It's a war that's been waged for decades among regional bakeries the country over: who's dishing up Australia's best pie? Whose pastry comes closest to perfection? Which filling reigns supreme? Well, 2023's top dog has officially been named, with Victoria's Country Cob Bakery taking out top honours at this year's edition of Australia's Best Pie and Pastie Competition. While you might have your own thoughts about which pie makes the best road-trip accompaniment, goes down best at the footy or makes for the ultimate comfort food, this nationally recognised contest is run by the experts at the Baking Association of Australia. The 2023 competition saw professional judges sample pies from hundreds of bakeries across three days. And for the fourth time — including in 2018, 2019 and 2020 — Country Cob claimed the top title, this time winning over tastebuds with a Cambodian fish amok pie, which was named the Best Seafood Pie as well. Country Cob not only has form, but has a range of ace pies. Back in 2020, it won for a pepper beef pie creation loaded with local ingredients. In 2019, it came out on top with its caramelised pork and pepper pie — and its satay seafood pie took out the top gong in 2018. It's an impressive run for baker brothers Ryan and Chan Khun, who've owned and operated the bakery since 2016. Over that time, they've won more than 350 trophies and medals for their baked goods. If that doesn't put their bakeries in Kyneton, Boronia and Springvale on your must-visit list, then we only have one conclusion: you hate pies. In 2023, the two backed up their big win with a slew of other awards, including taking out the title of Best Pepper Beef Pie, Best Mushroom Pie and Best Meat Pastie. And if you're new to fish amok — or amok trei (អាម៉ុកត្រី) — it's a Khmer steamed fish curry. Made with a mousse-style texture, and thought to date back to between the 9th and 15th centuries, it's one of Cambodia's national dishes. In pie form, it's clearly now an Aussie favourite as well. Country Cob Bakery is located at 130-132 Mollison Street, Kyneton; 951 Mountain Highway, Boronia; and 890-892 Princes Highway, Springvale — all in Victoria.
Humans spend roughly a third of their life sleeping. Aside from the occasional drunken night or camping trip, most of this sleeping is done in a bed. So why, then, are such important objects in our lives often so commonplace and dull? Beds can be used to express our inner self, to represent our deepest loves or simply help us wake up and get going in the morning. Here are 20 of the most creative and eccentric designs that are sure to put a smile on your face. 1. The Stand Up Bed Thanks to this novel bed, which resembles a large vertical bean bag, sleeping while standing is apparently very possible. 2. The Floating Bed This magnetically charged floating bed by Janjaap Ruijssenaars not only looks incredibly chic and contemporary, but also would make it very hard for any monsters to hide underneath it. 3. The Rocking Bed The 'Private Cloud' is a a patented rocking frame designed by Manuel Kloker, which will be sure to lull you into a serene sleep every night. 4. The Sonic Bed Kaffe Matthew's Sonic bed probably isn't exactly designed to provide a good night's sleep, created with 12-channel surround sound speakers encased around the edges to cover every cell of your body with musical beats. 5. The Forest Bed For those who want to have a sense of being out in the wild whilst remaining in the comfort of their own bed, this exotic wooden bed would be the one for you. 6. The Safe Bed This 'Quantum Sleeper' is the ultimate in protection for those paranoid about the threat of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, kidnappers or any variation therein. 7. The Starfish Bed Known as the 'Hold Me Bed', this structure will ensure that you overcome those restless nights of tossing and turning because, well, you won't be able to move a muscle. 8. The Hay Bed Some people have such an affinity for hay they simply want to be surrounded by it when awake and asleep. 9. The Yin and Yang Bed If you believe you've found your absolute soulmate but can't handle sleeping next to them for whatever reason, perhaps this next bed will provide the solution to your problems. 10. The Sandwich Bed You are what you eat, right? 11. The Hammock Bed Everybody loves the tranquil and relaxing sensation induced by the gentle swinging and folding of a hammock. 12. The Pull-Down Bed If you are crammed for space due to a small apartment or want another handy spare bed that doesn't waste the space of a whole room, then this innovative and nifty pull-down bed is the way to go. 13. The Molecular Bed Scientists, sportspeople or ball-lovers will be sure to enjoy this bed made of 120 soft and pleasant balls. 14. The Cinderella Bed Perfectly suited to little princesses with large imaginations and a love for fairytales. 15. The Foetal Position Bed This bed doesn't leave much margin for movement - that is unless you want to end up snuggling up with the floorboards. 16. The Bird Nest Bed This large pit of soft pillows encased in a brown, nest-like structure is a novel way to help kids nod off to sleep. 17. The Geometric Bed If you want to keep the brain cells flowing even when getting some shut-eye, perhaps this bed with a modern geometric structure attached to it is the perfect way to achieve just that. 18. The Brush Bed This bed looks like it would be jabbing uncomfortable protrusions from every angle. 19. The Book Bed Let imaginations soar with this creative life-sized book that also doubles as a bed. 20. The Napping Pod Cure that threethirtyitis by grabbing a quick nap in one of these high-tech napping pods.
A staple of Melbourne's cultural calendar for more than half a century, the Sidney Myer Free Concerts are back for another year. Held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the latest shows in this long-standing favourite series span two performances from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Whether you're a classical music buff or just want to stretch out with a picnic on the grass, there's a reason that these concerts have become a beloved summertime tradition. The 2025 series kicks off on Saturday, February 15 with tunes by Dvořák, Gershwin and Ravel — and with the MSO Chief Conductor Jaime Martín leading the show. Expect Dvořák's Third Symphony to start, then Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue performed by pianist Andrea Lam, then Ravel's Boléro. On Saturday, February 22, it's time to showcase Australia's up-and-coming talents when the Melbourne Youth Orchestra gets things started. After that, the MSO led by Benjamin Northey will pair two 20th-century orchestral masterpieces with two world-premiere works — so Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra, before Klearhos Murphy and James Henry unveil their latest compositions. Both performances begin at 7.30pm; however, gates open at 4.30pm. With no tickets required, this is a first-in kind of affair, so arriving early to nab your best spot is highly recommended. Can't make it in person? The MSO will also livestream the two gigs on each evening. Images: Mark Gambino / Laura Manariti.
Making a grand entrance opposite Southern Cross Station, Quarterhouse could be your new go-to destination for after-work drinks and a pre-match feed. Catering for up to 1,400 patrons across three expansive levels, the venue's variety of spaces makes it a stellar spot for corporate gatherings and primetime footy fever. Plus, with Marvel Stadium just a short stroll away, getting pumped before the game or commiserating afterwards is a breeze. On the ground floor in the Public Bar, punters will encounter a classic, easygoing pub atmosphere. Kick back with live sports on big screens, including a mammoth four-metre-wide centrepiece, or challenge your pals by racking up some pool. There are comfy banquettes that are perfect for chilling out, or you can also soak up the sun with street-side dining and drinks. The menu spans European-inspired gastropub cuisine, with smaller dishes like fried squid paired with pickled fennel, lemon and aioli complemented by pub favourites like classic chicken parma or the Quarterhouse Burger, featuring bacon, blue cheese mayo, pickled onions and more. Meanwhile, juicy steaks served with skin-on fries, salad, umami butter and jus gras or peppercorn sauce are bound to hit the mark. Upstairs on level one, The Hall is where celebrations of all stripes, from birthdays to corporate events, take over. Decked out with its own private bar and a sunlit wrap-around terrace graced with greenery, your next special event will benefit from the elevated ambience. Versatile in design, this reserved space has enough capacity for 240 guests. Then, perched atop Quarterhouse, The Rooftop switches up the mood once again, with a laidback vibe ideal for cocktails in the sun. Rising above the hum of Collins Street, this vantage point looks across the elevated expanse of Sky Park. Up here, the menu is made for sharing, with a selection of woodfired pizzas offered alongside options like wagyu beef skewers with a pepperberry jus gras and roast shallots. When the footy isn't taking over Quarterhouse, a weekly entertainment lineup keeps the mood upbeat. Get down on Mondays for free all-day pool in the Public Bar, or head along on Thursdays for live acoustic performances from 5pm. The vibe picks up when the weekend arrives, with Fridays seeing Sunset Sips and DJs bringing the party to the rooftop. Then, Sunday afternoon welcomes casual trivia from 3pm. With Quarterhouse's arrival, your next game day or weeknight gathering is sorted. Quarterhouse is now open Sunday–Wednesday from 11.30am–11pm, Thursday from 11.30am–12am and Saturday–Sunday from 11.30am–1am at 693 Collins Street, Docklands. Head to the website for more information. Images: Chege Mbuthi / Griffin Simm.
Fleet, sitting on top of Vibe Hotel Melbourne (within the hotel's former penthouse apartments), boasts views over Flinders Street Station and the Yarra River that can be enjoyed no matter the weather, thanks to the retractable roof and smattering of indoor seating. Interior architecture firm Paul Kelly Design (BLACK Bar & Grill and Crown Casino) has designed the light-filled space, incorporating natural amber and pink hues throughout an interior full of high tables and plush stools. In contrast to these dusty tones, the wrap-around terrace is considerably brighter, with white accents. Low tables and upholstered couches line the windows, making the space ideal for long, casual hangouts in the sunshine. The drinks lineup comes courtesy of food and beverage consultant Grant Collins, who has stocked the bar with more than 70 different rums from across the globe, including a vintage and rare bottle collection dating back to the 1930s. But rum isn't all that's on show. There are 50 different gins on the docket, alongside an extensive list of other spirits. Collins has also curated a lengthy menu of nautical-themed cocktails, plus a few different spritzes, negronis and martinis. Craft beers, Victorian wines and mocktails round out the impressive bevs list. Whatever you want to drink, Fleet is likely to have it. And while you'll spend plenty of time flipping through the drinks menu, food is kept to a very manageable single page. Either keep it simple with fresh oysters and a meat and cheese board, or opt for a bigger spread. Chef Asish Kumar has crafted a Euro-centric menu with plenty of luxury French and Italian influences — think charcoal mushroom arancini, seared scallops with butter and caviar, lobster crepes and a chocolate cremieux with coffee caviar and cocoa meringue. Even though, first and foremost, this is a bar, the food is no mere afterthought. Folks can happily sip and snack a night away up at Fleet while admiring Melbourne's lit-up skyline and river.
As mobile phones have evolved over the past three decades, every stage has had its charms. In the late 90s, Nokia's came with the wonder that is Snake. In the early 00s, devices got tiny. Since Apple released the iPhone in 2007, we all hate buttons. Then there are flip phones, which date back to the 80s, were hugely popular in the first wave of affordable handsets and offer something unique — the thrill that comes with slamming one shut. Thanks to Samsung, it seems that sensation will no longer be the domain of fond memories and 90s-set cinema, with the technology giant adapting the concept to the smartphone era. While clamshell handsets have never completely gone away, they don't tend to go hand-in-hand with touch screens. Samsung is solving that problem by making their new model foldable in the centre instead of flipping from the top, according to reports by CNBC. Speaking with the network, IT and mobile communications division CEO DJ Koh said the company would unveil its new phone later this year, with more details about size, cost and the device's release date likely to be announced at the Samsung Developer Conference in November. The handset is expected to use a single screen that's capable of being folded in the middle, and not two separate screens that are hinged together. Users will be able to use the phone both when it's folded and unfolded, although it'll have more functionality when it's in the latter state. Koh also pointed out that the foldable device won't just be a tablet in a more compact form. In short, it's set to serve up something a bit fancier than your old Motorola RAZR — and if it sounds familiar, that's because it's not the first time that Samsung have played around with the idea. The company released a concept video in 2014, showcasing its flexible OLED display and featuring a device that never came to fruition. Samsung also have competition in the foldable phone space, with Huawei reportedly also working on its own version that might make it to market first — although it's apparently targeting a 2019 release date. Via CNBC / The Verge.
Forget the host's monologue, when there is one. Jimmy Kimmel was on MC duties for the 2023 Academy Awards, and he did indeed start the show by making jokes about a heap of nominees — and about Batgirl being the first superhero taken down by studio accountants, and what'll happen if someone tried to follow in Will Smith's 2022 footsteps this year. But each Oscars ceremony truly begins when winners start being announced and those recipients give barnstorming speeches. With that in mind, the 2023 festivities began with a bang. If you didn't have tears in your eyes watching Guillermo del Toro, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan, then you weren't watching. As predicted, the latter's speech about never giving up on your dream — and how he almost did, but his wife told him his time would come — was an all-timer. He even gave a shoutout to Jeff Cohen, his co-star from The Goonies and his entertainment lawyer now. Of course, the excited words kept flowing from there. The An Irish Goodbye team singing happy birthday to star James Martin was another early highlight. So was the arrival of Jenny the donkey from The Banshees of Inisherin, and the thrilled look on Colin Farrell's face when it happened. When Everything Everywhere All At Once kept adding to its awards, you could see the joy among the film's team. And when records were made — the first Best Actress winner who identifies as Asian (Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All At Once), the first song from India to win Best Song (for 'Naatu Naatu' from explosive action-musical RRR), and the first Black woman to win two Oscars (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's Ruth Carter) — it was tremendous. Among the many deserving winners, there were missed opportunities as well. Kimmel's opening joke about James Cameron not getting a Best Director nomination just as plenty of women didn't called out a glaring ongoing struggle with the Oscars. Also, the awards couldn't find a way to make Elvis' Mandy Walker the first woman to win Best Cinematographer in its 95-year run. Great work is great work — and great films are great films — no matter whether they earn shiny trophies. Some movies and talents end up with statuettes to their names, some come close and miss out, others don't even get nominated. All are worthy of attention. Here's the latest round of winners batch to join the Oscars' ranks — and who they were up against as well. You can also check out our rundown of the ten winners you should watch right now as well, plus our full lists of where most of this year's contenders are screening or streaming in both Australia and New Zealand. OSCAR WINNERS AND NOMINEES 2023: BEST MOTION PICTURE All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water The Banshees of Inisherin Elvis Everything Everywhere All At Once — WINNER The Fabelmans Tár Top Gun: Maverick Triangle of Sadness Women Talking BEST DIRECTOR Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once — WINNER Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans Todd Field, Tár Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Cate Blanchett, Tár Ana de Armas, Blonde Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once — WINNER PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Austin Butler, Elvis Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Brendan Fraser, The Whale — WINNER Paul Mescal, Aftersun Bill Nighy, Living PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Hong Chau, The Whale Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once — WINNER Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once — WINNER BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — WINNER The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner Tár, Todd Field Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY All Quiet on the Western Front, Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Rian Johnson Living, Kazuo Ishiguro Top Gun: Maverick, screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks Women Talking, Sarah Polley — WINNER BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM All Quiet on the Western Front — WINNER Argentina, 1985 Close EO The Quiet Girl BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio — WINNER Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish The Sea Beast Turning Red BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE All That Breathes All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Fire of Love A House Made of Splinters Navalny — WINNER BEST ORIGINAL SCORE All Quiet on the Western Front, Volker Bertelmann — WINNER Babylon, Justin Hurwitz The Banshees of Inisherin, Carter Burwell Everything Everywhere All At Once, Son Lux The Fabelmans, John Williams BEST ORIGINAL SONG 'Applause', Tell It Like a Woman (Diane Warren) 'Hold My Hand', Top Gun: Maverick (Lady Gaga and BloodPop) 'Lift Me Up', Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; lyrics by Tems and Ryan Coogler) 'Naatu Naatu', RRR (music by MM Keeravaani, lyrics by Chandrabose) — WINNER 'This Is a Life', Everything Everywhere All At Once (music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski, lyrics by Ryan Lott and David Byrne) BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY All Quiet on the Western Front, James Friend — WINNER Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Darius Khondji Elvis, Mandy Walker Empire of Light, Roger Deakins Tár, Florian Hoffmeister BEST FILM EDITING The Banshees of Inisherin, Mikkel EG Nielsen Elvis, Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond Everything Everywhere All At Once, Paul Rogers — WINNER Tár, Monika Willi Top Gun: Maverick, Eddie Hamilton BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN All Quiet on the Western Front, Christian M Goldbeck and Ernestine Hipper — WINNER Avatar: The Way of Water, Dylan Cole, Ben Procter and Vanessa Cole Babylon, Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino Elvis, Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy and Bev Dunn The Fabelmans, Rick Carter and Karen O'Hara BEST VISUAL EFFECTS All Quiet on the Western Front, Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar Avatar: The Way of Water, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett — WINNER The Batman, Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R Christopher White and Dan Sudick Top Gun: Maverick, Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R Fisher BEST COSTUME DESIGN Babylon, Mary Zophres Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ruth Carter — WINNER Elvis, Catherine Martin Everything Everywhere All At Once, Shirley Kurata Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, Jenny Beavan BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING All Quiet on the Western Front, Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová The Batman, Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Camille Friend and Joel Harlow Elvis, Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti The Whale, Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley — WINNER BEST SOUND All Quiet on the Western Front, Viktor Prásil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte Avatar: The Way of Water, Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges The Batman, Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson Elvis, David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller Top Gun: Maverick, Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor — WINNER BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT The Elephant Whisperers — WINNER Haulout How Do You Measure a Year? The Martha Mitchell Effect Stranger at the Gate BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse — WINNER The Flying Sailor Ice Merchants My Year of Dicks An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM An Irish Goodbye — WINNER Ivalu Le Pupille Night Ride The Red Suitcase
The revamped District Docklands entertainment precinct continues to nab some good'uns, including a seven-storey artisan market and the first Melbourne instalment of Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq. Now, a sustainable craft brewery has been added into the mix. Urban Alley Brewery opened the doors to its massive new brewpub and production facility in September 2018, and it comes complete with onsite bio-waste and water treatment plants, gas emission offsets and biodegradable packaging to boot. The brewery's founder, financier-turned-home brewer Ze'ev Meltzer, started brewing back in 2016, when he launched Collins St Brewing Co. Meltzer is retiring that moniker with the launch of Urban Alley Brewery, but he's brought across one of its most-popular beers, Once Bitter. Now called Urban Ale, the flagship session ale is already available in Melbourne venues such as Naked for Satan, Garden State Hotel and Pawn & Co. And the brew is available in bottle shops, too — packaged in biodegradable E6PR six-pack rings, which are made from spent grain and can be eaten by marine life. This eco-focused attitude is at the forefront of Urban Alley Brewery, with sustainability practices around waste, energy consumption and gas emissions front-and-centre. Sure, you've heard of breweries going solar, but Urban Alley's facility takes environmental-consciousness to the next level. First up, Meltzer has installed an onsite bio-waste plant, which repurposes every bi-product of the brewing process (apart from spent grain) into fertiliser. The natural gas produced by the bio-waste plant is in turn used to power the brewery. Next, an onsite water treatment plant neutralises all water-waste. The result is water that is high in minerals, salts and proteins, which in the future will be transported and reused in farm irrigation. Meltzer has also has teamed up with a local distillery (which shall mysteriously remain nameless for now) to reduce the carbon footprint of both businesses. In general, the rapid heating-and-cooling process needed during brewing can require up to 3000 times more gas than an average Australian home. By creating a shared system that exchanges water usage, the two venues have reduced gas emissions to match residential consumption. It's easy to see the necessity for this type of system, especially considering the Urban Alley production facility aims to pump out two-million-litres of beer per year. This eco-warrior is also open to the public, offering up 24 rotating taps of the brewery's core — including a lager, an American pale ale and a dark brew — and seasonal ranges. The huge warehouse space holds room for 550 all up and the brewpub is constructed from recycled brick and wood, of course. It has a full kitchen too, slinging a menu of traditional pub grub like parmas, schnittys and burgers, plus a dedicated Kosher menu and beer-battering aplenty. A collab with the upcoming Archie Brothers is on the docket too, so keep an eye on this space. In general, it seems craft breweries have won their way onto a precinct must-have list across Australia — with Urban Alley's opening following Frenchies in Sydney's The Cannery, along with Felon's Brewery and Stone & Wood taking up space in Brisbane's Howard Smith Wharves development.
