For the second year in a row, Bluefest won't unleash a lineup of blues and roots tunes upon Byron Bay. After its 2021 event was originally cancelled just days out from its usual Easter slot, and then later postponed to October, the long-running fest has announced that it's now abandoning plans to go ahead this year. Instead, it'll return in 2022 — three years after its last festival, given that its 2020 event was also scrapped due to the pandemic — and will once again settle into its traditional Easter long weekend period. "It is obvious that we cannot present Bluesfest in a safe manner in October — the safety and protection of our loyal Bluesfesters, our festival staff, our performers, our volunteers, stallholders and suppliers is paramount," said festival organisers in a statement. "So, we have re-scheduled to our usual timing with dates over the Easter long weekend next year in April 2022 — by this time, we expect things to have returned much more back to normal.... There is confidence that, by the end of this year, Australia will have achieved at least a 70–80 percent vaccination rate and will have achieved at least 'stage three' in the plan to open up the whole country. Lockdowns will be consigned to history. Perhaps we may even see international artists returning — if they can come, we will be presenting them." Music lovers and festival-goers, mark Friday, April 15–Monday, April 18 in your diaries, with Bluesfest 2022 set to be a four-day event. Once again, it'll take over Byron Events Farm (formerly Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm) just outside Byron Bay. And, on-stage, it won't be lacking in company. Bluesfest Byron Bay returns Easter Long Weekend 2022 with headliners @MidnightOilBand, @PaulKelly, @JimmyBarnes... and the newly added @FatFreddysDrop1! Plus more headliners to be announced! 👉 https://t.co/r1HzgvcPM7 pic.twitter.com/jonipE8ArR — Bluesfest Byron Bay (@BluesfestByron) August 17, 2021 Bluesfest has confirmed a number of artists on its 2022 lineup, including a range of names that were meant to grace the stage this year. Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly and Jimmy Barnes will still lead the bill, with John Butler, Xavier Rudd, Pete Murray, Ian Moss, Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Kate Ceberano, Kasey Chambers, The Waifs, The Church, Briggs and Kate Miller-Heidke among the other names still locked in for the next fest. And, a selection of new acts have jumped onto the roster so far, including Fat Freddy's Drop, Josh Teskey and Ash Grunwald, John Williamson, CW Stoneking and Rockwiz Live. More are set to be announced in the months leading up to the fest. Bluesfest joins a long list of major events affected by the pandemic two years running, including Vivid Sydney, the Sydney Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Ekka in Brisbane and the Royal Melbourne Show. Folks with tickets for the now-cancelled October festival will still be able to use them at the 2022 event. BLUESFEST 2022 LINEUP: Midnight Oil Paul Kelly Jimmy Barnes Fat Freddy's Drop John Butler Xavier Rudd Pete Murray Ian Moss Kate Ceberano Kasey Chambers The Waifs The Church Jon Stevens The Living End Mark Seymour & The Undertow The Angels Russell Morris Kate Miller-Heidke Vika & Linda All Our Exes Live in Texas Ross Wilson and The Peaceniks John Williamson Troy Cassar-Daley Briggs Tex Perkins The Man In Black Josh Teskey and Ash Grunwald CW Stoneking Rockwiz Live Bluesfest 2021 has been cancelled, and Bluesfest 2022 will take place from Friday, April 15–Monday, April 18. Tickets are on sale now — for further information, head to the Bluesfest website. Top image: Joseph Mayers.
Across November, New South Wales is hosting 1000 gigs at more than 300 venues, all thanks to the State Government-run Great Southern Nights. The event is helping to restart the state's live music scene after this year's lockdowns and restrictions, and it has just gained a huge new addition — especially in terms of crowd size. While you might've already filled your calendar with smaller shows both in Sydney and across the rest of NSW, make room for The Great Southern Nights series, which'll take place on Saturday, November 28 and Saturday, December 5. Not only will the two gigs hit up Qudos Bank Arena — marking the first big indoor arena shows in Australia since the beginning of the pandemic — but they'll host just over 5000 punters at each gig. That's just a fraction of the venue's 21,000 total capacity, but it still covers a hefty number of music lovers in a year that's been mostly devoid of listening to live tunes en masse. It'll all be held in a COVID-19-safe manner, of course — and, across the two shows, it's expected that crowd numbers will near 12,000 in total. As for the lineup, the first evening will see Ocean Alley, Jack River, Ruby Fields and Jack Botts doing their thing on stage — while the second gig will feature Bernard Fanning, Matt Corby and Merci Mercy. The Great Southern Nights series will take place as NSW's events calendar is slowly filling up, and as venues are being given the go-ahead to welcome in bigger crowds. The state's outdoor stadiums can have up to 10,000 fans in the stands; theatres, concert halls and cinemas can host events of up to 1000 people, and country shows of up to 5000 people will be allowed to happen this summer. The Great Southern Nights takes place on Saturday, November 28 and Saturday, December 5 at Qudos Bank Arena. For more information, or to buy tickets — from 10am ADST on Monday, November 9 for the first gig and at the same time on Tuesday, November 10 for the second — head to the Ticketek website. Top image: Ocean Alley, Neegzistuoja via Wikimedia Commons.
Brisbane will receiving a very trendy Christmas present this year, straight from the catwalks of London. Iconic British fashion brand TOPSHOP & TOPMAN will be opening its largest Australian store to date this December, taking over the old Borders site on the corner of Elizabeth and Albert Streets. The latest lines of their clothing, footwear, denim and accessory collections will be spread across three levels, including one level dedicated just for the boys. The Brisbane store will also be offering a free personal shopping service across both brands. Managing director for TOPSHOP Mary Homer says the decision for a new Brisbane store was due to the positive response to the opening of stores in Sydney and Melbourne and believes the new store will become a go-to shopping haunt for the Brisbane fashionistas. "I feel confident that the TOPSHOP aesthetic will strike a chord with the effortlessly chic Brisbane customer, and its trend-setting and fashion conscious crowds," says Homer. TOPSHOP TOPMAN Brisbane will be located at 140 Albert Street, Brisbane and is set to open in December 2013.
When you've already got 2023's Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or-winner and Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion recipient on your lineup, what comes next? If you're the Brisbane International Film Festival, you fill out your just-announced full program with impressive flicks from fests around the world, and featuring beloved talents. Two big standouts: All of Us Strangers, as led by Fleabag's Andrew Scott and Aftersun's Paul Mescal — plus Taika Waititi's new movie Next Goal Wins. Both join a bill that'll show River City cinephiles 42 features and 18 shorts across 11 movie-filled days in October and November. When it arrives for 2023 from Thursday, October 26–Sunday, November 5 — taking over various Reading, Dendy and Five Star cinemas around Brisbane — BIFF will see the two of the internet's boyfriends grace its screens in the newest effort directed by Weekend and Lean on Pete's Andrew Haigh. Heading to the fest fresh from premiering at Telluride, All of Us Strangers adapts Taichi Yamada's 1987 novel Strangers. As for Next Goal Wins, it will close out BIFF 2023 with a comedy based on the 2014 documentary of the same name. The details might ring a bell if you're a fan of soccer and you remember the American Samoan team's big 2001 defeat. Competing against Australia in a qualifying match two decades back, the squad lost 31–0. Cue the hiring of Dutch American coach Thomas Rongen, who Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Dark Phoenix) plays in Waititi's movie. Also a massive highlight: BIFF becoming the latest Australian festival to show Strange Way of Life, aka the most-anticipated short of the year. As well as featuring The Last of Us favourite Pedro Pascal, the 30-minute flick is the newest work by inimitable Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Parallel Mothers) and co-stars Ethan Hawke (Moon Knight). Other newly unveiled standouts span May December, which hails from Carol filmmaker Todd Haynes, is led by Natalie Portman (Thor: Love and Thunder) and Julianne Moore (Sharper), and dives into a scandal — and also The Royal Hotel from Casting JonBenet and The Assistant helmer Kitty Green, which turns doco Hotel Coolgardie into an Aussie thriller featuring Julia Garner (Ozark) and Jessica Henwick (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery). Hugo Weaving (Love Me) also pops up in that, as well as in The Rooster, which follows a hermit and a cop who form a bond during a crisis. Or, Brisbane movie lovers can check out Housekeeping for Beginners from You Won't Be Alone and Of an Age's Goran Stolevski; German filmmaker Wim Wenders (Submergence) heading to Japan with Perfect Days; Earth Mama, an A24 release by Grammy-nominated music video veteran Savanah Leaf; birth/rebirth, which riffs on Frankenstein just as the already-unveiled Poor Things does; and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, a documentary about an Estonian log-cabin sauna. Riceboy Sleeps spends time with a Korean single mother and her son as they start a new life in Canada in the 90s, while Sunflower spins a coming-of-age tale in the Melbourne suburbs — and Australia's You'll Never Find Me centres on a caravan resident, a surprise visitor and a thunderstorm. The list goes on, complete with You Should Have Been Here Yesterday's look at the early days of Aussie surf culture, the Randall Park (Strays)-directed comedy Shortcomings and homegrown festive comedy A Savage Christmas, plus retrospective sessions of 1950'sThe Munekata Sisters, 1963's Contempt and 2002's Rabbit-Proof Fence. And, there's the previously announced Uproar, the New Zealand feature opening the fest; Palme d'Or-anointed Anatomy of a Fall, French director Justine Triet's (Sibyl) drama about an author (Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann) accused of her husband's murder; and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster, the prolific helmer's latest on a lengthy resume that also includes Shoplifters and Broker. Also already added to the lineup: the aforementioned Poor Things from The Favourite's Yorgos Lanthimos; body-horror film Tiger Stripes, which is set in the Malaysian jungle and won the 2023 Cannes Critics' Week Grand Prize; the talk show-set horror Late Night with the Devil; and The Ending Goes Forever: The Screamfeeder Story, focusing on of Brisbane's 90s indie-music favourites. "Our film festival brings a diverse perspective from filmmakers all around the world, and we are proud to be able to showcase these voices and their stories. This program is ambitious and has a strong vision of stories that will make you think and perhaps look at the world in a different way," said BIFF CEO Luke Wheatley, announcing the full program. "These are films from emerging and established filmmakers at their best and I cannot wait to sit in the cinema and share these." The 2023 Brisbane International Film Festival runs between Thursday, October 26–Sunday, November 5 at selected Dendy, Reading and Five Star cinemas around Brisbane. For further information, or to buy tickets, head to the festival website.
Since 2018, South Bank's Stanley Street has been home to a two-level German joint that serves up steins, schnitzels and pretzels. Come November this year, however, the space previously occupied by Munich Brauhaus is getting a huge makeover, transforming into El Camino Cantina's newest southeast Queensland location. Brisbane isn't lacking in Mexican eateries. El Camino already operates two — in Bowen Hills and Chermside — and also opened an outpost in Robina earlier in 2020. But the chain's Tex-Mex cuisine is definitely on the way to the inner city, along with its colourful decor and unapologetically over-the-top vibe. Both Munich Brauhaus and El Camino are part of Rockpool Dining Group, which also owns Sake, Beerhaus, The Bavarian and WingHaus, so this is really a case of a hospitality company rebranding one of its locations. Of course, if you've been to an El Camino casual dining joint before, you'll know that the revamp will be quite noticeable. Think loud, bright and filled with giant cocktails, rock 'n' roll jukeboxes, free sombreros and other lively Tex-Mex fare. The new El Camino will hold 510 patrons, including in a 140-seat outdoor dining area filled with colourful umbrellas, a ground-floor diner area that can sit 120 people, and an upstairs bar that can host 250 patrons — and will host DJs, too, each weekend. [caption id="attachment_785947" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Render of El Camino Cantina South Bank's upstairs area[/caption] Slushie machines, a big feature at the chain's other venues, will be part of the fitout as well, signalling big nights and brain freezes. El Camino's margaritas come in multiple sizes and renditions — such as a tropical Red Bull flavour, which really says it all. Other options include a host of beers from near and far, and a sizeable collection of mezcals and tequilas. The food lineup is as fun and casual as the drinks, spanning fiery buffalo wings, sizzling fajitas, plump burritos, soft shell tacos loaded with punchy flavour combinations, and unlimited complimentary corn chips and salsas. It'll also have El Camino's signature specials, including $2 tacos on Tuesdays and ten-cent wings on Wednesdays. And, when it opens its doors at a yet-to-be-revealed late-November date, El Camino's South Bank spot will do so with a six-week-long margarita festival. Called Ritapalooza, it'll serve up those frosty, boozy beverages in 15 different flavours. El Camino Cantina will open at 153 Stanley Street, South Brisbane in November — we'll update you with an exact launch date when one is announced. Top image: El Camino Cantina Chermside.
