmly embraces its origins. For those wondering how a filmmaker turns a series of tweets into a feature, Bravo handles the task with flair, energy, enthusiasm and a clear understanding of social media's role in our lives. Much of the phrasing that the real-life Zola used has made its way into the conversational script, which was co-written by playwright Jeremy O Harris. Each time that occurs, the film echoes with tell-tale swooshes, whistles and dings. But those words and alerts are just the starting point; as Zola's chaotic narrative unfurls, it comes to life with a mix of the hyperreal, the loose and the dreamy. It doesn't merely tell a tale taken from the tweetstorm to end all tweetstorms, but also uses every aesthetic choice it can to mirror the always-on, always-posing, always-sharing online realm. The other person that Zola refers to in her initial statement is the cornrow-wearing, blaccent-sporting Stefani (Riley Keough, The Lodge), who she serves at work, then joins on a jaunt to Florida. They immediately hit it off, which is what inspires the invite to head south — a "hoe trip" is how Zola describes it — however, what's meant to be a girls' getaway for a stint of lucrative exotic dancing in Tampa soon gets messy. The drive is long, and Stefani's boyfriend Derreck (Nicholas Braun, Succession) quickly dampens the mood with his awkward, try-hard schtick. Then there's X (Colman Domingo, Candyman), who, while introduced as Stefani's roommate, is actually her pimp. Trafficking Zola into sex work is the real plan of this working holiday, she discovers, but she's ferociously adamant that she won't be "poppin' pussy for pennies". As the woman both relaying and riding Zola's rollercoaster of a story, Paige is fierce and finessed. It's a tricky part; making the dialogue sound authentic, and also like it could've just been rattled off on social media with a mix of emojis and all caps, requires a precise tonal balance, for starters. So does ensuring that Zola always feels like a real person, especially given the tale's ups and downs. That said, Paige is guided by Bravo at every turn, with recognising how things play online and how they pan out in reality — and the frequent disconnection between the two — one of the filmmaker's biggest masterstrokes. That's exactly what a flick that's based on a Twitter thread should offer, rather than just mining posts for punchy content that's already proven popular. Using the platform as source material definitely doesn't equal an endorsement here. Instead, it sparks a brash and bouncy feature that interrogates its inspiration and the mechanism that turned it into a whirlwind, rather than serves up a cinematic retweet. Read our full review. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO Edgar Wright must own a killer record collection. Weaving the perfect playlists into his films has ranked high among the British writer/director's trademarks ever since he made such a horror-comedy splash with Shaun of the Dead, and his own love of music is frequently mirrored by his protagonists, too. This is the filmmaker who set a zombie-killing scene to Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now', and had characters wield vinyl as weapons. He made zoning out the world via iPod — and teeing up exactly the right track for the right moment — a key trait of Baby Driver's eponymous getaway driver. Earlier in 2021, Wright also turned his avid fandom for Sparks into his delightful first documentary The Sparks Brothers, because wearing his love for his favourite songs on his sleeves infiltrates everything he makes. So, the fact that his second film of this year is about a giddy devotee of 60s tunes really doesn't come as the slightest surprise. Last Night in Soho takes its name from an era-appropriate song that gets a spin in the film, naturally. It boasts a cleverly compiled soundtrack teeming with hits from the period, and has one of its central figures — called Sandie, like singer Sandie Shaw, who croons '(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me' on that very soundtrack — seek chanteuse stardom. As Wright is known to do, his latest movie also sports sequences that could double as music videos, and possesses a supple sense of rhythm that makes his picture virtually dance across the screen. It's a feature shaped by music, made better by music, and that recognises that music can make anyone feel like they can do anything. A partly swinging 60s-set thriller that adores the giallo films of the time with equal passion, it also flits between a cinematic banger on par with the glorious tracks it peppers throughout and the movie equivalent of a routine needle drop. Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield: these are the kind of talents that Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie, The Power of the Dog) can't get enough of, even though she's a Gen Z aspiring fashion designer; they're also the type of stars that aforementioned blonde bombshell Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen's Gambit) wants to follow onto London's stages. Last Night in Soho starts with its wannabe fashionista, who's first seen donning her own 60s-inspired designs in her Cornwall bedroom that's plastered with posters and pictures from the period, and also dancing to 'Peter & Gordon's 1964 track 'A World Without Love'. Soon, Eloise is off to college in the big and, hopefully, working towards the fashion world. Then she meets Sandie, but only in her dreams. Actually, as she slumbers, she becomes Sandie — and navigates her chiffon-adorned quest for stardom, her breathy 'Downtown' covers and her thorny relationship with slippery bar manager Jack (Matt Smith, Official Secrets). Some of Last Night in Soho's most dazzling scenes play with these doppelgänger characters, and with the time-travelling dreamscape where they both exist, as if Wright is helming a musical. The choreography — both by McKenzie and Taylor-Joy, playing chalk-and-cheese roles, and by the film's lithe and glossy cinematography — is stunning. The effect is mesmerising, as well as whip-smart in tapping into the feature's ongoing musing on identity. This is also a horror movie and a mystery, however, so exploring what's behind these nocturnal visions is the primary focus. As a mousy girl bullied by her roommate (Synnøve Karlsen, Medici) to the point of leaping into the too-good-to-be-true Soho attic studio leased by the cranky but obliging Ms Collins (Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones), it's easy to see why Eloise flees into her dreams. But the who, what, why and how of it all — when and were clearly being answered already — isn't as simple as pure retro escapism. Read our full review. BLUE BAYOU Blue Bayou isn't Justin Chon's first film as an actor, writer, director or producer, but it's a fantastic showcase for his many talents nonetheless. It's also a deeply moving feature about a topical subject: America's immigration laws, which are complicated at best and draconian at worst. Worlds away from his time in all five Twilight flicks — because Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Anna Kendrick aren't the franchise's only breakout stars — Chon plays Antonio LeBlanc. While the Korean American tattoo artist has lived in Louisiana since being adopted as child, the name he was given upon his arrival in the US still sparks cognitive dissonance, as the job interview that opens the movie illustrates. It also doesn't stop both the casual and overt racism frequently directed his way, or the deportation proceedings that spring after he's accosted in a supermarket by New Orleans police officers. Helming and scripting as well as starring, Chon layers Antonio's situation with complexity from the outset. He's getting by, just, but his criminal record makes it difficult to secure more work — which he needs given his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander, The Green Knight) is pregnant. He's a doting stepdad to her daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske, Doom Patrol), but her birth father Ace (Mark O'Brien, Marriage Story) is one of those aforementioned cops. Also, Ace has a bigoted partner, Denny (Emory Cohen, Flashback), who makes antagonising Antonio his daily mission. And, after that grocery store run-in, the latter discovers that his adoptive parents didn't ever complete the paperwork required to naturalise him as a US citizen. His life, his wife, his kids, that he has no ties to Korea: sadly, it all means nothing to the immigration system. Based on the plot description, it'd be simple to accuse Blue Bayou of throwing too much at its protagonist, dialling up his hardships and wallowing in his misery, all to tug at heartstrings. The film inspires a strong emotional reaction; however, this isn't just a case of calculating narrative machinations manipulating viewers to feel everything — or even something. There's a sense of inevitability to Chon's feature, his fourth after Man Up, Gook and Ms Purple, and it's all by design. The path that Antonio's life is forced down isn't surprising, complete with tough truths and heartbreaking realities, but it's filled with authenticity. Piling on misfortune after misfortune isn't merely a ploy when all of Blue Bayou's dramas can easily accumulate as they do here, and when no one's struggles are ever limited to just one or two troubles. There's no contrivance in sight, but rather a firm understanding of snowballing sorrows and their overwhelming impact. Still, Chon walks a delicate tightrope. He could've veered into tear-wringing movie of the week-style melodrama, clogged it up with cliches and failed to evoke even a single genuine feeling — or, alternatively, he could've deployed too much restraint and crafted a clinical, procedural film that saw Antonio as a mere cog in a system. The space he's carved out in-between is both masterful and organically messy; finding the right balance is a mammoth task, and embracing the whirlwind that sweeps along Antonio, Kathy and Jessie is inherently chaotic. The result is a stirring and empathetic film that's also precise and intricate, especially when it comes to the emotional deluge weathered by its central trio. At every moment, Blue Bayou plunges viewers into their turbulent existence, sees their plight with clear eyes and acknowledges all that that encompasses. Read our full review. THE RESCUE It isn't the first movie about the Tham Luang Nang Non cave incident to reach screens, thanks to the underwhelming The Cave. It won't be the last project to focus on the 12 Thai schoolboys and their soccer coach who were trapped in the Chiang Rai Province spot for 18 days back in 2018, either. Ron Howard (Hillbilly Elegy)-directed dramatisation Thirteen Lives hits cinemas next year, a Netflix limited series executive produced by In the Heights filmmaker John M Chu is also set to debut in 2022 and, to the surprise of no one, more are bound to follow. Still, The Rescue earns another worthy honour. The documentary isn't just an inspirational recounting of a miraculous effort that thwarted a potential tragedy, as told by the brave people who pulled off the feat, although it's certainly that. In addition, this gripping film falls into a genre that always needs more entries: celebrations of skilled people doing difficult things with precision, passion, persistence and prowess. If documentarians Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have a niche, it's this. As co-directors, the married couple has now made three films, all valuing hard work, expertise and when the former leads not only to the latter, but to extraordinary achievements. With 2015 Sundance award-winner Meru, they documented Chin's efforts with two other climbers to scale Meru Peak in the Indian Himalayas. Then came Oscar-winner Free Solo, the exceptional doco about Alex Honnold's quest to free-climb Yosemite National Park's El Capitan. The Rescue swaps clambering up for diving deep, and hones in on an event that captured international headlines as it happened, but still belongs in the same company as the duo's past two releases. Here, viewers start the film with an understanding of what happened thanks to all that non-stop news coverage, but finish it in profound awe of the talent, smarts, dedication and unflinching competence involved. Vasarhelyi and Chin spotlight the divers who extricated Tham Luang's 13 unwilling inhabitants, aka the Wild Boars soccer team — and did so as the world watched, as hours became days and then weeks, and as monsoonal waters flooded the cave despite a desperate pumping initiative. Thai Navy SEALs initially attempted the task, yet struggled in the ten kilometres of sprawling and narrow tunnels. In fact, due to the murky water and the constant deluge from the fast-falling rain, they weren't able to get far. To assist, civilian hobbyists including Brits Rick Stanton and John Volanthen were brought in — experts in their field, and volunteers for the biggest diving quest of their lives. When their crew found the boys and their coach almost four kilometres from the mouth of the cave, they then faced another dilemma: how to get them back out alive. With its ending already well-known, The Rescue starts at the beginning, letting those who were there talk through each step, and also weaving in footage from the rescue mission itself. No re-enactments — not the small amount The Rescue uses, as noted in its credits; not The Cave's awful docodrama approach; and not all the future dramatisations set to flow from Hollywood — can ever be as nerve-wracking as seeing this remarkable feat actually happen. That said, the film's interviews are also significant. While the on-the-ground and in-the-water clips show the immense level of skill at work and the enormous dangers faced, the accompanying discussions offer keen insights into the thought processes involved. And, they draw out Stanton, Volanthen and their team's distinctive personalities, ensuring that these heroes are always flesh and blood. Read our full review. PHIL LYNOTT: SONGS FOR WHILE I'M AWAY One of the most astute things that a music documentary can do is lead with its subject, whether they're a household name the world over, deserving of more fame and acclaim, or fall somewhere in the middle. With Phil Lynott: Songs for While I'm Away, that's a tricky task, as it is of any film that looks back at a figure who is no longer around — and who didn't leave a treasure trove of candid and personal materials behind, as docos such as Amy, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and Zappa all benefited from. Accordingly, editor-turned-director Emer Reynolds (The Farthest) undertakes a careful juggling act, pushing Thin Lizzy singer Lynott to the fore whenever and however she can. Songs for While I'm Away is still filled with talking heads that aren't Ireland's Black, working-class rockstar — his family members, friends, colleagues and peers alike — but it's at its best when it lets its namesake's songs echo and his on-stage presence take centre stage. "You'll never see a bad photo of Phil Lynott," Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham offers in a to-camera chat, a sentiment that the film bakes into its frames. Bearing witness to a great talent always casts a spell that merely listening to other people talk about them can never match, no matter how insightful and affectionate those discussions prove. Early in Songs for While I'm Away, Reynolds lingers on footage of Lynott singing and strumming, his piercing eyes instantly demanding attention — and that clip is the doco's hook, even for first-timers to his story. The soulfulness of his lyrics, many of which are placed into context by the film's interviewees, is just as entrancing. Sometimes the documentary resembles a listening party, pairing snippets of songs with stock visuals, then dissecting the tunes; however, in diving well beyond 'The Boys Are Back in Town' and 'Jailbreak' — the two songs that Thin Lizzy, and therefore Lynott, will always be best known for — it's a canny move. Still, Songs for While I'm Away has much to unpack: Lynott's upbringing, after being born in England to a mother from Ireland and a father from Guyana, then spending his childhood with his grandparents in Dublin; his path to music stardom, with Thin Lizzy's rock cover of 'Whiskey in the Jar' giving the group their first top-ten hit; and everything that sprang from that success personally and professionally. Early in the doco, Lynott's daughters Sarah and Cathleen stress how they wish people didn't focus so much on their father's death — in 1986, at the age of 36, from pneumonia and heart failure due to septicaemia after a struggle with heroin — and Reynolds takes their words to heart, too. This is a movie that's eager to soak up as much of Lynott, and what made him the star he was, as it possibly can. Indeed, with his addiction, it's positively shy; don't expect to even hear the word 'heroin'. That's another balancing act, and one that Reynolds doesn't quite perfect, opting for skirting around the obvious instead. A film can enjoy triumphs and recognise flaws at the same time — including when it comes to someone as pivotal in the history of Irish rock 'n' roll as Lynott — but Songs for While I'm Away eventually feels a tad safe and sanitised. It's celebratory from its first moment till its last, including when its smattering of equally famous faces, such as U2's Adam Clayton, Metallica's James Hetfield, Huey Lewis of Huey Lewis and the News, and singer Suzi Quatro — who supported Thin Lizzy when they supported Slade on a 1972 UK tour — deliver anecdotes and admiration. This is a heartfelt ode, undoubtedly, and both an entertaining and engaging one, but it also dons rose-coloured glasses that feel at odds with Lynott himself. 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 July 1, July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29; August 5, August 12, August 19 and August 26; September 2, September 9, September 16, September 23 and September 30; October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; and November 4 and November 11. For Sydney specifically, you can take a look at out our rundown of new films that released in Sydney cinemas when they reopened on October 11, and what opened on October 14, October 21 and October 28 as well. And for Melbourne, you can check out our top picks from when outdoor cinemas reopened on October 22 — and from when indoor cinemas did the same on October 29. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Herself, Little Joe, Black Widow, The Sparks Brothers, Nine Days, Gunpowder Milkshake, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Old, Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Respect, The Night House, Candyman, Annette, 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 and Tick, Tick... Boom!.
