Here's one way to add eight movies to your must-see list in 2025: Australia's Alliance Française French Film Festival has not only unveiled its dates for the event's next tour of the country, but has also started dropping a sneak peak of its lineup. As proves the case every year, autumn Down Under will mean venturing to Paris and beyond from your cinema seat. Head along to AFFFF and you'll also be helping the fest to celebrate its 36th year. If you're in Sydney, mark Tuesday, March 4 in your diary. Melbourne's season opens the following day, then Brisbane and Canberra the day after that. Perth's turn arrives the next week, while Adelaide gets into the action the week afterwards. In all locations, the festival runs through until at least early April. Already the largest celebration of French cinema outside of France itself, AFFFF will be even bigger in 2025, hitting up 18 cities — and adding five new locations, in Darwin, Ballina, Ballarat, Warriewood and Warrawong, to its slate. Across its full run, the festival is set to host 5500-plus screenings. If you like Gallic films, that's a whole lot of sessions to say "oui" to. While the complete lineup will arrive in early February 2025, the fest has kicked off its program announcements with the Tahar Rahim (Madame Web)-starring Monsieur Aznavour, about singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour, as its opening-night pick. The movie has been doing big business in France, selling 1.8-million-plus tickets. Now, it's Australia's turn to head along. Also on the bill: the latest version of the The Count of Monte Cristo, which features Pierre Niney (The Book of Solutions) in the lead and takes AFFFF's centrepiece slot; Meet the Leroys, a road-trip dramedy that marks Charlotte Gainsbourg's (Alphonse) latest film; and Prodigies, a tale of sibling rivalry with Emily in Paris' Camille Razat. Beating Hearts, which is helmed by Gilles Lellouche (Sink or Swim) and stars Adèle Exarchopoulos (Inside Out 2) and François Civil (The Three Musketeers), played at Cannes International Film Festival 2024 — as did the music-loving My Brother's Band from The Big Hit writer/director Emmanuel Courcol. Viewers can also look forward to The Divine Sarah Bernhardt, with Sandrine Kiberlain (Meet the Barbarians) as the eponymous actor. And last — for now — but not least is All Stirred Up, a comedy focusing on a customs officer on the border between Quebec and the United States, plus her daughter's attempts to win a cooking contest. Alliance Française French Film Festival 2025 Dates Tuesday, March 4–Wednesday, April 9 — Palace Central, Palace Norton Street, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Moore Park, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, Roseville Cinemas, Warriewood, Sydney Wednesday, March 5–Wednesday, April 9 — Palace Cinema Como, The Kino, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth, Pentridge Cinema,The Astor Theatre, Palace Penny Lane, Palace Regent Ballarat, Melbourne Thursday, March 6–Tuesday, April 8 — Palace Cinema James Street, Palace Cinema Barracks, Brisbane, QLD: Thursday, March 6–Wednesday, April 9 — Palace Electric Cinemas, Canberra Thursday, March 13–Wednesday, April 16 — Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX, Luna Leedeerville, Windsor Cinema, Perth Wednesday, March 19–Wednesday, April 23 — Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Adelaide The Alliance Française French Film Festival will tour Australia in March and April 2025. For more information, visit the AFFFF website. Check back here on Wednesday, February 5, 2025 for the full program.
First, Vincent Lombino and Jared Thibault gave Woolloongabba a stylish neighbourhood-style Italian trattoria. Now, they've added a new Chinese Peruvian restaurant and bar to the same precinct. Open since late July 2022, Casa Chow has followed in Sasso Italiano's footsteps, joining the inner-east suburb's South City Square. The former Ovolo and QT Food and Beverage Directors are heroing Chino Latino cuisine, aka Chifa, in their latest 100-seat venture — a culinary style that matches Cantonese flavours with Peruvian staples. On the menu: dishes such as lomo saltado, a stir fry made with marinated wagyu, onions and aji amarillo chilli, and served over fries, as well as anticucho marinated skewers, plus a blend of dim sum and ceviche. Executive Chef Gabriele Di Landri focuses on Chifa dishes that are designed to share. And, patrons tuck in while listening to Latin tunes spun at the venue's DJ booth, and sitting within a pastel-hued space with blue and pink walls, flowing curtains, booth seating and an open-style bar. To wash Casa Chow's bites down with, Thibault and Bar Manager Shawn Brown are going big on pisco, the brandy made in Peru and Chile's winemaking regions. Expect to sip Scorpion bowl cocktails, pick from a hefty rum list and enjoy the best vinos that South America has to offer. In collaboration with Aether Brewing, there's also be a bespoke rice lager, which features hints of Peruvian purple corn.
Already in 2023, the various streaming services available in Australia have delivered must-see game-to-TV adaptations like The Last of Us, blasts from the pasts multiple times over such as That '90s Show and glorious cult-comedy revivals with Party Down. From there, the list goes on. But if you've read Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe, the Netflix series based on it is likely at the top of your must-see list — and it'll hit before the year is out. The streaming platform hasn't revealed exactly when Boy Swallows Universe will arrive, but it is locked in for a 2023 release. Also, it just finished production in Brisbane. Smartly, the Brissie-set tale has been filmed in the Sunshine State capital for its jump to TV — after it also became one of 2021's stage hits in Brisbane, too. Boy Swallows Universe spins a story about a young boy, his prophetic brother and his jailbreaking best friend as they navigate the heroin-filled underworld of 80s Queensland. Netflix's adaptation was first announced in 2022, and will span eight episodes, running as a self-contained limited series. Travis Fimmel (Black Snow) stars as Lyle Orlik, while the cast also includes Simon Baker (Blaze) as Robert Bell and Phoebe Tonkin (Bloom) as Frances Bell — plus Felix Cameron (Penguin Bloom) as Eli Bell and Lee Tiger Halley (The Heights) as Gus Bell. Also set to feature: Bryan Brown (Hungry Ghosts) as Slim Halliday, Anthony LaPaglia (Nitram) as Tytus Broz, and Sophie Wilde (Eden) as Caitlyn Spies, plus Christopher James Baker (Ozark) as Ivan Kroll, HaiHa Le (Back to the Rafters) as Bich Dang and Deborah Mailman (Total Control) as Poppy Birkbeck. And, you'll see Ben O'Toole (Barons) as Teddy, Zachary Wan (Never Too Late) as Darren Dang, and Millie Donaldson and Eloise Rothfield as Shelley Huffman (aged 17 and 13, respectively). For the second time since shooting began, the streaming service has also dropped a heap of behind-the-scenes photos, if you're keen for a sneak peek before a trailer drops. Boy Swallows Universe is directed by Bharat Nalluri (The Man Who Invented Christmas), Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker) and Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket), and scripted by screenwriter John Collee (Master and Commander, Happy Feet, Hotel Mumbai). The impressive names involved extend to the show's executive producers, too, which include Troy Lum (The Water Diviner, Saving Mr Banks, Mao's Last Dancer), Andrew Mason (The Matrix, The Water Diviner), Sophie Gardiner (Howard's End, Chimerica), Kerry Roberts (Foe, Boy Erased), and Aussie actor and filmmaker Joel Edgerton (The Stranger, The Underground Railroad). On the page, Boy Swallows Universe has snagged a slew of local awards, including Book of the Year, Literary Book of the Year and Audio Book of the Year at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards. The novel, which has sold a hefty amount of copies in Australia alone — 160,000 in 2019, when the play was announced — was also longlisted for Australia's most prestigious literature prize, the Miles Franklin Award. And, while bringing Boy Swallows Universe to the screen has been in the works for some time — with Harper Collins selling the television rights to the novel back in 2019, and Edgerton set to produce the show since then — if you've been waiting to actually lock your eyes on a Boy Swallows Universe series, 2023 is your year. Boy Swallows Universe will hit Netflix sometime in 2023. We'll update you with an exact release date when it's announced. Images: Netflix.
No trip to Japan is complete without introducing your tastebuds to the country's creative array of KitKats, which span everything from pumpkin, wasabi and sake to cough drop-flavoured versions. If you're making the visit from the end of September 2019 onwards, your chocolate-eating quest will now double as a change to enjoy a spot of origami, too — and will be much more environmentally friendly as well. Nestlé Japan has announced that it's changing the packaging on local KitKat products, swapping from plastic to paper wrappers. At first, it'll make the change with the outer packaging on share packs, with five flavours (including regular, matcha and dark matcha) affected. By September 2020, the company plans to do the same for all of its large bags, before replacing all individual wrappers in 2021. With the switch to paper, Nestlé Japan is also making the obvious connection, including origami instructions on the new packaging. Now, when you've finished with your sweet treat, you can fashion the wrapper into a crane — and again a colourful keepsake. The move comes as part of Nestlé's worldwide efforts to ensure that 100-percent of its packaging is recyclable or re-usable by 2025, a plan that it announced last year. While KitKats are sold in more than 80 countries worldwide, just when the packaging might change elsewhere — and if it'll entice chocolate fiends to turn their used wrappers into origami — is yet to be revealed. Images: Nestlé Japan.
If your wardrobe is filled with pop culture-themed attire, odds are that you're a fan of Brisbane's BlackMilk Clothing. Star Wars outfits, Harry Potter activewear, Avatar threads, Squid Game tracksuits, The Witcher dresses — the company has released them all. Next on its list: a new range of Stranger Things-inspired pieces. This isn't the first time that BlackMilk has teamed up with Netflix to pay homage to the 80s-set sci-fi hit; however, given that the series finally returned for season four this year — and that Halloween is almost upon us, too — the brand has whipped up another collection. Need something to run up that hill in? Not sure what to wear while battling Vecna? Just keen on a new trick-or-treating outfit? Consider all of those boxes ticked. Whether you've spent the last few years wishing you went to Hawkins High or you just want to wear clothing decked out with demorgogons, there's something here for you, too. The new 17-piece line spans includes Hawkins Demogorgons varsity jackets, Upside Down-themed dresses and leggings that look like Vecna's lair. A hoodie features the gang riding their bikes the right way up and all that evil lurking below, while a few particularly ace-looking items include Stranger Things movie posters. Another standout: a shirt paying tribute to Eddie Munson, name-checking his band Corroded Coffin. And, because the range really is timed for the spookiest period of the year, cartoon pumpkins also feature. The past few months haven't been short on ways to indulge your Stranger Things love, ranging from Spotify playlists to themed burgers — and, of course, that giant rift that arrived temporarily on Bondi Beach. A full preview of BlackMilk's new Stranger Things collection is available on its website — and if you're as keen to pick up a few pieces as Eleven is about Eggos, they go on sale at 7am AEST on Thursday, September 8. Getting in quickly, like a demon is chasing you, is recommended; items are available until sold out, and, yes, that often happens quickly. BlackMilk Clothing's new Stranger Things collection goes on sale at 7am AEST on Thursday, September 8. For more information about, head to the brand's website.