The third season of The Bear is a season haunted. Creator and writer Christopher Storer (Dickinson, Ramy) — often the culinary dramedy's director as well — wouldn't have it any other way. Every show that proves as swift a success as this, after serving up as exceptional a first and second season as any series could wish for, has the tang of its prior glory left on its lips, so this one tackles the idea head on. How can anyone shake the past at all, good or bad, it ruminates on as Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw) faces a dream that's come true but hasn't and can't eradicate the lifetime of internalised uncertainty that arises from having an erratic mother, absent father, elder brother he idolised but had his own demons, and a career spent striving to be the best and put his talents to the test in an industry that's so merciless and unforgiving even before you factor in cruel mentors. Haunting is talked about often in this ten-episode third The Bear dish, but not actually in the sense flavouring every bite that the show's return plates up. In the season's heartiest reminder that it's comic as well as tense and dramatic — its nine Emmy wins for season one, plus four Golden Globes across season one and two, are all in comedy categories — the Faks get to Fak aplenty. While charming Neil (IRL chef Matty Matheson) is loving his role as a besuited server beneath Richie aka Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings), onboard with the latter's commitment to upholding a Michelin star-chasing fine-diner's front-of-house standards and as devoted to being Carmy's best friend as ever, he's also always palling around with his handyman brother Theodore (Ricky Staffieri, Read the Room). They're not the season's only Faks, and so emerges a family game. When one Fak wrongs another, they get haunted, which is largely being taunted and unsettled by someone from basically The Bear equivalent of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Boyles. For it to stop, you need to agree to give in. In Storer's hands, in a series this expertly layered, this isn't just an amusing character-building aside. Joining the Disney+ menu Down Under on Thursday, June 27, 2024, season three opens with an episode called 'Tomorrow', setting the action on the titular day following the soft relaunch of Carmy's pride and joy. Season one followed his immersion in The Original Beef of Chicagoland, which his elder sibling Mikey (Jon Bernthal, Origin) ran before his death, and the call to turn it into the restaurant that Carmy has always wanted. Season two charted the hard yards traversed to make the plan happen and bring The Bear to fruition, culminating in an unveiling to family and friends that had them raving about the food while The Bear's staff were in bedlam. With Carmy, who was stuck locked in the fridge for most of the big hurrah, then ended it with his girlfriend Claire (Molly Gordon, Theater Camp) out of his life and his relationship with Richie at a new low, the third go-around asks how you whisk that difficult kickoff — and all previous difficulties — out of your brain and somehow move forward. The Bear has been posing a version of this question from the outset, because it's one of existence's defining queries: how does anyone go on when our heads are swirling with the pinnacles and plunges, achievements and traumas, and riches and missteps gone by? This is a show that sees baggage and, Station Eleven-style, remembers damage. So, how could Carmy, Richie, Carmy and Mikey's sister Natalie (Abby Elliott, Cheaper by the Dozen), their pseudo-uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt, Chicago Med), and The Beef's loyal staff Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas, IF), Marcus (Lionel Boyce, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty) carve a path — any path — after losing Mikey? With newcomer chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Inside Out 2), after they ensured it was still a place that he'd approve of, how could they pivot to The Bear? And with Jimmy's money backing them and the culinary world watching, how can they now guarantee that their new restaurant not just simmers but boils? 'Tomorrow' is a tone-poem first instalment to The Bear's third course, flitting through Carmy's history — the other kitchens that he's been employed in feature heavily — to establish how being haunted will season everything that follows. It's a mindset episode, and a smart and absorbing one, as his time working for the unpleasant David Fields (Joel McHale, Animal Control), the kindly Andrea Terry (Olivia Colman, Wicked Little Letters) and the IRL René Redzepi at Noma all flash up. Its mood then turns haunting itself, persisting atmospherically as Carmy makes some blunt decisions solo about what the restaurant will be and do, then Syd, Richie and the crew are confronted with his choices. The Bear will now operate under a list of non-negotiables. It will change its menu entirely daily. It'll actively seek Michelin's covered five-pointed endorsement. It isn't overtly stated, but it will also exist in a state of fear over what a review by the Chicago Tribune might deem it, be it innovative, excellent, delicious, confusing, overdone or inconsistent. The aftertaste of what's come before, and how impossible it is to cleanse it from your palate, lingers in every moment of kitchen and dining-room chaos — of which there's a buffet — alongside every plot strand. Syd struggles with the realisation that she's still the entree to Carmy's main, clicking the button on the partnership agreement that will formalise her stake in The Bear and whether to leave what she's toiled so hard for to take a new opportunity. Richie has the reality of his ex-wife (Gillian Jacobs, Invincible) moving on to deal with. The pregnant Nat's due date speeds closer. Marcus endeavours to cope with his grief by focusing on the job. Tina's route to The Beef gets its own episode. And The Computer (Brian Koppelman, the creator of fellow TV series Billions), Jimmy's no-nonsense numbers guy, has thoughts as The Bear keeps booking out and generating buzz but battling financially. Season three's performances in roles not only lead and supporting but also among the guest stars — well-known names pop up again, some returning, some new — remain delectable. Leading the show, no one better provides the faces of those tormented by their choices, hopes, yearnings, chances, mistakes and regrets, sometimes as motivation and sometimes as an anchor for Carmy, Syd and Richie, like the one-two-three punch of White, Edebiri and Moss-Bachrach. No one on- or off-screen across the whole series shows any sign of being plagued by living up to the one of the best new shows of 2022 and best returning shows of 2023, or knowing what to do, either. Although the second and third seasons of The Bear have had the program's own past to match, doing so hasn't been a problem to-date, including when Storer can so effortlessly segue between experimental and classic, and wide-spanning to ultra-focused as well. One of the reasons that the exploits of Carmy and company satisfied audiences from the show's initial arrival is its authenticity, understanding the pressures and anxieties, plus the hustle and bustle, of the hospo grind at the sandwich-diner level and the cream-of-the-crop tier alike. The Bear is equally as emotionally astute and frenetic beyond the kitchen, as every spoonful of its third season reminds viewers. The reality of trying to make it as a chef, cook, restaurateur and server collides with the reality of simply trying and being; it's a perfect recipe. In the show, the feeling of sitting down to your dream meal but proving incapable of dislodging your inner mayhem is inescapable. For those watching, The Bear is the streaming equivalent of the ultimate dish — and, because we all have our own internal turmoil, also the cure for being haunted across its superb 14 hours now over three seasons. Check out the full trailer for The Bear season three below: The Bear streams via Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand, with season three dropping on Thursday, June 27, 2024. Read our review of season one and review of season two. Images: FX.
Not every film that wins an Oscar, earns a nomination for Hollywood's night of nights or gets selected by its country to go in the running for the coveted accolades makes it to cinemas Down Under beyond festivals. A movie can have international fests buzzing as well, yet still bypass a big-screen release in Australia. That's the fate for plenty of features; however, gone are the days when skipping a date with picture palaces was a sign of a bad movie. The streaming era means that a new flick is always dropping on one of the many platforms that are available to Aussie audiences. While they can't all be excellent, that's no different to what does make it to the silver screen. The gems that go straight to home viewing are up there with the gems that do get the movie-theatre treatment — as the highlights from January–June 2024 make clear. There are indeed Academy Award-winners on this list, as well as nominees. Films that'll compete next year, festival favourites, movies with big-name stars or from high-profile directors: they all feature as well. If you haven't caught them on the couch already alongside fellow straight-to-streaming standouts from 2024's first six months, take this as your motivation, whether you're after shattering documentaries, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction comedies, affecting dramas, gorgeous animation or plenty of horror. 20 Days in Mariupol Incompatible with life. No one should ever want to hear those three devastating words. No one who is told one of the most distressing phrases there is ever has them uttered their way in positive circumstances, either. Accordingly, when they're spoken by a doctor in 2024 Oscar-winner 20 Days in Mariupol, they're deeply shattering. So is everything in this on-the-ground portrait of the first 20 days in the Ukrainian port city as Russia began its invasion, with the bleak reality of living in a war zone documented in harrowing detail. Located less than 60 kilometres from the border, Mariupol quickly segues from ordinary life to an apocalyptic scene — and this film refuses to look away. Much of its time is spent in and around hospitals, which see an influx of patients injured and killed by the combat, and also become targets as well. Many of in 20 Days in Mariupol's faces are the afflicted, the medics tending to them in horrendous circumstances, and the loves ones that are understandably inconsolable. Too many of the carnage's victims are children and babies, with their parents crushed and heartbroken in the aftermath; sometimes, they're pregnant women. Directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov, and narrated by him with the grimness and soberness that can be this movie's only tone, 20 Days in Mariupol even existing is an achievement. What it depicts — what it immerses viewers in with urgency, from shelled hospitals, basements-turned-bomb shelters and more of the city destroyed day after day to families torn apart, looting, struggling to find food and bodies of the dead taken to mass graves — needs to be viewed as widely as possible, and constantly. His footage has also featured in news reports, but it can and must never be forgotten. Doctors mid-surgery demand that Chernov's camera is pointed their way, and that he shows the world the travesties taking place. The Ukrainian reporter, who has also covered Donbas, flight MH17, Syria and the Battle of Mosul for the Associated Press, does exactly that. He's doing more than ensuring that everyone bears witness, though; he makes certain that there's no way to watch 20 Days in Mariupol, which shows the vast civilian impact and casualties, and see anything but ordinary people suffering, or to feel anything other than shock, anger and horror. 20 Days in Mariupol streams via DocPlay. Society of the Snow It was meant to be a fun trip to Chile with friends and family for a game. When the Old Christians Club rugby union team boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in Montevideo on October 13, 1972, destination Santiago, no one among them knew what would happen next. The plane didn't make it to its destination, as 1976 Mexican film Survive!, 1993 American movie Alive and now Spanish-US co-production Society of the Snow each cover. All three features boast apt titles, but only the latest sums up the grim reality and existential dilemma of crashing in the Andes, being stranded for 72 days in snowy climes with little resources against the weather — or for sustenance — and attempting to endure. Taken from the memoir by Pablo Vierci, aka La sociedad de la nieve in Spanish, only this phrase adorning JA Bayona's (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) picture encapsulates the tremendous effort that it took to find a way to persist, as well as the fact that trying to remain alive long enough to be rescued meant adapting everything about how the survivors approached each second, minute, hour, day, week and month — and also links in with how a catastrophe like this banded them together, doing whatever it took to find a way off the mountains, while reshaping how they contemplated what it meant to be human. Society of the Snow isn't just a disaster film detailing the specifics of the flight's failed trip, the immediate deaths and those that came afterwards, the lengthy wait to be found — including after authorities called the search off — and the crushing decisions made to get through. Bayona, who also helmed the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami-focused The Impossible, has made a weighty feature that reckons with the emotional, psychological and spiritual toll, and doesn't think of shying away from the most difficult aspects of this real-life situation (including cannibalism). This is both gruelling and meaningful viewing, as crafted with technical mastery (especially by Don't Breathe 2 cinematographer Pedro Luque, plus Cinco lobitos' Andrés Gil and Cites' Jaume Martí as editors), built upon brutal candour, and paying tribute to resilience and then some. Its feats extend to its hauntingly acted performances from a cast that includes Enzo Vogrincic (El Presidente), Agustín Pardella (Secrets of Summer) and Matías Recalt (Planners), all contributing to an account of camaraderie and sacrifice that deserves its Best International Feature Film Oscar nomination. Society of the Snow streams via Netflix. The Devil's Bath Suspense and tension, how to cultivate such a strong atmosphere of unease that it feels as if it drips from the screen, the darker side of human nature, sheer existential exasperation: writer/directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala know these things. The Austrian filmmakers are just as well-aware of how to make movies that crawl under your skin as much as distress does with their characters. For that sensation at its very best, see: Goodnight Mommy, their Oscar-submitted 2014 debut (which was then remade in America in 2022). The Devil's Bath earns the same description, too. The duo's first feature since 2019's Riley Keough (Under the Bridge)-starring English-language horror flick The Lodge, it needles deep as it follows new bride Agnes (Anja Plaschg, Axolotl Overkill), who is thrilled to be starting her married life to Wolf (David Scheig, Heribet), even if that joy doesn't seem completely reciprocated. Relationship disharmony bubbles at the heart of this 18th century-set film, but that's not the only force bearing down on a woman that no longer has any agency — and, soon, little hope left simmering as well. Franz and Fiala begin The Devil's Bath with a different scene of domestic struggle. They haunt their viewers from the outset, too. First up, a woman throws a baby over a waterfall, then turns herself in for punishment, knowing that she'll meet her end via decapitation. With that scene as a prologue, it hardly appears strange that Agnes is thrilled to receive a severed finger as a wedding gift — a digit that's meant to bring luck for starting a family. But nothing in the way of good fortunes spring when she's soon away from her other loved ones, left alone in a woodland cottage as Wolf works by day, stuck navigating his disinterest in the bedroom each evening and frowned upon constantly by her new mother-in-law (Maria Hofstätter, Andrea Gets a Divorce). There's history to Franz and Fiala's screenplay, which draws upon real events, and the mood of despair that seeps from returning Goodnight Mommy cinematographer Martin Gschlacht's grey-toned frames sports a can-only-be-true bite to it. There's little sunshine shed on the imagery, or on the way that people treat each other — and there's even more terror in realising that the lines between this arresting picture's vision of the past, even as set within a deeply superstitious and puritanical community, and today are far from faint. The Devil's Bath streams via Shudder and AMC+. Hit Man The feeling that Glen Powell should star in everything didn't start with Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You. Writer/director Richard Linklater (Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood) has helped the notion bubble up before as early back as 2006's Fast Food Nation, then with 2016's Everybody Wants Some!! — and now he riffs on it with Hit Man. When viewers want an actor to feature everywhere, they want to see them step into all sorts of shoes but bring their innate talents and charm each time. So, Linklater enlists Powell as Gary Johnson, a real-life University of New Orleans professor who wouldn't be earning the movie treatment if he didn't also moonlight as a undercover police operative with a specific remit: playing hitmen with folks looking to pay someone to commit murder, sting-style. Johnson doesn't just give the gig the one-size-fits-all approach, though. Once he gets confidence in the job, he's dedicated to affording every target their own personal vision of their dream assassin. So, Powell gets to be a polo shirt-wearing nice guy, a long-haired master criminal, a besuited all-business type and more, including the suave smooth-talker Ron, the persona he adopts when Madison Figueroa Masters (Adria Arjona, Andor) thinks about offing her odious husband. Hit Man is as a screwball rom-com-meets-sunlit film noir, and an excellent one, as well as a feature based on a situation so wild that it can only stem from fact. Alongside charting Gary's exploits in the position and the murkiness of falling for Madison as Ron, it's also an acceptance that the kind of darkness and desperation needed for a person to want to hire a stranger to kill to make their life better isn't a rarity — if it was, Gary's services wouldn't have been needed. Linklater has been in comparably blackly comic but also clear-eyed territory before with Bernie, the past entry on his resume that Hit Man best resembles. The also-ace 2011 Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda 4)-led picture similarly told a true tale, and also sprang from an article by journalist Skip Hollandsworth. This time, Linklater penned the script with Powell instead of Hollandsworth, but the result is another black-comedy delight brimming with insight. Hit Man is a movie about finding one's identity, too, and Powell keeps showing that he's found his: a charismatic lead who anchors one of the most-entertaining flicks of the year. Hit Man streams via Netflix. Frida For almost a century, the art-loving world has peered at Frida Kahlo. Her self-portraits have stared steadfastly back. You can glean much about a person from how they commit their own likeness to canvas; whether donning a velvet dress, reclining in a hospital bed, standing between curtains, sitting opposite herself, or accompanied by a black cat and a monkey, Kahlo was unflinching. Exhibitions have adored her work, whether she's taking centre stage in her paintings or not, for decades upon decades. Creatives in other mediums have shown the same affection, be it via books (1983's Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo), biopics (2002's Frida, with Black Mirror's Salma Hayek as the artist; before that, 1983's Frida Still Life), operas (as first hit the stage in 1991) or ballets (Broken Wings debuted in 2016). 2024's Frida brings Kahlo back to the screen with a new approach that she'd surely approve of: making her directorial debut with this portrait of the iconic Mexican painter, editor-turned-director Carla Gutierrez (who spliced fellow biodocs RBG and Julia) lets her subject speak for herself and her own complexity. Actor Fernanda Echevarría (Ella Camina Sola) actually does the talking, because the treasure trove of materials that Gutierrez has gained access to — illustrated diaries, essays and letters, photos and footage, plus interview transcripts by Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo's Hayden Herrera — doesn't include Kahlo's voice. But the impact remains: this is Kahlo as she saw herself and as she was herself, as she always fought to convey when she was living. Drawing upon Kahlo's art, Gutierrez also uses animation by Sofía Inés Cázares (Daughter From Another Mother) and Renata Galindo (A la mala) to accompany Kahlo narrating her childhood, her medical studies, her life-changing accident at the age of 18, her marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera, her other romantic liaisons, and her thoughts about all of the above and more. It's an inspired touch, and not just in breaking up the black-and-white archival visuals with dances of colour. Seven decades since her death in 1954, Kahlo still feels alive in her work, but the latest raw, rich and deeply resonant documentary to pay tribute to her finds its own way to express and honour that sensation. Frida streams via Prime Video. American Fiction Here's Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison's (Jeffrey Wright, Rustin) predicament when American Fiction begins: on the page, his talents aren't selling books. Praise comes the Los Angeles-based professor's way for his novels, but not sales, nor attendees when he's part of writers' festival panels. And even then, publishers aren't fond of his latest manuscript. Sick of hearing that his work isn't "Black enough", and also incensed over the attention that fellow scribe Sintara Golden (Issa Rae, Barbie) is receiving for her book We's Lives in Da Ghetto, he gets a-typing, pumping out the kind of text that he vehemently hates — but 100-percent fits the stereotype of what the world keeps telling him that Black literature should be. It attracts interest, even more so when Monk takes his agent Arthur's (John Ortiz, Better Things) advice and adopts a new persona to go with it. Soon fugitive convict Stagg R Leigh and his book Fuck are a huge hit that no one can get enough of. Because of the story spun around who wrote the bestseller, too, the FBI even wants to know the author's whereabouts. Deservedly nominated for five 2024 Oscars — including for Best Picture, Best Actor for Wright and Best Supporting Actor for Sterling K Brown (Biosphere) as Monk's brother Clifford — American Fiction itself hails from the page, with filmmaker Cord Jefferson adapting Percival Everett's 2001 novel Erasure. Wright is indeed exceptional in this savvy satire of authenticity, US race relations and class chasms, and earns his awards contention for his reactions alone. Seeing how Monk adjusts himself to a world that keeps proving anything but his dream is an utter acting masterclass, in big and small moments alike. As the film dives into the character's personal chaos, that's where Brown's also-fantastic, often-tender performance comes in, plus Leslie Uggams (Extrapolations) as Monk's mother and Tracee Ellis Ross (Candy Cane Lane) as his sister, and also Erika Alexander (Run the World) as a neighbour who is a fan of his — not just Stagg R Leigh's — work. Don't discount how excellent American Fiction is beyond its literary hoax setup, in fact; as a character study, it's equally astute. American Fiction streams via Prime Video. Fancy Dance Lily Gladstone might've won the Golden Globe but not the Oscar for Killers of the Flower Moon, but her exceptional resume shows every sign of more awards coming her way. Fancy Dance, the other movie to join her filmography in 2023 — it premiered at Sundance that year, but only makes its way to streaming worldwide now — is yet another example of how the Certain Women and First Cow star is one of the very-best actors working right now. Where Gladstone's time in front of Martin Scorsese's lens showcased her mastery of restraint, playing an aunt trying to do what's best for her niece and a sister searching for her absent sibling benefits from her equal command of looseness. Jax, her character, is a pinball. When she bounces in any direction, it's with force and purpose as well as liveliness and determination, but the choice of where she's heading is rarely her own. All she wants is to find Tawi (debutant Hauli Sioux Gray) and protect 13-year-old Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson, Three Pines), but set against the reality that law enforcement mightn't look as enthusiastically for a missing Indigenous woman — or treat one with a record attempting to do right be her family with consideration — that's far from an easy task. Writer/director Erica Tremblay hails from the Seneca–Cayuga Nation, where much of Fancy Dance is set. As Gladstone is, she's also an alum of Reservation Dogs — including helming two episodes — and so is experienced at depicting everyday reservation life with authenticity. Accordingly, her first fictional feature after documentaries Heartland: A Portrait of Survival and In the Turn takes a social-realistic approach in its details, especially when it's simply surveying the space and empathy that First Nations versus white Americans aren't given. Because Jax has a criminal history, child services deems her unfit to look after Roki, or even to take the teen to the powwow where the girl is certain her mum will attend to again steal the show in the mother-daughter dance competition; instead, Jax's white father (Shea Whigham, Lawmen: Bass Reeves) and