It's possible to wish that I'll Be Gone in the Dark told its story in another way, and to still find yourself captivated by every single thing the six-part series serves up. In fact, there's no way to watch this immensely personal true-crime docuseries and not wish that author Michelle McNamara was a part of it in a very different way. She's the reason the show exists, and her obsessive work investigating the Californian murderer known as the Golden State Killer helped keep the case alive. She even wrote a book that shares this program's name, but she died from an accidental overdose in 2016, before it was published. I'll Be Gone in the Dark charts McNamara's quest to expose the man who committed at least 13 murders and 50 rapes between 1973–86, but it also intertwines McNamara's own story — including interviews with her husband Patton Oswalt. If you think you've seen every spin on the true-crime genre there is, you'll change your mind when you watch this highly detailed and also intimately personal series.
Spending your days in classrooms might be behind you, but binge-watching your way through school-set hit Australian TV shows is something that you never grow out of. When Heartbreak High first arrived on television in the 90s, it became one of the nation's classic teen series. When it returned in 2022 via Netflix, the new Heartbreak High revival also had everyone turning up. Your next date with its dramas: April 2024. 2020s-era Heartbreak High was promptly renewed the show for season two when its first season proved a huge smash. In 2023, Netflix advised that school would be in session again sometime this year. Now, the streaming platform has announced that term starts again on Thursday, April 11, 2024 for the International Emmy-, AACTA- and Logie-winning show. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix Australia & NZ (@netflixanz) Hartley High will be reopening its gates, "rack off" will be the strongest insult there is again and more than just nostalgia for the OG 1994–99 series will be on the agenda. And, as announced last year, there'll be new faces among the students. Sam Rechner (The Fabelmans) will play country boy and classic cinema fan Rowan Callaghan, and he's destined for a love triangle. Also, Kartanya Maynard (Deadloch) joins the Hartley crew as Zoe Clarke, who has big thoughts on celibacy — she's in favour — as part of a gang of Puriteens. Plus, in new news, Bump's Angus Sampson is joining the show as Head of PE Timothy Voss. On the returning crew, character-wise: Amerie (Ayesha Madon, The Moth Effect), Harper (Asher Yasbincek, How to Please a Woman), Darren (screen first-timer James Majoos), Quinni (Chloe Hayden, Jeremy the Dud), Dusty (Josh Heuston, Thor: Love and Thunder), Ca$h (Will McDonald, Home and Away), Malakai (Thomas Weatherall, Troppo), Spider (Bryn Chapman Parish, Mr Inbetween), Ant (debutant Brodie Townsend), Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran, Mustangs FC) and Missy (fellow newcomer Sherry-Lee Watson). [caption id="attachment_938095" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Heartbreak High S2. (L to R) Gemma Chua-Tran as Sasha, Ayesha Madon as Amerie, Sherry-Lee Watson as Missy, James Majoos as Darren, Chloe Hayden as Quinni in Heartbreak High S2. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024[/caption] Season one started with Amerie becoming a pariah at Hartley after a big revelation — an "incest map" plotting out who's hooked up with who throughout the school — and also struggling with a sudden rift in her friendship with bestie Harper. Attempting to repair her reputation, she called on help from her new pals Quinni and Darren, all while working through her crush on Dusty and developing feelings for Malakai. And that's just the start of the Heartbreak High revival's season one story. In season two, everyone will back for a second term after doing some growing up over the holidays, and Hartley is now the lowest-ranking school in the district. Netflix is teasing that threesomes, chlamydia and burning cars will be distant memory for the gang — but there'll still be teen chaos, of course, or this wouldn't be Heartbreak High. [caption id="attachment_869123" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HEARTBREAK HIGH[/caption] It was back in 2020 that Netflix initially announced that it was bringing the series back — and yes, it sure is a 2020s-era take on the Aussie classic, including everything from friendship fights, yelling about vaginas from the top of a building and throwing dildos at walls through to consent, crime, drugs and police brutality. The original Heartbreak High was a massive deal, and was filled with now-familiar faces, including Alex Dimitriades, a pre-Home and Away Ada Nicodemou, and Avengers: Endgame and Mystery Road's Callan Mulvey as Drazic. It painted a multicultural picture of Australia that was unlike anything else on TV at the time. And, for its six-year run across two Aussie networks, the Sydney-shot show was must-see television — not bad for a series that started as a spinoff to the Claudia Karvan and Alex Dimitriades-starring 1993 movie The Heartbreak Kid, too. Check out the trailer for the Heartbreak High revival's first season below: Heartbreak High season two will arrive on Thursday, April 11, 2024. The show's first season is available to stream now via Netflix. Read our full review.
Set along the River in South Bank, OTTO brings refined Italian dining to one of the city's most scenic addresses. With uninterrupted water views and a light-filled dining room that opens onto a generous terrace, it's a restaurant built for long lunches, celebratory dinners and occasions that call for something elevated. The menu draws on traditional Italian technique while embracing premium Australian produce. Expect handmade pasta, carefully sourced seafood and substantial mains that balance richness with restraint. OTTO's approach is classic but not rigid – familiar flavours are presented with finesse and attention to detail. Seasonal updates keep the offering fresh while maintaining the restaurant's signature confidence. [caption id="attachment_1079103" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Trent Van der Jagt[/caption] Wine plays a central role, with a cellar that moves comfortably between Italian and Australian producers, supported by a cocktail list suited to riverfront afternoons and pre-dinner aperitivo moments. OTTO is a restaurant that understands its audience: elegant without being intimidating, refined without losing warmth. Come for the view, stay for the pasta – and let the sunshine do the rest. [caption id="attachment_1079106" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] Images: supplied.
UPDATE: July 13, 2020: The Goldfinch is available to stream via Netflix, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. A best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. A filmmaker fresh from directing another literary adaptation to three Oscar nominations. A cast of high-profile faces spanning Nicole Kidman, Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver). Regardless of whether screenwriter Peter Straughan counts as a strength or a weakness — he scripted the excellent recent version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but was also responsible for the horrendous The Snowman — The Goldfinch definitely doesn't lack in pedigree. Alas, as based on Donna Tartt's 2013 book and directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn), the result is a curious film. It's easy to see how this neo-Dickensian coming-of-age tale about a traumatised teen, an explosion, a stolen painting and the chaos that follows could enthral on the page; however it's just as easy to remain distanced from it on the big screen. When viewers first meet Theo Decker (Elgort), he's a suave, drug-addicted twentysomething in Amsterdam. How he got there, why he's so stressed and strung out, and why he's muttering about an artwork called The Goldfinch are all soon relayed via flashbacks. At the age of 13, Theo (Oakes Fegley, Pete's Dragon) visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his mother, survives a bombing that claims her life, and leaves with a ring he's asked to return to an antiques dealer (Wright) — as well as the famed 1654 piece by Carel Fabritius that gives the movie its name. When he's happily bunking down with the wealthy family of one of his private school classmates, and hoping that their matriarch (Nicole Kidman) will adopt him, Theo hides the stolen painting. As he's struggling through a strained Las Vegas reunion with his compulsive gambler dad (Luke Wilson) and bartender girlfriend (Sarah Paulson), the portrait haunts him. And, after he's all grown up, back in New York and trading in antiques himself, the picture remains out of sight but never out of Theo's mind. While The Goldfinch takes its moniker from the beloved masterpiece and tasks its protagonist with fixating on it, the priceless artwork means more here as a symbol than as an object. A knowledge of art history will help audience members, but the film does eventually explain the painting's fascinating background, its parallels with Theo's journey, and why it represents the enduring nature of beauty in shaping both individual and collective memories. That said, on a narrative level, the piece is hardly crucial — especially given the hectic wave of unlikely events that keep befalling Theo both as an adolescent and as an adult. Indeed, as their lead character befriends a rebellious Ukrainian (Wolfhard), obsesses over a flame-haired fellow survivor (Ashley Cummings), reignites old acquaintances and gets immersed in shady dealings on opposite sides of the world, Crowley and Straughan can't be accused of skimping on plot. Story-wise, there's rarely an empty moment. What the feature lacks, however, is the space to truly value anything of importance — and space to appreciate why its namesake is so emotionally and thematically pivotal. Much of The Goldfinch's troubles stem from its on-screen structure, which, ditching the novel's linear timeline, flits back and forth between the younger and older Theo. While it's an expressive choice, designed to convey the adrift and uncertain inner state plaguing its central figure, it largely plays as needlessly convoluted. As a result, the movie feels simultaneously laborious, rushed and distracted across its 2.5-hour running time — like it's packing as much as possible onto its large canvas in a purposeful, painstaking way, then devoting its time to watching paint dry rather than soaking in the details. In the film's visuals and performances, there's still something to relish. It helps immensely that The Goldfinch has enlisted one of the best cinematographers in the business, with Roger Deakins as talented at making his peach and gold-tinted frames resemble great art as he was at navigating a neon-hued futuristic world (and winning an Academy Award, too) in Blade Runner 2049. Fine-tuned portrayals by Kidman, Wright and Fegley also assist, although Elgort comes across as opaque rather than conflicted, Wolfhard is blighted by his cartoonish accent, and Wilson and Paulson seem like they've stepped in from another movie entirely. What ultimately lingers, though, is an unfortunate comparison. It's an obvious one, as happens whenever a movie calls attention to a far superior work, and it doesn't serve Crowley's film well. It never escapes attention that Fabritius' painting depicts a creature capable of flying high, but firmly stuck in place — a feat that, despite seemingly boasting all the right elements, The Goldfinch mirrors in all the wrong ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_nRqgk1HgM
Bedlam Records have been bringing beats to Australian listeners for years, and in one massive, Australia Day Eve celebration, they’ll be showing off to Brisbane who they think is worth tuning in to next. Sausage & Breadlam brings together a hip hop lineup of names you probably won’t recognise. But that’s just reason to muster up some trust and know when Bedlam promise the best, they deliver. Plus, it's only $10, so you don't have much to lose. The showcase features Astro Travellers, Desmond Cheese, Dead Caucus, Cypher (Featuring JON, Midas.Gold, The Hated, Jon Doe, Gallu$,Carmouflage Rose) and Ruka Hanlon. They’ll each be performing sets from 4pm well into the night, and there may even be some additional acts to keep the party going to the early hours. There will be free snags for an easy dinner, and Sailor Jerry will have a rein on the drinks selection — there won’t be a can of XXXX on the premises. Welcome Australia Day in with style, at the hands of some soon-to-be hip hop greats.
In a glorious era where phones can be unlocked using facial recognition, what are we still doing slumming it with pesky plug-in chargers? Well, chaining your smartphone to a power point and fumbling with tangled cords could soon be a thing of the past, when San Francisco company Pi releases what it says is the world's first ever contactless, wireless charger. The brainchild of a pair of MIT alumni, this little guy does away with the cords, the charging pads and even the need for your phone or tablet to be touching anything at all. Instead, Pi harnesses groundbreaking electromagnetic charging technology developed by the founders, John MacDonald and Lixin Shi, over more than three years. That's a whole lotta math problems. The cone-shaped Pi can simultaneously charge four devices within around 30cm, at full speed. It can charge additional devices on top of that, albeit at a slower pace. Perhaps most enticing, you can use your phone and move it around while it's juicing up. Of course, this kind of modern day witchery doesn't come easy. As MacDonald explains, "creating this technology required solving one of the most difficult mathematical problems in electromagnetics, and that's why no one has done it before." It sounds like Pi will be available sometime next year, although you can reserve yours right away. MacDonald and Shi believe it will retail for under US$200. The first 314 people in the world to order will score a $50 discount.
If you believe that bigger is better, then it has been more than a decade since Melbourne boasted one of the most important claims to fame in the country. From 1991 to 2005, the city was the home of Australia's tallest building — but soon, after temporarily losing the crown to the Gold Coast, everyone will be looking up again in the Victorian capital. Thank a just-approved 323-metre, 90-storey tower for thrusting Melbourne back to great heights, with the giant structure destined to change the skyline at Southbank. Called One Queensbridge, it'll form part of the Crown precinct, and will feature a six-star hotel with 388 rooms, 708 residential apartments and the kind of other reasons to drop by (most likely shops and restaurants) that have been dubbed "visitor attractions". The development will also see Queensbridge Square get an upgrade that includes landscaping and new cafes, a new bike strip installed on Southbank Boulevard, and street furniture and additional trees placed along Queensbridge Street. And as for the building itself, it has been designed by WilkinsonEyre, who got the gig by winning an international design competition. Don't expect to see the massive complex towering over the city just yet, though, with construction not expected to start until 2018 — or finish for five or six years after that. Until then, Queensland's Q1 will keep winning in the big building stakes, with Melbourne's Eureka Tower in second spot.
Make a comic-book blockbuster, then make a smaller-scale but still star-studded comedy: that's been Taika Waititi's formula of late. The first time that he jumped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: Ragnarok, he followed it up with Jojo Rabbit, an "anti-hate" comedy mocking Hitler that won the New Zealand filmmaker an Oscar. Now, after returning to the MCU with Thor: Love and Thunder, he's turning a true tale about American Samoa's soccer team into his next flick. If Next Goal Wins sounds familiar, there's a few reasons for that. Firstly, it's already the title of a documentary from 2014 about the national football squad and their efforts to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Also, Waititi's dramatised version of that story has been in the making for four years, both beginning and wrapping initial production pre-pandemic — before doing reshoots in 2021. And, of course, the details themselves might ring a bell if you're a fan of the world game and you remember the American Samoan team's big 2001 defeat. Playing Australia in a qualifying match two decades back, the squad lost 31–0. Cue the hiring of Dutch American coach Thomas Rongen, who Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Dark Phoenix) plays in Waititi's movie. As the just-dropped trailer for Next Goal Wins 2.0 shows, Rongen has just lost his job when he gets the new gig in the South Pacific. From there, Waititi and the film are in classic underdog sports-film territory, but stepping through events that genuinely happened. There's another important part of this story, too, with American Samoa squad member Jaiyah Saeluathe first non-binary player to compete in a FIFA World Cup qualifier. The doco made for rousing viewing, which the latest flick overtly aims to ape — mixed with the brand of comedy that Waititi has established in everything from Eagle vs Shark and Boy to What We Do in the Shadows to Hunt for the Wilderpeople before he hit the MCU. And yes, to answer the immediate question that any trailer for one of the writer/director's pictures inspires, Waititi does indeed pop up on-screen. Alongside the filmmaker and Fassbender, the latter of which hasn't made a movie since 2019, Next Goal Wins also stars Oscar Kightley (The Breaker Upperers), Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale), Will Arnett (Murderville), Uli Latukefu (Young Rock), Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death), David Fane (Duckrockers), Lehi Falepapalangi (Doogie Kamealoha, MD), Semu Filipo (The Justice of Bunny King), Rachel House (Heartbreak High), Angus Sampson (Bump), Beulah Koale (Dual) and more. Check out the trailer for Next Goal Wins below: Next Goal wins releases in cinemas Down Under on January 1, 2024.
The start of the medieval period might be referred to as the Dark Ages; however a few things still shone brightly. Gold, jewellery, seals, sculptures, stained glass and other such objects were symbols of prestige — and some have stood the test of time. In Medieval Power: Symbols & Splendour, more than 250 of these artefacts will make their world premiere. Iconic trinkets such as a famous Lewis chessman piece will line the shelves alongside tools of war, objects of religious significance and humble items from everyday life. Together, they offer a window into existence dating back to AD 400, as well as a glimpse at items that haven't been gazed upon for many, many centuries. Of course, in typical Queensland Museum style, trawling through a wealth of historical knickknacks is only the beginning of the fun. We're not saying that the bits and pieces on display won't dazzle you by themselves; we're just pointing out that attending one of the Friday evening After Dark events — which adds a program of live music, expert talks and films to the exhibition — will make your medieval experience truly sparkle.