Your mates have flocked to the Mediterranean coast. Your boss is sailing around Croatia. Heck, even your parents have jetted off for a week of sun, sand and piña coladas in Hawaii. And here in Oz, we're sloshing and shivering our way through another winter season But, there's plenty of reason to rug up, get out and explore our own backyard. Even if it's chilly outside. As the mercury plummets, there's no better time to cosy up, glass of wine in hand, and let someone else do the cooking. Or perhaps you're looking for a dose of arts and culture or even something to get the blood pumping? Whatever you're craving, Sydney has a whole stack of blues-busting events, festivals and activities all winter long. To get you started, we've teamed up with InterContinental Sydney to bring you an itinerary that'll make your winter a little bit warmer. Base yourself at the hotel's CBD location and hop from exhibitions and pop-up events to must-see dining spots. We've done the hard work you; all you have to do is get exploring. INDULGE IN A LAND TO SEA BUFFET While on holiday, you should always treat yourself to the finer things. At InterContinental Sydney's Cafe Opera, you'll find a 'land to sea' buffet packed with fresh seafood, locally sourced meats and a new Asian cuisine station. Enjoy Sydney Rock oysters, prawns, green-lipped mussels and a selection of sushi, then fill up on roast meats sourced from NSW's Southern Highlands like lamb shoulder, pork belly and beef rump. You can choose to go for lunch from Wednesday to Friday or enjoy the 'deluxe experience' over the weekend. Our tip? If you're visiting on a weekend, stop by from Friday night to Sunday (all day) for a luxe seafood offering of Balmain bugs, blue swimmer crab, salmon sashimi and grilled whole salmon available lunch and dinner. Plus, if you choose to lunch on the weekend, you'll also get free-flowing sparkling wine and soft drinks with your meal. The Land to Sea Buffet is available from Wednesday 12pm to Friday 2.30pm for $69 per person and from Friday 5.30pm to Sunday 10pm for $99 per person. Kids ten and under eat free. InterContinental Sydney is also offering 20% off food till October 13, 2019. WATCH AN OPERATIC MASTERPIECE AT THE OPERA HOUSE It's a Sydney icon that welcomes 8.2 million visitors every year. Some would say it's the most popular house in the country. But, for Australians, it's often the most overlooked of attractions. Take in all of the Sydney Opera House's glory with one of the world's most famous love stories. Madama Butterfly is the bold new production by choreographer Graeme Murphy, bringing new life to Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's original work. This digital production uses 12 huge high-definition LED panels to showcase animations and film content, telling the tragic tale of a young Japanese girl's marriage with an American naval officer. Make sure to bring plenty of tissues for this one. Madama Butterfly runs from Friday, June 28 to Saturday, August 10, 2019, and tickets start at $47. [caption id="attachment_679482" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Madeye Photography[/caption] HAVE A CUPPA AT A FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO TEA Blending and brewing are terms typically associated with craft breweries. But, the specialty tea market is just as complex, and you can learn all about it at the Sydney Tea Festival. This one-day event brings dozens of tea specialists and lovers to Sydney's multi-arts centre Carriageworks for workshops, tastings and a bustling tea market. Sample specialty loose leaf tea, relax in the Brew Lounge and immerse yourself in a world of flavour with educational tastings, demonstrations and hands-on workshops. Once you've worked up an appetite, stop by the on-site food trucks for a sweet or savoury bite to eat. Sydney Tea Festival takes place on August 18, 2019, and tickets start at $16.95. DO YOUR BRAIN SOME GOOD AND LEARN SOMETHING NEW There's much more to science than lab coats and Bunsen burners. And Sydney's annual science festival proves just that. Showcasing some of the globe's leading thinkers, Sydney Science Festival brings researchers, museums, universities and communities together for a week of discovery, discussion and scientific debate. Even if science class was not your thing at school, you'll still find something that intrigues within the festival's lineup of talks, workshops and exhibitions. Picnic beneath the stars (and with reduced light pollution) explore activism in the age of climate change, challenge how you perceive reality at A Night of Illusions and celebrate the female tech visionaries who've played an important role in the history of technology but have been overlooked — until now. Sydney Science Festival runs August 6–18. Find the full lineup here. SEE THE ARCHIBALD AT THE AGNSW If you haven't had a chance to see the Archibald before, now's your chance. The annual portrait prize exhibition is now showing at the Art Gallery of NSW till September 9. This year, you can expect to see the likes of actor David Wenham, three-time Paralympic gold medallist Dylan Alcott plus Sydney-based author, broadcaster and journalist Benjamin Law. The best bit? For just $20 you'll also get to explore the Wynne and Sulman Prize exhibitions, showcasing the best landscape paintings of Australian scenery as well as the best subject, genre or mural painting. The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize 2019 runs till September 8, 2019, and tickets cost $20. And while you're there, opt to catch a double exhibition with tickets to The Essential Duchamp for an additional $16, running till August 11, 2019. Plan to stay at InterContinental Sydney on your next trip to the Harbour City. Enjoy up to 30 percent off your stay if you book before August 5, 2019 and check-in before September 30, 2019. To book, visit the website here. Updated: July 22, 2019.
Raise a glass to your next four must-visit vino spots: the winners of the 2022 Wineslinger Awards. Every year since 2018, these hospitality gongs have singled out the best places to get sipping, including via a Top 50 list and handing out four trophies. And for this year, ready to help shape your bar choices for 2023, all of the above is now here. Wineslinger isn't actually about vino itself, or bars in general. As the name makes plain, it's focused on watering holes that specialise in wine. Only four awards are handed out each year, covering the best Wineslinger, Best New Haunt, the Maverick prize for venues that push the limits and the People's Choice gong. While the first three awards are voted on by more than 100 industry experts, the latter stems from vino aficionados at home. [caption id="attachment_623526" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To.[/caption] Nabbing the big prize this year: Sydney's Dear Sainte Éloise, which was recognised for its focus "on organic and biodynamic producers who work with as little winemaking intervention as possible", as well as its hefty 550-plus wine list. "Over the last five years, owners Matt Swieboda and Nate Hatwell have firmly cemented a new institution to pair with their legendary wine bar, Love, Tilly Devine," said the Young Gun of Wine team, which runs Wineslinger, announcing the win. "There's a by-the-glass list of about 25 – plus saké and fortifieds – with new or featured wines chalked up daily. There's also a low-waste, sustainable undercurrent to the venue that extends to the menu where whole beasts are sourced to utilise every last piece of the animal. And the produce, like the wine, is organic or biodynamic, except for the rare exception." [caption id="attachment_623522" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To.[/caption] The Potts Point spot took out the gong after Melbourne's Embla nabbed it in 2021, and the Carlton Wine Room in 2020. In 2022, Victoria's wine spots made a showing courtesy of the Best New Haunt prize, a rather self-explanatory field, which went to Bar Merenda in Daylesford. In the Maverick category, Perth's Tetsun emerged victorious, marking the second year in a row that the award has gone to a venue in the Western Australia capital. It got the nod for being "a wine bar that steps away from rigid formality to add a splash of fun," the awards advised. "Styling itself as a neo-Italian neighbourhood osteria, the room has a lively, loud and rambunctious atmosphere, which made an immediate impact since opening in the heart of inner-Perth nightlife hub Mount Lawley in mid-2022." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Young Gun of Wine (@younggunofwine) And, the People's Choice went to an Adelaide venue, also for the second year running. The winner: bottle shop and tasting room Bowden Cellars. Just like in 2021, all four winners hailed from different cities. The Wineslinger Awards were created by Rory Kent, who also founded the Young Gun of Wine Awards. Where the latter prize aims to recognise stellar up-and-comers, the former is all about excellent and innovative places where vino lovers can enjoy an ace drop. Wineslinger also releases a list of top places to drink wine across the country each year, with 2022's rundown revealed back in November. The 50 spots span everywhere from Sydney's 10 William Street, Monopole and Poly to Melbourne's Bar Liberty, Old Palm Liquor and Public Wine Shop — plus Brisbane's La Lune Wine Co, Maeve and Wineism as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Young Gun of Wine (@younggunofwine) For further details about the 2022 Wineslinger Award winners, visit the awards' website. Top image: Dear Sainte Eloise, Nikki To.
Throw those feathered headbands, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. Triggering road trippin' pilgrimages country-wide since 2001, Splendour is a locked-in date for many a festival reveller (with lineup announcements and ticket sales mornings causing widespread panic and cold sweats). So who's playing this year? Confirmed as headliners after an awkward leaked post by the duo on the Splendour website, Outkast will be taking out the top spot on the first night. After a seven-year hiatus, Big Boi and Andre 3000 made a triumphant return to the stage recently at Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California. Cailfornian festival favourites Foster The People were a 'Pumped Up Kicks'-loving Splendour crowd favourite in 2011 and will return with more material this year. British trio London Grammar will bring their ethereal trip hop to Byron after their billing last year didn't work out due to timing. Two Door Cinema Club and Lily Allen will return to Australia for their first shows here in over a year. But one of the biggest surprises is the addition of Brooklyn's beloved Interpol, who no one really saw coming. After letting tour plans slip on triple j, Sky Ferreira can now officially confirm her spot on the lineup, returning quite soon after a recent Australian tour. Others who couldn't keep away include Danny Brown, Childish Gambino, Darkside, Parquet Courts and CHVRCHES, all of whom recently played killer shows around these parts. The Australian contingent (lead by deadset legends Hoodoo Gurus) sees Angus and Julia Stone and Spiderbait return to the stage, as well as RÜFÜS, Vance Joy, The Preatures, Hilltop Hoods, Sticky Fingers, The Jezabels, Ball Park Music, Courtney Barnett, DZ Deathrays, Violent Soho and more homegrown favourites sure to prompt All The Singalongs. There's a few wildcards sure to stir significant hype closer to the date, including Icelandic melodic folkster Ásgeir, New York punk rockers Skaters and returning eclectic folk-pop queen tUnE-yArDs. Splendour in the Grass 2014 will take place from Friday July 25 through to Sunday July 27, returning to the festival's new home of North Byron Parklands, Yelgun. Full lineup: Outkast (Only Aus Show) Two Door Cinema Club (Only Aus Show) Lily Allen Interpol (Only Aus Show) Childish Gambino Foster The People Angus & Julia Stone City And Colour London Grammar Sam Smith Hilltop Hoods Vance Joy Darkside (Only Aus Show) RÜFÜS Ben Howard Kelis Metronomy Hoodoo Gurus Chvrches (Only Aus Show) Grouplove The Jezabels Tune-Yards 360 Wild Beasts Danny Brown (Only Aus Show) Illy First Aid Kit Violent Soho Ásgeir Spiderbait The 1975 Ball Park Music Art Vs Science Buraka Som Sistema (Only Aus Show) The Preatures Parquet Courts (Only Aus Show) Sticky Fingers Peking Duk Sky Ferreira Future Islands Courtney Barnett Phantogram DZ Deathrays Skaters Gossling Jungle The Strypes Hot Dub Time Machine The Kite String Tangle Ry-X Mikhael Paskalev Wave Racer The Acid Saskwatch Kingswood Circa Waves Broods Dustin Tebbutt The Head And The Heart DMA'S Darren Middleton Little May Darlia D.D Dumbo Tkay Maidza The Creases The Wild Feathers Chrome Sparks Fractures Mas Ysa Nick Mulvey Triple J Unearthed Winners Plus DJs & Producers: Nina Las Vegas Yacht Club DJs Motez Touch Sensitive Indian Summer Wordlife L D R U & Yahtzel DJs Cosmos Midnight Sable Kilter Basenji KLP Fishing DJs Paces Charles Murdoch More information over here at the Splendour website.
Khaled Sabsabi presents his latest exhibition, a presentation of two of his most remarkable works to date. 70,000 Veils (2014) is an installation of film, delving into the complex ties of the spiritual and the religious in a modern world; it will make its way from the 5th Marrakech Biennale for the exhibition, a venture made possible by the Australian Council for the Arts. Guerilla (2007) is a real portrayal of life after civil war. It shares the stories from multiple perspectives by means of painted photographs. Come and share in the works of Sabsabi, an reflective artist who delves into the scars topics of border identity, migrant territories and identity production. Issues so engrained in national history and populace are vital to the understanding of the people and their individual stories. An opportunity to gain such specific insight is truly hard come by, particularly in such a stunning format.
It has been over three years since Australia's most ambitious outdoor cinema held its first pop-up, letting movie lovers catch a flick under the stars while getting cosy in one of its beds (yes, beds). After four fast-selling seasons in Sydney, Mov'In Bed has announced its first national tour, bringing its comfy setup to three other capital cities. Cinephiles in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria, it's your time to hop into one of 150 beds and stare up at the silver screen. Mov'In Bed will make its way around the nation this year, going to Perth and Brisbane before making its Melbourne debut at St Kilda Beach in January and February 2020. It'll return to Sydney for a summer season at the Entertainment Quarter, too, from January till March. While the film program hasn't been announced yet, audiences in each city can expect the same experience — the same number of beds, around 30–50 screenings, and just generally grabbing a buddy you're comfortable to share a blankie with (or make a bold first date move) for a unique night at the movies. In Sydney across previous seasons, Mov'In Bed has hosted themed and party nights too, so here's hoping that's also on the agenda. The outdoor cinema also features the usual range of movie snacks — beer, lollies and popcorn, of course — and has seen Burger Project and Fratelli Fresh bring food directly to Sydneysiders' beds. If you don't want to shell out for a bed (which have ranged from $40 for a single person to $74 for a couple in the past), it also lets patrons bring a picnic blanket and chill out on the grass. MOV'IN BED 2019–20 SEASON Perth, Ozone Reserve — October 18 – December 8, 2019 Melbourne, St Kilda Beach — January 3 – February 23, 2020 Sydney, Entertainment Quarter — January 17 – March 8, 2020 Mov'In Bed will pop up from October 2019, and tickets will go on sale later this year. For more information, keep an eye on movinbed.com.au. Updated: September 3, 2019.
This could be love: a classic 80s film that's been adored for decades, a new date with the big screen, and a live band and singers bringing its soundtrack to life as you watch. Dirty Dancing in Concert isn't new to Australia, but it keeps returning to tour the country because the movie at its centre is one that audiences can't get enough of. If you're a fan, you'll know which phrase fits: ideally, you'll have the time of your film-watching life. On Saturday, October 4, 2025, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey will dance up a storm in the 1987 romantic drama at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. While this event is clearly hoping that you've never felt like this before, that'll only apply if you didn't go to 2022's or 2023's shows. Whether you're a Dirty Dancing in Concert first-timer or returning after seeing it before, you'll not only see the movie — you'll also hit up the party afterwards. Accordingly, as you celebrate one of Swayze's biggest and most-charming film roles, you'll be immersed in the world of the picture from the moment that you take your seat. Although no one will be carrying watermelons or checking into Kellerman's Mountain House in the Catskills, the digitally remastered feature will grace the big screen, its iconic songs will get a workout live, then the musicians will stick around afterwards to headline a party that'll naturally have you singing and dancing. If you're feeling adventurous and inspired by the movie, you might even want to try to recreate the famous lift. Here, nobody will put you or Francis 'Baby' Houseman in a corner — and you'd be just a fool to believe otherwise. Your hungry eyes will soak in Baby's first taste of dirty dancing, her eager rehearsals and her growing infatuation with Johnny Castle, as well as her parents' bitter unhappiness about the entire situation. Dirty Dancing in Concert images: Zdenko Hanout.
