What's your age again? Old enough to remember when blink-182's classic lineup of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker were initially together — and old enough to be excited that DeLonge has now rejoined the band, too. If that's you, then you will have been mighty excited about the above news, as well as the fact that the trio is hitting the road on a huge world tour, including heading to Australia. To the surprise of no one, blink-182's upcoming trip Down Under has been getting a huge response, even before general tickets to its February 2024 shows go on sale. So, also unsurprisingly, the band has just added extra gigs in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. [caption id="attachment_873239" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jack Bridgland[/caption] Melburnians can now choose between Tuesday, February 13 and Wednesday, February 14 at Rod Laver Arena; Sydneysiders can opt for either Friday, February 16 or Saturday, February 17 at Qudos Bank Arena; and Brisbanites have Monday, February 19 and Tuesday, February 20 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre to pick from. Well, assuming you nab tickets quick smart from 1pm on Thursday, October 20 local time — or hop on the Live Nation and Spotify pre-sales at 1pm on Wednesday, October 19. That feeling you get when a decades-old band either reforms its beloved lineup and hits the road, or tours your way with a huge history behind them, kickstarting all those nostalgic old memories? If you're blink-182 fan, you clearly know the right words for that: well I guess this is growing up. DeLonge, Hoppus and Barker — with Rise Against in support — will start their Australian run in Perth, then head to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. For three decades, blink-182 have been the voice inside punk and rock fans' heads, especially in the late 90s and early 00s thanks to albums Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Now that they're back together after DeLonge left the band in 2015, blink-182 are also recording new music together, with single 'Edging' out now. Expect to hear everything from 'Dammit', 'Josie' and 'What's My Age Again?' to 'All the Small Things' and 'I Miss You' live, though — and yes, the latter feels oh-so-apt right now. BLINK-182 2024 AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR: Friday, February 9 — RAC Arena, Perth Sunday, February 11 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide Tuesday, February 13–Wednesday, February 14 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Friday, February 16–Saturday, February 17 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Monday, February 19–Tuesday, February 20 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Friday, February 23 — Spark Arena, Auckland Monday, February 26 — Christchurch Arena, Christchurch Blink-182 will tour Australia and New Zealand in February 2024. Live Nation and Spotify pre-sales start at 1pm on Wednesday, October 19 — and general sales from 1pm on Thursday, October 20 (all local time). For more information, head to the Live Nation website.
You know that feeling of unbridled joy and energy you get in the opening scene of The Lion King when you scream "naaaants een-vwen-yaaaaaaa ma-ba-gee-chi-ba-va" (or some variation thereof) as baby Simba is hoisted up by Rafiki? That's why you should pay to see the Spice World: The Movie at Moonlight Cinema on February 9. Even though you've seen it a million times, you have it on DVD and Blu-ray (for some reason), and on a USB drive that's permanently in the TV, you should still buy a ticket. The sheer thrill that you'll feel when an outdoor cinema full of adult women all scream "you gotta, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM" will be an experience like no other. The joy of sharing, nostalgia and sing-screaming are all rolled into one sing-a-long event at New Farm Park, so snap up a ticket while you can.
Whether tearing up football fields across during his 372-game stint for the Sydney Swans, or standing up against prejudice both in the AFL and in Australian in general, Adam Goodes' name has been splashed across the headlines plenty of times over the past two decades. That's not going to change in 2019, but for a different reason — the dual Brownlow medallist and 2014 Australian of the Year is the subject of two documentaries, with each exploring his story on and off the field, including the racism he endured over his 17-season playing career. The first film, The Final Quarter, just launched at the Sydney Film Festival, premiering to a packed house on Friday, June 7 and receiving a standing ovation from the lively audience afterwards. Directed by Ian Darling, and solely compiled from archival material — in a technique reminiscent of another great sports doco in recent years, Senna — it's a powerful and impassioned chronicle of the treatment Goodes received from crowds and commentators alike. Unsurprisingly, it's also both moving in displaying the AFL champ's dignified response to such horrors, and infuriating in its thorough examination of his ordeal. As the name suggests, The Final Quarter focuses on the last stages of Goodes' time in the AFL — when he was verbally attacked by spectators and high-profile media figures, relentlessly booed at games, put under immense scrutiny for celebrating his Indigenous heritage, accused of staging for free kicks and ultimately chose not to play for a period due to the toll he was under. As Darling astutely realised, the footage says it all. The documentary intertwines media clips from Goodes' games, general AFL coverage, news stories, press conferences and interviews from the era to paint a heartbreaking picture of the ex-Swans captain's experiences. As essential for the broader public as it is for football fans, the film is set for both a cinema and television release later this year, Just hours before the premiere — but nearly four years after Goodes retired at the end of the 2015 season, notably — the AFL and its 18 clubs released a long-overdue statement that apologised "unreservedly for our failures" in not standing up for him during his career. The second Goodes-focused doco, The Australian Dream, will surface in August. It's written by acclaimed journalist Stan Grant, and will open the Melbourne International Film Festival before hitting theatres around the country. Check out the trailer for The Final Quarter below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9C8JaJxoYU The Final Quarter will release in Australian cinemas later this year. We'll update you with a release date when one is announced.
It has been four years since Brisbane Powerhouse added a new festival to their events calendar, giving the Brisbane Queer Film Festival a multi-arts sibling celebrating all things LGBTIQ+ beyond the screen. And while BQFF and MELT no longer coincide, they're both still going strong — with the latter back for another round of diverse theatre, comedy, dance, art, circus, music, burlesque and more from May 17 to 27. Taking place a little later in the year compared to previous fests, 2018's MELT actually kicks off on IDAHOT, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. To mark the occasion, it'll unleash 11 days filled with more than 20 different events, making Brissie an even more vibrant place than it already is. Prepare for pop, drag, parties, pride and plenty of fun —and our top eight picks of the event, too.
When Christmas rolls around each year, Brisbane gets a little bit brighter. As soon as Halloween passes, houses around the city start setting up their external decorations, giving the suburbs a glow; however, one of the most-dazzling spots in town is Roma Street Parkland. The reason: The Enchanted Garden, which has been popping up annually for festive runs for a few years now, and has locked in its return for 2024. Get ready to get lit: this luminous show lets you see one of the city's favourite green spaces in a completely new light, and is switching on its seasonal brightness for a month leading up to the jolliest day of all again — complete with food trucks and a bar so that you can make a night of it. This year's dates for your diary: Friday, November 22–Saturday, December 21, 2024. TheEnchanted Garden fills 22,000 square metres of Roma Street Parkland with lights flickering in, around and over the top of its lush greenery. As every home renovation-focused TV show has told us time and time again, a splash of colour can make a world of difference — and at this event, it can turn an already picturesque location into a glorious festive wonderland. This year, the setup will feature lasers, LED tubes, fairy lights, festive soundscapes, UV lighting and projections, all designed to immerse attendees. As you wander along the 30–40-minute walk, you'll get merry and celebrate nature at the same time. Unsurprisingly, it's a family-friendly affair — and, as there has been since 2021, there is a fee. You'll pay $9 to head along and stare up at all that dazzling brightness. Once you're in, you can soak up the luminousness for as long as you like. Attendees shouldn't go expecting the kind of setup that features on every street corner in Brissie's suburbs, though. Lights will twinkle and decorations will sparkle; however, this isn't a DIY display at all. That said, a word of warning: people love all things glittery, so prepare to a heap company. Also, tickets usually get snapped up quickly, with this year's going on sale at 9am on Friday, November 8. Sessions run from 6.30pm, letting folks in every 15 minutes until 9.15pm — and, if you're organised enough, you can always pack a picnic, arrive early and enjoy dinner beforehand. Food trucks will also be onsite at the Celebration Lawn from 5–9.30pm daily, as will a licensed bar, if you don't get around to taking care of your own nosh.
Sometimes, a project is talked about for so long — and the construction around it just seems to take forever, too — that it feels like it has always been in the works. On the agenda for at least six years, and set to sprawl between Alice, George, Queen and William streets, Queen's Wharf is one of those projects; however, by the end of 2022, it's set to start welcoming Brisbanites to a new inner-city riverside precinct. Yes, "let's meet at Queen's Wharf" is something you'll soon be able to say when you make plans to head to the CBD. And, you and your pals will be able to choose between one of the 50 restaurants, bars and cafes onsite, heading up to the sky deck or checking out a movie at the riverfront moonlight cinema — or just moseying around the equivalent of 12 football fields worth of public space. The site will also feature up to 2000 residential apartments, plus four hotels — the Dorsett, the Rosewood and The Star Grand hotels — so you'll have a few new staycation spots. A casino will form part of the precinct, as will the new Neville Bonner Bridge. And, if you need somewhere new to browse and buy, around 6000 square metres of Queen's Wharf will be dedicated to high-end retail. While none of these inclusions are new news, details have been fairly scarce over the past few years. So, if you've been wondering exactly where you'll be eating and drinking, when you'll be able to see the city from the sky-high deck that'll link two of the site's towers, and what the cinema will be showing, that's understandable. But, further specifics about the precinct's luxury shopping area have just been revealed, with retail giant DFS running the show. DFS forms part of the Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group, and its involvement in Queen's Wharf will mark its largest shopping space in Oceania. You'll find it in the Printery Building on George Street, taking over three levels. A number of its brands, such as Louis Vuitton, will sit in 16 freestanding stores as well. Like the precinct in general, DFS' shops will start opening from late 2022 — with Queen's Wharf set to open in stages. Other previously announced features include The Sports Bar, which'll be located inside the casino and play everything from AFL and NRL to English Premier League soccer; more than 20,000 plants and 300 trees, offering a big burst of greenery; and a 6500-square-metre riverside space called 'The Landing', which'll include lawns for events — and for picnics — as well as terraced seating. Queen's Wharf is slated to start opening from late 2022. We'll update you when a specific date is announced — and you can find out further details in the interim via the development's website.
The woods are a dank and dreary place in Disney's big screen adaptation of this beloved Broadway show. A star-studded fairy tale mash-up, Into the Woods contains no shortage of great actors, none of whom can do anything to distract from the film’s horribly awkward pacing or the apparent visual indifference of its director. Combine that with the script's (mostly) toothless treatment of Steven Sondheim’s subversive source material, and this is one Hollywood musical that sounds hideously out of tune. The story takes place in a generic far away kingdom, where a lowly baker (James Corden) and his cheery wife (Emily Blunt) enter into a bargain with the neighbourhood witch (Meryl Streep): locate four magical objects, and in return she'll lift the curse that prevents them from conceiving a child. The search takes them deep into the nearby woods, where they encounter a multitude of bedtime characters, including Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (newcomer Lilla Crawford) and Jack the Giant Slayer (Daniel Huttlestone). Sondheim doesn't just include these names because they're familiar. Although fairy tales are aimed at children, they're inevitably packed with plenty of adult subtext. Into the Woods, in its best moments, subverts our expectations, delving more explicitly into the ideas lurking under the surface of these kid-friendly fables, or in other cases turning them totally on their head. The sexually suggestive interplay between the pre-teen Little Red Riding Hood and the lecherous Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp) is seriously un-Disney, while Chris Pine's delightfully hammy performance as the somewhat less than charming Prince Charming speaks to the folly of unrealistic romantic expectations. His rendition of 'Agony' is the highlight of the film by far. Sadly, these tongue-in-cheek moments rarely go as far as you would like. The instances of morbid and self-aware humour are great, but they're ultimately secondary to a dull, drawn-out story. Furthermore, although the songs are generally well written and performed, they increasingly tend to bog down the narrative as opposed to driving it forward. At the same time, despite the endeavour feeling too long, a number of the major character arcs feel seriously short-changed. The witch, in particular, simply up and disappears once the movie has nothing more for her to do. Then there's the matter of director Rob Marshall, who between Nine and the most recent, nigh-unwatchable Pirates of the Caribbean movie seems determined to prove that his Oscar for Chicago was a complete and utter fluke. His unimaginatively framed musical sequences make Tom Hooper's super-extreme Les Miserables close-ups look positively artful, while the overcast grey-green colour palette of cinematographer Dion Beebe saps the film of whatever energy was left. For a film about magic, Into the Woods contains next to none. Here's hoping this isn't an indicator of what 2015 movies have in store.
If seeing a movie is part of your Boxing Day plans — or heading to a show — you'll now need to pop on a mask while you watch. Donning face coverings has just become mandatory again in Queensland cinemas and theatres, covering both patrons and staff. Effective since 5am today, Thursday, December 23, masks are now compulsory for hospitality workers, too, although not for patrons. Under rules that kicked in last week, on Friday, December 17, pubs, clubs, bars, and other hospitality and entertainment venues are only allowed to welcome in double-vaxxed customers. BREAKING: Masks will be made mandatory in cinemas and theatres as well as for hospitality workers from 5am tomorrow (23 December). Queensland has made masks mandatory in retail centres, hospitals, aged care, airports, ridesharing vehicles and on public transport.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/dqI0QLCMnA — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) December 22, 2021 The new mask mandates follow the reintroduction of masks in all shopping centres and retail stores, on public transport and while using ride shares, which came into effect last week as well — along with the requirement to wear masks at airports and on planes, and in hospitals and aged care settings. When last week's change kicked in, the Premier also strongly recommended masking up if you're indoors and can't social distance. "If you are outdoors in the fresh air, of course you don't need to wear a mask — and if you are going to the beach. But if you are going into indoor settings where you can't socially distance, it is going to be strongly advised to wear a mask." Queensland reported 369 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, December 23, with numbers ramping up quickly — after 186 were reported the day prior, and 79 the day before that. As always, the usual requests regarding social distancing, hygiene and getting tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms also still apply — as they have since March last year. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website.
Craig Robinson slays snakes. If Killing It was initially pitched with those four words and those four words alone, it still would've been easy to greenlight. When the latest comedy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor and executive producer Luke Del Tredici first arrived in 2022, it leaned in, too, with terminating serpents the whole point of the contest at the centre of the comedy's debut season. The place: Florida, home to the python-teeming Everglades. The year: 2016, in the lead up to the US election. The reason for vanquishing vipers: a $20,000 payday, which Craig — also the name of Robinson's character — needed to enact his vision of becoming a saw palmetto farmer. Killing It served up far more than just Robinson, a B99 guest and The Office star, polishing off reptiles — and not simply because Claudia O'Doherty (Our Flag Means Death) joined in as the hammer-swinging Jillian. As a satire of the type of society that has people resorting to seeking a better future by offing animals competitively, this series has always sunk its fangs in. Craig wanted to swap being a Miami bank security guard for capitalising upon a smart idea (the berries he's keen on are coveted in the health market for prostate medicines) to provide for his ex-wife Camille (Stephanie Nogueras, The Good Fight) and daughter Vanessa (Jet Miller, Young Dylan). Aussie expat and Uber driver Jillian wanted a life beyond the gig economy and sleeping in her car. But even in a nation that celebrates the American dream as the pinnacle of existence, a goal that all can chase with hard work and perseverance, and a key factor in US exceptionalism, neither had any other option but to hunt snakes for a big payday. Getting Killing It's characters bludgeoning wildlife was a savvy signifier of a horribly broken system. In season two, which streams in Australia via Stan from Friday, August 18, slaughtering serpents is old news; however, venomous foes definitely aren't. They're the uncaring bureaucracy, the shameless corporations, the shaking-down gangs, the car thieves, the cruel insurance bodies, the nation's entire health scheme, the manipulative bosses, the rude customers and the cash-splashing rich. They're absolutely everyone with a solely in-it-for-themselves perspective, which is almost everyone. They're also unscrupulous entrepreneur Rodney Lamonca (Tim Heidecker, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) and his mini-mogul 12-year-old daughter Prada (Anna Mae Quinn, A Carolina Christmas), who aren't done with Craig and Jillian from season one. When Killing It's latest eight-episode go-around begins, its central pair have followed through on the saw palmetto plan — albeit at a cost, with Craig's low-level criminal brother Isaiah (Rell Battle, Superior Donuts) now on the run and posing as a doctor in Phoenix. Their farm is up and running, and perennial-optimist Jillian isn't is the only one who's hopeful. The two business partners even have a buyer for their berries — and, while their margins are thin, they're getting by. Alas, whether they're dealing with a possible giant snail problem, being blackmailed into taking on new colleagues or becoming the subject of a hostile takeover, Craig and Jillian swiftly realise that snakes still lurk everywhere. Taking a cue from slithering critters, in fact, season two of Killing It poses a question: how low can modern-day America go? It's apt that this brutal contemplation of savage inequality and constant grifting returns in the same week that also gives streaming stunning docuseries Telemarketers, which similarly ponders people exploiting anyone that they think is lower than them in the food chain. Killing It is still firmly a comedy, though, and a hilarious one. Indeed, it's the best comedy that too many viewers aren't watching when everyone should be. The show is also so cutting and canny about capitalism's predators, and the prey that the globe's dominant economic setup turns most folks into, that it nearly draws blood as well as inspires laughs. There's another query at Killing It's core, of course: how low will Craig and Jillian sink, too? Season one introduced them as strangers that were each struggling but striving, then hacked into the little they each had, observing how they were forced to cope (including by coming together). Season two finds them seemingly more comfortable and secure, then unpacks what they're willing to do to retain their new status quo. It sees the selfish moves they make, or don't; the loved ones they protect, or can't; the others they sell out, or won't; the morals they compromise, or refuse to; and the dirt they embrace, or wash away. Craig and Jillian have always been an odd-couple pair, with Killing It's new run also exploring how their differences shape their responses to every choice and decision that slides their way. Problems won't stop multiplying for their on-screen alter egos, but Robinson and O'Doherty's casting gleams. He's all charismatic determination, she's perkily indefatigable, and both play keepin' on keepin' on to perfection. Together, they provide two portraits of trying to hurtle forwards however one can — and as the entire state of Florida, country of America and planet that is earth keep pushing their characters down. That said, Killing It's leads aren't the only ones shining. Fleshing out season two's storylines with an array of eclectic folks, Battle, Heidecker, Quinn and the also-returning Scott MacArthur (No Hard Feelings) all steal scenes. So do Dot-Marie Jones (Bros) as a crime-family matriarch with a laundering proposal, Beck Bennett (Nimona) as an overstressed government flunkey, Jackie Earle Haley (Hypnotic) as an insidious debt collector, Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live) getting shady and Timothy Simons (Joy Ride) as an FBI agent. Sharks in swimming pools, shonky surrogate arrangements, multiple Pitbull impersonators, the ridiculousness of the influencer industry, loving your first-ever major purchase, those aforementioned oversized snails: Goor, Del Tredici and their writing team also work them in. Even more than in season one, Killing It's new run of episodes delights with its eagerness to get absurd, filling every instalment with surprises. There's another way of looking at that throw-anything-in randomness: this series is hustling, just like Craig, Jillian and company. Again and again, this satire gets sharper. It also gets deeper and funnier. Yes, that name is accurate: this show is killing it as well. Check out the trailer for Killing It season two below: Killing It season two streams via Stan from Friday, August 18.
