A decade has sashayed away since Bianca Del Rio won the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. After emerging victorious over Australia's own runner-up Courtney Act, the drag queen and comedian has been conquering Down Under stages ever since. Among multiple tours over the past ten years, the fabulously quick-witted talent last brought her Hurricane Bianca whirlwind this way in 2022 — and she'll next break out her devilish snark and timing in 2025. "I'm coming out of my crypt and hitting the road again to remind everyone that I'm still DEAD INSIDE!" said Del Rio about her latest world tour, which has dates in Canada, the US, Britain, Ireland, Europe and Latin America across the rest of 2024. It began this year in San Diego, spending from February–May packing out theatres across North America. "If you enjoy irreverent humour, like sparkly costumes and are NOT easily offended … this is the show for you!" Del Rio continued. The global favourite keeps building upon her massive past decade or so, with the dimple-cheeked performer doing everything from tours upon tours to hitting the West End stage in the musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie and also popping up in the film version as well. Then there's 2016 comedy Hurricane Bianca and its 2018 sequel Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate, plenty more appearances on various Drag Race seasons and specials, web specials, music videos and even an episode of Celebrity Family Feud. Accordingly, you know what to start watching in preparation for Del Rio's Dead Inside gigs in Australia and Aotearoa from January — although, as you'll know if you've seen her live before, there's nothing like seeing her in the flesh. [caption id="attachment_965670" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Ronn via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Del Rio's 2025 visit will break out the cutting insults — plus her larger-than-life persona in general — in Brisbane first, beginning the tour with two nights at Fortitude Music Hall. After that, one-night stops are on the agenda at Melbourne's Comedy Theatre, Astor Theatre in Perth, Sydney's State Theatre and Llewellyn Theatre in Canberra. In NZ, Del Rio will hit the stage at Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre in Auckland, Wellington's Opera House and James Hay Theatre in Christchurch. Bianca Del Rio's Dead Inside Tour 2025 Dates: Tuesday, January 28–Wednesday, January 29 — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Friday, January 31 — Comedy Theatre, Melbourne Wednesday, February 5 — Astor Theatre, Perth Saturday, February 8 — State Theatre, Sydney Tuesday, February 11 — Llewellyn Theatre, Canberra Thursday, February 13 — Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland Saturday, February 15 — Opera House, Wellington Monday, February 17 — James Hay Theatre, Christchurch Bianca Del Rio's Dead Inside! tour heads around Australia and New Zealand in January and February 2025. For more information or to buy tickets from 9am on Friday, July 19, 2024, head to the tour website.
When Toto unleashed their single 'Africa' upon the world back in 1982, the drums echoed. Given the song's enduring success, it seems that everyone heard them. Now one particular patch of the Namib desert will hear the percussive reverberation for eternity, with a new art and sound installation playing the track on a never-ending loop. Toto Forever isn't just something screamed by die-hard fans of the American band. It's not merely the thinking behind one-night events that play the beloved tune over and over, such as an annual party in Brisbane. It's now the title of Max Siedentopf's new project, which the artist has set up as a "tribute to probably the most popular song of the last four decades". As seen on Siedentopf's site for the artwork, Toto Forever consists of seven plinths, arranged in a circle with one sat in the middle. Speakers sit atop the six boxes on the outside, with an MP3 player on the seventh. There's only one song loaded onto the device, so that's all that it can play. And if you're wondering about power, it's all attached to solar batteries. While Siedentopf has revealed the installation's general location — in the desert that stretches for 2000 kilometres along the Namib coastline — he's keeping the exact spot to himself. Whether he succeeds in gifting future generation some old forgotten words and ancient melodies will likely depend on the weather and environment, given that, as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti, electronic equipment isn't designed to be left in a sandy expanse until the end of time — whether or not they're blessed by the rains. Image: Toto Forever by Max Siedentopf.
As we all watched London burning, most of the furious debates were concerned with political squabbling and vigorous finger pointing at wasted British youth. But one of the things least discussed was the impact on creative communities. While the riots may have started off as a response to police brutality, the only thing they seem to have accomplished is making people more upset while completely screwing over small businesses and independent artists, who, let's face it, weren't really doing all that well to begin with. Hip-hop artist Scroobius Pip pretty much summed it up when he said, “This is Britain punching itself in the face. Repeatedly.” While the riots were going down, theatres all over London were forced to cancel shows and performers including Patrick Wolf postponed gigs while the city was in lockdown. Then there were the art galleries, who, with all those big glass windows ripe for smashing, didn't fare so well and have thwarted several exhibitions. But the biggest impact on artists has come as a result of the fire lit at the SonyDADC warehouse in Enfield, which was holding the UK's stock of a significant number of independent music labels including Sub Pop, Warp, 4AD, Matador and XL. These companies had much of their stock destroyed, and that's not to mention the smaller companies who probably never had a huge amount to splash out on tight and all-encompassing insurance policies. In an interview in NME, Spencer Hickman of Rough Trade East explained, "There’s maybe a hundred labels affected. We’ve got no idea how much stock they’ve got elsewhere. I’m convinced that some labels will go under." In addition, the warehouse was holding a a lot of the DVD stock of independent film distributers like BFI, and because much of the income film companies receive comes through DVD sales, it looks like some companies are going to have to lay off staff. A campaign entitled LabelLove has been launched to generate some money to try and keep independent artists and labels afloat during the rough times ahead. On the bright side, artists have almost immediately begun responding to the riots, with graphic designers Nick Scott and Neil Walker designing posters which pretty much sum up exactly what everybody was thinking. Check them out below.
Surfing and gig-going have always been two of Australia's best-loved pastimes, and last year we scored a festival celebrating the best of both worlds. And, now, it's back for its second round of autumnal beachside festivals. Returning this March and April, The Drop festival will cruise around the country as it follows the Aussie leg of the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour and it's bringing a banging little lineup of musical gold along for the ride. Surfing the festival wave for 2019 are brother-sister folk band Angus and Julia Stone, the perennially pastel indie pop duo Client Liaison and NSW surf rock band Hockey Dad, along with other local legends The Jungle Giants and Alex the Astronaut. Held on the first weekend of each area's surfing event, The Drop is set to grace some of the Australia's most iconic surf spots, each outing featuring a locally focused offering of food, drink and culture, to match the tunes. As well as heading to the official WSL events in Torquay, Margaret River and Coolangatta, this year, the festival will also kick off Surfest Newcastle and Vissla Sydney Surf Pro in Manly — both WSL Qualifying Series events. THE DROP FESTIVAL 2019 LINEUP Angus and Julia Stone Client Liaison Hockey Dad The Jungle Giants* Alex the Astronaut * Ball Park Music will replace The Jungle Giants in Newcastle THE DROP FESTIVAL 2019 DATES Newcastle, NSW — King Edward Park, Saturday, March 16 Manly, NSW — Keirle Park, Saturday, March 23 Coolangatta, Qld — Queen Elizabeth Park, Saturday, April 6 Torquay, Vic — Torquay Common, Saturday, April 20 Margaret River, WA — Barnard Park, Busselton, Saturday, June 1 The Drop tickets are currently on sale for $95. For more info, visit thedropfestival.com.au. Images: Miranda Stokkel.
It's not hard to believe that delicious Italian cuisine and persistent ball jokes are a recipe for success. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the Meatball and Wine Bar is extending their wildly successful restaurant franchise to a third location. Complementing the CBD flagship on Flinders Lane (Cityballs) and the southside follow-up on Swan Street (Richballs), the northern eatery will sit on the ever popular Smith Street — affectionately dubbed Smithballs. Sadly, this great gain comes with a small loss. Smithballs will be taking over the former location of much loved head-to-toe eatery, Josie Bones. But all is not lost. The former owners, Julia Jenkins and Chris Badenoch (of Masterchef fame) will now be turning their attention to a microbrewing venture in North Melbourne called Boneyard Brewing. And if any carnivores who haven't got the memo stroll into the old location, I doubt they'll be disappointed by the hearty ball-based foods on offer. For those not yet familiar with the meatball madness that has now officially taken over Melbourne, the Meatball and Wine Bar is your premier destination for innovative decadence and ball-shaped indulgence. Think truffle salami (aka small slices of heaven), meatball sliders and Tuscan Sangiovese. But this new location is about to take things one step further. Not only will they be serving a stellar dinner and lunch menu (think sandwiches with pea, mint, fregola salad and chicken balls), Smithballs will also be upping the stakes at their bar. A new pilsner and ale, appropriately named Balls Beer, have been created for the venue by Mildura Brewery and — ready yourself for this one — the bar will have Negroni cocktails on tap. Freshly made cocktails at the same speed and convenience of a pint of draught. We're sold. Smithballs will be officially opening its doors tomorrow: Friday, April 18. But get in quick. If there's one thing Melbournians love it's a new restaurant opening on Smith Street (and being the first ones to wrap their mouths around its balls).
Fans of huge pop-culture behemoths, we hope you have a comfortable couch, because you're going to be spending a lot of time sitting on it over the next month or so. Not one, not two, but four massive franchises are dropping new streaming series between now and mid-September — and with everyone's queues set to be so busy, one is now arriving a little later than initially planned. That show: Andor, the second Star Wars Disney+ spinoff for 2022, following Obi-Wan Kenobi. Originally set to debut at the end of August, it has just pushed its premiere date out to Wednesday, September 21, arriving after Marvel's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon and the Middle-earth-set The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — so you'll be waiting a bit longer to dive into its tale of espionage and rebellion. The rest of the series' details remain the same, though — including providing a prequel to 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and bringing some spy thrills to a galaxy far, far away. And yes, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor takes a favourite big-screen character and steps back into their story before the events that viewers have already seen. As its title makes plain, Andor focuses on its namesake — Cassian Andor, again played by Diego Luna (If Beale Street Could Talk). Star Wars fans have already seen him as a Rebel captain and intelligence agent, and also watched how his story ends, hence the show's need to jump backwards. The focus: following Andor as he discovers how he can play a part in fighting the Empire. Indeed, charting the rebellion, and how people and planets joined in, is the series' whole remit. Alongside Luna, Andor sees filmmaker Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy) — who co-wrote the screenplay for Rogue One — return to the Star Wars franchise as the series' creator and showrunner. And, on-screen, Luna is joined by the Genevieve O'Reilly (The Dry) — who is also back as Mon Mothma — as well as Stellan Skarsgård (Dune), Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough (Monday) and Kyle Soller (Poldark). Oh, and a cute-looking new robot that was first scurrying around in the show's initial trailer, although how big a part it'll play is yet to be revealed. Andor also just dropped its full trailer, which teases the titular figure's quest to make a difference against the Empire — with a big push at first, and with help where he can get it afterwards. Unsurprisingly, the mood is grim and weighty. "The Empire is choking us all slowly. We're starting not to notice," Andor is told by Luthen Rael (Skarsgård). "What I'm asking is this: wouldn't you give it all to something real?" Andor is set to span two seasons, both running for 12 episodes each and adding to Disney+'s ever-expanding array of Star Wars programming. Also on its way: the third season of The Mandalorian, which'll arrive in February 2023; and the recently announced Skeleton Crew, which'll star Jude Law and hit streaming queues sometime next year as well. Check out the full trailer for Andor below: Andor will now start streaming via Disney+ from Wednesday, September 21. Images: ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Kendrick Lamar kicked off his four-city Australian DAMN. album tour on Tuesday, with a standout show in Perth. On top of the tour, which is also heading to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, the acclaimed hip hop artist is also headlining a sold-out Splendour in the Grass later this month. If that wasn't enough Lamar-goodness for Aussie punters, the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist has just announced that he's bringing his coveted DAMN. Pop-Up stores down under, too. Damn. The first pop-up is happening in Melbourne right now, running from 11am to 7pm today and tomorrow on Brunswick Street. Sydney will get its chance to nab some of Lamar's limited-edition merch later this month on July 24 and 25. While details of what exactly will be stocked at the stores are extremely vague, the rapper's pop-up has already appeared in Europe and across the US, stocking vinyls, tees, caps and hoodies. You can take a look inside his NYC pop-up here. The rapper has also made surprise appearances at many of the pop-ups, so if you're keen to grab a closer-than-row-z sighting of Lamar we suggest heading along. If you are thinking of heading along, however, take this as a warning: there will be long lines. DAMN. Pop Up is open in Melbourne at Doomsday, 195A Brunswick Street, Fitzroy on Friday, July 13 and Saturday, July 14 from 11am–7pm. Sydney's pop-up will be located at Above The Clouds, 205 Oxford Street, Sydney on Tuesday, July 24 and Wednesday, July 25 from 11am–7pm. Kendrick Lamar is playing in Melbourne on July 13 and 14 and in Sydney on July 24 and 25. via Triple J
Stop what you're doing. Get out of bed. Cancel that mid-morning meeting. Whatever it is — it can wait. Because this is happening again: In-N-Out Burger is back in Melbourne for one of its hectic late-notice pop-ups. Chapel Street's new eatery Lover will step in as the temporary home for the burger joint from 11am today, Tuesday, March 6. It's been over three years since the LA fast food legends set up shop in Melbourne, and a little over a year since they whipped together a few impromptu burgers out Sydney's Dead Ringer, so you can bet that burger aficionados will be desperate so get their hands on one of those buns. Today, the chain's Double-Double, Animal-Style and Protein Style signature lovelies will be available until they sold out. If you've been to one of In-N-Out's previous pop-ups though, you'll know those burgers sell like, well, cult-status burgers — so you'll have to get there early. Now is probably a good time. Go. The In-N-Out burger pop-up will run today from 11am till 3pm at Lover, 60 Chapel Street, Windsor.
If you'd like to raise a glass for International Women's Day, why not make it a nice pint glass filled with a special collab brew crafted in honour of all the women who drink, make and appreciate beer? On Sunday, March 6, Blackheart & Sparrows' new event space Perry's is set to host a froth-filled celebration for women who are making the beer game their own. It'll double as a launch party for a new-release collaboration brew made especially for the occasion — a West Coast IPA brewed with CoConspirators, dubbed The Brewer. Beer-lovers and allies are invited along for an afternoon spent sampling the new drop, while hearing from key females in the biz at a panel chat led by Blackheart & Sparrows' beer buyer Cherry Noble. More sips from the likes of Stomping Ground, Two Birds, Bentspoke and Heaps Normal will be flowing through the afternoon, as will the tunes, courtesy of a lineup of female DJs. Meanwhile, new neighbour Hi-Fi is heading up the food offering, slinging its range of hefty sandwiches and snacks. Tickets are $10, which gets you entry and some excellent company, plus a can of The Brewer. And you'll be sipping for a great cause, too, with a portion of the event's proceeds going to support the Pink Boots Society Australia's scholarship programs for women in beer. [caption id="attachment_844305" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Perry's[/caption]
Launched in 2013, Deciem set out to change the way cosmetic companies operated. And considering the brand's meteoric rise to popularity, it's safe to say it achieved just that. Specialising in high-performance skincare products underneath the banner of The Abnormal Skincare Company, Deciem oversees more than ten popular brands across makeup, grooming, beauty and supplements. It also has the added benefit of avoiding any unnecessary packaging or misleading ingredients. Set opposite the Jam Factory, Deciem's flagship Melbourne store is where you'll find the next generation of skincare products, including brands you might recognise like The Ordinary and Hylamide.
It seems a pretty hard task to follow Hannah Gadsby's international smash-hit show, Nanette. After all, the one-woman stand-up performance copped serious praise on its 18-month travels across Australia and the UK, even scooping the top honours at both the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It also spawned its very own Netflix special. And when Gadsby used the show to announce she was quitting comedy for good, we thought that was it. But the beloved Aussie comedian gave following up that hit a red hot crack when she returned to the stand-up stage with her latest work, Douglas, which is named after her own pet pooch. While Nanette pulled apart the concept of comedy itself, dishing up an insight into Gadsby's past, Douglas takes you on a "tour from the dog park to the renaissance and back". Gadsby took Douglas to stages across Australia and New Zealand in late 2019 and early 2020, and now, to the delight of comedy fans people across the world, is bringing it to Netflix this month. Available to stream globally from Tuesday, May 26, the show will bring us all some much-needed comic relief. As Gadsby says: "mark it in your socially-distant calendars...then wash your hands". https://twitter.com/Hannahgadsby/status/1249668347693654019 As the just-dropped trailer for the comedy special demonstrates, Gadsby's humour hasn't lost its charms. This time around, expect reflections on her Nanette success and observations about language — and that's just the beginning of the rib-tickling hilarity, of course. Check out the Douglas trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziIwxPCeByU Hannah Gadsby's 'Douglas' will be available to stream globally on Netflix from Tuesday, May 26.
James Cornwall was the second guest chef at Young Hearts when it opened in 2023, and it didn't take long for his residency to become a permanent fixture at the Windsor food, music and art space. And he is paying it forward for the next few months, inviting a bunch of Melbourne chefs to take over the Sunday lunch service with their own $65 set menu. Each chef has been given the simple brief: if we come to your place on a Sunday, what would you cook for us? What would we be drinking, and what would we be listening to? Steve Chan (Sleepy's Wine Bar) is kicking the series off on Sunday, July 28, with an epic yum cha spread. He's plating up some of his favoruite dishes that'll include classic sui mai as well as his own version of prawn toast and sticky rice. [caption id="attachment_896988" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Young Hearts, Pete Dillon[/caption] Young Hearts will then host Alex Weymouth on Sunday, August 25; Lucy Whitlow on Sunday, September 8; and Josh Murphy (Harley & Rose) on Sunday, October 6. We don't know what they'll be cooking up, but we're sure you'll find more info closer to their takeovers at Young Heart's Instagram page. "When James suggested staying on a permanent basis, I instantly agreed," said Owner and Manager of Young Hearts, Nic Coulter. "I look forward to building the food side of the business with someone as talented as James. Through his experience and network of chefs, we are in for some good things to come. Sunday Service will continue the philosophy of the business and allow emerging chefs a space to create and gain exposure." Images: Jae Lin Creative.