It could potentially be the final film for Studio Ghibli. And by gum, it looks like our hearts will be firmly in our hands. Set for limited release across Australia on May 14 for two weeks only, When Marnie Was There could be the last Ghibli feature film ever; after the Japanese animation legends announced the possibly permanent closure of their film division last year. Spirited Away creator and Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki retired from filmmaking before the 2013 release of The Wind Rises, and fellow Ghibli head Isao Takahata's Academy Award-nominated film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya didn't fare too well at the box office outside Japan. So we've got big hopes for the studio's last wild feature-length ride, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (The Secret World of Arrietty). When Marnie Was There following the life of a lonely girl, Anne, whose foster parents decide to send her to the country to stay with distant family. After stumbling across a strangely familar old mansion, she meets Marnie, the mysterious girl who lives there. Ghibli magic ensues. Check out the trailer here: When Marnie Was There is set for limited release across Australia on May 14 for two weeks only, screening in both original Japanese language and English dubbed versions. Check your local cinema listings.
It's not every artist who'd revisit their Year Two saxophone skills on their debut album. But Melbourne's Chet Faker (aka Nick Murphy) isn't afraid of giving anything a whirl for the sake of sound. Following the release of his debut EP Thinking In Textures via Downtown Records in 2012, Murphy gained international high-fives and 'Breakthrough Artist of the Year' at the Australian Independent Records Awards, made an EP with Flume, toured with Bonobo, played at South by South West and scored a Super Bowl ad with his breakthrough cover of Blackstreet's 'No Diggity'. After settling into his own snuggly studio space in North Melbourne, Murphy painstakingly tweaked, experimented and self-produced his debut album Built On Glass. An eclectic and unpredictable mix of electronic soul ballads, deep house journeys and hip hop beats, Murphy's love of experimentation and letting sound breathe makes Built On Glass one of the year's most overwhelmingly confident debut releases. Heartbreakingly honest lyrics, minimalist electronic groovery and Murphy's unmistakably soulful vocals make for serious repeat button action. Kicking off a huge worldwide tour in April, Chet Faker will hit venues in UK, US and Canada for a gargantuan string of dates before heading home for his national Australian headliner tour; stopping at The Tivoli on June 20 and 21. Supporting is New Zealand dream pop trio Yumi Zouma, whose four-track EP The Brae saw the Christchurch locals gain quite the following on Soundcloud. Head here for our chats with Chet Faker about his upcoming worldwide debut album tour, jogging on the road and his genuine disdain for pigeonholes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=aP_-P_BS6KY
Anyone who's caught The Jezabels live can nod to a hoarse throat and an emotional upheaval at the close. One of Australia's best live outfits, the Sydney foursome sure pack a punch on stage, leaving festival crowds at St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Groovin the Moo and Big Day Out thoroughly uplifted and homeproud. After extensive UK touring and support slots for Depeche Mode and the Pixies, The Jezabels are back on home turf ready to blow minds at The Tivoli for their 2014 headliner tour. Following the release of their colossally successful debut release Prisoner, The Jezabels spent two years on a furious touring escapade; leaving fans generally euphoric at over 200 shows worldwide. Gradually refining their epic live presence, the Sydney locals are a long way from their university band comp days — rounding out 2013 by opening for Depeche Mode and the Pixies through Ireland and the UK. The crew based themselves in London, hooked up with UK Producer Dan Grech-Marguerat (Radiohead, The Kooks, Lana Del Rey) and crafted their second album, The Brink, which debuted at #2 on the ARIA chart. No biggie. For their first headline dates for 2014, The Jezabels will fill every eave of The Tivoli with Hayley Mary's supercharged vocals. Sydney power pop dudes Gang of Youths will warm up The Tivoli with their debut single 'Evangelists', fresh from recent UK support slots for Vampire Weekend and Frightened Rabbit. https://youtube.com/watch?v=pQ3fAMOz-Ic
What kind of holidaymaker are you? Do you seek sun and sand on your break from the daily grind? Country-hopping and site-seeing? Or just comfortable surroundings and a cold brew or two? Those keen on the latter can now put their feet up at the ultimate accommodation for beer lovers from Monday, August 27. In fact, The DogHouse is so steeped in yeasty tipples, it's attached to and run by a brewery. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Scottish outfit BrewDog has set up the boozy venture, which lives next to its US facility in Columbus, Ohio. So, what does the world's first craft beer hotel entail? In addition to a sour brewing facility, it includes beverages and lots of them, of course. Visitors sleep in beer-themed rooms, eat craft beer-infused meals with brews tailored to every course, take brewery tours and check out the onsite beer museum. In-room beer taps are also on the agenda, as well as shower beer fridges. And, when you check in, the concierge gives you a beer — naturally. There are 32 rooms in total, including eight deluxe suites and four that are dog-friendly, should you find yourself in America with your pooch in tow. And if you're not going to be in that neck of the woods any time soon, BrewDog is also opening a second hotel at its Scottish headquarters in 2019. The company is also heading to Australia to launch its first $30 million Aussie facility in Brisbane; however that won't have a hotel attached. Images: BrewDog.
By now, every Brisbanite should've heard of the Urban Wine Walk, aka your excuse to mosey around town and drink vino at various bars across a mighty fine afternoon. Prefer hopping around a particular patch of the city to drink cocktails instead? Meet the Urban Cocktail Trail, which is exactly what it sounds like. This time, from 1–5pm on Saturday, November 19, you'll make your way around the Fortitude Valley to sip cocktails. Your destinations: Baja Modern Mexican, Summa House, Savile Row, Osbourne Hotel, Gerard's Bar, Baedeker, Alfred and Constance, and Dirty Sultan. All eight spots will each be making their own special cocktail for the occasion, so you'll basically be venturing to them all and catching those different drinks like Pokémon. [caption id="attachment_584697" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Emily Jane Davies[/caption] Passionfruit mojitos, tequila concoctions with elderflower and jalapeño syrup, moraba martinis, all the fruit mixed with gin: they're some of the one-off tipples you'll be sipping. Tickets cost $84.04 and are on sale now, with places limited. You can choose where you kick off, and you'll get an arrival cocktail and something to eat at your initial port of call. After that, you'll be able to redeem five vouchers for five cocktails at whichever participating places you feel like visiting. Or, there's also a $69.46 option, which only includes three cocktail vouchers.
After months of speculation, it seems Amazon's much-hyped Australian launch finally has a start date. And that date is tomorrow. As business information researchers IBISWorld confirmed, emails were sent out to a bunch of Amazon Marketplace sellers on Tuesday, suggesting that the online retail giant would be kicking off an 'internal testing phase' here in Australia at 2pm Thursday, November 23 — just in time for that hectic, pre-Christmas retail rush. There's not a whole lot of info to go on, though sellers are being told to ensure their pricing and stock is up-to-date, and that their accounts are ready for purchases from the start of this soft launch. They're also being given the opportunity to opt out of the testing phase, by temporarily deactivating their account. It looks like the rest of us will have to wait until tomorrow to see which, and how many products are available during the launch period — though if we know anything about Amazon, it's that they don't do things by halves. According to Senior Industry Analyst for IBISWorld Kim Do, Amazon's arrival in Australia is set to give the local retail industry a solid shake-up. "The company intends to challenge domestic retail prices by offering items for 30 percent less than domestic retailers," she explained, adding that technology products are expected to be Amazon's highest selling category. Let the retail therapy begin!
When we take that first sip of our barista-brewed coffee on a workday morning, a lot of us can't actually imagine living without coffee. But what about living without a roof over your head or a guaranteed meal? Unfortunately, this is what many homeless people around Australia face each day, but on Friday, August 3, you can help your fellow Aussies out simply by buying a coffee as part of CafeSmart. CafeSmart is an annual event from StreetSmart that raises money and awareness for the homeless and is back for its seventh year running. This year over 700 cafes will aim to raise as much as they can, with totals reaching more than of $160,000 in previous years. So how does it work? From every coffee purchased on August 3 at a participating cafe around Australia, $1 will be donated towards local projects. So if your go-to local isn't participating, shake things up for a day and head to one that is. Prefer a hot chocolate? You can also donate at the counter. Simply by aiming for a bighearted cafe, you'll be helping some of our country's most in-need humans, so treat yourself to a third or fourth coffee guilt-free. There are a heap of cafes participating across the city, but some include: Felix for Goodness Denim Mylk and Co Grinders Pablo and Rusty's The Low Road Cafe Sassafras NYC Bagel Deli
Marty. De Niro. Leo. Enough said. That's the basic maths behind Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese's first film since 2019's The Irishman. Premiering at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival before hitting cinemas Down Under in October and then Apple TV+ after that, it's also his first feature to star two of his long-serving collaborators: Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. De Niro and DiCaprio have been in so many of the legendary director's movies that it's rare for any of his titles to not include one or the other. The former's run gave viewers gangster masterpieces such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas and Casino; also spans the iconic Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The King of Comedy; and covers musical New York, New York and thriller remake Cape Fear, too — and, of course The Irishman. The latter began leading Scorsese's films in the early 2000s, kicking off with Gangs of New York, then starring in The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street. Yes, that's a helluva resume for both actors, and for their favourite helmer. Enter Killers of the Flower Moon — which is actually the second time that De Niro and DiCaprio have joined forces for Scorsese, but their debut together in one of his full-length features (they played themselves in the director's 2015 comedy short The Audition). The actors have a past on-screen beyond that, however, thanks to the non-Marty helmed This Boy's Life in 1993, back when DiCaprio was still a teen. That's the Scorsese–De Niro–DiCaprio history, with Killers of the Flower Moon also jumping backwards into the real-life of murders of oil-wealthy members of the Osage Nation in Osage County, Oklahoma a century back. Scorsese also co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth (Dune, and an Oscar-winner for Forest Gump), adapting David Gann's 2017 non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. As the just-dropped first trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon shows, DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Certain Women standout Lily Gladstone play a couple caught up in the investigations surrounding the mounting killings. Also co-starring: not just De Niro (Amsterdam), but Jesse Plemons (Love & Death), John Lithgow (Sharper) and newly minted Best Actor Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser (The Whale). Check out the trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon below: Killers of the Flower Moon will release in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, October 19, then stream via Apple TV+ at a later date — we'll update you with streaming details when they're announced.
Up your midichlorian count and get your eyes all over this new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This is the second look we've had of the seventh Star Wars instalment, after the first trailer dropped in November. Don't get cocky. The film isn't out until Christmas — December 17, 2015. But never tell us the odds.
Piecing together Ron Howard's petrol-headed extravaganza Rush is a bit like piecing together one of the F1 racers that this film is so in love with. It begins as little more than a mishmash of scrap metal. A love interest here, a chiselled six-pack there, but nothing quite manages to gel together to create a cohesive whole. Once the various touchstones and expectations of the biopic genre have been ticked off, a more fully formed picture begins to take shape. When the film finally does take off, somewhere near the hour mark, it has all the power and explosive energy of a supercharged engine. Well, it almost does. For anyone with even a smidgen of gasoline running through their veins, the 1976 Formula One season is the stuff of sporting folklore. For the rest of us, Rush is your classic tale of warring rivals: McLaren's loveable British rogue, James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) versus Ferrari's reigning world champ, and the biggest "asshole" in racing (this is not my judgment, this is the film's recurring insult-of-choice), Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). If the trailers are anything to go by, then Rush is targeting two groups of movie-goers: (1) those who like their movies filled with vintage cars whooshing across pretty landscapes and (2) those who like their movies filled with porny shots of a shirtless (and often pants-less) Hemsworth. While the film includes plenty of both, these are perhaps Rush's weakest points. The early race scenes look more like well-funded car ads then the work of the guy that made A Beautiful Mind, and Hemsworth, while perfectly adept at shouting expletives and glaring angrily, ain't no Marlon Brando. His attempts at bad boy charm are consistently wooden and occasionally quite laughable. Because Hollywood has inundated us with so many films about fast cars, filmmakers cannot simply show a couple shots of burning rubber and shifting gears and expect audiences to get a rise out of it. The stakes need to be higher. When Rush does set the bar higher, the film is quite irresistible. Once Howard shows us what makes these two racers click, we begin to care about them, with every race becoming a thrilling, heart-in-mouth experience. We feel their fear when the film puts us in the driver's seat and when the camera cuts to the reaction shots of loved ones. These shots do not simply instruct our emotions but actually reflect them. Much of this emotional engagement is thanks to Brühl's star-making turn as Lauda (for those playing spot the actor, he's the Nazi soldier in Inglourious Basterds). Apart from his uncanny resemblance to the real Lauda, the loveable German makes a delightful prick. His single-mindedness modulates from callous to hilarious to downright heartbreaking over the course of the film. And while Rush is, at times, a bit of a mixed bag, Brühl's engrossing performance provides the picture with the sort of poignancy that would put the kazillionaires at Marvel to shame. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZKqB987FpMI
Art/Work is a new Concrete Playground series where we take some time to chat with our local creatives in an attempt to unravel the daily grind behind being an artist. This week we speak with Kate Mitchell, a Sydney-based endurance artist represented by Chalk Horse. She is also one half of the paper cut crazy duo, Greedy Hen. Beware, jealousy pangs coming up, no more day job for this lovely lady! Most days you'll find me having some good times working at the Greedy Hen studio in Surry Hills. Greedy Hen is essentially a multi-disciplinary studio functioning partly as an art collective and partly as a design studio, housing the collaborative works of Katherine Brickman and myself. We make artwork, mostly collage/illustration heavy and it ends up in a whole variety of industries. We share our studio with some top notch people like Elke Kramer, Mikie Inglis and Benja Harney. It's non stop action in there! When I am not there I am having good times working/making from my studio at home. Otherwise I'm at the beach or on a bike. For the most part I spend my week bouncing ideas around with Katherine Brickman in Greedy Hen HQ, nutting out plans of attack and then getting them done the best way we can. We never know what will be in our inbox each morning, but usually there is some job waiting patiently for us! From time to time I work from my studio at home, it's quite a good balance. At the moment I am working on a solo Greedy Hen show which opens on May 5th at Lamington Drive in Melbourne. And currently I have some video works in a splendid group show called Social Sculpture on at Anna Schwartz Gallery at Carriage Works. It's on until May 14th. If money wasn't an issue I'd sail around the world, live on an island, climb some mountains, raft some rapids, make travel documentaries, meet some serious locals, learn to tie knots properly, never live through another winter and just wholesomely get out there and get involved. And realise all art dreams! Being an artist in Sydney is delightful and relentless in equal measure. My neighbourhood is Bronte. There's the beach and the RSL, what could possibly go wrong? I'm quite a fan of sneaking in a good body surf at Bronte beach in the mornings, and then I can't resist a dance off at Good God Small Club. It never fails to deliver.