Already in 2023, streaming viewers have watched Sam Richardson get spiteful in one of the most kindhearted sitcoms in recent years, and get nominated for his second Emmy for it. They've witnessed him host oh-so-silly game shows, too. It isn't just Ted Lasso and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson that've been keeping him on-screen, but also rom-com Somebody I Used to Know and voicing Shaggy in new Scooby Doo take Velma. Only The Afterparty, which returned to Apple TV+ for season two on Wednesday, July 12, has him playing buddy cop with Tiffany Haddish, however. Actually, The Afterparty has the ever-busy Richardson playing a wealth of roles, but only stepping into one character's shoes. Aniq Adjaye is a wedding guest, doting boyfriend and eager-to-please potential future son-in-law. He's the guy who finally made good on his high-school crush at his reunion in season one, after getting accused of murder when a classmate would up dead at, yes, the afterparty. And, he's whatever his fellow revellers see — because this murder-mystery comedy from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, and The Lego Movie's Christopher Miller is a whodunnit about perspective. The clever, inventive and entertaining twist? Every episode not only takes a different character's viewpoint, but filters their recollections through a parody of a different genre. Sometimes, then, Richardson dives into a romantic comedy within the ensemble murder-mystery comedy. That's what the show's two Aniq-centric episodes — the opening chapters of both 2022's season one and now 2023's season two — have delivered, and delightfully. Richardson is the series' lead no matter which on-screen figure's memories guide each instalment, though, teaming up with Haddish's (The Card Counter) Danner to interrogate his fellow partygoers. So, sometimes Richardson is also plunged into the world of action. Or, he's whisked into a musical, a teen drama or police procedural. In season two, the list includes a Jane Austen-style period romance, both Hitchcockian and erotic thrillers, Wes Anderson's aesthetic and film noir. The Afterparty's second go-around takes Aniq and his other half Zoe (Zoe Chao, Party Down) to her younger sister Grace's (Poppy Liu, Dead Ringers) nuptials to the wealthy-but-awkward Edgar (Zach Woods, Avenue 5). After the ceremony, then the reception, then the post-proceedings, there's a body, a winery full of suspects and questions to ask. There's also Richardson proving as versatile as ever, a skill that's served him exceptionally on everything from underseen Tim Robinson-costarring comedy Detroiters to stealing scenes upon scenes as Veep's Richard Splett — plus a six-episode run on The Office, cinema stints as varied as Spy and Promising Young Woman; and Werewolves Within and Hocus Pocus 2 as well. With The Afterparty season two now streaming, Richardson chatted us through the joy of the show's comedic layers, his odd-couple dynamic with Haddish, living the murder-mystery dream as a big fan of the genre, how he'd respond if one of the series' situations crossed over to his real life, I Think You Should Leave's unhinged reactions and more. ON MAKING A MURDER-MYSTERY COMEDY THAT'S ALSO A ROM-COM, AN ENSEMBLE COMEDY AND A SPOOF OF EVERY GENRE IT CAN FIT IN "There's so much that I love about all these things. I'm a big fan of a murder-mystery — Sam Richardson is. I'm a big fan of a rom-com. And I'm a big fan of an ensemble comedy. So the show is all three of those things. So I got to do that the first season, and then the second season we get to heighten all of that. Now Aniq is investigating not just to protect himself, but to try to figure out actually who the murderer is with him outside the gaze of suspicion. He's now trying to solve this mystery, and also his retelling of the story is a rom-com sequel. So now everything's all heightened when he's telling the story — big setpieces and big physical-comedy bits. That's a really fun thing for me to do, and to get to work with the new cast — everybody's so funny —and all these new genres." ON MAKING A BUDDY-COP COMEDY WITH TIFFANY HADDISH, TOO "They're an unlikely pair [Aniq and Danner], but it turns out they're good partners. One balances the other. And getting to perform with Tiffany — she's so funny. So it's good to play off of that dynamic and that energy. It was such a great thing to do and to get to play with. The two of them — her methods are unorthodox at first, and then his methods are maybe a little sloppy. So together they're able to get through this thing, but [make] an unlikely pair." ON TICKING MURDER-MYSTERY OFF THE ACTING BUCKET LIST "There's nothing more fun than being the one to get to put the pieces together at the end of the mystery — that sort of monologue that Sherlock Holmes has where he explains all the pieces that he's seen, that you've seen as the audience, but now I'm giving you the grand thing, the Colombo sort of speech, the "one more thing, you thought I didn't know this, but ha!". Getting to be in that role is a dream come true for me." ON THE CHALLENGES AND FUN OF JUMPING BETWEEN GENRES FROM EPISODE TO EPISODE "It's definitely both, because you are getting pulled in a bunch of different ways. But that is the fun of it, because you get to explore your character and these genres from all these different perspectives. As an acting exercise, and as a challenge to an actor, you get to say not only 'what is the perspective of this character whose story I'm in, the person who's telling the story, what's their perspective on me?' but also 'what is the trope of this genre?'. 'What is this character in a film noir? And who who is the person within that trope? Who is this person in this Jane Austen story? What is that person in this trope?' But then also at the same time, 'what does the character telling the story think of me? Does this person think I'm untrustworthy? Do they think that I'm a weak person? Do they think that I'm more maybe more bold than I am? Do they think that I'm behaving surreptitiously?'. So that's a fun thing to explore in a show like this." ON THE BEST GENRE TO DIVE INTO SO FAR — AND A DREAM PICK FOR THE FUTURE "I really do love the the big rom-com sequel that I got to do this season — big set pieces and physical comedy. I also really enjoyed the Wes Anderson-style episode, the costumes of the Jane Austen [episode]. Each one has it's [merits] — it's so hard to pick one. But if there was another genre that I would want to do, it'd would be a kung-fu movie. That would be so much fun." ON PLAYING OLD HIGH-SCHOOL BUDDIES WITH SEASON ONE'S CAST — THEN STRANGERS AT A WEDDING WITH SEASON TWO'S "The first season, the cast, and getting to play with that cast, was terrific. And then also the idea that you have this shared history and so you're looking back on these relationships that you've had — but what's the dynamic now? — was such a great thing to get to do. So in this season, there are some dynamics that have existed before. But for Aniq especially, he's meeting so many people for the first time. And so getting to be introduced to these characters, and then to get to work with some of these actors for the first time as well, it was such a great fertile playground for reactions. You're absorbing these people for the first time — whereas on the other side of the coin, you get to fall back on 'oh, this guy behaves like this and I know they do'; this time, you get to be like 'this guy behaves like this, what are they doing?'. So it's two sides of the coin, but the coin is still 25 cents." ON HOW RICHARDSON WOULD REACT IF HE WAS LIVING A MURDER-MYSTERY IRL "I fear that day happening greatly. But I do wonder how I would react, because you want to hope that you'd be bold and be like 'no, it has to have been this'. And you'd answer all the things. I myself, I do like to solve things. So I really would be trying to look at things objectively and be like 'well, no it couldn't have been this because these three people were here at this time, that person was there, and I know they were, and they said that before'. That's kind of how I approach things anyway, so I think if somebody got murdered in my high school, I'd figure out who it was." [caption id="attachment_903580" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix © 2023[/caption] ON WHAT RICHARDSON LOOKS FOR IN A ROLE "Good money. I look for, you know, does it pay my insurance? I am entirely joking — but also not. I really just like characters who have very fun wants, and characters who are able to react to things. So for I Think You Should Leave — I Think You Should Leave is its own sort of thing. That's my best friend's show, and it's sketch, and I very much love sketch and I love playing these characters who have wants that are a little bit unrealistic, and then the reaction to not getting those wants is also unhinged. That's a fun thing to get to do. But then with with shows like Detroiters, the wants there are to spend time with your best friend and represent your city in the best way. I think it ultimately comes down to wants — the interestingness of what characters want, and getting to see how these characters go about trying to achieve them, is what I look for most." Season two of The Afterparty streams via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, July 12. Read our full review of season two.
Pitting Will Smith against himself, Gemini Man is designed to boggle the mind. Viewers are supposed to stare at the big screen in awe as the former Fresh Prince not only plays a supremely skilled 51-year-old assassin, but — through the wonders of seamless de-ageing CGI — also plays his 23-year-old clone. We're also meant to marvel at the 3D visuals that surround the two Smiths as they go head-to-head, with the movie shot on digital in 4K resolution at 120 frames per second. Technical jargon aside, that means Gemini Man is super-crisp thanks to its vastly increased number of pixels, and it boasts five times the usual images each second, with the camera picking up five times the visible detail as a result. Sadly, while Ang Lee loves to keep pushing the filmmaking boundaries, especially in a technical sense, he completely misses his target with Gemini Man. It doesn't come close to eliciting the same wonder that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's astonishing martial arts choreography inspired, or the dropped jaws sparked by his immersive adaptation of Life of Pi either. Instead, in Lee's second successive attempt to make a watchable high frame-rate flick (after 2016's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk), this espionage thriller has the bland appearance of a TV soap opera. At its worst, it resembles absolutely anything screening on television with the motion-smoothing settings left on (aka the default viewing mode on modern screens that Tom Cruise famously asked viewers to switch off when watching Mission: Impossible - Fallout at home). Stacks of cash have been splashed on the most advanced special effects available — techniques that are being hailed as the future of cinema — but the end product really couldn't look cheaper or uglier. In a movie that basically only exists to showcase its apparently cutting-edge hyper-realistic imagery, Gemini Man's visual blah factor has an enormous impact. Lee clearly hopes his high-tech frames will patch over the generic narrative, but they actually emphasise the film's routine flavour. Penned by David Benioff (Game of Thrones), Billy Ray (Overlord) and Darren Lemke (Shazam!), this by-the-numbers affair follows seasoned government-sanctioned sharp-shooter Henry Brogan (Smith) as he packs it all in after a tricky assignment. As soon as he trades in his weapons for retirement, he's tracked down by his youthful doppelgänger (also Smith). A rogue intelligence agency head honcho (Clive Owen) is behind it all; however, as we probably don't need to point out, he isn't the toughest adversary that Brogan must face. Throw in Mary Elizabeth Winstead as another agent caught up in the chaos, plus Benedict Wong as a kindly pilot helping Brogan hop around the globe, and Gemini Man sits somewhere between every Bourne flick and every 90s action movie involving duplicity and double-crossing. Plot-wise, it truly is that standard; no-budget straight-to-VHS stinkers have demonstrated more narrative ingenuity. A boilerplate story told well can still keep viewers engrossed, though, especially in this genre (see: the excellent John Wick films), but that's not the case here. While cheesy, inane dialogue that spells out every twist is unfortunate enough, the fact that Gemini Man looks like someone has simply used their iPhone to film two Will Smiths who happen to be standing in front of them is grating, disconcerting and distracting. That it also looks like it could be a sequel to Tommy Wiseau's The Room — well, that comparison obviously says plenty. It's one thing to feel like you could reach out and touch whichever Smith you prefer (the elder Smith deserves that honour, with the actor more comfortable acting his age than chasing his younger glory days). It's another to get bombarded with so much visual data that nothing stands out, including Smith and his digital recreation. In the pursuit of hyper-clarity, Gemini Man lacks anything that resembles movie magic — and while that means there's no blurring or chaotic editing in the film's chase and fight scenes, which are both staged and shot with fluidity, it's all just dull rather than spectacular. You won't sit there wondering "how did they do that?", but rather "why did they do that?". And if you're not getting jiggy with Gemini Man's imagery, then you're not getting jiggy with this empty experiment in stretching the limits of cinema to a place that no one really wants it to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykm0wWnzFY8
Although Stones Corner isn’t the most bustling urban hub in Brisbane, I can’t deny the attachment I’ve made to the area in recent months. Maybe it’s because it’s home to my drycleaner, my seamstress and the studio where I got my first tattoo, or maybe it’s because the area’s potential seems to be becoming more and more tangible as some great cafés start to move in. Somewhere along the main strip and beneath the tattoo studio, you’ll find That Monkey Espresso, a charming addition to the developing precinct. You won’t find them on Facebook, in the phone book or on a business card, but that’s the way the team at That Monkey like it. “We do what we do and we do it well,” says Savannah, the café’s head lady and delightful barista. And she’s not wrong. Not only did she whip up a perfect flat white, I managed to score it for two bucks during their daily happy hour! Like any typical espresso bar, That Monkey specialises in hot drinks, cold drinks, toast and treats, but unlike many, these guys can boast a good brew every time. Take a seat outside, utilise their free Wi-Fi and watch this space. My bet is Stones Corner will be a little more than just a ‘corner’ in the months to come.
When a team makes it to the final four at the FIFA World Cup, their time at the tournament doesn't end if they don't score their way into the final. That very last game of the competition decrees who takes home the ultimate piece of football silverware, and also who comes in second, but the two squads that missed out on the decider also battle it out for third place in a playoff match. Accordingly, while the Matildas can't turn the 2023 Women's World Cup green and gold, they can still nab bronze from 6pm on Saturday, August 19. Sam Kerr and her teammates will take on Sweden at Suncorp Stadium, in what's understandably the hottest ticket in Brisbane this weekend. Didn't manage to get a seat? Enter the River City's live sites again, including at Riverstage. When Australia's national women's soccer team made the semi-final, the city and state's powers-that-be added more public places to watch the match. South Bank has been the official FIFA base since Thursday, July 20, and that hub gained more screens around the riverside precinct. King George Square joined in as well, as did Riverstage. [caption id="attachment_913581" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LittleBlinky via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] Obviously filling a huge venue with huge crowds to watch a massive game on a massive screen turned out nicely at in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, even if the 3–1 score in England's favour didn't for Matildas fans. If you're heading along for the Sweden game, prepare to have company, with amphitheatre able to fit in 9000 soccer lovers. Will you be able to hear the roar from Milton, from the actual match itself? Here's hoping. Football fans have been coming out in force to fill live viewing sites around the country — and also tuning in at home to watch the Matildas in droves. The quarter-final match against France smashed ratings records, becoming the most-watched Australian television sports event in a decade, while the semi-final against the Lionesses is now the most-watch Aussie TV program since 2001, and likely ever (OzTAM's ratings records only go back that far). [caption id="attachment_913179" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LittleBlinky via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption]
If an apocalypse ever brings humanity so close to extinction that there might only be two people left, one thing is certain: if that duo is together and can communicate, they'll spend most of their time nattering about nothing. They'll talk. They'll argue. They'll fill the days, months and years by talking and arguing. They'll still be human, in other words, doing what humans do. Biosphere sets up house within this very scenario, and in that exact truth. Here, lifelong pals Billy (Mark Duplass, Language Lessons) and Ray (Sterling K Brown, This Is Us) are the only folks left after the planet has met a catastrophic fate — one that, because he was the US President when things went dystopian, Billy likely had a hand in — and they're now confined to the movie's titular structure. So, they talk. Sometimes, they argue. When first-time feature-length filmmaker Mel Eslyn plunges the audience into this situation, her characters have been talking and arguing, then arguing and talking, for so long that it's just what they do. Working with a script that she co-penned with Duplass, Eslyn introduces Biosphere's viewers to a self-contained ecosystem of discussing and disagreeing. In the abode designed and built by Ray, a scientist and Billy's former advisor, this pair has no other choice. "Self-contained" perfectly sums up the sensation when the film begins flickering, too — as Ray and Billy go for their daily jog around the sphere, talking and arguing as they trot, their dynamic and their routine is conveyed with such efficiency that it feels like you've been watching for longer than you have. Biosphere doesn't drag, though. Rather, it's excellent at constructing a lived-in world with Billy and Ray as they live through what could be the end of the world. It's ace at storytelling as well, but the talking, the arguing, and the immersive and relatable air all smartly say plenty about a movie that recognises from the outset how adaptable people are. "Life finds a way", aka pop culture's go-to Jurassic Park quote about resilience and versatility, even gets a mention in Biosphere. Life has clearly found a way to keep Billy and Ray chatting and conflicting like they've always done since childhood — the fact that their banter about Super Mario Bros and other trivial minutiae could be happening anywhere is purposefully meant to linger — but that's not all that Eslyn and Duplass have that famous line of dialogue sum up. Biosphere's narrative gets its drama when tragedy strikes the pond of fish that Billy and Ray have been using for sustenance, then a surprise development makes just as much of an impact. Life again finds a way in a number of manners, in a picture that revels in taking its audience along for the ride. While the second big revelation is easy to predict after the first, Biosphere's commitment to it keeps astonishing. A question lingers at the heart of this cleverly contemplative survival comedy: if all that was left of humans really was just two buddies shooting the shit and literally running in circles as they live Bio-Dome- and Spaceship Earth-style, how would the species respond? To be accurate, that's just one of many trains of thought in a layered screenplay that gets Duplass again unpacking modern masculinity as 2009 mumblecore entry Humpday did also. Two things couldn't be more important, then: tone and casting, which Eslyn and Duplass patently know. Biosphere is a film about interactions and reactions, after all, which couldn't be more dependent upon the prevailing mood and the players involved. Over and over, the movie's creative hands express and interrogate their ideas not just through the tale they're telling, but through filmmaking's fundamental elements. Again, this is efficient cinema — and effective. Biosphere's pivotal vibe is loose and light yet tender and compassionate. As writers, Eslyn and Duplass know what to take seriously, what to joke with and about, and how to avoid plummeting their huge twist into extinction. They lean into awkwardness but also hope. With all the talking and arguing, they also understand the rhythms of chatter and silence. None of this should be underestimated, and nor should Eslyn's fine-tuned efforts in bringing this sci-fi setup to the screen. Even the slightest wrong or false move would've punctured the film irreparably. Examining friendship, anxiety, identity and the nature of existence is like erecting and then dwelling in a dome when everything beyond the plastic is always pitch black, with shattering a fragile idyll far easier than maintaining it. Directing after shorts, TV series Room 104, and producing a swag of Duplass-starring flicks (Your Sister's Sister, The One I Love, Blue Jay, Creep 2, Paddleton and Language Lessons, for instance), Eslyn seems fated to have had cinematographer Nathan M Miller (also Paddleton) and the rest of her crew peer her co-scribe's way. Duplass frequently pens the indie flicks that he's in — solo or with a partner — but he's also excellent as Billy, who starts off as the slacker goof of this two-hander despite his presidential past. Selling the character's complicated journey from there isn't a simple task, but Duplass makes it look as easy and realistic as all the conversation and quarrelling. As the serious and analytical Ray, Brown is just as superbly cast in an equally as complex part. And their chemistry? Any filmmaker with actors who gel this well would have them talking almost non-stop, too. With its confined setting, lone pair of on-screen talents and dialogue-heavy approach, Biosphere is an economical movie, too, making the utmost of limited resources. Keeping the details about doomsday's coming vague might seem a budget-driven move as a result — neither telling nor showing what happened, nor what lurks beyond other than a growing green light in the sky — but it's also the best choice for the narrative. Why Billy and Ray are in this predicament is far less fascinating than what they do after their world gets domed in. Compared to exploring how humans adapt and cope from the ordinary talking and arguing through to the downright extraordinary, it's even superficial. Diving deeper comes naturally to this end-times comedy, although it does possess a fitting worst trait: loving existing so much that it's unsure about how to end.