Brewing and breakfast? This place knows our weak spot. Get up and out bright and early to the region’s newest brewery – The Pumpyard. Only opening the doors last week, Four Hearts Brewing Company is inviting you to come and watch them get their hands dirty making a specialty beer at Pumpyard, all while explaining the brewing process. Then tuck into a breakfast fit for a head brewer. Perfect.
Last year, we got all revved up about Speed the Movie the Play, but when it comes to comical stage interpretations of famous '90s films, it seems that was just the beginning. And while there'll sadly be no blank-faced Keanu driving a bus, this year's Brisbane Comedy Festival will take on the tragic romance of Kate and Leo (as well as the just-as-tragic collision of a boat and some frozen water). Yes, your heart will go on as two lovestruck ship-dwellers attempt to overcome their different backgrounds, ignore any rules about getting hot and steamy in someone else's car, and try to avoid a pesky iceberg. And chances are you'll still laugh along — even though you know how it all turns out. Actually, maybe you don't; if anyone was going to work in Winslet's recent revelation that there was actually room for DiCaprio on the door that proved so pivotal to the movie's final scenes, it's this spirited bunch. Titanic the Movie the Play is one of our top ten picks to see at the Brisbane Comedy Festival.
It's a risky and even cheeky move, packaging a film with a song that could be used to describe it. Thankfully, in the case of 2014's The Lego Movie and its instant earworm track, everything was indeed awesome. The animated flick's long-awaited sequel offers another self-assessment in closing credits tune 'Super Cool', however the description doesn't fit this time around. Nor do the words unbelievable, outrageous, amazing, phenomenal, fantastic and incredible, further praise sung by Beck, the Lonely Island and Robyn in the catchy and amusing song. Instead, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is fine, standard, okay and average. Of course, those words don't have the same ring to them, even if they were set to a thumping beat. The Lego Movie left its successors with big shoes to fill — or big bricks to emulate, to be more accurate — and this direct follow-up does so in an entertaining enough but never especially inventive or enthralling fashion. Call it a case of trying to build the same thing with different pieces. Call it constructing a masterpiece and then falling short with the next attempt. Call it a case of sticking too closely to the instructions again and again. Whichever one you choose, they all fit like rectangular plastic pieces stacked neatly on top of each other. You could also call it a case of following Emmet Brickowski's (Chris Pratt) lead, with the mini-figure's fondness for routine already well established in the first movie. He's so comfortable doing the same thing day in, day out that he's even happy to keep doing so in the new dystopian version of his hometown, Bricksburg. He knows that much has changed since alien invaders made from bigger blocks descended from the heavens. His brooding best friend Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) also reminds him all the time. But it isn't until General Sweet Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) arrives, bearing an invite from the Systar system's Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) and sweeping Lucy, Batman (Will Arnett), Benny (Charlie Day), MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) and Unikitty (Alison Brie) away, that Emmet abandons his blissful monotony and springs into action. Viewers of the initial flick, The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie will remember two important aspects of the Lego Movie Universe. Firstly, mile-a-minute jokes and pop culture references are as much a part of the franchise as multicoloured bricks. Secondly, more often than not, the series' animated tales tie into a real-world scenario. While original directors Chris Lord and Phil Miller have handed over the reigns to Trolls filmmaker Mike Mitchell, their humour still bounces through in the movie's fast-paced script. And while The Lego Movie's big twist — that the whole story stemmed from kids simply playing with the titular toys — is old news now, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part builds upon this idea. Once again, the film spends time with now-teenager Finn (Jadon Sand), who's still far from pleased that his younger sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince) likes Lego as well. Cue The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part's troubles. Lightning rarely strikes twice, after all. The film serves up enough funny gags to keep audiences chuckling, throws in more than a few ace cameos and has the same infectious, anarchic vibe, but it was never going to feel as fresh. It also benefits from a fantastic overall message, but doesn't give it enough emphasis until late in the show. After pondering the divide between rules and creativity in the first picture, the franchise now contemplates collaboration, sharing and the gendering applied to playthings, roles and fandom. That's both smart and relevant, yet here feels underdone. Basically, anything new comes second to everything that's been done before, resulting in the most superfluous kind of sequel. This follow-up is happier rehashing its predecessor's glory days than channelling the ingenuity that made the original so charming. Of course, if The Lego Movie hadn't been such a vibrant, witty delight, then The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part wouldn't feel so familiar. An adequate addition to the series, it still contains plenty to distinguish it from other all-ages animated fare — including an eye-catching and distinctive animation style, enjoyable skewering of Pratt's many non-Lego characters, and Noel Fielding as a sparkly Twilight-esque vampire. But, five years on, viewers are now in the same situation as Lucy: ready to embrace a challenge, rather than falling back on comfortable old habits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvHSlHhh1gk
The Scandinavian crime fixation currently sweeping non-Nordic nations shows no signs of abating. Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q series provides the latest instance, a four-instalment-to-date police procedural setting a duo of detectives in search of answers to dead cases. The Keeper of Lost Causes is the first feature to result. All the elements exist in director Mikkel Nørgaard and writer Nikolaj Arcel's version of the novel. (They're both veterans of the burgeoning genre with resumes that encompass television's Borgen and the Swedish-language The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as evidence.) An odd couple, an against-the-odds task, brooding backstories, a pretty prey and a cat-and-mouse game with the perpetrator furnish a feature that stays within the confines of the expected — except for one significant deviation. As well as tracking the law enforcement quest to uncover the truth, the film gifts viewers with the victim's perspective: her tale told as a parallel to the investigation. The Keeper of Lost Causes is in cinemas on July 31, and thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Read our full review here. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=68sO1s9Hy70
Back in 2018, Australia scored the kind of festival we were always bound to, and to love: The Drop, a music fest that sets up its song-filled stages beside the country's iconic surfing spots. And if that still sounds like your idea of quite the big — and sandy — day out, you'd best get ready to surf the festival wave again, with the event returning in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, The Drop will stage a two-date run in New South Wales, hitting up Bondi Beach and Coffs Harbour in October. This marks the first time that the fest has made its way to Bondi, so expect it to be huge. On the bill at both 2022 shows: Tones and I, Matt Corby and Dune Rats, as well as Cub Sport, Gretta Ray, Shag Rock, TOWNS and Hallie. They'll head to Sydney's most famous beach on Saturday, October 15, then back it up the following week, on Saturday, October 22, at Park Beach Reserve in Coffs Harbour. [caption id="attachment_753215" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Walk Wild Studio[/caption] Fans in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, where The Drop has played before, will need to wait until next year to get their sun, surf, sand and song fix. The 2023 lineup hasn't been revealed, but dates have announced. Whether the event will do what it usually does and follow the Aussie leg of the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour hasn't been confirmed yet either, but fingers crossed. Stops are locked in for Coolangatta, Torquay and Busselton, though, plus a return to NSW thanks to the Newcastle show. And pairing music not only with sandy settings, but with surfing contests, has always been a big part of The Drop. If you have tickets to previous The Drop fest that didn't go ahead due to the pandemic, you now have a few options — to either roll them over to the new festivals in each location (where they're returning), switch to Bondi or Coffs Harbour instead, or obtain a refund. [caption id="attachment_753214" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Ian Laidlaw[/caption] THE DROP FESTIVAL 2022 DATES Saturday, October 15 — Bondi Beach, Bondi, New South Wales Saturday, October 22 — Park Beach Reserve, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales THE DROP FESTIVAL 2022 LINEUP Tones And I Matt Corby Dune Rats Cub Sport Gretta Ray Shag Rock TOWNS Hallie THE DROP FESTIVAL 2023 DATES Saturday, January 21_Sunday, January 22 — Queen Elizabeth Park, Coolangatta, Queensland Tuesday, March 28 — Empire Park, Newcastle, New South Wales Saturday, April 8 — Torquay Common, Torquay, Victoria Saturday, April 15 — TBC, Busselton, Western Australia Saturday, May 13 — Queen Elizabeth Park, Coolangatta, Queensland The Drop will return for two 2022 festivals in New South Wales in October. Ticket pre-sales start at 9am on Tuesday, August 9, with general sales from 9am on Wednesday, August 10. For more information, visit the festival's website. The Drop's 2023 lineup will be announced closer to its 2023 dates — we'll update you when details come to hand. Images: Ian Laidlaw / Miranda Stokkel.
After eight seasons, a huge body count and an enormous wait for winter, Game of Thrones is coming to an end in 2019. But that doesn't mean saying goodbye to the world first created by author George R.R. Martin — not only thanks to the author's books, whenever The Winds of Winter eventually hits shelves, or even simply due to the planned prequel series. In addition, fans will soon be able to visit a heap of new GoT tourist attractions. After filming much of the show in Northern Ireland for the past decade, HBO has announced that it's teaming up with Tourism NI to open a number of sets and sites to the public for the first time. If you've ever dreamed about walking around Westeros, this will be your chance. Winterfell, Castle Black and King's Landing are among the iconic spots that'll feature in what's being called Game of Thrones Legacy. Visitors won't just see the ancestral home of House Stark, the headquarters of the Night's Watch or the capital of the seven kingdoms, but also view exhibitions complete with costumes, props, weapons and set decorations, plus art files, models and other production materials. There'll also be accompanying digital content and interactive materials, highlighting GoT's digital effects. Given that the show includes both dragons and wights, aka Martin's version of zombies, there's plenty to showcase. The project is still in an exploratory process, with full details still to be revealed, but a 2019 opening date has been slated. Seeing as though the show's final season will air next year, that timing is hardly surprising — you'll probably be able to find out whether Jon Snow really knows nothing, and then head to Northern Ireland to visit many of his haunts.
In seventeenth century Italy, beneath the mountains surrounding Lake Como, a young couple on the eve of their wedding discover, to their horror, that the local tyrant has his sights, and loins, set on the bride. With an already exploited, oppressed people suffering from famine and plague their story takes on Shakespearean overtones. Soon Lucia and Renzo see their lives crash around them as the groom faces the axe and the bride abduction. Whatever their fate, their story inspired a nation. A blend of words, dance and music this production of I Promessi Sposi teases out the golden thread of Manzoni’s novel, and reveals the story of all us.
Life is full of the kind of realisations that can only inspire laughter. You know the type: something has gone wrong (yet again), or just hasn't turned out as planned — and the best way of coping is to giggle and guffaw until you feel better. Christopher Welldon has turned that sort of scenario into something he's chuckling at — and he hopes you will do the same. Having moved house 60 times in 34 years, he's sharing his stories of hopping from one home to another, with the end result a combination of catharsis and comedy as part of this year's MELT Festival.
