Not content with hosting the Brisbane Comedy Festival, queer culture fest Melt, and a jam-packed calendar of other events all year every year — and just adding a new outdoor venue, too — Brisbane Powerhouse is gifting music and art fans a brand-new boundary-pushing celebration of sound, tunes and performance. Meet ΩHM (pronounced "ohm"), a fresh venture that's all about getting adventurous. The New Farm venue has dubbed the event a "festival of other music", with a growing lineup that includes Peaches, Future Islands and Hear My Eyes doing Pan's Labyrinth to back up that statement. Across February and March 2023, ΩHM will take over the riverside spot with a program curated by Room40's Lawrence English alongside Brisbane Powerhouse Arts Program Director Brad Spolding, serving up a mix of big-name international headliners and emerging local acts — and gigs, cutting-edge shows and immersive installations. Peaches does the honours while she's in the country for Mona Foma, and Future Islands hits the fest as part of their first Aussie tour since 2017. Those two impressive headliners are part of ΩHM's previously announced first lineup drop, which also spans Monolake + Electric Indigo and The Chills, as well as Kae Tempest, Nakhane and black midi. There's more where that list of acts came from, too, with ΩHM turning its second program announcement into its big launch. Just announced today, Tuesday, November 29, ΩHM is screening Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth like viewers have never seen it before — with a brand-new live score by Sleep D. This premiere performance marks Hear My Eyes' return to Brisbane, and continues its spate of stunning film-and-music combos (see: its take on Chopper in 2022 in Sydney and Melbourne, plus past tours of No Country for Old Men with Tropical F*ck Storm and Suspiria with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard). Also joining the bill are audiovisual artist Robin Fox, Los Angeles-based composer Yann Novak and Iranian sound artist mHz, who'll serve up a triple bill of audiovisual performances. ΩHM will host the Australian premiere of Fox's Triptych straight from UNSOUND KRAKOW, featuring three RGB laser projectors working in synchronicity. If you've seen his past works — Night Sky for Brisbane Festival, Aqua Luma for Mona Foma 2021, BEACON for Mona Foma 2022 and MONOCHORD for Rising Festival 2022, for instance — you'll know you're in for something special. As for Novak, he'll be using sound and light to explore how both can focus one's awareness on their experiences, as informed by his partial colour blindness and dyslexia. And, New Zealand-based Iranian sound artist mHz will take inspiration from material and architecture to hone in on sound and light production. [caption id="attachment_880277" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Robin Fox, Single Origin, Diego Figueroa.[/caption] Also, Swiss artist Zimoun will present two installations, both Australian premieres and exclusive to Brisbane. His ΩHM berth marks his debut exhibiting to Aussie audiences in general, and will showcase his work with everyday and industrial materials to mix sound and architecture. "Works like Zimoun's kinetic sound sculptures, Robin Fox's expansive audiovisual laser environments and Hear My Eyes: Pan's Labyrinth x Sleep D exist at a special nexus of sight, sound and space," said English, announcing ΩHM's new additions. "These dynamic pieces capture intensity and energy matched with a fearless sense of focus. The works are simply mind-blowing." ΩHM runs throughout February and March at Brisbane Powerhouse, 119 Lamington Street, New Farm. For more information and to buy tickets, head to the Powerhouse website. Top image: Hadley Hudson.
In the '50s and '60s, Sun Records' name proved rather appropriate. Everything shone brightly at the little label from Memphis, Tennessee, which boasted some of music's biggest names on its roster. Think Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison — and yes, that's just the beginning. Indeed, Sun's founder Sam Phillips had a knack for spotting talent and the stories to prove it, with both informing Sun Rising – The Songs That Made Memphis. In fact, there are so many tales and tunes at the heart of this rock 'n' roll cabaret that you're not just seeing a show — you're getting a musical history lesson. This is one of our five top picks from this year's Queensland Cabaret Festival. Read the full list.
If there's one thing that 2020 could use to help distract us from the year's struggles, it's a big dose of rampaging, ravenous dinosaurs. That's the Jurassic Park franchise's remit, of course, and while it won't release its latest live-action big-screen outing until 2021, the series is expanding to Netflix via an animated show. Yes, when it comes to an island filled with dinosaurs, humanity just won't learn. Since Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park hit bookstores in 1990, spawning not only Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster film, but two direct sequels and the recent Jurassic World movies, people just keep clamouring to share the same landmass as re-animated prehistoric beasts. That remains the case in Netflix's Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, which links in with the events of 2015's initial Jurassic World flick — and to the franchise's familiar setting, Isla Nublar. This time, six teenagers have been chosen to attend a new adventure camp on the other side of the remote deathtrap. If you've seen the movie, you already know that the dinos break loose, because of course they do. That leaves the plucky youths fighting to survive. As for what happens next (hint: it'll involve stampeding beasts and fleeing humans), you'll find that out when Camp Cretaceous hits the streaming platform on September 18. Executive produced by Spielberg — as well as Jurassic World executive producer Frank Marshall, plus two-time series director Colin Trevorrow — the show is aimed to help fill the gap until Jurassic World: Dominion film releases in 2021. You're probably already excited about that movie, given that it brings back Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum; however no one is going to complain about more excuses to watch out-of-control dinosaurs. Camp Cretaceous forms part of Netflix's family slate, so you can probably expect less scares than usual — although the official teaser below is a little creepy. And as for who is voicing Camp Cretaceous' characters, the cast includes Paul-Mikél Williams, Jenna Ortega, Ryan Potter, Raini Rodriguez, Sean Giambrone and Kausar Mohammed as the campers — as well as The Good Place's Jameela Jamil and Set It Up's Glen Powell as camp counsellors. Check out the official teaser trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKJwbsx1BSc Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous will hit Netflix on September 18, 2020.
All of the burger goodness, none of the meat: since opening in South Brisbane in 2019, that's been the Grassfed equation. Sadly, Brisbanites keen on a plant-based burg won't be heading to Fish Lane for much longer, with the beloved eatery announcing the worst kind of news: after more than four-and-a-half years on the stretch between Grey and Manning streets, it's closing down. On Instagram, the Grassfed team said that it will stop trading on Sunday, September 24 — and thanked burger lovers for their patronage over the years. "A huge thank you for your incredible support and the happy memories you have given us. You'll see more soppy posts from us as we draw nearer to our closing date," the Grassfed advised. Initially opening as a collaboration between ex-Urbane chef Alejandro Cancino and Brisbane Vegan Markets' Jonny Garrison, Grassfed gave Fish Lane a vegan burger bar that takes the meat out of everyone's favourite bread-based meal, but keeps plenty of flavour. Think: mock pork, chicken and beef, as well as stacked veggie burgs, plant-based sides, beers, vegan shakes topped with soy spray cream and vegan ice cream. Specific menu highlights include the katsu Japanese curry burger, which comes with its own pot of curry sauce (whether you dip your burger in it or pour the sauce on top is up to you). Among the specials, the nachos burger does indeed include tortilla chips on a bun. Or, there's the loaded Biscoff sundae as made with I Should Coco coconut soft serve, Biscoff biscuits, Biscoff spread and Biscoff sauce. Before Grassfed shuts its doors, it's doing price specials on select days, such as $6 and $7 burgs — depending on the type of burg — on some Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Keep an eye on its Instagram feed for the details. Known not just for its regular menu but also for its limited-time burgers, Grassfed is bringing back some of the latter before it says goodbye, such as its prawn burger Here's hoping that Grassfed will keep up its market presence after its South Brisbane bricks-and-mortar spot shuts up shop, given that it has proven a big favourite among the stalls as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Grass Fed Plantbased (@grassfedplantbased) Find Grassfed at 67 Fish Lane, South Brisbane, until Sunday, September 24 — trading from 11.30am–2.30pm and 5–9pm Monday–Friday and 11.30am–9pm Saturday–Sunday.
Australians, it's finally time to drop it like it's hot again — because Snoop Dogg is coming back to our shores. For the first time since 2014, the rapper is hitting stages Down Under as part of this new 'I Wanna Thank Me' tour, which'll be playing arenas in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide in February and March 2023. If this sounds familiar, that's because this tour was initially due to happen in 2022, only to be postponed. Now, Snoop Dogg has locked in the rescheduled dates, complete with extra shows in both Sydney and Melbourne — and adding Adelaide to his tour itinerary. Clearly, fans of the musician/actor/cook book author/wrestling MC/wine brand owner will be breaking out the gin and juice as he raps his way through the RAC Arena, Qudos Bank Arena, Rod Laver Arena, Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Snoop will also be inspiring hip hop aficionados to be the life of the party and, if you can remember his time as Snoop Doggy Dog and Snoop Lion across his career, to ask about his name as well. Yes, you can expect to hear singles such as 'What's My Name?', 'Gin and Juice', 'Drop It Like It's Hot' and 'Snoop's Upside Ya Head', as well as tracks from his last few albums — with his 17th record from 2019, I Wanna Thank Me, sharing its moniker with the tour. Since then, he's also dropped two more albums: From tha Streets 2 tha Suites in 2021 and BODR in 2022, with another, Missionary, also in the works. SNOOP DOGG 'I WANNA THANK ME' 2023 AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES Monday, February 27 — RAC Arena, Perth Wednesday, March 1–Thursday, March 2 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Saturday, March 4–Sunday, March 5 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Tuesday, March 7 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Wednesday, March 8 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide Snoop Dogg is touring Australia in February and March 2023 — visit the tour website for tickets and further details.
The space at 22 Wyandra Street in Newstead was never going to stay closed for long. While Carl's Bar and Bistro shut its doors at the address back in September 2022, the City Winery crew has been busy filling the venue with new ventures. First came a seasonal bar and bottle shop over the holiday period, and now Ardo's is making the spot its own for the long haul. City Winery is behind Carl's, too, which initially opened to give the team an outlet before its Wandoo Street flagship in Fortitude Valley launched. When it was announced that Carl's was moving to a yet-to-be-revealed new location, it company also advised that something different would make the most of the popular Wyandra Street berth — and now Brisbanites can check out the end result. Ardo's is a neighbourhood wine bar and bottle shop, so patrons can peruse its curated range of vino while getting sipping onsite over pintxos, cheese and charcuterie — or pick up their favourite tipple or a new discovery to take away. Offering a selection that you wouldn't just find at any bottle-o is a big source of pride, with Ardo's staff on-hand to chat you through its drops, help you make a pick and impart their expert knowledge. "Our wine selection showcases the rising stars and pioneers of the minimal-intervention wine movement in Australia plus a small selection of European options to showcase the benchmarks," says Ardo's Operations Manager and Wine Guide Luke Reimers. "It's a really bespoke offering that we think brings something unique to the community," he continued. [caption id="attachment_883133" align="alignnone" width="1920"] City Winery's seasonal pop-up at Wyandra Street.[/caption] Open for after-work drinks Tuesday–Friday and from lunch onwards on weekends, the venue does wines by the glass and the bottle to enjoy while you're settling in. The lineup rotates, but everything you see on the shelf can be drunk onsite or taken away. As you're getting cosy, you'll be surrounded by vino all across the walls, a wine tap that looks like an altar, and neutral colours aplenty amid feature pink stone. The food menu is all about being communal, with bar snacks inspired by pintxos — so bites to be washed down with a glass or several. Currently available, although this lineup also rotates based on availability and the seasons: baby beet and goat's cheese tartlets, blue cheese mousse with baby fig on sourdough, smoked salmon mousse with crispy capers and salmon skin on brioche, and both mini lemon meringue and Mississippi mud pies. "It's that classic afternoon session — you get a glass of wine and there's a selection of food at the bar and you pay per piece. It's all very relaxed, and then you have takeaways available to take home or out to dinner afterwards," says General Manager Doug Gilmour. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ardo's (@ardoswine) Find Ardo's Wine Bar at 22 Wyandra Street, Newstead — open from 3pm Tuesday–Friday and from 12pm Saturday–Sunday. Head to the venue's booking page for reservations.
In these music-mad movie times, the following scene has become a familiar big-screen sight. Loitering backstage, the camera spies a talented, charismatic star. It catches a quick glimpse of its chosen figure in an unguarded moment, then charts their footsteps as they burst out the door, into a cavernous room, auditorium or arena. They're greeted by an adoring, screaming, near-ecstatic crowd — and when the person in the spotlight is doing what they do best, they're simply magic, with everything else seeming unimportant. This has proven true whether the real-life Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston have been behind the microphone in recent documentaries, or whether Rami Malek is strutting his stuff as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. In Mystify: Michael Hutchence's opening minutes, we see the same thing from the eponymous Aussie rocker and INXS frontman. Before he was dead at 37, Hutchence knew how to flash a cheeky smile when no one else was looking. With thousands of people staring back at him, he knew how to keep an audience hanging off of his every word. Alas, even when he was dripping raw charm in the middle of a gig, he knew how to hide a world of sorrow behind his grin as well. After Mystify's recognisable introduction, there's much in this passionate and intimate documentary that also feels familiar. Movies comprised of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage about troubled famous faces often unravel in a similar fashion, and accounts of music superstars who've died before their times tend to take a comparable path, too. If the increasing prevalence of such films, mirroring the increasing body count, isn't reason enough for society to rethink our celebrity worship and eager celebration of a sex 'n' drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll lifestyle, then nothing ever will be. Of course, that's a much bigger concern. In these tragic true tales, the home video, media interview and live performance clips obviously vary. While the broad strokes remain the same, the intricate minutiae also remains unique. Falling somewhere between sincere tribute and warts-and-all snapshot, these gone-but-not-forgotten portraits tend to ape their subjects, which Mystify does to an impressive degree. It's tender, thoughtful, energetic and electrifying, even when it's breaking your heart. Indeed, just like Hutchence himself, Richard Lowenstein's film about the singer's rise and fall has its own distinctive spark. More than two decades after his death, which was ruled a suicide by hanging, the rockstar is alive again in the movie. Naturally, it helps that the Australian filmmaker knew Hutchence personally. Not only did Lowenstein direct more than 15 of INXS' music videos throughout the 80s and 90s, but he gave the vocalist his first acting role in Dogs In Space. It also helps that Hutchence's nearest and dearest lend their frank, unfettered recollections to the doco — all unfurling as emotional snippets of voiceover laid over the archival visuals, rather than through talking heads. Although they're never seen on screen, except in old footage, the interviewee list spans siblings, family members, childhood pals, INXS bandmates, lifelong friends, staff, celebs such as Bono, and girlfriends including Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen. What truly shapes Mystify, however, is that so much of the movie involves peering intently at its main man, and seeing what he did and didn't want everyone to see. First he's a shy yet lively kid growing up in a difficult household. Then he's a teenager drawn into the band because that's what his mates were doing. Later he's one of the biggest rock gods on the planet. Finally, he's someone understandably struggling with the trappings of fame — and coping however he can, frequently with the help of illicit substances. His eyes genuinely are the window to his soul, and to the documentary's. That's the case when Hutchence is gleaming excitedly while surveying a mass of people at the 1983 US Festival in California, and exclaiming "fucking hell" with a distinctive Australian drawl. It still applies when he's in speedos with Kylie on a boat in the middle of Hong Kong harbour, or beaming excitedly while sitting next to her on a cross-continental European train trip. And it's the same when he's looking far too sorrowful in his later years in Britain, as the tabloid scrutiny over his relationship with Paula Yates, and its role in breaking up her marriage to Bob Geldolf, reaches fever pitch. The revelations come and go, sometimes emanating from the screen in Hutchence's silent gaze, sometimes echoing in shared tidbits from Mystify's long list of candid discussions. The expected soundtrack weaves in and out as well, with the film equally pulsating with many of INXS' huge tunes — 'Never Tear Us Apart', 'What You Need' and 'Bitter Tears' among them — and taking time to dwell on the man Hutchence was beyond the music. If performing on-stage is a dance, and if navigating stardom is one too, then the metaphorical jig continues in Lowenstein's documentary. With finessed editing, plus an evocative sense of pace and tone, this is a fluid and insightful piece of cinema that finds the most effective, involving and moving way to relay its well-known story. Hutchence's plight will never be overlooked in Australia, where his songs will always remain beloved hits (and will always be pumping on a classic rock radio station somewhere). What Mystify ensures is that not only will his highs and lows always be remembered, but also his innate, unshakable allure when he was just being himself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRIFR3hkIpo
Golf courses have always tried to mimic the natural: undulating hills, thick forests, deep water and unforgiving sand. It's been a trend of recent years to flip this, instead opting for the unusual: whether that be the lush greens and rolling sand dunes of Dubai's desert golf, the foreboding doom presented by a recently dormant volcano at Lanzarote or the thrill (chill?) of ice golf in Uummannaq in Greenland. So we really shouldn't be surprised to discover a recent venture from Troon Golf and Dutch Docklands to create an 18-hole floating golf course in the Maldives, should we? A series of man-made floating platforms containing a number of holes each will be linked together by underwater tunnels. Although seemingly an exercise in extravagance, it is not without conscience. The project will be entirely carbon neutral, using solar energy, sustainable desalination and water cooling technology. The Maldives approval of the project is more than just a cash grab. With rising sea levels, precipitated by climate change, predicted to submerge a series of the Maldives islands, the government is looking offshore for solutions. President Mahamed Nasheed is even looking to purchase new land in other countries to house his people. The verdict is still out on the project, drawing out such loaded terms as 'obscene' and 'indulgent' but also 'responsible' and 'socially inclusive'.