What happens when a standout winery from the Yarra Valley and an outdoor bar with one of Brisbane's best riverside locations team up? For three weeks, the Innocent Bystander Tasting Bar at Babylon Garden has the answer. Top-notch vino, scenic waterside location, Four Pillars joining in with a gin and wine masterclass, a Harry Styles lookalike contest, free tattoos: that's all on offer Thursday–Sunday between Thursday, February 27–Sunday, March 16, 2025. Call it a tasting bar, call it an urban cellar door (Innocent Bystander are doing both): whichever you choose, there's drinks and other fun on the agenda on Eagle Street in the Brisbane CBD from 12–8pm Thursday–Saturday and 12–7pm on Sundays. A different itinerary awaits each week. Saturday, March 1–Sunday, March 2 is when you can sip the brand's new watermelon spritz, including in slushies, and try to win watermelon-themed merchandise, for instance. Plus, if you look like a certain former One Direction member, you can attempt to score a $500 Innocent Bystander voucher from 4pm on the Saturday — and if you don't, you can watch on. Across Saturday, March 15–Sunday, March 16 (delayed from the previous weekend after Tropical Cyclone Alfred), it's time to get inked without spending a cent. Valley Ink Tattoo Studio's artists will be in attendance from noon, you'll need to get an Innocent Bystander-inspired design added to your flesh, and the tatts are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Fancy learning about gin and wine — starting with a Bloody Shiraz Gin spritz on arrival and tucking into mezze platters as you go? You'll want to hit up the Four Pillars and Innocent Bystander masterclass on Thursday, March 13. Long lunches are a feature of every weekend, too, complete with two hours of food paired with the label's drops. Images: Markus Ravik. Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2025.
It's the gloriously bready circular snack that's been taking over Brisbane one market at a time — and nope, it's not doughnuts (for once). One of Brisbane's favourite bagel sellers has set up a new store right in the heart of West End. Schmears all round. Of course, if you've frequented NYC Bagel Deli's Chermside shop or dropped into their space in The Market Room at Logan, then you'll know that this isn't their first bricks-and-mortar establishment. And if you've flocked to Davies Park on a Saturday morning to get your fix, you'll know their permanent Vulture Street digs aren't their first foray into the inner-city suburb either. That said, knowing that you can grab one of their freshly made sandwiches any time the craving hits — and just a stone's throw away from the CBD too — was always going to be welcome news. Did we mention that you can pick from 12 kinds of bagel, ranging from plain to jalapeño to blueberry? Or that fillings include grilled haloumi, the bacon, rocket, avocado and tomato, and honey and maple cream cheese? Yep, those bagel cravings will be ramping up soon. Expect new flavours to join the fold at the new setup, which is reason enough to head along more than once. And if you live on the west or north sides of town and have made a Sunday morning bite part of your weekend routine, don't worry. NYC Bagel Deli will continue to pop up at the Milton and Eagle Farm markets as well.
For the past few years, Brisbane's brewery scene has been booming. If you're keen for a beer straight from the source, there's now a spot serving up just that in most parts of town. And, thanks to the Craft'd Grounds, that now includes Albion — with craft brewer Brewtide opening its doors, and also helping to launch the eagerly awaited precinct in Brissie's inner north. First announced back in March, and originally slated to open in May, Craft'd Grounds wants to be the city's new one-stop shop for drinking beers, sipping coffee, eating pastries, picking up cheese, listening to live tunes, wandering around farmers markets and more. Taking over a 2600-square-metre space on Collingwood Street that used to be industrial and commercial warehouses — and a 100-year-old, timber mill, as well as a mixed martial arts and dance studio — it takes its inspiration from The Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney. So, the sprawling venue is aiming to lure you in for a bite and a beverage, and to just hang out, including in Brewtide's timber-lined 500-square-metre brewery. Beer lovers will find 20 taps pouring brews; the brewery's flagship Brewtide Lager is one of them, and so is a coffee stout that's infused with Seven Miles Cat's Pyjamas blend. Coffee roastery Seven Miles has also just opened its doors at Craft'd Grounds, in fact, with the pair marking the precinct's first two tenants to start welcoming in customers. At Brewtide, collaboration is part of the brewing ethos. "Our brewery is a very collaborative space, with other artisans regularly joining in," explains head brewer Gavin Croft. "We'll be supporting and celebrating Australian producers — with as much as possible sourced locally." The brewery also gives patrons a 360-degree view of the brewing in action, and boasts its own cocktail bar. There's a bottle shop as well, which sells everything you can drink on the premises, plus hundreds of other boutique craft beers, wines and spirits. Over at Seven Miles, the Australian specialty coffee roaster has launched its flagship Queensland headquarters — and the first Seven Miles-owned cafe in the Sunshine State. The new haven for caffeine fiends is all about immersing coffee lovers in the experience, which means sitting in the open-plan venue and peering through wall-to-ceiling glass to witness everything that happens to bring the brand's roasts to your cuppas. Here, you can knock back Brisbane-made roast The Cat's Pyjamas, as well by Seven Miles' other brands such Wilde and Cultivar. There's also a range of monthly rotating Single Origin coffees, plus Seven Miles is serving cafe fare if you're feeling peckish. "We've loved having our customers experience our blends at incredible cafes all over Queensland ‚ and now we can't wait to also bring them into our own cafe too," says Seven Miles' Operations Manager Ben Graham. "It's a privilege to take our community behind the scenes and show them the care and process that goes into our roasts in our fully immersive experience, while enjoying their own great coffee." As Craft'd Grounds continues to open up, Brisbanites can also look forward to spending time in its laneways — which take up more than 680 square metres — as well as at the yet-to-launch bakery and deli Brass Tacks, which hails from the chefs behind Pie Hole and Lady Bouchon. The Albion precinct is also set to gain a yet-to-be-revealed restaurant, other food tenants and a fitness centre, and to host events and those aforementioned farmers markets. All of the above will help flesh out a space that's been designed by Conrad Gargett architects to let visitors mosey between its interconnecting tenancies, then eat and drink in the laneways, common areas and other spaces. Craft'd Grounds is set to open on Collingwood Street, Albion at a yet-to-be-revealed date in May. We'll update you when exact opening details are announced.
Infamously the craziest time of the year when it comes to discounts, Black Friday sales can be hard to navigate at the best of times. To help you get prepped, we've narrowed down some of the best bargains from Amazon. You can expect to see some epic deals across homewares, beauty, shoes, electronics and fitness with brands like Samsung, Maybelline, Hugo Boss and Garmin. It's time to get shopping and make the most of the deals while they last. Homewares Stocking up on things for around the house and grabbing some homewares for a gift is never a bad idea. And with these discounts, you'll finally get your hands on those top-quality frying pans you've been putting off or actually replace that pillow you've had for an embarrassingly long time to admit publicly. Corelle Dinnerware Set for $51.99 – 60% off. Tontine Allergy Sensitive Pillow for $17.89 – 61% off. TEFAL Non-Stick Induction Wokpan for $61.19 – 49% off. PetSafe Staywell Aluminium Pet Door for $109.62 – 49% off. Tontine Single All Seasons Quilt for $31.96 – 70% off. Electronics Whether you're a Samsung or a Google person, these Black Friday discounts on all your electrical necessities are enough to make you drop everything. Google Nest Cam Wireless Camera for $166.00 – 50% off. Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Wireless Earbuds for $104.99 – 47 % off. Yamaha TW-E3C True Wireless Earbuds for $45.00 – 65% off. JBL FLIP 6 Portable Waterproof Speaker for $99.99 – 41% off. Rocketbook Core Reusable Smart Notebook for $29.90 – 46% off. Beauty For all the beauty queens out there, we know how expensive it can be to get your hands on the best makeup, moisturisers, perfumes and all the other essentials to keep you feeling at your best. Our recommendation? Stock up while you can. Vera Wang Princess Eau de Toilette for $28.13 – 68% off. Hugo Boss Boss Bottled Eau De Toilette for $84.93 – 59% off. Maybelline New York Matte Lipstick for $8.91 – 58% off. Garnier Brightening Serum for $16.63 – 55% off. Aveeno Daily Moisturising Body Wash for $11.10 – 57% off. Maybelline Superstay Vinyl Liquid Lipstick in Peachy for $11.47 – 58% off. Maybelline Multi-Use Concealer for $9.77 – 58% off. Shoes Finding durable, hardy shoes at a low price can feel almost impossible. However, you can get your hands on everyone's favourite brands including Dr. Martens, Keen, Salomon and Tevas for almost half-price with these spicy Black Friday deals. Dr. Martens Unisex Embury Leather Chelsea for $139.99 – 50% off. Skechers Women's Sneakers for $78.99 – 47% off. Salomon Men's XA PRO 3D Trail Running and Hiking Shoe for $120.00 – 48% off. Teva Men's M Forebay Sandal for $79.99 – 53% off. Nike Sneaker for $44.88 – 55% off. KEEN Women's Waterproof Hiking Boot for $153.06 – 49% off. Timberland Men's 6-Inch Waterproof Boot for $179.99 – 48% off. MERRELL Men's Moab 3 Hiking Shoe for $101.99 – 49% off. Fitness Get active, running, swimming or whatever kind of movement you prefer with these nifty fitness accessories. With these kinds of discounts, there's really no excuse not to. Speedo Men's Endurance + Aquashort for $31.99 – 42% off. Garmin GPS Fitness Smartwatch for $998.00 – 46% off. Buzio 1180ml Insulated Water Bottle for $29.58 – 44% off. Step One Men's Bamboo Trunks for $17.50 – 50% off. TriggerPoint GRID TRAVEL Foam Roller for $23.98 – 60% off. This article contains affiliate links, Concrete Playground may earn a commission when you make a purchase through links on our site. Images: supplied.
The past two years have delivered plenty of trends that no one loves, including supermarket shortages and traipsing around town trying to get tested for COVID-19. But here's one that's made our lives easier during the pandemic: the fast-tracking of big-name movies to streaming. Seeing a film on the silver screen hasn't been a straightforward experience over this chaotic time, and more and more flicks are quickly making the jump from cinemas to digital — including reaching the latter when they're still showing at the former. The latest is Dune, which looks downright glorious projected on the largest screen you can find, and definitely benefits from the kind of surround-sound setup you'll only get to listen to in a theatre, but is now also available to watch at home if that'll brighten up your January. One of our best films of 2021, the instant sci-fi classic is available to buy and rent via video on demand from Thursday, January 13, including from digital movie services such as Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. Accordingly, if you've already sat down on your couch to watch Timothée Chalamet in Don't Look Up this summer, you can now back it up with another of his recent flicks. Or, there's your next double feature sorted. [caption id="attachment_774009" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo credit: Chiabella James. Copyright: © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/caption] A spice-war space opera about feuding houses on far-flung planets, Dune has long been a pop-culture building block. Before Frank Herbert's 1965 novel was adapted into a wrongly reviled David Lynch-directed film — a gloriously 80s epic led by Kyle MacLachlan and laced with surreal touches — it unmistakably inspired Star Wars, and also cast a shadow over Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Game of Thrones has since taken cues from it. The Riddick franchise owes it a debt, too. The list goes on and, thanks to the new version bringing its sandy deserts to life, will only keep growing. As he did with Blade Runner 2049, writer/director Denis Villeneuve has once again grasped something already enormously influential, peered at it with astute eyes and built it anew — and created an instant sci-fi classic. This time, Villeneuve isn't asking viewers to ponder whether androids dream of electric sheep, but if humanity can ever overcome one of our worst urges and all that it brings. And, in his version of Dune, he's doing so with an exceptional cast that spans Chalamet (The French Dispatch), Oscar Isaac (The Card Counter), Rebecca Ferguson (Reminiscence), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), Javier Bardem (Everybody Knows), Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and more. Dune tells of birthrights, prophesied messiahs, secret sisterhood sects that underpin the galaxy and phallic-looking giant sandworms, and of the primal lust for power that's as old as time — and, in Herbert's story, echoes well into the future's future. Its unpacking of dominance and command piles on colonial oppression, authoritarianism, greed, ecological calamity and religious fervour, like it is building a sandcastle out of power's nastiest ramifications. And, amid that weightiness — plus those spectacularly shot visuals and Hans Zimmer's throbbing score — it's also a tale of a moody teen with mind-control abilities struggling with what's expected versus what's right. Check out the trailer for Dune below: Dune is currently screening in Australian cinemas, and is also available to stream online via video on demand from Thursday, January 13 — including from Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. Read our full review.
Anyone afraid that the team at Pixar may have lost their edge can officially put those concerns to rest. After an uncharacteristic run of (relative) disappointments in the form of Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University, their most recent effort, Inside Out, signals a stunning return to form. With a wonderfully inventive premise supported by a cerebral sense of humour along with vibrant animation and a bucketload of pathos, this isn’t just one of Pixar’s best films of the past few years, but one of their best films full stop. And yes, it is going to make you cry. Co-written and directed by Pixar regular Pete Docter, who previously manned the ship on both Monsters Inc and Up, Inside Out takes place inside the brain of 11-year-old Riley, home to Joy, Fear, Disgust, Anger and Sadness. Voiced by Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black and MVP Phyllis Smith, respectively, the mismatched group are in control of Riley’s mood and take care of her core memories — memories which in turn create the basis for her personality. But things get more complicated when Riley’s family decide to move to San Francisco, a change that neither Riley nor her emotions quite know how to handle. Aesthetically speaking, it should almost go without saying that Inside Out is astounding. The fantastical setting gives the animators full license to unleash their imaginations, an opportunity they obviously relish. The world of Riley’s brain is one of life and vivid colour, a cartoon fairyland that you’ll never want to leave. Each of her five emotions boasts its own unique and expressive design, while the voice cast is terrific across the board. Of course it helps that both cast and production team are working with one of Pixar’s best ever scripts, one that’s not only highly original but very, very funny. There’s tons of straightforward physical humour for the kids, but the true gems of Docter’s screenplay are the jokes about the mind itself. After Joy and Sadness are inadvertently transported to the outer recesses of Riley’s brain, the return journey takes them through such territories as Imagination Land and Long Term Memory, as well as the Hollywood-style studio responsible for producing Riley’s dreams. A trip through Abstract Thinking will fly straight over a six-year-old’s head, but anyone who’s ever taken an Introduction to Psychology class will be rolling in the aisles. But the most incredible thing about Inside Out is how it deals with sadness. Plenty of Pixar movies have the capacity to make people cry, but Inside Out is about why we cry. While Joy spends a majority of the film trying to stop Sadness from affecting how Riley feels, the reality is that sometimes Sadness is the most important emotion of all. Without her, and the catharsis that she provides, how does anyone learn to cope with pain or loss? Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good cry. That’s an incredibly important lesson, and not just for the kids.
Pare back the impressive special effects and constant wisecracking in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and you soon come to realise...there's not a great deal of story to speak of. After a lifetime of searching, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) finally finds himself face to face with his estranged father, Ego (Kurt Russell), from whom he quickly learns the truth about both the power and importance of his lineage. The question, though, is what's driving Ego's sudden appearance in Quill's life after such a long absence? Beyond that, there's actually very little going on in the film, aside from an entirely superfluous secondary plot involving a genetically-engineered race of conceited aliens (led by a gilded Elizabeth Debicki) who are hell-bent on killing the Guardians over a tiny spat from the opening scene. In the absence of plot, then, what drives this film and keeps it (for the most part) engaging are the relationships. For Quill, that means both a developing closeness with his father and an ongoing attempt to progress what he terms his 'unspoken thing' with the green-skinned warrior Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Gamora, in turn, is preoccupied with the increasingly complex and fractious relationship she has with her vengeful sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) – by far the movie's most compelling and nuanced dynamic. Close behind that comes the foul-mouthed Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), whose proclivity for sabotaging friendships and avoiding emotional closeness comes under the microscope in a surprisingly tender way. Less moving, but always entertaining, are the two remaining Guardians: Drax, the forever-literal powerhouse (Dave Bautista) and Groot, the tree creature turned sapling (voiced by Vin Diesel). Groot proved a fan favourite in the first Guardians film, so naturally he has a bigger role here. With those enlarged Disney ™ eyes and a propensity for dancing at inopportune moments, Groot represents at once the film's most consistent comedic device and tweaker of heart strings. To say his merchandise will sell well after the film's release might prove the single largest understatement of 2017. Of course, a review of a Guardians movie wouldn't be complete without mentioning its soundtrack. As in the first film, here we find a compilation of '80s tracks that well and truly earns the 'Awesome Mix Tape' tag. 'Mr. Blue Sky' by ELO, 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac and 'Surrender' by Cheap Trick are just some of the album's top-to-bottom highlights, used throughout the movie with such design that it's almost a character unto itself. Then there's Cat Stevens' 'Father and Son'. Already one of last century's most moving ballads, its deployment in the final stages of the film hits you in the feels so hard that you stand zero chance of wrenching your tear ducts shut in time. Admittedly, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 feels less innovative than its predecessor, with writer-director James Gunn mostly expanding upon existing plot lines, jokes and action sequences rather than inventing new ones. Still, it's an enjoyable ride, and there's clearly more to come (be sure to stay through to the end of the credits through which you'll catch a full five additional scenes and teasers). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hdv_6gl4gk
Work has kicked off on the Regent Theatre's first makeover since the building reopened to the public back in 1996. What's more, the Melbourne heritage site's new look will be making a rather dramatic debut, having landed a blockbuster show that'll help celebrate the revamp in fittingly huge style once complete. With upgrade works slated to wrap up next year, The Regent's confirmed that in 2021, its stage will play host to the Aussie debut of Moulin Rouge! The Musical — a new production based on Baz Luhrmann's award-winning musical film, which arrives Down Under hot off the back of a much-lauded launch season on Broadway. The show brings to life the famed Belle Époque tale of young composer Christian and his heady romance with Satine, actress and star of the legendary Moulin Rouge cabaret. Set in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, the film's known for its soundtrack, celebrating iconic tunes from across the past five decades. The stage show carries on the legacy, backing those favourites with even more hit songs that have been released in the 18 years since the movie premiered. [caption id="attachment_734113" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Regent Theatre by Josie Withers[/caption] The musical is heading to Melbourne in the hands of production company Global Creatures, along with the Victorian Government. The Government will also be a big player behind the Regent's upgrade works, having dropped a cool $14.5 million towards the $19.4 million project. It co-owns the site, along with the City of Melbourne. Once complete, the new-look theatre will be able to be set to three different configurations, from 1500 seats, to 1700 seats, to 2300 seats for the bigger shows. As well as upgrades to its façade, the building will enjoy improvements to the theatre seating, revamped bar and foyer areas, extra women's bathroom facilities, and an extension to the existing balcony. Having survived a fire, a flood and a twenty-year closure from 1970 to the mid-90s, as well as many threats of demolition, the Regent seems pretty well deserving of its coming makeover. The Regent Theatre, at 191 Collins Street, Melbourne, is set to be completed by early 2020. It'll host Moulin Rouge! The Musical in 2021. Moulin Rouge! The Musical image: Matthew Murphy.