Things are looking up, Brisbane. Summer is just around the corner, and you know what that means: long, lazy afternoons spent drinking cocktails with your mates. Luckily, our pretty city has capitalised on places to drink outdoors in the form of copious beer gardens and courtyards, where you don't have to wait till the evening to kick things off. To give you some inspiration, we've teamed up with Maker's Mark to pin down the al fresco drinking spots where you can enjoy an old-fashioned, a whisky sour, or whatever refreshment takes your fancy while the sun still shines.
Sweltering through increasingly toasty temperatures, the Earth keeps breaking and matching records — ones the planet doesn't want to continue. After notching up its hottest year in recorded history back in 2016, this spinning rock we call home equalled it in 2020. The past six years are now the hottest six on record, too, while the past decade is also the warmest ever recorded. The news comes via the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which tracks data about the climate now and the past to contemplate the future — not just for Europe, but also for the rest of the world. Compared to the period between 1981–2010, which is commonly used as a reference, 2020 was warmer by 0.6 degrees Celsius. In comparison to pre-industrial times, from 1850–1900 specifically, it was hotter by 1.25 degrees Celsius as well. That mightn't sound like a huge amount, but it made a big difference in some parts of the globe. Europe experienced its hottest year ever recorded, even beating 2016 by 0.4 degrees Celsius. And in the Arctic and Siberia, temps reached more than six degrees higher than average. That meant that Arctic sea ice was significantly lower than average in the second half of the year — the lowest sea ice extent on record in July and October, in fact. Announcing the data for the past year, C3S Director Carlo Buontempo said that "2020 stands out for its exceptional warmth in the Arctic and a record number of tropical storms in the north Atlantic. It is no surprise that the last decade was the warmest on record, and is yet another reminder of the urgency of ambitious emissions reductions to prevent adverse climate impacts in the future." https://twitter.com/CopernicusECMWF/status/1347438880551800832 The unwanted milestone also came about as the northern hemisphere mostly experienced higher than average temperatures for the year, while parts of the southern hemisphere had below average temperatures due to cooler La Niña conditions. C3S also advised that 2020 matches the 2016 record despite the cooling effect of La Niña, while 2016 started with a warming El Niño event. With climate change continuing to show its effects, the news shouldn't come as a surprise. It's still a stark reminder of the current state of the planet, however. Locally, the Bureau of Meteorology has already advised that Australia sweltered through its fourth warmest year on record in 2020, and ended its hottest decade ever as well. For more information about the 2020 data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), head to the C3S website.
It's true of every movie: how much you know going in can and does influence the viewing experience. Great films are still great films no matter your prior awareness of their twists, or even just the main premise, but how the audience takes that ride will morph and shift depending on what they're expecting will eventuate. Abigail is a case in point. Why that's so was revealed in its trailer, leaving almost no one sitting down to it in the dark about what's to come. But when the reveal arrives in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's fifth full-length directorial effort — and their first after bringing back Ghostface in 2022's Scream and 2023's Scream VI — it's a glorious moment. It's also treated in the flick as a big unveiling, and not just for the picture's characters, in what serves as an overt reminder of how divorced that marketing a movie is to making it. Abigail, aka the tween vampire ballerina film, is still an entertaining time irrespective of your starting knowledge, thankfully. It begins as a blend of a heist affair, horror mansion movie and whodunnit, with a kidnapping skilfully pulled off by a motley crew (is there any other type?), then with holing up in the mastermind's sprawling and eerie safe house with their 12-year-old captive, then with fingers being pointed and their charge toying with them. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are slick with their opening, from breaking into a well-secured estate to avoiding surveillance cameras while speeding through the streets afterwards. They're playful, too, when corralling everyone in their next location — a setup that they've turned into an ace horror watch before in 2019's Ready or Not — and letting suspicions run wild. The six abductors here, as given nicknames Reservoir Dogs-style but with a Rat Pack spin, and told not to divulge their true identities or histories to each other: Joey (Melissa Barrera, Carmen), a recovering addict with medical skills; Frank (Dan Stevens, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), who has a background in law enforcement; Rickles (William Catlett, Constellation), an ex-marine; Sammy (Kathryn Newton, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), the resident hacker; Peter (Kevin Durand, Pantheon), the dim-witted muscle; and Dean (Angus Cloud, Euphoria), the stoner wheelman. The middleman for their employer: the no-nonsense Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito, The Gentlemen). And the girl: Abigail (Alisha Weir, Wicked Little Letters), of course, who is the daughter of someone obscenely rich and powerful. She's just finished dance rehearsals, is still in her tutu, and proves the picture of scared and unsettled when she's snatched from her bedroom, drugged and blindfolded — until she isn't. Anyone that's seen Ready or Not will spot the commonalities with Abigail, even amid such hefty differences as well. Although this definitely isn't about a newlywed bride being hunted by her wealthy in-laws on her wedding night, it does trap its characters and the bulk of its action in a stately but isolated residence filled with secret hallways and rooms, and in a fight-to-the-death battle where it's evident from the outset that folks are going to get picked off one by one. There's also a strict timeline, and a red-splattered white dress. Abigail heroes a working-class female protagonist who's forced to grow into her role taking on the privileged, sports buckets full of affection for horror old and new, and winks to the past vigorously among its thoroughly modern irreverence. And, in inventive and eye-catching manners — captured this time by cinematographer Aaron Morton, who is having a great 2024 with this and The First Omen — it loves, loves, loves splashing around OTT violence. Radio Silence, the production company that doubles as a brand for Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, clearly know this terrain. Working with a script by Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground) and Guy Busick (back from Ready or Not, Scream and Scream VI), Abigail's helmers also know how to make the key storytelling move in frightening flicks, and all other types of tales, of ensuring that familiar elements feel fresh when viewers can spy oh-so-much that's recognisable. That's part of the fun of Abigail, including as it becomes a gleefully gory rendering of a Home Alone-esque caper with its namesake stalking the people holding her for a $50-million ransom: seeing how its pieces, drained from elsewhere as they may be, mix and pirouette anew. It's also why the feature's chief reveal should've stayed that way going in, because there's so much else that drinks from overflowing genre cups anyway, while dropping clues from the use of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake onwards about what's in store. A tense crime-film atmosphere to kick off, Agatha Christie nods, quite the child adversary, deranged dances, getting drenched in blood again and again, a The Cabin in the Woods vibe: they're all in a day's work for the film's well-deployed cast, even if not every character runs deep. The screenplay gives its flesh to Joey and Abigail above everyone else, and Barrera — also reuniting with Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett after their Scream flicks — and Matilda the Musical breakout Weir benefit. Stevens, Catlett, Newton, Durand, Cloud and Esposito might only be asked to hit one real note each in this predator-and-prey monster mash, but they commit to the task. It's a talent-trumps-material scenario, where this group were always going to give their figures more life on the screen than on the page — with Stevens especially having a ball, and Cloud's involvement dishing up a reminder of what the world lost when he passed away in 2023. Abigail isn't just any addition to the vampire fold (on-screen, it also knows what else slumbers in this jam-packed coffin). In 2023, Universal Pictures was similarly behind Renfield and Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter. Before 2024 is out, The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman's Robert Eggers will have his own Nosferatu flickering. Finding new ways to rework its Universal Classic Monsters characters and titles — plus the pictures that inspired them, such as unauthorised adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula — is one of the studio's current niches, which also applies to The Invisible Man, the upcoming Wolf Man and this. Abigail does it with flair, enthusiasm, humour and literal guts aplenty, and while biting heartily into maximalist flourishes. It might've tasted sweeter if its promotional campaign had been slyer and shyer, but sinking your teeth in remains bloody delicious.
Two years in the making — as anyone that spotted the constant construction site on James Street will know — the seven-storey, this 175-room spot is calling itself 'Australia's first urban resort'. Yes, that means that going for a splash in the central pool, lazing around in cabanas or on a sun lounge, and eating on the hotel's outdoor deck are all on the agenda. So is hanging out at the spa, which is also open to the general public, and just making the most of Brissie's climate. The white brick design, by architects Richards and Spence, certainly highlights the tropical side of things. Think open-air spaces and breezeways, natural ventilation and plants aplenty, as well as a cool, soothing colour scheme. Inside the rooms, guests will find oak furniture, cork floors and sisal matting in the bathrooms, day beds for afternoon naps, linen robes and a mini bar stocked from local suppliers. Recognising how sunny the city gets, every room is also fitted with motorised blackout blinds. If you need to escape the glow, the in-suite Chromecast and sound bar will help as well. Rooms start from just over $200, with The Calile also featuring nine suites and two premier suites, complete with poolside and terrace-style balconies as well as two private rooftop terraces — for when you're feeling like splashing some cash around. Operated by TFE Hotels Collection, other drawcards include the all-day Lobby Bar, the opening of Hellenika's first Brisbane digs — bringing the Gold Coast's favourite Greek eats to town — and meeting and function rooms that can cater for up to 500 people, including an outdoor amphitheatre.
Whether you're suffering from full-blown insomnia or just have trouble winding down after a big day, everyone knows the feeling of lying in bed, praying for sleep but failing to drop off. If counting sheep isn't working — or any number of other snooze-inducing tips, because there are plenty — then perhaps you need to listen to a list of Swedish furniture names. While a hefty walk around any IKEA store usually helps make anyone sleepy (and the crowds, decisions and meatballs too), the huge retailer thinks that the sounds of its product titles will really do the trick. Enter the IKEA Sleep Podcast. It simply features two company employees rattling off words such as sommaraster (a quilt cover), leirvik (a bed frame) and hidrasund (a spring mattress), plus everything else in the Australian catalogue's current bedroom and storage range. Two versions are available, so you can choose between hearing Sara Eriksson utter product monikers — and their English descriptions — or opt for her husband Kent Eriksson. Each under 30-minute podcast also offers a brief introductory explanation about the philosophy behind IKEA's furniture names, should you be wondering why a fyresdal (day bed) or pax (wardrobe) have the titles they have. The podcast's release is timed to coincide with the end of daylight savings in many Australian states, as well as across New Zealand — aka a time when our usual rest patterns are disrupted. Whether you'll dream about letting loose in an IKEA store, walking around a huge warehouse or kitting out your bedroom with new sheets and curtains — and whether you'll wake up with a burning desire to buy new furniture — well, that's something you'll only discover by listening. To listen to the IKEA Sleep Podcast, visit the IKEA website.
