What did a negroni taste like in the 70s? That's one of the questions that Stan's, the lounge bar at Howard Smith Wharves, answers. Here's another: does Cantonese restaurant Stanley need a Hong Kong-inspired watering hole that combines XO sand crab cigars, lobster and truffle dumplings, design-your-own martinis, DJ-spun tunes and a late-night dance floor, all on its second level? The answer to the latter is a hearty yes. A night out at at one of Brisbane's top eateries now doesn't have to start or end with dinner. An evening at Stanley can expand beyond your meal without leaving the premises, in fact. While there's no change to the restaurant's operations downstairs in its heritage-listed 1930s-era former water police building by the river, the upstairs space relaunched in October 2024 — which is where Stan's comes in. As a result, one of the city's best places to eat has become one of Brissie's must-visit places for a drink as well. So, when you're not tucking into a feast of dishes on the ground level — including yum cha daily for lunch — you'll want to head up a floor for beverages over snacks in a newly transformed part of the site. At Stan's, the vibe and the decor take inspiration from Hong Kong — and the idea is to mix old-world touches with modern flourishes as well. Think: jewel-hued furnishings and decor, such as rich red seating and velvet curtains in emerald tones; dark and moody lighting; antique mirrored wall panels, including the back bar; timber aplenty as accents; hand-painted mural walls across the private lounge; and aged brass cocktail tables to sit at. This is also a place to make shapes or simply enjoy the DJ's music picks, thanks to a vintage JBL sound system. The promise for the tunes: extensive and eclectic. The bar has folks on the decks most evenings, and is also hosting album listening sessions in the middle of the week. Turning the space into a late-night dance floor is encouraged. Naturally, cocktails feature prominently on the beverage list — and the approach here is classic-meets-new, too. Martinis and daiquiris are highlights, with the signature martini menu letting patrons pic their gins or vodkas, bitters and extracts to taste. If you're just after spirits and you have some cash to splash, a collection of vintage tipples from around the world, some dating from as far back as the 60s, is also a drawcard. You'll find the range of rare drops on display in a custom-built cabinet, and those 70s-style concoctions as well. Stanley Executive Chef Louis Tikaram isn't just focusing on the main restaurant downstairs now that Stan's is up and running. He's whipped up a new range of Cantonese bites just for the upper floor, designed to match the beverages. Options span steamed lobster and truffle dumplings, rolled peking duck pancakes, rock lobster buns, painted tropical crayfish, fried prawn toast and more, ensuring the venue's luxe vibes come through in its food offering.
Now's the time to rug up at home, so it's a good thing Hommey is just about to launch a winter sale. Known for its cosy organic cotton products — think bedding, robes, pyjamas and more —this range that looks as good as it feels might just have you staying in all season long. Featuring 30 percent off bundles and 20 percent off everything else, you can get in early to this Hommey sale on Thursday, May 14, if you're signed up to the brand's mailing list. If not, the sale goes live to the public, both online and in-store, on Monday, May 18. Keen to stock up? The sale includes Hommey's viral robes, crafted from 100 percent organic cotton and offering a soft but substantial touch. Available in a unisex fit with an adjustable waist tie, you can score one for $103, down from $129. This sale is also stellar for giving your bedding a seasonal sprucing. Hommey's four-piece bedding bundles are up for grabs from $256, originally priced at $366. And for extra comfort under the sheets, new-release pyjamas are priced at $158 for the set, down from the usual $198.
Australia's drinks shelf has rarely looked more interesting. The country's independent distillers, brewers and small-batch beverage makers are leaning into native botanicals, regional terroir and properly considered takes on the ready-to-drink format — and the run of releases coming out of Roma, Broome, Darwin, Beechworth, the Bellarine and the Bass Strait make a strong case for skipping the imported aisle altogether. This edit rounds up fourteen recent standouts from producers across the country, spanning native-driven gins, locally led rum and whisky, agave from the Bellarine Peninsula, a barrel-aged Brisbane Oude Bruin and a smarter wave of cans built for autumn afternoons, long lunches and everything in between. Planning where to drink rather than what to pour? Explore our guide to the best new venues to visit in Melbourne and Sydney right now. Paloma Cans, Papa Salt Co-founded by Margot Robbie and built around native botanicals like wattleseed, hibiscus and a hint of salt, Papa Salt's new Palomas pair the gin with Capi grapefruit soda. Dry, bitter and properly Mediterranean — a 5 percent ABV can that lifts well above the usual RTD shelf. Shop now. Mango Vodka Iced Tea, Subtle Tea Brewed in Victoria using real loose-leaf tea, real fruit and locally distilled vodka, Subtle Tea's Mango pour leans on real mango nectar and a light sparkle for balance. Juicy without being sweet, smooth without being heavy — and the most fruit-forward in the small-batch range. Shop now. Half & Half Raspberry, Doozy Co-created with Sydney Swans players Will and Harry Hayward, Ollie Florent and Isaac Heeney, Doozy's Half & Half is exactly that — half vodka iced tea, half lemonade. The raspberry version delivers nostalgic raspberry-lemonade lift at a sessionable 4.5 percent ABV. Shop now. Vodka Pash Pine Crush, Matso's Born from Australia's most remote brewery in Broome, Matso's Pash Pine Crush is a tropical riff on their original Vodka Lemon Lime — premium vodka shaken through real passionfruit and pineapple at 4.5 percent. Sweet, bold and built for a humid afternoon, gluten-free and vegan-friendly. Shop now. Creamy Raspberry Vodka Cans, Billson's Beechworth's Billson's has been making cordials, brews and tonics since 1865, and Creamy Raspberry is the most unapologetically retro of their vodka range. Think raspberry cream soda — milk-bar version — at a low-key 3.5 percent ABV. Shop now. Vodka + Electrolytes, Neu Australian-made and independently owned, Neu blends premium vodka with electrolytes and natural ingredients in a no-bubbles 330ml can. At 99 calories with low sugar, it's pitched at the crowd that runs at sunrise and parties at sunset — and lands properly different in a samey RTD category. Shop now. Amber Plum Cola, Felons Brewing Co Brisbane brewery Felons is behind some of Queensland's most experimental barrel work, and Amber Plum Cola is their take on the Belgian Oude Bruin style. Aged 22 months across ex-red wine, ex-Starward whiskey and ex-lager American oak, with stewed plum, raisin and vanilla over a clean, lip-puckering tartness. Shop now. Pure Mid-Strength Vodka, Enough Built on a specific premise — full-flavoured spirits at half the alcohol content — Noosa-based Enough makes its Pure Mid-Strength Vodka entirely from Australian wheat. Clean on the nose with a soft white-sugar sweetness, it's a useful bottle for moderating without dropping to alcohol-free. Shop now. Vodka, Speargrass Distillery Distilled in a copper column and filtered through what the maker calls a magnetic mineral vortex, Speargrass is Darwin's craft vodka outfit, and the bottle tastes like its Top End provenance — clean, slightly sweet on the finish, with a subtle citrus lift. Picked up gold at the 2025 Tasting Australia Spirit Awards. Shop now. Signature Agave Spirit, Bellarine Spirits South Geelong distillery Bellarine Spirits was founded by former professional tennis player Glenn McColl, and their Signature Agave Spirit took home gold and the title of World's Best Tequila/Agave Liqueur at the 2025 World Distillery Awards. A reason to rethink which part of the world makes the most interesting agave. Shop now. Native Dry Gin, The Outback Distilling Co Launched out of Roma — 480 kilometres west of Brisbane — Outback Distilling Co builds its Native Dry Gin around prickly pear, roasted wattleseed, native lemongrass, desert lime and lilly pilly. Semi-sweet through the mid-palate with a nutty, chocolate-edged finish. Shop now. Gidley Pinot Noir Gin, King Island Distillery From the Bass Strait outfit behind some of Tasmania's most considered gin work, Gidley Pinot Noir Gin steeps the classic Gidley Dry Gin with 2025-vintage Pinot Noir grapes from Beautiful Isle Wines. Jewelled ruby in the glass, with raspberry, rosemary, blackcurrant and green cardamom — 97 points at the Halliday Spirit Awards. Shop now. Native Spiced Rum, Great Australian Rum Co Great Australian Rum Co's Native Spiced takes a properly local angle on the spiced rum category, infusing Australian rum with native botanicals for a 40 percent pour with depth. Vanilla and caramel on top, native spice tones underneath — easy to mix, considered enough to sip neat. Shop now. Tamarind Whisky, Seven Seasons Founded by Larrakia man and former AFL player Daniel Motlop, Seven Seasons works with native botanicals wild-harvested or sustainably sourced from Indigenous communities. Their Tamarind Whisky has been matured for four years and built around tamarind picked by Aboriginal harvesters — tangy, sweet, and like nothing else on the whisky shelf. Shop now. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence our recommendations, but they may earn us a small commission. For more information, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground Newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox.
With a classy gastropub vibe, a seasonal menu and two gorgeous beer gardens, the Pig 'N' Whistle on Brunswick Street offers a charming bit o' British — a world apart from the high-octane Valley nightlife. Equidistant between Brisbane's entertainment hubs of Fortitude Valley and the Powerhouse, this friendly venue draws in pre-show crowds and New Farm locals alike. The stylish exposed-brick and timber decor of the heritage-listed building creates a trendy, inviting ambience. Hanging lights drip over plank tables and greenery of the beer garden, and it's the perfect venue for regular live music. Pig 'N' Whistle dishes up British classics as well as contemporary Australian meals and traditional Italian pizzas. It's accompanied by a prodigious list of Australian and New Zealand wines, as well as cocktails and local and imported beers. Starters include mushroom arancini balls, snapper and prawn spring rolls and crispy chicken bites, while mains include a range of burgers including a delicious broaden falafel burger with avocado and tomato relish. From the grill, enjoy a 300-gram sirloin with chips and pepper sauce, while a range of pizzas offers up the classics as well as meat lovers with salami, prosciutto, cacciatore and olives. This spot, and the several other Pig 'N' Whistle locations in Brisbane, are also well-known haunts for watching some live sport. And unlike most bars that play matches silently in the background, the volume is turned right up here. You won't miss a thing when watching a game at the Pig 'N' Whistle. Top images: Grace Smith.
The sandstone building on the corner of George and Elizabeth streets has been home to many things over the years, including Queensland's first radio station, government departments, offices, cafes and a bank. These days, it's the site of one of Brisbane's hottest places to eat, drink and hang out. Patrons will need to head down to the basement of the heritage-listed art deco building to find Boom Boom Room. Chinese diner Donna Chang lies above it. The duo are ventures from the Ghanem Group — the folks behind Blackbird Bar & Grill on Eagle Street, Byblos Bar & Restaurant at Portside and Bisou Bisou in the valley. Boom Boom Room launched as a Japanese restaurant and bar in 2020, but the group switched gears in February — the underground supper club is now serving up an Asian street food-inspired menu. Executive Chef Jake Nicolson and Head Chef Lyndon Tyers draw on their travels through Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia to produce the ultimate fusion plates. Bites like lobster siu mai with ginger and lemongrass broth pour-overs sit alongside rendang beef curry and a nuoc cham-glazed BBQ barramundi. Boom Boom Room regulars will be pleased to know that the crowd-favourite yakitori remains on the menu. The cultural mash-up continues with dessert and drinks: think matcha affogatos with Vietnamese coffee gelato, a passionfruit rum concoction infused with five-spice, and a whiskey-and-banana-liquer-spiked mix with caramel miso. A pair of $79 banquets (one of them vegan) is on hand for the indecisive. Decked out in rich reds, blues and black, Boom Boom Room leans into its decadent bunker-like surrounds. Old bank vaults are transformed into private rooms, while the bars sit underneath arched corridors with plenty of booth seating. Burlesque shows and live soul and jazz performances tend to dominate the early evenings, while Thursdays are dedicated to vinyl sessions. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox.
We know that ambience is what makes or breaks a good swim. After all, being immersed in water is one of the most sensory experiences a human can have – it can soothe, excite, intimidate, challenge and even transcend. A well-designed swimming pool is all part of this encounter as our bodies relinquish control to what we see, hear and feel. If you're thinking of your local 25-metre community pool — don't . There are some incredibly designed, amazingly functional and just downright beautiful pools out there, designed by architects with sustainability, accessibility and even Feng Shui in mind. Whether you're a serious swimmer, design enthusiast, or just a general lover of good aesthetics, these are ten of the best architecturally designed public swimming pools in the world. So pack your one-piece and your goggles, and add these blue beauties to your next overseas itinerary. [caption id="attachment_557381" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Slangen + Koenis Architecten[/caption] 'DE HEUVELRAND' VOORTHUIZEN SWIMMING POOL — VOORTHUIZEN, NETHERLANDS In Voorthuizen, a slopping roofline of blond timber provides the ideal vista for your backstroke. Built as a new facility in an area of development, the building has been designed by Slangen + Koenis Architecten as one large stone block with masses cut out of it — those masses complementing the function and orientation of the pool itself. This bright, neutral interior brings simplicity to slugging laps and, importantly, allows for the pool to be overseen by one employee. Built on a landscaped lawn and surrounded by a forest, you can be assured that swimmers' lungs breathe easy here. [caption id="attachment_557386" align="alignnone" width="1280"] MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects[/caption] REGENT PARK AQUATIC CENTRE — TORONTO, CANADA The revitalisation of Regent Park Aquatic Centre goes hand-in-hand with the transitional community in which it is located. Designed as a local meeting place for many of the area's socially marginalised and migrant communities, this 'Pavilion in the Park' brings an existing outdoor pool indoors for a variety of purposes. The facility's design — done by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects — reflects this appropriately in a number of ways; the aquatics hall provides spaces for cultural groups interested in private swimming, whilst also being the first facility in Canada to employ the use of universal change rooms which no longer separate males and females. Instead, private change cubicles in common change rooms are used to address cultural and gender identity issues and to enhance safety. [caption id="attachment_557393" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Zaha Hadid Architects[/caption] LONDON AQUATICS CENTRE — LONDON, ENGLAND Built by Zaha Hadid Architects for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the naked eye may see a mass of concrete and water at the London Aquatic Centre. Considering the space a bit more closely though, its architectural conception lives in the fluidity of water in motion and the riverside landscapes surrounding Olympic Park. It's an example of what great design can do on a large scale. Created to accommodate over 17,000 spectators, the billowing roof sweeps from the ground upwards to swathe three different pools, but also remains distinctly relevant to the needs of the public in its 'legacy' use after the Olympics. [caption id="attachment_557396" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Camillo Botticini Architect[/caption] CENTRO NATATORIO MOMPIANO — BRESCIA, ITALY Built to reflect its urban environment, this pool is unadorned and pretty much all you need to live out your days of serene swimming. Compact brown clinker bricks cut harsh lines across the horizon to make this facility seem more of an art gallery than anywhere where you'd work up a sweat — and that's perfectly alright with us. The outside also makes its way into the facility's heart, where the bricks continue their precision to render the pool spaces light and effortless. Designed by Camillo Botticini Architect, together with Francesco Craca, Arianna Foresti and Nicola Martinoli, it's great example of how pure functionality can shine without even coming close to boring or bland. [caption id="attachment_557401" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Urbane Kultur[/caption] PISCINE TOURNESOL — STRASBOURG, FRANCE The recent refurbishment (by French architects, Urbane Kultur) of this decades-old pool has brought Lingolsheim, just outside of Strasbourg, into the modern day. Airy and full of natural light, this modish design isn't too far off feeling like it's from the future; the spaceship-like complex is one of over 183 dome-shaped swimming pools built by the French government during the 1980s to encourage more citizens to swim. The dome has been constructed with a self-supporting frame so the inside of the tournesol — that's 'sunflower' in French — is column-free inside. Also inspired by the way sunflowers angle themselves towards the sun, sliding panels within the building allow the structure to be opened during summer. [caption id="attachment_508411" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Neeson Murcutt Architects[/caption] PRINCE ALFRED PARK POOL — SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Perhaps the most accessible swimming pool on this list, a visit to Prince Alfred Park Pool should be mandatory for every visitor to (or resident of) Sydney. Designed by Neeson Murcutt Architects as part of the invigoration of Redfern's Prince Alfred Park in 2013, a swim here invites immediate invocation of a long, hot Australian summer at the pool. Built cleverly amongst a 'folded landscape' of native grasses to both protect the green space of this inner urban area and provide swimmers with some protection, the facility is, at once, confined and imposing. Yellow umbrellas and palm trees make this architectural space a little less serious than most, but no less impressive. [caption id="attachment_557409" align="alignnone" width="1280"] DRD Architecture[/caption] AQUATIC CENTRE LOUVIERS — LOUVIERS, FRANCE One for pastel lovers, the aquatic centre at Louviers in France is nothing short of a sorbet dream. Situated amongst landscaped waterways, as well as being nestled against a downtown railway and highway, DRD Architecture decided to draw inspiration from the linear structures of the environment when planning the identity of this project. And it shows. The insides of the facility transmit a fluidity of volume — in lines and in water — to its outdoor spaces, whilst the flux of visitors to centre contribute to this transience. Built in consideration of natural light, energy saving and minimal impact on the environment, Aquatic Centre Louviers is one swimming pool designed for the ages. [caption id="attachment_557415" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Herzog & de Meuron[/caption] NATURBAD RIEHEN — RIEHEN, SWITZERLAND Switzerland is known for its awe-inspiring landscapes, so it makes sense that nature would be front of mind for any architect working alongside the outdoors. Years of unrealised proposals for conventional swimming pools in the town of Riehen finally gave way to the natural approach: a biologically filtered bathing lake. Visitors swim in a naturally filtered lake that is kept clean using aqua plants and layers of soil, sand and gravel, delivering an experience that is free of chlorine and traditional machinery. Whilst the bath — designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron — contributes to the rise in popularity of natural swimming pools across Europe, it also pays homage to the traditional riverside baths of older generations. LEÇA SWIMMING POOLS — LEÇA DE PALMEIRA, PORTUGAL Built in 1966 by renowned Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza, the swimming pools at Leça are today internationally recognised. Graceful and beautiful in its aging, the facility is lowered into the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean and provides visitors with a wonderful blur between the natural and manmade. Ocean sounds bounce off the natural stone walls as visitors walk through the sloping entry point, where they are then met with swimming pools built amongst the coastline's natural rock formations. In almost all instances the water level of the pool and ocean appear to be equal, connecting the swimmer with the expanse of their surrounds. [caption id="attachment_557433" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Mikou Studio[/caption] AQUAZENA — PARIS, FRANCE Designed by Mikou Studio for the City of Issy-les-Moulineaux southwest of Paris last year, this is definitely not your ordinary public swimming pool. Whilst smooth concrete walls, rounded windows and doorways with similar curved edges exude a late 1970s feeling, Feng Shui specialist Laurence Dujardin has also contributed to the calm, minimal aesthetic, resulting in a facility that uses the traditions of Chinese space-planning to create a naturally lit, uncluttered and fluid space. In particular, skylights allow daylight to filter through the swimming area, whilst a grassy rooftop solarium sits above. The external walls of the facility also feature undulating wooden slats to reflect the circular movements of water, movement and energy. Top image: AquaZena by Mikou Studio.
If you're a film and TV obsessive, how do you know that a new year has kicked off? Hollywood starts handing out awards. Tinseltown loves starting off the annual calendar by looking backwards, giving away trophies and having parties, with the Golden Globes 2025's first ceremony to celebrate on-screen achievements from the past 12 months — in cinemas and on television. 2025's accolades, rewarding 2024's big- and small-screen fare, took place on Monday, January 6 Australian time. Accordingly, there's now a brand-new batch of Golden Globes recipients for viewers to watch — or rewatch. Some, like The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, haven't made their way Down Under just yet (they each arrive later in January), but plenty of others are ready and waiting for audiences to catch ASAP. Haven't seen Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Kieran Culkin (Succession) play bickering cousins yet? Keen to relive every thrilling, heartbreaking and tense moment of Shogun? Fancy watching Baby Reindeer on your iPhon iPhone? Need a reason to shout "yes chef!". Feel like defying gravity? Eager for a dose of The Substance? They're just some of the 11 movies and TV shows that you can make a date with right now. (Wondering what else won, too? Read through the full list as well.) Movie Must-Sees A Real Pain He didn't feature on-screen in his first film as a writer/director, but 2022's When You Finish Saving the World couldn't have sprung from anyone but Jesse Eisenberg. Neither could've 2024's A Real Pain. In the latter, the Fleishman Is in Trouble actor plays the anxious part, and literally. He's David Kaplan, with his character a bundle of nerves about and during his trip to Poland with his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin, Succession) — a pilgrimage that they're making in honour of their grandmother, who survived the Second World War, started a new life for their family in the US in the process and has recently passed away. David is highly strung anyway, though. One source of his woes: the ease with which Benji seems to move through his days, whether he's making new friends in their tour group within seconds of being introduced or securing a stash of weed for the journey. With A Real Pain as with When You Finish Saving the World, Eisenberg is shrewdly and committedly examining an inescapable question: what is real pain, and who feels it? Are David's always-evident neuroses more worthy of worry than the despondency that Benji shuttles behind his carefree facade, and is it okay for either to feel the way they do, with their comfortable lives otherwise, in the shadow of such horrors such as the Holocaust? As a filmmaker, Eisenberg keeps interrogating what he knows: A Real Pain's main train of thought, which was When You Finish Saving the World's as well, is one that he ponders himself. Although he's not penning and helming strictly autobiographical movies, his latest does crib some details from reality, swapping out an IRL aunt for a fictional grandmother, as well as a trip that Eisenberg took with his wife for a cousins' act of tribute. It's no wonder, then, that he keeps crafting deeply felt features that resound with raw emotion, and that leave viewers feeling like they could walk right into them. With A Real Pain, he also turns in a stellar performance of his own and directs another from Culkin, who steps into Benji's shoes like he wears them himself everyday (and takes on a part that his director originally had earmarked for himself). Thrumming at the heart of the dramedy, and in its two main players, is a notion that demands facing head-on, too: that experiencing our own pain, whether big or small, world-shattering or seemingly trivial, or personal or existential, is never a minor matter. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Kieran Culkin). Where to watch it: A Real Pain is screening in cinemas Down Under. Read our interview with Jesse Eisenberg. The Substance If you suddenly looked like society's ideal, how would it change your life? The Substance asks this. In a completely different way, so does fellow Golden Globe-winner A Different Man (see: below), too — but when Revenge's Coralie Fargeat is leading the charge on her long-awaited sophomore feature and earning Cannes' Best Screenplay Award for her troubles, the result is a new body-horror masterpiece. Pump it up: the sci-fi concept; the stunning command of sound, vision and tone; the savagery and smarts; the gonzo willingness to keep pushing and parodying; the gore (and there's gore); and the career-reviving performance from Demi Moore (Landman). The Substance's star has popped up in Feud, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Please Baby Please and Brave New World in recent years, but her work as Elisabeth Sparkle not only defines this period of her life as an actor; even with an on-screen resume dating back to 1981, and with the 80s- and 90s-era likes of St Elmo's Fire, Ghost, A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal and Disclosure to her name, she'll always be known for this from this point onwards, regardless of whether awards keep rolling in. Turning 50 isn't cause for celebration for Elisabeth. She's already seen film roles pass her by over the years; on her birthday, she's now pushed out of her long-running gig hosting an aerobics show. Enter a solution, as well as another 'what if?' question: if you could reclaim your youth by injecting yourself with a mysterious liquid, would you? Here, The Substance's protagonist takes the curious serum. Enter Sue (Margaret Qualley, Drive-Away Dolls), who helps Elisabeth wind back time — and soon wants Elisabeth's time as her own. Just like someone seeking the glory days that she thinks are behind her via any means possible, Fargeat isn't being subtle with The Substance, not for a second. She goes big and brutal instead, and audacious and morbid as well, and this is the unforgettable picture it is because of it. No one holds back — not Elisabeth, not Sue, not Moore, not the also-fantastic Qualley, not Dennis Quaid (Lawman: Bass Reeves) eating shrimp, not Fargeat, and definitely not cinematographer Benjamin Kracun (Promising Young Woman) or composer Raffertie (99). Globes Won: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Demi Moore). Where to watch it: The Substance streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. A Different Man Two of 2024's best films have one person in common: Sebastian Stan. In cinemas in Australia, The Apprentice and A Different Man released within weeks of each other; as well as making a helluva double feature, they boast two of the finest performances of the year as well. In both movies, the former Gossip Girl star with the best taste in picking interesting parts — see also: Logan Lucky, I, Tonya, Destroyer, Monday, Fresh and Pam & Tommy — plays men chasing a dream that turns out to be a nightmare: once as a certain US real-estate tycoon-turned-reality TV host and then president, and once as a struggling actor who desperately wants a new face. When A Different Man's Edward Lemuel undertakes an experimental treatment for neurofibromatosis, his disfigurement disappears; however, his hopes for stardom, or even just to feature in his playwright neighbour's (Renate Reinsve, Presumed Innocent) off-Broadway production about his own life and attract her romantic interest, can't be grasped that easily. Also turning in an excellent portrayal is Adam Pearson (Ruby Splinter) as Oswald, who has a firmer grasp on the existence that Edward so feverishly covets without any medical intervention. Writer/director Aaron Schimberg (Chained for Life) knows that The Elephant Man will spring to many audiences' minds — and astutely probes and questions why in a film that is unflinching in its exploration of perception, prejudice, identity, authenticity and self-worth. As it muses on what it takes to accept yourself and ignore the world's feedback, too, and whether external change can bring about an internal transformation, A Different Man also pairs exceptionally well with The Substance (see: above). Styling his feature as a psychological thriller as much as a black comedy, Schimberg refuses to let any moment pass by without needling, probing and unpacking. He digs into not only the mindsets that surround Edward, but equally explores the character's own view as he reinvents himself — with his new Sebastian Stan good looks — as newcomer Guy Moratz. It might have a few kindred spirits in various ways among 2024's highlights, but nothing else truly like this has reached screens in years. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Sebastian Stan). Where to watch it: A Different Man streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Challengers Tennis is a game of serves, shots, slices and smashes, and also of approaches, backhands, rallies and volleys. Challengers is a film of each, too, plus a movie about tennis. As it follows a love triangle that charts a path so back and forth that its ins and outs could be carved by a ball being hit around on the court, it's a picture that takes its aesthetic, thematic and emotional approach from the sport that its trio of protagonists are obsessed with as well. Tennis is everything to Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, Dune: Part Two), Art Donaldson (Mike Faist, West Side Story) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor, La Chimera), other than the threesome themselves being everything to each other. It's a stroke of genius to fashion the feature about them around the game they adore, then. Metaphors comparing life with a pastime are easy to coin. Movies that build such a juxtaposition into their fabric are far harder to craft. But it's been true of Luca Guadagnino for decades: he's a craftsman. Jumping from one Dune franchise lead to another, after doing Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All with Timothée Chalamet, Guadagnino proves something else accurate that's been his cinematic baseline: he's infatuated with the cinema of yearning. Among his features so far, only in Bones and All was the hunger for connection literal. The Italian director didn't deliver cannibalism in Call Me By Your Name and doesn't in Challengers, but longing is the strongest flavour in all three, and prominent across the filmmaker's Suspiria, A Bigger Splash and I Am Love also. So, combine the idea of styling a movie around a tennis match — one spans its entire duration, in fact — with a lusty love triangle, romantic cravings and three players at the top of their field, then this is the sublime end product. Challengers is so smartly constructed, so well thought-out down to every meticulous detail, so sensual and seductive, and so on point in conveying Tashi plus Art and Patrick's feelings, that it's instantly one of Guadagnino's grand slams. Globes Won: Best Original Score — Motion Picture (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Where to watch it: Challengers streams via Prime Video, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review, as well as what Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist had to say about the film when they were in Australia. Wicked The colour scheme was always a given. "Pink goes good with green," Galinda (Ariana Grande, Don't Look Up) tells Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, Luther: The Fallen Sun). "It goes well with green," the grammar-correcting reply bounces back. The songs, beloved echoing from the stage since 2003, were never in doubt as both centrepieces and a soundtrack. As a theatre-kid obsession for decades, it was also long likely that the big-screen adaptation of Wicked — a movie based on a musical springing from a book that offered a prequel to a film that walked the celluloid road 85 years ago, itself jumping from the page to the screen — would have big theatre-kid energy as it attempted to ensure that its magic enchants across mediums. Enough to fill every theatre on Broadway radiates from Grande alone, someone who, as a kid, won an auction to meet the OG Wicked good witch Kristin Chenoweth (Our Little Secret) backstage. That enthusiasm is impossible not to feel. No one would ever want a muted Wicked, where the hues, in yellow bricks and emerald cities and more, weren't trying to compete with Technicolor — and the tunes, with Chenoweth and Idina Menzel's (You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah) voices previously behind them in such full force, weren't belted to the rafters. Jon M Chu has a knack as a filmmaker of stage hits reaching cinemas: matching the vibe of the show he's taking on expertly. It was true of his version of In the Heights. It now proves the case in its own different way with Wicked. Achieving such a feat isn't always a given; sometimes, even when it does happen, and blatantly, any stage spark can be lost in translation (see: Cats). Again, movie viewers can feel that synergy, and how much it means to everyone involved. Globes Won: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Where to watch it: Wicked is screening in cinemas Down Under, and streams via YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our interview with production designer Nathan Crowley. Small-Screen Standouts Hacks Sometimes you need to wait for the things you love. In Hacks, that's true off- and on-screen. The HBO comedy gave viewers a two-year wait, after its first season was one of the best new shows of 2021 and its second one of the best returning series of 2022 — a delay first sparked by star Jean Smart (Babylon) requiring heart surgery, and then by 2023's Hollywood strikes. But this Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner returned better than ever in season three in 2024, this time charting Smart's Deborah Vance finally getting a shot at a job that she's been waiting her entire career for. After scoring a huge hit with her recent comedy special, which was a product of hiring twentysomething writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, Julia), the Las Vegas mainstay has a new chance at nabbing a late-night hosting gig. (Yes, fictional takes on after-dark talk shows are having a moment, thanks to Late Night with the Devil and now this.) At times, some in Deborah's orbit might be tempted to borrow the Australian horror movie's title to describe to assisting her pitch for a post-primetime chair. That'd be a harsh comment, but savage humour has always been part of this showbiz comedy about people who tell jokes for a living. While Deborah gets roasted in this season, spikiness is Hacks' long-established baseline — and also the armour with which its behind-the-mic lead protects herself from life's and the industry's pain, disappointments and unfairness. Barbs can also be Deborah's love language, as seen in her banter with Ava. When season two ended, their tumultuous professional relationship had come to an end again via Deborah, who let her writer go to find bigger opportunities. A year has now passed when season three kicks off. Ava is a staff writer on a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver-type series in Los