If sitting on the couch is a regular part of your viewing schedule, we now know which big-name films you'll be streaming in 2022. Get ready for eagerly awaited whodunnit sequels, all-star action flicks, Jamie Foxx fighting vampires, futuristic Korean sci-fi and Jennifer Lopez as an assassin — and, because the list of brand-new movies that Netflix will add to its platform this year tallies up at a whopping 86 titles, to see plenty more where they're all about to spring from. As it did for 2021, Netflix has just unveiled its full slate of new films for 2022. It's a something-for-everyone kind of lineup, which the streaming service's catalogue always is, but the rundown of newcomers is also stacked with highlights. One instant standout: Knives Out 2, Rian Johnson's follow-up to his glorious Daniel Craig-starring whodunnit from 2019. Yes, the now-former 007 is back as Detective Benoit Blanc, this time in Greece, and interrogating suspects played by a cast that includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr and Kate Hudson. Netflix subscribers can also look forward to The Gray Man, which sees Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans team up in a thriller about CIA mercenaries; Day Shift, where the aforementioned Foxx plays a seemingly ordinary dad whose pool-cleaning job is a front for staking the undead; JUNG-E, the latest dystopian vision out of Korea from Train to Busan, Peninsula and Hellbound's Yeon Sang-ho; and Lopez's maternal John Wick-esque stint in The Mother, where she's a killer forced to come out of hiding to protect her daughter. [caption id="attachment_841834" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Helen Sloan/Netflix © 2022[/caption] Or, there's also Blonde, a fictional portrait of Marilyn Monroe featuring No Time to Die's Ana de Armas as the real-life figure; acting-focused comedy The Bubble, with writer/director Judd Apatow amassing one of his usual all-star casts; the Jason Momoa-led Slumberland, about a space between dreams and nightmares; and Wendell & Wild, with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key voicing a stop-motion animation. Fresh from Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro has a stop-motion animation musical version of Pinocchio in the works as well — and, for something completely different, Adam Sandler turns astronaut in Spaceman, from Chernobyl director Johan Renck. Also, White Noise reunites filmmaker Noah Baumbach with both Marriage Story's Adam Driver and Frances Ha's Greta Gerwig in an adaptation of Don DeLillo's book of the same name, while a new take on Roald Dahl's Matilda features Emma Thompson and Lashana Lynch, and springs from Tim Minchin's musical. And, Last Christmas' Paul Feig helms a fairytale fantasy starring Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington with School for Good and Evil. Because we're into February already, some of the flicks on Netflix's list already have release dates, if you're the type who likes plugging things into your calendar. They span films such as The Adam Project, a time-travel effort with Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo that hits on March 11; Against the Ice, which sends Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to Greenland from March 2; Choose or Die, the April 15-releasing horror flick about a curse includes Robert Englund (aka the OG Freddie Kruger) among its cast; and Senior Year, which drops on May 13, features Rebel Wilson and Alicia Silverstone, and follows a cheerleader who awakens after a 20-year coma. There's also a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre arriving on February 18, too. Among the movies that don't yet have set dates, Enola Holmes 2 will get Millie Bobby Brown to do more sleuthing, Interceptor sees Chris Hemsworth dealing with a nuclear missile attack, a new adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover stars The Crown's Emma Corrin, and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello is the executive music producer on Metal Lords, about two kids starting a metal band. Plus, Dev Patel stars in and directs Monkey Man, Dakota Johnson leads a new version of Jane Austen's Persuasion, and Richard Linklater's Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood heads back to the summer of 1969. Netflix usually gives some of its new films cinema runs, as it did with the likes of The Harder They Fall, Passing, Red Notice, The Power of the Dog and Don't Look Up in 2021. So, while we see oh-so-much couch time in your future, you may be able to watch some of these flicks on the big screen as well. Check out Netflix's trailer for its 2022 films below: New movies will hit Netflix every week throughout 2022 — head to the streaming platform for its current catalogue. Top image: Courtesy of Netflix © 2022.
From web searches and browsers to email and document storage, Google has its fingers in plenty of different online pies. Many of its services have become such a part of our daily lives that we no longer give them much thought, but every now and then the company has fun with one of its platforms. So far, it has brought Pac-Man, Mario Kart, Where's Waldo? and Snake to Google Maps, and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? to Google Earth, for example. With Avengers: Endgame shaking up cinemas right now, it should come as no surprise that the company has the Marvel Cinematic Universe in its sights. Or, for that matter, that it's using a certain Josh Brolin-voiced supervillain and his famed gauntlet — aka the object that's been causing so much grief in the MCU in recent films. A word of warning: if you somehow haven't seen Avengers: Infinity War over the past year, Google's latest Easter egg is definitely a spoiler. If you have seen Infinity War but haven't seen Endgame, however, the company isn't giving away anything that you don't already know. All MCU fans need to do is type 'Thanos' into Google's search engine and look for his Infinity Stone-adorned gauntlet, which is currently appearing next to his name in the information box on the right-hand side of the screen. Click the image, and you'll find the giant purple figure's finger-snapping tricks wreaking havoc on Google's search results. In other words: prepare for a bit more space on the page. The Easter egg is a timely move, given how many people have been rushing to cinemas to see Endgame — and how many people are probably searching for every piece of MCU-related information that they can find online afterwards. In Australia, the film smashed the opening day box office record when it launched on Wednesday, April 24, making more than $10 million on its opening day. Top image: Marvel Studios.
Call it bad timing. Call it ignorance. Call it laziness. Whichever you choose, Gringo has a problem. A couple of years ago, a film could probably call its villain "the Black Panther" and ignore the fact that the comic book character exists. Now, mere months after the first-ever standalone Black Panther movie became one of the highest-grossing superhero flicks ever made, the name is impossible to overlook. Every time it's mentioned in this crime comedy, the moniker sounds awkward. More than that, it also sounds like screenwriters Anthony Tambakis (Jane Got a Gun) and Matthew Stone (Soul Men) just thought the name was cool, but didn't think much more about it. That seems to have been their general approach anyway — well that and filling the script with as much caper chaos as possible. Despite regularly travelling to Mexico for his pharmaceutical job, Nigerian immigrant Harold (David Oyelowo) is unaware of the Black Panther's (Carlos Corona) existence. The same can't be said for Promethium's ruthless CEOs, Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Elaine (Charlize Theron). The scheming duo happily took the drug lord's money and supplied him with their medical marijuana pills, but now they're keen to end the arrangement so they can sneakily sell off the business — something else they're keeping from Harold. Of course, when Richard and Elaine accompany their underling on his latest trip across the border, they discover that the Black Panther doesn't want things to change. Rather, he wants the formula to the firm's lucrative product and will do whatever it takes to get it. That includes kidnapping Harold, although the secret recipe is yet another thing the lackey doesn't know. Complicating matters is the fact that, in response to his growing personal and professional troubles, the mild-mannered middle manager has already decided to pretend that he has been abducted. Gringo's needlessly convoluted narrative is just getting started, with Harold's unhappy wife (Thandie Newton) and Richard's ex-mercenary brother (Sharlto Copley) also playing their parts. So does a young woman (Amanda Seyfried) with no idea that her boyfriend (Harry Treadaway) is trying to smuggle Promethium's drugs back into the US. To the surprise of no one, there's more than one link between the various characters, and between the array of intertwined plot threads. Jam-packed would be the nice way to describe the movie, which has been spliced together by three editors yet drags over its 111-minute running time. Overblown, unfunny, messy and meandering is another way to put it. If there's any sliver of a saving grace, it comes from Oyelowo and Theron, who stand out among the film's high-profile cast. While neither are at their best, you could put these two in nearly any picture and they'd make a considerable difference, even when they're saddled with woefully underwritten roles. Oyelowo almost makes the hapless Harold's journey believable — emphasis on "almost", because the character's jump from believing in the American dream to breaking bad for revenge feels incredibly convenient. Theron has plenty of fun chewing the scenery as the wily, icy Elaine and certainly makes more of an impression than Edgerton, not to mention the rest of the acting lineup. The last time Edgerton starred in a big-screen effort by his director brother Nash, the end result was the ace 2008 Australian crime thriller The Square. Nominated for seven AFI Awards, the film boasted well-executed twists, genuine tension and smart black comedy — and Joel co-wrote the script. With a much weaker screenplay, Gringo plays like an overdone, ineffective attempt to up the ante, using similar components but boosting the star power and budget. Still, Nash demonstrates a definite eye for action with his second full-length film, as evident in the movie's shoot-outs and chase scenes. But by the time these antics properly kick in, it's a case of too little, too late. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx0KDIFCAu0
Speaking prior to the screening of his movie in Sydney, director Christopher Miller explained: "Our one, enduring rule for this film was that it had to be story focused. It could never be permitted to descend into a 90 minute toy commercial". For he and co-director Phil Lord, then, The LEGO Movie is mission accomplished. Set entirely within a world of those clickable bricks and yellow-faced characters, LEGO tells the story of Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt), an eternally optimistic construction worker whose pep is matched only by his extraordinary genericism. Emmet is the epitome of commercial dronery: a franchise-coffee-drinking, pop-music-listening nobody who always follows the instructions. That all changes, however, when he stumbles upon the 'Piece of Resistance' and becomes entangled in a power struggle between the ruthless President Business (Will Ferrell), his enforcer 'Bad Cop/Good Cop' (Liam Neeson) and the resistance agent 'WyldStyle' (Elizabeth Banks). It's...a little hard to describe the sensation of watching this film. Yes, it's computer generated, but what those computers generated were lego pieces. So, if there's an explosion, that explosion is made up of thousands of tiny red, yellow and white lego circles — not CGI fire. The effect is mesmerising. The digital design team (Australia's Animal Logic), wholly adopted the 'rules and grammar' of Lego, meaning characters could only bend at the waist and all vehicles moved as they would if being controlled by a human hand. That device alone lends itself to dozens of jokes, and in terms of laughs, The LEGO Movie delivers in spades. This is, after all, the team behind both 22 Jump Street and the sublime Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs — two films that wield pop-culture references and drop cameos like nobody's business. Where other movies in this genre can often lapse into brand promotion or smulch, The LEGO Movie retains an acute self-awareness that never permits itself to take anything too seriously. As such, the in-jokes are amongst the strongest and nostalgia is used almost exclusively as a source of comedy rather than to pull on the heart strings. That's not to say the film is without a point. Its jabs at corporatisation land more heavily than one might expect for a 'kids movie', and its determination to encourage imagination and exploration 'beyond the instructions' is at times so concerted it borders on pro-anarchism. In the end, this is a family-friendly movie in every sense, yet the truth is, adults will derive more pleasure from the viewing than their children. LEGO is a wry, playful and intelligent piece of filmmaking that, like Toy Story before it, rises far above its station and offers up a truly enjoyable experience. https://youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I
Brisbane Lions fans, 2020 AFL grand final attendees, cricket aficionados, anyone who has ever seen a gig at the Brisbane Cricket Ground: the Woolloongabba venue that you know and love is being torn down. In its place, ready for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, a new stadium will be built as part of what's being called a "major urban renewal project". This plan was first floated back in 2021, but with a big caveat given that it was contingent upon the River City scoring the Olympic Games hosting gig. That was locked in in that same year, but the issue of funding the Gabba rebuild has been a topic of conversation ever since. Now, today, Friday, February 17, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have confirmed that the Gabba demolition is going ahead. The venue will become the main stadium for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032, and will be rebuilt with that in mind. But it's obviously also a year-round site for other sports events — Aussie rules and cricket use it for an average of 40 weeks a year — so supporting the stadium's long-term professional sports requirements is also a priority. The rebuild will also ensure it still functions as a top-notch entertainment venue, too. Chosen after assessing four options, including a refurbishment of the existing stadium, plus just tearing down and rebuilding part of the Gabba, the new stadium will seat 50,000 — an increase from the current 42,000-patron capacity — and is estimated to cost $2.7 billion. On the list of new features: change room facilities for female athletes, lifts and escalators instead of the imposing stairs, and a larger entry concourse. In a venue aiming for a six-star green-star rating, the dining options and member spaces will also get a makeover, and feature kitchens and food and beverage outlets. Part of the redevelopment will focus on improved disability access, too, plus better transport connection. With the latter, get ready to mosey across a new pedestrian walkway, via a bridge over Main Street, that'll connect the Gabba to the new Cross River Rail station and the future Metro station. To make space for the larger stadium, East Brisbane State School next door will be relocated within two kilometres from December 2025. That said, the heritage buildings within the school won't be torn down — rather, they'll be refurbished and repurposed into the new Gabba. "We know hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to accelerate the infrastructure and housing we need to support a growing Queensland," said the Premier, announcing the news. "The Gabba has hosted sport for more than a century and is home to cricket and AFL most weeks of the year. But it's no secret that Queensland is losing out on major sporting events already — and the tourism, jobs and investment that come with them because The Gabba is not up to scratch." "It must be upgraded to maintain our competitiveness for international sport and events. When it's done, this stadium will shine for Queensland, and so will the area surrounding it," Palaszczuk continued. The Gabba will become the focal point for the major urban renewal project, which will extend the existing Woolloongabba Priority Development Area to cover more of the inner-city suburb, complete with the Stanley Street precinct going over to South Bank. Spanning beyond just the stadium, the development will also provide more social and affordable housing. If you're an AFL or cricket fiend wondering how long it'll take, the whole Gabba revamp is expected to run over four years, starting in 2026 and welcoming in sports fans again in 2030. Brisbane Lions games and cricket matches will need to move elsewhere, obviously, while the site is out of action, with the Premier advising that talks are ongoing about other grounds the two sports could use. The Gabba has been a permanent cricket ground since 1895, and has undergone several revamps over that time, including the refurbishment of its entrances and amenities in 2020. For more information about the plans for the Gabba, head to the Queensland Government website.
Perched next door to Milton craft beer hangout The Scratch Bar, Pita Pit opened its doors last Tuesday. Pita Pit is a franchise with a difference and it has finally found its way to Australia by way of Canada and New Zealand, Bro. There is some debate as to the pronunciation of the word 'pita' but once you take your first bite all will become irrelevant. Perhaps the best thing about Pita Pit is the quality of its ingredients. Rather than having snap locked veges, and processed meat, everything is fresh and the meat is cooked on the grill. My personal favorite is the Chicken Caesar Pita (Small $8.90, Large $10.90), which includes chicken breast, bacon, and your choice of extras. Pita Pit offers all the standard fillings as well as a shipload that you would normally only get at home, including beetroot, pineapple, sprouts, feta cheese, and hummus. If you want a quick, healthy, working lunch, or a post workout feed that won’t have your trainer up in arms then Pita Pit is the answer.
Melissa McCarthy is now three-for-three in collaborations with Paul Feig. The actor-director team chase down Bridesmaids and The Heat with a goofy espionage comedy that serves as a showreel for their respective talents. In Feig’s case, that means cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most rock-solid comic-directors, extracting hilarious turns from a more-than-willing cast while demonstrating a surprising amount of confidence with action scenes, which bodes well for his Ghostbusters sequel next year. For McCarthy, it means delivering one of the best performances of her career, nailing both the verbal and physical comedy while steering almost entirely clear of lazy jokes about her gender or her size. McCarthy stars as analyst Susan Cooper, a desk jockey working in the CIA basement funnelling instructions via an earpiece to operatives around the world. Her primary charge, and the subject of her unrequited affections, is the revoltingly narcissistic Bond-wannabe Agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law). But things suddenly change after Fine is gunned down by a devious arms heiress (Rose Byrne), who has somehow gained access to the identity of every active spy. With their best assets compromised, the agency has no choice but to throw the untested Cooper into the field. It’s a pretty standard comedic premise, in a similar vein to other recent spy spoofs such as Johnny English and Get Smart — the one major difference being that Cooper is actually fairly good at her new job. Feig, who wrote the film as well as directing, pokes fun at all the typical spy movie cliches, from the megalomaniacal villain all the way down to the gadgets, here disguised as everyday items such as fungal cream and laxatives. For the most part the humour is fairly broad and sweary — this is, after all, the same director who had McCarthy shit in a sink. Still, as with Feig’s previous films, the material is elevated considerably by the performances. After proving the MVP in both Bridesmaids and Bad Neighbours, Rose Byrne could well consider giving up dramatic roles altogether. Her villainous turn here is a delightful caricature of upper-crust snobbery, and many of the film’s best scenes are the ones that she and McCarthy share. Law is likewise wonderfully hammy as Fine, while Jason Statham sends up his typical screen persona as a 'rogue' CIA agent a little too convinced of his own brilliance. But it’s McCarthy who’s the real hero here, throwing herself into every scene with absolute commitment. Together, she and Feig not only deliver big laughs but also manage to skewer our expectations of what someone who looks like her is capable of. Yes, there are plenty of jokes at Cooper’s expense, but more often than not they’re the result of people underestimating her. As it turns out, that’s a pretty big mistake.