This summer, the National Gallery of Australia comes to life with a major exhibition on two greats of the modern art movement. Matisse & Picasso presents an Australian-first gathering of the iconic works of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, with the pair's intense friendship and rivalry considered a defining factor behind contemporary art's development during the 20th century. The pair first met in 1906 when Picasso was essentially unknown to the art world, but Matisse was already considered one of the avant-garde's most prominent artists. Staying close throughout their lifetimes, they looked to each other's work, responding and challenging their peer to stay on the cutting-edge. As Picasso explained to one of his biographers Pierre Daix, "No one has ever looked at Matisse's painting more carefully than I; and no one has looked at mine more carefully than he." Running until April 13, 2020, Matisse & Picasso showcases more than 200 paintings, sculptures, prints and costumes. Across many of their most famous works, Matisse & Picasso makes the artists' intrinsic connection clear. The exhibition has been designed so instead of walking from start to finish, you'll be wandering back and forth between the artworks as the similarities emerge. To give you a head start before your visit to the NGA, we've picked out six artworks that you can't miss at Matisse & Picasso. [caption id="attachment_756083" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Woman by the Sea', Pablo Picasso (1922). Bequest of Putnam Dana McMillan, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Copyright Succession Picasso/Copyright Agency.[/caption] PABLO PICASSO: WOMAN BY THE SEA (1922) Following the First World War, both Picasso and Matisse demonstrated a deep fascination with classical Greek art and stories. A distinct departure from the Cubist aesthetic that he's best known for, 'Woman by the Sea' is one of many paintings with dreamy human figures set against plain landscapes that Picasso would go on to produce. Taking inspiration from the ancient statue known as Venus de Milo and a sculpture of the Greek goddess Hera that he saw in Naples, for this work, Picasso translates the relaxed posture and flowing dress of the marble structure into a two-dimensional format. [caption id="attachment_756086" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Woman by a Window', Henry Matisse (1920–22). Gift of Ferdinand Howald, Columbus Museum of Arts, Columbus. Copyright Succession H Matisse/Copyright Agnecy.[/caption] HENRI MATISSE: WOMAN BY A WINDOW (c. 1920-22) As you look over the art of Matisse, one of the most common motifs that repeatedly appears is his use of open windows. Following the end of the war, a despondent Matisse retreated to southern France where he found inspiration within the soft colour palette and charming interiors of the region. Turning his hotel rooms into art studios, these intimate quarters provided him with a new creative drive that became emblematic of his art. "[Matisse] was inspired by the southern light and painted a series of light-filled hotel rooms facing the sea," explains NGA's Curator of International Painting & Sculpture Simeran Maxwell. "When Picasso paid homage to Matisse after his death, he used this distinctive device in his own paintings." [caption id="attachment_756092" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Reading', Pablo Picasso (1932). Musée Picasso, Paris. Copyright Succession Picasso/Copyright Agency. Photo: RMN Grand Palais[/caption] PABLO PICASSO: READING (1932) Throughout Matisse and Picasso's lengthy careers, the various women in their lives often became the subjects of their artworks. Reading features one of Picasso's most adored muses, Marie-Thérèse Walter, whose face and figure was interpreted in a variety of ways through dozens of paintings and sculptures. Reading also demonstrates a significant change in artistic direction for the Spanish artist, showcasing his newfound interest in bold colours and patterning — a style that Matisse had been using to great effect within his artwork. [caption id="attachment_756096" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Seated odalisque', Henry Marisse (1926). Gift of Adele R Levy Fund Inc 1962, The Metropolitan Museum of Arts, New York. Copyright Succession H Matisse/Copyright Agency.[/caption] HENRI MATISSE: SEATED ODALISQUE (1926) Following trips to Morocco in 1912 and 1913, Matisse became fascinated by the bright clothing, distinct architecture and the daily life of the locals, which was so foreign to him having only experienced life in France. One way that the North African experience influenced his artwork was the inclusion of models dressed as odalisques — members of harems — alongside vibrant textiles that he had collected during his visit. For this work, Matisse "uses an appliquéd wall hanging as a backdrop for model Henriette Darricarrère dressed in Moroccan pantaloons and a sheer blouse," explains Maxmwell. [caption id="attachment_756102" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'The studio', Pablo Picasso (1955). Presented by Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler 1974. Accessioned 1994, Tate. Copyright Succession Picasso/Copyright Agency.[/caption] PABLO PICASSO: THE STUDIO (1955) Over two weeks in 1955, Picasso painted 11 canvases of the studio in his Cannes villa known as La Californie. While the idea of the artist within the studio was something that Picasso explored many times during his career, this series stands out as the structure of the building is the central focus of the work. With the studio one of the subjects that often appeared in Matisse's work, it's been suggested that Picasso created this series in direct response to his contemporary's death the previous year. As Maxwell describes it, "One of Matisse's longstanding subjects was an interior scene with a view through a window. Here Picasso adopts this idea, as homage to his late rival." [caption id="attachment_756101" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Annelies', Henri Matisse. Purchased 1981, National Gallery of Australia. Copyright Succession H Matisse/Copyright Agency.[/caption] HENRI MATISSE: ANNELIES (1946) Matisse was best known for his colourful paintings and sculptures. But he often expressed the belief that drawing was the most intimate way to translate a subject onto the page. In 1946, he met Dutch model and artist Annelies Nelck, who would spend six years living with Matisse and posing for his artwork. "He would repeatedly draw the model from all possible angles with a deliberate, confident and clean series of lines," explains Maxwell. "When viewed in order, it would appear as if Matisse had been circling his model as he worked." Matisse described this process of repetitive and intensive creative process as "a cinema film of a series of visions". Matisse & Picasso is on display at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra until April 13, 2020. Tickets and exhibition information are available on the NGA website. Top images: Installation view of Matisse & Picasso, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, © Succession Picasso/Copyright Agency 2019, © Succession H. Matisse/Copyright Agency 2019.
Surfers Paradise is turning up the festive cheer this summer with a double dose of its Christmas Twilight Market, taking place across two evenings on Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13. On each occasion, The Esplanade will transform into a glowing coastal marketplace filled with music, lights, performers and over 120 beachside stalls, brimming with artisan makers, handcrafted gifts, independent designers and specialty Christmas treats. Yet the festive atmosphere extends well beyond the market stalls. Families can enjoy festive activities throughout the night, and might even catch a surprise appearance from Santa as he moves through the crowds. Once the shopping is sorted, the celebrations continue with Christmas Flicks and Fireworks. Each night from 7pm, an outdoor cinema will screen a classic Christmas film beside the iconic Surfers Paradise sign, followed by an 8.30pm fireworks display over the ocean. On Friday, the evening screening will feature The Santa Clause, while Saturdays sunset session will show Elf, making both nights ideal for families, couples and anyone in peak Christmas mode. With the market just celebrating its 30th anniversary, this Christmas edition is bound to draw massive crowds once more. Set right by the beach, the location alone makes it one of the most unique festive markets in the country. Looking ahead, the Christmas Twilight Market also marks the start of a long summer of beachside shopping. Surfers Paradise will continue to light up every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 4pm–9pm throughout the season, including Christmas Eve. Free to attend and full of nostalgic charm, the Surfers Paradise Christmas Twilight Market offers two nights of vibrant community spirit, festive entertainment and coastal holiday season magic.
Is the 21st century Middle-earth's golden age? For viewers, that keeps proving the case. The 00s had barely begun when The Lord of the Rings franchise started its journey to becoming one of the global box office's biggest-ever film sagas — it currently ranks 12th — by first arriving between 2001–2003 as Peter Jackson's initial trilogy based on JRR Tolkien's beloved and iconic fantasy novels. After The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King met such adoring cinema audiences and earned accolades, of course The Hobbit next made the leap to the silver screen under Jackson's direction, from 2012–2014 and again as a trio of flicks. A decade has now passed since An Unexpected Journey, The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies as 2024 wraps up. The lack of Middle-earth at the movies also comes to an end via The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Jackson has focused on documentaries since The Hobbit films, courtesy of the First World War-centric They Shall Not Grow Old, plus TV series The Beatles: Get Back and accompanying movie The Beatles: Get Back — The Rooftop Concert. Since becoming almost as synonymous with all things LoTR as the author who created it, however, he's still attached to the saga. In the live-action realm, planned Andy Serkis (Venom: The Last Dance)-directed and -starring 2026 release The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum boasts Jackson as a producer. First, though, he has executive-produced The War of the Rohirrim, the franchise's new anime instalment. One of his greatest choices from The Two Towers and The Return of the King still echoes here, too, and literally, with Miranda Otto reprising her role as Éowyn. The 21st century's original LoTR pictures were a massive deal everywhere, but the wealth of Australian actors among the cast didn't go unnoticed across the ditch from where New Zealand's green hills earned their most-famous movie use yet. While Otto, David Wenham (Fake), Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer) and Hugo Weaving (How to Make Gravy) weren't strangers to the screen by any means at the time, The Lord of the Rings remains one of the projects that they'll each forever be known for. Playing elves, Blanchett and Weaving were each able to return for The Hobbit flicks, but popping up at different times in the saga isn't as easy when you're portraying a human. In Otto's case, The War of the Rohirrim has found a way to bring her back as Éowyn. Like streaming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but unrelated to it, the new film is set before the events of the LoTR movies, but is told as a tale relayed by Rohan's best-known noblewoman and shieldmaiden. Imagine Éowyn "coming back and telling this story to her children"; that's what Otto did, she tells Concrete Playground. The narrative that the character unfurls from 183 years prior to her time has another Rohan heroine at its centre, explaining why she's someone that Middle-earth's kingdom of men, as well as its famed horsemen, should champion — even if her deeds don't furnish Rohan's songs and haven't been mentioned to audiences before. Héra (Gaia Wise, A Walk in the Woods) is the daughter of king Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox, Succession), whose reign and house are threatened by a marriage proposal. When Wulf's (Luke Pasqualino, Rivals) hand in matrimony is rejected, so sparks the battle that gives filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama's entry into the LoTR franchise its moniker. With episodes of Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Star Wars: Visions, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 on his resume, Kamiyama is well-versed at stepping into existing and already-adored worlds, and at giving them the anime treatment — a task that awaited with The War of the Rohirrim, and that the director handles with ease. That said, in connecting a tale that wouldn't be so resonant if viewers weren't familiar with Éowyn paving the way in the saga first with its on-screen past, Otto's voicework couldn't be a more crucial part of the movie. Returning to the role, she understands how the pair are mirrored, and also Éowyn's impact on the page and on the screen so far. "This character was really significant to a lot women growing up," she notes. Reteaming Otto with Philippa Boyens — who shared a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar with Jackson and Fran Walsh for The Return of the King, then penned the story for The War of the Rohirrim's script and also produces the new film — the latest LoTR movie adds to a busy few years for an actor who last graced cinemas in 2023 hit Talk to Me. On the small screen, she's also brought her talents to everything from Wellmania and Koala Man to The Clearing, Ladies in Black and Thou Shalt Not Steal of late, expanding a filmography that has taken her through War of the Worlds, Cashmere Mafia, Blessed, South Solitary, I, Frankenstein, The Homesman, Rake, The Daughter, Homeland, 24: Legacy, Annabelle: Creation, Downhill, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, True Colours, Fires and more in the past two decades. We also chatted with Otto about what excited her about a Lord of the Rings comeback, reprising the role solely as a voice actor and the responsibility of portraying Éowyn — as well as whether the diversity of parts that she's been enjoying was the original dream back in her pre-The Two Towers days in The Last Days of Chez Nous, The Nostradamus Kid, Love Serenade, The Well, Doing Time for Patsy Cline, What Lies Beneath and Human Nature, plus what she makes of her journey across her career so far. On What Excited Otto About Returning to the World of The Lord of the Rings, and to Playing Éowyn, But This Time in an Animated Film "I was really excited by the idea that it was anime. I thought it was so interesting to go back into this world of Lord of the Rings and Tolkien and tell the story as an anime, and all the things that that gives you licence to do. The films have always done so well over there, and I feel like there's something in Japanese mythology that really has some kinship with Tolkien's mythology in some ways. So it just sounded like a great fit. And the idea of coming back as a narrator was really lovely. It made utter sense to me the way that Philippa put it forward to me when she wrote to me about doing it. I could understand the concept, that it was Éowyn coming back and telling this story to her children. I just really liked that idea." On How Otto Approaches Not Only Reprising the Role of Éowyn, But Solely Doing So as a Voice Actor "The first time I came back to do the recording was, I think, in 2022, and I'd just had COVID and my voice was croaky — and I thought 'oh they'll like it, because I sound kind of husky and deep and mature'. And then they were disappointed because they wanted me to have the same voice. They really very much wanted to hear the Éowyn voice from 20 years ago. So when we came to do the second recording in Wellington, it was great to actually be in the studio with Philippa and with Kenji, and to actually get to see more of the film. And I worked with Roisin [Carty, The Agency] again, who had done a lot of the dialect work on the original films. So that was a great way of really fully getting back into the character. And just being back in Wellington, and being back with a lot of the same people, really took me back to that feeling of Middle-earth." On Whether Returning to Éowyn Was Something That Otto Could Imagine Two Decades Ago When She First Played the Part "It's just amazing — you think 'my gosh, that much time has passed, wow'. No, I never. I very much knew when we made the films, I remember the first time coming over and seeing some of the footage, and going to the costume fittings and seeing the footage, I remember that night I did not sleep because I was so excited to be a part of it. I felt like I knew in that moment that these films would last a really long time, and it's exciting as an actor to be a part of something that will actually last for people. But I never thought at the time about being able to come back in any way. I know when they made The Hobbit, many of the Elvish characters got to come back. But me being a mere human, I wasn't involved in that story. So I never envisaged that I would get the call, but it was very lovely." On Héra's Story Following in Éowyn's Footsteps, Even If the New Tale Is Set Before the Original Films "I think it's really lovely that there's that mirroring of those two characters. To me, it also felt like in Lord of the Rings, Éowyn holds this legacy of the women of Rohan, the shieldmaidens. And she speaks about the women of Rohan, and you get a sense that there's this this lineage of women who have come before her, the people she looked up to and formed her. So when you go into this film, you get to see the women that she admired. She is telling the story because she admires Héra and finds Héra inspirational, and so it's really lovely to get a sense of that history." On Otto's History of Playing Influential Women Beyond Éowyn "I think it's the way the interesting roles have come my way. I think I just gravitate to women like that. It's really to do with the writing of the character, and whether it speaks to me — like sometimes I can read something and think 'that's really good, but I don't have any emotional connection to it' or 'I haven't got that spark'. In a rational sense, I know it's really good, it's probably going to be a great project, but I just don't have that launch point within myself in my gut that tells me 'I want to do this'. So I think I just respond to what's on the page. I don't make tactical choices of thinking 'I need to play influential women' — it's more just that I'm drawn to those characters. They're interesting to me." On the Sense of Responsibility That Comes with Playing Éowyn "It does come with responsibility. When you're a returning to a film, I think you have the responsibility, you're carrying the mantle of the history of those trilogies into this film. And I certainly feel when I meet people who are huge fans of film, that this character was really significant to a lot women growing up. Really, really significant, Éowyn's story. And I'm just the person holding that role. The character was written by Tolkien, invented by Tolkien and brought to the screen by Peter Jackson, and I'm just the conduit of it. But it is a responsibility when I meet people to understand their stories and how significant Éowyn was to them." [caption id="attachment_983393" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Thou Shalt Not Steal[/caption] On Whether the Diversity of Otto's Roles From the Past Few Years, Including Talk to Me, The Clearing, Thou Shalt Not Steal and Ladies in Black, Was What She Hoped for When She Was Starting Out "I definitely hoped that I didn't get stuck in the girlfriend roles. I sensed, in the scripts I would read along the way, there was a lot of female roles where you were just the girlfriend and they didn't have a lot of character written on the page. I prefer playing characters that are strongly written on the page, that I can leave myself and become someone else. And it's not just relying on my personality — that I can be somebody else. So I definitely didn't want to, from the beginning, be typecast into any particular thing. I really didn't want to be boxed in. And that's probably why I do tend to choose really different things, because I just don't want to be in any kind of cage, I guess." On What Otto Makes of Her Journey as an Actor So Far, Including Returning to Lord of the Rings "I feel really lucky. I have to say, Lord of the Rings was a really significant part of my career because I think it's given me that longevity in some ways. To have been a part of something that was so beloved has definitely helped my career. I feel really lucky that that I'm working, and that I still get to work with really interesting people. I've worked with a lot of younger, like first-, second-time directors in recent years, which has been really great. I feel really blessed. It's been really nice coming back to Australia, where I've felt like I've been able to jump around and do lots of different things. I've felt like in recent years in Australia, in film and particularly in television, there's a lot of different genres happening now, a lot of different styles, which has been so great and so inspiring to see. Dylan's [River, Robbie Hood] work in Thou Shalt Not Steal is so different to Gracie's [Otto, Seriously Red] work in Ladies in Black, and they're so different to Danny and Michael's [Philippou] work in Talk to Me. So it's just been really nice to work with all those different energies, I think." The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 12, 2024.
You could say life has been somewhat colourless over the past couple of years thanks to a pesky thing called a pandemic. That may be a touch melodramatic, but you catch our drift. With summer on the horizon, we're itching for days at the beach, road trips with mates and kicking back with our families and loved ones. Bliss. Here to inject a big dose of colour into the months ahead is Aussie artist Mulga (AKA Joel Moore), whose super-fun designs radiate summer vibes. Recently, the Sydney-based muralist and illustrator teamed up with go-to outdoor retailer Kathmandu for a limited-edition collection of beach essentials. To celebrate the new range, we chatted to Mulga to get a sense of what it's like to be in his brightly hued, quirky character-filled world — plus what he's got planned over summer. Then, you can head to our competition to go in the running to win some of the next-level beach gear. MULGA THE LATE BLOOMER First up, Mulga wasn't always creating art; he only picked up the practice in 2012. "I worked in financial planning. I realised I didn't like that," hey says. Once he got serious about his art, though, he didn't look back. He began painting murals — which he still loves doing — then expanded to making his own products such as printed tees, boardies, totes, art prints and oh-so-COVID-appropriate face masks. He's also a big fan of brand collaborations, which has seen his work pop up in Sydney streets, on buses, across swimming costumes and even on Maxibon wrappers. In his art, you'll find a lot of bearded dudes and chiller animal characters — think koalas holding surfboards, sunglasses-clad chickens and cockatoos eating ice cream. One of the first animals he got into painting was gorillas after a visit to Taronga Zoo, which has become a motif in his years-long practice. "I use lots of bright colours and try to inject a little bit of humour into my creations." HIS VISUAL CATCHCRY Looking at Mulga's work, it's clear that laidback summer vibes are Mulga's visual catchcry. "I love summer and the beach and surfing and my love for that just flows out through my art," he says. It makes sense, considering he's an avid surfer: "One of my dreams is to spend a year on a tropical island doing nothing but surfing and making art." Why summer specifically? "It's a time of summer holidays and Christmas and pool parties. What's not to love?" The man's got a point. And when the mercury's soaring, he'll be at the beach with his kids, getting an ice cream, cruising around on a boat and "chilling in the hammock under a palm tree". HIS LATEST COLLAB So, it makes sense that his collab with Kathmandu is all about making the most of sunny days at the beach. The range combines Mulga's signature bright, quirky prints and patterns with Kathmandu's functional designs. "I did my thing which is making funky artworks and Kathmandu did their thing which is making quality products, and the result is funky quality products." There are t-shirts, sand-proof towels, water bottles, camping chairs, sun shelters and beach umbrellas — all of which will take your summer adventures to the next level. "The beach tent is pretty rad." Mulga says. "I'm looking forward to the moment when I go to the beach and see someone with the Mulga x Kathmandu tent. I'll stroll by and say 'nice tent'." Check out the full Kathmandu x Mulga beach collection on the Kathmandu website. Keen to score beach gear for free? Enter our competition to go in the running to win a sweet Kathmandu x Mulga prize pack before November 14.