Lapalux aka Stuart Howard is from Essex. If you’ve ever watched The Only Way is Essex you will get that this is kind of amazing, sort of like how Iggy Azalea came out of the rolling acres of Mullumbimby in regional NSW. The 25-year-old electronic music prodigy is currently the only British artist to be signed to the LA-based label Brainfeeder, the result of a spontaneous email by Howard that was returned with a personal response from Flying Lotus himself. So I guess Lapalux is kind of like electronic music’s answer to the self made YouTube success story of Justin Bieber? He has the beautiful bone structure and serious swagu to further substantiate the comparison. Lapalux will be supported by Wintercoats, Motion Picture Actress and Charles Murdoch. Tickets are available through Silo Arts.
A new, family-run distillery in Byron Bay is committed to two important missions. The first is to bring you an outstanding gin, made with native rainforest botanicals under the watchful eye of master distiller Jim McEwan. The second is to regenerate the rainforest that provides these very ingredients. For you, this is a win-win situation. You get to sit back and linger over a world-class drop, while doing your bit for the environment. And, even more exciting is that the distillery's first release was made possible thanks to crowdfunding dollars raised via Pozible. Cape Byron Distillery's home is a family property in Byron Bay's hinterland. It's where co-founder Eddie Brook grew up and where his parents, Pam and Martin, have been regenerating rainforest for years. "[The land] used to be part of a giant rainforest that stretched from Lismore in the south, past Byron Bay, up to the Nightcap Ranges. Today there is less than one percent of that rainforest left," Martin says. A few years ago, Eddie, who's worked in alcohol and hospitality all his life, ran a sold-out Australian whisky tour starring Jim McEwan. The two got chatting about the Brook's passion for rainforest and came up with the idea of creating a rainforest-infused gin. "I'd idolised Jim McEwan. I learned about whisky, watching his YouTube videos," Eddie says. "It was amazing to develop a friendship with him." Fast forward to 2016. McEwan and Eddie have a built a distillery and – after numerous trials and tastings – put their first bottle on the market. It's a signature gin called Brookie's Byron Dry Gin. "We're passionate about creating products that really represent our area," Eddie says. "We used 18 native botanicals, including Davidson plum, aniseed myrtle and cinnamon myrtle. They're not just native to Australia, but to the Northern Rivers region." A percentage of profits from every sale goes to rainforest regeneration efforts, as well as to Big Scrub Landcare. Eddie describes it as a "great foundation", which is "protecting remnants of rainforest ... bringing corridors back to life". Brookie's Byron Dry Gin is currently available in and around Byron Bay. For online orders, go mybottleshop.com. UPDATE 25 JULY 2017: Cape Byron Distillery has just opened up its doors for public tours every Friday and Saturday. It includes a gin tasting of Brookie's two gins, a G&T and a tour of the surrounding rainforest. Tours cost $35 and can be booked here.
Home to raindrop cakes, Nutella gyoza and salted caramel gyoza, Harajuku Gyoza clearly likes getting creative with its menu. The chain is fond of trying out new things with its dumpling range in particular, as its experiments with mac 'n' cheese, pepperoni pizza and marshmallow versions have demonstrated. But mixing things up isn't only about stuffing gyoza with different kinds of ingredients. That's all well and good — and tasty — but the Australian brand likes to get creative elsewhere, too. Now on the chain's winter menu: charcoal karaage chicken fondue. All of those words really do describe exactly what you'll be eating, so get ready to dip charcoal-coated bite-sized pieces of karaage chicken into a hot pot of oh-so-gooey cheese. If your stomach isn't already rumbling, it really should be. Just how long the new addition to the menu will be hanging around for your dipping pleasure hasn't yet been revealed, but a serving will cost you $14. And if you fancy pairing the new charcoal karaage chicken fondue with any of the chain's other inventive dishes — or after devouring cheeseburger gyoza, which is stuffed with burger pieces, aged cheddar, onion, pickles, mustard and tomato sauce; and mozzarella gyoza, which is filled with the obvious, then deep-fried and sprinkled with Twisties salt — that's up to you. Harajuku Gyoza's charcoal karaage chicken fondue is now available at all Australian stores — at Darling Harbour in Sydney; at South Bank and the CBD in Brisbane; and in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.
In this age of seemingly endless streaming platforms — with newcomers vying for your eyeballs every week, or so it seems — there's never a shortage of things to watch. New movies hit the likes of Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ and DocPlay all the time, as well as the plethora of other online viewing services, all ready to be watched and enjoyed by your ravenous eyeballs. With such an ongoing onslaught of content fighting for everyone's attention, it's easy to miss the highlights. Or, to put a new film in your queue, then keep watching Tiger King and completely forget all about it. To help, we round up the best streaming highlights each and every month. But, in case you've missed any of our movie picks, we've also compiled a list of the standout flicks we've recommended over the past year that are still available for you to stream — and are well worth your attention — this very moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTfJp2Ts9X8 UNCUT GEMS The best film of 2020, based on Australian release dates, might only screen on Netflix on our shores. That might seem a big call, but the anxiety-dripping, riveting Uncut Gems is a stone-cold masterpiece, complete with one of the greatest performances of Adam Sandler's career (alongside Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)). Far, far removed from his Netflix comedies of late, the actor is all hustle and bustle as Jewish American diamond-district jeweller Howard Ratner. A compulsive gambler who is deeply in debt, about to get divorced and being shaken down by a loan shark (Eric Bogosian) he's related to by marriage, he's always trying to lure in high-profile clientele. When he comes into possession of a rare black opal — the uncut gem of the title — basketballer Kevin Garnett becomes interested, sparking a wild chain of events. Writer/directors Josh and Benny Safdie last worked their gritty, vivid and relentlessly tense magic with the Robert Pattinson-starring Good Time to exhilarating and mesmerising effect, and this uncompromisingly chaotic thriller and all-round exceptional character study is even better. Uncut Gems is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul5GFfMAvtg THE REPORT One of 2019's late highlights is based on a US Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. No, that's not a sentence that comes up very often. Directed by Contagion, Side Effects and The Laundromat screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, The Report recreates the experiences of real-life Senate staffer Daniel Jones, who, from 2009–2015, delved into the scandalous treatment of terrorist suspects by America's key intelligence agency. It mightn't sound riveting on the page, but as Jones dives deeper into a dark part of recent American history, weathers hefty opposition and dedicates himself to ascertaining the truth, The Report makes for gripping viewing. Adam Driver serves up his latest stellar performance as the committed investigator and, while the film belongs to its star and its subject matter, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall and Corey Stoll also leave an imprint. The Report is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9YEKRJ4TA4 I LOST MY BODY Forget the latest version of The Addams Family — the best movie to feature a detached hand scrambling around on its own five fingers is French animation I Lost My Body. A deserved winner of the Critics' Week Grand Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Jérémy Clapin's rich and textured picture adapts a novel by Amelie screenwriter Guillaume Laurant's and intertwines two narrative threads. Imbued with a bittersweet mood, the film charts the efforts of pizza delivery pizza Naofel (Hakim Faris) to earn the attention of young librarian Gabrielle (Victoire Du Bois), while also following the exploits of the aforementioned autonomous appendage as it roams around town. The imagery, including visuals framed from the hand's perspective, is sumptuous. The emotional journey, complete with thrills, spills and ample melancholy, finds the balance between whimsical and weighty. Poetic, ruminative and entertaining, this is the best animated movie of the year. I Lost My Body is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td0oBCWO_I4 THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE Talk about perfect casting. If you're going to make a movie about a meek, mild-mannered accountant who spends the bulk of his time alone, doesn't fit in with his frat boy co-workers and is struggling to cope with being violently attacked — and you're making a black comedy that firmly and sharply skewers toxic masculinity, too — then you want Jesse Eisenberg as your lead. Drawing upon experience in the likes of The Social Network and the Zombieland films, he's pitch-perfect as the aforementioned Casey, including when he seems to find solace in the teachings and classes of a local karate dojo. Also starring Imogen Poots (Eisenberg's co-star in Vivarium), and written and directed by filmmaker Riley Stearns (Faults), this smart blend of satire, statement and thrills never makes the obvious choice; however it does drum up plenty of laughs. The Art of Self-Defense is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JLUn2DFW4w EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE Six years after he was last seen driving off into the night, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) finally made a comeback. That's how long it was for Breaking Bad fans; however, for the character, absolutely no time passed. Picking up where the show's grim finale left off, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie explores what comes next for Walter White (Bryan Cranston)'s former meth-cooking partner. The cops are on his trail, but Skinny Pete (Charles Barker) and Badger (Matt Jones) are on hand to help. As Jesse tries to find a way forward, plenty of flashbacks also flesh out and reshape his story. While El Camino might be superfluous — Jesse didn't really need this lap of honour, and viewers didn't really need such a definitive conclusion — it's still an immense pleasure to return to the Breaking Bad realm, especially with series creator Vince Gilligan at the helm. Of course, Better Call Saul has been letting audiences do that since 2015, but every BB aficionado has a soft spot for Jesse, his love of saying "yo", and his fondness for science and magnets. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHBcWHY9lN4 ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE It's a little unfair to say that Always Be My Maybe is worth watching for Keanu Reeves. He's not the film's star, with those honours going to writers and comedians Ali Wong and Randall Park; however, he's an unmissable force of nature not only playing the man who could thwart the movie's central romance, but also playing a heightened, exaggerated, ultra sensual version of himself. Yes, it's as glorious as it sounds. Always Be My Maybe is never as entertainingly chaotic when Reeves isn't around, but it's a charming, topical rom-com from start to finish, albeit one that hits familiar genre beats. A little charisma goes a long way, however, and Wong and Park (and Reeves, obviously) have it in spades in a movie that also marks the film directorial debut of Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23's Nahnatchka Khan. Always Be My Maybe is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMfyueM-ZBQ TOGO As moving a dog-focused movie as you're ever likely to see, Togo tells an extraordinary true tale. You might've already heard of Balto, the sled dog who came to fame for running 53 miles in a snow storm to help fetch diphtheria anti-toxin for a small Alaskan town back in 1925. That canine is clearly a hero — but another Siberian Husky named Togo actually led the pack that ran the bulk of the distance, covering a huge 260 miles over ice and snow. So, this heartfelt and action-packed movie tells the latter's story. Starring Willem Dafoe as his owner Leonhard Seppala, it's endearing from start to finish. In earnest mode, Dafoe is typically excellent, while the cute pooch acting is first-rate as well. And while director Ericson Core did a terrible job of 2015's needless Point Break remake, he does exactly what he needs to here. Togo is available to stream via Disney+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q57D6kF5B1k THE PERFECTION With Get Out and now The Perfection, Allison Williams appears to have an on-screen type, playing ambitious women who'll do whatever it takes to get what they want, including getting their hands dirty. But this Netflix horror film doesn't just throw the Girls star into familiar territory and ask her to follow in her own footsteps, even if that's how it initially seems. Williams plays cello prodigy Charlotte Willmore, who, after her career is cut short, befriends her replacement Lizzie (Logan Browning) during a trip to China. Where the narrative twists and turns from there is best discovered by watching, but filmmaker Richard Shepard has made a feistily immersive genre piece with thrills, body horror and a timely statement. The Perfection is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Vm_Awe3bw MINDING THE GAP When Free Solo took out this year's Academy Award for Best Documentary, it was a thoroughly deserving winner, as anyone who's sweated through the true rock-climbing tale can attest. If the trophy had been handed to Minding the Gap instead, however, the Oscars wouldn't have made a mistake. Directed by Bing Liu and also featuring the filmmaker on-screen, this intimate doco steps into the lives of three Illinois residents as they cope with life's stresses, endeavour to find solace in skateboarding, and wrestle with society's expectations of them as young men. While every kickflip and ollie looks and feels equally raw and astonishing, the action footage has nothing on the film's real rollercoaster ride: the film's three subjects and their stories of domestic and substance abuse, living on the margins, and trying to navigate both economic and racial oppression. Minding the Gap is available to stream via DocPlay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEoJuTRZDjk EARTHQUAKE BIRD After exploring the life of writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in last year's Keira Knightley-starring biopic Colette, British writer/director Wash Westmoreland jumps from late 19th- and early 20th-century France to Tokyo circa 1989. That's where Swedish expat Lucy Fly (Alicia Vikander) lives, works and starts to date Japanese photographer Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi). And, with the film framed through a police interrogation, that's where she also becomes a suspect in a missing persons case that could also be a murder. Based on Susanna Jones' 2001 novel of the same name, Earthquake Bird charts the fallout after American Lily Bridges (Riley Keough) arrives in town, befriends Lucy and then disappears — after getting close to Teiji. The film takes its time to solve its central mystery, but that patient approach comes packaged with sumptuous visuals, appropriately contrasting portrayals by its female stars (Vikander is icy and restrained, Keough is lively and vibrant), and a considerable command over its slow-burn thrills and tension. Earthquake Bird is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQm70Q9hKI GUAVA ISLAND Last year, when Coachella hit, Donald Glover delivered audiences everywhere a treat — whether you were at the Californian festival or not. The artist also known as Childish Gambino teamed up with his Atlanta director Hiro Murai, his screenwriter brother Stephen Glover, Black Panther's Letitia Wright, Game of Thrones' Nonso Anozie and, oh, none other than Rihanna, for a new film called Guava Island. Filled with Glover's music (naturally), it premiered at a specially built theatre at the fest to tie in with Glover's headlining set, and it's also available to stream via Amazon's streaming platform. The thoughtful and delightful film follows Deni Maroon (Glover), a Cuban musician trying to put on a festival on the titular island, all while battling his tyrannical employer. Guava Island is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT4bnfULz2s THE KING Since he came to widespread fame in Call Me By Your Name, Timothée Chalamet has become cinematic royalty. In The King, he embraces that status. Stepping into both historical and Shakespearean territory, he plays Hal, aka King Henry V, in a slow-building but astute drama based on the Bard's Henriad plays. Perfectly content never to take 15th-century England's top job, Hal nonetheless finds himself donning the crown — and, thanks to a war with France, following in his father's (Ben Mendelsohn) footsteps in more ways than one. Directed by Australian filmmaker David Michod and co-written with his Animal Kingdom star Joel Edgerton, The King plays up the internal and external conflict, tones down the language and, when it comes to political manoeuvring, finds much to muse on. Michod and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw particularly revel in the film's battle scenes, while, cast-wise, the sight of Chalamet facing off against a long-haired, French-accented, almost-comedic Robert Pattinson is the stuff that the internet's dreams are made of. Edgerton, Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible – Fallout ), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace) and Lily-Rose Depp all also make an impact. The King is available to stream via Netflix.
Back in the ‘90s, Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross may have told us that the best things in life are free, but is the best comedy? You be the judge at The Pineapple Club, Brisbane Comedy Festival’s ode to improvisation and all-round place to hang out on Friday and Saturday evenings. Every weekend, the quick thinkers of ImproMafia come together for a retro-style show — and yes, it won’t cost you a cent to attend. Games, songs, quizzes and more will be on offer, including cans of pineapple. That’s the prize for being a good sport, joining in the fun and embracing that essential part of improv shows: audience participation. Fridays and Saturdays at 7.45pm at the Comedy Channel Laughter Lounge.
Don't sweat it. Just don't. That's a great sentiment, but putting it into action isn't always so easy. Humanity has long wanted to care less about all of the things that really don't matter, including since before self-help was a book genre — and since before there were books. Nothing else has quite summed up that concept quite like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, though, even just in its title. It sits among a seemingly endless array of texts about living your best life and forgetting pointless strife, but Mark Manson's 2016 hit perfectly captured the idea that we should all devote less attention to matters that simply aren't worth it. First came the book. Then came the film version of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Since Manson's famous tome hit shelves, he's also popped up to chat about it and offer his brutally honest self-help advice — and he's returning Down Under in November 2024 to do exactly that again. Consider heading along to this The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck live tour as the next step in pursuing the ultimate goal: giving less fucks. More than 20-million copies of the book have been sold, so you're probably familiar with Manson's take on living more contented and grounded lives already, but there's something to be said about hearing about it in person. Couldn't be arsed reading the text? Then this is another way to soak in its contents. Of course, Manson's spin isn't about never giving a fuck. Rather, he knows that it's wise to choose where to direct our fucks, what to give a crap about and what genuinely bloody matters. The book's chapter titles are as telling as its overall moniker, boasting names such as 'Don't Try', 'Happiness is a problem', 'You are not special', 'You are wrong about everything (But so am I)', 'The importance of saying no' and 'And then you die'. Also the author of Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope, Manson will be onstage exploring this train of thought at the Brisbane's QPAC Concert Hall on Thursday, November 7. Attendees can expect a deeper dive into the principles stepped through in his book, plus practical tips and stories from real life. This is an event to give a fuck about, clearly.
Girls called Cinderella only find their Prince Charming in fairytales, so what's someone named Cindy supposed to do in the age of Tinder dates and internet porn? Local comedienne and theatre-maker Genevieve Butler explores the complexities of modern romance in her latest show, while also delving into the stuff that comes after flowers and chocolates. That'd be commitment, scandal and desolation — aka the more serious side to chance encounters and ideas of living happily ever after. This isn't your usual rom-com, but if you've seen it in a cheesy flick or sappy story, it probably informs this awkward, humorous dissection of love.
