As well as giving popular culture some of its most beloved characters of the past few decades, the Harry Potter franchise has also conjured up a whole heap of astonishing critters. The Boy Who Lived himself studied them at Hogwarts, all thanks to textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Then, to the joy of Potter-loving muggles everywhere, that tome became an actual IRL text in 2001. Every Wizarding World fan knows that that book followed the original Harry Potter novels in making the leap from the page to the screen, resulting in a first film in 2016, then 2018 sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and also 2022's Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. But if you're more interested in the actual fantastic beasts than a movie plot spun around them — and in natural history in general — exhibition Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature has you covered. First announced in 2020, then premiering at London's Natural History Museum, this is all about critters that fly, scamper and scurry through the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts realm on the page and screen; however, it's also about real-life creatures, specimens and artefacts, too. The exhibition combines beasts from the natural world, the mythical world and the Wizarding World, and was always slated for an international tour. Next, it's Australia's turn to see it, with the showcase displaying at Melbourne Museum from Friday, May 19–Sunday, October 8. Visitors to Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature will see legendary beasts placed alongside specimens and historic objects, while also venturing through elements from cinema's last two decades. Unsurprisingly, there'll also be a hefty focus on Newt Scamander, the Wizarding World's famed magizoologist as played Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse). Whether you're a Melbourne local or now planning a visit, you'll see items from the Natural History Museum's scientific collections, custom-made Wizarding World models, props from the flicks and original artworks from Bloomsbury Publishing. You'll also wander through a celebration of real-life scientists trying to understand the planet's animal inhabitants. In London, the exhibits included a tiger, a Galápagos marine iguana and a giant oarfish (the planet's longest bony fish) alongside an Erumpent horn and the dragon skull from Professor Lupin's classroom. Patrons were also able to compare the camouflage tactics of a jaguar to those of the Demiguise. Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature will display at Melbourne Museum from Friday, May 19–Sunday, October 8. Head to the exhibition's website for further details. Images: Trustees of the Natural History Museum London.
In the latest effort to do the environment a solid by reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfill, Western Australia has banned takeaway coffee cups that are lined with plastic and therefore can't be composted. Getting your caffeine fix to go in the state now means either sipping out of paperboard or bringing your own reusable cup, with WA leading the nation in scrapping the single-use item. Rules on plastics such as shopping bags, drink containers and straws vary state to state across Australia, with WA the first to completely ditch plastic-lined takeaway coffee cups. All plastic lids are also now banned, with scrapping both coming into effect on Friday, March 1, 2024. The move in Western Australia isn't sudden. It's part of the phase two of the state's Plan for Plastic, and comes into effect after a 12-month transition period, plus widespread consultation. The aim is to save 154-million-plus cups from landfill each year. And the fines for non-compliance are hefty, at up to $5000 for individuals and $25,000 for businesses. Anyone that supplies takeaway cups for hot beverages — be it coffee, tea, hot chocolate or anything else — is covered by the ban. Plastic trays for takeaway foods have also been phased out in the state at the same time, while lids for takeaway food containers, bowls, plates and trays will be ditched from Sunday, September 1, 2024, as will non-compostable plastic produce bags. Finding alternatives to disposable cups, and ways to recycle them, has been a focus across the country for years — as has encouraging folks to bring their own reusable cup. Cafes have trialled 'more recyclable' versions, given out free coffee if you have your own cup and reduced prices. Complete bans at the cafe level have popped up, too, as have reusable coffee cup sharing networks. WA's statewide ban on non-compostable takeaway coffee cups hasn't been implemented before Down Under, however, and here's hoping that other states take note. South Australia is set to do the same from September, while Queensland has announced previously that it's working to identify alternative cups and intends to ban plastic-lined versions, with no date set. The ban on non-compostable takeaway coffee cups and plastic lids in Western Australia came into effect on Friday, March 1, 2024. For more information, head to the WA state government's website.
A terrifying advertisement for the Kimberly Peirce remake of Carrie has gone viral, garnering nearly 10 million views since Monday. The ad shows a young girl in a coffee shop telekinetically tearing the joint apart and scaring the living daylights out of customers. The video comes courtesy of Thinkmodo, an agency that has specialised in viral marketing and prankvertising. This developing form of marketing involves "upping the ante in almost every imaginable way", and this Candid Camera-esque advertisement does exactly that. Actors and stunt people fill a small, faux cafe rigged with all manner of pulleys, gears and ropes. Regular folk then wander in off the street for a coffee or sesame bagel and become unsuspecting extras in a horror film of their own. Like all good viral ads, the actual advertisement is hidden until the very end, and, like all good internet videos, there's a shameful dose of cathartic glee to be had. The Carrie film, starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, is due in Australian cinemas on November 28. https://youtube.com/watch?v=VlOxlSOr3_M
In late 2015, after a $10.5 million makeover, the Albury Regional Gallery reopened as the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), with a 14-metre-high curved wall and a visionary director named Jacqui Hemsley, who's passionate about getting people excited and engaged. To that end, MAMA is currently hosting its first blockbuster: Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon. The exhibition, which has come via the USA and Brazil, features a survey of more than 100 works by 50 leading contemporary artists who have celebrated Marilyn Monroe over the last two decades. Being the enduring cultural phenomenon she is, the works span both privately and publicly owned paintings, photos and video from artists such as Andy Warhol, Cecil Beaton, Henri Cartier-Bresson and more. As well as the artworks — which will be on display until Sunday, May 8 — MAMA will be hosting a whole heap of events, including lectures, bus tours, drinks and even a Marilyn lookalike competition. Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon was organised by Sairally Fine Arts & Consulting, Hamburg, Germany and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC. Image: Cecil Beaton, Marilyn Monroe (1956/2005), Silver gelatin print, © Cecil Beaton Archive / Sothebys.
It started back in 1956 as a singing contest between a mere seven nations. Now, more than six decades later, Eurovision is a glitter and spandex-fuelled global musical phenomenon. Forty-one countries not only in Europe but from elsewhere compete — hello Australia — and viewers tune in en masse each May to watch, sing along and add new pop tunes to their playlists. But with COVID-19 continuing to spread, the show won't go on in 2020 in Rotterdam as planned. With this year's event cancelled, that leaves a huge Europop-shaped hole in plenty of music fans' lives. Thankfully, while the live contest isn't happening, SBS is screening an alternative. Between Sunday, May 10–Sunday, May 17, the Aussie broadcaster is hosting a week-long Eurovision festival filled with new specials and repeat airings of the Eurovision grand finals from 2015–2019. It all kicks off with Road to Eurovision 2020 on Sunday, May 10, which is hosted by this year's hosts and was actually filmed in the Netherlands in December — and charts the journey towards this year's now-axed event. Then, between Monday, May 11–Friday, May 15, viewers can check out the contests that featured Australia's entrants so far — Guy Sebastian, Dani Im, Isaiah, Jessica Mauboy and Kate Miller-Heidke — with each grand final screening in full. Next, on Saturday, May 16, SBS is putting together a new special called Eurovision 2020: Big Night In. As well as watching along, Aussie Eurovision aficionados can take part. Viewers are asked to head to the SBS website before Sunday, May 3, check out all the songs and artists that would've competed if this year's contest went ahead, and then vote for your three favourites, with the results revealed on the night. SBS' usual local hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey will be overseeing the show, and this year's Australian entrant, Montaigne, will perform live as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-wWxu4974&feature=emb_logo Finally, on Sunday, May 17, it's time for Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light. All 41 of this year's songs will get their time to shine in a non-competitive format, with the special made in The Netherlands and hosted by Dutch Eurovision presenters Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit. SBS' week-long Eurovision festival will air from Sunday, May 10–Sunday, May 17 on SBS and SBS Viceland. For further details — or to vote for your favourite 2020 Eurovision acts for Eurovision 2020: Big Night In before Sunday, May 3 — head to the SBS website.
It's a problem anyone with a Netflix or Stan subscription can relate to: scrolling through a lengthy list of titles but still having trouble finding something to watch. And, it's a problem that gets worse if you're looking for homegrown content; however a new Aussie-focused streaming option is aiming to fix that. Meet Ozflix, the first video-on-demand service dedicated to Australian films. First announced back in 2015, it'll launch at 6pm on January 26 with a pay-per-view library of around 250 titles. With approximately 2000 Aussie-made films in existence, the streaming platform aims to become a one-stop-shop for local movies. "We are committed to making each and every Australian feature film available," says Ozflix CEO Ron V. Brown, who has been involved in the Australian screen industry since the 1970s. That includes the first works crafted in the 1900s, the newest releases, and everything from Newsfront to Strictly Ballroom, The Castle, Ten Canoes, Wolf Creek and The Dressmaker. The service will also feature three free original content shows that will delve into the history of local flicks, curate suggestions based on themes and directors, and discuss the careers of some of the country's most celebrated talent. Further original content is planned once Ozflix is up and running. Viewers will pay $6.79 to stream a new release, and $3.79 for all other films. A curated weekly selection will offer five films for $5.79, and Ozflix will provide 50% of each rental fee directly to the distributor or filmmaker. As well as promising an online home for Australian cinema fans both locally and around the world, the service comes with a hefty roster of high-profile support — actresses Deborah Mailman and Claudia Karvan, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert director Stephan Elliott, and Animal Kingdom producer Liz Watts among them. "This is basically an art gallery for Australian cinema," said Mad Max: Fury Road filmmaker George Miller. Ozflix launches at 6pm on January 26, 2017. For more information, visit their website.