In 2013, three women escaped from a home in Cleveland, Ohio, then shocked the world by revealing they'd been kidnapped and kept prisoner by one man for over a decade. It's hard not think that their harrowing tale may have played a part in the conception of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's latest thriller, Split, which begins in a very similar fashion. Three young girls, all in their teens, are drugged and abducted in broad daylight outside of a shopping mall, only to wake up imprisoned in a bunker with no idea where they are, who took them, or why. That is, until they meet Dennis. Played by James McAvoy, Dennis is a cold, meticulous and physically brutal force. He's nothing like Patricia, the matronly British lady (also played by James McAvoy), who assures the girls they'll not be touched or harmed in any way. Then there's Hedwig (played by...James McAvoy) who's just a small boy who loves to dance to Kanye, and Barry (James McAvoy) a fashion designer constantly reassuring his shrink that everything's under control and…well…you get the idea. Rest assured though, this isn't some sort of Eddie Murphy costume romp where he's playing every character. Rather, McAvoy plays a collective of 23 distinct personalities competing for 'the light' within the body of one man named Kevin. Within this extraordinary case of DID (dissociative identity disorder), some personalities want the girls freed, whilst others appear to be preparing them for the arrival of the yet unseen 24th identity which they refer to only as 'the beast'. The burden of carrying the film, unsurprisingly, sits almost exclusively with McAvoy, whose performance more than rises to the challenge. Shyamalan actually filmed each of Kevin's identities as though they were portrayed by a different actor and the technique absolutely pays off. Each one feels different, and you soon think of them accordingly. Some you fear, others you warm to and none feel at all like the man playing them. The other performance of note comes from Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch). Introduced as a loner from the opening scene, Casey resists the others' suggestions of attempting an escape in favour of befriending the more approachable identities within Kevin, sparking additional conflict within an environment already dripping with tension. Taylor-Joy's a terrific actress with a long future ahead of her, and it's her scenes with McAvoy where Split is at its best. Filmed almost entirely in extreme closeups – a device that leaves audiences wondering what unseen menace might be lurking just off screen – McAvoy's unpredictability keeps the levels of menace high, while Taylor-Joy's enormous, soulful eyes speak volumes when words aren't (or can't) be spoken. Ever since The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan has been plagued by the expectation that his films will feature an unpredictable twist, a promise on which he's been mostly unable to deliver. Depending on your perspective, the finale of Split either sheds itself of that expectation entirely or doubles down and hits you with something even larger. Maybe it's both. Either way, the end result is almost certainly Shyamalan's best film since his breakout; a welcome return to form and an exciting precursor to whatever comes next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84TouqfIsiI
Vampires can be slain by staking them in the heart. Werewolves aren't fond of silver bullets. But Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's addition to the undead world can't and won't be killed — not that anyone would want that outcome. First, What We Do in the Shadows jumped from a short film to a hilarious feature-length comedy. Next, it not only inspired an Emmy-nominated US television remake, but also New Zealand television spinoff Wellington Paranormal. And in the latter's case, following its first two exceptionally amusing seasons, it's returning to Australian screens for its six-episode third season this month. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: trust a mockumentary about the undead to keep coming back in new guises. The Cops-style spinoff follows police officers Karen O'Leary and Mike Minogue, who WWDITS fans might remember came knocking at the vampire share house's door. With the help of Sergeant Maaka (Maaka Pohatu), the cop duo keep trying to keep the city safe from supernatural happenings — including not only bloodsuckers and lycanthropes, but ghosts, aliens and more. Wellington Paranormal's third season once again explores the spate of paranormal phenomena popping up in the city, with a whole heap of new spooky occurrences attracting O'Leary, Minogue and Maaka's attention. And, as it keeps wandering through strange but funny and silly territory, it'll welcome another familiar face, with Rhys Darby set to reprise his What We Do In The Shadows role. Although he won't be appearing on-screen, Clement directed half of the new season's episodes, too. In Australia, Wellington Paranormal airs on SBS Viceland and streams via SBS On Demand, which'll remain the case again this year. Episodes will drop weekly on both the free-to-air channel and the online platform from Wednesday, February 24. For those following What We Do in the Shadows' continued evolution, Wellington Paranormal's success shouldn't come as a surprise. When the show was first revealed, Waititi described it as "Mulder and Scully but in a country where nothing happens" on Twitter, after all. Wellington Paranormal's third season starts screening on SBS Viceland and SBS On Demand from Wednesday, February 24.
From French, Greek, Italian and Japanese to Jewish, British, Turkish and Russian, Australian cinemas have welcomed a vast array of cultural film festivals throughout 2017 — but they're not done just yet. Now in its second year, the Cine Latino Film Festival might be the last touring film fest of this year; however, it's here to help end the movie-going calendar with plenty of Central and South American cinema gems. This year's lineup includes Mexican rom-coms, Argentinian escape thrillers, Peruvian musicals and Chilean road movies, plus more from the festival's 26 film journey through everywhere from Uruguay to Cuba to Colombia to Ecuador. With the fest currently doing the rounds of Aussie capitals until November 29, we've picked five must-see movies from the jam-packed program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECe0jfpNLKc YOU'RE KILLING ME SUSANA Is it possible to put on a Latin American film festival without Gael García Bernal showing up somewhere? Based on Cine Latino's two outings so far, clearly not. After turning in one of the finest performances of his career in last year's Neruda, the Mexican star returns for You're Killing Me Susana. Swapping poetry, police and politics for marital dramas, he plays the suddenly solo Eligio, who wakes up to find his wife has left him and then follows her to the US — as based on the novel Ciudades Desiertas by Mexican writer José Agustín. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnIE6y5KBwY WINTER Winter may roam across an icy landscape but it's every inch the western, its frosty sights playing home to a classic tale of survival in an unforgiving location. Winning a special jury prize for its cinematography at last year's San Sebastian International Film Festival, the debut feature from writer/director Emiliano Torres follows an older worker forced to face his future when a younger counterpart starts taking over much of his foreman role. Like many a traditional oater, it values sparse dialogue and stunning sights to help thrust the story forward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGBVKLIbDqk WOODPECKERS Set in a Dominican Republic prison, stemming from reality and shot on location, Woodpeckers genuinely tells a tale you don't hear every day. In fact, you likely haven't heard this tale before. While the idea of love trying to conquer the odds is far from new, the story of petty thief Julián (Jean Jean) and female inmate Yanelly (Judith Rodriguez) is immersed in a location-specific sliver of jailhouse culture. Here, in a moving and immersive effort, detainees communicate via their own form of forbidden sign language — also known as woodpecking — from their respective men's and women's facilities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hi2FH_afxs EL INCA Add El Inca to the pile of big-screen boxing efforts, and add it to the list of controversial films as well. In its homeland, the Venezuelan feature was taken out of cinemas as a result of a court order; however, that hasn't stopped it from becoming the country's submission for this year's foreign-language film category at the Academy Awards. Based on the plight of real-life two-weight world champion Edwin 'El Inca' Valero, the movie not only steps through his professional bouts, but also his personal troubles — including his relationship with his wife, and the tragedies that result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdA1c1ujTs8 GABRIEL AND THE MOUNTAIN Gabriel and the Mountain might initially seem like a Brazilian version of Into the Wild, but this Cannes Critics Week standout delves deeper as it tells its own true tale. With spectacular visuals providing quite the backdrop, this blend of recreation and reality charts traveller Gabriel Buchmann's quest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. He's played by an actor, João Pedro Zappa; however the film pairs him with the people the actual Buchmann crossed paths with, in an involving, insightful and all-round stirring feature that's part travelogue, part character study, part untraditonal documentary. The 2017 Cine Latino Film Festival will screen at Sydney's Palace Norton Street and Palace Verona from November 14 to 29, Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como and Palace Westgarth from November 16 to 29, and Brisbane's Palace Centro from November 16 to 29. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
The shock of unkempt hair, the Irish brogue, the misanthropic attitude: there's no mistaking Dylan Moran for anyone else. It was true in beloved British sitcom Black Books, when his on-screen alter ego abhorred mornings, ate coasters and claimed that his oven could cook anything (even belts). And it's definitely true of the comedian's acerbically hilarious live shows. Moran is no stranger to Australia, but if you haven't guffawed at his bleak wit live, he's coming back late in 2019 to give you another chance. This time around, expect the kind of deadpan gags, wine-soaked insights and blisteringly sharp one-liners that've kept him in the spotlight since 1996, when he became the youngest-ever winner of the Edinburgh Fringe's Perrier Award. From late October to early December, Moran will tour the country with his latest show, Dr Cosmos, bringing his grumpily lyrical musings on love, politics, misery and the everyday absurdities of life to 14 Aussie cities. Kicking off in Wollongong and ending up in Brisbane, his upcoming visit marks his first Australian trip since 2015, when he was eliciting giggles with his Off the Hook tour. That mammoth effort took in a whopping 149 cities worldwide. As well as his stint as the world's worst bookshop owner in Black Books, Moran has popped up in films such as Notting Hill and Shaun of the Dead, should you been keen to get watching (or rewatching) before his new gigs. Nabbing tickets to his Dr Cosmos early is recommended — his shows usually sell out quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gy3C7cMNeg DYLAN MORAN 'DR COSMOS' 2019 DATES Wollongong — Wednesday, October 23, Town Hall Canberra — Friday, October 25, Royal Theatre Sydney — Tuesday, October 29, Sydney Opera House Melbourne — Saturday, November 2, Hamer Hall Launceston — Saturday, November 9, Princess Theatre Hobart — Sunday, November 10, Wrest Point Entertainment Centre Adelaide — Tuesday, November 12, Thebarton Theatre Perth — Thursday, November 14, Riverside Theatre Darwin — Monday, November 18, Entertainment Centre Cairns — Wednesday, November 20, Convention Centre Townsville — Friday, November 22, Entertainment Centre Gold Coast — Saturday, November 23, Star Theatre Newcastle — Monday, November 25, Civic Theatre Brisbane — Monday, December 2, QPAC Concert Hall Dylan Moran's 'Dr Cosmos' tickets go on sale at 9am on Tuesday, May 14, with pre-sales available now. For more information, head to the AB Presents website.
The last time that Amanda Parer took over Brisbane, she filled Eagle Street Pier with seven-metre-tall bunnies thanks to her eye-catching Intrude installation. Obviously, it was quite the big deal/ This time, she's turning West End's West Village into a blossoming wonderland. Well, she is unveiling her latest artworks for spring, after all — and yes, it's set to be just as dazzling. Parer's new larger-than-life exhibition is called Lost, and it first made its debut at Surfers Paradise's Beyond the Sand Festival earlier in 2021. It's now set to bloom in Brissie — and it's filled with billowing botanicals that'll make you feel like you've gotten lost inside a giant floral wonderland. While you're wandering through this lit-up pieces as part of this year's Brisbane Festival, you'll notice Parer's particular focus on extinct or endangered species. You'll see her inflatables pieces, obviously, and you'll notice the LEDs as part of the installation as well. Entry is free, with Lost on display from Friday, September 3–Saturday, September 25. Images: Beyond the Sand Festival.