UPDATE, August 3, 2020: Downhill is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. "Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." They're the wise words of cinema's current king, aka multi-Oscar-winning Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, who made the above comment to a room full of Hollywood heavyweights at this year's Golden Globes. It's just a statement of fact — and while you could say that the folks behind Downhill have taken his advice, they've really just followed a frustrating trend. Remaking Swedish movie Force Majeure, they've read the subtitles, then decided that the world desperately needs an English-language version of Ruben Ostlund's (The Square) exceptional 2014 Cannes award-winner. This isn't the first time a great movie in a language other than English has received the remake treatment. And, as the likes of 12 Monkeys, Insomnia, The Departed, Let Me In and Gloria Bell have demonstrated, such a path doesn't always end badly. But Downhill is such a broad and simplistic adaptation of a savage and stunningly complex film that it only seems to be motivated by three factors. The first: money, cashing in on Force Majeure's modest success. The second: teaming up Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell. The third: taking a great concept and dumbing it down for the widest possible audience. Who needs a sharp, smart exploration of festering marital troubles and engrained gender roles — in Swedish, no less — when you can plonk a fighting, holidaying couple in a cross-cultural comedy? That appears to be writer/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's (The Way, Way Back) favoured approach. The setup: on vacation in the Alps, the Stauntons have skiing and bonding firmly on their minds. Then, over what should be an uneventful lunch, a controlled avalanche completely changes their getaway's vibe. Snow rolls towards the chalet where Pete (Ferrell), Billie (Louis-Dreyfus) and their kids (Julian Grey and Ammon Jacob Ford) are discussing their soup options, and it doesn't seem to be stopping. Billie throws her arms around her sons, but Pete grabs his phone, jumps up and bolts. When the incident is over — leaving everyone shaken, frosty but unharmed — Pete's family can't quite look at him the same way, especially when he claims loudly and angrily that he didn't abandon his nearest and dearest in the face of a possible disaster. As the movie's title makes plain, things do go downhill. It was a risky move, giving this film that particular name, because the whole feature proves a definite slide from the original, too. Instead of subtlety and even ambiguity — and instead of cleverly and amusingly pondering humanity's inherent fight-or-flight response, today's multifaceted readings of masculinity and the passive aggression that lingers in all relationships — Downhill keeps everything as overt and obvious as possible. Cue ample bickering, absolutely no room for intricacy or doubt, and scene after scene devoid of either tension or laughs. When younger couple Zach (Zach Woods) and Rosie (Zoe Chao) arrive, for example — as secretly invited by Pete — they're supposed to reflect the audience's discomfort at watching a marriage potentially implode. Instead, the scene just plays like a bad sitcom outtake. As actors, Faxon (Ben and Kate, Married, Friends from College) and Rash (Community's Dean Pelton) have experience in the genre; however there's nothing funny about Downhill's stilted feel. In another altercation, when Billie and Pete report their experience to the resort's security team, a scene that's supposed to ripple with awkwardness and unease just seems pointless. Actually, it does have a purpose: giving a brief snippet of screen time to Game of Thrones favourite Kristofer Hivju, who actually had a sizeable role in Force Majeure and is clearly the only actor Downhill deems worthy of returning. The less said about Miranda Otto's stereotype-baiting, forcefully accented performance as an over-sexed hotel manager, the better. It's the type of character that should've disappeared from screens decades ago, although it does typify much about Downhill. At every turn, this remake strips out its source material's depth and richness in favour of the easiest, most cartoonish option — and for viewers who haven't seen Force Majeure, another superficial and formulaic flick about an unhappy marriage and Americans marvelling at cultural differences overseas is hardly high on anyone's must-watch list. You wouldn't guess that Succession and Peep Show creator Jesse Armstrong helped pen the script, or that Louis-Dreyfus is one of Downhill's producers. In the latter's defence, she does rank among the film's highlights. While Billie is tasked with navigating scenarios that manage to be both derivative and over-the-top — losing her cool before a helicopter ride and getting steamy with a hot Italian ski instructor — there's always weight to Louis-Dreyfus' performance. The same can't be said of Ferrell, who seems to be stuck in Daddy's Home mode, but Faxon and Rash have lucked upon the perfect distraction technique. By virtue of the movie's snowy, picturesque setting, whenever anything falls flat, they just relish the scenery. In a film that's constantly on a downward trajectory, that happens often. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY5SrKf_2ic
Movie buffs who like to theme their viewing around the relevant time of year — holiday-related, primarily — are always spoiled for choice. Christmas films, spooky flicks at Halloween, Easter-relevant fare: you can build a binge session or several out of all of them. The same applies to Thanksgiving, all courtesy of the US, and The Humans is the latest addition to the November-appropriate list. This A24 release ticks a few clearcut boxes, in fact, including bringing a dysfunctional multi-generation family together to celebrate the date, steeping their get-together in the kind of awkwardness that always stalks relatives, and having big revelations spill over the course of the gathering (the calendar-mandated time for such disclosures, pouring out before the tryptophan kicks in). That said, even with such evident servings of underlying formula, The Humans is far creepier and more haunting than your usual movie about America's turkey-eating time of year. A hefty helping of existential horror will do that. Based on Stephen Karam's Tony-winning 2016 Broadway play — a Pulitzer Prize finalist as well — and adapted and directed for the screen by Karam himself, The Humans is downright unsettling, and for a few reasons. There's the tension zipping back and forth between everyone in attendance, of course — as crucial an ingredient at every Thanksgiving party as food, booze and warm bodies to consume them, at least if films are to be believed. There's also the bleak, claustrophobic, run-down setting, with the movie confined to a New York apartment close to Ground Zero, which aspiring composer Brigid (Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart) and her student boyfriend Richard (Steven Yeun, Nope) have just moved into at significant expense. And, there's the strange sounds emanating from other units, and perhaps this creaking, groaning, two-storey abode itself, which couldn't feel less welcoming. As a result, seasonal cheer is few and far between in this corner of Manhattan, where the Blake family congregates dutifully rather than agreeably or even welcomely. Also making an appearance: parents Deirdre (Only Murders in the Building's Jayne Houdyshell, reprising her Tony-winning part) and Erik (Richard Jenkins, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story), Brigid's lawyer older sister Aimee (Amy Schumer, Life & Beth), and their grandmother Momo (June Squibb, Palmer), who has dementia and uses a wheelchair. No one is happy, and everyone seems to have something that needs airing — slowly and reluctantly when it's a matter of importance, but freely and cuttingly when it's a snap judgement directed at others. Watching The Humans, the audience hopes that no one has truly had a Thanksgiving like this, while knowing how well its fraught dynamic hits the mark. Thanks to Richard, film first-timer Karam has a straightforward way to start doling out backstory — a time-honoured function of fresh attendees to on-screen family dos, and not just in movies about Thanksgiving. Erik chats, filling the newcomer in, although the talk between everyone dishes out plenty of handy details. Religious and political affiliations cause strains, as do booze and money. The clash between the big city, where the Blake family daughters now live, and their hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania also informs the discussions. Health woes, relationship struggles, generation clashes, expecting more both from and of each other but getting less: that's the baseline. Brigid stews about not being given enough cash by her parents, and therefore jeopardising her career dreams; Aimee frets about treading water at work, being alone and a medical condition; Deirdre's conservative leanings bristle against her daughters' decisions; and Erik clearly has a secret. As anxious and agitated as the situation is — and as peppered with passive aggression and outbursts alike — there's always another feeling lurking throughout the barely furnished flat. That physical, visible, inescapable emptiness also speaks volumes about Brigid, Richard and their guests, but it's impossible to shake the sensation that this might've been a joyful affair in any other location. The same troubles and attitudes would exist, and the same players, but there's no avoiding how their grim surroundings are amplifying their bickering. When they're being guarded, coy, reserved or reticent (at times, they all fit) about the things they're keeping from each other, the apartment looms large with space and desolation. When they're flinging truths back and forth, it's tight and distressed. Or, is it actually just a regular old and dilapidated place in a crushing rental market, and it's the evening's occupants and their torment that's bringing the unease? For a film so firmly grounded in one location, to the point that the cliche about the setting being a character in the movie applies, The Humans can be slippery. Is Karam's setup as simple as a family squabbling? Is there more, or do we just want there to be more because that quarrelling — and the dancing around it, when that's the Blakes' preferred option — is so discomforting? They're the questions that dwell in the unit, which cinematographer Lol Crawley (Vox Lux) shoots like it's both dispiritingly ordinary and unshakeably otherworldly. Frequently, the film looks on from afar within the space as well, framing Brigid and company through doorways that make everything resemble a show. Sometimes, it hones in on physical minutiae as conversations play out. Are all family get-togethers performances? Do we all cling close out of habit and expectation, but keep ourselves distanced by nattering about the trivial and inconsequential? They're queries that hang heavy in the stilted air, too. As The Humans stretches on, discussions about dreams and nightmares prove revealing. The feature also points out the thin line between both, whether we're slumbering or waking, several times over in its talky frames. No one on-screen really needs reminding; that's where they're caught, even if just emotionally. Across the board, The Humans' performances are similarly anchored and weighty — whatever's going on around the Blakes or isn't, the pervasive dread keeps everyone trapped and festering, and Karam's six key cast members all play their parts accordingly. The effect is compelling, especially when paired with disquieting sound design straight out of a psychological thriller. Let's be honest, isn't that all holiday celebrations with the family anyway?
That time of year has rolled around again and we're all looking forward to many catch-ups with mates and family over glasses (or bottles) of vino. Not to mention there's the office Secret Santa gifts to be bought and the inevitable conversation with the siblings around who's picking the wine to impress the folks. And what you'll be drinking at Christmas lunch, no less. Thanks to Vivino and its hardworking community of wine lovers who voted in the inaugural Aussie Vivino Community Awards, we've handpicked the best of the best from the winning wines, so you can stock up on these top drops for all the silly season shenanigans you have planned, from a reasonably priced riesling to crack open with the crew to a $141 biodynamic cabernet blend that'll impress even the stubbornest of sippers. 2019 GRANT BURGE BAROSSA INK SHIRAZ, BAROSSA VALLEY SA ($17) With almost 1500 ratings, the Grant Burge Barossa Ink Shiraz was rated as the top vino in the Vivino Community Awards' wines under $25 category. Aussie wine lovers must know what they're talking about as this wine is quintessential Barossa — think Christmas cake spices with notes of plum and luscious blueberry. This wine is perfect for those who are always stuck on how to impress dad at family dinner. A crowdsourced success. Purchase Grant Burge Barossa Ink Shiraz via Vivino. 2020 TIM ADAMS RIESLING, CLARE VALLEY SA ($21.99) In the early 2000s, a group of forward-thinking winemakers in South Australia's Clare Valley were frustrated with cork-related faults ruining the vibrancy of their rieslings, so they banded together, bucked conventional norms and bottled their wines under Stelvin closure (screw caps). Twenty years later, screw caps are the norm and the future of Australian rieslings has never looked so bright. To experience the freshness and vibrancy of Clare Valley riesling, look no further than this archetypal example from Tim Adams. Bursting with flavours of freshly cut citrus and hints of white florals, this drop is the perfect accompaniment to a serve of Sydney rock oysters. Hot tip: you can even drizzle a bit of the wine on top of the oyster instead of lemon. Purchase Tim Adams riesling via Vivino. 2019 UNICO ZELO ESOTERICO, RIVERLAND SA ($24.99) Unico Zelo's Esoterico really lives up to its name, having developed a cult-like following over the years. At first you'd be excused for not knowing what to make of it on account of its slightly hazy colour and the kind of pronounced texture you only see in red wines, but then you're hit with pretty and delicate florals from the zibibbo and gewurztraminer grapes. If you've never understood what all the fuss is about with skin-contact wine this is a fantastic entry point, and a perfect one to crack open with a charcuterie board on a sunny afternoon with mates. Purchase Unico Zelo Esoterico via Vivino. 2018 LANGMEIL VALLEY FLOOR SHIRAZ, BAROSSA VALLEY SA ($30) Langmeil boasts a 125-year winemaking history with their dry-grown vineyards believed to be the world's oldest surviving shiraz vines. While the wine from that particular vineyard from this prestigious winery will set you back $145, they have released a wine that is a little more approachable for everyday drinking. The Valley Floor shiraz is crafted from fruit grown by over 20 families from across the Barossa's 30 original villages, still being made in the historic Langmeil winery. A piece of South Australian wine history at a fraction of the price, the perfect gift for the old school wine lover in your life. Purchase Langmeil Valley Floor shiraz via Vivino. 2018 SAILOR SEEKS HORSE PINOT NOIR, HUON VALLEY TAS ($67.10) From small vineyard plantings in Tasmania's Huon Valley comes a pinot noir by husband-and-wife winemaking duo Paul and Gilli Lipscombe. Fruit for this exceptionally well-crafted wine comes from the estate vineyard, planted by the duo's own hands in 2005. It's not hard to see why this wine clocked in at 14th place in Aussie wines priced between $25–80. It has blackberry and raspberry notes intermixed with a tension that causes you to reach for the bottle before you've even finished the glass in front of you. This small-batch premium pinot noir has become one of the most sought-after wines on the mainland, fought over by sommeliers and wine lovers alike. Purchase Sailor Seeks Horse pinot noir via Vivino. 2018 CURLY FLAT PINOT NOIR, MACEDON RANGES VIC ($72.60) There's pinot noir, and then there's Macedon Ranges pinot noir, and no one sets the gold standard of this wine varietal from this region better than Curly Flat. This light red is a medley of aromas and flavours, from violets and black cherries on the nose (with just the tiniest hint of dried rose petals) to balsamic strawberries and slight savoury notes of forest floor and slate. Meet duck pancakes' newest accompaniment. Purchase Curly Flat pinot noir via Vivino. 2019 TOLPUDDLE CHARDONNAY, COAL RIVER VALLEY TAS ($95.33) This wine is touted as the benchmark for cool-climate Aussie chardonnay. Using grapes from vineyards planted in Tasmania in 1988, this exceptional chardy is made by celebrated South Australian winemaker Adam Wadewitz (of Shaw and Smith fame). This drop is rarely available for long after its release. But you don't have to take our word for it — it's currently rates 4.4 out of five on Vivino, and it came in second in the Vivino Community Awards' top ten Aussie whites category. If you find some, buy it ASAP and impress the family with it on Christmas Day — and convert the anything-but-chardonnay drinkers in your household. Purchase Tolpuddle chardonnay via Vivino. 2018 CULLEN 'DIANA MADELEINE' CABERNET BLEND, MARGARET RIVER WA ($141) Vanya Cullen, the current winemaker of Cullen Wines in Western Australia (and often dubbed as Australia's High Priestess of Biodynamics) has named her flagship cabernet blend after her mother, Diana. What makes this wine so unique — and absolutely worth the price? The fruit comes off vines dating back to 1971, and the care and great attention it takes to produce this wine are unparalleled. The fruit was picked according to the biodynamic calendar dates, with one of the harvests occurring on a full moon. Due to this vino's structured nature, it'll cellar for up to 50 years (if you have that kind of patience). Purchase Cullen 'Diana Madeleine' cabernet blend via Vivino. Download the Vivino app and start discovering more ideal summer sips to stock up on — then buy them straight from the app. For more wine inspo, check out this year's Vivino Community Awards.