More than once in Heartstopper, a question drifts from the lips of the Netflix series' British teens, asking something that every adolescent has contemplated. That query: "why are we like this?", pondering why hitting puberty always brings an utter lack of elegance with emotions, identity, relationships and expressing yourself. It can't be answered in any satisfactory way, but in this delightful streaming newcomer — with an eight-part first season that's become a must-see within a week of hitting the platform — what that question isn't referencing is also crucial. The LGBTQIA+-championing show doesn't ever have its gay, trans and bisexual characters pointlessly wonder why they love who they love or feel how they feel, welcomely, refreshingly and heartwarmingly so. That's enough to earn the series its title; for viewers, plenty about this webcomic-to-page-to-screen charmer will cause entranced tickers to miss a beat. Within the story, though, it takes mere minutes for Heartstopper to warrant its name — showing rather than telling, as all great art should. A year ten student at Truham Grammar School for Boys, Charlie Spring (first-timer Joe Locke) finds himself seated in his form class next to year 11 rugby player Nick Nelson (Kit Connor, Little Joe) at the start of a new term. Sparks fly on the former's part, swiftly and overwhelmingly, as a crush and then a life-changing love story is born. It's not the only moment that'll make Charlie pause, his heart all a-flutter and his cheeks a-glow — or any of the show's figures for that matter — but it leaves an imprint that sets Heartstopper's astutely endearing tone. Nodding to the series' graphic-novel origins, Charlie and Nick's first meetings inspire a flurry of hand-drawn animated hearts on-screen, illustrating how we all know that such an experience feels. The cute twinkling imagery is such a small but pivotal touch, used to illuminate small yet essential moments, and couldn't be more perfect. Others that follow, all also flawless: lightning bolts, flowers, stars and rainbows, all whizzing around when the sweetest of emotions run high. Everything isn't all rainbows for Charlie and Nick, narrative-wise, though — although the colour scheme favoured by director Euros Lyn (Dream Horse) goes heavy on pink lighting, blue and yellow school walls, the green grass of sports fields, and violet-hued clothing. In Heartstopper's opening episode, Charlie has a secret boyfriend, Ben Hope (Sebastian Croft, Doom Patrol). Their clandestine rendezvous in empty classrooms aren't his choice, but Ben won't even acknowledge Charlie in public. He's also cruel, rude and demanding without ever caring about Charlie's feelings, and filled with loathing about his sexuality — and fear that he might be found out. Thankfully, Charlie realises that he deserves much, much better, including with Nick's help. Also an issue: Charlie hardly thinks of himself as sporty, even after Nick asks him to join the school rugby team because he's super-fast at running. That train of thought speaks to a lifetime of self-doubt, with Nick telling Charlie to stop apologising for, well, everything — and Charlie's high-drama best friend Tao (fellow debutant William Gao) describing him as having "a tendency to believe him just existing is annoying for other people". Accordingly, while a friendship quickly solidifies between Heartstopper's central duo, Charlie is initially unsure whether anything more can happen. And, after spending a year being bullied by homophobic classmates after coming out — often hiding in the art room at lunch with a kindly teacher (Fisayo Akinade, Atlanta) to escape — he's anxiety-riddled in general. The nervy Charlie and calm-and-collected Nick — a self-described "gay nerd" among "borderline outcasts" and Truham's rugby king — don't simply cycle through an opposites-attract scenario, thankfully. This is an upbeat, soaring and joyful tale, too; yet another take on Romeo and Juliet, it definitely isn't. Heartstopper's focus: all those things that Charlie, Nick, Tao, recently out trans pal Elle (Yasmin Finney), her lesbian school friends Tara (Corinna Brown, Daphne) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), and the quietly happy-go-lucky Isaac (Tobie Donovan) navigate as they grapple with their feelings, working out what they want, self-acceptance, and relationships both romantic and platonic. The series isn't afraid of teen tropes or rom-com cliches, such as grand gestures in the pouring rain, blissful montages and the stress of text messages, but it also isn't willing to deliver anything other than a thoughtful and tender account of high schoolers being and finding themselves, even amid unavoidable teen angst and taunting. As well as writing Heartstopper's source material, Alice Oseman pens every episode of this perceptive gem, which bubbles with warmth, care and honey-coated emotions from the outset. Its coming-of-age story and central love story alike prove wholly relatable, aptly awkward but also wonderfully sweet and sensitive; Skins, Euphoria or either version of Gossip Girl it isn't, either. In short, it's a series that plunges so convincingly and inclusively into its characters' experiences that it feels like its heart is constantly bursting with affection for everything they do, want, hope for, dream of, pine over and go through. First crushes, young love, the swirling swell of feelings that comes with both and also figuring out who you are: all of this dances through Heartstopper's frames, and marvellously. Also, when Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) pops up, she's glorious as always — although her teen colleagues are truly the stars of the show. The first season of Heartstopper is available to stream via Netflix. Images: Rob Youngson/Netflix.
It's the Swedish structure that's reimagining social spaces, and its about to take its unconventional meeting place abroad. Earlier this year, Stockholm-based artist duo Bigert and Bergström revealed the 'Solar Egg', a modal, stainless golden steel, reflective, egg-shaped sauna with a heart-shaped wood burning stove, as based in the town of Kiruna. Now, they're bringing it to Paris. The Solar Egg will bring the Kiruna-style sauna experience to the French city's Swedish Institute across November 25 and 26, and December 2, 3, 9 and 10. Visitors are encouraged to don their swimmers, stand next to the fire and pretend they're somewhere snowier — and wear designer dressing gowns while they're touring the installation. As far as interactive art pieces go, it's both acutely beautiful and functional, with stainless golden mirror sheeting reflecting the surrounding scenery. Inside, the sauna's interior is made of pine wood panelling and decks, and aspen benches, with an iron and stone stove in the centre. Temperature varies between 75 and 85 degrees Celsius in the egg. The striking structure was originally commissioned by Swedish economic and real estate association Riksbyggen as a "social sculpture", according to the artists, providing a communal space for the residents of Kiruna to discuss their town's problems. And, they have a lot to talk about while enjoying a sauna together. Kiruna is Sweden's northernmost village, with a population of just under 20,000. In 2003, they realised that due to adjacent iron ore mining activity (activity which provides thousands of jobs for locals), the ground beneath the town was becoming unstable. The solution? Move the whole town three kilometres away. The relocation has been underway ever since and will continue to trudge along, piece by piece, for many more decades supported by the government and the mining company responsible. Like town, like golden egg — which can also obviously be disassembled and relocated. Alas, anyone hoping to see the Solar Egg pop up elsewhere will find themselves disappointed, with the installation due to return to Kiruna after its Paris stint. By Imogen Baker and Sarah Ward. Images: Riksbyggen and Futurniture.
A Noel Coward play, a series of Haydn string quartets, a concert by Clannad — wait, is this Melbourne Festival? It is, but it's the new-look Melbourne Festival, now in its first year under new artistic director Josephine Ridge. Ridge's goal with her first program has been to broaden the festival's appeal. While there will as always be a range of offerings on the weirder side of wonderful, from an epic dramatisation of a verbatim phone conversation (Nature Theater of Oklahoma's Life and Times), to an artist who makes playable musical instruments out of disarmed assault weapons (Pedro Reyes), the 2013 program is also aiming to draw in audiences who may normally have seen Melbourne Festival as not their thing. An expanded music program is a big part of that, bringing an eclectic range of acts from pop bands such as British India and Polyphonic Spree to a celebration of ska, a classical program put together with the help of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Richard Tognetti and a concert in the dark by blind artists Amadou and Mariam. This year also sees a greater focus on commissioned works, both from local artists such as Eddie Perfect and Daniel Schlusser and from big international names such as British choreographer Hofesh Shechter. Other guests of note include much-loved Indigenous singer Archie Roach, who will be playing in a grand welcome to country to kick the festival off, Hollywood legend John Landis and celebrated French ballerina Sylvie Guillem. There’s plenty for free and even if you can’t get yourself to a single film screening, gallery exhibit, concert or performance, the art will be coming to you anyway, via a series of decorative 'art trams'. Ridge has just come from nine years working on the Sydney Festival, an event which she says seems to draw more emotional engagement from its audience, compared to the intellectualised response typical of Melbourne. She’s hoping this year to bring a bit of that passion south, with a program that truly gets into Melbourne's heart. Tickets for the Melbourne Festival are on sale on Friday, 16 August. For tickets and the full program, see the festival website.