For a while there, it seemed like every hip hop tour to Australia was doomed to fail. Poor ticket sales, high-profile artists that don't show up, lazy and greedy managers and a general lack of any business savvy whatsoever have conspired to kill off a handful of festivals and some major tours in just the last year or two. But in the midst of all that, Rap City has not only gone ahead, it has thrived. Since its inception in 2010 the single-stage mini-festival has brought out some of the all-time greats of the game, from Ghostface Killah and DOOM to The Beatnuts and Masta Ace. This time around, Rap City will be headlined by none other than Talib Kweli, one of the most thoughtful, socially aware and lyrically gifted MCs around. His 1998 collaboration album with Mos Def — Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star — remains a masterpiece of politically and socially conscious hip hop, but over 15 years and half-a-dozen albums Kweli has proved time and again that he is one of the most gifted lyricists of his generation. With a new album, Prisoner of Conscious, recently released featuring Miguel, Curren$y, Kendrick Lamar, Marsha Ambrosius and Busta Rhymes, Kweli is sure to be at his energetic, eloquent best. Joining Kweli will be Homeboy Sandman, the rapidly rising star signed to Stones Throw Records (home to the likes of DOOM, Peanut Butter Wolf, Madlib, Australia's own Jonti and the late, great J Dilla). His praises as a lyricist and intellect have been sung by XXL, The Source, NPR, Rolling Stone and everyone in between, but his beats have a groove so good you almost don't notice that Homeboy's lyrics challenge almost every thought you have ever had. And if that weren't enough, these twin lyrical titans are being joined by Trademark 'Da Skydiver', the next big thing from the Jet Life Crew label — home to the likes of Curren$y, Smoke DZA and Sir Michael Rocks (formerly of The Cool Kids). With a handful of rapturously received mixtapes under his belt, Trademark is currently putting his finishing touches on his highly anticipated album Flamingo Barnes 2, which is due on the eve of his Australian Rap City tour. If anyone ever told you hip hop was dead, make sure you drag them along to Rap City and shut them up. MELBOURNE – Thursday October 3 @ The Hi-Fi PERTH – Friday October 4 @ Villa BRISBANE – Saturday October 5th @ The Hi-Fi SYDNEY – Sunday (Long Weekend) October 6 @ The Hi-Fi Tickets go on sale on Monday, 12 August, via Moshtix and OZTIX.
For much of Brewsvegas, hopping around town — and making your way between as many Brisbane bars, breweries, pubs and other watering holes — is on the agenda. Sometimes, though, you just want to sit in one place, have a great meal and enjoy an inventive lineup of paired beverages. Enter Felons Brewing Co's Sour Grapes Dinner. Because it's part of a beer festival, brews are still on the menu; however they'll be of the sour kind. You'll sip your way through four — and four rosés, too — while eating a four-course dinner. Felons' head brewer Tom Champion, executive chef Patrick Friesen and head sommelier Ian Trinkle have all joined forces to create the food and drink lineup, which includes smoked trout, grilled prawn salad, honey-glazed duck and a selection of cheese for dessert — plus cherry and raspberry-flavoured brews. Head along from 6.30pm on Tuesday, March 17 — and it's recommended that you nab your $90 ticket in advance, as it's bound to be popular.
First, Boiler Room announced the news that Brisbane had been waiting for: its debut date in the Queensland capital, arriving 14 years after the London-born club culture-loving outfit first popped up. Now, the event has unveiled the next crucial piece of information, aka who'll be hitting the decks at Brisbane Showgrounds this spring. If nothing says warm weather to you quite like dancing in a crowd, here's something for your calendar — with STÜM, Spray, Y U QT, Dr Dubplate and Juicy Romance all on the lineup. They'll be joined by Soju Gang, Neesha Alexander, Scalymoth and Rominndahouse from 2–10pm on Saturday, November 16, 2024. Boiler Room is no stranger to Australia thanks to past stops in Sydney and Melbourne, but hasn't made its way to the River City until now. The word that you're looking for? Finally. The Brisbane date sits between Boiler Room's return to Melbourne in late October and its latest Sydney gig in early December. Both have already sold out. [caption id="attachment_971379" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] It's been a big few weeks for festival announcements, no matter what type of music you're into. In a year that's been tough for the industry (see: the lack of Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo, Spilt Milk and Harvest Rock, for instance), Wildlands, Good Things and Bluesfest have all dropped lineups recently, as have Meredith, Always Live, Lost Paradise and Beyond The Valley Down south at Boiler Room, Melbourne punters have 2lubly, CRUSH3d, Crybaby, DJ Heartstring, Foura, OK Williams and Samba Boys to look forward to. Sydneysiders will be making shapes to Anna Lunoe, Arthi, Bad Boombox, Club Angel, Dr Rubinstein, FUKHED, I. Jordan, IMOGEN, Mincy, Mischluft, Moktar, Nina Las Vegas and Skin On Skin. Boiler Room Brisbane 2024 Lineup: STÜM Spray Y U QT Dr Dubplate Juicy Romance Soju Gang Neesha Alexander Scalymoth Rominndahouse Boiler Room will make its Brisbane debut at Brisbane Showgrounds, 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, on Saturday, November 16, 2024 — with tickets on sale from 5pm on Thursday, September 5, 2024. Head to the event's website for more details.
Bummed you didn't get a Splendour ticket? Angry you bought dozens of Splendour tickets so you could scalp them, and now find yourself holding hundreds of dollars' worth of paper after organisers shut down the re-sale facility over the weekend? Decided not to go this year, thinking you could totally see all the bands you wanted to see when they did their sideshows? Well whoever you are, it's time to whip out those diaries and start making plans — we found the mother of all emails in our inboxes this morning, bursting with sideshow goodness. Listed below are all the details you need for nine bands — electronica wunderkind James Blake, old Splendour favourites Cold War Kids, so-hot-right-now sister act HAIM, MS MR (described to me as "Florence + the Machine, plus Lana Del Rey, with some Kavinsky thrown in"), the R&B-ish indie of Mancunians Everything Everything, Next Big Thing Jake Bugg, LA noise merchants FIDLAR, fast-rising Poms Palma Violets and kings of Florida chill Surfer Blood. And those are just nine of the eleventy-billion bands (we counted!) announced on the full Splendour lineup just a couple of weeks ago. More shows will be announced for the other bands as we get closer to the date. (Though sadly not for The National, Mumford & Sons or TV on the Radio, who are playing their only Australian shows at the festival.) Full ticketing information is on the Secret Sounds website. JAMES BLAKE Fri 26 July – Astor Theatre, Perth Tues 30 July – Sydney Opera House, Sydney Wed 31 July – Palais Theatre, Melbourne Fri 2 Aug – Town Hall, Auckland www.jamesblakemusic.com COLD WAR KIDS Monday 29 July – Metro Theatre, Sydney Tuesday 30 July – The HiFi, Melbourne Thursday 1 August – The Gov, Adelaide Friday 2 August – Capitol, Perth www.coldwarkids.com HAIM Wed 24 July – The Hi-Fi, Sydney Thu 25 July – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne www.HAIMtheband.com MS MR Fri 26 July – The Metro, Sydney Mon 29 July – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne www.msmrsounds.com EVERYTHING EVERYTHING Fri 26 July – The Corner, Melbourne Sat 27 July – The Metro, Sydney www.everything-everything.co.uk JAKE BUGG Thurs 25 July – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney Sun 28 July – The Corner, Melbourne www.jakebugg.com FIDLAR Mon 29 July – The Corner, Melbourne Wed 31 July – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney Fri 2 August – Spinoff Festival, Adelaide Sat 3 August – The Bakery, Perth www.fidlarmusic.com PALMA VIOLETS Mon 29 July – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne Tues 30 July – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney www.palmaviolets.co.uk SURFER BLOOD Wed 24 July – The Corner, Melbourne Fri 26 July – Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney www.surferblood.com
If you were planning to start your hot girl summer by catching Megan Thee Stallion's first-ever live shows in Australia, Festival X comes bearing bad news: the American rapper is no longer heading Down Under. Mere days out from the event's first 2022 stop, organisers have announced that the performer is no longer on the bill, and that she won't be replaced. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Megan Thee Stallion will not be able to travel to Australia to perform at Festival X," the Festival X team advised in a statement. "Whilst our goal is to present the best experience for fans, despite our best efforts, it will not be possible to find a replacement at such short notice. However, with over 30 artists making up this year's line-up — including Calvin Harris, Don Toliver, Boys Noize, Green Velvet, Nina Kraviz and so many more — we are looking forward to catching you on the dancefloor for Festival X and officially kicking off summer 2022!" View this post on Instagram A post shared by Festival X (@festivalxworld) The lineup change comes after a chaotic few years for Festival X, which debuted back in 2019 with Calvin Harris leading the bill, but hasn't been able to return since until now due to the pandemic. The Scottish DJ headlines the 2022 fest again, joined by Don Toliver. Festival X has five stops in its sights between Saturday, November 26–Sunday, December 4, all huge outdoor gigs — playing Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast, Bonython Park in Adelaide, Sydney Showground and Perth's Claremont Showground. Anyone with ticketing concerns due to Megan Thee Stallion's cancellation is advised to submit a request to Moshtix customer service before 5pm on Friday, November 25. Tickets are still available for all five Festival X dates around the country — and you can check out the current lineup below: FESTIVAL X 2022 LINEUP: Calvin Harris Don Toliver Boys Noize Green Velvet John Summit Luude MaRLo Nina Kraviz Sub Focus (DJ set and ID) Tchami Wilkinson (DJ set) Anna Lunoe Babyface Mal Badrapper Blastoyz Choomba Cosmic Gate Franky Rizardo Haliene Key4050 featuring John O'Callaghan and Bryan Kearney Laura King Len Faki Nifra Nora En Pure Prospa Sunset Bros Taglo Tyson O'Brien FESTIVAL X 2022 DATES: Saturday, November 26 — Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne Sunday, November 27 — Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast Friday, December 2 — Bonython Park, Adelaide Saturday, December 3 — Sydney Showground, Sydney Sunday, December 4 — Claremont Showground, Perth Festival X 2022 tours the country from Saturday, November 26–Sunday, December 4. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the festival website.
Coffee is a complicated game. You need to source the right beans, grind them correctly, filter them for the specified time, perhaps froth the milk to that just-right temp and you need some pure-ass water. That's because coffee is 98 percent H2O, so some average water will mean your coffee will taste average — which is a damn shame if you've shelled out for some luxe Panama Geisha beans. Specialty coffee cafes are all over this and filter their water extensively, but baby home baristas aren't so diligent. So, to ensure they don't waste those beans on sub-par water, some genius has created a type of purified water specifically for making coffee. It's called Aquiem, and it's labelled its product as 'enhanced water'. While that sounds like total wank, it's essentially water that's been distilled to take all the extra stuff out of it. Then, a blend of good minerals that are supposedly meant to enhance the flavour of coffee are added back in. Then they're packaged and sold for a couple of dollars a pop. "What you definitely do not want is to have things like zinc and lead, fluoride, chlorine and large amounts of calcium in the water. All of that effects the taste of the coffee," co-founder Rob Vidacovich told Daily Coffee News. "What does have a favourable effect on coffee are things like magnesium, potassium, and a certain right blend of calcium." The whole idea is to allow non-pro baristas to make the most of their beans and drink a damn good cup of coffee every time. The Louisiana-based company has been working on the product for six years, but officially launched at the start of this year. Aquiem is currently sold in retailers in the state, but can be ordered online. Via Daily Coffee News.
I love a good rom-com as much as the next person. Austenland is not a good rom-com. The film tells the tale of Jane Austen-obsessed, 30-something singleton Jane Hayes (Keri Russell), who spends her life savings on visiting an Austen 'theme park' in England in her quest to find her own Mr Darcy. The foundations for a predictable and enjoyable rom-com are set. All we have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride as she battles obstacles before eventually learning that the fantasy exists in real life. Right? Right on all accounts except the most crucial: this film is not enjoyable. Actually, my apologies, there was one laugh, only it was so fleeting and unmemorable that I have already forgotten what induced it was. Likely it came from the repeatedly cumbersome attempts at a regal English accent by Miss Elizabeth Charming (played by Jennifer Coolidge in the same vein as every character ever played by Jennifer Coolidge). At least Austenland will not force you to think too much. It is predictable, which is a staple of most films of the genre — the protagonist will always find love. However, that is where we would like the predictability to cease. Unfortunately, the film's events and 'twists' are so glaringly foreseeable that you could sit at home and write the script in the time it takes you to watch it. In fact, just buy a Jane Austen novel with the money you would spend on seeing this. Perhaps the most frustrating element of this film is how unvisitable and inhospitable the actual resort it. From the instant Jane arrives she is treated horribly, due to purchasing the basic package. However, this unfathomable business plan destroys any realism in this resort, for me at least. It would have been better if this theme park had roller-coasters and fairy floss throughout. I will say that Russell is lovely to watch, and that JJ Feild will have ladies swooning as the film's resident Mr Darcy. However, that is it for the positives in this film. So use your sense and sensibility and give Austenland a miss, or at least wait until it ends up in JB Hi-Fi's bargain bin. Even then, save your $4.95.
After the disrupted and predominantly domestic-only ski seasons in 2020 and 2021, thrill-seekers from both sides of the ditch could be hitting New Zealand's pristine slopes from as early as June. That means it's less than 70 days until some of our major fields, including Coronet Peak and The Remarkables in Queenstown and Canterbury's Mount Hutt, are up and running for winter. If you're making the trip across the ditch, you're in luck: there's plenty set for this season, including new trails and night-skiing events. Mount Hutt is set to be the first to open from Friday, June 10 until Sunday, October 16. It will be open seven days a week, with capacity on the mountain having increased thanks to the last year's recently opened Nor'west Express eight-seat chairlift. With a ride time of only two minutes, the lift has the capacity to carry up to 3000 skiers per hour. It also features a loading carpet to assist those who are new to using chairlifts. The field's full moon skiing event will also return on Saturday, June 11. [caption id="attachment_849337" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NZSki[/caption] Coronet Peak will be open from Friday, June 17 right through until Sunday, September 25. The ski field plans to operate its popular after-hours night skiing nights every Wednesday and Friday from June 22 onwards. The 48th dog derby is also on the cards. Fellow Queenstown favourite The Remarkables will be open every day of the week from Saturday, June 18 through to Sunday, October 16. The mountain's Sugar Bowl development includes two recently opened trails and a new snowmaking system, which means better snow coverage on the Serpentine side of the mountain. [caption id="attachment_849335" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NZSki[/caption] Cardrona Alpine Resort's Olympic-sized superpipe will be open from Saturday, June 11 until Sunday, October 16. The ski field also added another chairlift to its network last year, which opened up a new major section of skiable terrain on the southern face. Sibling ski field Treble Cone is scheduled to open from Saturday, June 25 until Sunday, September 25, and for cross-country skiers and snow-shoers, Cardrona's Snow Farm is intending to open for the 2022 winter from mid-June — dates are yet to be confirmed. The largest ski area in the nation, Mt Ruapehu, is preparing to open its Happy Valley (Thursday, June 23), Turoa (Saturday, July 9) and Whakapapa (Friday, July 8) fields, too, which will give skiers and snowboarders access to the mountain's natural pipes, steep chutes and a vertical drop of 722 metres. The alpine village says the opening will be subject to snow conditions. With the borders set to open, quarantine-free, to Australian tourists from Tuesday, April 12, this ski season will definitely see a rise in visitor numbers across all the country's fields. Tourists will be required to test negative for COVID-19 with a PCR or RAT before leaving for New Zealand, then provide negative tests on day one and day five of their stay. If you need a refresher on the rules, check out the Government's COVID-19 website. All ski field 2022 season plans are dependent on snow conditions, as well as COVID-19 guidelines and expectations set out by the New Zealand Government. Images: NZSki.