Each year, at the turn of winter to spring, Hindus celebrate Holi, a festival exalting colour that leaves participants saturated in bright hues. Holi serves as the inspiration behind the Color Run, a unique 5k race that has taken the U.S. by storm and is now headed to Australia. Runners are invited to join the "3.1 miles of color madness" that comprise the untimed Color Run purely for the sake of a good time. The only race requirements are that all participants wear a white t-shirt and be willing to be greeted with a blast of coloured pigment upon completing every leg of the race. The pigment, made of 100% natural food-grade cornstarch, is colour-specific for each portion of the race. After the first kilometre, runners are splattered with yellow; after the second, they are doused in blue. And so it continues until the end of the 5 kilometres, when each runner is covered head-to-toe in a brilliant mish-mash of every hue imaginable. So far only three Australian dates have been announced, but organisers have promised events for most Australian states in late 2012 and early 2013 The Color Run Australia dates:Melbourne - November 25, 2012 (Register)Sydney - February 10, 2013Perth - February 17, 2013Adelaide - TBCBrisbane - TBCCanberra - TBCGeelong - TBCGold Coast - TBCNewcastle - TBC Stay up to speed with further announcements via The Color Run Australia Facebook page. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZWsfHC-0d6A
Mosey along Fish Lane, and you'll find everything everything from rib shacks to Vietnamese cuisine-slinging shipping containers. Wander around the corner, and you'll now find fish and chips. While Ol' School mightn't have scored the ultimate South Brisbane street frontage for selling seafood, they're pretty close — and their old-meets-new menu, digs and approach promises to impress. The latest venture from Hello Please's Daniel Ward and Maris Cook, plus design studio Standing By and ex-Pier (Rose Bay) chef Jesse Stevens, Ol' School wants to hark back to retro-style fish and chipperies from days gone by, while adding some modern touches as well. "We're just some guys that want to cook you some really good fish and chips, served up with nice drinks," explains Stevens. Open since the beginning of 2018, that means a menu filled with the ocean's finest, as freshly prepared with old-school flair and served on greaseproof paper, all in a place that offers table service from Tuesday to Sunday. While you'll never just take a number here, takeaway is also available from Friday to Sunday. Food-wise, patrons can tuck into fish, obviously, as well as thick-cut fries served with salt, malt vinegar or lemon; potato scallops; and crusty bread for making-your-own chip butties. Or, they can opt for prawn cocktail rolls, fish tacos and the old favourite that is the fisherman's basket. A selection of salads will be available as sides, while desserts include ice cream sandwiches and lemon tarts. As for beverages, prepare to sip on wine, beer and a range of cocktails. Find Ol' School at 58 Hope Street, South Brisbane, or check out their Facebook page for further details. Images: Rix Ryan Photography.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT "Nic fuckiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing Cage." That's how the man himself utters his name in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and he knows what he's about. Now four decades into his acting career to the year — after making his film debut in Fast Times at Ridgemont High under his actual name Nicolas Coppola, playing a bit-part character who didn't even get a moniker — Cage is keenly aware of exactly what he's done on-screen over that time, and in what, and why and how. He also knows how the world has responded, with that recognition baked into every second of his his latest movie. He plays himself, dubbed Nick Cage. He cycles through action-hero Cage, comically OTT Cage, floppy-haired 80s- and 90s-era Cage, besuited Cage, neurotic Cage and more in the process. And, as he winks, nods, and bobs and weaves through a lifetime of all things Cage, he's a Cage-tastic delight to watch. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is Cage uncaged, busting out the jazz that is his acting and adoring it, and it's a self-aware, super-meta love letter to its star and all who stan him. It's also a feature that couldn't exist without the thespian who has everything from Guarding Tess and Captain Corelli's Mandolin to The Croods and Pig on his resume; replacing him simply wouldn't work. Again, it's a Cage gem in letting Cage devotees revel in Cage doing every kind of Cage. That said, this Cage comedy is also so overtly designed to inspire Cage mania that it's easy to feel the buttons being pushed. It's the Cage movie that the internet has willed into existence, or film Twitter at least. Case in point: it has Cage realise that Paddington 2 is one of the best movies ever made. It is, but given how well-accepted that is, and how much online attention has stressed that fact — including its once-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score — weaving it into this Cagefest is one of the film's many exercises in stating the obvious. There is narrative around all that "Nic fuckiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing Cage" and his marmalade bear-loving epiphany. Here, the man who could eat a peach for days in Face/Off would do anything for as long as he needed to if he could lock in a weighty new part. The fictionalised Cage isn't happy with his roles of late, as he complains to his agent (Neil Patrick Harris, The Matrix Resurrections), but directors aren't buying what he's enthusiastically selling. He has debts and other art-parodies-life problems, though, plus an ex-wife (Sharon Horgan, This Way Up) and a teen daughter (Lily Sheen, IRL daughter of Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen). So, he reluctantly takes a $1-million gig he wishes he didn't have to: flying to southern Spain to hang out with billionaire Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal, The Bubble), who is such a Cage diehard that he even has his own mini museum filled with Cage memorabilia, and has also written a screenplay he wants Cage to star in. Yes, writer/director Tom Gormican (Are We Officially Dating?) and co-scribe Kevin Etten (Kevin Can F**K Himself) task the always-likeable Pascal with playing The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent's on-screen audience surrogate. If you're watching a movie with Cage as Cage — one that begins with a clip from Con Air at that — then you'd likely jump at the chance to spend time with the inimitable figure. Who wouldn't? But that's just one element of the story, because two CIA agents (The Afterparty's Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz) inform Cage that his new pal is an arms dealer who's keeping a politician's daughter hostage to sway an election. And, they want him to indulge his host — undercover as himself, naturally — until they find the girl. The next key aspect of the tale: during this ruse, Cage and Javi genuinely become CBFFs (Cage best friends forever), including while working on a screenplay about new buddies who bond in chaotic circumstances. Read our full review. THE NORTHMAN Satanic goats don't talk in The Northman. Heartthrobs don't masturbate while fondling mermaid figurines, either. Still, within ten minutes, pre-teen Viking prince Amleth (Oscar Novak, The Batman), his glory-seeking warrior father King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke, Moon Knight) and jester-meets-shaman Heimir (Willem Dafoe, Nightmare Alley) descend into a fire-lit cave to take hallucinogens, growl, grunt, bark like wolves and fart like it's a god-given superpower. If viewers didn't know who's behind this bold, brutal, brilliant, and blood- and guts-strewn Scandinavian opus before then, there's no doubt from this trippy scene onwards: after The Witch and The Lighthouse, writer/director Robert Eggers' touch, approach and style have become that distinctive just three remarkable features into his helming career. As he first demonstrated with his potent pilgrim horror movie, then doubled down on with his mesmerising oceanside nightmare, Eggers crafts chaotic celluloid dreams about faith- and sanity-stretching dances with madness and mania. He makes features so striking that they're haunting, rippling with the devotedly realistic and the hypnotically occult in tandem. Eggers' work isn't merely meticulously tense and atmospheric; it proves blisteringly visceral to the point of feeling inescapably tangible. Indeed, his steadfast commitment to authenticity spirits the whole concept of immersive filmmaking high into movie Valhalla. See: the vivid period-appropriate detail in The Northman's Nordic villages, which'd only be more evocative if they'd time-travelled in from the ninth and tenth centuries. Sense: the entrancing swirl that springs from all of the above, complete with Eggers' unfailing idiosyncrasies. Experience: the sublime tussle with myth, fantasy and folklore that results, as it has in each of his features, to both plunge into and interrogate his history-set reveries. In this untamed and laid-bare portrait of the past, something is rotten in the state of Iceland — as it was in Denmark via William Shakespeare, and in the Pride Lands of Africa in both versions of The Lion King. Writing The Northman's screenplay with poet, novelist and Björk collaborator Sjón (Lamb), Eggers takes his cues not from Hamlet, however, but from the Old Norse legend of Amleth that inspired the iconic tragedy. The narrative still involves a son anointed to be the future king, a tragedy that shatters his regal family, and a dastardly uncle who gets murderous to seize the throne and his brother's wife, of course. And, it keeps following its protagonist as he wages a determined odyssey of feral revenge against the man who reshaped his fate so ruthlessly. "I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir." That's Amleth's vow as a boy on a north Atlantic island in 895 when he witnesses the latter's (Claes Bang, Locked Down) treachery. He flees after hearing his uncle bay for his head, too, and seeing him carry off Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos) as a spoil of his victory. Two decades later, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård, Succession) is a hulking, wolfskin-clad Viking berserker, living life flinging whatever weaponry he can find while viciously pillaging through the lands of the Rus. But amid the bloodlust, gore and piling-up body count, the intense marauder is thrust back onto his vengeance-seeking path. A Slavic seeress (Björk, in her first film role since 2005) whispers stark truths about his current savagery and lapsed mission against Fjölnir, reigniting his yearning for that promised slaughter — and the single-minded behemoth learns that his uncle is now sheep-farming in Iceland, having lost the kingdom in another coup. Read our full review. ITHAKA To look at John Shipton is to see the obvious, even if you've never laid eyes upon him before. The family resemblance is immediately clear, and the traits that've likely been passed down from father to son — determination and persistence, blatantly — become apparent within minutes. Shipton needs to be resolute for the battle that documentary Ithaka captures. It's a fight that's been waged for a decade now, publicly, and not just in embassies and courtrooms but across news headlines worldwide. He's visibly Julian Assange's dad, and he's been helping spearhead the campaign for the WikiLeaks founder's release. Assange fell afoul of US authorities in 2010, when his non-profit whistleblower organisation published documents about the American military's war crimes leaked by army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. As Ithaka makes plain, The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel revealed the same information at the same time; however, only Assange now sits in London's Belmarsh prison. Plenty about the past 12 years since Manning's leaks were exposed to the world is filled with numbers. Plenty about the ten years this June since Assange first took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London is as well. The Australian editor and publisher spent almost seven years in that diplomatic space, seeking political asylum from sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden that he contended would be used to extradite him to America. If the US succeeds in its efforts, and in its espionage charges against him, he faces up to 175 years in incarceration. The list of figures goes on, but filmmaker Ben Lawrence (Hearts and Bones) makes two pivotal choices. Firstly, he surveys Assange's current struggle not through the Aussie himself, but through both Shipton and Stella Moris, his South African-born lawyer and now wife. Secondly, although those aforementioned numbers are inescapable, the riveting and affecting Ithaka brings humanity to this well-publicised plight. Moris herself sums up the movie's position best at the unveiling of a statue of Assange in Geneva. "I'm here to remind you that Julian isn't a name, he isn't a symbol; he's a man and he's suffering," she says. It's a reminder that Ithaka's audience might need, given how ubiquitous Assange's tale has become, including on-screen — in fellow docos We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks and Risk, and in dramas Underground: The Julian Assange Story and The Fifth Estate — and how polarising he has proven. Risk attempted to grapple with his contradictions, but Ithaka almost deems them irrelevant. Lawrence doesn't dismiss, excuse or pander; rather, he knows that Shipton and Moris' point remains regardless: that how Assange has been treated for receiving and publishing information is a human rights abuse, as well as an attack on the freedom of the press. That notion echoes again and again in Ithaka alongside its rousing soundtrack by Brian Eno, and with passion; to look at both Shipton and Moris is to see the fervour blazing tirelessly in their eyes, too. Making his second documentary after 2018's Ghosthunter, Lawrence fills the bulk of his naturalistically shot frames with the pair working against Assange's possible extradition, and for justice, with that avid gleam given ample opportunities to keep burning. Again, among the litany of opinions that he's evoked over the years, the idea that the Australian deserves life in prison for distributing Manning's intel to the world — or that anyone does — shouldn't have a place. Ithaka's allegiances are never in doubt, even without knowing that Assange's brother Gabriel Shipton is one of its producers, but giving time to the WikiLeaks creator's critics wouldn't and couldn't have changed its core position. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; February 3, February 10, February 17 and February 24; and March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31; and April 7 and April 14. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, The King's Man, Red Rocket, Scream, The 355, Gold, King Richard, Limbo, Spencer, Nightmare Alley, Belle, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Belfast, Here Out West, Jackass Forever, Benedetta, Drive My Car, Death on the Nile, C'mon C'mon, Flee, Uncharted, Quo Vadis, Aida?, Cyrano, Hive, Studio 666, The Batman, Blind Ambition, Bergman Island, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, The Souvenir: Part II, Dog, Anonymous Club, X, River, Nowhere Special, RRR, Morbius, The Duke and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance, Memoria, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Happening and The Good Boss.
It started back in 1956 as a singing contest between a mere seven nations. Now, more than six decades later, Eurovision is a glitter and spandex-fuelled global musical phenomenon. Forty-one countries not only in Europe but from elsewhere compete — hello Australia — and viewers tune in en masse each May to watch, sing along and add new pop tunes to their playlists. But with COVID-19 continuing to spread, the show won't go on in 2020 in Rotterdam as planned. With this year's event cancelled, that leaves a huge Europop-shaped hole in plenty of music fans' lives. Thankfully, while the live contest isn't happening, SBS is screening an alternative. Between Sunday, May 10–Sunday, May 17, the Aussie broadcaster is hosting a week-long Eurovision festival filled with new specials and repeat airings of the Eurovision grand finals from 2015–2019. It all kicks off with Road to Eurovision 2020 on Sunday, May 10, which is hosted by this year's hosts and was actually filmed in the Netherlands in December — and charts the journey towards this year's now-axed event. Then, between Monday, May 11–Friday, May 15, viewers can check out the contests that featured Australia's entrants so far — Guy Sebastian, Dani Im, Isaiah, Jessica Mauboy and Kate Miller-Heidke — with each grand final screening in full. Next, on Saturday, May 16, SBS is putting together a new special called Eurovision 2020: Big Night In. As well as watching along, Aussie Eurovision aficionados can take part. Viewers are asked to head to the SBS website before Sunday, May 3, check out all the songs and artists that would've competed if this year's contest went ahead, and then vote for your three favourites, with the results revealed on the night. SBS' usual local hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey will be overseeing the show, and this year's Australian entrant, Montaigne, will perform live as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-wWxu4974&feature=emb_logo Finally, on Sunday, May 17, it's time for Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light. All 41 of this year's songs will get their time to shine in a non-competitive format, with the special made in The Netherlands and hosted by Dutch Eurovision presenters Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit. SBS' week-long Eurovision festival will air from Sunday, May 10–Sunday, May 17 on SBS and SBS Viceland. For further details — or to vote for your favourite 2020 Eurovision acts for Eurovision 2020: Big Night In before Sunday, May 3 — head to the SBS website.
James Bond might famously prefer his martinis shaken, not stirred, but No Time to Die doesn't quite take that advice. While the enterprising spy hasn't changed his drink order, the latest film he's in — the 25th official feature in the franchise across six decades, and the fifth and last that'll star Daniel Craig — gives its regular ingredients both a mix and a jiggle. The action is dazzlingly choreographed, a menacing criminal has an evil scheme and the world is in peril, naturally. Still, there's more weight in Craig's performance, more emotion all round, and a greater willingness to contemplate the stakes and repercussions that come with Bond's globe-trotting, bed-hopping, villain-dispensing existence. There's also an eagerness to shake up parts of the character and Bond template that rarely get a nudge. Together, even following a 19-month pandemic delay, it all makes for a satisfying blockbuster cocktail. For Craig, the actor who first gave Bond a 21st-century flavour back in 2006's Casino Royale (something Pierce Brosnan couldn't manage in 2002's Die Another Day), No Time to Die also provides a fulfilling swansong. That wasn't assured; as much as he's made the tuxedo, gadgets and espionage intrigue his own, the Knives Out and Logan Lucky actor's tenure has charted a seesawing trajectory. His first stint in the role was stellar and franchise-redefining, but 2008's Quantum of Solace made it look like a one-off. Then Skyfall triumphed spectacularly in 2012, before Spectre proved all too standard in 2015. Ups and downs have long been part of this franchise, depending on who's in the suit, who's behind the lens, the era and how far the tone skews towards comedy — but at its best, Craig's run has felt like it's building new levels rather than traipsing through the same old framework. In No Time to Die, Bond does need to look backwards, though — to loves lost, choices made and lingering enemies. Before Billie Eilish's theme song echoes over eye-catching opening credits, the film fills its first scenes with the past, starting with returning psychiatrist Madeleine Swan's (Léa Seydoux, Kursk) links to new mask-wearing villain Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek, The Little Things). There's patience and visual poetry to these early minutes amid Norway's snowy climes, even while littered with violence. No Time to Die is a lengthy yet never slow feature, and Bond first-timer Cary Joji Fukunaga doesn't begin with the pace he means to continue; however, the director behind True Detective's stunning first season establishes a sense of meticulousness, an eye for detail and an inclination to let moments last — and a striking look — that serves him exceptionally moving forward. Back in post-Spectre times, Bond and Swan enjoy an Italian holiday that's cut short by bomb blasts, bridge shootouts and other attempts on 007's life — and Fukunaga is quickly two for two in the action camp. No Time to Die segues commandingly from slow-building and foreboding to fast, frenetic and breathtaking in its two big opening sequences, setting itself a high bar. At this point, the narrative hasn't even properly kicked into gear yet. That happens five years later, when Bond is alone and retired in Jamaica (in a nice nod to where author Ian Fleming wrote his Bond stories). His old CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright, Westworld) comes knocking, new politically appointed offsider Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen, The Many Saints of Newark) in tow, asking for the now ex-MI6 agent's help to foil the latest nefarious plan — involving a DNA-targeting virus fuelled by nanobots, of course — that's been hatched by terrorist organisation Spectre. No Time to Die has plenty of time for other magnificent action scenes, albeit fewer than might be expected; a lengthy list of characters, both new and recognisable; and the type of beats that allow Bond ruminate over his accumulated baggage, even when a few routine inclusions also pepper the script. Spectre, the film, gave 007 enough woes from the past — and actually making him grapple with it all, rather than merely throw fists, explode watches and unleash machine-gun fire from his Aston Martin's headlights as though he doesn't have a history, gives this follow-up palpable heft and resonance. In Craig's hands, Bond has become a person first and a suave action figure second. The character still falls into the second category, unsurprisingly, because that's still the gig. But in this iteration, the franchise has evolved past the kind of flicks that gave rise to Austin Powers, Johnny English and their fellow parodies — welcomely so. Indeed, the best sequence in the film takes a stock-standard Bond setup, gives it a firm update and offers Craig's Knives Out co-star Ana de Armas a killer introduction. There are no bikinis involved as per past series instalments, or double-entendre names. Instead, this team-up between Bond and fledgling CIA operative Paloma takes them to a Spectre party in Havana, lets her steal every second with devastating high kicks, fabulous timing and witty dialogue, and shows the fingerprints of Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge — one of No Time to Die's four co-screenwriters. Paloma definitely isn't a stereotypical 60s–90s-style Bond girl, either, and neither are Swan, Moneypenny (the returning Naomie Harris, The Third Day) and replacement 007 Nomi (Captain Marvel standout Lashana Lynch). Everyone is human here, not just Bond himself. In a cast anchored by Craig and his blend of gravitas, pathos, sensitivity, duty and calm, there's barely a weak link. As M and Q, Ralph Fiennes (The Dig) and Ben Whishaw (Little Joe) only pop up briefly, but leave an imprint. Malek isn't a Bond baddie for the ages, yet he makes a chilly demeanour go a long way and easily one-ups Christoph Waltz (Alita: Battle Angel). So much of what makes No Time to Die such a thrill stems from Fukunaga's perceptive choices, however — with ample help from Hans Zimmer's (Wonder Woman 1984) urgent and pulsating score, plus Linus Sandgren's (an Oscar-winner for La La Land) gorgeous globe-hopping cinematography and penchant for long takes (and one particular and glorious upside-down shot). Franchise familiarity bubbles away in the film's veins, expectedly, but Fukunaga knows what to shake, stir, change and challenge, and what makes a moving, ambitious and entertaining farewell.
You've seen Guy Grossi on TV. You might have some of his cookbooks on your shelves. When you've been in Melbourne, perhaps you've hit up Grossi Florentino, Ombra and Arlechin for a bite to eat. Brisbanites, your next way to interact with the star chef and his culinary creations is now here, and involves heading out in the River City — and getting transported to Italy over dinner while you're there. Meet Settimo, the new restaurant that's just settled into The Westin Brisbane, and Grossi's first in the city. When it was initially announced in 2022, Grossi likened it to Italian film icon Sophia Loren, calling it "really light, fun and breezy". Now, on Mary Street in the Brisbane CBD, diners can enjoy the experience for themselves. Settimo goes all in on its Italian theme, taking specific inspiration from the Amalfi Coast. That means pairing coastal Italian dishes with Brissie's sunny, summery weather, all in an airy 150-seat space that features light, warm yet muted hues. Designed by Mills Gorman Architects, Settimo nods to the Mediterranean as much as it can — including in split-face stone, terrazzo, custom-designed terracotta, handmade brick and timber touches. Expect pastel blues and lemon yellows, too, and handcrafted furniture galore. In both the main space and the 20-person custom-designed private dining room that goes heavy on natural light — complete with floor-to-ceiling windows, and views over this part of the CBD — the menu under Head Chef Alessandro Pizzolato serves up everything from breakfast cacio e pepe omelettes through to Amalfi lemon chicken. Other highlights: pasta dishes such as gnocchi alla sorrentina (with tomato and mozzarella di buffala) and pasta al limone (with lemon, butter and parmigiano), Guy's Papa's Lamb (slow-cooked lamb covered in breadcrumbs and paired with parmigiano and sage) and pepperoni imbottiti (aka stuffed peppers). There's also a $50 set lunch, plus $120 and $150 set-menu dinner options, if you'd prefer the venue to do the choosing for you. And for dessert, the range includes Settimo's own gelato, Grossi's tiramisu, and flourless chocolate cake with ricotta ice cream. As for the drinks lineup, it preferences Italian wines, and also Australian winemakers favouring Italian wine varieties.