Attention NFL fans — or just anyone who's down for a US-themed party — mark your calendar for Super Bowl Sunday Monday, because The Wharf Hotel is about to throw a hell of a party. While the US gets to experience the big game prime time Sunday night, Melburnians are going to need to convince their bosses for a late start on Monday, February 12, or chuck a sickie to get in on the fun, as the game is set to kick off at 10:30am on this side of the planet. For those free and willing, The Wharf Hotel has collaborated with Pepsi to create Melbourne's first-ever Super Bowl LVIII Dome Experience, an event that claims to transform how you watch live sport. Set to float on the Yarra River, the Pepsi Dome Experience will offer a 360-degree viewing perspective. Picture yourself immersed in the game, lounging on beanbags, while enjoying a siren-to-siren package of unlimited drinks (selected bottled beer, wines, and Pepsi) and a lineup of American-themed snacks. Dome tickets aren't cheap ($190), and they're very limited, but if you're looking for a unique way to experience the game, this package might be for you — just get in quick. If you're on a tighter budget, the tailgate party is your go-to. This complimentary event unfolds on The Wharf's outdoor lower level, featuring a mega screen for live game coverage, with a nice background of the Melbourne skyline. Entry is free, but RSVPs are essential through the venue's website. For those seeking a more conventional viewing experience, general reservations are available, with tables inside, on the garden deck or the covered promenade. No matter where you sit, you'll be able to see the game, thanks to multiple screens throughout the venue. Doors open from 8am, while the Dome will open from 10am.
When it comes to succulent pieces of poultry, Australia boasts plenty, but you know what they say: you can't get too much of a good thing. Trying to help make that case is newcomer 4Fingers, the Singaporean fried chicken favourite that's just brought their crispy chook to our shores. Setting up their first two stores in Melbourne's Bourke Street and at Brisbane's new food precinct at Westfield Chermside (and another set to open on Albert Street in Brisbane soon), 4Fingers is all about farm-to-fork free-range chicken served up in their signature crispy style. It's hand-brushed and prepared to order in wingettes, drumettes and legs. Sure, that's what other greasy chook place offers, but why mess with a winning formula? If you're eager for something different, it's 4Fingers' extra bits and pieces that might motivate you to hop on in. Fancy a katsu sandwich with daily-fermented kimchi coleslaw, crispy chicken chops or chicken, garlic and button mushrooms on an artisanal charcoal bun? You do now. Wings and legs with rice, a selection of seafood and three types of salad are also on the menu. 4Fingers is now open at 189-191 Bourke Street, Melbourne and at Westside Chermside, corner Gympie and Hamilton Streets, Chermside in Brisbane. Another store is set to open at 108 Albert Street, Brisbane soon. For more information, keep an eye on their website and Facebook page. Updates: July 3, 2017.
Parties, art, music, performances, food, stripping bare for a swim to celebrate the winter solstice: that's the Dark Mofo way, and so is weaving its anything-can-happen vibe, its beloved regular highlights, and its array of expectation-exploding shows and events into a ritual as much as a festival. The Tasmanian winter arts fest is a place to commune, with attendees and with its boundary-pushing program alike. Challenge, confrontation, evoking a strong response: Dark Mofo is a place for that, too. The festival sat out 2024, spending the time to regroup for the future ahead instead. Late that year, it announced its return for 2025, however. The full program will be unveiled at the beginning of April, but organisers have already announced the first new work. When attendees look at Nathan Maynard's We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep, they won't forget it. Set to premiere at Dark Mofo 2025 — which runs from Thursday, June 5–Sunday, June 15, 2025, except for the Nude Solstice Swim on Saturday, June 21 — the new commission by the multidisciplinary Trawlwoolway artist will take over a Hobart CBD basement. Inside, expect a commentary on cultural theft and erasure via Maynard's mass installation, using sheep heads to make a statement. "Languishing in museums and their storerooms are the remains of ancestors of First Nations people from all around our globe. They have been stripped of identity and, without consent, treated like specimens for study and scientific inquiry," explains the artist. "We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep speaks to the sadistic power white institutions flex when they deny First Nations people the humanity of putting our ancestor's remains to rest in the physical and the spiritual." When Dark Mofo's 2025 comeback was first revealed, so were the returns of a number of its beloved festivities: the aforementioned Nude Solstice Swim; Night Mass, which fills downtown Hobart with art and music; culinary highlight Winter Feast, which popped up in 2024 despite the festival around it taking a break; and the Ogoh-Ogoh. If you're wondering if the world missed Dark Mofo, the response to Night Mass alone so far says it all. When 6000 pre-release tickets were made available late in 2024, they were snapped up in less than four hours. "Taking the year off in 2024 was a difficult decision, but Dark Mofo is back with renewed energy and focus, ready to deliver an enormous program spanning two packed weeks this June," notes Dark Mofo's new Artistic Director Chris Twite. "It was encouraging to sell over 6000 Night Mass tickets in less than four hours during our pre-release late last year, indicating that demand for the festival remains strong. We are hoping for a similar response when we release the full program on the 4th April." Back in November, Twite gave a few more hints at what's in store this year. "Dark Mofo is back. For our 11th chapter, once more we'll bathe the city in red and deliver two weeks of inspiring art, music and ritual," he advised when announcing the event's 2025 dates. "Night Mass is a beast, and this year it will evolve once more — worming its way through the city with new spaces, performances and experiences to dance, explore or crawl your way through." Dark Mofo returns from Thursday, June 5–Sunday, June 15, 2025 and for the Nude Solstice Swim on Saturday, June 21. Head to the festival's website for further details — and check back here on Friday, April 4, 2025 for the full lineup. We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep images: Jesse Hunniford, 2025. Image courtesy of Dark Mofo 2025. Night Mass images: Jesse Hunniford and Andy Hatton, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Winter Feast images: Jesse Hunniford, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Nude Solstice Swim images: Rémi Chauvin, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023.
Between the third and fourth seasons of True Detective, five years passed. Thankfully, you likely won't have to wait as long for your next dose of the hit HBO series. After the latest batch of episodes, aka True Detective: Night Country, proved such a success since arriving in January 2024 — including becoming the most-watched season of the show ever — the US network has already renewed the series mere days after the recent six-episode run ended. Presumably, it'll be another case of new season, new cops, new case, as the series has been delivering since 2014. And whether or not you believe that time is a flat circle — and everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over and over again, too — watching yet another round of instalments in this sleuthing thriller will become a reality again. While the main characters have changed in each of the show's seasons so far, season five will have something in common with season four: the return of Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López. She wrote and directed every one of Night Country's episodes, and now has a new multi-year deal with HBO. "Issa Lopez is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO's creative spirit. She helmed True Detective: Night Country from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera," said Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, Head of HBO Drama Series and Films, announcing the news. "From conception to release, Night Country has been the most beautiful collaboration and adventure of my entire creative life. HBO trusted my vision all the way, and the idea of bringing to life a new incarnation of True Detective with Casey, Francesca and the whole team is a dream come true. I can't wait to go again," added Lopez. True Detective: Night Country followed Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster, Nyad) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One) as they delved into an icy mystery in the town of Ennis in Alaska. When eight men on an arctic research station disappeared without a trace, the franchise's latest duo were charged with discovering what's going on, including wading through plenty of eeriness — even though they'd worked together before and don't get along. The show's fourth season also featured Finn Bennett (Hope Gap), Fiona Shaw (Andor), Christopher Eccleston (Dodger), Isabella Star LaBlanc (Long Slow Exhale) and John Hawkes (Too Old to Die Young) in front of the camera. Each season of True Detective tells its own tale, starting with the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led first season in 2014 — and then followed by Taylor Kitsch (Painkiller), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) starring in season two. Mahershala Ali (Leave the World Behind) and Stephen Dorff (The Righteous Gemstones) took over in season three. There's no word yet on who might do the honours in season five. Check out the full trailer for True Detective: Night Country below: Season five of True Detective doesn't yet have a release date, but we'll update you when more details are announced. True Detective: Night Country streams via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Read our review.
The pastry masterminds at Black Star have long proven their talents when it comes to working to a theme. Last year, they gave us the intricate sushi platter-inspired Ari-Gâteaux for International Sushi Day, and then there was the snow-dusted, multi-layered Christmas cake that popped up for the festive season. Now, for its latest trick, the cult-fave dessert brand behind the famed Strawberry Watermelon Cake is getting into the Lunar New Year spirit. Black Star Pastry has dreamed up a limited edition range of shortbread cookies to honour the Year of the Rabbit. The selection of hand-crafted shortbread spells out the letters 'BLKSTR', with one cookie shaped like a rabbit holding a chocolate coin flavoured with strawberry and raspberry. Each cookie is coated with a layer of white chocolate then finished with a coconut crumb to mimic a fluffy bunny exterior. You can buy the rabbit-shaped cookies individually for $6 or grab a seven-pack for $35 from all Black Star stores in Sydney and Melbourne between Friday, January 13–Sunday, January 22. Or you can pre-order online from January 11. The sweet treats are ideal if you're hunting for a Lunar New Year gift to bestow good fortune on friends or family, especially since food is a traditional gifting option for the holiday. Find the Lunar New Year cookies at all of Black Star's Aussie stores (Newtown, Sydney CBD, Rosebery, Moore Park, Chadstone and St Kilda) from January 13–22, with pre-orders open from January 11.