When Roxane Gay released Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business in 2023, the American author and academic gave readers a tome that stepped through ten years of her non-fiction efforts. With that milestone in mind, it feels apt that Gay's 2024 trip to Australia will also mark a decade since 2014's Bad Feminist first had everyone reading the commentator's books. Expect both texts to earn more than a small mention in Sydney and Melbourne come August. Gay will make just two stops Down Under this winter, both at festivals: at Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas and Melbourne's Now or Never. The Harbour City will welcome Gay first — she's the first speaker announced for FODI 2024, in fact, ahead of the event's full program being released on Tuesday, June 25 — before the Victorian capital beckons. "Roxane Gay is one of the world's most-brilliant social commentators. Ten years on since her book Bad Feminist caught the world's attention, she is still unafraid to call out privilege, hypocrisy, and entrenched social injustice. But today, speaking up can come at a huge cost. I can't think of anyone else more credentialed than Roxane to talk to FODI audiences about the importance of rocking the boat and facing criticism head on," said FODI Director Danielle Harvey, announcing the news. Gay will appear as a keynote speaker, discussing the topic of being a dissenter in the age of tribal warfare, at the 12th Festival of Dangerous Ideas. The event was established in 2009 to discuss difficult issues, push boundaries and inspire debate, putting both its initial guest and her topic right in its usual remit. 2024's FODI runs from Saturday, August 24–Sunday, August 25 at Carriageworks, focusing on the theme 'sanctuary'. As well as getting Gay chatting about her work live and in person, the fest will enlist the New York Times-bestselling author on panels, too. In Melbourne, the writer that's also behind Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body and Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture — and also Ayiti, An Untamed State, Difficult Women and The Banks in fiction — will get talking about having complicated views in complicated times with Jan Fran at Melbourne Town Hall on Tuesday, August 27, in a session also presented by The Wheeler Centre. "The Wheeler Centre is thrilled to present Roxane Gay in Melbourne and celebrate this incredible compilation of her work. Roxane communicates complex ideas with honesty and power, and this is a rare opportunity to hear her in conversation," said The Wheeler Centre CEO Erin Vincent. Roxane Gay will appear at Carriageworks in Sydney as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas from Saturday, August 24–Sunday, August 25 — and at Melbourne Town Hall on Tuesday, August 27 presented by The Wheeler Centre and Now or Never. Presale tickets for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas go on sale on Tuesday, June 25, with general sales from Wednesday, June 26. Tickets for The Wheeler Centre are on sale now. Top image: Reginald Cunningham.
Most of Australia might've spent the bulk of 2020 at home, but that doesn't mean that we didn't notice the temperature. And if you were feeling rather toasty across the 12 months, there's a reason for that — with the Bureau of Meteorology revealing in its just-released Annual Climate Statement 2020 that we just lived through one of country's warmest years since records started being kept. Only three years on record were hotter than 2020, with the past 12 months ranking fourth. Australia's warmest year on record came the year prior, in 2019, while 2013 ranks second. If you're wondering what that means for temperatures in 2020, the overall averaged mean temperature for the entire country across the year sat 1.15 degree above average. In all states in 2020, as well as the Northern Territory, both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were also higher than average. BOM reports that days were especially warm in Sydney, Hobart and Darwin, and nights were toasty in the same three cities, plus Canberra and Brisbane. Yes, we know that Australia is a sunny place, and has sweltering summers. But that warmth was also spread across the year, with January, February, April, June, August, September and November sitting in the ten warmest on record when it comes to a variety of markers — such as the mean, maximum and minimum temperatures for those months. November 2020 was also the warmest November on record, before summer even hit, while the entirety of spring earned that status as well. If you noticed that the three of the top four warmest years listed above all fell in the last decade, there's a reason for that as well. "The mean temperature for the ten years from 2011 to 2020 was the highest on record, at 0.94 degrees above average and 0.33 degrees warmer than the previous ten years," said Senior Climatologist Dr Lynette Bettio. Dr Bettio also notes that increasing temperatures is a worldwide trend. "Globally, every year from 2013 onwards has been among the ten warmest on record, with 2016 and 2019 being the hottest," she says. "2020 was among the top three" on a global scale, she advises, which happened "despite the onset of La Niña, which has a suppressing effect on global temperatures". In Australia, La Niña usually means more rainfall, cooler daytime temperatures south of the tropics and warmer overnight temperatures in the north. In terms of rain, 2020 was actually close to average, BOM says; however, the western parts of Western Australia, southeastern Queensland and western Tasmania all received below average rainfall. For more information about the Bureau of Meteorology's Annual Climate Statement 2020, head to BOM's website.
It's been 17 years since Hae Min Lee was tragically killed. And 16 since Adnan Syed went to jail for her murder. But now, almost two decades later, a Baltimore judge has granted Syed a re-trial. His lawyer, Justin Brown, tweeted the news earlier this morning, which was around 4.30pm on Thursday, June 30, Baltimore time. WE WON A NEW TRIAL FOR ADNAN SYED!!! #FreeAdnan — Justin Brown (@CJBrownLaw) June 30, 2016 Syed was, of course, the subject of Sarah Koenig's true crime podcast Serial, which had every man and his dog weighing in on complex legal evidence when it aired back in late 2014. Since the podcast's circulation, Syed — who has always maintained his innocence — has been able to push his case for post-conviction relief. In February he was granted a post-conviction hearing, in which it was argued that his original defence lawyer, Cristina Gutierrez, was negligent in the way she conducted the case. And on Thursday, Judge Martin Welch granted Syed a new trial on his defence counsel's failure to cross-examine a cell tower expert about the reliability of the data that placed him near the burial site. Anyone who's listened to the podcast knows that the cell tower data was one of the most complicated (and bloody confusing) pieces of evidence in the trial. This is Judge Welch's order, as posted by Serial about an hour ago: So what does this mean? Well, it means Syed's defence counsel have a lot of evidence to gather before an undoubtedly lengthy trial, which hasn't been given a date yet. And, surely, it means another season of Serial? Via The New York Times.
Australia's hospitality industry scene has done it tough over the past year — again — but it still boasts some of the best bars on the planet. Don't just take our word for it; according to this year's just-revealed World's 50 Best Bars list, we're home to four of the top 50 watering holes worldwide. Our highest-ranking spot to get sipping in 2021: Sydney's Maybe Sammy. It's the third year in a row that the innovative bar in The Rocks has made the list, taking 22nd place. That's a drop from 2020, when it came in at number 11, but higher than in 2019, when it sat at 43rd. Coming hot on its heels is another World's 50 Best Bars list veteran, Cantina OK!, which moved up from number 28 last year to number 23 in 2021. Next, Melbourne's Above Board earned a spot at number 44, while Sydney newcomer Re jumps in at number 46. So, whether you're a Sydneysider, Melburnian or a future visitor to either city, you now have an excuse to hit up a globally acclaimed venue. [caption id="attachment_714475" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cantina OK!, Kimberley Lo[/caption] For those yet to be acquainted with Maybe Sammy, its luxurious styling nods to old-school Vegas glamour, all blush pink velvet banquettes and lush indoor greenery, while the list of theatrical signature drinks pays homage to the classics. At Cantina OK!, you'll find a pint-sized mezcal bar in an old garage down a service laneway — complete with bright pink and purple walls, Mexican vibes and laneway seating. Collingwood's minimalist Above Board skews super-intimate, boasting only 16 seats and with no standing permitted — while Re, which is located in Sydney's ever-growing South Eveleigh precinct, hails from hospitality stars Matt Whiley (Scout) and Maurice Terzini (Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, Ciccia Bella). The latter also has a zero-waste focus, and nabbed The World's Best 50 Bars 2021's Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award as well. [caption id="attachment_836460" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Above Board[/caption] While Sydney was better represented in the top 50 than Melbourne, the Victorian capital was the only Australian city to feature in the 51–100 list, which was announced late last week. Cocktail haven Byrdi scored a place on the extended rundown for the second year in a row. The annual World's 50 Best Bars awards are voted on by bar industry experts from around the world, including bartenders, consultants, drinks writers and cocktail specialists. And if you're wondering what topped the list worldwide, that'd be London's Connaught Bar, which emerged victorious for the second year in a row — so there's somewhere to add to any future UK itineraries. For the full World's 50 Best Bars 2021 rundown, head to the list's website — and you can check out the 51–100 list online as well. Top image: Maybe Sammy.
Everyone is South-East Queensland knows how amazing North Stradbroke Island is. It has been a favourite choice for those wanting a secluded getaway without having to travel for hundreds of kilometres. 30km south east of Brisbane City and one barge trip away is the closest thing we have to a tropical island paradise - and it makes for a great music festival location as well. Island Vibe Festival is a celebration of island culture that encompasses art, food, craft and the best reggae, roots, soul and electronic music around. Held on the traditional land of the Quandamooka People of Moreton Bay, Island Vibe is a 100% drug and alcohol free event, but that's ok, because you wont need any once you've given yourself over to the party vibes and excellent music. This is a three day festival, so you might need some accomodation, Straddie is a great place to camp, so there are a lot of camp sites and cabins dotted around the place - make sure you have booked in advance though! Go check out the program, consider taking Friday off work, grab a few friends and get a ticket to Island Vibe 2013 - your soul will thank you.
The Daughter might be the latest local film to reach cinema screens, but it's no typical Aussie movie. Writer/director Simon Stone and the bulk of the film's cast — including Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie, Anna Torv, Miranda Otto and Odessa Young — ensure that the feature's Aussie credentials remain intact, as does its New South Wales shoot. However the drama of family secrets and lies actually finds its basis in Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck. Accordingly, Stone transports a 19th century Norwegian classic to modern Australia, and not for the first time. As theatre fans will no doubt know, the stage wunderkind turned filmmaker earned rave reviews for his stripped-back take on the tale, which played in Sydney, Oslo, Vienna and London. Now, he endeavours to do so again with his film version. In fact, it seems like his involvement in The Daughter was meant to be, though the same could be said for rising talent Young as well. In the titular role of Hedvig, the Looking for Grace star plays her second complex, compelling teen character in as many movies, and holds her own against an accomplished cast. So what drew Stone and Young to the story, how did they approach its characters, and how did Stone craft more than just the usual Aussie movie? With The Daughter now screening in Australian cinemas, we spoke to the duo about the film. ON THE APPEAL OF HENRIK IBSEN'S THE WILD DUCK Simon: "I guess the beautiful thing about the story is that it's a whole heap of people who have made various mistakes in their life, and it is [about] the vulnerability and the attempt to do the right thing. I'm very attracted to stories where you can't find the villain. So I love constellations of characters with a tragedy that kind of evolves out of the mistakes that the people are making — it doesn't evolve out of being able to blame anyone, it is just people falling into the traps that fate has set them, kind of. And it's the random confluences, confluences of various different people's motivations that are in conflict with each other. That creates the tragedy. You know, if you can blame anything, you can just blame bad luck." Odessa: "I was really attracted to the story by the integrity with which Simon wrote the character, and the insight that he seemed to have on her teenage personality and emotions, and just the complexity with which he wrote the teenage character. Because, I mean, I've read a lot of teenage characters — as you can imagine being a teenager auditioning for roles — and it's so rare that you actually come across a character that isn't just used as a buffer for the adult characters to take anger out on. Or they're quite often used as scapegoats. It is a really interesting kind of thing when you read something that isn't like that — when it is actually creating some autonomy for the character. That's really what gripped me about the role in the first place." ON ADAPTING THE STORY FOR A SECOND TIME Simon: "I had a series of instincts about the way I thought that it should look, but those instincts changed as I changed, in my mind, what kind of genre of movie it should maybe be in order to be most successful. I mean, if it had been just an incredibly realistic portrait of these events happening to this family like it was in my stage play, in a kind of inner-city environment like it was set in in my version of the play, then I think it would've been inconceivable at certain points. People would've gone, 'Actually, if you're pretending that all of these coincidences just take place in Surry Hills in a casual week in the casual lives of these people, then I'm not going to buy that.' "So I started looking for a genre for the movie that was going to be take advantage of the kind of mythological nature of the story in Ibsen's original play. It was just about finding the right genre, the right kind of references for myself, because I'm in love with every single genre of cinema. I love everything, so it kind of could've been anything." ON THE COMPLEX CHARACTERS AT THE HEART OF THE FILM Simon: "I don't believe in that moral absoluteness. I don't actually think it exists in the real world. I think it is a storytelling motif that people invented to express the fighting within someone's own soul. I think the classic villains and the classic gods versus devils stories that have existed in all the mythology since the beginning of religions, and in spiritual storytelling since humans painted stories on caves with pictures, the source of that was actually an expression of human instinct. The instincts within a human person, and the personification of those people was the kind of way of literalising and turning that battle into a figurative battle of two sides of the human personality. And I think people have kind of forgotten that." Odessa: "Even after I got the role, it was really heavy for me. I didn't know whether I could do it. I didn't know if I had the skills and the knowledge to play a character like this — that was so far opposite to what I am. So much of my character development was Simon's direction. We created a very important, easy shorthand quite early on in the process where it was all about paring back my own experiences as a teenager, not letting them filter through into the character, and creating a new set of experiences that would influence Hedvig's decisions and decision-making and her actions." ON MAKING A MOVIE THAT'S MORE THAN JUST THE SUM OF ITS AUSTRALIAN PARTS Simon: "I wanted the film to reflect all of the Australian stories that are not the clichéd Australian stories. Australia seems to have this real love of the idea of white working class stories or Asian stories or indigenous stories. But [I like] the idea of melding of all of the influences, the idea of actually taking a Scandinavian story, making it a little bit Australian, keeping it a little bit Scandinavian, and letting it be universal. Getting rid of the notion of what is the Australian-ness of this project, other than that it is being made by a whole heap of Australians. "And so the source material is part of the canon that Australia is kind of stealing from everywhere in the world, always. Because other than the indigenous stories and the dreaming, there is no Australian canon. It is just a series of other people's work, other culture's work, that kind of magpie culture where we are of just pilfering and making a beautiful and mangled mess. That's the kind of aim of the movie. And its a celebration to a certain extent that maybe we can eventually stop needing to ask questions about Australian-ness at some point." The Daughter is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review.