What stars Selena Gomez (The Dead Don't Die), Steve Martin (It's Complicated), Martin Short (Schmigadoon!), the ageless Paul Rudd (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), and the one and only Meryl Streep (Don't Look Up)? What's arriving to add a bit of murder, a new mystery to solve and plenty of laughs to your winter? That'd be season three of Only Murders in the Building, which has locked in a date for its eagerly awaited premiere: Tuesday, August 8. "Is this really happening again?" asks Oliver Putnam (Short) in the first teaser trailer for the new batch of episodes. "Well, you know, who are we without a homicide?" replies his neighbour, fellow murder-mystery buff and co-podcaster Mabel Mora (Gomez). Clearly, this hit sleuthing comedy will be back doing what it's always done, and well, since season one made it one of the best new shows of 2021 and season two put it in the best returning category in 2022. This time around, Mabel, Oliver and Charles-Haden Savage's (Martin) will still be bantering while solving a murder. Given that season two ended with another big death, the latter won't come as a surprise — and neither will the victim. From the initial sneak peek so far, season three will devote a fair amount of its focus to working through the events leading up to that killing, piecing together what happened, why, how and who's behind it. Enter Rudd and Streep, because this series does love adding names to its on-screen roster. Over both season one and two, Tina Fey (Girls5eva) has been a significant presence, Sting and Amy Schumer have played themselves, and Cara Delevingne (Carnival Row) has also popped up. If you're yet to experience Only Murders in the Building's charms, it follows the odd trio of Charles-Haden, Oliver and the much-younger Mabel after they bond over two things: listening to a Serial-style podcast hosted by the show's own version of Sarah Koenig, aka Cinda Canning (Fey); and a death in their luxe abode. Of course, they did what everyone that's jumped on the true-crime bandwagon knows they would if they were ever in the same situation, starting their own audio series that's also called Only Murders in the Building. That's how season one kicked off — and continued, proving a warm, funny, smart and savvy series at every step along the way. In the show's second go-around, another death needed investigating. That time, it was someone the main trio were all known not to be that fond of, so suspicions kept pointing in their direction. Check out the first trailer for Only Murders in the Building season three below: Only Murders in the Building's third season will start streaming Down Under via Star on Disney+ from Tuesday, August 8. Season one and two are currently streaming. Read our full review of season two — and of the show's first season, too.
Speeding onto screens with instant brand awareness is 2023's big trend. Air, Tetris, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Flamin' Hot and Barbie: they've all been there and done that already. Now it's Gran Turismo's turn, albeit with a film that isn't quite based on the video game of the same name. Directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium, Chappie), and penned by Jason Hall (American Sniper) and Zach Baylin (King Richard), it also doesn't tell the racing simulator's origin story. Rather, this pedal-to-the-metal flick focuses on the real-life Nissan PlayStation GT Academy initiative from 2008–16, and the tale of British racer Jann Mardenborough specifically. The overall program endeavoured to turn the world's top Gran Turismo players into IRL motorsports drivers — and the Cardiff-raised Mardenborough is one of its big success stories. The ins and outs of GT Academy receives hefty attention in Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, plus Mardenborough's life-changing experience along with it; however, much is also made of a massive marketing push. Air, Tetris, Flamin' Hot: yes, they should all come to mind again. Here, Nissan executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom, Carnival Row) wants to attract new customers, ideally those leaping from mashing buttons to hitting the road. Accordingly, he conjures up the console-to-racetrack idea to help make that sales boost happen. You don't see it in Gran Turismo the feature, but surely taking the whole situation into cinemas if the underlying concept proved a hit was part of that initial plan as well. Amid the ample product placement anywhere and everywhere that the film can slide it in, that certainty thrums constantly. Kicking into gear based on Mardenborough's tale, the big-screen Gran Turismo has an unsurprisingly engineered air from the outset, then. If filmmaking at its most formulaic sticks to a track, and it does, then this example doesn't dare deviate for a single second. Hall and Baylin gleefully take Hollywood license with the facts, too, and early. For starters, Mardenborough is positioned as the first champion at GT Academy, and part of a make-or-break gambit when he scores his chance to turn professional. In actuality, the program had anointed two previous winners. That's the thing about keeping on your line: it's meant to be the optimal route. So, if you're adhering to the usual rousing underdog sports-film script, which Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story always is, then that kind of tweaking is standard — and, at best, feels like it. The movie's Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe, Beau Is Afraid) has only ever wanted one thing for his future: to race. While his ex-footballer dad Steve (Djimon Hounsou, Shazam! Fury of the Gods) thinks it's unrealistic, he's always dreamed of getting behind the wheel IRL, but he'll take Gran Turismo's lifelike approximation if that's all that's on offer. Enter Moore's gimmick, with Mardenborough's skills in the game earning him a near-fantastical opportunity, and seeing him hop from Wales to Japan, Dubai, Germany, France and more. Although his mother Lesley (Geri Horner, aka Spice Girl Geri Halliwell) is more supportive, trainer Jack Salter (David Harbour, Violent Night), a former driver himself and the man that'll become the GT Academy's mentor, is as sceptical as anyone can be about the entire notion. That's accurate even after Salter agrees to the gig, a choice made purely because he's working for an arrogant and entitled rich kid (Josha Stradowski, The Wheel of Time) otherwise. Someone segueing from excelling behind a gamer's racing wheel at home and in arcades to competing in motorsports — Mardenborough has gotten zipping in formula racing as well, and hit the track at 24 Hours of Le Mans — is genuinely remarkable. As a result, plenty about Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story's subject's reality already fits the against-the-odds template that's reached screens over and over across a plethora of different activities, and that this picture is so slavishly devoted to. Darren Cox, Moore's off-screen equivalent, truly couldn't have hoped for a better story if he was thinking about the silver screen back when he came up with GT Academy. That tinkering when the details don't immediately suit the feature's easy blueprint, however? Again, it's to be thoroughly expected, but it's overtly calculating. Changing the timeline around a fatality solely for dramatic purposes, to give Mardenborough something else to overcome on the road to greatness? That's also deeply shameless and unnecessary. Thankfully, as by the numbers as Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story always proves — and as questionable and needless as some of its plotting choices are — the tension revving through the movie's on-the-track scenes is also genuine. There's little that's out of the ordinary about Blomkamp's approach, nor about cinematographer Jacques Jouffret's (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) penchant for swooping sky-high shots (their film doesn't threaten Rush or Ford v Ferrari in the hypnotic stakes, either), but the racing scenes still thrill in the moment. That said, using graphics to construct a car around Mardenborough when he's driving in his bedroom, and to take him back there when he's on the asphalt, isn't the savviest move. Instead of being immersive, it too smacks of needing to shoehorn in as many references to the game, PlayStation and Sony as possible, a motivation that's already evident everywhere that viewers look. There's no mistaking the money-driven motives behind Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story's casting and the characters that it heartily swerves into, too. As Mardenborough, Madekwe is energetic and likeable — convincingly sweet and awkward as required as well — but the fact that the film hinges upon its most bankable name is as glaring as the sun bouncing off a windshield. Since Stranger Things became such a smash, no one enlists Harbour as a cantankerous figure without wanting his irascible best. Blomkamp and company get it, and often, while always making it plain that the feature is built as much around his performance as it is GT Academy, Mardenborough's true tale and selling games. Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story had to get its personality somewhere, of course, because it doesn't spring from its director. Joining the list of acclaimed names doing a workmanlike job on formulaic fare that almost anyone could've handled of late — although doing better than Meg 2: The Trench's Ben Wheatley — he's happy steering a highly watchable but always-routine affair.
Starring Sydney Sweeney as a virginal American nun in Italy whose new life as a bride of Christ finds her in the family way, Immaculate is the kind of movie that horror fans pray for. In the realm of religious-themed frightfests, which is as packed as Catholic mass at Easter or Christmas, the nunsploitation flick is as unholy as cinema gets. It's eerie and unsettling from the outset, when a fellow sister (Simona Tabasco, giving the film not one but two The White Lotus alumni) tries to escape the My Lady of Sorrows convent, only to be chased by cloaked figures, then buried alive. It ripples with unease from the moment that Sweeney's Cecilia arrives from the US to leering comments. From there, Immaculate spans everything from controlling priests and envious nuns through to winding catacombs, secret laboratories and a crucifixion nail (yes, from that crucifixion). Then there's the unforgettable ending. Immaculate is the type of film that Michael Mohan prays for, too. Chatting with Concrete Playground about directing one of the horror movies of 2024 — and being asked to by Euphoria's Sweeney, who he previously helmed on TV series Everything Sucks! and erotic thriller The Voyeurs — he calls the feature's final two minutes the highlight of his career. "It's such a visceral experience, and the way that people sort of slowly catch on to what's happening in the audience is just so fun to discover," he advises. "Really, the last two minutes are my favourite part of the movie. My favourite thing I've ever directed is the last two minutes of this movie, and it's just something to behold." For Mohan, all hail the reaction that Immaculate is garnering as well, starting with the response when it premiered at SXSW 2024 (the US version, not the Australian fest) in March. "It's made it so that I can't watch the movie with any other crowds, because it was like a drug," he jokes. "To a filmmaker, the experience of watching the movie at SXSW was like the cinematic equivalent of heroin — just because people were screaming, people were yelling, people were making fun of each other for screaming, people were standing up and cheering. It is everything a filmmaker could ever want out of an audience reaction. It was amazing." Immaculate almost didn't happen, however. The tale behind the flick making it to the screen takes almost as wild a ride as the picture itself. It was a decade back, before she was in everything-everywhere-all-at-once mode — this is her third movie since December 2023 to reach cinemas, slotting in alongside Anyone But You and Madame Web — that Sweeney initially auditioned for the picture. Now, she's a producer on it, handpicking both the script as her ideal horror effort, plus Mohan to guide it. A text asking "interested in directing a horror film?" is how she started bringing the filmmaker onboard. Barely 18 months later, Immaculate has moviegoers worshipping. Mohan's path to here doesn't just involve getting Sweeney in front of his lens, then turning her into a helluva scream queen. Short films — both writing and directing them — began gracing his resume in 2003. 2010 coming-of-age comedy One Too Many Mornings marked his first feature, followed by Alison Brie (Apples Never Fall)- and Lizzy Caplan (Fatal Attraction)-led rom-com Save the Date. After that came the 90s-set Everything Sucks!, which he co-created, but it only lasted one season. If it wasn't for that show, though, he mightn't have crossed paths with Sweeney. Call it divine intervention? Notably, Mohan wasn't new to the picture's Catholicism, growing up in it ("I grew up super Catholic, so it was in my bones. I was the leader of the youth group. I'm since a lapsed Catholic," he tells us.) With Immaculate now in Australian and New Zealand cinemas, we chatted with Mohan about that first text message about the movie, working with Sweeney as a producer as well as a star, his initial vision for the film, taking inspiration from 70s horror and the feature's take on religion. Also part of our conversation: Sweeney's versatility, how to get the perfect movie scream — of which she contributes plenty — and the picture's unshakeable imagery, plus more. On Receiving a Text from Sydney Sweeney Asking "Interested in Directing a Horror Film?" "I was just scared because I needed to love the script. I want to make as many movies with her as I can, but I also need to feel like I can bring myself to it and that I'll elevate it. So thankfully when I read the script, I realised there's so much potential here, there are twists and turns that I did not see coming. When I pitched my ideas for where I wanted to take the story to Sydney, she was thankfully very receptive. Even though we didn't have a whole lot of time to massage the script, we just went for it. She sent me the script in August of 2022, and I was then on the ground in Rome basically three months later prepping the movie." On Working with Sydney Sweeney Not Just as an Actor, But as One of Immaculate's Producers "It's interesting. At the start, I took an approach like I was a director for hire, to some degree; however, my stipulation in doing the film is that I wanted her to buy into what my vision of the film was. So I put together a lookbook, like as if I wasn't her friend. And I was like 'here, this is what I would do if I didn't know you. This is what I would do if I were trying to win this job'. And the imagery that I sent her and the things that she responded to were exactly in line with how she saw the movie, too. So going into it, we were both on the same page. At the same time, she's the producer, I'm the director, so we had a push and pull in terms of in terms of what we were doing creatively. Anytime I came to her with a new idea, her first response was always like 'but is it scary? Because it needs to be scary'. Luckily our dynamic is such in that my approach to anything in terms of creative is that if you have the same end goal in mind, there's no right or wrong in the journey going there — there's only who feels the most passionate about something. So if you get into a creative disagreement, if it's something that really matters, I can say to her 'this matters to me more than it matters to you' and she can go 'okay' and let go. For instance, there was a scene I cut out of the movie. She was like 'I really want you to put that scene back in'. And I was like 'I really don't think it needs it'. She was like 'no, this is important. This is important to me'. I'm able to look at her and go 'this is more important to her than it is to me, I'm putting it back in the movie' — and that's how you have such a great give and take in terms of collaboration, where it doesn't feel like there's too many cooks in the kitchen." On Mohan's Initial Vision for Immaculate "The initial vision was just to make something that would hopefully traumatise people. We wanted to really go hard. But we wanted to do it smartly. When the film starts, it kind of feels like a traditional horror movie. Yeah, there are all of these horrific images, there are these great jump-scares and it's bumping along, but then it starts to get a little bit more disturbing. Then it starts to get a little bit more disturbing, until at the end of the movie you're seeing something that is actually a lot more similar to French extremist horror than The Conjuring. And so to be able to craft that arc for the audience, where they feel more and more in peril as they're watching the film, was part of the design." On the Importance of Sydney Sweeney's Versatility in Taking Audiences on the Film's Journey "I love when a movie takes a character from point A to point Z. So, to start her off as this sort of meek and quiet, mild-mannered nun, into what becomes like this insane feral creature covered in blood, screaming at the top of her lungs — that's just dramatics. That's just creating a wider arc. And it's very easy for me to conceive of such a wide arc when I know that the person playing it will be able to knock it out of the park. Sydney's ability to go to completely unhinged places is her superpower as an actor. It is incredible to see because I don't know how she does it. And so for me as a director, just my job is to make sure she stays out of her head, and to gently nudge her this way or that way to shape the performance and find the deeper levels. But it's a like driving a Rolls-Royce when you're directing her — she takes direction perfectly. And we just have this history. It's just really easy for the two of us to work together." On Making a Movie That Feels Like a Blend of Both 70s-Era Horror and Contemporary Horror "That's just what I watch. If you look at my Letterboxd, it's a balance of absolute trash and The Criterion Collection — and I think this film is perfectly in the middle. I just love the horror films of the early 70s. I think that there's something a little bit more fearless about them. If you look at The Exorcist — I mean, everybody has talked about The Exorcist until the end of time, because that scene where she has the crucifix and she's stabbing herself and she's bloody, it is so disturbing. Yet that is a mainstream film. That was a studio movie. And it's almost more scary, the fact that it's really well-photographed, than seeing the grimy independent version of that. So to me, it's bringing that level of elegance, coupled with the lurid — that's just where my voice happens to live." On Immaculate's Unholy Imagery "Similar to Sydney, my cinematographer [Elisha Christian, The Night House] and I have worked together forever. He was my roommate senior year of college. And so something that we're always trying to do is bring a sense of beauty to everything we do, whether it's a horror or whether it's an erotic thriller, or some of the earlier comedies that we were working on. I'm just a huge fan of his work. I love what Elisha has done. Here, it goes back to what I was talking about with The Exorcist — when you take something that is absolutely horrific and you film it with a formalism and a beauty, that's a type of cinema that I feel like is lacking. And so for us to be able to do that, it's really just our natural voice is how we shot this film. All of our inspiration poured into it in a way, and this is how it turned out. Also, the name of the movie is Immaculate, and so we wanted to have it immaculate — and so it could also just be as simple as that." On How to Get the Perfect Horror-Movie Scream "Every actor is different. I can tell you that for Simona, at the beginning of the film, Simona Tabasco, there's a scream that she has to let out — and she brought me aside and she was like 'I'm scared of screaming'. So I was like 'okay, come with me'. We went out into the middle of the field and I was like 'I'm just going to scream with you'. And so I just started screaming, and then she started screaming. And then I started screaming back at her, and then she started screaming back at me, and you lose your inhibitions with it. I think that's the most important part, just making sure that the actors aren't self-censoring themselves. Because when you scream, it's an unnatural thing, especially if you're not actually in pain. So it's just all about letting go, and allowing allowing them to let go. Then in the case of Sydney, she's got a set of pipes and she uses them." On Finding Inspiration in the Production's Italian Location — and in Giallo "With religion, I was trying to bring that sense of majesty to it and that sense of power, because this is a movie that doesn't have a whole lot of backstory for the characters. I wanted to keep it to a tight 88 minutes, and I needed the audience to understand from her perspective why she was so swept up in this world. So we were able to do that visually by finding these locations that were absolutely majestic. At the same time, I'm in Italy making a horror film. The responsible thing to do is to at least honour the elders that came before me. So I did watch a ton of giallo films, not to bite off the aesthetic in the way that like Edgar Wright did in Last Night in Soho, but more to have a little bit of a deeper understanding of some of the more-nuanced aspects of the genre. So, for instance, there's this great film What Have You Done to to Solange?. What I love about that film is how they visually capture the patriarchal dynamics between the men and the women. So there's a scene in ours that's an interrogation scene where Sydney's at one end of the table, and she's framed with the flames behind her, almost like she's coming from hell. Then the men are on the other side of the table, and they're all standing, looking down on her. And you see that throughout the course of the film, this playing with heights. The same with in the ceremony at the beginning, she is kneeling in front of the men who are towering above her. And then at the end of the movie, obviously those paradigms are completely shifted, when she gets the upper hand and she is the one who's the powerful one in the frame. So some of that comes from those giallos that are a little bit more naturalistic. Additionally, there's this great film called The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, and I listened to the score of that film non-stop. I loved it. It helped put me in the vibe of that type of cinema, and I loved it so much that I actually used a cue from that in a key montage about half an hour into the film as well." On Why the Combination of Religion and Horror Keeps Appealing to Audiences "I think especially in Catholicism, it's so dark. Part of the ceremony of a mass is eating the body of Jesus, and it's not a representation — it's the literal body, it's transforming when you pop it in your mouth. It's wild that that's what we believe. It's wild that we take a sip of wine and believe it to be his blood. So Catholicism is metal, and so it lends itself to horror just very, very naturally." Immaculate released in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, March 21. Read our review. Images: Fabia Lavino, courtesy of NEON.