Far outdoing their traditional duty as reminder memos, these 30,000 Post-its serve to shock and impress as components of Yo Shimada's 'Post-it Structures'. Shimada, of Tato Architects, collaborated with students at the Kyoto University of Art and Design to create this massive, neon-bright structure now on display in Kyoto City, Japan. Each Post-it is adhered to another to create a building-like structure which has walls running through the entirety of the gallery. Delicate and precarious-looking, the wall is reminiscent of a house of cards, a gentle balancing act. Gallery visitors are invited to respond to the work. Comments may be written via (what else?) Post-its and stuck to the facing wall of the gallery space. We want to know what happens if someone accidentally sneezes. [via Designboom]
Every year, once gifts have been given, turkey and prawns devoured, drinks sipped and backyard games of cricket played, the festive season delivers another treat. Whatever you spend your Christmas Day doing, Boxing Day is just as exciting if you're a movie buff — or even simply eager to escape the weather, and your house, to relax in air-conditioning and watch the latest big-screen releases. Just like in 2020, 2021 has seen many cinemas Down Under spend months empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading; however, the country's picture palaces are well and truly back in business. And, they're screening a wide array of Boxing Day fare as always — so at least one thing about this chaotic year is proceeding as normal. If you're wondering not only what's showing, but what's worth your time, we've watched and reviewed the day's slate of new titles. It includes a trip back into an adored sci-fi franchise, getting swept up in a musical romance, catching a scorching new Shakespeare adaptation and taking in a glorious 70s-set coming-of-age slice of life. Even when you're done unwrapping your presents, these silver-screen gifts await. THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Hordes of imitators have spilled ones and zeros claiming otherwise, but the greatest move The Matrix franchise ever made wasn't actually bullet time. Even 22 years after Lana and Lilly Wachowski brought the saga's instant-classic first film to cinemas, its slow-motion action still wows, and yet they made another choice that's vastly more powerful. It wasn't the great pill divide — blue versus red, as dubiously co-opted by right-wing conspiracies since — or the other binaries at its core (good versus evil, freedom versus enslavement, analogue versus digital, humanity versus machines). It wasn't end-of-the-millennia philosophising about living lives online, the green-tinged cyberpunk aesthetic, or one of the era's best soundtracks, either. They're all glorious, as is knowing kung fu and exclaiming "whoa!", but The Matrix's unwavering belief in Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss is far more spectacular. It was a bold decision those two-and-a-bit decades ago, with Reeves a few years past sublime early-90s action hits Point Break and Speed, and Moss then known for TV bit parts (including, in a coincidence that feels like the product of computer simulation, a 1993 series called Matrix). But, as well as giving cinema their much-emulated gunfire-avoidance technique and all those other aforementioned highlights, the Wachowskis bet big on viewers caring about their central pair — and hooking into their chemistry — as leather-clad heroes saving humanity. Amid the life-is-a-lie horrors, the subjugation of flesh to mechanical overlords and the battle for autonomy, the first three Matrix films always weaved Neo and Trinity's love story through their sci-fi action. Indeed, the duo's connection remained the saga's beating heart. Like any robust computer program executed over and over, The Matrix Resurrections repeats the feat — with plenty of love for what's come before, but even more for its enduring love story. Lana goes solo on The Matrix Resurrections — helming her first-ever project without her sister in their entire career — but she still goes all in on Reeves and Moss. The fourth live-action film in the saga, and fifth overall counting The Animatrix, this new instalment doesn't initially give its key figures their familiar character names, however. Rather, it casts them as famous video game designer Thomas Anderson and motorcycle-loving mother-of-two Tiffany. One of those monikers is familiar, thanks to a surname drawled by Agent Smith back in 1999, and again in 2003 sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. But this version of Thomas Anderson only knows the agent from his own hit gaming trilogy (called The Matrix, naturally). And he doesn't really know Tiffany at all, instead admiring her from afar at Simulatte, their local coffee shop. Before Reeves and Moss share a frame, and before Anderson and Tiffany's awkward meet-cute, The Matrix Resurrections begins with blue-haired hacker Bugs (Jessica Henwick, On the Rocks). She sports a white rabbit tattoo, observes a scene straight out of the first flick and helps set the movie's self-referential tone. As a result, The Matrix Resurrections starts with winking, nodding and déjà vu — and, yes, with a glitch, with Lana and co-screenwriters David Mitchell (author of Cloud Atlas) and Aleksandar Hemon (Sense8) penning a playful script that adores the established Matrix lore, enjoys toying with it and openly unpacks everything that's sprung up around it. Long exposition dumps, some of the feature's worst habits, explain the details, but waking up Anderson from his machine-induced dream — again — is Bugs' number-one aim. Read our full review. WEST SIDE STORY Tonight, tonight, there's only Steven Spielberg's lavish and dynamic version of West Side Story tonight — not to detract from or forget the 1961 movie of the same name. Six decades ago, an all-singing, all-dancing, New York City-set, gang war-focused spin on Romeo and Juliet leapt from stage to screen, becoming one of cinema's all-time classic musicals; however, remaking that hit is a task that Spielberg dazzlingly proves up to. It's his first sashay into the genre, despite making his initial amateur feature just three years after the original West Side Story debuted. It's also his first film since 2018's obnoxiously awful Ready Player One, which doubled as a how-to guide to crafting one of the worst, flimsiest and most bloated pieces of soulless pop-culture worship possible. But with this swooning, socially aware story of star-crossed lovers, Spielberg pirouettes back from his atrocious last flick by embracing something he clearly adores, and being unafraid to give it rhythmic swirls and thematic twirls. Shakespeare's own tale of tempestuous romance still looms large over West Side Story, as it always has — in fair NYC and its rubble-strewn titular neighbourhood where it lays its 1950s-era scene. The Jets and the Sharks aren't quite two households both alike in dignity, though. Led by the swaggering and dogged Riff (Mike Faist, a Tony-nominee for the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen), the Jets are young, scrappy, angry and full of resentment for anyone they fear is encroaching on their terrain (anyone who isn't white especially). Meanwhile, with boxer Bernardo (David Alvarez, a Tony-winner for Billy Elliot) at the helm, the Sharks have tried to establish new lives outside of their native Puerto Rico through study, jobs and their own businesses. Both gangs refuse to coexist peacefully in the only part of New York where either feels at home — even with the threat of gentrification looming large in every torn-down building, signs for shiny new amenities such as Lincoln Centre popping up around the place and, when either local cops Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James, Hawkeye) or Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll, The Many Saints of Newark) interrupt their feuding, after they're overtly warned as well. But it's a night at a dance, and the love-at-first-sight connection that blooms between Riff's best friend Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch) and Bernardo's younger sister María (feature debutant Rachel Zegler), that sparks a showdown. This rumble will decide westside supremacy once and for all, the two sides agree. The OG West Side Story was many things: gifted with a glorious cast, including Rita Moreno in her Academy Award-winning role as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita, plus future Twin Peaks co-stars Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer as Riff and Tony; unashamedly showy, like it had just snapped its fingers and flung itself off the stage; and punchy with its editing, embracing the move from the boards to the frame. It still often resembled a filmed musical rather than a film more than it should've, however. Spielberg's reimagining, which boasts a script by his Munich and Lincoln scribe Tony Kushner, tweaks plenty while also always remaining West Side Story — and, via his regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (The Post) and a whirl of leaping and plunging camerawork, it looks as exuberant as the vibrant choreography that the New York City Ballet's Justin Peck splashes across the screen, nodding to Jerome Robbins' work for the original movie lovingly but never slavishly. Read our full review. LICORICE PIZZA A Star Is Born has already graced the titles of four different films, and Licorice Pizza isn't one of them. Paul Thomas Anderson's ninth feature, and his loosest since Boogie Nights — his lightest since ever, too — does boast a memorable Bradley Cooper performance, though. That said, this 70s- and San Fernando Valley-set delight isn't quite about seeking fame, then navigating its joys and pitfalls, although child actors and Hollywood's ebbs and flows all figure into the narrative. Licorice Pizza definitely births two new on-screen talents, however, both putting in two of 2021's best performances and two of the finest-ever movie debuts. That's evident from the film's very first sublimely grainy 35-millimetre-shot moments, as Alana Haim of Haim (who PTA has directed several music videos for) and Cooper Hoffman (son of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, a PTA regular) do little more than chat, stroll and charm. The radiant Haim plays Alana Kane, a Valley dweller of 25 or 28 (her story changes) working as a photographer's assistant, which brings her to a Tarzana high school on yearbook picture day. Enter the smoothly assured Hoffman as 15-year-old Gary Valentine, who is instantly smitten and tries to wrangle a date. Alana is dismissive with a spikiness that speaks volumes about how she handles herself (a later scene, where she yells "fuck off, teenagers!" to kids in her way, is similarly revealing). But Gary keeps persisting, inviting her to the real-life Tail o' the Cock, a fine diner he claims to visit regularly. In a gliding ride of a walk-and-talk sequence that's shot like a dream, Alana says no, yet she's also still intrigued. As a smile at the end of their first encounter betrays, Alana was always going to show up, even against her better judgement (and even as she firmly establishes that they aren't a couple). Her demeanour doesn't soften as Gary interrogates her like he's a dad greeting a daughter's beau — a gag Anderson mirrors later when Alana takes another ex-child actor, Lance (Skyler Gisondo, Santa Clarita Diet), home to meet her mother, father and two sisters (all played by the rest of the Haims, parents included) and he's questioned in the same manner. That family dinner arises after Gary enlists the new object of his affection to chaperone him on a trip to New York, where he's featuring with Lance in a live reunion for one of their flicks. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Gary is heartbroken to see Alana with Lance, but all roads keep leading her back to him anyway. Charting Alana and Gary's friendship as it circles and swirls, and they often sprint towards each other — and chronicling everything else going on in the San Fernando Valley, where PTA himself grew up — Licorice Pizza is a shaggy slice-of-life film in multiple ways. Spinning a narrative that Anderson penned partly based on stories shared by Gary Goetzman, an ex-child talent turned frequent producer of Tom Hanks movies, it saunters along leisurely like it's just stepped out of the 70s itself, and also sports that anything-can-happen vibe that comes with youth. It's a portrait of a time, before mobile phones and the internet, when you had to either talk on a landline or meet up in person to make plans, and when just following where the day took you was the status quo. It captures a canny mix of adolescence and arrested development, too; teen exuberance springs from the always-hustling Gary, while treading water is both an apt description of Alana's connection with her would-be paramour and a state she's acutely aware of. Read our full review. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD When Frances Ha splashed a gorgeous portrait of quarter-life malaise across the screen nearly a decade back — proving neither the first nor last film to do so, of course — its titular New Yorker was frequently running. As played by Greta Gerwig, she sprinted and stumbled to David Bowie's intoxicating 'Modern Love' and just in general, while navigating the constantly-in-motion reality of being in her 20s. It takes place in a different city, another country and on the other side of the globe, but The Worst Person in the World's eponymous figure (Renate Reinsve, Phoenix) is often racing, too. (Sometimes, in the movie's most stylised touch, she's even flitting around while the whole world stops around her.) Norwegian writer/director Joachim Trier (Thelma) firmly understands the easy shorthand of watching someone rush — around Oslo here, but also through life overall — especially while they're grappling with a blatant case arrested development. Capturing the relentlessly on-the-go sensation that comes with adulthood, as well as the inertia of feeling like you're never quite getting anywhere that you're meant to be, these running scenes paint a wonderfully evocative and relatable image. Those are apt terms for The Worst Person in the World overall, actually, which meets Julie as she's pinballing through the shambles of her millennial life. She doesn't ever truly earn the film's title, or come close, but she still coins the description and spits it her own way — making the type of self-deprecating, comically self-aware comment we all do when we're trying to own our own chaos because anything else would be a lie. The Worst Person in the World's moniker feels so telling because it's uttered by Julie herself, conveying how we're all our own harshest critics. In her existence, even within the mere four years that the film focuses on, mess is a constant. Indeed, across the movie's 12 chapters, plus its prologue and epilogue, almost everything about Julie's life changes and evolves. That includes not just dreams, goals, fields of study and careers, but also loved ones, boyfriends, apartments, friends and ideas of what the future should look like — and, crucially, also Julie's perception of herself. As the ever-observant Trier and his regular co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt track their protagonist through these ups and downs, using whatever means they can to put his audience in her mindset — freezing time around her among them — The Worst Person in the World also proves a raw ode to self-acceptance, and to forgiving yourself for not having it all together. They're the broad strokes of this wonderfully perceptive film; the specifics are just as insightful and recognisable. Julie jumps from medicine to psychology to photography, and between relationships — with 44-year-old comic book artist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie, Bergman Island), who's soon thinking about all the serious things in life; and then with the far more carefree Eivind (Herbert Nordrum, ZombieLars), who she meets after crashing a wedding. Expressing not only how Julie changes with each shift in focus, job and partner, but how she copes with that change within herself, is another of The Worst Person in the World's sharp touches. At one point, on a getaway with friends more than a decade older than her, Julie is laden with broad and trite generalisations about being her age — which Trier humorously and knowingly counters frame by frame with lived-in minutiae. Read our full review. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH Bringing Shakespeare to the big screen is no longer just about doing the material justice, or even about letting a new batch of the medium's standout talents bring their best to the Bard's immortal words. For anyone and everyone attempting the feat (a list that just keeps growing), it's also about gifting the playwright's material with the finest touches that cinema allows. It's never enough to simply film Macbeth like a theatre production, for instance, even if all that dialogue first penned four centuries ago still ripples with power — while riffing about power — without any extra adornments. No Shakespeare adaptation really needs to explain or legitimise its existence more than any other feature, but the great ones bubble not only with toil and trouble, but with all the reasons why this tale needed to be captured on camera and projected large anew. Joel Coen knows all of the above. Indeed, his take on the Scottish play — which he's called The Tragedy of Macbeth, taking Shakespeare's full original title — justifies its existence as a movie in every single frame. His is a film of exacting intimacy, with every shot peering far closer at its main figures than anyone could ever see on a stage, and conveying more insight into their emotions, machinations and motivations in the process. The Bard might've posited that all the world's a stage in As You Like It, but The Tragedy of Macbeth's lone Coen brother doesn't quite agree. Men and women are still merely players in this revived quest for supremacy through bloodshed, but their entrances, exits and many parts would mean nothing if we couldn't see as far into their hearts and minds as cinema — and as cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel's (The Woman in the Window) stripped-down, black-and-white, square-framed imagery — can possibly allow. In a year for filmmakers going it alone beyond the creative sibling relationships that've defined their careers — see also: The Matrix Resurrections — Joel Coen makes a phenomenal solo debut with this up-close approach. His choice of cast, with Denzel Washington (The Little Things) as powerful as he's ever been on-screen and Frances McDormand (The French Dispatch) showing why she has three Best Actress Oscars, also helps considerably. The former plays Macbeth, the latter Lady Macbeth, and both find new reserves and depths in the pair's fateful lust for glory. That's another key element to any new silver-screen iteration of Shakespeare's most famous works: making its characters feel anew. Washington and McDormand — and Coen as well — all tread in the footsteps of of Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel (Nitram) thanks to 2015's exquisite Macbeth, but they stand in absolutely no one's shadows. The narrative details remain the same, obviously, from the witches prophesying that Macbeth will soon be king to his murderous actions at Lady Macbeth's urging to make that prediction become a reality. All that scheming has consequences, both before and after Duncan (Brendan Gleeson, Mr Mercedes) is stripped of his throne — and one of the smartest parts of the movie's central casting is the change it brings to the Macbeths' seething desperation. Due to Washington and McDormand's ages, their versions of the characters are grasping onto what might be their last chance, rather than being ruthless with far more youthful abandon. That's the intensely meticulous level that Coen operates on in The Tragedy of Macbeth. His visual use of light and darkness is just as sharp, too; here, stepping back into the acclaimed play is a lean, ravishing, eerie and potent experience again and again. Read our full review. SWAN SONG Sit down on your couch to watch Swan Song, and a Mahershala Ali (Green Book)-starring sci-fi drama about mortality, farewells and leaving a mark on the world beckons. Head to the cinema instead, and you'll see the great German actor Udo Kier grappling with the same concepts — in a movie that shares the same name, too, and is also anchored by a weighty central performance. They're vastly different features in almost every other way, however, and only one boasts the inimitable Kier. His seven-decade resume spans everything from the original Suspiria and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective to a wealth of Lars von Trier movies, but he turns in career-best work in this SXSW-premiering film-festival favourite about a small-town hairdressing superstar enjoying one last hurrah by styling a former favourite client who has just passed away. Kier plays Pat Pitsenbarger — and, when the movie begins in an Ohio nursing home, he looks as washed-out as a months-old dye job. With a stare that stings like bleach, he fills his days refolding napkins in an extremely precise way and spending his Social Security benefits on cigarettes he's not supposed to smoke. After his lawyer arrives with the $25,000 funeral gig offer, Pat isn't initially willing to shatter his dull routine, but getting a rare taste of a life less institutionalised is too alluring to pass up. His initial reaction — "bury her with bad hair!" — isn't so quickly cast aside, though. From his acerbic attitude to the rings he packs onto every finger, Pat has spent his life fighting to do things his own way, and he isn't about to change that for anyone. The care that Kier puts into Pat can't be underestimated. His is an attention-grabbing performance, but also always a deeply nuanced one, all while playing a character that's gleefully outrageous and always has been, and is also unshakeably tinged with melancholy. Every second that Kier is on-screen is a marvel, because every second conveys new character details or plunges further into the many complexities of a man who proudly strides down his own path. Writer/director Todd Stephens (Another Gay Movie) has clearly conceived Pat with just as much thought and precision, and extended the same meticulousness to the town around him. Swan Song could've played like a one-note gag — a flamboyant senior citizen making a splash in a conservative midwestern spot — but interrogating what it means to be an openly gay man in such surroundings, both in the past and now, sits firmly at the core of this poignant drama. Like its lead, Swan Song is both eclectic and electric, especially in balancing different tones in every way it can muster. The narrative is episodic and encounter-driven, but each chapter heaves with slice-of-life glimpses that contrast who Pat once was with the situation that he's in now. Stephens' film can look both candidly naturalistic and glitteringly dreamy — and, in the same vein, Kier stands out in his nursing home garb and rocking a women's safari suit alike. Swan Song also smartly acknowledges the struggles that today's queer elders have navigated and survived, embodied here by enduring grief over past losses and the impending closure of Pat's old favourite gay nightclub, as well as the world they find themselves in now. Brief appearances by Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus) as Pat's former assistant and Michael Urie (Younger) as someone touched by his trailblazing add the same layers, in a film that couldn't be more delicately styled if it was sculpted one snip at a time with hairdressing scissors. DELICIOUS No one eats the rich in Delicious, but French nobility is still savaged in this gently pointed gastronomical comedy. The year is 1789, the revolution hasn't yet broken out, and the chasm between the wealthy and everyone else is so glaring that it even extends to cuisine — with eating well solely reserved for the kinds of aristocrats who smugly think that no one else could appreciate a fine meal. At one such dinner in the Duke of Chamfort's (Benjamin Lavernhe, The French Dispatch) household, his personal chef Pierre Manceron (Grégory Gadebois, Night Shift) earns the table's ire by daring to cook a new dish featuring potatoes and truffles, which he dubs 'the delicious'. The humble tuber is considered beneath the Duke's dining companions, but Manceron refuses to apologise for his new creation, choosing to leave his prestigious post and man his own roadside inn instead. Delicious is framed around the restaurant trade and its beginnings; it isn't just superheroes that earn origin stories these days, it seems. With his son Benjamin (Lorenzo Lefèbvre, Sibyl) following him home, Manceron busies himself cooking for travellers — but he's both fiercely proud of his past work and visibly bitter about how the whole situation has turned out. He's so aggrieved with his current lot in life that when a woman, Louise (Isabelle Carré, De Gaulle), arrives at his door asking to become his apprentice, he's sharply and rudely dismissive. He questions her story, and perpetuates the stereotype that women can't be great chefs, too. But she's a key ingredient in his quest towards a different future, which first involves trying to re-win the Duke's favour, and then boils up a bowl of revenge. Everything from Parasite to The White Lotus have set their sights on class disparities with far more brutality, but Delicious adds an affable course to this ongoing pop-culture reckoning. It's the dessert of the genre, even as its frames are filled with sumptuous close-ups of savoury dishes in various stages of creation — pastry kneaded, potatoes and truffles placed exactingly, and egg wash glistening to begin with. (Yes, if you haven't eaten before watching, it'll make your stomach rumble.) An opening title card sets the scene, advising that dining away from home, and for pleasure in general if you weren't rich, was utterly unheard of at the time. Writer/director Éric Besnard (L'esprit de famille) then spends nearly two hours slowly smashing that status quo, albeit by firmly sticking to the obvious. Recipes are a culinary staple for a reason, though; amass the right parts in the right way and magic frequently happens. Delicious isn't the filmic equivalent, but it's charming nonetheless — as engaging as sitting down to a well-cooked meal where you know what everything will taste like in advance, but you're happy to get swept up in the flavour. It mightn't have proven so appetising without Gadebois, Carré and Lefèbvre, however, even if their parts are clearly thinner in Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief's (The Confession) script than they play on-screen. The handsome period staging also assists immensely, including all those shots of tastebud-tempting cuisine. Eating is as much about the setting and the company as the food, of course, a concept Delicious bakes into its frames. SING 2 Star voices, a jukebox worth of songs, anthropomorphic animated critters, cheesy sentiments: that's the formula fuelling far too many all-ages-friendly films of late. Back in 2016, Sing used it to box office-smashing success by doing little more than spinning a colourful version of American Idol but with zoo animals doing the singing. It wasn't the worst example of this kind of flick, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it was the skew of its soundtrack, which favoured songs that the adults in its audience would like more than the pint-sized viewers entranced by its bright hues, talking lions and koalas, and frenetic pacing. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sing 2 doubles down on that idea by not only mining the discography of U2, but by also casting Bono as a reclusive ex-rockstar. For the Irish frontman, the double payday must've been nice. For everyone watching Sing 2, what follows is the latest example of a style of filmmaking that resembles turning on Nickelodeon or your other kid-centric TV network of choice, cueing up a Spotify playlist full of past hits and letting the two run at the same time. Returning writer/director Garth Jennings explored how young minds process, respond to, and both internalise and externalise pop culture in the delightful 2007 comedy Son of Rambo, but his Sing franchise only wishes it could echo to such depths. The fact that its characters are merely belting out souped-up karaoke is telling, because giving familiar 'believe in yourself' and 'trust your pals' rhetoric some new packaging is the gambit here. Yes, the animated creatures are cute, plenty of the songs are classics, and it's clearly meant to be disposable fun, but it's all so dispiritingly lazy and generic. It might begin with a saccharine rendition of Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy', but that song choice isn't instructional or descriptive; nothing here departs from the expected. This time around, after already gathering a gang of music-loving animals via a singing contest in the first flick, koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey, The Gentlemen) has a hit show filling his theatre — but he still wants to make it big in the bigger smoke. Alas, Suki (Chelsea Peretti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), a dog and a talent scout, advises that Buster's ragtag crew don't have what it takes. He's determined to prove otherwise, taking pigs Rosita (Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show) and Gunter (Nick Kroll, Big Mouth), gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton, Rocketman), porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow), and elephant Meena (singer Tori Kelly) to Redshore City to pitch directly to wolf and media mogul Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Canavale, Nine Perfect Strangers). If Sing was an animal karaoke caper that turned reality television into a star-studded cartoon while trying to evoke warm and fuzzy sentiments — and it was — then Sing 2 proves a case of just flogging the same exact thing. The narrative has changed slightly and been overstuffed, but that's all just new words set to the same beat. While a few parts of the initial flick gleamed beyond the template, mainly because it still remained just fun enough, it's all about as fresh as a U2 greatest hits CD here. Children will still be distracted, but family-friendly entertainment should always strive for more. Dropping two already over-used Billie Eilish tracks within five minutes to sprinkle in some more recent cuts says plenty about Jennings' second-time approach, as does the heavier reliance upon songs in general to convey all the movie's emotions and fill almost all of its minutes, too. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on August 5, August 12, August 19 and August 26; September 2, September 9, September 16, September 23 and September 30; October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; and December 2, December 9 and December 16. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Respect, The Night House, Candyman, Annette, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Streamline, Coming Home in the Dark, Pig, Big Deal, The Killing of Two Lovers, Nitram, Riders of Justice, The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter and The Scary of Sixty-First.