Angeles and thriving, but she's also not over being fired. Back in Vanceland , everything is gleaming — but Deborah isn't prepared for being a phenomenon. She wants it. She's worked for years for it. It's taken until her 70s to get it. But her presence alone being cause for frenzy, rather than the scrapping she's done to stay in the spotlight, isn't an easy adjustment. Globes Won: Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jean Smart). Where to watch it: Hacks streams via Stan. Read our full review. Shōgun Casting Hiroyuki Sanada (John Wick: Chapter 4), Cosmo Jarvis (Persuasion) and Anna Sawai (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as its three leads is one of Shōgun's masterstrokes. The new ten-part adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel — following a first version in 1980 that featured Japanese icon and frequent Akira Kurosawa collaborator Toshiro Mifune — makes plenty of other excellent moves, but this is still pivotal. Disney+'s richly detailed samurai series knows how to thrust its viewers into a deeply textured world from the outset, making having three complex performances at its centre an essential anchoring tactic. Sanada plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who is among the political candidates vying to take control of the country. Jarvis is John Blackthorne, a British sailor on a Dutch ship that has run aground in a place that its crew isn't sure is real until they get there. And Sawai is Toda Mariko, a Japanese noblewoman who is also tasked with translating. Each character's tale encompasses much more than those descriptions, of course, and the portrayals that bring them to the screen make that plain from the moment they're each first seen. As Game of Thrones and Succession both were, famously so, Shōgun is another drama that's all about fighting for supremacy. Like just the former, too, it's another sweeping epic series as well. Although it's impossible not to see those links, knowing that both battling over who'll seize power and stepping into sprawling worlds are among pop culture's favourite things right now (and for some time) doesn't make Shōgun any less impressive. The scale is grand, and yet it doesn't skimp on intimacy, either. The minutiae is meticulous, demanding that attention is paid to everything at all times. Gore is no stranger from the get-go. Opening in the 17th century, the series finds Japan in crisis mode, Toranaga facing enemies and Blackthorne among the first Englishmen that've made it to the nation — much to the alarm of Japan's sole European inhabitants from Portugal. Getting drawn in, including by the performances, is instantaneous. Shōgun proves powerful and engrossing immediately, and lavish and precisely made as well, with creators Justin Marks (Top Gun: Maverick) and Rachel Kondo (on her first TV credit) doing a spectacular job of bringing it to streaming queues. Globes Won: Best Television Series — Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Hiroyuki Sanada), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Anna Sawai), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Tadanobu Asano). Where to watch it: Shōgun streams via Disney+. Read our full review. Baby Reindeer A person walking into a bar. The words "sent from my iPhone". A comedian pouring their experiences into a one-performer play. A twisty true-crime tale making the leap to the screen. All four either feature in, inspired or describe Baby Reindeer. All four are inescapably familiar, too, but the same can't be said about this seven-part Netflix series. Written by and starring Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, and also based on his real-life experiences, this is a bleak, brave, revelatory, devastating and unforgettable psychological thriller. It does indeed begin with someone stepping inside a pub — and while Gadd plays a comedian on-screen as well, don't go waiting for a punchline. When Martha (Jessica Gunning, The Outlaws) enters The Heart in Camden, London in 2015, Donny Dunn (Gadd, Wedding Season) is behind the counter. "I felt sorry for her. That's the first feeling I felt," the latter explains via voiceover. Perched awkwardly on a stool at the bar, Martha is whimpering to herself. She says that she can't afford to buy a drink, even a cup of tea. Donny takes pity, offering her one for free — and her face instantly lights up. That's the fateful moment, one of sorrow met with kindness, that ignites Baby Reindeer's narrative and changes Donny's life. After that warm beverage, The Heart instantly has a new regular. Sipping Diet Cokes from then on (still on the house), Martha is full of stories about all of the high-profile people that she knows and her high-flying lawyer job. But despite insisting that she's constantly busy, she's also always at the bar when Donny is at work, sticking around for his whole shifts. She chats incessantly about herself, folks that he doesn't know and while directing compliments Donny's way. He's in his twenties, she's in her early forties — and he can see that she's smitten, letting her flirt. He notices her laugh. He likes the attention, not to mention getting his ego stroked. While he doesn't reciprocate her feelings, he's friendly. She isn't just an infatuated fantasist, however; she's chillingly obsessed to an unstable degree. She finds his email address, then starts messaging him non-stop when she's not nattering at his workplace. (IRL, Gadd received more than 40,000 emails.) Globes Won: Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Jessica Gunning). Where to watch it: Baby Reindeer streams via Netflix. Read our full review. The Bear Serving up another sitting with acclaimed chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw), his second-in-charge Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Inside Out 2) and their team after dishing up one of the best new shows of 2022 and best returning shows of 2023, the third season of The Bear is a season haunted. Creator and writer Christopher Storer (Dickinson, Ramy) — often the culinary dramedy's director as well — wouldn't have it any other way. Every series that proves as swift a success as this, after delivering as exceptional a first and second season as any show could wish for, has the tang of its prior glory left on its lips, so this one tackles the idea head on. How can anyone shake the past at all, good or bad, the latest ten episodes ruminate on as Carmy faces a dream that's come true but hasn't and can't eradicate the lifetime of internalised uncertainty that arises from having an erratic mother, absent father, elder brother he idolised but had his own demons, and a career spent striving to be the best and put his talents to the test in an industry that's so merciless and unforgiving even before you factor in dealing with cruel mentors. Haunting is talked about often in this third The Bear course, but not actually in the sense flavouring every bite that the show's return plates up. In the season's heartiest reminder that it's comic as well as tense and dramatic — its nine Emmy wins for season one, plus four Golden Globes across season one and two, are all in comedy categories — the Faks get to Fak aplenty. While charming Neil (IRL chef Matty Matheson) is loving his role as a besuited server beneath Richie aka Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings), onboard with the latter's commitment to upholding a Michelin star-chasing fine-diner's front-of-house standards and as devoted to being Carmy's best friend as ever, he's also always palling around with his handyman brother Theodore (Ricky Staffieri, Read the Room). They're not the season's only Faks, and so emerges a family game. When one Fak wrongs another, they get haunted, which is largely being taunted and unsettled by someone from basically The Bear equivalent of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Boyles. For it to stop, you need to agree to give in. In Storer's hands, in a series this expertly layered as it picks up in the aftermath of sandwich diner The Original Beef of Chicagoland relaunching as fine-diner The Bear, this isn't just an amusing character-building aside. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jeremy Allen White). Where to watch it: The Bear streams via Disney+. Read our full review. The Penguin Ambition courses through The Penguin, both within its storyline and in bringing the spinoff from 2022's The Batman to the small screen. HBO might be giving a swathe of its cinema hits the TV treatment, including Dune, IT, Harry Potter and The Conjuring; however, there's nothing by the numbers about Oswald Cobb's time in the television spotlight. With Colin Farrell reprising the show's titular role, and starring in two of 2024's standout new series in the process alongside Sugar, The Penguin isn't a mere attempted caped-crusader cash-in, as some fare about nefarious folks connected to well-known heroes have proven (see: Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter). Across its compulsively watchable eight-episode first season, this crime drama has more than a touch of The Sopranos and The Godfather films about it — and not only is it aiming high in endeavouring to follow in the footsteps of two of the greatest mob stories ever told but, as developed and co-written by Lauren LeFranc (Impulse, Agents of SHIELD), it heartily earns its place in their company. Never forgetting who it is about and what Oz's future path is, no matter how much viewers start to warm to him throughout the series, The Penguin is also responsible for one of the most-heartbreaking moments of the past year. Set after the events of The Batman — a big-screen sequel to which, aka The Batman — Part II, is on the way — the show steps back into Oz's life as he's chasing his own ambitions. After years spent as an underling, including as the righthand man to Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong, Dune: Prophecy), he has his sights set on more than just doing everyone else's bidding. Complicating this quest for power: that it coincides with the release of Carmine's daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti, The Resort) from Arkham, and she isn't willing to simply do what she's told by the new Falcone underboss (Michael Kelly, Pantheon). As Oz navigates a turf war also involving incarcerated rival Sal Marone (Clancy Brown, Gen V), The Penguin keeps his exploits personal through his demential-afflicted mother (Deirdre O'Connell, The Big Door Prize) requiring his care, and with kindhearted teenager Vic Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz, Encanto) trying to steal Oz's rims but ending up with a job as his driver. A grounded waddle into the supervillain realm, and boasting exceptional — and rightly Golden Globe-winning and -nominated, respectively — performances from Farrell and Milioti, this is comics-to-screen storytelling at its best. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Colin Farrell). Where to watch it: The Penguin streams via Binge. True Detective: Night Country Even when True Detective had only reached its second season, the HBO series had chiselled its template into stone: obsessive chalk-and-cheese cops with messy personal lives investigating horrifying killings, on cases with ties to power's corruption, in places where location mattered and with the otherworldly drifting in. A decade after the anthology mystery show's debut in 2014, True Detective has returned as Night Country, a six-part miniseries that builds its own snowman out of all of the franchise's familiar parts. The main similarity from there: like the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led initial season, True Detective: Night Country is phenomenal. This is a return to form and a revitalisation. Making it happen after two passable intervening cases is a new guiding hand off-screen. Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López directs and writes or co-writes every episode, boasting Moonlight's Barry Jenkins as an executive producer. True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto remains in the latter role, too, as do McConaughey, Harrelson and season-one director Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die); however, from its female focus and weighty tussling with the dead to its switch to a cool, blue colour scheme befitting its Alaskan setting, there's no doubting that López is reinventing her season rather than ticking boxes. In handing over the reins, Pizzolatto's police procedural never-standard police procedural is a powerhouse again, and lives up to the potential of its concept. The commitment and cost of delving into humanity's depths and advocating for those lost in its abyss has swapped key cops, victims and locations with each spin, including enlisting the masterful double act of Jodie Foster (Nyad) and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One) to do the sleuthing, but seeing each go-around with fresh eyes feels like the missing puzzle piece. López spies the toll on the show's first women duo, as well as the splinters in a remote community when its fragile sense of certainty is forever shattered. She spots the fractures that pre-date the investigation in the new season, a cold case tied to it, plus the gashes that've carved hurt and pain into the earth ever since people stepped foot on it. She observes the pursuit of profit above all else, and the lack of concern for whatever — whoever, the region's Indigenous inhabitants included — get in the way. She sees that the eternal winter night of 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle come mid-December isn't the only thing impairing everyone's sight. And, she knows that not everything has answers, with life sometimes plunging into heartbreak, or inhospitable climes, or one's own private hell, without rhyme or reason. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Jodie Foster). Where to watch it: True Detective: Night Country streams via Binge. Read our full review.
Think of a riverside pub in Brisbane, and you'll most likely think of this mainstay in Toowong. The Regatta Hotel has stood on the banks on the Brisbane River — or, more accurately, just across the road from the banks of the Brisbane River — since 1874, after all. And, the Inner West spot boasts quite the history, including several floods, famous protests, a fire and a number of renovations. This is the kind of Brissie institution that everyone in town has a story about. It's the type of place that every Brisbanite has whiled away an afternoon or several in, too (and likely more). The usual routine: find a seat outside or on the upstairs verandah, soak up the river air and enjoy a beverage. If you're looking for a brew, the main bar pours 33 draught beers on tap, as well as three ciders. For Regatta patrons after a bite to eat, The Courtyard menu changes regularly, but expect pub favourites and plenty of pizzas. Or, make a booking at onsite restaurant The Boatshed. Steaks are the big drawcard — including with Moreton Bay bugs, barbecued prawns, oysters, and salt-and-pepper calamari as toppers. Switching beer for wine is also recommended, and expect to spot more than a few group celebrations sitting down for a meal This Coronation Drive pub also does breakfast, including a big brekkie with bacon, poached eggs, salt-baked tomato, roasted mushroom, English-style sausage, hash browns, sourdough and tomato relish — a dish that's perfect for a post-walk feed after strolling along the riverwalk. Live music, sports on the venue's many screens, themed pop-ups, special-occasion lunches, fairs and festivals, a dedicated whisky bar: you'll find them all at the Regatta as well. From Thursday–Sunday from 6pm–late, underground speakeasy The Walrus Club also pours drinks, often pairing its 100-plus rum range with live jazz. Top image: Markus Ravik.
The best thing about being an adult is that your Guess Who, Trivial Pursuit and Jenga sessions now come with a side of booze. While board games may seem like a 'night-in' option, it's sometimes nice to get out of the living room and head out — where someone else can pour the beers and hand-deliver the snacks. So gather a crew and roll the dice on Brisbane's best bars that include board game action (if you have no shame about throwing Monopoly-induced tantrums in public). ESCOBAR BAR & KITCHEN Pablo Cafe's younger and boozier brother is a favourite for New Farm locals, who know its courtyard is the best place to settle in for some craft beer and gourmet jaffle appreciation. Escobar's game collection is as extensive as its beer list, with plenty of old favourites piled onto a barrel in the centre of the room. There are $5 drink specials and live music on Sunday afternoons — a good time to relax for a few hours and embarrass everyone around you with that particularly disgusting Cards Against Humanity combo. 154 Merthyr Road, New Farm; (07) 3254 0788; www.escobarkitchen.com.au DUTCH COURAGE OFFICERS' MESS Tuesdays are 'Beer and Board Games' nights at this super classy specialty gin bar. Gather a crew to enjoy beer specials and Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Jenga, Taboo and more. The menu features bite-sized dishes such as cheese arancini, pork belly bites and buttermilk fried chicken — easy to pick up with one hand while rolling the dice in the other. Stick to the maritime theme with a James Squire Stowaway IPA, or delve into the bar's famously extensive gin list. 51 Alfred Street, Fortitude Valley; (07) 3852 4838; www.dutchcourage.com.au THE FLYING COCK This relative newcomer to the Valley has cemented its place as somewhere you can pretty much guarantee a good time. Alongside its trivia nights and events, you'll find a decent selection of games to play on the pub's huge wooden dining tables. The Cock's food menu is an homage to the humble chicken in burger, parmy, wings and barbeque form, with a well-priced beer and cocktails list to match. 388 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley; (07) 3172 6109; www.theflyingcock.com.au SOUTHSIDE TEA ROOM One of Brisbane's best suburban secrets, Southside Tea Room has grown from its cake-and-coffee roots into a multi-venue venture that also includes Death Valley Bar and the Red Robin Supper Truck. A round of Pictionary in the homely kitsch of the tea room can become a Yahtzee match in the craft beer garden, with a BBQ dog or Buffalo wings to keep you going into the night. 639 Wynnum Road, Morningside; (07) 3899 5859; www.southsidetearoom.com THE SCRATCH Milton's self-proclaimed dive bar really does feel like a friend's living room with its comfy retro furniture and rugs, so it's no surprise that Brisbanites flock here for a relaxed board game fix. The local craft beers on tap change regularly, with plenty of specialty and international bottled brews as well. The winning part is their BYO food policy — so you can create your own spread or even order in pizzas to enjoy alongside rounds of Uno. 8/1 Park Road Milton; (07) 3107 9910; www.scratchbar.com
UPDATE: JUNE 3, 2020 — Nimble has postponed its sale for a week, until Thursday, June 11. The below article has been updated to reflect this. There's nothing like a fresh haul of shiny new workout gear to inspire a little fitness kick. Especially when that workout gear takes the form of some high-performance threads from sustainability focused label Nimble Activewear. Well, this June, you're in for a treat, as the local brand pulls together a swag of great pieces for its huge permanent markdown sale. Running online and in-stores from 10am on Thursday, June 11 until stock sells out, the sale will be packed full of bargains, offering a hefty range of outerwear, tights, sports bras, sweats, shorts and more, with discounts of up to 40 percent. You might even be able to catch discounted pieces from the label's core CompressLite line, which is cleverly crafted from recycled plastic bottles. Nab one of these and you'll really have something to feel good about — Nimble's saved over 900,000 plastic bottles from heading to landfill since 2015. Nimble's permanent markdown sale kicks off at 10am on Thursday, June 11 and runs until stock sells out.
Darts might traditionally belong to old-school pubs, but Oche gives the game a thoroughly modern reinvention. Housed inside the 115-year-old Old Flour Mill building on Constance Street, the four-level venue brings augmented darts, cocktails and social gaming together under one roof. Originally founded in Oslo, Oche (pronounced "ockey") has brought its tech-driven take on the game to Fortitude Valley with a lineup of digital dartboards that automatically track scores and guide players through dozens of game modes. From classics like 201 and Cricket to knockout-style games and trivia formats, the system makes it easy to jump straight into competition – no pencils, scorecards or disputes required. The venue itself stretches across 700 square metres and offers far more than darts. The al fresco Garden Bar provides a sunlit space for cocktails and spritzes, while upstairs guests can find karaoke rooms, shuffleboard tables on the terrace and a hidden speakeasy, Lost Society, tucked behind a rotating bookshelf. Food is designed for social play, with share-friendly dishes such as pizzas, sliders, tacos and grazing boards that can easily be eaten between throws. With space for up to 360 guests, Oche has become a go-to for group nights out, celebrations and anyone looking for something a little more interactive than a standard bar. Whether you're chasing bragging rights at the dartboard, cocktails in the garden bar or a late-night round of karaoke, Oche is a multi-experience venue built for long, lively nights out.
Every year, once gifts have been given, turkey and prawns devoured, drinks sipped and backyard games of cricket played, the festive season delivers another treat. Whatever you spend your Christmas Day doing, Boxing Day is just as exciting if you're a movie buff — or even simply eager to escape the weather, and your house, to relax in air-conditioning and watch the latest big-screen releases. Just like in 2020, 2021 has seen many cinemas Down Under spend months empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading; however, the country's picture palaces are well and truly back in business. And, they're screening a wide array of Boxing Day fare as always — so at least one thing about this chaotic year is proceeding as normal. If you're wondering not only what's showing, but what's worth your time, we've watched and reviewed the day's slate of new titles. It includes a trip back into an adored sci-fi franchise, getting swept up in a musical romance, catching a scorching new Shakespeare adaptation and taking in a glorious 70s-set coming-of-age slice of life. Even when you're done unwrapping your presents, these silver-screen gifts await. THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Hordes of imitators have spilled ones and zeros claiming otherwise, but the greatest move The Matrix franchise ever made wasn't actually bullet time. Even 22 years after Lana and Lilly Wachowski brought the saga's instant-classic first film to cinemas, its slow-motion action still wows, and yet they made another choice that's vastly more powerful. It wasn't the great pill divide — blue versus red, as dubiously co-opted by right-wing conspiracies since — or the other binaries at its core (good versus evil, freedom versus enslavement, analogue versus digital, humanity versus machines). It wasn't end-of-the-millennia philosophising about living lives online, the green-tinged cyberpunk aesthetic, or one of the era's best soundtracks, either. They're all glorious, as is knowing kung fu and exclaiming "whoa!", but The Matrix's unwavering belief in Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss is far more spectacular. It was a bold decision those two-and-a-bit decades ago, with Reeves a few years past sublime early-90s action hits Point Break and Speed, and Moss then known for TV bit parts (including, in a coincidence that feels like the product of computer simulation, a 1993 series called Matrix). But, as well as giving cinema their much-emulated gunfire-avoidance technique and all those other aforementioned highlights, the Wachowskis bet big on viewers caring about their central pair — and hooking into their chemistry — as leather-clad heroes saving humanity. Amid the life-is-a-lie horrors, the subjugation of flesh to mechanical overlords and the battle for autonomy, the first three Matrix films always weaved Neo and Trinity's love story through their sci-fi action. Indeed, the duo's connection remained the saga's beating heart. Like any robust computer program executed over and over, The Matrix Resurrections repeats the feat — with plenty of love for what's come before, but even more for its enduring love story. Lana goes solo on The Matrix Resurrections — helming her first-ever project without her sister in their entire career — but she still goes all in on Reeves and Moss. The fourth live-action film in the saga, and fifth overall counting The Animatrix, this new instalment doesn't initially give its key figures their familiar character names, however. Rather, it casts them as famous video game designer Thomas Anderson and motorcycle-loving mother-of-two Tiffany. One of those monikers is familiar, thanks to a surname drawled by Agent Smith back in 1999, and again in 2003 sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. But this version of Thomas Anderson only knows the agent from his own hit gaming trilogy (called The Matrix, naturally). And he doesn't really know Tiffany at all, instead admiring her from afar at Simulatte, their local coffee shop. Before Reeves and Moss share a frame, and before Anderson and Tiffany's awkward meet-cute, The Matrix Resurrections begins with blue-haired hacker Bugs (Jessica Henwick, On the Rocks). She sports a white rabbit tattoo, observes a scene straight out of the first flick and helps set the movie's self-referential tone. As a result, The Matrix Resurrections starts with winking, nodding and déjà vu — and, yes, with a glitch, with Lana and co-screenwriters David Mitchell (author of Cloud Atlas) and Aleksandar Hemon (Sense8) penning a playful script that adores the established Matrix lore, enjoys toying with it and openly unpacks everything that's sprung up around it. Long exposition dumps, some of the feature's worst habits, explain the details, but waking up Anderson from his machine-induced dream — again — is Bugs' number-one aim. Read our full review. WEST SIDE STORY Tonight, tonight, there's only Steven Spielberg's lavish and dynamic version of West Side Story tonight — not to detract from or forget the 1961 movie of the same name. Six decades ago, an all-singing, all-dancing, New York City-set, gang war-focused spin on Romeo and Juliet leapt from stage to screen, becoming one of cinema's all-time classic musicals; however, remaking that hit is a task that Spielberg dazzlingly proves up to. It's his first sashay into the genre, despite making his initial amateur feature just three years after the original West Side Story debuted. It's also his first film since 2018's obnoxiously awful Ready Player One, which doubled as a how-to guide to crafting one of the worst, flimsiest and most bloated pieces of soulless pop-culture worship possible. But with this swooning, socially aware story of star-crossed lovers, Spielberg pirouettes back from his atrocious last flick by embracing something he clearly adores, and being unafraid to give it rhythmic swirls and thematic twirls. Shakespeare's own tale of tempestuous romance still looms large over West Side Story, as it always has — in fair NYC and its rubble-strewn titular neighbourhood where it lays its 1950s-era scene. The Jets and the Sharks aren't quite two households both alike in dignity, though. Led by the swaggering and dogged Riff (Mike Faist, a Tony-nominee for the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen), the Jets are young, scrappy, angry and full of resentment for anyone they fear is encroaching on their terrain (anyone who isn't white especially). Meanwhile, with boxer Bernardo (David Alvarez, a Tony-winner for Billy Elliot) at the helm, the Sharks have tried to establish new lives outside of their native Puerto Rico through study, jobs and their own businesses. Both gangs refuse to coexist peacefully in the only part of New York where either feels at home — even with the threat of gentrification looming large in every torn-down building, signs for shiny new amenities such as Lincoln Centre popping up around the place and, when either local cops Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James, Hawkeye) or Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll, The Many Saints of Newark) interrupt their feuding, after they're overtly warned as well. But it's a night at a dance, and the love-at-first-sight connection that blooms between Riff's best friend Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch) and Bernardo's younger sister María (feature debutant Rachel Zegler), that sparks a showdown. This rumble will decide westside supremacy once and for all, the two sides agree. The OG West Side Story was many things: gifted with a glorious cast, including Rita Moreno in her Academy Award-winning role as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita, plus future Twin Peaks co-stars Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer as Riff and Tony; unashamedly showy, like it had just snapped its fingers and flung itself off the stage; and punchy with its editing, embracing the move from the boards to the frame. It still often resembled a filmed musical rather than a film more than it should've, however. Spielberg's reimagining, which boasts a script by his Munich and Lincoln scribe Tony Kushner, tweaks plenty while also always remaining West Side Story — and, via his regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (The Post) and a whirl of leaping and plunging camerawork, it looks as exuberant as the vibrant choreography that the New York City Ballet's Justin Peck splashes across the screen, nodding to Jerome Robbins' work for the original movie lovingly but never slavishly. Read our full review. LICORICE PIZZA A Star Is Born has already graced the titles of four different films, and Licorice Pizza isn't one of them. Paul Thomas Anderson's ninth feature, and his loosest since Boogie Nights — his lightest since ever, too — does boast a memorable Bradley Cooper performance, though. That said, this 70s- and San Fernando Valley-set delight isn't quite about seeking fame, then navigating its joys and pitfalls, although child actors and Hollywood's ebbs and flows all figure into the narrative. Licorice Pizza definitely births two new on-screen talents, however, both putting in two of 2021's best performances and two of the finest-ever movie debuts. That's evident from the film's very first sublimely grainy 35-millimetre-shot moments, as Alana Haim of Haim (who PTA has directed several music videos for) and Cooper Hoffman (son of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, a PTA regular) do little more than chat, stroll and charm. The radiant Haim plays Alana Kane, a Valley dweller of 25 or 28 (her story changes) working as a photographer's assistant, which brings her to a Tarzana high school on yearbook picture day. Enter the smoothly assured Hoffman as 15-year-old Gary Valentine, who is instantly smitten and tries to wrangle a date. Alana is dismissive with a spikiness that speaks volumes about how she handles herself (a later scene, where she yells "fuck off, teenagers!" to kids in her way, is similarly revealing). But Gary keeps persisting, inviting her to the real-life Tail o' the Cock, a fine diner he claims to visit regularly. In a gliding ride of a walk-and-talk sequence that's shot like a dream, Alana says no, yet she's also still intrigued. As a smile at the end of their first encounter betrays, Alana was always going to show up, even against her better judgement (and even as she firmly establishes that they aren't a couple). Her demeanour doesn't soften as Gary interrogates her like he's a dad greeting a daughter's beau — a gag Anderson mirrors later when Alana takes another ex-child actor, Lance (Skyler Gisondo, Santa Clarita Diet), home to meet her mother, father and two sisters (all played by the rest of the Haims, parents included) and he's questioned in the same manner. That family dinner arises after Gary enlists the new object of his affection to chaperone him on a trip to New York, where he's featuring with Lance in a live reunion for one of their flicks. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Gary is heartbroken to see Alana with Lance, but all roads keep leading her back to him anyway. Charting Alana and Gary's friendship as it circles and swirls, and they often sprint towards each other — and chronicling everything else going on in the San Fernando Valley, where PTA himself grew up — Licorice Pizza is a shaggy slice-of-life film in multiple ways. Spinning a narrative that Anderson penned partly based on stories shared by Gary Goetzman, an ex-child talent turned frequent producer of Tom Hanks movies, it saunters along leisurely like it's just stepped out of the 70s itself, and also sports that anything-can-happen vibe that comes with youth. It's a portrait of a time, before mobile phones and the internet, when you had to either talk on a landline or meet up in person to make plans, and when just following where the day took you was the status quo. It captures a canny mix of adolescence and arrested development, too; teen exuberance springs from the always-hustling Gary, while treading water is both an apt description of Alana's connection with her would-be paramour and a state she's acutely aware of. Read our full review. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD When Frances Ha splashed a gorgeous portrait of quarter-life malaise across the screen nearly a decade back — proving neither the first nor last film to do so, of course — its titular New Yorker was frequently running. As played by Greta Gerwig, she sprinted and stumbled to David Bowie's intoxicating 'Modern Love' and just in general, while navigating the constantly-in-motion reality of being in her 20s. It takes place in a different city, another country and on the other side of the globe, but The Worst Person in the World's eponymous figure (Renate Reinsve, Phoenix) is often racing, too. (Sometimes, in the movie's most stylised touch, she's even flitting around while the whole world stops around her.) Norwegian writer/director Joachim Trier (Thelma) firmly understands the easy shorthand of watching someone rush — around Oslo here, but also through life overall — especially while they're grappling with a blatant case arrested development. Capturing the relentlessly on-the-go sensation that comes with adulthood, as well as the inertia of feeling like you're never quite getting anywhere that you're meant to be, these running scenes paint a wonderfully evocative and relatable image. Those are apt terms for The Worst Person in the World overall, actually, which meets Julie as she's pinballing through the shambles of her millennial life. She doesn't ever truly earn the film's title, or come close, but she still coins the description and spits it her own way — making the type of self-deprecating, comically self-aware comment we all do when we're trying to own our own chaos because anything else would be a lie. The Worst Person in the World's moniker feels so telling because it's uttered by Julie herself, conveying how we're all our own harshest critics. In her existence, even within the mere four years that the film focuses on, mess is a constant. Indeed, across the movie's 12 chapters, plus its prologue and epilogue, almost everything about Julie's life changes and evolves. That includes not just dreams, goals, fields of study and careers, but also loved ones, boyfriends, apartments, friends and ideas of what the future should look like — and, crucially, also Julie's perception of herself. As the ever-observant Trier and his regular co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt track their protagonist through these ups and downs, using whatever means they can to put his audience in her mindset — freezing time around her among them — The Worst Person in the World also proves a raw ode to self-acceptance, and to forgiving yourself for not having it all together. They're the broad strokes of this wonderfully perceptive film; the specifics are just as insightful and recognisable. Julie jumps from medicine to psychology to photography, and between relationships — with 44-year-old comic book artist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie, Bergman Island), who's soon thinking about all the serious things in life; and then with the far more carefree Eivind (Herbert Nordrum, ZombieLars), who she meets after crashing a wedding. Expressing not only how Julie changes with each shift in focus, job and partner, but how she copes with that change within herself, is another of The Worst Person in the World's sharp touches. At one point, on a getaway with friends more than a decade older than her, Julie is laden with broad and trite generalisations about being her age — which Trier humorously and knowingly counters frame by frame with lived-in minutiae. Read our full review. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH Bringing Shakespeare to the big screen is no longer just about doing the material justice, or even about letting a new batch of the medium's standout talents bring their best to the Bard's immortal words. For anyone and everyone attempting the feat (a list that just keeps growing), it's also about gifting the playwright's material with the finest touches that cinema allows. It's never enough to simply film Macbeth like a theatre production, for instance, even if all that dialogue first penned four centuries ago still ripples with power — while riffing about power — without any extra adornments. No Shakespeare adaptation really needs to explain or legitimise its existence more than any other feature, but the great ones bubble not only with toil and trouble, but with all the reasons why this tale needed to be captured on camera and projected large anew. Joel Coen knows all of the above. Indeed, his take on the Scottish play — which he's called The Tragedy of Macbeth, taking Shakespeare's full original title — justifies its existence as a movie in every single frame. His is a film of exacting intimacy, with every shot peering far closer at its main figures than anyone could ever see on a stage, and conveying more insight into their emotions, machinations and motivations in the process. The Bard might've posited that all the world's a stage in As You Like It, but The Tragedy of Macbeth's lone Coen brother doesn't quite agree. Men and women are still merely players in this revived quest for supremacy through bloodshed, but their entrances, exits and many parts would mean nothing if we couldn't see as far into their hearts and minds as cinema — and as cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel's (The Woman in the Window) stripped-down, black-and-white, square-framed imagery — can possibly allow. In a year for filmmakers going it alone beyond the creative sibling relationships that've defined their careers — see also: The Matrix Resurrections — Joel Coen makes a phenomenal solo debut with this up-close approach. His choice of cast, with Denzel Washington (The Little Things) as powerful as he's ever been on-screen and Frances McDormand (The French Dispatch) showing why she has three Best Actress Oscars, also helps considerably. The former plays Macbeth, the latter Lady Macbeth, and both find new reserves and depths in the pair's fateful lust for glory. That's another key element to any new silver-screen iteration of Shakespeare's most famous works: making its characters feel anew. Washington and McDormand — and Coen as well — all tread in the footsteps of of Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel (Nitram) thanks to 2015's exquisite Macbeth, but they stand in absolutely no one's shadows. The narrative details remain the same, obviously, from the witches prophesying that Macbeth will soon be king to his murderous actions at Lady Macbeth's urging to make that prediction become a reality. All that scheming has consequences, both before and after Duncan (Brendan Gleeson, Mr Mercedes) is stripped of his throne — and one of the smartest parts of the movie's central casting is the change it brings to the Macbeths' seething desperation. Due to Washington and McDormand's ages, their versions of the characters are grasping onto what might be their last chance, rather than being ruthless with far more youthful abandon. That's the intensely meticulous level that Coen operates on in The Tragedy of Macbeth. His visual use of light and darkness is just as sharp, too; here, stepping back into the acclaimed play is a lean, ravishing, eerie and potent experience again and again. Read our full review. SWAN SONG Sit down on your couch to watch Swan Song, and a Mahershala Ali (Green Book)-starring sci-fi drama about mortality, farewells and leaving a mark on the world beckons. Head to the cinema instead, and you'll see the great German actor Udo Kier grappling with the same concepts — in a movie that shares the same name, too, and is also anchored by a weighty central performance. They're vastly different features in almost every other way, however, and only one boasts the inimitable Kier. His seven-decade resume spans everything from the original Suspiria and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective to a wealth of Lars von Trier movies, but he turns in career-best work in this SXSW-premiering film-festival favourite about a small-town hairdressing superstar enjoying one last hurrah by styling a former favourite client who has just passed away. Kier plays Pat Pitsenbarger — and, when the movie begins in an Ohio nursing home, he looks as washed-out as a months-old dye job. With a stare that stings like bleach, he fills his days refolding napkins in an extremely precise way and spending his Social Security benefits on cigarettes he's not supposed to smoke. After his lawyer arrives with the $25,000 funeral gig offer, Pat isn't initially willing to shatter his dull routine, but getting a rare taste of a life less institutionalised is too alluring to pass up. His initial reaction — "bury her with bad hair!" — isn't so quickly cast aside, though. From his acerbic attitude to the rings he packs onto every finger, Pat has spent his life fighting to do things his own way, and he isn't about to change that for anyone. The care that Kier puts into Pat can't be underestimated. His is an attention-grabbing performance, but also always a deeply nuanced one, all while playing a character that's gleefully outrageous and always has been, and is also unshakeably tinged with melancholy. Every second that Kier is on-screen is a marvel, because every second conveys new character details or plunges further into the many complexities of a man who proudly strides down his own path. Writer/director Todd Stephens (Another Gay Movie) has clearly conceived Pat with just as much thought and precision, and extended the same meticulousness to the town around him. Swan Song could've played like a one-note gag — a flamboyant senior citizen making a splash in a conservative midwestern spot — but interrogating what it means to be an openly gay man in such surroundings, both in the past and now, sits firmly at the core of this poignant drama. Like its lead, Swan Song is both eclectic and electric, especially in balancing different tones in every way it can muster. The narrative is episodic and encounter-driven, but each chapter heaves with slice-of-life glimpses that contrast who Pat once was with the situation that he's in now. Stephens' film can look both candidly naturalistic and glitteringly dreamy — and, in the same vein, Kier stands out in his nursing home garb and rocking a women's safari suit alike. Swan Song also smartly acknowledges the struggles that today's queer elders have navigated and survived, embodied here by enduring grief over past losses and the impending closure of Pat's old favourite gay nightclub, as well as the world they find themselves in now. Brief appearances by Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus) as Pat's former assistant and Michael Urie (Younger) as someone touched by his trailblazing add the same layers, in a film that couldn't be more delicately styled if it was sculpted one snip at a time with hairdressing scissors. DELICIOUS No one eats the rich in Delicious, but French nobility is still savaged in this gently pointed gastronomical comedy. The year is 1789, the revolution hasn't yet broken out, and the chasm between the wealthy and everyone else is so glaring that it even extends to cuisine — with eating well solely reserved for the kinds of aristocrats who smugly think that no one else could appreciate a fine meal. At one such dinner in the Duke of Chamfort's (Benjamin Lavernhe, The French Dispatch) household, his personal chef Pierre Manceron (Grégory Gadebois, Night Shift) earns the table's ire by daring to cook a new dish featuring potatoes and truffles, which he dubs 'the delicious'. The humble tuber is considered beneath the Duke's dining companions, but Manceron refuses to apologise for his new creation, choosing to leave his prestigious post and man his own roadside inn instead. Delicious is framed around the restaurant trade and its beginnings; it isn't just superheroes that earn origin stories these days, it seems. With his son Benjamin (Lorenzo Lefèbvre, Sibyl) following him home, Manceron busies himself cooking for travellers — but he's both fiercely proud of his past work and visibly bitter about how the whole situation has turned out. He's so aggrieved with his current lot in life that when a woman, Louise (Isabelle Carré, De Gaulle), arrives at his door asking to become his apprentice, he's sharply and rudely dismissive. He questions her story, and perpetuates the stereotype that women can't be great chefs, too. But she's a key ingredient in his quest towards a different future, which first involves trying to re-win the Duke's favour, and then boils up a bowl of revenge. Everything from Parasite to The White Lotus have set their sights on class disparities with far more brutality, but Delicious adds an affable course to this ongoing pop-culture reckoning. It's the dessert of the genre, even as its frames are filled with sumptuous close-ups of savoury dishes in various stages of creation — pastry kneaded, potatoes and truffles placed exactingly, and egg wash glistening to begin with. (Yes, if you haven't eaten before watching, it'll make your stomach rumble.) An opening title card sets the scene, advising that dining away from home, and for pleasure in general if you weren't rich, was utterly unheard of at the time. Writer/director Éric Besnard (L'esprit de famille) then spends nearly two hours slowly smashing that status quo, albeit by firmly sticking to the obvious. Recipes are a culinary staple for a reason, though; amass the right parts in the right way and magic frequently happens. Delicious isn't the filmic equivalent, but it's charming nonetheless — as engaging as sitting down to a well-cooked meal where you know what everything will taste like in advance, but you're happy to get swept up in the flavour. It mightn't have proven so appetising without Gadebois, Carré and Lefèbvre, however, even if their parts are clearly thinner in Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief's (The Confession) script than they play on-screen. The handsome period staging also assists immensely, including all those shots of tastebud-tempting cuisine. Eating is as much about the setting and the company as the food, of course, a concept Delicious bakes into its frames. SING 2 Star voices, a jukebox worth of songs, anthropomorphic animated critters, cheesy sentiments: that's the formula fuelling far too many all-ages-friendly films of late. Back in 2016, Sing used it to box office-smashing success by doing little more than spinning a colourful version of American Idol but with zoo animals doing the singing. It wasn't the worst example of this kind of flick, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it was the skew of its soundtrack, which favoured songs that the adults in its audience would like more than the pint-sized viewers entranced by its bright hues, talking lions and koalas, and frenetic pacing. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sing 2 doubles down on that idea by not only mining the discography of U2, but by also casting Bono as a reclusive ex-rockstar. For the Irish frontman, the double payday must've been nice. For everyone watching Sing 2, what follows is the latest example of a style of filmmaking that resembles turning on Nickelodeon or your other kid-centric TV network of choice, cueing up a Spotify playlist full of past hits and letting the two run at the same time. Returning writer/director Garth Jennings explored how young minds process, respond to, and both internalise and externalise pop culture in the delightful 2007 comedy Son of Rambo, but his Sing franchise only wishes it could echo to such depths. The fact that its characters are merely belting out souped-up karaoke is telling, because giving familiar 'believe in yourself' and 'trust your pals' rhetoric some new packaging is the gambit here. Yes, the animated creatures are cute, plenty of the songs are classics, and it's clearly meant to be disposable fun, but it's all so dispiritingly lazy and generic. It might begin with a saccharine rendition of Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy', but that song choice isn't instructional or descriptive; nothing here departs from the expected. This time around, after already gathering a gang of music-loving animals via a singing contest in the first flick, koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey, The Gentlemen) has a hit show filling his theatre — but he still wants to make it big in the bigger smoke. Alas, Suki (Chelsea Peretti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), a dog and a talent scout, advises that Buster's ragtag crew don't have what it takes. He's determined to prove otherwise, taking pigs Rosita (Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show) and Gunter (Nick Kroll, Big Mouth), gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton, Rocketman), porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow), and elephant Meena (singer Tori Kelly) to Redshore City to pitch directly to wolf and media mogul Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Canavale, Nine Perfect Strangers). If Sing was an animal karaoke caper that turned reality television into a star-studded cartoon while trying to evoke warm and fuzzy sentiments — and it was — then Sing 2 proves a case of just flogging the same exact thing. The narrative has changed slightly and been overstuffed, but that's all just new words set to the same beat. While a few parts of the initial flick gleamed beyond the template, mainly because it still remained just fun enough, it's all about as fresh as a U2 greatest hits CD here. Children will still be distracted, but family-friendly entertainment should always strive for more. Dropping two already over-used Billie Eilish tracks within five minutes to sprinkle in some more recent cuts says plenty about Jennings' second-time approach, as does the heavier reliance upon songs in general to convey all the movie's emotions and fill almost all of its minutes, too. 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 August 5, August 12, August 19 and August 26; September 2, September 9, September 16, September 23 and September 30; October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; and December 2, December 9 and December 16. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Respect, The Night House, Candyman, Annette, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Streamline, Coming Home in the Dark, Pig, Big Deal, The Killing of Two Lovers, Nitram, Riders of Justice, The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter and The Scary of Sixty-First.
When Indigenous Australian artist Archie Moore made history at the 2024 La Biennale de Venezia, aka the Venice Biennale, in April 2024 by winning the event's coveted Golden Lion for Best National Participation, he also did Brisbane's major art galleries proud. When the First Nations talent earned Australia the top gong at the Olympics of the art world for the first time ever, he did so with an exhibition curated by Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art's Ellie Buttrose, and with a date with Brisbane GOMA on its 2025–26 program. kith and kin is displaying in South Brisbane between Saturday, September 27, 2025–Sunday, October 18, 2026 — and it has also been gifted to QAGOMA permanently. The piece didn't just make history with its Venice Biennale accolade. A hand-drawn genealogical chart that spans back 65,000 years, this creation also chronicles it. Both a personal and a political work, kith and kin steps through Moore's Kamilaroi, Bigambul, British and Scottish heritage across the installation's five-metre-high, 60-metre-long black walls. More than 2400 generations are covered. The exhibition uses chalk on blackboard, with a reflective pool sitting in the middle of the room and 500-plus document stacks suspended above it. Every aspect of kith and kin makes a statement. With its size and scale, it speaks to Australia's Indigenous peoples being among the world's longest-continuous living cultures. The use of black is also designed to look like a celestial map, and therefore nod to the resting place of First Nations ancestors. Highlighting the decrease in Indigenous Australian languages and dialects since colonisation, the fragility that stems from not being able to pass down knowledge and injustices such as deaths in custody are all also part of the work — with the aforementioned piles of paper primarily from coronial inquests. Images: Archie Moore / kith and kin 2024 / Australia Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2024 / Photographer Andrea Rossetti / © the artist / Images courtesy of the artist and The Commercial.
New year, new chance for Hollywood to pat itself on the back. That's how every January starts, even if things are a little different in 2022. After multiple controversies surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organisation behind Golden Globes, the first batch of film and TV awards for the new year weren't given out at a star-studded event — but a long list of worthy movies and shows still won glittering trophies. When the Globes announced its nominees back in December 2021, it went big on plenty of the year's best. The Power of the Dog, Succession, West Side Story, Ted Lasso, Hacks, Squid Game — they all earned nods, and deservedly so. Today, Monday, January 10, they all just scored a spot on the winners' list as well. In fact, most of them nabbed more than one accolade. Highlights include The Power of the Dog's three wins, and particularly Jane Campion taking out the Best Director field. Her directing gong really can't be underestimated — it's just the third time that a female filmmaker has won the award, and the second in a row after Chloé Zhao won last year for Nomadland. Also for The Power of the Dog, Aussie actor Kodi Smit-McPhee nabbed the Best Supporting Actor award, while the exceptional film itself won Best Drama. And, still skewing local, Succession's Sarah Snook scored a Best Supporting Actress award in the TV categories — and Nicole Kidman is a Best Actress winner, in the Motion Picture — Drama camp, for playing Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos. Obviously, the list goes on, spanning more big-screen and small-screen highlights. If you're wondering what else emerged victorious, the full rundown is below — and you can also check out our picks for the 12 winners you can watch right now. GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES AND WINNERS: BEST MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Belfast CODA Dune King Richard The Power of the Dog — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos — WINNER Lady Gaga, House of Gucci Kristen Stewart, Spencer BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Mahershala Ali, Swan Song Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog Will Smith, King Richard — WINNER Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth BEST MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Cyrano Don't Look Up Licorice Pizza Tick, Tick … Boom! West Side Story — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Marion Cotillard, Annette Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza Jennifer Lawrence, Don't Look Up Emma Stone, Cruella Rachel Zegler, West Side Story — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Leonardo DiCaprio, Don't Look Up Peter Dinklage, Cyrano Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick … Boom! — WINNER Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza Anthony Ramos, In the Heights BEST MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED Encanto — WINNER Flee Luca My Sunny Maad Raya and the Last Dragon BEST MOTION PICTURE — FOREIGN LANGUAGE Compartment No. 6 Drive My Car — WINNER The Hand of God A Hero Parallel Mothers BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Caitríona Balfe, Belfast Ariana DeBose, West Side Story — WINNER Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard Ruth Negga, Passing BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Ben Affleck, The Tender Bar Jamie Dornan, Belfast Ciarán Hinds, Belfast Troy Kotsur, CODA Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog — WINNER BEST DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE Kenneth Branagh, Belfast Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog — WINNER Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter Steven Spielberg, West Side Story Denis Villeneuve, Dune BEST SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza Kenneth Branagh, Belfast — WINNER Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog Adam McKay, Don't Look Up Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardos BEST ORIGINAL SCORE — MOTION PICTURE Dune — WINNER Encanto The French Dispatch Parallel Mothers The Power of the Dog BEST ORIGINAL SONG — MOTION PICTURE 'Be Alive', King Richard 'Dos Orugitas', Encanto 'Down to Joy', Belfast 'Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)', Respect 'No Time to Die', No Time to Die — WINNER BEST TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Lupin The Morning Show Pose Squid Game Succession — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Uzo Aduba, In Treatment Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show Christine Baranski, The Good Fight Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale MJ Rodriguez, Pose — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Brian Cox, Succession Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game Billy Porter, Pose Jeremy Strong, Succession — WINNER Omar Sy, Lupin BEST TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY The Great Hacks — WINNER Ted Lasso Reservation Dogs Only Murders in the Building BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Elle Fanning, The Great Issa Rae, Insecure Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish Jean Smart, Hacks — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Anthony Anderson, Black-ish Nicholas Hoult, The Great Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso — WINNER BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Dopesick Impeachment: American Crime Story Maid Mare of Easttown The Underground Railroad — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jessica Chastain, Scenes From a Marriage Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision Margaret Qualley, Maid Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Paul Bettany, WandaVision Oscar Isaac, Scenes From a Marriage Michael Keaton, Dopesick — WINNER Ewan McGregor, Halston Tahar Rahim, The Serpent BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick Andie MacDowell, Maid Sarah Snook, Succession — WINNER Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TV Billy Crudup, The Morning Show Kieran Culkin, Succession Mark Duplass, The Morning Show Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso Oh Yeong-su, Squid Game — WINNER For further details, head to the awards' website. Top image: The Crown, Des Willie/Netflix.
This part of the multiverse mightn't boast chefs controlled by raccoons, talking rocks and hot dog fingers, but it has turned a mind-bending movie spanning all of the above into one of the year's big awards contenders. Everything Everywhere All At Once is one 2022's very best movies, too, and it might soon have some shining trophies for its troubles from the 2023 Golden Globes. Awards season is upon us again, because the end of the year doesn't just mean all things jolly and merry — and the beginning of the new year isn't just about fresh starts and resolutions you likely won't keep, either. The Golden Globes will unveil its latest batch of winners on Wednesday, January 11 Australian and New Zealand time, but its just-announced list of nominees features plenty to get excited about, including a heap of 2022's must-see movies and TV shows. While the Oscars cover films and the Emmys focus on television, the Golden Globes spread its gongs across both formats, meaning that big-screen hits like Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick have scored some love, and so have small-screen favourites such as Severance and Wednesday. Topping the nominations on the movie side is standout Irish comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, including nods for stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. School-set sitcom Abbott Elementary — think Parks and Recreation, but in a Philadelphia public school — leads the TV contenders. Reuniting Farrell, Gleeson and their In Bruges director Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin nabbed eight noms, with Everything Everywhere All at Once picking up five, including for actors Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Next on the list, Damien Chazelle's Babylon and Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans each turned their love letters to cinema into five nominations. On the small screen, Abbott Elementary picked up five nods, followed by The White Lotus, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Crown, Pam & Tommy and Only Murders in the Building with four each. Other highlights include Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery scoring a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Daniel Craig for Best Actor in the same category; Emma Thompson's Best Actress nod in the same genre for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; both Decision to Leave and RRR among the non-English language picks; and Angela Bassett receiving some Best Supporting Actress love for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. And, there's The Bear picking up two noms (including for lead Jeremy Allen White) in the TV fields, Diego Luna's Andor nomination, Zendaya's Euphoria nod and Better Call Saul's final season being recognised, too. Although there's plenty to celebrate among this year's contenders — including a hefty showing for Australians, including Baz Luhrmann's Best Director nom for Elvis, and Cate Blanchett, Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Debicki all picking up acting nominations (for Tár, Bablyon, The Son and The Crown, respectively) — the Globes are sadly back to ignoring women directors. If you're wondering what else is in the running, here's the full list of nominations: GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES: BEST MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Avatar: The Way of Water Elvis The Fabelmans Tár Top Gun: Maverick BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Cate Blanchett, Tár Olivia Colman, Empire of Light Viola Davis, The Woman King Ana de Armas, Blonde Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Austin Butler, Elvis Brendan Fraser, The Whale Hugh Jackman, The Son Bill Nighy, Living Jeremy Pope, The Inspection BEST MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Triangle of Sadness BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Margot Robbie, Babylon Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Diego Calva, Babylon Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Adam Driver, White Noise Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Ralph Fiennes, The Menu BEST MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Inu-Oh Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Turning Red BEST MOTION PICTURE — NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE All Quiet on the Western Front Argentina, 1985 Close Decision to Leave RRR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness Carey Mulligan, She Said BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Brad Pitt, Babylon Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse BEST DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Baz Luhrmann, Elvis Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans BEST SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE Todd Field, Tár Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Sarah Polley, Women Talking Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans BEST ORIGINAL SCORE — MOTION PICTURE Carter Burwell, The Banshees of Inisherin Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Hildur Guðnadóttir, Women Talking Justin Hurwitz, Babylon John Williams, The Fabelmans BEST ORIGINAL SONG — MOTION PICTURE 'Carolina' by Taylor Swift, Where the Crawdads Sing 'Ciao Papa' by Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio 'Hold My Hand' by Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice, Top Gun: Maverick 'Lift Me Up' by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 'Naatu Naatu' by Kala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj, RRR BEST TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Better Call Saul The Crown House of the Dragon Ozark Severance BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Emma D'Arcy, House of the Dragon Laura Linney, Ozark Imelda Staunton, The Crown Hilary Swank, Alaska Daily Zendaya, Euphoria BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Jeff Bridges, The Old Man Kevin Costner, Yellowstone Diego Luna, Andor Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Adam Scott, Severance BEST TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Abbott Elementary The Bear Hacks Only Murders in the Building Wednesday BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Jenna Ortega, Wednesday Jean Smart, Hacks BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Donald Glover, Atlanta Bill Hader, Barry Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Black Bird DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story The Dropout Pam & Tommy The White Lotus BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jessica Chastain, George and Tammy Julia Garner, Inventing Anna Lily James, Pam & Tommy Julia Roberts, Gaslit Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Taron Egerton, Black Bird Colin Firth, The Staircase Andrew Garfield, Under the Banner of Heaven Evan Peters, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble Daisy Edgar-Jones, Under the Banner of Heaven Niecy Nash, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION F. Murray Abraham, The White Lotus Domhnall Gleeson, The Patient Paul Walter Hauser, Black Bird Richard Jenkins, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Seth Rogen, Pam & Tommy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL-COMEDY OR DRAMA TELEVISION SERIES Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Julia Garner, Ozark Janelle James, Abbott Elementary Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL-COMEDY OR DRAMA TELEVISION SERIES John Lithgow, The Old Man Jonathan Pryce, The Crown John Turturro, Severance Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary Henry Winkler, Barry The 2023 Golden Globes will be announced on Wednesday, January 11 Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
The Brisbane River may give our city that romantic feel, but its muddy waters are pretty off-putting for swimming purposes. There's a growing call to clean up the waterway, but with those plans still in the pipeline — and warm weather a Brissie constant — we don't have time to wait. So, we've scoped out some rivers near Brisbane where you can take a dip in clean, healthy waters. Whether you want to hang out underneath a tumbling waterfall or picnic among tranquil rock pools, there's a cool, watery escape for you here. Recommended reads: The Best Summer Day Trips From Brisbane The Best Waterfalls You Can Swim Under Near Brisbane The Best Walks Around Brisbane The Best Snorkelling Spots Near Brisbane [caption id="attachment_783110" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Garners Falls, Maleny At some point along the shady, ferny walking trail to Gardners Falls, the real world slips away. This dreamy rock pool feels like it could be a portal to some fairy tale alter-universe. It's hidden in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, just a five-minute drive from Maleny — and a 90-minute drive north of Brisbane. There's a variety of swimming holes, from shallow spots where you can get your feet wet to an expansive pool beneath a waterfall. Spend your terrestrial time relaxing on rock platforms or go exploring in nearby bushland. Surrounded by native forest, the location is also ideal for a post-swim picnic under a giant water gum. It's easily one of our favourite Queensland rivers for swimming in. Bunya Crossing Reserve, The Hills District When you're short on time, make tracks to Bunya Crossing Reserve swimming hole, which you'll find on a bend in the South Pine River. It's just 25 minutes from Brisbane's CBD, so it's more or less in the suburbs. There are a bunch of spots of various depths, letting you completely submerge yourself or stick to paddling in the shallows. Note that you could be sharing the water with ducks, fish and turtles. In the surrounding bushland — part of Bunyaville State Forest Park — walking trails are home to possums, wallabies and bush turkeys. You're welcome to fish, bring your dog (as long as they stay on-leash) and there are gas barbies, too, where you can fire up your catch while it's still super fresh. [caption id="attachment_828020" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Currumbin Creek, Gold Coast Hinterland No doubt your usual motivation for road tripping to the Gold Coast is beaches. But drive inland from Currumbin Beach for just 15 minutes (about 1.5 hours south of Brisbane) and you'll reach the enchanting rock pools of Currumbin Creek, nestled into Currumbin Valley. Set against steep rock faces and dotted with rope swings and ledges, the Currumbin Rock Pools look like something out of an Enid Blyton adventure novel. Once you've finished up with your swim, you can always head to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, too, to enjoy an afternoon with native fauna in natural surrounds. [caption id="attachment_827977" align="alignnone" width="1920"] John via Flickr[/caption] Cedar Creek, Samford Samford's Cedar Creek is a 45-minute drive northwest of Brisbane, and it boasts quite the popular name. Yes, there's also a Cedar Creek in Tamborine National Park, plus another up in Proserpine — just to make things confusing. With this one, though, you're headed to a cheerful Queensland river spot that starts high up in Mount Glorious, before gradually winding its way to Moreton Bay. Be prepared for plenty of rocks, small but cute swimming spots, and having a leisurely creek dip. Don't forget to pack sturdy shoes to explore the area, and to bring a picnic. There's more than a few spots to eat, and you'll want to kick back and relax for a while. This all combines to makes it one of the best rivers for swimming in near Brisbane. [caption id="attachment_828019" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Lower Portals, Mount Barney National Park To make the most out of this river swim, leave early. The swimming spot is a 1.5-hour drive southwest of Brisbane, then a 7.4-kilometre loop along a steep and rocky trail. That might sound like an effort, but the cool, lush gully known as Lower Portals is worth it — especially on a steaming hot day in Brisbane. Here, you'll discover a string of crystal-clear rock pools, separated by enormous boulders and rising into subtropical rainforest. Fair warning: the water is usually rather cold, even in the middle of summer. But it's a refreshing dip during the warmer days ahead. You can find Abbott's Bakery products at all major supermarkets — and discover more tasty sandwich recipes via its website. Top image: Lower Portals, Mount Barney Lodge by Tourism and Events Queensland.
Adoring Pixar films is generally easy for a whole heap of reasons, and here's one them: the Disney-owned animation studio knows what it likes and what it does well, and it finds multiple ways to keep giving both a whirl in new and different fashions. Even when you can see the formula behind toys, fish, monsters and feelings having feelings — to name a few of Pixar's similar ideas — the end result usually carves its own niche, and also makes its own heartfelt and delightful impact. 2023 release Elemental looks set to be one of those flicks. Even from just its title, it's easy to see the path that the studio is taking. The question this time: what if the elements, aka fire, water, land and air, had feelings? The film dubs its characters fire-, water-, land- and air-residents, but getting big Inside Out and Soul vibes comes with the territory while watching the movie's just-dropped first trailer. That initial sneak peek is also as adorable as you'd expect if you've ever just seen one frame of a Pixar feature. The teaser heads to Element City, where its various Captain Planet-like characters reside together — and where the fiery Ember (voiced by Leah Lewis, Nancy Drew) and go-with-the-flow Wade (Mamoudou Athie, Archive 81) cross paths. As is generally the case with debut trailers, Elemental's first look is all about style and mood rather than diving too far into the story, but it does show Ember and Wade meeting, and also surveys the passengers on an Element City water train. Flaming legs, grassy creatures, critters that look like clouds, earthy parents with children in pot plants: they're all sighted. Then Ember's headphones fall off — and Wade picks them up. Directed by The Good Dinosaur's Peter Sohn, and with the rest of the voice cast yet to be announced, it's literally a story of water and fire trying to get along. Maybe Pixar is staffed by George RR Martin fans? There's a Studio Ghibli feel to it all, too, thanks to the big focus on nature (and that water train, which isn't quite a cat bus, but might get you thinking of one). Following 2022's Turning Red and Lightyear, Pixar's most recent releases, the film hits cinemas on June 15. Check out the first trailer for Elemental below: Elemental releases in cinemas on June 15, 2023.