Some films are made for the critics. Other films are made for the fans. But some films are made for a third audience: specifically, 13-year-old boys with mild-to-severe concussion. Transformers: The Last Knight falls into that latter category. Michael Bay's latest robot rumble is a two and a half hour special-effects fiasco in which so much happens. So much...and yet nothing at all. The film begins in the Dark Ages, with King Arthur and his knights facing imminent defeat at the hands of the Saxons until a Transformer helpfully intervenes and saves the day. Later, we learn that they also hung out with Da Vinci, inspired Tesla and turned the tide against the Nazis. In fact, there's so much revisionist Hasbro history going on in this movie you genuinely expect to learn Jesus didn't turn water into wine – he transformed it (cue robotic morphing sound effect). Transformers: The Last Knight is something of a paradox, in that it's simultaneously one of the dumbest and most needlessly complicated stories ever told. The short version is that there's a super-weapon hidden on Earth that everybody, both human and alien, is desperate to get their hands on. The longer version involves Merlin, British noble lineage, a Transformers deity, robot-hunting humans, robot-saving humans and, for some reason, John Turturro playing basketball in Havana. This is a film that assumes nobody outside of England knows London isn't a five minute drive from Oxford. It's a film that begins in Chicago, then has its characters commute – only minutes later – to a Native American reserve in the desert. And in that desert, there's a tiny one-street shanty town that inexplicably boasts a 20-storey hotel. It's a film that says things like "the object is growing three metres a day" then, just two lines later, "it's growing exponentially". It's a film where nobody bats an eyelid at an alien robot t-rex, but if you believe in the possibility of magic well then you're obviously a crazy person. Perhaps worst of all, it's a film that has Sir Anthony Hopkins deliver the line "what a bitchin' car she is!" Perhaps it's too much to expect that the fifth film in a franchise based on a children's toy line would offer anything more than the cinematic version of kids slamming their action figures together whilst yelling 'Blam! Ka-Pow! Pew Pew Pew!' And yet, the original Transformers found a way. Its characters had clearly defined motivations and its story was broadly comprehensible. By part five, however, the humans have been reduced to caricatures, while the Transformers exist only to destroy things and mumble the occasional rap lyric. As a showreel for the extraordinary capabilities of special effects departments, Transformers: The Last Knight is great. On every other front it's an abysmal waste of time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AntcyqJ6brc
There's nothing like a night at the movies with your lover. The lights are low, the smell of popcorn is in the air, a subtle yawn turns into a cuddle...those were the days. Today a cheap movie ticket usually means pushing through crowds and dealing with cinema floors that are about as clean as a Supre changing room. So if it's quality time you are after on a night out at the movies, your best bet may be to splurge on a meal nearby. We've narrowed down the top 10 pre- and post-film eats all within walking distance of movie theatres. Piaf Good things come in small packages, and if you are looking for a romantic, quaint, French experience at a reasonable price then this is the place to visit for dinner or a delicious dessert. Piaf's menu changes according to the lovely fresh local produce available but quality is always consistent. Try their strawberry mille feuille with vanilla anglaise and burnt caramel ice cream for a sweet treat. Where: 5/182 Grey Street Southbank; 07 3846 5026; www.piafbistro.com.auNearest cinema: Southbank Cinemas across the road La Via If you are looking for a tasty quick bite without lining up next to hormone-fuelled teenagers on a night out, La Via offers excellent wood fired pizzas to share in a cosy 'am I in Rome?' setting. The calabrese salami, green olives, buffalo mozzarella pizza and basil pizza is probably too good to share. Where: Shop 6e, Little Stanley St, Southbank; 07 3844 3460; www.lavia.com.auNearest cinema: Southbank Cinemas across the road Sugo Mi Downriver on the very chic Oxford St lives Sugo Mi (literally means Sauce Me) and after devouring their Prosciutto rustic style pizza you'll look like someone who has done just that. Good old Sugo Mi also offers takeaway if you want to get down and dirty at home. Where: 3/190 Oxford St, Bulimba; 07 3395 6327; www.sugomi.com.auNearest cinema: Balmoral cinemas nearby Peasant Peasant by name, noble by nature. Gorgeously decorated, this tapas establishment serves delicious Spanish and Portugese bites. Peasant also has a great outdoor area perfect for sharing a jug of their signature red wine sangria. Where: 3/5-61 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane; 07 3367 8066; www.peasant.com.auNearest cinema: Palace Barracks is a short walk away Mirasoul Mirasoul on Caxton St describes itself as more satisfying than a bar and less formal than a restaurant, and we couldn't agree more. Browsing through their extensive tapas and shared plate menu, it's clear that both variety and flavour feature here. Try their shared platter for two or if you want to fly solo, try the zucchini, mint and haloumi fritters with lemon cumin yoghurt. Where: 55 Caxton St, Brisbane; 07 3367 1333; www.mirasoul.com.auNearest cinema: Palace Barracks is a short walk away Byblos Believe it or not, this iconic Brisbane nightspot transforms itself into the perfect lunch spot by the portside, ideal for early movie-goers. We won't blame you for having a sneaky lunchtime cocktail either, as the staff at Byblos are as highly skilled as they are creative. Where: Portside Wharf, Hamilton; 07 3268 2223; www.byblosbar.com.au/brisbaneNearest cinema: Dendy Portside is a short walk away Gusto Di Gianni Also in the Portside precinct, Gusto di Gianni offers friendly wholesome italian food. For best value try the three course Roma or Milano menu; both allow you to sample regional flavours while still enabling you to slip into a lovely post-dinner food coma. Where: Portside Wharf, Remora Rd, Hamilton; 07 3868 2011; www.gustodagianni.comNearest cinema: Dendy Portside is a short walk away Vapiano Freshly made pasta and pizza in one of the most central locations in Brisbane, check. A bar that's not overpowered by a hideous pub rock covers band? Check. Vapiano is proof that you don't have to spend a fortune or compromise on a nice atmosphere for your post-flick feed. Where: 191 Albert St, Brisbane; 07 3221 4933; www.vapiano.com.auNearest cinema: The Myer Centre is right across from Vapiano Hanaichi Sushi Train A far cry from its food court $8 curry chicken specials, Hanaichi Sushi Bar in the Wintergarden offers fresh-in-your-face sushi and sashimi as well as generous hot dishes such as takoyaki and chicken. Where: Wintergarden, 171 Queen Street, Brisbane; 07 3229 4857; www.hanaichi.com.auNearest cinema: The Myer Centre is right across from Hanaichi Sushi Train
Guillermo del Toro hasn't yet directed a version of Frankenstein, except that he now has in a way. Officially, he's chosen another much-adapted, widely beloved story — one usually considered less dark — but there's no missing the similarities between the Nightmare Alley and The Shape of Water filmmaker's stop-motion Pinocchio and Mary Shelley's ever-influential horror masterpiece. Both carve out tales about creations made by grief-stricken men consumed by loss. Both see those tinkerers help give life to things that don't usually have it, gifting existence to the inanimate because they can't cope with mortality's reality. Both notch up the fallout when those central humans struggles with the results of their handiwork, even though all that the beings that spring from their efforts want is pure and simple love and acceptance. Del Toro's take on Pinocchio still has a talking cricket, a blue-hued source of magic and songs, too, but it clearly and definitely isn't a Disney movie. Instead, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is an enchanting iteration of a story that everyone knows, and that's graced screens so many times that this is the third flick in 2022 alone. Yes, the director's name is officially in the film's title. Yes, it's likely there to stop the movie getting confused with that array of other page-to-screen adaptations, all springing from Carlo Collodi's 19th-century Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. That said, even if the list of features about the timber puppet wasn't longer than said critter's nose when he's lying, del Toro would earn the possessory credit anyway. No matter which narrative he's unfurling — including this one about a boy fashioned out of pine (voiced by Gregory Mann, Victoria) by master woodcarver Geppetto (David Bradley, Catherine Called Birdy) after the death of his son — the Mexican Oscar-winner's distinctive fingerprints are always as welcomely apparent as his gothic-loving sensibilities. In del Toro's third release Down Under this year, following Nightmare Alley and horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities — something else that unswervingly deserved his name in the moniker — the Pinocchio basics are all accounted for. This isn't an ordinary edition of the story, though, or a wooden one (for that, see: the recent Mouse House live-action remake of its 1940 animated hit). Co-helming with feature first-timer Mark Gustafson, co-writing with Patrick McHale (Adventure Time), using character designs by author and illustrator Gris Grimly, and boasting The Jim Henson Company among its producers, this Pinocchio still takes liberties with the original plot, without being beholden to Disney as its guide. Two big leaps: using wartime Italy under Mussolini as the movie's setting, and reinterpreting what it truly means to be "a real boy". Also a visible departure: how Pinocchio himself looks, with his forest origins never sanded or polished away, or clothed over like a doll (or a flesh-and-blood child, for that matter). He cuts a rustic, thorny and whittled figure, complete with stick-thin legs, twisted nails protruding from his back, swinging joints and a branch-like nose with leaves snaking in all directions whenever he fails to tell the truth. No doubt aided by Gustafson's stop-motion background, including working as animation director on Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox, the end result looks so knotty, gnarled and textured that wanting to touch it is a natural reaction. Pinocchio's entire visuals do, as lensed by cinematographer Frank Passingham (Kubo and the Two Strings) — and as befitting a story that's inherently tactile anyway. (Being about a hand-carved puppet that comes alive will naturally do that.) Sebastian J Cricket narrates, putting Ewan McGregor's (Obi-Wan Kenobi) melodious voice to good use as the talkative insect, and starting the film's star-studded cast. He chats through Gepetto's bliss with Carlo (also voiced by Mann), the recklessly dropped World War One bomb that took the boy's life and the booze-fuelled desolation that festers during the woodcarver's decades of mourning. It's while drunk that the latter whips up Pinocchio, who is then visited by the Wood Sprite (Tilda Swinton, Three Thousand Years of Longing), and embraces the next morning walking, talking and being thoroughly mischievous. Alas, the puppet isn't quite embraced in return to begin with — with his shocked papa constantly comparing him to his lost boy, the village priest (Burn Gorman, The Offer) demanding he's sent to school and the local Podestà (Ron Perlman, Don't Look Up) seeing military uses, wanting to ship Pinocchio to war with his own son Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard, Stranger Things). Telling the curious, cheeky, chaotic and selfish timber tot what to do at all is a tricky task anyway, but he listens to one person: Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz, No Time to Die). The carnival master entices Pinocchio to his circus with help from his monkey sidekick Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett, Tár), promising treats and fun, but only really seeing lira and adoration for himself. Del Toro's choice of period gives not just this but the whole tale a grimmer spin, with never being afraid to confront history's horrors — and life's — even when getting fantastical always one of the director's great moves. As in The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, it works beautifully; Pinocchio is as tinged with personal and universal sorrow and violence as it is gleefully sprouting with eccentricities. (On the page, too, Collodi's creation has always been weirder and more wondrous than Disney gave it credit for, as the 2019 version by Gomorrah's Matteo Garrone also recognised.) Surreal, tinged with sadness, bittersweet, beautiful: that's the film that del Toro has chiseled. It's also caught between a stunning dream and a macabre nightmare, and oh-so-aware that life is only as remarkable and precious as it is because death casts a shadow over every moment for all of us. The usual moral flutters at its heart as well, like this movie's cricket inside Pinocchio's cavernous wooden chest, but the added darkness and pain gives the idea of becoming a genuine person through kindness, love and connection extra weight and depth. This iteration tinkers with the mechanics and meaning behind that 'real boy' quest, however, to utterly heartwarmingly results. In fact, the only less-than-glorious move del Toro makes in his Pinocchio-by-way-of-Frankenstein is keeping in songs — his movie is magical enough without them. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio screens in cinemas from Thursday, November 24, then streams via Netflix from Friday, December 9.
Swapping Saturday Night Live for an entertainment-parodying sitcom worked swimmingly for Tina Fey. Since 2019, it's also been going hilariously for Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. Not just former SNL writers but the veteran sketch comedy's ex-head writers, Kelly and Schneider have been giving the world their own 30 Rock with the sharp, smart and sidesplitting The Other Two. Their angle: focusing on the adult siblings of a Justin Bieber-style teen popstar who've always had their own showbiz aspirations — he's an actor, she was a ballerina — who then find themselves the overlooked children of a momager-turned-daytime television host as well. Cary (Drew Tarver, History of the World: Part II) and Brooke (Heléne York, Katy Keene) Dubek are happy for Chase (Case Walker, Monster High: The Movie). And when their mother Pat (Molly Shannon, I Love That for You) gets her own time in the spotlight, becoming Oprah-level famous, they're equally thrilled for her. But ChaseDreams, their little brother's stage name, has always been a constant reminder that their own ambitions keep being outshone — and in a first season that proved one of the best new shows of 2019, a second season in 2021 that was just as much of a delight and now a stellar third go-around that streams from Thursday, May 4 via Binge, they've never been above getting petty and messy about it. Back in that debut run, Kelly and Schneider made a simple but savvy choice: naming each instalment around whatever Chase was doing, whether he was getting a girlfriend or a nosebleed, turning 14 or dropping his first album. The series may be called The Other Two, but even the episode titles put Cary and Brooke to the side, fitting in an extra running joke about their brother coming first. Season two kept the trend going; however, it split most of its monikers between Chase and Pat as the latter's success eclipsed her son's. So, Pat connected with her fans, became number one in the daytime market and, with Chase, all-round killed it. Then a big realisation dropped, with Brooke's work as an entertainment manager — first to Chase, then to Pat — and Cary's thespian quest becoming just as much of an everyday reality. What's season three to do now that the titular other two aren't just hanging around with stars in their eyes and resentment in their hearts? The better question, as Kelly and Schneider know, is what will Cary and Brooke do? They've spent the past few years constantly comparing themselves to Chase, then to Pat, but now they're successful on their own — and still chaotic, and completely unable to change their engrained thinking. Forget the whole "the grass is always greener" adage. No matter if they're faking it or making it, nothing is ever perfectly verdant for this pair or anyone in their orbit. Still, as Brooke wonders whether her dream gig is trivial after living through a pandemic, she starts contemplating if she should be doing more meaningful work like her fashion designer-turned-nurse boyfriend Lance (Josh Segarra, The Big Door Prize). And with Cary's big breaks never quite panning out as planned, he gets envious of his fellow-actor BFF Curtis (Brandon Scott Jones, Ghosts). Striving, seeming like you're thriving but still diving: that's The Other Two's three-season arc. The series has always been as acerbic about getting to the top as yearning for it — Chase has never been all that fussed with his fame, including now that he's 18 — and it doesn't waver in its latest splash. Outlandish situations, grounded insights and emotions: that's The Other Two's realm, too. Pat is at the owning-her-own-network stage of Oprah-dom, but pines for the easy pleasures of a family dinner at Applebees that can only happen through movie magic. Brooke is so obsessed with doing something worthy that she can't see what her nearest and dearest are truly worth. And Cary is both unhappy in a relationship with a more-famous actor (Fin Argus, Queer as Folk) who never slips out character and desperate to do anything himself to stay relevant. Even more so in season three, The Other Two isn't afraid of getting existential, or dark. It's still as cutting about everything from social-media trends and celebrity fixations to ridiculous filler reality shows, however — and as gleefully absurd and surreal. One episode revolves around the quest to drive a photo of Chase's armpit across America because it's his first snap as an adult and it's that coveted. Another sees Brooke literally disappear at a glitzy party when she decides she's ditching the industry. And when Cary craves attention for his straight-to-streaming flick Night Nurse, which was back in action when season two ended and premiering when this season begins, he spends half a day on public transport to get to an interview with TheBrooklynBuritto.com. This time around, The Other Two also finds room for lengthy satires of Pleasantville, Romeo + Juliet, Love, Victor and Angels in America, all via gags that are as inspired as they are amusing. Wes Anderson's penchant for symmetry gets a delicious jibe, and Teen Wolf's Dylan O'Brien, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Kiernan Shipka, The White Lotus' Lukas Gage and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Simu Liu make game guest stars. The one-liners keep dropping with 30 Rock-esque speed, while the writing is as piercing and astute as Barry at its best. Reliably, Ken Marino and Wanda Sykes remain in vintage form as Chase's manager Streeter and record-label executive Shuli; thanks to Party Down and Curb Your Enthusiasm, both are veterans at skewering show business. Indeed, with York, Tarver, Shannon, Segarra and Jones as well, The Other Two has one of the best casts on TV. The funniest comedy on television deserves to. The show's stacked roster of talent is just as outstanding when season three gets dramatic, including when calling Cary and Brooke out on their egotism, having the ever-charming and -chill Lance get tired of being pushed aside and seeing Pat glean what all this chasing dreams has cost — always with just as much riotous laughs as feeling, of course. Check out the trailer for The Other Two's third season below: The Other Two streams via Binge from Thursday, May 4.
If you're the kind of beer lover who feels like they've tried every brew ever — or you've made it your mission to achieve that yeasty goal — then you're probably a big fan of the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular. For more than a decade now, since it started off as a Melbourne-only celebration of ales, lagers, ciders and more, the event has been serving up weird, wild, wonderful and inventive varieties, many of which are made exclusively for the booze-sipping shindig. In 2022, that's set to be the case once more, with the beer fest returning for a tour of Australia's east coast capitals in May. GABS is considered to be one of the best craft beer and cider festivals in the Asia Pacific region for good reason, and this year it has at least 120 of them, because that's how many brews will be on offer. Prepare to knock back beers inspired by breakfast foods, savoury snacks, desserts, cocktails and more when the event kicks off its 2022 run at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday, May 7, then heads to Sydney's ICC Darling Harbour from Friday, May 20–Saturday, May 21, then finishes up its Aussie dates at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, over the weekend of Friday, May 27–Sunday, May 29. Some of the foods and drinks that this year's GABS brews are taking their cues from: peanut butter, coffee, earl grey tea, chicken salt, pizza, fairy floss, bubblegum and sour gummi bears. Confirmed highlights include Brouhaha's Baked and Wasted, a sour which uses wasted baked goods; Capital Brewing Co's experimental Smooches, which pairs cocao nibs with a strawberry kick; Mismatch Brewing Co's We Love NY Cheesecake stout, in case you've ever wondered what cheesecake in a glass tastes like; and The Catchment Brewing Co's Ra Ra Raspoutine, another stout that, yes, is brewed from chips, cheese and gravy. The event surveys both Australian and New Zealand breweries, with more than 60 set to be pouring their wares in Brisbane, and 70-plus in Sydney and Melbourne. As well as the aforementioned outfits, this year they'll also include Balter, Range, Otherside, Black Hops, Ballistic, Your Mates, Mountain Culture, One Drop and Little Creatures, as well as Colonial, Mountain Goat and Bentspoke — and NZ's Garage Project and Panhead Custom Ale. Also on the bill: other types of tipples, including non-alcoholic beers, seltzers, whiskey, gin, cocktails and wines (including by 19 Crimes Snoop Dog Cali Red). GABS is known for dishing up a hefty lineup of activities to accompanying all that sipping, too, which'll span a silent disco, roaming bands, circus and sideshow performers, games and panels with industry leaders in 2022, as well as local food trucks and vendors to line your stomach. GREAT AUSTRALASIAN BEER SPECTAPULAR 2022 DATES: Saturday, May 7 — Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane Friday, May 20–Saturday, May 21 — ICC Darling Harbour, Sydney Friday, May 27–Sunday, May 29 — Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne GABS takes place across Australia's east coast throughout May — head to the event's website for tickets and further details.