In the coming years, works by Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, Brett Whiteley and Arthur Boyd will find a new home on the New South Wales south coast. The pieces will form part of an art gallery that's set to spring up on the Bundanon property at Riversdale in the Shoalhaven region, with the New South Wales government committing more than $8.5 million to revamp the site. A quarter of a century since the 1100-hectare property was gifted to the Australian public by artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne Boyd — becoming a haven for creativity, arts and education, as well as remaining a working farm — it'll welcome a new space to house the Boyds' other gift: over 3800 items, including with more than 1300 works by Arthur Boyd himself. At present, hundreds of pieces can be viewed in the existing Bundanon Homestead, as well as in Arthur Boyd's studio; however the forthcoming expansion will see the construction of a gallery and storage facility for the huge art collection, which is valued at $43 million. While the new plans centre around the gallery itself, which will built into the site's hillside and boast windows that frame the artwork with glimpses of the natural splendour outside, that's not the only addition as part of the project. A 140-metre-long by nine-metre-wide structure will branch out of the gallery, into a bridge spanning across the Bundanon bushland and parkland, and across to 34 bedrooms, a teaching and dining space, and a public cafe. Stepped terraces, an openair arrival hall and an outdoor learning space are also mooted. The NSW government's contribution has been allocated through the state's Regional Cultural Fund, with $28 million required in total to complete the project — and an opening date yet to be announced. "Arthur Boyd's extraordinary works live on as enduring inspiration for the many passionate and talented artists across regional NSW," commented NSW Minister for the Arts Don Harwin. "This new facility housed on this famous landscape will pave the way for the Bundanon Trust's revered $43 million collection to be housed and presented for all visitors to enjoy." Images: Kerstin Thompson Architects.
UPDATE, December 23, 2021: Last Christmas is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. At the end of each year, when 'Last Christmas' gets stuck in your head for months, you probably don't spend too long thinking about it. George Michael's soft tones echo through your brain, his romantic lyrics roll off your tongue and the song's gentle beat becomes the rhythm of your life — but we're guessing you've never added a backstory to the classic 80s festive track, pondered its words in-depth or taken it literally. Clearly, you're not Emma Thompson. Asked to turn the tune into a screenplay, the Oscar-winning actor and writer has expended her brain cells on this task — and the film that results clearly states that it's "inspired by the song 'Last Christmas'". Given that movies based on games, toys and amusement park rides are now commonplace, a Wham! track is as good a starting point as any. Plus, with Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters and A Simple Favour director Paul Feig at the helm, Last Christmas comes with a solid comedy pedigree. It's highly contrived, as plenty of end-of-year movies are. It's also schmaltzy, as is the song. But, splashed across the screen with a sea of red, green and tinsel, the Christmas flick boasts enough warm-hearted charm to light up this sweetly engaging seasonal affair. Feig, Thompson and co-writer Bryony Kimmings (the performance artist behind I'm a Phoenix, Bitch) have another trick up their sleeves, with Last Christmas taking its entire soundtrack from George Michael's back catalogue. On paper, a Christmas rom-com based on a beloved pop song, featuring a jukebox worth of tracks by the same artist and unfurling its Yuletide hijinks in London sounds like the work of an algorithm in overdrive. If the world's December playlists joined forces with everyone's Love Actually-heavy festive streaming queues, this premise would be the end result. The film's casting, letting a post-Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke channel her inner Fleabag and deploying a post-Crazy Rich Asians Henry Golding as a tender dreamboat, seems like it has sprung straight from social media posts, too. In short, Last Christmas feels engineered to incite as cosy a feel-good glow as it can — and, in-between evoking a few eye rolls, it manages that feat. On the subject of eye rolls, the plot details might as well spring from a rom-com handbook. Kate (Clarke) is a down-on-her-luck aspiring singer who works as an elf in a year-round Christmas store, Tom (Golding) is an unrelentingly optimistic bicycle courier who doesn't have a phone and devotes his spare time to helping the homeless, and, despite ostensibly having nothing in common, they're drawn to each other. One of their early run-ins involves a bird shitting on Kate, lest viewers forget that her boozy life moving between various friends' couches and spare rooms is a mess. Befitting this incident, Tom's wisdom-laced catchphrase — because, yes, he has one — is "look up". As Last Christmas' chalk-and-cheese duo get closer, with Tom's kindness rubbing off on the cynical Kate as she tries to figure out her life, nothing unexpected happens. That's especially true if you do actually spend a few seconds thinking about the song behind the movie's moniker, but Thompson and Kimmings' script has such a heartfelt tone — and an awareness of the tropes it's gleefully adopting — that the film mostly works. It's the cinematic equivalent of drinking eggnog; it might not be your beverage of choice, but, when it's in front of you, you'll genuinely enjoy it all the same. Two weightier aspects of Last Christmas' narrative also help it go down smoothly, the first involving Kate's recovery from a major health scare and the impact it has had on her life, and the second stemming from her family heritage. With the picture set in 2017, and with Kate and her relatives (including Thompson as her broad-accented mother) immigrating from the former Yugoslavia two decades earlier, this is very much a Brexit-era festive romantic comedy. The film's other key elements — Feig, Clarke and Golding — all hit their marks. Feig's penchant for odd-couple comedy, Clarke's bubbliness behind her usual Mother of Dragons on-screen persona and Golding's innate charisma each sparkle, particularly when the movie begins to lean on its formula (and when the predictable twist, which viewers have been guessing since the trailer first dropped, pops up). Elsewhere, the latter's Crazy Rich Asians mother, Michelle Yeoh, steals her scenes as Kate's boss Santa (yep, that's her name). Naturally, Thompson does the same in the picture's most overtly comic role. Consider them the extra ingredients in this Christmas pudding of a picture — a film that's designed to complement the full meal that 'tis the season, and proves sweetly satisfying enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co5jWMYsr34
As a dancer, he joined the New York Ballet while still a teenager. As a choreographer working in film, he's given Denis Villeneuve's versions of Dune their sandwalk. Making a dance film in the desert seems like the logical next step for Benjamin Millepied, then. The French talent's resume isn't short on other highlights — including the LA Dance Project, which he initiated; Black Swan, which he both choreographed and starred in; and the Paris Opera Ballet, where he was Director of Dance from 2014–16 — but a reimagining of Carmen not only shot in Australia, but backdropped by the outback town of Broken Hill, is quite the unique way to make his feature directorial debut. This is Carmen in name and spirit first and foremost, though. This is Carmen broken down and built back up again, too. Despite the contents of its frames, this is Carmen set not Down Under, but across the US-Mexico border amid fleeing to Los Angeles. This is Carmen following strangers who become lovers on the run, its namesake escaping cartel brutality and then racist prejudices when she migrates north, and the ex-marine that she crosses paths with post-smuggling dashing away from his own dalliances with violence. This is also Carmen led by Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal, the former more in In the Heights mode than Scream, and the latter as entrancing as he's proven in Normal People and his Oscar-nominated performance in Aftersun. It was the pandemic that took filming in Mexico out of the equation, and brought Millepied to Australia. His visit, like Mescal's when he was cast, didn't slink under the radar — that Millepied is married to Black Swan Oscar-winner Natalie Portman, who shot Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney, meant ample media attention. Carmen was made when much of Hollywood seemed to relocate this way; however, as spectacular as its dance sequences are, and as impressive as it leads prove as well (plus iconic Spanish actor and Pedro Almodóvar favourite Rossy de Palma, Parallel Mothers), it's as intimate as an opera-inspired drama that dances against sweeping plains of ochre Aussie soil can be. "I personally enjoyed it so much out there," Millepied tells Concrete Playground. "I love the desert. I love the light in the desert. I really loved being out there. I'm going back to Australia in a few weeks, and I'm tempted to go back out there." With Carmen now in Aussie cinemas and also screening at the New Zealand International Film Festival, the acclaimed dancer-turned-filmmaker chatted about swapping North America for Broken Hill, giving Prosper Mérimée's novella and Georges Bizet's opera his own spin, his leads, being driven by Succession composer Nicholas Britell's new score, and what he learned in making the leap from performing — or didn't. ON REIMAGINING CARMEN "I wanted to lean on a classical tragedy. I was instinctively attracted to it culturally, for its relationship to the Roma culture — and this idea of someone expressing her freedom through dance. Those were those were the key components. And really thinking that this would be a musical that was a drama with music and dance — that fantasy, that the dancing, would come through dreams, and that it was a drama. I think people forget that there's actually very few musicals that have a more realistic [approach] — here, of course, we're not fully in in realism, but I think that it's still a dark film. That's quite unusual for musicals, because you can make very light musicals, fluffy musicals, where people sing and dance. I probably will make something lighter like that. Hopefully, maybe someday, I get the opportunity. But that's not Carmen — Carmen took a different sort of sense." ON MAKING A DRAMA WITH DANCE, RATHER THAN A CLASSICAL MUSICAL, TO SUIT THE STORY "I don't think you can tackle a political subject like that and just have migrants dancing, for example. I think the subject matter implied that we had to bring a certain depth to the approach of how dance and music existed in the film. When I started to look at the history of the Roma culture in South America, and I started to think about the border — I don't know how it came up — I found out there's an important Roma community that migrated to Mexico in the early 20th century. And that story was quite fascinating, and the way they live, and the way that Mexican culture influenced their own, as they did in everywhere they went, and took on traditions and cultures. So it just made a lot of sense, this idea of the Roma culture being free and moving through the world, and with deep traditions. It made sense to set it on the Mexico-US border." ON AUSTRALIA STANDING IN FOR NORTH AMERICA "When I when I realised that I couldn't shoot in Mexico because of COVID and everything, and I had scouted and I'd done all this work, I looked at Australia because we were supposed to go there. It just made sense. I felt like I could pull it off, and I actually thought that the heightened reality that I was thinking of could really work there — I would just push that element, make it real. So that's how I thought of it, and it worked great. It was really incredible to shoot in in Australia. Just creatively, the team that I had was was really amazing. I loved it out there. We were really so lucky, and it actually looked a lot like the desert in the north of Mexico where I say it is early in the film. It was just this proximity in landscape that was really, really incredible." ON CASTING MELISSA BARRERA AND PAUL MESCAL, AND CAPITALISING UPON THEIR CHEMISTRY It's not easy to find someone who could really be a triple threat — dance and sing and act, and have that kind of magnetism, and [is] Mexican. She was really right. She was really perfect. I needed someone who was believable as a marine. I needed someone who was a real man — someone who was physical, who wasn't a dancer. He was perfect. I mean, how amazing is he in the film! She prepared a lot in terms of movement, in terms of flamenco. She prepared quite a bit, and so did he. You just hope that [the chemistry] is something that happens. You don't know. I mean, you get them together, but you just hope for the best, honestly." ON THE IMPORTANCE OF NICHOLAS BRITELL'S SCORE "The score implied so much of the film. We started with the music — so essentially the whole visual language came from the music, I would say. That was really wonderful. I even had score written that I could play on set. I think what I'm so proud of for this score is just it's so unique — so unique a sound for film, and it's filled with different influences, which is what we were going for. It's been a really beautiful journey with the music. When you hear the last hip hop track, it has West African rhythm influences. When you hear the choir, it's Eastern Europe voices — and then you have the French in the lyrics. And yet you have synths and strings, and so it's really rich in terms of its influences. That's what makes the score so unique. People wouldn't necessarily know it, but it is that way very specifically unique, I think. And I'm really proud of that for Nick, and for the film, that it doesn't sound like any other score that you've heard." ON MAKING HIS FEATURE DIRECTORIAL DEBUT WITH CARMEN "[It springs] from years of wanting to, of playing with film and the camera, and having a desire to actually make a film. It didn't come from one single thing. I think it's my love for photography, for film, for being interested in it — curious to, essentially, explore my own expression in something that has a bit more of an intellectual approach, in a way, and less instinctive like dance. Dance, I can just walk in the studio and just create something out of my dream — but a movie, you're interested in a theme, then you understand why, then you have to dig into it. I learned a lot through the process — of what to do, what not to do. And particularly the screenwriting stuff for me. I'm excited to to do it again, frankly." ON LEARNING FROM DANCING, CHOREOGRAPHY, BLACK SWAN AND DUNE FOR HIS FIRST FEATURE — OR NOT "I think nothing prepares you for really directing a film. I mean, there's little elements, but the magnitude of directing a film is so big that, no, it doesn't prepare you. But that's okay. I think there's a lot you can prepare yourself for, and yet there's so much to learn once you do it — and I love that. I love being thrown in the fire and and having to figure out everything on the go. I will make hopefully at some point a second film with so much more understanding of how do it." Carmen opened in Australian cinemas on July 13, and plays the 2023 New Zealand International Film Festival. Read our review. Images: Lisa Tomasetti / Goalpost Pictures.
2020 didn't bring much that sparked joy, but it did let Sydneysiders wander through a large-scale, multi-sensory Vincent van Gogh exhibition that projected Dutch master's works onto walls, columns and floors. In 2021, art lovers will be able to repeat the feat, this time with a heap of French Impressionist masterpieces — because Monet & Friends — Life, Light & Colour is heading to town from March. The idea behind Monet & Friends is the same as its predecessor. It stems from the same team as well. As you wander around the Royal Hall of Industries in Moore Park from Friday, March 12, you'll feast more than just your eyes on huge projections of Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas' work. Light, colour, sound and fragrance are also all part of the exhibition, which is designed to make you feel as if you're walking right into the hefty array of paintings. The list of 19th- and early 20th-century artists showcased goes on, too, including Édouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley and Mary Cassatt. Also featured are Gustave Caillebotte, Armand Guillaumin and Henri-Edmond Cross, plus Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. Once more, the project is the brainchild of Melbourne-based Grande Exhibitions, which, for the past 16 years, has hosted immersive exhibitions and gallery experiences in over 145 cities around the world. The company also owns and operates Rome's Museo Leonardo da Vinci. For Monet & Friends, it's once again using state-of-the-art technology that combines 40 high-definition projectors to create multi-channel visuals, all while a classical musical score accompanies the vibrant colours in cinema-quality surround sound. When you're peering at pieces by the 15 featured artists, you'll be doing so in a socially distanced setting — with visitor numbers restricted to maintain enough space (which will exceed the one person per four-square-metres required by New South Wales' COVID-19 rules). So, that means that you'll have less company than you'd usually expect at a big exhibition of French Impressionist art. It also means that sessions are probably likely to get booked out quicker than normal, though. Monet & Friends — Life, Light & Colour opens at The Royal Hall of Industries, adjacent to the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park on Friday, March 12 — with tickets available via presales from 12pm on Thursday, January 28 and in general sale from 12 on Monday, February 1.
Five Points is a beacon of traditional bagel simplicity — it makes the closest thing to a 'real' NY bagel in Australia. Paring down its offering to just bagels and coffee, this minimalist eatery scores full marks in every category. Its rendition of the classic smoked salmon ($11.90) and reuben ($10.90) numbers are dreamlike, and even the slightly non-traditional tuna and sweetcorn ($9.90), and turkey and brie ($11.90) bagels, feel old-school and dependable. Each bready ring is a balanced, chewy and, where necessary, zesty breakfast or brunch. The lovely little cafe floats atop the crest of a hill along Little Collins Street, managing to capture NY deli flavours, while swapping out the hustle and bustle for an air of serenity. Five Points is simply one of the best ways to start your day.