UPDATE, July 16, 2021: Blade Runner 2049 is available to stream via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Do sci-fi fans dream of immersive future worlds, neon visuals scored by dark synth notes, and existential musings on what it means to be human? Yes, and they dream of Blade Runner 2049. The sequel to Ridley Scott's influential 1982 film comes to cinemas with a task that's harder than spotting a replicant — or, more accurately, a task that's quite comparable. Directed by Arrival's Denis Villeneuve, and written by the original's Hampton Fancher with Logan's Michael Green, can this follow-up deliver the real deal, or just a convincing copy? The answer, in fitting Blade Runner style, isn't as simple as that. Audiences won't spend decades arguing about it; rather, they'll lap up a movie that's every bit as spectacular as its predecessor, largely because it's built from similar pieces. Taking its cues from the other Harrison Ford behemoth that recently received a long-awaited next instalment — aka Star Wars — Blade Runner 2049 finds the right balance between venturing forward and nodding to the past. With a noir-ish, detective-focused narrative, and plenty of time spent pondering the difference between artificial and flesh-and-blood life, the film proves both a bold second chapter and a loving pseudo-remake. Set 30 years after the events of the first feature, Blade Runner 2049 follows Los Angeles cop K (Ryan Gosling), a blade runner charged with finding and "retiring" old androids. In the intervening period, replicants have fallen out of favour, then come to the fore again in newer, more compliant models, and ultimately found something of an equilibrium with humanity, with tech tycoon Niander Wallace (an ill-placed Jared Leto) leading the charge. Alas, K's latest case threatens the fragile harmony between man and machine, while also leading him to someone who once had his job: an older but far-from-friendlier Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). That description might seem sparse on details, but the 164-minute film itself is anything but. In soaring overhead shots of crumbling urban sprawl, grey-hued storage facilities, and orange-tinted landscapes, cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall) serves up a masterclass in making every image look like it belongs in an art gallery. In each thrum and drone of the score from Benjamin Wallfisch (It) and Hans Zimmer (Dunkirk), moodiness and mystery intertwine with a rollercoaster of emotion. And, in Gosling's stoic turn at the centre of it all, a look over the top of an upturned collar, and a pause during a slow walk, say much more than the dialogue. Playing a hologram that embodies the next technologically assisted step in the quest for connection, Ana de Armas (War Dogs) proves similarly effective. For a film that overwhelms with its extraordinary sights and echoing sounds, Blade Runner 2049 revels in the little things, and in the potent cumulative toll that they can have. Accordingly, it paints a broad, bleak picture of the past dictating the future that's vivid and convincing because it takes the time to soak in the minutiae — be it the glow of a busy street, the texture of a dead tree or the sorrow in a grizzled face. Again, it's apt — as adapted from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the franchise's dystopian vision started with Deckard checking for incriminating glimmers in replicants' eyes, with a tiny flash telling a much bigger tale. Villeneuve achieves the cinematic equivalent, making each moment resound with meaning while honouring the legacy of the original. Oh, and if you thought that every sci-fi flick over the past 35 years took its cues from Blade Runner — and they did — prepare for three further decades of new movies doing the same with Blade Runner 2049. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGa3M0hfTCo
Port Douglas is well known for its tropical climate and picturesque beauty. Yet don't overlook its burgeoning culinary scene, especially when annual events like Taste Port Douglas take over the calendar. Running from Thursday, August 7–Sunday, August 10, this celebration of feel-good food and drink in the tropics is marked by extraordinary cuisine and masterclasses, where Australia's top gastronomes reveal their secrets amid an idyllic sun-drenched backdrop. So, what can you expect if you journey to FNQ's shores? The Festival Village is the beating heart of Taste Port Douglas, featuring non-stop entertainment across two stages. Catch celebrity chef cooking demonstrations, panel discussions and musical performances from 10am–5pm on Saturday, August 9–Sunday, August 10. Of course, there's also plenty of time to savour and sip from award-winning local distilleries alongside international faves, including Estrella Damm and Tequila Tromba. Also on the agenda, the Long Lunch Series invites 600 guests to Market Park to relish a seaside meal beneath the dappled shade of poinciana trees. Meanwhile, The Takeover Series sees top-notch culinary talent move into restaurants across Port Douglas, Mowbray Valley and Palm Cove. There are numerous collaborations to explore, but one not to be missed is Stanley's chef Louis Tikaram serving up his creative Southeast Asian influences at the Lagoon House. Budding home cooks can also participate in Taste Port Douglas' enchanting Masterclass Series. Offering a rare chance to learn from some of the industry's best, guests can join acclaimed chef Roger Pizey to learn the mysteries behind his iconic tarte tatin, or explore centuries-old cheese-making traditions alongside Vannella Cheese's Giuseppe Minoia. With 11 exclusive events to discover, each session's seats are strictly limited.
What starts with a progress pride flag-raising ceremony, officially opens with Kylie Minogue and Charli XCX, features Kelly Rowland leading a Domain Dance Party, and ends with MUNA and G Flip? What features the long-awaited return of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade to Oxford Street (with new viewing areas), more than 45 rainbow artworks all around town and a monumental pride march with 50,000-plus people walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, too? In other words, what'll make Sydney the centre of the queer universe from Friday, February 17–Sunday, March 5, and make history in the process? Sydney WorldPride, the first WorldPride ever held in the southern hemisphere, and basically a mega Mardi Gras — and your unmissable reason to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community in the New South Wales capital. The above events are just a taste of this massive event's vivid lineup. In total, more than 300 shows, gigs, exhibitions, parties and more are taking over Sydney over 17 days, making Sydney WorldPride the largest-ever LGBTQIA+ festival ever held in the region. Still on numbers, that hefty total includes 19 official major events, 68 WorldPride Arts experiences, 17 WorldPride Sports events and 192 Pride Amplified community events. That's quite the lineup to sift through, so here's the short version: wherever you are in Sydney during WorldPride, expect the festival to be in the vicinity. Other standouts include the Bondi Beach Party, which will turn the famed stretch of sand into an openair club for a casual 12,000 people, complete with dancing to Nicole Scherzinger by the water from dusk; the return of Queer Art After Hours at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and its new building; the Mardi Gras Film Festival hosting its 30th fest, including an online program; and the Queer Formal. There's also the gigs at Sydney WorldPride's at Marri Madung Butbut (Many Brave Hearts): the First Nations Gathering Space — such as the Klub Village party and performance, the Miss First Nation drag contest, and exhibition Bloodlines, which honours artists lost to HIV/AIDS. And, addd lesbian divorce comedy Blessed Union, the Australian premiere of Choir Boy by Moonlight co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney, and installation Eulogy for the Dyke Bar — which will indeed operate as a bar — to your list as well. Throw in a 24-hour dance piece, a comedy night hosted by Ru Paul's Drag Race Down Under's Coco Jumbo, and Powerhouse Museum's showcase of Sydney's leading LGBTQIA+ artists, designers, makers and performers as well, and there's just one word for it: stunning.
Locking gazes across the room, staring intently with a deep fascination that feels fated, seeing oneself in the sparkle of another's eyes: when these moments happen in a movie, it's typically to fuel the first flushes of romance. When they occur early in Passing, however, it's because former childhood friends Irene (Tessa Thompson, Westworld) and Clare (Ruth Negga, Ad Astra) have spied each other in a swanky Manhattan hotel. The pair peer back and forth, intrigued and attentive. That said, it isn't until Clare approaches Irene — and calls her Reenie, a nickname she hasn't heard in years — that the latter realises who she's been looking at. It's the immaculately styled blonde bob that fools Irene, as it's meant to fool the world. As becomes clear in a politely toned but horrendously blunt conversation with Clare's racist husband John (Alexander Skarsgård, Godzilla vs Kong) shortly afterwards, Irene's long-lost pal has built an entire life and marriage around being seen as white. Passing's eponymous term comes loaded not just with meaning, but with history; adapted from Nella Larsen's 1929 novel of the same name, it's set in America's Jim Crow era. This introductory scene between Irene and Clare comes layered with multiple sources of tension, too, with Irene only in the hotel because she's decided to flirt with visiting a white establishment. Still, she's shocked by her pal's subterfuge. When she initially spots Clare, the film adopts Irene's perspective — and its frames bristle with a mix of nervousness, uncertainty and familiarity. Irene rediscovers an old friend in a new guise, and also comes face to face with the lengths some are willing to go to in the name of survival and an easier life. Friendships can be rewarding and challenging, fraught and nourishing, and demanding and essential, including all at once, as Passing repeatedly demonstrates from this point onwards. Irene can't completely move past Clare's choices and can't shake her fears about what'd happen if the vile John ever learned Clare's secret; however, she's also quick to defend her to others — to her doctor husband Brian (André Holland, The Eddy), who swiftly warms to Clare anyway; and to acclaimed white novelist Hugh Wentworth (Bill Camp, News of the World), who's her own entry point into an artier realm. Indeed, in household where talk of lynchings is common dinner conversation, Irene recognises far more in Clare's decision than she'll vocally admit. Almost everyone she knows is pretending to be something else as well, after all, including Irene in her own ways. Largely confined to Irene and Brian's well-appointed Harlem home and other parties in the neighbourhood — after that first hotel rendezvous, that is — Passing is an economical yet complicated film. It may seem straightforward in charting Irene and Clare's rekindled acquaintance, but it's exacting and precise as it interrogates both societally enforced and self-inflicted pain. Its Black characters live in a world that pushes them aside and worse merely for existing, with its central pair each internalising that reality. Their every careful move reacts to it, in fact, a bleak truth that actor-turned-filmmaker Rebecca Hall (The Night House) never allows to fade. That's one of the reasons she's chosen to shoot this striking directorial debut in elegant, crisp and devastatingly telling monochrome hues: both everything and nothing here is black and white. Hall doesn't appear on-screen here herself, but she still gifts Passing the same intensity and nuance that's always been part of her performances. In the film's lingering frames, intimate close-ups of Thompson and Negga, and all-round eagerness to see the space that surrounds them — that often separates them, too — she proves as astute a director as she is an actor. It helps that she has enlisted two leads who exude the same traits, and Passing couldn't be more perfectly cast as a result. Thanks to Sylvie's Love and Loving, both of the movie's stars have grappled with race relations in America already in their careers. They've done so to affecting and astonishing effect, too. Here, while never repeating themselves, both Thompson and Negga are just as exceptional as they've ever been. It was always going to take intricate, complex and sensitive portrayals to tell this story, and Passing's talented leads just keep delivering. The whirlwind of emotions that flickers through Irene again and again, as evident in her gaze, posture and tone far more than she's openly trying to convey, is nothing short of masterful on Thompson's part. And the determination and sorrow fighting inside Clare — the yearning to connect with the background she shunned out of what she felt was necessity, and the unwillingness to be judged for her choices as well — echoes through a hypnotic turn by Negga. Showy yet thoughtful, it's the kind of performance might've just stuck to the confident and ostentatious character's Roaring Twenties flapper-style surface notes in other hands. With meticulous assistance from cinematographer Eduard Grau (The Way Back) and editor Sabine Hoffman (Juliet, Naked), Hall also turns Passing into an exercise in looking; this is a feature about perception and authenticity, and it repeatedly pushes those concepts to the fore in every image. It observes quietly and intently, giving Irene and Clare the type of unfettered, unguarded and earnest attention that they're clearly so rarely able to enjoy as they wrestle with racial identity in their daily existence. It truly sees them, including their strengths, struggles, dreams, desires and flaws. And, it refuses to redirect its gaze when the tragedy it has always been building towards makes its presence known — an outcome that shocks and feels inevitable at the same time. The jazzy score might play things gently, but Passing uses its polish, poise and patience, and its superb performances, to pack probing and pain into every delicately rendered moment. Passing screens in select Brisbane cinemas from Thursday, October 28, and streams via Netflix from Wednesday, November 10.
Over the past 47 years, in this very galaxy, how much Star Wars merchandise has been collected? Not even a Jedi could probably give a definitive number. Making its Australian premiere, The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition doesn't answer that question either, but it is giving fans of the space-opera franchise a glimpse at a hefty range of Star Wars memorabilia — one of the planet's largest private collections of replicas, in fact. The force is strong here, and so is love for everything in the George Lucas-created big- and small-screen saga. Soaring into Melbourne from Saturday, November 23, 2024, and then set to tour the country afterwards, The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition features Star Wars starships, lightsabers, droids, creatures and even battles. An entire section is about the dark side, with Sith obviously starring heavily, while another is called The Jedi Temple. Some pieces are life-sized. Others are detailed models. Either way, Star Wars will surround attendees everywhere they look. This isn't an official showcase, however, with only private works featured. The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition finally heads Down Under after past stops in New York and Los Angeles in the US, and also London, Madrid and Paris in Europe. After Melbourne, it's displaying at The District Docklands.
Last time Spike Lee stepped behind the camera, he took on American race relations in the 1970s, with the equally scathing, impassioned and amusing BlacKkKlansman winning him the Cannes Grand Prix and an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his troubles. Two years later, the acclaimed filmmaker is back with his latest feature, which once again tackles inequality and its consequences — this time in Vietnam War heist flick Da 5 Bloods. Dropping on Netflix on June 12 — and just dropping its first trailer, too — Da 5 Bloods follows four African American veterans who head back to Saigon decades after the conflict. They're looking for the remains of their squad leader, who was killed in action, but they also have another mission: searching for the buried gold they stashed away all those years ago. As the trailer makes clear, Lee was never going to explore the controversial war without also examining the role played by African American soldiers at the time. That just wouldn't be a Spike Lee joint. So, as well as charting the exploits of his characters both now and during the conflict, Da 5 Bloods interrogates the political and social reality behind their military service — including the fact that they were fighting for a country that didn't treat them equally, let alone care whether they lost their lives in combat. Lee's latest flick also assembles a mighty impressive cast, including Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman as the unit's fallen commander — plus, as the older versions of the surviving squad members, The Good Fight's Delroy Lindo, Broadway veteran Norm Lewis, and The Wire duo Clarke Peters and Isiah Whitlock Jr. Whether the latter will exclaim "sheeeeeeeee-it" is yet to be seen, although Lee is clearly a fan. https://twitter.com/SpikeLeeJoint/status/1262194706416455680 Da 5 Bloods also features French actors Jean Reno and Mélanie Thierry, When We Rise's Jonathan Majors and Richard Jewell's Paul Walter Hauser, as well as Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul's Giancarlo Esposito — who reteams with Lee after starring in the director's School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, and Malcolm X in the late 80s and early 90s. Check out the Da 5 Bloods trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5RDTPfsLAI Da 5 Bloods hits Netflix on June 12.
Fancy an art experience that extends beyond looking at works on a wall? Then prepare to be impressed by Melbourne's new 3000-square-metre, 11-metre-high immersive digital art gallery. Originally set to open in late 2020, then in autumn this year, and then in September, The Lume will finally open its doors on Monday, November 1. The big drawcard: projections of some of the world's most celebrated artworks, which will be splashed across various surfaces at the site's permanent home at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). Those luminous displays will be backed by powerful musical soundtracks, too, and even complemented by aromas. So yes, the idea is to engage multiple senses — and build the kind of art experience that surrounds you in multiple ways. When it opens its doors, The Lume's inaugural exhibition at will celebrate the works and life of Vincent van Gogh — so, you'll be able to walk through artworks like The Starry Night and Sunflowers while listening to a classical music score. For the latter, there'll be a dedicated mirror infinity room filled with sunflowers. Elsewhere, expect a reimagined Café Terrace 1888, and a life-size recreation of Van Gogh's Bedroom. If you were lucky enough to make it up to Sydney last year for Van Gogh Alive, you'll know what you're in for. The project is the brainchild of Melbourne-based Grande Experiences, which, for the past 15 years, has hosted immersive exhibitions and gallery experiences in over 130 cities across the world — and is taking Van Gogh Alive around Australia this year, too. The company also owns and operates Rome's Museo Leonardo da Vinci. Abiding by Victoria's reopening roadmap, The Lume will only be welcoming in double-vaccinated patrons upon opening. The Lume will open at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday, November 1 — operating Monday–Thursday from 10am–9pm, Friday from 10am–10pm, Saturday from 9am–10pm and Sunday from 9am–9pm. For more information, or to buy tickets, head to the venue's website.