It's a lifesaver when it comes to transporting oversized items, it comes in especially handy when moving house and it even makes a pretty mean bucket hat. Now, there's another nifty new use for the ubiquitous blue IKEA Frakta bag — edgy doggy fashion for the oh-so-stylish canine. Yes folks, the Swedish furniture giant is taking a dip into the world of haute couture for dogs. The chain isn't selling the extremely blue outfits, though. Instead, it has released a series of instructional patterns to help you upcycle those signature bags into some very dapper looks for your pooch. In the spirit of its renewed focus on sustainability for 2021, IKEA has dropped DIY guides for three Hund Couture dog outfits, complete with the same sort of step-by-step instructions that accompany its flat-pack furniture pieces. With these designs, though, there's no Allen key required — and you won't have any pesky stray screws left over at the end of the build. The Hund Couture line features a ruffled raincoat, an eye-catching frilled-necked lizard-inspired get-up and even an AM-to-PM look centred around a dashing detachable collar. To recreate them, you'll need a sewing machine, some velcro, and — depending on which garment you're going for, and the size of your pooch — between three and seven Frakta bags. After first announcing the new pet-focused release on April 1, the brand had many people writing it off as an April Fools' Day joke, which is how it started out. But IKEA has come through and given canine lovers the step-by-step details on how they can turn the DIY pieces into legit dog outfits. You'll find all three designs and their accompanying manuals available to download for free on the company's website. All that's left to do is let your four-legged fur-shionista choose which glam statement piece they want you to whip up first. Check out IKEA's Hund Couture range over at the company's website.
We hope you're hungry for more kitchen chaos: after dishing up stellar viewing in its first, second, third and fourth seasons, The Bear is returning for a fifth serving. What does this mean for the restaurant that shares the show's name? For Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw)? And for fellow chef Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri, Inside Out 2), too? You should hopefully find out in 2026. The news of The Bear's renewal for season five comes just days after season four dropped its full ten-episode run, ready for prime winter viewing. So, if you've binge-watched your way through it and were left with questions about what happens after its season finale, answers are indeed on the way. "The Bear continues to be a fan favourite worldwide, and their response to this season — as seen through incredibly high viewership ‚ has been as spectacular as any of its previous seasons," advised John Landgraf, Chairman of FX, the US network behind the series. "Year in and year out, Chris Storer, the producers, cast and crew make The Bear one of the best shows on television, and we are excited that they will continue to tell this magnificent story." There's no word yet on any specifics beyond The Bear's locked-in fifth season, including timing, storyline, and returning and guest cast members. But expecting to get watching mid-2026 is completely reasonable, given that each of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning show's four seasons so far have all arrived in winter Down Under. In season four, Carmy's days running his dream restaurant were potentially numbered. In fact, a literal clock put on the business by The Bear's key investor Cicero (Oliver Platt, Chicago Med). As time ticked down, pondering the future became a theme not just for Carmy and Syd, but among the rest of the crew — including Carmy's sister Natalie (Abby Elliott, Cheaper by the Dozen), the Berzatto family's lifelong pal Richie Jerimovich Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Hold Your Breath), and the eatery's staff Marcus (Lionel Boyce, Shell), Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas, Cat Person), Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson, Unprisoned) and Neil (IRL chef Matty Matheson). Check out the trailer for The Bear season four below: The Bear streams via Disney+ Down Under — and we'll update you with more details on season five when they're announced. Read our reviews of seasons one, two and three. Images: courtesy of FX Networks and Hulu.
Featuring a wide range of international brands and its own contemporary creations, it's no surprise that independent jewellery label Jolie & Deen found success on Chapel Street. Founded by Melbourne sisters Karuna and Kishori in 2010, Jolie & Deen is all about feminine pieces that are simple and elegant with a hint of quirkiness. The duo draw much of their inspiration from trips around the globe, as their designs respond to and evolve alongside the latest trends. Plus, if you consider all of the rings, necklaces, earrings, hair clips and bracelets are made from high-quality sterling silver and gold plating, the collection has quite an affordable price tag, too. Images: Parker Blain.
Being seen is no longer fashion's biggest priority. Taking you right off the radar, Aussie label The Affair has created a line of 'post-Snowden' threads inspired by George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 — a crowdfunded capsule collection that makes you invisible to Big Brother and lets you reclaim some ownlife using stealth technology. Taking cues right from the pages of Orwell's schoolroom required reading, the 'stealth fashion' capsule collection helps you reclaim privacy. Accordingly, the new line is dedicated to Edward Snowden, your modern Orwellian poster boy. "Edward Snowden proved that Big Brother is no longer fiction," says the team on their Kickstarter page. "The government is watching everyone via our smart phones: telescreens beyond Orwell’s wildest dreams. It's time to fight back and reclaim privacy with clothing that takes you off the surveillance grid and makes you invisible to Big Brother." Combining the colours and workwear styles described by Orwell himself, the garments all come embedded with UnPocket stealth technology. The 11 x 16 cm UnPockets are made from layers of stealth fabric that fit your phone, passport, bank cards — anything you'd like protected against wireless identity theft. Making sure the Thought Police can't get you down at a glance, The Affair's UnPockets are slipped into specially created sections of each garment: The Affair have created four different 'Party' garments (all embedded with the UnPocket) that are 'unhackable' and 'untraceable': Party Workshirt "Inspired by 6079 Smith W himself... Whether you’re rewriting history or creating smut for the proles, the relaxed workwear styling of the Party Workshirt makes this your new wardrobe essential." Party Chinos "Whether you are making love surreptitiously in the forest or being tortured in Room 101, you can be certain these Party Chinos will see you through the day in style." Outer Party Jacket "Created for the workers of Airstrip One, the Outer Party Jacket captures the eternal drive of IngSoc." Inner Party Blazer "O’Brien befriended Winston only to stab him in the back, take everything he loved and reduce him to a broken mess. So if you identity with the iron fist of the 1% then this fully-lined Inner Party Blazer is for you!" Boasting the tagline 'Make Literature Fashionable', The Affair have been using your favourite classic stories as inspiration for seven years, using the last 12 months to perfect the 1984 line. It's not the first time the label has used the celebrated novel for a design; their very very t-shirt was a shoutout to Miniluv. Giving a nod to the Orwellian spirit, the team are jumping on the Damn the Man distribution bandwagon and selling their wares through Kickstarter. Using the classic funded wares as perks set-up, the team have already raised over £2,813 of their £25,000 goal. Check out the entire 1984 collection at The Affair's Kickstarter page and check out the look book below.
In North Melbourne, a 1950s bakery is the new home of Mörk's newest venture — their very own chocolate brew house. Ladies and gentlemen wait anxiously with hands held behind backs, poised and eager to absorb the story behind each handcrafted treat. What you're going to do though, is back away from the cabinet (we repeat: back away from the cabinet) and find yourself a seat. Mörk founders, Kiril Shaginov and Josefin Zernell, have converted the old bakery into a chocolate workshop and cafe. While chocolatier Josefin handcrafts their artisan chocolate powders and marshmallows out back, Kiril manages the storefront. On the bar, abandoned parts of a deconstructed coffee machine sit front and centre; as a store that doesn't serve coffee (and heck, why would they need to when they're fuelling our other addiction?), all they needed was the steaming wand and hot water dispenser. It may feel a little naughty, but Mörk's minimalist interior really is too nice to leave you feeling guilty for too long. Designed by their friend Danielle Oehrman, they’ve managed to retain Josefin's Swedish background with a very Scandinavian fit out. The roller door may be all that remains of the bakery’s former garage, and in its reincarnation, the space boasts a communal table, several smaller ones, and walls lined with artisan chocolate powder. Once seated, you're given a taste of vanilla bean-infused sparkling water to cleanse (and tease) the palate. This is just the beginning of a sensory overload. The menu is a selection of their handcrafted signature hot chocolates, some available only as dine-in specials. These specials are out of control and it's what you came here for. First, we tried their Chocolate Soda ($7). This comes as a rotating single origin and is served by staff whose role is similar to that of an apothecary. A tall glass, half-full of soda water is spritzed with a citrus mix before a vial of liquid chocolate is poured over. The contents bubble and combine into a volcano of light and refreshing liquid. The Chocolate Bar ($8) is a heart-warmer and gives you the choice of pouring house-made caramel sauce over your hot chocolate, or simply grabbing a spoon and eating the components separately. Either way is a delight, so who are we to fudge? We merely gazed, wantonly, upon crowd favourite, the Campfire Chocolate ($8), as another diner's glass was removed to release the smoking contents before she tipped and dipped the chocolate and skewered her marshmallow in. And when you leave this chocolate wonderland, you can take part of the show home. Choose a house made vanilla or lemon myrtle marshmallow ($10) or, our cabinet pick, the chocolate brownie ball rolled in peanut brittle ($6). The only thing that could leave you feeling bitter is if you don't grab one of these babies for later.