They're the masters of immersive thrills, such as smash-hit shipping container installations Seance, Coma and Flight — also known as the Darkfield series. But not even the folks at Realscape Productions are immune to the realities of pandemic life. They're currently locked down with the rest of Melbourne, putting their nerve-jangling real-life projects on hiatus until later in the year. Luckily, in the meantime, Realscape and Darkfield (UK creators) have teamed up for a brand-new audio experience fans can enjoy from the comfort of home. They did just that a couple of months back with Double, and now they're doing so again with Visitors — which, although delivered remotely once again, is still geared to be every bit as creepy and unsettling as its IRL predecessors. Launching on Tuesday, October 6, Visitors will be presented via the producers' new digital project Darkfield Radio. Like its siblings, it plunges participants deep into an immersive experience by perplexing the senses — this time, with the use of a 360-degree binaural sound, played through your own headphones. Visitors is aimed at groups of two, and starts with another two folks as well — a dead couple who invite themselves into the your home. They're eager to escape their current state, even if only temporarily. "We didn't know where else to go," they'll tell you — and then you'll each hear two different sides of the story. To listen along, you'll need a $22 two-person ticket, and to book a spot at 8pm, 9pm and 11pm AEDT on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. While this is clearly a great thing to add to your October must-do list — 'tis the spookiest time of year, after all — Visitors will run until the end of December. Visitors runs at 8pm, 9pm and 11pm AEDT on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from Tuesday, October 6 until the end of December.
The mercury is soaring, cold and cloudy days have become a distant memory and enjoying a few hours of sunlight after knock-off time is a daily occurrence. Yes, it's summer — which means that soaking in Australia's sultry weather is the number-one pastime across the nation. Well, that and finding something refreshing to drink on those hot days and nights when you're hanging with your mates and having a fiesta. Enter spritzes. They're light, they couldn't pair better with our climate and they have long been a warm-weather favourite. Feel like you've tried every type of spritz there is, though? Don't want to simply serve the same old drinks to your friends next time you're kicking back by the barbecue or pool? That's where the tequila versions come in — and they're sure to get the party going at any at-home do. We've teamed up with top-notch tequila brand — and, fun fact, Matthew McConaughey's go-to agave juice — Jose Cuervo to bring you four incredibly easy spritz recipes to add to your must-drink list. THE CUERVO SPRITZ Serves one Sometimes, you don't need a complicated recipe — you just need a tasty beverage. This zesty spritz is big on fruit flavours, but still impossible to get wrong. Ingredients 30ml Jose Cuervo Especial Silver 20ml lychee liqueur 10ml lemon juice 15ml simple syrup 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters 120ml soda water 1 mint sprig (optional) Method Add ice to a tall glass, then fill with Jose Cuervo Especial Silver, lychee liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup, Angostura orange bitters and soda water. To finish, garnish with a mint sprig. THE TEQUILA BUCK Serves one Every buck cocktail features two key ingredients: ginger beer and something citrusy. This version also adds tequila, plus raspberry cordial or grenadine and aromatic bitters for a rosy-hued tipple. Ingredients 45ml Jose Cuervo Especial Reposado 15ml raspberry cordial or grenadine 20ml lime juice 2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters 120ml ginger beer 1 lime wedge or candied ginger (optional) Method Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, then add Jose Cuervo Especial Reposado, raspberry cordial or grenadine, lime juice and Angostura aromatic bitters. Shake for about 30 seconds. Strain into a wine glass and top with ginger beer. Then, garnish with lime wedge or candied ginger. Or, you could just watch this quick how-to video below. https://youtu.be/lxpNiYKB514 ELDERFLOWER T'N'T Serves one Tequila pairs mighty well with tonic, as this take on an old favourite shows. You'll also enjoy the distinctive taste of elderflower here, so you won't confuse this for any other spritz. Ingredients 30ml Jose Cuervo Especial Silver 20ml elderflower liqueur 10ml lime juice 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters 120ml tonic 1 cucumber slice (optional) Method Fill a wine glass with ice, then add Jose Cuervo Especial Silver, elderflower liqueur, lime juice, Angostura orange bitters and tonic. Stir, but only briefly, then top with a cucumber slice as a garnish. SPARKLING MARGARITA Serves one A margarita, but make it sparkling? This spritz is as simple and straightforward as it sounds. It's also a perfect go-to for when you only have a few ingredients on hand. Ingredients 45ml Jose Cuervo Especial Reposado 120ml lemon soda 1 lemon wedge (optional) Method Fill a wine glass with ice, add Jose Cuervo Especial Reposado and top with lemon soda, then garnish with a lemon wedge. See? Simple. Find more Jose Cuervo cocktail recipes by visiting the brand's website.
When you're at a bar deciding what to drink, is it easier to pick a sip when you're pouring the beverages yourself? That's a question that the new Tippler's Tap will answer. The Brisbane beer-loving venue is moving to a new 300-square-metre South Bank spot seven years after it first opened on Grey Street — and 11 years after it initially launched in its now-closed OG Newstead site, too — and a serve-your-own-beer setup will be a massive drawcard. Shifting one shop over, Tippler's Tap South Bank 2.0 will feature 25 taps in total, all rotating their tipples. For those keen to pour their own pints, 14 will be dedicated to self-serve beers, and another four will be all about self-serve cocktails, using the Pour My Beer system for the first time in Brisbane. The new site will welcome in patrons from Friday, June 2, complete with five 65-inch screens showing live sports to keep you entertained while knocking back drinks. Not a fan of AFL, NRL and the like? The TVs will be concentrated in half of the bar, with the other side all about hanging out after work, for lunch or just because — while eating Tippler's Tap's American-style bites, such as hot dogs, burgers, sliders, wings, onion rings, loaded fries and cheeseburger spring rolls, of course. "When creating this new venue, I wanted to make a bar that my mates and I would want to drink at. The goal here was creating a sense of community around craft beer, sports and quality people, and that's exactly what I think we've achieved," says Tippler's Tap Managing Director Hayden Williams. "Since we started, our main goal is to build strong relationships with brewers and locals, and this expansion has allowed us to do this on a much greater scale," Williams continues. To launch the new digs, Tippler's Tap is throwing a party on opening day, complete with demonstrations from Slipstream Brewing, Black Flag Brewing and Aether Brewing — and samples. Doors open at 4pm, with demos from 6pm. Find the new Tippler's Tap South Bank at 184 Grey Street, South Brisbane, from Friday, June 2 — open 11am–10pm Sunday–Thursday and 11am–12am Friday–Saturday.
If you're anything like us, you don't really feel like sipping on a tannic shiraz or a full-bodied cabernet sauvignon when the mercury hits above 26. And, if we're being totally honest with ourselves, we've really given the standard rosé (frosé, rosé icy poles, rosé spritz, rosé Christmas ornaments, rosé bath bombs…) a good run for its money. So, we think, maybe, it's time to branch out. This is where the orange wines, the skin-contacts, the pét-nats and the naturals step in. If you haven't had one yet, you've heard your friends talk about them. And they're perfect summer drinking — light, textured and exciting. To help you make some educated oenological decisions these holidays, we asked funky-wine aficionado Joel Amos, co-founder of DRNKS — an online wine store specialising in sustainable, organic and biodynamic wine — to give us a rundown of the top ten interesting drops to drink during the scorching summer months. To buy these wines, head to DRNKS (they're offering same-day delivery from now until Christmas in the Sydney metro), check the wineries' websites or ask your favourite local bottle-o. KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE, OCHOTA BARRELS, ADELAIDE HILLS Ochota Barrels began as a conversation during a Mexican surf trip, now it's a name synonymous with natural wine. If you're a stranger to funky wines, this is a good place to jump in. This drop is a light skin-contact riesling, so it has a touch of orange colour but tastes fresh and zippy. For the uninitiated, skin-contact refers to white wines that are fermented with the grape skins left on for longer, which gives the wine an orange colour (usually the skins are removed before fermentation when making white wine). Amos says this wine is, "kind of like perfect perfection being made perfectly". So, perfect? SKINS, FROM SUNDAY, ORANGE "Orange wine from orange," says Amos. "It's always exciting to see interesting wines out of NSW." You'll notice that a lot of wines on this list are from SA, but NSW has been producing some interesting wines recently, too. This one is a skin-contact pinot gris — it's light, but textured, and way too easy to drink. It's also more rose-coloured than orange, but don't be tricked by its tint, we still recommend drinking it chilled. Then, taking it outdoors to a beach, park, forest or garden. RIESLING 2017, OISEAU ET RENARD, CLARE VALLEY Bird and Fox (the English translation of its name) made a similar skin-contact riesling in 2016 that was widely popular. This is the 2017 version and it doesn't disappoint. It's fresh and pretty, while still have a noticeable texture. It's also fermented in an amphora — a terracotta jar used often in Roman times — instead of barrels or stainless steel tanks. Amos says that it's, "pretty special stuff". We think you should order a bottle before it sells out. GEWURZTRAMINER, YETTI AND THE KOKONUT, BAROSSA VALLEY This wine label possibly has the best name in the business (yes, big call). It has also produced a might fine array of wines during its two years in production. A typically European grape, this gewürztraminer was grown in SA then fermented on skins. Now, you can find it in a host of restaurants and bottle shops around Australia. Amos says it's "fruit juice that can get you drunk", so we're going to recommend you drink with caution. RAINBOW JUICE, GENTLE FOLK, ADELAIDE HILLS Do you want to drink rainbow juice? We want to drink rainbow juice. We think the more rainbows in 2017 and beyond, the better. Gentle Folk is another big name in the funky-wine business, and another name that sells out quickly — so don't hesitate when buying your rainbow juice. It's made from 23 different red and white grape varieties, from around Basket and Forest Range, that spent some time fermenting in oak. Once again, Amos would like you to not be fooled by its colour — "serve it ice cold". PINOT BLANC, LUCY MARGAUX, ADELAIDE HILLS Last year's Lucy Margaux wines were pretty wild — highly textural and oft described as pond scum (which is not necessarily a bad thing with natural wine). This year they're slightly more pared back, light, fresh and really well priced. This pinot blanc is made organically (as are all the LM wines) and slightly dry and carbonated. We suggest pairing with a secluded beach. PINK, SI, MARGARET RIVER OK. We lied. We included a rosé. But it's not a typical rosé. It's a minimal-intervention cabernet sauvignon (with a touch of malbec) grown and fermented in Western Australia. Amos says, "this is really light and pretty — who knew you could have a not gross cabernet rosé?." Si knew. Now you know. And Santa won't cross you off his Christmas list if you turn it into frosé. PASH RASH, BORACHIO, ADELAIDE HILLS Luckily, this pash rash has nothing in common with the one you experienced during high school. It's a blend of pinot gris and sauvignon blanc and it's tart and easy to drink. The winemakers, Mark Warner and Alicia Basa — who can usually be found stomping grapes at another natural winery, Jauma — call it "boozy pub squash". GOOD TIMES, LATTA VINO, WESTERN VICTORIA Rounding out the lineup with a bang (literally), is this 1.5-litre bottle of pétillant-naturel. A pétillant-naturel, or pét-nat, is a sparkling wine made using the traditional méthode ancestrale — it's not a quick process to describe, but there's a full rundown here if you're interested. This juicy bottle is made using pinot gris and we highly recommend you ring in the new year with a bottle or two.
The most envy-inducing time of year is here, dividing music lovers into two camps. Either you're literally going camping in Byron Bay or you're moping around Brisbane wishing that you were. Don't worry, non-Splendour-bound folks — The Flying Cock's Splendour in the Cock has you covered. For two nights, the Valley pub is pretending they're at the centre of the music universe with a playlist of Splendour in the Grass greats not only from this year, but also spanning previous ace lineups. Close your eyes, and you might just think the live cover tracks are the real thing. Do the same while DJs spin the likes of Flume, Kanye, Lorde, Florence and the Machine, The Strokes and more, and it might just have the same effect. Wearing something glitzy and flashy is recommended — when you're acting like you're at Splendour, you have to dress the part — with the best dressed on each night winning tickets to the upcoming Maroochy Music Visual Arts Festival.
New South Wales is dotted with seemingly endless country towns and weekend destinations. Among the best of these is Kangaroo Valley, named for the Kangaroo River along which the tiny village is situated. The town is only two hours south of Sydney but packs all of the charm that we love about rural NSW — breathtaking mountain and valley views, bushwalks aplenty and wineries galore. Kangaroo Valley is a cabin retreat that will feel decades away from the city hustle and bustle, but is still close enough for a quick weekender. Here's how to make the most of it. [caption id="attachment_581967" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @she_eats[/caption] EAT/DRINK Kangaroo Valley may not be the most talked about wine region, but it sure is a quiet contender. The region is distinguished by its rich volcanic soil which is ideal for viticulture — aka growing grapes. The winding pathway to the remote Yarrawa Estate is not an easy one to follow, but you'll be pleasantly surprised as the path opens to this lakeside vineyard. If the golden retrievers and frolicking children remind you of a visit to the family country home you either have or dream about, well, it should — the cellar door is quite literally set in the Foster family dining room, where strangers momentarily become relatives. Apart from the incredible wine, they also offer a range of nuts, jams and pickles made from homegrown produce. Be sure to taste their homemade walnut liquor wine, a combination of both passions. Possibly the best known among the region's wineries is Silos Estate. The cellar door is run by friendly, knowledgeable locals and set among the estate's sloping Shiraz vineyards. Order a local producer's cheese plate at the cellar bar while you enjoy your free wine tasting or peruse the collection of locally-made smallgoods for sale. If you're hankering for something more substantial, head over to the Silos restaurant which is set in a 100-year-old hay shed and has a relatively reasonable tasting menu ($29.95 for lunch, $95 for dinner). Head chef Nick Gardner (Tetsuya's, Quay, The French Laundry) focuses on native Australian ingredients and local produce, like the decadent red snapper topped with warrigal greens, smoked oyster cream and citrus caviar sauce. The open fireplace keeps you cosy in the winter months while outdoor seating is perfect for warm weather days. Once you're out by Silos, might as well stop over at The Famous Berry Donut Van for their notorious cinnamon-sugar doughnuts. You deserve a second dessert — you're on holiday after all. [caption id="attachment_575084" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Southern Pies.[/caption] If wineries aren't your thing, Kangaroo Valley holds plenty of small town eateries to explore. If you're looking for a quick, road trip snack, check out Southern Pies — the cheeseburger pie or the curry beef are standouts, and vegetarians will love the award-winning lentil and chickpea dhal pie or the honey-roast pumpkin and spinach. The only pub in town, The Friendly Inn, has been around since 1892 and is one of the oldest in the region. Though it's pretty standard pub fare, the real draw is the expansive beer garden which overlooks the rolling valleys and mountains beyond. On the drive down from Sydney, or on the way back home, have a stopover at Berrima's Bendooley Estate, which houses the original Berkelouw Book Barn. The architecturally-designed winery is situated within a gorgeous backdrop, while the produce-driven restaurant sits within the bookshop itself. Check out our Foodie's Guide to Kangaroo Valley for more eating destinations. [caption id="attachment_581969" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Angus L.[/caption] DO As the town lies along the Kangaroo River, one of the best ways to see the valley is via kayak or canoe. Two companies in town, Kangaroo Valley Safaris and Kangaroo Valley Kayaks are comparable in price and both offer pick-up service at the end of the five-kilometre, self-guided journey. The gentle rapids and overall calm river is easy to navigate and includes spectacular scenery and plenty of wildlife to sight. A pro tip is to go on an overcast or drizzly day when the tourist count will be at its lowest and the river will be as peaceful as ever. If bushwalks are more your speed, Mortan National Park and Kangaroo Valley Nature Reserve seem to have an endless number of hiking trails to explore. Within the park is the Fitzroy Falls walking track, which offers both forest and cliff-side views, as well as a good chance to see platypus and lyrebird in their natural habitat. The full West Rim walking track, a moderate 3.5 kilometre trip, will take you through eucalypt and lush rainforest, remarkable gorges and waterfalls before finishing at Twin Falls. Beach lovers should go for the Seven Mile Beach track, which includes stunning ocean views and beach side picnic areas. [caption id="attachment_581975" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Maarten Danial.[/caption] Once the great outdoors has you good and tired, it's time to check out the many antique shops around town. While Kangaroo Valley town itself is loaded with boutiques and craft shops, our favourite is the out-of-towner, Grandpa's Shed. Located down the road from Fitzroy Falls, this warehouse has every antique imaginable, from hand-axes and old farming equipment to antique jewellery and comic books. The shop is connected to an old-school, working gas station, which will offer a much needed cold drink if you're visiting after a trek. [caption id="attachment_581976" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Heavens.[/caption] STAY Kangaroo Valley is ideal for a cabin getaway weekend and there are plenty of options to that end, from The Heavens to Kookaburra Hill. Twin Falls Bush Cottages is by far our favourite — family-owned and operated, the five one- or two-bedroom cottages are nicely spaced for privacy from the neighbours and include a fireplace, full kitchen and outdoor barbecue. The expansive property is set right in the bush, with private hikes and mountain bike trails, as well as a communal tennis court, pool and fire pit to boot. The location is also perfectly situated for both for Twin Falls and Fitzroy Falls treks and the remote location is a true removal from city living. If you're looking to stay closer to town, the Tall Trees Bed and Breakfast is conveniently located just one kilometre from the town centre and is walkable for those without a car. You can either choose a traditional B&B or a self contained unit here. Another, more upscale option is the villas at Kangaroo Valley Golf and Country Club, only a four-minute drive from town and offering sweeping valley views. [caption id="attachment_581974" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] LET'S DO THIS, HOW DO I GET THERE? By car: Kangaroo Valley is two hours drive south of Sydney along Hume Highway. This is the suggested route, as it makes it much easier to travel around the valley for hikes and wineries. By public transport: Catch the Southern NSW train line from Central Station to Moss Vale Station, then transfer to the 810 bus toward Nowra, which stops in the heart of Kangaroo Valley. Top image: Rodney Campbell.