After a stint in Heath Ledger's hometown, this stunning exhibition is making its way east to Canberra's National Film and Sound Archive. Celebrating the Perth-born actor's charisma, exemplary career and passionate creativity, Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures is a must-see for all Ledger fans. Put together by AGWA, the WA Museum and guest curator Allison Holland, the exhibition follows Ledger's career from his teenage years up to his final role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). You'll get to see costumes — including the Joker suit from The Dark Knight and the shirts he wore as Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain — alongside research journals (on display for the first time) that grant an insight into how Ledger developed his roles. Also included in the show are photographic portraits by the likes of Karin Catt and Bruce Weber, Ledger's Best Supporting Actor Oscar and BAFTA, and a chronological narrative of his career — including his own experimentation with image making and creative projects as a director. Promises to be a bittersweet reminder of just how talented Ledger was, and what even greater heights he would have gone on to achieve.
You know the feeling. You're heading out on a Friday night after a long week in the office. All you're after (at first) is a couple of crisp cocktails and time to unwind. But a flurry of mojitos quickly turns into a few too many so it's probably a good idea to put something in your belly. You need a venue with a menu as good as its drinks list. Here are ten of Brisbane's best spots to pair drinks with dinner. Esq Bookings are highly recommended for this delicious slice of Brisbane's bar and dining scene. The younger sibling of highly acclaimed Esquire (Brisbane's only three-hat restaurant) might be slightly more casual, but it's no less spectacular. The drinks are delicious and the menu favours fresh ingredients such as squid, cod or pork ribs, grilled over charcoal and served simply to highlight the quality of the produce. 145 Eagle Street, Brisbane; (07) 3220 2123; www.esquire.net.au Pony Another entry for Eagle Street comes in the shape of Pony. Settle in at the bar or grab a table to enjoy an innovative artisanal cocktail list (chilli coconut martini, anyone?) before a bite to eat. Depending on where you sit, you might even be able to scope out your dinner being prepared in the open plan kitchen. Eagle Street Pier, Eagle Street, Brisbane; (07) 3181 3400; www.ponydining.com.au Public If you like your after-work shenanigans a little bit fancy, then Public might be the place for you. Awarded a Chef's Hat and 'Best New Restaurant' in the 2012/2013 Australian Good Food Guide Awards, as well as 'Best Bar Food' at the 2013/2014 awards, Public has quickly become a favourite of many Brisbane foodies. Kick back at the bar with an expertly crafted cocktail or take a seat in the restaurant, where you can enjoy Public classics such as KFD (Kentucky Fried Duck) and Texas brisket with tortillas and chilli sauce. 400 George Street, Brisbane; (07) 3210 2288; www.lovepublic.com.au Riverbar Celebrity chef Matt Moran's second Brisbane venture has become a regular Friday evening watering hole for many of those who work nearby. With a droolworthy waterfront location, open plan fit-out and bar food available until 11pm, it's not hard to see why. Your evening snack options include snow crab sliders, lamb kofta, jamon croquettes and spicy lamb quesadilla pizza. 71 Eagle Street, Brisbane; (07) 3211 9020; www.riverbarandkitchen.com.au Verve With more ciders than you can shake a stick at and some of the best pasta in town, Verve is a shoe-in when it comes to drinks and dinner. Sneaking down those stairs into the basement dining room is the very best way to shake off a week's work and prepare for the weekend. Grab a perch at the bar and try one of more than 60 cider varieties, or find yourself a table and load up on dem carbs. We especially love the blue cheese and chicken risotto and the pork belly linguini. 109 Edward Street, Brisbane; (07) 3221 5691; www.vervecafe.com Cicada By day, Cicada caters to the breakfast and lunch seekers, but after 5pm it's a watering hole for the corporate crowd. An extensive drinks list caters to all your beverage-related needs, while the dinner menu offers tapas, mains and desserts that will line the stomach quite nicely. Cnr Adelaide and George Street, Brisbane; (07) 3211 2161; www.cicadagroup.com.au Malt You'll find Malt on Market Street in a slightly-hidden-but-not-really sort of location. Spread across three levels in the historic Wenley House, the polished wood, exposed brick and rustic feel will take you a million miles from your work day. Hungry? Order some nibbles from the bar menu or head up the stairs to The Attic restaurant. If you're after something a bit more exclusive, book out the private cellar dining room. 28 Market Street, Brisbane; (07) 3236 4855; www.maltdining.com.au Treasury Casino If choice is what you're after, then you can't do much better than the good old Treasury Casino. For the drinks part of the night, you can choose between cocktails at The Kitty, sports at the TAB Bar, tunes at the Livewire Bar or just some laid back beverages at Ryan's on the Park. When dinner time calls, there's Vietnamese fusion at Fat Noodle, modern Australian cuisine at The Lab Bar + Restaurant, or a bit of everything at Kitchen at Treasury (open 24 hours). Top of Queen Street Mall, Brisbane; (07) 3306 8888; www.treasurybrisbane.com.au Blackbird Blackbird may be new on the Brisbane bar scene, but it's already making a rather large splash. The million dollar views of the Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point are backed up by a '20s-inspired cocktail list (think 'Giggle Water' and 'The Jazzed Up Sidecar'), opulent interiors and restaurant serving a diverse menu including fresh seafood and wood-grilled meats. 123 Eagle Street, Brisbane; (07) 3229 1200; www.blackbirdbrisbane.com.au Rush During its decade-long tenure at the edge of Post Office Square, Rush has accumulated a steady stream of loyal regulars with its sophisticated yet relaxed style. On Fridays from 5pm you'll find the bar spilling out into the Post Office Square green, where you can kick back to live music as you wet your whistle. The restaurant menu features a range of salads, burgers, pizzas and mains that make great accompaniments to a Friday cocktail. 300 Queen Street, Brisbane; (07) 3211 9511; www.rushcbd.com.au Top image by Rosanne Gold.
UPDATE, December 23, 2021: The Sparks Brothers is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes, and will be available on Amazon Prime Video from January 1. "All I do now is dick around" is an exquisite song lyric and, in Sparks' 2006 single 'Dick Around', it's sung with the operatic enthusiasm it demands. It's also a line that resounds with both humour and truth when uttered by Russell Mael, who, with elder brother Ron, has been crafting art-pop ditties as irreverent and melodic as this wonderful track since 1969. Sparks haven't been dicking around over that lengthy period. They currently have 25 albums to their name, and they've taken on almost every genre of music there is in their highly acerbic fashion. That said, their tunes are clearly the biggest labour of love possible, especially as the enigmatic duo has always lingered outside the mainstream. They've had some chart success, including mid-70s hit 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us', Giorgio Moroder collaboration and disco standout 'The Number One Song in Heaven', and the supremely 80s 'Cool Places'. They're beloved by everyone from Beck and 'Weird Al' Yankovic to Jason Schwartzman and Mike Myers, too. They're the band that all your favourite bands, actors and comedians can't get enough of, but they're hardly a household name — and yet, decade after decade, the Maels have kept playing around to make the smart, hilarious and offbeat songs they obviously personally adore. Everyone else should love Sparks' idiosyncratic earworms as well — and, even for those who've never heard of the band before, that's the outcome after watching The Sparks Brothers. Edgar Wright, one of the group's unabashed super fans, has turned his overflowing affection into an exceptional documentary. It's the Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver director's first factual effort, and it's even more charming and delightful than the films he's best known for. That said, it'd be hard to mess up a movie about Sparks, purely given how much material there is to work with. Russell and Ron, the former sporting shaggier hair and the latter donning a pencil-thin moustache rather than the Charlie Chaplin-style top lip he's brandished for much of his career, are also heavenly interviewees. That's the thing about these now-septuagenarian siblings, every Sparks tune they've ever blasted out into the world, and this comprehensive yet always accessible film that's instantly one of 2021's best: they're all joyously, fabulously, eccentrically fun to an infectious and buoyant degree. There's a joke in this doco's title, in fact; when it came to naming the group after cycling through a few monikers across other projects, they firmly rejected The Sparks Brothers. That's one of the many anecdotes that fill Wright's film — some shared playfully and self-deprecatingly by the Maels, some offered by worshipping aficionados that join the entertaining love-in. There's no escaping the documentary's devoted tone, but again, that attitude is quickly contagious. As the movie steps through Sparks' ups and downs, taking the chronological approach and giving as much time to their lesser-known albums as their cult hits, being as enchanted as Wright just comes with the package. He does an exhaustive job of charting the ebbs, flows, jumps, swerves, successes, disappointments and reinventions that've littered his subjects' careers, even as he leaves viewers wanting even more detail in plenty of instances. Crucially for a feature about musicians that many watching will be unfamiliar with, Wright does just as stellar a job at conveying exactly why Sparks have always deserved far more fame and acclaim, why they're so completely and utterly beloved and obsessed over by everyone who comes across them, and why music, comedy and the intersection of the two will forever owe them a debt. The audience first meets Russell and Ron today, looking as hip and unconventional as they always have, before The Sparks Brothers jumps back to their Los Angeles childhood, their teen penchant for movies and then everything that's come since. They originally weren't certain if they'd become filmmakers instead — and there's a theatricality to the pair's songs, shows and sublimely off-kilter music videos that speaks to that cinematic fervour. Wright weaves in an abundance of Sparks' gigs and tunes, showcasing both their creativity and their presence. This is a movie with a killer soundtrack, obviously, and it also appreciates the artistry that goes into creating such clever, distinctive and amusing songs that are always one step ahead of the pack. One clear highlight: a live rendition of 'My Baby's Taking Me Home', a tune that repeats that phrase 100-plus times, doesn't include a single other word, and is an emotional tour de force. Another pivotal message: just how hard the Maels have always worked to do what they love, to make such musical pearls and to keep challenging themselves. In 2008, they did 21 shows in London in 21 nights, playing every one of their then 21 albums through in full, for instance. It's with inescapable melancholy that The Sparks Brothers is also an account of what didn't quite happen; watching it, it's almost impossible to grasp why they haven't been one of the biggest bands in the world for the last half-century. Their 1994 synth-pop track 'When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'', a hit in Germany at the time, manages to be both an anthemic smash and a commentary on what hadn't worked out for them; yes, as Russell's voice echoes and Ron's keyboard skills constantly strike a chord, that's how witty and humorous and just all-round magnificent their music is. 2021 is the year of Sparks, though. Every year since 1969 should've been, but The Sparks Brothers sings their praises with irresistible passion. And, it gives viewers a brief glimpse at their next big project, Annette — the musical that just opened the Cannes Film Festival, is directed by Holy Motors' Leos Carax, stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, and reportedly features the former crooning tunes while getting rather intimate with the latter. The world has always needed more Sparks on a bigger stage; now, to the benefit of everyone that's ever loved them and anyone just discovering them, it's stopped dicking around and is finally delivering.
Spending time with your loved ones, exchanging gifts with your nearest and dearest, enjoying hearty feasts and the boozy sips that go with them, decking the halls with boughs of holly, singing jolly carols: they're all tried-and-tested ways to celebrate the festive season. But sometimes, you just want to get tap, tap, tapping around a mini golf course, competing against your date, mates and/or family for putt-putt supremacy — and you want it to be Christmas-themed, too. Across the merriest part of 2022, the above situation is about to become a reality at Victoria Park's mini golf course. As it has done in previous years, the venue is giving its greens a temporary seasonal makeover, pairing swinging a club at a ball with plenty of festive cheer, decorations and sculptures. Head along from Friday, November 11–Tuesday, January 3, where you'll find bells, bows and twinkling lights. In past years, the course has also sported holly, giant candy canes, gingerbread houses, elves, toy soldiers and everything else festive that it can think of. Reindeers and Santa are usually involved, too, and different sections of the 18-hole site will be designed around ideas like Chrissy Down Under, Santa's mailroom and Christmas morning — plus there'll be a festive feast fairway, The North Pole and a 'deck the halls' hole. Find out whether you're naughty or nice at Christmas Putt Putt from 6am–10pm Sunday–Thursday and 6am–11pm Friday–Saturday — which means that you can stop by on your way to work, during your lunch break or after quittin' time as well. If you drop by post-6pm, you'll take to the green beneath Christmas lights, naturally.
For 22 years, BIGSOUND has highlighted Australia's music industry, getting power players sharing their experience and advice, championing up-and-coming talents, fostering crucial connections, and celebrating live tunes and the folks that make them happen in general. Here's a few other handy numbers for the music conference-slash-festival's upcoming 2023 run: four days, 18 venues, 141 artists and 300-plus showcases. Brisbanites and music obsessives, take note: the Sunshine State capital will be Australia's music haven between Tuesday, September 5–Friday, September 8. Earlier this year, BIGSOUND announced its first speakers, headlined ROC Nation's Omar Grant — who was once the road manager for Destiny's Child and now shares the President role at Jay-Z's entertainment agency. Now, it has dropped the full list of musicians that'll be getting behind a microphone. More than 1300 applications to hit BIGSOUND's stages were received for the 2023 event, but it's the festival team's job to whittle them down to the standouts. Among those making the bill: Brisbane's own Full Flower Moon Band, Zheani, Felivand and Baby Prince; Sydney's Moss and Little Green; Melbourne's PANIA, Moaning Lisa and The Slingers; Perth's DICE and Siobhan Cotchin; and Adelaide's Aleksiah and The Empty Threats. From New Zealand comes Reb Fountain and SWIDT, while Casey Mowry and MF Tomlinson are heading to Queensland from the UK. [caption id="attachment_861894" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lachlan Douglas[/caption] The list goes on, complete with a significant focus on representation. Among 2023's talents, 27 percent identify as LGBTQIA+, 50 percent are female or gender non-conforming, and First Nations acts comprise 18 percent of the lineup. Indeed, 27 showcases will be devoted to Australia's Indigenous artists, including Miss Kaninna, Loren Ryan, Brady, The Merindas, J-MILLA, CLOE TERARE, Tjaka and Kobie Dee. Fancy checking out the most isolated heavy metal band in the world? That'd be Southeast Desert Metal, and they're also on the roster. [caption id="attachment_907800" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Simone Gorman-Clark[/caption] Top image: Jess Gleeson.
Ever since Freddie Mercury teamed up with Brian May and company back in the 70s, Queen has never been out of fashion. And, thanks to Bohemian Rhapsody and the band's current members touring Down Under, the UK group has been grabbing plenty of attention again in recent years. You could call it a kind of magic. You could say that their songs must go on. Either way, if you're happy to let the British band keep rocking you, then you'll want to catch London's Queen by Candlelight when it debuts in Australia. While Queen tribute nights aren't rare — and neither are ones lit by flickering flames — this is the OG West End production, which features a live rock band and a cast of singers from London busting out the group's famous tracks. Been feeling a crazy little thing called love for Freddie and his bandmates? Then you'll clearly be in the right spot, with Queen by Candlelight playing Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in February. If your approach to the group's music is "I want it all!", that's what you'll hear. For one night per city, the event will break free so that Queen lovers can celebrate with their fellow champions. The aim: to make you feel like you're hearing the real thing, in venues glowing with candles. In the UK, the gigs — which feature more than 20 Queen tracks — have proven sellouts. Also part of the same tour are Meatloaf by Candlelight shows, busting out the late singer's tunes — if you'd do anything for that. They'll feature the same kind of setup, but with Australia's Simon Gordon, who hits the stage after playing Strat in the Meatloaf-inspired musical Bat Out of Hell on West End and internationally. In all cities, the Queen shows play one night and the Meatloaf gigs run either one or two evenings later. QUEEN BY CANDLELIGHT AND MEATLOAF BY CANDLELIGHT 2023 AUSTRALIAN TOUR: Wednesday, February 1 (Queen) and Thursday, February 2 (Meatloaf) — Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane Sunday, February 5 (Queen) and Monday, February 6 (Meatloaf) — Darling Harbour Theatre, Sydney Wednesday, February 8 (Queen) and Thursday, February 9 (Meatloaf) — Royal Theatre, Canberra Monday, February 13 (Queen) and Wednesday, February 15 (Meatloaf) — Melbourne Town Hall and Melbourne Palais, Melbourne Friday, February 17 (Queen) and Saturday, February 18 (Meatloaf) — Festival Theatre, Adelaide Tuesday, February 21 (Queen) and Thursday, February 23 (Meatloaf) — Perth Concert Hall, Perth The Queen and Meatloaf by Candlelight shows are touring Australia in February 2023. For more information and tickets, head to the tour's website.
With Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola brought everyone's secret desire to the big screen. Who hasn't wished they could roam around Tokyo with Bill Murray, sing karaoke with him, hang out in the ultra luxurious Park Hyatt Tokyo's sky-high bar with him and just generally call upon him for advice? Now, with On the Rocks, the writer/director is giving viewers a new dream. Here, Bill Murray plays a larger-than-life playboy who is still a caring dad, and who moseys around New York helping his daughter discover whether her husband is being unfaithful. Yes, swap cities and exchange Scarlett Johansson for Parks and Recreation's Rashida Jones, and On the Rocks seems to take a few cues from Lost in Translation — but the latter was such a delight, no one is going to mind. Based on the just-dropped first trailer for the Apple TV+ film, however, the mood this time around is a little less melancholy, with On the Rocks serving up a father-daughter comedy about generational differences and complicated modern families. The full setup: Laura (Jones) initially doesn't really think twice when her other half, Dean (Marlon Wayans), suddenly starts working late more often. Soon though — and after her dad Felix's (Murray) not-so-comforting words of wisdom — she begins to wonder if Dean is cheating. That suspicion demands investigating, Felix decides, which sparks an offbeat adventure around NYC, and will also clearly help the pair work through their own complex relationship. Coppola's seventh feature, On the Rocks is also her first since 2017's The Beguiled won her the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival — where she became only the second woman to win the prize. And, it's her latest excuse to team up with Murray, with the pair last working together on 2015 Netflix special A Very Murray Christmas. Also familiar in On the Rocks' trailer: the sounds of Phoenix, who provide the movie's music. The French band have also been involved in Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, Somewhere, The Bling Ring and The Beguiled in some shape or form, too — frontman Thomas Mars is Coppola's husband, after all. Check out the trailer for On the Rocks below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn3sK4WiviA&feature=youtu.be&goal=0_745cb9c02a-6077870a17-84180621&mc_cid=6077870a17&mc_eid=30ab429929 On the Rocks hits Apple TV+ in October — we'll update you when a specific release date is announced.