Were you planning on spending the long weekend wrapped in a blanket cocoon with a season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and a packet of Malteser mini eggs? Well, even if you weren't, here's a good enough reason to do just that: an all-reality TV streaming service is launching in Australia on Tuesday, March 22. hayu is the latest subscription video on-demand service to launch in Australia, and it's essentially Netflix but purely for reality TV. The service is part of NBCUniversal International, and will pull from their massive back catalogue of content to offer full 'box sets' of over 3000 episodes of shows like the Kardashians, Real Housewives and Made in Chelsea. Most new episodes will be available on the same day as their US release, and the platform will allow you to share snippets (i.e. Kardashian quotes) directly to your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. It's either your worst nightmare or a vision of heaven you never thought would be socially realised. "We're excited to be unveiling March 22 as the launch date for hayu in Australia," said NBCUniversal's Jay McNamara, EVP Strategy Development and Analysis. "Curated by reality experts for reality fans, hayu is fully integrated with news feeds and social media and, uniquely, its next-generation functionality will enable Australian fans to share some of the content they love." Binge watchers of reality TV will be ecstatic (if not just secretly) over this news. As for all the haters.. hayu will launch on Tuesday, March 22. You'll be able to get a 30-day free trial, with the subscription costing $5.99 per month thereafter. For more info, visit hayu.com.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from August's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW PREY No stranger to voicing iconic lines, Arnold Schwarzenegger uttered one of his best-known phrases yet 35 years ago, in a franchise that's still going today. "If it bleeds, we can kill it" has been quoted frequently ever since — even by champion AFL coaches — and it's no spoiler to mention that it pops up again in the latest Predator film Prey. Trotting out that piece of dialogue won't surprise anyone, but this fine-tuned action-thriller should. It's one of the saga's best entries, serving up a lean, taut and thoughtful kill-or-be-killed battle set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. The Predator series hasn't been big on highlights over the years — Predator 2 is forgettable to put it nicely, 2010's Predators is effective, 2018's The Predator favoured its throwback vibes above all else, and the two terrible Alien vs Predator cross-over films are best left forgotten — however Prey not only breathes new life into it, but paves a welcome path for more. (Bring on a Prey sequel ASAP.) The overall premise remains the same, with the franchise's ruthless, brutal and technologically advanced alien species using earth as its hunting ground as the series has already established — and showing zero concern about leaving a body count. Trained healer Naru (Amber Midthunder, The Ice Road) is the first to notice that something is awry this time, spotting the predator's spaceship in the sky and taking it as a sign to follow her dream to become a hunter herself. Alas, that isn't the done thing. In fact, she's spent her entire life being told that she can't be like her brother Taabe (first-timer Dakota Beavers), and should focus on her assigned role instead. Now, even with an extra-terrestrial foe wreaking havoc, she's still dismissed at every turn. Midthunder plays Naru as a fierce, determined, persistent and resourceful force to be reckoned with, while writer/director Dan Trachtenberg — co-scripting with Jack Ryan's Patrick Aison — gives all things Predator the taut focus, canny shift and fresh feel he also gave the Cloverfield saga with 10 Cloverfield Lane. Prey streams via Disney+. THE BEAR First, an important piece of advice: eating either before or while watching The Bear is highly recommended, and near close to essential. Now, two more crucial slices of wisdom: prepare to feel stressed throughout every second of this riveting, always-tense, and exceptionally written and acted culinary series, and also to want to tuck into The Original Beef of Chicagoland's famous sandwiches immediately. The eatery is purely fictional, but its signature dish looks phenomenal. Most of what's cooked up in Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto's (Jeremy Allen White, Shameless) kitchen does. But he has taken over the family business following his brother's suicide, arriving back home after wowing the world in fine dining's top restaurants, and nothing is easy. Well, coveting The Bear's edible wares is across the show's eight-episode first season — but making them, keeping the shop afloat, coping with grief and ensuring that the diner's staff work harmoniously is a pressure cooker of chaos. That anxious mood is inescapable from the outset; the best way to start any meal is just to bite right in, and The Bear's creator Christopher Storer (who also directs five episodes, and has Ramy, Dickinson and Bo Burnham: Make Happy on his resume) takes the same approach. He also throws all of his ingredients together with precision — the balance of drama and comedy, the relentlessness that marks every second in The Original Beef's kitchen, and the non-stop mouthing off by Richie, aka Cousin, aka Carmy's brother's best friend (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Dropout), all included. Carmy has bills to pay, debts to settle, eerie dreams and sleepwalking episodes to navigate, new sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Dickinson) mixing up the place and long-standing employees (such as Hap and Leonard's Lionel Boyce, In Treatment's Liza Colón-Zayas and Fargo's Edwin Lee Gibson) to keep happy. Every glimpse at the resulting hustle and bustle is as gripping as it is appetising — and yes, binging is inevitable. The Bear streams via Disney+. A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN The year: 1943. The place: America. The sport: baseball. Misty faces: apparently not allowed. Yes, there's no crying in baseball, again — and yes, after proving a hit on the big screen back in 1992, A League of Their Own is back as an eight-part streaming remake with those rules about waterworks still intact. That said, in both versions, there definitely are tears in the sport. Someone proclaims there shouldn't be, although Tom Hanks doesn't do the honours the time around. And, when it arrives in Prime Video's series, that line isn't code for the entire perspective that A League of Their Own is rallying against: that the bat-swinging pastime isn't for women anyway. The new show's characters are still forced to deal with that abhorrent view, though, and the same storyline and same societal journey slides through the show's frames, too. But Broad City's Abbi Jacobson, who leads, co-writes and co-created this A League of Their Own, helps ensure that this fictional look at the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League broadens its playing field. Obviously much is familiar about this movie-to-TV do-over, including following a small-town star catcher (Jacobson's Carson Shaw) chasing her lifelong dream while her husband serves in the Second World War, a ragtag group of other women living their fantasies as well, a world that sees them as a joke and a male manager (Nick Offerman, The Resort) who used to be a major star but is only in this gig to restart his own career. Also included here: the tale of Max Chapman (Chanté Adams, Voyagers), an immensely talented pitcher who isn't allowed to audition, let alone play, due to her race. Another warm-hearted sports comedy results — and in what proves a worthy extra innings, there's never any doubt that the new series is firmly a 2022 creation. A League of Their Own's gorgeous ladies of baseball span an impressive cast, too, with standouts D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place), Melanie Field (The Alienist) and Roberta Colindrez (Vida) hitting it out of the park. A League of Their Own streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. GLORIOUS During his seven seasons on HBO's slinky supernatural drama True Blood, and in his 223 episodes on Home and Away before that, Ryan Kwanten navigated any actor's fair share of wild scenarios — and soapy and melodramatic, obviously. In Glorious, he's firmly in out-there territory, but as a troubled man conversing about life, love, loss, loyalty, the universe, gods, men, women and plenty more in a dank and grimy rest-stop bathroom. So far, so straightforward. Unexpected connections and cathartic chats can happen in all manner of places with all manner of people, after all. But Wes, Kwanten's character, is conversing with a glory hole. There's a powerful deity behind it, but all that Glorious' protagonist and the audience see is glowing neon light emanating from the circle between cubicles, and a pulsating orb of flesh hanging below the stall walls. Filmmaker Rebekah McKendry (Psycho Granny), plus screenwriters David Ian McKendry (All the Creatures Were Stirring), Joshua Hull (Chopping Block) and Todd Rigney (Headless), aren't shy about their Lovecraftian nods; not thinking about the sci-fi author's brand of cosmic horror and its focus on unfathomable terrors is impossible. Indeed, this'd make a fine double with Color Out of Space — a sincere compliment given that phantasmagorical delight is adapted from the author's words, while this feels like it should've been. Aided by cinematographer David Matthews (Jakob's Wife), McKendry cements the film's clear tribute via its aesthetic and atmosphere, with vibrant pink hues contrasting with the grotty bathroom, and the claustrophobic setting doing the same with the vastness emanating from Ghat, Wes' talkative new acquaintance. That JK Simmons (Spider-Man: No Way Home) lends his distinctive tones to the movie's pivotal voice does much to set the mood, understandably, but Kwanten's layered performance, a twisty narrative and an inspiredly OTT premise executed with flair also make Glorious memorable. Glorious streams via Shudder. THE SANDMAN Fantasy fans who are also TV fans, rejoice — the Game of Thrones realm is back (see below), The Lord of the Rings is about to hop over to the small screen as well, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman has also been turned into a streaming series. With all three, one word probably comes to mind: finally. But while lovers of Westerosi power struggles and battles against Sauron have already had something to watch at least, The Sandman first played out in comic books between 1989–1996 and, despite efforts otherwise, that's where it has remained until now. Entertaining things come to those who wait, though, even if the first season of Netflix's adaption does take its time to kick into gear. Perhaps that's apt, especially given how the titular figure, the Robert Smith-esque Dream King (Tom Sturridge, Irma Vep) — who is also known as both Dream and Morpheus — spends much of the first episode. British aristocrat and occultist Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance, The King's Man) attempts to lure in Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Hacks) instead, in an effort to bring his son back to life. Disappointed with obtaining the wrong captive, he imprisons Dream for more than a century. That incarceration has consequences, with Dream's kingdom bearing the brunt, and his powers unsurprisingly suffering (yes, cue the season's main storyline). Again, The Sandman doesn't completely click from its first frame; however, while it's putting its pieces together, it cements its dark, otherworldly and suitably gothic mood — and has quite the cast to play with. Because every TV show has to have multiple links to Game of Thrones, Gwendoline Christie (Flux Gourmet) plays Lucifer, memorably so. Elsewhere, Boyd Holbrook (The Predator) swaggers around as The Corinthian, Vivienne Acheampong (The Witches) is a delight as Dream's offsider Lucienne, Jenna Coleman (The Serpent) makes the most of her gender-swapped Constantine (yes, like the Keanu Reeves-starring film) and the always-reliable David Thewlis (Landscapers) leaves an imprint as Burgess' son. And when The Sandman works, whether at a performance or an episode level or more broadly, it is indeed a fantasy aficionado's dream. The Sandman streams via Netflix. THIRTEEN LIVES Hollywood couldn't have scripted the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue better if it tried. As monopolised the news at the time and keeps fascinating filmmakers since, the situation started when 12 pre-teen and teenage soccer players and their 25-year-old coach went into the cave system in Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand, heavy monsoonal rains caused flooding, and it was widely feared that the stranded team wouldn't be recovered. Thankfully, there was a happy ending — although it took nine days until divers even confirmed they were alive, another nine to both work out the logistics of extracting them safely and follow through, and other lives were lost in the process. The Tham Luang caves can be cavernous, but that just means more room for more water in the wet season. And saying that its tunnels are narrow and difficult to navigate, even for the best of the best below the water, is an understatement. All of the above shines through in the rousing Thirteen Lives, a survivalist and procedural drama starring Colin Farrell (After Yang) and Viggo Mortensen (Crimes of the Future) as cave divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton, plus Joel Edgerton (Obi-Wan Kenobi) as Australian anaesthetist Richard Harris. For viewers who've seen the two other recent movies about the same situation, stellar documentary The Rescue and subpar docudrama The Cave, the details will be familiar — and how well the film's three biggest names portray their IRL counterparts will stand out as well. Tension drips through this take on the tale, with director Ron Howard (Hillbilly Elegy) enlisting claustrophobic cinematography and sound design to edge-of-your-seat effect. That said, cataloguing an extraordinary extraction job done under dangerous circumstances is Thirteen Lives' main aim. In a film committed to letting the dramatised events themselves set the emotional tone, surveying the contributions beyond the now well-known faces, the context behind their efforts and the impact within the community — for the boys' families, and politically — also gets Howard's attention. Thirteen Lives streams via Prime Video. RETURNING GEMS WITH FULL NEW SEASONS TO BINGE SOLAR OPPOSITES Justin Roiland has one of the most recognisable voices on television right now, especially if you're a Rick and Morty fan. While you're watching Solar Opposites, though, you won't just be thinking about that beloved animated hit and its schwifty dimension-hopping antics — or even counting down the days till it returns, which is soon, while dipping whichever food you like in Szechuan sauce. You'll be too busy laughing, getting drawn into this also-Roiland co-created gem, and trying not to miss anything in its joke-a-second comic onslaught. Solar Opposites and Rick and Morty share more than a little in common, of course, including aliens, strangeness descending upon a suburban family, sci-fi antics, a raucous sense of humour and the fact that literally anything can happen. But while Rick and Morty is basically the new, far-more-anarchic Back to the Future, Solar Opposites has big Third Rock From the Sun vibes — and Futurama, too, if instead of jumping to the year 3000, it followed a ragtag group of extra-terrestrials residing on earth. Roiland voices Korvo Solar-Opposites, the team leader on a mission to terraform this blue marble to replace his exploded Planet Shlorp. But first, his family is trying to make the best of life right here exactly as it is — well, with plenty of science-fiction gadgetry to keep things interesting. Hijinks ensue, involving Korvo, his partner Terry (Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley), and the younger Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone, The Goldbergs) and Jesse (stand-up comedian Mary Mack), as well as their cute alien infant Pupa. There's also Aisha (Tiffany Haddish, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), the artificial intelligence onboard their spaceship, plus a wall filled with shrunk-down people (thanks to those sci-fi toys) who've started their own society in Yumyulack and Jesse's bedroom. Now three seasons in, Solar Opposites has perfected the ideal balance between fish-out-of-water alien shenanigans and those increasingly poignant miniature human interludes (complete with Mad Men's Christina Hendricks and This Is Us' Sterling K Brown helping voice the latter) — and it's just as ace as Roiland's better-known hit. Solar Opposites streams via Disney+. BREEDERS You don't need to have children of your own, plan to soon or ever think you will to keenly relate to Breeders. Now in its third season, the British comedy about a London family understands one inescapable truth about life: that chaos is an unavoidable constant, and much of that chaos springs from people being people. Based on an idea by star Martin Freeman (and partly derived from his own experiences), this series explores that notion in a microcosm, and without the rosy hues that usually tint sitcoms about parenting. Indeed, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Sherlock, The Hobbit, Fargo and The Office actor has been through more than a few ups and downs as a father — and he will have, because everyone who has kids does — due to Breeders' refreshing frankness. His character's frustrations, and his inability to remain calm while facing mayhem, mess, mania and everything in-between, also proves not just welcomely honest and hilarious, but vicariously cathartic. That often-anguished man is Paul Worsley, dad to Luke (Alex Eastwood, Creeped Out) and Ava (Eve Prenelle, To Olivia) — and partner to Ally (Daisy Haggard, Back to Life). No, none of those relationships are perfect. The same applies to his status as a son to the set-in-their-ways Jim (Alun Armstrong, Sherwood) and Jackie (Joanna Bacon, Benediction), with Breeders examining family ties in multiple directions. The chaos deepens each season, with this batch of episodes opening with Paul staying elsewhere because his presence, and his quick-to-anger temper, are exacerbating Luke's anxiety. Rippling consequences spread throughout the characteristically astute, smartly written, well-performed and cannily amusing new season, as Paul makes a new friend (Sally Phillips, How to Please a Woman), but doesn't tell Ally; the latter adjusts to his absence; Ava tussles with faith, friends and her future; and Jim and Jackie show that even lifetime-long relationships still have their secrets and struggles. Breeders streams via Disney+. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK BAD SISTERS Bad Sisters begins on the day of an Irish funeral, farewelling John Paul Williams (Claes Bang, The Northman) — after his widow, Grace (Anne-Marie Duff, Sex Education), makes sure that the corpse's erection won't be noticed first. He's long been nicknamed 'The Prick' anyway, with his four sisters-in-law all thoroughly unimpressed about the toxic way he treated his wife. In flashbacks, they joke about saving her by getting murderous, and exactly why is made plain as well. Bonded by more than blood after their parents died, the Garvey girls are used to sticking together, with the eldest, Eva (Sharon Horgan, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), stepping in as the maternal influence over Grace, Ursula (Eva Birthistle, The Last Kingdom), Bibi (Sarah Greene, Normal People) and Becka (Eve Hewson, Behind Her Eyes). She's fierce about it, too, as characters played by the Catastrophe and This Way Up star tend to be. When a guest offers condolences at John Paul's wake, Eva's response is "I'm just glad the suffering's over" — and when she's then asked if he was ill, she replies with a blunt and loaded "no". If this scenario sounds familiar, that's because Belgian TV's Clan got there first back in 2012, which means that Bad Sisters joins the ever-growing list of series that largely exist to make the leap into English. That isn't a criticism of the end result here, though, which proves itself a winner early. Also part of both shows: two insurance agents, aka half-brothers Thomas (Brian Gleeson, Death of a Ladies' Man) and Matthew Claffin (Daryl McCormack, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) here. Their family-run outfit is meant to pay out on John Paul's life insurance policy, but it's a hefty amount of cash and will bankrupt the firm, which is why Thomas starts asking questions. It seems an obvious setup, but this is a series with both bite and warmth. Brought to the screen by Horgan, Bad Sisters finds both the pitch-black comedy and the drama in its whole 'offing your arsehole brother-in-law' premise, and the tension and banter as well — and the sense of sorority between its quintet of main ladies, too. Bad Sisters streams via Apple TV+. RESERVATION DOGS One of the best new TV shows of 2021 is back for a second season — and it quickly proves one of the best returning shows of 2022, too. That series: the gloriously heartfelt and perceptive Reservation Dogs, which may riff on a Quentin Tarantino movie with its moniker, and also started with a heist when it first hit the screen, but proves dedicated to diving deep into what it's like to be an Indigenous North American teenager today. Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Beans), Elora (Devery Jacobs, Rutherford Falls), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Cheese (debutant Lane Factor) are those restless Oklahoma adolescents, and they've shared a California dream since the show began. But when the first season wrapped up with a tornado, as well as a figurative storm of hard truths and buried feelings, the gang's relocation fantasy didn't play out as expected. The lure of family and culture remained strong, as did holding onto a past that's brought happiness as well as pain (getting a fresh start after losing a friend is a big motivation for their escape plan). That said, Elora still attempts to go anyway. In season two, the more things change, the more they stay the same — until they don't. For Bear, Willie Jack and Cheese, staying on the reservation requires facing life on the reservation. For Elora, being on the road with enemy-turned-travelling companion Jackie (Elva Guerra, Dark Winds) gets tumultuous. Made with such an evident commitment to minutiae, and to feeling lived-in at every moments, Reservation Dogs spins both its episodic stories and its long-running coming-of-age arcs, themes and emotions into something wonderful again and again. Co-creator/executive producer/writer Sterlin Harjo (Mekko) deserves all the kudos that can be showered his way, and so does Taika Waititi as one of the series' fellow creators, executive producers and writers. There are many reasons to be thankful for the New Zealand filmmaker as his resume keeps attesting (including fellow recent sitcom Our Flag Means Death); however, using his fame to help bring this insightful gift into the world is one of them. Reservation Dogs streams via Binge. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON In its very first moments, House of the Dragon's opening episode delivers exactly what its name promises: here be dragons indeed. Within ten minutes, the Iron Throne, that sprawling metal seat that all of Westeros loves fighting about, also makes its initial appearance. By the time the 20-minute mark arrives, bloody violence of the appendage-, limb- and head-lopping kind fills the show's frames as well. And, before the debut instalment of this Game of Thrones prequel about House Targaryen's history even hits its halfway mark, a brothel scene with nudity and sex is sighted, too. Between all of the above, the usual GoT family dramas, squabbles over successors and power struggles pop up. Of course they do. House of the Dragon was always going to check all of the above boxes. None of this can constitute spoilers, either, because none of it can come as a surprise. Game of Thrones' fame and influence have become that pervasive, as have its hallmarks and trademarks. Everyone knows what GoT is known for, even if you've somehow never seen this page-to-screen franchise yet or read the George RR Martin-penned books that it's based on. After green-lighting a different prequel to pilot stage, scrapping it, then picking this one to run with instead — and also making plans to bring novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg to TV, working on an animated GoT show, exploring other potential prequels and forging ahead a Jon Snow-focused sequel series — House of the Dragon is the first Game of Thrones successor to arrive in streaming queues, and it doesn't mess with a formula that HBO doesn't consider broken. Its focus: the Targaryen crew 172 years before the birth of Daenerys and her whole dragon-flying, nephew-dating, power-seeking story. Cue silky silver locks aplenty, including cascading from King Viserys I's (Paddy Considine, The Third Day) head as he takes to the Iron Throne over his cousin Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie). She had a better claim to the spiky chair, but gets passed over because she's a woman. Years later, the same scenario springs up over whether the king's dragon-riding daughter Princess Rhaenyra (Upright's Milly Alcock, then Mothering Sunday's Emma D'Arcy) becomes his heir, or the future son he's desperate to have, or his headstrong and shady younger brother Prince Daemon (Matt Smith, Morbius). House of the Dragon streams via Binge. Read our full review. SHE-HULK: ATTORNEY AT LAW What do 90s lawyer comedies, recent TV sensations, Captain America's sex life and the fact that it isn't easy being green all have in common? The Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest streaming series. What gives Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) a worthy comic showcase, sees Marvel's ever-sprawling franchise make a rare admission that The Incredible Hulk exists, and gifts Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness) a hilarious new buddy dynamic, too? Yes, the MCU's likeable She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which proves savvy, self-aware, silly and satirical all at once. What refuses take itself too seriously, knows it's in busy territory, and winkingly responds to the world that's helped it even come to fruition? This Kat Coiro (Marry Me) and Anu Valia (And Just Like That...)-directed show, too, which just keeps ticking a long list of boxes. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is astute and amusing, skewers popular culture's obsession with superheroes, and unpacks the way society treats women — superpowered and otherwise. And where its immediate small-screen predecessor, Ms Marvel, loved the MCU more than its audience ever will, this playful sitcom about Marvel's emerald-hued lawyer sees plenty about the ever-expanding on-screen saga to parody. Jennifer Walters (Maslany) starts out the show as a Deputy District Attorney — and also a hulk. In flashbacks, head writer Jessica Gao (Rick and Morty) gets the obvious question out of the way, aka "how did Jen end up aping Bruce Banner?". In that jump backwards, Jen heads on a road trip with her cousin (Mark Ruffalo, Dark Waters), ends up in a car accident, gets splashed with his gamma-radiated blood and wakes up sharing his traits. Smart Hulk hops into action, training Jen in the ways of being giant and grass-coloured whenever her emotions bubble up, although that's what being a woman today entails anyway. With new powers comes an upended life, however, as well as a new job juggling cases covering everything from Emil Blonsky/the Abomination's (Tim Roth, Sundown) past misdeeds to Asgardian elves and wily magicians. This series has as much in common with Ally McBeal and Fleabag as it does with its fellow spandex-clad cohort, and it's all the better for it, striking an entertaining, perceptive and well-cast balance between the obligatory caped crusader nods and spinning a lawyer comedy about a caped crusader. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law streams via Disney+. Read our full review. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June and July this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream 2022 shows so far as well — and our best 15 new shows from the first half of this year, top 15 returning shows and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies. Top image: Photo by David Bukach. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
It's festival time at Brisbane Powerhouse once again, all thanks to the return of the venue's MELT: Festival of Queer Arts and Culture. Every year since 2015, the New Farm spot has celebrated the city's LGBTIQ+ community, as well as queer creativity in general — and in 2019, that means nearly 35 productions over ten days between Friday, June 28 and Sunday, July 7. Guest directed by producer and director Emily Gilmore (Spring Awakening, The Last Five Years), this year's MELT is jam-packed with music, cabaret, comedy, theatre, talks, panels and creativity — which means there's plenty to do, see, hear and dance to. From paying tribute to queer rock royalty to brightening up the place with important art, here's our five must-attend picks.