A major boost to the CBD's lunch landscape came with the opening of this second outpost from Carlton North's Babajan, bringing the eatery's famed Turkish-inspired eats to the top of Little Collins Street. Like its sibling, Babajan's city store is a haven for grab-and-go treats, slinging morning coffees, Middle Eastern lunch eats, pantry goodies and handmade sweet things aplenty. Chef-owner Kirsty Chiaplias has stuck to her winning formula for this takeaway-only spot, where cabinets heave with a rotating mix of Babajan classics and exclusive new creations. Flakey boreks are stuffed with combinations like lamb and potato, and silverbeet and feta, while show-stopping sandwiches might hero fillings like falafel and pickled chilli in pumpkin bread ($13.50), and lamb shoulder with pistachio tabouli ($13.50). [caption id="attachment_860430" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pete Dillon[/caption] There's a range of house-made simits (a traditional ring-shaped bread) featuring the likes of eggplant aleppo and cheddar, or scrambled egg with pastirma and harissa. Giant bowls showcase each day's selection of sensational salads (from $14) — maybe a broccoli and zucchini number with zoug and avocado, or a pilaf starring braised fenugreek and roast carrot. And dessert involves treats like Chiaplias' chocolate and Turkish delight cookies ($4.50), walnut baklava ($4.50), and Persian love cake ($8.50). You can maximise your lunchbreak by ordering ahead via the Babajan app, which is available via the App Store. Grabbing something for home? Babajan's shelves are stocked with a curation of signature pantry products and other Middle Eastern classics. [caption id="attachment_860435" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pete Dillon[/caption] Images: Pete Dillon
UPDATE, August 30, 2020: Mary Shelley is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. It has been exactly 200 years since Frankenstein's monster first shuffled through the pages of Mary Shelley's now-classic story, completely reshaping the gothic horror landscape in the process. At the time, no one anticipated the impact that the novel or the woman behind it would have. No one realised that Mary was responsible for the greatest horror novel ever written, either, a title it still holds today. In fact, only 500 copies of Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus were initially printed back in 1818. It was also published anonymously, with Mary's poet husband Percy Bysshe Shelley penning the introduction and originally thought by many to be the text's author. Today, the beast conceived by the teenage Mary has carved a path not only through the literary world, but across cinema screens for more than a century — but, as the movie's title suggests, Mary Shelley doesn't replay Frankenstein's familiar narrative. Instead, Haifaa Al-Mansour's follow-up to 2012's Wadjda subscribes to a different filmmaking trend. Like everything from James Whale's iconic 1930s adaptations, to Tim Burton's gorgeous Frankenweenie, Mary Shelley obviously owes its existence to Frankenstein. But this origin story is more concerned with the early life of its author than with an obsessed young scientist and his resurrected creature. It's not the first time that Mary has earned the biopic treatment, with 1980s flicks Gothic, Haunted Summer and Rowing with the Wind all exploring the woman behind the classic tale. Still, where that trio honed in on the Lake Geneva getaway that sparked Frankenstein into being (the novel originated from a holiday wager among friends to see who could write the scariest ghost story), this movie focuses on Mary's tumultuous adolescence, her relationship with Percy, and the influence of both upon her famous work. Before images even reach the screen, the sound of writing echoes from Mary Shelley. Before Mary (Elle Fanning) has even dreamed of Frankenstein, the film deploys her lyrical prose to set a distinctive mood and tone. Stylistically, that's Al-Mansour's vivid and evocative approach, infusing every moment of the movie with the same passion and poetry that drives its heroine. A willowy yet strong-willed teen, from the outset Mary is either spinning her own tales or reading others in her father's (Stephen Dillane) bookshop. In-between, she fights with her stepmother (Joanne Froggatt) and finds solace with her stepsister Claire (Bel Powley) — until Percy (Douglas Booth) comes along. Although Mary is just 16, and despite the fact that Percy already has a wife and child, the couple is determined to be together. In her debut feature-length script, Australian screenwriter Emma Jensen endeavours to examine a side of Mary's tale that hasn't previously received as much on-screen attention, championing her protagonist's achievements as well as the considerable obstacles that she faced. Neither can be downplayed and nor are they. That said, sometimes the scandalous love story that accompanies them is given a little too much prominence. Indeed, parts of the film feel like a stock-standard period romance that just happens to involve one of the most influential writers who ever lived. When Mary Shelley connects the dots between Mary's experiences and the book she'll forever be associated with, it's a much more satisfying, moving and involving picture. Likewise, when it delves into Mary's tussles with sexist, dismissive men who can't even conceive of a woman writing such dark, smart and terrifying things, the film comes much closer to doing justice to its subject, her struggles and her continuing importance. Thanks to Fanning's lively and spirited portrayal, there's no doubting the fire that burned inside Mary, even when the film does favour her amorous affairs. Whether surrounded by towers of tomes, scribbling by her mother's grave, or swooning over Percy, Fanning's take on the real-life figure always stands out — from the movie's sumptuous backdrops, which constantly catch the eye, as well as from the romantic plot. It's a performance worthy of the woman it depicts, and it leaves audiences wanting more. The same is true of Mary Shelley, although in a different way. You'll want to keep watching Fanning as she brings the fiercely independent and thoroughly fascinating Mary to life. But you'll also want the movie to flesh out the aspects of Mary's trailblazing existence that it sometimes rushes over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zFFs6BHsS0
In The Guest Edit, we hand the reins over to some of the most interesting, tasteful and (or) entertaining people in Australia and New Zealand. For this instalment, we've enlisted the effortlessly chic Emma Lewisham — founder of the self-named skincare empire — to share her favourite planet-friendly brands available across Australasia. CP: If there's one woman who knows environmentally conscious brands, it's Emma Lewisham. She's the face and name behind the Aotearoa-made skincare line which became the world's first verified carbon-positive beauty brand under Toitū Envirocare's Climate Positive Product Certification in September 2021, before becoming officially B Corp Certified in February 2022. The brand launched a refill system in February 2021 under the Emma Lewisham Beauty Circle, which has since sold over 13,000 refills and saved over 10, 295 kilograms of CO2e in total. All Lewisham's products are certified Climate Positive, meaning they sequester more carbon than they emit, and her pioneering efforts garnered a personal endorsement from renowned environmentalist Dr Jane Goodall. So, yes, you could say she knows her stuff. If you're looking to take your eco-friendly efforts beyond the bathroom cabinet, Lewisham has handpicked a selection of brands available across Aotearoa and Australia whose founders share a similar ethos. EL: I see business as a tool to tackle problems, find solutions and leave behind something better. To me, this means giving more than we take and using business as a force for good. Profits should never come at an expense to people or the planet and I'm proud to be building a business which proves that sustainability and success can go hand-in-hand. MAGGIE MARILYN When investing in new clothing, it's important to me to support local brands that are ethically and environmentally produced. Maggie Marilyn's clothing is as beautiful as it is sustainable, with the mission being to use fashion to create a better world. I love that the brand offers a repair programme for clothes that develop 'love marks' and their range of everyday essentials is designed to be circular — either able to be composted or recycled at the end of life. As a brand, they aren't afraid to step outside of the status quo and challenge the industry norm, which are values that really align with us at Emma Lewisham. KOWTOW Another New Zealand brand I live in is Kowtow. Their simple and classic designs are ones I reach for time and time again. The incredible quality of the fabrics really elevates a casual outfit, and I always feel effortlessly polished and understatedly elegant when wearing my Kowtow pieces. Built from uncompromising sustainability values, their fabrics are organic, fairtrade, renewable, biodegradable and regenerated. The brand also has a repair programme using the Japanese patching technique Sashiko to mend garments. The technique is a special embroidering method which mends your clothes while also making them beautiful, which I think is really special. ECOSTORE I'm incredibly conscious of the products I use around my home, ensuring that we don't use any harmful or unnecessary chemicals — especially as I have a young daughter. It's also essential to me that we are using products that don't contain chemicals that pollute our waterways. Ecostore has been my go-to brand for safe and natural cleaning products for years. I love that their products are refillable and I've also been loving their cleaning concentrates where you just add water to make the formulation at home. FRANK GREEN When it comes to reusable cups, I've tried many brands over the years and Frank Green is easily my favourite. The cups are beautifully designed, great to drink out of, consciously produced and best of all - don't leak in your bag when you've finished your drink. BONDI BORN The sustainable swimwear space has grown rapidly over the past couple of years, with lots of new and existing brands switching to using recycled nylons to reduce their reliance on virgin materials. Bondi Born, however, is really a step above the rest. The fabric they use for their swimwear has a carbon footprint 10 times lower than fabrics made from recycled plastics and they also have certifications to support all their sustainability claims - such as Oeko-Tex which confirms no harmful chemicals have been used during production. Bondi Born is also a member of 1% for the Planet, a commitment to donate at least 1% of annual sales to environmental nonprofits — and to reinforce their incredible work, the brand is B-Corp certified. FLUIDFORM PILATES Since the pandemic, I've really changed my habits around where and how I exercise. I've started doing a lot more online exercise classes, which although something small, has really helped to decrease the amount of time I spend in the car. It also gives me so much more flexibility to fit classes in around my schedule and means I get to spend more time with my family outside of work. Fluidform Pilates has an extensive library of online classes that I can access from anywhere in the world and I find the classes really help to keep both my mind and body healthy. Fluidform also works closely with the Pretty Foundation, an organisation dedicated to creating a world where girls are comfortable in their own bodies and have the confidence needed to conquer their goals.
The year was 2005. The album: Hold Your Colour. That's when Pendulum hit the big time, and also why. The Perth-born drum-and-bass group not only became a homegrown sensation with their debut record and its tracks 'Slam', 'Tarantula' and 'Fasten Your Seatbelts', but made it into the UK Top 40 Singles Chart as well. Now, the year is 2023. Almost two decades after that breakout album, the Perth-born electronic favourites have just announced their latest Down Under tour. Five stops, two countries, plenty of echoing arenas: that's what's in store when Pendulum play Australia and New Zealand in October. This'll be the first time that the band has performed across either country since 2021, with dates booked in Auckland, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. At each show, Pendulum won't just be giving Hold Your Colour's tunes a whirl, but also songs from 2008's In Silico and 2010's Immersion. Expect to hear new single 'Halo' featuring Bullet for My Valentine singer Matt Tuck get a spin, too. Currently comprised of Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillien, Peredur ap Gwynedd and KJ Sawka, Pendulum heads home with experience playing huge overseas festivals such as Glastonbury, Creamfields, Coachella, Rock Am Ring, Reading and Leeds, and also recently headlining Ultra Miami. The band went on hiatus from early 2012, with Swire and McGrillien focusing on side project Knife Party, before starting to reunite in 2015. Joining Pendulum on their latest Aussie and Aotearoa tour: fellow Perth-bred drum and bass talent ShockOne, aka Karl Thomas. PENDULUM 2023 AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR: Friday, October 6 — Spark Arena, Auckland Saturday, October 7 — John Cain Arena, Melbourne Sunday, October 8 — RAC Arena, Perth Thursday, October 12 — Riverstage, Brisbane Friday, October 13 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Pendulum is touring Australia and New Zealand in October 2023 — head to the tour website for pre-sale tickets from Friday, August 4 (at 11am local time for Australian shows and 1pm NZST for Auckland), or from 11am local time on Monday, August 7 for general sales. Images: Luke Dyson.
UPDATE, January 29, 2021: Joker is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Lonely, isolated and struggling with a lifetime of trauma, a man exorcises his demons through violence. Plagued by troubling memories and mental health issues, but devoted to caring for his ailing mother, he finds catharsis in wreaking havoc on others. When Joaquin Phoenix played this part to perfection in Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, he explored the burdens of a crusading hitman who rescued violated children — saving them from the pain he still suffered, and punishing the abusers who treat kids as carelessly as he once was himself. And while he steps into similar shoes in Joker, the exceptional actor is now on a completely different mission, crossing the threshold from noble vigilante to deranged villain. It's impossible to watch Joker without thinking about You Were Never Really Here; by casting Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, the man who becomes one of Batman's worst enemies, that's an intended effect. It's impossible to see director Todd Phillips' (The Hangover) take on Gotham's clown prince of crime without thinking of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy as well. Phillips cakes his influences on thick and, if the connection wasn't already apparent in the film's 70s look and feel, he also enlists Robert De Niro as Arthur's favourite television host. It's a purposeful move, filtering one of popular culture's most infamous antagonists through such blatant touchstones — and, it ensures that viewers won't be contemplating the character's past guises, be it Cesar Romero's TV version, Jack Nicholson's unhinged late-80s spin, Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal or Jared Leto's cartoonish work in Suicide Squad. Focusing audiences firmly on the Joker at hand, this origin story asks a probing question: if the world's ills were to shove a tormented man over the edge in a volatile socio-political climate, what would that look like? In other words, how would You Were Never Really Here play out if its assassin killed to avenge a cruel, uncaring city's failings, rather than protect its victims? Or, what shape would Taxi Driver take if its cabbie was a bullied clown-for-hire? Phillips stops short of lifting the latter movie's dialogue, but it's easy to imagine Arthur uttering one of Taxi Driver's well-known lines: "here is a man who would not take it anymore". First seen grinning into a mirror as he puts on his makeup (and signalling the film's allegiance with his fraying mindset in the process), Arthur doesn't have much to smile about. He's beaten by street punks on the job, loses his mental health care due to citywide budget cuts and watches his mother (Frances Conroy) fruitlessly try to contact her ex-employer turned mayoral candidate, aka billionaire Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen). An aspiring comedian, Arthur is also taunted and jeered whenever he steps onstage. Basically, his life is one huge kick in the face after another. But his mum has always told him that he was put on this earth to spread joy and happiness, which he takes to heart. As Gotham descends into riots and widespread violence, Arthur finds a drastic way to put this belief into action. When Joker isn't shoehorning in undoubtedly necessary but still distracting Batman references (including yet another re-do of a scene that's been done to death), it just keeps inspiring questions. Is Arthur an inevitable product of a crumbling city that's failed its citizens in general, and its most vulnerable in particular? Or, clinging to his downtrodden status, does he capitalise upon his powder-keg surroundings, using it to excuse his psychopathic behaviour and demand that he's finally paid the attention he's certain he deserves? Penning a deliberately thorny narrative, Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver (The Fighter) keep both of these perspectives in their sights. Alas, the pair sometime struggle to juggle the opposing notions, or to flesh them out beyond the obvious. Indeed, for all the controversy that Joker has sparked since it nabbed the top prize at this year's Venice Film Festival, it's mostly happy to stick to the murky middle ground. The movie paints a thoroughly nightmarish image of modern-day capitalism and its devastating imprint on the 99 percent — one that instantly rings true — but remains content to dance along its surface rather than burrow meaningfully into its dark heart. Specifically, it calls out the conditions that lead to the Joker's rise, yet never quite decides if it's condemning, celebrating or commiserating with him. Joker is unflinchingly bold and brilliant in one inescapable fashion, though, as it was bound to be when it cast its lead. All skin, bone and sinew as he cavorts, frolics and chortles, Phoenix is in stunning, mesmerising, awards-worthy form yet again. His raspy cackle isn't easily forgotten; neither is his off-kilter demeanour, whether Arthur is connecting with his neighbour (Zazie Beetz), taking a stand against the latest folks to push his buttons or leaning as far into his crazed impulses as possible. When, towards the end of the film, Lawrence Sher's (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) textured cinematography peers up at Phoenix as he struts down some stairs, its hypnotised gaze doesn't feel out of place. In fact, it feels natural. That said, that the scene is accompanied by 'Rock and Roll, Part 2' by convicted sex offender Gary Glitter says much about a movie that's often as thematically muddled as it is emotionally and visually striking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-Lg-_KFHU
Ivan Sen has always gone it alone. In the world where we live, filmmakers have set decorators, editors, production managers, post-production technicians, concept artists, storyboard artists and legions of other scurrying assistants. Not Ivan Sen. He's an Australian filmmaker who does it all himself, and his outsider approach has so far taken him from his native rural New South Wales to places like Sundance, Cannes and Berlin film festivals. This directive — hands-on, honest, thoughtful, singular filmmaking — now stretches into the guts of his latest film, an outback murder case, Mystery Road. It's a quiet, steady yet thrilling film, held together by Aaron Pedersen's staggering performance as a lone, Aboriginal detective. To talk about Ivan's films, you have to talk about equality. In Sen's film worlds (Toomelah, Beneath Clouds), as in this world, some people are more equal than others. When Julie Mason, an Indigenous girl, is found with her throat cut off Mystery Road near Massacre Creek, no one gives a shit — not the cops, not anyone. This is the crime genre plot-point that opens up to a chasm of inequality. Underneath the high skies and low plains of Mystery Road, something else surfaces — a frighteningly beautiful, dead-on look at a troubled country. THE START OF MYSTERY ROAD "It's been a bit of a journey, this film," says Ivan. "I first mentioned it to Aaron in 2006 in Kings Cross, around midnight. We were passing like ships in the night, and I said, 'brother, I got an idea for you'. And he said, 'alright'. Then five years later, I ring him up and say, 'here's this idea, here's the script, it's time to do it'. It's a story that's come from my own experiences, my own heart, from my family and their experiences. So everything you see in some way comes from reality. The whole thing about Jay Swan being this cop caught between two worlds is something that's very close to my heart, coming from a small town, growing up, not quite belonging to the Aboriginal part of town, and not quite belonging to the white part of town. That's what I've always been fascinated by: the turncoat, the black tracker, the black trooper, the Native American scout. The person who's got a foot in both worlds, walking along the edge." Mystery Road comes at the crest of a wave of Indigenous storytellers making movies for all audiences — films like Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires. "There are all kinds of young warriors trying to change the face of the industry, trying to tell our stories," says Aaron. "I've done a lot of mainstream material before on television. People used to always tell me, 'you play too many coppers!' Not now, because all those cops got me this job! Ivan wrote the role for me. It's something I'll never forget and a job I'll never get again." "I think [the murder storyline] is something that affects a lot of Indigenous families," says Ivan. "A distant cousin of mine was found underneath the roadway in very similar circumstances, a long time ago now. The killer has never been brought to justice. If you actually pursue reality in a film, that can make things more interesting and suspenseful than all this artificial and contrived conditioning." Adds Aaron, "This film is important to this country, the lessons of healing and understanding. It's about our lives. There are a lot of cold cases in this country, a lot of people left behind after murders." THE ONE-MAN BAND What's behind the all-encompassing role of director, writer, camera operator, editor and composer? "It's just easier to do it yourself," Ivan says. "I just started doing it a long time ago, back in the 1990s. And now technology's caught up and I can edit on the laptop, soundtrack on the plane, write in a cafe. For me, why should film production be the way Hollywood says it is? What right do they have to define all these things?" "Let's hope he doesn't learn how to act, because then there'll be no work for actors!" Aaron's having a go, but you suspect he might be right. "Ivan had all these hats that he'd been wearing [on set], but I'll keep saying 'till the day I die, if he was stressed out, you wouldn't have known. Incredible leader. I was so glad to be part of the project on this big scale — not just as a hired gun, but as someone who helped implement the operation. It was kind of like ceremony in a way. It was really beautiful, really personal. You don't usually have that relationship with a director. We became brothers." SEN GOES SCI-FI I've heard Ivan's next film is a science-fiction epic set in China, his new home. "Yeah, sci-fi," says Ivan. "Set in the future. Big action, romance. Commercial." At first it seems worlds away from the art-film vibe of Mystery Road. How do you cater for the largest possible audience without turning your film to shit? "Someone like Christopher Nolan is in massive demand," Ivan continues. "He puts his heart and soul into what he does, and really wants to give the audience something unique. There's not many other guys with the talent and heart trying to give the masses something special. Because it's all controlled by suits. Chris Nolan's not a suit, but he wears one. He gets the deals without losing any freedoms or destroy his personal approach." It's true — you see a big budget movie with heart and talent and intelligence (Robert Zemeckis's classic space movie, Contact, springs to mind), and you think, hey, that's what Hollywood could be for, that's what all those big budgets and beautiful faces could be doing all the time. They could have big ideas, too. "There's a big hole there, in the commercial arena, for quality," says Ivan. "There's so many shit films for big audiences. You go to the cinema and it's like, 'which crap movie do I have to pick?'" "I actually don't go to the movies very much 'cause of that," admits Aaron. "Too many people are spoon-fed their opinions in this world. That's another audience [than the one for Mystery Road]." Ultimately, for Ivan, leaping into sci-fi just makes sense to him as a filmmaker. "I don't want to make the same film over and over. It's boring. I'm a lover of cinema. Watching cinema gave me emotions that I'd never felt before in my whole eight-year-old life. I'd never felt that connection before." Mystery Road carries this sensibility — beyond being a genre piece, is cuts to the emotional heart of a country that's been torn by dysfunction for too long. At a screening of the film in Sydney's inner west, Aaron spoke plainly, and passionately. "History did not start 225 years ago in this country ... This role is more than a job, it's a chance for me to show my ancestral trauma. This film is larger than this script: it's a cinematic campfire. Sit around it. Take something from it. Be smarter for it. Be a better nation for it."