A Sydney institution, White Rabbit Gallery has been running free exhibitions showcasing contemporary Chinese art for over a decade. But visitors to the Chippendale space between now and Sunday, August 1 can expect a particularly luminous experience, with its latest eye-catching multimedia exhibition centred around the wonders of light. Showcasing works from 30 artists, Lumen's lineup stretches from interactive light pieces and frozen copper sculptures to video projections and rooms full of LEDs. As well as grabbing attention, each work on display uses light in a thought-provoking, awe-inspiring or fully immersive fashion. The boundary-pushing Zhang Peili, dubbed the father of video art in China, is displaying 2012 Portraits, a series of 14 portraits in which the both the subject and the viewer are blinded by light. Or, there's Yao Chung-Han's DzDz, which invites the audience to stand under movement-sensitive beams of light and create music by using their bodies. And, thanks to Wu Daxin's Ashley's Heart, you'll see copper tubes suspended in the shape of a heart and gradually frozen over the course of the day, creating a unique ice sculpture. Art collective Luxury Logico is presenting two works as part of the exhibition. The first is Solar, a twinkling representation of the sun created using donated desk lamps — while the second, Miniature, is one of the exhibition's showstoppers. The display of LED lights draws upon images from a video reel, with each LED corresponding to a pixel. Both vivid and architectural in its appearance, the work is designed to remind viewers of celestial bodies in the sky, all while cycling through everything from reality TV and ads to soap operas and Adam Sandler movies. Lumen is running over all four levels of the White Rabbit Gallery. As usual with the site's exhibitions, entry is free and there are no bookings, so folks can just rock up and enjoy the art. And, free guided tours are available at 11am, 1pm and 3pm Wednesday–Sunday. Top image: Miniature by Luxury Logico.
Every dive bar needs a beer garden, plus a deck, retro lounge, rooftop space and ample bamboo and AstroTurf too. You'll find all that at Fitz + Potts, as well as a funky hangout that's as relaxed as its location. We don't just mean its spot on Nundah's Sandgate Road — we also mean its breezy vantage on the second storey of an old Queenslander. Indeed, the décor of 70s wares screams instant chill, whether you're nestling into the kind of couch your grandmother still has, or settling in under a beach umbrella and next to a pink flamingo. If you need some more help forgetting your worries, a screen playing movies can probably assist, particularly if you like flicks from the 80s. Yes, there's more to Fitz + Potts than meets the eye — which includes a 100-percent plant-based menu. It's serving up pizzas, jaffles, sliders, rice paper rolls, bao, loaded chips and more, all without meat. And, because this place is dog-friendly, you can even nab some snacks for your pooch. Drinks-wise, choose between a beer or cider on tap, a vegan wine or a selection of cocktails. The latter includes six types of martini, plus plenty of old faves like mojitos, whisky sours, old fashioneds and sangria. Updated August 13, 2020.
When the Victorian Government last year announced a huge new citywide arts festival was set to launch in winter 2020, they didn't expect it to fall in the middle of a global pandemic. As that is what happened, though, the new annual festival — merging Melbourne International Arts Festival and arts all-nighter White Night — will not go ahead this year, with the inaugural festival now set to take over Melbourne in 2021. Called Rising, it'll kick off on the May 26 full moon and run until June 6, 2021, encouraging the audience to "celebrate the night with a surge of art, music and ceremony in the heart of the city". Pulling the strings are co-Artistic Directors Gideon Obarzanek and Hannah Fox, who are both practising artists and former Artistic Associates of Melbourne Festival. Fox was also the Creative Director at Tasmania's winter festival Dark Mofo, while Obarzanek founded dance company Chunky Move and was a resident artist at the Sydney Theatre Company. [caption id="attachment_770990" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chinatown at night courtesy of the City of Melbourne[/caption] As this year's festival cannot go ahead, Fox and Obarzanek have instead announced a $2 million fund for local artists to create shows, exhibitions and events for 2021's program. And the duo are encouraging ideas that are as boundary-pushing as possible. "Rather than prescribing specific outcomes, we are seeking ideas that are ambitious, unusual and that could only happen in a festival context," explained Obarzanek in a statement. "Whether these respond to the times or reach beyond them, we invite ideas that are radical and critical; ideas that are absurd and bombastic; ideas that are contemplative and philosophical; and ideas that are celebratory and unifying." Victorian artists have until Monday, June 8 to submit their idea and bid for a piece of the $2 million pie, via a 300-word or two-minute video proposal. While details about this year's festival — and next year's program — are fairly under wraps for now, The Age reported leaks suggesting the 2020 lineup would've included transforming Chinatown "into a 'sensory wonderland' of lighting, video art and music, open late into the night" and a 400-metre light installation on the Yarra River. Rising is set to support Victoria's tourism and hospitality industries in the quieter months and, no doubt, provide a Melbourne equivalent to Sydney's popular Vivid festival, Rising will take place in Melbourne from May 26–June 6 2021. Top image: 'A Purple Poem for Miami' by Judy Chicago.
Not once, not twice, but nine times now across 46 years, cinema audiences have stepped into the world of xenomorphs, facehuggers and chestbursters — and of cats onboard spaceships, androids resembling humans and screams not heard in the universe's vast expanse. When Ridley Scott (Gladiator II) directed the initial Alien film, he helped start a sci-fi phenomenon. 2025's Alien: Earth is a first, however, given that it's the franchise's debut TV series. One of the show's twists is right there in its title, with the pale blue dot that humanity calls home giving Alien: Earth its setting. As the just-dropped full trailer for the series advises, there's another fresh element to its setup: "five different life forms from the darkest corners of the universe". In the works for a few years now, executive produced by Scott and due to debut via Disney+ on Wednesday, August 13, 2025 Down Under, this is Noah Hawley's addition to the saga — and another of his projects, after Fargo, where he's expanding upon the realm of a beloved film on the small screen. Set in 2120, his Alien entry follows the fallout of deep-space research vessel USCSS Maginot crashing onto earth, then the discoveries made as a result by a crew of soldiers that includes human-robot hybrid Wendy (Sydney Chandler, Sugar). As it peers just under a century into the future, Alien: Earth sees its namesake planet under the control of five companies: Weyland-Yutani, of course, because this is the Alien franchise, plus Prodigy, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. It also witnesses a society where hybrids like Wendy — the first of her kind, with human consciousness inside a robot body — live side by side with humans, cyborgs and AI-driven synthetics. Hawley's cast not only includes Chandler, but also Fargo alums Timothy Olyphant (Havoc) and David Rysdahl (The Luckiest Man in America), plus Alex Lawther (Andor), Essie Davis (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), Adrian Edmondson (Kidnapped), Samuel Blenkin (Mickey 17), Babou Ceesay (Killer Heat), Lily Newmark (A Gentleman in Moscow) and more. Alien: Earth expands a saga that began with one of the best sci-fi/horror movies ever back in 1979, and has since spanned 1986's Aliens, 1992's Alien 3, 1997's Alien Resurrection, 2012's Prometheus, 2017's Alien: Covenant and 2024's Alien: Romulus — as well as the 2004 Alien vs Predator and 2007 Aliens vs Predator: Requiem crossover flicks with the Predator franchise. The Predator world is also expanding in 2025 courtesy of the animated Predator: Killer of Killers and live-action Predator: Badlands, both directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who helmed 2022's excellent Prey. Check out the full trailer for Alien: Earth below: Alien: Earth starts streaming Down Under via Disney+ from Wednesday, August 13, 2025.
One of the key events on Australia's film festival calendar will swashbuckle its way into 2024, with the next Alliance Française French Film Festival set to open with The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan. Mark your calendars not just for one big night at the movies, but plenty of them. While the François Civil (A Place to Fight For)-, Vincent Cassel (Liaison)-, Romain Duris (Final Cut)-, Pio Marmaï (Daaaaaali!)- and Eva Green (also Liaison)-starring version of Alexandre Dumas' famous novel will take pride of place to launch AFFFF's 35th year, the event's full lineup is always hefty. The complete details haven't been unveiled as yet, but the fest has locked in its 2024 dates and the first eight titles that'll be gracing its screens. The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan is part one of a two-part saga from filmmaker Martin Bourboulon (Eiffel), with part two The Three Musketeers: Milady also on the bill. As it always does, the Alliance Française French Film Festival will return in autumn, taking its celebration of Gallic cinema — the world's biggest outside of France, in fact — around the nation in March and April. Viewers in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide will be treated to around a month of French movies. In Byron Bay, cinephiles will score an almost three-week stop. Other than the two Three Musketeers flicks — which are the first French takes on the tale in more than three decades — the program so far also boasts French icon Catherine Deneuve (The Truth) playing Bernadette Chirac in The President's Wife, as set in 1995 when Jacques Chirac was elected President. The Taste of Things is another of the event's big-name titles, with Juliette Binoche (The Staircase) starring in the cookery-fuelled romance, and filmmaker Tran Anh Hùng (Norwegian Wood) winning the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Also first debuting at Cannes: The Animal Kingdom, which sees Duris pop up again. Here, he plays a father in a future where humans are starting to become animal hybrids. Jeanne Du Barry also premiered on the Croisette, in the opening-night slot, with writer/director Maïwenn (Polisse) starring as the mistress of King Louis XV. Rounding out the picks so far are All Your Faces, focusing on France's Restorative Justice program, and Iris and the Men, the reunion of Antoinette in the Cévennes filmmaker Caroline Vignal and actor Laure Calamy (The Origin of Evil). As for the full bill, which usually includes 30-plus movies, it'll drop in early February. ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2024 DATES: Tuesday, March 5–Tuesday, April 2 — Palace James St and Palace Barracks, Brisbane Tuesday, March 5–Tuesday, April 9 — Palace Central, Palace Norton Street, The Chauvel, Roseville Cinema and Cinema Orpheum Cremorne, Sydney Wednesday, March 6–Tuesday, April 2 — Palace Como, Kino Cinema, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth, Pentridge Cinema, The Astor Theatre and Palace Penny Lane, Melbourne Wednesday, March 6–Tuesday, April 2 — Palace Raine Square, Luna on SX, Luna Leedeerville and Windsor Cinema, Perth Thursday, March 7–Wednesday, March 27 — Palace Byron Bay, Byron Bay Thursday, March 7–Tuesday, April 2 — Palace Electric, Canberra Thursday, March 21–Tuesday, April 16 — Nova Prospect and Palace Nova Eastend, Adelaide The Alliance Française French Film Festival will tour Australia in March and April 2024. For more information, visit the AFFFF website. Check back here on Wednesday, February 7 for the full program.
Thanks to Sydney's year-round calendar of events, big nights out look a little different these days. This month, instead of squeezing into a bar, we're headed for the stands — because from March 1–21, Sydney becomes centre stage for the AFC Women's Asian Cup Australia 2026™, welcoming the region's best women's football teams to Stadium Australia and Western Sydney Stadium for three weeks of world-class action. As the premier women's football competition in Asia, the tournament brings powerhouse national teams — including Australia, China PR, DPR Korea, India and more — to two of Sydney's biggest arenas. Expect electric atmosphere, high-tempo matches and edge-of-your-seat finishes as players leave it all on the pitch for national glory — all dialled up to 11 when you're there in person. [caption id="attachment_1077381" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Football Australia, Photo by Misch Bocska | MB Photomedia[/caption] Sydney hosts an incredible run of fixtures across both venues, from early group-stage clashes to blockbuster knockout matches — including the showpiece Final at Stadium Australia. Mark your calendar for Australia's International Women's Day clash against Korea Republic at 8pm on Sunday, March 8; two quarter-finals on March 14 and 15; a semi-final on March 18; and the final on Saturday, March 21. With most matches taking place at night, you'll have plenty of chances to shake up your after-dark routine and catch some of the world's brightest footballing talent up close. For local fans, it's a rare opportunity to catch the Matildas in action on home soil, with star players Sam Kerr and Mary Fowler returning after long-term injury layoffs. Under new coach Joe Montemurro, the Aussies enter as one of the favourites — and will be looking to the home crowd to help lift the AFC Women's Asia Cup title for the first time since 2010. [caption id="attachment_1077384" align="alignnone" width="1920"] AFC Photo Library[/caption] Whether it's a night out with family or mates — or even a different kind of date night — this is the kind of event that feels bigger than 90 minutes of football. The women's game is in the midst of a generational rise, and this tournament is where the next breakout star or the next iconic goal could unfold live in front of you. Add affordable ticket options — with prices starting at $20 for adults and $10 for kids — and a festival-like stadium atmosphere, and your next night out is sorted. [caption id="attachment_1077530" align="alignnone" width="1920"] AFC Photo Library[/caption] The AFC Women's Asian Cup Australia 2026™ takes place between March 1–21 at Stadium Australia and Western Sydney Stadium. For the full Sydney fixture and to get your tickets, head to the ticketing website.
Eating your way along South Bank's Little Stanley Street precinct, whether on the roadway itself or on the parallel Grey Street, has long been an around-the-world affair, as Alemré Hospitality Group is more than aware. The Brisbane company is behind Olé Restaurant, Mucho Mexicano and Vici Italian, and will soon add Calida, a new Argentinian steakhouse, to its portfolio. From Wednesday, June 19, 2024, the outfit's sixth restaurant — alongside a second Mucho Mexicano in Hawthorne, plus Downtown Istanbul in the same suburb — will open its doors. Seating 180, Calida naturally has plenty of meat on its menu. Think: empanadas to start with; dishes such bistec tartar, marinated lamb rump skewers, pressed beef short ribs, chorizo pork sausages and slow-cooked whole lamb shoulder; and an array of different cuts of steak from the grill, all served with chimichurri sauce and Australian red gum smoked salt. Even the bread comes with a beef jus. If it's sizzling steak that tempts your tastebuds, the options under Alemré Executive Group Chef Adam Starr's guidance all use S.Kidman beef — whether you're eager for a 220-gram eye fillet, 300-gram sirloin or 400-gram wagyu rump. And if you're keen to sample several choices without having to make too many decisions, you have two ways to go about it: a $120 mixed-grill platter for two or a $63 banquet with a minimum of two diners, with the latter also covering a dulce de leche sandwich cookie for dessert. Those keen for seafood instead can pick between span oysters with vinegar and chives, grilled octopus with potato salad, salmon ceviche and grilled barramundi. There's also a number of cheese-heavy dishes for vegetarians, including ricotta and mozzarella empanadas, smoked baked cheese and roasted portobello mushrooms with manchego cheese. And for sweets beyond the dulce de leche sandwich cookie, Calida offers dulce de leche lava cake with vanilla ice cream; guava and passionfruit mousse with flourless white-chocolate sponge; and the traditional Argentinian torta rogel made from layers of crisp pastry and vanilla meringue, plus, yes, dulce de leche. Whatever satisfies your stomach, you can wash it down with wine from both Argentina and Europe, Quilmes beer and Latin-inspired cocktails such as the Fernet con coca — aka Fernet-Branca and Coke. If you order a Margarita de Roca, one of the restaurant's signature sips, you'll be enjoying tequila, dragonfruit, and jalapeño. With the Mermalada, bourbon and marmalade combine. And for something that catches the eye as well, the ¡Viva la Argentina! layers gin, blue curaçao and citrus flavours. Going for a warm vibe to match its food, Calida's design aesthetic favours raw brick and stonework, moody lighting and Argentinian textiles — and, if you're sitting in the booths, look out for the ficus. The fitout will backdrop not just everyday meals, but also events focused on the country in the eatery's spotlight, Latin celebrations more generally, and beef and wine dinners. In other words, you'll have a heap of reasons to head by more than once. Find Calida at 1/164 Grey Street, South Brisbane from Wednesday, June 19 — open 11.30am–9pm Sunday–Thursday and 11.30am–10pm Friday–Saturday. Head to the venue's website for further details.
It was a busy couple of days in Melbourne as the city's hospitality and retail industries enjoyed their first weekend of trade post-lockdown, but it was especially momentous for online activewear retailer Stylerunner. On Saturday, October 31, the brand celebrated the launch of its first-ever bricks-and-mortar store, opening the doors to a 200-square-metre flagship space on Armadale's High Street. With eight years and an ever-growing following under its belt, Stylerunner has now created an IRL shop space in collaboration with local creative studio Noise Noise Noise. It has a bright, mood-boosting colour palette and is filled with shapes and curves referencing organic forms and nature. Soothing natural scenes play out across the store's digital screens, while a cloud-inspired neon number floats above the rear lounge area. Shoppers can expect a suite of thoughtful touches, from the styling suite call buttons promising speedy service to the complimentary water and luxe, recyclable packaging. There's even a signature store scent to enjoy while you get in that retail therapy. Gracing the racks is a lineup of threads, sneakers and accessories from dozens of well-loved local and international sportswear labels, including La Detresse, Nike, PE Nation, Exie and many more. Stylerunner's upcoming namesake line will also be on show. There's more to come, too, with Founder Julie Stevanja, revealing plans for at least two more stores coming soon to NSW and Queensland. Find Stylerunner's flagship store at Shop 1152-1154 High Street, Armadale.