Earlier this year, Australia's caffeinated booze expert Mr Black gave fans of alcohol and coffee the premixed beverage they definitely wanted, with the company's bottled coffee negroni marking its first-ever pre-batched cocktail. Now, it's adding another tipple to the range, and it's another big hitter: the cold brew old fashioned, or cold fashioned. Yes, there's a time for coffee and there's a time for cocktails — but, sometimes, there's a time in the day when you want both and you don't want to do any of the mixing yourself. The cold fashioned is made with Mr Black coffee liqueur, rye whiskey and bitters, and you can expect both coffee and chocolate flavours to come through, as well as a bit of spice. Each bottle is going for $49 and can be used to make five cocktails (yes, that's a very reasonably $9.80 a drink). To make said cocktail, you just need to pour 100 millilitres of the sweet stuff into a glass over ice and garnish with a citrus twist — if you want to get a little fancy. It's the third new product that the Mr Black team has released during lockdown, with the company also launching a hand sanitiser in late March. As well as selling thousands (and thousands) of bottles to the public, the team donated hundreds to front-line medical workers, not-for-profits, testing clinics and medical centres. To get your hands on a bottle of cold fashioned, which, knowing Mr Black's track record, will sell out fast, head over to the Mr Black website. It's currently offering free shopping on all orders over $80. Mr Black's cold fashioned is on sale now for $49. Top image: Guy Davies.
Next time you crack open a can of BrewDog's Punk IPA, you might find yourself motivated to welcome a new four-legged addition into your family. Teaming up with Animal Welfare League Queensland, the Scottish brewery has brought its Street Dog initiative to Australia — profiling adorable dogs that are currently available for adoption across its cans. If you're the type of person that pats every pooch you see, and takes a daily walk past the local dog park just so you can get a glimpse of those adorable canines and their little faces, then you're also the kind of person who'd love to see pictures of puppers while you're sinking a brew. The photos adorn select Punk IPA packs, which have been badged 'Street Dog'. And yes, if you fall in love with the little fluffball staring back at you from the can, you can give it a home. By picking up a few Street Dog brews — which are on offer in eight- and 16-packs — you'll also be helping doggos in need another way. BrewDog is also donating all of the profits from sales of the beer to Animal Welfare League Queensland. And, although it's brewed at the company's Australian base in Brisbane, it's only making the beer available via its new online store, so everyone nationwide can stare at these canine cuties over their next cold one. Street Dog actually started in the UK earlier this year, as inspired by comedian Ricky Gervais. The comedian tweeted about his genuine fondness for Punk IPA, while also noting that businesses in general were better off giving their money to charities than paying for celebrity endorsements — and, taking his words to heart, BrewDog decided to start supporting homeless dogs, a cause that Gervais has been vocal about. Cue BrewDog cans covered with photos of dogs, which, when they launched in Britain, helped all of the pups featured on the tinnies to find homes. If you're wondering about the timing of bringing the Street Dog initiative to Australia, it's designed to help give the profiled pooches a permanent home before Christmas hits. The 375-millilitre cans will be available to purchase online until sold out. BrewDog's Street Dog limited-edition version of its Punk IPA beer is available to buy as an eight-pack for $40 and a 16-pack for $70.
For one night only, Alternative Symphony is coming to Brisbane to play Daft Punk's greatest hits — with an orchestral spin. It's bringing together a full orchestra, assisted by DJs, drums, live vocalists and MCs. As with all electro events, expect immersive visuals and an elaborate light show. Due to their unique sound, as well as their visual style — combining ornate helmets and gloves to create robot personas — Daft Punk have become one of the most influential modern electronica acts. In addition to their exceptional TRON: Legacy score, the French duo has released four studio albums. The most recent, Random Access Memories, not only featured guest appearances from Pharrell Williams, Niles Rodgers and Giorgio Moroder, but also won Album of the Year at the Grammys. After performing the Daft Punk Orchestral Rendition show in the UK this year, Alternative Symphony will bring An Orchestral Rendition of Daft Punk: Greatest Hits to The Valley Drive In on Saturday, January 11, 2020. Tickets are on sale now — and this'll be a unique dance/classical cross-over night out.
In addition to the unbeatable views of one of the world's great landscapes, this two-day cruise in the Great Barrier Reef is jam-packed with things to do. If you've never been to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site — or it's been a while since you last visited it — a Sunlover Reef Cruise is the see it. Activities include water sliding, snorkelling, scuba diving, a private glass-bottomed boat tour, and even a helicopter ride to see the reef from up high. You'll also be treated to a stunning sunset which leads into a dreamy night of stargazing under the southern sky before a night sleeping under a blanket of stars in the middle of the reef. [caption id="attachment_831047" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism & Events Queensland[/caption] Top images: Tourism & Events Queensland
When the eighth season of Game of Thrones finished its run in 2019, bringing the highly popular series to a conclusion, 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, because HBO likes both ratings and advertising dollars, the US cable network will keep the GoT-related TV shows going as well. 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. Before GoT even finished, there had been plenty of chatter about what it'll do next, in fact. First, HBO announced that it was considering five different prequel ideas. It then green-lit one to pilot stage, scrapped it and later decided to adapt Martin's House Targaryen-focused Fire & Blood for the small screen instead. Now, the channel is reportedly in the early development phase for another GoT-related series also stemming from Martin's books. This time around, novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg looks set to get the TV treatment, Variety reports — with HBO still eager to keep building upon GoT's massive success, as the network is likely to be for the near future. The project is in the very early stages, however, so there's no word yet on who'll be involved either on- or off-screen. If it does come to fruition, Tales of Dunk and Egg will draw upon three novellas published so far: 1998's The Hedge Knight, 2003's The Sworn Sword and 2010's The Mystery Knight. Set around 90 years before the events of GoT, all three focus on the titular characters. Dunk will eventually become the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Duncan the Tall, while Egg is the future king Aegon V Targaryen — and both earn a mention in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. As happened with the first proposed GoT prequel — as mentioned above — the fact that HBO is pondering making a new Westeros-set show doesn't mean that it'll end up making it to screens. Still, if you've been missing the chaos of the franchise's fictional world (and could use a return visit as a distraction from the real world), it's welcome news. Until any of the prequels actually drop, you can always rewatch the original — which is streaming in Australia via Binge — or revisit a trailer from its eighth and final season below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuLUyJdRvSU Via Variety.
When Milky Lane opened in Bondi back in 2016, it immediately generated a cult following. Thanks to its calorific concoctions, casual any-night-of-the-week vibe and celebrity endorsements, the venue has become a go-to for many Sydneysiders when an indulgent meal is a must. The chain made the jump to the Gold Coast in 2018 but, for Brisbanites, the slog down south can be long and painful (albeit worthwhile once the mega shake and burger-induced coma hits). Thankfully, there's now a solution a lot closer to home, with the team is opening a new venue at Gasworks Newstead on Wednesday, September 11. The formula has remained pretty much the same across Milky Lane's six stores so far, with five in Sydney and one in Queensland to date. On the menu: artery-clogging burgers, loaded fries and shakes. Hey, if it ain't broke. Graffiti typically lines the walls, transforming the burg joint into the sort of place that instantly makes you feel cool by association. And as for culinary favourites, there's the fried chicken Chic Kanye burger, the bacon-stuffed Kevin Bacon burg, mac 'n' cheese croquettes, deep-fried Golden Gaytimes and Kit Kat Choc Fudge Booze Shake cocktails, among others. The venue is sizeable, too, seating 200 burger fiends both inside and out. It's also mighty close to the other burg, shake and dessert-swilling eatery in the area, Betty's Burgers — but we all know how much Brissie loves meat between two pieces of bread, hefty piles of fries, milky drinks and over-the-top sweet treats. Milky Lane Brisbane opens at Gasworks, 76 Skyring Terrace, Newstead, at midday on Wednesday, September 11. For further details, visit the chain's website — or keep an eye on the store's Facebook page. Images: Milky Lane Bondi by Bodhi Liggett.
This Christmas, it's time to deck your halls with boughs of whichever greenery you'd like — and to give plenty of plants as gifts, too. That's on the agenda at VEND Marketplace, which is hosting not one but two huge Christmas Twilight Markets across the festive season. There'll be more than just succulents, cacti and indoor-friendly plants on offer; however, given that the northside spot is home to its own indoor greenhouse — aptly called the Greenhouse, naturally — that's definitely a big drawcard. Between 4–9pm on Saturday, November 25 and again at the same time on Saturday, December 9, you'll also be able to get festive at VEND's 130-plus shops, and at the array of pop-up stalls that it's setting up outside. Food trucks will keep your stomach satisfied while you're picking gifts — including for yourself — and the VEND cafe will also be serving boozy beverages and Christmas dinner specials. Also, there'll be a cocktail bar. Plus, VEND is doggo-friendly — should you want to bring your four-legged pal with you for a stint of Christmas fun. (No good boy or girl wants to stay home while you're out during the merriest time of year.) And, there'll be live tunes helping set the mood, as well as a photo booth for seasonal snaps. Images: VEND Marketplace.
There's no such thing as just another Quentin Tarantino film. Since he came to fame with Reservoir Dogs, the writer and director has continually toyed with dialogue-heavy, non-linear tales of crime and violence. And while there are stylistic elements that make a Tarantino film a Tarantino film, everything from Pulp Fiction to Death Proof has brought something different to the cinema. Take The Hateful Eight, for example. In his latest and eighth movie, the filmmaker delves back into the western genre (as he did with 2012's Django Unchained), he re-teams with Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Walton Goggins, and riffs on the scenario of Reservoir Dogs. But he also does much more than that. In its story, The Hateful Eight follows the fallout that ensues when eight treacherous characters are forced into close quarters. But it's the film's presentation that's perhaps even more interesting. For one, it revives the format of Ultra Panavision 70 — last used in 1966. It also brings back a form of movie-going rarely encountered these days, screening with an overture and intermission. That's the experience Sydney and Melbourne audiences have been gifted with this last week, via some advance 70mm sessions prior to the feature's national digital release on Thursday, January 21. Indeed, there's much to talk about when it comes to The Hateful Eight — and visiting Australia to promote the film, Tarantino did plenty. He spoke with Concrete Playground about what he has to offer one of his favourite genres, making The Hateful Eight an event, and watching audiences react to a different style of cinema. Among other topics, of course. ON MAKING WESTERNS "I've always been a big, big fan of the genre. And I think a lot of modern directors who have done westerns — like Walter Hill or somebody — before they actually got a chance to do a western, they kept flirting with the genre in modern terms to some degree or another. I mean, there's this whole aspect that Kill Bill: Vol 2 has a spaghetti western vibe, and I truly wanted Inglourious Basterds to almost have a spaghetti western feel — but with World War II iconography as opposed to western iconography. So, with Django Unchained I got my first chance at it, and I just really love the genre. And I wasn't done with it. It's kind of that simple: I wasn't done with it. And I also think it's a really good fit for me. I think as far as characters are concerned and the way violence works in my movies, it works out very good for a western." ON WHAT HE HAS TO OFFER THE GENRE "I think, in today's world, if I'm going to be able to call myself a western director and put my movies on the shelf with somebody like Anthony Mann or Budd Boetticher or Peckinpah, then I think you need to do at least three westerns. I mean, if it was the '50s, it'd be eight — but at least three westerns. And the fact that both movies deal with race in America at that time — two different times, but very close to each other — and also kind of do a vague mirror reflection on race in America today at the same time, I believe that's actually something I have to offer to the genre. That conversation is really something that hasn't been had that much in westerns — it's almost like that conversation has been avoided in westerns. And that's one of the things I think I have to offer to it." ON HIS DECISION TO SHOOT IN 70MM "One of the selfish reasons [I'm shooting in 70mm] is that I'm rather distressed at how digital projection has taken over to such a degree. I'm not really worried about shooting in digital because I'll always shoot in film — but I think something has been lost. I'm not saying that there's really anything wrong with digital projection, but I think something is lost if film projection is eradicated. And one of the benefits of shooting in 70mm is it's a little expensive. So, if a studio is going to pay to do that, they're going to at least make a token effort to make sure it gets shown in 70mm in certain cinemas. And that was a big calling card to do this. But also, I did like the idea of making this movie an event — to actually have a visual look first. And also, [I liked] the idea that I was going to be filming in this weather, and filming the weather was a big part of what we were doing. We were going for a big look. As dense as the material is, as bleak as the material is, and as dialogue heavy as the film is, there is an emphasis on the visual aspect of it." ON BRINGING BACK REAL CINEMA-GOING "It's actually kind of funny because, watching the film with audiences, there is this thing about the overture: [people think] "what is this?" I always like to sit in the middle of the cinema so I can really watch the people who are sitting in front of me, and the heads and the shoulders down the line. And you see their shoulders kind of relax as that overture goes on, as they settle into their seat and settle into the experience that they're going to have. And then there was this aspect — I think the first time I screened the film with a big audience — when the intermission happens, and it's like, "okay, what are we going to do?", and "okay, I guess I'm going to go take a pee or go have a smoke". But there is also that aspect of what you want to happen — they're talking about the movie. Apparently the toilets are abuzz, like "wow, did you just see what happened? I wonder what's going to happen next". You know, that kind of excitement about talking about the film. But also, I do like intermissions if it seems appropriate, because I think that they can be used for dramatic purpose. And I think that's the case in The Hateful Eight — that it has a dramatic moment when it happens, and there's a kind of sigh." ON THE HATEFUL EIGHT AS A WESTERN VERSION OF RESERVOIR DOGS "Having made movies now for over twenty years, there was a full circle kind of aspect with [The Hateful Eight] of me almost coming back to the start. And maybe even closing the circle. And the next couple of movies, who knows what they could be, because the circle is kind of closed and it opens up another chapter for me. I don't even know what that chapter is — but that's actually kind of exciting. But the idea of a western Reservoir Dogs was a little bit in my head as I was writing it, because I actually think that kind of pressure cooker situation could work really well in a western. There have been a few westerns that are really set-bound. One of my favourite westerns is Rio Bravo, and that really takes place between the saloon and the jailhouse — and I've always thought that Rio Bravo would be a really good play." The Hateful Eight is currently screening in Australian cinemas in limited 70mm locations, with the film's digital release opening around the country on January 21. Read our review.