The title doesn't lie: when Fleishman Is in Trouble begins, its namesake is indeed struggling. He's also perfectly cast. If you're going to get an actor to play an anxious and unravelling recently divorced man in his forties who's trying to navigate the new status quo that is sharing custody of his kids, having a high-powered ex, and being initiated into the world of dating apps and casual hookups, Jesse Eisenberg is the person to recruit. If his Zombieland character lived happily ever after until he didn't, or his Vivarium character was trapped into a different type of domestic maze, this page-to-screen series would be the end result. That's just Fleishman Is in Trouble's first stroke of genius casting, however, with the Disney+ miniseries supremely smart and astute in choosing its on-screen talent. Arriving at the end of 2022 to become one of that year's best new shows, the eight-part drama has Eisenberg play Toby, a well-regarded hepatologist who is passionate about helping people through medicine. But for over a decade until the summer of 2016, when Fleishman Is in Trouble is set, he's been made to feel inferior about this work. As copious flashbacks illustrate, he's the odd one out among the Upper East Side crowd his theatre talent agent wife — now former — Rachel (Claire Danes, The Essex Serpent) favours because being in the healing business hasn't made him rich enough. She sported the same attitude as well, until she dropped their kids Hannah (Meara Mahoney Gross, Don't Look Up) and Solly (Maxim Swinton, Raymond & Ray) off at Toby's place in the middle of the night without warning, said she was going to a yoga retreat and stopped answering his calls. [caption id="attachment_887795" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Linda Kallerus, FX[/caption] Written to sound like a profile — something that journalist, author and screenwriter Taffy Brodesser-Akner knows well, and has the awards to prove it — Fleishman Is in Trouble chronicles Toby's present woes while reflecting upon his past. It's a messy and relatable story, regardless of whether you've ever suddenly become a full-time single dad working a high-stakes job you're devoted to in a cashed-up world you resent. Fleishman Is in Trouble is a mystery, too, as Toby, his friends and the show's viewers ponder the central question: what's happened to Rachel? That query hangs in almost every word that Eisenberg speaks, but it's also shaped by Toby's perspective. He wants to know where his ex has disappeared to and why she has upended his life, but he's far less interested in how the breakdown of their marriage has affected her, if she's in trouble and how that has contributed to his current dilemma. As narrated by the ever-shrewd Lizzy Caplan (Eisenberg's Now You See Me 2 co-star) as Toby's old college pal-turned-writer and now stay-at-home-mum Libby — one of two old friends, alongside Adam Brody as Seth (no, not The OC character) — Fleishman Is in Trouble dives into the minutiae that makes Toby's new existence such a swirling sea of uncertainty. It's detailed. It's specific. The directing team, which includes Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Battle of the Sexes) behind the lens of three episodes, Alice Wu (The Half of It) helming one, and Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (Things Heard & Seen) doing the honours on four, is never short on visual ways to reinforce how Toby's life has been flipped upside down. But at the same time, while honing in on the Fleishman family's situation and troubles, the series also ensures all that detail paints a universal portrait. [caption id="attachment_887796" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Linda Kallerus, FX[/caption] This is a show about discovering that more of your time is gone than you'd realised, and that your youthful hopes have faded and your looming future has receded. It's a series about the push and pull of being an adult, too — from dating, marriage, divorce and parenting to studying, the nine-to-five grind and that fabled work-life balance — that bears down on us all. It's a drama about the cumulative effect of our daily reality, plus the demands and expectations that come with it, whether or not we've started to feel the ebbs, flows and pressure. Everything from class inequality and constant social hustling to the roles that women are forced to play around men earns the show's attention in the process, as layered through a miniseries that's evocatively shot — and, again, meticulously cast. Brodesser-Akner and the Fleishman Is in Trouble team — which also includes Michael Goldbach (On Becoming a God in Central Florida) penning one episode to her seven — have an extra tool at their disposal: capitalising upon the baggage viewers bring to their stars. Why does Eisenberg seem such an apt choice from the get-go? Because he could've wandered off the set of countless other projects and into this one, slipping into Toby's shoes like he's always been wearing them. His casting acts as shorthand, signalling what to anticipate if you've ever seen him frayed and fraught on-screen. (The waxing lyrical about social media, as surrounding an actor who was Oscar-nominated for The Social Network, is as comic as it's meant to be.) [caption id="attachment_887793" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matthias Clamer, FX[/caption] With Homeland her best-known role of the past decade-plus, Danes' involvement has the same impact from the outset; when Toby describes or remembers Rachel, offering up an image of a woman who is driven, determined, career- rather than motherhood-focused and desperate to succeed at all costs, it feels like an instant fit. His recollection bakes in those traits even in their romance's earliest days, just softer and waiting to solidify. Again, why is this the case? Why is it so easy to accept that Rachel is this clearly defined, and that Toby's take is accurate? Fleishman Is in Trouble wants that question to linger, because how willingly its audience jumps onboard with Toby's perspectives on himself, Rachel and their relationship is as much its focus, and as important, as Rachel's whereabouts. Watching Fleishman Is in Trouble evolve, getting sharper and deeper the more its viewpoint spreads and expands, is one of this exceptional series' many rewards. Watching Eisenberg and Danes unpack the type of personality traits they've frequently portrayed on-screen, the people who boast them, and the stereotypes, judgements, sympathies and hostilities they spark, is both thrilling and mesmerising — and while Eisenberg is excellent, Danes is phenomenal, especially as the show spends more time with Rachel and her struggles. Her masterful casting and the performance that follows cuts to the heart of Fleishman Is in Trouble's commentary on how women are treated if they focus on their professions or don't, or on motherhood or not, or make any move expected of them or rally against those dictated confines. And the fact that My So-Called Life alum Danes, Freaks and Geeks' Caplan and The OC's Brody are so tied to such seminal teen shows from several decades back? Well I guess this is growing up, Fleishman Is in Trouble posits. Check out the trailer for Fleishman Is in Trouble below: Fleishman Is in Trouble streams via Disney+. Top image: JoJo Wilden, FX.
Some pieces of film news feel like they can't be believed until the end results are actually seen. For a decade, the prospect of Hayao Miyazaki making another movie has been one of them. This enchanting development has come to fruition in the form of The Boy and the Heron, which not only exists but has been playing at international film festivals, already released in cinemas in Japan and now boasts two English-language trailers to give audiences a sneak peek at it magic. After a mesmerising first look back in September, The Boy and the Heron has just dropped a full glimpse at the new gift from the Studio Ghibli great. In store is the story of Mahito, a boy pining for his mother and experiencing the realm where the living and the dead converge. Also present: stunningly gorgeous animation. Miyazaki is back to spirit audiences away again, ten years after releasing The Wind Rises, which was expected to be his last film at the time. The movie maestro even announced his retirement. Thankfully, he changed his mind quickly — and now, more than half a decade after that welcome revelation, his next film is here. The My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle icon's latest was confirmed back in late 2022 for a 2023 release, at least overseas. Back then, it was known as How Do You Live, but has changed its title since. The official synopsis describes it as "a semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death and creation" — and yes, plenty of Miyazaki's trademarks already exist in that short blurb. While The Boy and the Heron hit the big screen in July in Miyazaki's homeland, it did so without the usual promotional campaign — which is why trailers have only arrived in the lead-up to the American release, which begins in November. At the time of writing, the feature doesn't have a date with cinemas Down Under as yet, but it'll obviously get one. Echoing through the latest sneak peek is the film's English-language voice cast, which boasts the starry likes of Christian Bale (Amsterdam), Robert Pattinson (The Batman), Florence Pugh (Oppenheimer) and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3). You'll also hear Gemma Chan (The Creator), Willem Dafoe (Asteroid City), Mark Hamill (The Fall of the House of Usher) and Karen Fukuhara (The Boys). There's nothing quite like a Miyazaki movie. While Studio Ghibli isn't short on gorgeous on-screen wonders hailing from a range of filmmakers, the Japanese animation house's best-known co-founder truly does make films like no one else. The Boy and the Heron already looks spectacular — unsurprisingly — in its initial glimpses, complete with lush greenery, mysterious spaces and floating critters. And, of course, with Mahito and the picture's titular bird making appearances. The Boy and the Heron marks Ghibli's fifth film since Miyazaki's last movie, following Isao Takahata's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, page-to-screen treat When Marnie Was There, gorgeous French co-production The Red Turtle and the CGI-animated Earwig and the Witch. Check out the full English-language trailer for The Boy and the Heron below: The Boy and the Heron is already open in Japan, and will release in the US on Friday, December 8, 2023. The film doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced. Images: © 2023 Studio Ghibli.