Singapore's food scene reflects the diversity, passion and innovation that runs through the city. From fine-dining restaurants that push culinary boundaries to hawker stalls recognised by Michelin, there's a good meal to be had in every corner of Singapore. If you're feeling intimidated by the sheer volume of choice, let our guide take some of the pressure off. We've teamed up with Singapore Tourism to shed light on some classic Singaporean fare, as well as where to find them. [caption id="attachment_979197" align="alignnone" width="1920"] John Heng[/caption] Kopi Start the day off with a cup of fresh coffee, or 'kopi' as it's locally known. Drawn from traditional Malay coffee, kopi is complex, full-bodied and packs a strong kick. Robusta beans are roasted in margarine and sugar, before being strained through a cloth sack or sock. A traditional kopi is served with a splash of condensed milk, with options to switch things up from there. For a milkier brew, try a Kopi C (black coffee with sugar and evaporated milk), Kopi Gah Dai (with more condensed milk), or the foamy Kopi Tarik (cooled down by pouring the drink between two cups). There are also kopis with less sugar or dairy, or the completely black Kopi O Kosong. You'll find kopi all around Singapore, but we'd recommend going to an old-school kopitiam (coffee house) like Tong Ah Eating House or Heap Seng Leong — which is especially known for its rich Kopi Gu You (served with condensed milk and a square of butter) — where you can pair your caffeine hit with kaya toast and eggs. Zi Char Comfort food at its simplest. 'Zi char' refers to a type of home-style cooking dished out by casual eateries and food stalls around Singapore. Local staples include wok-fried fare such as hor fun and char kway teow (stir-fried rice noodles), pork ribs cooked with coffee or marmite, and seafood or meat coated with salted duck egg. For some authentic zi char outside of hawker centres, head to Keng Eng Kee Seafood for signature plates such as the seafood hor fun with Chinese sausages and egg, butter cereal prawns, salted egg squid and marmite chicken. New Ubin Seafood is a more contemporary zi char restaurant, but still serves classics like bee hoon (vermicelli noodles), fish head curry and crispy fish skin in salted egg. Nasi Lemak Traditionally a Malaysian breakfast dish, nasi lemak combines the subtle sweetness of coconut with the spice of sambal and bite of dried anchovies. A typical serving consists of rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves served alongside a variety of accompaniments, including cucumbers, a hard-boiled egg, crispy dried anchovies, roasted peanuts and sambal (chilli paste). The Coconut Club is — aptly — a local favourite for nasi lemak. The restaurant's signature dish comes with the option to add fried chicken, beef rendang curry, a fried egg or grilled fish cake. Dickson Nasi Lemak also specialises in the national dish, serving only nasi lemak from morning to the afternoon. Add-ons include fried chicken leg or thigh and chicken or beef rendang, paired with hot or iced kopi or teh (tea). Peranakan Cuisine Hailed as one of the earliest fusion cuisines, Peranakan (or Nyonya) food is a mixture of Chinese, Malay and Indian cooking techniques with colonial influences. Its roots trace back as far as the 15th century, when Chinese migrants began settling in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Well-known Peranakan dishes include ayam buah keluak (chicken with buah keluak nuts and a tamarind and spice-heavy gravy), laksa, fish maw soup, palm sugar cake made with bouncy tapioca flour, and kueh salat (pandan and coconut custard atop sticky rice). If you're keen to try the cuisine, look no further than Candlenut. Helmed by chef Malcolm Lee, Candlenut is the first Peranakan restaurant to be awarded with a Michelin star. The Ah-Ma-Kase option means you won't have to struggle with making any decisions — just sit back and let the kitchen bring you heaping plates of its beloved classics. Another Nyonya gem serving Peranakan and Singaporean cooking is National Kitchen by Violet Oon, housed inside the historic National Gallery Singapore. Hainanese Curry Rice Another amalgamation of cultures, Hainanese curry marries Indian spices with Peranakan stewed cabbage, European pork chop and Chinese soy sauce for maximum flavour in every bite. Other combinations include braised pork belly or chicken, with sides of egg, bean sprouts, tofu or seafood. Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice and Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice have been slinging out loaded plates of Hainanese curry for decades. Open until 3.30am for those late-night cravings, Scissors Cut is known for the way each plate is prepared — once you've chosen what you want with your curry, the chef uses a pair of scissors to chop the ingredients up with incredible speed and dexterity, before topping it all off with the curry sauce. On the other hand, Loo's serves its curry with each component on separate plates, so you can choose to mix and match as you wish. You can't go wrong either way. Book your Singapore holiday now with Flight Centre. All images courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board.
If you're a fan of dance music, fond of getting nostalgic, and reside in Australia or New Zealand, then you're living in booming times for the intersection of all three. Ministry of Sound is one of the reasons. When it's not throwing massive 90s and 00s parties that nod back to raves three decades back and club nights at the turn of the century, it's busting out Ministry of Sound Classical, the orchestral tour that gives bangers from the past 30 years a new live spin. Separate to the similar Synthony, Ministry of Sound Classical has been popping up Down Under for a few years now. Before 2024 comes to a close, folks in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland will get another chance to attend. The tour has locked in dates in all four cities for prime party season — aka November and December. The brand that started as a London club night back in 1991 won't just get the Ministry of Sound Orchestra led by Vanessa Perica taking to the stage. Joining the fun this time around is DJ Groove Terminator, while the vocal lineup includes Reigan, Karina Chavez, Rudy, Lady Lyric and Luke Antony. Ministry of Sound Classical will head to Spark Arena first, with Tall Paul and General Lee in support. After that, it's Sidney Myer Music Bowl's turn, as accompanied by Tall Paul, John Course, Sunshine & Disco Faith Choir and Piero. Brisbane Riverstage is the next stop, which is where Stafford Brothers, Sgt Slick, Vinyl Slingers and Rousey will pop up. And at Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth, Stanton Warriors, Sgt Slick and Micah will feature. As it surveys tunes that've filled dance floors over the past three decades, the event provides the answer to a question you didn't know you had: what do classical renditions of Basement Jaxx, Darude, Röyksopp, Robin, Underworld, Moby, Fisher and more sound like played by an orchestra? And again, yes, it all sounds a lot like Synthony, which does the same thing — but who doesn't love getting multiple opportunities to hear dance-floor fillers given a classical spin? Ministry of Sound Classical Australian and New Zealand 2024 Dates: Saturday, November 9 — Spark Arena, Auckland, supported by Tall Paul and General Lee Saturday, November 16 — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, supported by Tall Paul, John Course, Sunshine & Disco Faith Choir and Piero Saturday, November 30 — Riverstage, Brisbane, supported by Stafford Brothers, Sgt Slick, Vinyl Slingers and Rousey Friday, December 13 — Kings Park & Botanic Garden, Perth, supported by Stanton Warriors, Sgt Slick and Micah 2024's Ministry of Sound Classical tour will pop up across November and December. For further details and tickets — with presales from Wednesday, July 3 at 12pm AEST/10am WST/12pm NZST, then general sales from Thursday, July 4 at the same times — head to the tour website. Images: Ruby Boland.
Great vintage stores are few and far between. It seems, these days, that to get anything amazing you need to be a part of a secret well-dressed group who know what op-shops haven't yet been raided and what vintage stores have the best of the best on offer. Luckily, there is one pop-up store that is guaranteed to house your next prized possession. Kijaro and Atomic Martini Vintage have joined forces to bring fashion lovers a world of vintage clothes, fabrics, jewellery, accessories and homewares. This team of vintage goddesses have found a plethora of goodies from the 1930s to 1980s. Opening night is on Thursday from 5pm-9pm. Arrive early as the saying “first in, best dressed” has never been more applicable. Pop into the pop-up shop and find a gorgeous piece that will make you the envy of your friends. When they ask where you found something so amazing you can say “it's vintage dahhhling”. That's reason enough to go, right? The store will be open on Friday 9am - 7pm, Saturday 9am -6pm and Sunday 10am -2pm.
First, it was Taco Bell. Now, another big American food brand is coming to southeast Queensland: TGI Fridays. In fact, if you head to Robina on the Gold Coast from mid-December, you'll be able to choose between the two — because that's where TGI Fridays is opening its first eatery in the state. While the US-based chain of bar and grill-style restaurants already has 13 other locations around Australia, it hasn't made the jump up north until now. That'll change from Monday, December 9, when Queenslanders will be able to tuck into its array of steaks, ribs, wings and burgers while sipping a hefty array of cocktails. Exactly what'll be on the Robina Town Centre store's menu hasn't been revealed as yet; however, at its interstate eateries, it serves up 30 types of cocktails and seven kinds of mocktails. So, yes, it takes its drinks lineup seriously. Wine, beer by the bottle and on tap, and both boozy and non-alcoholic shakes are also on offer. And, so is TGI Friday's famed daily happy hour. Food-wise, the general range also includes wraps, salads, starters such as mozzarella sticks and mac 'n' cheese-loaded potato twisters, and mains that span chicken tenders, cracked pepper calamari with fries, and cajun chicken and prawn fettuccine. The dessert selection goes heavy on American favourites; think brownies, sundaes and apple crumble. Patrons can expect to enjoy their meals and beverages on the Robina Town Centre Promenade, with the store featuring both indoor and outdoor seating, a central bar, TV screens playing sports and an open kitchen. The fitout will keep the signature TGI Fridays look, which includes timber accents and industrial-style lighting installations. As for the vibe, TGI Fridays pitches itself as part-way between a restaurant and a hangout spot. When the brand launched in the 60s, it was actually a singles bar; but these days it's focused on casual, novelty-based American dining. Find TGI Fridays at Robina Town Centre, Robina Town Centre Drive, Robina from Monday, December 9.
If you like your spirits dark and your booze collection could use a top-up, then we know an excellent Aussie choice to add to that shopping list. Melbourne distiller The Gospel just cleaned up in the 2023 International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) earlier this week. The Brunswick-based producer took out a gold medal in the prestigious awards, earning a score of 96 points from the judges for its signature Straight Rye Whiskey. That impressive effort resulted in the sip being the highest-awarded Aussie whiskey in the entire competition. But wait, there's more. The Gospel's score also saw it become the equal second highest ranked rye whisky in the world. Not too shabby for a small distillery located in the backstreets of Melbourne's inner north. Judges described the drop as being "decadent and complex", noting: "the palate is harmonious and well-balanced, leading to a memorable finish." And it wasn't the only Gospel creation that impressed, with the team's Solera Rye Whiskey nabbing its own silver medal at the awards. This year's IWSC pulled more than 4100 entries from across the world, with more than 250 expert judges tasked with sipping, critiquing and awarding them. Thought to be Australia's only dedicated rye whiskey distillery, The Gospel crafts its booze using unmalted rye from just one farmer, who's located in South Australia's Murray Mallee region. It's helmed by Ian Thorn, the first maker in Australia to score Master Distiller accreditation. If you're keen to sample more of the distillery's work, The Gospel's also just dropped a new limited-edition cacao husk liqueur for Easter, made in collaboration with the chocolate masters at Mork. The Gospel Straight Rye Whiskey is available to buy from the website, as well as at select bottle shops across Australia.
When it comes to the craft beer scene, Adelaide is often mistreated as the infant sister to Melbourne and Sydney. In truth, South Australia is making some of the best craft in the nation at the moment and is giving its 'older sisters' a serious run for their money. Adelaide even has one of the best craft beer festivals in the country — a barbecue and brew combo that has all of the makings to swiftly become one of the best worldwide. From the overnight mega-success story that is Pirate Life to bacon flavoured beers, Negroni IPAs and even a beetroot saison brewed by uni students, Adelaide is on the watch list in the craft beer world right now. Taking a trip down south? Here's what beers to drink and where to find them. If you aren't planning a trip anytime soon, we suggest you get those tickets booked anyway — for beer's sake, that is. [caption id="attachment_600792" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Nola.[/caption] WHERE TO DRINK Adelaide's small bar scene is booming in step with its craft beer scene and the two fit hand in glove. Even simple cafes like Cafe Troppo are housing two taps of craft alongside their eco-friendly fare and ethically-sourced coffee and teas. Craft beer and whisky lovers can't miss Nola, known explicitly for both. The New Orleans-style bar houses 16 taps that are constantly rotating and feature independent SA brewers, as well as Australia-wide and international guest stars. If 16 taps somehow isn't enough for you, they're also boasting an extensive list of one-off and rare release bottles. Now that's commitment to the craft. For an underground feel, the Bank Street Social (top image) is the speakeasy in these parts and reminiscent of Sydney's Baxter Inn. They're committed to showcasing SA craft beer and ciders in equal measure to their ridiculously large whisky wall. The Bank is the spot to search out the latest releases in the region while you get your boogie on or relax on one of their luxe, golden booths. If you're more into a classic pub style, The Wheatsheaf Hotel cannot be beat in these parts. Each of their 13 rotating taps are strictly craft only, with bottled beers from around the world as well. They also boast a beer garden, regular live music, board games and art exhibitions, so it's an all-round good time to be had. Benjamin on Franklin toes the line between small bar feel and classic hotel setup — this joint is less pub, more 1920s-style, bohemian beer purveyor. The three dining booths in their beer garden are the perfect escape for a intimate date over craft beer (what else?). [caption id="attachment_600794" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Pirate Life.[/caption] WHAT TO DRINK When in Adelaide, keep your eyes peeled for these big names in the small batch brewing game. A few you may recognise from your local bottle shop, namely Pirate Life, which has only been operating since 2014 and has done major things to catapult Adelaide, and Australia, onto the world craft beer stage. Big Shed Brewing Concern is another you may have heard of, considering the Facebook fame which their "Fresh as Fuck" campaign fostered — the crew hand-delivered beer from their Adelaide brewery to Sydney's Bitter Phew in less than 24 hours after kegging, all in the name of fresh beer. Sadly, many of these aren't yet shipping up north, but it's only a matter of time before you'll be sipping these across the country and hopefully around the world. [caption id="attachment_600795" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Barossa Valley Brewing Co.[/caption] EXTRA SPECIAL BREWS Pirate Life Brewing What to try: Cerveza Negra collab with Tomfoolery Wines Barossa Valley Brewery What to try: I Can't Believe It's Not Bacon Mismatch Brewing Co. What to try: Negroni IPA Smiling Samoyed Brewery What to try: Multi award-winning Dark Ale Campus Brewing What to try: Beetroot Saison [caption id="attachment_600796" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Little Bang.[/caption] OTHER AWESOME BREWERIES TO SCOUT OUT Little Bang Big Shed Brewing Concern Clare Valley Brewing Co. Fair Weather Malt Fiction Prancing Pony Pikes Beer Company Wheaty Brewing Corps. Marissa travelled as a guest of the Adelaide Beer and BBQ Festival. Top image: Bank Street Social.
Here in Brisbane, we're just about to enter winter. Well, our version of winter (socks and thongs weather). What makes it worse is it that the Northern Hemisphere is enjoying summer, taunting us with pictures of beaches, lilos, and rooftop cocktails while we pile on more blankets and feel our seasonal affective disorder turn up a notch. The smartest of us, the ones not shackled to our desks and chairs, will defect to the north and torture us even more with Instagram stories from the Amalfi Coast, photos that could be compiled into an overpriced coffee-table book and sold in a snooty art shop. But you know what they say: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And if you don't have enough annual leave to join 'em, eat so much pizza that your cheese dreams transport you to warmer places. And then start referring to your tummy as Little Italy. And then despondently look for flights for Euro-summer next year. To help you achieve this goal, we've teamed up with American Express to find the best Italian-style pizza to counteract Euro-summer FOMO. So, grab your American Express® Card and let's head out for some of the city's best cheesy rounds, slices and rectangles. Got yourself in another dining situation and need some guidance? Whatever it is, we know a place. Visit The Shortlist and we'll sort you out.
Love dessert? Not so good at sports? Keen on using the former to help the latter? Well, it could actually happen. In the kind of culinary development that oh-so-many dreams are made of, an Italian cardiologist has invented an ice cream he claims will improve your sporting ability. So, who do you thank? Science, and Professor Valerio Sanguigni from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He has crafted his own secret recipe for a gelato that has antioxidant properties. And, as anyone that has ever seen an ad for skin care products or trendy supermarket health foods knows, they're so good for you that television commercials won't stop shouting their praises. Sanguigni's three types of ice cream draw upon his own research into the area — into antioxidants, not ways to justify eating more frozen sweet treats (that's just an added bonus, though he is apparently a lifelong enthusiast). In tests, he gave chocolate, hazelnut and green tea-flavoured gelato to groups of volunteers, and then noticed that they subsequently pedalled faster on an exercise bike than those who ate ordinary ice cream. In short, their vascular function and physical performance improved. No word yet as to what Sanguigni's plans are for his sports-boosting dessert, though it sounds like the type of thing he'd want to start selling quick smart. So, just think: if you've ever wanted to be a little more active — and actually be good at shooting hoops, hitting balls or whatever other sport takes your fancy — gelato might help. With a Korean convenience store also selling ice cream as a hangover cure, it seems that your favourite chilled confectionery just might be the sweetest and tastiest super food of them all. Via Munchies.