This Christmas, it's time to deck your halls with boughs of whichever greenery you'd like — and to give plenty of plants as gifts, too. That's on the agenda at VEND Marketplace, which is hosting a huge Christmas Twilight Market. There'll be more than just succulents, cacti and indoor-friendly plants on offer; however, given that the northside spot is home to its own indoor greenhouse — aptly called the Greenhouse, naturally — that's definitely a big drawcard. Between 5–9pm on Saturday, November 27, you'll also be able to get festive at VEND's 100-plus shops, and at the array of pop-up stalls that it's setting up outside. Food trucks will keep your stomach satisfied while you're picking gifts — including for yourself — and the VEND cafe will also be serving boozy beverages and Christmas dinner specials. Also, VEND is also doggo-friendly — should you want to bring your four-legged pal with you for a stint of seasonal fun. Images: VEND Marketplace.
A black comedy about neighbours fighting over a tree. A harrowing recreation of the worst incident on Norwegian soil since World War II. A gothic interpretation of a well-known folk tale. A film about an infatuated college student who discovers she has unusual abilities. These are just some of the Nordic films headed to Australia as part of the 2018 Scandinavian Film Festival — and yes, it's shaping up to be a great year for movies hailing from the colder parts of Europe. All of the above titles — the opening night's Under the Tree, Berlinale hit U – July 22, the gorgeously shot Valley of Shadows and the empathetic thriller Thelma — head to the festival after amassing quite the buzz at overseas events, and they have plenty of company. Across the Scandinavian Film Festival's almost month-long tour of the country, between July 10 and August 5, 21 features will grace Australian screens, showcasing everything from the latest award-winners to the career output of one of the region's late master filmmakers. In the first camp falls Border, which is based on a short story by author John Ajvide Lindqvist and just won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes; high-school comedy Amateurs, the recipient of the best Nordic film award at this year's Goteburg Film Festival; and Winter Brothers, a flick about siblings living in a remote region that nabbed nine Danish Academy Awards. In the latter category, viewers can celebrate the life and career of renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman in the 100th anniversary of his birth, with six Swedish figures — including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's Tomas Alfredson — making shorts inspired by the influential filmmaker for compilation effort Bergman Revisited. Other highlights include a semi-scripted cross-cultural comedy about two Danish men trying to set up a dog breeding business in China, aka The Saint Bernard Syndicate, SXSW-standout Heavy Trip, a film about a heavy metal muso spearheading a music festival in a small Finnish town, and The Real Estate, which attacks the chasm between the rich and the not-so in an unflinching fashion. In short: if it hails from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland and it popped up over the past year, it's probably on the lineup. The Scandinavian Film Festival tours the country between July 10 and August 5, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona and Palace Central from July 10–29; Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay and Palace Westgarth from July 12–29; and Brisbane's Palace Barracks from July 19 to August 5. For the full program, visit the festival website.
When the working week is done, folks just wanna have fun. We're paraphrasing Cyndi Lauper because she knows what she's singing about. If your idea of taking her advice involves listening to ace musos belt out a few tunes, then QPAC's Green Jam is the Friday afternoon session you're looking for. Held on the last Friday of every month between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, the outdoor songfest takes over the Melbourne Street Green (aka that vibrant patch of turf just past the Cultural Centre walkway) for free live music fun. Then, hop over to Gauge on Grey Street for dinner. Just remember to book — they're always busy. A six-course set menu, small plates and regular ol' dinner are available. Go on, try their signature blood taco with bone marrow, mushrooms and native thyme.
It’s interesting what happens when you throw a whole bunch of disconnected ideas into a skip and see what comes out. Let’s say you had an idea for a story about an isolated girl learning to connect with a family she’s never met before. Or you have an idea about what it’s like for a group of kids to survive in the country when nuclear war hits the capital. Or you have a forbidden love idea about cousins falling for one another. Or you want to write about a sullen teen with psychic abilities. Rather than writing four different books, why not just put them all in the same book and hope for the best? On the outside, How I Live Now looks like a mess. Part Tomorrow When the War Began, part The Shining, part 28 Days Later, it’s a hodgepodge of concepts that don't completely gel. So it’s weird that the film is actually quite good. Part of the reason it works is that it’s compellingly all over the shop. You genuinely don’t know where it’s going to go next, and that sort of haphazardness keeps your attention. Even when some of the storylines — hell, most of the storylines — remain unsatisfactorily unresolved, it still makes for a tale that’s far more than the sum of its parts. It’s directed by Kevin Macdonald, best known for 2007’s The Last King of Scotland, and he establishes an unsettling and powerful mood throughout. Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Hanna, The Host) is good as ever, creating a thoroughly unsympathetic moody teen and then making us sympathise with her. Young actors Tom Holland, George MacKay and Danny McEvoy acquit themselves very well, especially the exceedingly young Harley Bird (known to a very specific portion of the world as the BAFTA award-winning voice of Peppa Pig), who has to play an enormous range of emotions in increasingly difficult circumstances. The consequences of war — the violence, the sex, what happens when the rule of law collapses — are presented in an extraordinarily unvarnished manner. It’s almost difficult to believe this is based on a Young Adult book; it’s so intense at times that, were the protagonists all adults, this would surely be considered unsuitable for anyone under the age of 18. But make your characters teens, and it’s suddenly relatable. That’s the theory, at least. In practice, audiences will likely be divided. It will be an unsatisfying experience for those who require an explanation for some of the more outlandish setups this film gives us, but for others, the story’s uniqueness will overcome these issues. Its untainted look at the realities of war, and the suspense this creates, will make this a firm and enduring favourite.
Idris Elba fights a lion. That's it, that's Beast, as far as film pitches go at least. This South Africa-set thriller's one-sentence summary is up there with 'Jason Statham battles a giant shark' and 'Liam Neeson stares down wolves' — straightforward and irresistible, obviously, in enticing audiences into cinemas. That said, the latest addition to the animals-attack genre isn't as ridiculous as The Meg, and isn't a resonant existential musing like The Grey. What this creature feature wants to be, and is, is a lean, edge-of-your-seat, humanity-versus-nature nerve-shredder. Director Baltasar Kormákur (Adrift) knows that a famous face, a relentless critter as a foe, and life-or-death terror aplenty can be the stuff that cinema dreams and hits are made of. His movie isn't completely the former, but it does do exactly what it promises. If it proves a box office success, it'll be because it dangles an easy drawcard and delivers it. There is slightly more to Beast than Idris Elba brawling with the king of the jungle, of course — or running from it, trying to hide from it in a jeep, attempting to outsmart it and praying it'll tire of seeing him as prey. But this tussle with an apex predator is firmly at its best when it really is that simple, that primal and, with no qualms about gore and jump scares, that visceral. Elba (The Harder They Fall) plays recently widowed American doctor Nate Samuels, who is meant to be relaxing, reconnecting with his teenage daughters Mare (Iyana Halley, Licorice Pizza) and Norah (Leah Jeffries, Rel), and finding solace in a pilgrimage to his wife's homeland. But Beast wouldn't be called Beast if the Samuels crew's time with old family friend Martin (Sharlto Copley, Russian Doll), a wildlife biologist who oversees the nature reserve, was all placid safaris and sunsets. Kormákur doesn't even pretend that bliss is an option, or that the stalking, scares and big man/big cat showdown aren't coming. Ramping up the tension from the outset, his feature begins with the reason that its main maned (and unnamed) creature wants to slash his way through Nate and company: poachers hunting, with the culprits sneaking in at night to elude human eyes and snuff the light out of every feline in a targeted pride, which leaves one particularly large animal, the patriarch, angry and vengeful. Arriving unknowingly in the aftermath, the Samuels family have just chosen the wrong time to visit. Their first encounter with another pride, which Martin helped raise, leaves them awestruck instead of frightened; then they spy Beast's killer beast's handiwork at a nearby village, and surviving becomes their only aim. Swap out Elba from the 'Idris Elba fights a lion' equation and Kormákur would've had a far lesser film on his hands. His premise, wonderfully concise as it is, wouldn't work with any old actor. His entire movie wouldn't, and Beast works on the level it's prowling on — mostly. Screenwriter Ryan Engle (Rampage), using a story by Jaime Primak Sullivan (Breaking In), gives Nate grief and guilt over his past mistakes to grapple with as well as that persistent lion. Yes, the script is that cliched, because action heroes almost always seem to be wooing, worrying about or mourning a woman while they're endeavouring to save something, be it the world, their families or themselves. Elba dances the bereaved absent father dance well, though, with the Beast's depths springing from him rather than the material and its deceased spouse/regretful dad/seize-the-day tropes. Whether coming to widespread fame in one of the best TV dramas ever made, cancelling the apocalypse in a different on-screen altercation with critters, or playing a complicated detective, the man with The Wire, Pacific Rim and Luther on his resume (but not yet Bond) excels at playing people juggling problems and worries beyond their immediate threats. As sure as any feline, big, small, wild or domesticated, will swipe when it's being aggressive, that's what makes Elba brawling with Beast's revenge-seeking big cat such an appealing idea. The other troubles his character weathers here are both formulaic and thinly written, as they were always likely to be in a 93-minute lion attack flick — but, reliably as ever, Elba imparts Nate with the unflinching sense that this bout of king-of-the-jungle chaos is just one of many burdens he's had to face. Elba would've brought that complexity to his part even if Beast didn't saddle Nate with an obligatory dead wife, and often that trauma feels like every other animal in the feature — merely there because the film needs to be about more than Elba feuding with a lion. Nate's thorny relationship with his daughters could've still prickled, then softened and resolidified in the throes of panic, anyway; indeed, both Halley and Jeffries are at their finest when Mare and Norah have to be resourceful, brave and in the moment amid such ever-lurking danger. Kormákur makes that peril palpable, too. With cinematographer Philippe Rousselot (an Oscar-winner three decades ago for A River Runs Through It), he keeps the camera moving and roving amid eye-catching surroundings, letting the beauty of the place linger but rarely allowing a minute's peace in lengthy, unbroken shots. The Samuels' new nemesis is fast, savage and erratic, after all — even if lions are majestic creatures — and also willing to lay in wait, and the director of disaster movies Adrift and Everest wants his viewers to feel all of the above. Perhaps it's apt that when Beast struggles, it's because it's doing more than it needs to, but also with not enough effort — over-plotting Nate, Mare, Norah and Martin's backstories, and yet keeping them so well-worn. The pixels behind the film's animal antagonist also suffer a touch of the same fate; in trying to truly terrify, this CGI cat looks photorealistic as the live-action The Lion King's creatures did, but also preternatural. Nonetheless, the narrative's inherent silliness and illogical leaps aside, too — yes, including Elba punching the movie's bloodthirsty namesake — Beast remains as ruthlessly proficient as a lion at drawing, demanding and grabbing attention. Add it to the menagerie alongside alligator flick Crawl, another wholly predictable, sparse, taut, menacing and effective effort that's never Jaws but never Sharknado. It also isn't 1981's Roar, the wildest lion picture that'll ever exist and one plagued by animal attacks off-screen as well, but nothing else is.