UPDATE, May 5, 2021: Willy's Wonderland is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. If you've ever wondered how Nicolas Cage might've fared during cinema's silent era, Willy's Wonderland has the answer. A horror film about killer animatronic restaurant mascots, it's firmly a 2021 feature. It wasn't made a century ago, before synchronised sound forever changed the movie business, so it's definitely a talkie as well. Cage doesn't do any chattering, however. He groans and growls, and often, but doesn't utter a single word. The actor's many devotees already know that he's a talent with presence; whether he's cavorting in the streets under the delusion that he's a bloodsucker in Vampire's Kiss, grinning with his locks flowing in the wind in Con Air, dousing himself with vodka and grunting in Mandy or staring at a vibrant light in Color Out of Space, he repeatedly makes an imprint without dialogue. So, the inimitable star needn't speak to command attention — which is exactly the notion that Willy's Wonderland filmmaker Kevin Lewis (The Third Nail) put to the test. First, the great and obvious news: Cage doesn't seem to put in much effort, but he's a joy to watch. Playing a man simply known as The Janitor, he glowers like he couldn't care less that furry robots are trying to kill him. He swaggers around while cleaning the titular long-abandoned Chuck E Cheese-esque establishment, dances while hitting the pinball machine on his breaks, swigs soft drink as if it's the only beverage in the world and proves mighty handy with a mop handle when it comes to dispensing with his supernaturally demonic foes. Somehow, though, he's never as OTT as he could be. Cage plays a character who doesn't deem it necessary to convey his emotions, and that results in more restraint on his part than the film demonstrates with its undeniably silly premise. Accordingly, cue the bad news: as entertaining as Cage's wordless performance is — even without completely going for broke as only he can — Willy's Wonderland is often a ridiculous yet routine slog. The Janitor finds himself locked in Willy's Wonderland in the sleepy Nevada town of Hayesville courtesy of an inconveniently placed spike strip. Driving over the device trashes his tyres, which local mechanic Jed Love (Chris Warner, Machete) can replace, but The Janitor doesn't have cash, credit isn't accepted and there's no working ATM within a handy distance. So, he's offered a deal. If he spends the night cleaning the shuttered children's eatery for owner Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz, Finding Steve McQueen), Jed will fix his car. The Janitor agrees and gets a-scrubbing, but animatronics Willy Weasel, Arty Alligator, Cammy Chameleon, Tito Turtle, Knighty Knight, Gus Gorilla, Siren Sara and Ozzie Ostrich (no, not Ossie Ostrich from Hey Hey It's Saturday) have him in their sights. Willy's Wonderland could've opted for a stripped-back, action-heavy approach, solely focusing on Cage's clash with the critters after the movie's obligatory setup scenes. The film clearly only exists because he's in it, after all. And, the idea of seeing Cage in a John Wick-style flick that's built upon relentless fights for survival is a concept made in cinematic heaven — if Charlize Theron (in Atomic Blonde) and Bob Odenkirk (in Nobody) can do it, he can as well. But first-time screenwriter GO Parsons opts for a different template. The horror genre's fondness for offing meddling teens comes into play, and Willy's Wonderland is a worse movie for it. Hayesville high schoolers Liv (Emily Tosta, Party of Five), Chris (Kai Kadlec, Dropouts), Kathy (Caylee Cowan, Incision), Aaron (Christian Delgrosso, School Spirits), Bob (Terayle Hill, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Dan (Jonathan Mercedes, Cobra Kai) know that something isn't right at Willy's. They're aware that folks have gone missing there before, too. And, after the rest of the group helps Liv escape the handcuffs her guardian and local sheriff Eloise Lund (Beth Grant, Words on Bathroom Walls) uses to try to keep her safe, they all head to the condemned building to stop The Janitor from becoming its next victim. When it wallows in by-the-numbers slasher territory, just with homicidal puppets and not maniacal humans picking off pesky teens, Willy's Wonderland delivers the least-engaging version of its premise. That's when it resembles the video game Five Nights at Freddy's mixed with terrible sequels to 80s fare like Friday the 13th, and blandly so. Lewis and Parsons might intend to wink and nod at the decades-old pictures that started their chosen subgenre, rather than lazily ape them — as the retro animatronic designs appear to indicate — but when their film happily embraces every cliche it can, it's neither fun or funny. The flick's disposable adolescents make the usual range of stupid choices, including having sex in the doomed space, and whenever they open their mouths, they rarely do the movie any favours. Indeed, the dialogue is so thin, clunky and unconvincing that you can be forgiven for desperately wishing that, like Cage's unnamed drifter, no one in the feature spoke. It isn't hard to squander Cage's talents in a lacklustre-at-best movie, though. Lewis can take solace in the fact that plenty of directors have, and their star has let them. Of late, the actor's resume overflows with films that've only garnered attention because he's in them — see also: the tedious Jiu Jitsu and Primal in just the past two years — and Willy's Wonderland easily joins them. He's nowhere near his best here, but he's still the best thing about the picture. Jittery editing, oversaturated visuals and oh-so-much formula can't dampen his noiseless performance, although, conversely, he can't help Willy's Wonderland overcome its many struggles. 2021 has already let Cage completists see him drip profanity and wax lyrical about the origins of curse words in History of Swear Words, so perhaps this dialogue-free affair is just his way of retaining a sense of cosmic Cage balance. It's never anywhere near as goofy, wacky or out-there as it seems to think, however, and it's positively dull whenever its leading man is out of sight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE5-hkHIZF4
Death & Co, founded in New York City in 2006, is a modern craft cocktail bar that has been instrumental in shaping the industry. Now, the brand has chosen Australia for its first major move outside the United States. Death & Co is set to open in Melbourne in November at 87 Flinders Lane. The brand will also establish a venue in Brisbane beneath the Regatta Hotel, with a launch date to be announced soon. When Death & Co emerged in the New York bar scene two decades ago, it quickly became a major player in reviving interest in the art of cocktail making. With growing popularity, outposts were established in Los Angeles, Denver and Washington DC. The bars are a must-visit destination for those who take their drinks seriously, and have won many industry awards, including America's Best Cocktail Bar and World's Best Cocktail Menu at the Tales of the Cocktail Convention. Perhaps they heard Aussies take their drinks rather seriously, too, because they chose Melbourne as the brand's first international location. However, because they are so committed to their craft and ensuring the proper Death & Co experience is translated across borders, the Australian venue and bar managers have undergone extensive training in the United States. Death & Co will launch in Melbourne with several of its classic cocktails, including the Naked and Famous, with Del Maguey Vida Mezcal, Chartreuse, Aperol and lime, and the Oaxacan Old Fashioned, which blends El Jimador Reposado, mezcal, agave syrup, and bitters. Images: Shelby Moore. Death & Co is slated to open on Flinders Lane in November. If you're looking for some great cocktails in the meantime, check out the best bars in Melbourne.
South Bank's Stoke Bar is shutting up shop, with its riverside digs about to undergo a million-dollar makeover. But there's no need to say a teary farewell, as the space beside Stokehouse Q is set to become home to a new bar simply called Q. It's really a case of one door closing — and then that same door re-opening, just under a different name four weeks later. The rebadged, renovated watering hole will combine the old and the new when it launches on September 14. In the former camp, it'll boast the same gorgeous views, a similar weekend lineup of DJ-fuelled hangout sessions, and the same chef, Richard Ousby. In the latter category, Brisbanites can expect changes of the design, cuisine and beverage kind. In good news for everyone fond of hanging out by the water — which, let's face it, is why people head to South Bank to begin with — the revamp will result in a larger space that gets patrons even closer to the river's edge. In the process, Q will ramp up its water-adjacent seating, including booths, a wrap-around lounge on the boardwalk, and an additional private lounge area. Food-wise, Ousby's menu features a range of small plates, as split into one0handed snacks and knife-and-fork dishes. Grilled haloumi with burnt honey, mozzarella and bolognese jaffles, fried chicken bites and spanner crab with buckwheat noodles rank among the options. And as far as the drinks list is concerned, ex-Nant Whisky Bar, Cuvee Lounge and Soleil Pool Bar bartender Becki Parker will be overseeing the beverages, with four new cocktails on offer. The standout: the aptly named Goodwill Rising, which blends tequila, fig jam, ginger, pineapple shrub, vanilla syrup, lemon juice, lemon and vanilla sugar crisp, and is probably best sipped while you're looking out over the bridge that gives it its moniker. As part of the revamp, Stokehouse Q will also close from August 26, and re-open on September 14 with a new kitchen and a few other restaurant upgrades. Stoke Bar will close on August 26, and Q will open on September 14 on Sidon Street, South Bank. For more information, keep an eye on Stokehouse Q's website.
Six months is a long time in the restaurant business. It was only back in January that Fortitude Valley gained a new apothecary-themed late-night bar and eatery, appropriately named The Apo. Now, just six months later, the Ann Street haunt is switching to a new chef — from none other than Gerard's Bistro. Say goodbye to the venue's rotating array of intricate modern gastronomical delights, and prepare to welcome to a brand new hybrid of Lebanese and French cuisines. The change in food style comes with a change of personnel, with former chef Braden White (ex-Hatch & Co Gasworks) leaving the fold and Gerard's Bistro's frontman, Ben Williamson, stepping in to oversee the kitchen. Given that The Apo and Gerard's are both owned by the same folks (along with Lychee Lounge, Laruche, Hatch & Co and The Defiant Duck), it's far from a surprising move — even if it came about, according to Good Food, as a result of creative differences with White. It certainly might have had something to do with the immensely harsh two-star John Lethlean review of The Apo that was published in The Australian back in April. The new menu — which will hopefully be less convoluted, at least for Lethlean's sake — will be unveiled on Tuesday, July 12, and is sure to complement the bar's hefty beer, wine and cocktail list. If you've had an Apo Sweet Manhattan, Velvet Underground or Roadside Punch, then you know what we're talking about. And, for Gerard's fans out there — that is, everyone in Brisbane who likes to eat and drink — there's no need to worry about changes to your favourite hangout. The multi-talented Williamson will continue his existing roles, too. Now you just have more places to devour his tasty creations. Via Good Food.