First, Emilia Pérez picked up three awards at Cannes. Now, the musical crime comedy from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) — which stars Karla Sofia Gascón (Harina), Zoe Saldaña (Special Ops: Lioness) and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building) — has made history at the Golden Globes. Earning ten nominations for 2025's ceremony, it has now beaten Barbie's 2024 record for the most nods by a musical or comedy in a single year. Emilia Pérez is also the most-nominated film among 2025's just-announced batch of contenders. Down Under, add the movie to your must-see list for January — plus The Brutalist and Conclave, too, with the former scoring seven nominations and the latter six. So, that's monumental historical dramas and papal thrillers covered. 2024 Palme d'Or-winner Anora and body-horror gem The Substance picked up five nods apiece, while Wicked joins the contenders with four. The Golden Globes not only recognise big-screen highlights but also small-screen excellence, with The Bear topping the TV pool with five nominations. Next comes Only Murders in the Building and Shogun, both picking up four. Nobody Wants This, Baby Reindeer, Disclaimer and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story also earned some love, each collecting three nominations. As always, you can consider the roster of nominees a handy to-watch list ahead of the winners being announced on Monday, January 6 Australian and New Zealand time — which means also getting excited about the upcoming Timothée Chalamet (Dune: Part Two)-starring Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown; appreciating not one but two Sebastian Stan performances, given that he's nominated for both The Apprentice and A Different Man; and catching up with Mr & Mrs Smith, Slow Horses, Abbott Elementary, Hacks, The Penguin, Ripley and True Detective: Night Country if you haven't seen them already. Ahead of dropping on Boxing Day, the second season of Squid Game also scored some attention — if you weren't already keen enough for the Netflix smash. On the homegrown front, Australians are among the nominees thanks to Memoir of a Snail's recognition in the Best Motion Picture — Animated category, plus acting nods for Nicole Kidman for Babygirl, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist, Cate Blanchett for Disclaimer and Naomi Watts for Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. Although every round of nominations for every awards has its highlights and omissions, the Golden Globes' standout choices include remembering to give Challengers some affection (including Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for its propulsive score), nominating two female filmmakers in The Substance's Coralie Fargeat and All We Imagine as Light's Payal Kapadia for Best Director, making room for the gorgeous dialogue-free Flow in the animation camp, putting Pamela Anderson among the Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama competitors for The Last Showgirl and Demi Moore in the equivalent musical or comedy field for The Substance, and the supporting actor Succession battle between Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain and Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice. If you're wondering what else is in the running, here's the full list of nominations: 2025 Golden Globe Nominees Best Motion Picture — Drama The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Nickel Boys September 5 Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Anora Challengers Emilia Pérez A Real Pain The Substance Wicked Best Motion Picture — Animated Flow Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Moana 2 Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Alien: Romulus Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Deadpool & Wolverine Gladiator II Inside Out 2 Twisters Wicked The Wild Robot Best Motion Picture — Non-English Language All We Imagine as Light Emilia Pérez The Girl with the Needle I'm Still Here The Seed of the Sacred Fig Vermiglio Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl Angelina Jolie, Maria Nicole Kidman, Babygirl Tilda Swinton, The Room Next Door Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here Kate Winslet, Lee Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama Adrien Brody, The Brutalist Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Daniel Craig, Queer Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Amy Adams, Nightbitch Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora Demi Moore, The Substance Zendaya, Challengers Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain Hugh Grant, Heretic Gabriel Labelle, Saturday Night Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness Glen Powell, Hit Man Sebastian Stan, A Different Man Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Margaret Qualley, The Substance Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice Denzel Washington, Gladiator II Best Director — Motion Picture Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Edward Berger, Conclave Brady Corbet, The Brutalist Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light Best Screenplay — Motion Picture Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Peter Straughan, Conclave Best Original Score — Motion Picture Volker Bertelmann, Conclave Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot Clément Ducol, Camille, Emilia Pérez Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Challengers Hans Zimmer, Dune: Part Two Best Original Song — Motion Picture 'Beautiful That Way', Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Zachrisson, The Last Showgirl 'Compress / Repress', Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino, Challengers 'El Mal', Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez 'Forbidden Road', Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek, Better Man 'Kiss The Sky', Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi, The Wild Robot 'Mi Camino', Clément Ducol, Camille, Emilia Pérez Best Television Series — Drama The Day of the Jackal The Diplomat Mr & Mrs Smith Shogun Slow Horses Squid Game Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Abbott Elementary The Bear The Gentlemen Hacks Nobody Wants This Only Murders in the Building Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Baby Reindeer Disclaimer Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story The Penguin Ripley True Detective: Night Country Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama Kathy Bates, Matlock Emma D'arcy, House of the Dragon Maya Erskine, Mr & Mrs Smith Keira Knightley, Black Doves Keri Russell, The Diplomat Anna Sawai, Shogun Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama Donald Glover, Mr & Mrs Smith Jake Gyllenhaal, Presumed Innocent Gary Oldman, Slow Horses Eddie Redmayne, The Day of the Jackal Hiroyuki Sanada, Shogun Billy Bob Thornton, Landman Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Ayo Edebiri, The Bear Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Kathryn Hahn, Agatha All Along Jean Smart, Hacks Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Jason Segel, Shrinking Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Cate Blanchett, Disclaimer Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country Cristin Milioti, The Penguin Sofía Vergara, Griselda Naomi Watts, Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans Kate Winslet, The Regime Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Colin Farrell, The Penguin Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer Kevin Kline, Disclaimer Cooper Koch, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Ewan McGregor, A Gentleman in Moscow Andrew Scott, Ripley Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Dakota Fanning, Ripley Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer Allison Janney, The Diplomat Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Tadanobu Asano, Shogun Javier Bardem, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Harrison Ford, Shrinking Jack Lowden, Slow Horses Diego Luna, La Máquina Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television Jamie Foxx, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was Nikki Glaser, Nikki Glaser: Someday You'll Die Seth Meyers, Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking Adam Sandler, Adam Sandler: Love You Ali Wong, Ali Wong: Single Lady Ramy Youssef, Ramy Youssef: More Feelings The 2025 Golden Globes will be announced on Monday, January 6, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
We found out the hard way that milkshakes don’t bring all the boys to the yard, but they do bring back nostalgic memories. And while our tastebuds have matured since childhood, so too have Brisbane’s. Classic run-of-the-mill syrups have given way to gourmet handmade mixes, and in some places the ‘retro’ silver cup has been replaced by on-trend glass jars. Even milk can be ‘organic’ and the ice-cream, ‘hand-churned’. We scoured Brisbane on a few milkshake crawls, including one six-leg tier that made us more milk-drunk than a newborn baby, and have compiled this bible of the best ten milkshakes this river city has to offer. You’re welcome. Pearl Cafe Pearl Cafe has thrown its arms up to the heavens, captured falling angel’s tears, added milk and called it a shake. Their homemade butterscotch concoction tastes like they poured the caramelly mixture straight from the stovetop to the bar mix. The milkshake is frothy and light and served straight-up in a classic steel cup. Being given the steel cup is the ultimate shake experience – it’s comforting to know you’re getting the maximum amount of milkshake possible. Like drinking liquid Werther’s Originals, this is a shake for the bucket list and a coup for Brisbane. Homemade Butterscotch, $7.50 Shady Palms Too often this sick, sad world makes you choose between the glory of salted caramel and peanut butter. This is not so at Shady Palms. Special of the day, and didn’t we pick the best day, was a salted caramel and peanut butter shake – a crafty mashup of all that is good. From the hands of the gods, Shady have combined the yin and yang of the milkshake world to produce a flavour that stomps all over the usual ‘chocolate peanut butter’ combo. The only downside was that the shake was on the small side and after hitting the bottom with a slurp of approval we were looking to the kitchen for more – and the mysterious missing steel cup. Salted Caramel & Peanut Butter, $7.50 Southside Tea Room Yes, this is ‘that cafe/bar’ owned by band The Grates, but does being a rockstar mean you can whip up milkshakes worthy of one? The answer is gladly yes. With lead singer Patience Hodgson the proclaimed milk-master, connoisseur of all things creamy and all-round great human at the helm – our strawberries and cream milkshake was in good hands. Skip the syrup, this guy is made with real jam and real cream. Before we could say 19, 20, 20 a jar full of this fluffy cream and sprinkle-topped shake appeared on the retro laminate table. Lean back onto the crochet granny rug and sip up the relaxed vibes. Strawberries & Cream, $7.50 Hoo Ha Bar What Hoo Ha do, Hoo Ha do well and so the same could be said about their milkshakes. This cafe and bar do a mean salted caramel shake topped with a dusting of cinnamon that will do things to your mind you thought cinnamon was never capable of. It was as if salted caramel could not be more perfect, and then Hoo Ha go and pull a swift one on us. Thank you Hoo Ha, thank you. Open until late, if you’re not hankering for a beer at 9pm, I’m sure they’d be accommodating enough to whip you up a milky treat. Salted Caramel, $6 Milk Easy to spot with it’s yellow and white striped awnings and classic-meets-modern milkbar appeal, this Ashgrove cafe is called milk for a reason – milkshakes. At just $5 a pop it’s hard to walk past the classics (they even have blue heaven and malt) but read down the menu and a deluxe cookies and cream thickshake comes in like a wrecking ball. Served up in a big kickarse jar with handle and a chocolate and sprinkle dipped rim, this shake looks like all your childhood dreams come true and you’ve never hit a love so hard. The thickness passes the straw test (straw gets firmly stuck in the thick of it) and this creates the only draw back – regular straws just don’t cut it for slurping thickshakes. Guess you’ll have to get your tongue all up in it. Cookies & Cream, $7.90 Bitter Suite New Farm local Bitter Suite certainly has a sweet side. On offer here the Lemon Meringue Pie milkshake is doing to milkshakes what others have not dared before. When life gives you lemons, add real meringue and biscuit to milk and ice-cream base, top it with whipped cream, put it in mason jar with a paper straw and call it a milkshake. While it may be tempting to stay a while, knock back some craft brewskis and soak up the New Farm vibes - you're on a quest, and so, push on to the next place. Lemon Meringue Pie, $8 Scout The second best part about going on a milkshake crawl is ordering a single shake between three people, explaining our quest, and diving in menage-a-trois-style with three straws. The best part, however, was when asking our waitress the ultimate question – salted caramel, butterscotch or chocolate ganache – she described the caramel as “quite the tits”. Tits are great and so probably is the salted caramel, but we went for chocolate ganache to mix it up. The shake was quite heavy, thick and viscous. Made from homemade ganache, it formed an almost milo-like texture on top of the foam and had a malty aftertaste. Heaven. Chocolate Ganache, $7.50 Beach House Yes, Beach House – that ‘nothing too special’ pub-style bistro on the corner of Albert and Elzabeth streets in the city. At a mere $4 they are perhaps the cheapest milkshake in Brisbane, and while they’re not boasting home-grown vanilla pods or milk from Belinda the Black Angus dairy cow from Northey St City Farm they are pumping out classic flavours with the syrups we remember as a kid. The caramel shake was everything it should be. Beach House were generous on the syrup, even detailing the cup with a drizzle, and it was served up in a tall milkshake glass – perfect. The only thing missing is the steel cup and a sore stomach. Turns out 20-something me can stomach more than my single-digit self. Caramel, $4 Lucky Duck Lucky Duck have really dropped a bomb on the milkshake world. More like an entire breakfast than a shake, the Canadian Bomb shake mixes your morning espresso shot with the healthiness of banana, naughtiness of chocolate and beloved pancake topping – maple syrup. To cover all the food groups, all that is missing is some pureed bacon. Served generously in a big steel cup with coffee beans on top, the thick milkshake is sweet and moreish, with the bitter coffee keeping you from sugar coma-ing entirely. Each flavour can be tasted individually, and as a whole it is delicious. Canadian Bomb, $7 Gramercy For a gourmet hit just off Queen St it is hard to go past Gramercy. The cafe has just added a the new malted hazelnut milkshake to the menu, because guys, salted caramel is so 2013. These seasoned taste buds of ours have a hunch that nutella is used for the base – and oh how good it tastes. Those with a penchant for both the chocolate spread and malt should get thyself within Gramercy's yard immediately - because their milkshake is better than yours. Malted Hazelnut, $7.50
2023 marks 65 years since Australia's film and television industry first started recognising its best work of the year with accolades. Back then, the gongs were called the AFI Awards. When the Australian Film Institute created the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts in 2011, the awards changed names to the AACTAs. The country's standout flicks and TV highlights are still rewarded with shiny trophies, though — and, since making the switch in monikers in 2012, the big winners paint quite the picture of Australia's screen output. Red Dog, The Sapphires, The Great Gatsby, The Babadook, The Water Diviner, Mad Max: Fury Road, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion, Sweet Country, The Nightingale, Babyteeth, Nitram and Elvis have all been anointed Australia's top movie. Among the small-screen recipients, Best Drama has gone to East West 101, Puberty Blues, Redfern Now, The Code, Glitch, Wentworth, Top of the Lake: China Girl, Mystery Road, Total Control, The Newsreader and Mystery Road: Origin. They all now have company, with the 2024 awards looking back on 2023's highlights announced on Saturday, February 10. Talk to Me was named Best Film, while The Newsreader claimed Best Drama again. The AACTAs are known to concentrate the love towards a few titles each year. 2024 is different, however. The list of winners goes on, and makes an ace must-see lineup of top-notch Aussie movies and TV shows to catch up on or revisit from the past year. Here's 13 that you can watch now: Movie Must-Sees Talk to Me An embalmed hand can't click its fingers, not even when it's the spirit-conducing appendage at the heart of Talk to Me. This is an absolute finger snap of a horror film, however, and a fist pump of a debut by Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou. As RackaRacka, the Adelaide-born pair have racked up six-million-plus subscribers on YouTube via viral comedy, horror and action combos. As feature filmmakers, they're just as energetic, eager and assured, not to mention intense about giving their all. Talk to Me opens with a party that's soon blighted by both a stabbing and a suicide. It segues swiftly into a Sia sing-along, then the violent loss of one half of the Aussie coat of arms. A breakout hit at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it sparked a distribution bidding war won by indie favourite A24, it's constantly clicking, snapping and ensuring that viewers are paying attention — with terror-inducing imagery, a savvy sense of humour, both nerve and the keenness to unnerve, and a helluva scary-movie premise that's exceptionally well-executed. The picture's outstretched mitt is the Philippous' Ouija board. That withered and scribbled-on paw is also a wildly unconventional way to get high. In a screenplay penned by Danny with fellow first-timer Bill Hinzman, but based on Bluey and Content executive producer Daley Pearson's short-film concept — yes, that Bluey — shaking hands with the distinctive meat hook is a party trick and dare as well. When the living are palm to palm with this dead duke, in flows a conjuring. A candle is lit, "talk to me" must be uttered, then "I let you in". Once heads are kicking back and the voices start, no one should grasp on for more than 90 seconds, as Hayley (Zoe Terakes, Nine Perfect Strangers) and Joss (Chris Alosio, Millie Lies Low) explain. But, as she navigates the anniversary of her mother's death, Mia (Sophie Wilde, Boy Swallows Universe) is up for going as far as she can. Here, being consumed by sinister spirits, not consuming booze, is an escape. That, and filming whatever twisted chaos happens when you connect with the otherworldly. It isn't all fun and frights and games, though; when her best friend Jade's (Alexandra Jensen, Joe vs Carole) 14-year-old brother Riley (Joe Bird, First Day) takes part, traumatic consequences spring. AACTAs Won: Best Film, Best Direction (Danny and Michael Philippou), Best Lead Actress (Sophie Wilde), Best Editing, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, Best Sound. Where to watch it: Talk to Me streams via Netflix, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Danny Philippou. Limbo When Ivan Sen sent a police detective chasing a murdered girl and a missing woman in the Australian outback in 2013's Mystery Road and its 2016 sequel Goldstone, he saw the country's dusty, rust-hued expanse in sun-bleached and eye-scorching colour. In the process, the writer, director, co-producer, cinematographer, editor and composer used his first two Aussie noir films and their immaculately shot sights to call attention to how the nation treats people of colour — historically since its colonial days and still now well over two centuries later. Seven years after the last Jay Swan movie, following a period that's seen that character make the leap to the small screen in three television seasons, Sen returned with a disappearance, a cop, all that inimitable terrain and the crimes against its Indigenous inhabitants that nothing can hide. Amid evident similarities, there's a plethora of differences between the Mystery Road franchise and Limbo; however, one of its simplest is also one of its most glaring and powerful: shooting Australia's ochre-toned landscape in black and white. Limbo's setting: Coober Pedy, the globally famous "opal capital of the world" that's known for its underground dwellings beneath the blazing South Australian earth, but reimagined as the fictional locale that shares the film's name — a place unmistakably sporting an otherworldly topography dotted by dugouts to avoid the baking heat, and that hasn't been able to overcome the murder of a local Indigenous girl two decades earlier. The title is symbolic several times over, including to the visiting Travis Hurley (Simon Baker, Boy Swallows Universe), whose first task upon arrival is checking into his subterranean hotel, rolling up his sleeves and indulging his heroin addiction. Later, he'll be told that he looks more like a drug dealer than a police officer — but, long before then, it's obvious that his line of work and the sorrows he surveys along the way have kept him hovering in a void. While he'll also unburden a few biographical details about mistakes made and regrets held before the film comes to an end, such as while talking to the missing Charlotte Hayes' brother Charlie (Rob Collins, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and sister Emma (Natasha Wanganeen, The Survival of Kindness), this tattooed cop with wings inked onto his back is already in limbo before he's literally in Limbo talking. AACTAs Won: Best Indie Film. Where to watch it: Limbo streams via iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Ivan Sen and Simon Baker. The New Boy Warwick Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: name a better Australian quintet. The director of Samson & Delilah and Sweet Country, the two-time Oscar-winner and Tár tour de force, the local screen mainstay, and the Bad Seeds bandmates and seasoned film composers all combine not for the ultimate Aussie dinner party, but for The New Boy. None are debuting in their jobs. All are exceptional. They're each made better, however, by the luminous and entrancing Aswan Reid. As well as playing the titular part, the 11-year-old first-time actor lives it among such a wealth of acclaimed and experienced talent — and he's such a find in such excellent company, while saying little in words but everything in every other way, that Thornton's third fictional feature owes him as much of a debt as its applauded and awarded household names. There's a spark to Reid from the moment that he's first spied grappling with outback law enforcement under blazing rays as Cave and Ellis' (This Much I Know to Be True) latest rousing score plays. His sun-bleached hair couldn't be more fitting, or symbolic, but it's the confident way in which he holds himself as New Boy, plus the determined look on his face, that sears. Wily and wiry, the feature's eponymous figure is toppled by a boomerang, then bagged up and transported to the remote Catholic orphanage doted on by Sister Eileen (Blanchett, Nightmare Alley) in the 1940s. The cop doing the escorting notes that the kid is a bolter, but the nun is just as fast in her kindness. She sees what Thornton wants his audience to see: a boy that beams with his presence and through his sense of self, even though he's been snatched up, taken from his Country and forced into a Christian institution against his will. Sister Eileen is as drawn to him as the movie, but — and not just due to the red wine she likes sipping and the subterfuge she's keeping up about the resident father's absence — she isn't as certain about what to do. AACTAs Won: Best Lead Actor in Film (Aswan Reid), Best Supporting Actress (Deborah Mailman), Best Cinematography, Best Production Design. Where to watch it: The New Boy streams via Binge, Prime Video, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review, and our interview with Warwick Thornton. John Farnham: Finding the Voice There's no need to try to understand it: John Farnham's 1986 anthem 'You're the Voice' is an instant barnstormer of a tune. An earworm then, now and for eternity, it was the Australian song of the 80s. With its layered beats, swelling force and rousing emotion, all recorded in a garage studio, it's as much of a delight when it's soundtracking comedy films like the Andy Samberg-starring Hot Rod and the Steve Coogan-led Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa as it is echoing out of every Aussie pub's jukebox. Making a noise and making it clear, 'You're the Voice' is also one of the reasons that Farnham's 1986 album Whispering Jack remains the best-selling homegrown release ever nearing four decades since it first dropped. But, as John Farnham: Finding the Voice tells, this iconic match of track and talent — this career-catapulting hit for a singer who'd initially tasted fame as a teen pop idol two decades prior — almost didn't happen. Whispering Jack also almost didn't come to fruition at all, a revelation so immense that imagining Australia without that album is like entering Back to the Future Part II's alternative 80s. Writer/director Poppy Stockwell (Scrum, Nepal Quake: Terror on Everest) and her co-scribe Paul Clarke (a co-creator of Spicks and Specks) know this, smartly dedicating a significant portion of Finding the Voice to that record and its first single. The titbits and behind-the-scenes anecdotes flow, giving context to a song almost every Aussie alive since it arrived knows in their bones. Gaynor Wheatley, the wife of Farnham's late best friend and manager Glenn, talks about how they mortgaged their house to fund the release when no label would touch the former 'Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)' crooner. Chris Thompson, the English-born, New Zealand-raised Manfred Mann's Earth Band musician who co-penned 'You're the Voice', chats about initially declining Farnham's request to turn the tune into a single after the latter fell for it via a demo. AACTAs Won: Best Documentary. Where to watch it: John Farnham: Finding the Voice streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Shayda Whether or not Noora Niasari was ever explicitly told to write what she knew, the Iranian Australian filmmaker has taken that advice to heart. Her mother listened to the same guidance first, even if it was never spoken to her, either. The latter penned a memoir that has gone unpublished, but helped form the basis of the powerful and affecting Shayda. This account of a mum and her daughter attempting to start anew in a women's shelter doesn't entirely stick to the facts that writer/director Niasari and her mother lived through. The Sundance-premiering, Melbourne International Film Festival-opening, Oscars-entered feature — it was Australia's contender for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, but wasn't nominated — isn't afraid to fictionalise details in search of the best screen story. Still, the tale that's told of courage, resilience, rebuilding lives and finding a new community is deeply and patently personal. Perhaps even better, it's inescapably authentic. Niasari peers back at being barely of primary-school age and making a new home. Fleeing to a women's shelter is the only option that the film's eponymous figure (Zar Amir Ebrahimi, 2022's Cannes Best Actress-winner for Holy Spider) has to get away from the abusive Hossein (Osamah Sami, Savage River), whose controlling nature is matched by that of their patriarchal culture. So, Shayda leaves with six-year-old Mona (debutant Selina Zahednia). As she waits for her divorce proceedings to go through — a complicated task under Iranian law and customs — she seeks refuge at a secret site overseen by the caring Joyce (Leah Purcell, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart). Even surrounded by kindness and filled with desperation for a better future, every iota of Shayda's decision is fraught and tense; Niasari starts the film with Mona at an airport being told what to do if she's ever there with her father, should he try to take her not only away from her mum but also back to Iran. AACTAs Won: Best Casting. Where to watch it: Shayda streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Noora Niasari. Carmen Breaking down a classic tale best known as an opera, rebuilding it as a lovers-on-the-run drama set across the US–Mexico border and making every moment burst with emotion, Benjamin Millepied's Carmen is a movie that moves. While its director is a feature debutant, his background as a dancer and choreographer — he did both on Black Swan, the latter on Vox Lux as well, then designed the latest Dune films' sandwalk — perhaps means that the former New York City Ballet principal and Paris Opera Ballet Director of Dance was fated to helm rhythmic, fluid and rousing cinema. His loose take on Georges Bizet's singing-driven show and Prosper Mérimée's novella before it, plus Alexander Pushkin's poem The Gypsies that the first is thought to be based on, is evocative and sensual. It's sumptuous and a swirl of feelings, too, as aided in no small part by its penchant for dance. And, it pirouettes with swoon-inducing strength with help from its stunningly cast leads: Scream queen and In the Heights star Melissa Barrera, plus Normal People breakout and Aftersun Oscar-nominee Paul Mescal. When Mescal earned the world's attention in streaming's initial Sally Rooney adaptation, he had viewers dreaming of fleeing somewhere — Ireland or anywhere — with him. Carmen's namesake (Barrera) absconds first, then has PTSD-afflicted Marine Aidan (Mescal) join her attempt to escape to Los Angeles. Carmen runs after her mother Zilah (flamenco dancer Marina Tamayo) greets the cartel with thunderous footwork, but can't stave off their violence. Aidan enters the story once Carmen is smuggled stateside, where he's a reluctant volunteer border guard in Texas alongside the trigger-happy Mike (Benedict Hardie, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson). As the picture's central pair soon hurtle towards California, to Zilah's lifelong friend Masilda's (Rossy de Palma, Parallel Mothers) bar, they try to fly to whatever safety and security they can find. That may be fleeting, however, and might also be in each other's arms. AACTAs Won: Best Costume Design. Where to watch it: Carmen streams via Stan, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Benjamin Millepied. The Giants Nature documentaries rarely simply spy the earth's wonders, point cameras that way and let the planet itself do the talking. Instead, films such as 2017's The Ancient Woods are by far the exception rather than the rule. And yet, the best footage within any movie about our pale blue dot makes viewers wish that more favoured the "a picture is worth a thousand words" approach. Take The Giants, for instance. When it includes talk, which is often, it's no lesser a feature. The conversation and commentary offered is illuminating, in fact. But when it wanders through Tasmania's colossal foliage within the Styx Valley, Southern Forests and the Tarkine, which is also regularly, it feels like it barely needs to utter a single thing. This isn't merely a factual affair about flora, with environmental campaigner and pioneering former Greens senator Bob Brown firmly at its core, but The Giants knows that paying tribute to both is best done by staring at leafy surroundings as much as it can. It's no everyday feat to get a movie-watching audience admiring the natural world while peering at a screen, even if the frequency with which David Attenborough's docos arrive has helped everyone both think and expect otherwise. Indeed, notching up that achievement is a mammoth accomplishment on the part of The Giants' filmmakers Laurence Billiet (Freeman) and Rachel Antony, plus cinematographer Sherwin Akbarzadeh (Carbon — The Unauthorised Biography). Crucially, it assists what was always going to be a fascinating ode to bloom as much as any plant that it waters with attention. When you're crafting a documentary that intertwines a love letter to Australia's ancient native forests and their ecosystems with a powerful portrait of a hefty figure who has devoted much of his life to fighting for them, showing all the green splendour it possibly can is equally a must and a masterstroke. AACTAs Won: Best Cinematography in a Documentary. Where to watch it: The Giants streams via DocPlay, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story Post-viewing soundtrack, sorted: to watch Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is to take a trip down memory lane with the Australian music industry and hear homegrown standouts from the past five decades along the way. Unsurprisingly, this documentary already has an album to go with it, a stacked release which'd instantly do its eponymous figure proud. His tick of approval wouldn't just stem from the artists surveyed, but because Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story's accompanying tunes comprise a three-disc number like Mushroom Records' first-ever drop, a 1973 Sunbury Festival live LP. To tell the tale of Gudinski, the record executive and promoter who became a household name, is to tell of Skyhooks, Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Yothu Yindi, Bliss n Esso, The Temper Trap, Gordi and Vance Joy, too — and to listen to them. Need this on-screen tribute to give you some kind of sign that the Gudinski and Mushroom story spans a heap of genres? Both the film and the album alike include Peter Andre. Any journey through Michael Gudinski's life and career, from his childhood entrepreneurship selling car parks on his family's vacant lot to his years and years getting Aussie music to the masses — and, on the touring side, bringing massively popular overseas artists to Aussies — needs to also be an ode to the industry that he adored. The man and scene are inseparable. But perhaps Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story plays as such an overt love letter to Australian music because it's an unashamed hagiography of Gudinski. Although the movie doesn't deliver wall-to-wall praise, it comes close. When it begins to hint at any traces of arrogance, moodiness or ruthlessness, it quickly does the doco equivalent of skipping to the next track. Australian Rules and Suburban Mayhem director Paul Goldman, a seasoned hand at music videos as well, has called his feature Ego and there's no doubting his subject had one; however, the takeaway in this highly authorised biography is that anything that doesn't gleam was simply part of his natural mischievousness and eager push for success. AACTAs Won: Best Sound in a Documentary. Where to watch it: Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Small-Screen Standouts Deadloch Trust Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, Australia's favourite Kates and funniest double act, to make a killer TV show about chasing a killer that's the perfect sum of two excellent halves. Given their individual and shared backgrounds, including creating and starring in cooking show sendup The Katering Show and morning television spoof Get Krack!n, the pair unsurprisingly add another reason to get chuckling to their resumes; however, with Deadloch, they also turn their attention to crime procedurals. The Kates already know how to make viewers laugh. They've established their talents as brilliant satirists and lovers of the absurd in the process. Now, splashing around those skills in Deadloch's exceptional eight-episode first season lead by Kate Box (Stateless) and Madeleine Sami (The Breaker Upperers), they've also crafted a dead-set stellar murder-mystery series that ranks among The Kates' best work in almost every way. The only time that it doesn't? Not putting the tremendous pair on-screen themselves. Taking place in a sleepy small town, commencing with a body on a beach, and following both the local cop trying to solve the case and the gung-ho blow-in from a big city leading the enquiries, Deadloch has all the crime genre basics covered from the get-go. The Tasmanian spot scandalised by the death is a sitcom-esque quirky community, another television staple that McCartney and McLennan nail. Parody requires deep knowledge and understanding; you can't comically rip into and riff on something if you aren't familiar with its every in and out. That said, Deadloch isn't in the business of simply mining well-worn TV setups and their myriad of conventions for giggles, although it does that expertly. With whip-smart writing, the Australian series is intelligent, hilarious, and all-round cracking as a whodunnit-style noir drama and as a comedy alike — and, as Box's by-the-book Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins and Sami's loose and chaotic Darwin blow-in Eddie Redcliffe are forced to team up, it's also one of the streaming highlights of the past year. AACTAs Won: Best Acting in a Comedy (Kate Box), Best Casting in Television, Best Editing in Television, Best Original Score in Television, Best Screenplay in Television. Where to watch it: Deadloch streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart In The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, blooms are rarely out of sight and petals never evade attention. Adapted from Holly Ringland's 2018 novel, the seven-part Australian miniseries is set on a farm that cultivates native flora. It dubs the women who tend to them, an ensemble from various backgrounds largely seeking refuge from abusive pasts, "flowers" as well. Whether stem by stem or in bunches, its characters use florets as their own secret language. And yet, as much as bouquets linger, getting all things floral on the mind, star Sigourney Weaver burns rather than blossoms. Fire is another of the show's strong recurring motifs, so it's still fitting that its biggest name is as all-consuming as a blaze. She needs to be that scorching: this is a story about endeavouring to survive while weathering woes that ignite everything in their path. Weaver also draws upon almost five decades of thriving before the camera, often playing steely, smart and sometimes-raging women. Her on-screen career began sparking with Alien, the film that made her an instant icon. Since then, everyone has heard her performances scream — and, in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, she's again dazzling. Flowers frequently surround Weaver's June Hart far and wide. With a carefully selected cutting, the shotgun-toting matriarch of Thornfield Flower Farm can say all she needs to. That's what the eponymous Alice (Ayla Browne, Nine Perfect Strangers) quickly learns about her grandmother when she arrives at the property following a tragedy, becoming one of the farm's flowers after losing her pregnant mother Agnes (Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Hotel Mumbai) and violent father Clem (Charlie Vickers, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a tale about traumas, secrets and lies that lurk as deeply as the earth — about the choices and cycles that take root in such fraught soil, too. When nine-year-old Alice relocates fresh from hospital, the determined June, her doting partner Twig (Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and their adopted daughter Candy Blue (Frankie Adams, The Expanse) aim to shower the girl with sunlight to blaze away her horrors. You can't just bury problems, however, then hope that something vivid and colourful will grow over the top. Dedicating its first half to Alice's childhood and its second to 14 years later, when she's in her early twenties (Alycia Debnam-Carey, Fear the Walking Dead), The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart understands this immutable fact in its core. AACTAs Won: Best Miniseries, Best Cinematography in Television, Best Production Design in Television, Best Sound in Television. Where to watch it: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. Colin From Accounts A girl, a guy and a meet-cute over an adorable animal: that's the delightful and very funny Colin From Accounts' underlying formula. When medical student Ashley (Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Patrick Brammall, Evil) cross paths in the street one otherwise standard Sydney morning, they literally come to an impasse. He lets her go first, she flashes her nipple as thanks, then he's so distracted that he hits a stray dog with his car. As these circumstances demonstrate, Colin From Accounts isn't afraid to get awkward, much to the benefit of audiences. There's a syrupy way to proceed from the show's debut moments, intertwining sparks flying with idyllic dates, plus zero doubts of a happy ending for humans and pooches alike. If this was a movie, that's how it'd happen. Then there's Dyer and Brammall's way, with the duo creating and writing the series as well as starring in it, and focusing as much on ordinary existential mayhem — working out who you want to be, navigating complex relationships and learning to appreciate the simple pleasure of someone else's company, for example — as pushing its leads together. Just like in the Hollywood versions of this kind of tale, romance does blossom. That Dyer and Brammall are behind Colin From Accounts, their past chemistry on fellow Aussie comedy No Activity and the fact that they're married IRL means that pairing them up as more than new pals was always going to be on the show's agenda. It's how the series fleshes out each character and their baggage — including those who-am-I questions, Ash's difficult dynamic with her attention-seeking mother Lynelle (Helen Thomson, Elvis), and the responsibility that running your own business and committing to care for other people each bring — that helps give it depth. Colin From Accounts lets Ash and Gordon unfurl their woes and wishes, and also lets them grow. Sometimes, that happens by peeing and pooping in the wrong place, because that's also the type of comedy this is. Sometimes, it's because the show's central couple have taken a risk, or faced their struggles, or genuinely found solace in each other. Always, this Aussie gem is breezy and weighty — and instantly bingeable. AACTAs Won: Best Narrative Comedy Series. Where to watch it: Colin From Accounts streams via Binge. Read our full review. The Newsreader Aspiring Australian actors, take note: modelling your career after Anna Torv's so far is highly recommended. She's among the lengthy list of Aussies to call The Secret Life of Us one of her launch pads (another: Joel Edgerton). For five seasons and 100 episodes, she led fantastic US sci-fi series Fringe opposite Joshua Jackson (Fatal Attraction). The Daughter and Force of Nature: The Dry 2 in cinemas, plus Secret City, Mindhunter and The Last of Us on TV: they're also on her resume, which boasts both Hollywood and homegrown standouts. In the latter category, so is The Newsreader. Debuting with a six-episode first season in 2021, returning for the same stretch in 2023 and with another half-dozen on the way in 2024, it casts Torv as Helen Norville, News at Six's first-ever female newsreader. With the show set in the 80s, that gig isn't easy as misogyny and sexism run rife in the media industry — and as major real-life events, including the Challenger explosion, the Azaria Chamberlain case, Chernobyl and the 1987 federal election, are weaved in, all requiring news coverage. Torv is unsurprisingly excellent as Helen, and also in great company. As Dale Jennings, who starts the series as a budding reporter, Sam Reid is every bit up to the task. (He'a also someone whose own filmography is impressive both at home and abroad, thanks to past parts in The Railway Man, Belle, '71, Prime Suspect 1973, Lambs of God, The Drover's Wife the Legend of Molly Johnson and the Interview with the Vampire TV series.) The Newsreader isn't just anchored by two stellar leads, however, or guided by a cast that also includes Robert Taylor (Scrublands), William McInnes (NCIS: Sydney), Michelle Lim Davidson (After the Trial), Marg Downey (Jones Family Christmas), Chum Ehelepola (Preppers) and Stephen Peacocke (Five Bedrooms). It's textured at the character level, and also enthralling in its newsroom antics and glance backwards at Australia's past. Indeed, it's no wonder that more seasons keep coming. AACTAs Won: Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actress in a Drama (Anna Torv), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Hunter Page-Lochard), Best Costume Design in Television, Best Direction in Drama or Comedy. Where to watch it: The Newsreader streams via ABC iView. Love Me Add Love Me to the list of Aussie dramas set in Melbourne and featuring starry casts, alongside The Secret Life of Us, Tangle and Offspring. In this one, which first arrived in 2021, then returned in 2023, the ensemble runs deep — starting with Hugo Weaving (The Royal Hotel) and Bojana Novakovic (Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)). Bob Morley (In Limbo), Celia Pacquola (Utopia), Heather Mitchell (Jones Family Christmas), William Lodder (Bali 2002) and Shalom Brune-Franklin (The Tourist) also feature. Kim Gyngell (The Artful Dodger), Eryn Jean Norvill (Preppers) and Frank Woodley (The Ex-PM) each pop up as well. Given that this is a series about a family and their complicated romantic relationships, the who's who-esque roster of familiar Aussie talent is particularly fitting. The show steps inside the Mathieson clan's amorous ups and downs, in this Aussie adaptation of Sweden's Älska mig, and with such superb casting instantly creating a sense of intimacy in an effort that marked Binge's first local series when it initially debuted. Weaving's Glenn is the father of Novakovic's Clara and Lodder's Aaron. They quickly have death to deal with, as well as love; that life is messy thrums through the series from the outset. What stands out isn't always every minute detail in the plot, as universal and relatable as the storylines are, but the folks navigating it. That, again, is a testament to such savvy casting. Of course, putting Weaving is anything is usually reason enough to press play, especially when he's in thoughtful and layered mode as an everyman grappling with the fact that existence brings pain as well as joy. Amid the scenic vision of Melbourne roved over by helmers Emma Freeman (The Newsreader) and Bonnie Moir (Foe's second-unit director), this series brings characters to the screen with deeply engaging performances that feel layered and lived-in, and worth spending time with. AACTAs Won: Best Lead Actor in a Drama (Hugo Weaving), Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (Heather Mitchell). Where to watch it: Love Me streams via Binge.