At the end of June, Queensland closed its borders to Greater Sydney. Towards the end of July, the Sunshine State did the same with all of New South Wales. But, given that folks who live in NSW towns along the very edge of Queensland often enter the state, the rules have been different in the border zone; however, they've just been tightened again. The reason: at 5pm on Saturday, August 14, the NSW Government put the entire state into lockdown until at least 12.01am on Sunday, August 22. The Greater Sydney area has already been under stay-at-home orders since late June, and new lockdowns have been popping up in regional areas of late, but this is the first time during this current Delta outbreak that the whole of NSW has been told to remain at home. "Given the escalation of local restrictions, we have no choice but to put in place a tighter border situation to protect Queenslanders. This means anyone who has been to any of the northern NSW local government areas in our established border zone can only come into Queensland for really essential reasons," said Queensland's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young in statement. Following the announcement of a state-wide lockdown in New South Wales, from 8pm tonight 14 August NSW border zone residents can only enter Queensland for obtaining essential goods and services that can't reasonably be obtained in NSW. For more details: https://t.co/rMMZ9y9m1M — Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) August 14, 2021 People who live on the NSW side of the border zone can now only enter Queensland for essential work. "If it's not absolutely essential, do not cross the border," advised Dr Young. "I know this is tough — those living in northern NSW are our close neighbours and they access Queensland for a range of reasons, but right now, that can't continue until their outbreak gets under control." Accordingly, the list of reasons to enter Queensland is now small — and only includes attending permitted work or doing emergency volunteering; providing assistance, care or support to a vulnerable person or family member, or visiting a terminally ill relative; fulfilling shared parenting arrangements, or letting kids see their siblings; getting a COVID-19 test or vaccination; safety or emergency reasons; kids going to school if they're children of essential workers; and if given an exemption by the Chief Health Officer. The list of essential work has also been whittled down, and now only covers for work for safety reasons and emergency repairs, and that's necessary to maintain essential services and supplies to the community, or part of the community. Exercise, recreation, holidays, sporting events, weddings, funerals, and going to cinemas, theme parks or other tourist attractions are not permitted reasons to head to Queensland. Also, if folks in the border zone go outside that area in NSW, they won't be permitted to enter Queensland by road — and they'll need to go into hotel quarantine for a fortnight when returning by air. That's the same rule that's in place for Queenslanders, too. As always, everyone going to Queensland will need to complete one of the state's online travel declarations first, after that system was brought back into effect in June. Initially, the stricter rules will be in place for at least a week, although whether it'll be lifted then will depend on NSW case numbers and whether its statewide lockdown continues. For more information about Queensland's COVID-19 border restrictions, or about the status of COVID-19 in the state, visit the Qld COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
No one likes receiving the same Christmas gift twice, but when it comes to festive-themed films and their sequels, that's typically what you get. Unfortunately, Bad Santa 2 doesn't escape that trap. Back in 2003, the original film prove a rude, crude blast of fresh air that flouted and took the piss out of yuletide clichés. By comparison, the long-awaited follow-up plays like a half-arsed version of the exact same thing. For Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton), that means drinking, brawling, swearing, screwing, stealing, scamming, cracking safes and soaking in his own urine, usually while dressed up as Father Christmas. He's reluctant to return to the red coat and wig, but he's also eager to pilfer whatever cash he can when Christmas rolls around — 'tis the season to be burgling, and all that. That's why he agrees to re-team with his duplicitous, diminutive former partner-in-crime Marcus (Tony Cox), trading an unsuccessful suicide attempt for a scheme to fleece a Chicago charity. That the third person in their thieving plans is his estranged ex-con mother (Kathy Bates) complicates matters considerably. Add a lustful love interest (Christina Hendricks), plus a well-meaning but dim-witted hanger-on (Brett Kelly), and the Bad Santa formula everybody knows and once loved is back in action. Alas, with original director Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World) and writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy, Stupid, Love) nowhere in sight — replaced by Mean Girls' helmer Mark Waters, first-time feature screenwriter Johnny Rosenthal and What to Expect When You're Expecting scribe Shauna Cross — Bad Santa 2 rides its sleigh straight into tired territory. If there's a cinematic equivalent of asking for a pony and getting a photo of one instead, Bad Santa 2 is it. Everything looks the part, but this follow-up is no substitute for the real thing. Instead of humour steeped in the dark side of the season — be it the rampant consumerism, the gnawing loneliness or the manufactured cheer — this sloppy second effort just dials up the obscenity and anti-social behaviour, then tops the tree with familial drama. Indeed, in trying to coast by with little more than a predictable premise, easy gags, outrageous situations, unlikeable characters and a late splash of sentimentality, Bad Santa 2 could be mistaken for one of the poor imitators that the first movie inspired. At least Thornton is on hand to do what he does best. If nothing else, the been there, done that air and apparent lack of effort suits his bad protagonist to the wearied, wise-cracking bone. Accordingly, when a handful of the script's grossly inappropriate jokes land, Thornton is usually the reason.
Fantastic wine bars and where to find them: that's another way of describing Australia's annual Wineslinger Awards. Each year, industry experts vote on the top spots to enjoy a drop, with 2023's list now here for your drinking pleasure. It's called a top 50, but there's 55 places on the latest rundown because the votes couldn't be split. Created in 2018 by Rory Kent, who also founded the Young Gun of Wine Awards, the Wineslinger gongs draw upon the picks of more than 100 folks — think: sommeliers, winemakers, hospitality tastemakers and journalists — to point you in the right vino-sipping direction. Where Kent's other prize aims to recognise stellar up-and-comers, this one is about the best places to enjoy a glass or several of stellar tipples. [caption id="attachment_623524" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To.[/caption] "In the sixth year of these annual awards, it's such a thrill to once again discover so many great new wine haunts around the country," said Kent. 2023's 55 chosen venues are spread across the nation, with New South Wales accounting for the most with 15 spots. From there, 12 of Wineslinger's favourites hailed from Victoria, then nine from South Australia and seven from Queensland. Western Australia boasts six places in the ranking and Tasmania has three, while there's two from the Australian Capital Territory and one from the Northern Territory. Don't go expecting just the usual names, either. Familiar go-tos such as Dear Sainte Eloise in Potts Point, Carlton Wine Room in Carlton (where else?) and Snack Man in Fortitude Valley have gotten the nod, as have Canberra's Bar Rochford, Launceston's Havilah, Hellbound in Adelaide, Lalla Rookh in Perth and Stone House in Darwin; however, 19 venues have also been named for the first time. They include Bar Heather in Byron Bay, Commis in Collingwood and The End in West End — and also Alt. Wine Bar in Unley, Molto Bar and Cellar in Hobart and The Corner Dairy in Perth. [caption id="attachment_789259" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Snack Man[/caption] For folks looking for your next watering hole, you have plenty of places to add to your must-visit list. Some are located in popular hotspots, others have been plying their trades for decades and others still have only just opened. From the top 55, Wineslinger singles out a number of venues for trophies, which'll be awarded on Monday, December 5. The top gong is simply called Wineslinger, naturally, while other prizes span the self-explanatory Best New Haunt, as well as the Maverick award for a venue that pushes the limits. And, for vino aficionados at home, there's also the People's Choice prize — which is open for online votes right now, closing at midday on the day of the ceremony. [caption id="attachment_789257" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Carlton Wine Room[/caption] WINESLINGER AWARDS 2023 TOP 50: ACT Bar Rochford, Canberra Rizla, Braddon NSW 10 William Street, Paddington Bar Copains, Surry Hills Bar Heather, Byron Bay Bar Superette, Merimbula Beau, Surry Hills Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Sydney Caravin, Potts Point Dear Sainte Eloise, Potts Point Fix Wine, Sydney Le Foote, The Rocks Lil Sis, Chippendale P&V Merchants, Paddington The Sir George Hotel, Jugiong The Wine Library, Woollahra Where's Nick, Marrickville [caption id="attachment_637744" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bentley Restaurant & Wine Bar[/caption] NT Stone House, Darwin QLD Agnes, Fortitude Valley Alba Bar + Deli, Brisbane Cru Bar + Cellar, Fortitude Valley Paloma Wine Bar, Burleigh Heads Snack Man, Fortitude Valley The End, West End Zero Fox, Teneriffe SA Alt. Wine Bar, Unley Good Gilbert, Goodwood Hellbound, Adelaide Jennie Wine Bar, Adelaide Loc Bottle Shop, Adelaide Silver Sands Beach Club, Aldinga Stanley Bridge Tavern, Verdun Stem Bar & Restaurant, Adelaide The Salopian Inn, McLaren Vale [caption id="attachment_778181" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hellbound[/caption] TAS Havilah, Launceston Lucinda, Hobart Molto Bar and Cellar, Hobart VIC Bar Marenda, Daylesford Carlton Wine Room, Carlton City Wine Shop, Melbourne Commis, Collingwood Geralds Bar, Carlton North Gimlet, Melbourne Marion, Fitzroy Osteria Illaria, Melbourne Public Wine Shop, Fitzroy North Torquay Wine Store, Torquay Union Street Wine, Geelong Winespeake, Daylesford WA Besk, West Leederville Lalla Rookh, Perth Mayfair Lane, West Perth Mummucc', Wembley The Corner Dairy, Perth Wines of While, Perth To vote in Wineslinger's People's Choice Award before 12pm on Monday, December 5, visit the awards' website. Top images: Agnes; Beau; City Wine Shop, Tess Kelly.
Circa, Australia’s finest contemporary circus company, returns to its spiritual home with the Helpmann Award winning production that dazzled and delighted audiences throughout the world. Described as beautiful, sexy and moving by worldwide press, Circa is a circus like no other. It features an outstanding array of astonishing feats of physical mastery that leave audiences aghast with astonishment. Circa sets itself apartt by bringing artistic inventiveness to all aspects of their art. Gone are cheap thrills and tacky makeup, instead, director Yaron Lifschitz’s masterpiece melds modern circus, acrobatic dance and multimedia into a very human experience of sophisticated sensibility.
For those not good with acronyms, L.G.F.U equates to the expression - let’s get fucked up. This name also denotes the new electronic track by the Aussie fresh maker, Tom Piper and New Zealand club king, Daniel Farley. Hailed as the latest party anthem, the track’s distinct hypnotic, synth driven sound is getting booties shaking and fists pumping across the globe. The track's success might also be attributed to the easy to follow lyrics… three simple words, in addition to one crude one. On the back of this hit release, the creative duo of Piper and Farley are touring the Tasman to get amongst audiences from both of their homelands. Next Saturday sees them hyping up the Brisbane crowd at the Met for a manic, messy night not to be missed. Neither Piper or Farley are single genre guys, so this will not be a night of singular sounds. Instead the duo will combine their extensive talents and distinct styles to mix it up for a night of fresh club sounds that will get the electronic movers and shakers excited. The L.G.F.U Tour is setting its standards clearly, so if you're thinking of attending, don't expect anything less than a night of plentiful intoxication and loud sounds.
Celebrating both the latest and greatest must-see movies is what film festivals are all about — and Brisbane's returning New Farm Queer Film Festival couldn't be more committed to that remit. The River City's annual showcase of new and classic LGBTQIA+ flicks, the event began back in 2022, proved a hit, and keeps returning year after year with an impressive lineup. On 2024's program from Thursday, October 3–Sunday, October 13: movies starring Elliot Page, Tilda Swinton, Murray Bartlett, Dylan O'Brien and Evan Rachel Wood, plus Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse trilogy. 2024 marks seven years since Page (The Umbrella Academy) last featured on the big screen Down Under. Close to You brings that absence from local cinemas to an end, with the film boasting the actor's first male movie role, as a trans man heading home to his family for the first time since transitioning. Swinton (The Killer) features in Problemista, as directed by and also starring Fantasmas and Los Espookys' Julio Torres; The White Lotus' Bartlett and Fantasmas guest star O'Brien are part of the cast for closing night's Ponyboi, which follows an intersex sex worker on the run from the mob; and Wood (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) plays a cheerleading coach in Backspot, with Devery Jacobs (Echo) as the squad's newcomer. This year's NFQFF kicks off with Georgian film Crossing, about a teacher looking for her long-lost niece — and, as another of its big titles, boasts Caught by the Tides from Jia Zhangke (Ash Is the Purest White), which premiered at Cannes back in May. If you haven't caught The Devil's Bath on the small screen yet (or even if you have), a big-screen session of the Austrian standout by Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge's Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala is guaranteed stellar viewing. Plus, including supervillain parody The People's Joker, which gives the caped-crusader realm a queer coming-of-age spin, is perfect timing. Another highlight, Scala!!! tells of the London cinema in the same name. The rest of the documentary's moniker is Or, The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits, which gives viewers an idea of the kind of tale it's telling — with iconic filmmaker John Waters among its interviewees. NFQFF's 2024 lineup also features not just one retrospective trio, but two. Araki's Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation and Nowhere sit on the bill alongside François Ozon's Criminal Lovers, Water Drops on Burning Rocks and Sitcom.