When the first motion pictures flickered across the big screen 120-plus years ago, audiences were reportedly scared. The line between truth, embellishment and fiction has become muddled over time, but the idea viewers were astonished and startled when they watched the Lumière brothers' famous The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station makes one hell of an urban legend. That was back in 1896. As we know all these years later, cinema hasn't stopped causing bumps and jumps since. The world's first horror film is thought to have released the same year — Georges Méliès' three-minute short called The House of the Devil — and plenty of folks have taken his lead afterwards. Today, that means horror's on-screen cup truly runneth over. Thanks to streaming, a wealth of unnerving flicks linger at everyone's fingertips. If you prefer celebrating Halloween by dimming the lights, popping some corn and getting cosy on the couch for a marathon of unsettling movies, we've put together ten classic recommendations — from creepy vampire films that are almost a century old to more modern must-sees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hQ40cI5C0E NEAR DARK Before she took Keanu Reeves surfing in Point Break, tasked Jeremy Renner with defusing bombs in The Hurt Locker and dramatised the international manhunt for Osama bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty — and before she became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar, too — Kathryn Bigelow sunk her teeth into the vampire genre. Near Dark, her 1987 sophomore film, takes elements of the western genre, throws in a clan of roving bloodsuckers and lets atmospheric horror thrills ensue. Bigelow's work has always been lean but weighty, and her dance with the fanged undead is no different. In fact, it's a flat-out vamp classic. Near Dark is available to stream on SBS On Demand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX5SG_2n4sM TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME As 2017's Twin Peaks revival proved, no one conjures up unsettling imagery quite like David Lynch. He's been thrusting eerie visuals out into the world since 1977's Eraserhead — but if you like your Lynchian unease with some damn fine coffee and a slice of cherry pie, there's nothing better than 1992's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Set in the lead-up to Laura Palmer's (Sheryl Lee) death, the prequel flick burrows deep into the sinister forces at play. It's a movie of sheer dread, even though viewers know what's going to happen. As only he can, Lynch steeps every frame in the pain, terror and suffering of his doomed protagonist, all while baking in his usual surrealist touches. No wonder it lingers long after watching, like the two seasons of Twin Peaks before it and the belated third season that followed 25 years later. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is available to stream on Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyW5YXDcIGs THE EXORCIST Back in 1973, the horror genre was possessed — and it has never truly recovered. That's not a criticism; The Exorcist is a landmark piece of spine-tingling cinema, with William Friedkin's film leaving a heavy imprint on everything that's followed. It even became the first horror flick to score an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, a feat that's still much more rare than it should be. When a movie spends the bulk of its time with a 12-year-old girl (Linda Blair) whose body has been overtaken by a demon, as well as with the two priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) trying to cast the devil out and save her soul, it's going to make an impact. The fact that the film was based on a William Peter Blatty novel inspired by real-life exorcisms also helped, as did Friedkin's handling of Blatty's script, which gives the supernatural details a raw, visceral feel. The Exorcist is available to stream on Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-daIHTY4NQ BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER How funky is your chicken? How loose is your goose? And, to keep the questions going, how well do you remember the original Buffy? Before Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped into her shoes in the cult TV show, everyone's favourite vampire slayer shouted the above cheers, took guidance from Donald Sutherland, battled Rutger Hauer and romanced Luke Perry in the 1992 big-screen comedy. The Joss Whedon-scripted flick still takes its premise seriously, but there's a looser vibe to the movie than the television series. And a thoroughly early 90s vibe, as well. While you're enjoying the undead-killing antics, keep an eye out for everyone from Hilary Swank to Thomas Jane and Ben Affleck among the cast, too. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is available to stream on Foxtel Now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmvQ_ii42mc HALLOWEEN This time last year, the latest Halloween film hit cinemas. In 2020 and 2021, sequels Halloween Kills and then Halloween Ends will reach the big-screen in late October. But, when it comes to the absolutely best franchise for this time of year, 2019 is unfortunately an anomaly. While Michael Myers isn't terrorising a theatre near you at this very moment, John Carpenter's original 1979 flick is always worth revisiting — in the slasher-thriller realm, it's an utter masterclass. From Jamie Lee Curtis' pitch-perfect performance as formidable babysitter Laurie Strode, to the pervasive air of unease looming over suburbia and Carpenter's own exceptionally unnerving score, the original Halloween is both supremely scary and sublime. Halloween is available to stream from the Apple Store. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJew_11l6n8 HOUSEBOUND Scaring cinemagoers while simultaneously making them laugh isn't as easy as it might sound. Plenty of films call themselves horror-comedies, but they're usually just comedies with horror theming — and they're about as sinister as clown without makeup. While 2014 New Zealand picture Housebound falls into the tried-and-tested sub-genre that is haunted house flicks, writer/director Gerard Johnstone finds the ideal balance between spooks and giggles, all by following a small-time criminal placed on house arrest. Kylie (Morgana O'Reilly) would rather be anywhere but stuck at home for eight months with her mother (Rima Te Wiata); however she soon discovers that they have company in a movie that serves up jumps and chuckles in tandem. Housebound is available to stream on SBS On Demand and Tubi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NOipA99GxY NOSFERATU It's the best Dracula film that doesn't actually mention the word "Dracula". In fact, when FW Murnau adapted Bram Stoker's gothic classic in 1922 without getting permission to do so, a court ordered that the movie be destroyed. Thankfully, a few prints survived, which is how we can still soak in the wonders of Nosferatu. Even with a few changes (the famed bloodsucker is now called Count Orlock, for example) the story lures viewers in, but it's not just the plot that's captivating. As proves the case with all German Expressionist cinema from the 1920s, it's how the tale is told in a visual sense that makes an enormous impact. Also significant today, almost a century later, is how free Nosferatu is from everything that's since become a vampire cliche — with the film cutting to the heart of Stoker's disquieting narrative instead. Nosferatu is available to stream on Tubi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyWuHv2-Abk TRAIN TO BUSAN Forget Snakes on a Plane — if you want to see what happens when something scary is let loose in a confined space, but you don't want to cringe the whole time, opt for zombies on a train instead. Yeon Sang-ho's instant classic doesn't use the obvious moniker; however this frenetic thrill ride definitely fits the description. It's far, far better than that simplistic outline might seem to suggest, though. As well as forcing a father (Gong Yoo) and daughter (Kim Su-an) to fend off the shuffling hordes while they're in mid-transit, and fleshing its protagonists out more than most zombie flicks manage, Train to Busan also paints a probing picture of modern-day South Korean society. It's part of a franchise, too, with animated prequel Seoul Station exploring another aspect of the outbreak, and a sequel is also in the works. Train to Busan is available to stream on Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWin2LZkvrA THE CRAFT Is a horror classic really a horror classic if it hasn't spawned a remake? In The Craft's case, no one will need to ponder this question for much longer. A new version is currently in the works, but that doesn't mean that the 90s original is going anywhere — and if you like your retro horror fun packaged with teen goth witches, then you'll always want to go back to where it all began. Starring Neve Campbell, Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk and Rachel True, the 1996 hit charts the fallout when a group of high-schoolers start messing around with the occult and using it to rule the school. It owes a significant debt to Heathers, just with added witches, but The Craft still casts its own enjoyable spell. The Craft is available to stream on on Google Play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7hLdktC_jY THE STUFF If you ever come across a gooey substance on the ground, don't eat it. Things don't turn out well when this exact scenario happens in 1985 satirical horror/sci-fi The Stuff — especially after the titular substance is sold in supermarkets, marketed as being calorie-free and starts a huge food craze. Where it goes from there is best discovered by watching, but don't expect anything in the way of subtlety or realism. Larry Cohen sits in the director's chair, and this is the kind of playful horror fun that the prolific B-movie filmmaker was known for. Everyone needs their spooks with a dose of silliness now and then, after all. The Stuff is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
A thriving garden of fruits and vegetables in the middle of a city isn't something you come across very often. Thornton Budgens supermarket in North London argues that this shouldn't be so, and is taking steps towards a more sustainable future with produce. Thornton Budgens along with project leader Azul-Valerie Thome has created Food From The Sky, a rooftop permaculture garden of organic fruits, vegetables and herbs. The ultimate goal of the project is to prove that produce can be grown in cities and sold locally in a manner that is efficient and not wasteful. The grocery store began the project in May 2010 with only 10 tons of compost and 300 recycling boxes, but with care from employees and over 20 volunteers the garden now yields enough produce to sell every Friday. Any fruits or vegetables that are not sold, instead of simply being thrown away at the end of the day, become compost that will enhance the soil for the next batch of produce. What makes a rooftop garden a great idea? The warmth from the store's heating and lighting systems heat the floor of the roof, preventing the plant seeds from freezing during the colder months, and is free of the slugs and snails that cause pigeons to dig up the soil during vital growth periods. Why didn't we think of this before? In addition, the grocery store is offering courses about this alternative approach to food production in order to instill the power in others to sustain produce gardens in the city while being conscious of the planet. The Food From The Sky project aims to extend its influence to other supermarkets and be a template for other rooftop permaculture gardens in cities. "One day, I want to see supermarket roof-gardens all over the country," said Thome.
Bangs is the Sudanese refugee turned viral internet star who just wants to take girls to the movies and meet them on Facebook. His innocent song topics combined with his unique video aesthetics have lead to his YouTube channel receiving over 5 million hits. Tess Cameron caught up with Bangs prior to his appearance at Lovecats for a quick chat on all things related to meeting people on Facebook and taking girls to da movies. Are you excited about performing at Lovecats in Brisbane? I am. Can't wait. Have you ever been to Brisbane before? Yes, I've visited a lot. Will you be taking any girls to the movies in Brisbane? Yeah I will take them, I will take them all. What was the last movie you saw and did you like it? Day and Knight. It was fun. What snacks do you buy for girls at the movies? Whatever they want. Every time I take them to the movies I let them get whatever they want. Was the song Take U to Da Movies inspired by anyone? Lupe Fiasco. Do you want to meet him on Facebook? Yes. I'm a friend of his fan page. How do you come up with song ideas? I just get it from my gut. Any idea what your next song will be about? No idea yet but I'll be in the studio soon. Will you be doing any new songs on Thursday? Yes I will be. Your boi Bangs will be performing at Lovecats this Thursday. We've got two double passes to give away - visit our Facebook page for more information.
As music, spandex and glitter fans everywhere already know, the Eurovision Song Contest didn't go ahead this year. It's one of the many events worldwide that have been affected by COVID-19, alongside SXSW, Glastonbury, Coachella and Splendour in the Grass — but it's the only one to leave a huge Europop-shaped hole, of course. In Australia, broadcaster SBS attempted to make up for Eurovision's absence by spending a week celebrating the annual contest. And, globally, Netflix is also doing its bit. The latter is helping out in a much less serious fashion, however, all thanks to its new Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams-starring comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Due to hit the streaming platform at the end of June — and just dropping its first trailer this week, too — the film follows two small-town Icelandic singers who've always wanted to represent their country at the famed sing-off. Lars Erickssong (Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (McAdams) aren't particularly well-liked in their homeland, or considered popular. But when they're named as the next Eurovision contestants, they're determined not only to win but to show that chasing their lifelong dream was worth it. Directed by Wedding Crashers, The Change-Up and The Judge filmmaker David Dobkin, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga looks set to feature plenty of Ferrell's over-the-top comedy — as the initial sneak peek makes plain. It also boasts icy backdrops, a song called 'Volcano Man', a fierce rivalry between Fire Saga and fellow competitor Alexander Lemtov (Legion's Dan Evans), and a cast that also spans Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6Co-nd0lM Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga hits Netflix on Friday, June 26. Images: John Wilson and Elizabeth Viggiano, via Netflix.
First, the bad news: if you've been hanging out to see The Kid LAROI take to the stage on his first-ever Down Under stadium tour, you'll now be waiting longer. Now, the better news: part of the delay is due to trying to lock in a "really big surprise and special guest", the Australian singer-songwriter advised on Instagram, who couldn't be finalised before the planned February dates. "We've had to push back the Australian leg of the tour to October," Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard noted. "The tour will now end off in Australia." The Kid LAROI also named "a bunch of other logistical stuff" as a reason for the delay, while saying that he wants to give audiences the best show he can — and "make everyone back home proud". The tour is in support of The Kid LAROI's debut studio album The First Time, and was originally set for a five-city Australian run. New dates haven't been announced as yet, but the star was due to play Melbourne's AAMI Park, Perth's HBF Park, Adelaide's Coopers Stadium, Sydney's Commbank Stadium and CBUS Super Stadium on the Gold Coast. The First Time might be a new 2023 arrival, but The Kid LAROI has been releasing music since 2018 — solo, and also teaming up with everyone from Juice WRLD and ONEFOUR to Justin Bieber. Accordingly, fans can look forward to hearing 'Stay', 'Without You', 'Thousand Miles', 'Love Again' and more next spring. The stadium tour follows The Kid LAROI's first headline Australian tour back in 2022, which sold out arenas across the country, sparking the addition of more dates. On his postponed 2024 dates, the artist has confirmed that ONEFOUR will still be on the bill. As for who else will join them, "we're working on the details including some new additions to the lineup and will let you know ASAP," the singer said. THE KID LAROI THE FIRST TIME TOUR 2024: October 2024 date TBC — AAMI Park, Melbourne October 2024 date TBC — HBF Park, Perth October 2024 date TBC — Coopers Stadium, Adelaide October 2024 date TBC — Commbank Stadium, Sydney October 2024 date TBC — CBUS Super Stadium, Gold Coast The Kid LAROI is touring Australia in October 2024, postponed from February 2024 — head to the Australian ticketing site for more information. Top image: Adam Kargenian.