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. SEE HOW THEY RUN As every murder-mystery does, See How They Run asks a specific question: whodunnit? This 1950s-set flick also solves another query, one that's lingered over Hollywood for seven decades now thanks to Agatha Christie. If this movie's moniker has you thinking about mouse-focused nursery rhymes, that's by design — and characters do scurry around chaotically — however, it could also have you pondering the famed author's play The Mousetrap. The latter first hit theatres in London's West End in 1952 and has stayed there ever since, other than an enforced pandemic-era shutdown in COVID-19's early days. The show operates under a set stipulation regarding the big-screen rights, too, meaning that it can't be turned into a film until the original production has stopped treading the boards for at least six months. As that's never happened, how do you get it into cinemas anyway? Make a movie about trying to make The Mousetrap into a movie, aka See How They Run. There's a clever-clever air to See How They Run's reason for existing. The same proves true of its narrative, the on-screen explanation about how The Mousetrap sits at the centre of this film's story, and the way it details those rules around adapting the play for cinema. Voiced by in-movie director Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody, Blonde), that winking attitude resembles the Scream franchise's take on the horror genre, but with murder-mysteries — and it also smarts in its knowing rundown about how whodunnits work, who's who among the main players-slash-suspects and what leads to the central homicide. First-time feature filmmaker Tom George (This Country) and screenwriter Mark Chappell (Flaked) still craft a film that's enjoyable-enough, though, albeit somehow both satirical and by the numbers. Keeping audiences guessing isn't the picture's strong suit. Matching its own comparison to Christie isn't either. But the leads and snappy sense of fun make this a mostly entertaining game of on-screen Cluedo. Was it actor Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson, Where the Crawdads Sing), his fellow-thespian wife Sheila Sim (Pearl Chanda, War of the Worlds), big-time movie producer John Woolf (Reece Shearsmith, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) or his spouse Edana Romney (Sian Clifford, The Duke) getting murderous in the costume shop at the backstage party celebrating The Mousetrap's 100th show? (And yes, they're all real-life figures.) Or, was it the play's producer Petula Spencer (Ruth Wilson, His Dark Materials), the proposed feature adaptation's screenwriter Mervyn Cocker-Norris (David Oyelowo, Chaos Walking) or his Italian lover Gio (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, The Queen's Gambit)? They're among See How They Run's other enquiries, which Scotland Yard's Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell, Richard Jewell) and Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan, The French Dispatch) try to answer. After the death that kicks off the film, the two cops are on the case, working through their odd-couple vibe as they sleuth. Naturally, everyone that was in the theatre on the night in question is a suspect. Just as expectedly, convolutions and complications abound. Plus, possible motives keep stacking up — and there's plenty of in-fighting among the stage and screen in-crowd who might've done the deed. In other words, even with equally parodying and paying homage to all things murder-mystery chief among See How They Run's aims (alongside showing off that it thinks it knows the basics as well as Christie), it isn't blind to following the standard formula. The guiding narration, which notes that it's always the most unlikeable character that gets bumped off, takes a ribbing approach; "seen one, you've seen 'em all" it advises, because Köpernick was charged with helming The Mousetrap's leap into movies, wasn't so impressed with the source material, then advocated for violence and explosions to spice up the whole thing. Yes, viewers are meant to see parallels between what he's saying and what they're watching. Yes, being that self-aware and meta truly is a feature-long commitment. Read our full review. SMILE If high-concept horror nasties get you grinning even when you're squirming, recoiling or peeking through your fingers, then expect Smile to live up to its name — in its first half, at least. A The Ring-meets-It Follows type of scarefest with nods to the Joker thrown in, it takes its titular term seriously, sporting one helluva creepy smirk again and again. The actual face doing the ghoulish beaming can change, and does, but the evil Cheshire Cat-esque look on each dial doesn't. Where 2011's not-at-all spooky The Muppets had a maniacal laugh, Smile does indeed possess a maniacal, skin-crawling, nightmare-inducing leer. In the film, the first character to chat about it, PhD student Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stasey, Bridge and Tunnel), explains it as "the worst smile I have ever seen in my life". She's in a hospital, telling psychiatrist Rose Cotter (Mare of Easttown's Sosie Bacon, daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick), who clearly thinks she's hallucinating. But when the doctor sees that grin herself, she immediately knows that Laura's description couldn't be more accurate. Toothy, deranged, preternaturally stretched and also frozen in place, the smile at the heart of Smile isn't easily forgotten — not that Rose need worry about that. Soon, it's haunting her days and nights by interrupting her work, and seeing her act erratically with patients to the concern of her boss (Kal Penn, Clarice). Rose upsets a whole party at her nephew's birthday, too, and makes her fiancé Trevor (Jessie T Usher, The Boys) have doubts about their future. There's a backstory: Rose's mother experienced mental illness, which is why she's so passionate about her work and her sister Holly (Gillian Zinser, The Guilty) is so dismissive. There's a backstory to the diabolical frown turned upside down also, which she's quickly trying to unravel with the help of her cop ex Joel (Kyle Gallner, Scream). She has to; Laura came to the hospital for assistance after her professor saw the smile first, then started beaming it, then took his own life in front of her — and now Rose is in the same situation. It springs from debut feature writer/director Parker Finn's own 2020 short film Laura Hasn't Slept, but given how quickly Smile's nods to other horror flicks come — and how blatant they are — it's hardly astonishing how little in its narrative comes as a surprise. A malignant terror spreading virally on sight? A single-minded pursuer that can hop bodies, but always chases its new target with unyielding focus? Yes, as already mentioned, a J-horror franchise and its American remake are owed a huge debt, as is David Robert Mitchell's breakout 2014 hit. And yes, there's no way not to think of a certain Batman adversary each time that eerily exaggerated smirk flashes (given how many times the Joker has featured on-screen, it's downright inescapable). But when Smile is smiling — not just plastering that unnerving grin far and wide, but frequently directing it straight at the camera (and audience) — the fear is real. It's an odd experience, the feeling of knowing how obvious every aspect of a movie's narrative is, yet still having it spark a physical reaction. Finn deploys jump-scares that do genuinely invite jumps. His film goes dark and grim in its look and atmosphere, tensely so, and with cinematographer Charlie Sarroff (Relic) adoring soft, restrained lighting that one imagines the realm between life and death could have. He knows when to let a moment and a shot hang, teasing out the inevitable but still making sure the payoff is felt. And, among all of that, the mood is Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar)-level bleak. The biggest kudos goes to (and the biggest responses come from) that hellish expression that could pop up anywhere on anyone, though. When Smile stops smiling, it's a blander movie — and although the fact that much of it is spliced together from elsewhere, and what isn't is largely generic, doesn't ever slip from view, that's also when the feature gets heftier. Read our full review. ON THE COUNT OF THREE What happens outside an upstate New York strip club at 10am on an ordinary weekday? Nothing — nothing good, or that anyone pays attention to, at least — deduces the unhappy Val (Jerrod Carmichael, Rothaniel) in On the Count of Three. So, he's hatched a plan: with his lifelong best friend Kevin (Christopher Abbott, The Forgiven), they'll carry out a suicide pact, with that empty car park as their final earthly destination. Under the harsh morning light and against a drably grey sky, Carmichael's feature directorial debut initially meets its central duo standing in that exact spot, guns pointed at each other's heads and pulling the trigger mere moments away. Yes, they start counting. Yes, exhaustion and desperation beam from their eyes. No, this thorny yet soulful film isn't over and done with then and there. There are many ways to experience weariness, frustration, malaise and despair, and to convey them — and On the Count of Three surveys plenty, as an unflinchingly black comedy about two lifelong best friends deciding to end it all should. Those dispiriting feelings can weigh you down, making every second of every day an effort. They can fester, agitate, linger and percolate, simmering behind every word and deed before spewing out as fury. They can spark drastic actions, including the type that Val and Kevin have picked as their only option after the latter breaks the former out of a mental health hospital mere days after his last self-harming incident. Or, they can inspire a wholesale rejection of the milestones, such as the promotion that Val is offered hours earlier, that everyone is told they're supposed to covet, embrace and celebrate. On the Count of Three covers all of the above, not just with purpose but with confidence, as well as a much-needed willingness to get messy. It knows it's traversing tricky terrain, and is also well-aware of the obvious: that nothing about considering taking one's own life is simple or easy, let alone a laughing matter. Working with a script by Ramy co-creators Ari Katcher (also a co-creator of The Carmichael Show) and Ryan Welch, Carmichael doesn't make a movie that salutes, excuses or justifies Val and Kevin's exit plan. His film doesn't abhor the emotions and pain behind their choices either, though. Instead, this is a complicated portrait of coping, and not, with the necessities, vagaries and inevitabilities of life — and a raw and thoughtful piece of recognition that the biggest standoff we all have is with ourselves. Rocking a shock of dishevelled bleached-blonde hair, and looking like he hasn't even dreamed of changing his wardrobe since the early 00s, Abbott could've wandered out of Good Time as Kevin — he and Robert Pattinson could/should play brothers some day — including when he's staring down Val with a gun. First, On the Count of Three jumps from there to the events leading up to it, including an earlier attempt by landscaping supply store worker Val in the work bathrooms, his response to hearing about that aforementioned climb up the corporate ladder. In hospital, Kevin is angry; "if any of you knew how to help me by now, you would have fucking done it!" he shouts. But when the time to shoot comes, it's him who suggests a reprieve to take care of a few last items — revenge being his. Read our full review. THE HUMANS Movie buffs who like to theme their viewing around the relevant time of year — holiday-related, primarily — are always spoiled for choice. Christmas films, spooky flicks at Halloween, Easter-relevant fare: you can build a binge session or several out of all of them. The same applies to Thanksgiving, all courtesy of the US, and The Humans is the latest addition to the November-appropriate list. This A24 release ticks a few clearcut boxes, in fact, including bringing a dysfunctional multi-generation family together to celebrate the date, steeping their get-together in the kind of awkwardness that always stalks relatives, and having big revelations spill over the course of the gathering (the calendar-mandated time for such disclosures, pouring out before the tryptophan kicks in). That said, even with such evident servings of underlying formula, The Humans is far creepier and more haunting than your usual movie about America's turkey-eating time of year. A hefty helping of existential horror will do that. Based on Stephen Karam's Tony-winning 2016 Broadway play — a Pulitzer Prize finalist as well — and adapted and directed for the screen by Karam himself, The Humans is downright unsettling, and for a few reasons. There's the tension zipping back and forth between everyone in attendance, of course — as crucial an ingredient at every Thanksgiving party as food, booze and warm bodies to consume them, at least if films are to be believed. There's also the bleak, claustrophobic, run-down setting, with the movie confined to a New York apartment close to Ground Zero, which aspiring composer Brigid (Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart) and her student boyfriend Richard (Steven Yeun, Nope) have just moved into at significant expense. And, there's the strange sounds emanating from other units, and perhaps this creaking, groaning, two-storey abode itself, which couldn't feel less welcoming. As a result, seasonal cheer is few and far between in this corner of Manhattan, where the Blake family congregates dutifully rather than agreeably or even welcomely. Also making an appearance: parents Deirdre (Only Murders in the Building's Jayne Houdyshell, reprising her Tony-winning part) and Erik (Richard Jenkins, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story), Brigid's lawyer older sister Aimee (Amy Schumer, Life & Beth), and their grandmother Momo (June Squibb, Palmer), who has dementia and uses a wheelchair. No one is happy, and everyone seems to have something that needs airing — slowly and reluctantly when it's a matter of importance, but freely and cuttingly when it's a snap judgement directed at others. Watching The Humans, the audience hopes that no one has truly had a Thanksgiving like this, while knowing how well its fraught dynamic hits the mark. Thanks to Richard, film first-timer Karam has a straightforward way to start doling out backstory — a time-honoured function of fresh attendees to on-screen family dos, and not just in movies about Thanksgiving. Erik chats, filling the newcomer in, although the talk between everyone dishes out plenty of handy details. Religious and political affiliations cause strains, as do booze and money. The clash between the big city, where the Blake family daughters now live, and their hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania also informs the discussions. Health woes, relationship struggles, generation clashes, expecting more both from and of each other but getting less: that's the baseline. Brigid stews about not being given enough cash by her parents, and therefore jeopardising her career dreams; Aimee frets about treading water at work, being alone and a medical condition; Deirdre's conservative leanings bristle against her daughters' decisions; and Erik clearly has a secret. Read our full review. 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 June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30; and July 7, July 14, July 21 and July 28; August 4, August 11, August 18 and August 25; and September 1, September 8, September 15 and September 22. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday, Ali & Ava, Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man, The Phantom of the Open, The Black Phone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Official Competition, The Forgiven, Full Time, Murder Party, Bullet Train, Nope, The Princess, 6 Festivals, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Crimes of the Future, Bosch & Rockit, Fire of Love, Beast, Blaze, Hit the Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Orphan: First Kill, The Quiet Girl, Flux Gourmet, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Moonage Daydream, Ticket to Paradise, Clean and You Won't Be Alone.
Musicals don't get much bigger than Les Misérables. That's been evident on the stage for more than four decades. When the production has been adapted for the screen, too, it's also been clear. In Australia, next comes Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular, which is putting on a show set in 19th-century France from May 2025 in the River City. Do you hear the people sing? Audiences in Brisbane will when the production gets the music of the people, plus the songs of angry men, echoing. From Wednesday, May 28–Sunday, June 1, a stacked cast and a 65-plus-piece orchestra is bringing Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular to life at Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with the format heading Down Under after playing the UK and across Europe. What makes this an arena spectacular, other than the venues that it's playing (including in Sydney and Melbourne, too)? The production isn't just taking the stage iteration of Les Misérables as is to sizeable sites — as a concert, it has been specifically created and designed for such locations. Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular was born to celebrate a hefty milestone for the song-filled theatre take on Victor Hugo's famous 1862 novel: the London production of Les Misérables reaching its 40th year in 2025. Yes, it's West End's longest-running musical. But the arena spectacular's origins hail back earlier, to not long after Les Mis debuted on the stage in 1980 — and also have ties to Australia. In Australia, Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular stars Tony-winner Alfie Boe and British talent Killian Donnelly sharing the role of Jean Valjean, with Michael Ball — who featured in the original London 1985 production — plus Bradley Jaden doing the same with Javert. Marina Prior plays Madame Thénardier, as part of an international cast that also includes Little Britain's Matt Lucas as Thénardier, Rachelle Ann Go as Fantine, Jac Yarrow as Marius and Beatrice Penny-Touré as Cosette. Images: Danny Kaan.