This is the End might just be the biggest in-joke in Hollywood. Its writer, director and star, Seth Rogen, plays 'Seth Rogen', whilst Jonah Hill plays 'Jonah Hill', James Franco plays 'James Franco' and Emma Watson plays, well…you get the picture. Thankfully, though, you'll also get the jokes, and no matter how 'in' or self-referential they might be, the movie invites the audience to share in the laughter. Set in the Hollywood hills, Rogen and his friend Jay Baruchel (played by Jay Baruchel) head along to a party at James Franco's mansion, where — just a short while later — the biblical Rapture commences and, quite literally, all Hell breaks loose. As their friends and fans perish around them (the cameos are too numerous to count, though highlights include Michael Cera, Channing Tatum and Rihanna), the young celebrities hole themselves up inside and try to outlast the End of Days, rationing everything from a Milky Way bar to various types of weed. To their credit, no egos are too precious and everyone plays up to their reputations: Rogen's an amiable stoner, Hill is impossibly nice and Franco holds nothing back in portraying himself as a pretentious, egocentric wanker. They're joined in the house by Baruchel, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride, with the latter contributing to about half of the movie's funniest moments. Inevitably, as a Rogen film, This is the End features a significant amount of stoner humour, dick jokes and one inconceivably long scene involving Franco and McBride hurling imaginary semen at each other and everything else around them. It's the kind of comedy you feel guilty laughing at while it's happening, and then later can't remember why it made you laugh so much. But laugh you do all the same.
It has been three years since Scottish craft beer giant BrewDog launched its first Australian brewery and taproom in Brisbane, and two since the brewery promised that more bars in more Aussie cities were on the way. Now, thanks to a new partnership with Australian Venue Co (AVC) — the group behind spots such as Cargo, Kingsleys and The Winery in Sydney; Fargo and Co, State of Grace and The Smith in Melbourne; and Riverland, The Regatta and The Crown Hotel in Brisbane — that plan is finally starting to come to life. BrewDog and AVC have announced that they're teaming up to open beer bars across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and beyond in the coming years, starting with a first new site in Victoria. Come spring this year, Melbourne's historic Pentridge Prison precinct will welcome a hefty new venue: a two-level pub complete with an indoor dining room and lounge bar, plus a sprawling beer garden sporting its own BrewDog container bar, big screens and dedicated games area. The partnership sees the world's largest craft beer bar operator join forces with one of Australia's big pub operators, and will span multiple sites — but exactly where and when any venues beyond Pentridge will open hasn't yet been revealed. Still, if you're a fan of the Scottish brewery in Sydney, you'll finally score your own local. And, in Brisbane, you'll have somewhere else to head beyond its 28-tap original Australian outpost in Murarrie. That OG Brisbane craft beer destination pours both house creations and guest brews, and also serves up a menu that's known for its burgers, pizza and wings — if you're wondering what might be in store at the new BrewDog and AVC bars. BrewDog currently operates 102 beer bars worldwide, having recently launched outposts in Mumbai and New Albany (USA), and with huge flagship bars coming soon to Las Vegas and Waterloo (London). BrewDog Pentridge will open in E Division building at Pentridge Prison, 1 Champ Street, Coburg, from spring 2022. For more information about BrewDog's Australian expansion plans, keep an eye on its website — and we'll update you with further details when they're announced. Top image: BrewDog DogTap Brisbane.
Australia's theatre scene didn't have much to smile about in 2020; however, now that 2021 has rolled around, some venues around the country are kicking back into gear with a little help from their friends. Well, with Friends! The Musical Parody to be specific — with the comedic, song-filled satire of everyone's favourite 90s sitcom touring the country. Initially, the show was due to hit local theatres in August and September last year. Then, when the pandemic struck, the musical rescheduled to November and December instead. But it seems that 2020 wasn't anyone's year — and it didn't include anyone's favourite day, week or month, for that matter — so the production has now shifted its entire run to 2021. Scheduled to kick off on the Gold Coast from Thursday, February 11–Sunday, February 14 before being there for audiences in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney, Friends! The Musical Parody will spend time with Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe, of course. Here, they're hanging out at their beloved Central Perk — and sitting on an orange couch, no doubt — when a runaway bride shakes up their day. Call it 'The One with the Loving, Laugh-Filled Lampoon', or 'The One That Both Makes Good-Natured Fun of and Celebrates an Iconic Sitcom'. Yes, no one told you that being obsessed with the Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer-starring show about six New Yorkers would turn out this way — with on-stage skits and gags, recreations of some of the series' best-known moments, and songs with titles such as 'How you Doin?' and 'We'll Always Be There For You'. That said, no one told us that being a Friends aficionado would continue to serve up so many chances to indulge our fandom 16 years after it finished airing, including via an upcoming reunion special that'll gather the TV series' main cast back together. If you can't make it to the Gold Coast season, the show will hit Brisbane, too, from Thursday, August 19–Saturday, August 21 at the Tivoli Theatre.
This time of year sometimes feels like a mad sprint towards the festive season. Between your office Christmas party and obligatory catch-ups with every relative this side of the equator, December can disappear in a blur. Catching up with friends on the weekend can seem near-impossible, so to ensure you still get some face time with your crew, opt for a weekday meetup. Northshore Riverside Park is a bit of a local secret- just up the river from Eat Street Markets, this is the perfect spot to roll out your picnic rug. With plenty of barbecue facilities and a rolling lawn for a quick kick of the footy, this is the ideal spot for a post-weekend debrief.
Forget everything you've ever heard about Easter being for kids. Eating, relaxing and being merry/pumped up on chocolate is a thoroughly all-ages pastime. This year, Brisbane is delivering all of the above thanks to an array of parties, seafood brunches, gigs, markets, egg hunts, beer unveilings, arcade lock-ins and more. You've got four days off — here's how you can spend them wisely.
Do you like Italian food? Then let us introduce you to the happiest place on earth. Your stomach has probably been craving pasta, pizza and gelato since news of Eataly World first started circulating — and those rumbles are only going to get louder now that the world's first Italian food theme park has announced its opening date. Due to open in Bologna, Italy on November 15, and calling itself an agro-food park, the site will take patrons on a trip from the field to the fork. That'll involve with six interactive experiences, more than 40 places to eat, over 100 stalls and shops, and a dedicated parmesan cheese bar. In fact, over nearly 20 acres, Eataly World will feature restaurants, kitchens, grocery stores, classrooms, farms, laboratories and more, showcasing everything from livestock, dairy products and the cereals that become pasta, to preserves, Italian desserts and the best in both boozy and non-alcoholic beverages. As well as boasting free entry — aka making a good thing even better — Eataly World will make daily classes part of its schedule, ensuring visitors don't just wander through this Italian food-focused realm, but can pick up a few new skills as well. To get around the massive area, bikes will also be available. Eating, drinking and cycling in Italy: it sounds like a culinary holiday dream. The park is the latest venture from Oscar Farinetti, the founder of Italian food and grocery chain Eataly, which has locations in New York, Boston and Dubai. And while it has taken some time to come to fruition — it was first announced a few years back, and then set for a 2015 opening that didn't happen — it looks like it has been worth the wait. Speaking to Eater last year, Eataly vice-president and Eataly World CEO Tiziana Primori said the park would mix entertainment with education. "We call it from the farm to the fork because you can see all the steps of the chain, from the animals to the raw materials and workshops and restaurants." The hope is that the park will attract as many as 10 million visitors each year, providing a boost to Bologna tourism in the process. The city already boasts a number of gastronomic attractions, including a medieval marketplace and the world's only gelato university. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou5uPuVBub4 Via Eater. Header image via Dollar Photo Club By Tom Clift and Sarah Ward.
There's always a host of parties happening around Brisbane this Easter. Sometimes, though, don't you just want to head out and relax? If you're keen on sitting by Brisbane's main waterway with a beverage in hand, and doing little more than kicking back, sipping creative novelty beverages and relaxing, then you should pop into Riverbar & Kitchen's Easter Party. The bar team will be whipping up a few special treats, including a 'Gin 'n Jam' cocktail made from West Winds sabre gin, Aperol, rose jam, cranberry bitters, vanilla and egg whites — so you can totally claim it as an Easter-themed beverage.
One of Fortitude Valley's bars is going green to celebrate a big pop culture milestone. Plenty of excellent movies, TV shows, albums and songs will mark an anniversary this year, but when April 2021 hits, animated favourite Shrek will turn 20. So, The Brightside is doing its usual thing and throwing a party — a month early. Rediscover why it really isn't easy being an ogre while listening to a live band play the entire Shrek soundtrack, and competing in the costume competition. Clearly, you'll also get a whole lot of Smash Mouth — aka 'All Star' and their version of 'I'm a Believer' — stuck in your head. Indeed, when the band isn't playing at Shrek Fest, The Brightside's DJs will be spinning 'All Star' on repeat. Here, all that glitters is gold — and green — with the party happening from 6pm on Friday, March 19. Tickets cost $30 per person. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W37DlG1i61s
Forget the trashy mags conveniently placed just near supermarket checkouts, and forget whatever the real-life royals are up to, too. These days, if you're keen on regal intrigue, then you're hooked on Netflix drama The Crown. And, after two eventful seasons, you're definitely eagerly awaiting the show's third batch of episodes — following the same characters but with an all-new cast. Since 2016, The Crown has peered inside both Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street, unpacking the goings-on behind Britain's houses of power. Set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, the series has charted her wedding to Prince Philip, her coronation and the birth of her children (aka Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward). As well as delving into the monarch's marital ups and downs, The Crown has also explored the romantic life of her sister, Princess Margaret, plus the major political events throughout the late 40s, entire 50s and early 60s. During all this, viewers have become accustomed to seeing Claire Foy as Elizabeth, Matt Smith as Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Margaret. In the third season, however, they've all been replaced to better reflect the passing of time. Fresh from winning an Oscar for The Favourite earlier this year, Olivia Colman steps into ol' Lizzie's shoes, while Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter do the same with Philip and Margaret. Also joining the show is Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles, Erin Doherty as Princess Anne and Marion Bailey as the Queen Mother. Given the change of cast, and the fact that The Crown's last episodes hit Netflix at the end of 2017, the show's third season has been eagerly anticipated. While the just-dropped teaser doesn't include much at all in the way of detail, it does offer a 20-second glimpse at Colman as the Queen — and reveal that the series will return this November. A full trailer is bound to follow, giving fans a better look at the show's new stars. And, hopefully, touching upon the third season's storyline, which'll chart the years between 1964–1977, including Harold Wilson's (played by The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and The Children Act's Jason Watkins) two stints as prime minister. If you're waiting for the Margaret Thatcher era, and the arrival of Princess Diana, they're expected to be covered in The Crown's fourth season. For now, check out the third season's first teaser below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXrEnmracYw The Crown's third season will hit Netflix on November 17.