stepmother (Audrey Wasilewski, Ted) are their choice of guardians. Fancy Dance's protagonist isn't one to simply acquiesce to that decision, and Gladstone makes both her fire and her pain palpable — and her tenderness for Roki, who is weightily portrayed by her Under the Bridge co-star Deroy-Olson, as well. Fancy Dance streams via Apple TV+. Infested For those firmly of the idea that there's no new stories in horror, just fresh takes on well-established sources of fear, Infested isn't here to change minds. Rather, the French movie is the latest poster child for what looking at a tried-and-tested concept anew can do, including while pairing it with up-to-the-moment social commentary. The genre staple here: spiders. When writer/director Sébastien Vanicek begins his feature debut — which he co-scripts with Florent Bernard (Meet the Leroys) — it's with a specific breed of the venomous eight-legged scurrying nightmares unearthed, literally, in a Middle Eastern desert. Within moments of emerging from the earth, the critters make the smugglers that are attempting to capture them pay. Horror fans should clock that Infested nods to classic ways to kickstart a scary flick from the outset, then, bringing The Exorcist's opening scene to mind. Prayer won't help the Parisian banlieue residents soon fighting arachnids for their lives, however, after Kaleb (Théo Christine, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) innocently purchases a new addition to his bedroom menagerie of exotic pets from a local convenience store. As he disagrees with his sister Manon (feature first-timer Lisa Nyarko) about selling the apartment that they've inherited from their mother, grapples with his grief, trades in sneakers to his neighbours to stump up a buck and is faced with small-minded prejudice just by stepping outside his door, what happens when Kaleb soon has a spider (and quickly, more than one) to track down? The critter he calls Rihanna was always going to escape, so havoc unsurprisingly eventuates. That's not to say that Infested goes through the motions. With energy and style as well as needling suspense, Vanicek makes a creature-feature equivalent of British alien-invasion gem Attack the Block, with shades of Les Misérables — the 2019 crime-thriller, not Victor Hugo-penned tale — and 2022's fellow standout Athena. He also gets his audience squirming. He filters his recognisable setup through welcome eyes. He knows how to make a heightened situation feel real to the deep distress of arachnophobics, and to get terror and tension scuttling through veins. And, he ensures that desperately rallying against forces that won't let you escape, in a setting that embodies that exact notion, proves both urgent and immediate. Infested streams via Shudder and AMC+. Stopmotion One of the most-haunting performances in Australian cinema belongs to Irish Italian actor Aisling Franciosi. She's acted in The Fall and Game of Thrones, I Know This Much Is True and Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter, and Jimmy's Hall and the upcoming Speak No Evil remake before and since, but her deservedly AACTA Award-winning work in The Nightingale — the second feature from The Babadook's Jennifer Kent, which follows a former convict's quest for revenge against a British officer in 1820s Tasmania — is stunning, searing and unforgettable. Also stellar half a decade later: Franciosi's turn in Stopmotion, which hails from the UK, has her playing the daughter of an animation genius and again tasks the immensely talented actor with confronting trauma. It's the product of a filmmaker in Robert Morgan with an uncompromising vision, too, with the English writer/director making his feature debut almost a decade after helming the D Is for Deloused segment in The ABCs of Death 2 with a movie that's never afraid to commit to its eerie chills, psychological thrills and macabre sense of wonder. Franciosi's Ella Blake has spent her entire life being told that her mother Suzanne (Stella Gonet, Breeders) is an unparalleled master at making the dead appear alive — because that's one way to see Stopmotion's eponymous art form. She's also spent much of her existence assisting rather than pursuing her own dreams, including after arthritis robs her mum of being able to use her hands to craft the exacting movements that their chosen medium requires. When the film begins, overwork has Ella fraying. Emotional cruelty has her internally raging, although she won't admit it. Suzanne has a project to finish, demanding her daughter's utmost commitment. When tragedy compounds her stress, Ella escapes into own creative vision instead, conjuring up a twisted fairy tale aided by a girl (Caoilinn Springall, The Midnight Sky) from an apartment neighbouring her new makeshift studio. Saying what Morgan unleashes from there is inventive, powerful and extraordinary — in live-action and animation alike — is an understatement. Stopmotion streams via Shudder and AMC+. Lumberjack the Monster Spanning big-screen releases, TV and straight-to-video fare, Takashi Miike has notched up 115 directorial credits in the 33 years since making his helming debut. Lumberjack the Monster isn't even the latest — it premiered at film festivals in 2023, which means that miniseries Onimusha and short Midnight have popped up since — but it is Miike back in horror mode, where 1999's Audition and 2001's Ichi the Killer famously dwelled. Here, the inimitable Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter Hiroyoshi Koiwai (Way to Find the Best Life) adapt the eponymous 2019 Mayusuke Kurai novel. Its namesake character also exists on the page in the movie itself, in a picture book. This is a serial-killer picture, though, and with more than one person taking multiple lives. A mass murderer wearing a bag over their head and swinging an axe is on a rampage, and lawyer Akira (Kazuya Kamenashi, Destiny) and surgeon Sugitani (Shôta Sometani, Sanctuary) aren't averse to dispensing death themselves. A clash is inevitable, not that the slick Akira expects it, or that his costumed attacker anticipates that their current target will survive his blade, sparking a cat-and-mouse game. Lumberjack the Monster doesn't just weave in fantasy boogeyman stories, offings upon offings, and characters with dark impulses going head to head. The police are on the case, giving the film a procedural layer, as well as Akira motivation to hunt down his assailant first. Science fiction also washes through, with brain-implanted chips and modifying human behaviour both for worse and for better part of the narrative. There's also a moral-redemption element weaved in. Consequently, it's no wonder that this tale is Miike joint. As well as being prolific, Miike loves making his resume the ultimate mashup. To name just a few examples, see: the yakuza action of Dead or Alive, superhero comedy Zebraman, titular genre of Sukiyaki Western Django, samurai efforts 13 Assassins and Blade of the Immortal, period drama Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, video-game adaptation Ace Attorney, romance For Love's Sake, thriller Lesson of the Evil, vampire movie Yakuza Apocalypse and the crime-driven First Love. Unsurprisingly, Lumberjack the Monster is specifically the engrossing — and bloodily violent — Frankenstein's monster of a flick that Miike was always going to relish making when splicing together such an array of elements came his way. Lumberjack the Monster streams via Netflix. The Kitchen He has an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Judas and the Black Messiah. He was nominated for all of the above accolades for Get Out, and should've won them all then, too. His resume spans Skins, one of Black Mirror's most-memorable episodes, plus Sicario, Widows, Black Panther, Queen & Slim and Nope as well. But The Kitchen marks a first for Daniel Kaluuya: his first movie as a director. Hopefully more will follow. Co-helming with Kibwe Tavares — who also notches up his feature debut behind the lens after shorts including Jonah and Robot & Scarecrow, which both starred Kaluuya — and co-penning the screenplay with Calm with Horses' Joe Murtagh, the actor makes a stunning arrival as a filmmaker. The Kitchen's setup: in the year 2044 in London, with class clashes so pronounced that not being rich is basically treated as a crime, a man (Top Boy's Kane Robinson, aka rapper Kano) living in the titular housing development crosses paths with a 12-year-old boy (newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman) who has just lost his mother, with the pair discovering that they have no one but each other as they endeavour to find a way to survive. Robinson's Izy has bought into the social-climbing dream when The Kitchen begins. He'll do so literally if he can come up with the cash for an apartment in a swankier tower away from everything he's ever known within 21 days, a dream that he's been working towards at his job selling funerals. It's at the latter that he meets Bannerman's Benji, who has nowhere to live after his mother's death and no one else to turn to for help. The film's scenario is pure dystopia, reflecting the inequities, oppressions and realities of today as all great sci-fi should. Its intimate emotional core hones in on people attempting to persist and connect, as the genre's best always does as well. Accordingly, this is an impassioned and infuriated portrait of society's gaps as everyone watching can recognise, a nightmarish vision of what might come and a thoughtful character study. As directors, Kaluuya and Tavares excel at world-building, at bringing such rich detail and texture to the screen that viewers feel like they could step straight into its social realist-leaning frames, and at guiding affecting performances out of both Robinson and Bannerman (who adds to the feature's impressive first efforts). The Kitchen streams via Netflix. Orion and the Dark Learning to face life's chaos, or even just recognising that life is chaos, has a particular term when Charlie Kaufman is making movies and audiences do the confronting. Describing something as Kaufmanesque sprang from the screenwriter and filmmaker's stunning run at the end of the 90s and beginning of the 00s — the Spike Jonze (Her)-helmed Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, plus the Michel Gondry (Microbe & Gasoline)-directed Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — and it's stuck ever since. Joining the trio of Synecdoche, New York, Anomalisa and I'm Thinking of Ending Things as well, all three of which he penned plus helmed, is new family-friendly animation Orion and the Dark. A Kaufmanesque kid-appropriate flick? It exists, and it's wonderful. Feature first-timer Sean Charmatz (TV movie Trolls Holiday in Harmony) directs, and Emma Yarlett's 2014 children's book provides the source material; however, this account of a boy afraid of the dark who then meets the literal Dark (voiced by The Afterparty's Paul Walter Hauser) is a Kaufman affair through and through. Also, iconic German filmmaker — and one-time Parks and Recreation star — Werner Herzog (The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft) pops up. Loaned the vocal tones of Jacob Tremblay (The Little Mermaid) as a child and Colin Hanks (The Offer) as an adult, Orion is petrified of sleeping without the lights on. And, just like the kids in Monsters, Inc that are scared of creatures in their cupboards, Orion and the Dark's protagonist is frightened of something real. Dark exists and, alongside Orion's parents (The Fall of the House of Usher's Carla Gugino and Bull's Matt Dellapina), is exasperated by the boy's response to nighttime. He can't help taking it personally, in fact, then offers to assist. For one 24-hour period, as darkness falls around the world, he gets Orion to accompany him on his travels with friends Sleep (Natasia Demetriou, What We Do in the Shadows), Insomnia (Nat Faxon, Our Flag Means Death), Quiet (Aparna Nancherla, The Great North), Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel, Bridgerton) and Sweet Dreams (Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) to demonstrate that being distressed is unfounded. It isn't just Herzog's involvement and a joke about David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest that prove that this is a movie as much for adults as kids; amid its gorgeous animation, its understanding of existential dread is also that astute. Orion and the Dark streams via Netflix. Spaceman Should astronaut become a dictionary-certified synonym for melancholy? Cinema believes so. Its latest case in point comes via Spaceman, where life temporarily lived above and beyond the earth replaces gravity with loneliness and disconnection for Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah). He's six months into a solo trip past Jupiter to investigate an eerie phenomenon in the heavens when this adaptation of Jaroslav Kalfař's 2017 sci-fi novel Spaceman of Bohemia kicks off. His quest is both time-sensitive and celebrated. South Korea is in close pursuit, he's frequently being told by Peter (Kunal Nayyar, Night Court), his contact at ground control — and Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini, Cat Person) happily keeps dialling him in for PR opportunities. As he soars through a strangely purple sky, however, endeavouring to fulfil his mission while pleading for maintenance approval on his crumbling ship, all that's really on his mind is his wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan, Maestro). Pregnant and left at home alone, she's no longer taking his fast-as-light-speed phone calls. Then Hanus (Paul Dano, Mr & Mrs Smith) scurries in beside Jakub, demanding attention — as a giant spider in space is always going to. For the best part of a decade now, seeing a live-action movie starring Sandler has meant heading to Netflix. In Australia, even Uncut Gems, his greatest-ever performance, arrived via the streaming platform. Alongside The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Hustle, add Spaceman to the list of such features that give their star worthy parts and would've made welcome cinema releases. It isn't new news that Sandler is an excellent actor in dramatic and/or weightier roles, or that his career is more than the Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore-style comedies that he first became known for. Spaceman director Johan Renck (Chernobyl) has cast him expertly, in fact, in this tale of isolation, arrested development, otherworldly arachnids and amorous entanglements. Sending Sandler on an Ad Astra-, First Man- and Solaris-esque trip proves contemplative and empathetic — and, amid spider's-eye flashbacks to his complicated childhood in the Czech Republic, time spent with Lenka on the ground and floating around the film's claustrophobic main setting, also brimming with raw and resonant emotion. Spaceman streams via Netflix. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces To do justice to Steve Martin's life, career and impact requires more than just one movie. So, the engagingly and entertainingly in-depth, intimate, affectionate and informative STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces explores the comedian and actor's existence in a pair of parts. The first is subtitled 'Then', honing in on his childhood and early stand-up days. The second, aka 'Now', jumps in when he made the leap to movies in the late 70s, which is where The Jerk, Pennies From Heaven, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Parenthood and LA Story comes in — and, of course, includes his tours with his ¡Three Amigos! co-star Martin Short, as well as their murder-mystery-comedy TV hit Only Murders in the Building. The initial half gets Martin narrating, sharing reflections personal and professional as accompanied by archival footage aplenty (and ample tapes of his stints in front of audience). The latter section treats him as an interviewee, with his wife Anne Stringfield, Short, Jerry Seinfeld (who has had Martin as a guest on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee) and Tina Fey (who also co-starred with Martin in Baby Mama) among the talking heads. Behind it all is documentarian Morgan Neville, an Oscar-winner for 20 Feet From Stardom, as well as a filmmaker who is clearly taking his stylistic cues from his subject. That's noticeable in STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces' moniker, for starters — it throws caution to the winds of grammar and title formats just as Martin has to comedy rules, as the two-part film makes plain again and again. No matter how well-acquainted you are with Martin, insights flow freely in this fascinating way to spend three hours surveying the ways that he's made people laugh over decades upon decades, beginning with doing magic tricks and working at Disneyland on his school holidays in the 50s. Revelations bound through about Martin as a person, too; more than once, he notes that his life has felt as if it has played out backwards, and not just because he only first became a father in his 60s. Clips of his stand-up act, and the response to it in the 60s and 70s, are gold. Hanging out with the man who originally was only going to create Only Murders in the Building, not star in it, when he's bantering with Short are as well. STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces streams via Apple TV+. Am I OK? The question in Am I OK?'s title is indeed existential: is Lucy (Dakota Johnson, Madame Web) coping with being a thirtysomething in Los Angeles treading water emotionally, romantically and professionally? From there, more queries spring. Can she — or, more accurately, will she — shoot for more than not quite dating the smitten Ben (Whitmer Thomas, Big Mouth), right down to shaking his hand at the end of their evenings out together, and also for something beyond working as a day-spa receptionist while putting her passion and talent for art on the back burner? Is she capable of breaking free of a comfort zone padded out with spending all of her spare time with her best friend Jane (Sonoya Mizuno, House of the Dragon), including being so predictable that she always orders the same thing at their brunches at their favourite diner? Regarding the latter, she gets a push when Jane agrees to a lucrative transfer to London, splitting the pair for the first time since they were teenagers. Am I OK? is an arrested-development coming-of-age movie, then, and a film about being honest about who you are and want to be. Change comes for us all, even when we've built a cocoon to protect our happy status quo — and, at the heart of this romantic drama, change clearly comes for Lucy. She's forced to consider a path forward that doesn't involve solely being defined as half of a platonic duo. She also confronts the feelings for her coworker Brittany (Kiersey Clemons, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and the truth about her sexuality that she's never previously admitted. Am I OK? is a coming-out tale, too, but it treats Lucy's stuck-in-a-rut existence and at-first-tentative attempts to embrace how she truly feels holistically, seeing how life's passage inevitably shifts how we see ourselves. If the movie feels more honest than it might've been, that's because screenwriter Lauren Pomerantz (Strange Planet) spins a semi-autobiographical story. Also, the directing team of real-life couple Tig Notaro (2 Dope Queens) and Stephanie Allynne (who helmed Notaro's 2024 special Hello Again) — who met making 2015's In a World… — demonstrate the ideal light-but-delicate touch. Plus, Johnson and Mizuno exude genuine BFF chemistry, with the former again showing why fare such as this, Cha Cha Real Smooth, How to Be Single, The Peanut Butter Falcon, A Bigger Splash, Suspiria and The Lost Daughter, a diverse group of pictures, is a better fit than the Fifty Shades trilogy or a Spider-Man spinoff. Am I OK? streams via Binge. Looking for more viewing highlights? We picked the best 15 films that've reached cinemas in 2024's first half, too, plus the 15 best new TV shows of 2024 so far and the 15 best returning TV shows. We also keep a running list of must-stream TV from across the year so far, complete with full reviews. And, you can check out our list of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
Greek restaurants are a dime a dozen in the diasporic heartland of Oakleigh, but Greek wine bars are a less common phenomenon. Enter Olympia, a venture from former DJ Nick Flaounas. Above Oakleigh Market, Olympia is spread across two levels. There's an indoor wine bar on the first floor and a rooftop bar in what used to be the market's carpark. The instantly recognisable blue and white colour scheme — synonymous with Greece — olive trees on the rooftop transport you instantly to the Mediterranean. The share menu has mouth-watering bites like Fremantle pickled octopus, saganaki croquettes, shallow-fried calamari, marinated pork skewers, and lobster and prawn rolls. Food is far from an afterthought at Olympia. If you don't feel like making decisions, 'Yiayia's Selection' is a pre-selected feed-me menu designed precisely for that. Greece is as well-known for its wine as it is for its cuisine. At Olympia, you'll find local wines peppered in amongst sauvignon blanc from the Peloponnese, syrah from Aigialeia and sparkling rose from Naoussa. House cocktails span the likes of espresso martinis and Tommy's margaritas while seasonal cocktails spotlight ingredients like Greek coffee liqueur in the Kafethaki Martini and the black wine grape of Mavrodafni in the mulled wine.
Come November, if you're keen on travelling to a galaxy far, far away, you won't need to visit your local cinema. Disney is getting into the streaming game and, when it launches its new Disney+ platform, it'll do so with the first-ever live-action Star Wars spinoff television series, The Mandalorian. One of the most anticipated shows of the year on this (or any other) planet, The Mandalorian follows a lone gunfighter who hails from the planet Mandalore and roams the outer reaches of the universe. His bullet-firing antics happen far from the prying eyes of the New Republic, with the series set after the fall of the Empire — that is, after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi but before Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. If the basic premise isn't enough cause for excitement, then the stacked cast will help — it includes Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal and Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito, plus Nick Nolte, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Ming-Na Wen and none other than legendary director and occasional actor Werner Herzog. Behind the scenes, The Mandalorian also boasts plenty of big names, with The Lion King's Jon Favreau calling the shots (as the program's creator, writer, showrunner and executive producer), and Taika Waititi among its series' directors. Waititi will also voice a new droid, called IG-11. After announcing the show last year, then keeping the details as secret as possible, Disney has slowly been revealing bits and pieces about the series in recent months. If you've been keener than Han Solo in any cantina in the galaxy to get a glimpse, the Mouse House dropped its first trailer for the series back in August, and has just followed up with a brand new second sneak peek. Given all of the above details — the cast, the concept, the place in the Star Wars timeline — plus the fact that the show hits in a matter of mere weeks, Disney isn't being quite as shy this time around. Expect space beasts, spaceship battles, bounty hunter dramas and folks getting frozen in carbonite in the new clip, as well as more of The Mandalorian's number one asset. Yes, that'd be Herzog and his inimitable voice, which once again get a workout in the latest trailer. Check out the new preview below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmI7WKrAtqs The Mandalorian will hit Disney+ when it launches Down Under on November 19.
Better known as The Spready, this Richmond haunt is home to all your pub necessities. Come for a decent selection of beers, live music, Sunday trivia and a really great parma. But unlike many other Melbourne pubs, the Spread Eagle Hotel doesn't just make a good parma and then leave it there. Instead, the kitchen pumps out a big mix of greasy eats and more refined dishes. Share some potato cakes, Korean fried chicken and beef sliders with your mates or try the melt-in-your-mouth braised lamb shank and the classic French coq au vin. And don't miss the sweet treats that include a big slice of Basque cheesecake, a sticky date pudding (perfect for winter) and a classic affogato served with your choice of liqueur. The Spread Eagle Hotel isn't reinventing the wheel, but it has nailed all the essential Melbourne pub elements. Images: AM Productions Appears in: The Best Pubs in Melbourne for 2023
The gift-buying season is about to ramp up. But with cost-of-living concerns putting the pinch on many households, not to mention the environmental cost of buying a bucketload of brand-new presents, taking a different approach might not be such a bad thing. That's where the secondhand superstore Vinnies comes in as we get ever-closer to Christmas. On now until Wednesday, December 24, the team is hosting the curated Good Gift Pop-Up Market from its Fitzroy digs. Featuring pre-loved collections across a huge range of categories, including ceramics, vintage books and retro glassware, there's every chance you'll discover a top-quality gift that's more thoughtful than most. "The rise of conscious gifting points to a new mindset, consumers are actively seeking ways to make their giving simpler, kinder and more sustainable," says Neil Harvey, General Manager, Retail at Vinnies Victoria. "It's a way to save money, find something thoughtful, and support vital community services at the same time." The value for shoppers is also off the charts, with customers who spend $40 in-store scoring a Vinnies Christmas Vault Card featuring $54 worth of credit for your next shop. With research from Vinnies Victoria revealing that nine out of ten people are open to receiving a pre-loved pressie, perhaps doing your wallet and the earth a favour is the way to go this festive season.