Playing ice hockey isn't a regular part of growing up Down Under, but watching a ragtag team of underdogs try their best on the ice has been a childhood staple since the 90s. The reason: the Mighty Ducks franchise. The three Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson-starring films hit screens between 1992–6, and have remained nostalgic favourites ever since. The trio of movies also spanned an animated show back in 1996; however, that's not the franchise's only leap into television. Because everything old is new again — including making that observation, because it just keeps proving relevant — Disney+ is bringing Mighty Ducks back courtesy of new series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. If Karate Kid can live on via the small screen, then so can this other beloved sports-focused saga, it seems. And like Cobra Kai, Game Changers is bringing back a familiar face when it debuts its ten-episode first season on Friday, March 26. That'd be Estevez, who reprises his role as Coach Gordon Bombay. Sadly, Jackson isn't involved this time around — but Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham will feature as the mother of a hockey-loving boy who helps him create his own team. Aimed at all ages — so at kids just discovering Mighty Ducks for the first time, and adults with fond memories — the show looks set to follow the underdog formula established in the films, as both its first teaser trailer and its just-dropped full trailer illustrates. The series is set in Minnesota, where the Mighty Ducks are now a big deal, 12-year-old Evan Morrow (Brady Noon) gets cut from the team, and he and his mom (Graham) bring together their own crew in response — with the help of Bombay, of course. Check out the full trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZTouNvgPCM&feature=youtu.be The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers starts airing on Disney+ from Friday, March 26. Top image: Disney+.
South Melbourne's got lots got cafes and lots of pubs, but now it's got a new all-day neighbourhood haunt to call its own, with the launch of Eastern Road Larder. A cafe and deli by day and wine bar at night, the intimate 18-seat space is Renton Carlyle-Taylor's eighth venue. It joins a stable of wine-focused gems that includes Collingwood's The Moon, The Alps in Prahran and Malvern's Milton Wine Shop. Making its home beneath property developer Tim Gurner's luxury Eastern Road development, the new venture evidently want to become a part of residents' day-to-day. It'll be a pitstop for Allpress coffee and bagels of a morning, deli offerings at lunch, and a vino after work (on Thursdays and Fridays only though). The wine list is a celebration of the most exciting things happening in Victorian winemaking, with a focus on bold drops and minimal intervention creations from the owner's favourite local labels. On top of that, you'll find a considered selection of Italian wines, plus drinking fare from international cheese and meat producers Savour & Grace, with wine and cheese plates also available for takeaway feasts. Those sitting in can enjoy a polished fit-out of warm timbers and bronze accents. Rounding out the offering in May will be a neighbouring 50-seat pizzeria and bar called Eastern Road Bar. It'll showcase a range of beers from new craft brewery Burnley Brewing Co — another recent project from Carlyle-Taylor and partners. Eastern Road Larder is now open at 74 Eastern Road, South Melbourne. It'll be open Monday to Wednesday from 7am–4pm and Thursday to Friday from 7am–9pm. For more info, visit easternroadlarder.com.au.
If you live Down Under, winter is still coming for 2022 — but your next excuse to indulge your Game of Thrones love is already here. You will need to pack your suitcases and head to Northern Ireland, however, and also be mighty pleased that visiting the new GoT studio tour doesn't involve sailing by ship, walking for months or using other forms of transport from the fictional Seven Kingdoms. First announced in 2018, the Game of Thrones Studio Tour at Linen Mill Studios started welcoming in eager GoT fans at the beginning of February 2022 — and it boasts plenty to get excited about. And yes, while you're waiting for prequel series House of the Dragon to arrive later this year, and still biding your time wondering when author George RR Martin's The Winds of Winter will finally hit shelves, this'll help tide you over. Get ready to add Winterfell, The Wall, King's Landing and Dragonstone to your next holiday itinerary, and to peer at the Iron Throne as well, because that's all part of the new tour. Visitors are able to step inside the Great Hall, which is where Jon Snow was proclaimed the King in the North; see Daenerys Targaryen's Dragonstone throne; and also check out an array of props, weaponry, armoury, costumes, make-up and prosthetics from the show. Much of the series was filmed in Northern Ireland, hence the tour — which marks the first time that HBO has opened up the sets and sites to the public. Now rebadged as a tourist site, the GoT sets span across a hefty 110,000-square-feet location in in Banbridge. Basically, if you've ever dreamed about walking around Westeros, this is your chance. The tour has been dubbed an 'interactive experience', which covers wandering through fully dressed sets, reliving moments from the series and standing exactly where many of the show's standout scenes took place. Also part of the immersive attraction: learning more about the skills and craft behind the program that helped make it such a hit. And, there are also art files, models and other production materials in display, plus accompanying digital content and interactive materials highlighting GoT's digital effects. If it sounds huge, that's because it is. The whole setup comprises the largest authentic public display of Game of Thrones artifacts in the world — and is bound to make fans happier than Arya Stark crossing a name off of her infamous list. The Game of Thrones Studio Tour is now open at Linen Mill Studios, The Boulevard, Banbridge, Northern Ireland. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the tour's website.
In Stay of the Week, we explore some of the world's best and most unique accommodations — giving you a little inspiration for your next trip. In this instalment, we take you to Monte Pacis in Lithuania, an outrageously grand monastery that's been partly transformed into a luxury hotel. If you're planning a big European getaway this summer, think about spending a few nights here. WHAT'S SO SPECIAL? It's a 17th century monastery located on a gorgeous lagoon surrounded by nature — need we say more? THE ROOMS The 13 rooms and apartments at Monte Pacis are decorated in baroque style, each complete with a minibar and private bathroom. Large canopy beds sit in rooms with double-vaulted ceilings and chandeliers dripping from large wooden beams. Ornately decorated and grand in scale, it feels more like a royal castle than the home of monks. And with so few people staying here at one time, you are almost guaranteed peace and quiet. FOOD AND DRINK The restaurant at Monte Pacis is known as one of the very best places to eat in the Baltics. It offers a four- or six-course tasting menu that changes seasonally (notably, much of the produce comes from the monastery grounds). Head chef Raimundas Dambrauskas is known for creating challenging dishes that rival Michelin-starred restaurants. On the booze front? The team has won awards for the extensive wine list, with some wines coming from other monasteries in the region. Be sure to add the (very) reasonably priced wine pairings onto your tasting menu experience. THE LOCAL AREA The hotel sits on the bank of Lithuania's Kaunas Lagoon, where you can swim and sail during summer and take wintery walks in the colder months — you might even be able to walk across some of the frozen parts. If that sounds too risky, you can simply stick to some of the many hiking trails that wind around the protected forests. The local city of Kaunas must be explored too. In 2022, it was named the European Capital of Culture thanks to the abundance of galleries, festivals and dining venues. There's stacks going on in this little known city — both ancient and modern. Next time you go gallivanting around Europe, be sure to add Lithuania to your list of must-visit countries. THE EXTRAS When staying at Monte Pacis, you are surrounded by history and tradition. That's why it's imperative you take a tour of the monastery and its grounds — seeing how monks, both past and present, use the space while marvelling at all the baroque artworks. The hotel's residents even have access to the historical literature library and spiritual literature room. Either attempt to read something from the shelves or bring your own book to enjoy within the staggering space. Feeling inspired to book a truly unique getaway? Head to Concrete Playground Trips to explore a range of holidays curated by our editorial team. We've teamed up with all the best providers of flights, stays and experiences to bring you a series of unforgettable trips in destinations all over the world.
Take the rocky road down to the Yarra Valley and get ready to stuff your face. Yes, the fiends behind the annual month-long sugar extravaganza are taking your tastebuds on a trip all over again, with sweet, nutty, marshmallowy rocky road in the spotlight. By the way, to any dentists who are reading, go ahead and put down a deposit on that beach house you were looking at. We have a feeling your financial situation is going to be juuuuuuuuust fine. The Rocky Road Festival of Flavours will run through the entire month of May. That's 31 days, which means 31 different flavours. And it doesn't just stop at blocks and bars, either. There'll also be rocky road hot chocolate, rocky road ice cream, rocky road waffles and rocky road croissants too. The Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery will also be hosting Rock Around the Block tasting sessions three times a day, which can be booked via their website.
The iconic corner site at 2 Acland Street in St Kilda is no stranger to change, having taken on many incarnations and debuted an array of new offerings over its many, many decades of life. Existing as the Ryan Hospitality Group's multi-faceted venue The Prince since 2018, it's just unveiled its latest addition — a brand-new iteration of second-level restaurant Prince Dining Room. The diner has entered a new phase of life, complete with an overhauled food offering and refreshed approach. While the space's aesthetic remains largely unchanged with its crisp white walls, art deco features and signature curved booths, the kitchen has upped the sophistication factor, debuting a refined menu anchored in technique and driven by fire. Executive Chef Dan Cooper (ex-Aria, Circa) has the reins, pairing Mediterranean flavours with local produce and giving more than a nod to the coast. Start with the likes of yellowfin tuna tartlets, beef tartare with bottarga and a gruyère puff, and burrata sided with smoked tomato jam and pollen. The day's fish is done with clams, fennel and nduja butter, hand-cut tagliatelle shines bright with citrus butter and golden trout roe, and a saddle of Tassie lamb comes matched with smoked eggplant. You can even sit down to half a crayfish, elevated with garlic butter and 'charcuterie XO'. The adjacent drinks offering is now known as The Bar at Prince Dining Room, backing the venue's award-winning wine list with a fresh crop of beers, booze-free sips and cocktails — from the likes of a burnt orange highball to a Black Manhattan crafted on bitter amaro. The site's other elements are kicking along as usual, including the Prince Public Bar downstairs, the Prince Bandroom, Little Prince Wine and the 39-room Prince Hotel. [caption id="attachment_758266" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kristoffer Paulsen[/caption] Find the updated Prince Dining Room on Level 2 at 2 Acland Street, St Kilda. It's open from 4pm–late Wednesday–Thursday and from 12pm–late Friday–Sunday.