A resident who lives near Melbourne's iconic Cherry Bar has recently been labelled "fuckwit of the year" for complaining about the venue's noise levels. Opening themselves up to unrelenting criticism from music lovers citywide, this neighbour wrote a small letter to the live music venue which has now been mocked and shared everywhere over the weekend. In the age of social media, it's almost always a bad idea, but in principle — do neighbours likes this really have a right to complain? In Melbourne in particular, this has been a huge problem. Earlier this year, many of the city's major venues were in dire financial straits as a result of noise complaints made by surrounding residents. Just one complaint could have seen the council stepping in and enforcing major renovations to soundproof the venue. For many smaller sites, this would put them at risk of bankruptcy. There were even concerns about this affecting the music scene at large — if this kept happening, surely the best venues would just move away? As a loud and proud bastion of hard rock in Melbourne's CBD, Cherry Bar is very familiar with this kind of trouble. As plans were going ahead to erect a 12-storey apartment building next door, the small venue was under pressure from the council to comply with noise regulations. Turning to crowdfunding from their loyal clientele, they raised over $50,000 in under 24 hours to go towards soundproofing the venue. This has now changed. And, as most venues aren't as blessed as Cherry, it's a very good thing. After years of arduous legal battles, Victorian parliament passed new Agent of Change laws last month which put the onus of soundproofing on the developers of residential complexes rather than inner-city venues. It was a momentous win for live music that guaranteed the future of many bandrooms on the brink. The City of Yarra then jumped on the back of this and offered $25,000 worth of funding to these venues in the name of good will. Go Melbourne! With all this in mind, it's a wonder this person bothered to get in touch. Shit's already getting done, right? "The noise made by your bar is affecting my sleep and work, especially since it lasts beyond midnight," the complaint read. "May i suggest u guys to reduce the noise made by at least a half ? [sic] There are many working adults and students living in this apartment, so the noise produced by your bar made it very difficult for us to rest at home after a long day of work." Then they get serious. "I have read about the noise restrictions in the CBD, and will consider reporting to the City of Melbourne or the Victoria Police if this matter is not solved within the next week." And that's where it all began: Fuckwit moves next door to Cherry Bar and complains about noise: http://t.co/2bYQZ3TBCq — Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) October 18, 2014 Cherry Bar owners have since got back to the neighbour expressing their side of the story. "Cherry has been successfully operating for 14 years as a late night live music venue. We have never had a noise complaint," their letter read. "The good news for you is that we are proactively investing in $100,000 worth of soundproofing presently. We are approximately 3 weeks into the 4 week process." The moral of this story: you probably shouldn't move onto a street named after AC/DC if you don't like loud music. But in general, even if you live and breathe live music, it's easy to see the points these kind of neighbours are making. How many drunk trespassers and sleepless nights would it make to turn you into a fuckwit too? Via Tone Deaf and Music Feeds. Photo credit: Scootie via photopin cc.
When Memoria begins, it echoes with a thud that's not only booming and instantly arresting — a clamour that'd make anyone stop and listen — but is also deeply haunting. It arrives with a noise that, if the movie's opening scene was a viral clip rather than part of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's spectacular Cannes Jury Prize-winning feature, it'd be tweeted around with a familiar message: sound on. The racket wakes up Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton, The Souvenir: Part II) in the night, and it's soon all that she can think about; like character, like film. It's a din that she later describes as "a big ball of concrete that falls into a metal well which is surrounded by seawater"; however, that doesn't help her work out what it is, where it's coming from or why it's reverberating. The other question that starts to brood: is she the only one who can hear it? So springs a feature that's all about listening, and truly understands that while movies are innately visual — they're moving pictures, hence the term — no one should forget the audio that's gone with it for nearly a century now. Watching Weerasethakul's work has always engaged the ears intently, with the writer/director behind the Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and just-as-lyrical Cemetery of Splendour crafting cinema that genuinely values all that the filmic format can offer. Enjoying Memoria intuitively serves up a reminder of how crucial sound can be to the big-screen experience, emphasising the cavernous chasm between pictures that live and breathe that truth and those that could simply be pictures. Of course, feasting on Weerasethakul's films has also always been about appreciating not only cinema in all its wonders, but as an inimitable art form. Like the noise that lingers in his protagonist's brain here, his movies aren't easily forgotten. With Weerasethakul behind the lens and Swinton on-screen, Memoria is a match made in cinephile heaven — even before it starts obsessing over sound and having its audience do the same. He helms movies like no one else, she's an acting force of nature, and their pairing is film catnip. He also makes his English-language debut, as well as his first feature outside of Thailand, while she brings the serenity and magnetism that only she can, turning in a far more understated turn than seen in the recent likes of The French Dispatch and The Personal History of David Copperfield. Yes, Weerasethakul and Swinton prove a beautiful duo. Weerasethakul makes contemplative, meditative, visually poetic movies, after all, and Swinton's face screams with all those traits. They're both devastatingly precise in what they do, too, and also delightfully expressive. And, they each force you to pay the utmost attention to their every single choice as well. As Jessica, Swinton plays a British expat in Colombia — an orchidologist born in Scotland, residing in Medellín and staying in Bogota when she hears that very specific din. After explaining it in exquisite detail to sound engineer Hernán (Juan Pablo Urrego, My Father), he tries to recreate the noise for her, but only she seems to know exactly what it sounds like. At the same time, Jessica's sister Karen (debutant Agnes Brekke) is in hospital with a strange ailment. Also, there's word of a curse that's linked to a tunnel being built over a burial ground, and Jessica consults with an archaeologist (Jeanne Balibar, Les Misérables) before heading from the city to the country. Grief echoes as strongly through Jessica's life as the bang she can't shake, and she wanders like someone in a dreamy daze, whether she's roaming around an art gallery or crossing paths with a rural fisherman also called Hernán (Elkin Díaz, Besieged). No plot description can ever do Weerasethakul's films justice, and Memoria doesn't even consider tying its various threads in an obvious way. Rather, it invites viewers to unlock its puzzles by soaking in every patient 35-millimetre shot and exacting sound, and it's a mesmerising cinematic experience. Part of the film's hypnotic thrall stems from the connections gleaned, too, especially for the filmmaker's fans. Sleep, one of his favourite topics, is inescapable. Spying the hospital-set scenes and not thinking of Cemetery of Splendour is impossible. In the movie's latter sections, when it revels in the Colombian countryside, it's just as difficult not to recall Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. And there is indeed another past that's being conjured up here, separate from Weerasethakul's cinematic background (plus the fact that Memoria's lead is named after 1943 voodoo horror I Walked with a Zombie): that of its setting, its history of violence and the shadow that remains today. How the past, present and future bleed into each other — or drip like water falling into a well, then pool together — sits at the heart of Memoria. That too isn't new for Weerasethakul, but he can't be accused of repeating himself. He also ponders what sticks and fades, and how and why. Witnessing its two Hernán sequences, both of which are sublime in their own fashions, cements this train of thought. In the first, the young audio engineer searches his database of movie sound effects, trying to locate something universal to match a noise that's clearly so personal to Jessica — and observing their to and fro, absurdity included, ranks among the best scenes Weerasethakul has given cinema. In the second, which is loaded with queries about whether the two men with the shared name are one and the same or alternate versions, how life can resemble a mere reverie gets thrust to the fore amid spellbindingly vivid greenery. They aren't straightforward, but there are answers in Memoria. Better than that, there's a powerful and provocative commitment to surprising and challenging that resounds right down to the movie's final glorious reveal. We catalogue and contemplate the past in a plethora of ways, and shifting, shattering and distorting is a natural consequence, as Weerasethakul tells us with his intoxicating frames and soundscape. He gets stunning help from cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Suspiria, Call Me By Your Name and also plenty of Weerasethakul's work) and sound designer Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr (another of the filmmaker's veterans), because his features are always technical powerhouses — but being on Swinton's ethereal wavelength is essential. She's the audience's guide through a beguiling mystery, her director's surrogate in this quest through Colombia, and an anchor in an achievement that feels like just what the best cinema is meant to: a dream with our eyes and ears wide open. Top image: Sandro Kopp © Kick the Machine Films, Burning, Anna Sanders Films, Match Factory Productions, ZDF-Arte and Piano, 2021
In Steven Soderberg's hands, smooth criminals have fleeced casinos, a stripper with a heart of gold has strived for a better life, and unlikely underdogs have fought for the American dream. Now, the man behind Ocean's Eleven (and Twelve and Thirteen), Magic Mike and Erin Brockovich jumps into the hillbilly heist game. It's a welcome return to the familiar for someone who just pulled off a bait-and-switch of his own — supposedly retiring from cinema after Side Effects in 2013, only to make TV film Behind the Candelabra and stellar medical television series The Knick. Without giving too much away, his recent trajectory has more in common with his latest movie than it might initially seem. The fact is, changing one's fortune is a recurrent theme in Soderberg's stories, as are hard-working folks bucking against the system. Logan Lucky doesn't just happily join the fold, but does so with a knowing smile — at one point, a news report even refers to the caper as "Ocean's 7-11". Set in West Virginia, the charming film follows three siblings who decide that sticking up a big NASCAR race is the answer to their problems. Construction worker Jimmy (Channing Tatum) has the insider know-how from working on a site nearby, and the motivation after discovering his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) is moving across the state line with his daughter (Farrah McKenzie). Car-loving hairdresser Mellie (Riley Keough) has transport sorted, which just leaves one-armed Iraq war vet turned bartender Clyde (Adam Driver) to worry about the supposed Logan family curse. But the trio can't blow their way to riches without demolitions expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), who happens to be incarcerated. So it is that Logan Lucky becomes a heist flick and a jailbreak film — as well as an exploration of blue-collar workers struggling to get by, a cops versus crims game of cat and mouse, and a touching story about the importance of family. Throw in plenty of affectionate Southern gags and perhaps the best Game of Thrones joke you're ever likely to hear, and the movie proves a jam-packed package of humour, thrills and feeling. Two things are particularly crucial in Soderberg's working-class pseudo-remake of his glitzy prior hits. Firstly, whether surveying shambling abodes, spying rust spots on well-worn trucks, or poking fun at someone's lack of computer skills, Logan Lucky approaches its characters and their socio-economic situation with warmth. Secondly, though it steps through the usual caper conventions — getting the gang together, resorting to backup plans and avoiding the law — it does so with such zest and vibrancy that you'll forget that you've seen this kind of movie countless times before. Ultimately, it all comes back to Soderbergh. There's a reason his return to the big screen is worth celebrating, and it's not just his penchant for characters making their own luck or his ability to pull together a killer cast. Tatum is never better than when he's being guided by the director, but Logan Lucky is a testament to Soderberg's own skills. Not just directing, but lensing and editing (under well-used pseudonyms) as well, he's a craftsman through and through. Come for the zippy comedy about ordinary people mastering their own destinies. Stay for the entertaining filmmaking masterclass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eqC27nxHJ4
As far as boozy beverages go, nothing beats the espresso martini. It gives you a buzz, it's a crowd-pleaser and most venues have one on their menu. In fact, they're so beloved, Brisbane is getting a whole new festival dedicated to them. A separate event from Melbourne and Sydney's own fests, the Espresso Martini Festival will take over Fish Lane between 6pm and 10pm on Tuesday, August 15. In a stroke of savvy planning, that's the night before the Ekka public holiday, meaning that you can get your caffeinated cocktail fix without worrying about the alarm going off the next morning. Of course, there's no prizes for guessing what's on offer — but don't just expect the usual 'tinis combos of coffee and alcohol. With the team from Brooklyn Standard on drinks duty, they'll be whipping up at least five different varieties. Tequila, whisky and vodka will feature, plus some other spirited surprises. If that sounds like enough to make you bounce off of South Brisbane's walls, then that's the point; however crispy chicken ribs, pork belly bao, grilled pork meatballs and chicken coconut salad slaw from Fish Lane Vietnamese eatery Hello Please will help bring you back to street level. Tickets cost $35, and include a free espresso martini and a selection of food on entry — and a lack of sleep that night, obviously. UPDATE 25 JULY 2017: Brisbane, you love an espresso martini — so much so that the first day of the Espresso Martini Festival has already sold out. So the organisers have added a second day on Wednesday, August 16. It's the Ekka public holiday, so it will run from 1–5pm. Brisbane's Espresso Martini Festival takes place from 6–10pm on August 15 and 1–5pm on August 16 at Fish Lane, South Brisbane. Head to the event website for further details and tickets. Image: Steven Woodburn.