UPDATE: April 20, 2020: The Guilty is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play and YouTube. Some time in the not-too-distant future, Jake Gyllenhaal will sit in a nondescript cubicle, strap on a headset and try to save a woman's life. He'll do so while playing a police officer who's been demoted to phone duties, tasked with taking emergency calls, who suddenly finds himself talking to a kidnapping victim as her abduction is in progress. The camera won't move from his grey office location as he frantically attempts to resolve the fraught situation, and the movie will be all the more gripping for it. But no matter how effective this forthcoming flick is (or not, depending on how it turns out), exceptional Danish actor Jakob Cedergren and stellar thriller The Guilty will always have gotten there first. An English-language remake of Gustav Möller's Oscar-shortlisted debut was always bound to happen. It's the kind of high-concept film that Hollywood loves, regardless of where the idea came from. Tense Ryan Reynolds vehicle Buried, the involving, Tom Hardy-starring Locke, and Halle Berry's awful The Call have all played with aspects of the same concept, however The Guilty might just be the best of the talk-heavy bunch. With claustrophobic visuals and an uneasy mood, it's not simply smart, savvy and suspenseful, although each of those descriptions apply. More than that, this single-setting, real-time screw-turner is downright masterful in achieving its aim — that is, ensuring that one guy making and taking phone calls ranks among the most intense 85-minute periods in cinema history. In a standout role that deserves to bring Cedergren to broader attention, the Danish TV mainstay plays Asger Holm, a short-tempered, nearly-axed cop who couldn't be unhappier with his current assignment. One call virtually bleeds into the next in his frustrated mind, until a particularly fearful plea for assistance stands out. Iben's (Jessica Dinnage) story is distressing from the outset, involving domestic violence, being whisked away from home against her will, and two young kids left behind to fend for themselves. And so Holm springs into action, doing everything he can without leaving the phone to track down the kidnapped woman, as well as her reportedly explosive ex-husband (Johan Olsen), before it's too late. The immense skill required to not only engage and excite an audience's imagination, but to truly activate it, can't be underestimated. While the printed word achieves the feat with frequency, cinema typically prefers to be more explicit. Even when mystery is involved, movies tend to avoid relegating their most thrilling moments to spectators' heads — the same is true for the bulk of their action and drama, for that matter. Streamlined without ever proving simplistic, The Guilty takes the opposite approach, forcing its viewers' minds to fire on all available cylinders. The details shown on screen are far from sparse, including the range of emotion on offer from the picture's controlled but expressive leading man, and more subplots than one might expect given the movie's premise. But even as cinematographer Jasper Spanning spends much of the film's running time honing in on Cedergren's piercing, pensive eyes, the tale that's literally told via snippets of conversation couldn't be more vivid. Thank Möller's tight, taut script, as penned with economical but evocative precision with co-writer Emil Nygaard Albertsen. Thank their star as well, once again. And, with hearty enthusiasm, thank the craftspeople responsible for creating the film's fine-tuned soundscape. The fields of sound editing and sound mixing can confuse even the most dedicated cinephiles come Oscars time each year, with the former referring to finding and assembling individual sources of audio, and the latter involving the act of stitching them all together. Here, both disciplines are on show, although experienced sound editor Oskar Skriver has done a particularly astute job of finding the right sound for every single moment — and making audiences hang on each and every voice and noise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qYyTJM6Kvo
The best way to really explore a place? Taste it. We're all about food tourism and farmgate experiences in 2023, so it's delightful (and delicious) that our glorious Sunshine State is serving up a jam-packed season of delectable festivals. If you nab tickets to any of these stand-out events, you'll be well placed to eat and drink more fresh and local fare than you've done in your life. Next year's lineup will have you encounter celebrity chefs, salt-of-the-earth farmers and artisan crafters of all things gourmet and gorgeous. It will have you spend sunny days (yes, even in winter — it's Queensland) at markets and masterclasses, tours and guided tastings, feasting on farmland and sampling frothy bevs by the salty sea. You'll see the source of every bite, discover the land, sea and people behind the flavours and, of course, just consume everything the Sunshine State has to offer. Together with Queensland, we've found the intel on five fantastic foodie experiences that you'll want to get yourself to. So, pack your stretchy pants and loosen your belt, and head to Queensland for a gourmet adventure. EAT LOCAL MONTH, SCENIC RIM BRISBANE This festival is a guaranteed locavore's delight, placed in the aptly-named Scenic Rim, just a short drive from Brisbane or the Gold Coast. Running annually, Eat Local Month offers a slew of foodie and farming activities — including free and family-friendly events and the Winter Harvest Festival. The lush area is home to renowned cooks, distillers, growers, brewers, makers of all things delicious — such as award-winning camel milk gelato — and some pretty famous carrots (the region is actually known as Australia's Carrot Capital). Eat Local Month is a month of tastings, food trucks, tours, meet-the-maker events and the best chefs from Queensland and beyond coming to work their magic with the local abundance. Kids can learn about cheesemaking and gardening, all while you sip locally made liqueurs and spirits, wines from just over the hill and beers brewed just around the corner. If you're a foodie who cares about fresh produce, provenance and artisan makers, come feast on the Scenic Rim. Eat Local Month, Saturday, June 2023 THE CURATED PLATE, SUNSHINE COAST This delicious festival debuted in 2019 before being rudely interrupted by a certain pandemic. In 2022, it was offered in a smaller 'side-plate' format, but it's returning with a bang in 2023 with the full The Curated Plate festival from Friday, July 28 till Sunday, August 6. Over 10 days, you will have the chance to encounter the varied flavours of Queensland and immerse yourself in the region — this is as farm-to-table (and still-to-bottle) as it gets. You'll get the chance to meet the growers and artisans on their home turf — the Sunshine Coast — as they show off the best of the local food scene alongside guest chefs. Previous events have included fermentation and bush tucker classes, long lunches and degustations as well as boat trips and farm-gate experiences. Whatever the 2023 line-up holds, it's a food tourism extravaganza no gourmand can afford to miss. The Curated Plate, Friday, July 28 till Sunday, August 6, 2023 TASTE BUNDABERG FESTIVAL, BUNDABERG Go troppo for 10 days of pure Bundy flavour. This region is about way more than just its iconic brands (although you'll find those here, too). From Friday, August 4 until Sunday, August 13, discover the best of the locale at Taste Bundaberg with everything from farm tours and feasts to markets, masterclasses, music and maker-led events. In previous years, there's been in-orchard dining, sun-soaked long-table lunches, celebrity chef demonstrations, guided cheese-tasting, cocktail making and gourmet picnics where you can sample the produce from the land beneath your very feet. With glorious weather, there's a full program of indoor and outdoor activities for foodies and families to take advantage of. Taste Bundaberg, Friday, August 4 till Sunday, August 13, 2023 CRAFTED BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL, BROADBEACH Sprawling across Broadbeach's Kurrawa Park, the Crafted Beer & Cider Festival welcomes the best local breweries and bigger names from around the country. You're in for two expertly curated days of ice-cold frothies and foodie delights beside the beach. Last time, there was nearly 60 breweries and over 400 beers. Sound overwhelming? Don't worry, the full list and tap map are released ahead of time so you can plot your golden haze of a journey along the rows of beers, ciders, seltzers, ginger beers and more (there's vinos, spirits and cocktails too). You can expect a few festival exclusives, specialty beers and non-alc options as well — plus live music to feed your ears and food trucks for your bellies. Vendors are still TBC, but you can expect all you need for a day of beer and sunshine. For tunes, a full spectrum of musicians will take to the stage, from established acts (2022 saw British India headlining) to emerging artists. Crafted Beer & Cider Festival, Saturday, September 9 till Sunday, September 10, 2023 MORETON BAY FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL, MORETON BAY BRISBANE Showcasing the culinary delights and fine fresh foods of southeast Queensland, the Moreton Bay Food and Wine Festival is taking over Woody Point's Apex Park for the first weekend in August, 2023. The celebration is part of the epic six-week Tastes of Moreton Bay Festival. In 2022, more than 20,000 people rocked up for the weekend, and you can be sure that eager, hungry crowds will once again converge beside the glittering waters of Moreton Bay to savour fine foods. A smorgasbord of foodie experiences will roll out over one long weekend — everything from maker's markets, performances and masterclasses to classic games of beer pong and spectacular fireworks. Sip cocktails by the water or watch as celeb chefs take to the stage to demonstrate their recipes demonstrations that make the most of the fine foods from the land, sea and artisans in this prodigious pocket of the Sunshine State. Moreton Bay Food and Wine Festival, Friday, August 4 till Sunday, August 6, 2023 To explore more of the food and wine events taking over Queensland in 2023, head to the website.
Back in 2020, Melbourne received one of the city's — and Australia's — rare pieces of good news for that far-from-fun year, all thanks to the opening of Cannoleria's huge dedicated cannoli factory. If you love Sicilian sweet treats but you live elsewhere around the country, the dessert joint started sending its DIY cannoli kits around the nation the same year, too, when at-home packs were a big part of lockdown life. Whipping up Cannoleria's treats at home has been the only way for Queenslanders to get their fix, however — until now. Fans of crunchy pastry tubes piped full of fresh ricotta, rejoice, because the Victorian favourite will hit up the 2023 Moreton Bay Food and Wine Festival from Friday, August 4–Sunday, August 6. On offer: the brand's desserts featuring crunchy shells filled with ricotta thanks to That's Amore Cheese — and usually crushed pistachio and icing sugar as a garnish. Cannoli fans will want to head to Apex Park in Woody Point from 10am–8pm on the Friday and Saturday, plus 10am–6pm on the Sunday. And, while Cannoleria's debut trip to the Sunshine State is huge — and tasty — news, that's not all that the fest has to offer. Seafood by the sea? Brews next to the beach? There's nothing stopping you from enjoying both here. The returning food event is serving up plenty to tempt your tastebuds, from oysters and prawns to farm-fresh fare — and beers and cocktails, too. Indeed, if you like the indulgent things in life, you'll find more than a few things that'll suit your cravings on the menu. The festival will also feature a focus on local produce, the Moreton Bay BrewsFest (complete with beer pong and giant Jenga), a cocktail haven with a particular interest in gin distilleries, and a vino-slinging cellar door — plus a stage dedicated to health, wellness, and things for your house and garden. Live tunes and DJ-spun tracks are also on the agenda, and so are cooking demonstrations by chefs such as Miguel Maestre, Poh Ling Yeow and Alastair McLeod. And, if you want to counteract all of the eating and drinking, you'll be in the right place for it — just go for a walk along the shoreline. [caption id="attachment_883183" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] The 2023 Moreton Bay Food and Wine Festival runs from Friday, August 4–Sunday, August 6 at Apex Park in Woody Point — head to the festival's website for tickets and further details.
Two decades ago, Bill Nighy won two BAFTAs in the same year for vastly dissimilar roles: for playing a rock 'n' roll singer belting out a cheesy Christmas tune in Love Actually, and also for his turn as a journalist investigating a political scandal in gripping miniseries State of Play. The beloved British actor has achieved plenty more across his career, including collecting an eclectic resume that spans an uncredited turn in Black Books, a pivotal part in Shaun of the Dead, and everything from Underworld and Pride to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (plus stepping into David Bowie's shoes in the TV version of The Man Who Fell to Earth). Somehow, though, Nighy made it all the way into his 70s before receiving a single Oscar nomination. He didn't emerge victorious at 2023's ceremony for Living, but his recognition for this textured drama isn't just a case of the Academy rewarding a stellar career — it's thoroughly earned by one of the veteran talent's best performances yet. Nighy comes to this sensitive portrayal of a dutiful company man facing life-changing news with history; so too does the feature itself. Set in London in 1953, it's an adaptation several times over — of iconic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru, and of Leo Tolstoy's 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, which the former also takes inspiration from. That's quite the lineage for Living to live up to, but Nighy and director Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) are up to the task. The movie's second Oscar-nominee, Nobel Prize-winning screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro, unsurprisingly is as well. Also the author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, he's at home penning layered stories with a deep focus on complicated characters not being completely true to themselves. When those two novels were turned into impressive pictures, Ishiguro didn't script their screenplays, but he writes his way through Living's literary and cinematic pedigree like he was born to. A man of no more words than he has to utter — of no more of anything, including life's pleasures, frivolities, distractions and detours, in fact — Williams (Nighy, Emma.) is a born bureaucrat. Or, that's how he has always appeared to his staff in the Public Works Department in London County Hall, where he's been doing the same job day, week, month and year in and out. He's quiet and stoic as he pushes paper daily, overseeing a department that's newly welcoming in Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp, The Trial of the Chicago 7). It's through this fresh face's eyes that Living's audience first spies its central figure, adopting his and the wider team's perspective of Williams as a compliant and wooden functionary: a view that the film and its sudden diagnosis then challenges, as Williams does of himself. As Ikiru was as well, and as The Death of Ivan Ilyich's name made so apparent, this is a tale of a man dying — and, while confronting that fact, finally living. In Hermanus and Ishiguro's hands, sticking close to Kurosawa and his collaborators before them, this story gets part of its spark from a simple request by local parents for a playground. Before learning that he has terminal cancer, Williams behaves as he always has, with the women making their plea sent from department to department while he does only as much as he must. Afterwards, grappling with how to capitalise upon the time he has left, he wonders how to leave even the smallest mark on the world. Living isn't about a big, impulsive response to one of the worst developments that anyone can ever be saddled with during their time on this mortal coil, except that it is in Williams' own way; when your reaction to hearing that you have mere months left to live is "quite", any break from routine is radical. This isn't a cancer weepie, not for a second. It also isn't an illness-focused film where someone's health struggles come second to the feelings and changes experienced by those around them. Williams' colleagues notice his absence when he stops showing up to the office, of course. One, the young Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood, Sex Education), accompanies him on unexpected away-from-work outings and advises that she'd nicknamed him 'Mr Zombie'. Living is about those instances — the fancy lunches that Williams treats himself to, the nights out drinking with new pals (Tom Burke, The Wonder) he never would've contemplated before, the flouting of his lifelong monotonous routine, and the efforts to go above and beyond that he's now willing to take — rather than about an ailing man's family and acquaintances facing loss. Indeed, given that Williams doesn't want to interrupt his son (Barney Fishwick, Call the Midwife) and daughter-in-law (Patsy Ferran, Mothering Sunday) with his condition, Living is firmly invested in someone navigating their swansong on their own terms. At the heart of this ruminative film, and Williams' post-diagnosis behaviour, sits one of the most fundamental existential questions there is. Knowing that death is looming so soon and so swiftly, what can possibly provide comfort? That's a query we all face daily, most of us just on a longer timeline — context that makes Williams' way of coping both resonant and highly relatable. Life is filling each moment with anything but reminders that our here and now is fleeting, albeit not in such a conscious and concerted manner. Living's boxed-in imagery, constrained within Academy-ratio frames and gifted a handsome, period-appropriate but almost-wistful sheen by Hermanus' Moffie and Beauty cinematographer Jamie Ramsay (also the director of photography on See How They Run), helps visually express a crucial feeling: of being anchored within a set amount of space and discovering how to make the most of it. When Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo and Ran great Kurosawa stepped through this terrain, he did so with one of his frequent players: Takashi Shimura. There's a particular sense of potency in telling this tale with a familiar figure, as Nighy also is, hammering home how truly universal this plight is no matter the specifics. Nighy's performance toys with what viewers have come to know and expect from him, however. He's in reserved rather than twinkling and instantly charming mode — still, muted and melancholy, too — a facade for his character that says oh-so-much about the dedicated life that Williams has weathered, the solace he's found in it, his handling of his current situation and also the film's post-World War II setting. Conveying the difference between being and relishing so effortlessly and also so heartbreakingly, Nighy is a marvel, and one that the movie around him lives for.
As one of southeast Queensland's two go-to beach-filled holiday spots, the Sunshine Coast is known for its sun and sand. But as well as being perched right on the ocean, the region also boasts rainforests and farms in extremely close proximity. That places it among Australia's most unique food and drink regions, gives it an interesting culinary landscape and makes it a prime location for a festival that's all about eating and drinking. Bites, beverages, basking in everything that makes the Sunshine Coast ace: that's The Curated Plate's remit, and has been since it kicked off back in 2019. Returning for 2023, the festival now runs for ten days, spanning Friday, July 28–Sunday, August 6, to celebrate all of the culinary goodness that this coastal pocket has to offer. On the lineup: more than 100 events featuring 300-plus local producers and suppliers, as put together by 52 local businesses and event organisers. The festival's program takes place in venues across the region's hinterlands, rainforests and beaches, giving attendees the full Sunny Coast experience. Heading along means feasting your way from Caloundra to Coolum, Maleny to Mooloolaba and Buderim to Beerwah, including at bar crawls, overwater picnics and farm-to-fork experiences. 2023's highlights cover MooloolaBARS, which is exactly what it sounds like across one beer- and beverage-heavy day; picnics in the Maroochydore Wheel House on Bradman Avenue, with food and booze taken care of for you; and a day spent eating at Falls Farm and Mapleton Public House. Or, there's the return of the Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival, a zero-waste garden-to-plate lunch, and Moffat Beach Brewing's beer and barbecue degustation dinner. The festival is also championing First Nations food experiences, such as at a series of bush tucker river cruises by Saltwater Eco Tours, and a four-course dinner featuring native Australian ingredients — hand-picked garnishes from the Sunshine Coast hinterland included. Also on the lineup: a kombucha workshop, classes on plant-based cooking and oyster shucking, and a session about combining whisky, tequila and chocolate. Or, there's a boozy brunch heroing locally grown oyster mushrooms, bottomless high teas, trawler-to-table cruises that obviously go heavy on seafood and farm open days. The Curated Plate runs from Friday, July 28–Sunday, August 6 around the Sunshine Coast — head to the festival website for further details.