UPDATE, APRIL 4: Due to concerns around the coronavirus, Candyman will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, June 11, 2020, with the film now hitting cinemas on September 24, 2020. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. For nearly three decades, horror movie lovers have fallen into two categories: those who've dared to say the word 'candyman' five times while staring into a mirror, and those who haven't. That's the kind of impact this spooky supernatural franchise has had over the years, with the film about a fictional urban legend almost becoming an urban legend itself. To the joy of slumber party-throwing teens everywhere, the 1992 original sparked follow-ups in 1995 and 1999 — and, thanks to a new 21-years-later third sequel, that's no longer the end of the story. Given that everything old just keeps coming back again, and that 90s nostalgia is the gift that keeps on giving, another Candyman flick was always going to happen eventually. If you're still a little wary — despite its cult status, the initial movie is hardly a masterpiece, and Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and Candyman: Day of the Dead won the series absolutely zero new fans — Candyman circa 2020 has a few tricks up its sleeves. Firstly, it's produced and co-written by Jordan Peele, who adds another frightfest to his resume alongside Get Out and Us. Secondly, it's directed by Nia DaCosta, whose Tessa Thompson-starring 2018 film Little Woods deserved more attention. And last but by no means least, it features the OG Candyman, Tony Todd, among its cast. As the just-dropped first trailer shows, the new flick focuses on an artist called Anthony McCoy (Aquaman and Watchmen's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who decides to start exploring the Candyman legend through his art. His girlfriend Brianna (If Beale Street Could Talk's Teyonah Parris) thinks the story is just that, but, as bad luck would have it, the bee-covered figure starts wreaking havoc again. That's what happens when folks say his name while looking at their own reflection, after all. For Candyman aficionados, Anthony's own name should ring a bell — he's the son of one of the first film's main characters, which might explain just why he's so obsessed with the eponymous ghoul. That said, while he might think he knows what he's getting himself into, the movie's first sneak peek leaves no doubt that Candyman still knows how to unsettle and unnerve. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlwzuZ9kOQU After being delayed from its original release date of June 11, 2020, Candyman will now open in Australian cinemas on September 24, 2020.
Not content with terrifying Brisbanites with one unsettling shipping container installation this spring, the folks at Realscape Productions have another disquieting experience ready to take flight. It's actually called Flight, too — and while it also involves stepping inside a 40-foot steel box, sitting in pitch darkness and listening to a particularly immersive soundscape, this newcomer offers something distinctive. If you're not fond of flying or don't cope well with the possibility of things going awry in the air, you might want to stay away. If your nerves and stomach can handle all of the above, step onboard. You won't actually be jetting anywhere, of course; however you will be strapping yourself into a section of a real commercial airliner, then pondering the many outcomes if the cabin suddenly happened to lose pressure. Created by Glen Neath and David Rosenberg, like Seance, Flight draws upon the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics while taking attendees on a multi-sensory journey. Flight lands at Reddacliff Place from Thursday, September 19 to Saturday, October 5, with tickets on sale now. Buckle up, and prepare to have your head completely messed with — unless you're claustrophobic, pregnant, or suffer heart or back conditions, in which case you'll have to firmly stay on the ground. Image: Mihaela Bodlovic.
If you're a Brisbanite with a healthy appetite, there's only one place to be on Sunday, July 27. The much-loved James St Food and Wine Trail (JSFWT) is returning for 2025 with the largest number of participating food and beverage stalls in the event's history. This year, the free foodie event will host 26 resident venues that will take over 40 market stalls, serving more than 170 delicious dishes for you to enjoy al fresco. Newcomers like Hideki Izakaya and Penelope will join the trail's honour roll of long-standing resident venues, which include Biànca, Cru Bar, ēmmē, Gelato Messina, Sixes and Sevens, plus plenty more. On the menu, visitors can expect Italian doughnuts from Biànca and bold pairings of fried chicken and caviar from ESSA. Meanwhile, Hellenika's chargrilled lamb on the spit with tzatziki will make a highly anticipated return. Or, if you're in the mood for something a little fresher, head to the Sushi Room's stall for yuzu slushies and fresh tuna sashimi. If you have room for dessert, Gelato Messina will scoop out the Gold Digger: a caramel and vanilla deep-fried ice cream with chocolate pudding, chocolate biscuit crumbs and dulce de leche. There will also be a range of cooking demonstrations, including tuna carving, as well as live performances and DJ sets. Art on James will also make a return in 2025, with live sound performances taking place throughout the day. If you've got little ones running around, free children's activities will run all day. Sounding too good to ever leave? For those looking to stay the night, enjoy a discounted stay at The Calile Hotel with the code JSFWT25. The James St Food and Wine Trail is free to enter, with more than 30,000 attendees expected to hit the trail this year. Images: Supplied.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from March's haul. Brand-New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Girls5eva One of the funniest TV comedies of the 2020s is back with its third season, and as hilarious as ever. So what are you waiting five? If that question doesn't make any sense, then you clearly haven't yet experienced the wonder that is Girls5eva. It starts with a numerical pun-heavy earworm of a theme tune that no one should ever skip, then bounces along just as catchily and sidesplittingly in every second afterwards. A move to Netflix for season three — after streaming its first and second seasons via Peacock in the US and Stan in Australia — might just see the Tina Fey-executive produced music-industry sitcom switch from being one of the best shows that not enough people are watching to everyone's latest can't-stop-rewatching comedy obsession. In other words, this a series about a comeback and, thanks to its swap to the biggest player in the streaming game, now it's making a comeback itself. If it becomes a Netflix smash, here's hoping that it'll be famous at least one more time. Two years have passed for longterm fans since Girls5eva last checked in with Dawn Solano (Sara Bareilles, Broadway's Waitress), Wickie Roy (Renée Elise Goldsberry, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and also a Hamilton Tony-winner), Summer Dutkowsky (Busy Philipps, Mean Girls) and Gloria McManus (Paula Pell, Big Mouth), but the gap and the change of platforms haven't changed this gem. Consider the switch of streamer in the same way that Dawn and the gang are approaching their leap back into their girl group after two decades: as an all-in, go-hard-or-go-home, whatever-it-takes relaunch. Now firmly reunited, the surviving members of Girls5eva have taken to the road. So far, however, their big Returnity tour has been happy in Fort Worth. In the Texan city, their track 'Tap Into Your Fort Worth' keeps drawing in crowds, even if that's all that concertgoers want to hear. Also, the Marriott Suitelettes for Divorced Dads has become their home away from home, but resident diva Wickie isn't content just playing one place. Always dreaming huge, massive and stratospheric, she sets the band's sights on Radio City Music Hall, booking them in for a gig at a fee of $500,000. Cue a six-month timeline to sell it out — a feat made trickier by the fact that the show is on Thanksgiving — or risk ruin. Girls5eva streams via Netflix. Read our full review. 20 Days in Mariupol Incompatible with life. No one should ever want to hear those three devastating words. No one who is told one of the most distressing phrases there is ever has them uttered their way in positive circumstances, either. Accordingly, when they're spoken by a doctor in 2024 Oscar-winner 20 Days in Mariupol, they're deeply shattering. So is everything in this on-the-ground portrait of the first 20 days in the Ukrainian port city as Russia began its invasion, with the bleak reality of living in a war zone documented in harrowing detail. Located less than 60 kilometres from the border, Mariupol quickly segues from ordinary life to an apocalyptic scene — and this film refuses to look away. Much of its time is spent in and around hospitals, which see an influx of patients injured and killed by the combat, and also become targets as well. Many of in 20 Days in Mariupol's faces are the afflicted, the medics tending to them in horrendous circumstances, and the loves ones that are understandably inconsolable. Too many of the carnage's victims are children and babies, with their parents crushed and heartbroken in the aftermath; sometimes, they're pregnant women. Directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov, and narrated by him with the grimness and soberness that can be this movie's only tone, 20 Days in Mariupol even existing is an achievement. What it depicts — what it immerses viewers in with urgency, from shelled hospitals, basements-turned-bomb shelters and more of the city destroyed day after day to families torn apart, looting, struggling to find food and bodies of the dead taken to mass graves — needs to be viewed as widely as possible, and constantly. His footage has also featured in news reports, but it can and must never be forgotten. Doctors mid-surgery demand that Chernov's camera is pointed their way, and that he shows the world the travesties taking place. The Ukrainian reporter, who has also covered Donbas, flight MH17, Syria and the Battle of Mosul for the Associated Press, does exactly that. He's doing more than ensuring that everyone bears witness, though; he makes certain that there's no way to watch 20 Days in Mariupol, which shows the vast civilian impact and casualties, and see anything but ordinary people suffering, or to feel anything other than shock, anger and horror. 20 Days in Mariupol streams via DocPlay. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces To do justice to Steve Martin's life, career and impact requires more than just one movie. So, the engagingly and entertainingly in-depth, intimate, affectionate and informative STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces explores the comedian and actor's existence in a pair of parts. The first is subtitled 'Then', honing in on his childhood and early stand-up days. The second, aka 'Now', jumps in when he made the leap to movies in the late 70s, which is where The Jerk, Pennies From Heaven, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood and LA Story comes in — and, of course, includes his tours with his ¡Three Amigos! co-star Martin Short, as well as their murder-mystery-comedy TV hit Only Murders in the Building. The initial half gets Martin narrating, sharing reflections personal and professional as accompanied by archival footage aplenty (and ample tapes of his stints in front of audience). The latter section treats him as an interviewee, with his wife Anne Stringfield, Short, Jerry Seinfeld (who has had Martin as a guest on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee) and Tina Fey (who also co-starred with Martin in Baby Mama) among the talking heads. Behind it all is documentarian Morgan Neville, an Oscar-winner for 20 Feet From Stardom, as well as a filmmaker who is clearly taking his stylistic cues from his subject. That's noticeable in STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces' moniker, for starters — it throws caution to the winds of grammar and title formats just as Martin has to comedy rules, as the two-part film makes plain again and again. No matter how well-acquainted you are with Martin, insights flow freely in this fascinating way to spend three hours surveying the ways that he's made people laugh over decades upon decades, beginning with doing magic tricks and working at Disneyland on his school holidays in the 50s. Revelations bound through about Martin as a person, too; more than once, he notes that his life has felt as if it has played out backwards, and not just because he only first became a father in his 60s. Clips of his stand-up act, and the response to it in the 60s and 70s, are gold. Hanging out with the man who originally was only going to create Only Murders in the Building, not star in it, when he's bantering with Short are as well. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces streams via Apple TV+. Spaceman Should astronaut become a dictionary-certified synonym for melancholy? Cinema believes so. Its latest case in point comes via Spaceman, where life temporarily lived above and beyond the earth replaces gravity with loneliness and disconnection for Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah). He's six months into a solo trip past Jupiter to investigate an eerie phenomenon in the heavens when this adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfař's 2017 sci-fi novel Spaceman of Bohemia kicks off. His quest is both time-sensitive and celebrated. South Korea is in close pursuit, he's frequently being told by Peter (Kunal Nayyar, Night Court), his contact at ground control — and Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini, Cat Person) happily keeps dialling him in for PR opportunities. As he soars through a strangely purple sky, however, endeavouring to fulfil his mission while pleading for maintenance approval on his crumbling ship, all that's really on his mind is his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan, Maestro). Pregnant and left at home alone, she's no longer taking his fast-as-light-speed phone calls. Then Hanus (Paul Dano, Mr & Mrs Smith) scurries in beside Jakub, demanding attention — as a giant spider in space is always going to. For the best part of a decade now, seeing a live-action movie starring Sandler has meant heading to Netflix. In Australia, even Uncut Gems, his greatest-ever performance, arrived via the streaming platform. Alongside The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Hustle, add Spaceman to the list of such features that give their star worthy parts and would've made welcome cinema releases. It isn't new news that Sandler is an excellent actor in dramatic and/or weightier roles, or that his career is more than the Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore-style comedies that he first became known for. Spaceman director Johan Renck (Chernobyl) has cast him expertly, in fact, in this tale of isolation, arrested development, otherworldly arachnids and amorous entanglements. Sending Sandler on an Ad Astra-, First Man- and Solaris-esque trip proves contemplative and empathetic — and, amid spider's-eye flashbacks to his complicated childhood in the Czech Republic, time spent with Lenka on the ground and floating around the film's claustrophobic main setting, also brimming with raw and resonant emotion. Spaceman streams via Netflix. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Who needs facts when you can have a ball with irreverently riffing on history? It worked for Blackadder, then with The Great and Our Flag Means Death, and now does the same for The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. It was evident from the concept when it was announced, and the trailer afterwards as well: this series is firmly in the same mode as the pirate comedy that gave streaming two wonderfully funny and heartfelt seasons, then was cancelled. The similarities don't stop being apparent now that Noel Fielding's latest stint of silliness is here with its six-instalment first season. Accordingly, viewers looking for something to help with their Our Flag Means Death heartbreak have somewhere to turn. Everyone who loves The Mighty Boosh's Fielding when he's getting surreal — something that his The Great British Bake Off hosting gig can't quite offer, even with his outfits — is also catered for. Awaiting in The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is an entertaining jaunt that's exactly what anyone should expect given its premise, star, his fondness for whimsy and flamboyant outfits, plus Britain's love of parodying its own past. Fielding co-writes and executive produces, alongside leading — and his brother Michael is among the fellow The Mighty Boosh alum on-screen. Dick jokes abound, because who could pass up the opportunity given its protagonist? A who's who of English comedy also features. The year is 1735. The place is the UK, obviously. The subject is a real-life highwayman. If Dick Turpin isn't familiar, he's the son of a butcher, he was his father's apprentice, but then took on a different career as part of the Essex gang. In reality, he was executed by hanging at the age of 33. In The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, standing on the gallows provides the opening. From there, the series steps through his time as a thief after being a vegan pacifist didn't gel with the family business. The key things that Dick takes with him when he leaves home, when his father John (Mark Heap, Significant Other) quickly replaces him with his cousin Benny (Michael Fielding, Merry Little Batman): eye-catching purple boots and a sewing machine. Soon enough, he has a crew by his side — and an instantly amusing revisionist history about Britain's equivalent of Ned Kelly is the result. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. 3 Body Problem How do you follow up Game of Thrones? So asks one of the biggest questions in pop culture over the past decade. HBO's hit adaptation of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series ended five years ago, but the network behind it, the TV industry in general, and everyone involved in it on- and off-screen has been grappling with that query since the series became a worldwide smash. For the cable station that made it, more Game of Thrones shows is the answer, aka House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight and other floated spinoffs. For Hollywood, leaning in on fantasy franchises has been a solution. And for David Benioff and DB Weiss, the showrunners on the Westeros-set phenomenon, bringing another complex book saga to the small screen is the chosen path. Those novels: Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, which arrives as 3 Body Problem, with 2008 book The Three-Body Problem as the basis for its eight-episode first season. Invasions, feuds, jumping timelines, a hefty cast of characters: they're all still in place. So are John Bradley (Marry Me), Liam Cunningham (Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter) and Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses) among the cast, answering the "what comes next?" question for three Game of Thrones actors. Also, that composer Ramin Djawadi (Jack Ryan) is on music duties again isn't difficult to notice. With 3 Body Problem, which sees Benioff and Weiss team up with True Blood and The Terror's Alexander Woo to bring Cixin's text to the screen, sprawling high fantasy gives away to time- and space-hopping hard sci-fi, however. The danger to global stability still springs from a battle for supremacy, but one where countdowns start dancing in front of some people's eyes, particle accelerators stop functioning properly, other folks can't be seen in security footage, scientists seem to be killing themselves and aliens linger. The series begins with a physics professor being beaten to death in front of a crowd containing his daughter during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Then, it flits to London today to watch the entire sky wink, gleaming helmets spirit whoever dons them into a complicated and intricate virtual-reality game, and what lurks beyond the earth — and who — play a significant part. 3 Body Problem streams via Netflix. Read our full review. Road House It's a brave actor who tries to follow in Patrick Swayze's footsteps. The late, great star was one of a kind, other than the fact that the 80s and 90s screamed out for him to team up with Kurt Russell on-screen. But folks persist in attempting to take his lead, including Diego Luna (Andor) in the also Swayze-starring Dirty Dancing prequel Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Édgar Ramírez (Dr Death) in the terrible 2015 Point Break remake and now Jake Gyllenhaal (Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) in Road House, another do-over of a Swayze hit. Gyllenhaal fares best in a film that isn't its predecessor in a swathe of ways — there's less sleaze to the titular establishment, and in general; less heat to its central romance; less zen about its protagonist; and no throats being ripped out — but is aided immensely by its key casting. No one needed a Road House remake, let alone one where its cooler is a former UFC fighter who has fallen on troubled times in and out of the octagon. Surely no one wanted to witness a strutting Conor McGregor make his acting debut, and so gratingly, as one of the new Road House's villains. But Gyllenhaal leaning into eccentricity as Dalton works a charm. The plot remains largely the same, albeit shifted to Florida, which sees director Doug Liman (Chaos Walking) also take a few stylistic cues from Miami Vice. In the eponymous venue, Dalton — Elwood, not James — is recruited to take over security by Frankie (Jessica Williams, Shrinking), with her bar suffering from a violence problem. Thugs keep smashing up the place, and patrons. Also, bouncers are constantly leaving the job. There's a cool, calm and collected air to Dalton's quest to clean up the joint, which contrasts with his inner turmoil. Soon, though, he's being threatened in an attempt to run him out of town. Daniela Melchior (Fast X) co-stars as the doctor that becomes his love interest, Billy Magnussen (Lift) as the drug-peddling nepo-baby baddie with designs on The Road House's land, Arturo Castro (The Vince Staples Show) as a motorcycle-gang henchman who genuinely appreciates Dalton's approach and Hannah Love Lanier (Special Ops: Lioness) as a bookshop-running teenager, but Road House circa 2024 is Gyllenhaal's show. This isn't the first attempt to capitalise upon the original Road House's success — even if it was nominated for five Razzies — thanks to 2006's Road House 2. Being better than that is a low bar, but this Road House clears it. Road House streams via Prime Video. Apples Never Fall On the page and on the screen, audiences know what's in store when Sydney-born and -based author Liane Moriarty's name is attached to a book or TV series. Domestic disharmony within comfortable communities fuels her tales, as do twisty mystery storylines. When they hit streaming, the shows adapted from her novels add in starry casts as well. Indeed, after Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, it might come as a shock that Nicole Kidman (Expats) is