If a film has the title Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, you could safely assume an alien is going to yell "It's alive!" at some point. All you need to do is watch to find out. In fact, as this flick unfolds, you can witness the action live in front of you. Making cheesy movie magic without an actual camera is what B-Movies Live! is all about, after all. Cult movie guru Kristian Fletcher gets a cast of actors to do their best with props, costumes, sound effects and music as they recreate a real-life feature. And you thought it sounded too glorious to be true, didn't you?
Over the past few years, the Victoria Park Putt Putt Course has given itself a themed revamp on several occasions: Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day and Easter all included. Whatever the excuse to get tap, tap, tapping, this Herston spot'll find it — and mini golf-loving Brisbanites are thankful. Fancy getting into the Easter spirit by hitting a few balls around a candy-themed course? That's on offer again now that it's almost that time of year, all thanks to Victoria Park's returning Candyland putt putt setup. From Friday, April 1–Sunday, May 8, the site will sport greens with names like 'Fairy Floss Fairway', 'Ice Cream Court', 'Sugar Shack' and 'Bunny's Hop'. Yes, we're expecting rabbits to feature heavily — plus giant ice creams, Easter eggs, lollipops and other sweet treats. Bookings are essential, with the course open from 6am–10pm daily. Fancy a few holes before work? Want to add some fun to your lunch break? Need something to look forward to come quitting time? They're all options. It's a family-friendly affair, so you'll likely have plenty of company. Tickets cost $22 per adult. Images: Pandora Photography.
When any and every film festival rolls around, plenty of numbers get mentioned. With the 2022 Sydney Film Festival now fast approaching, the Harbour City's annual cinema showcase is no different. This year will mark the fest's whopping 69th event, as well Festival Director Nashen Moodley's 11th time bringing the latest and greatest flicks to the glorious State Theatre and other Sydney picture palaces — and, if its first 22 movies are anything to go by, it's set to be another winner. There's no such thing as a bad SFF, of course, because its program always spans so far and wide — and how you watch your way through it is always dictated by personal choice. But 2022's event already has a new Aussie horror standout that proved a hit at SXSW, the latest from freshly minted Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, multiple Sundance award recipients, and the new comedy from inimitable Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy and In Fabric filmmaker Peter Strickland. Yes, we're already spoiled for choice. Taking place between Wednesday, June 8–Sunday, June 19 — back in its usual timeslot after moving to November in 2021 due to lockdowns and restrictions — SFF 2022 will show some local love to Sissy, the aforementioned Australian horror film. Starring The Bold Type's Aisha Dee, it follows a successful social media influencer who gets stuck in a remote cabin with her old high-school bully. Also in the homegrown camp: street dancing documentary Keep Stepping, car-bound docudrama The Plains and the music fest-focused 6 Festivals, with the latter about three friends who decide to hit up as many live gigs as possible after one is diagnosed with brain cancer, and also featuring cameos by the likes of Bliss n Eso and Peking Duk. Hailing from further afield are the Chastain-starring The Forgiven, which also marks the latest movie by Calvary and War on Everyone's John Michael McDonagh; Strickland's Flux Gourmet, which sees the director reteam with Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie; 80s-set, Charlotte Gainsbourg-led Parisian drama The Passengers of the Night; and genderqueer musical Please Baby Please, which follows a 50s couple in Manhattan who witness a violent incident and undergo a sexual awakening. Or, there's also Sundance Film Festival-winning doco The Territory, which follows an Indigenous fightback over rainforest land seized for farming; Yuni, the latest coming-of-age tale by Indonesian The Seen and Unseen filmmaker Kamila Andini; We Met in Virtual Reality, a documentary filmed entirely inside the world of VR; and Incredible But True, a time-travel caper from Deerskin and Rubber's Quentin Dupieux. Other titles of interest include Bootlegger, which stars Reservation Dogs' Devery Jacobs; doco A House Made of Splinters, another Sundance winner that was filmed in pre-invasion Ukraine; Sirens, about the Middle East's first all-female, queer death metal band; and Gentle, which stars real-life bodybuilder Eszter Csonka. As for what'll join them — among a lineup that usually spans hundreds of films — that'll be revealed on Wednesday, May 11. You can already start getting ready to spend most of June in a cinema, though, obviously. The 2022 Sydney Film Festival will run between Wednesday, June 8–Sunday, June 19. Check out the event's just-announced titles by heading to the festival website. The full program will be released on Wednesday, May 11 — head back here then for the rundown.
What's the best part about making the most expensive film ever produced in a country of over one billion people? One word: 'extras'. All the computer wizardry in the world can't compete with the visual feast that is thousands of actual humans teeming across a screen with balletic precision, especially when they're dressed like Terracotta Warriors after a Taubmans Colour Chart treatment. Red archers, purple foot soldiers and blue 'crane spear wielders' form the basis of China's secret Great Wall defence, and they're an absolute delight to behold throughout famed director Zhang Yimou's first English language epic of the same name. The concept of a giant wall built to keep out illegal aliens receives more of a literal rendering in this supernatural saga that sees China's army pitted against waves of other-worldly beasts. Spawning from a distant, meteorite-affected mountain, these grotesque monsters inexplicably only attack the wall once every sixty years. Just as curious is China's determination to keep the threat a secret from the rest of the world. Thrust into the mix are western mercenaries William Garoi (Matt Damon) and Pero Tovar (Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal), whose perilous search for the fabled 'black powder' of the Chinese alchemists sees them stumble unwittingly into the middle of this centuries-old conflict. Fears of another Hollywood 'white-washing' are, however, quickly dispensed with, for it's the Chinese who consistently prove to be the smarter, braver and more honourable participants in both life and in battle. It's refreshing, certainly, but hardly a surprise, for in addition to 'extras' there's another critical, one-word answer to the original question posed: 'audience'. Hollywood's increasing flirtation with a US-Chinese cinematic co-op stems in no small part from the desire to access one of the largest movie-going markets in the world. At a cost of $135 million, The Great Wall represents the first out-and-out attempt to make that union a reality. Damon might be a big deal in the West, but in The Great Wall he's surrounded by some of the biggest names in Chinese entertainment, including Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Kenny Lin Gengxin, Jing Tian and K-Pop star Lu Han. The problem with a film (and cast) of this size, however, is that it comes at the expense of character. None of the principals receive anything more than a cursory backstory and even less of an arc moving forward. The Chinese generals are unflinching archetypes, while the westerners are, for the most part, untrustworthy slaves to greed. The consequence is a lack of emotional investment on the part of audiences, who'll respond to each new death with pronounced apathy. Given The Great Wall's style and setting, comparisons with Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers are both fair and inevitable, and – at least visually – Zhang's film more than meets the challenge. Its costuming, in particular, sets it amongst the finest we've seen in a long time, yet its threadbare characters and generic plot leave much to be desired. Whether such an expensive gamble ultimately pays off for the movie's producers, only time will tell. Still, as the first major step in cinema's US-China alliance, there's at least enough here to offer reserved optimism for the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avF6GHyyk5c
Fancy teeing off at mini golf over a few drinks — while playing your way through over-the-top, pop culture-themed holes — but don't feel like venturing from the Brisbane CBD to Fortitude Valley? Come November, you can grab a club and start swinging at the city's second Holey Moley, which is opening in the Wintergarden shopping centre. The location is hardly surprising, as it's where Strike Bowling — which is also run by the same company as Holey Moley — has been operating for well over a decade. Lucky for us, Funlab has decided to double the Queen Street Mall fun, meaning that you'll be able to knock down a few pins and then get tap, tap, tapping (or vice versa, if you'd prefer). From Friday, November 29, inner-city dwellers can work their way around a nine-hole course that'll feature a Ferris Bueller's Day Off-inspired hole, a replica of Vincent van Gogh's bedroom and a room filled with flying cash. Among the other themed holes, there's one paying tribute to Steve Irwin, another featuring King Kong and yet another ramping up the wizarding antics — it's called Hole 9 & 3/4, naturally. Booze and food are also part of Holey Moley's usual lineup, including plenty of cocktails. When you're not downing drinks with names like Austin Sours and The Sugar Caddy, you can sip an alcoholic concoction from a tiny bath tub that even has rubber ducks floating in it — or opt for wine, beer, spirits or a mocktail. As for snacks, you'll be able to choose between pizzas, hot dogs and extravagant burgers (such as The Dirty Birdie, which combines southern fried chicken, lettuce, bacon, slaw, guacamole and chilli mayo). Or, enjoy chicken wings, mac 'n' cheese bites, and five types of potato dishes (spanning normal fries, loaded fries, waffle fries, tater tots and sweet potato fries). If you're vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free, you'll find something on Holey Moley's menu, too. Find Holey Moley Wintergarden on Level 1 in the Wintergarden shopping centre, 171–209 Queen Street, Brisbane from Friday, November 29.
Most days of the year, there ain't no party like a Brightside party, and that proves true on Halloween as well. They don't call their annual shindig the Frightside Horrorfest without good reason, after all. Demonstrating the enthusiastic flair regulars know and love, the Brighty folks will be transforming the entire venue into a haunted heaven (or hell, if you prefer), the carpark included. Indulging in the scarier side of things while dancing around on the concrete usually populated by automobiles might not sound like something exciting, but it should — more room equals an increased capacity for more revellers. That extra space will be filled to the brim, of course, starting with Kissperience and Silkacid offering up creepy tunes. As for the rest of the evening's agenda, prepare to jump. We mean that in both the tapping your toes and getting more than a few surprises kinds of way, so don't say we didn't warn you.
There's something very fitting about a circus performance that ponders identity. Both the art form and the subject are often described as fluid, and Vulcana Women's Circus have called their MELT Festival show that for a good reason. In their hands, Fluid is a cabaret of queer artists and friends, as well as a combination of costumes, contemplation and comedy. It's also a journey between extremes — be they she and he, diva and dancer, or any others in the LGBTI realm — and back again. Yes, this production is fluid by name and fluid by nature.