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from November. NEW STUFF TO WATCH NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QpnvmMmag&feature=emb_logo PALM SPRINGS It wasn't the first movie to play with temporal trickery; however, Groundhog Day has a lot to answer for. Films about folks stuck in a loop, repeating the same day or events over and over, now almost comprise their own genre — but, wearing its allegiance to the aforementioned Bill Murray-starring comedy on its sleeves, Palm Springs is one of the best of them. Here, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg plays Nyles, who has ventured to the titular location with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner, Brightburn) to attend a friend's nuptials. He gets drunk, makes a speech and a scene, befriends fellow wedding guest Sarah (Cristin Milioti, Modern Love) and disappears into a cave, warning the latter not to follow. When dawn breaks, it's the same day again. Then variations on the same events happen once more, and they just keep repeating over and over. Also featuring an initially intense JK Simmons (21 Bridges) as another ceremony attendee, Palm Springs has a wealth of fun with its concept, and becomes one of the year's most enjoyable movies in the process. Produced by Samberg alongside his Lonely Island colleagues Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, directed by feature first-timer Max Barbakow and written by Lodge 49's Andy Siara, it also finds its own way to grapple with the time-loop genre's usual elements — the repetition that feels like being stuck in purgatory, and the existential malaise that comes with it — in a smart and funny rom-com that boasts particularly great performances from Samberg and Milioti. Palm Springs is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-Mb4vTxj0 WE ARE WHO WE ARE Two on-screen tales about American teenagers in Italy. Two floppy-haired male leads oozing with uncertainty and yearning. One filmmaker. After Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino returns to familiar territory with HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are — and if its star Jack Dylan Grazer reminds you of the now ultra-famous Timothée Chalamet, that's completely unsurprising; in 2018's Beautiful Boy (not directed by Guadagnino), the former even played a younger version of the latter's character. But don't go mistaking Guadagnino's eight-part TV show for a mere or lazy rehash of the director's past work. Following two neighbouring 14-year-olds who live on a US army base with their enlisted parents, including Grazer's newly arrived loner, We Are Who We Are once again taps into universal themes about finding one's own identity and place in the world, and navigating affairs of the heart as well, but it definitely has its own story to tell. Also starring first-timer Jordan Kristine Seamón, plus Chloë Sevigny (Queen & Slim), Alice Braga (The New Mutants), Scott Mescudi (aka Bill & Ted Face the Music's Kid Cudi), Francesca Scorsese (daughter of iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese) and Tom Mercier (Synonyms), this patient yet involving series once again boasts Guadagnino's eye for gorgeous and revealing imagery, though, with every intoxicating shot (and every camera angle and placement used for each shot) luring viewers in. We Are Who We Are is available to stream via SBS On Demand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVoYKwTc4E AUNTY DONNA'S BIG OL' HOUSE OF FUN 2019's I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson was the best sketch comedy of that year. In 2020, the equivalent title goes to Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun. If you're familiar with Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna, then you'll know what to expect. Writers and performers Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, director and writer Sam Lingham, filmmaker Max Miller and composer Tom Armstrong have been treating audiences to absurdist gags, satire, wordplay and songs since forming in 2011 — but now the group has channelled all of its silliness and surreal gags, and its astute ability to make fun of daily life in a smart yet ridiculous way, into a six-part Netflix series. Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane star as themselves, and housemates. Each episode revolves around a theme, starting with the search for a fourth member of their household when they decide to turf their annoying talking dishwasher (voiced by Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal). There's nothing too over-the-top for Aunty Donna, or too trivial, including treasure hunts, an out-there recreation of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, a pitch-perfect takedown of trendy barber shops to a parody of male posturing when the guys turn their house into a bar. And there's little on offer in the extremely binge-able show that doesn't deliver just the dose of side-splitting absurdity that this hectic year needs. Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5FXjdKxgrA LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST First, a word to the wise: if you haven't already seen The Exorcist, you'll want to give it a whirl before checking out this new Shudder documentary. And even if you've watched the iconic horror movie so many times that you've memorised every crucifix and spinning head, revisiting it is never a bad idea; this in-depth examination of the 1973 hit by the filmmaker behind it will certainly make you want to as soon as possible. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is as straightforward as its title intimates. For the movie's 104-minute running time, the director also responsible for The French Connection, Sorcerer and Killer Joe chats through the feature he's best known for, explaining both behind-the-scenes and on-screen details. Expect an insight into the battles to even get The Exorcist to the screen, anecdotes about the quest to find the exact right stars for this unsettling tale of demon possession and insider recollections about the now-85-year-old Friedkin's wide-ranging career in general. Indeed, it's impressive just how wide a range of topics and themes this doco covers, proving absolute catnip for cinephiles. Leap of Faith's own filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe is known for diving deep into great screen works, as seen in 78/52 (about Psycho) and Memory: The Origins of Alien (about, well, Alien), after all. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEv0xy7p5Rg GANGS OF LONDON When crime kingpin Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney, Seberg) is killed unexpectedly after a 20-year reign over London's illicit dealings, the city's underworld is forced to react. The first order of business: find out who ordered the assassination, which is Finn's brooding, grieving and quick-to-react son Sean's (Joe Cole, One of These Days) only priority, and one he's determined to pursue at any cost. At first, it seems as if Gangs of London's nine-episode debut season is simply charting familiar territory — because many a movie and TV show about mobsters has focused on shock hits, succession scrambles and bloody fights over turf. But this British series has a particular strength that none of its genre compatriots can boast, aka filmmaker Gareth Evans. He's the director behind The Raid and its 2014 sequel The Raid 2: Berandal. If you've seen those two movies, that should be all you need to know. Here, Evans' penchant for balletic brutality and exquisitely shot and choreographed action scenes is on full display once again. He doesn't just rely upon intense, ultra-violent fights to keep viewers interested in this contemporary-set gang epic, though, plotting out an intricate world filled with meaningful, memorable and menacing characters (and just as impressive performances). Gangs of London's first season is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she demands that orphanage janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, Radioactive), she earns a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part miniseries proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados; however, it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4X9fQsiAOQ FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS Werner Herzog could make a documentary about absolutely any topic and, as long as the great filmmaker narrated it himself in his inimitable tones and with his lyrical, observational prose, it'd be worth checking out. As his on-screen acting roles in the likes of Jack Reacher, Parks and Recreation and The Mandalorian have shown, listening to his voice is one of life's purest joys — and, in Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, he spends his time talking about a riveting topic. Reuniting with University of Cambridge professor Clive Oppenheimer, who he worked with on the volcano-focused Into the Inferno, Herzog turns his attention to meteors. As well as searching for sites where they've fallen from the sky and made a literal impact, his new doco surveys experts from around the world, explores meteors in both ancient and recent times, and looks at the subject from a scientific, historical, archaeological and anthropological basis as well. From the Norwegian jazz musician who collects micrometeorites to the way that rocks descending from the heavens have played a part in Indigenous Australian culture, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is never anything less than fascinating. And, it also sees Herzog describe one part of the globe as "so godforsaken it makes you want to cry", which just might be one of his best turns of phrase yet. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is available to stream via Apple TV+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc HIS HOUSE Stories about fleeing persecution are innately horrifying, but His House makes viewers confront the scenario in a visceral and purposefully confronting way. That's what happens when you pair an unsettling real-world situation that's distressingly common with the horror genre — using the latter to augment and emphasise the terror of the former, as His House does commandingly. The first feature from writer/director Remi Weekes, this British-set movie follows Bol (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, the aforementioned Gangs of London) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku, Lovecraft Country) from war-torn South Sudan, across the Mediterranean by boat, into detention in the UK and finally to a home on the edge of London. They're thrilled to have made the journey safely, albeit at a significant personal cost that neither can shake, and they're initially excited to have a place to call their own. But, after their case worker Mark (Matt Smith, Official Secrets) gives them the keys, the couple's new abode turns into a nightmare. It doesn't help that Bol is certain that they need to farewell everything about their own culture to show the government that they deserve to stay, while Rial is rightly resistant to that idea. The pair are quite literally haunted, though, as Weekes manifests in eerie detail in a movie that cleverly and compellingly (and creepily, too) interrogates the refugee experience. His House is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiH_526qhY THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN Never let anyone tell you that SpongeBob SquarePants is just for kids. The long-running show about the absorbent, yellow and porous sea critter has always proved otherwise, but his big-screen adventures wholeheartedly make the case — because when you have Keanu Reeves playing a talking sage tumbleweed that's also a sage that dispenses wisdom, that pitch-perfect piece of casting is 100-percent aimed at adults. Yes, that's something that happens in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and more often than you might expect. Yes, it's delightful. There are more surreal and absurd gags where that came from, too, which has always been SpongeBob's appeal for older viewers. Story-wise, the movie — SpongeBob's third, after 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water — sees everyone's favourite Bikini Bottom resident leave his pineapple under the sea in search of his kidnapped pet snail Gary, with the vain King Poseidon (as voiced by What We Do in the Shadows star and Sponge Out of Water alum Matt Berry) the culprit. It's silly, it's sweet, it's chaotic and, although the flashbacks to SpongeBob's childhood are just a blatant way to promote a new TV spinoff, it's supremely entertaining. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is available to stream via Netflix. CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xENt3xZqA THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR Add this show about a west Philadelphia teen's life-changing move to Los Angeles to the list of classic series making a comeback in 2020. The Will Smith-starring sitcom hasn't returned in the proper sense. It is actually getting a reboot, in a darker, more dramatic form, because everything old is new again, but that was just announced a few months back and hasn't arrived just yet. Still, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's surviving original cast members have all come together for a brand new reunion special — which Stan now has available to stream alongside each and every one of the 148 episodes that initially aired between 1990–96. Accordingly, if you'd like to while away more than a few hours, days and weeks seeing where Smith's on-screen career kicked off, laughing at The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's fish-out-of-water premise and feeling mighty nostalgic for times gone by, now you can. You'll obviously be treated to a hefty array of 90s fashions, because that comes with the territory. And, you'll be certain to get the series' famed theme tune stuck in your head (if you haven't already while reading this paragraph, that is). Every season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is available to stream via Stan. Top images: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Paramount Animation; The Queen's Gambit, Phil Bray/Netflix; His House, Aidan Monaghan/Netflix.
Tasmania has firmly established itself as a go-to destination on Australia's culinary map. The island's verdant farmlands and inventive chefs produce some of the finest cuisine in the country. Plus, a budding collection of paddock-to-plate restaurants are helping visitors to better appreciate the island state's incredibly rich variety of produce. Here, we've teamed up with Tourism Tasmania to highlight a selection of incredible restaurants where almost everything you feast upon is locally grown and produced. Got a penchant for restaurants that champion sustainability and seasonality? It's time to push Tassie to the top of your travel list. [caption id="attachment_866855" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Van Bone[/caption] VAN BONE Set against the backdrop of Marion Bay's picturesque coastal landscape, Van Bone's eco-conscious philosophy ensures it stands out as a quintessentially Tasmanian fine dining experience. Led by chef Tim Hardy and his partner Laura Stucken, the venue offers seasonal and hyperlocal dishes with incredible vistas and refined architecture to match. Seating just 20 guests, the intimate venue sees diners gazing upon rolling green hills as the chefs prepare the daily degustation menu in an open kitchen. Much of the produce on offer here is grown in the kitchen garden and orchard, while nearby suppliers provide everything else. [caption id="attachment_865477" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jarrad Seng[/caption] THE AGRARIAN KITCHEN EATERY Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet have long been fascinated by the relationship between everyday food and the earth that provides it. After opening in 2015, The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery has helped the couple explore this dynamic further, with their spacious venue in the rural community of New Norfolk serving local, seasonal cuisine that celebrates its origins. Many of the ingredients used across the restaurant's woodfired and hot-smoked dishes are grown on a nearby farm and showcase a relaxed expression of Tasmanian cuisine focused on local, small-batch makers and producers. Soon, the duo will share their skills via a new cooking school and kitchen garden which are set to open alongside the restaurant in October this year. [caption id="attachment_865491" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nat Mendham[/caption] STILLWATER Set in a 19th-century flour mill overlooking a charming estuary in Launceston, Stillwater has been recognised as one of the country's top paddock-to-plate restaurants since its launch. Renowned for its casual fine dining, the venue boasts a highly seasonal menu with almost everything on it grown locally. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Stillwater delivers a distinctly Tasmanian dining experience that's only made better by its picturesque setting. Plus, the knowledgeable staff will be more than happy to walk you through where each ingredient is sourced, from the meat to the herbs. [caption id="attachment_868520" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Charles Hill[/caption] WATERLOO INN Overlooking the east coast of Tasmania about a 30-minute drive from Freycinet National Park, the Waterloo Inn offers simple, seasonal cuisine that reflects its stunning location in Swansea. Housed inside an unassuming hotel, Waterloo Point, the restaurant is guided by chef Zac Green's (ex-Movida) ode to cosy pubs that dot the island's often chilly coastline. Taking cues from the weather and the available local produce, the three-course Sunday set lunch changes by the week so it's best to keep an eye on the restaurant's socials for updates. Head along soon to experience this local favourite before it becomes a bona fide interstate icon. Booking are essential. [caption id="attachment_865478" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Liam Neal[/caption] FAT PIG FARM Matthew Evans and Sadie Chrestman (of Gourmet Farmer fame) have established Fat Pig Farm – a thriving working property that hosts a multi-course Friday Feast (as well as the occasional Thursday session) — on a 70-acre block in the Huon Valley. These long lunches almost exclusively showcase ingredients grown on the surrounding paddocks. Its heritage apple orchard, market garden, chooks, cows and namesake Wessex Saddleback pigs offer a communal experience for diners to explore the flavours of the Huon Valley. Matthew and Sadie even take guests on a guided tour of the farm between courses, bringing diners closer to the source of their food. [caption id="attachment_865479" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kelly Slater[/caption] TIMBRE Just a short drive from Launceston in the Tamar Valley, Timbre offers an ever-changing seasonal menu that highlights the region's very best producers and growers. Plus, you can soak up the pastoral views and serene landscapes of the grounds of adjacent Vélo Wines as you enjoy a variety of woodfired dishes. You can choose from standard or deluxe banquets or opt for a selection of tasty shared plates. Although the offering is constantly changing, some recent highlights include pork rib with fermented manzano chilli and miso caramel mousse topped with honeycomb. With exceptional wine coming from the vines outside, Timbre is a must-visit dining destination to add to your Tasmanian food itinerary. Ready to plan a trip for your tastebuds around Tasmania? To discover more, visit the website. Top image: Tourism Tasmania and Peter Whyte
When it comes to one of the easiest pastimes there is — sitting on the couch and staring at a screen — the streaming era has brought about plenty of changes. We all now spend more time than anyone should deciding what to view next, for example, and we tend to know if and where you can watch Friends at any given moment. Another big shift: movies that bypass cinemas no longer arrive with an asterisk next to their name. That didn't ever quite happen literally, obviously, but skipping the big screen and heading straight to home entertainment wasn't really seen as a great sign. These days, however, streaming platforms are delivering top-notch flicks week in, week out — all ready to be viewed and enjoyed by your ravenous eyeballs while you're wearing your pyjamas. Across the first half of 2021, everything from potent Oscar-nominated dramas to caustic and twisty thrillers have made their way to audiences solely via streaming services. Also on the list: spirited coming-of-age flicks, engaging documentaries and a deliciously entertaining movie about a killer pair of jeans. From the year's straight-to-streaming haul so far, we've picked the films that deserve your attention — and one must-see comedy special that runs as long as a movie as well. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI Pondering the conversations that might've occurred between four pivotal historical figures on one very real evening they spent in each other's company, One Night in Miami boasts the kind of talk-heavy concept that'd clearly work well on the stage. That's where it first began back in 2013 — but adapting theatre pieces for the cinema doesn't always end in success, especially when they primarily involve large swathes of dialogue exchanged in one setting. If Beale Street Could Talk Oscar-winner and Watchmen Emmy-winner Regina King doesn't make a single wrong move here, however. The actor's feature directorial debut proves a film not only of exceptional power and feeling, but of abundant texture and detail as well. It's a movie about people and ideas, including the role the former can play in both bolstering and counteracting the latter, and the Florida-set picture takes as much care with its quartet of protagonists as it does with the matters of race, politics and oppression they talk about. Given the folks involved, there's much to discuss. The film takes place on February 25, 1964, which has become immortalised in history as the night that Cassius Clay (Eli Goree, Riverdale) won his first title fight. Before and after the bout, the future Muhammad Ali hangs out with his equally important pals — activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir, High Fidelity), footballer Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge, The Invisible Man) and musician Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr, Hamilton) — with this equally meticulous and moving Oscar-nominee ficitionalising their time together. One Night in Miami is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. I CARE A LOT She didn't end up with an Oscar for her efforts, but Rosamund Pike's Golden Globe win for I Care a Lot was thoroughly well-deserved. The Radioactive and Gone Girl star is stellar in a tricky part in a thorny film — because this dark comic-thriller isn't here to play nice. Pike plays Marla Grayson, a legal guardian to as many elderly Americans as she can convince the courts to send her way. She's more interested in the cash that comes with the job, however, rather than actually looking after her charges. Indeed, with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza González, Bloodshot), plus an unscrupulous doctor on her payroll, she specifically targets wealthy senior citizens with no family, gets them committed to her care, packs them off to retirement facilities and plunders their bank accounts. Then one such ploy catches the attention of gangster Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones), who dispatches his minions to nudge Marla in a different direction. She isn't willing to acquiesce, though, sparking both a game of cat and mouse and a showdown. Dinklage makes the most of his role, too, but I Care a Lot is always the icy Pike's movie. Well, hers and writer/director J Blakeson's (The Disappearance of Alice Creed), with the latter crafting a takedown of capitalism that's savagely blunt but also blisteringly entertaining. I Care a Lot is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. SLAXX Ask any style guru for their opinion on denim, and they'll all likely give the same answer. Everyone needs a pair of killer jeans, after all — the type that fit perfectly, flatter every inch of your lower half, and that you just don't want to ever take off. In Slaxx, CCC is the store aiming to make all of the above happen. Already priding itself on its eco-friendly, sustainable, sweatshop-free threads, the chain is set to launch a new range of denim that moulds to the wearer's body, with the company's buzzword-spouting CEO (Stephen Bogaert, IT: Chapter Two) certain that they'll change the fashion industry. On the night before the jeans hit the shelves, employees at one store are tasked with making sure everything goes smoothly; however, as new hire Libby (Romane Denis, My Salinger Year), apathetic veteran employee Shruti (Sehar Bhojani, Sex & Ethnicity) and their over-eager boss Craig (Brett Donahue, Private Eyes) soon learn, these are killer jeans in a very literal sense. Quickly, the ravenous pants start stalking and slaying their way through the store. It's a concept that'd do Rubber's Quentin Dupieux proud and, in the hands of Canadian filmmaker Elza Kephart (Go in the Wilderness), the results are highly entertaining. Slaxx wears its equally silly and savage attitude like a second skin, smartly skewers consumerism and retail trends, and possesses stellar special effects that bring its denim to life — and, although never subtle (including in its performances), it's exactly as fun as a film about killer jeans should be. Slaxx is available to stream via Shudder. AND TOMORROW THE ENTIRE WORLD Submitted as Germany's entry for Best International Feature at this year's Oscars, And Tomorrow the Entire World mightn't have ultimately earned a nomination or the prized gong itself, but it's still a compelling and confronting — and timely — film. And, an impassioned one as well, with filmmaker Julia von Heinz (I'm Off Then) leaving zero doubt about her feelings on the re-emergence of right-wing extremist views in general, and specifically in a country that'll never escape the shadow of the Holocaust. University law student Luisa (Mala Emde, Shadowplay) swiftly shares her director's horror and anger. Brought up in comfortable middle-class surroundings, and in a family where taking a weekend hunting trip is commonplace, she has her eyes opened at school when she joins an anti-fascist group. They're soon doing whatever it takes to combat hate-filled ideologies, including letting their actions speak louder than words; however, the stakes are raised when they endeavour to thwart an upcoming attack. Aesthetically, von Heinz opts for edge-of-your seat immersion. Feeling like you're in Luisa's shoes as she steps into a topical conflict is part of the experience, as is feeling her struggles as she grapples with the reality of counteracting abhorrent views by violent means. Emde is exceptional in the lead role, pulsating with urgency in even the quietest of scenes — as does everything in the film. And Tomorrow the Entire World is available to stream via Netflix. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY When August 2021 rolls around, it'll mark 30 years since a psychotic chihuahua and a kindly cat first brought their chaos to the small screen and changed the way people think about Nickelodeon's animated shows. At the time, there was simply nothing like The Ren & Stimpy Show — and that applies to its dark humour, willingness to shock and often grotesquely detailed visuals, as well as its characters, storylines and jokes. The 52-episode show also proved immensely influential. Without it, SpongeBob SquarePants probably wouldn't exist, in fact. But the history of Ren & Stimpy is filled with both highs and lows, as documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story explores. More than just a nostalgic look back, this chronicle by first-time directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood covers the series' origins, evolution and success, as well as its behind-the-scenes struggles and eventual demise. It chats with the folks who made it happen to examine why it struck such a chord, and to also make plain the reality of making such a hit. And, it doesn't shy away from the accusations levelled at John Kricfalusi, Ren & Stimpy's creator and the voice of Ren, including not only the difficult working environment that sprang under his watch, but the allegations of sexual abuse and grooming that came to light in 2018. Indeed, the latter could fuel its documentary, but here it adds another layer to the tale of a TV show unlike anything else, and the ego that both made it happen and caused its downfall. Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story is available to stream via Docplay. VIOLATION The rape-revenge genre isn't new, but two of the most powerful films to reach Australian audiences this year step into it with unflinching confidence. They do more than that, though. They savagely dissect society's willingness to accept that sexual assault is part of our culture — and misogyny, too. They demand that their audience not only spend almost two hours thinking about a subject so many would rather avoid, but that they have a visceral reaction. The movies: Promising Young Woman and Violation. Both are the product of first-time feature directors. Both include women among their filmmakers, either solely or as half of a duo. Both are anchored by blistering lead performances as well, and neither fades quickly (or at all) from memory. They'd make a stellar double bill; however, tonally, they each march to their own beat. In Violation's case, co-writer and co-director Madeleine Sims-Fewer (Operation Avalanche) stars as Miriam. As she visits her sister Greta (Anna Maguire, The Hummingbird Project) and brother-in-law Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe, Murdoch Mysteries), it soon becomes obvious that more than just a happy reunion is on the cards. Playing a traumatised woman soon grappling the reality of vengeance in a primal and tangible way, Sims-Fewer puts in a performance that it's impossible to look away from, but that's just one of the savvy steps that the actor/filmmaker and her co-director Dusty Mancinelli take. Violation is available to stream via Shudder. MOXIE When Amy Poehler made her feature directorial debut with 2019's Wine Country, movie magic wasn't splashed across the small screen. But thankfully Moxie is now here to wipe that underwhelming comedy out of viewers' minds — and to demonstrate Poehler's knack at helming a high school-set tale of blossoming feminist activism. Adapted from the 2015 novel of the same name, the film follows 16-year-old Vivian (Hadley Robinson, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). Quiet, studious and happy hanging out with her similarly introverted best friend Claudia (Lauren Tsai, Legion), she has always known that her male classmates have an attitude problem, and that their teachers and the general status quo both enable it. But, until newcomer Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena, Saved by the Bell) arrives, she's never been willing to rock the boat and fight for change. Inspired by her mother's (Poehler) crusading teen years, she starts a zine that calls out the toxic behaviour around her. That's where the film gets its title, and her school is scandalised by the homemade publication's pages. Story-wise, Moxie isn't big on surprises, especially if you've seen more than a couple of teen flicks in your time, as everyone has. Nonetheless, it's always as impassioned about its tale and as angry about the way the world treats anyone who isn't a white male as it is engaging and hopeful. And, as it follows the quest for equality being passed from one generation to another, it boasts a stellar soundtrack — including Bikini KIll's 'Rebel Girl', of course. Moxie is available to stream via Netflix. OXYGEN When Elizabeth Hansen (Mélanie Laurent, 6 Underground) awakens in a cryogenic chamber, she doesn't know who she is, where she is or why she's there. She's strapped in via an array of invasive tubes and restrictive belts, the pod's oxygen levels are rapidly depleting and, in trying to work out what's going on and how to survive, she only has the unit's artificial intelligence program, called MILO (voiced by Sound of Metal's Mathieu Amalric), on hand. That's how Oxygen starts, taking cues from everything from Buried to Locke. But each engaging single-setting, talk-driven thriller lives or dies on the strength of its story, dialogue and cast, all of which hit their marks here. It helps having Laurent at the film's centre, as tends to happen when the French Inglourious Basterds star is pushed into the spotlight. Also pivotal: director Alexandre Aja's horror background, which includes the remake of The Hills Have Eyes and 2019's Crawl. As he demonstrated with the latter, he's particularly skilled at not merely working with familiar tropes and conventions, but at getting the most out of them. Accordingly, even as Oxygen nods to a wealth of one-location and survival flicks — and a hefty number of closed-in sci-fi movies as well — it still grippingly wrings every ounce of tension it can out of its nightmarish scenario. Oxygen is available to stream via Netflix. THE AMUSEMENT PARK In 1968, George A Romero changed cinema forever. Night of the Living Dead, his first film, was famously made on a tiny budget — but it swiftly became the zombie movie that's influenced every single other zombie movie that's ever followed. His resume from there is filled with other highlights, including further Dead films and the astonishing Martin, but one of his intriguing features didn't actually see the light of day until recently. It was also commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania to preach the evils of elder abuse, which isn't the type of thing that can be said about any other flick. The Amusement Park is incredibly effective in getting that message across, actually. As star Lincoln Maazel explains in the introduction, it aims to make its statement by putting the audience in its ageing characters' shoes, conveying their ill-treatment just for their advancing years and showing the chaos they feel as a result. That's the exact outcome as Maazel plays an older man who spends a day wandering around the titular setting, only to be constantly disregarded, denigrated, laughed at and pushed aside as hellishness greets him at every turn. Romero's film is grim, obvious and absurd all at once, and it's a powerful and winning combination in his hands. The Amusement Park is available to stream via Shudder. BO BURNHAM: INSIDE Watching Bo Burnham: Inside, a stunning fact becomes evident. A life-changing realisation, really. During a period when most people tried to make sourdough, pieced together jigsaws and spent too much time on Zoom, Bo Burnham created a comedy masterpiece. How does he ever top a special this raw, insightful, funny, clever and of the moment? How did he make it to begin with? How does anyone ever manage to capture every emotion that we've all felt about lockdowns — and about the world's general chaos, spending too much time on the internet, capitalism's exploitation and just the general hellscape that is our modern lives, too — in one 90-minute musical-comedy whirlwind? Filmed in one room of his house over several months (and with his hair and beard growth helping mark the time), Inside unfurls via songs about being stuck indoors, video chats, today's performative society, sexting, ageing and mental health. Burnham sings and acts, and also wrote, directed, shot, edited and produced the whole thing, and there's not a moment, image or line that goes to waste. Being trapped in that room with the Promising Young Woman star and Eighth Grade filmmaker, and therefore being stuck inside the closest thing he can find to manifesting his mind outside his skull, becomes the best kind of rollercoaster ride. Just try getting Burnham's tunes out of your head afterwards, too, because this is an oh-so-relatable and insightful special that lingers. It's also the best thing that's been made about this pandemic yet, hands down. Bo Burnham: Inside is available to stream via Netflix. Looking for more viewing highlights? Check out our list of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
If you're going to open an arcade bar that nods to all things circus and sideshows in Brisbane — and gives away prizes — then Bowen Hills is the obvious place for it. That's where Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq now calls home, although that wasn't always the case. The venue has made the move to King Street from Toombul, where it launched back in 2019, then had to close due to the 2022 floods (the precinct is now officially being torn down). Fun and games in a suburb known for the Ekka, but all throughout the year? That's what's on offer at Archie Brothers' 340-person space in Bowen Hills — aka arcade antics, drinks, bowling and more. The games span everything from Mario Kart to Dance Dance Revolution, the sips are of the OTT variety, and a six-lane ten-pin alley and karaoke rooms are also onsite. Archie Brothers Bowen Hills also features Hungry Hungry Hippos, Connect 4 Hoops, The QUBE virtual reality experiences and party rooms. Need more? Air hockey, basketball hoops and VR are all included, too, in a place that definitely doesn't want you to get bored. On the drinks list: alcoholic concoctions like the Pop Till you Drop (made with fireball, butterscotch, apple juice, maple popcorn, bitters and whipped cream) and the Candy Stand (a strawberry shake featuring white rum, Frangelico, a vanilla candy frosted rim and a giant lollipop, plus whipped cream and sprinkles). Archie Bros' food menu focuses on over-the-top novelty American diner grub, fitting right in with the circus decor. So, expect to tuck into dishes such as three-meat burgers, giant pretzels, and potato gems with garlic aioli that's served in a syringe. The kidulting venture is just one of many for Funlab, which also boasts boozy mini-golf chain Holey Moley, Strike Bowling, the also games-related B. Lucky & Sons and challenge-room venue Hijinx Hotel in its stable — and opened a new Holey Moley and Hijnx Hotel in Chermside in 2022.