During the Point Break remake, a gang of adrenaline junkies contemplate their next fix. Staring up at a mountain they're about to base jump from, they discuss their limits — or "the point where you break". Dialogue isn't exactly this movie's strong point. Yes, the film expands its remit and titular reference beyond the realm of surfing that was so integral to its 1991 predecessor. No, it's not a smart move. The latest Point Break is as lacklustre as everything that comes out of its characters' mouths, despite its best efforts to distract audiences with scenes of spectacle. In broad terms, the story remains roughly the same: a freshly minted FBI agent tracks a gang of thieves whose crimes are tied to their thrill-seeking antics. Cue an undercover operation that tests the cops-versus-robbers divide, as Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) is seduced by the swagger of ringleader Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez). This time, Bodhi and his cronies don't just surf and skydive, but snowboard, glide and free-climb too. Seeking spiritual fulfillment, they're attempting to complete the holy grail of death-defying endeavours, known as the Ozaki Eight. Their accompanying heists are designed to give back what they're taking in the process, redistributing the wealth to the poverty-stricken, Robin Hood-style. As a standalone feature, it all makes for the kind of slick film that leans heavily on what's being seen rather than what's being said. When the expositional or faux-philosophical chatter gets grating, up pops a daredevil act; when the script can't quite find a way to move forward, or anything for its characters to do, the same trick is deployed. It's the "look over there!" approach to filmmaking, and while it provides some striking sights, their purpose as filler is never in doubt. With the central bromance weak and the law-and-order side of things formulaic, Point Break becomes little more than a fast-paced, choppily edited mash-up of extreme sports videos and any template police procedural you can think of. Moreover, as a remake of a beloved, breezy '90s action classic, the film fares even worse. In reimagining the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze effort about stoner surfers trying to finance their endless summer, director-cinematographer Ericson Core (Invincible) and writer Kurt Wimmer (Total Recall) clearly think that bigger is better — and that's where their thinking stops. Core has actually toyed with this kind of material before, lensing the car-oriented riff that is The Fast and The Furious. But where that flick spawned a successful franchise, this rehash just peddles in tedium. Sure, he ramps up the stakes, stunts, locations and backstory, adds the requisite updates and throws in a few overt winks and nods (including one that Hot Fuzz did better). But he also strips the feature of its fun, thrills, humour and personality in the process. Indeed, never has there been a movie in greater need of Reeves saying "whoa", Swayze's oozing charm, or Gary Busey being Gary Busey than this choppy dip into been-there, done-that territory. Among the next gen performers, only Ramírez stands out. Aussie actor Bracey plays his role not just blankly but blandly, Ray Winstone phones in his turn as a London-based officer, and Teresa Palmer's love interest appears to exist purely to give someone female a speaking part. To say that this version of Point Break is a wipeout might be a cliché, but it's also the dull reality — and the film doesn't try to inspire anything more than that.
By now, it's an all-too-familiar story. Put the human ball of hilarity that is Kate McKinnon in a film and it instantly improves. It was true in Office Christmas Party, Rough Night and Masterminds, no matter how average, sometimes awful those movies ultimately were. It's true again in The Spy Who Dumped Me as well. Thankfully, however, the Saturday Night Live standout isn't a rare diamond this time around. McKinnon's latest action-comedy doesn't always hit the mark, but it entertains in both the action and comedy departments — complete with death by fondue, affairs with Edward Snowden and completely relatable gushing over Gillian Anderson. That said, even when she's declaring that Anderson's MI6 boss is "the Beyonce of the government", and delivering other one-liners and asides with gusto, McKinnon is only one half of The Spy Who Dumped Me's modest charms. Mila Kunis is the other, playing the straighter role against McKinnon's gloriously goofy energy. Together, they not only make an engaging comedic pair, but furnish a funny, mayhem-fuelled ode to female friendship. That's the film's secret weapon. Director Susanna Fogel doesn't just throw women into the usually male-dominated realm of big-screen espionage, and nor is she content to just laugh as ordinary folks get caught up in the spy world. Rather, she shows that her characters cope with their new outlandish life by relying on each other. It's a recognisable scenario, even when it isn't. Girl meets boy, they bond over beers and bad jukebox songs, and then settle into a comfortable relationship. A year later, grocery store cashier Audrey (Kunis) is suddenly dumped by text, and aspiring actress Morgan (McKinnon) is her trusty shoulder to cry on. What they don't know is that Audrey's ex, Drew (Justin Theroux), is a lethal CIA agent immersed in a globe-trotting plot. When they find out, it's courtesy of two fellow operatives (Sam Heughan and Hasan Minhaj), a hook-up gone wrong and a shower of gunfire — plus a promise to travel to Europe to finish Drew's mission. "Do you want to die having never been to Europe, or do you want to die having been to Europe?" Morgan asks. Hopping between Vienna, Prague, Paris and Berlin, Audrey and Morgan try to do what's right, work out who they can trust and, of course, not die even though they've now been to Europe. And they do it all amidst cafe shootouts, an eventful Uber ride, stealing from Australian tourists, chatting about Balzac and trying to outrun the icy Russian gymnast turned model turned assassin (Ivanna Sakhno) on their trail. Whether you're a seasoned spy flick fan or barely know your Bond from your Bourne, everything you expect to happen happens. Well, almost everything, with the Cirque du Soleil finale a zany surprise. But even when the film seems predictable (and stretches its material about 30 minutes too far), the hyper-violent set-pieces always come with a slice of humour, the gags always inspire at least giggles, and the movie knows it is wading through a sea of genre cliches. More than that, its love of its central duo remains. This might be Fogel's first foray into big, bouncy action, but it's telling that her only other film — 2014's Life Partners — spun a story of lifelong besties who find their relationship being tested. While espionage wasn't part of that flick, there's plenty that's universal about women grappling with life's challenges with a pal by their side. Here, co-writing the script with David Iserson (United States of Tara), Fogel never questions Audrey and Morgan's camaraderie. Rather, The Spy Who Dumped Me feeds off of the characters' connection, using it as a constant source of affection, affirmation and amusement throughout all of the chaos. There are the foreseeable high points and a few low points, and most of the movie falls firmly in the middle, but it always feels fitting: that's friendship, after all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URUVhRYJsgA
In recent years, Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art has played host to an array of weird and wonderful exhibits. The Hulk's giant bed, a real-life snowman and Patricia Piccinini's otherworldly field of not-quite-flowers have all graced the South Brisbane site's halls and walls, as have David Lynch's inimitable art and a recreation of a real-life riverbed. But between Saturday, November 28, 2020–Monday, April 26, 2021, the cultural institution is heading in a completely different direction. A gallery-wide celebration of motorcycles mightn't be the kind of thing you'd generally expect to find at GOMA; however, that's exactly what'll be on display. Called The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire, the Queensland-exclusive showcase explores the two-wheeled vehicle's enduring appeal — from the way it looks and how it has evolved over the years, to the way it's portrayed in popular culture and how it makes people feel. Obviously, the exhibition does so by displaying plenty of motorbikes. Sourced from public and private collections from around the world, more than 100 are riding into GOMA — with some dating back more than 150 years. That'd be the Perreaux steam-powered velocipede from 1871, which is the oldest-known motorbike on the planet. It's joined by a selection of the first Aussie built and designed motorcycles, including one made in Brisbane in 1906; record-breaking bikes, such as the land speed record-breaking 1951 Vincent Black Lightning; and a lineup of super-modern motorcycles that represent the vehicle's future. [caption id="attachment_798484" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Motorcycle - Design, Art, Desire; VIP Preview; GOMA Level 1[/caption] Honing in on the motorcycle's importance not just as a mode of transport, but as an ever-evolving machine, The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire also features interactive experiences — so prepare to virtually hop on a 50s Vespa and go riding in real-time through a themed landscape, or build and customise your own bike. And, because there are quite a few motorbike-related movies to choose from, GOMA's Australian Cinematheque is getting into the same gear so you can revved up while watching a film. In March, there's an Up Late program of after-hours parties, too. Installation view The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire 28 November 20 – 26 April 21 Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Photograph: Chloë Callistemon, QAGOMA
Get your fill of the best vegan food in town at the Vegan Day Out. Come March 10 and 11, The Cruelty Free Shop is putting together a walking tour of vegan cafes, restaurants and retailers, many of which will be offering discounts, deals and free samples to anyone who stops by. For Saturday and Sunday, socially conscious eaters can stop by The Cruelty Free Shop on Melbourne Street, and grab a map outlining their route. From there, it's all about making your way to to plant-based delights aplenty — and making a day (or two) of it. Whether you're a dyed-in-the-wool vegan or just curious to give it a go, you'll find a whole world of retailers catering to animal-free eating, offering meal deals, two-for-ones, coffee, wine tastings and savings on vegan groceries. The Cruelty Free Shop will also be running its own tastings throughout the day, as well as offering discounts on some of its 3000+ products.
When the eighth season of Game of Thrones finished its run a few months back, and the highly popular show along with it, everyone knew that it wasn't really the end. The world created by George RR Martin will live on in his books, whenever the author finally publishes the long-awaited next instalment of his A Song of Ice and Fire series. And, it'll keep going in multiple GoT TV prequels. Like residents of Westeros hoping that summer (or at least autumn) will last for ever, HBO isn't ready to let go of its highly successful commodity. In 2017, the US network announced that it was considering five different prequel ideas, green-lighting one to pilot stage in 2018. Now, it looks poised to give another series the go-ahead. Details about the first spinoff show are still relatively thin on the ground. Co-created by A Song of Ice and Fire author George RR Martin with British screenwriter Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the two Kingsman movies), it'll be set thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, with Naomi Watts, Miranda Richardson and John Simm among the cast. But, as The Hollywood Reporter reveals, the second potential series has a firm basis. Adapted from Martin's book Fire & Blood, it'll focus on House Targaryen. We all know what happened to GoT's last surviving Targaryens, aka Daenerys, her brother Viserys and her boyfriend/nephew Jon Snow. Fire & Blood jumps back before all that, to 300 years prior — with the first 738-page volume of the text, which was published in November 2018, starting with Aegon I Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms and working through the family's history from there. [caption id="attachment_721122" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] HBO.[/caption] Given Daenerys' affinity for dragons, and her relatives' fondness for using the fire-breathing beasts to wage wars and claim power (sound familiar?), they also play a part in the tale. Plus, Aegon I created the Iron Throne, which means that this is an origin story in more ways than one. Whether the Fire & Blood adaption will progress from a concept to a show is yet to be seen, but you don't have to be the Three-Eyed Raven to know that some of these prequel ideas will hit screens. Apparently two other ideas are also still under consideration — because, like winter, more GoT shenanigans are definitely coming. Via The Hollywood Reporter. Top image: Helen Sloan/HBO.
Forget everything you think you know about soft serve — ice cream served in a slice of watermelon is here to blow your mind. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like: instead of a crunchy cone, your ice cream comes in a crisp, cold wedge of watermelon. The combo — as well as ice cream dished up in something more traditional, if you'd prefer — has arrived in Brisbane thanks to Double Good, which operates at the Eat Street Markets from Friday to Sunday. If you're prone to wearing dark colours and making a mess of your food, it's the dripping dessert you've always dreamed of. If watermelon's not your thing, then switch it out for pineapple or coconut (which come served in their respective receptacles). Or try a charcoal-infused soft serve that actually tastes like coconut and comes served with Oreo cookies. Pair it with a Nutella and banana milkshake if you're feeling extra decadent, or the mix of waffle, doughnut, churro and multi-coloured soft serve that is their famous rainbow funnel cake.
Think fairytales are just for children? Think again. Most romance movies mightn't actually focus on a handsome prince or a downtrodden young woman with an evil stepmother, but they still take adult viewers into the realm of pure fantasy. In fact, in charting the blossoming bond between a rich former adrenaline junkie and a small town gal, Me Before You sticks closer to the storybook formula than most. Pumpkins don't turn into carriages here, but if they did, it wouldn't feel out of place. Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) is spirited away, metaphorically speaking, when she starts working as a carer for the wealthy Will Traynor (Sam Claflin), who was injured in a traffic accident two years prior and isn't coping with his quadriplegic state. A clash of classes and temperaments ensues, with the solemn Will happy to hide out in his parent's castle, and the cheerful Louisa sticking around purely to help support her family. It's only when he starts to open up, and she discovers just how miserable he is, that the pair start to form a connection. Whether you've already read Jojo Moyes' best-selling novel, or are coming into the story with no prior knowledge, where the film adaptation is headed is obvious from the get go. As scripted by the author herself and directed by first-time filmmaker Thea Sharrock, the big-screen version is as predictable as it sounds — with one complications. Here, it's not just Will's physical condition that adds difficulties, but his desire to end his own life. Unfortunately, combining fairy tale wish fulfilment with such a serious subject proves more than a little unsettling, and isn't helped by the movie's determination to approach everything in as simplistic a manner as possible. With the visuals given a soft, warm glow and the soundtrack littered with Ed Sheeran and Imagine Dragons, Me Before You takes the safe, easy option whenever it can. Touching upon a weighty issue might be designed to add a dose of reality to the otherwise fanciful narrative, but in practice it never feels like anything more than an excuse to ramp up the melodrama. That leaves the likeable Clarke and the less convincing Clafin with a tricky task, and one that they can't quite achieve. Though they boast enough chemistry as a couple, and the bubbly Clarke remains a delight to watch, their characters are about as believable as Cinderella and Prince Charming. In support, it's actually Janet McTeer and Charles Dance as Will's parents that fare best, and bring some much-needed nuance to the drama. Thanks to the latter's involvement, the highlight of the film is seeing Clarke share a few scenes with her former Game of Thrones co-star — which says a lot about the sub par tear-jerker in which they find themselves.