If making TV shows and movies bubbles down to a formula, it's simple to see how The Tourist came about. Starring Jamie Dornan as a man caught up in a mystery in Australia's sprawling outback, this six-part series jumps on several popular trends — saddling a famous face with battling the Aussie elements chief among them (see also: the upcoming film Gold, which plonks Zac Efron amid the nation's dusty, yellow-hued expanse). Dornan's trip Down Under also plunges into a familiar thriller setup, with memory loss playing a key role. Memento famously did it. The Flight Attendant did as well. Combine the two, throw in all that striking scenery that constantly defines Australia on-screen, and that's the template beneath this easy-to-binge newcomer. Every thriller that hits a streaming platform and drops all of its episodes in one go wants you to keep watching until you've watched the whole thing at once, of course. That's television 101 in the online age. The Tourist fits the bill perfectly again, but also because it has fun with its premise — and its onslaught of twists. Dornan isn't in goofy, silly territory here, as he was so gloriously in 2021 standout Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. The Tourist doesn't satirise any of its underlying components, either. Nonetheless, it knows that zigzagging thrillers that work from a clearcut roadmap should make their familiar pieces feel anything but. They should take their audience along for a wild ride and ensure they enjoy the many sights, even if they're largely driving down a recognisable road. Adding another TV role to his resume alongside The Fall, Death and Nightingales, New Worlds and Once Upon a Time — and another part to his eclectic filmography, given that he's been in the vastly dissimilar Synchronic and Wild Mountain Thyme in the past year, and looks set to get an Oscar nomination this year for nostalgic drama Belfast — Dornan plays an Irish traveller in Australia. The character's name doesn't matter at first, when he's using the bathroom at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere. But after he's run off the road by a steamrolling long-haul truck shortly afterwards, he desperately wishes he could remember his own moniker, plus everything else about his past. Local Constable Helen Chalmers (Danielle Macdonald, French Exit) takes a shine to him anyway; however, piecing together his history is far from straightforward. His other immediate questions: why is he in the middle of Australia, why does a bomb go off in his vicinity and why is he getting calls from a man trapped in an underground barrel? A diner waitress called Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin, Line of Duty), the American-accented Billy (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Trapped), city-based Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers (Damon Herriman, Mindhunter) and the determined Kostas (Alex Dimitriades, Total Control), who flies in from Greece and won't stop sipping from his water bottle: they all factor into The Man's fish-out-of-water, stranger-in-an unforgiving-land tale, too, and they all inspire plenty of questions as well. Why does that aforementioned bomb go off just as The Man and Luci step out of the diner? What does Billy want at the hospital? Why does Rogers take the case when he could easily leave it with junior officers? And what's motivating Kostas' trip to the outback? Written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams (Angela Black), and hailing from the Emmy-winning production company behind The Missing and Fleabag, The Tourist enjoys teasing out those queries — and diving headfirst into its slickly uneasy air. It expectedly draws tension from its setting, but also benefits from a visual palette that bleaches every image of its cooler hues, and from framing that repeatedly dwarfs The Man against his surroundings. They're smart touches in a show that has its protagonist take in his life with fresh eyes, hardly relish what he spots and understandably feel overwhelmed by all the chaos that keeps speeding his way. The Tourist rarely dwells on The Man's inner turmoil — it isn't a character study, and doesn't pretend to be — but it still savvily expresses his emotional state in every shot. Pushing 50 Shades of Grey and its sequels further into the past with every new role, Dornan slips into The Tourist like someone rediscovering their comfort zone — and he's in excellent company. Macdonald has been impressing on-screen since 2017's Patti Cake$, and ensures that The Tourist is as much Helen's story as it is The Man's. It's as much about the ambitious-but-constantly-underestimated rookie cop finding herself as her new pal is doing, too. Fresh from playing Charles Manson not once but twice thanks to Mindhunter and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Herriman also turns what might've been a stock-standard part into something far more complex. The Williams siblings deserve plenty of credit for baking many of their twists into their characters, but there's an almost-comic air to Herriman's determined detective that's all the Aussie talent's own. A well-greased concept, a confident approach, clever plotting, a fabulous cast: they're all on offer here, and they hit their marks. Add the script's smattering of memorable, nearly Coen brothers-esque lines and, whether it's hurtling in a straight line or zipping quickly around unexpected corners, The Tourist couldn't be more watchable — or bingeable. Check out the trailer for The Tourist below: The Tourist is available to stream via Stan in Australia and TVNZ On Demand in New Zealand.
What's that you can hear? It's the sound of Aussie music fans cheering at their computer screens, because Red Bull Sound Select has finally made it to Australia. Having already taken the US by storm, the artist development program designed to unearth and support new local talent launches in Sydney today, Tuesday, April 12. And it's perhaps the best response to the lockouts yet. Since its start in the States in 2012, Red Bull Sound Select has spread to Canada, New Zealand and now (finally) Australia. Along with their streaming site — where you can discover new songs and artists — the team throws gigs each month, working with the likes of Santa Monica's KCRW, San Francisco's Amoeba Music and NYC's BrooklynVegan to curate kickass, ahead-of-the-curve shows. It's all designed to make discovering new local music easy and affordable. Sydney has been chosen for the Australian launch of Sound Select, which will see a program of monthly gigs curated by massive local legends Johann Ponniah from I OH YOU and Laneway Festival's Travis Banko. Each show will take place on the last Friday of the month and feature a lineup of three acts, starting with two Red Bull Sound Select emerging artists — handpicked by Ponniah or Banko — and finishing up with one Aussie headliner. The first show will kick off this month on Friday, April 29 at the Chippendale Hotel. Presented by I OH YOU, Perth's Methyl Ethel will headline, with Melbourne up-and-comers Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Sydney's own Flowertruck opening, as well as surprise acts too. "As fans of what the program has been achieving internationally, we're incredibly excited to be a part of bringing [Red Bull Sound Select] to Australian shores," said I OH YOU's Johann Ponniah. "Just hoping we can keep pushing the envelope like other curators have been internationally and program some of the best up and coming talent that Australia has to offer." To attend the inaugural Sound Select Sydney show, just RSVP on their website. It costs $3 online or $10 on the door — but if you're buying one on the day, be sure to arrive early as the event will be capped. We couldn't be more psyched to see Australian artists get the recognition (and the opportunities) they deserve from such first rate international players.
When it comes to one of the easiest pastimes there is — sitting on the couch and staring at a screen — the streaming era has brought about plenty of changes. We all now spend more time than anyone should deciding what to view next, for example, and we tend to know if and where you can watch Friends at any given moment. Another big shift: movies that bypass cinemas no longer arrive with an asterisk next to their name. That didn't ever quite happen literally, obviously, but skipping the big screen and heading straight to home entertainment wasn't really seen as a great sign. These days, however, streaming platforms are delivering top-notch flicks week in, week out — all ready to be viewed and enjoyed by your ravenous eyeballs while you're wearing your pyjamas. Across the first half of 2021, everything from potent Oscar-nominated dramas to caustic and twisty thrillers have made their way to audiences solely via streaming services. Also on the list: spirited coming-of-age flicks, engaging documentaries and a deliciously entertaining movie about a killer pair of jeans. From the year's straight-to-streaming haul so far, we've picked the films that deserve your attention — and one must-see comedy special that runs as long as a movie as well. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI Pondering the conversations that might've occurred between four pivotal historical figures on one very real evening they spent in each other's company, One Night in Miami boasts the kind of talk-heavy concept that'd clearly work well on the stage. That's where it first began back in 2013 — but adapting theatre pieces for the cinema doesn't always end in success, especially when they primarily involve large swathes of dialogue exchanged in one setting. If Beale Street Could Talk Oscar-winner and Watchmen Emmy-winner Regina King doesn't make a single wrong move here, however. The actor's feature directorial debut proves a film not only of exceptional power and feeling, but of abundant texture and detail as well. It's a movie about people and ideas, including the role the former can play in both bolstering and counteracting the latter, and the Florida-set picture takes as much care with its quartet of protagonists as it does with the matters of race, politics and oppression they talk about. Given the folks involved, there's much to discuss. The film takes place on February 25, 1964, which has become immortalised in history as the night that Cassius Clay (Eli Goree, Riverdale) won his first title fight. Before and after the bout, the future Muhammad Ali hangs out with his equally important pals — activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir, High Fidelity), footballer Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge, The Invisible Man) and musician Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr, Hamilton) — with this equally meticulous and moving Oscar-nominee ficitionalising their time together. One Night in Miami is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. I CARE A LOT She didn't end up with an Oscar for her efforts, but Rosamund Pike's Golden Globe win for I Care a Lot was thoroughly well-deserved. The Radioactive and Gone Girl star is stellar in a tricky part in a thorny film — because this dark comic-thriller isn't here to play nice. Pike plays Marla Grayson, a legal guardian to as many elderly Americans as she can convince the courts to send her way. She's more interested in the cash that comes with the job, however, rather than actually looking after her charges. Indeed, with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza González, Bloodshot), plus an unscrupulous doctor on her payroll, she specifically targets wealthy senior citizens with no family, gets them committed to her care, packs them off to retirement facilities and plunders their bank accounts. Then one such ploy catches the attention of gangster Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones), who dispatches his minions to nudge Marla in a different direction. She isn't willing to acquiesce, though, sparking both a game of cat and mouse and a showdown. Dinklage makes the most of his role, too, but I Care a Lot is always the icy Pike's movie. Well, hers and writer/director J Blakeson's (The Disappearance of Alice Creed), with the latter crafting a takedown of capitalism that's savagely blunt but also blisteringly entertaining. I Care a Lot is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. SLAXX Ask any style guru for their opinion on denim, and they'll all likely give the same answer. Everyone needs a pair of killer jeans, after all — the type that fit perfectly, flatter every inch of your lower half, and that you just don't want to ever take off. In Slaxx, CCC is the store aiming to make all of the above happen. Already priding itself on its eco-friendly, sustainable, sweatshop-free threads, the chain is set to launch a new range of denim that moulds to the wearer's body, with the company's buzzword-spouting CEO (Stephen Bogaert, IT: Chapter Two) certain that they'll change the fashion industry. On the night before the jeans hit the shelves, employees at one store are tasked with making sure everything goes smoothly; however, as new hire Libby (Romane Denis, My Salinger Year), apathetic veteran employee Shruti (Sehar Bhojani, Sex & Ethnicity) and their over-eager boss Craig (Brett Donahue, Private Eyes) soon learn, these are killer jeans in a very literal sense. Quickly, the ravenous pants start stalking and slaying their way through the store. It's a concept that'd do Rubber's Quentin Dupieux proud and, in the hands of Canadian filmmaker Elza Kephart (Go in the Wilderness), the results are highly entertaining. Slaxx wears its equally silly and savage attitude like a second skin, smartly skewers consumerism and retail trends, and possesses stellar special effects that bring its denim to life — and, although never subtle (including in its performances), it's exactly as fun as a film about killer jeans should be. Slaxx is available to stream via Shudder. AND TOMORROW THE ENTIRE WORLD Submitted as Germany's entry for Best International Feature at this year's Oscars, And Tomorrow the Entire World mightn't have ultimately earned a nomination or the prized gong itself, but it's still a compelling and confronting — and timely — film. And, an impassioned one as well, with filmmaker Julia von Heinz (I'm Off Then) leaving zero doubt about her feelings on the re-emergence of right-wing extremist views in general, and specifically in a country that'll never escape the shadow of the Holocaust. University law student Luisa (Mala Emde, Shadowplay) swiftly shares her director's horror and anger. Brought up in comfortable middle-class surroundings, and in a family where taking a weekend hunting trip is commonplace, she has her eyes opened at school when she joins an anti-fascist group. They're soon doing whatever it takes to combat hate-filled ideologies, including letting their actions speak louder than words; however, the stakes are raised when they endeavour to thwart an upcoming attack. Aesthetically, von Heinz opts for edge-of-your seat immersion. Feeling like you're in Luisa's shoes as she steps into a topical conflict is part of the experience, as is feeling her struggles as she grapples with the reality of counteracting abhorrent views by violent means. Emde is exceptional in the lead role, pulsating with urgency in even the quietest of scenes — as does everything in the film. And Tomorrow the Entire World is available to stream via Netflix. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY When August 2021 rolls around, it'll mark 30 years since a psychotic chihuahua and a kindly cat first brought their chaos to the small screen and changed the way people think about Nickelodeon's animated shows. At the time, there was simply nothing like The Ren & Stimpy Show — and that applies to its dark humour, willingness to shock and often grotesquely detailed visuals, as well as its characters, storylines and jokes. The 52-episode show also proved immensely influential. Without it, SpongeBob SquarePants probably wouldn't exist, in fact. But the history of Ren & Stimpy is filled with both highs and lows, as documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story explores. More than just a nostalgic look back, this chronicle by first-time directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood covers the series' origins, evolution and success, as well as its behind-the-scenes struggles and eventual demise. It chats with the folks who made it happen to examine why it struck such a chord, and to also make plain the reality of making such a hit. And, it doesn't shy away from the accusations levelled at John Kricfalusi, Ren & Stimpy's creator and the voice of Ren, including not only the difficult working environment that sprang under his watch, but the allegations of sexual abuse and grooming that came to light in 2018. Indeed, the latter could fuel its documentary, but here it adds another layer to the tale of a TV show unlike anything else, and the ego that both made it happen and caused its downfall. Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story is available to stream via Docplay. VIOLATION The rape-revenge genre isn't new, but two of the most powerful films to reach Australian audiences this year step into it with unflinching confidence. They do more than that, though. They savagely dissect society's willingness to accept that sexual assault is part of our culture — and misogyny, too. They demand that their audience not only spend almost two hours thinking about a subject so many would rather avoid, but that they have a visceral reaction. The movies: Promising Young Woman and Violation. Both are the product of first-time feature directors. Both include women among their filmmakers, either solely or as half of a duo. Both are anchored by blistering lead performances as well, and neither fades quickly (or at all) from memory. They'd make a stellar double bill; however, tonally, they each march to their own beat. In Violation's case, co-writer and co-director Madeleine Sims-Fewer (Operation Avalanche) stars as Miriam. As she visits her sister Greta (Anna Maguire, The Hummingbird Project) and brother-in-law Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe, Murdoch Mysteries), it soon becomes obvious that more than just a happy reunion is on the cards. Playing a traumatised woman soon grappling the reality of vengeance in a primal and tangible way, Sims-Fewer puts in a performance that it's impossible to look away from, but that's just one of the savvy steps that the actor/filmmaker and her co-director Dusty Mancinelli take. Violation is available to stream via Shudder. MOXIE When Amy Poehler made her feature directorial debut with 2019's Wine Country, movie magic wasn't splashed across the small screen. But thankfully Moxie is now here to wipe that underwhelming comedy out of viewers' minds — and to demonstrate Poehler's knack at helming a high school-set tale of blossoming feminist activism. Adapted from the 2015 novel of the same name, the film follows 16-year-old Vivian (Hadley Robinson, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). Quiet, studious and happy hanging out with her similarly introverted best friend Claudia (Lauren Tsai, Legion), she has always known that her male classmates have an attitude problem, and that their teachers and the general status quo both enable it. But, until newcomer Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena, Saved by the Bell) arrives, she's never been willing to rock the boat and fight for change. Inspired by her mother's (Poehler) crusading teen years, she starts a zine that calls out the toxic behaviour around her. That's where the film gets its title, and her school is scandalised by the homemade publication's pages. Story-wise, Moxie isn't big on surprises, especially if you've seen more than a couple of teen flicks in your time, as everyone has. Nonetheless, it's always as impassioned about its tale and as angry about the way the world treats anyone who isn't a white male as it is engaging and hopeful. And, as it follows the quest for equality being passed from one generation to another, it boasts a stellar soundtrack — including Bikini KIll's 'Rebel Girl', of course. Moxie is available to stream via Netflix. OXYGEN When Elizabeth Hansen (Mélanie Laurent, 6 Underground) awakens in a cryogenic chamber, she doesn't know who she is, where she is or why she's there. She's strapped in via an array of invasive tubes and restrictive belts, the pod's oxygen levels are rapidly depleting and, in trying to work out what's going on and how to survive, she only has the unit's artificial intelligence program, called MILO (voiced by Sound of Metal's Mathieu Amalric), on hand. That's how Oxygen starts, taking cues from everything from Buried to Locke. But each engaging single-setting, talk-driven thriller lives or dies on the strength of its story, dialogue and cast, all of which hit their marks here. It helps having Laurent at the film's centre, as tends to happen when the French Inglourious Basterds star is pushed into the spotlight. Also pivotal: director Alexandre Aja's horror background, which includes the remake of The Hills Have Eyes and 2019's Crawl. As he demonstrated with the latter, he's particularly skilled at not merely working with familiar tropes and conventions, but at getting the most out of them. Accordingly, even as Oxygen nods to a wealth of one-location and survival flicks — and a hefty number of closed-in sci-fi movies as well — it still grippingly wrings every ounce of tension it can out of its nightmarish scenario. Oxygen is available to stream via Netflix. THE AMUSEMENT PARK In 1968, George A Romero changed cinema forever. Night of the Living Dead, his first film, was famously made on a tiny budget — but it swiftly became the zombie movie that's influenced every single other zombie movie that's ever followed. His resume from there is filled with other highlights, including further Dead films and the astonishing Martin, but one of his intriguing features didn't actually see the light of day until recently. It was also commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania to preach the evils of elder abuse, which isn't the type of thing that can be said about any other flick. The Amusement Park is incredibly effective in getting that message across, actually. As star Lincoln Maazel explains in the introduction, it aims to make its statement by putting the audience in its ageing characters' shoes, conveying their ill-treatment just for their advancing years and showing the chaos they feel as a result. That's the exact outcome as Maazel plays an older man who spends a day wandering around the titular setting, only to be constantly disregarded, denigrated, laughed at and pushed aside as hellishness greets him at every turn. Romero's film is grim, obvious and absurd all at once, and it's a powerful and winning combination in his hands. The Amusement Park is available to stream via Shudder. BO BURNHAM: INSIDE Watching Bo Burnham: Inside, a stunning fact becomes evident. A life-changing realisation, really. During a period when most people tried to make sourdough, pieced together jigsaws and spent too much time on Zoom, Bo Burnham created a comedy masterpiece. How does he ever top a special this raw, insightful, funny, clever and of the moment? How did he make it to begin with? How does anyone ever manage to capture every emotion that we've all felt about lockdowns — and about the world's general chaos, spending too much time on the internet, capitalism's exploitation and just the general hellscape that is our modern lives, too — in one 90-minute musical-comedy whirlwind? Filmed in one room of his house over several months (and with his hair and beard growth helping mark the time), Inside unfurls via songs about being stuck indoors, video chats, today's performative society, sexting, ageing and mental health. Burnham sings and acts, and also wrote, directed, shot, edited and produced the whole thing, and there's not a moment, image or line that goes to waste. Being trapped in that room with the Promising Young Woman star and Eighth Grade filmmaker, and therefore being stuck inside the closest thing he can find to manifesting his mind outside his skull, becomes the best kind of rollercoaster ride. Just try getting Burnham's tunes out of your head afterwards, too, because this is an oh-so-relatable and insightful special that lingers. It's also the best thing that's been made about this pandemic yet, hands down. Bo Burnham: Inside is available to stream via Netflix. Looking for more viewing highlights? Check out our list of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
Almost everyone has their own podcast these days, or so the joke goes — and that observation isn't new. Also tried and tested: the idea that every news headline is likely destined to get the true-crime treatment at some point in the future. When it comes to both of these statements, comedy-meets-mystery series Only Murders in the Building doesn't pretend otherwise. In fact, the latest addition to Disney+ firmly leans into these two notions. Here, three New York neighbours who don't think they have anything at all in common initially bond over their favourite true-crime podcast — and then, when someone in their building turns up dead, they start their own. The wannabe Sarah Koenigs? Actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), who used to play a detective on a long-running 90s television show; theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!), who is better known for his big flops than his hits; and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die), who had a penchant for Hardy Boys books when she was a kid. They first cross paths during an elevator ride, where they hear banker Tim Kono (Julian Cihi, The Tick) berating someone over the phone. The same evening, the unlikely trio are forced out of their apartments by a fire alarm, reluctantly share a table at the downstairs restaurant, then realise they're all hooked on the same podcast (with Only Murders in the Building's true-crime podcasting guru called Cinda Canning, and played by Tina Fey). When Charles, Oliver and Mabel all return home that night, they then discover that Tim has been murdered. From there, these new pals are determined to do three things: find out who killed Tim, record their sleuthing and release the results in audio form. They all have different stakes in their quest; Charles is lonely, and likes having something to fill his days other than auditions, while Oliver is hoping it'll be a big financial success and Mabel secretly has personal connections to the case. They're new acquaintances, too, so they're investigating each other in a way — asking questions and getting to know one another, because that's how all friendships starts — as they're trying to track down the killer. And, plenty of that to-and-fro gets recorded. The name of their podcast: Only Murders in the Building, naturally. As created by Martin with actor-turned-screenwriter John Hoffman (Grace and Frankie), Only Murders in the Building keeps leaning in again and again — to its upbeat satire of true-crime obsessions, podcasting's pervasiveness and the intersection of the two, and also to everything else it fits within its frames. It lets its main trio all play exactly the kind of characters you think they will, especially in Short's case. It mines their mismatched vibe, particularly with Gomez, with hearty affection. It adores its single-setting Agatha Christie-lite setup, and also loves peppering in highly recognisable co-stars and guest stars such as Fey, Nathan Lane (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels), Amy Ryan (Late Night) and even Sting. With the latter, it isn't above making puns about not standing so close to him, or just serving up jokes on that level in general. On paper, so much about Only Murders in the Building hits all the expected notes — and yet, everything about the series is also joyously entertaining. Indeed, the show initially seems like it shouldn't work as well as it does, yet quickly proves immensely easy to keep binging (even if you only originally plan to watch just one episode). The fact that it's made with a breezy spirit, ample charm and an astute awareness of its many targets couldn't be more crucial. That it takes the time to flesh out its characters within its 30-minute episodes, and to keep its central whodunnit twisting and turning amidst the jokes, also helps. And, Only Murders in the Building also embraces two inescapable facts that long precede the true-crime podcast boom: that we all like knowing what's going on around us, and that we tend to love the sound of our own voices as well. Another key facet: spot-on casting. Again, it doesn't initially seem as though Martin, Short and Gomez will be stretched by their parts, as likeable as all three usually are on-screen. But settling into comfortable grooves also gives the trio room to play around with everything that makes Charles, Oliver and Mabel tick — and Only Murders in the Building does love getting playful. It makes gags about Charles' old TV show, Oliver's stage bombs (Splash! The Musical is one of them) and Mabel's secrets, and makes plenty of them. And yet, it's also written and acted with enough depth to pair relatable character insights with its bubbly, clownish fun. If Knives Out was a sitcom, and also a little goofier, it'd turn out like this — and that's a delight, obviously. Check out the trailer for Only Murders in the Building below: The first three episodes of Only Murders in the Building are available to stream now via Star on Disney+, with new episodes dropping weekly. Images: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu.