Did you wake up this morning with a pounding headache, a few Instagram selfies of you and a beardy blur that looks like Zach Galifianakis, and a strange number in your phone? Good news! Your horrible life decisions are actually not your fault at all — it's science! Or at least that's what we'll tactfully choose to deduct from the latest research out of Spain. Researchers at the University of Granada have recently published a study that scientifically proves the existence of beer goggles. Proving that the eye actually suffers a significant deterioration in optical quality after alcohol consumption, these boozing brainiacs figured out that ethanol from the alcohol you consume makes its way into your tear ducts and clouds the outermost layer of your tear film. This affects the quality of the image you see and, when drinking at night, it increases the perception of luminous circles — halos — around the objects you view. Giving an entirely new meaning to a certain Beyonce song, this new phenomenon manifests itself best at night and ends up looking a little something like this: Pouring various quantities of prize-winning Spanish wine into their 67 subjects — who knew science was so glamourous? — the researchers deducted that these halos were most prevalent in the volunteers whose breath alcohol limit exceeded the legal driving range of 0.25mg/litre. As if we needed more evidence that you shouldn't drive under the influence, this gives some physical proof to why drunk drivers are dangerous behind the wheel. But it also has important implications for your romantic life. Picture this: you're in a dim-lit underground bar with romantic candles perched around some snug booths and a dance floor. You've partaken in a certain 2-for-1 cocktail special and followed it up with a selection of shots named after 1950s movie stars (because, what can you say, you're classy like that). A man approaches, all bearded and stylish with an effortless Joaquin Phoenix-style strut. The music's too loud and you can't really hear what he says, but you feel somewhat compelled to mush your lips on his face, slip him your number, or some smooth combination of the two. With scientific fact in hand, maybe now you can think twice before trusting your Grey Goose-laden eyes. Via Science Daily. Photo credits: katie coleslaw via photopin cc and Juan Castro/University of Granada.
Sydneysiders have always liked writing obscurely profound things on the walls of the city. Sydney's the kind of city that breeds people like Arthur Stace, a reformed illiterate alcoholic who spent thirty-five years writing the word 'Eternity' in chalk all over the streets of Sydney in copperplate script, which can still be seen inside the bell of the GPO clock tower. And you still see street writing everywhere, from the scrawled messages on bus stops and railway underpasses, to the 'I have a dream' mural on King Street and heartfelt declarations like 'hands held violently onto words that meant nothing' on the back of St Stephen's Church in Camperdown Memorial Park. Now we can add to this list the moss poetry which has recently popped up in Sydney's own version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Paddington Reservoir Gardens. The walls of the reservoir are currently covered in growing poetry, as part of a typographic installation entitled ''Modern Day Mossages. Created from locally sourced mud and moss, the words and phrases have been contributed by emerging Sydney poets paying tribute to John Thompson, founder of the resident action group The Paddington Society, after whom one of the Reservoir's gardens is named after. The moss poem is the product of a collaboration by members of Popperbox, a collective of Sydney-based artists, designers, illustrators and software engineers, who have been making experimental and accessible pieces since their formation in 2007. The installation aims to make you think about growth, nourishment, rejuvenation and the future, and was attached to the sandstone walls of the historic reservoir using a pungent mixture of heavy clay soil, beer and yoghurt. The artists are monitoring the growth of the moss daily in the hopes that it will continue to grow, although that shouldn't be a problem given the deluge which appears to be sticking around for the rest of the month. Modern Day Mossages is a short-term installation, one of three projects commissioned by the City of Sydney for the Paddington Reservoir Gardens in 2012. [Via D*Hub]
Blue might be the colour of all that the big screen wears at the moment, sloshing across cinemas in Avatar: The Way of Water, but movie theatres will be thoroughly thinking pink when mid-2023 arrives. That's when Barbie will bring its dolls and dream houses — and its toy chest filled with costumes and different characters, too — to picture palaces. Can't wait? Showing in front of The Water of Water IRL and now dropping online, the first teaser trailer for the figurine-to-film adaptation is here to provide a playful and glorious glimpse. Marking Greta Gerwig's third solo stint behind the camera after Lady Bird and Little Women, and scripted by the actor-turned-director with fellow filmmaker Noah Baumbach — her helmer on Greenberg, Frances Ha, Mistress America and White Noise, and real-life partner — Barbie follows in the footsteps of fellow toy-to-movie flicks like the Transformers series, Trolls, The Lego Movie and its sequel, Battleship and the GI Joe films. Playing the central parts: Australia's own Margot Robbie (Amsterdam) as the feature's namesake and Ryan Gosling (The Gray Man) as Barbie's paramour Ken. But, just like the toys, there's rumoured to be more than one version of each figure. Of course, when it comes to playthings like Barbie dolls, the Mattel toys blazed their own path, as this first look at the film nods to. In an entertaining 2001: A Space Odyssey parody, the trailer notes that most girls' dolls were originally babies. Add an 'r' and you get the adult-bodied line that debuted in 1959 — with a look that Robbie is seen sporting as the kids in the teaser fling around and smash their old infant dolls. The full film hits cinemas on July 20 Down Under, complete with a cast that also includes Will Ferrell (Spirited), Issa Rae (Insecure), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Michael Cera (Arrested Development), America Ferrera (Superstore), Ncuti Gatwa (the incoming Doctor Who), Emerald Fennell (The Crown), Rhea Perlman (Poms), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami), Emma Mackey (Sex Education) and Jamie Demetriou (Catherine Called Birdy). In the initial trailer, there's zero in the way of story detail provided; however, as well as that 2001 riff, the sneak peek includes dream houses as far as the eye can see, Ken rocking a fringed leather vest and bandana combo, pink outfits aplenty and a shimmering dance number. Life in plastic, it's fantastic here — even without any sign of Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' on the trailer's soundtrack. Check out the first teaser trailer for Barbie below: Barbie releases in cinemas Down Under on July 20, 2023.
Turning a movie into a TV show can be a tricky prospect, but add What We Do in the Shadows to the list of series that completely nail the task. Crucially, it doesn't remake Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's hilarious New Zealand mockumentary. Instead, it expands upon it — peering inside a different share house, this time in Staten Island in New York, that's filled with completely different vampires. The television sitcom is set in the same universe as its predecessor, too, so keeping your eyes peeled for links and familiar faces is 100-percent recommended. And yes, both Waititi and Clement have been involved behind the scenes, so it all has their stamp of approval. Also, and we cannot stress this enough, getting the great Matt Berry to play a pompous bloodsucker ranks among the best TV casting moves ever made.
Power your house with a bottle of water. It's a claim reminiscent of the glory days of cold fusion. Like cold fusion, creating an artificial leaf and hacking the natural process of photosynthesis has long been a scientific holy grail. Unlike cold fusion, it seems someone has attained it. Daniel Nocera, a professor at MIT, has created a 'leaf' of silicon and a proprietary mix of cobalt and phosphate, which when placed in a jar of water can produce electricity more efficiently than modern solar panels. The yet-to-be-published findings will be a major scientific breakthrough, and a game-changer in the question of global power supply. India's largest business conglomeration, the Tata Group have bought the tech and plan to develop it to serve the "bottom of the pyramid" — being small, cheap, and able to run on even waste water, it is hoped that this will provide a clean and affordable way to power the developing world. Homes without access to power will be able to generate their own, foregoing the need to develop large power stations and electric cable infrastructure. As well as powering the development of the "bottom of the pyramid" the technology could change the face of power production and consumption worldwide. Nocera estimates that it will be possible to meet the world's power demands with little more than a swimming pool of water every day. [via Fast Company] https://youtube.com/watch?v=WD9yr-Bf-Kw
Being a film and television fan in 2018 means two things. Firstly, your viewing choices are seemingly endless, as anyone with a hefty streaming queue knows. Secondly, many of those viewing choices involve remakes of, sequels or prequels to, or other continuations of already existing hits. Just this year, we've learned that Veronica Mars and Daria are coming back to the small screen, The Lord of the Rings is being turned into a TV show and Game of Thrones is definitely getting a spin-off once the original series ends. Now, we can add Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Deadwood films to the ever-growing list of properties that just keep on keepin' on. This week, news hit about all three popular series and their new feature-length additions. All three are being turned into movies in some shape or form, but it's a safe bet that those films are all still headed to a TV screen. Prepare to exclaim "yeah, science!" like Jesse Pinkman thanks to the return of Breaking Bad — which, as Better Call Saul diehards are well aware, has never completely gone away since the OG show wrapped up in 2013. As reported by Variety, creator Vince Gilligan is working on a two-hour film with the working title of Greenbriar, which will begin shooting this month. Bryan Cranston has confirmed the news, but just whether he's in it or what it's about is still the subject of rumour. Slashfilm advises that the movie will focus on Jesse, showing what came next for Walter White's former student and protege after Breaking Bad's finale. As for The Walking Dead, the long-running (and still-running) show is set to release a number of films about Andrew Lincoln's Rick Grimes, who led the series from its 2010 debut through to the fifth episode of the show's ninth season. Deadline reports that the movies will form part of The Walking Dead Universe, alongside other films, specials and series, plus digital content and more. The Walking Dead already has its own small-screen spin-off, Fear The Walking Dead — and the first Rick Grimes flick is expected to go into production in 2019. Finally, in news that'll make lovers of Deadwood want to down a celebratory shot of whisky, the three-season western series is coming back as a movie. Ever since the show was cancelled back in 2006, a film has been rumoured, but The Hollywood Reporter notes that it started filming this week. It'll be set ten years after the final season, with the story exploring a reunion of the show's characters. Original stars Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, Molly Parker, Paula Malcomson, John Hawkes, Anna Gunn, W. Earl Brown, Dayton Callie, Brad Dourif, Robin Weigert, William Sanderson, Kim Dickens and Gerald McRaney are all reuniting for the series. Via Variety /Deadline / The Hollywood Reporter.