Sometimes, the simplest things are the best. That's always true about ramen, and it's definitely true about one of Brisbane's best ramen joints, which brings slurp-worthy serves of authentic Japanese noodle soups to a heap of Brisbane shopping centres. Don't let the food court locations turn you off — each outlet has its own Japanese vibe, including counter seating. And, if you're after the full experience, the chain's newest store in the Queen Street Mall is situated in its own downstairs digs. Plus, you'll forget all about the surroundings when your food arrives anyway (promptly, of course). Five char siu–laden options are available, including miso, shio and extra spicy. Served with complimentary takana (pickled mustard leaves), they're as good as the kinds you'll find down a random Tokyo alleyway.
There's almost nothing that's bold about Haunted Mansion, but making the Disney family-friendly horror-comedy about moving on from the past is downright audacious. What the film preaches, the company behind it isn't practising — with this specific movie or in general. This flick isn't the first that's based on the Mouse House's The Haunted Mansion theme-park attraction, thanks to a 2003 Eddie Murphy (You People)-starring feature. In 2021, the entertainment behemoth also combined the Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland highlight with The Muppets in streaming special Muppets Haunted Mansion. And, no matter how Haunted Mansion circa 2023 fares at the box office, there's no doubting that the idea will get another spin down the line. Nearly everything Disney does; this is the corporation that keeps remaking its animated hits as live-action pictures (see: The Little Mermaid), revelling in sequels even decades later (see: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), and getting franchises sprawling as films and TV shows alike (see: Marvel and Star Wars). Disney also adores stretching its well-known properties across as many parts of its business as possible, sometimes taking its movies and brands into its amusement parks — Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar have all received that treatment — and, of course, repeatedly doing the reverse. Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Tomorrowland, Tower of Terror, Mission to Mars, The Country Bears: they've all charted the path that Haunted Mansion has three times now. Accordingly, while grappling with and learning how to move forward from grief isn't an amusing topic, that letting go sits at the latest Haunted Mansion's centre is the funniest thing about the new film. The first word in the picture's moniker couldn't be more spot on — not just due to the ghosts that terrorise the titular home, but via the unnerving reality that this is another by-the-numbers entry in a long line of attempts to hero existing name recognition first, foremost and forever. When Dear White People and Bad Hair filmmaker Justin Simien begins his Haunted Mansion, it's with backstory that explains why astrophysicist Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield, Atlanta) is himself so unwilling to embrace the future. He meets Alyssa (Charity Jordan, They Cloned Tyrone), falls in love, then understandably falls apart when he's suddenly a widower — and, once he's consumed by mourning he's committed to staying that way. Then priest and exorcist Father Kent (Owen Wilson, Loki) ropes him into a gig at the movie's central abode, enlisting not just his help but the use of his specially developed camera that photographs dark matter and, ideally, spectres. The gadget was a labour of love for Alyssa, who worked as a ghost tour guide around New Orleans, a job that Ben has swapped science and the lab for after her passing. There's a difference between truly believing in the supernatural and wanting to feel connected to the person you love, however; Ben is in the second category. So, when he gets snapping to help Gracey Manor's new inhabitant Gabbie (Rosario Dawson, Ahsoka), a doctor who has just relocated with her son Travis (Chase W Dillon, The Harder They Fall), he's as sceptical as he can be and just in it for the hefty payday. Then, two things eventuate: he connects with the shy and introverted boy, who is treated like an outcast at school; and, no matter how much he tries, he can't leave the home's spirits behind. Cue a notion straight from Disney's IRL playbook: being unable to cut ties. In Ben's case, the only solution is taking the haunted mansion's eeriness seriously, discovering what's going on, and calling in psychic Harriet (Tiffany Haddish, The Afterparty) and college historian Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) to also lend a hand. Haunted Mansion's unspoken motto: if you're going to make a movie based on a theme-park favourite, you might as well make a theme park-style movie. So, something chaotic pops up around every corner, be it more nods to the feature's origins, more otherworldly bumps and jumps, more famous faces or more weak attempts at laughs. There's a bigger sense of experience to an amusement-park attraction, though, rather than just something happening, then something else, then another thing and so on as occurs here. Screenwriter Katie Dippold has one of the best-written — and best overall — sitcoms of the 21st century on her resume in Parks and Recreation, and also penned 2016's smart and funny female-led Ghostbusters, and yet her current script largely sticks to the rails. While there's emotional depth to Ben's journey, as well as to his bond with Travis, Haunted Mansion is rarely eager to veer there, preferring formulaic cursed-dwelling hijinks to sincerity everywhere it can. Still, viewers should be grateful for the film's casting — especially Stanfield. The Judas and the Black Messiah Academy Award-nominee brings his roaming, restless Atlanta energy, melancholy and charm to Ben, aiding the film in conjuring up what little weight it has. It's through him, in fact, that it's possible to see the shadows of a better movie that Haunted Mansion sadly isn't. Around Stanfield, the bulk of his colleagues appear to be having enough fun with each other, including Dan Levy (Schitt's Creek) and 2023 Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween Ends). That's another of Haunted Mansion's theme park-esque strategies: filling its frames with folks who look like they're enjoying themselves, even among an onslaught of stock-standard special effects that lengthen hallways, get people disappearing through walls and the like, in the hope that the vibe will be contagious. Alas, it sorely isn't. It's easy to want to spend time with Stanfield and co: Wilson could've just skipped through time from 1999's The Haunting, but makes it work; Haddish amps up the mood whenever it's needed; and playing a figure that everyone is trying to flee perfectly suits Jared Leto (Morbius), who gets malicious as The Hatbox Ghost. A few spooks and scares hit the mark as well, but too few in an over-long-and-feels-it 123-minute movie. There's another presence lingering over Haunted Mansion, however: the ghost of genuinely excellent all-ages efforts, some with chills and others more with thrills, that are still beloved from years gone by. When this lacklustre effort is the newest entry in the field, no one is quickly moving past prior classics that still hold up wonderfully, such as Gremlins and The Goonies in the 80s; The Addams Family and Addams Family Values in the 90s; The Witches in that same decade; and the animated efforts of Coraline, ParaNorman and Frankenweenie.
If the meaning of life exists in the sweaty, jam-packed confines of a music festival, then Terrence Malick wants to find it. Partially filmed at Austin's SXSW, Song to Song features the filmmaker's trademark swirling imagery as he searches for substance among the crowds, takes us backstage with the likes of Iggy Pop and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and serves up glimpses of several live performances. The writer-director's ninth feature roves through the city's music scene more generally, but its use of the fest couldn't sum up Malick's central question better. Amidst chaotic circumstances, how does one find beauty and love? Through whispered words (another typical Malick flourish), various characters speak of ebbs and flows, of dream-like experiences, and of emotions that don't always feel quite right. In one of the voiceover's most overt moments, Rooney Mara's Faye discusses her relationship with Ryan Gosling's BV, explaining, "we thought we could just roll and tumble, live from song to song, kiss to kiss." Yes, she's saddled with clumsily making use of the movie's title, but she's also describing its quest to understand the ups and downs of human existence. So it is that Faye falls for musician BV, with all the joy that romance can bring. Complicating matters, however, she also falls for her arrogant but well-connected producer boss Cook (Michael Fassbender), who starts working with BV. Cook also has an affair with a waitress, Rhonda (Natalie Portman), while BV becomes involved with Amanda (Cate Blanchett). As snippets of their lives fill the film, a number of other characters filter in and out – including Zoey (Bérénice Marlohe), with whom Faye has a dalliance; BV's flirtatious mother Judy (Linda Emond); and Rhonda's mum Miranda (Holly Hunter), among others. Accordingly, we watch as a bunch of rather attractive people live, love, fight, sing, play, dance and more. They go on holidays, attend parties, see gigs and roam around mansions — sometimes acting as though they belong, sometimes contemplating how lavish their surroundings and exploits are. Depicting their intermingling relationships is as much of a narrative as Malick is interested in providing. Instead, as he did with the thematically and visually similar To the Wonder and Knight of Cups (and The Tree of Life before that), he prefers to immerse audiences in his familiar style, encouraging them to get caught up in individual moments while pondering the bigger picture. The end product is intoxicating and heartfelt, with Malick's desire to convey the complexity of being alive evident in every frame. That said, it also proves his most indulgent film, as he lets his directorial tics and traits run rampant. The movie couldn't look more gorgeous thanks to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's floating, sun-dappled lensing, but it also couldn't lean more heavily on Malick's fondness for hushed voices and random shots of nature — motifs that will entrance some viewers and enrage others. His insistence on improvisation also results in inconsistent performances, with each actor shining at times while coming off stilted at others. Perhaps it's best to think of Song to Song in the same way you would an actual song; a track on Malick's broader cinematic album. Within the tune itself, some parts engage and others lag, but there's always a clear melody making its presence known. Some viewers may prefer his older stuff, and that's fine. If you're on the film's wavelength though, plenty of its beats and rhythms will strike a chord. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cTenw8uVSw
UPDATE, November 30, 2020: Upgrade is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Watching Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is quite the sight to behold. Forget the terrible name, which sounds like it belongs to a Mad Men ad agency rather than a person — with his convulsive moves, the mechanic turned quadriplegic turned killing machine is positively hypnotic. Filmed by writer-director Leigh Whannell in a style that's somehow both twitchy and fluid, Grey dispatches with his enemies with super-human ease, combining the cool efficiency of John Wick with the technological flair of RoboCop and The Terminator. Indeed, alongside the body horror cinema of David Cronenberg and the thrilling science-fiction of John Carpenter, it's easy to spot Upgrade's action and sci-fi influences. Played with grim-faced precision by Tom Hardy-lookalike Green, Grey is not someone you'd want to mess with. But the character's flying fists aren't completely under his own control. Paralysed after a self-driving car crash and a subsequent attack by vicious thugs, he's now the recipient of a brain implant that has re-enabled his limbs. Called STEM, it's an experimental advancement designed by a young tech wiz (Harrison Gilbertson) who seems like he's up to no good, even though he's claiming he wants to assist. The fact that the secret chip has a mind of its own — or, rather, a voice (Simon Maiden) that compels Grey to hunt down the gang that killed his wife (Melanie Vallejo) — doesn't help matters. Bone-crunching, blood-splattered revenge is a dish best-served with an AI sidekick in Upgrade. Although the concept might sound more tired than wired on paper, it makes for a sharp, sleek and savage wander into genre territory. Every element that initially seems worthy of an eye-roll — pre-accident, Grey is vocal about his hatred for all things digital, for example — soon raises a smile thanks to the film's pulpy execution. Weapons immeshed into the human body? A villain that sneezes computer chips? A man virtually talking to himself for the entire flick? It all works. And while Upgrade comes from the mind of someone who has seen everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner to Her and Ex Machina, Whannell has dreamed their various parts into his own new creation. There's a scene, part-way through the movie, that couldn't better encapsulate Upgrade's charms — or its savvy ability to combine its numerous sources of inspiration into an engaging vessel all of its own. It's not the most inventive of the film's many set pieces, but it makes a firm and fitting impression nonetheless. Grey awakens from an operating table, STEM freshly inserted into his spine, and Upgrade has an "it's alive!" moment. Riffing on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is hardly new — nor is taking cues from James Whale's 1931 film that brought the novel to the screen. And yet here, it really couldn't be more apt. Upgrade is a thoroughly 21st-century incarnation of the 200-year-old tale about a man reborn from cobbled-together parts, this time including both flesh and circuitry. It's also a movie put together in the same dice, splice, borrow and reuse fashion. Furthermore, Upgrade proves a much more effective use of Whannell's skills than the Insidious and Saw flicks, the two franchises that brought him to fame after initially reviewing movies on ABC TV's Recovery. Instead of serving up by-the-numbers gore and spooks, there's smarts behind this gleeful mashup of genre staples — not to mention passion, personality, a swift pace, a gorgeous red and grey colour palette, and slick yet gritty futuristic visuals. To be fair, Whannell wrote rather than directed most of his previous hits (and also co-stars in the Insidious films), with the underwhelming Insidious: Chapter 3 his only other credit behind the lens. You'd never guess that Upgrade sprang from the same person, which might just be the biggest compliment you could pay this entertainingly schlocky cyberpunk action-thriller. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEnRNIvEKu8
Our Flag Means Death might be no more, after the pirate rom-com was cancelled after two seasons, but getting giggling at Rhys Darby is still on the agenda. The New Zealand comedian has hardly been away from the screen for more than 15 years, ever since Flight of the Conchords became one of HBO's best-ever sitcoms, so he's been inspiring laughs for years. For the first time in nearly a decade, however, he's returning to the stand-up stage — and he's coming to Australia. Fans can expect gags about AI, robots, dads wearing tight jeans and more — and the mix of absurdity and insights that have always marked Darby's brand of comedy — when The Legend Returns tour plays Brisbane's Princess Theatre on Wednesday, April 30. [caption id="attachment_915747" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Our Flag Means Death, Nicola Dove[/caption] Between calling band meetings on Flight of the Conchords and finding love while swashbuckling on Our Flag Means Death, his career has spanned everything from The X-Files, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Wellington Paranormal to Sweet Tooth, SpongeBob SquarePants and Monsters at Work on the small screen. On the big screen, Darby has also been a frequent presence, thanks to The Boat That Rocked, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level, Uproar, Next Goal Wins and plenty more. [caption id="attachment_980410" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gage Skidmore via Flickr[/caption]