Huge news: Darlinghurst is set to be home to Soho House Sydney, Australia's first outpost for the ultra-exclusive membership club. The much-hyped global brand which has locations across the world from Berlin to Miami, is now looking to transform a building on the corner of Crown and Foley Street above Shady Pines Saloon, with ambitious plans in the works to completely reshape the space. Plans for an estimated $24-million multi-storey mega-venue have been lodged, with the proposed building featuring a restaurant and bar, gym, cabaret facilities and a rooftop terrace and pool. The plans also reveal anticipated changes to the facade, replacing the building's fairly rundown exterior with a simple, sleek and modern cream and brown design in line with other Soho Houses around the world. The Darlinghurst building has a storied history, taking many forms over the years including Bolot's Embassy Dancing Academy between 1924–30, the Playbox Theatre and Stanley Twig's auction house in the 1930s and, most recently, housing several retail tenants throughout the 2000s including an espresso bar, convenience store and a nail salon. Fans of affordable drinks and Americana aesthetics, never fear: it looks like Shady Pines won't be disrupted by the opening of Soho House Sydney, with the floor plan revealing an allocated zone for "tenancy" on the basement floor where the bar currently resides. Concrete Playground reached out to the Swillhouse team for comment on the future of the site, but they didn't get back to us in time for publication. Australia's first ever Soho House was originally set to open on Domain Road in Melbourne's South Yarra, but developers were forced to ditch plans at the direction of VCAT in late October, after strong opposition from local councils and a residents' group. Now boasting over 40 houses across the globe, Soho House first opened in London in 1995 as a private members club for clientele in the creative sphere. It has since spread throughout Europe and North America, opening restaurants, cinemas, workspaces, spas and bedrooms alongside the traditional clubs. From New York to Istanbul, exclusivity is a common global denominator. If you want to apply for a membership, you can explore all of the options and lodge an application at the Soho House membership page. [caption id="attachment_653445" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shady Pines[/caption] Soho House Sydney is set to open at 256 Crown Street, Darlinghurst.
When Babylon Brisbane opened its doors, it didn't just mark the first Sunshine State outpost for the eatery that's been serving up dishes and drinks in Sydney since 2019. It also saw 145 Eagle Street gain the first of two new venues, the second of which is a waterfront bar. Babylon Garden is the 500-person, 645-square-metre outdoor hangout space accompanying Babylon Brisbane's sitdown indoor 120-person setup. So, you can head inside for a restaurant meal with river views, or spend your afternoon or evening right by the water on two tiers of terraces, sipping beverages in the open air. As with indoors, Babylon Gardens' design is overseen by Brisbane's Hogg and Lamb, the architects behind the Sydney venue. This time, pale bricks are a big feature, plus timber furniture, leather banquettes, and palm trees and plants aplenty. You'll sit at green marble tabletops at high and low tables, and your drinks come from a ten-metre brass bar. On the menu amid that greenery, and while soaking in the fresh air: Middle Eastern and East Mediterranean bites and cocktails. The food lineup is a collaboration between Babylon Brisbane's Head Chef Ferdinand Sariin and Babylon Sydney's Head Chef Robert Taylor. Drinks-wise, the range of beers on tap and by the bottle heroes brews from around the world, as does the hefty wine list. With bubbles, the focus unsurprisingly falls heavily on French champagne. Folks keen on a cocktail will find Middle Eastern-meets-East Mediterranean flavours shining through here, too, as tasted in the Semiramis' Throne (made with Tanqueray Sevilla, mastic liqueur, apricot, lemon, falernum and orange blossom), Devine Levanthyme (limoncello, lemon gin, thyme, sugar and egg white) and Turkish espresso martini (with Turkish coffee and cardamom-infused Metaxa 7, chocolate liqueur, orgeat and cold brew). Images: Markus Ravik.
UPDATE, MARCH 5: Due to concerns around the coronavirus, Universal Pictures has announced that No Time to Die will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, April 8, 2020. It will now release worldwide in November 2020 — including Down Under on November 12, 2020. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. It's trailer time. James Bond trailer time. That means espionage thrills, world-in-peril action, formidable villains, savvy ladies, plenty of gadgets and — since 2006's Casino Royale — Daniel Craig as 007. All of the above is present and accounted for in the just-released first look at No Time to Die, which'll mark the British spy's 25th official big-screen outing. It's also Craig's final go-around as the martini-loving hero. After the events of 2015's Spectre — and after retiring from active service to soak in Jamaica's splendours — Craig's version of Bond is looking a bit shaken and stirred in the No Time to Die trailer. That's bound to happen when he's told his skills are needed to rescue a kidnapped scientist, only for that mission to bring him face-to-face with an unhinged new adversary (Bohemian Rhapsody Oscar-winner Rami Malek). Throw in a new 00 agent (Captain Marvel's Lashana Lynch) covering Bond's turf, a forced meeting with imprisoned ex-opponent Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) and things not seeming to have ended well with psychiatrist Dr Madeleine Swan (Lea Seydoux), and it's safe to say that the mood is rather tense. The instalment is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective, Maniac) and penned by a team that includes Fukunaga, The Report director Scott Z Burns and Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge — and all the usual Bond offsiders are on hand, too. Yes, Ralph Fiennes is back as M, alongside Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q, Rory Kinnear as MI6 head Bill Tanner and Jeffrey Wright as CIA agent Felix Leiter. Plus, reuniting with Craig after co-starring in the fabulously entertaining Knives Out, Ana de Armas also joins the cast. And, naturally, the first No Time to Die sneak peek delivers plenty of impressive action. It is a Bond film after all. Indeed, if Craig is stepping away from the role after five features (including 2008's Quantum of Solace and 2012's Skyfall), he looks to be going out in suave, stunt-filled, Aston Martin-driving style. Watch the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-jtTLBhok&feature=youtu.be No Time to Die was originally due to release in cinemas on April 8, 2020, but will now release in Australia on November 12, 2020.
When your name is Kate, you make a series with a heap of other Kates — "I think there was nine of us working on the show," Kate Box advises — and the streaming hit with all that Kate energy is the brainchild of Australian comedy queens Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, accidentally punning on Deadloch's creators, aka The Kates, is probably inevitable. Ask Box about getting started on the award-winning mystery-comedy's upcoming second season, as Concrete Playground did, and the Rake, Wentworth, Stateless and Boy Swallows Universe star drops the perfect response: "I can't wait to get cracking on it". "Oh my god, they've taken over my body," she laughs about referencing one of the TV series before Deadloch that helped cement McCartney and McLennan's status as comedy greats, as sharp and smart satirists, and as creators of the very best comic television that viewers could ask for. Unlike morning TV spoof Get Krack!n, however, or cooking show sendup The Katering Show before it, McCartney and McLennan left the acting to others on Deadloch. Earlier in 2024, Box deservedly won an AACTA Award for Best Acting in a Comedy for co-leading the series as small-town cop Dulcie Collins. She's also rightly up for a Logie for Best Actress in a Comedy. The character of Dulcie is one half of Deadloch's lead double act, and also one part of a TV cop show staple: the odd couple. The Senior Sergeant was once a Sydney homicide detective, then moved south with her vet wife Cath (Alicia Gardiner, The Clearing), finding more solace in the routine and rules of the job than in a quieter Tasmanian life. Donning sandals and Hawaiian shirts, loving swearing as much as Dulcie loves structure, and incapable of containing her emotions for a moment, Eddie Redcliffe arrives from the Darwin Major Crimes division to complete the series' key duo. As the new colleagues investigate why the bodies of dead men have started piling up in the show's titular town, cue pairing Box with The Breaker Upperers, Baby Done and Our Flag Means Death's Madeleine Sami, and giving the small screen an instant-favourite chalk-and-cheese twosome. Imagining anyone else as either Dulcie or Eddie is impossible, but Box was initially in line to play the latter role. When the project came the Offspring, The Daughter and Fucking Adelaide alum's way, that's what she first auditioned for. Envisaging anything about Deadloch's first season differing from the eight excellent episodes that hit Prime Video in 2023 is equally inconceivable; however, knowing what might've been sparked some on-set fun. "I mean, I gave Mads quite a lot of shit when we'd get to the scenes that we were shooting that I'd done in my audition scene," Box explains. "I was like 'ohh, are you going to do it like that? Yeah, I wouldn't have when I was doing it'." It doesn't come as a surprise for a second that Deadloch's first season was a delight to make; as it charted Dulcie and Eddie's investigations, expertly parodied its genre, made a killer feminist statement, and always proved both a hilarious watch and a gripping crime series, the end product certainly was a joy to watch. It might've taken its streaming home a full year to greenlight more episodes of a show that The Kates originally gave the working title Funny Broadchurch, but that a second season is on the way is similarly understandable — and eagerly anticipated. As set up at the end of season one, Deadloch's return will take Dulcie and Eddie to Darwin, looking into the death of Eddie's former partner — plus beyond when more bodies pile up again. We not only chatted with Box about what she's excited about the second time around, but also the response to the show so far, why it has resonated with viewers, working with The Kates, auditioning for both Dulcie and Eddie, how she prepares for stepping into former's shoes not once but twice, what gets her interested in a project and more. On the Enormous Response to the First Season of Deadloch "Obviously it's been so wonderful. It's a project that I feel so deeply proud to be a part of. There's this really wanky thing, I suppose, in the industry where you're like 'don't say it was like a family' — but it really was. It felt like an incredible bunch of artists who all really were looking out for each other and looking out for this incredible new life that would be Deadloch. I think that everybody who worked on it had such great passion for it — and when you see something that you love reach so many people and have the response that it did, it's a pretty great feeling." On Why Deadloch Has Struck Such a Chord with Viewers "It's so funny, isn't it — you never know what's going to stick, really. But I think The Kates write such brilliant characters, they write such tight plots and their voices are so incredibly unique. I think watching Deadloch was that beautiful feeling of danger and surprise, because all of this feels very new — but also of real safety in trusting that the show was going to deliver the goods in terms of great characters and great politics. And once you got into the show and you got used to the fact that it was a fairly new genre — in the way that it was trying to balance these very dark topics with this very wild humour — I think there's that feeling of joy that you get in watching something that is so unique, that is really universal, that you're witnessing something new and wonderful. The Kates just managed to bring that genre to the world in such a smart and generous and joyful way." On How Box Reacted When a New Project by The Kates Came Her Way "I auditioned for Eddie, so when I got sent the first script or the first scene, that was to put down a tape for Eddie. And I read that character — and I'd been a bit madly in love with The Kates for a while now, and had watched their work and had always found them to be exceptional — and then I read this character and I was like 'who is this woman? This is a role that I don't see come across my iPad very often'. I was kind of gobsmacked by that. And I spent the first week preparing Eddie and just having the most-amazing time doing that. It was one of those things I was so excited to go into the audition for and just put the tape down. I just really wanted to play in that world. That's a really good sign, because it doesn't feel like it's a job interview — it feels like an opportunity to just relish a very cool human. Then, before I sent the tapes in, they said 'oh, can you also put something down for Dulcie?'. I'd grown so in love with Eddie and I hadn't read much of Dulcie's material, and then they sent the stuff through for Dulcie and I was like 'well, this is a different hat to put on' — and I had to really recalibrate how I imagined living in that world. Obviously Eddie and Dulcie approach the world in very, very different ways. But it was actually such a great start to being a part of Deadloch, because I got to inhabit the the madness and the straightness of what they were trying to create with this dynamic. It was really wonderful." On Working with Madeleine Sami as Eddie "I think nobody else could play Eddie except Mads. She's the perfect fit for that sandal, and so I was standing opposite her and just watching this cyclonic force of comedy — and Eddie had such big kid emotions and Dulcie is an incredibly restrained adult. Watching Mads was just a comedy masterclass, and my task was to try to stick to the words on the page and to the crime that needed to be solved, and just manage this whirlwind of madness around me. It was just fun. It was very, very fun — and really hard to keep my shit together in a lot of scenes." On How Box Approaches Playing Dulcie "If you look at who Dulcie fell in love with, they're not a buttoned-up, repressed, tight-lipped human. Dulcie's love for Cath speaks volumes in the kind of energy that Dulcie may thrive off internally as well. So while there's all this kind of madness around her, I think her love for Cath indicates that she is drawn to the parts of her that she can't access, which is that chaos and big emotion. And so I think in playing Dulcie, I was always really wary of giving her this massive internal life of responses. I would look at a scene and imagine the screaming and shouting and tantrum-throwing that Dulcie would be doing internally, and then shut the lid on that and play the professional, straight, repressed version of that — which was a really fun task. I think that the chaos of the show and the brilliance of the show is that it is able to hold this incredibly dark and serious storyline, and tackle some pretty rough and intense and vulnerable issues, but it also does it in a way that is wildly funny and absurd. And so finding that balance within Dulcie of somebody who can feel all this stuff but hold everything in felt like the right match for the piece." On the Preparation Process for Stepping Into Dulcie's Shoes the First Time Around "Because the script is so extraordinary, so much of your information is handed to you because The Kates are so specific and so excellent. I chatted to a few folks in the police force, a few women in the police force, and had discussions with them about what it was like working in a pretty dick-swinging environment. And I just watched the way in which they would talk about it. Often the women that I met had taken on a lot of the mannerisms of what you would imagine that really heavy testosterone environment is like. That was really interesting to watch, because I thought 'I don't think Dulcie's gone that way'. I think Dulcie doesn't play the game in that way. I think what she does is she follows the rules, and she does that hopefully to the point where she can't be thrown off or criticised because she's done everything by the book. So I chatted to quite a few yeah folks in the police force. And I rewatched Broadchurch, because that was such an amazing inspiration for it. And I tried to just get incredibly precise in my note-keeping, which is very different to me. Like me, Kate, my notes are chaotic. My brain is a bit messy. I'm not a particularly ordered person. And so as I was preparing for Deadloch, I tried very hard to keep really neat notebooks and to have little codes as to what certain things in the scripts would refer to. I tried to get into the mind of someone with that much precision. Unfortunately it didn't stay. And I'm a big fan of writing personal history for characters, so I have notebooks filled with imagined events that had happened to Dulcie in her life, like the first time she met Cath and the day of their wedding, and when she graduated from the police academy — all that kind of stuff. I journaled." On Returning to the Character Again for Season Two "I feel like I've got access to so many of Dulcie's memories because I wrote them down, but otherwise I may have forgotten. You know when you're moving house and you open that box of letters and photos and you're like 'oh my god, that!'? I feel like I've got Dulcie's box of letters and photos in my desk drawer, all ready to pull out and get going again." On What Box Is Most Looking Forward to with Deadloch's Second Season "I cannot wait to be in Darwin. I spent primary school in Darwin, and I've gone back there quite a lot in my life, and I love it. So I'm really looking forward to spending some time up north in the heat. And hopefully as we get closer to wet season, watching those clouds roll in and waiting for that rain to break at the end of the day. I'm looking forward to all of those things that the place dishes up so beautifully, the sunsets and the markets. So I'm looking forward to the lifestyle — not that I'll get out much because I'll be on set all the time. And obviously just being around Mads and Alicia and Nina [Oyama, Utopia] and The Kates again. I just adore them as humans. They are really good mates, and people that I feel really joyous around and really lucky to be in their company, so I'm looking forward to being in their orbit again." On What Gets Box Excited About a New Role at This Stage of Her Career "I think I'm at a point in my life where the greatest joy is the people that I'm working with. I get really excited about having opportunities to work with people who I love and whose work I find thrilling and challenging and smart. I think I get most excited about collaboration, to be honest. I get excited about building humans alongside other people who have great insight into humanity, and into how folks think and feel and walk through the world. The good thing about being at this point in my career is I feel like I'm able to come into conversations much earlier on than I was when I was younger. I feel like when I was younger, I'd enter projects at the final stage of everything and not trust my voice enough, either, to be able to help fill out those characters through conversation with the writers and the directors. So I think what I love now most is that I trust myself a lot more. I have some excellent relationships with artists who I admire wildly, and that collaborating with those people feels like a real two-way street rather than me getting a script and just trying to give somebody what I think that they want. The inventiveness that comes with working now, I find really thrilling." Deadloch streams via Prime Video, with no release date announced as yet for season two. Read our review of season one, and our interview with Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. Deadloch images: Bradley Patrick / Prime Video.
In the modern world of entertainment, content can feel a little bit non-stop. There's always new things to watch, but a lot of it is better than ever. Each month, we're cutting through the streaming noise and helping you figure out what's worth bingeing on release day and what you can save for some downtime later in the year. Here are the new seasons and series we'll be watching in June. Prefer something with a longer runtime? Check out our guide to the movies releasing in theatres and on streaming this month instead. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed — Thriller, Dark Comedy Motherhood is a mystery. It's hard enough already for Paula (Tatiana Maslany). Divorce, custody battles, work, youth soccer, exercise, a kidnapping conspiracy that threatens to destroy her life, you know, the usual. Okay, the latter isn't typically what you'd call "usual", but she certainly watched something that looked a lot like a kidnapping. Is it a scam? Or can these people make good on the threats against her and her family? One way or another, she's going to find out. Streaming weekly on Apple TV now. The Boroughs — Mystery, Sci-Fi For grieving newcomer Sam (Alfred Molina), the idyllic retirement community of The Boroughs seems like it's not much more than a polished piece of desert where people come to die. But soon he finds community with a group of intrepid fellow retirees (Geena David, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman, Clarke Peters and Denis O'Hare), who discover this community hides an otherworldly secret that could steal the one thing they want more of: time. This new supernatural series comes from the Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, so expect enough mystery to fill the Hawkins-shaped hole in your heart. Streaming on Netflix now. Rick and Morty: Season nine — Animation, Comedy What's one more quick adventure? Adult Swim's smash hit comedy has been gracing our screens with madcap science fiction and multiversal hijinks for the better part of 13 years now, and it's still going strong. For its ninth season, it promises to be AI-slop-free and 100 per cent A-grade human-made slop. Expect portals, explosions, killer furniture, kung fu, breakfast drugs and… well, this is Rick and Morty, so god knows what. Expect the unexpected. Streaming weekly on HBO Max now. Spider-Noir — Superhero, Crime If you've seen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you have some idea of what a detective noir version of Spider-Man can look like. While this is from the same creators and also stars Nicolas Cage, it's not the exact same spider seen in the 2018 film. Confusing right? Don't worry about it, just enjoy watching PI Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage) solving crimes, swinging from rooftops, drinking egg creams and fighting nazis (and some old-timey spins on classic Spider-Man villains). You can choose to watch it either in black and white or colour, depending on how noir you want to go. Streaming weekly on Prime Video now. Taskmaster: Season 21 — Game Show, Comedy Greg Davies and Alex Horne, the mad geniuses of the gameshow world, are deep into their latest season of subjecting a lineup of stars to all sorts of quirky and confusing challenges. Season 21 is currently releasing on Binge, and stars Kumail Nanjiani (Fallout), Amy Gledhill (Run Away), screenwriter Armando Ianucci, Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey) and Joel Dommett (Popatron). The finale nears, and these competitors are putting it all on the line…to varying degrees of enthusiasm. Streaming weekly on Binge now. Not Suitable for Work — Comedy, Feel-Good Medical school. Celebrity fashion. Wall Street. Cosmetic clinics. None of these workplaces is an easy pathway to success, let alone happiness, but damned if these 20-somethings aren't going to try. Not Suitable for Work, the latest series from executive producer Mindy Kaling, follows this ragtag group of good-hearted go-getters through the ups and downs of their early careers and lives, each chasing their own version of success in the Big Apple without losing out on everything that makes life worth living. Streaming weekly on Hulu via Disney+ from Tuesday, June 2. Clarkson's Farm: Season Five — Documentary, Comedy Jeremy Clarkson (the Top Gear presenter-turned-farming advocate) is continuing his one-man war against inconvenience and naysayers as his farm-life documentary series returns for its fifth season. With every year comes new opportunities and new challenges. This time that includes malfunctioning driverless tractors, cow contaminations, problematic pub crowds and that classic Clarkson enthusiasm for stirring up discourse — no matter how much Amazon begs him not to. Streaming weekly on Prime Video from Wednesday, June 3. The Legend of Vox Machina: Season Four — Animation, Fantasy When the story of Vox Machina began, they were just a ragtag team of unlucky mercenaries with all the unsettled scores you could imagine. Now, the first team of heroes from the famous Dungeons and Dragons crew Critical Role are two-time realm savers who've reunited after a year apart. They've been called back into the hero game by the return of an ancient evil and its army, with the plans of gods unfolding around them and the fate of the realm hanging in the balance...again. Streaming weekly on Prime Video from Wednesday, June 3. Two Years Later — Romance, Australian Brisbane, 2022, the pandemic has begun to fade into a strange sense of normalcy, and life is going back to the way it was — including a return to the office for Ryan (Brenton Thwaites) and Emily (Phoebe Tonkin). Two strangers, they made a habit of flirting on the bus, and now that their time apart has ended, they want to put it all on the line. Following his instincts and his grandparents' example, Ryan suggests they go on eight dates to decide once and for all whether it's forever or just for fun. Streaming weekly on Paramount+ from Thursday, June 4. Cape Fear — Thriller, Remake The 1991 classic film Cape Fear has been remade for the small screen with an all-star cast and crack creative team to do so. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Cape Fear follows the Bowdens, (Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson) married lawyers who live comfortably with their daughter Natalie (Lily Collias). 17 years ago their client Max Cady (Javier Bardem) was found guilty in a murder trial, supposedly a wrongful charge. Now he's free, he's angry, and he's haunting the family's every step with a wicked smile and a plan for revenge. Streaming weekly on Apple TV from Friday, June 5. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Apple TV (@appletv) Sugar: Season Two — Crime, Noir Apple TV's sunset city-set neo-noir detective series is officially returning for its second season this June. John Sugar (Colin Farrell) is a private investigator who's especially good at one thing: finding the missing. While he has his own missing sister that constantly eludes him, he excels at tracking down his clients' loved ones. This time, he's tracking down the troubled older brother of a professional boxer, a simple case that expands into a conspiracy tangled in the underbelly of Los Angeles. Streaming weekly on Apple TV from Friday, June 19. House of the Dragon: Season Three — Fantasy, Drama Things never de-escalate smoothly in Westeros. House of the Dragon, the Emmy-winning prequel to Game of Thrones, is going all-in for its third and penultimate season, recounting the succession war between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her half-brothers Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell). Rhaenyra has the dragons, her brothers have the armies, but their cause is divided, and Rhaenyra's path to the Iron Throne is backed by prophecy. Heads will roll, and cities will burn, before this is through. Streaming weekly on HBO Max from Monday, June 22. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Bear (@thebearfx) The Bear: Season Five — Drama, Finale FX's smash hit, multi-award-winning culinary drama isn't outstaying its welcome, because all the best meals have an expiration date, and this fine-dining drama is concluding with its fifth season this June. In season 4, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and his team have put everything they have into The Bear, but Carmy has now quit the restaurant game. With their budget running out, the threat of a sale and storm looming, the team pull together for one crack at getting a Michelin Star. Streaming weekly on Hulu via Disney+ from Friday, June 26. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox. Images: Supplied / HBO Max
When Fortitude Valley restaurant Agnes hosted bakery pop-ups during Brisbane's lockdowns, it quickly became one of the city's favourite pastry spots. The sole problem: it only served up its baked goods while we were all stuck at home. Yes, that's why there was often a line stretching around the block. Making stay-at-home stints brighter — and tastier — is a worthy cause, which Agnes Bakery has championed multiple times. Giving Brisbanites all the pastries they're hankering for all-year-round is just as great an aim, though. So, Agnes is now spinning out its bakery to its own site on the corner of James and Harcourt streets in Fortitude Valley, with the doors opening back in 2021. Making its home in a heritage-listed cottage, Agnes Bakery serves up a range of different sourdoughs and other pastries, spanning both sweet and savoury options. And, it has also brought over a few dishes from Agnes restaurant — so diners can enjoy them in a far more casual setting. Here, the Agnes team is keen is to keep exploring the art of cooking with fire — and how that specifically applies when you're working with grains. Coffee is also be on the menu, with Agnes Bakery operating from 7am–3pm every day of the week.