Think that coffee and sleep don't really go hand-in-hand? Think again. While we're all accustomed to gulping down the former when we haven't had enough of the latter, a new Tokyo popup is combining the two for anyone eager for a restful slumber with their hot cuppa. Inspired by World Sleep Day on March 17, and taking over the Nescafe Harajuku until March 26, the bed-filled cafe doesn't just offer customers any old mattress. No, not at all. Those keen for a kip will bunker down on electronic reclining beds that sell for as much as $9,000. Each sleeping area also features adjustable lighting, and comes with a Sony Walkman filled with relaxing tunes. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRx7hGehdB4/?taken-by=_3.sta It'll be the fanciest snooze you've ever had; however anyone thinking about grabbing a fresh brew and some shut-eye will have to adhere to a few rules. Nap time comes in two-hour blocks, and is only available to folks who purchase a food item from the menu. Once you've ordered something to eat, you'll receive a cup of decaf to help you drift off and then a regular caffeinated coffee when you wake up. Of all of the quirky cafe trends Japan can't get enough of — cats, maids, owls, goats, mayonnaise, hedgehogs, Super Mario Bros, Pikachu, the list goes on — this is one worth dreaming about. Via Eater.
Hollywood's glitziest and most self-congratulatory night is just a few short sleeps away. While the rest of us are at work on Monday, the who's who of moviemaking will take their seats at the Dolby Theatre for the 89th Academy Awards. Leading the pack this year with a record-equaling 14 nominations is Damien Chazelle's musical throwback La La Land, which is either the greatest film ever made or completely overrated, depending on which person on the internet you ask. Still, despite the hype, the backlash and the backlash to the backlash, La La is no lock to take home the gold. Barry Jenkins' poignant Moonlight is hot on its heels, while the patriot in us can't help but root for the homegrown Lion. Speaking of which, it's nice to see some people of colour on the roster this year! Let's be honest, three straight years of #OscarsSoWhite would have been downright embarrassing. Below, you'll find our tips in the eight major categories, plus our personal faves and a few nods to the unlucky ones who missed out. Accept it: Zoolander 2 was robbed. BEST PICTURE THE NOMINEES Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight. WHAT WILL WIN Look, we said La La Land wasn't a lock, and we stand by that. Still, there's no denying the LA-set musical is the favourite — movie people love movies about movies, and good grief Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are attractive. The fact that it went seven for seven, including Best Musical or Comedy, at last month's Golden Globe, doesn't exactly bode well for the competition. WHAT SHOULD WIN If you're after a good time at the movies then La La Land delivers. Still, for its raw emotional power and timely social message Moonlight seems like an even worthier winner. This devastating tale about a young gay black man coming to terms with who he is stands out as one of the best motion pictures of the past several years, and win or lose you should do everything you can to see it. THE SNUBS Nocturnal Animals divided critics, but the star power attached suggested it was in with a shot. Ditto Pablo Larrain's handsome biopic Jackie. Historical drama Birth of a Nation garnered plenty of buzz early in the year, but the controversy surrounding director Nate Parker has seen it all but disappear from the conversation. And hey, what about a nod for Rogue One, or maybe even Captain America: Civil War? BEST DIRECTOR THE NOMINEES Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), Denis Villeneuve (Arrival). WHO WILL WIN In much the same way that La La Land leads the race for Best Picture, Damien Chazelle should be considered a favourite in this category for his flair behind the camera. And again, it'd be hard to call him undeserving should the chips fall that way on the night. Fun fact: if he does take home the gold, Chazelle will be the youngest Best Director winner in Oscar history. WHO SHOULD WIN Chazelle would be a worthy winner, but we've got to go with Moonlight's Barry Jenkins. Seriously, do yourself a favour and read our interview with him then go see the film. THE SNUBS Garth Davis for Lion (who we also interviewed here), David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water), Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures) and Denzel Washington (Fences) could all be forgiven for feeling a little peeved about missing out given their films were nominated for Best Picture. Still, in our minds, the biggest omission is Martin Scorsese. Sure, Silence is a punishing watch, but seeing Mel Gibson nominated ahead of Marty just feels wrong. Also, would if kill them to nominate a woman? BEST ACTRESS THE NOMINEES Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Ruth Negga (Loving), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Emma Stone (La La Land), Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins). WHO WILL WIN While Natalie Portman led the pack early for her remarkable turn as former First Lady Jackie Kennedy, the conventional wisdom at this point is that this is Emma Stone's trophy to lose. Either woman would be a worthy winner, although neither is our number one choice. WHO SHOULD WIN A violent psychosexual thriller, Paul Verhoeven's French-language Elle isn't the easiest film to watch. But thanks to the fiery work of Isabelle Huppert, it's also impossible to look away. Given the content of the film, the fact that she's even nominated is fairly surprising. A win would be astounding, in the best possible way. THE SNUBS Amy Adams gave two of the year's best performances, in Arrival and Nocturnal Animals. It's possible she was punished by voters splitting their ballot, but whatever the reason it's safe to say she's unlucky to have missed out. BEST ACTOR THE NOMINEES Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) Denzel Washington (Fences). WHO WILL WIN This one is going to be close. Casey Affleck was the favourite for much of the race, but then Denzel went and snared himself a win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. It's possible that the controversy around the younger Affleck is finally catching up with him. Our pick? Denzel by a nose...although maybe that's just wishful thinking. WHO SHOULD WIN Not Casey Affleck. It's a great performance, but that's just not the point. THE SNUBS Neither Sully nor The Founder left much of an impression, but Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton could easily have scored noms for their work as the real world figures at the centre of their respective films. And on a personal level, we'd have loved a nomination for Josh Brolin, for his delightfully deadpan work in the very underrated Hail, Caesar! BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS THE NOMINEES Viola Davis (Fences), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Nicole Kidman (Lion), Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures), Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea). WHO WIN WILL If there's a lock this year, it's Viola Davis, who appears to have this one in the bag. WHO SHOULD WIN Hey, sometimes they get it right. Davis' turn in Fences as a dutiful wife and mother is the best performance in a film packed to the brim with great performances. You'll be able to knock us over with a feather if she goes home empty handed. THE SNUBS Bit of a long shot, but Rachel Weisz absolutely crushed it in The Lobster, as did unknown actress Lily Gladstone in Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women. Make sure to check out both if and when you can. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR THE NOMINEES Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Dev Patel (Lion), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals). WHO WILL WIN Dev Patel might make a late push following his win at the BAFTAs, but right now the smart money is on Mahershala Ali. WHO SHOULD WIN Ali deserves to win on the strength of his performance alone, but we'd be lying if we said we weren't rooting for him at least in part because we're hoping he gives another speech similar to the one he gave at the SAG Awards. Good luck trying not to cry. THE SNUBS It's a bit of a surprise not to see Aaron Taylor-Johnson on this list, given that his dark and disturbing work in Nocturnal Animals won him a Golden Globe. We're also disappointed not to see Patrick Stewart get a nod; Green Room was presumably a bit too violent for Oscar voters, but Stewart's turn as a ruthless white supremacist was absolutely chilling. BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY THE NOMINEES Hell or High Water, La La Land, The Lobster, Manchester by the Sea, 20th Century Women. WHAT WILL WIN If La La Land wins this one early, you can just about guarantee the film is in for a clean sweep. That said, the Vegas odds are on Kenneth's Lonergan's masterful screenplay for Manchester by the Sea. WHAT SHOULD WIN There's no chance in hell that it wins, but The Lobster had one of the darkest, funniest, most original and esoteric screenplays in a long, long time. This is one of those "it's an honour just to be nominated" situations. THE SNUBS Hail, Caesar! was largely ignored by both the Academy and general audiences, but, in our opinion, it's one of the cleverest films in the entire Coen Brothers' canon. German comedy Toni Erdmann also deserved a nod, as did Jim Jarmusch's gentle Paterson. BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY THE NOMINEES Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, Moonlight. WHAT WILL WIN While it's possible that the Academy will show a little love to either Lion or Arrival, it's hard to imagine that this one doesn't end up going to Moonlight. WHAT SHOULD WIN Moonlight, although we'd be stoked if they gave it to Lion. 'Straya! THE SNUBS Maybe the biggest snub of the entire ceremony: where in the sweet hell is Deadpool? It was popular with critics and made a bucket-load of cash, but we guess Academy voters don't like naughty words. Way to remind everyone how out of touch you are, guys. Great job. The winners of the 89th Academy Awards will be revealed on February 27. Tom Clift is one of Concrete Playground's senior film writers. You can read his reviews here, here and here.
'Tis the season for feasting — and one South Yarra spot is here to help make sure you do so in style, even after Christmas lunch is long over. You can forget about cooking at home, because Dukang Restaurant & Bar is dishing up a limited-edition Festive Bottomless Feast right through until Sunday, January 8. Clocking in at $79 per person, this Asian-fusion feed is chock full of good stuff, featuring shared entrees and a choice of main dish for each diner. You're in for plates like prawn-stuffed zucchini flowers, wok-tossed crispy wings, xiao long bao, curry kapitan, braised eggplant and pork noodles, and more. There's even a very special wagyu laksa with fresh udon available to add on if you're looking to amp things up ($18). Paired with the eats is 90 minutes of free-flowing drinks, including vino, tap beer, spritzes and mimosas. The Festive Bottomless Feast is on offer anytime during Dukang's regular opening hours — 5.30–8.30pm on Wednesday and Thursday, 12–2.30pm and 5.30–9.30pm on Friday and Saturday, and 12–2.30pm and 5.30–8.30pm on Sunday.
If there’s one thing we’ve come to know about ourselves it’s that we love a good gimmick. Whether it’s a nautically-themed gastropub or an entire cafe built on Pantone colour palettes, we can’t get enough of the weird and the wonderful. And so it’s no surprise that we’re squee-ing in anticipation of the Brisbane Festival's bizarre food-meets-theatre offering Fear and Delight. Created by Strut & Fret, the theatrical culinary event has been making waves in the news for the last few days, mainly because of the inclusion of food artists Bompas and Parr's so-called G&T Cloud Experience, first opened in London last month. This, in layman’s terms, means 'a room filled with a cloud of humidified gin and tonic which is consumed through the skin and eyeballs'. Yep, breathable booze. As expected, some are delighted with the prospect and others are fearful, while some people are just downright ready to party. Health experts have been lining up around the block to offer their opinion on the phenomenon. Professor Jake Najman, of the University of Queensland’s Drug Research and Education Centre, told the Guardian that rapidly absorbing a carcinogenic chemical is a big no-no. To be fair to the Professor, downing six Jaeger bombs and a Big Mac every Saturday night could also be considered near to carcinogenic but that certainly doesn’t stop us. However Najman also admits that not too much is known about the effects of inhaling alcohol, so bottoms up! Or bottoms out or however it is you toast in this new landscape of possibility. Celebrated internationally for such foodie happenings as an anatomical whisky tasting, a DNA-matching cocktail bar and a huge pagan feast at this year's Dark Mofo, Bompas and Parr are no strangers to controversy. Parr told Bloomberg that humidified drinking is "a new way of experiencing drink, and it’s social because it’s an immersive shared environment. You all have the same flavour sensation. Alcohol tastes better, with more nuances. You can detect more subtle flavours when it is humidified". What a time to be alive! But don’t worry about overdoing it on the alcohol-infused vapour, as Fear and Delight director Scott Maidment says that patrons would have to stand in the cloud for 40 minutes to absorb the equivalent of a large gin and tonic. So even if you get naked and do laps of the room, you won’t end up too drunk to watch the show afterwards. It really adds a whole new layer of meaning to #vapelife. Brisbane Festival’s Fear and Delight runs 4-25 September at South Bank Culture Forecourt. Grab tickets here.
This post is sponsored by our partners, lastminute.com.au. People don't know much about Western Australia. For something that's the combined size of Texas, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan and the UK, we should really know more than the fact Little Creatures is brewed there, and sometimes they have sharks. But this could be a blessing in disguise. Now you have an entire new land to discover out west, and all for the small price of a domestic flight. Here's our guide of where to go once you touch down. Perth and surrounds The first place people can think of in WA, Perth is not only the sunniest capital city in the world, but also one of the top ten most liveable. It may be pretty isolated from the rest of the country, but that creates a kind of camaraderie among its citizens that Melburnians and Sydneysiders can only dream of. Oh, you're trapped in peak-hour traffic on Parramatta Road? Perth locals are taking a weekend jaunt to Rottnest Island via ferry. What's that? You're in a packed train carriage staring at the filthy brown Yarra? People in Perth are having picnics next to the beautiful, dolphin-dotted Swan River. While visiting, we recommend Cottesloe Beach for some surf, this small bar tour for some culture, and the Swan Valley for some local vino. Also, Fringe World Festival is happening at the moment! Why aren't you there already? Where to stay: Esplanade River Suites if you're on a budget, or Crown Metropol Perth or Best Western Premier The Terrace Hotel Perth if you're splashing out. South West South of Perth lie even more treasures, including the renowned wine region, Margaret River. While just a 50-minute flight from the capital, we recommend you hire a car and drive. It will take about three hours, but as WA has 12,000km of the most beautiful coastline in the world, we're sure you won't be disappointed. Once there, it's all about leisure. Spend all day eating and drinking, then cycling off a few meals around the Margaret River. Where to stay: Kalbarri Edge Resort if you're on a budget, or Smiths Beach Resort or Injidup Spa Retreat if you're splashing out. Broome and the Kimberley To venture even further into the unknown, take a trip up north to these great, sunburnt plains. Here, you can expect camel rides along the beach, cheeky and profitable trips to Broome's pearl farms, and endless hours spent on Cable Beach (with sunscreen, because oh lord, you're much closer to the equator up there). This one is a bit more of a hike from Perth, at either a 2-hour 30-minute flight or 24-hour drive, but it's probably worth it. Taking in the entire Coral Coast could be just the first of your exciting experiences. Where to stay: Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa or The Pearle of Cable Beach. Exmouth and Coral Coast This place is like a real-life Seaworld, but you'll need a few days to see it all. A two-hour flight out of Perth, Ningaloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park will be your first stops on this trail of aquatic wonder — world-heritage listed prime sites for snorkelling, diving with whale sharks and swimming with dolphins. In fact, every morning at Monkey Mia, wild bottlenose dolphins freely come to the shallows for no more than a pat hello. It's surely some kind of magic. Where to stay: Novotel Ningaloo Resort. Golden Outback Of course, most of this big, sprawling state is desert — the wild outback that our country is known for around the world. If you get sick of being greeted by dolphins every morning and visiting wineries in the afternoon (as unlikely as it may be), the outback could serve as the perfect getaway. First stop: wave rock. This natural anomaly is roughly 2,700 million years old and a true wonder to behold. Alternatively, if you don't like the idea of nature looming over you, you can get on top of it. Hot air ballooning is really popular over the Avon Valley, or you can get an unhindered view of the red terrain with a 14,000-foot skydive. Why not get a little dangerous in our most wild state? Where to stay: Black Wattle Retreat or The Grandhouse York. For more information on flights and accommodation in Western Australia, check out lastminute.com.au.
Anyone whose daily commute takes them down Broadway has probably noticed some big changes over the past few years. The space just opposite the UTS Tower building is being developed into an 'icon of 21st century living' as part of the Sydney Central Park project. While construction takes place, Sydney residents will be treated to a suite of four installations by Australian artists Brook Andrew, Mikala Dwyer, Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro and Caroline Rothwell. It's a temporary public art project called Artists In Residence, turning heritage Irving Street Brewery yard buildings and brick stack into concrete canvases, from April 2011 for a year or two. The first work is Brook Andrew's 'Local Memory' and comprises 18 3-metre high protraits snugly fitted into the grid formed by the building. But who are they? People who worked in or were associated with the brewery’s history, living, working and witnessing change on the brewery site between 1909 and 1998. Neon frames border each portrait, lighting up at night time in a series of programmed sequences. Of his subjects, Brook says "These people are often the forgotten ones of societies whose importance in work and lifestyle has little or no public memory, let alone the intimate social and cultural lives they lived and legacies within local families and brewery production." Brook was a featured artist at last year's Biennale of Sydney, and you might remember tackling the moral dilemma of 'To jump or not to jump" on his jumping castle war memorial installation on Cockatoo Island.