UPDATE: September 24, 2020: The Dead Don't Die is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Binge, Foxtel Now, Google Play and YouTube Movies. What's left to say about zombies? We've had the genre-defining (Night of the Living Dead), the satirical (Dawn of the Dead), the comedic (Shaun of the Dead) and the fast (28 Days Later), plus the slow and romantic (Warm Bodies), the televised (The Walking Dead), and the animated and child-friendly (ParaNorman). We've even had undead Nazis (Dead Snow). In cinema alone, there's been 500-plus zombie films since Victor Halperin's White Zombie way back in 1932, so it's fair to say that genre's brains and heart have been sucked dry. It's almost as if, were the dead actually to rise in 2019, we'd be borderline blasé about it — which brings us to The Dead Don't Die. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, it's a predictably deadpan (ahem) take on zombie films from the opening scene to the last — a story so laconic that it consistently flirts with tedium (but only really lapses into that territory in its final stages). It also boasts a phenomenal cast of Jarmusch regulars, including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny and Steve Buscemi. Joined by Danny Glover, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, RZA, Selena Gomez and Tom Waits, they almost all play larger-than-life characters within the sleepy nowhere town of Centreville. Jarmusch has always given his characters both time and room to breathe, and The Dead Don't Die provides perhaps the best example. The slow, breezy and downright folksy interactions of his townspeople are a patient delight, often with pauses so long between replies it's like the entire cast of Fargo took sedatives. Be it Glover's kindly hardware store owner, Buscemi's racist farmer or Caleb Landry Jones's film-obsessed petrol attendant, they're a quirky yet homogenous community of oddballs and outsiders, around whom the story takes its time to form. The standouts are Murray and Driver as Cliff and Ronnie — two-thirds of Centreville's police force and the intermittent Greek chorus of the film. Driver puts in one of his best performances to date, at once shrewd enough to identify zombies as the likely culprits behind some recent killings, while still oblivious to most human sensitivities around him. Murray is in endearing grandfather-esque territory, even if he's not as funny as usual. Together, they hold the threadbare conceit in place when few others could've (polar fracking has knocked the earth off its axis, so... zombies). Where the film falters, however, is in its self-referential tone. Periodically shattering the fourth wall, Cliff and Ronnie reference The Dead Don't Die's theme song, screenplay and director without any clear reason as to why. The first time is amusing enough, with Murray wondering why the tune on the radio sounds so familiar (answer: it just played during the film's titles), but from that point onwards, the device offers little more than a distraction. The movie's deadpan approach also suffers because of its one clear exception — Chloe Sevigny's Mindy, the third cop in the trio. Oscillating between fear, horror and confusion, her reaction to the zombie uprising is far more appropriate, but cast against Murray and Driver's apathy, it feels hysterical and out of place. Then there's Tilda Swinton's character. We won't spoil it, but her arc is so bonkers, it's a wonder that it was allowed to occur at all. Overall, this is a tough one to reconcile. The comedy is great, as are the performances, but the story is obtuse at best — and only weakens the longer it goes on. As a genre piece, it's definitely a Jarmusch-directed zombie film, but it isn't distinctive enough in any one respect to stand out from the other hundreds of undead offerings. Mellow for some, underwhelming for others, The Dead Don't Die will split audiences like its ghouls split spleens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brxU_Qi1eOM
UPDATE, December 17, 2022: Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical screens in Australian cinemas from Thursday, December 8, and streams via Netflix from Sunday, December 25. Mischievous and magical in equal measure (and spirited, and gleefully snarky and spiky), Roald Dahl's Matilda has been a balm for souls since 1988. If you were a voracious reader as a kid, happiest escaping into the page — or if you felt out of place at home, cast aside for favoured siblings, bullied at school or unappreciated in general — then it wasn't just a novel. Rather, it was a diary capturing your bubbling feelings in perfect detail, just penned by one of the great children's authors. When Matilda first reached the screen in 1996, Americanised and starring Mara Wilson as the pint-sized bookworm who finds solace in imagined worlds (and puts bleach in her dad's hair tonic, and glue on his hat band), the film captured the same sensation. So has the song-and-dance stage version since 2010, too, because this heartfelt yet irreverent tale was always primed for the musical treatment. Over a decade later, after nabbing seven Olivier Awards for its West End run, five Tony Awards on Broadway and 13 of Australia's own Helpmann Awards as well, that theatre show's movie adaptation arrives with its revolting children and its little bit of naughtiness. Tim Minchin's music and lyrics still provide the soundtrack to Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical, boasting the Aussie entertainer's usual blend of clever wordplay and comedy. Both the stage iteration's original director Matthew Warchus and playwright Dennis Kelly return, the former hopping back behind the camera after 2014's Pride and the latter adding a new screen project to his resume after The Third Day. The library full of charm remains, as does a story that's always relatable for all ages. Horrors and hilarity, a heroine for the ages, a hulking villain of a headmistress, the beloved Miss Honey, telekinetic powers: they're all also accounted for. Matilda devotees since their younger years will spot changes, as there were on the stage. Some minor players have been ditched, and turning the tale's genius namesake into a storyteller herself adds thematic and narrative layers. Fans from the theatre will hear fewer songs, a choice made to fit Matilda the Musical's new format — making it shorter, snappier but no less entertaining and resonant. Indeed, adapting a stage sensation for the screen with everything that filmmaking entails in mind hasn't always been a given, as seen when fellow hits like Cats have made the leap. One of the joys of Matilda the Musical, then, is how kinetic, fluid and visual it proves — how cinematic, really — instead of just pointing a camera at a set like it's a stage. From the moment that Busby Berkeley-esque opening number 'Miracle' begins, there's no doubting that this is a film rather than a filmed stage musical, and that Warchus, Kelly, cinematographer Tat Radcliffe (Queen & Slim) and editor Melanie Oliver (Judy) know it. Twirling, swirling, and peering on from above as new parents and their babies bond, it's a delight of a kickoff. Of course, the sequence also shows how Matilda's birth was hardly welcomed by the selfish and vain Mr and Mrs Wormwood (Venom: Let There Be Carnage's Stephen Graham and Amsterdam's Andrea Riseborough), who don't want a bundle of joy at all. It's no wonder that as a girl (Alisha Weir, Darklands), she escapes into books from mobile librarian Mrs Phelps (Sindhu Vee, Starstruck), and jumps at the chance to finally go to school — where the warm Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch, The Woman King) awaits, but also the strict, cruel and kid-hating Miss Trunchbull (Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande). For almost four decades, this setup — give or take a few details — has seen Matilda work to be seen, accepted and loved in the world. It's fuelled a message about kindness, patience and respect winning out; a satire about uncaring schools and parents, and the disdain shown by the worst of both towards kids who deserve far, far better; and a pigs' blood-free, child-friendly spin on Carrie in its own way as well. That's all still essential in Matilda the Musical's on-screen guise (including streaming, given it's funded by Netflix), as told in a highly stylised, often surreal fashion. This version of Matilda isn't as rascally and impish as the 1996 flick, or the book, but it is playful; think Paddington and Paddington 2, the epitome of all-ages British cinema of late. Paddington 2's wonderful antagonist might spring to mind, too, aka one of Hugh Grant's very best performances. Love Actually stars make stellar enemies in fun for all the family, it seems — not that there was every any doubt about the always-great Thompson as Trunchbull. Her resume already attests that she can do anything, and should, with her prosthetics-wearing, teeth-gnashing, kid-throwing, comically masterful turn here slotting in alongside recent highlights like the aforementioned Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Late Night, Years and Years and The Children Act. Among the movie's purposefully cartoonish portrayals, Graham and Riseborough also nail the task at hand. And as Ms Honey, Lynch is as skilled at playing soft, thoughtful and loving as she is in no-nonsense No Time to Die and Captain Marvel mode. You can't have Matilda without a winning Matilda, though, with Weir energetic even when her character is being derided by her nasty mum and dad, traumatised by Trunchbull, or initially trying to fit in at Crunchem Hall. Her take on the tyke is both vulnerable and enterprising — so just what everyone that's ever buried their nose in the book already pictures in their head, and has long connected to. While anyone who read the novel before the past decade won't have instantly imagined songs and dancing as well, Matilda the Musical similarly plays out exactly as you'd expect there, whether or not you've seen the stage production. Recent decades haven't always been great for new flicks based on Dahl's works, with Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox spectacular, Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory definitely not, Steven Spielberg's The BFG too calculating, and the Anne Hathaway-starring The Witches tame and bland, but Matilda the Musical is more than a little bit lovely. Top image: Dan Smith/Netflix © 2022.
Eat at Fish Lane's Southside in South Brisbane, or at Rick Shores in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, and you'll likely grab a serving of dumplings with your meal. Some feature lobster and prawns. Some come stuffed with truffle pork or chilli crab. The bite-sized favourite is a staple of both restaurants, but it isn't the star attraction at either. For a place with that focus, the team behind the two beloved eateries is opening Central next. Set to welcome patrons through the doors from October 2024 in the Piccadilly Arcade building on Queen Street in Brisbane's CBD, this 80-seater subterranean restaurant will indeed be central in the River City. It also takes inspiration from its namesake district in Hong Kong. Southside Executive Chef Benny Lam, one of Central's driving forces alongside Southside's General Manager Maui Manu and co-owner David Flynn, has worked in the favourite tourist destination, and now aims to bring some of the parts of it that he loves to Brisbane. "The food. The living style. Sometimes I miss it. The rush in that city can be so much, but I really enjoyed that energy, every day," Lam explains. "The thing about Hong Kong, you eat out just about every night of the week. Maybe you leave the office about 7pm but you don't go home. You go to a dumpling bar or noodle restaurant — they're that third place." "You walk and you explore and there's stuff happening everywhere and it draws you in," adds Flynn. "We want Central to be that total sensory experience that we love so much about Hong Kong, but channelled into Brisbane, bringing together two cities that we love." If Central can be that kind of space for Brisbane, the pair will be happy. The menu is set to do its part, with the dim sum range the highlight. Peking duck potstickers and prawn har gao will sit beside chicken steam buns and a wonton soup that's poured at diners' tables — and if you're keen to hang around for a bigger dinner or just have a snack on your way elsewhere, Central can cater for it. Among the other options, which mix Cantonese meals with western influences: drunken chicken with aged shaoxing rice wine, plus red date and golden sesame; ginger and shallot lobster with e-fu noodles hot out of the wok; and South Australian abalone served with XO butter and smoked bottarga. Smoked foie gras with youtiao, aka Chinese fried dough, plus Davidson plum will equally tempt tastebuds, as will Goolwa pipis not only with crispy egg noodles but also prosciutto XO sauce. Char siu pork and roasted half duck feature as well — and if you go for another classic in the sweet and sour pork, you'll find it dished up in half a pineapple. Whatever you pick — dim sum, raw plates, barbecue and more — it'll be whipped up in the venue's raised kitchen. After helping revamp Gerard's Bistro, architect and designer Jared Webb of J.AR OFFICE has turned his attention to Central, where granite and timber will be heroed among exposed-rock walls. The lighting will remain low, befitting the restaurant's underground berth. Another inspiration comes from one of the space's past guises. Primitif Cafe called it home in the 50s and 60s, with jazz and poetry a feature. "It will have that feeling you have in Hong Kong, of the basement restaurant. Our motto with Jared has been to 'embrace the cave'. He responded by designing a space with tiered areas that allow people to have different sight lines through the venue with the kitchen and bar as centre stage," advises Flynn. "It's about capturing that spirit of Primitif, but also the rich, colourful nightclub history of 1970s and 80s Hong Kong — places like Disco Disco, this amazing nightclub that's still remembered fondly in that city." As for the drinks, sommelier Peter Marchant — also the Group Wine Director — is overseeing a wine list of around 30 drops that can be mixed and matched with the food menu. Available by the glass, half glass and bottle, it's set to span both Australian and overseas tipples, and also vino from producers doing new and exciting things in the industry. The cocktails will nod to the Hong Kong nightclub scene, as well as to Primitif, including a house harvey wallbanger, a Sichuan Martini Sidecar and a nitrogen-compressed piña colada. Find Central at 340 Queen Street, Brisbane, from sometime in October — we'll update you when an opening date has been announced. Keep an eye on the venue's website for more details.
Australian grime fans have been dealt a disappointing blow: Stromzy has announced he is cancelling his highly anticipated upcoming tour. The UK sensation was set to grace Australian shores later this year on the much-delayed H.I.T.H World Tour alongside a run of festival dates as the headliner for Spilt Milk, but has confirmed in a statement released through the festival that he has pulled out of all of his international tour dates for the remainder of 2022. "It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to inform you guys that due to circumstances beyond my control, I must cancel international commitments for the remainder of the year which includes my Australian and New Zealand tour," said Stormzy. "You guys have waited so patiently and I am so sorry that this has to happen after all these ups and downs. I love you guys and I promise I will be back as soon as I can with a show that's bigger and better than ever." Originally scheduled for 2020 before being pushed back multiple times for pandemic-related reasons, the run of dates was finally supposed to kick off in Perth on Wednesday, November 23, before hitting Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wellington and Auckland, as well as Ballarat, Canberra and the Gold Coast with Spilt Milk. While losing Stormzy is a huge blow for the festival, Spilt Milk has come through with another exciting international headliner in his place. Highly influential Grammy-nominated indie-pop singer and one of 2022's biggest breakout stars Steve Lacy has been added to the lineup for all three Spilt Milk dates. An original member of the popular funk and soul group The Internet, Lacy has worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Solange and Tyler, the Creator. Following solo success with his debut album Apollo XXI as well as singles like 'Dark Red' which you've almost certainly heard on TikTok, the Californian singer-songwriter has found huge mainstream success this year with the release of his album Gemini Rights and its lead single ' Bad Habits' which currently sits at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Alongside his appearances at Spilt Milk, Lacy has also announced a run of headline dates across the east coast of Australia. He'll be popping up at Melbourne's The Forum on Tuesday, November 22, The Tivoli in Brisbane on Tuesday, November 23 and Sydney's Enmore Theatre on Monday, November 28. Due to the lineup change, Spilt Milk will be offering refunds for anyone who requests one via Moshtix before 5pm Thursday, October 4. After that, you can also pop your tickets up for sale on the festival's resale facility. Those that want to head along to catch Lacy alongside previously announced acts like Flume, The Wombats, Spacey Jane, G Flip, Fisher and Peach PRC can access tickets via the Moshtix resale. Tickets for Steve Lacy's solo shows will go on sale via the Frontier Members pre-sale at 9am local time on Tuesday, October 4, before the general public tickets go on sale on Wednesday, October 5. [caption id="attachment_851188" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] Stormzy has cancelled his run of Australian and New Zealand shows including his appearances at Spilt Milk. Refunds for Spilt Milk are available via Moshtix until 5pm, Thursday, October 4.
Gotta love this grass-roots, crowd-sourced internet art project. Corpus Libris is an ongoing photo essay on books and the bodies that love them, in which participants create visually quirky creations by superimposing images of the human body found on book covers over their own bodies. Creator of the project Emily Pullen says "It began as a fun little photo essay on a Thursday night while working at Skylight Books in Los Angeles. As we kept going and going, I realized that many, many more people could enjoy and create similar photographs. The possibilities are practically endless!" The most successful images strike a balance of perspective, positioning the book so the image is the same size as the human holding it – check them out below: [Via Flavorwire]