Spooky season has returned, a time of ghosts and ghouls, flirting with lolly-based diabetes and getting into the spirit by bingeing all things horror. Generally the impulse is to line up a movie marathon of monsters and murderers, but why not mix a little interactivity into your goosebump-inducing genre consumption this year? With horror being such a beloved creative territory there's a boundless wealth of frightening indie games around, but to help you dip your toe into the terrifying here's a list of six (aka 1/111th of the spookiest number possible) to try… if you dare. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF3ZIJccpj8[/embed] MUNDAUN Folk horror is not a genre that shows up much in the gaming world which seems to have an overwhelming preference for sci-fi scares and general supernatural gore. Swiss developers Hidden Fields decided to buck trends with Mundaun, a first-person exploration game rendered in hand-pencilled fashion. You play as Curdin, a man visiting a small village in the alpine foothills to pay his post-funeral respects to his grandfather after the old man perished in a barn fire. Only problem is, grandpa's grave is empty. As you delve into the mystery of what happened to gramps, you uncover a historical deal made under the duress of war that has cursed the village, and it's up to you to do something about it by poking around the town of Mundaun and its surrounds, speaking with its inhabitants, and indulging in some light puzzle solving. There's a pinch of survival horror mixed in too, so you'll need to manage limited ammo and weapons to deal with a variety of enemies, from animated straw men to undead soldiers. The game's striking aesthetic lends an uneasy air that feeds excellently into the surreal, foreboding setting, steeped in a confluence of Christianity and Paganism. There's nothing else quite like it, so make sure you play with the lights off for the best experience. Spookiness Rating: 7/10 Available on: PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Nintendo Switch [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBuh9afznMg[/embed] YUPPIE PSYCHO If you've ever drawn a salary as a corporate wage slave, Yuppie Psycho is going to speak to you on another level. This survival horror game, developed by French/Spanish team Baroque Decay, puts you in the shoes of Brian Pasternack, a nervous young man on his first day at Sintracorp. His job? Kill the witch that has cursed the company for years. You'll spend your time roaming the 10 floors of the company's headquarters, rendered in gloriously retro pixel art. Almost from the get-go, it's clear that something is deeply, deeply wrong. Most of your coworkers are slack jawed and dead eyed, responding with gibberish when you try to talk to them. Someone keeps painting messages on the wall in blood. There's a cemetery in the woods on the 8th floor, and a spider monster in the archives. Alongside all of this standard horror, the game deftly mixes in the anxiety and imposter syndrome that accompanies starting a new job, as well as the existential despair that comes from mandatory motivational meetings, dealing with the spectrum of irritating co-workers and navigating the forced, two-faced jollity of a professional environment. With multiple endings based on choices you make, and even two vastly different paths to get to the end, it's a game you can pick up and play again and again. Spookiness Rating: 6/10 Available on: PC/Mac, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Nintendo Switch [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe4gVfZ1Q2I[/embed] WORLD OF HORROR 'A little bit of HP Lovecraft, a little bit of Junji Ito' is a great recipe for the vibe of a horror game. WORLD OF HORROR by Polish solo dev panstasz takes place at the cusp of the apocalypse. The Old Gods are awakening, panic and madness are spreading, and monsters are stalking the streets of Shiokawa, the small Japanese town where the action takes place. The primary thrust of the game sees you investigating a series of strange occurrences. It's a roguelike, so the changing raft of cases means no two runs are exactly the same which gives the game great replayability. The turn-based combat leans towards the challenging side (hey, no one said the end of the world would be easy), but an RPG-esque upgrade system will help ease the stress of late-stage runs — provided you make smart choices. Plus it's primarily an adventure game, so if you fear fast-twitch gameplay there's nothing to worry about here... beyond everything else happening. The Junji Ito inspiration comes through heavily in the lineup of monsters, mirroring the manga artist's off-putting creations in throwback 1-bit graphics that look like they came straight off the page. Fans of Japanese horror will definitely want to give this one a whirl. Spookiness Rating: 9/10 Available on: PC/Mac, Console release coming October 26th [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naCeKfdPbTs[/embed] CRITTERS FOR SALE Critters For Sale is weird, man. No other way to put it. Created by solo developer Sonoshee, this blend of point-and-click adventure and visual novel is a heady, paranoid time, as compelling as it is mildly repulsive. Play through five nonlinear short stories linked by broad themes of good vs evil, time travel and black magic, with woozy, grainy 1-bit graphics that help to heighten the general feelings of discomfort and discombobulation. Some feature multiple endings based on choices you make, which encourages multiple playthroughs supported by quality-of-life features that skip you to key story points so you don't have to start at the beginning every time. Others hide secrets that will only make sense once you've explored all the stories. Each tale comes from the perspective of a different character, so you're never quite able to find a stable narrative footing as you navigate between them, boosting your sense of unease. It's a highly-advanced horror game that bucks the modern trend of blood and brutality for an ineffable surrealism, leaving an impression on you long after you've completed its twisted paths. The faint-of-heart need not apply. Spookiness Rating: 9/10 Available on: PC [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrRWb7tFxR8[/embed] DREDGE Oceans are terrifying. Out where the water is an almost-black blue, where anything could be lurking below... that's nightmare territory. This is the niche in which Dredge, by New Zealand's Black Salt Games, floats. You're a nameless fisherman, freshly arrived to the island town of Greater Marrow after a shipwreck left you with no memories. The mayor gives you a boat and a job as the community angler and off you go to complete missions for a variety of characters, some with more sinister motives than others. The crux of the game is its day/night cycle. When the sun is up, you can roam the waves with relative impunity. Once the dark arrives your panic metre starts to fill, which can lead to reality-altering hallucinations and death if you push your luck. That's not to mention the sea monsters that inhabit the archipelagos you'll visit, which will have you navigating coastlines in frenzied fear, searching for escape. Mix all the above with a raft of compelling gameplay mechanics, such as a variety of fishing mini-games, the Tetris-like cargo management system and 128 different types of fish to catch and catalogue, and you've got an experience will truly hook you in. Spookiness Raiting: 6/10 Available on: PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Nintendo Switch [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI9zBBTyX-E[/embed] LITTLE NIGHTMARES II The decision to include a sequel over the original game took a lot of soul searching. But ultimately, since the focus here is spooks and scares, Little Nightmares II takes the cake (it's also technically a prequel, but let's not get bogged down in details here). Developed by Swedish team Tarsier Studios, Little Nightmares II is a 2.5D puzzle platformer that is packed with peril. You're Mono, a young boy in a paper bag mask who, along with a mysterious young girl as a sidekick, must make your way through the decrepit, dank Pale City to uncover what lies inside the Signal Tower at its heart. Along the way you'll have a lot to deal with, such as the television-addicted inhabitants who fly into an incoherent rage if you sever their connection to the cathode ray tube. The strength of the game lies in its set pieces, each of which is a polished jewel of terror. Talk to anyone who has played Little Nightmares II previously and they can wax lyrical about the School, the Hospital, or the end sequence, which features a twist that will slap a gasp out of you. The character design is also outstanding, with the adult inhabitants of the world represented as twisted grotesqueries, exactly what you'd expect from the point of view of a child. With a gameplay loop centred on dying, learning and dying again, and an atmosphere that will keep your anxiety levels at a roiling boil, Little Nightmares II is a key addition to the game library of any horror fan. Spookiness Rating: 8/10 Available on: PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Nintendo Switch
Preston has been slowly but surely cementing its status as a primo booze destination of late. In late 2019, the suburb welcomed Moon Dog's mammoth new brewery and, a few months, it landed Melbourne's first fully functioning independent urban winery, courtesy of renowned label Jamsheed. The brand from winemaker Gary Mills has been operating out of the Yarra Valley since 2003, but it has never had a cellar door to call its own. At the end of 2019, inspired by similar venues he'd seen during time in Portland, USA, Mills moved operations entirely to Preston and his groundbreaking urban winery was born. "I figured if all the breweries and distilleries popping up in Melbourne at the moment can work, so would a winery," Mills said in a statement. Sitting on Albert Street — a handy stone's throw from both Moon Dog World and 3 Ravens Brewery — Jamsheed's new home takes the form of a two-level, 170-person warehouse space complete with a foliage-filled winery and tasting bar downstairs, and a separate spirits-focused dive bar above. [caption id="attachment_760170" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] It's a relaxed, industrial-style hangout that invites you to pull up a seat and get acquainted with some top-notch local wines, as you experience the sights, sounds and smells of a proper working winery. The whole catalogue of Jamsheed drops is on offer at the bar, including the newest releases, plus you'll find a hefty retail selection of take-home bottles. "We've been specifically cellaring something of everything we've made back to 2003 in order to be able to offer the full library through the winery and the cellar door," said Mills. There's also an assortment of craft beers and ciders from local mates such as Hop Nation and 3 Ravens, alongside a tidy range of homegrown artisanal spirits. Venture upstairs and you'll discover an even cosier escape, complete with free-to-play pool table, vinyl tunes and squashy retro couches. To eat, there's a menu of regularly changing snacks and mains by Josh Nicholson Catering, including the likes of steak tartare ($18), LP's pig's head sausage with pipis and sourdough ($20) and curried baby chats ($12) Images: Julia Sansone
Breaking away from the daily city grind is always a good idea. And getting your heart rate up while you explore regional areas is a top-notch way to do so. This doesn't mean you need to go a country mile to find some awesome mountain walks near Melbourne, though. Luckily for us, there are loads of trails not far from the city that can easily be completed within a day. Whether you're scaling jagged mountaintops or coastal trails, you'll be on top of the world when you reach the summit. Read on to find some of the very best mountain walks near Melbourne, where you'll find the most rewarding views throughout the hike. Recommended reads: The Best Coastal Walks Near Melbourne The Best One-Day Hikes Near Melbourne The Best Walks Around Metro Melbourne The Best Bike Rides in and Around Melbourne WERRIBEE GORGE CIRCUIT WALK Situated 65 kilometres west of Melbourne, the Werribee Gorge Circuit Walk is barely outside the city and can easily be finished with time left over to enjoy the rest of the day. The Victorian hike is ideal for those looking for a bit of a challenge with their fresh air. This mountain walk is an 8.5-kilometre circuit and should take around four hours to complete at a reasonable pace, including a few water breaks. The surface ranges from loose stones to sand, and has a few passes where you'll need to navigate your way using fixed ropes or scramble up some rock faces. You can approach the circuit in any direction, but as the trail is prone to flooding it's best to avoid going after heavy rain. [caption id="attachment_711282" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] James Walsh via Flickr[/caption] IRONBARK BASIN WALK Stretching for about eight kilometres between Bells Beach and Point Addis, the Ironbark Basin Walk is an inland adventure that includes beachfront sections, ocean views and sheltered forest. This relatively easy hike near Melbourne is based within the Great Otway National Park and features many of the natural highlights that the region is renowned for. It's also likely that you'll come across local fauna on your travels, including reptiles, native birdlife and even echidnas. Some of the most stunning views here are found at the Point Addis end, where three separate lookouts offer panoramic ocean views. In addition, the Ironbark Basin Walk highlights some compelling local history with the added Koorie Cultural Walk. The two-kilometre walking trail near Melbourne takes an hour and it provides insight into how the Wathaurong peoples lived here for thousands of years. [caption id="attachment_711285" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Larry Koester via Flickr[/caption] BUSHRANGERS BAY WALKING TRACK Head 90 minutes out of Melbourne and you'll find yourself at Bushrangers Bay, one of the many stunning inlets along Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula. And by taking a stroll down the Bushrangers Bay Walking Track, you'll get to survey the pristine beauty of the entire area. Featuring towering basalt cliffs and kilometres of wind-blasted coastal shrubbery, the landscape here has been punished over the years. But, fortunately, the 2.6-kilometre walk itself is rather easy, with a well-defined path winding its way along the cliff tops before arriving at the beachfront. While going for a swim here is a tempting prospect, keep in mind that the area is not patrolled and it's renowned for its perilous waves. It's recommended to only swim during low tide, so finish the mountain hike near Melbourne with time to spare and get the most out of your day. [caption id="attachment_657098" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] CATHEDRAL RANGE SOUTHERN CIRCUIT Like most of the Cathedral Ranges, the Southern Circuit walk is hilly, rocky and very beautiful. If you're up for a challenge with stunning rewards, head here to get a glimpse of the sprawling state park and landscape below. Located a two-hour drive from Melbourne, this Victorian mountain hike features steep outcrops, rigid caves and some precarious exposed hillside shelves. But if you decide to take on this 11-kilometre circuit, you'll soon discover that the region's wonderful vistas are pretty hard to beat. Just a few highlights include Wells Cave, the Razorback and Sugarloaf Peak, which, once you reach the summit, will provide you with 360-degree views of the entire valley below. This Victorian hike is definitely a trek for the more experienced adventurer. Before you venture out, check the Parks Victoria website for any local trail closures. YOU YANGS PEAK CIRCUIT The You Yangs Peaks Circuit is one of the more challenging Victorian hikes on this list — hikers not only need to be fit enough to reach the peak, but also require some basic off-track navigating skills to get there. Still, for those after a proper hiking challenge, this 12.8-kilometre, four-hour hike is a must-visit within a drivable distance of Melbourne. Leaving from the Turntable car park, hikers begin by climbing 450 steps to Flinders Peak, where views across You Yangs National Park and the distant landscape await as an early reward. But from here, things get a little bit more difficult as you head off-trail on your way to the summit. For those after a real nature challenge, expect a wealth of rock hopping and even some unassisted climbing to reach the top. But don't stress — if it all becomes a bit much, there are alternative routes you can take to avoid the more difficult sections. Top image: Cathedral Range State Park by Robert Blackburn via Visit Victoria
For actress and model Sarah Stephens, fashion has never been about following the rules. Instead, it's about experimentation, performance, and storytelling. Between her auditions, acting roles, modelling and events, the multi-hyphenated Australian often switches between characters and identities. Whether she's on set or scouring stores, Sarah sees style as an extension of her identity and career — a way to experiment. "Clothes are costumes to me. My everyday look is quite classic and feminine, but I'm not tied to one particular look. I like to experiment depending on my mood, event or character." Sarah's fluid approach to fashion mirrors her layered career. After winning the Girlfriend Magazine model search competition in 2006, the young girl from Sydney jetted to the glamorous world of fashion and modelling. "I sort of stumbled into modelling without a clear direction for my life, and soon found myself completely immersed in the fashion industry," Sarah tells Concrete Playground. [caption id="attachment_1028485" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Image by Declan May - Galaxy Z Flip7 is featured[/caption] From walking 14 shows at her debut New York Fashion Week to being photographed by famed German photographer Ellen Von Unwerth for Italian and Russian Vogue, Sarah hit dizzying international success early on in her career. In Europe, she was the face of Lacoste's Love of Pink campaign, and just a few months after her 18th birthday, the model walked a coveted international runway show. Reaching these milestones so quickly came at a cost, though. "It was all too much too soon. I burnt out. I couldn't cope with the loneliness and pressure," she reflects. "As a shy and conscientious kid thrown into a ruthless, cutthroat industry, you often find yourself vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse," says Sarah. "I often didn't question what photographers, agents or clients asked of me because I didn't want to seem rude or ungrateful." A young Sarah had to make a decision. Continue down the modelling route or head home and regroup. "I was struggling both physically and emotionally. Being far from home left me feeling incredibly lonely, and the constant pressure to maintain a certain size took a serious toll on my mental health." [caption id="attachment_1028486" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Image by Declan May[/caption] Sarah decided to head home to Australia and "reconnect with reality". It was during this time that Sarah stumbled upon another passion — acting. "I attended a summer course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art and discovered a deep passion for acting. It felt therapeutic, and the structure kept me engaged, challenged, and energised." Sarah's acting break came in the form of A24 movie The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers. Her proudest acting achievement, however, was playing Mary in The Flood, a four-person play that ran Off-Broadway in New York and at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. Now, as the actress reaches her mid-thirties and returns to the acting industry post-COVID and U.S. writers' strike shutdowns, Sarah is leaning into her self-expression. She's just finished shooting an independent film in which she portrays an ASIO detective and is currently working on a short film with a friend. "I love how acting lets me step into entirely different lives. I have a deep passion for storytelling and the immersive nature of film." When it comes to styling herself, Sarah believes that having an everyday uniform is overrated. For the actress and model, a wardrobe full of vintage blazers, polkadots, Mary Janes, and puffy-sleeved blouses means she can transform into whichever character she's tapping into (both on and off screen). "Every outfit I put on that day dictates the role I play. It could be bold and cinematic, or it could be soft and intimate and feminine." But, it's statement pieces, she says, that make you feel the most powerful. When we met with Sarah while she was sourcing clothes from For Artists Only, UTURN Bondi and Ekoluv for an upcoming event, the actress shared how technology is instrumental for her day-to-day life, schedule and also style exploration. "For someone like me who plays with identity and storytelling, technology has become this amazing bridge between imagination and reality," Sarah says of devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7. Powered by Google Gemini*, it's a handy tool for the on-the-go person with multiple passions. As for what's going into the model and actress' schedule next, the acting world's Sarah's oyster. "Hopefully something in a period drama or maybe even a supervillain. Time will tell, and that's exactly what makes this career so exciting," Sarah shares. Explore more at Samsung. *Gemini is a trademark of Google LLC. Gemini Live feature requires internet connection and Google Account login. Available on select devices and select countries, languages, and to users 18+. Fees may apply to certain AI features at the end of 2025. Gemini is a trademark of Google LLC. Requires internet connection and Google Account login. Works on compatible apps. Features may differ depending on subscription. Set up may be required for certain functions or apps. Accuracy of results is not guaranteed. Editing with Generative Edit results in a resized photo up to 12MP. Accuracy of results is not guaranteed. Results may vary per video depending on how sounds present in the video. Accuracy is not guaranteed. If you or anyone you know is experiencing emotional distress, please contact Lifeline (131 114) or Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) for help and support.
Even if plans for a globe-trotting overseas holiday aren't in the cards for you this year, there's an easy fix for your travel blues, and it's located just three hours south of Sydney in the picturesque South Coast region of Shoalhaven. With white sandy beaches and a breezy pace of life, this coastal stretch makes for a dream getaway destination, whenever you need a timeout from big city living. And it's brimming with beautiful stays located by the water, befitting your next, much-deserved break. We've done the hard work for you and rounded up 12 of the most blissful coastal escapes you can book in Shoalhaven. Choose a winner, pack that swimsuit and get set for a hard-earned beachside getaway. Recommended reads: The Best Places to Go Glamping in NSW The Best Tiny Houses You Can Book Around NSW The Best Hotels in Sydney The Best Places to Stay in the Blue Mountains Bayview Magnificent, Mollymook Beach This cheery coastal getaway boasts its own backyard pool and space for the whole gang. Plus, a top-notch deck, overlooking North Mollymook Beach. From $270 a night, sleeps 12. Escape at Shady Acres, Narrawallee Soak up the serenity at this self-contained coastal retreat, featuring thoughtful modern touches, private sunny backyard and a primo location close to Narrawallee Beach. From $446 a night, sleeps eight. Drop In, Bendalong Break from reality with a stay at this gorgeously updated 50s beach cottage, rocking a suite of luxurious features, plus firepit and outdoor tub. From $392 a night, sleeps two. Banniester Head Cottage, Mollymook Beach A breezy modern cottage, boasting absolute ocean frontage. Unwind in style, with luxe furnishings, epic views and an in-ground pool overlooking the water. From $750 a night, sleeps four. Atra, Callala Beach This is the kind of stunning beachfront home you'll never want to leave. Enjoy luxurious, group-friendly spaces, dedicated media room and private beach access. From $1553 a night, sleeps 12. Barefoot, Callala Beach A luxe, modern riff on the classic beach house, with open-plan living spaces spilling right out onto private lawn and sandy shoreline. From $900 a night, sleeps four. Izba, Callala Bay Revel in your own Mediterranean-inspired paradise right on Callala Bay. This one's a lofty pad with dreamy outlook, luxury features and absolute water frontage. From $867 a night, sleeps nine. Gorgeous Beachside Cottage, Vincentia With its stylish fit-out and peaceful setting amongst sandy shoreline and natural bushland, this beachside bungalow makes for an idyllic couples' coast escape. From $229 a night, sleeps two. Cloud Nine Luxury Villa, Vincentia This architectural stunner boasts an incredible outlook over Jervis Bay, with luxurious interiors to match. Expect high-end features and a stunning deck for soaking up those views. From $690 a night, sleeps six. The River Retreat, Sussex Inlet A pet-friendly holiday paradise, set right on the river's edge. This one's got a breezy indoor-outdoor set-up with sunny waterfront lawn and its own private jetty. From $632 a night, sleeps six. The Old Bottleshop, Currarong If you're after irresistible ocean views, direct beach access and a bright, modern pad to unwind in, this is it. Pool table and roomy verandahs, included. From $814 a night, sleeps eight. Prince Edward Escape, Culburra Beach Metres from the sand, with newly renovated interiors, an enviable outdoor set-up and a separate studio apartment, this chic coastal cottage is a summer holiday dream. From $665 a night, sleeps eight. Top image: Atra FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
In summer, Brico's sun-dappled courtyard is the place to be. If you've been to former local favourite Little Andorra, you'll be familiar with it — Brico sits in the very same spot. Nestled in an unobtrusive corner spot along Nicholson Street in Fitzroy North, 30-seater Brico is a worthy addition to the coterie of wine bars in Melbourne's inner north. The space was conceived in 2024, by five friends who met in London a decade ago. The service here is underpinned by the owners' collective experience at spots like Embla, Bar Liberty and Carlton Wine Room. The wine list focuses on minimal intervention drops from small local and international producers, while the cocktails lean classic like a house Martini shaken with Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin, a yuzu-forward Highball and an Italian vermouth Spritz. Created by Simon Ball-Smith, the European-inspired food offering is designed for sharing and stars seasonal produce from small local suppliers. Expect fresh dishes like devilled crab on fried green tomato; vongole steamed with fregola, vermouth, spinach and cream; and rock flathead from Corner Inlet wrapped in fig leaves with a tomatillo chermoula. To finish, the adorably-named choccy pot with blueberry is a decadent end, or opt for a chilled shot of herbal liqueur as a digestif. Images supplied
After a particularly devastating bushfire season, the Blue Mountains community is calling everyone to come #BacktoBilpin. The community and its local businesses have been hit by not only the fires, but also by a drop in tourism during what should have been one of the busiest times of the year. While, devastatingly, some 80 percent of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area has been burned, there's still plenty of areas to explore, wildlife to spot and fresh produce to devour. So, put that esky in your boot, get out of Sydney and head to the land of the mountain apple. For this trip, you won't be going through Katoomba and Leura, but taking the historic Bells Line of Road. Here, you'll find tasty food, warm hospitality, cute cabins and many outdoor activities throughout Bilpin and its neighbours Kurrajong, Berambing and Mount Tomah. Here's our guide for what to check out while you're there. EAT AND DRINK [caption id="attachment_760286" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hillybilly Cider by Destination NSW[/caption] Bilpin is all about them apples. There are probably more orchards here than people. Set out on a drive along the Bells Line of Road, stopping for fresh apples, juice, cider and pie along the way. Keep an eye out for the big Bilpin Fruit Bowl, where you can pick your own fruit or enjoy a hot-from-the-oven apple pie (or peach if you're really lucky) and a glass of fresh juice. Stop for a tipple at Hillbilly Cider and Bilpin Cider (both of which offer non-alcoholic options for the deso drivers), pick some more fruit at Pine Crest Orchard and have a burger for lunch at Maggie Lou's Bite. The Hive just up the road in Berambing is definitely worth a stop for some Bilpin bush honey and a good coffee. For more substantial bites, there are plenty of options in the area, most of which come with spectacular views of the Blue Mountains and the foothills. In nearby Kurrajong, stop at The Village Kitchen for brekkie and a squiz at the on-site art gallery — this cute little spot also offers dinner on Fridays and Saturdays, and often has live music to set the tone. For dinner, Kurrajong Heights is home to Archibald Hotel — which serves up modern gastropub classics with a side of sweeping Sydney views — and Lochiel House, for something a little more refined. Try the pan-fried ricotta gnocchi with pickled mushroom, and the miso-glazed lamb rump with local apple kimchi. The Potager Mount Tomah is right in the heart of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden (which was thankfully saved from the fires) and a must-visit. The restaurant has an unrivalled aspect, from its terrace draped in wisteria vines — perfect for brekkie or lunch whilst out for a day exploring the gardens. DO [caption id="attachment_760285" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mount Wilson by Destination NSW[/caption] While Bilpin is best-known for its produce, there's plenty more to explore. And while no one will judge you for spending the entire weekend ticking off every farm gate on this Hawkesbury Harvest Experience list, it would be a shame not to get out in nature. We know you're already planning a trip to The Potager, so the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden in Mount Tomah should definitely be on your must-visit list. While much of the vegetation surrounding the garden was affected by the bushfires, much of the Living Collection was able to be saved, including some of the garden's rarest plant species. The garden has become a safe haven for much of the area's wildlife, so there are lots of birds around and new blooms to be seen. A lot of the hikes around the Grose Valley and north of the Bells Line of Road are still closed due to safety reasons, but Walls Lookout is now open and has a must-see view. Take the turnoff for Pierces Pass Picnic Area just past Mount Tomah, park your car, and walk down to the lookout (it's an hour return) for breathtaking vistas over the Megalong Valley. If you don't mind the hour drive from Bilpin to the Blackheath area, we also recommend a visit to Govetts Leap Lookout, Evans Lookout and the Grand Canyon track. [caption id="attachment_760280" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mount Tomah by Destination NSW[/caption] Although the glow worm tunnel walking track in Wollemi National Park is currently closed, you can still see the magic little creatures with a Blue Mountains Glow Worm Tour on private property near Mount Tomah and Bilpin. If you've got time to spare and want to do even more to help the local community, you can register to volunteer for bushfire recovery with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service or spend a day helping rebuild the Zig Zag Railway, which was still being restored following the 2013 bushfires when it was again burned over Christmas and New Year. [caption id="attachment_757913" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eden Farm Escape[/caption] STAY One of the remarkable things about Bilpin is that it never feels like you're only 90 kilometres from the hustle and bustle of the city, it's a proper nature retreat. Escape to Rustic Spirit for a weekend in a secluded bushland cabin or treetop pavilion on the edge of the Wollemi National Park. You can also book a package with inclusions like couples massages, meals, picnic hampers and champagne. If you'd prefer a farmstay on a 90-acre property, Bilpin's Eden Farm Escape is offering 50 percent off its rates if you can get there in February 2020. Make yourself at home on a lush five-acre hobby farm in Mount Tomah. Spend some time with the animals that have also found refuge at Tomah Retreat (like Flora the pig), taste some of the fruit, nuts and vegetables grown in the garden, and find peace in the living labyrinth. And, to live your best Instagram life, Wollemi Love Cabins are almost too beautiful to be believed. Spend a night under the stars in a luxury teepee that comes complete with a spa bath ensuite, or be right among the trees in a private cabin or studio with a bath right out in nature on the deck. Top images: Destination NSW.