This guide to the best dog-friendly hotels in Australia is made for those fur parents out there who can't bare the thought of travelling without their pooch — and let's not to mention the pain of finding a dog-sitter. For you dog owners, the best holiday is one where both your two-legged and four-legged mates are there. There's no denying it. Luckily, there are heaps of accommodation options all over Australia where you don't need to choose between the two. Each spot catering to your pup in its own way — think special beds, treats, beaches and walks, all for your furry pal. Looking for a spot where your dog is welcomed as much as your human friends? These dog-friendly hotels and B&Bs in Australia are here for you. CRYSTALBROOK ALBION, NEW SOUTH WALES The Crystalbrook Albion (formerly, Little Albion) team believe that our little fur babies deserve to enjoy life's luxuries just as much as we do. That's why they've designed their Urban rooms (located down on the ground floor with direct access to outside) to be pet-friendly. They mostly cater to cats and dogs with their special beds and pet treats but are open to other creatures – just make sure to call them up and enquire. We're assuming it's a no to your pet snake…? How much? From $370 per night. YONDAH BEACH HOUSE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA At Yondah Beach House (a 3.5-hour drive from Adelaide), owners Michele Bain and Nick Cureton take the term 'pet-friendly' to a whole new level. They know animals are part of the family — so, they let your dog on every inch of the expansive 150-acre property, including inside the award-winning house, where a special gift will be awaiting your pooch. The beachside home is also fenced on three sides and is one-kilometre from the road, so it's safe for your pup to roam around the Yorke Peninsula coastline on your doorstep. The place isn't just for dogs, either; in the past, Yondah has also welcomed cats, birds and even a turtle. How much? From $490 per night. FOUR SEASONS HOTEL SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES The Four Seasons is the latest addition to the growing group of dog-friendly hotels in Sydney. Their Pet Paw-fection package includes putting you and your pooch up in rooms made specifically for your needs. Each fur-tunate pup gets its own plush bedding, dog toys, bath amenities, outdoor water bowls and specialty treats — Bone Appetit. The concierge is also brimming with knowledge about Sydney's best dog-friendly places and activities. They'll direct your pooch and you all around the city. You can check out the best dog-friendly parks, cafes and bars with your four-legged friend or choose to leave them behind with the dog minding team. They haven't been doing this service for long, but they're already up the top of the list for Australia's best dog-friendly hotels. How much? From $495 per night. MT COTTON RETREAT, QUEENSLAND Mt Cotton Retreat's self contained cabins are located just 30-minutes from the Brisbane CBD, yet offer a real bush retreat for you and your pup. Choose from lakeside or treetop accommodation, with select cabins specifically reserved for pets (and prior approval needed). The property spans 20 hectares and is situated within a private nature refuge — expect to see koalas aplenty, along with wallabies, possums and goannas. And Venman National Park is just a short one-kilometre walk or drive away. So you and your fur baby can't possibly run out of things to do, and will have nice warm cabins to come back to. How much? From $260 per night. ELEMENT RICHMOND MELBOURNE, VICTORIA A great city escape for fur parents is Element Richmond. It's an eco-conscious accommodation option that welcomes guests of both the human and four-legged variety. The hotel expands over 168 suites and offers a contemporary design by award-winning local architects Rothelowman. Up to two pups can share your room, which comes equipped with extra comfy dog beds. Element Richmond also boasts a dog-friendly mini-bar that has featured treats like the Quarter Hounder (pan-fried steak served with green vegetables) and The Good Dog (market fish with steamed carrot). It's safe to say your dog won't want to leave this lap of luxury. How much? From $214 per night. SHAMBHALA BYRON BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES Set along a private stretch of Belongil Beach in Byron Bay, Shambhala is a true oasis for you and your pet. The cottages are located right on the sand, and also back onto stunning rainforest. Each offers sweeping ocean views, specifically across the Coral and Tasman seas. Some of the cottages also include a separate deck that comes complete with an outdoor barbecue and an eight-person dining table, and the resort features a giant steam room and a hot rock sauna. But your doggo isn't forgotten here, either. The hotel provides food and water bowls for your pooch, as well as offers a map of the off-lead and dog exercise areas within range. So, humans and animals alike can soak up all this luxury. How much? From $395 per night. BANNISTERS PORT STEPHENS, NEW SOUTH WALES Bannisters Port Stephens is an opulent dog-friendly hotel in Australia that welcomes your pooch with open arms. It has three dog-friendly rooms, including two ocean deck rooms and the ground floor luxury suite. All three rooms open out onto the garden and are walking distance to Wanda Beach where your pup can roam free. Doggos can also enjoy the Terrace Bar deck, where humans have the added benefit of an infinity pool (not for dogs, sorry). Your four-legged friend can also accompany you for a bite in the Cheeky Dog beer garden. These rooms understandably book out quickly, so be sure to plan in advance. How much? From $320 per night. OVOLO NISHI CANBERRA, AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Bush and beach retreats aren't the only options for your dog-filled holiday, either. Heaps of Australian cities are now extending accommodation to doggos as well, including Canberra's Ovolo Nishi. The city centre hotel is dedicated to luxury, nature, sustainability — and your four-legged friend. Opt for the VIP Pooch Package, which takes care of dogs just as much as humans. For starters, it includes a special doggy bed, food mat and bowl. Plus, both you and your fur baby will get goodie bags on arrival — your dog's will include toys and treats exclusive to the hotel. And to take it to the next level, the pet-loving staff will also act as dog-sitters, ready to provide assistance as needed. For those looking to venture elsewhere, Ovolo's other hotels in Sydney and Brisbane have the VIP pooch deal, too. How much? VIP Pooch Packages start at $376 per night. LILIANFELS BLUE MOUNTAINS RESORT & SPA, NEW SOUTH WALES Located in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in the small town of Katoomba, Lilianfels offers luxury and pampering for you and your pup. Here, you can book a special BYO dog package, which includes a deluxe view room that comes equipped with a bed, bowl and treats just for your fur baby. The dog-friendly room overlooks the gorgeous surrounds, which also include a tennis court, a spa, two pools — one of which is a heated outdoor infinity pool — and a fine-diner. Plus there are heaps of easily accessible bushwalks to enjoy with your pooch. How much? From $350 per night. THE LANGHAM, VICTORIA AND NEW SOUTH WALES The Langham in Sydney and Melbourne both offer up one of the most luxurious dog-friendly hotel experiences in all of Australia. They're not holding back in any capacity. Four-legged loves staying here get a dedicated Pet Room Service Menu as well as plush beds, signature Langham bowls, gourmet goodies and a pet gift bag on arrival. Reckon you might need a break from your utterly indulged friend? No problem. Pet sitting and walking services are on-hand. They also offer breakfast in bed for both you and your cat or dog (their private dining pet menu is damn impressive). They won't get pampered like this anywhere else, making this a clear front runner for the very best dog-friendly hotels in Australia. How much? From $570 per night. BRIAR ROSE COTTAGES, QUEENSLAND All aboard a dog-friendly wine tour of the Granite Belt! Set up a luxe base camp at Briar Rose Cottages, just 1km outside of Stanthorpe (which happens to be one our favourite day trip destinations from Brisbane). These three darling little cottages are straight out of a picture book. Think, 'aspirational country chic'. Crackling wood-fire heating, white wicker chairs on the verandah and heritage elegance with a welcoming, homey feel. They're self-contained, for 2, 4 or 6 people, but as there's no fence on the property, you'll just have to keep the doggo on a leash when you're outside. When you've settled in, head out to one of the numerous dog-friendly wineries, including Ridgemill Estate, Robert Cannon Wines, Summit Estate and the trendy Symphony Hill Wines. A tasting for you, some head-pats for the pup, then return to your cosy country abode. How much? From $220 per night. QT, VARIOUS AUSTRALIAN LOCATIONS At all QT Hotels & Resorts across Australia and New Zealand, your dog can come for a luxurious sleepover with you. The chain's Pup Yeah! fur-friendly stays include a night's accommodation for you and your doggo, an in-room menu specifically made for woofers and a pooch-friendly mini bar offering and designer canine bedding. The doggy food range is overseen by the brand's head of treats, Nic Wood, and includes steak tartare with raw beef, mushrooms and egg yolk; bone marrow risotto with bone broth and crispy pigs ears; and chicken livers and pork necks on wholemeal toast with chicken gravy. Fancy a pupper dessert? There's also a bacon ice cream sandwich, made from bacon ice cream, dried liver and oat biscuits. The team will also help guide you to all the best pet-friendly cafes and bars in the local area. And this isn't just one of the best dog-friendly hotels in Australia, it's also one the best hotels in Melbourne, period. How much? From $350 per night. HAWLEY HOUSE, TASMANIA A self-proclaimed 'animal paradise', Hawley House is set on a 150-hectare homestead on the northern coast of Tasmania. Your four-legged friends are welcome free of charge — and that goes not only for dogs but also for ferrets, rabbits, horses and cats. At this dog-friendly accommodation, you are surrounded by Tasmanian wildlife, as well as kilometres of private bushwalking trails and a dog-friendly beach that's set just below the property's garden. Dogs are specifically allowed to stay in the Stables Spa Rooms and the Aquarius rooms, as they are ground floor and have easy access to the outdoors. But if you want to get away with all of your best human and furry mates, book out The Hill House — the four bedroom, two bathroom home sleeps up to ten guests and also includes an outdoor deck with barbecue. How much? From $380 per night. PIER ONE, NEW SOUTH WALES Pooches checking into Pier One won't be quite as ridiculously spoiled as those at The Langham, but nonetheless, they'll be greeted with their very own bed, bowl and toy ... not to mention all the harbour views. What's more, the hotel's staff are mad dog lovers, so be prepared for enthusiastic showers of attention. Don't go getting jealous, now. Pet-friendly hotel rooms come with direct access to the pier, so, when walk-time craziness hits, you'll merely have to open the door. The Rocks and Circular Quay are a waddle away, and, should energy levels reach exploding point, there's always nearby Barangaroo. THALIA HAVEN, TASMANIA Located just an hour from Hobart airport, Thalia Haven is set on a private 130-acre peninsula that's surrounded by the Great Oyster Bay. Tassie's wild east coast is at your doorstep, and there are a whopping five kilometres of secluded coastline, plus a private beach for your entire group to enjoy. The ancient stone cottage contains four bedrooms, so it's the best option for you and your entire crew of dog-loving mates. The place is also solar and wind powered and includes an outdoor bathtub, shower and wood-fired sauna. It's safe to say that this would be an incredibly fancy getaway for you and your pup. How much? From $1500 per night. Top image: QT Hotels Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Running off to a tropical island is one of the ultimate getaway dreams. When the beach surrounds you — and plenty of greenery, too — how can everyday life's troubles cause any bother? On Hook Island in The Whitsundays in the near future, cabin stays will do their part to help you escape your normal existence. So will dining atop a cliff, hanging out at a beach club and swimming in forest pools. A yoga pavilion will assist as well, as will a lounge telling the island's history. If everything goes to plan, come 2027 you'll be able to head to the Great Barrier Reef to relax at the just-announced Hook Island Eco Lodge. More than a decade has passed since the landmass in the Coral Sea boasted its own place to stay, with the former Hook Island Wilderness Resort closing in 2013 after weathering damage from 2011's Cyclone Anthony. A group led by Epochal Hotels' CEO Glenn Piper is setting out to change that. Both sustainability and luxury will sit at the heart of the new eco lodge; indeed, setting a new standard for luxe sustainable travel for Australia is one of the venue's goals. After nabbing the leasehold in 2022, Piper and his team — working with design firm Luxury Frontiers — are also keen to revive the locale following several cyclones, and get visitors enjoying its 9.3-hectare expanse again, including by using Hook Island's natural features as the resort's inspiration. To slumber in, there'll be 39 cabins spanning six different types of accommodation (some at the beach, some in the forest). Multiple eateries will also be part of the site, including a fine-diner atop a cliff that'll pair dishes made with local produce with views out over Stingray Bay. For ocean swims, that's where the beach club will come in — complete with all-day dining, a bar, a pool, a lounge deck peering across Hook Passage and, for evenings, an outdoor firepit. Or, opt to take a splash in leafy surrounds thanks to the eco pools, which'll be among a forest spa. When travellers hit the island, they'll be welcomed at the arrival pavilion. For finding out more about the destination, the Explorer's Lounge will be your go-to. It's obvious what's on offer at the yoga pavilion — and there'll also be a family-friendly lounge, plus an adventure club for kids. Drawing from experience working on the Four Seasons' Naviva in Mexico, Nayara Tented Camp in Costa Rica and Madwaleni River Lodge in South Africa, Luxury Frontiers is set to deck out the eco lodge's interiors with brown, blue, green and coral hues, alongside other tones, that match the island — and design cyclone-resistant buildings made with sustainable materials. Ensuring that the resort settles in harmoniously with the landscape, including its plants and habitats, is also a key component of the plan. "Hook Island is a truly spectacular part of the world — its raw beauty deserves a sanctuary that both preserves and celebrates every facet of its charm. Our vision is bold: to create an experience that redefines luxury travel through a deep, authentic and wild-spirited connection to nature," said Piper. "This project has been a labour of love; we've poured our hearts into blending thoughtful design with a profound respect for the island's heritage and delicate ecosystem. After being closed for more than a decade, we can't wait to soon welcome overnight guests and day visitors alike to experience its magic firsthand." [caption id="attachment_807810" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] [caption id="attachment_604486" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Pierre Pouliquin.[/caption] Hook Island Eco Lodge is expected to open on Hook Island in The Whitsundays sometime in 2027 — we'll update you with more details when they're announced.
Brisbane's pub scene has always been one of the city's great social anchors. From historic riverfront institutions to polished neighbourhood locals and new-school venues reinventing the category, the best pubs combine good food, cold drinks and the kind of atmosphere that encourages people to settle in and stay a while. This round-up spans some of Brisbane's most beloved drinking spots – places for Sunday roasts, steak dinners, long lunches by the water and lively nights with friends. Some lean proudly traditional, others bring a more modern approach, but each offers its own take on what makes a great pub.
At plenty of Fortitude Valley bars, you can dance the night away. At some, you can play games, get putting and win prizes instead. Only at Pawn & Co, however, can you buy everything in sight — and not just the beverages — in-between making your own scent. Some of the tipples that you'll be sipping while you browse, hang out, and just generally take advantage of this combined watering hole, pawn shop and perfumery are inspired by fragrances as well. It's a bold concept: a nightclub that not only takes its cues from completely different kinds of establishments that don't normally serve drinks, but operates as them, too. Pawn & Co first debuted in Melbourne and, as initially announced in July 2024, has now made its first foray outside of Victoria on Ann Street in Brisbane. The 500-square-metre Bakery Lane space that Laruche previously called home has undergone a $4-million refurbishment to cater to its new inhabitant — and to ensure that patrons know that they're in the type of bar that's new to the River City. Yes, you can purchase whatever you like within Pawn & Co's walls. If you've been known to window-shop when having a few tipples — wondering if your own cocktails would taste better out of the same glasses, if your lounge room would be more relaxing with the same couches and if your dining room would be moodier with the same lighting, for instance — then you can turn that pondering into a reality here. Need a new handbag? A watch? A $390,000 Bentley, which sits in the front window? They're just some of the items that you can go home with if you mix your drinks with a spending spree. Fancy your own signature scent? You can create them while you're there, complete with masterclasses with perfumers. Obviously the drinks are for sale, too, but you can't take them with you. How do you deck out a place that slings drinks, aromas and all that falls within its walls? Co-founders Josh Lefers and Stephen Wools, plus their collaborators Steve Thomas and Alex Docherty — who also boast Ballers Clubhouse in Melbourne and Adelaide, and Melbourne's StoryVille and 29th Apartment, on their combined resumes — have gone luxe. Pawn & Co Brisbane features an art deco-inspired piano bar among its many other inclusions, such as rich colours, retro patterns and slide-out furniture. And the atmosphere? Elegant, lavish and piquing patrons' curiosity, befitting somewhere where martinis and Rolexes sit side by side on the menu. The vibe may scream lavish, but getting inspiration from pawn shops also means appreciating the circular economy and sustainability. Accordingly, while some of the objects on sale are upmarket goods, others are pre-loved and hail from thrift stores. Images: Dominic Loneragan.
Alex Warren, the chart-topping, Grammy Award-nominated pop star, was just in Australia last year (and sold out eight shows in the process), but he's already announced that he'll be back in town for his Finding Family on the Road tour. Fresh off the release of his latest single, 'FEVER DREAM', which gathered five million streams in the first 24 hours of its release, Warren confirmed seven cities in Australia and New Zealand are on the spring tour schedule. Though Warren's discography has well over seven billion streams and garners over 54 million monthly listeners, you probably know him from his viral breakout single, 'Ordinary'. The track, which was released in February 2025, went nothing short of nuclear — being certified 3x platinum in the US, 7x platinum in Australia and 4x platinum in New Zealand. It's currently tied for the second-longest running No. 1 single in ARIA chart history after concluding a 17-week streak in the top ten last year. [embed]https://open.spotify.com/artist/0fTSzq9jAh4c36UVb4V7CB?si=R3HA-1ZPRqq1W4vWiZZFqQ[/embed] You might have also seen Warren perform at a number of major music events in the last year, including the American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammy Awards, plus TV appearances like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and festival slots at Coachella and Stagecoach. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alex Warren (@alexwarren) Announcing the Australian shows, Warren released a trailer featuring himself and his wife alongside Aussie icon Robert Irwin. But where exactly is he performing? Fans in Christchurch, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth rejoice — you're all on the list with the concerts taking place in massive arena venues between Friday, August 21 and Saturday, September 12. Tickets for Alex Warren's 'Finding Family on the Road' tour are on sale now. Visit the Frontier Touring website for more information. This article is produced by Concrete Playground in partnership with Frontier Touring. Image: Getty
Date night can't be all loud bars, fancy dinners and fast times. There's a point in the evening where the two of you just want to slow down, maybe take in a bit of scenery, even some stargazing if you know the right spot. We've rounded up some of Brisbane's most gorgeous vistas, lamplit walks and secluded night haunts for you and your date to keep the good times going. City skylines, river reflections, hilltop panoramas and illuminated parkland wanders — when it comes to aesthetic night-time experiences, the River City has it all. And if you want to snap some mementos of your romantic evening, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Series has a Nightography mode that'll capture those night lights perfectly. Don't let the beautiful nocturnal photo ops of this fine city go to waste. WHEEL OF BRISBANE Quite literally made for views, the Wheel of Brisbane can get you high enough (60 metres high, to be precise) for 360-degree panoramic vistas of the skyline. Since 2008, these floating gondolas have been raising tourists and locals alike into the air to see the city (and beyond) from a whole new angle. There's also an audio guide that narrates the history of everything you're looking at, from the Botanical Gardens just across the water to Mount Coot-tha in the distance. The wheel is a night-time photo op in itself, so don't forget to take a snap of the towering structure against the night sky when you get back to the bottom. KURILPA BRIDGE This was built as the world's largest hybrid tensegrity bridge. Don't know what that means? Don't worry — all you need to know is that it's one of Brisbane's pedestrian bridges that make this such a walkable city. Spanning from QAGOMA to the inner-north pocket of the CBD, this beautiful bridge gives you a view all the way down the curves of the river and the entire span of South Bank. Turn around, and on the other side you'll catch the William Jolly Bridge and the twinkling lights of the inner 'burbs. The Kurilpa Bridge is also one of Brisbane's more visually fascinating man-made structures (and worthy of a photo or two of its own) — especially when it's lit up in vibrant colours at night, its illuminated poles slashing the sky in a very aesthetic feat of engineering. MOUNT GRAVATT LOOKOUT This one almost goes without saying. Drive up to the highest point at Mt Gravatt Lookout Reserve — it's not even 20 minutes' drive from the CBD — and park near the lookout. Your reward? A soaring panoramic view of Brisbane, Moreton Bay and beyond, framed by native trees and bushland. Look out over the columns of city light glowing in the distance and the constellation of suburbs stretching out beneath the moon and stars and broad, sweeping sky. It's the perfect occasion to put that low-light Nightography to work. Surrounded by only the sounds of nature, with the rest of the world so far away, makes for a very, very romantic little sojourn. KANGAROO POINT CLIFFS Finished up your dinner date in the city? Take a ferry over to Kangaroo Point. Not only do you get all the fun of a nocturnal boat trip, you'll be treated to a view of the illuminated cliffs rising in the night as you approach the parkland. Wander along the green or beneath the craggy stone cliff faces, catch sight (or a crystal-clear snap) of night creatures scurrying through the park, walk out to the wooden jetty, or just sit together on a bench and look back on the towers of the city beneath the starry sky — and wonder whether now's the time to hold their hand. SOUTH BANK PARKLANDS If you've spent any time in Brisbane, you probably already know all about the views and night-time meanderings of South Bank. Maybe you've just been a daytripper to the precinct's sun-drenched bars and perfect picnic lawns. But there's a reason this is the spot for light shows and night markets. When you walk the parkland paths at night, it's an entirely different world. The noises of nocturnal creatures in the gardens, the perfume of the tropical plants, the twisting bougainvillea trellises, the city skyline reflected in the water, the wash of the great Brown Snake against the waterline and ferry jetties — even the towering blocks of QPAC have their own romance. The perfect spot, in other words, for a date-night stroll. NEW FARM RIVERWALK If you've finished your date at Howard Smith Wharves and you fancy a scenic diversion before hitting the bars of New Farm and the Valley, take a stroll along the New Farm Riverwalk. This raised, 870-metre-long walkway zigzags with the curves of the river and ends at Riverview Court — a decent there-and-back stretch that makes for a tranquil night-time wander. Make your way along the lamplit route and see the clifftop homes of New Farm nearby and the CBD vista behind as the gentle current of river laps beneath your feet, and take in the twinkling lights of the towering Story Bridge shedding its glow over the mangroves and dark waters below. HIGHGATE HILL PARK If you've been kicking it in West End all evening, you don't need to head to South Bank for views — just walk uphill. Highgate Hill Park is secluded and suburban, but offers a unique vantage point from 62 metres above sea level that provides clear, close-up vistas of the city below. As you take in the expansive views down to the river and the suburban sprawl beyond, this peaceful hilltop will seem like a world away. You're not likely to be bothered with crowds or foot traffic here, so the two of you can just relax in the gazebo or lie back on the grass on a warm summer's night and watch the stars come out. Make your nighttime epic again with a Samsung Galaxy S22 series device. For more info, head to the website.
It's official: on Monday, March 31, 2025, you'll need to subscribe to a new streaming service if you want to watch HBO shows in Australia. In 2024, the US network confirmed that it was bringing Max, its dedicated platform, Down Under in 2025. Now it has locked in the launch date. And yes, that timing means that you'll need to sign up to see the second season of The Last of Us. From House of the Dragon, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and any other Game of Thrones spinoffs through to Euphoria and upcoming IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, HBO's lengthy list of must-see TV shows will have their own dedicated platform in Australia. The American station's streamer debuted in America in 2020, and has been rolling out through Latin America, the Caribbean, parts of Europe and Japan since as well, before setting its sights on Aussie audiences. While the great streaming service rush, when new platforms seemed to appear every few weeks or so, is a few years in the past, HBO bringing Max to Australia is huge news. At present, the US network's shows largely screen and stream to Aussie viewers via Binge and Foxtel. When the former launched, boasting HBO's catalogue was one of its big selling points. The deal between Binge, Foxtel and Warner Bros Discovery — which owns HBO — was extended in 2023, but it was reported at the time, accurately so it proves, that Max might debut in Australia from 2025. While the platform will be available direct to consumers via its website and app stores — so you'll sign up for it by itself — for viewing via mobile, tablet, gaming consoles and connected TV, it will still keep a connection with Foxtel. If you subscribe to the pay-TV service, you'll get access to the Max app without paying extra. For everyone else, details about Max's subscription options, which'll include premium, standard and an ad-supported tier, are still to come — as is pricing. HBO shows — HBO Originals and Max Originals alike — aren't all that's heading to Max. Warner Bros Discovery's stable of brands includes Warner Bros (of course), the DC Universe, Harry Potter, Discovery, Cartoon Network, TLC, ID and HGTV, to name a few. Max will also show movies from Warner Bros Pictures, including recent cinema releases such as Barbie, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and Twisters. The Lord of the Rings and DC Universe franchises, And Just Like That..., Friends, Rick and Morty: they're just some of the other movies and TV shows that will be on Max as well. HBO is also behind The White Lotus, True Detective, The Rehearsal, The Penguin, Dune spinoff Prophecy, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Oz, Deadwood, Big Love, True Blood, Big Little Lies, Westworld, Succession, The Larry Sanders Show, Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, Bored to Death, Girls, Veep, Barry, Enlightened — and plenty more. "We've been clear that the globalisation of Max is a top priority, and Australia represents one of our biggest new markets and a significant opportunity to delight even more fans with the incredible stories told by our iconic brands. Combining an unrivalled breadth of high-quality content, legendary franchises and a strong product experience, Australians can look forward to the highest-calibre streaming proposition from March 31," said JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at WBD. "WBD has a long history in Australia, and we know our world-class content from HBO, Warner Bros, Discovery and more is incredibly popular with audiences here. We have a clear strategy to maximise reach through our direct-to-consumer app and distribution partnerships, and our collaboration with Foxtel at launch is a testament to that. We can't wait for fans across the country to experience Max," added WBD Australia and New Zealand General Manager Michael Brooks. Max launches in Australia on Monday, March 31, 2025 — head to the streaming service's website for more details.