One of the country's premier film events, the Melbourne International Film Festival, has released a sneak peak of 2013's programming. Artistic director Michelle Carey admits that she is "especially excited about the MIFF 2013", and after a glance we can see why. Three years ago Wentworth Miller's Stoker was voted one of 2010's best unproduced screenplays, and now the rest of us finally have a chance to see what all the fuss is about. The unnerving tale is centered on 18-year-old India, who, fresh from burying her father, meets the mysterious uncle her mother has invited into the family home to fill their void. The cast includes a trifecta of Australian talent, with Nicole Kidman, Jacki Weaver and Mia Wasikowska breathing life into the Stoker family. To add to the hype, it is also the English language debut of celebrated South Korean director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy). Other movies on the radar include Tim Winton's The Turning (starring Cate Blanchett); festival patron Geoffrey Rush's turn as an eccentric art auctioneer in Italian box-office smash The Best Offer; Shane Carruth's highly anticipated follow-up to cult time-travel puzzler Primer, titled Upstream Color; and US gore-fest of a horror flick You're Next. The documentary contingent looks set to more than hold its own this year as Australia's almost-rock legend Jeremy Oxley's battle with schizophrenia and alcoholism takes centrestage in The Sunnyboy, and UK director Ken Loach looks to the England of old in The Spirit of '45. Loach's exploration of British domestic policy pre- and post-Thatcher is a rallying call to UK politicians to reject austerity and remember that great 20th-century experiment, the welfare state. What would a film festival be without something to call the next Woody Allen? MIFF fills that category with the black-and-white comedy Frances Ha. Star Greta Gerwig (To Rome with Love) co-wrote the film with director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). It contains dialogue like this: Guy: What do you do? Frances: It's kind of hard to explain. Guy: Why, is what you do really complicated? Frances: Because, I don't really do it. So it looks like they are onto a good thing. An annual event, the MIFF runs from July 25 to August 11. For more information, head to the website and keep an eye out for the full program, which will be released on July 2. Image: Festival patron Geoffrey Rush as Virgil Oldman in The Best Offer
UPDATE, April 9, 2021: The Gentlemen is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Google Play and YouTube Movies. When in doubt, they say to go back to your roots. Given that Guy Ritchie's last two films were Aladdin and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, it's fair to assume that doubt had squarely reared its head. As a director whose name alone evokes the sound of cockney rhyming slang and the image of grimy London back alleys, dancing bedazzled elephants were about as off-brand as it gets. So he goes back to his roots with The Gentlemen — and it's a warm and welcome return. Boasting an enviable cast, The Gentlemen is a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch-style crime caper centred upon Mickey Pearson — a marijuana kingpin looking to exit the UK's drug trade at the height of his career. Played by Matthew McConaughey, Mickey is a charming but ruthless American expat whose fondness for the London lifestyle sees him decked out in tweed, cavorting with the aristocracy and taking tea whenever the opportunity calls for it. When word of his impending retirement begins to spread, however, its sets off a series of secret alliances and double-crosses that puts the entire deal at risk, as well as a number of lives. There's a lot to like about The Gentlemen, but the highlight is surely its unofficial narrator, Fletcher (a delightful turn by Hugh Grant). Fletcher is a seedy private detective who digs up dirt for the tabloids. Rather than dish said dirt on Mickey, he decides it would be more profitable to offer to lose it in exchange for a healthy payout. The film structures its story around Fletcher as he makes his case to Mickey's bodyguard and consigliere, Raymond (Charlie Hunnam) — which he does by laying out the details as if he's writing a screenplay. The meta nature of it all could've been right on the nose, but Ritchie pulls it off thanks in no small way to Grant's giddying and likeable performance. Where Ritchie rediscovers his mojo by returning to his roots, Grant does so by ditching, the foppish hair and awkward humility, and replacing it with homoerotic innuendo and sleazy hubris. He goes completely against form — it's a joy to behold. So too is Michelle Dockery as Mickey' wife, Rosalind. Every shred of her time on Downton Abbey is abandoned as she struts and swears her way through The Gentlemen like an Essex-based Lady Macbeth. By contrast, Colin Farrell plays one of the most understated characters of his career, but the result is just as compelling. Known simply as Coach, he trains local youths in boxing to help rehabilitate them from a life of crime. Sporting his real-life Irish accent and a selection of remarkable tracksuits, Farrell lights up his scenes with equal parts controlled menace and lyrical wordplay. Against such terrific supporting roles (Succession's Jeremy Strong also deserves mention for his amusing, albeit also cartoonish turn), the film's two leading men are far less memorable. That's not to say they don't deliver the goods — it's just that their goods are less sparkly. Hunnam doesn't quite nail the reserved tough guy routine, although he does land the film's best line. As for McConaughey, he forever feels like the odd man out, with his southern drawl at odds with the abundant cockney. Overall, The Gentlemen is fun, to put it in the simplest of terms. It's certainly not without its faults — the patchwork of styles, from action film to hip hop music video and everything in between is constantly jarring — but the general experience is an agreeable one. Like the scotch enthusiastically consumed by Fletcher throughout, The Gentlemen is a little rough at first, but smoother with every sip until you're silly drunk and smiling like a fool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je22_P3Qm7U
Maleficent has a perception problem. Traditionally blamed for Sleeping Beauty's snoozing state, the evil fairy gained an on-screen backstory in 2014, which softened out her edges (but not her razor-sharp cheekbones, naturally). That leaves inevitable sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in a tricky predicament. The movie's title dials up the character's supposedly unsociable ways; however, if Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) is now happily playing godmother to Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), how nefarious can she really be? And if she's facing off against a seemingly kindly queen (Michelle Pfeiffer) who actually wants to start a genocidal war against all magical folk, well, she's hardly the most wicked creature in this film. You could say that Disney just chose the wrong name for this follow-up, but the movie's moniker is symptomatic of its generally muddled state of affairs. It's easy to see why this sequel exists — the first film made a quarter-billion dollars at the box office, and Jolie's casting as Maleficent is a dark fairytale dream — yet that doesn't explain why such little thought appears to have gone into it otherwise. Perhaps the powers-that-be assumed that audiences just want Maleficent to be somewhat evil, so they'll overlook the fact that the last flick (and the beginning of this one) establishes otherwise. Or, perhaps it was a case of trying to use the same formula by giving it the slightest of twists. Where Maleficent proved that its eponymous antiheroine wasn't really bad because she has a soft spot for Aurora, Mistress of Evil does the same by saying "hey, someone else is worse!" That someone, Pfeiffer's Queen Ingrith, comes into Maleficent's life when Aurora accepts Prince Phillip's (Harris Dickinson) marriage proposal. While Maleficent is wary at first, she's heatedly flapping her wings with disapproval after an awkward meet-the-in-laws dinner, where she's accused of working her wicked magic on King John (Robert Lindsay). Although Aurora is left distraught and confused, original screenwriter Linda Woolverton and newcomers Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue (TV's Transparent) ensure that viewers don't feel the same, spelling out exactly who's responsible for the sinister turn of events. After a run-in with a colony of fellow dark fairies (led by a wasted Chiwetel Ejiofor), the scene is set for Maleficent to do her worst against Ingrith — for the absolute best possible reasons. With its feuding royals, controversial nuptials and ill-motivated blonde queen, Mistress of Evil takes a leaf or several out of Game of Thrones' book — all while tasking its antagonist with trying to wipe out an entire race. Throwing homicidal xenophobia into the mix is designed to reflect today's times, rebuke toxic political structures and promote a message of harmony, but it's both bluntly and clumsily handled. This is a family-friendly flick, after all, so Disney doesn't seem to want to delve too deeply into such tricky terrain. It's still happy to use holocaust parallels to up the dramatic stakes, though. Under the direction of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' co-helmer Joachim Rønning, the movie's visuals also prove dull and lumbering, unless you like overblown CGI onslaughts. Of course, Mistress of Evil isn't the first big fantasy blockbuster that's forgone subtlety and ramped up its battle scenes, but it never escapes attention that the film didn't need to turn out this way. Jolie is once again a commanding delight as Maleficent, a role she relishes even if it barely stretches her Oscar-winning acting skills. Pfeiffer is equally as mesmerising as her increasingly deranged adversary — and, as she did the first time around, Fanning wears innocence well. After fleshing out its titular figure's tragic past in the initial movie, this sequel could've just let its three main talents go head-to-head. Indeed, Mistress of Evil is at its strongest when Jolie and Pfeiffer are trading withering barbs and glares, or when Jolie and Fanning are exploring their characters' complex mother-daughter dynamic. Cast-wise, it helps that they're in fine company, with Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton and Juno Temple returning as pithy pixies devoted to Aurora, and Sam Riley popping up again as Maleficent's shape-shifting offsider; however the film's three main ladies steal the show when they're just talking to each other. But, then the screensaver-like special effects start screaming for attention. The movie's swooping cinematography keeps repetitively flying over forests and castles, too. And, especially from its mid-point, Rønning repeatedly hits audiences over the head with the film's clunky themes. Instead of enchanting, it all just makes for average-at-best fairytale drama. Mistress of Evil is hardly cursed, but it won't send anyone leaping from their slumber. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU9zRfcTI-k
Switch its modern-day Texas setting for the American frontier of several centuries ago, and its noble thieving heroes for gunslingers roaming the range, and there's no mistaking it: Hell or High Water is a western through and through. These days, every second film or thereabouts is deemed a contemporary take on the genre, from Mad Max: Fury Road to The Dressmaker. Director David Mackenzie doesn't take on the Old West lightly, however, and his sun-scorched drama proves to be the genuine article. Bullets fly, law and order collides, and the distinctively dusty US landscape looms large over morally murky exploits. It all harks back to times (and films) gone by, while also proving ever-so-relevant to today. Sons of Anarchy actor turned Sicario writer Taylor Sheridan cleverly steeps every recognisable western element in timely commentary on our have-versus-have not society. Brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) fall into the latter category — but as the movie's title intimates, they're determined to make a change. Their primary opponent: the banking system. Specifically, a local financial establishment that happily gave their mother a reverse mortgage on the family farm, and now wants to swoop in and take it all away. So the siblings react Robin Hood-style, holding up the bank's various branches to raise the funds needed to retain control of the property. Of course, rangers Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) are soon on the brothers' trail, one trying to hold on to the past by staving off retirement, the other grinning and bearing his colleague's old-school ways. In a film built dirt-up from the tiniest of details — a parade of sepia-tinted small towns here, a slow drawl masking unspoken pain there — paying close attention to the furrowed brows of Pine and Bridges is highly recommended. Like the film they inhabit, their characters are broken men moulded from familiar pieces. And yet the actors still manage to convey depths that trump the feeling that you've seen it all before. Watching them weather their respective battles — against systems trying to keep them in their places, against their internal demons, and against each other — is quietly revelatory. Though tasked with the least nuanced role of the three main players, Foster also ensures his ex-con character is more than simply a unhinged comic foil to his morally conflicted brother. To put it simply, it's stellar work from most involved. That applies to Mackenzie as well, who provides not only an evocative sense of the genre he's happily playing with, but balances Hell or High Water's solemn tone with his lightness of touch. The journeyman filmmaker continues to serve up new highlights such as his previous prison effort Starred Up, and now this. He's ably assisted by the fine work of cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, as well as by a soulful score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
Back in 1940, when Alfred Hitchcock brought gothic mystery novel Rebecca to the screen, he nabbed an Oscar for Best Picture for his troubles. While the story has popped up in both film and TV form over the eight decades since, it's now returning with another exciting British filmmaker at the helm: Ben Wheatley, the director behind High-Rise and Free Fire. Wheatley's work is always cause for excitement, and has been since his 2009 debut Down Terrace. Also on his resume: 2011's particularly sinister Kill List, 2012 dark comedy Sightseers, 2013's trippy A Field in England and 2018's Happy New Year, Colin Burstead. But, starring Lily James, Armie Hammer and Kristin Scott Thomas — and looking rather luxe, as the just-released first trailer shows — Rebecca might just be his biggest project yet. In his version of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 tale, Wheatley steps into a new marriage between widower Maxim de Winter (Hammer) and his fresh-faced bride (James). Once they've tied the knot, the couple endeavour to settle into the de Winter family's coastal estate, Manderley; however, the resident housekeeper Mrs Danvers (Scott Thomas) is hardly welcoming, and the memory of Maxim's first wife Rebecca lingers noticeably. When Rebecca hits Netflix on October 21, viewers can expect a gothic mystery filled with psychological thrills, as well as plenty of gorgeous sets, costumes and imagery in general — befitting the classic tale. Case-wise, Rebecca also features The Handmaid's Tale's Ann Dowd, and reunites Wheatley with High-Rise's Keeley Hawes and Free Fire and Happy New Year, Colin Burstead's Sam Riley. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFVhB54UqvQ Rebecca hits Netflix on Wednesday, October 21. Top image: Kerry Brown/Netflix.
Why should humans get to have all the beer-drinking, bar-attending fun? If you have a pet pooch, you've probably spied the look in its eyes when you head out for a beverage, or the curiosity when you're sipping something at home. This March, booze hounds on all fronts unite for Brewsvegas. From 2pm on March 11, Atticus Finch is throwing open their doors to drinkers of the two- and four-legged kind, with brews on offer for both. At Hair of the Dogs, you and I can enjoy a frosty Brewdog, Parrot Dog, Moon Dog and more (yes, there's a theme), while puppers can lap up a BeerDog Bitter beef flavoured 'beer' (yes, it's a non-alcoholic beer made for dogs). Cheers to that.