With a healthy dose of South American influence, plenty of bold Latin flavours and a touch of modern Aussie flair, Elwood's new all-day tapas bar has the answer to all those winter cravings you're feeling right now. Setting up shop in a dynamic indoor-outdoor space on Ormond Road, Repeat Offender is a breezy bayside newcomer with an added bonus up its sleeve — the entire food menu is gluten free. In the kitchen, Mexican Head Chef Adrian Gonzalez is set on shaking some perceptions by offering a new spin on Latin American fare. He's pushing the envelope by fusing flavours from across America with a few international influences and distinctly local twists. By day, the offering's all about small bites and coffees, enjoyed on the terrace seating overlooking Elsternwick Park. And come dinner, you're in for a feast of lively dishes, kicking off with tapas-style numbers like barramundi tacos ($8), yellowfin tuna ceviche tostadas ($15) and crisp patatas bravas matched with soy aioli and a chilli salsa ($12). Queensland king prawns are covered in garlic, guajillo chilli and micro herbs ($26) , while Sydney rock oysters are paired with a vibrant coriander foam ($4). Heartier appetites can expect plates like wild-caught kangaroo with pasilla chilli salsa ($26) or free-range chicken teamed with cardamom sweet potato purée and a Peruvian spiced adobo sauce ($24). And yep, there's zero gluten among any of it. Repeat Offender's drinks offering is every bit as lively, pouring a solid spread of wines from Australia, France and Spain, alongside an expansive selection of agave spirits and other Latin American drops. You'll find an Aussie-led handful of crisp beers, and a strong lineup of cocktails heroing rum and tequila. Treat yourself to a South American holiday by way of a tequilla, Rinquinquin peach aperitif, campari and dried peach creation reminiscent of a negroni ($22), or a frozen margarita with optional chilli ($16).
Every December, fans of sparkling sights are gifted a luminous feast for their eyes. No, we're not talking about Christmas lights. Regardless of whether you're bathing in a festive glow or hardly fond of all the merriment, 'tis the season for the Geminids meteor shower to soar through the sky. It began on Wednesday, December 4 and finishes for 2024 on Friday, December 20. Even better: Down Under, it's at its peak on the evening of Friday, December 13 and the morning of Saturday, December 14. If you have a telescope at hand, it's clearly a great time to put it to use. Eager to catch a glimpse, even from just your backyard or balcony? Here's everything you need to know. [caption id="attachment_927790" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A composite of 88 photos taken over 60 minutes during the Geminids by Paul Balfe via Flickr.[/caption] What Is It? Lighting up the end-of-year skies, the Geminids meteor shower is considered the most spectacular meteor shower of the year. Again, Christmas lights aren't the only spectacle worth peering at this month. The Geminids is caused by a stream of debris, left by an asteroid dubbed the 3200 Phaethon, burning up in Earth's atmosphere — and it was first observed in 1862. Some years, you can catch as many as 150 meteors every 60 minutes, so this definitely isn't just any old meteor shower. [caption id="attachment_882304" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ESO/G. Lombardi via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] When to See It The 2024 shower kicked off on Wednesday, December 4, and runs through till Friday, December 20. As with every year, it's at its peak in Australia overnight mid-month — between Friday, December 13–Saturday, December 14, specifically. If you fancy a stint of stargazing, the best time to look up is on Saturday, December 14 from around 3.08am in Brisbane, 3.30am in Perth, 4.01am in Sydney, 4.13am in Melbourne and 4.18am in Adelaide — all local time. [caption id="attachment_699423" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Jeff Dai.[/caption] How to See It For your best chances, it's worth getting as far away from bright lights as possible. This could be a good excuse to head out of the city to a clear-skied camping spot — and pray for no clouds. To see the meteors, you'll need to give your eyes around 15–30 minutes to adapt to the dark (so try to avoid checking your phone) and look to the northeast. The shower's name comes from the constellation from which they appear to come, Gemini. So that's what you'll be looking for in the sky. To locate Gemini, we recommend downloading the Sky Map app — it's the easiest way to navigate the night sky (and is a lot of fun to use even on a non-meteor shower night). If you're more into specifics, Time and Date also has a table that shows the direction and altitude of the Geminids. The Geminids meteor shower runs until Friday, December 20, 2024 and will be at its peak during the night on Friday, December 13–Saturday, December 14. For further details, head to Time and Date. Top image: Asim Patel via Wikimedia Commons.
It's no secret we love a swimming hole. From Sydney to Melbourne to Brisbane and even over to Perth, we spend our spare January days driving in search of a swimmable body of water, and the other seasons eagerly awaiting the ripeness of summer. And the best part is that this country is full of swimming spots unique to our sunburnt landscape, both on rugged coast and hidden inland among bush and desert rocks. Caroline Clements and Dillion Seitchick-Reardon visited a whole heap of them as 'research' for their book, Places We Swim. While the book collates handy information about 60 pools, lakes, beaches and gorges across the country, here, they detail five of the stunning spots that you should most definitely plan a road trip around before summer ends. Recommended reads: The Best Australian Beaches The Best Australian Islands to Visit Anytime of the Year The Best Glamping Spots in Australia The Best Pet-Friendly Hotels in Australia Clarence Dam, Blue Mountains, NSW Dressed in native gumtrees, the landscape here feels like true blue Australiana. Around Christmas time, the tea tree near the waterline turns white, like it's somehow snow-covered in the middle of summer. The reserve is home to two disused railway dams (that feel like lakes) built to supply water for steam engines, and is still bordered at the north side by a functioning western railway corridor. But the Crown Land area is now used mostly for public recreation such as bushwalking, rock climbing, canyoning and swimming. Swimmers are in for a treat. Huge pieces of ironstone protrude out of the water in soft shapes of all sizes, like artful, abstract sculptures. It's not the water that makes this swimming hole great, it's the rock. Some have an architectural quality, which starts to make a lot of sense when we remember we were brought here by an architect. The water is cool and deep, and we swim from a low entry point over to a large ten-metre-high wall. The drop is sheer; it's also a rite of passage for local teenagers. We're about 20 years older than most, but we take the deep plunge into the cool freshwater below, slapping the water with our feet first. In other sections there are rope swings tied to tree branches at different heights, but this is no amateur set-up. There are various jumps that range from your standard rope swing to full-on carnival trapeze, none of which should be taken lightly. If jumping isn't your thing, floating down the river in an inflatable ring might be. How far? The dam is located in the Blue Mountains, close to Lithgow — about a two-hour drive from Sydney. Little Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia The pool sits in an unassuming paddock about 15 kilometres south of Mount Gambier, looking a little lonely and out of place. It makes more sense when you learn that Baby Blue is a sinkhole, formed by the gradual collapse of an underground cave. The pool has an average depth of about 35 metres and it isn't unusual (but it is a little creepy) to see the odd diver suddenly emerge from below. In fact, this area is one of the best inland diving destinations in the world, with a Swiss-cheese network of 500 underground caves and 50 sinkholes to explore. For our purposes, however, surface swimming is just about the right speed. Sheer 10-metre limestone walls make this an iconic South Australian jump and a rite of passage among locals. Like many places, signs forbid jumping here and there are murmurs of council-enforced fines, though nobody seems too concerned. Jump at your own discretion. Alternatively, take the steps down from the carpark side of the pool to a shiny new pontoon. This makes for a more gentle entry and is an easy introduction to the cool water. A few natural terraces extend back towards the road, providing a great vantage to sit and watch, like a swimming amphitheatre. How far? The lake is located just south of Mount Gambier — about a five-hour drive from both Melbourne and Adelaide. Josephine Falls, Wooroonooran National Park, Queensland It could only be described as lust when we laid eyes on this series of tiered granite rock pools and waterfalls just south of Cairns in Wooroonooran National Park. This lush mountainous land, right on the coast, covers 75,000 hectares of the Bellenden Ker Range and forms part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area. The range includes Mt Bartle Frere, Queensland's highest mountain (1622 metres). Josephine Falls sits at the base, with a constant flow from streams that cascade down the mountain, creating some of the cleanest waterways in the world. There are three spots to stop along this boardwalk. The first is where you get in to swim. We find people sitting and chatting in crystal clear shallow pools, while others laze on big boulders in the dappled light. The biggest rock pool has a sandy bottom and is bordered by a giant piece of slippery granite that people are queueing up at to slide down, some wearing inflatable iced strawberry doughnuts. Scrambling further up takes you to more rocky slides into smaller pools, and families splashing about and fishing for yabbies. The second stop is a deck that looks over the rock pools onto swimmers below. Continuing along the rainforest walk takes you to the third stop, a large viewing platform looking up to a flowing waterfall with a deep plunge pool. It's probably the most impressive of them all but, unfortunately, is not open to public swimming. How far? The falls are located in Tropical North Queensland — about an hour south of Cairns. Bushrangers Bay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria This basalt coastline is quite unlike anywhere else in the area, or even the state. Volcanic black rocks emerge from clear blue water. Deep pools are filled at high tide and slowly warm throughout the day. It has a distinct look and feel, so you can imagine how our eyes popped out of our heads when we saw this secret spot featured in the 2009 film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Indeed, it seems like a natural place for a wild rumpus, and you will see lots of kangaroos if you arrive early in the morning. Don't be surprised to see waves exploding onto the beach, as it is exposed to a constant barrage of swells from the south. We prefer the safety and beauty of the nearby tidal rock pools. Follow the beach east towards the rocky headlands. The most prominent feature is Elephant Rock and the best pools are distributed around its base, on the left-hand side. Water is always clear here and often a few degrees warmer than the ocean – Victoria's version of a spa bath. Remember, this is a low-tide-only spot, so take a moment to make sure that rogue waves aren't crashing into the pools before jumping in. Otherwise you may suddenly find yourself inside a washing machine or heading out to sea. How far? The bay is located on the Mornington Peninsula — about an hour and a half from Melbourne. Emma Gorge, The Kimberley, Western Australia The dramatic Emma Gorge falls pour over a 65-metre-high cliff into a large plunge pool, punctuating the end of the 1.6-kilometre hike in. The track begins at Emma Gorge Resort, and winds past the deep Turquoise Pool (also a great spot to swim, which we take note of for later) before arriving at the falls. The water is refreshingly cool, shaded by the looming cliffs for most of the day. Tourists dribble in and out, dropping piles of clothes on rocks as they stare up at the falls in awe before shocking their hot, sweaty bodies with the water's cool, pristine touch. The plunge pool is deep and wide with a rocky bottom, but the water is so clear and fresh, you could drink it. We bliss out for a few hours before making out way back along the track past Turquoise Pool, where we take another plunge. The surface water here is lit up by the sun, giving it the turquoise colours it's named for, while people gather at the fringes to cool off. A rock jump begs us to plunge from a height rather than scramble over a slippery entry. Emma Gorge is one of the most incredible places we've been, even late in the season when the water isn't flowing at its best. How far? The gorge is located just west of Kununurra — about halfway between Broome and Darwin. This is an edited extract from Places We Swim by Caroline Clements and Dillion Seitchick-Reardon, published by Hardie Grant Travel. Images: Dillon Seitchick-Reardon.
The best steaks in Melbourne aren't only found in luxury steakhouses. French bistros cook up a mean steak frites. Argentinian grills know exactly how to treat all kinds of cuts before throwing them on the flames. And there are some great gastropubs serving up affordable steaks that rival many a fine-diner in the city. That being said, when you want to try the best steak in Melbourne, you should expect to pay handsomely for it. Many of these joints source only the best (and most expensive) cuts of meat from around Australia and abroad. Top-grade wagyu makes it onto a few Melbourne steak menus, perfectly marbled and cooked with love. Pair it all with the right wine (sommeliers abound at these steak restaurants, too) or change it up with sake and tequila instead. Whatever the best steak in Melbourne looks like to you, these spots will have you sorted. Recommended reads: The Best Burgers in Melbourne The Best Seafood in Melbourne The Best Sunday Roasts in Melbourne The Best Restaurants in Melbourne
The beginning of a new year isn't solely about deciding how you'd like to change your life for the better. That's just one January tradition. Another: plotting out where around the world you'd like to travel to across the 12 months to come. Arriving mere days into 2024, The New York Times' annual '52 Places to Go' list is a handy guide for inspiration — including for Down Under spots earning global recognition. After 2023's list included Auckland, Kangaroo Island and Australia's Red Centre to soak in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park's wonders, 2024's counterpart features New Zealand by train, the entire state of Tasmania and Queensland capital city Brisbane. Experiencing Aotearoa's charms by rail placed fourth, while the Apple Isle came in at 29 and Brissie took 39th spot. The NYT gave a 17-day journey across NZ some love for being "a simpler and more sustainable way" to see the country, calling out stops at "transcendent sites like the volcanic peaks of Tongariro National Park and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum" to begin with. Also earning a mention: getting the ferry to the South Island, then taking "a ride through world-class vineyards and along the jagged coast", plus whale- and dolphin-watching in Christchurch, before hitting the Southern Alps for "views to white-capped peaks, rushing rivers and alpine lakes". Tasmania earned its placing for enabling visitors to get out in nature via guided walks, celebrate Indigenous culture and focus on local produce. Taking a three-day trek across Bruny Island, foraging for wattle seeds and pepperberries, and chef Analiese Gregory's wild-cooking dishes all scored a specific callout. Brisbane keeps popping up on lists like this lately — see also: travel guide Frommer's, which also named the city one of 2024's best spots to visit; TIME, which put it on its world's greatest places list for 2023; and the World's Best 50 Hotels, which picked The Calile as its only Australian and Oceanic entry in its inaugural countdown in 223 — and the obvious reason was called out in the NYT's first sentence. Yes, that'd be hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Queen's Wharf precinct and its towering Sky Deck, restaurant Agnes and the Brisbane Powerhouse — including eating dinner hanging off the side of the building at vertical dining experience Vertigo, and the upcoming Melt OPEN queer arts fest — all were singled out. So was The Calile, which is clearly Brissie's most-famous hotel. [caption id="attachment_921654" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Markus Ravik[/caption] Topping the '52 Places to Go' rankings for 2024: North America's path of totality, where a total solar eclipse will be take over the skies in April, followed by Paris — the host of the 2024 Olympics — and Yamaguchi in Japan. Maui in Hawaii rounded out the top five, while Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni in Arizona (the sacred Indigenous land around the Grand Canyon), Singapore, O'Higgins in Chile, Ladakh in India and Geneva in Switzerland filled the rest of the top ten. Across the full 52 picks, Manchester in England, Negombo in Sri Lanka, Morocco, Lake Toba in Indonesia and Ireland's Waterford also featured. So did Mustang in Nepal, Vienna in Austria, the Albanian Alps and Flamingo in Florida — and plenty more spots to instantly put on your must-visit list. For The New York Times' full 52 Places to Go list for 2024, head to the publication's website. Top image: Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Easily the best-kept secret of rooftops, Wolf's Lair at Jimmy Watson's is a Carlton oasis popular with students and connoisseurs alike. Nestled in behind Lygon and Elgin Streets, its rooftop is a tranquil cul-de-sac concealed amongst the terrace gables. Astroturf, market umbrellas and lanterns decorate the 'treetop', making it an ideal spot to go for cocktails by the jug. Check out our full list of the ten best rooftop bars in Melbourne.
In Osaka and Hollywood, it's now possible to live out your wildest Super Mario Bros dreams, all thanks to Super Nintendo theme parks that look like the plumber-filled games come to life — and even include IRL Mario Kart. Without heading out of Australia, you can also slip into pop culture's favourite speedy vehicles, albeit just for a few days at 2023's Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. With The Super Mario Bros Movie about to hit cinemas, the flick has teamed up with the racing event to display a life-sized — and very real — Mario Kart in the F1's family zone. That area is named after the film, too, so setting up the only actual Mario Kart in the country was always going to be as pivotal as avoiding banana peels on any track. We believe that Mario said it best: let's go! [caption id="attachment_895402" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mario Kart at the Grand Prix Albert Park Melbourne. Wednesday, March 29, 2023.[/caption] On display from Thursday, March 30–Sunday, April 2, ready for Mario Kart lovers to sit in and take snaps in aplenty, the vehicle does come with one big caveat: it doesn't race. So, you won't be putting pedal to the metal while you're in it. And no, there's no rainbow road to slide along. But everyone who has ever played the racing game in its many guises — on the many various Nintendo devices that the game has popped up on over the years, not to mention Google Maps, mobile phones and reality elsewhere — is well-versed at pretending. The retro-fitted kart is for kidults and kids alike, and part of the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit's feast of family-friendly activities alongside a ferris wheel, bungee trampolines, Assistance Dogs Australia's puppy races and pooch belly rubs, and an AFL Auskick clinic. Live tunes, food trucks and screens showing the F1 action are also on offer within the precinct. [caption id="attachment_895404" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mario Kart at the Grand Prix Albert Park Melbourne. Wednesday, March 29, 2023.[/caption] The Super Mario Bros Movie Family Zone is ticketed, and scoring a park pass is recommended as the best way to head along. If you choose to wear overalls, or don a red or green cap, that's entirely up to you As for The Super Mario Bros Movie itself, it hits cinemas on Wednesday, April 5. Chris Pratt (The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special) voices the Italian plumber, Jack Black (Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood) does the same with Bowser, while Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) plays Luigi — alongside Anya Taylor-Joy (The Menu) as Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu), Seth Rogen (The Fabelmans) as Donkey Kong, Keegan- Michael Key (Wendell & Wild) as Toad, plus Fred Armisen (Wednesday) as Cranky Kong. Check out the trailer for The Super Mario Bros Movie below: Find the IRL Mario Kart at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, in The Super Mario Bros Movie Family Zone, from Thursday, March 30–Sunday, April 2. Top image: © 2023 Nintendo and Universal Studios.