In a normal year, the Sydney Film Festival doesn't just host the huge city-wide event that it's best known for, but also takes a touring program around the country via its Travelling Film Festival. We all know that there's little that's normal about 2020, of course, so the fest has been adapting accordingly — firstly, by going virtual for its big attraction; and now, by launching a new film event designed to encourage movie buffs to head back to the nation's independent cinemas. Running across November and December, My Cinema My Film Festival is a collaboration between SFF's Travelling Film Festival and Independent Cinemas Australia — and it's hitting up 19 picture palaces across New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT. Crucially, the event is heading to both cities and regional locations, with different programs and timeframes for each. So, whether you're a cinephile in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Bunbury or Mt Gambier, you'll be able to head to the flicks and check out new indie and arthouse movies. When the mini film fest arrives in Brisbane from Friday, November 27–Thursday, December 10 — at Dendy Coorparoo and Dendy Portside — viewers will be able to check out Adam, a moving Casablanca-set drama about a pregnant woman and the single mother who helps her; documentary The Painter and the Thief, which picked up a prize at Sundance; and Descent, a doco about free diver Kiki Bosch. Max Richter's Sleep peeks behind the scenes of Richter's eight-hour Sleep performance, while drama Charlatan steps inside the Nazi Occupation of Czechoslovakia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yJ4r7ON974
White shipping containers are piled high at X Cargo, and they're storing one thing: a multi-purpose McLachlan Street venue, bar and eatery. The Fortitude Valley space has dubbed itself a 'social hub', with hanging out with your mates definitely what this open-air place is all about — whether you're stopping by for brunch, tucking into lunch or dinner, or enjoying a beverage at one of the site's three drinking spots. If you're having difficulty choosing which bar to cosy up to, one stands out. The VIP rooftop sky deck offers views in the James Street direction towards New Farm, as well as over to the city. All three bars sling bubbles, spritzes and wine, including three on tap, plus cocktails and brews. Opening at 7am daily and catering for breakfast as well, the American-meets-Latin American food selection is overseen by head chef Peter Popow, and it all has a casual feel. Diners can snack on ceviche or chicken ribs, or burgers with brisket, crab or cheese. If you're sharing with a pal, you can opt for a charcuterie or cheese board. From the mains, there's steak, snapper and pork scotch fillet, plus brownies and cronuts for dessert. Of course, given that X Cargo champions its multi-use credentials, sipping beverages, having a bite and staring off into the sunset is just the beginning. There's also live music and workout sessions — and in the future, X Cargo also aims to run an outdoor cinema, as well as Saturday morning markets. Before 6pm, you can also bring your dog along. Images: Dane Beesley.
Sydney has no shortage of history, both owned and borrowed, to learn about this summer. From the long cultural history of the First Nations custodians of the land to the colonial bones of Sydney's architecture to the modern-day melting pot of cultures and stories, every era leaves its mark. We've combed through the Harbour City and found some historical gems that deserve your attention, whether you're a local or a visitor, starting with a new and exciting opportunity that will only be in the city for a few months. RAMSES & THE GOLD OF THE PHARAOHS — THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM The Australian Museum is always a top choice for history in Sydney, and this exhibit running until May 2024 is unlike anything the museum has ever hosted before. Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs is a multi-sensory, immersive experience for all ages and is exclusive to the Australian Museum. The exhibition explores the life and reign of the late Ramses the Great, Egypt's second longest-reigning Pharaoh, and is comprised of over 180 objects, each dating back approximately 3000 years. Ramses II lived well into his 90s, old even for a monarch, and each object captures important details of the era and his life. Items on display include jewellery, ceramics, small mummified animals, royal masks, and even the actual sarcophagus that Ramses was entombed in in 1213 BC. You'll also find an optional multisensory VR experience that will transport you virtually to two of the era's most significant monuments, the tomb of Queen Nefertari and the temples of Abu Simbel. [caption id="attachment_923966" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] QUEENSCLIFF TUNNEL AND HOTEL STEYNE — MANLY Sydney's own history spreads well beyond the centre of the city, from bush to coast. On the coastal side of town is a suburb that is one of the most well-known to the culturally, coastally and historically inclined — Manly. On the north side of Manly Beach, on the border of Queenscliff, is the Queenscliff Tunnel. It could easily be dismissed as a detail in the rocky headland, but it is actually a manmade tunnel, supposedly carved in 1908 by local fishermen to act as a shortcut between Freshwater and Manly Beaches. It's open to visitors but on an elevated cliff face, so remain cautious. Back on flat ground is another historical highlight, Hotel Steyne. Originally built in 1859, the pub has been destroyed by two mysterious fires, but the current building dates back to 1923 and is one of the best pub feeds in Manly. ILLOURA RESERVE AND THE FENWICK — BALMAIN EAST Among some of the lesser-known harbourfront historical areas, specifically in Balmain East, is Illoura Reserve. Before the arrival of European settlers, the area was a swamp, only established in land purchases in the early 19th century as a part of a 222-hectare grant to colonial Surgeon Dr William Balmain. Seeing the connection? Since then, the area has been used as a harbourside industrial precinct and a tip. One building that has stood since the 1880s is The Fenwick. Originally a store for harbour tugboats, it evolved alongside Illoura Reserve and is now a stunning waterfront cafe and art gallery. The menu stars local and seasonal produce, and the second-floor gallery showcases a range of local and international artists, with everything available for purchase. [caption id="attachment_923971" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tim Downey via Flickr[/caption] PADDINGTON RESERVE GARDENS — PADDINGTON Away from the harbour, in the inner east hub of Paddington, we find a historical site that holds great significance to the city. More than just a public park, these are the Paddington Reservoir Gardens. This was where most of Sydney's water was pumped from its construction in 1866 to its closure in 1899. In its prime, it had a hefty capacity of just over 9000 megalitres. Still, it was closed and repurposed into a storage yard until 1934, when it was partially converted into a service station. When the roof collapsed twice in the 1990s, the station was again closed. Following a major restoration, the site was reopened as a park in 2009, combining elements of its history with overland reserves that had been constructed prior. Now, it's known for its beautiful but eerie appearance, almost like post-industrial Roman undercity ruins, but on Oxford Street. [caption id="attachment_826667" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] CREMORNE RESERVE AND MACCALLUM POOL — CREMORNE POINT Across the city and harbour is the suburb of Cremorne, one of the most disputed shorelines of Sydney Harbour's history. Once a site of great significance to the Cammeraygal people, the land was acquired by Europeans in 1833. Over the following years, it would be a public amusement park, residential development, and even almost a coal mine in the early 1890s. Thankfully, the point and reserve are now protected as a heritage conservation area. One of the gems of the location is MacCallum Pool, a harbour swimming pool originally constructed by local residents. It was maintained by locals until hygiene concerns of harbour swimming prompted North Sydney Council to take over maintenance in 1930. Renamed to MacCallum in tribute to one of its most loyal civilian carers, Hugh J MacCallum, the council has since restored the pool and added decking, landscaping and fencing to secure the pool and its visitors. [caption id="attachment_827016" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Anna Kucera[/caption] FOUNDATION PARK, FORTUNE OF WAR AND THE DOSS HOUSE — THE ROCKS The Rocks precinct is synonymous with Sydney's history, being one of it's oldest and most iconic heritage precincts. One hidden detail, an unmarked alleyway off Argyle Terrace, is Foundation Park. At first glance, it looks like a collection of discarded furniture, but it's actually a living museum designed to recreate the space and feel of Sydney's oldest homes. The history of The Rocks extends to some of its extremely popular venues, such as Fortune of War and The Doss House. Fortune of War is regarded as Sydney's oldest pub, originally built by a former convict settler in 1828. The name comes from its regulars, sailors and soldiers who were leaving and arriving in Sydney for (or from) war. The Doss House is equally historic, a heritage-listed underground whiskey bar with rooms that pay tribute to the building's many past identities, from a bootmaker workshop to a cheap accommodation for the desperate and even an illegal opium den. [caption id="attachment_923973" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Ryan Frank via iStock[/caption] BADU MANGROVES AND HOMEBUSH BAY — HOMEBUSH When you think of Homebush, history and nature might not be the first thoughts that come to mind. But one of the best-kept secrets of Sydney can be found in Homebush. Badu Mangroves is a 56-hectare slice of wetland between Homebush Bay and Bicentennial Park. Overlooked for most of Sydney's history, this haven of local wildlife was choked by pollution for decades but is now thriving again thanks to a restoration program and can be explored via an elevated boardwalk. The mangroves, as mentioned, are adjacent to Homebush Bay, and from the boardwalk, you can spot the famous 'floating forest', the wreck of the SS Ayrfield. Originally built in 1911 and part of a fleet of cargo ships that ferried coal, oil and wartime supplies, it survived WWII but is now being slowly broken down by a mangrove forest. A small slice of history, forever locked in the waters of the Parramatta River. For more information on Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs, or to book tickets, visit the website. For more experiences in Sydney, keep exploring Concrete Playground.
Street art, public art, towering murals, creativity, urban transformation, outdoor works that liven up the River City: at Brisbane Street Art Festival, they're all in the spotlight. Each year for ten years now, this festival has splashed around a celebration of literally painting the town. In 2025, it's marking that milestone with nine days of installations, exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops — and by adding new art around the Queensland capital. Leans, Carley Cornelissen, Fintan Magee, Sofles, Dean Tyson, Rossella RZ and Simon Degroot are among the artists who are using their talents across Brisbane — some of whom have joined the festival before — with this year's BSAF taking place between Saturday, May 10–Sunday, May 18. If you're keen to see how their mural work will give Brissie a new coat of paint, you'll be wanting to head to Northshore, Spring Hill, the CBD, Fish Lane and DFO Brisbane. At Northshore, Superordinary is again acting as a base for the fest, and will gain a number of new pieces — while also hosting the Aussie return of Meeting of Styles across Saturday, May 10–Sunday, May 11. This is the first time that the graffiti initiative has hit Brisbane, with 40 local and international artists taking part. Think of it as a fest within the broader fest, complete with live painting, revelling in the art of spray painting and passing on skills. [caption id="attachment_848397" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sheep Chen and Adnate by Joshua Taten.[/caption] The first-ever Brisbane/Meanjin Paste Up Festival also falls into both BSAF and Meeting of Styles — also at Superordinary. Here, paste-up as a form of street art gets some love, giving it recognition that it doesn't always receive as a type of public art, and acknowledging the format's many guises from single posters to both intended and unintentional collages. BSAF overall commences with a party, again at Superordinary — and again also celebrating Meeting of Styles — on Saturday, May 10. If you're keen to up your knowledge among watching the festival's talents make art, sessions span aerosols, graffiti lettering, sticker art, calligraphy, collage and brushwork. Or, if you'd like to appreciate Brisbane's street art while cycling around the city, you can take one of two tours — the first starting at Howard Smith Wharves, the second kicking off at Fish Lane. [caption id="attachment_848405" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cam Scale.[/caption] Top image: Drapl and Treazy by Aimee Catt.
A brand-new interactive advertising campaign from Play Melbourne jumps energetically away from traditional advertising. In an attempt to allow tourists to experience a city before they actually arrive, the Remote Control Tourist lets online users control the movements of two real tourists and watch the results via live stream. Essentially, you sign into remotecontroltourist.com using your Facebook or Twitter account. You can see the map of where the tourist is, what’s nearby, and their video and audio feeds. Then, just send a request for that tourist to do whatever you want. For example, "Find out if Manchester Press do Brazilian coffee." They don’t. The logic behind the two peeps with camera strapped to their heads seems to be that typical tourism ads just show what the tourism company wants you to see, but as a tourist the experience is always totally different. So why not check out the tourist life before embarking on it, all from the comfort and safety of your own home? The idea is not so crazy. The real-life tourist doesn’t have to acquiesce to every request, so nothing creepy or weird is going to go down. Plus, it appeals to the God complex that hides deep down inside us all — who doesn’t want to have complete control over somebody for a little while? It’s also oddly addictive to watch a total stranger responding to online requests like that. So, if you want a chance to "go before you go" to Melbourne, check out the website between October 9-13. Images via Remote Control Tourist.
It's alive: Guillermo del Toro's version of Frankenstein, that is, with the Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight)- and Jacob Elordi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)-starring film on its way to Netflix before 2025 is out. Earlier in the year, the platform unveiled the movie's initial trailer. Now comes a range of images that provide a new glimpse at the director's version of Mary Shelley's horror masterpiece, including a first look at Elordi as the creature. Oscar-winning The Shape of Water director del Toro will be the first to tell anyone, as he did at Neflix's annual Tudum event for 2025, that he's long had an obsession with Frankenstein, that he's been weaving that affection for it into his work since he first hopped behind the camera and that making his own adaptation of the gothic-horror masterpiece is a dream come true. "This is, for me, the culmination of a journey that has occupied most of my life," he advised the crowd at the time. So far, from its trailer and images, that love for Shelley's now 207-year-old novel is evident in every frame of del Toro's Frankenstein. "I first read Mary Shelley's book as a kid, and saw Boris Karloff in what became, for me, an almost-religious stage," he continued at Tudum while accompanied by Isaac and co-star Mia Goth (MaXXXine). "Monsters have become my personal belief system. There are strands of Frankenstein throughout my films — Cronos, Blade, Hellboy, big time on Pinocchio, and a long, long [list], et cetera." Audiences will be able to watch the Netflix flick from sometime in November, with an exact release date not yet confirmed. Isaac portrays the feature's namesake, aka Victor Frankenstein, the scientist driven by tragedy to attempt to conquer the line between life and what exists beyond it. As the trailer notes, "only monsters play god". As Victor advises himself, "in seeking life, I created death". Also uttered in the movie's debut sneak peek, reinforcing its theme: "what manner of creature is that? What manner of devil made him?". Goth is Elizabeth, Victor's fiancée. From there, Christoph Waltz (Old Guy), Ralph Ineson (The Fantastic Four: First Steps), Charles Dance (The Day of the Jackal), Lars Mikkelsen (Dalloway) and del Toro regular Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, Pinocchio) are also part of the cast. Frankenstein will never stop entrancing filmmakers, as it has James Whale back in 1931 when Karloff played the monster, Mel Brooks (Dracula: Dead and Loving It) with 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein, Kenneth Branagh (A Haunting in Venice) on his 1994 take, Danny Boyle (Yesterday) with his stage adaptation, Tim Burton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) via Frankenweenie and Yorgis Lanthimos (Kinds of Kindness) in Poor Things, plus Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter) with 2026's The Bride!, just to name a few other examples. Check out the trailer for Frankenstein below: Frankenstein will release via Netflix sometime in November 2025 — we'll update you when an exact date is announced. Images: Ken Woroner/Netflix © 2025.
Heroing Eastern Mediterranean-meets-Middle East cuisine, Babylon started serving up dishes and drinks in Sydney back in 2019, pairing its bites and sips with a prime rooftop location. Making the leap north, the chain has opted for a similarly stellar destination for its Brisbane debut: a riverside spot on Eagle Street in the CBD. Meet Babylon Brisbane, which started welcoming in diners on Wednesday, December 14 after announcing its arrival back in November. This newcomer is opening in stages, giving the city multiple launches for one venue — starting with the now-up-and-running 120-seat restaurant and 14-person private dining room. Before summer is out, the 400-square-metre eatery will also be joined by three levels of cascading bars and terraces, which is a massive addition to both Brisbane's inner city and Eagle Street's riverside stretch. Still an eye-catching waterside restaurant is a huge drawcard already, especially going into holiday season. The place to head: around the back of 145 Eagle Street. Brisbanites can now tuck into lunch and dinner at Babylon's Sunshine State locale, which hails from Mantle Group Hospitality (aka the Queensland-based company behind the Pig 'N' Whistle pubs, The Charming Squire, Jimmy's On the Mall, The Sound Garden, The Summit, Tai Tai, Milano and more). The kitchen is overseen by Head Chef Ferdinand Sari, who has put together a share-heavy menu with his Babylon Sydney counterpart Robert Taylor. On the Levantine cuisine-inspired lineup: meze, gozleme and house-made breads, plus a heap of dishes cooked over wood and charcoal on a three-metre-long mangal (aka a Turkish grill) — or on two rotisseries — and a big focus on seafood. Sari and Taylor have split Babylon Brisbane's menu into three sections: flora, fauna and ocean. The first includes wood-fired pumpkin kebabs with coriander, lime, Aleppo chilli and muhammara; spiced fried cauliflower with Ras el Hanout, lemon, black tahini, almond and parsley; and wood-roasted broccolini with harrisa tarator, walnuts and pomegranate molasses — as well as everything from pan-fried haloumi to baked rice pilaf. Among the fauna selection, highlights range from wood-fired chicken skewers with kisir, tomato and yoghurt to slow-cooked lamb shoulder with garlic labneh — and also wood-fired angus beef hunkarbegendi-style with chilli butter and radish. And, that seafood lineup features locally sourced king prawns with harissa, raki, lemon and soft herbs; wood-grilled Fraser Coast squid with muhammara, yoghurt dill and lime; and half-shell scallops with salmon caviar. Folks dining in groups can also choose from two set menus, sharing either nine or 12 dishes (for either $75 or $95 per person). For dessert, sweets options span chocolate tahini with caramel sponge, sesame and Turkish coffee ice cream; a range of house-made baklava with walnut pistachio and chocolate; and Turkish delight. If you're keen on a drink, pick between 12 beers on tap and ten by the bottle, a hefty lineup of wines and a 12-strong cocktail list that's filled with standouts. The spritz choices feature elderflower, grapefruit, peach and apricot, and Babylon has even turned baklava into a boozy concoction. Or, try its twists on the sour (made with Yeni Raki), margarita (with mezcal, agave, chilli and green capsicum) and espresso martini (a Turkish take featuring Turkish coffee and cardamom-infused Metaxa 7 brandy, chocolate liqueur, orgeat and cold brew). As overseen by Brisbane's Hogg and Lamb, the architects behind the Sydney venue, the design vibe riffs on the Babylon look and feel already established down south while still taking its influences from the titular metropolis of old. Think: terracotta brick screens, red marble tabletops, mahogany chairs and pink banquettes, plus a ten-metre green marble bar. Although the exact launch date is yet to be announced, the site will also welcome Babylon Gardens in the new year — sometime early in 2023, before summer is out — as part of its next stage. Yes, that's where all of those outdoor bars and terraces come in. If you're keen on a drink with a view, you'll have multiple spots to grab a beverage and hang out across the venue's trio of levels, which will cascade down along the river. In total, Babylon Gardens will boast an almost 1000-person capacity, so expect it to be busy. Find Babylon Brisbane at 145 Eagle Street, Brisbane — open 11am–11pm Sunday–Wednesday and 11am–12am Thursday–Saturday. Images: Steven Woodburn.