Victoria by Farmer's Daughters has been delighting diners with its crafty exploration of local produce since opening the doors in July. And now, it's time for the restaurant's much-anticipated Terrace Bar to make its own grand debut. With a leafy outlook overlooking the Yarra, the al fresco space is kicking things off with a new weekly series that'll soak up the best of Melbourne's sunny season. Running Sundays from January 15–March 26, Summer Sunday Sessions will be dedicated to wrapping up your week in style — with the help of DJ tunes, produce-driven eats and plenty of gin. Each week, the kitchen will be showcasing a seven-course sharing menu built on top-notch Victorian ingredients — think, O'Connor beef skewers in a black garlic glaze, fried rockling sangas elevated with gribiche and kohlrabi remoulade, and luxe brownies made on Cuvée Chocolate and paired with salted caramel sauce. To match, you've got bottomless gin cocktails crafted on Four Pillars, plus free-flowing Victorian beer and wine, and tunes by DJ pHinioUS. There are two two-hour sittings each Sunday — 11.30am and 2.30pm — with tickets clocking in at $90.
Name a season — there are only four, so it isn't hard — and, in Australia, it's likely that the weather will be hotter than average. The nation experiences toastier than usual summers, warmer than normal autumns and hotter than average winters every year, or so it seems. And, in news that will come as zero surprise, winter 2021 is expected to continue the trend. That's according to the Bureau of Meteorology, which releases an updated climate outlook every week — something that, with winter so close to arriving, is definitely worth a look. Much of the country is in for both warmer and wetter conditions than normal over the coming months, although exactly how that'll affect you obviously depends on where you live. If you reside in Australia's northern tropics, along New South Wales' coast, in southeastern Australia in general and in southwest of Western Australia, expect toastier winter temperatures this year, with a more than 80-percent chance that that'll be the case between June and August. Folks pretty much everywhere else except central Australia can also expect above average winter days, with a 60-percent likelihood. Nights in particular are also expected to be warmer over the same period, covering most of the country — with only parts of western WA expected to experience average or cooler conditions. To give an idea of exactly what that all means, the average daily maximum temperature for June sits at around 17 in Sydney, 14.1 degrees in Melbourne, 20.9 in Brisbane, 19.5 in Perth and 15.8 in Adelaide. In July, it's around 16.4 in Sydney, 13.5 degrees in Melbourne, 20.4 in Brisbane, 18.5 in Perth and 15 in Adelaide. And, come August, the figures usually come in at 17.9 in Sydney, 15 degrees in Melbourne, 21.8 in Brisbane, 19.1 in Perth and 16.1 in Adelaide. In good news for farmers, plenty of the nation east looks set for more rain, too. That's predicted to be the case in inland areas especially, with a 60-percent possibility. Along much the east coast, it could go either way — and in northern Queensland, which enters its dry season at this time of year, there's less than a 40-percent chance of more rain than usual. If you're wondering how BOM comes up with its models for the next few months, it draws upon the physics of our atmosphere, oceans, ice and land surface, as well a heap of observations — from satellites, as well as on land and sea. And, it also incorporates the effects of the climate change, with Australia's temperatures rising by around 1.44 degrees between 1910–2019. For more information about forecast weather conditions between this winter, keep an eye on the Bureau of Meteorology's climate outlook.
In the best films of 2019, lush love stories swept across the screen, intense thrillers laid bare class inequities and Hollywood history was given a playful twist. Australia's dark past was pushed under a magnifying glass, doppelgängers wreaked havoc and a marriage came to an end — and they're just some of the year's highlights. Come 12am on January 1, 2020, they're all yesterday's news, however. When a new year arrives, it brings 12 more months of glorious movies. They won't all be winners, but plenty of standouts will rise to the top — and, spanning everything from slasher thrills to long-awaited musicals, we have our eye on these ten must-see movies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE7YVZA5YVc TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG New year, new searing Australian film that carves up our national identity — and boasts no qualms about laying bare our troubled history. In 2018, Sweet Country did the honours, while 2019 gave us The Nightingale. Now, in 2020, it's True History of the Kelly Gang's turn. The latest distinctive and daring feature from Aussie director Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Macbeth), this adaptation of Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel follows the country's most famous bushranger from his childhood (where he's played by excellent newcomer Orlando Schwerdt) to his bush-ranging years (when talented UK actor George McKay takes over). Don't expect a standard interpretation of Kelly's well-known tale, though, because Kurzel's star-studded affair is gritty, galvanising and spans far beyond the usual cliches. Visually, emotionally and in its performances (including by Essie Davis, Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult and Charlie Hunnam), the result is electrifying. True History of the Kelly Gang releases in Australian cinemas on January 9, then hits Stan on January 26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkDOuzri5hw&feature=youtu.be TENET Is it a follow-up to Inception? Does Christopher Nolan just like getting twisty every ten years? Or does the acclaimed director simply enjoy messing with everyone's heads? When the trailer for Tenet dropped, it inspired all of the above questions — but keen moviegoers will need to wait until July for answers. For now, we do know that Nolan's latest will involve time travel, the afterlife and stopping World War III. Also: spies, boats, sensing things before they happen and objects running in reverse. Throw in an active attempt to bend viewers' minds, plus many a superbly shot and staged spectacle, and Nolan is back in the territory that has served him so well since Memento. BlacKkKlansman's John David Washington leads the cast, alongside Robert Pattinson, Nolan regular Michael Caine, Aussie actor Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh. Tenet releases in Australian cinemas on July 16. BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC It was first uttered more than three decades ago, but the world could always use Bill & Ted's main nugget of wisdom. "Be excellent to each other," Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure first told us in 1989, before continuing the message in 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey — and it'll do so again in the long-awaited Bill & Ted Face the Music. Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are back as everyone's favourite high school slackers and wannabe rockers, who initially started travelling through time in a phone booth to pass a history report and secure the world's future. They're middle-aged now and they even have daughters (played by Ready or Not's Samara Weaving and Bombshell's Brigette Lundy-Paine), but when you're told as a teen that your music is going to change the entire universe, that responsibility doesn't just fade because you get older. Bill & Ted Face the Music releases in American cinemas on August 21, with an Australian release date yet to be confirmed. HALLOWEEN KILLS For 42 years, the Halloween franchise has been delivering stone-cold horror masterpieces, weird and wonderful detours, and entries that deserve to be locked away for all eternity with Michael Myers. The difference between the series' John Carpenter-directed best and its trashy worst is enormous, but when David Gordon Green (Prince Avalanche, Pineapple Express) took the reins for 2018's Halloween — a direct sequel to the 1978 original that ignores the seven other follow-ups and two remakes in-between — he served up one of the saga's best chapters. It helped that Jamie Lee Curtis was back, of course. Also beneficial: a meaty story that grapples with trauma, a skill for slasher thrills, a new score by Carpenter himself, and producer Jason Blum's support. So it was great news when two more movies were announced, including 2020's Halloween Kills, which brings the whole gang back to Haddonfield for another encounter with the town's masked menace. Halloween Kills releases in Australian cinemas on October 15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i5kiFDunk8 PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN From Hustlers to Black Christmas, a swathe of great female-written and directed films haven't just been dancing in topical territory of late — they've been tackling issues of gender inequality, misogyny and sexual assault head on. Due to premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Promising Young Woman belongs in the same company, as its immensely popular trailer shows. It all starts in a bar, where Cassie (Carey Mulligan) appears intoxicated and Jez (Adam Brody) helps her home. They've never met, but he's supposedly being nice. Then, while she's virtually passed out, he makes a move — and she makes it known that she's not going to become a drunken statistic. The feature debut of writer/director Emerald Fennell, the showrunner on Killing Eve's second season, this looks like a revenge flick with serious bite. Promising Young Woman premieres at Sundance in January, then releases in American cinemas on April 17, with an Australian release date yet to be confirmed. [caption id="attachment_756329" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Marriage Story[/caption] ANNETTE It has been eight years since Leos Carax's Holy Motors hit cinema screens, becoming one of the most memorable movies of both the decade and the 21st century in the process. And, for four of those years, his next project has been eagerly anticipated: musical Annette, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Lavant will make his English-language debut with the song-filled feature, which follows a stand-up comedian (Driver), his soprano opera singer wife (Cotillard) and the drastic change in their lives when their daughter Annette is born. Part of the film's delays have been put down to Driver's busy Star Wars schedule (and starring in The Dead Don't Die, The Report and Marriage Story this year alone, too), but the movie finally shot late in 2019 — so here's hoping that we soon get to see what Carax's inventive mind has put together