We're not 100 percent sure if The Boatbuilders Yard space is considered a beer garden, but it sure is pretty. Located right on the harbour at South Wharf, this waterside bar is the place to go if you like your food and drinks served with a view. Designed by Six Degrees architects — the same people behind Auction Rooms and De Clieu — the venue operates with a functional simplicity that's refreshing to stumble upon on a summer's day. And, owned by the same people behind Riverland, the venue has some decent bar know-how. Aside from the extensive wine list, punters can look forward to pitchers of summer cocktails including a Spiced Rum Cooler, Aperol Spritz and the classic Pimms No. 1. Food is also on the menu these days. Expect a solid brunch menu and a selection of seafood-focused lunch and dinner options that include Al Pastor tacos ($18), a soft shell crab burger ($34) and sticky lamb ribs ($22). With great food like this, The Boatbuilders Yard is the perfect place to go when you're in search of a long lunch or dinner in summer — soak up the sun and city views on one of the large wooden tables. Head to The Boatbuilders Yard website to book your sun-soaked table for brunch, lunch or dinner.
For most, thinking about surrealism means imagining melted clocks, sky-high elephants, cloud-filled eyes and giant apples. Thanks to Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, they're some of the art movement's most-enduring images. While Australia is no stranger to exhibitions about the former, the Art Gallery of New South Wales is currently hosting the nation's first-ever retrospective dedicated to the latter, complete with some of the Belgian artist's best-known pieces. Magritte opened on Saturday, October 26, 2024 as part of the 2024–25 Sydney International Art Series, and runs until Sunday, February 9, 2025 as a Harbour City exclusive. If you're keen to peruse this stunning collection of the surrealist's work, you'll need to see it in the New South Wales capital. More than 100 pieces feature, with 80-plus of them paintings — and if you need proof of why he's considered one of the most-influential figures in 20th-century surrealism, it's all over AGNSW's walls. Stare at The False Mirror at Magritte, for instance, and you'll see an instantly recognisable masterwork that's as dreamy as art gets — all while the masterpiece of a painting from 1929 peers right back. One of Magritte's most-famous creations, it features a massive eye looking at the viewer, while also filled with a cloudy blue sky. It's an unforgettable work, and it's one of the stars of AGNSW's exhibition. Another striking painting that can be gazed upon currently in Sydney: Golconda, Magritte's 1953 work that brings two other pieces of popular culture to mind. Just try not to think about Mary Poppins and The Weather Girls' song 'It's Raining Men' while you feast your eyes on the sight of bowler hat-wearing men streaming down from the heavens. Then there's 1952's The Listening Room (La Chambre d'Écoute), which shows an oversized apple, its green flesh filling an entire room. Fruit might be a regular still-life subject, but there's nothing standard about Magritte's use of apples throughout his art. Like bowler hats, they're among his favourite motifs. Archival materials, photographs and films also feature, in a showcase that's filled with the expected highlights — 1928's The Lovers, 1933's The Human Condition, 1947's The Liberator, 1951's The Kiss and 1954's The Dominion of Light among them — but also probes deeper than the works that everyone immediately knows by sight. Visitors embark on a chronological journey through Magritte's career, starting with his avant-garde early efforts in the 20s, then covering four decades from there. "Many years in the making and drawing upon our unsurpassed international network of collaborative partners, Magritte considers the towering artist's innovative contributions to the broader surrealism movement, while also highlighting the uniqueness and individuality of his artistic vision," explained Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Dr Michael Brand, when Magritte opened in October. "Fundamental to this exhibition is our anticipation to share not only the well-known paintings you would expect to see in a Magritte retrospective but also to shine a light on some surprising aspects of his artistic output, particularly from the period when the artist, working from occupied Belgium during and immediately after the Second World War, created some of the most intriguing and subversive paintings of his career," Brand continued. "Magritte was ahead of his time. He saw himself as a 'painter of ideas' and his legacy extends far beyond the world of art. Today we find his work echoed in diverse creative fields, from fiction and philosophy to cinema and advertising. We can imagine his delight at the ways in which his images continue to circulate and take on new meanings in the 21st century," added Nicholas Chambers, the exhibition's curator as well as Art Gallery of New South Wales' Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary International Art. [caption id="attachment_959955" align="alignnone" width="1920"] René Magritte 'Golconda (Golconde)' 1953, oil on canvas, 80 x 100.3 cm, The Menil Collection, Houston, V 414 © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo: Paul Hester.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_959956" align="alignnone" width="1920"] René Magritte 'The listening room (La chambre d'écoute)' 1952, oil on canvas, 45.2 x 55.2 cm, The Menil Collection, Houston, gift of Fariha Friedrich, 1991-53 DJ © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo: Adam Baker.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_959954" align="alignnone" width="1920"] René Magritte 'The false mirror (Le faux miroir)' 1929, oil on canvas, 54 x 80.9 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 133.1936 © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo © The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence 2024.[/caption] Magritte is on display at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, Sydney, until Sunday, February 9, 2025. Head to the gallery website for tickets and further details. Installation images: installation of the Magritte exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 26 October 2024 – 9 February 2025, artworks © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mim Stirling.
Dappled shade, fluffy clouds, fruity drinks and a picnic basket stuffed with cheese — as far as outdoor socialising goes, it's hard to beat a sunny picnic at a great local park. Winter's done and dusted, and we'll take any chance we can get to enjoy Melbourne al fresco. The only downside is having to make a decision. The city has so many cracking parks and gardens that at times, it can be a little hard to choose. To help you out, we've rounded up the prettiest open-air haunts for your next park hang — best enjoyed with a picnic rug, some good company, and a few choice eats and drinks from somewhere local. Pack a picnic and check out this lineup of Melbourne's most idyllic parks. Recommended reads: The Best Melbourne Parks Where You Can BYO Booze The Best Outdoor Pools in Melbourne The Best Walks in and Around Melbourne The Best Beaches in Melbourne [caption id="attachment_702340" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Royal Botanic Gardens What many would deem the crown jewel of Melbourne parks, the Royal Botanic Gardens boasts all the quintessential features, from manicured lawns interspersed with a huge, colourful variety of flora to winding footpaths and duck-filled ponds. Encompassing 38 hectares of prime space just south of the CBD, this one's a true outdoor oasis that's home to picnic spots galore. Pick a setting — perhaps a shady tree-lined grove or some picturesque waterfront turf — and settle in. Stretching your legs post-picnic? A short wander through the gardens will take you to historic sights like the Melbourne Conservatory and the Guilfoyle's Volcano wetlands. You'll also find some free-to-use barbecues located along the Yarra River with epic views of the city skyline. [caption id="attachment_706394" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Friends of St Kilda Botanical Garden.[/caption] St Kilda Botanical Gardens A serene green escape from the buzz of St Kilda's beachside stretch and nearby Acland Street, the St Kilda Botanical Gardens are a picnicker's dream. Registered with Heritage Victoria and created way back in the 1800s, the site is home to a whopping 810 mature tree specimens, including numerous iterations of the suburb's iconic towering palms. Pull up a patch overlooking the pond and solar-powered 'Rain Man' fountain, and kick back with some al fresco eats courtesy of one of the many nearby eateries. There are plenty of other fun features to check out while you're here, too, including the conservatory. [caption id="attachment_706399" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Edinburgh Gardens The smallest glimmer of sunshine and Edinburgh Gardens instantly becomes the inner-north's outdoor destination of choice, with people flocking to appreciate its tree-lined pockets and green expanses. Spread across 24 hectares, it's pure picnicking gold, complete with shady trees, sun-drenched lawns, barbecue facilities, a skate park and a sprawling off-leash dog zone for those four-legged visitors. Here, clinking drinks among the flower beds is allowed from 9am to 9pm each day, and you'll find loads of venues within strolling distance where you can stock up on supplies. Try Piedimonte's for snacks and cheese, or Blackhearts & Sparrows (Fitzroy North) for that all-important booze run. [caption id="attachment_706398" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Cranbourne Botanical Gardens When you're in the mood for a little jaunt out of the city, Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens deserves a spot high on that picnic hit list. Not only does it have all of those prized park fixtures — sweeping grassed patches, walking tracks, barbecues and picture-perfect scenery — but it's home to an award-winning Australian garden with a renowned collection of plants. Set over an impressive 15 hectares and with a waterway winding through its heart, the garden showcases a huge array of native flora and fauna, alongside various landscapes from across the country. And with stacks of rare and endangered species calling the site home, it's well worth doing a little exploring before you settle down for that scenic picnic session. [caption id="attachment_754315" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Fitzroy Gardens Envelop yourself in the leafy oasis that is Fitzroy Gardens and you'll find it hard to believe you're just metres from the edge of the CBD. It's rocking a typical Victorian-era park set-up, decked out with scores of grand old elms, rolling lawns intersected by neat pathways and even a conservatory. The site's also home to the charmingly tiny Captain Cook's Cottage. As with all City of Melbourne parks, you're allowed to enjoy a tipple here, so a pre-park stop by City Wine Shop is always a good idea. Throw in some treats from Spring Street Grocer's cheese maturation cellar and you've got yourself one very enviable picnic situation. [caption id="attachment_754318" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Carlton Gardens Nestled just beside the city, and home to the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Museum, the heritage-listed Carlton Gardens has long been a popular picnic pit-stop for locals and visitors alike. And you won't find a better pick for post-museum park hangs. The site abounds in green, open spaces and big shady trees, so you'll never have to battle for a spot to throw down your picnic rug, even when that sun's shining. What's more, with the culinary hot spots of Fitzroy's Brunswick Street just a quick stroll away, you've got a plethora of choices when it comes to those al fresco eats. St Vincent Gardens Sitting pretty in the heart of Albert Park, yet nice and removed from the suburb's more famous namesake green space, St Vincent Gardens is brimming with picnic potential. This quaint haven of flowers and greenery might be petite, but it's got everything you need for a relaxing park session — leafy trees, colourful garden beds and a healthy ratio of sun-drenched turf. Plus, it's heritage-listed, so you know it's got some style. And as far as food goes, consider yourself spoilt for choice with South Melbourne's main strip located just a few blocks north. Trust us: the South Melbourne Market has all the deli goods and cheese your heart could desire. [caption id="attachment_754751" align="alignnone" width="1920"] City of Port Phillip[/caption] Point Ormond Reserve Hunting for a particularly picturesque outlook? In this part of town, the parks come with an extra side of dreamy bay views. Point Ormond Reserve in Elwood — which falls just outside the City of Port Phillip's St Kilda Foreshore alcohol ban — is the perfect hill on which to perch yourself for a beachside picnic with some snacks and a couple of bevvies. Up here, there's plenty of open space, overlooking the water and with the city skyline in the distance. Pooches are also allowed to join in the picnic fun as long as they're on a lead. If you're in need of some last-minute picnic supplies, you'll find a healthy crop of cafes and wine stores lining nearby Ormond Road, offering a wide range of eats and drinks to-go. [caption id="attachment_622479" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fairfield Boathouse, by Brook James[/caption] Yarra Bend Park Leafy Yarra Bend Park spans over 260 hectares, making it the largest area of natural bushland in inner Melbourne. It follows the tree-lined swoops and loops of the Yarra, so there are a great many nooks and crannies perfect for laying your picnic blanket in seclusion. Any spot along the river on the east of Yarra Boulevard will prove scenic and serene, as will the spacious, verdant sites near Dight Falls (a man-made dam built in the 1840s). Basically, there's no shortage of grassy patches beckoning you to settle in with a cheese board, a wine bucket and some good company. The park's also home to both the Fairfield Boathouse and Studley Park Boathouse, where you can pick up a bite to eat or venture out on a post-picnic river jaunt. Women's Peace Garden Tucked away in the heart of Kensington, the Women's Peace Garden is one of those picturesque suburban spots that simply begs you to unfold a picnic rug and settle in for a couple of hours outdoors. Filled with peace symbolism ranging from the rosemary and olive trees, to the universally recognised shape formed by its shelters and pathways, this charming open-air space is about as serene as they come. If you're after supplies, swing past neighbourhood favourite Local Folk, which'll sort you out with takeaway coffees, toasties and some top-notch sweet treats. You can find Abbott's Bakery products at all major supermarkets — and discover more tasty sandwich recipes via its website. Top image: Melbourne Botanic Gardens courtesy of Visit Victoria
Chapel Street saw a slew of fab new restaurants and bars open in 2024, including Suzie Q, Windsor Wine Room, The Chapel and Inca. And Chris Lucas (Chin Chin, Hawker Hall, Kisumé, Grill Americano, Society, Yakimono and Baby Pizza), best known for his restaurants in the CBD, decided to open Tombo Den on the Windsor end in the same year. This latest venue is inspired by Lucas' time living and working in Tokyo in the 90s, and is a celebration of Japanese street food and izakaya culture. Head Chef Dan Chan (Supernormal and Michelin-starred Yardbird in Hong Kong) is spearheading the culinary offerings at Tombo Den, serving up a heap of dumplings, rice and noodle dishes and charcoal-barbecued seafood and meats. Desserts like strawberry and sake ice cream sundaes and brûléed dark chocolate mousse with black sesame also feature. Tombo Den's menu also champions sushi, which is strongly inspired by the food's more casual beginnings as a street food staple. Kisumé's Sushi Masters Toaki Kyo and Carlos Lopez oversee the sushi lineup, crafting a selection of sashimi, nigiri and handrolls. This more casual dining style is complemented by an approachable drinks lineup curated by Society's own Tokyo-born Master Sommelier Yuki Hirose. Society is known for its encyclopedic drinks offering — often winning international wine list awards — but Tomo Den's menu won't be quite as exhaustive. This isn't meant to be a fine-diner. The aim is for it to have a more laidback izakaya feel where you don't need a sommelier to guide you through the offerings. A good mix of local and international wines will be up for grabs, with plenty offered by the glass or in a half-bottle carafe. Classic cocktails also get a Japanese twist, so you can expect to find sips like the sake martini, yuzu spritz, and macadamia and tonka espresso martini. Japanese beers and a fairly extensive collection of whiskies also feature here, while sakes are championed upstairs in the separate Sake Bar. This all sits within a totally revamped space that has a distinctly brutalist Japanese feel. DKO Architecture and Projects of Imagination have achieved this by blocking out the space with concrete, mahogany wood and marble finishes. AI-generated artwork breaks up these somewhat cold design features, adding a little colour and playfulness to the whole affair.
UPDATE: JANUARY 28, 2020 — Cheesy and peppery, cacio e pepe is one of our all-time favourite pastas. And at Melbourne CBD's Marameo, for all of January and February, you can pair it with a Marameo spritz for just $20. Available at lunch and dinner, the $20 cacio e pepe spritz deal is perfect for those balmy summer days (and when you can't quite face another soggy desk sandwich). Fun, vibrant Italian is the name of the game at Russell Place diner Marameo. From the same minds that brought us Il Bacaro, Bar Carolina and Tetto di Carolina, this one's a playful, yet considered offering, that'll transport you straight to aperitivo hour on some sunny Italian holiday. The space once home to Sarti has been reimagined with a mix of pale timber, green accents, burnt orange leather and an impressive white marble bar taking pride of place inside. While the warm 80-seat restaurant space itself is stunning, it's the terrace that's destined to be covetable turf during the balmy afternoons and evenings to come. On the menu, you'll spy a strong selection of cheese, salumi and antipasti, as well as creative snacks like the wagyu tartare cannoli ($7) and carrot with bug tail, salmon roe and corn ($9). Pasta made fresh in-house daily might include the likes of cavatelli with pork sausage and broccoli ($25) or squid ink spaghetti with blue swimmer crab and chilli ($29), while the grill is turning out classic flavours like a pork chop cotoletta matched with fennel and cabbage ($36). There's even a $15 spaghetti cacio e pepe, on offer for quick weekday lunches between 12–3pm. As for what you'll be sipping on that terrace, the bar's pouring a hefty selection of spritzes, a 300-strong lineup of wine and a tight list of revamped classic cocktails, including a four-month barrel-aged negroni. Images: Kristoffer Paulsen
Most kids love a school camp — the sense of camaraderie, having a giant sleepover with your best friends and doing fun things that you wouldn't experience at home. But these feelings are usually captured between the ages of ten and 17, and can be hard to replicate once you're an adult with responsibilities. Thankfully, Snow Machine is here to flip that idea on its head. Snow Machine is a five-day extravaganza dedicated to playing hard and partying harder, with the New Zealand leg set across the mountains of picturesque Queenstown. Here, adventure- and music-loving folks ski all day and party all night. What was 2023's fest like between Tuesday, September 5–Sunday, September 10? And why is Snow Machine more than just another festival? Here's everything that you need to know. WHAT IS SNOW MACHINE? Snow Machine is so much more than a multi-day concert. Instead, it creates an institution of fun that has punters returning year after year. The sense of community is something that the team behind Snow Machine are experts at, and is incredibly important to festival creator Chris 'Muz' Murray and fellow director Quentin Nolan. There's nothing that Muz loves more than a serious hat, fun costumes and bringing people together, and he's combined these three passions in the Machine festival series. Snow Machine takes place in Queenstown and Japan, Dream Machine in Bali and Wine Machine throughout Australia. Muz's personal goal for each Machine is to "exhaust" his patrons in a good way, with the five-day schedule jam-packed with everything that Queenstown and a fest has to offer — whether it be skiing down The Remarkables half-naked, indulging in a Fergburger or zipping around Shotover River on a speedboat, festivalgoers can choose to do as much or as little as they like. For Snow Machine 2023, tickets started at $929, which covered the bulk of an attendee's expenses — including accommodation (which is available in different tiers), a five-day ski pass at The Remarkables and Coronet Peak, access to the party areas on each mountain, and a ticket to the main Snow Machine arena each night. These are just the basics, with patrons able to add any of the other experiences that Snow Machine has to offer, such as after parties in Queenstown clubs, a VIP long lunch halfway up Coronet Peak and a recovery cruise at the end of the week to top it all off. FIVE DAYS AT THE MACHINE Snow Machine's 2023 Queenstown schedule started small and built up throughout the week, with each day busier than the previous. The festival officially kicked off on Tuesday, September 5 with an opening party at Kawarau Bridge Bungy. Local DJs took to the decks as punters got the week started with a dose of adrenaline — and one guy set the tone for the upcoming days by taking the plunge in his birthday suit. Wednesday, September 6 was the first day up the mountain for many of the patrons, as DJs and artists started their rotation of sets throughout both Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, with each mountain having two stages. That night was the first of many side parties at Canyon Brewing, a brewery just outside of Queenstown with stunning views across the Shotover River. These side parties continued each night, with after parties taking over three Queenstown nightclubs. The next two days were the most jam-packed of them all, with the main festival arena swinging into action and the infamous Polar Bare (emphasis on bare) taking place. As you may be able to glean from the title, this is a ski run like no other, as punters strip off to ski down The Remarkables wearing anything from a brightly coloured bikini, a mankini or even some fancy lingerie. Just one rule rang out over the loudspeaker on the day: "the lifties will not let you on if you're naked". Friday saw one of the more exclusive events take place, a VIP long lunch. Before 2023, it had never been open to the public — and this year's sold out instantly. The ski-in, ski-out experience featured a three-course meal and endless rosé thanks to Whispering Angel wines, as enjoyed at long tables adorned with pink decor and lined with fur-covered seats. SNOW MACHINE'S MAIN ARENA The main arena, assembled near Queenstown Airport, was open for business as of Thursday night, with Hilltop Hoods and Shapeshifter drawing the biggest crowds. For those who wanted a little more luxury in their festival experience, Snow Machine offered VIP tickets, which included access to an impressive two-storey marquee with rustic fake fires, comfy couches and — perhaps most importantly in a festival environment — very fancy toilets. Everyone's favourite social media lads The Inspired Unemployed were on the scene to oversee their Better Beer pop-up, a lager that they launched in New Zealand in 2022 and were shilling successfully to their adoring fans, with Red Bull vodkas and Odd Company RTDs joining the drink selection. To soak it all up, festivalgoers had multiple food trucks to choose from, with options including pizzas, kebabs, Chinese savoury pancakes and dumplings. That evening was even bigger than the last, with New Zealand's national treasure Benee owning the night with her set, and almost getting lost in the crowd when she attempted to crowdsurf in the middle of a song. Peking Duk closed out night two, with the Aussie duo always ready for a party and bringing the crowd along with them, screaming at the audience to get on each other's shoulders despite security being vehemently against it the previous night. WHY SHOULD I GO? Muz's message of bringing people together doesn't just include the patrons themselves, but the crew who puts it all together. This huge group of fun, like-minded and kind people are doing it all just to make sure that people have a good time — and, wandering around the festival grounds and up the mountain, you can see that they've passed that test with flying colours. There's no doubt that nostalgic sense of camaraderie has been achieved, as festivalgoers run into each other on the ski chairlift and the mosh pit, surrounded by their party people all week. That feeling is why so many of the punters are repeat guests, because that vibe is hard to appreciate before seeing and feeling it for yourself. Snow Machine Queenstown 2023 ran from Tuesday, September 5–Sunday, September 10 in Queenstown, New Zealand. Head to the Snow Machine website for information about Snow Machine Japan, and keep your eye out for early-bird registration to Snow Machine Queenstown 2024. Images: Chris Kay / Pat Stevenson / Han Lowther / Daniel Hilderbrand.