The cold weather won't stop many from scoring a scoop of ice cream, but sometimes, a warmer bite just feels right. With this in mind, it's a good thing Gelato Messina is back with a new edition of its cult-favourite cookie pie. Made in collaboration with Tony's Chocolonely, this is the ideal chance to discover the brand's mission to end exploitation in the cocoa industry. Designed to be baked fresh at home, this feel-good cookie pie offers the ultimate treat for when you're rugged up on the couch. Plus, this inventive dessert hits all the marks of a winter treat: golden on the outside, gooey on the inside, and loaded with Tony's beloved milk and dark chocolate pieces. Crafted in-house by Messina's pastry team, expect each pie to resonate with the same thought and care as the brand's top-notch gelato. Speaking of, this molten delight is best served with a scoop of your go-to Messina flavour on top, helping to create your dream combination. Available from all Messina stores and for delivery from Monday, July 7, these limited-edition treats are served first-come, first-served. Just don't expect them to last long. Priced at $25 each, you're welcome to bundle with 500ml, 1L or 1.5L tubs of Messina gelato, so you can scoop at home until your heart and tastebuds are content. If you're keen to brave the cold weather, single-serve cookie pies will be served in all Messina stores (except Circular Quay and The Star) from Monday, July 14. Available from 5pm every Monday–Thursday throughout winter, these smaller portions are priced at $12, with your choice of gelato scoop making your after-dark adventure more than worth it. Plus, the team is getting in the mood by launching Brownie Points, a limited-edition flavour created to pair with your pie. Think salted milk chocolate gelato, lashings of caramel and Tony's double-choc brownie rolled into a toothsome scoop. It's available from all Messina stores from Saturday, July 12–Saturday, July 19, or until sold out. Tony's Chocolonely and Gelato Messina's cookie pie is available from all locations and for online delivery from Monday, July 7. Head to the website for more information.
"I think a little bit is that annoying mosquito lead. It gets in your ear and it's hard to get it out." That's why Chris Stracey, one half of Bag Raiders with Jack Glass, thinks that the duo's perennial earworm 'Shooting Stars' not only initially resonated with listeners, but keeps resonating. More than a decade and a half has now passed since the peppy tune first hit airwaves; indeed, 2025 marks exactly 15 years since the track notched up 18th spot in Triple J's Hottest 100. The tune's story didn't end there, though, and not just thanks to that initial wave of love lingering. "Case in point: with the Troye tune, it opens with that and it's just instantly like 'oh okay, yeah, I'm in'. It's just one of those," Stracey tells Concrete Playground. He's referring to fellow Aussie Troye Sivan, who sampled ''Shooting Stars' in his 2023 single 'Got Me Started'. Between Bag Raiders first releasing their song and Sivan's track, the tune also went viral — and global — thanks to a meme that it'll forever be linked to, then rocketed up the Billboard dance charts. "It's been crazy. I mean, it's been good. There's nothing to complain about. But it just feels like it's total dumb luck in a way. The way the Internet works, you can't really engineer things like that. You just let it do its thing. It's surprising to us that it's continuing to do its thing, but I wouldn't say there'd been too many negative things that have come with it," advises Glass. "It's been amazing," pipes in Stracey. "It's been a lucky and crazy and awesome ride," adds Glass again. "It also had a weird arrangement at the time. It's just basically like verse, verse, verse, verse, chorus," explains Stracey. "And breakdown," reminds Glass. "Whereas most songs would go verse, chorus, verse, chorus," continues Stracey. "I remember that being a comment, that a few people were like 'what is that arrangement? I've never heard a song do that'. And we didn't really know much about writing songs at the time. We were just like 'oh, let's just make it chill and then make it big'. So maybe that hasn't to do with it, but I don't know." Bag Raiders will always be known for 'Shooting Stars', but the song that Flume has also covered with Toro y Moi is just the beginning of the duo's journey — well, after going to the same Sydney high school, reconnecting afterwards and teaming up to make music, forming the band in 2006. It also came after 2008's 'Turbo Love' became a radio favourite, and their remix of 'B.T.T.T.T.R.Y.' by K.I.M. (aka The Presets' Kim Moyes) made the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack. Jump to 2025 and two studio albums sit on their discography, 2010's self-titled release and 2019's Horizons, as do collaborations with everyone from The Kite String Tangle to Panama, their own record label and status as a music-festival favourite. Bag Raiders' next fest gig is AO LIVE, the music lineup that's been accompanying the Australian Open since 2003. Only one Grand Slam around the world pairs tennis with a music event: Melbourne's annual stint in the sport's spotlight. For 2025's AO LIVE from Thursday, January 23–Saturday, January 25, Bag Raiders sit on a bill filled with big names: Benson Boone headlines the Thursday night, Kaytranada does the honours on the Friday, and Glass and Stracey take to the stage on the final day, as do Kesha and Armand Van Helden. Music lovers who'll be filling the crowd aren't the only ones that are excited. So are Bag Raiders. What gets them pumped about being on any festival bill? "One big thing is who else is on the lineup," says Glass. [caption id="attachment_975224" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ashlea Caygill[/caption] "I would say in this case, it's such a sick lineup. To be on the same bill as Kaytranada and Armand Van Helden, who's a bit of a hero of ours, is pretty exciting. So that's something that I would say I look to. Also just to be in a cool, kind of weird environment — and this certainly fits that bill as well," Glass also advises, calling out how unique it is to be playing a music fest at a major tennis championship. Adds Stracey: "And also we're doing this one live, whereas the last few thing festivals that we've done, I think we were doing DJ sets — which is also really fun, but we've got this new live show that we've been building and it's been really fun to pop that off whenever we can. And doing it at a festival, and the atmosphere is tip top, is definitely going to be really fun." Glass and Stracey are indeed still having fun with Bag Raiders. Chatting through their career — how they started, their early influences, the 'Shooting Stars' experience, the path that's led them to here — they sound as inspired as ever, in fact. As for what the future holds, "I think just keep doing what we've been doing the last couple of years, which is making dance music, and going out and DJing it. I think we're in a good moment. So, more of the same please," notes Glass. Fingers crossed that their current idea of a dream collaboration comes to fruition, too: "We meet so many people along the way and then we just kind of go 'oh, you know what, it'd be fun to do a track with that person'," explains Glass of their process. "Actually, we were hanging out with the guys from ONEFOUR at Ability Fest. That would be quite a good collab. Those guys are cool as hell," adds Stracey. We also spoke with the pair about what they love about playing festivals, what audiences can expect from that aforementioned new live show, what they've learned along their journey, how the Australian dance music scene has changed and plenty more. [caption id="attachment_975226" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ashlea Caygill[/caption] On Bag Raiders' Favourite Part of the Festival Experience as an Artist Jack: "Being outdoors is kind of sick. We're so used to playing in sweaty clubs at like two in the morning. There's something very fresh and nice about being outdoors. And just the energy that people bring to festivals is different to a club. I don't know, it seems to be a bit more ... " Chris: "Like a one-off concert." Jack: "People are just like — the vibes are high." Chris: "Yeah, it's more, more, more, more — more of everything. More fun, more people usually." Jack: "More bands." Chris: "And that's also what's so fun for us, too. We've met a lot of really good friends in music now through playing at the same festivals, and just kicking it side of stage and watching their shows. That's really fun." On What Audiences Can Expect From Bag Raiders' New Live Show Jack: "Our new show is pretty turbo actually. It starts pretty hard and fast, and then continues to get harder and faster for the course of an hour." Chris: "So the journey will be from high energy to higher energy." Jack: "Yeah, kind of a take-no-prisoners live show that we've built." Concrete Playground: "That suits being at a sports event." Jack: "I think so." Chris: "Yeah, high intensity. Those people are used to watching the hectic stuff at the highest level, so we've got to also bring it." Jack: "We're all athletes, you know what I mean?" On How Influential 'Shooting Stars' Has Been in Putting Bag Raiders on the Path to Where They Are Today Chris: "We were just making tracks and putting them out, I guess, and we didn't really think that it would do what it did. We had no expectations of it, really. We were just working on a bunch of music, and then we just kept going and did the album it. It's been something that the outside perception of it is kind of bigger than the importance that we hold on it. We've never tried to do another version of that song or anything like that. It's just one of those funny things where you're making one thing in your bedroom, basically." [to Jack] "It was half in your spare room in your house, and then in our studio, the first studio that we moved into. And it's just incredible that you can do something like that and then it takes off." Jack: "But I think it's only looking back where you realise how weird and crazy that journey was. I think as it's gone, it's all felt pretty natural and normal. And then the internet stuff, like I said, has been kind of wacky but cool. But I don't think there's really ever been a moment where ... " Chris: "That's informed the new music that we've made." Jack: "Yeah, exactly." On the Original Dream When Bag Raiders Formed in 2006 — or Before That, When Glass and Stracey Knew Each Other in High School Jack: "I think just to be able to do that — and do that as a job." Chris: "Yep." Jack: "I didn't really dream much bigger than that." Chris: "Me neither." Jack: "But that's also not that easy to do. We've been lucky and we've worked hard and we've been able to do that. It's still a dream. It's like a good dream that we've kind of reached, I guess. I don't think either of us ever wanted to be global superstar DJs or in the gossip magazines. It wasn't anything like that. It was just to keep being able to make music which we both love, and to do that as much as possible, basically." On the Moment When Glass and Stracey Knew That Bag Raiders Was Their Job Now Chris: "I quit my cafe job, where I had to wake up at 5am and open the cafe. I was like 'I'm not doing this shit anymore'. It's because around when we started getting booked, after we get got some radio play on Triple J and we started getting booked to DJ, we're traveling. So we go to Melbourne and we go to Brisbane and we go to Newcastle, and we're like 'oh, cool, so people are paying for us to go to these other cities and then also paying us fees'. And for the amount of work that you do — I mean, there's a lot of travelling and you're doing work on music behind the scenes — but in terms of hours, a DJ gig is like two hours. And I'd been putting in eight- hours shifts, getting up at 5am or 4.30am or whatever. And I was like 'this has gotta go'." Jack: "Yeah, totally." On Bag Raiders' Diverse Range of Initial Influences That Started Them on Their Music Journey Jack: "I think at that time we were making all kinds of different music. We both had interest in electronic music, but it wasn't necessarily club music and dance music. And then at around the time when we started in Sydney, our friends are throwing these parties and we were attending them, and we were buddies with the DJs. And then I guess slowly the music we were making went from more-ambient stuff into more club-focused things, and then we would turn up at the club and give it to the DJs and they would just play without even … " Chris: " … Listening to it. It's actually insane." Jack: "Yeah, they trusted us enough to press play on CDs, which could've been anything. And I guess it was through the influence of that, the parties were called Bang Gang and the Bang Gang DJs were really big." Chris: "They also played all over the place. You would hear Daft Punk, you would hear kind of techno stuff and then you would hear … " Jack: "Fleetwood Mac." Chris: "Yeah, Fleetwood Mac. Bon Jovi. They were playing all over the place. It was that real anything-goes sort of vibe. And I think, also because we've always been into so much different kind of music — the first thing that we did as Bag Raiders was that mix CD that we called Bag Raiders, which was sort of the same, was all over the place, had a couple of our edits, but it had The Cure, it had 50 Cent, it had dance stuff. It had Cream, like Eric Clapton." Jack: "Outkast." Chris: "Yeah." Jack: "It was wild." Chris: "And I think we've just always tried to have that — we've never really been people that are just into one thing. All of our releases have kind of been all over the place, apart from recently, where they're a bit more geared towards the club world again. But it's definitely been that we've been influenced by loads of different stuff." Jack: "I feel like that's the ethos of Bag Raiders as well, to just raid from all these different genres and just put them all together in a big washing machine and see what comes out." On What Bag Raiders Takes Inspiration From Now, Almost Two Decades On Chris: "Since COVID really, I think both of us have been re-energised in making club music. It's been really fun to, because we had a couple of years and no shows at all, and it seemed like when DJ gigs started happening again, the energy from the people was just way more." Jack: "Yeah." Chris: "It was like a really hardcore kind of thing, like people are way into letting loose, it seems. So it's been really fun to just make the kind of music that we would be putting in our DJ sets anyway." Jack: "Or that we would want to hear if we were out in a club, for sure. And I think that's one thing we've probably gotten better at is understanding how clubs work and how to DJ and stuff. For sure 15 years ago, we had no idea for our first DJ sets — they were like absolute shitshows." Chris: "Train wreck." Jack: "Train wreck after train wreck. So we've finally learned how to DJ, I would say." On Whether the Success of 'Shooting Stars' Came with Pressure — and How Bag Raiders Handled It Chris: "Pressure to make another 'Shooting Stars'? A little. We definitely had a moment where we did an album that we thought was pretty cool and we loved it, and then the label's a little bit like 'oh, we need another 'Shooting Stars'-style thing. Like: 'well we're not – that's not what we do, bro'. It's funny, because labels will sign you because you did something that you liked for yourself that worked. And then as soon as it comes around to the second time around, they suddenly are like 'oh, we know what's going to work — you should do this thing that worked before and keep doing it'. And that's never been in our interest at all. But I mean, we've been out of a label deal for four years now or something like that." Jack: "Yeah, yeah." Chris: "And so for us it's just been so freeing, and you realise you really don't need labels these days. It doesn't take a $1000-a-day studio to make a record anymore. You can do it with a laptop in the library. And then barely anyone does music videos anymore as well. It seems like they just stick it up on social media or something, and that's it. It's kind of been really freeing and really fun to enter that world, too. Because especially in dance music, you do something and you're playing it out as you're working on it. And so as soon as you've gone 'oh, this is finished, it's ready to go, let's just put it out', the fact that there's no red tape anymore, to just be able to do something and then like suddenly it's out in the world, that's ... " Jack: "A good feeling." Chris: "Yeah, very good feeling." On Glass and Stracey Starting Their Own Label Jack: "It's been awesome. So far, I think we've only just put out our own music on it, right? It would be cool in the future to put out music of friends and music that we really like. But it's exactly like what Chris is just talking about. It just feels very freeing. And it's not even that no one's telling us what to do, because even had they done that in the past, we kind of wouldn't listen anyway. But it's more like there's no big machine. There's no bureaucracy. There's no like red tape. There's no waiting around for a label to get its ducks in order before something comes out. It's just all very immediate, and we can move really quickly. That stuff feels really freeing, I think." On What Glass and Stracey Have Learned Over Their Bag Raiders Journey So Far Jack: "I certainly know a lot more about how the music industry works now, and who the evil players are — who to avoid and who to buddy up with. And then in terms of music, I don't think our approach is that different to what it was back then, to be honest." I would like to think that's one of the secrets of our longevity and success. We never try to make music for anyone except ourselves. Whatever makes us feel good or happy in the moment in the studio, that's what we're going to make. Chris: "And I suppose we've been lucky, we haven't had any overbearing labels or managers or whatever forcing us in certain directions, so we've free enough to just do whatever feels good. And I think probably people can sense that or something, like audiences. I think people have much better radars than what some people think. They can tell if something's being forced or tailored, or tried to be created in some direction — and people want to listen to stuff that just makes everyone feel good." On How Glass and Stracey Have Observed the Australian Dance Music Scene Changing Since They Were Starting Out Jack: "When we came up and especially in Sydney, the scene was so strong and there were so many clubs. Right now we're in King's Cross at my studio, on a road where there used to be like six clubs — and there's none here now. So it's a bit sad. I feel like there's maybe less enthusiasm for clubbing from young people, and less people seem less convinced about its importance. You go to Europe and cities like Berlin, and it's such a big part of the fabric there, and it's recognised by everyone as a really important form of expression or art even. And I think we've lost that a bit in Australia. So that's a bummer. Having said that, the amount of good music that still comes out of here is very inspiring and sick, considering the constraints of what I was just saying. There's so much good stuff. A lot of what we DJ is Australian music from friends or people we like here. So yeah, I feel like the scene is really strong kind of against all odds in a way, with lack of support." Bag Raiders play AO LIVE on Saturday, January 25 — with the full event running from Thursday, January 23–Saturday, January 25 at John Cain Arena, Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne. Head to the Australian Open website for more details and tickets. In New Zealand, Bag Raiders are playing Gardens Music Festival on Saturday, March 1 at Auckland Domain, Park Road, Parnell, Auckland. Head to the event website for more details and tickets.
Choreographed by Brisbane-based Lisa Wilson, Lake is visually stunning dance theatre, partnered with elemental effects and a free-flowing storyline. Through a powerful combination of dance and water Lake delves into the murky depths of stage production to provide something quite chilling but mostly fascinating. A usually static stage juxtaposes the free-flowing, near-magical droplets of water with strong and smooth choreography performed by Timothy Ohl and Kristina Chan. The story begins with the couple, lakeside, bickering and splashing, before becoming enveloped in spectacular wrestles, careening each other through both air and water. From the beginning, the vision of Lake is brilliantly bold, and with time develops into something executed with near-perfect precision. Lake debuted at the Judith Wright Centre in 2012 and will be returning for three must see shows this week. Let this stage show flood you with fascination, drown you in a fluid of modern dance technique, and surprise you through sautees and splashes.