nowhere to be found in the seven-episode Apples Never Fall. The Australian actor will be back in another version of Moriarty's tomes, also with a three-word title, with The Last Anniversary currently in the works. Fresh from an Oscar nomination for Nyad, Annette Bening is no mere stand-in right now. Also, where Kidman has co-starred with Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show), Laura Dern (The Son) and Alexander Skarsgård (Mr & Mrs Smith), and also Melissa McCarthy (The Little Mermaid), Michael Shannon (The Flash) and Luke Evans (Good Grief), Bening is joined by Sam Neill (The Twelve), Alison Brie (Somebody I Used to Know) and Jake Lacy (A Friend of the Family). If Lacy's involvement brings The White Lotus to mind, he's again at home playing affluent and arrogant — but no one is on holiday in Apples Never Fall. Rather, in West Palm Beach, the tennis-obsessed Delaney family finds their well-off existence shattered when matriarch Joy (Bening) goes missing, leaving just a banged-up and blood-splattered bicycle, a strewn-about basket of apples and her mobile phone behind. Her adult children (Lacy, Brie, Thai Cave Rescue's Conor Merrigan Turner and The Speedway Murders' Essie Randles) are worried, while husband Stan (Neill) first advises that his spouse is merely ill, a choice that does nothing to stop suspicion rocketing his way. In addition to charting the search for Joy, the Queensland-shot Apples Never Fall bounces through ample backstory. After its introductory instalment, each episode focuses on one of the family; across them all, the timeline is split into "then" and "now". It soon becomes apparent that the doting Joy and determined Stan were talented players, then established the Delaney Tennis Academy when his aspirations were cruelled by injury, and she sidelined hers to support him and have their kids. Another person looms large over the narrative, too: Savannah (Georgia Flood, Blacklight), who graces the Delaneys' doorstep in its flashbacks, fleeing from domestic abuse — or so she claims. Apples Never Fall streams via Binge. Read our full review. Breeders Sitcoms about raising a family are almost as common as sitcoms in general, with the antics of being married with children up there with workplace shenanigans as one of the genre's go-to setups. Thanks to the OG UK version of The Office, Martin Freeman knows more than a little about employment-focused TV comedies. Courtesy of The Thick of It and Veep, actor-turned-director Chris Addison and writer Simon Blackwell also fall into that category. But Breeders, which the trio created and thrusts them into the world of mining parenting for laughs, isn't your standard take on its concept. As became immediately evident when the British series began in 2020, and remains the case now that it's wrapping up with its current fourth season — which aired overseas in 2023 but is only hitting Down Under in 2024 — this show does't subscribe to the rosy notion that being a mother or a father (or a son or daughter, or grandmother or grandfather) equals loveable chaos. There's love, of course. There's even more chaos. But there's also clear eyes, plus bleakness; again, this is largely helmed and scripted by alumni of two of the best, sharpest and most-candid political satires of the 21st century, and always feels as such. Season four begins with a time jump, with Breeders' overall path tracking Paul Worsley (Freeman, Secret Invasion) and Ally Grant's (Daisy Haggard, Boat Story) journey from when their two kids were very young — including babies, via flashbacks — to their teenage and young-adult years now. Consequently, five years on in the narrative from season three, another set of actors play Luke (Oscar Kennedy, Wreck) and Ava (debutant Zoë Athena) in this farewell run as the first is moving in with his girlfriend and the second explores her own love life, as well as grappling with the inescapable reality that her elder brother's ups and downs have always monopolised her family's attention. Paul and Ally also have the ailing health of Paul's parents Jim (Alun Armstrong, Tom Jones) and Jackie (Joanna Bacon, Benediction) to manage, in addition to the ebbs and flows of their own often-fraught relationship, plus just dealing with getting through the days, weeks, months and years in general (Ally turning 50 is one of this season's plot points). That this all sounds like standard life is part of the point; watching Breeders is like looking in a mirror, especially in its unvarnished and relatable all-you-can-do-is-laugh perspective. Freeman's knack for swearing will be especially missed. Breeders streams via Disney+. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week Palm Royale More things in life should remind the world about Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, 2021's wonderfully goofy (and just wonderful) Florida-set comedy starring Kristen Wiig (MacGruber) and Annie Mumolo (Barbie), plus Jamie Dornan (The Tourist) singing to seagulls. The also Wiig-led Palm Royale is one such prompt. Thankfully, watching the page-to-screen dramedy doesn't cause audiences to wish that they were just viewing Barb and Star, though. The two share the same US state as a locale, too, alongside bright colour schemes, a bouncy pace and a willingness to get silly, especially with sea life, but Palm Royale engages all on its own. Adapting Juliet McDaniel's Mr & Mrs American Pie for the small screen, this 60s-set effort also knows how to make gleaming use of its best asset: Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids and Ghostbusters alum Wiig. In its ten-episode first season, the show's storyline centres on Maxine Simmons. A former beauty-pageant queen out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, she thinks nothing of scaling the wall to the titular country club, then breezing about like she's meant to be there — sipping grasshoppers and endeavouring to eavesdrop her way into a social-climbing friendship with Palm Beach's high-society set — and Wiig sells every second of the character's twist-filled journey. Even better: she heartily and entertainingly conveys the everywoman aspects of someone who has yearning for a better life as her main motivation, and isn't willing to settle for anything less than she thinks that she deserves, even in hardly relatable circumstances. There's no doubting that Maxine is both an underdog and an outsider in the milieu that she so frenziedly covets. When she's not swanning around poolside, idolising self-appointed bigwig Evelyn Rollins (Allison Janney, The Creator) and ambassador's wife Dinah Donahue (Leslie Bibb, About My Father) among the regulars — their clique spans widow Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy, Christmas with the Campbells) and mobster spouse Raquel Kimberly-Maco (Claudia Ferri, Arlette) — and ordering her cocktail of choice from bartender Robert (Ricky Martin, American Crime Story), she's staying in a far-from-glamorous motel. Funding for her quest to fit in with the rich and gossip-column famous comes via pawning jewellery owned by her pilot husband Douglas'(Josh Lucas, Yellowstone) comatose aunt Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett, Better Call Saul), the plastics and mouthwash heiress who ruled the scene until suffering an embolism. Palm Royale streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. High Country The role of Andie Whitford, the lead part in High Country, was written for Leah Purcell. It's easy to understand why. There's a quiet resolve to the character — a been-there-seen-that air to weathering tumult, too — that's long been a part of the Indigenous Australian star's acting toolkit across a three-decade career that started in 90s TV shows such as GP, Police Rescue and Water Rats, and has recently added The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Shayda to her resume (plus much in-between). Andie is a seasoned police detective who takes a job back in uniform overseeing the town of Broken Ridge, which is located in the mountainous Victorian region that gives the mystery series its name. A big reason for the move: stability and work-life balance, aka relocating for the sake of her personal life with spouse Helen (Sara Wiseman, Under the Vines) and daughter Kirra (Pez Warner, making her TV debut). An existence-resetting tree change is meant to be on the cards, then. But her arrival, especially being installed as the new police chief, doesn't earn the sunniest of welcomes. Then there's the missing-person cases that swiftly start piling up, some old, some new, some previously explained by pointing fingers in specific directions. High Country's framework, down to its character types, is easily recognisable. Creators Marcia Gardner and John Ridley, who worked with Purcell on Wentworth, know what everyone does: that a great story can make any whodunnit-driven procedural feel different. So, also part of the series are Andie's retiring predecessor (Ian McElhinney, The Boys in the Boat), who is fixated on a past disappearance; the former teacher (Henry Nixon, The PM's Daughter) he's certain is responsible, who has become the town outcast; a local ranger (Aaron Pedersen, Jack Irish), one of the few other Indigenous faces in town; the financially challenged proprietor (Linda Cropper, How to Stay Married) of a haven for artists; cop colleagues of varying help and loyalty (Romance at the Vineyard's Matt Domingo and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse's Luke McKenzie); and rabble-rousing siblings (Boy Swallows Universe's Nathaniel Dean and The Clearing's Jamie Timony). Crucially, where the show takes them always feels like its own journey. This might also be the second Aussie effort in two months to use this part of the country as a backdrop, following Force of Nature: The Dry 2, but High Country is similarly no mere rehash there. High Country streams via Binge. The Regime After past wins for Mildred Pierce and Mare of Easttown, Kate Winslet might just add another Emmy to her mantle for The Regime. When the British actor turns her attention to TV for HBO, she unveils spectacular performances — something that she does everywhere anyway (see also: the 30-year-old Heavenly Creatures, 20-year-old Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and more-recent Ammonite, for instance), but this working relationship has been going particularly well for her. Winslet's latest small-screen stint for the US network takes her into the realm of satire, and to a Central European country under authoritarian rule. Nothing for the nation's current leadership is quite going to plan, though. This is a place where Chancellor Elena Vernham singing 'If You Leave Me Now' to open an official dinner, keeping her deceased father in a glass coffin, and overhauling the palace that she calls home due to fears of moisture and black mould are all everyday occurrences. Each of the above happens in The Regime's first episode, as does hiring a soldier linked to a scandal involving the deaths of protestors at a cobalt mine — with his new gig initially requiring him to monitor the air quality in every room that the Chancellor enters. Winslet (Avatar: The Way of Water) is mesmerising as Vernham, who takes her cues from a range of IRL world leaders — it's easy to glean which — in a show that's as captivating as its lead performance. She has excellent company, too, spanning the always-ace Matthias Schoenaerts (Amsterdam) as said military man-turned-Vernham's new advisor, Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie) as her regular offsider, plus everyone from Hugh Grant (Wonka) to Martha Plimpton (A Town Called Malice) popping up and making the most of their supporting parts. The Regime's creator Will Tracy wrote The Menu and also episodes of Succession, so he has experience being scathing; his time on the staff of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver also shows its influence. If he'd been watching Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin while dreaming up this (including nabbing Riseborough from the cast), that wouldn't come as a surprise, either. With Stephen Frears (The Lost King) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown) behind the camera, The Regime is a probingly directed effort as well as it works through its six chapters. The Regime streams via Binge. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January and February this year, and also from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer.
Another year, another Brisbane Comedy Festival, another Sam Simmons set, another entry on our festival picks list. There's a reason for all of that. We'd waffle on about anticipating a tried and true comedy formula, but where this absurdist talent is involved, that'd require knowing what to expect — and if there's anything Simmons' previous shows have taught us, it's that expectation is futile. This is all the clues you get from Brisbane Powerhouse: "Forty year old man sits on stage and reads the phone book. G Jones 08 323 7261. I wonder what he's up to these days." His new show, A-K, does make one thing plain from the outset, though: he's moving up in the Brisbane Powerhouse world. Indeed, for seasoned fans who've caught his work over the years, watching him evolve from the depths of the venue to the main stage is quite something. Between then and now, he's casually sold out seasons at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Melbourne Comedy Festival, the West End and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This is one of our top picks for this year's Brisbane Comedy Festival. Read the whole list.
UPDATE, April 27, 2021: Late Night is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Thank the powers that be that we live in a world where Mindy Kaling is making smart, funny, warmly subversive TV series and movies. Actually, thank American television network NBC. Over a decade ago, it gave the then-24-year-old a job in The Office's writers room as a diversity hire, which Kaling revealed while doing promotional duties for her new film, Late Night. She goes a step further in the picture itself. Playing a chemical plant quality control supervisor who dreams of joining the writing staff on an evening talk show, she puts the same idea into the movie (as well as starring, she penned the script). Molly Patel, her on-screen alter-ego, is hired because she's a woman, plain and simple. She's then saddled with being the token beacon for inclusiveness in an otherwise all-white, all-male, all-middling group of scribes, with her new colleagues all-too-happy to keep aiming for average rather than risk rocking the boat with their boss. Only Kaling, or someone who has been in her circumstances, could turn the above situation into a gag — not to mention an effective, perceptive and amusing one. More than that, she uses Late Night to point out the ridiculousness of complaints that almost everyone who isn't a white male has heard: that they've landed a gig for reasons other than their skills and talents. It's a go-to lament against the advancement of women and people of colour in many fields, and it's supremely petty. Late Night specifically calls it out in a pointedly cartoonish but undeniably scathing way. "I wish I was a woman of colour so I could get any job I wanted with zero qualifications," one of Molly's unhappy co-workers grumbles, sounding suitably inane. This is a comedy, so Late Night pokes fun at the entertainment industry status quo in the same way that Kaling's long-running, now-finished TV sitcom The Mindy Project toyed with rom-com tropes. Think light, bubbly yet also sharp. Molly doesn't have the same experience as her co-workers, but she's still great at her job, because that's a genuine possibility. She works harder, longer and puts more pressure on herself, because that's the reality. By not fitting the usual mould, Molly shines a glaring spotlight on the complacency that can come with avoiding change or challenge. Crucially, however, while she's highly motivated and determined (and usually considerably overdressed for work compared to her peers), she also sports plenty of flaws — whether she's offering unfettered criticism on her first day or bursting into tears whenever things hit even the tiniest rough patch. Late Night has another commentary-laden twist up its sleeve: the program's host of nearly three decades, Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), clearly doesn't fit the usual mould either. It's a big deal in the movie, which recognises that she's a trailblazer. In real life, female-fronted talk shows like Katherine's aren't just rare — they're basically non-existent. So unfurls Late Night's twin dilemmas, sparked by the host's discovery that her position is under threat thanks to a new network executive (Amy Ryan). With rising frat boy-style standup Daniel Tennant (Ike Barinholtz) waiting in the wings, fierce perfectionist Katherine endeavours to elevate her flagging series, adapt to the times and retain the values she holds dear. Arriving just as this crisis hits, and overwhelmed by working for her idol, Molly tries to demonstrate her worth and also remain true to herself. There's an obvious, endearing element of fantasy at the core of Late Night. If only viewers could watch Thompson, or the kind of intelligent and hilarious woman she plays, on late-night TV on a daily basis. If only we could all get a shot at showing that we're made for our bucket-list jobs as well. But dreaming big, satirising reality and marrying genuine insights with laughs all frequently make great bedfellows, as proves the case here. Directed with charm, spark, and a zippy look and feel by Nisha Ganatra (Dear White People, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), this is a workplace comedy that has plenty to say about media and entertainment, sexism and ageism, the treatment of women, and the way that ladies are often stereotypically expected to compete against each other. It's also willing to get gleefully blunt in exploring these matters, especially in its dialogue. The film follows a predictable narrative path, lacking the absurdity and surprises of television's 30 Rock and The Larry Sanders Show, yet that doesn't make it any less enjoyable, incisive or on-target. We've said it before, but it bears repeating: watching Late Night and wishing that Thompson's formidable Katherine really had a regular place on our screens goes hand-in-hand. Playing a multiple-Emmy winner, the real-life dual-Oscar recipient leans into the character's savage British wit and ample imperfections, while seeming like she could walk straight out of the film and onto any late-night show she'd like. And, although love interests abound for both Thompson and Kaling, the two women's seemingly chalk-and-cheese pairing sits at the heart of the film. John Lithgow pops up as the former's ailing composer husband, Veep's Reid Scott is the latter's snarkiest colleague, and Hannibal's Hugh Dancy is the office's resident ladies' man, but Late Night is at its best when it's heeding Molly's advice for Katherine: speaking from a perspective that only its protagonists (and its creative force) can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-OSUZp9pjw
UPDATE, APRIL 4: Disney has announced a new release date for Mulan, with the film now hitting cinemas on July 23, 2020. UPDATE, MARCH 13: Due to concerns around the coronavirus, Disney has announced that Mulan will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, March 26, 2020. At present, a new release date has not been announced — we'll update you when one has been revealed. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. In Chinese history, the legend of Hua Mulan dates back to the sixth century. At the movies, the formidable female warrior first fought her way across the big screen in a 1927 silent film. The character has been no stranger to the page, stage or cinema over the past 92 years, but many folks know the tale thanks to Disney's 1998 animated musical. Now, as it has done with everything from Alice in Wonderland to The Jungle Book to Aladdin, the Mouse House is turning the story into its latest live-action remake. Once again, Mulan (played by Chinese American actor Liu Yifei) will evolve from dutiful daughter to kick-ass combatant, all to protect her family in a time of war. She's originally due to be married off to a husband chosen by a matchmaker, until the Emperor of China issues a decree stating that one man per household must serve the Imperial Army as it endeavours to fend off northern invaders. To save her ailing ex-soldier father from having to fight, Mulan disguises herself as a man, takes on the name Hua Jun and becomes an icon. Forget rousing tunes or a talking dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy. This time, the tale hits the screen without a singing and smart-talking sidekick, but with plenty of sword-swinging, arrow-flinging antics — as both its first teaser and just-dropped full trailer show. In New Zealand director Niki Caro's (Whale Rider, The Zookeeper's Wife) hands, this version of the story goes heavy on the action and empowerment, as shown in the spectacularly choreographed scenes seen so far. As well as Liu (whose resume includes The Forbidden Kingdom and The Assassins), the new Mulan features Jet Li as the Chinese Emperor, Gong Li as a witch, Donnie Yen as the protagonist's mentor, Jason Scott Lee as a villainous army leader, and Yoson An (The Meg, Mortal Engines) as her fellow fighter and love interest. The film hits cinemas next year — check out the first full trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK8FHdFluOQ After being delayed from its original release date of March 28, 2020, Mulan will now open in Australian cinemas on July 23, 2020. Image: © 2019 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Gelato Messina is bringing gourmet to the freezer aisle this month. The gelato mega brand has teamed up with Peters Drumstick to go mainstream — bringing its beloved gelato to supermarkets and convenience stores all over the country. Sure, you've eaten many-a-Drumstick in your day, with the brand launching in Australia all the way back in 1963 — whether it was a childhood favourite or now your late-night go-to, it's a long-standing ice cream staple. But now with the Sydney-based gelateria on board, the humble Drumstick cone of your youth has been spruced up — the Messina way. The new cones feature four classic Messina flavour combos, which were initially created in its Rosebery HQ, before being mass produced in Peters' Drumstick factory. Flavours include mango and salted coconut, made with Aussie produce and topped with mango sauce and coconut flakes; vanilla bean and peanut praline, topped with dark chocolate; roasted hazelnut gelato, made using imported Italian nuts; and, of course, dulce de leche, topped with caramel sauce and chocolate-coated biscuits. All four flavours are available at Coles, Woolworths and independent groceries across Australia. Each comes in pop art-style boxes of four, priced at $9.99 per box. As far as convenience stores and petrol stations go, only the mango and salted coconut and roasted hazelnut flavours are up for grabs as single cones for $4.90 a pop. The collab is limited though, so if you want 'em, come and get 'em. Gelato Messina X Peters Drumstick collaboration ice creams are available at supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores for a limited time.