For movie lovers, there's no bad time for a new cinema to open in Melbourne and add to the city's lineup of picture palaces. Launching a few days after the Melbourne International Film Festival wraps up for another year is a particularly savvy move, however. For big-screen obsessives looking for a way to fill their now MIFF-free days until 2026's fest, Eclipse Cinema in Collingwood is welcoming in cinephiles from Thursday, August 28, 2025. One of the first features beaming from its projector is even 2024 MIFF Bright Horizons Award-winner Universal Language. Here's another stroke of great timing: Eclipse Cinema is also launching at an address that was previously home to the Sherrin factory just as AFL finals season is about to commence. Aussie rules footballs are no longer manufactured at 32 Wellington Street in Collingwood, but this is a venue with both sporting and cinema history. The name of the Victorian capital's newest boutique and independent movie theatre is taken from a picture palace that once stood on Collingwood's Smith Street from 1913 to around 1917. Eclipse Cinema hails from owner/operator Mark Walker, who boasts 15-plus years working at MIFF, was a projectionist at both Yarraville's Sun Theatre and Carlton's Cinema Nova, and also co-founded Pivotonian Cinema in Geelong, running it for nearly ten years. Walker's latest venture is all about silver-screen delights via a single-screen setup with digital projection and high-definition sound, all behind a 1920s facade — and also about pairing its films with snacks and sips, such as Stomping Ground beers, a range of wines, plus popcorn and homemade choc tops. Program-wise, audiences can settle in for a mix of new releases with retrospective flicks. Alongside dramedy Universal Language, Eclipse's launch lineup also features Friendship, the A24 comedy starring Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) as a man who really wants to be pals with his weatherman neighbour (Paul Rudd, Death of a Unicorn); Grand Tour, which won Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes (The Tsugua Diaries) the Best Director Award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival; and a 4K restoration of Burden of Dreams, the 1982 documentary about the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. This is the type of venue where Pedro Almódovar (The Room Next Door) pictures will also regularly grace the screen, including each Wednesday evening, starting with 1999's Oscar-winning All About My Mother. Eddington, Good Time, Sorry, Baby, No Other Land, Splitsville and Lesbian Space Princess are also among the cinema's upcoming titles, with the 64-seater spot also keen to showcase indie, queer, First Nations and gender-diverse filmmaking, as well as Melbourne-made fare — and titles that viewers mightn't have caught elsewhere on their limited general-release runs. Eclipse's screenings run from 11am daily, showing five or six sessions per day. You can also head by for a 10pm late flick on weekends. Collingwood's new cinema joins with FoMo in East Brunswick and Palace Penny Lane in Moonee Ponds among the city's other new picture palace openings in the past few years. A new IMAX at Village Cinemas Fountain Gate is also on the way before the end of 2025, as is IMAX at the existing Hoyts at Melbourne Central. "It is so exciting to be launching a new boutique cinema in this culturally rich neighbourhood, and I'm truly confident locals will embrace the independent and cutting-edge cinema that the Eclipse will offer," said Walker back when he was running a crowdfunding campaign to help Eclipse finish its build and open. Find Eclipse Cinema at 32 Wellington Street, Collingwood from Thursday, August 28, 2025 — and head to the venue's website for further details and tickets.
Everyone has heard about — or tried to eat their way through — KitKat's famed range of weird and wonderful Japanese flavours. A cough drop version once existed, and it really wasn't great. The sake version, a perennial favourite, is absolutely delicious. But if you're vegan, none of these varieties will have tempted your tastebuds. KitKats in general won't have either, actually. That changed back in 2021 for Aussies who follow a plant-based, dairy-free and cruelty free diet, and were also keen to sink their teeth into a KitKat. The brand launched a vegan-certified KitKat, as made with a rice-based milk alternative. The result: a KitKat covered in a smooth plant-based milk chocolate — not dark chocolate — which is then layered over the usual crisp wafers. The original run of plant-based KitKats was a limited-time deal; however, they're now back in Australian supermarkets again. This time, they've hit Coles stores — and only for a short period. That means that everyone can now have a break — and a KitKat — with KitKat Plant Based joining other plant-based alternatives among Nestle's products. So, if you'd like to crack open a few fingers while tucking into a glass of plant-based Milo, you'll be able to. The 41.5-gram bars cost $3 and, if you're super keen, they can also be ordered from the KitKat Chocolatory website. When your next sugar craving hits, add them to your list alongside vegan Natural Confectionery Co fruit lollies, vegan choc tops, and vegan Magnums, Cornettos and Weis Bars. KitKat Plant Based is available now at Coles stores around Australia — or you can them from the KitKat Chocolatory website.
A well-stocked deli cabinet is the stuff of foodie dreams — plump salamis and prosciutto waiting to be sliced, hefty wedges of cheddar and wheels of gooey brie, pots brimming with glossy olives and house-made dips. It's a mouthwatering sight for anyone with a penchant for quality snacking. Whether you're shopping for premium picnic accompaniments or assembling a crowd-pleasing grazing board to kick off a household dinner party in style, you need a great local Melbourne deli in your life. And here, we've rounded up some of the city's finest. From charmingly classic European spots steeped in tradition, to shiny modern food stores stocked with the latest and greatest in locally-made wares, here's your guide to Melbourne's best delis. Find your local and get snacking. Recommended reads: The Best Sandwiches in Melbourne The Best Bottleshops in Melbourne The Best Bakeries in Melbourne The Best Cafes in Melbourne MEATSMITH, FITZROY, ST KILDA, BRIGHTON & BALWYN Chef Andrew McConnell's specialty butcher, food store and deli is a firm favourite among those who take their meat products seriously. If you're looking for some quality grub, you'll find it here in strong supply at Meatsmith. Along with a premium butchers selection, the marble cabinets are brimming with top-notch Euro-style smallgoods, homemade terrines, imported and local cheese, charcuterie, pâtés, and house-made preserves and mustards. A supporting range of gourmet groceries and a tight selection of booze makes this a one-stop shop kind of deal. No idea where to even start? Go for one of the curated charcuterie packs, loaded with the knowledgeable staff's latest top picks at this fab Melbourne deli chain. [caption id="attachment_828281" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kate Shanasy[/caption] KING & GODFREE, CARLTON Nestled right in the Italian heartland of Carlton's Lygon Street, long-running King & Godfree has been a go-to deli pitstop for multiple generations of discerning food-lovers. Following a refresh in 2018, it's now a stylish Italian cafe, wine shop and food store, complete with fridges stocked full of top-quality groceries, pantry staples and gourmet extras. At the deli counter, you'll find dreamy cheeses sourced from across Europe and Australia, along with sliced-to-order meats, a range of antipasto options and plenty of premium smallgoods. Load up your basket with some top-shelf Italian prosciutto, olive-flecked mortadella and perhaps some gutsy imported gorgonzola, and you're guaranteed some very happy picnic buddies. OBELIX & CO, FITZROY NORTH This quaint French-inspired deli and larder in the heart of Fitzroy North is a charcuterie-lover's dream. At Obelix & Co, expect to be tempted by a generous curation of culinary goodies, headlined by the owners' own house range of charcuterie, sausages, terrines and lush pâtés. From duck rillettes, to truffle-spiked brie, to sticks of wild venison salami, this spot promises to elevate any picnic or dinner party with a few extra Frenchy-chic vibes. There's also a great lineup of fresh baguettes, gourmet pantry staples, fancy butter and handmade condiments to match your deli haul, along with some standout mix-and-match hamper packs for those short on time. [caption id="attachment_688356" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Simon Shiff[/caption] LAIKON DELI, RICHMOND Bridge Road stalwart Laikon Deli has close to five decades under its belt and it's earned itself plenty of loyal regulars along the way. The family-run European deli scored a spruce-up and a new cafe in 2018, yet still retains its homey feel and traditional charms, with family photos on the walls and floor-to-ceiling shelves brimming with products. The generously loaded front cabinet beckons with its assortment of cheese, meat and antipasto products; ranging from wedges of imported comte, to Portuguese-style roast chicken and hot Calabrese salami, ready to be sliced to order. Don't forget to nab a serve of the house-made tiramisu while you're at this beloved Melbourne deli. CASA IBERICA DELI, FITZROY A colourful beacon of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American cuisine, Casa Iberica has been a staple of Johnston Street since 1975. Just look for the vibrant street art, head through the door and you're met with a heaving array of authentic food products and deli items from the homeland, along with a selection of locally-made iterations. The cabinets are filled with piles of olives, wedges of manchego and goat's cheese, and even Casa Iberica's own signature line of smallgoods — including air-dried wagyu bresaola, Spanish-style chorizo and pancetta. Whether you're looking for some Latin American cooking inspo, or you're sourcing a top-notch picnic spread with some international flair, this family-run spot is sure to impress. D.O.C. DELICATESSEN, CARLTON & MORNINGTON If you've ever had a meal at a D.O.C. eatery, you'll know to expect very good things from its sibling delicatessen, the original version which sits fittingly in the heart of Carlton. Gracing the cabinets at the Melbourne delis, you'll find the same premium prosciuttos, salamis and mozzarellas the team have hand-picked to star throughout the restaurant group's latest pizza and pasta menus. It has specialty Italian deli goods as far as the eye can see, from cold-cuts and cheeses, to tinned anchovies and olives. Oh, and plenty of great vino. Otherwise, for high-quality snacking with minimal fuss, pre-order one of the picnic-friendly boxed antipasto platters. STOCKED FOOD STORE, TOORAK, MALVERN & HAWTHORN With three modern outposts, housing an ever-growing curation of groceries, pantry staples, take-home meals and deli goods, Stocked Food Store certainly lives up to its name. If you're here to stock an enticing grazing platter of your own, you'll be spoilt for choice with its selection of top Aussie and European products — from hand-sliced salmon gravlax, to home-made salami, to decadent wheels of the triple-creme Brillat Savarin out of France. You'll also find fresh loaves of Bromley's Bread, loads of antipasto classics and crackers galore. Or, you can forgo the decision-making and let Stocked's experts whip you up a dreamy picnic or lunch platter, starring a variety of cheese, cold cuts and dainty sandwiches. CONTINENTAL DELI, HAWTHORN The long-standing, family-run Continental Deli has been winning over Hawthorn locals with its selection of Australian and imported goods for over four decades. Visit this classic European-style arcade deli and you'll find it hard to leave without amassing a shopping basket chock-full of luxurious French cheeses, Italian meats, locally-made sweet treats and other grazing platter must-haves. Should you find yourself in the area at lunchtime, you'll definitely want to try one of the Melbourne deli's cult-favourite house-made rolls. And if you're looking to really impress at your next picnic session, the team also makes a pretty mean snack board to order. Top Image: King & Godfree, by Sarah Pannell
Melbourne might be one of Australia's most exciting cities, but it's what lies outside of its limits that'll really knock your socks off. No more than a few hours drive from the hulking glass towers of the CBD, you'll find that the Garden State is home to an incredibly diverse landscape of pristine coastlines, rugged mountain ranges, sprawling hillsides and hidden valleys — all of which offer some truly fantastic hikes. If you feel like you've reached the point where you could walk through the alleyways of Melbourne blindfolded, it's time to look beyond the city limits. Here are five stellar overnight hikes you can embark on near Melbourne — and where to camp along the way. Most are achievable with an average level of fitness, but be sure to review any trail thoroughly before heading off. You'll also want to stay tuned to any Parks Victoria updates regarding track closures. Once that's all done, dust off those hiking boots and head out of town for an energising nature getaway. FALLS TO HOTHAM ALPINE CROSSING, ALPINE NATIONAL PARK Set 2000 metres above sea level, this 37-kilometre hike provides every opportunity to completely unwind from the hustle and bustle of city life. From lush native wildlife to tranquil valleys and riverside wetlands, the high plains are a treasure trove of scenic beauty and crisp mountain air. While it's not the toughest walk in the state, you'll need a moderate level of fitness for some of the steeper parts; but fear not, there are also plenty of easy sections to balance it out. As a point-to-point track, it can be started from either end, though we recommend setting out from Falls Creek and towards Mount Hotham. While the trek is doable with one overnight stay, more leisurely hikers might consider doing it in two and the track is well set up for this. From the trailhead, it's roughly 14 kilometres to the Cope Hut Campsite and then another 14 kilometres to the Dibbins Hut Campsite. Want to take things a little easier? Alpine Nature Experience offers a three-night curated hike of the crossing, including hot showers and G&Ts. [caption id="attachment_847531" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wilsons Prom, Garry Moore for Visit Victoria[/caption] EASTERN CIRCUIT, WILSONS PROMONTORY NATIONAL PARK Every person and their dog has heard of the Wilsons Promontory's eastern circuit, and that's because it's an absolute ripper of a walk. It forms part of the Southern Prom Circuit, beginning at the Telegraph Saddle car park; the 36.5-kilometre hike featuring a stunning and unmistakably Australian combination of rolling hills, curious wildlife and secluded beaches with clear turquoise waters. You have two options for this hike; you can head from Telegraph Saddle to Sealers Cove or alternatively to Refuge Cove. From either cove, you'll then venture to Little Waterloo Bay, finishing with a trek back to Telegraph Saddle. Although the walk is often nominated as one of the state's best, it's still one of the quieter sections of the Prom, making it the perfect choice for a peaceful nature escape. Again, it's doable with one overnight stay, but will be easier with two. [caption id="attachment_712104" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brian Doecke/Wikimedia.[/caption] LAKE TALI KARNG HIDDEN LAKE CIRCUIT, ALPINE NATIONAL PARK Part of the Alpine National Park near Licola, the Lake Tali Karng Hidden Lake Circuit looks just like a landscape painting — only it's real life. Set in the Victorian Alps and fed by the snow-melt waters of the Wellington Plains, the lake is approximately 14 kilometres from your hike's starting point at McFarlane's Saddle on Moroka Road. Along the way, you'll enjoy an awe-inspiring combination of snow gum forests, towering trees and grassy plateaus. Don't forget that the land you're on is sacred to the Gunaikurnai people of Gippsland, so please be respectful of their rules and refrain from camping at the lake itself. Instead, you can stay overnight at the serene Nyimba Camp, situated two-thirds of the way along the trail and around four kilometres from the water. [caption id="attachment_712106" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria.[/caption] THE BEERIPMO WALK, MOUNT COLE STATE FOREST Offering mesmerising views from Mount Langi Ghiran all the way across to the Grampians and the Western Plains, the Beeripmo Walk is a winding 21-kilometre hike through impressively tall forests, trickling waterfalls and vibrant fern gullies. An hour from Ballarat and completed over two days, this trek is a perfect starting point for experienced bushwalkers looking to graduate to something a little more challenging. If you're really lucky, you might be treated to a few wildlife sightings of monarch butterflies, wallabies and even wild echidnas. For your overnight stay, choose between the ever popular Beeripmo Campground (around seven kilometres from your starting point), or venture a little further to the Mugwamp Campground. Either way, expect stunning views of the night sky, with some of the brightest stars you'll ever see. [caption id="attachment_847526" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cafuego, via Flickr[/caption] THE BURCHELL TRAIL, BRISBANE RANGES NATIONAL PARK Just over a one-hour drive from Melbourne, the Burchell Trail is a 40-kilometre hike that takes you from the north end to the south of the Brisbane Ranges National Park. The historic ghost town of Steiglitz (which, at its gold mining peak in the 1860s, was home to over 1500 people), and a vast array of native critters and flora are just a few of the sights you can expect as you traverse the rugged landscape. The trail is linear, so you'll either need to complete it as a circuit by doubling back the way you came, or arrange for alternative transport to ferry your tired legs back to your car. There are various campsites along the route, including Boar Gully in the north. Advance bookings are required. Top Image: Wilsons Promontory National Park, Visit Victoria. Mt Hotham, North East Victoria Tourism.
Cookie beer hall, eating house and disco is a flamboyant venue full of chatter and laughter that serves up classic Thai dishes and innovative cocktails. While the main bar and restaurant is rambunctious with noise — laughter, clashing cutlery and clinking glassware — the secretive back bar is mellow and conducive to a late night liaison any night of the week. The small dishes include a tom yum going soup with prawns, mushrooms and lemongrass chilli while vegetarians can enjoy sweet potatoes with coconut cigars, orange and chilli sauce or garlic and chive dumplings. The medium plates feature fried snapper with bok choy, tamarind and crispy shallots as well as a crispy fish salad with green papaya, peanut and found dry shrimp. For something larger try the deep friend five spice chicken with sweet chilli sauce and home-made pickles or the seafood platter of snapper, calamari, mussels and king prawns in a red curry. There's something to please everyone on the drinks menu here (it's more appropriately described as an encyclopaedia volume), whether it be beer, wine or cocktails. This makes Cookie ideal for those occasions when you're unsure of your company's tastes. The seasonal cocktails include the 'D for Dangerous', a mix of Rittenhouse Rye, Hennesy and Yellow Chartreuse, designed to kick start the night in style. The wine list is huge and there'll be help to guide you through it. Being one of those must-see venues for Melbourne tourists, it's unlikely you'll run into any regular mates here — unless of course they're on sneaky dates, too. Appears in: The Best Thai Restaurants in Melbourne for 2023
Fully Booked is a treasure trove of secondhand books on High Street. It boasts a large selection of pre-loved classics, contemporary novels, travel books and special interest paperbacks and hardbacks, as well as a range of non-fiction reference and academic tomes. Don't be surprised if you while away the hours in here — the space has a cosy, library-like feel and even has a friendly resident cat that wanders the aisles. Fully Booked is conveniently located in the heart of High Street Thornury and virtually next door to CP fave Joanie's Baretto, so you can choose a read and then dive into it over a cheeky negroni. Images: Julia Sansone
UPDATE Monday, July 19: Lockdown 5.0 has inspired the return of Attica At Home, offering a selection of Ben Shewry classics for takeaway and delivery. Currently, the menu's available until Saturday, 24 July, though expect further dates to be added if the snap lockdown is extended. Enjoy dishes like the beef lasagne with garlic bread and salad ($60), or a set menu of Attica favourites ($95), in your own house. For more details on Victoria's current restrictions, see the Department of Health and Human Services website. The brainchild of New Zealand chef Ben Shewry, Attica lays claim to being one of Melbourne's best-known and most celebrated fine diners. And the buzz is certainly not unwarranted. Located behind an unassuming shopfront on Glen Eira Road, the restaurant is a regular amongst the annual World's 50 Best Restaurants list, taking out the 33rd position in 2016, landing 32 in 2017 and named 20th in 2018. Here, your culinary journey takes the form of an elegant multi-course set tasting menu ($320), served with a touch of theatre within a moody dining room space created by IF Architecture. The food lineup changes regularly, though what sticks firm is Shewry and his team's commitment to celebrating unique native ingredients wherever possible. Dishes bear simple, mysterious names that belie the considered, forward-thinking creations that arrive in front of you — think, 'Killer Salad, Lightest Touch', 'Reko and Ben's Picnic Caviar', 'Marron, Missed You Delicious Old Friend' and 'Croc Fat Caramel'. And of course, there's some great drinking to match, with a stellar curation of wine, beer and other clever libations also on offer. Like most, Covid times have seen Attica embracing the pivot and expanding on its signature offerings. The restaurant has hosted a pop-up bake shop in the space next door, launched a casual sibling venue in the Yarra Valley over last summer and has been slinging elevated takeaway fare to hungry locals during most of Melbourne's lockdowns.
"Hear that? That's nothing. Which is what I, as a speaker at today's conference, have for you all." Ah, if only all presenters could be as honest as Will Stephen, CollegeHumor.com staff writer and editor, who presented a pretty spot-on parody of his fellow speakers at a recent TEDxNewYork event. The content is one thing, but it's Stephen's manner — the intonation, the weighty pauses, the glasses adjustment, the 'revealing' question thrown out to the audience — that makes this so great. If you weren't paying attention, you'd swear he'd just imparted a deep and essential truth vital to the global progress of humanity. Via Mashable
For those following a vegan diet, plenty of obvious items are off the menu: meat, dairy products and eggs in particular. So is anything made with gelatine, given that the substance is derived from collagen from animal body parts — which rules out many a sweet treat, too. Gummy and jelly lollies are definitely usually made with gelatine; however, with its newest release, The Natural Confectionery Co is giving vegans an animal product-free alternative. Already known for completely avoiding artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners, plus high-fructose corn syrup as well, the company is now launching a gelatine-free, vegan-, vegetarian- and flexitarian-friendly version of its fruity jelly lollies. If that's your next snack taken care of, you'll find packs of Vegan Fruity Flavoured Jellies in supermarkets from mid-August — starting with Coles and independent stores, then hitting Woolworths from mid-September. They'll cost you $4 for a 200-gram packet, which boasts five varieties of lollies inside: apple, blackcurrant, peach, pineapple and raspberry. The new addition to The Natural Confectionery Co's range comes in response to demand. "We couldn't ignore the requests from Aussies asking for a vegan-friendly option," explains Lauren Fildes, the Cadbury-owned company's Marketing Director for Candy, Biscuits and Meals. If you're a fan of the brand's other types of lollies — its snakes, fruity chews and sour worms, for example — you'll have to cross your fingers that they eventually get a vegan version as well. [caption id="attachment_779206" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Peter O'Connor via Flickr[/caption] Find The Natural Confectionery Co's Vegan Fruity Flavoured Jellies in Coles and independent supermarkets from mid-August, and in Woolworths from mid-September — costing $4 for a 200-gram pack.