It has finally happened, Melburnians. After two prolonged periods spent empty this year, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Melbourne picture palaces are back in business. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made over the past three months, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer from this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSfX-nrg-lI MANK In 2010's The Social Network, David Fincher surveyed the story of an outsider and upstart who would become a business magnate, wield significant influence and have an immense impact upon the world. The applauded and astute film tells the tale of Mark Zuckerberg and of Facebook's development — but it's also the perfect precursor to Fincher's latest movie, Mank. This time around, the filmmaker focuses on a man who once spun a similar narrative. A drama critic turned screenwriter, Herman J Mankiewicz scored the gig of his lifetime when he was hired to pen Orson Welles' first feature, and he drew upon someone from his own life to do so. Citizen Kane is famous for many things, but its central character of Charles Foster Kane is also famously partially based on US media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who Mankiewicz knew personally. Accordingly, Mank sees Fincher step behind the scenes of an iconic movie that his own work has already paralleled — to ponder how fact influences fiction, how stories that blaze across screens silver and small respond to the world around them, and how one man's best-known achievement speaks volumes about both in a plethora of ways. Mank is a slice-of-life biopic about Mankiewicz's (Gary Oldman) time writing Citizen Kane's screenplay, as well as his career around it. It's catnip for the iconic feature's multitudes of fans, in fact. But it also peers at a bigger picture, because that's classic Fincher. When the film introduces its eponymous scribe, it's 1940, and he's recovering from a car accident. In a cast and confined to bed due to a broken leg, he has been dispatched to a Mojave Desert ranch by Welles (Tom Burke, The Souvenir) and his colleague John Houseman (Sam Troughton, Chernobyl), all so he can work his word-slinging mastery. As Mankiewicz toils, the movie wanders back to times, places and people that inspire his prose, especially from the decade prior. Dictating his text to British secretary Rita Alexander (Lily Collins), he draws upon his friendships with Hearst (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones) and the news baron's starlet mistress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried) in particular. And yes, as anyone who has seen Citizen Kane will spot, Mank's nonlinear structure apes the script that Mankiewicz pens. Many of the latter film's glimmering black-and-white shots do as well, although you won't spot a sled called Rosebud here. In a script by Jack Fincher — father of David, who wrote the screenplay in the 90s before passing away in 2003 — Mank suggests other factors that made Mankiewicz the person he was, and that shaped Citizen Kane's script as well. Combine all of the above, and a dense and detailed movie results. That's Fincher's wheelhouse, after all. Mank is also visually ravishing and textured, and tonally cutting and icy — which, along with weighty performances, are all Fincher hallmarks. But there's both depth and distance to Mank. It peers in and pokes about, but it never wholly lures the audience in. Watching Oldman and Seyfried's rich scenes together, viewers will wish it did, though. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETK0fOKwJNQ MONSOON Home may mean different things to different people but, in Monsoon, Vietnam doesn't mean home to Kit (Henry Golding). He was born there, in the aftermath of the war. He spent his earliest years in the Asian nation, with his parents caught up in the aftermath of the conflict. But when he was still a child, his family left for a refugee camp in Hong Kong and then moved permanently to London. Now, as an adult who has lived the bulk of his existence far away, he returns for the first time to bring back his mother's and father's ashes. He's instantly thrown off balance upon his arrival, whether he's driving through moped-filled streets or walking around crowded markets. Little of what he remembers is the same — his old house and his neighbourhood stomping grounds, particularly — and he doesn't recall as much as his childhood best friend Lee (David Tran), who stayed behind, would clearly like. Of what he does recollect, some crucial details clash with Lee's versions, too. Consequently, as Kit roves around Saigon and then Hanoi (his place of birth and his parents' original home, respectively), he's searching for a connection. He'll make one, but not in the way he expects. Monsoon tells a noticeably slight tale, but Cambodian-born Chinese British writer/director Hong Khaou (Lilting) is keenly and overwhelmingly aware that a sense of belonging doesn't simply come with one's birth certificate. He's also a minimalistic filmmaker, in a sense. He delves into straightforward scenarios, and knows that he needn't layer them with too many external complicating factors. In other words, he's cognisant that merely examining how a person copes — even in a very commonplace situation — can deliver several lifetimes worth of complexity without a wealth of other narrative roadblocks or setbacks. As a result, both Khaou and Monsoon ask a significant amount of Golding; they demand more than his previous charisma-driven roles in Crazy Rich Asians, A Simple Favour and Last Christmas have combined, actually. Viewers of those three films already know that he can radiate charm like few other actors currently appearing on-screen, but Monsoon requires Golding's soulful best. At every moment, he's tasked with conveying the potent thoughts and jumbled emotions swelling inside Kit, and with doing so largely without dialogue. It's a quietly powerful performance, and it's one that the movie steadfastly needs. It's one that Monsoon depends upon, kin fact. Thanks in no small part to his efforts, Monsoon feels comfortable and intimate and eye-opening and new all at once — and proves immensely affecting viewing. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq1F1opr_FE&t=2s ELLIE AND ABBIE (AND ELLIE'S DEAD AUNT) As a teen rom-com about two high schoolers working through their attraction for each other as they're also trying to work out what to do with their lives and how to simply be themselves, there's a strong sense of familiarity about Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt). That isn't a sign of laziness, however, because first-time feature writer/director Monica Zanetti wants you to register how much her film resembles other entries in its genre — and to notice what it's doing differently. There's a purposeful sense of clumsiness about the Sydney-set movie, too. Again, that's by design. Studious school captain Ellie (Sophie Hawkshaw, Love Child) has a simmering crush on the far cooler, calmer and more collected Abbie (Zoe Terakes, Janet King), but is struggling to stump up the courage to ask her to the school formal. When the pair do slowly start becoming closer, Ellie doesn't know exactly what to do, or what's expected, or how to be the person she wants to be in her first relationship. Complicating matters is the distance she feels from her mother, Erica (Marta Dusseldorp, Stateless), as she navigates such new emotional terrain — oh, and the fact that, as the title gives away, Ellie's dead aunt Tara (Julia Billington) suddenly starts hovering around and dispensing advice about following her feelings. So far, so sweet. Of course, unfurling a queer romance within such well-worn confines shouldn't be such a remarkable act (and an Australian teen queer romance at that), but it still currently is. Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt) isn't just entertaining and understanding, cute and creative with its teen romance, and proudly celebratory of LGBTQIA+ perspectives, though. It's all those things, but Zanetti's decision to open the door to a deeper contemplation of Australia's historical treatment of the queer community gives considerable depth and weight to a movie that mightn't have earned those terms otherwise. The brightly shot feature has a strong sense of place, but without including all of the usual landmark shots that make many features feel like tourism campaigns. More importantly, it has a clear understanding of what LGBTQIA+ Sydneysiders have weathered in past decades. That activism is layered throughout the film in an overt subplot and, while it's hardly treated with nuance (an observation that applies to much of the picture), it's a powerful inclusion. Simply by reaching local cinema screens, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt) makes a statement, but it also pays tribute to all the statements made in big and bold ways — and with tragic and painful outcomes, too — to get to this point in Australian queer history. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rIcXgMx7hU PINOCCHIO It has been 80 years since Disney's Pinocchio unleashed a wooden puppet and the woodcarver who made him upon animation-loving audiences, adapting Carlo Collodi's 1883 Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio in the process. And, over that period, that film has remained the version of record. Indeed, it's the reason that generations of viewers are familiar with the story. Matteo Garrone's (Gomorrah) new live-action movie of the same name earns a place alongside it, however. It's one of three new and upcoming features tackling the narrative, ahead of a stop-motion flick co-directed by The Shape of Water's Guillermo del Toro that's due to hit Netflix next year and Disney's own flesh-and-blood iteration that's slated to be helmed by The Witches' Robert Zemeckis — and it serves up a tender and sumptuous take on the fairytale. In relaying how the kindly Geppetto (Life Is Beautiful Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni) shaped a lively log into a boy-sized puppet (Federico Ielapi), who then decides to see the world and strive to become a real child, it also hews far closer to the source material than its animated predecessor. This is a movie clearly made with an abundance of affection for its inspiration, too, and that love and devotion shines through in every frame. In fact, the feature's visuals prove its strongest element, including in bringing Pinocchio to life. He's a detailed marvel who appears oh-so realistic and yet also looks uncanny as well, as intended, and the decision to use a child actor wearing prosthetics rather than relying heavily upon CGI works a charm. The world that Garrone spins around the eponymous puppet is similarly rich and fantastical — and whimsical, although the latter is overdone. Pinocchio is far more resonant when it's letting its central figure discover that being human involves weathering all the cruelties that the earth's population has in store for each other, and watching him learn that Geppetto's unconditional fondness and acceptance is sadly rare. It's much less involving when it's leaning overtly into quirkiness, although that should probably be expected with Benigni involved. Where eccentricity is concerned, this tale already has plenty baked in, as the Fox (Massimo Ceccherini), the Cat (Rocco Papaleo) and the Fairy with Turquoise Hair (Marine Vacth, If You Saw His Heart) all make plain. But even if the whole movie is a little overstated, Garrone has still made a beautiful movie — and one that feels like the natural next step after 2015's Tale of Tales and even 2018's Dogman. https://vimeo.com/469681168 LOVE OPERA Australia's performing arts scene has been shuttered for much of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But documentary Love Opera lets viewers peer behind the scenes of a production that hit the stage long before anyone had ever heard of the novel coronavirus that changed life as we know it this year — and to spend time with the talented folks who toiled to make the show in question happen, too. The opera: Carmen. The bodies responsible: the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program (LGNOP) and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. The year: 2017. Established by internationally renowned Australian soprano Lisa Gasteen, the intensive program trains Australian and New Zealand opera singers, and has put on a semi-staged production at the end of each year since 2017. Accordingly, Love Opera follows LGNOP's first attempt to do just that, from the casting through until the final product. Gasteen features prominently, understandably, chatting not just about the show at hand and the process of bringing it to fruition, but also running through her career, its ups and downs, the reality of getting to the top of the industry and her decisions for embarking upon her current path. Also lending the film their thoughts, feelings and observations are the program's cofounder Nancy Underhill, plus conductors Alondra de la Parra and Simone Young, as well as singers such as Rachel Pines and Morgan England-Jones. There's much to cover, as filmmaker Liselle Mei recognises, with the film quickly flitting through a wealth of material — and touching upon a plethora of topics in the process. The physicality required to be an opera singer, the passion that drives it, the difficulty of being a younger talent when many roles are written for older characters, the way the art form has been changing over the years, the treatment of queer creatives: all of this earns the documentary's attention, and each could've received more screen time if there wasn't so much to cover. But Love Opera never feels slight on any area of interest. It doesn't break the behind-the-scenes doco mould, either, but it delivers a broad rather than shallow snapshot of everything required to make the LGNOP's version of Carmen happen. Brisbanites will notice all of the drone shots of the movie's setting, which can border on intrusive; however, both opera lovers and newcomers alike receive an insightful glimpse at the ins and outs of the medium, its homegrown stars both established and emerging, and the hard work behind crooning its tunes in such a resonant fashion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK3eDfkXBzg SAVAGE Tattoos covering his cheeks, nose and forehead, a scowl affixed almost as permanently, but raw sorrow lurking in his eyes, Jake Ryan cuts a striking sight in Savage. He's a walking, drinking, growling, hammer-swinging advertisement for toxic masculinity — how it looks at its most stereotypical extreme, and how it often masks pain and struggle — and the performance is the clear highlight of the Home and Away, Wolf Creek and Underbelly actor's resume to-date. Playing a character named Danny but also known as Damage, Ryan's efforts also perfectly epitomise the New Zealand gang drama he's in, which similarly wraps in-your-face packaging around a softer, richer core. Savage's protagonist and plot have had plenty of predecessors over the years in various ways, from Once Were Warriors' exploration of violence, to Mean Streets' chronicle of crime-driven youth, plus the bikie warfare of Sons of Anarchy and even Aussie film 1%, but there's a weightiness on display here that can't just be wrung from a formula. That said, although written and directed by feature debutant Sam Kelly based on true tales from NZ's real-life gangs spanning three decades, Savage does noticeably follow a predictable narrative path. Viewers first meet Danny in 1989, when he's the second-in-charge of the Savages, which is overseen by his lifelong best friend Moses (John Tui, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Solo: A Star Wars Story). The film also jumps back to two prior periods in his life, in 1965 and 1972, to explain why Danny is in his current situation physically, mentally and emotionally. Aided by suitably gritty and restless camerawork that mirrors its protagonist's inner turmoil, Savage packs a punch when it lets that unease fester in quiet moments. It's also particularly astute when honing in on Danny and Moses's complicated friendship, and how pivotal it is throughout their constantly marginalised lives. There's never any doubting that Savage is a movie about family, including the traumas they can inflict, the hurt that comes with being torn away from loved ones at a young age, the kinship found in understanding pals and the concept of brotherhood in gangs, and the feature is at its most affecting when it lets these truths emanate naturally. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Vm7cpQX80 HOPE GAP If you're going to watch a couple navigate the waning days of their decades-long marriage, and watch as their adult son tries to cope with the fallout, too, then you might as well be directing your eyeballs at Annette Bening, Bill Nighy, and God's Own Country and The Crown star Josh O'Connor. They play Grace, Edward and Jamie, respectively, with their family rocked by the revelation that mild-mannered, history-obsessed teacher Edward is leaving after 29 years because he's fallen in love with another woman. Usually the shining light and driving force in their modest house in a seaside town, Grace doesn't take the news well. Jamie, who lives in the city and doesn't generally come home as often as anyone would like, swiftly becomes his mother's main source of a support and a go-between with his father. As written and directed by second-time filmmaker William Nicholson (1997 feature Firelight) based on his 1999 play The Retreat from Moscow, little in Hope Gap's narrative offers surprises — especially if you've seen other movies about marital breakdowns, such as 2019's far meatier Marriage Story — but the British drama benefits considerably from its central trio of talent and their performances. While the plot plays out as anticipated, one aspect of Hope Gap does veer from the expected formula — and that'd be O'Connor. That he's an exceptional actor isn't new news, but he's firmly the heart of this wordy drama about the yearning and breaking hearts of his character's parents. He's also the most soulful part of the film; however, that isn't a criticism of Bening and Nighy. In spiky but still vulnerable mode, Bening may struggle with an unconvincing English accent, but she cuts to the core of Grace's bravado and pain. Nighy plays his part in a far softer, gentler, more nervous register, and helps make it plain just how Grace and Edward's marriage has gotten to this fracturing point. In a handsomely shot movie that intertwines picturesque glimpses of the coast with tense domestic scenes — and uses poetry verses to help convey emotion as well — they all demand the viewers' attention. But without the especially tender and thoughtful O'Connor, Hope Gap would've felt like just another average portrait of a longstanding relationship imploding, even with Bening and Nigh's impressive work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS9AYlUfp0A FATMAN When a film or TV show fills one of its roles in a gimmicky way that's obviously designed to garner publicity, it's called stunt casting. The term wholeheartedly applies to Fatman, a flimsy action-comedy that features Mel Gibson as Santa (and delivers his second big-screen release of 2020 after the abysmal Force of Nature). Even just reading about the premise, you can probably see the light bulbs going off in casting executives and other filmmaking powers-that-be's heads when they came up with the idea — because enlisting the American-born, Australian-raised actor as the symbol of all things wholesome and jolly sits in stark contrast to the far-from-jovial string of controversies that have popped up in his personal life, especially over the past decade. But a movie needs more than a blatant stunt to actually serve up something worth watching. And as far as shameless attempts to grab attention go, getting Gibson to play the red-suited figure just proves ill-advised and uncomfortable rather than provocative. Writer/directors Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms (Small Town Crime) must feel otherwise, though, because there's very little else to this festive-themed movie. 'Tis the season for dull and muddled movies that aren't anywhere near as edgy as its makers think, and aren't funny or entertaining at all, it seems. Three male characters drive Fatman's narrative, starting with Chris Cringle (Gibson), who oversees a Canadian workshop that's forced to take a military contract to get by. Kids just aren't behaving themselves enough these days, so he's delivering more lumps of coal than presents — and the stipend he receives from the US government to cover the elf-made gifts has decreased as a result. One of those bratty children, 12-year-old rich kid Billy Wenan (Chance Hurstfield, Good Boys), decides he isn't happy with his haul one Christmas. His solution: enlisting an assassin to bump off Santa as payback. Said hitman, who is just called Skinny Man (Walton Goggins), has been harbouring a lifelong grudge against the titular character anyway and doesn't take much convincing. Ant-Man and the Wasp and Them That Follow star Goggins is the best thing about a movie that has very little going for it, which speaks volumes about the one-note plot points. But given the distinct lack of jokes, the clumsy attempts to satirise today's supposedly uncaring times and the routine feel that infuses even its frenzied scenes of violence, he can't turn the film into a gift for anyone. Fatman wants to be an action-packed take on a Bad Santa-esque comedy, but ends up faring even worse than that beloved movie's awful sequel Bad Santa 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdce40rfRbk ALL MY LIFE No one with cancer would wish for their experience with the horrific disease to be turned into a schmaltzy movie about how hard their illness was for their partner. Based on the true story of digital marketer-turned-chef Solomon Chau and his psychology masters student girlfriend and later wife Jennifer Carter, that's what All My Life serves up — and while it feigns to focus on both of them, this overt attempt at tugging on viewers' heartstrings makes it clear that it's really about the latter. The title refers to Jenn (Jessica Rothe, Happy Death Day) and the 'make every moment count' wisdom she discovers watching Sol (Harry Shum Jr, Crazy Rich Asians) battle liver cancer. Over and over again, especially in tough and devastating situations, the film's visuals focus on her rather than him, too. It cuts away from him when he's explaining how difficult it all is, to follow her anger about their changed wedding plans instead. It literally foregrounds her in a shot when he's just received a big blow, and is understandably failing to cope. And it gives her time to scream in anguish in her car after yet more unpleasant news comes his way, in case viewers weren't certain who the movie thinks is the real victim. All My Life may be shot in the soft and sunny hues of a trite Nicholas Sparks-penned romance — and clearly aspire to sit in their company — but it's insidious in the way it uses one real-life person's sickness to make its preferred protagonist seem more interesting. It's a gender-flipped, illness-driven variation on the dead wife trope, as seen in the likes of Inception and Shutter Island, where the male lead is given a sob story to make his tale more dramatic. It's firmly in line with the way that cinema routinely sidelines those dealing with cancer over those standing by their sides, as seen far too often (when a movie about cancer or featuring a cancer-stricken character doesn't stick to the template, such as Babyteeth earlier this year, it stands out). The narrative details that All My Life chronicles may stem from reality, but they're ground down to a formula: girl meets boy, sparks fly, their future sprawls out before them, then cancer gets in the way and she can't have her dream nuptials. There's also never any doubt that this movie wouldn't exist if the GoFundMe campaign set up for Sol and Jenn's initially postponed wedding didn't garner significant media attention, as if some level of fame makes one cancer story more important than the rest. But it's the choice of focus that transforms this film from an expectedly cliched addition to the weepie genre and into overt slush. Director Marc Meyers' My Friend Dahmer also struggled with a similar approach, also choosing to spin a story around someone other than the obvious point of interest — and the fact that Shum puts in All My Life's best performance makes the tactic all the more galling and grating here. If you're wondering what else is currently screening around Melbourne, we've also picked the 12 best flicks that started gracing the city's silver screens when indoor cinemas were given the green light to reopen. When outdoor cinemas relaunched before that, we outlined the films showing under the stars, too. And, we've run through all the pictures that opened in the city on November 12 as well. You can also read our full reviews of The Personal History of David Copperfield, Waves, The King of Staten Island, Babyteeth, Deerskin, Peninsula, Les Misérables, Bill & Ted Face the Music, An American Pickle, On the Rocks, Antebellum, Kajillionaire, The Craft: Legacy, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Radioactive, Brazen Hussies and Freaky, all of which are presently showing in Melbourne. And, you can check out our rundowns of the new films that released in other cities over the past few months — on July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23 and July 30; August 6, August 13, August 20 and August 27; September 3, September 10, September 17 and September 24; October 1, October 8, October 15, October 22 and October 29; and November 5 — as a number of those movies are now showing in Melbourne as well. Top image: Mank, Nikolai Loveikis/Netflix; Monsoon, Dat Vu.
Development in the lead-up to the Olympics often means catastrophe for the homeless. In 2008, Beijing attracted criticism following the announcement of an intended 'social clean-up'. A 2007 study by the UK Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions demonstrated that, since 1988, more than 2 million people worldwide had been forced out of their homes to provide space for the games. Journalist George Monbiot has described the Olympics as 'a licence for land grabs'. He recalls that, in Seoul, 'homeless people, alcoholics, beggars and the mentally ill were rounded up and housed in a prison camp. The world saw nothing of this: just a glossy new city full of glossy new people.' Last year, in London, the Manor Garden Allotments, which had been in use for a century, 'disappeared for good behind the Blue Wall', despite protests. The recent decision to transform London's Olympic Village into low-income housing is, therefore, a welcome one. It does not justify or ameliorate repeated disregard for the homeless, but it's an effort in the right direction. Having provided beds for 17,000 weary athletes, the area is being taken into the hands of a developer based in Qatar. Fifty per cent of the buildings will be up for private rental, with the remainder run by a local housing authority. Six-month contracts promise flexibility to tenants in need of short-term accommodation, and communal and commercial facilities, including schools, a medical centre, offices, stores and eateries, will be available. At least 100 houses will welcome their first residents this August. [via PSFK]
Anna Kendrick. Blake Lively. Paul Feig. A twisty thriller novel as source material. Combined, those four key ingredients helped make 2018's A Simple Favour a hit, a delight, and a deliciously engaging and entertaining mystery. It's no wonder that audiences have been keen on a sequel for years — and come May 2025, those dreams are becoming a straight-to-streaming reality. Kendrick (Woman of the Hour) is back as Stephanie Smothers. So is Lively (It Ends with Us) as Emily Nelson — and as the just-dropped first teaser trailer for Another Simple Favour shows, nothing is straightforward between the pair again. As the name of the movie also makes plain, Emily has something else to ask of Stephanie. Out of prison and about to get married to a wealthy businessman, the former crashes the latter's book reading to task her with being her maid of honour. But is this just a quest for revenge? Using the Italian island of Capri as a backdrop, Another Simple Favour boasts Feig (Jackpot!) back behind the lens, too — and also Andrew Rannells (Girls5eva), Bashir Salahuddin (How to Die Alone) and Henry Golding (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) back among the cast. Equally part of this big return: more secrets, as little is ever as it seems with Stephanie's glamorous and mysterious friend. While the first film released in cinemas, this seven-years-later sequel is heading to Prime Video, hitting streaming queues on Thursday, May 1, 2025. It does have a date with the silver screen first, however – but only at this year's SXSW in Austin, where it's the opening-night movie at the event's Film and TV Festival. If you missed the initial picture — which was adapted from Darcey Bell's 2017 novel of the same name — it followed a widowed mum who is also a vlogger and becomes friends with a fashion executive. Then Emily asks Stephanie to do her a simple favour, changing everything. Screenwriter Jessica Sharzer (Nine Perfect Strangers), who wrote the first film, is also among Another Simple Favour's returnees — this time penning the follow-up's script with Laeta Kalogridis (Altered Carbon). Check out the first teaser trailer for Another Simple Favour below: Another Simple Favour will stream via Prime Video from Thursday, May 1, 2025.