It has been more than a month since Australia's cinema screens stopped flickering, with the nation's picture palaces closing due to social-distancing requirements to help stop the spread of COVID-19. And while movie buffs can still get their film fix online — via the usual streaming options, as well as the big bunch of recent big-screen releases fast-tracked to digital — your tastebuds are probably hankering for some cinema-level snacks to go with your at-home-viewing. Thanks to Hoyts and UberEats, you can now get the cinema chain's popcorn and choc tops delivered to your door. On offer: four sizes of regular salted popcorn, five flavours of gourmet popcorn (including nacho and sea salt caramel) and five types of choc tops (vanilla, boysenberry, mint, cookies and cream, and salted caramel). You can also order a selection of chips, confectionary and drinks. And, if you really want to come as close as you can to recreating the out-of-the-house movie-going experience, you can get your snacks in combos. Three kinds are available, so you'd best decide whether you'd like Malteasers with your popcorn and choc top — and if you're planning to share. For a limited time, Hoyts is also giving away free choc tops — albeit with other purchases, so you will have to splash out some cash. Buy any salted or gourmet popcorn, and you'll score a choc top as well. Or, spend more than $30 in total, and you'll also nab a choc top for free. Delivery is available between 2–9.30pm each day, and you will need to live within the delivery zone of one of Hoyts' 34 physical sites in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Hoyts' snack range is available via UberEats, with free choc tops on offer for a limited time with any salted or gourmet popcorn purchase, or any order over $30. To order, head to UberEats.
As if the first announcement wasn't kickass enough, OutsideIn have announced the second part of their festival lineup. Locked in to be held over three levels at Manning Bar in the University of Sydney, the boutique music festival cooked up by Sydney touring and management agency Astral People and record label Yes Please returns for its third instalment on Saturday, November 29. Forecast to sell out like its 2012 and 2013 events, OutsideIn will spread its super solid lineup over three stages. Joining an already solid lineup featuring '90s US hip-hop legends The Pharcyde, Sydney's beloved electronic trio Seekae, Germany's Pantha Du Prince, America's Giraffage and Melbourne duo Client Liaison is legendary Chicago house DJ/producer Roy Davis Jr and US R&B/housemaster Brenmar, alongside Melbourne’s Noise In My Head, Adelaide’s Late Nite Tuff Guy, and Sydney's own Collarbones, Chris Barker and Basenji. With a host of both local and international artists yet to be announced, OutsideIn is back for another year of beats-you-may-have-missed and downright shindigging. OUTSIDEIN 2014 SECOND LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT: Roy Davis Jr (US) Basenji Brenmar (US) Late Nite Tuff Guy Collarbones Noise in My Head Chris Barker FULL 2014 LINEUP: The Pharcyde (US) Seekae Pantha Du Prince (GER) Giraffage (US) Roy Davis Jr (US) Client Liaison Basenji Brenmar (US) HNNY (SWE) DJ SPINN (US) Tornado Wallace Collarbones Late Nite Tuff Guy Wookie (UK) Rome Fortune (US) Fishing Jubilee (US) Guerre Black Vanilla Retiree Sui Zhen Noise In My Head Preacha Andy Webb Moriarty Ariane Chris Barker OutsideIn is happening at Manning Bar, University of Sydney on November 29. General admission is $80 +bf. All tickets are available through Oztix. Photo credit: Voena.co
Some people are just born with a penchant for spirits. The Australian genius of a distiller behind Mr Black cold drip coffee liqueur has come up with a perfect gin — one he's calling 'garden grown' gin. It’s called Distillery Botanica and to be honest, drinking it feels like strolling merrily through a summer garden. There’s a good reason for that. Philip Moore, the brains behind Distillery Botanica, sources all the botanicals from his very own garden in Erina on the Central Coast. To get the most out of the plants, he uses a one-thousand-year-old technique known as 'enfleurage'. It involves placing the flowers on a layer of coconut oil, into which their fragrance diffuses over two or three days, creating the purest possible perfume. The heady scent hits you as soon as the glass reaches your hand. “The hero botanical is marraya,” says Will Miles, Distillery Botanica partner and brand director. “It looks a bit like jasmine, but it’s got slightly wider petals and grows on tall, lush hedges. All the flowers are handpicked at the distillery, in the garden, so the gin really has the essence of the place where it’s made.” In addition to murraya, there’s jasmine, honeysuckle, orange blossom, rose, chamomile, coriander, orris root, sage, angelica and juniper. You can order a bottle of Distillery Botanica online. (The actual bottle, by the way, is one you’ll want to keep for aesthetics alone — five years went into its design). But if you're in Sydney and want to try a sample first, pop into Dead Ringer in Surry Hills (413 Bourke Street). If you’ve been there before, you’ll know it’s one of Sydney’s best new bars, operated by the legends from Bulletin Place. And mixologist Tim Phillips — who’s also co-owner and former World Class Bartender of the Year — has created an exclusive, Distillery Botanica-inspired cocktail. “We all love the gin,” he said. “We tried it blindly, we tried it in a gin and tonic, we tried it in a martini, and we all loved it … It’s a pleasure to pump up the tyres of a domestic product, but only if it’s the equal — or preferably the better — of an international product, and that was definitely the case with this stuff. “I wanted to come up with a cocktail that was quite perfume-y, quite aromatic, that reflects the pillars that Botanica are about. So, I’ve done a summer martini. The idea is to reverse the traditions of the martini, in the sense that, instead of having a very gin-heavy martini with a gesture of vermouth, having more of a vermouth martini. The seasoning of the drink is the gin, but there’s still enough that it’s able to stand up and pop and definitely get all the great stuff that is in the bottle.” Phillips’s Garden Martini is made of La Quintinye vermouth, Distillery Botanica and a dash of Benedictine liqueur. In place of olives are three drops of herb and olive oil. As a finishing touch, he sprays the glass with a specially created Distillery Botanica perfume, transporting your senses to some far-off Eden. Shop Distillery Botanica on their website. Images: Sabine Schwarz.
When a French store recently slashed the price of Nutella, customers went wild. Brawling and rioting was reported, and now the country's government is looking to change the laws regarding cheap supermarket promotions. Yes, it's safe to say that the chocolate hazelnut spread has more than a few fans. Here in Australia, we have a Nutella food truck, a Nutella festival and a Nutella dessert bar. And, from February 5 to 28, a dedicated Nutella menu at Salt Meats Cheese as well. Kicking off on International Nutella Day, because of course that's a thing, SMC 's Gasworks digs will be serving up 12 Nutella-filled items for your eating and drinking pleasure. Fancy a Nutella calzone, in both regular and Oreo varieties? New York-style Nutella ricotta cheesecake? Nutella deep fried in pastry? Nutella panna cotta? Gelato topped with Ferrero Rocher, Kinder Bueno and Nutella sauce drizzle? Of course you do. Or, sip and slurp up your favourite spread, with the Nutella espresso martini — with Skyy vodka, Nutella, coffee liqueur, muscovado sugar and cold drip espresso — certain to be popular. Marocchino Nutella, like they make in the substance's Italian home town, will also be available, as will Nutella lattes and frappes.
Everyone has a go-to duet, even if you're not a singer or a karaoke fan. Yes, even if you just hum tunes in the shower, you do too. There's a thing about duets, though, particularly when they're love songs. Usually they're shared between heterosexual pairs — but not at Coupling at MELT on May 19. Especially for Brisbane, this one-night-only show won't go breakin' your heart as it reclaims everyone's favourite two-handers for same-sex couples. Camerata, aka Queensland's Chamber Orchestra with special guest vocalists Sean Andrews, David Ouch, Luke Hodgson, Greg Moore, Monique Dawes, Emily Gilhome, Jessica Mahony and Ellen Reed, will lift pop classics up where they belong and make sure you have the time of your life — with endless love, of course.
"Don't you dare ruin my childhood!" Such is the inevitable complaint from nostalgic movie fans whenever a beloved film from yesteryear is tapped by studios for a remake. Setting aside what kind of fragile childhood you must have had for a movie to be capable of destroying it, the sentiment is at least a sincere one: please be respectful. Like a thoughtless cover song robbing an original of all its heart and meaning (here's looking at you, Madonna's 'American Pie'), the arbitrary remaking, rebooting and reimagining of successful pop-culture properties threatens to expend a great deal of fan goodwill. Paul Feig's Ghostbusters was the last film to attract this level of ire, though that was as much to do with sexism as anything else (and proved doubly misguided since the female cast ended up being the best thing about it). Then came the Jumanji announcement and, again, childhoods were imperilled the world over. The beloved Robin Williams vehicle from 1995 (itself an adaptation from a book) was a critical meh at the time, but made bucketloads of cash. More importantly, however, its status as a cult classic grew with each passing day – so much so that the remake's star, Dwayne Johnson, recognised the risk early on and did his best to allay people's fears. "We wanted to do something that was respectful of the work of Robin Williams as well as creating something fresh," he insisted. So was he true to his word? Well, yes and no. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle certainly isn't fresh, in that it's largely just an appropriation of Tron coupled up with body-swap stories like Freaky Friday and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Nor does it really address the legacy of Robin Williams, since his character scarcely rates a mention, and the story itself in no way resembles the original. But is it a good film? Absolutely. Updating itself, quite literally, for more modern times, the film sees the original Jumanji board game transform into a mid-90s video game cartridge and promptly suck a hapless teenager into its hidden universe. Fast-forward 20 years and, in a clear nod to The Breakfast Club, the game is discovered in a storeroom by four motley teens during high-school detention. Sure enough they too – the nerd, the jock, the princess and the loner girl – find themselves pulled into Jumanji's perilous jungle. But there's a twist: they're now in the bodies of the game character they chose. So it is that the nerd becomes the muscle-bound Dr Smolder Bravestone (Johnson), the jock becomes pint-sized zoologist Moose Finbar (Kevin Hart), the loner becomes uber-babe and biologist Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) and – most amusingly – the princess becomes the portly, middle-aged cartographer Shelly Oberon (Jack Black). From there the film becomes a non-stop action-adventure romp, one in which its stars engage in a retro video game quest to return a glowing green jewel to its rightful home. The laughs are frequent, coming mostly from the body-swap setup, but also from the tongue-in-cheek references to 90s point and click games – like having non-playable characters only speak a limited number of lines that repeat themselves if you fail to progress in time. Each of the main cast members plays impressively against type, with Black in particular soaring in his part as the vacuous it-girl. Together they make an entirely likeable crew, lending the narrative a nice emotional undercurrent even as a "be true to yourself" message is jammed clumsily down our throats. Funny, breezy and full of memorable performances, nervous film buffs can rest easy. Your childhood is going to be just fine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QKg5SZ_35I
Last summer might only just be behind us, but it's never too early to start making plans for the next one — and for the festival fun that comes with it. Indeed, when the toasty weather returns at the end of 2022, it'll also herald another comeback, with music, art and food festival Spilt Milk locking in three events for this year. Originally only held in Canberra, then expanding to Ballarat, and now heading to Queensland as well — to the Gold Coast to be specific — the beloved event will return in November and December. First stop: its ACT home, of course, on Saturday, November 26 at Exhibition Park. It'll hit up regional Victoria next, on Saturday, December 3 at Victoria Park, before wrapping things up on Sunday, December 4 at Doug Jennings Park in the Sunshine State. The multi-city one-dayer has cemented its spot as a must-attend event for a heap of reasons — and tickets have sold out in under 30 minutes every year, including in a record nine minutes one year, to prove it. So, expect this to be one of the most anticipated returns of 2022, whoever is on the lineup. That bill won't be announced until Thursday, April 28; however, in the past, Spilt Milk has played host to Khalid, CHVRCHES, Juice Wrld, Channel Tres, BENEE, Lorde, Gang of Youth, Dom Dolla, Tones & I and more. This year, it's promising "a mega line-up with some of the most in-demand names on the scene". Start your guesses now, folks. Whoever tops the lineup — and whoever else helps fill the fest's stages — that musical roster will have impressive company, because the rest of the program always spans visual art, tasty eats and pop-up bars. Again, the details haven't yet been revealed, but it's worth blocking out your calendar now. SPILT MILK 2022 DATES: Saturday, November 26 — Exhibition Park, Canberra Saturday, December 3 — Victoria Park, Ballarat Sunday, December 4 — Doug Jennings Park, Gold Coast Spilt Milk will hit Canberra, Ballarat and the Gold Coast in November and December 2022. The full lineup will be announced on Thursday, April 28 — head back here then for further details — with pre-sale tickets go on sale from Tuesday, May 3 and general sales from Thursday, May 5. Head to the festival website for more info and to register for pre-sales. Images: Jordan Munns and Billy Zammit.
To mask or not to mask? During the pandemic, that's often been the question. In Brisbane over the past few months, you've always needed to carry a mask with you; however, the rules around that have changed more than a few times — and at 4pm today, Friday, October 8, they're changing yet again. Brisbanites, next time you head out for a bite to eat, to have drinks or see a movie, you won't need to keep your mask on while you're seated. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has just announced the loosening of Queensland's COVID-19 restrictions, reverting back to the rules that were in place before they were last amended at the end of September. And, that means that mask rules are easing slightly as well. Masks are still staying for now, but you'll be able to take them off when you're sitting down in public. You will still need to always carry a mask with you, of course, but you can flash that smile if you're seated in a pub, bar, restaurant, cafe, cinema or theatre. At hospitality venues, you'll actually only need to mask up when you're entering and exiting, in another relaxation of the rules. At all other indoor sites — other than your own home — you can uncover your face once you're seated. Mask requirements change from 4pm. #covid19 pic.twitter.com/RaSRdRfCI8 — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 8, 2021 Queensland's standing mask mandate for flights, airports and stadiums still remains in place, though, so you'll always need to mask up there. And, they remain mandatory on public transport, in ride shares and while waiting for both; outdoors if you can't remain 1.5 metres away from people who aren't part of your household; and indoors in public if you're not sitting or you're not inside a hospo venue. Queensland currently has 31 active COVID-19 cases, with zero new locally acquired case reported in the past 24 hours. And, as always, the usual requests regarding social distancing, hygiene and getting tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms also still apply — as they have since March last year. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website.