You've played Nintendo's Mario games, including on Google Maps and mobile phones. You've tried your hand at Mario Kart in reality. You've made plans to hit up the Super Nintendo theme park in Japan, or perhaps the upcoming second site in Hollywood. And you've watched 1993's live-action Super Mario Bros, which starred Bob Hoskins as the titular, John Leguizamo as Luigi and Dennis Hopper as King Koopa. If all of the above fit — or even just some of it, because everyone has pressed start on at least one Mario game — then you're primed for the character's next leap to the big screen. This time, it's happening in animation, and Nintendo has just dropped a colourful sneak peek during its Nintendo Direct stream. The film: The Super Mario Bros Movie, which has enlisted Chris Pratt (The Terminal List) to voice the Italian plumber, because the former Parks and Recreation star doesn't have enough big franchises (see: Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World and The Lego Movie) on his resume. (So far, there's only one new Super Mario Bros, but predicting there'll be more if it does well at the box office is as easy as collecting mushrooms in the games.) As initial teaser trailers tend to do, there's little in terms of story in this first glimpse at the movie — but Mario does frolic his way to the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) gets a-running in spooky surroundings (here's hoping that games' haunted house soundtrack makes the jump to cinemas, too) and Bowser (Jack Black, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood) gets fiery as well. Also among The Super Mario Bros Movie's voice cast: Anya Taylor-Joy (Amsterdam) as Princess Peach, Keegan- Michael Key (Reboot) as Toad, Seth Rogen (Pam & Tommy) as Donkey Kong and Fred Armisen (Los Espookys) as Cranky Kong. Hailing from directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go!, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies), penned by Matthew Fogel (Minions: The Rise of Gru) and produced by Illumination Entertainment (aka the studio behind the Despicable Me and Minions flicks, and the Sing films), the movie reaches cinemas Down Under at the end of March 2023. That gives you plenty of time to mash buttons in the interim — just try watching this first sneak peek and not busting out your old Mario games. Check out the trailer below: The Super Mario Bros Movie releases in cinemas Down Under on March 30, 2023.
During the pandemic, we all sorely missed the experience of catching live tunes in heaving venues. To get musicians back onstage, the New South Wales government and ARIA launched Great Southern Nights. Following two blockbuster years that saw thousands of gigs pop up across the state, the series is returning in 2024 with a massive 300-plus shows over 17 nights. Live music will ring out throughout NSW between Friday, March 8–Sunday, March 24, with some of the country's biggest musicians and the hottest emerging talent performing in Sydney live music institutions as well as regional hubs including Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Tamworth and the Northern Rivers. With such a huge lineup, it's hard to know where to start — but let's break it down. ROCK LUMINARIES If you love the classics and have a penchant for the singular sound that is Australian rock, you'll be able to catch sets from Peter Garrett & The Alter Egos, The Church, You Am I, Yothu Yindi, The Whitlams, Black Stump Band, Hoodoo Gurus and Kate Ceberano. BEATS AND BOPS Local hip hop heads can hit up gigs from Barkaa, 360, JK-47, Bliss n Eso, L-Fresh the Lion, Illy, Drapht, YNG Martyr and Jesswar. And if your prerogative is to dance, The Presets, Havana Brown, Tigerlily, Sneaky Sound System, Hermitude and Anna Lunoe are all performing. INDIE FAVES If you're an indie-rock aficionado, Ball Park Music, Sarah Blasko, King Stingray, The Buoys, Ruby Fields, Budjerah, Alex Lahey, Gordi, Gretta Ray, The Vanns, and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers will be coming to a stage near you. AND A WHOLE LOT MORE Plus, there will be shows from Becca Hatch, Cub Sport, Dune Rats, Vika and Linda, A.Girl, Xavier Rudd, David Campbell, Fanny Lumsden, Kasey Chambers, Kate Miller-Heidke, Redhook and Northlane — and also a special tribute to Rowland S Howard. Check where your faves are playing and what shows are happening near you via the full gig guide, then start planning an epic 17 nights of music stat. Great Southern Nights 2024 will run from Friday, March 8, to Sunday, March 24, throughout New South Wales. Tickets are on sale now via the festival's website. Images: Enmore Theatre, Destination NSW
Across the first few months of 2025, HBO is bringing back both The White Lotus and The Last of Us — and if you feel like you've been waiting a while for the two hit shows to return, then you mustn't be a Euphoria fan. 2022 closed with the second season of the US network's vacation anthology. 2023 began with the debut run of its game-to-TV smash. It was before all of that, at the start of 2022, that Euphoria last dropped new episodes, though — and its third season isn't expected to arrive until 2026. Here's the good Euphoria news, however: HBO has finally started production on season three of the award-winning favourite. And, while there's still a wait to see how it pans out, a first-look image of Zendaya in the new season has also arrived to give viewers a sneak peek. View this post on Instagram A post shared by euphoria (@euphoria) The show's cast haven't been sitting around doing nothing for the past three years. Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Colman Domingo and company have been busy — and our screens have been full of movies and TV shows to prove it. Challengers, Dune: Part Two, Saltburn, Priscilla, Reality, Anyone But You, Madame Web, Immaculate, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Cuckoo, Kinds of Kindness, The Color Purple. Drive-Away Dolls, The Madness: they're just some of the projects that've featured Euphoria stars since 2022, and the list goes on. Elordi has been back in Australia making miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which hits streaming in April — and will also be seen as Frankenstein's monster for Guillermo del Toro (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio) before 2025 is out. Domingo was nominated for an Oscar for Rustin, then scored another nomination for Sing Sing. Storm Reid won an Emmy for The Last of Us. Maude Apatow has been doing voice work on Pantheon, Alexa Demie popped up in Fantasmas, Dominic Fike was in Earth Mama — and played Laneway 2024. Season three of Euphoria has experienced delays for a heap of reasons. Back in 2024, it was reported that scripts were still being worked on, but shooting had been pushed back. "HBO and Sam Levinson remain committed to making an exceptional third season. In the interim, we are allowing our in-demand cast to pursue other opportunities," a HBO spokesperson told Deadline and Variety in a statement at the time. Apparently the idea of doing a movie instead of a new season was floated, but obviously isn't the plan that's moving ahead. Given the passage of time — come 2026, it will have been four years since season two — there'll be a time jump within the narrative in season three and the show's main characters will no longer be in high school, Zendaya has mentioned in interviews. There's obviously no trailer for Euphoria season three yet, but you can watch HBO's 2024–25 roundup trailer below: Euphoria season three doesn't have an exact release date yet, but is expected to arrive in 2026 — we'll update you when further details are announced. Images:HBO.
Four years after opening its doors, The Calile Hotel keeps attracting holidaymakers to Fortitude Valley, including Brisbanites for staycations and out-of-towners for resort-style getaways — all right in the middle of the city. Come 2026, fans of the venue's sub-tropical look and feel will ideally have a second site to visit, this time in Noosa. Calile Malouf Investments CMI), the group behind The Calile, has announced plans for a second site on the Sunshine Coast. In fact, the company has just lodged development plans for a 2.4-hectare site at 3–7 Serenity Close in Noosa Heads, which'll feature 178 rooms, 12 suites and 15 villas. Yes, it's going to be a sprawling venue, which'll apply within the broader location and in the rooms themselves. That's one of the key points of focus for CMI's plans, alongside soaking in that sub-tropical vibe — complete with gardens, which have helped make The Calile in Fortitude Valley what it is. "The point of difference for the new resort will be the luxury of space. Embedded in a bushland setting, the large site allows for generously proportioned facilities, including multiple swimming pools, [a] tennis court, comprehensive wellness facilities, [a] cinema and function spaces," said CMI Director Michael Malouf. "All hotel rooms will be generously sized with the standard room being 45 square metres, and a range of larger suites. In addition, the three-bedroom villas (complete with private pool) will cater to families or groups of friends looking for a shared hotel experience." Accordingly, your future trip to Noosa should see you roaming around a coastal resort surrounded by lush bushland, taking a dip in several pools, picking up a racquet, chasing your bliss and watching movies — and then relaxing in sizeable rooms, suites and villas. CMI also hopes that guests will be able to get to Hastings Street easily as part of their stays. "We have commenced discussions with Noosa Council to enable hotel guests to be ferried to Hastings Street via a solar powered electric ferry. Not only will this strategy allow visitors to experience the tranquil beauty of the Noosa River, but this also successfully removes the transport burden from the road network," advised Malouf. Sustainability is another core focus, setting a carbon-neutral target for the Noosa hotel's operations and having large-scale worm farms for composting onsite. A benefit of the latter: feeding the soil nutrient rich worm-cast by-product for the rooftop culinary garden. CMI is aiming to commence work on the project in early 2024. Landscape architect Marc Conlon of Conlon Group will be looking after the planting, while the hotel itself will be designed by Richards and Spence, as Brisbane's is. Calile Malouf Investments' new Noosa resort is set to open in 2026 at 3–7 Serenity Close, Noosa Heads. In the interim, find Brisbane's The Calile Hotel at 48 James Street, Fortitude Valley. The Calile Fortitude Valley images: Sean Fennessy. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Dinner and a movie now has an entire cinema dedicated to it: FoMo Cinemas. The brand's name isn't about fearing missing out; instead, it refers to its blend of food and movies. Every one of the six screens in the new Melbourne picture palace is all about watching a film while having a meal. You'll pick between blockbuster, arthouse and retro flicks on the program, plus pizzas, burgers and deli sandwiches on the chef-designed menu. Before you take your seat, you'll also hit up the neon-lit Blade Runner-inspired bar. First announced in 2023, the 392-seat dine-in FoMo Cinemas opens its doors on Thursday, January 18 at East Brunswick Village — and adds something new not just to Melbourne's but to Australia's cinema scene. Co-owners Natalie Miller AO and Barry Peak, who co-founded Carlton's Cinema Nova, have taken their cues from two famed names in the global business: the Alamo Drafthouse chain across the US, plus Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn. "Barry and I have been partners in the Nova for 32 years, and Barry's always looking for new ideas and new ventures. And he was very anxious to do a cinema with food and movies based on the Nighthawk and the Alamo in America. So he went out on a survey over there and come back with all the ideas," Miller, who also spent 17 years running South Yarra's old Longford Cinema, tells Concrete Playground. "What very much appeals is the fact that people are time-poor and we are trying to encourage people to come 20 minutes earlier, sit down, they can order their food off an app and then the movie will start. Or if they want to, they can do it during the film. But the idea is to let people have their meal and their film together," Miller continues. "It's not a totally new concept because there's gold class and platinum and all those other cinemas, but ours are at standard ticket prices. So you can come at a standard ticket price and order your meal accordingly." As designed by Head Chef Darren Collier, food choices also include cheese and antipasto platters, as well as desserts — and, when it comes time to deliver your bites and drinks as the movie plays, the focus is on discreet service that doesn't disrupt the viewing experience. As is a drawcard at Alamo Drafthouse, all films are preceded by a pre-show presentation. Expect trivia, interactive quizzes and clips celebrating classic movie moments — and trailers, but no ads. The idea is that you peruse the menu while the pre-show plays, and that it's all part of the experience. And the films? Although Cinema Nova is known for its arthouse selections — and Miller is behind film distributor Sharmill Films, which has brought movies such as Triangle of Sadness and Compartment No. 6 to Australian screens in recent years — FoMo is combining those kinds of flicks with broader fare. So, in its opening weeks, you can see the Mean Girls musical, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, Michael Mann's Ferrari, Golden Globe-winner The Holdovers, wrestling biopic The Iron Claw and Jason Statham in The Beekeeper. Among repertory titles, both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 will have a date with the venue, as will Chef — all befitting the picture palace's look and focus. Specs-wise, two of FoMo's cinemas have a 3D setup, and the 114-seat biggest theatre with a screen that ten-metres-plus wide boasts 4K resolution. While the newly opened East Brunswick Village is the site of the first-ever FoMo, it won't be the last if the debut location proves a success. "If you ask Barry Peak that question, he'd say absolutely yes," Miller advises about the possibility of expanding the chain across Melbourne and even nationally. "We'll test it out and we'll see how it works. We feel that Brunswick's such a growing area with such a young population and student population, and probably a cross-section of the community. And we'll see how it works, and then take it from there." Find FoMo Cinemas at East Brunswick Village, 133 Nicholson Street, East Brunswick from Thursday, January 18.
There is an art to a sad song — to writing something so devastatingly precise that it stops feeling like wallowing and starts feeling like company. For nearly three decades, Matt Berninger has been making it look easy. As the unmistakable voice behind The National, Berninger inimitably chronicles love, loss and the slow excavations of the self (with a poet's ear for the right strange detail). Now, ahead of his first solo Australian tour — a run of intimate shows that includes a rare evening at Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House — we caught up with him to talk about his second solo record, Get Sunk. CP: This will be your first time touring Australia as a solo artist. What's different about playing solo versus playing with The National? MB: A lot of these shows are going to be a much more intimate situation. I love the National shows and I can't wait to get back to that, to do those songs and be with that gang. But doing these solo shows, I connect with the audience in a whole different way. I have more room — because I don't tell a lot of stories, it's not like An Evening with Matt Berninger (too much) — but I can engage. I can look people in the eye. When people say something, I can hear what they say. CP: You write all of the lyrics for The National. Is it different sitting down to write under just your own name? Do you feel more exposed? MB: No, in fact I don't. First of all, I never write songs alone, because I suck at piano and guitar, so I'm always collaborating. I'll be working on solo songs, National songs, EL VY songs all at the same time. I have a lot of whiteboards, but even the whiteboards sometimes will have songs from all the different bands on the same whiteboard. I don't put any barriers between those projects, mentally. What I'm writing about is always coming from — what's bubbling? What just bubbles up? I never sit down and go, okay, I'm gonna write a song about a relationship or a certain thing. I'm always just writing — writing down thoughts, phrases, strange word combinations, bits of vernacular I overhear. It's not a journal, it's just collections of — I mean, poetry. I'm trying to write poetry. That's what I try at the beginning. Then you start listening to songs, and you start to collage these things together, flesh them out, see if — is this a song about a person, a feeling, a moment? I don't know until it really gets close to being finished. You work on a thing until it starts to float. There's no science to it. It's just a lot of chaos, and chemistry, mixing stuff together until it starts to bubble and float. CP: With all of those projects intermingling, how did you know what was going to belong on 'Get Sunk'? Was there an overarching feeling for the record? MB: There usually is — there ends up being a blurry arc or arrangement of themes in each record, but I can't tell exactly what it's going to be until pretty much almost finished. With Get Sunk, there were a few songs I'd started a long time ago, before I went through a period where I got really depressed and didn't write for about a year. So some of those started before that, and they changed dramatically after. A lot of Get Sunk was about the perspective of having been in that sunken place. The last two National records were kind of climbing out of it — and this was written from a perspective very much on the other side. It never happened to me quite that bad before, that kind of long phase, eight months of pretty, pretty low, to a point where I couldn't really get out of bed in the worst part of it. So Get Sunk was my way to look at it all and package it in a way that felt like — what did I learn from that? Let's go forward, not denying it. It feels like a healing or on-the-other-side kind of a record, whereas the National ones — I was literally still struggling with it when we put those out. I was still deep in that depression. The first few shows for that record I was barely able to do. Get Sunk was me finally writing songs where I was breathing. My head was above the water again. Sometimes it's good to be underwater — sometimes you write really good songs underwater. But this one was different. It feels like a healthier mental excavation of all that. CP: I imagine it was confronting to look back at lyrics you'd written in that frame of mind — almost like seeing a version of yourself you didn't recognise. Is there something you took away from that experience? MB: What I learned about myself is that making stuff out of nothing makes me sleep better at night. And it doesn't even have to be good. I just have to make a little something. If I write one or two lines that I don't hate in a day, I feel that's a good day. So now I realise that just making ugly songs or bad songs or songs that just aren't going to go anywhere is still a really, really fruitful and healthy thing that I have to do. But I also learned not to put any pressure on myself, because I was so angry at myself for not being able to do it. Sometimes you can't ride a bike, and you can't get back on the bike because you have no feet — somebody took your feet. Sometimes you wake up with no feet and you're like, I just can't do anything today. I can't even get out of bed. Don't kill yourself trying to crawl around. Wait, chill out. Your feet will come back tomorrow. CP: You're such a connoisseur of writing a truly sad, melancholic song. What do you listen to when you're sad? MB: That's funny. I love that sad songs are always the songs that made me feel so good. Writers like Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave — those people who can really look under the rock of the human heart and find all the bugs and all the beauty and all the everything. When you're feeling that romantic misery or anxiety, it's really nice to hear somebody else who can capture that. Patti Smith too — she writes a different kind of song, beautiful and desperate. There's nothing more uplifting than a Leonard Cohen binge — like a bottle of wine and Leonard Cohen all night long. Or Roberta Flack. Or Otis Redding. These are people whose voices — the emotion is just right here, so beautiful yet so fragile. Those are the singers I connect with most when I'm sad, I guess. I also listen to a lot of punk and hip-hop when I'm sad, because sometimes sadness is like emotional constipation. Or it's just ... you need a snack. Sometimes depression is just chemicals. I get why my brother listens to a lot of heavy, heavy metal and black metal. It's cathartic. And it's really beautiful — these guys are playing instruments beautifully. They're nerds, you know what I'm saying? It sounds so meathead and rocking, and it's so expressive. There's a band Liturgy that I listen to a lot, and there's a song called 'God of Love' — it's beautiful yet just a wall of pain. Nothing sounds more real. It's such a relief to hear another human just letting it out, whether it's a growl or a scream. That's so healthy. I've written a lot of songs where I scream my head off, and doing too much of that I think can also be unhealthy — it can grind your brain into some beaten-up version of your own psyche. But you also just need to bloodlet, emotionally. Emotional truth is always what I'm most looking for in music. Sometimes I love pop music, stuff that's just fun, but there's got to be some emotional truth. I won't even know what a song is about, but just the sound of the voice — like, I believe them. I don't know what they're talking about, but I believe it. CP: Do you have a favourite song you've ever written? MB: There's a song, 'Green Gloves', that I really love — it's just so weird and beautiful. But also 'Gospel', which is the last song on Boxer — that one holds a very special place for me, because it does a lot of stuff I hadn't done before. It brings together a lot of imagery, a lot of violence, and then a lot of passion. I think those are my best collections of, like, just with the words. It's definitely not one of the hit songs or anything. When I'm finished with a record, I will listen to it for several months, every night, before it comes out but after it's mastered. I take a deep dive into my own record and really get into it — drink and smoke to it and dance to it. But then I don't often go back. I very rarely will sit down and listen to Boxer. We've been doing some of those songs live though, and 'Gospel' — I realised, yeah, that's when I knew I was becoming a better writer than I had been. That's also around the same time I met my wife, and I was really trying to impress her. I started stealing stuff from her — she raised the bar, and that was me trying to clear it. Matt Berninger plays Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House on Thursday, 28 May. View his full Australian and New Zealand tour dates via Handsome Tours. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground Newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox. Images: Supplied
Throw a stone in Brisbane and you might just hit a venue where flinging bladed weapons is the main attraction. The River City boasts three spots for safely hurling hatchets. Lumber Punks in West End was the first to bring the concept to the Queensland capital back in 2018. Maniax's debut Brissie outpost in Newstead has also be open since 2018. Plus, the latter opened a second local site in the CBD in late 2023, agan boasting the chain's trademark viking theme, and also spanning bar and restaurant Ragnar & Sons. Clearly, you can never have too many places to throw axes at targets — responsibly, of course — as the team at Maniax patently believe. One of the big drawcards at the new Brisbane location, which sits in an Adelaide Street basement: the full bar and a restaurant. Ragnar & Sons takes its cues from all things vikings, as the venue around it does, and pours appropriately themed cocktails in drinking horns. As for the food, punters can tuck into house-made pizzas, burgers, and also vegan and vegetarian options. The brisket and pulled pork burgs come highly recommended, while the snack range features chips and chocolates if you're not having a meal. The Ragnar and Sons bar concept debuted on the Gold Coast first, and also serves up local craft beers, cider and wine, as well as non-alcoholic sips. That said, although Maniax's Brisbane CBD locale is licensed like Newstead and the Goldie, there are rules given that you're in a place where chucking around sharp implements is the main attraction. There's a limit of three drinks per person during any axe-throwing session — and if you're under the influence, you can't join in. BYO booze also isn't allowed. When it comes to the flinging, patrons get hurling in special axe-throwing lanes, with the Adelaide Street venue featuring six private lanes with two targets, as well as 12 lanes with single targets. As is always the case, no one lifts a hatchet without being shown the ropes — and taught all the necessary safety essentials, crucially — by one of Maniax's axe-perts first. From there, folks can pick between a range of blade-hurtling activities. The chain's locations do solo and small group sessions, axe-throwing events for larger parties and also date-night options (because the couple that hurls hatchets together stays together). And, if this seems like your kind of sport, it also hosts a competitive league. As for how it all works, it's comparable to darts. Basically, you chuck axes at a board and try to hit a bullseye. Don't even know the first thing about picking up a hatchet? Again, that's completely to be expected, which is why those lessons are included in every session, as well as in the league competition. And, the axe-throwing experts are also on hand to help even when you think you've mastered the basics. You won't need any guidance if you want to sit on Maniax's warrior's throne and take some snaps — including of the helmets, shields, axes and horns around the place — of course.
Brisbanites already have plenty of excuses to hang out in, on, near and around the water. This is the River City, after all. But since earlier this year, we all now have another reason to hit the brown snake — and, to do so in multiple spots. GoBoat first splashed into town back in April, setting sail from Kangaroo Point while it was still finalising its permanent home. Now, delayed from its original May target date, the Denmark-born company is letting Brisbanites hop onto the water in its eco-friendly picnic boats from Breakfast Creek as well. At the Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Precinct, GoBoat has set up its own pontoon — and, while it officially launches at the spot on Thursday, September 30, you can already start hiring vessels from there now. 'Tis the perfect season for heading out, filling a picnic basket, hanging with your mates and soaking in big river vibes, although Brisbane's weather is perfect for doing just that all year round. GoBoat has been busy launching its eco-friendly picnic boats in cities all over Europe over the past few years, as well as in Canberra, Melbourne and the Gold Coast. And if you're new to the concept, the company is all about making the whole boating caper more accessible for everyday folk. In fact, the Scandinavian-designed vessels are slow-moving, a breeze to operate and don't require a boating licence, making for some fun, fuss-free sailing sessions. In a win for the planet, they also run on silent, pollution-free, electric engines, and are crafted from a mix of reclaimed timber and recycled PET bottles. Each of the contemporary GoBoats clocks in at 18-feet long, boasting a central picnic table with room for eight people (and all the necessary snacks and booze). And despite what you might be thinking, they're even affordable enough to fit your budget — simply BYO food and drinks, find enough eager sailors to jump aboard and a GoBoat session will start at around $15 per person, per hour. That's $119 hourly for the first hour, but the longer you book, the cheaper it gets. The Brisbane fleet sails seven days a week — and the company's vessels are pet-friendly. So, surely you've got a very good boy who deserves a river jaunt. GoBoat is now operating in Brisbane from Breakfast Creek and Kangaroo Point. For further details and to book, head to the company's website. Images: Lean Timms
Songs, tears, Travis Barker on the drums playing 'In the Air Tonight', host Anthony Anderson advising that his mother would be on "playoff mama" duties to keep the acceptance speeches for the 20-plus awards on time, first presenter Christina Applegate (Dead to Me) getting a standing ovation, a tribute to The Sopranos with an ode to James Gandolfini, Jennifer Coolidge winning another award for The White Lotus: now that's how you start an awards ceremony. The accolades: the 2023 Emmy Awards, being held on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 Australian and New Zealand time after they were postponed during Hollywood's writers' and actors' strikes. And before half an hour had even ticked over, Anderson had advised that "Miami Vice taught me that all I needed was a tanned white friend and a cool white jacket"; Coolidge had announced that Mike White "definitely dead so I'm going along with it", then thanked all the evil gays; The Last of Us ' Pedro Pascal claimed that his arm was in a sling because Succession's "Kieran Culkin beat the shit out of me"; and the latter's co-star Matthew Macfadyen thanked his two on-screen wives, aka Sarah Snook and Nicholas Braun. So, in the second huge Hollywood night of nights in as many weeks, the Emmys started better than the Golden Globes. In fact, that's an understatement. And that's even before Tina Fey (Mean Girls) and Amy Poehler (Moxie) took to the Weekend Update desk, the Cheers and Ally McBeal casts reunited, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's stars pondered why they don't have Emmys, Ru Paul spoke out against hate, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story's Niecy Nash-Betts thanked herself and Matty Matheson couldn't be more passionate about hospitality with a "restaurants forever!" shout. All of the throwbacks and nostalgia, and spreading the love far beyond what was nominated, was in honour of a big milestone: the Emmys reaching 75 years. These awards should always feel like a celebration of the entire medium; however, that can be easier said than done — but it's a task that the delayed 2023 ceremony perfected. The big winners mirrored the Golden Globes, aka Succession among the dramas, The Bear in the comedy field and Beef in the limited series field. So, while there was no been-there-done-that feel to the presentation between the two awards, that came through in the recipients — supremely worthy as they all are. The main trio weren't the only shows to score prizes, but plenty of deserving series went home empty-handed — see: Better Call Saul, Yellowjackets, Barry and Only Murders in the Building, to name a few — even amid the warm hug-style vibes. What else nabbed a trophy? Who else was in contention? We've got that covered. Here's a rundown of the awards handed out at the main ceremony, plus the nominees competing for them — and you can check out the seven winning shows you should watch ASAP, too. EMMY NOMINEES AND WINNERS 2023 OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES Andor Better Call Saul The Crown House of the Dragon The Last of Us Succession — WINNER The White Lotus Yellowjackets OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES Abbott Elementary Barry The Bear — WINNER Jury Duty The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Only Murders in the Building Ted Lasso Wednesday OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES Beef — WINNER DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Daisy Jones & the Six Fleishman Is in Trouble Obi-Wan Kenobi OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Jeff Bridges, The Old Man Brian Cox, Succession Kieran Culkin, Succession — WINNER Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us Jeremy Strong, Succession OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Sharon Horgan, Bad Sisters Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us Keri Russell, The Diplomat Sarah Snook, Succession — WINNER OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Bill Hader, Barry Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jason Segel, Shrinking Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso Jeremy Allen White, The Bear — WINNER OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Christina Applegate, Dead to Me Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary — WINNER Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face Jenna Ortega, Wednesday OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Taron Egerton, Black Bird Kumail Nanjiani, Welcome to Chippendales Evan Peters, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Daniel Radcliffe, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Michael Shannon, George & Tammy Steven Yeun, Beef — WINNER OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Lizzy Caplan, Fleishman Is in Trouble Jessica Chastain, George & Tammy Dominique Fishback, Swarm Kathryn Hahn, Tiny Beautiful Things Riley Keough, Daisy Jones & the Six Ali Wong, Beef — WINNER OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES F. Murray Abraham, The White Lotus Nicholas Braun, Succession Michael Imperioli, The White Lotus Theo James, The White Lotus Matthew Macfadyen, Succession — WINNER Alan Ruck, Succession Will Sharpe, The White Lotus Alexander Skarsgård, Succession OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus — WINNER Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus Sabrina Impacciatore, The White Lotus Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus Rhea Seehorn, Better Call Saul J. Smith-Cameron, Succession Simona Tabasco, The White Lotus OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Anthony Carrigan, Barry Phil Dunster, Ted Lasso Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso James Marsden, Jury Duty Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear — WINNER Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary Henry Winkler, Barry OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Ayo Edebiri, The Bear — WINNER Janelle James, Abbott Elementary Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary Juno Temple, Ted Lasso Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso Jessica Williams, Shrinking OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Murray Bartlett, Welcome to Chippendales Paul Walter Hauser, Black Bird — WINNER Richard Jenkins, DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Joseph Lee, Beef Ray Liotta, Black Bird Young Mazino, Beef Jesse Plemons, Love & Death OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE Annaleigh Ashford, Welcome to Chippendales Maria Bello, Beef Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble Juliette Lewis, Welcome to Chippendales Camila Morrone, Daisy Jones & The Six Niecy Nash-Betts, DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story — WINNER Merritt Wever, Tiny Beautiful Things OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES Andor, Benjamin Caron, Bad Sisters, Dearbhla Walsh The Last of Us, Peter Hoar Succession, Andrij Parekh Succession, Mark Mylod — WINNER Succession, Lorene Scafaria The White Lotus, Mike White OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES Barry, Bill Hader The Bear, Christopher Storer — WINNER The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Amy Sherman-Palladino The Ms. Pat Show, Mary Lou Belli Ted Lasso, Declan Lowney Wednesday, Tim Burton OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE Beef, Lee Sung Jin — WINNER Beef, Jake Schreier DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Carl Franklin DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,Paris Barclay Fleishman Is in Trouble, Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton Prey, Dan Trachtenberg OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES Andor, Beau Willimon Bad Sisters, Sharon Horgan, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer Better Call Saul, Gordon Smith Better Call Saul, Peter Gould The Last of Us, Craig Mazin Succession, Jesse Armstrong — WINNER The White Lotus, Mike White OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES Barry, Bill Hader The Bear, Christopher Storer — WINNER Jury Duty, Mekki Leeper Only Murders in the Building, John Hoffman, Matteo Borghese, Rob Turbovsky The Other Two, Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider Ted Lasso, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jason Sudeikis OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE Beef, Lee Sung Jin — WINNER Fire Island, Joel Kim Booster Fleishman Is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner Prey, Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg Swarm, Janine Nabers, Donald Glover Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Al Yankovic, Eric Appel OUTSTANDING SCRIPTED VARIETY SERIES A Black Lady Sketch Show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — WINNER Saturday Night Live OUTSTANDING REALITY COMPETITION SHOW The Amazing Race RuPaul's Drag Race — WINNER Survivor Top Chef The Voice OUTSTANDING TALK SERIES The Daily Show with Trevor Noah — WINNER Jimmy Kimmel Live! Late Night with Seth Meyers The Late Show with Stephen Colbert The Problem with Jon Stewart OUTSTANDING LIVE VARIETY SPECIAL The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna Chris Rock: Selective Outrage Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium — WINNER The Oscars 75th Annual Tony Awards OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY SERIES The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — WINNER Late Night with Seth Meyers The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Saturday Night Live The 2023 Emmys were announced on Tuesday, January 16, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website. Top image: Chuck Hodes/FX.