This week, Narre Warren arts precinct Bunjil Place is showing off its night owl side, with the next instalment of its Night Mode series. Kicking off from 6pm on Thursday, July 14, Night Mode: Abundance Edition is set to deliver a tasty after-hours program of food, drinks, music, art and talks. You'll enjoy late-night access to the current exhibition All the Things I Should Have Said That I Never Said by artist and curator David Sequeira. It's a multi-faceted exploration of authorship, history and time, delivered via a compelling showcase of painting, performance, sculpture, installation and fashion. From 6pm, catch a drop-in workshop led by artist and crafting queen Sai-Wai Foo, and learn how to transform paper into stunning headpieces and corsages. The hands-on classes have a veggie theme, in a nod to Bunjil Place's Casey Cornucopia Garden pop-up — an immersive celebration of local produce complete with giant vegetable sculptures and edible fog. You'll want to explore that while you're here, too. Across three performances (6.30pm, 7.30pm. 8.30pm), legendary local drag star Brenda Bressed will ignite the Bunjil Place foyer, dishing up belters from the back-catalogues of Cher, Aretha Franklin, Liza Minelli and more. Meanwhile, you can catch a workshop on crafting edible clay pendants, and chat to local producers while sampling their wares at the Casey Cornucopia Food Hub market stall. Plus, Bunjil Place's cafe and bar will be open until 9pm, serving a lineup of light bites and libations to enjoy while you wander. Entry to Night Mode: Abundance Edition is free, though you'll need to register online for a spot. Top Images: Paoli-Smith
Which do you love more: picking up a haul of new plants at bargain prices, enjoying that much cherished weekend sleep-in or having a few brews? If your answer is all three, you'll be pleased to know you can have your cake and eat it too when Abbotsford's newly opened Bodriggy Brewing Co plays host to a couple of afternoon plant sales later this month. Greenery-loving pop-up Wandering Jungle is inviting punters to drop by after work, pick up some lush new foliage for their collections and then party on into the night. Kicking off at 11.30am and running through till 10pm on both Wednesday, November 20 and Thursday, November 21, the event will showcase a variety of indoor plant species for you to browse and buy, from birds of paradise to plenty of cacti to the good ol' fiddle leaf fig. To round out the evening shopping experience, Bodriggy's bar will be pouring brews from its 64 taps and its kitchen will be serving up its usual snacks — think Peruvian-style beef heart skewers, tacos and a 500-gram cauliflower steak — while a local DJ works their magic on the decks from 5.30pm. On Thursday, the bar will also be handing out 100 free tinnies, to celebrate its new Utopia beer, from 4pm — and, after they're all gone, $5 cans for the rest of the night. Wandering Jungle X Bodriggy Brewing Co Plant Sale runs from 11.30am–10pm — 100 free beers will be available from 4pm on Thursday. First image: Bodriggy by Kate Shanasy
Bridge Road stalwart Laikon Deli has rolled into its next phase of life, with owners snapping up the space next door, knocking down a wall and expanding their offering to include a cheery new sit-down cafe. A longtime favourite — it's been around for 42 years — for its handmade grab-and-go bites, take-home meals and a tempting array of European pantry staples, the beefed-up space is now also a destination for customers keen to really settle in over some breakfast, lunch or an Allpress coffee. It's living up to its name even more so, too, with Laikon meaning 'for everyone'. Photos and knick-knacks give the room a homey feel and throwback to Laikon's European roots, while an expanded cafe menu now includes dishes such as the chilli scrambled eggs with Calabrese salami and warm ricotta, home-style lasagne, baked gnocchi and 'Mum's Bougatsa' — a traditional Greek filo pie loaded with custard, apple and rhubarb. A selection of mix 'n' match antipasto boards makes the most of the deli offerings, with options like a 24-month Langhiranese Parma ham, Wagyu bresaola, French blue cheese and Italian-style grilled eggplant, and holds its own against the rest of the lunch menu. What's more, a booze licence has just come in for balmy summer afternoons spent camped out with a feast of salumi, cheese, negronis and Euro wine. Images: Simon Shiff. Updated: October 21, 2018.
It's the ultimate in work-life balance, an antidote to non-stop after-hours emails and Slack messages, and a guaranteed way to ensure what happens at work stays at work. In Apple TV+'s mind-bending new thriller series Severance — which plays like Black Mirror meets the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with Wes Anderson's aesthetic if he designed soulless office complexes, plus sprinklings of everything from George Orwell to also-excellent 2020 TV effort Devs — switching off when clocking off at Lumon Industries is easy. There's a brain implant for exactly that, and it's a condition of employment on "severed" floors. Accordingly, when quittin' time comes for Macrodata Refinement division employee Mark (Adam Scott, Big Little Lies), he physically steps into a tiny, shiny elevator to descend back into his after-hours life — but the version of him that works for Lumon won't recall anything beyond the company's walls. The instant that the one-person lift plummets at the end of the day, it goes back up for Mark's "innie", as his office-bound consciousness is dubbed. Voila, it's clocking-on time once more. For Mark's "outie", as the rest of his brain is labelled, the reverse occurs. Each day, he enters an elevator, hops out immediately, then drives to the suburban estate he calls home and repeats the process the next morning. Mourning the death of his wife, he's consciously chosen to separate his work and home selves in the most drastic of ways, giving him an eight-hour-a-day reprieve from his grief. But while it may sound like a dream escape — from Mark's pain, and for any employee eager to reclaim mental real estate from their job — this dark, twisty and instantly gripping series is firmly dystopian. Severance's attention-grabbing premise springs from creator Dan Erickson, a TV first-timer, and understands how most folks feel about office life. The show is knowing in its lead casting, too, given that Scott is best recognised for two workplace comedies: the joyous hug that is Parks and Recreation, as well as the acerbic, astute and soon-to-return Party Down. But as savvily and evocatively directed by Ben Stiller in its first three season-one episodes (and again in its last three, with Kissing Candice filmmaker Aoife McArdle helming three in the middle), Scott's new series dwells in 'be careful what you wish for' territory. For the part of Mark's brain that blanks out work, Severance initially seems like heaven. For the half that only knows the office, it's hell. The series begins with Mark two years into his time at Lumon, and newly installed as a division head after Petey (Yul Vazquez, The Outsider), his workplace BFF, leaves suddenly. One of his first tasks: onboarding Helly (Britt Lower, Future Man), who awakes in innie form for the first time sprawled atop a conference table. The camera gazes down, the eerie tone resembles leaping out of a nightmare but being unable to pick if you're still dreaming, and she hears Mark asking questions. Helly has queries herself, including: "am I livestock?". The severance process is jarring for newcomers, but they're expected to adjust swiftly. Innie Helly hasn't gotten that memo, however — and no, Party Down fans, neither her nor Mark are having fun yet. He grapples with his new role and the sudden loss of Petey, with his cold, unsevered boss Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette, The Act) and her omnipresent, also-unsevered assistant Mr Milchick (Tramell Tillman, Hunters) scrutinising every move, and his fellow severed MDR employees Irving (John Turturro, The Plot Against America) and Dylan (Zach Cherry, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) handling Lumon life by being controlling and competitive, respectively. As for Helly's innie, she starts waging war on the new world order she definitely didn't sign up for, including writing briskly denied resignation requests to her outie. From The Truman Show and The Matrix to The Office and Office Space, Severance's list of influences is lengthy. It's Kafkaesque and Lynchian, too, and wandering its labyrinthine hallways — corridors designed like a maze to keep Lumon departments apart — is like being trapped in a surreal workplace version of Twin Peaks' red room. Indeed, every production design and cinematography choice enhances the feeling of being trapped in an off-kilter and deeply unnerving corporate purgatory. It's there in the 70s- and 80s-style technology, the green-and-white colour scheme, and the camera placement that flits between claustrophobic and cooly expansive. Lumon's innies don't have the choice, but Severance is also a series to willingly get lost in. Apple TV+ is dropping episodes week to week, following a two-instalment premiere, but the compulsion to lap up more of its unsettling mysteries springs quickly. Just like other standout shows of the past few months, such as Yellowjackets and Station Eleven, the desperation to piece together Severance's puzzles echoes strongly while watching — but this meticulously made head-trip is in no rush to unveil its answers. Given the wealth of wonders to be found within its frames — and the allure of its slow-drip secrets, including exactly what MDR is doing as its workers sort through screens of "happy" and "scary" numbers — it's hardly surprising that Severance isn't in a rush. It also boasts Christopher Walken (Percy vs Goliath) putting his distinctive on-screen presence to great use as another of Lumon's severed wager-earners, and is home to stellar performances across the board, including Scott's latest everyman turn, Turturro playing the office pedant with aplomb, a compellingly icy Arquette and the mesmerising Tillman. And, crucially, equally calling out, questioning and satirising today's ideas about work is always on the show's agenda. With a wry sense of humour, Severance sees the nine-to-five grind as the hellscape it can be, probes the control we've relinquished for paycheques and pokes fun at everything that's become normalised about the modern workplace. The hold our jobs have over our lives, the cult-like worship that large companies demand from underlings, the awkward office exceptions and social conventions, and these always clocked-on times in general: none of them escape this perceptive and addictive series' attention. Not so fond of the corporate treadmill? As it immerses, engages and intrigues, Severance truly understands. Check out the trailer for Severance below: The first three episodes of Severance's first season are available to stream via Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping weekly.
Melbourne is littered with public outdoor pools and great beaches, but sometimes you want the luxe private pool experience. This usually comes with booking a room at one of Melbourne's best hotels or signing up to an exorbitantly priced private members' club, but most of us don't want to go that far for a little dip. To solve this problem, W Melbourne has started up its midweek Swim Club, which runs 8am–8pm from Monday–Friday. During these times, you can book a poolside session at the sky-high indoor pool WET and stick around for as long as you like. You'll have access to the pool, steam room and fully equipped gymnasium FIT, plus you'll get a mocktail, bottle of water and fruit platter delivered to your sun lounger. This doesn't come cheap, at $98 per person, but it's the price you pay for semi-private luxury. If you're on a budget and want to swim on a cold day, these heated Melbourne pools are a heap cheaper. But those of you seeking a day of swimming and relaxing without crowds — while looking out over the city skyline — can consider booking a spot at WET's Swim Club.
After a remarkable 26 years, the Grossi family, stalwarts of the Melbourne hospitality industry, have announced they will hand over custodianship of their restaurants before the end of the year. The Grossi family intend to continue their involvement in the industry through mentoring, initiatives and partnerships that support the next generation of hospo professionals. The Grossi family venues include Grossi Florentino, Grossi Grill, Cellar Bar, Ombra and Arlechin. While new custodians are set to take the reins, continuity of service and culture will remain a focus across all venues. Grossi Florentino, Guy Grossi's flagship fine diner, will return to its original name, Florentino. The establishment, founded in 1928, is one of Melbourne's longest-standing dining establishments, and it continues to prove its resilience with another change in leadership. Reflecting on the impressive 26 years overseeing Florentino, Guy Grossi says, "That is a significant period in any person's life. Our purpose has always been to bring people together and make them feel good with every interaction. We feel privileged to have served in these extraordinary venues for so long and to share our family history with so many. As our family looks to the future, this is not about stepping away but embracing a new chapter. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to the hospitality industry, Melbourne, the craft of cooking, and the traditions that have shaped us. For me, that means continuing to preserve and share the cultural heritage of Italian dining, while also ensuring the knowledge, values and passion we've built are passed on to the next generation." Other members of the Grossi Group include Liz Rodriguez, Co-Owner and Managing Director, Carlo Grossi, General Manager, Chris Rodriguez, who has served as Executive Chef, Melissa Grossi, who has contributed to operations and creative development and Loredana Grossi, who oversees branding, communications and partnerships. Rodriguez says, "It's not just a business, it's a craft. It's about bringing people together through amore e cultura [the group's philosophy of love and culture]. I love this business, the people who come here, and giving our team a pathway in the industry they love. I've done this for 27 years; it's not always easy, but when you're passionate, you get excited. I look forward to continuing my creativity and contributing more broadly to the industry as a whole. I remain committed to supporting the next generation and making a meaningful contribution for years to come. Importantly, the Grossi restaurant family will continue through other initiatives in the industry." Images: Michael Pham, Kate Shanasy. The Grossi Group restaurants will continue to trade as usual in the lead-up to the change of custodianship. Details for a special event on Sunday, November 9, will be released shortly. If you're hungry now, check out the best restaurants in the CBD.
Fancy yourself a heist film? Well, take a load of this one. Think Ocean's Eleven, but without the tuxedos and flashy casinos. Logan Lucky takes you down to the American south, the home of NASCAR in North Carolina. Steven Soderbergh, of the Ocean's movies and Magic Mike, pairs Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as two brothers eager to break a 90-year family curse in the soon-to-be-released heist-comedy. The film follows Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) as they plot to steal from NASCAR's Charlotte Motor Speedway. With help from their friends, the so-called 'Redneck Robbers', the Logan brothers set out to pinch themselves $14million from the race. The film has already garnered positive reviews from critics, especially with a stellar cast also including Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes and Daniel Craig, taking on a very different role to his iconic James Bond as an escaped inmate. Logan Lucky releases on August 17, and we have double passes to giveaway in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eqC27nxHJ4[/embed] [competition]630960[/competition]
As Glen Huntly residents will no doubt be aware, local café Workshop Brothers Specialty Coffee is a rare hybrid of both substance and style. The minimalist, super Instagram-worthy space belies some serious coffee know-how and the enterprise has been so successful — nestled out in the 'burbs as it is — that the second Workshop Brothers has just opened in the heart of the CBD. For those of you not acquainted with Workshop Brothers, the café does a great brew — and has become a staple coffee stop out east. But despite their success, owner Nolan Taing knew opening in the CBD (otherwise known as the hospitality deep end) was a risk. "Expanding to the CBD was always a dream. But so many factors had to be in place first, as the CBD can make or break you," he says. "With high rentals and very good competition, luck wasn't the only thing we needed. It's taken a while to gain the respect and trust from fellow roasters and operators, but with the support from [local roasters] Axil and Monk Bodhi Dharma, we knew the timing was right." The team — which includes Nolan, Brian Taing and Joe La — have been planning the new venue for over a year now and so, when they threw the doors open last week, it was with little fuss and no ceremony, just a get-on-with-it attitude. Along with excellent cups of joe, they also sell their own beans, bottled cold coffees, a selection of pastries and doughnuts from Doughboys. Workshop Brothers is located at 190 Queen Street, Melbourne. For more info, visit workshopbrothers.com.au.
The multicultural food paradise that is Preston Market is launching into the Year of the Rabbit with a jam-packed day of traditional Chinese festivities. Head along from 10am on Sunday, January 29, to immerse yourself in the dazzling Lunar New Year celebrations, featuring dancers, art and crafts, and of course, a whole lot of feasting. It'll all kick off with a store blessing and lion dance by the CMS Lion Dance Team, followed by a bunch of themed, family-friendly creative workshops and pop-ups. Meanwhile, Jinli Wushu-Tai Chi will be taking punters through guided 20-minute tai chi classes, and there'll be stacks of entertainment thanks to the likes of Melbourne Chinese Performing Arts, magician Johnson Hsu and songstress Sabrina Chou. From 11am, you can level up your dinner game at a dumpling workshop led by MasterChef alum Chris Tran. Get in quick for free fortune cookies and complimentary tastings, too. You'll also be able to sink your teeth into a slew of other classic Asian dishes visiting resident stalls like 888 Street Food, T's Vietnamese Classics and South Melbourne Dim Sims. With more than 30 Asian food traders on Preston Market's roster, there's absolutely no shortage of LNY options here.
Wadjda (Waad Mohammed) resides within a system of oppression, yet refuses to accept her restrictions. On the cusp of adolescence, the ten-year-old rallies against her surroundings in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, be it the strictness of her schooling or the expectations of her gender — appropriate interests, friends and public behaviour included. She desires a green bicycle, but is told no. She wants to cycle in the street, but is strongly discouraged. She yearns to enjoy the same freedoms as her male counterparts, such as her neighbour, Abdullah (Abdullrahman Al Gohani). The feature's missive of female empowerment is evident in its protagonist, though its message is never bluntly handled. Of course, Wadjda's on-screen statement and subversion bears the weight of its revolutionary off-screen status, as the first feature shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, and the first full-length film made by a female Saudi director. Writer/director Haifaa Al-Mansour (who studied at the University of Sydney) remains subtle in her debut fictional effort. Lightness, rather than solemnity, is her pervasive tone. Read our full review of Wadjda here. Wadjda is in cinemas on Thursday, March 20, and thanks to eOne Films, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=v-4kosdSXR8
After first closing its border with Victoria at the beginning of July, then warning residents against travel to and from regional towns in the area, New South Wales is implementing a strict new border zone between the two states. Announced on Sunday, July 19 and coming into effect from midnight on Tuesday, July 21, the border zone will start at the Murray River — placing tighter restrictions on residents of NSW border towns, as well as on Victorians looking to head north. As part of a new permit system — which will replace all currently issued permits, as well as any issued between now and the commencement of the border zone, with those needing permits required to reapply — folks living in NSW border towns will only be able to travel to the Victorian side of the border zone for a limited number of reasons. And, if they venture past the zone into the rest of Victoria, they'll be required to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return. Also, any other NSW resident who crosses the Murray River, otherwise enters Victoria or has been in the state in the past fortnight will be required to self-isolate for 14 days on their return to NSW. Residents of NSW border towns looking cross into the Victorian section of the zone will only be able to do so for three designated reasons: going to work or attending an education institution (if you can't do so from home), and to obtain medical care, supplies or health services. The same "extremely limited purposes" will apply to Victorian border town inhabitants looking to enter the NSW section of the zone. Victorians who receive a permit to enter NSW will also need to carry a copy of their permit with them, and produce it when directed — and abide by a number of other conditions. Those entering the state for child access or care arrangements, or freight workers, will need to have their own COVID Safety Plan; critical service workers will have to self-isolate when not providing their critical services; and Victorians will only be able to head to NSW for medical or hospital services if those services are not available in Victoria or can't be accessed remotely. [caption id="attachment_775275" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] A town near the NSW-Victorian border by Denisbin via Flickr.[/caption] Announcing the changes, the NSW government reiterated its standard current advice for the state's residents regarding visiting Victoria: "all NSW residents are strongly urged not to travel to Victoria". The tightened border restrictions were revealed on the same day that the NSW government urged the state's inhabitants to avoid non-essential travel in general, as well as non-essential gatherings. Until the start of July, New South Wales hadn't closed its borders to domestic travellers during the COVID-19 pandemic — and, when it did shut its border with Victoria, it was the first time in 100 years (since 1919 during the Spanish Flu), that the border between the two states has closed. For more information about the new border restrictions and the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Government website. Top image: Mulwala Bridge by Yun Huang Yong via Flickr.