How many times can James Cameron break his own record? How many shades of blue can shimmer across the screen in one movie? Will Avatar's 13-years-later first sequel also dazzle the Oscars, as its predecessor did? Will Avatar: The Way of Water influence everything that comes after it, special effects-wise, also as the initial flick did, too? They're just some of the questions that the mere existence of this Avatar follow-up sparks. Here's another: will you get Eiffel 65's 1998 hit 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)' stuck in your head, even though it surely isn't in the film? Audiences will start finding out the answers to these queries in mid-December, when Avatar: The Way of Water hits cinemas worldwide — and Cameron has dropped a full trailer for the movie in the interim. This is Avatar: The Way of Water's second sneak peek, following an earlier look back in May — but this is one of those films that you might only truly believe exists once you're sat in a theatre watching it, because it has been in the works for that long. If you saw Cameron's initial entry in this sci-fi franchise back in 2009, you'll undoubtedly be buying a ticket. Indeed, given that the original Avatar quickly became the highest-grossing picture of all time — a record this one will try to break — it's highly likely that you did and will. Amid blue-hued CGI-filled waters and skies, and surrounded by the franchise's blue-toned Na'vi people, Avatar: The Way of Water steps back into the story of the Sully family, aka Jake (Sam Worthington, Fires), Neytiri (Zoe Saldana, The Adam Project) and their children, on the habitable moon Pandora. This time around, staying safe and alive remains a focus, as trouble keeps finding the Sullys, battles mount and striving to keep together also requires their focus. Also set to feature: Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Stephen Lang (Don't Breathe 2), Cliff Curtis (Reminiscence), Joel David Moore (Bones), CCH Pounder (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown) and Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement. If the two sneak peeks so far have you excited about re-entering Avatar's blue-heavy world, get ready for more where that came from. A third movie is due in 2024, a fourth in 2026 and a fifth in 2028. Check out the latest Avatar: The Way of Water trailer below: Avatar: The Way of Water releases in cinemas Down Under on December 15. Images: Photos courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Just as not all movies are created equal, neither are all stints on screens. The big, in budget and attendance, stick around. The small, in audience awareness but not in artistry or effort, might not stay that long. Such a cinema environment sees many gems fall by the wayside in the battle for viewer hearts and minds – many that rank among the year’s best, too. So which 2014 films should you have perhaps taken a chance on instead of just seeing the latest shiny blockbuster? Here’s ten that local box office performance tells us you most likely missed, but really shouldn’t have. THE BABADOOK Jennifer Kent’s debut feature is one of the best among Australian efforts, horror films, and haunted house fright fests — both of this year, and of all others. Alas, in a nation that rarely embraces anything spooky on the big screen en masse, it came and went quickly, though what it lacked in local attention it is now making up for in international acclaim. Such recognition is mere window dressing for a movie that allows its equally touching and terrifying content to make its own statement as it charts a single mother’s troubles when her six-year-old son finds fear in a formidable figure that springs from the page into his bedroom. The style, the story and the scares can now continue off-screen, too, courtesy of a crowd-supported production run of the pop-up book at the centre of the chills. Read our full review. ALL THIS MAYHEM Great dramas are made of the same ingredients as this stunning homegrown true tale, a rise to fame, a fall from grace, seeking glory at all costs, and getting mixed up with the wrong things among them. In Eddie Martin’s documentary, all this and more is wrapped up in a roller-coaster ride that starts in the Melbourne suburbs, reaches the heights of the international skateboarding scene, and comes crashing towards its conclusion with the tragedy of what might have been in different circumstances. For those unfamiliar with the story of brothers Tas and Ben Pappas, the film offers the best account you’ll ever experience. For those aware of the details, devastation still emanates from a feature suitably straightforward in structure and shattering in sentiment. Read our full review. FORCE MAJEURE While audiences flocked to Gone Girl’s twisty take on marriage and masculinity, a Swedish couple holidaying in the French Alps with their kids spawned the same musings in just as cynical and striking a fashion. Force Majeure begins with a seemingly impending avalanche, in the face of which, a man runs away as his family looks on. Watching the aftermath as the central pair fight in public yet drift apart in private is not only astute but also amusing in its insights. Writer/director Ruben Östlund has crafted an acerbic comedy of discomfort that says everything about the most intimate of interpersonal relations, with a mastery of form to match the complexity of theme. Read our full review. MY SWEET PEPPER LAND One feminist western – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which also earns many other descriptors, too – is starting to appear at Australian festivals and in niche screening runs; however, this year also brought another to local screens. Writer/director Hiner Saleem and actress Golshifteh Farahani combine to chart a teacher’s fight for independence in male-dominated Kurdistan, both excelling with the material. Also fuelling the narrative is a policeman’s quest for a new existence free from his gun-slinging past. In this tale of two outsiders endeavouring to establish their own identities and exert power over their own dominion, all the tropes unravel amid a desolate landscape, and given the parallels with the nation’s sociopolitical climate, the film ranges beyond its adopted genre. Read our full review. THE MISSING PICTURE Wading through the past to get a grasp on his – and Cambodia’s – present, filmmaker Rithy Panh attempts to fill in the gaps in his own and well as the collective memory. With the assistance of sculptor Sarith Mang, he assembles figurines and dioramas of clay and wood to restage scenes from his childhood, the fleetingly beautiful and the inescapably brutal among them. The documentarian earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for his efforts, his latest offering continuing his prolonged fascination with the state of his country. As modest as it is meticulous, and as moving and illuminating, too, this is a picture that shouldn’t be missed. Pun intended. THE DARK HORSE Stories similar to the real-life circumstances of Genesis Potini have been seen before on screen, steeped as they are in a relatable arc of redemption. What James Napier Robertson’s film perfects is the mindset of the troubled chess prodigy turned coach to marginalised youth, in every expressive image and atmospheric sound, and in a tone that never loses hope – just like its inspiration. Formula might seethe through the underdog story, but so does authenticity. The feature swept the recent New Zealand Film Awards for its earnest and emotional efforts, with acclaim rightfully thrown the way of star Cliff Curtis and supporting actor James Rolleston (worlds away from the work he is best known for, his titular role in the charming Boy). Read our full review. THESE FINAL HOURS When this Australian apocalyptic effort made its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2013, it set audiences ablaze with excitement for its fresh cinematic talent and its invigorating approach to the end of the world. Fast forward to a year later, and the flames spluttered when Zak Hilditch’s debut earned a general release, a response that doesn’t reflect the skill and style of the movie. Nathan Phillips plays against type in a story not of special deeds but of looking beyond a selfish, self-serving mindset. As his protagonist, James, journeys from nihilism to humanism upon a road trip through Perth’s suburban streets — motivated by the lost, lonely girl he decides to help — he evokes a quiet awakening not just for the character but for a new Australian classic. Read our full review. SON OF A GUN Not even the lure of Ewan McGregor enticed patrons into theatres for Julius Avery’s first feature, another film coming out of Western Australia. As a veteran criminal masterminding a jailbreak, then caught in a web of mobster manipulation, the Scottish actor rightfully commands attention — but so do his co-stars, Australia’s own Brenton Thwaites as the innocent immersed in underworld dealings, and Swedish actress Alicia Vikander as the obligatory love interest. Yes, there’s no escaping the film’s fondness for standard crime caper cliches as it navigates prison hierarchies, daring heists and dalliances with Russian gangsters, but its embrace of its genre exceeds what could’ve just been an ordinary assembly of average parts. Avery also shows a knack for set pieces and a confidence with pace and tone that keeps everything moving beyond the familiar. Read our full review. NYMPHOMANIAC Lars von Trier doesn’t make films to cater for all tastes, to be certain. Danish cinema’s enfant terrible earned the label after making many a feature considered unpalatable by broader audiences. Four hours of his work may be an endurance test for some (and that’s the short version of his latest effort); however, his frank dissection of female sexuality demands to be seen. Lust eclipses love as the driving mechanism in the experiences of Joe as she grows from a girl into a woman, ever-aware of her carnal impulses. Some chapters hit the mark better than others, just as some performances — from a cast that includes Stacy Martin and Charlotte Gainsbourg sharing the lead role, as well as Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Shia LaBeouf and Jamie Bell — suffer the same fate, yet the end product is never anything less than engrossing. Read our full review. OUT OF THE FURNACE A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it run in Australian cinemas excuses many from failing to cross paths with the latest feature from Crazy Heart writer/director Scott Cooper. Though he again steeps his story in the struggles of those striving for something more but continually restrained by their circumstances, here he places his stumbling characters in the midst of small-town malaise, post-war apathy and generational inertia. Excellent work from Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson lies at the core of an intimate, intricate effort played out with a brooding look and feel from start to finish. Also strong is the sense of conviction that helps patch over thematic similarities with other films.
According to all reports, climactic temperatures are on the up. So, how best to keep ours down? Air conditioning has been the favoured solution for years, but is it really the most satisfactory? It's a drain on the household budget, it'll leave the air drier than the jokes in an Oscar Wilde play, and it'll make you the natural enemy of asthmatics, athletes and singers. What's more, despite keeping things cool at home, air conditioning contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases. Architects, designers, engineers and scientists the world over are busy in their labs and studios developing more sustainable and attractive methods for making homes and workspaces livable. In Italy, recycled plastic is being turned into insulation; in Germany, maximum airtightness is minimising temperature fluctuations; in the United States, one man has combined heating and cooling his place with building gigantic ice sculptures. 40,000 Plastic Bottles Hold onto your soft drink bottles; you'll need 40,000 of the plastic kind to model your home on this zero energy beauty, titled Tvzeb. Designed and developed by Traverso-Vighy Architecture in conjunction with the University of Padua's Department of Technical Physics, it's hiding in the woods in north-eastern Italy, just a few kilometres outside the World Heritage listed city of Vicenza. The bottles were transformed into a 90mm layer of insulating polyester fibre, which combines with a heat minimising structural design and reflective glass to keep the elements at bay. Plants. Hundreds of Them. Inside. This is model and activist Summer Rayne Oakes' Brooklyn apartment. She keeps temperatures at an equilibrium by living in a vertical garden, with 220 plants filling her kitchen, living room and bedroom. Keeping them alive doesn't require any sacrifice of her hectic eco-awareness promoting schedule. An automated subirrigation system does the job. Pump it Up Minnesota artist Roger Hanson builds gigantic ice sculptures and keeps his home comfy using geothermal heat, which takes advantage of the Earth's stable temperatures. For cooling, a pump sends water underground, where warmth is removed; for heating, the opposite occurs — water is pumped up from the hot surface layer of the Earth's crust. Passive House The Passive House, or Passivhaus, as its German and Swiss originators call it, is all about extreme energy efficiency. To qualify, a building must meet some pretty stringent standards, including a maximum hourly air leak of only 0.6 times its entire capacity and an annual energy consumption no higher than 120kWh/m2. This is achieved through a 'passive solar' design and airtightness as close to 100 percent as is manageable. About 30,000 Passive Houses can be found in the world, most of them on the European continent. Follow the Sun Australian couple Luke and Debbie Everingham have designed and built a rotating house. Located on the Nowendoc River in the Manning Valley, it's powered by an engine that's only slightly bigger than one you'd find in a washing machine. Access to both sun and shade is optimised and construction costs are on par with those of building a regular home. Caveman Style The troglodytes had it figured out all those thousands of years ago. American couple Curt and Deborah Sleeper built this house into a sandstone cave in Festus, Missouri. Before their purchase of the space, it functioned as a roller-skating rink and concert venue, where the likes of Tina Turner and Bob Seger made appearances. The need for air conditioning is eliminated via a blend of natural insulation, thoughtful design and geothermal heat. Back to Basics Architect Giles Blunden knows about living in hot climates. He spent his childhood in the Australian outback before moving to the American South. In 2000, Natural Home magazine awarded him Home of the Year for this house, which is situated in North Carolina's first co-housing neighbourhood, Arcadia. A moderate temperature is maintained through old-fashioned methods: cross-ventilation, high ceilings, fans, a tin roof and eaves. According to Blunden, “Many of these features are just common-sense things that people have forgotten.” In the Treetops Artists Beth Kraminstein and Roy Levy wanted to live and work in their place without depending on air conditioning. So the environmentally conscious architects at Jersey Devil conjured this one up for them. Cross-ventilation is achieved through three garage doors and seventy carefully positioned windows. A new wing has been built to sit in the treetops, maximising the cooling effect of ocean breezes, while insulation is achieved through a blend of concrete, corrugated steel and Galvalume steel. Go Underground No, it's not a scene from The Lord of the Rings, it's a real-life, tall person's home, to be found in Vals, Switzerland. Certainly inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginary world, this Hobbit Hole is the product of the combined efforts of Christian Muller Architects and SeARCH. Temperatures are kept at a civilised level by virtue of its being underground, but the oval design allows plenty of sunlight to shine through and affords mountain views. Find Some Fans If an architect-designed house is beyond reach, or you can't see yourself catching up with Gandalf underground, you can always opt for a simpler solution: fans. Think of your home as you would your MySpace page. There are loads of unusual ceiling fans on the market these days, and if you want to get really serious about it, you can always consider a mega whole house cooling package, offered by businesses like Breeze Power.
Forged over six decades so far, Robert De Niro's resume contains multitudes. 2025 marks exactly 60 years since his uncredited on-screen debut in Three Rooms in Manhattan — and if a New York-shot French drama seems an unlikely pick for his first-ever movie, it's a case of De Niro starting to build his wide-ranging filmography from the outset. Comedies, thrillers, musicals, horror, dramas and action fare all have a place among his work. His name instantly brings a particular genre to mind, though: gangster flicks. For one, The Godfather Part II, he earned his first Oscar. For Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), he made a helluva early impression in Mean Streets, then was spectacular in 90s masterpieces Goodfellas and Casino, plus in 2019's The Irishman. With Barry Levinson, another director that he's collaborated with again and again, De Niro one-ups his past organised-crime movies in a specific way, however, including Once Upon a Time in America and The Untouchables. The Alto Knights is a tale of two IRL mob bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. Neither figures are new to the screen. They're not even new to Levinson's pictures, after both popped up in Bugsy back in 1991. But here, the Academy Award-winning Rain Man filmmaker and directing veteran — helmer of Diner, The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam, the first episode of iconic police procedural series Homicide: Life on the Street and two instalments of Dopesick, too, and more — focuses on the pair's relationship as the two childhood pals become fierce rivals. And to stress the connection between Frank and Vito, and draw attention to the parallels between the duo, he has his Sleepers, Wag the Dog, What Just Happened and The Wizard of Lies star play both men. De Niro doing double duty for one of his go-to filmmakers. De Niro leading a gangster picture with a script by Nicholas Pileggi, the crime reporter who wrote the non-fiction books Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family and Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, then co-penned the screenplays for their movie adaptations Goodfellas and Casino with Scorsese. De Niro in a mobster flick produced by Raging Bull, Goodfellas and The Irishman's Irvin Winkler. That's the recipe behind The Alto Knights. It was Winkler who had the idea for De Niro to portray both Frank and Vito, Levinson tells Concrete Playground — and the choice is one of the feature's best moves, especially when the actor is literally facing off against himself. When he's in Frank's shoes, De Niro is all about attempted respectability, as someone who sees diplomacy as the best way to rule the Big Apple's criminal underworld. Switching to Vito, he's the hot head who'll do anything, and bring down anyone, to regain the top job. Costuming, hair and makeup help, but De Niro makes both roles distinctive as the two men, who both grew up as Italians in NYC hanging out together around the titular social club, find themselves battling it out after Vito takes control of the Luciano crime family, then flees to Italy following a run-in with the law, then returns for the throne Frank is now perched on. As has proven true across many of Levinson's movies, since the chatter-heavy Diner with Kevin Bacon (MaXXXine), Mickey Rourke (The Wheels of Heaven), Steve Guttenberg (High Potential), Daniel Stern (For All Mankind), Paul Reiser (Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F), Tim Daly (Life & Beth) and Ellen Barkin (Poker Face) gave him his directorial debut, there's a storytelling element to The Alto Knights. With the film structured around Frank telling this tale to viewers, add another familiar component to the picture's setup. The narrative shared is one not just about friends turned foes, or about power struggles between mob bosses both vying to sit at the top of the mafia ladder, including the impact upon those around them — Debra Messing (Bros) plays Frank's wife Bobbie, Kathrine Narducci (Godfather of Harlem, and De Niro's past co-star in both The Irishman and A Bronx Tale) is Vito's counterpart Anna and Cosmo Jarvis (Inside) portrays Vito's righthand man Vincent Gigante — but of a moment that changed America and organised crime within it forever. That's one of the reasons that Levinson was so interested in hopping onboard, he advises. And of getting De Niro acting opposite himself as the film's two lead characters, it helped that the two-time Oscar-winner (for Raging Bull as well) and seven-time nominee beyond his two victories (for Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Awakenings, Cape Fear, Silver Linings Playbook, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon) is "one of the great actors in the history of cinema" and "has great instincts as an actor", he notes. Speaking with Levinson, we dived into the decision-making behind that pivotal casting, digging into Frank and Vito's connection, and the organic nature of De Niro's performance. On Casting De Niro as Both Frank Costello and Vito Genovese This is a film with history, not only because it heads back to the 50s — and to the decades around it. But if The Alto Knights had made it to the screen before now, those twin De Niro performances mightn't have been at its centre. "Well, it came about — originally this goes back, I guess people have been trying to do a movie about Frank Costello for years," Levinson explains. "And Nick Pileggi got involved and was working on something, and I came onto the project. And somehow we were talking about Vito, and he was a character in it, but the idea was 'well, why don't we just follow what took place?'." "That they were best friends as kids, they hung around The Alto Knights place, and as they grew older, best friends, they started to grow apart. One was much more ruthless and spontaneous in doing things. The other one was much more deliberate, almost a corporate sensibility about how to run the mafia. And then the clash of the two," he continues. "And so when we began to really get that together, Nick's writing, and we had a draft of it, we gave it to Irwin Winkler. And Irwin Winkler liked the draft and he said 'what about Bob playing both roles?'." "And I was thinking for a second, and I went 'well, that's s an interesting way to — we are talking about one of the great actors in the history of cinema, so it's not like this is impossible for him to do. Let's see what he thinks'." "And he responded well, and then that's how that all came about." On What Appealed to Levinson About Digging Into Costello and Genovese's Connection in The Alto Knights, Especially After Featuring Both Figures as Characters in 1991's Bugsy When Frank and Vito last played a part in a Levinson movie more than four decades ago, they weren't the focus. Bugsy hones on its namesake, with Warren Beatty (Rules Don't Apply) as Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. But because Bugsy had his own key childhood link to Charles "Lucky" Luciano, they're all in the same slice of the mob world. Before Vito and Frank's stints at the apex of the Luciano crime family, Lucky was in the job first. (In a film that also flashes backwards, NCIS and Mayor of Kingstown alum Amadeo Fusca plays him in The Alto Knights.) A Frank- and Vito-centric film interested Levinson "because we were watching the mafia as Vito took over, and then because of having to leave the country and turning it over to Frank, it began to change," he says. "And that change led to a feud between the two of them, basically because of Vito wanting control again. You go 'well, that's a great conflict. That's a story to explore'." "And then: 'what happened because of that?'. It wasn't like it was just two guys and one killed the other or whatever, maybe. It changed the whole, in the sense it brought the hearings on organised crime, that all came about because of the incident that takes place in the film." "And you'd say 'well, this is an interesting arc of the mafia and what happened. That's a story that's interesting'. That was basically 'can we tell that story?'." On the Direction That You Give Someone When They're Playing Two Different Characters in the Same Film How do you guide someone as a director, if you even need to in the case of an actor of De Niro's calibre and experience, when they're tasked with portraying two completely different characters and giving two completely different performances in the one movie? And how does the process of building the two parts work? "He has great instincts as an actor," Levinson calls out to begin with. "And as we would go along in the process leading up to the filming of it, you're talking about one character, you're talking about the other character, this piece of information, that piece of information — you just start adding that. Bob absorbs it." "Then you're going through the whole process of makeup. 'What does this one look like? What does that one look like? How do we do this? How do we handle that?'. And then that starts coming in — and then 'what is the rhythm of the way they talk to one another?'. One is slow, much more deliberate. The other one is faster, quicker, more sort of dangerous in the way that he throws ideas around. And then you start putting these pieces together," Levinson adds. "And then, of course, in the process of the shooting, we would sit down in Bob's trailer and go over the scene and tweak it a little bit and tweak it a little bit. And 'hey, what about this?'. And then you add to it and you keep building for it. And at the end of the day, after you build all that, you want to create the spontaneity. And that's what Bob can do — he's not mechanically going through one character or another." "There's a spontaneity about them that it feels like these two guys are talking to one another, and they're making up things as they go along, rather than 'I say my line, now you say your line'. It just feels more organic." The Alto Knights opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