next. Annette doesn't yet have a release date. [caption id="attachment_555885" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Cemetery of Splendour[/caption] MEMORIA With Memoria, another acclaimed auteur makes his first film in English — and returns after a significant gap in his filmography. That'd be Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Thai director who last splashed dreamlike visuals and poetic musings across the screen with 2015's Cemetery of Splendour, and whose resume also features three Cannes prize-winning features (including the Palme d'Or for 2010's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives). It's a claim made too often, but Weerasethakul truly does make movies unlike anyone else. Not much is known about Memoria, apart from that it was shot in Colombia, but the filmmaker's work is always about much, much more than plot. This one possesses some serious star power, too, with the international cast led by Tilda Swinton. Memoria doesn't yet have a release date. HOPE When New Zealand's Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek directed 2018's The Breaker Upperers, they gave the world one of the smartest and most amusing female-focused comedies in recent years. For their follow-up, Hope, the duo is keeping things funny — and given that this time they'll be pointing the camera at Aubrey Plaza, that doesn't seem particularly difficult. Another movie that's keeping its details quiet for now, it's described as a romantic comedy and is being made for Netflix. To shore up its rom-com credentials, it's based on a script by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith, who also wrote the screenplay for another great example of the genre: the modernised Shakespeare adaptation that is 10 Things I Hate About You. Hope doesn't yet have a release date. [caption id="attachment_756331" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] A Very Murray Christmas[/caption] ON THE ROCKS Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray. Enough said, really. The Lost in Translation duo reunite for On the Rocks, which focuses on a young mother who reconnects with her wayward dad during a New York adventure. Parks and Recreation's Rashida Jones and Jenny Slate also star, as well as Marlon Wayans, with Coppola both directing and writing the screenplay — as she has with all of her projects since her 1999 debut The Virgin Suicides. Of course, the filmmaker also teamed up with Murray back in 2015 for Netflix special A Very Murray Christmas, but more of this pair is never a bad thing. On the Rocks will also mark Coppola's first film since winning Cannes Best Director prize (and becoming only the second woman to do so) for 2017's The Beguiled. On the Rocks doesn't yet have a release date. [caption id="attachment_492422" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Jodorowsky's Dune[/caption] DUNE David Lynch's Dune is one of the most unfairly maligned sci-fi films ever made. It's not the version that Alejandro Jodorowsky would've whipped up — as explored in excellent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune — but the 1984 movie still has its surreal delights. Just how Denis Villeneuve's new adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel will fare is still yet to be seen, but the French Canadian director has already revived another 80s sci-fi property to stunning effect with Blade Runner 2049. Once again, he has amassed a stellar cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem and Doctor Sleep's Rebecca Ferguson. They'll all fight over 'the spice', the most valuable substance in the universe. Dune releases in Australian cinemas on December 26. With hundreds of movies reaching Australian screens every year, there's plenty more to look forward to in 2020 too. We've also checked out a heap of trailers for the year's upcoming flicks, including Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), The Invisible Man, Fantasy Island, Mulan, No Time to Die, Black Widow, The Woman in the Window, Wonder Woman 1984, In the Heights, Soul, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jungle Cruise and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On the Run. Only one of them features Keanu Reeves as a talking sage, though.
The Sydney Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday, June 15, after a perfectly eye-opening 12-day movie marathon. Here's what our critics loved, loathed, admired and squirmed over. The Best Films https://youtube.com/watch?v=baJK7EhCTEI BLACK COAL, THIN ICE Black Coal, Thin Ice is an exceptionally rare film in which not a single frame feels wasted. A run-down industrial city in China's frozen north provides a perfect backdrop for writer-director Diao Yinan's archetypal film noir, about an alcoholic former cop obsessed by a dead-end case. Slow pacing and minimal narrative exposition rewards an attentive viewer, but the true appeal of this ice-cold thriller is Jinsong Dong's immaculate cinematography. Although rarely flashy, every shot is invested with both an eerie beauty and a fascinating purpose, while simple images often take on new meaning as the camera patiently lingers. You'll be lucky to find a better made film this year. https://youtube.com/watch?v=06BNjqSsGqo TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT Riveting dissections of realistic situations: that's where siblings Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made their careers. Continuing in the same finessed vein, Two Days, One Night compels by rendering relatable, repetitive circumstances without sentiment but with surprises, following Sandra's (Marion Cotillard) attempts to convince her co-workers to forgo a cash bonus to save her job. The precision with which the filmmakers present a feature almost solely comprised of conversations cannot be underestimated, nor can Cotillard's expert efforts in illustrating the fragility of her striving but uncertain protagonist. Small in stature yet striking in its statement, this is a rare and rewarding example of the best film of the festival emerging victorious as the competition winner. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ISaSHUSrEUw BOYHOOD We usually give a film props for being either wildly experimental or successful in what it does. So to watch Boyhood, a film that's both of those things (as well as hugely entertaining), is almost overwhelming. The applause once the credits started to roll was instant and resounding, and it's surely poised to take out the Audience Award. The film's point of difference is that it was filmed over 12 years, using the same cast of actors, including Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette. Its focus is Mason (Ellar Coltrane) as he grows from 5 to 18, capturing his coming of age in a way that's ultra authentic and driven by the cast and creatives' real experience of the world. The effect is to transport you back to childhood and adolescence without your attendant judgement or cynicism, and it's a wonderful little gift. If you thought director Richard Linklater had already made his biggest impact on the film world through Before Sunrise or rotoscoping, think again. https://youtube.com/watch?v=rIEf5T3U2YA YOU'RE SLEEPING NICOLE Many films spring to mind during French Canadian comedy You're Sleeping Nicole, including Frances Ha's quirky quarter-life crisis, Ghost World's vagaries of female friendship, and After Hours' freewheeling overnight anarchy; however, Stéphane Lafleur's direct-from-Cannes offering never suffers for the comparisons. Charting its 22-year-old titular character (Julianne Côté) as she navigates the summer sans parents and struggling to sleep, it crafts a love letter to its influences and an endearing effort in its own right. There's slightness in its concept and skit-like construction, but also a sweet mood and amusing tone in its vignettes of mostly ordinary, sometimes eccentric escapades. The exquisite black-and-white cinematography draws the eye just as the eclectic gags charm the soul, in the epitome of an offbeat delight. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KinAEqb3Kts TOM AT THE FARM Xavier Dolan's Cannes Jury Prize-winning Mommy rightly overwhelmed audiences with its onslaught of aesthetics and emotions; however, it is Tom at the Farm, his previous feature, which stuns with its several layers of sheer audacity. Ostensibly the odd film out in the wunderkind writer/director's oeuvre, his fourth effort in as many years is a tense and twisty thriller of grief, desire, acceptance and identity. Playing Tom, Dolan nourishes on screen (as with off), conveying the claustrophobia and complexity of the character's rural trip to pay respects to the family of his deceased boyfriend. When awkwardness begets a strange accord within visually and thematically constrained confines, so blossoms an elegantly disarming offering that earns its Hitchcockian parallels. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TyvfQIdx_Ao WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS The perfect antidote to a program full of worthy social dramas and three-hour-long Palme d'Or winners, Sydney's closing night film was an unmistakable highlight. Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement and Eagle vs Shark director Taika Waititi write, direct and star in what's billed as the latest project from the New Zealand Documentary Board: an in-depth look at the lives of four vampires who share a run-down apartment in Wellington. Think This Is Spinal Tap but with more severed arteries. Clement and Waititi have enormous fun playing with undead mythology (for example, their characters can't get into clubs unless they're specifically invited in.) Keep your eyes peeled for a release before the year is out. https://youtube.com/watch?v=K1nEmIZtrFU PARTICLE FEVER This is the film that makes physics funny and personable. Particle Fever went behind the biggest, most expensive and most controversial scientific experiment ever conducted — the Large Hadron Collider, which recreates the conditions of the 'big bang' in an effort to view the basic particles needed for a stable universe and create a blueprint for modern physics. But what it really showed us was the Mensa-style odd-bods working on the LHC — funny, yearning, obsessive individuals who make coffee, play ping-pong, decipher unintelligible contemporary art and carry regrets just like all of us. Particle Fever meets the universe's biggest questions with simple, elegant, beautiful answers, or the prospect of total, inexplicable chaos. Who would've known that documentaries can provide such childlike escapism. Miracles and wonder. The Boldest Experiments https://youtube.com/watch?v=gZscgKNT2MI FISH AND CAT A two-hour film, made in one take? A film with no editing? Once again, Iranian cinema showed us that it's at the forefront of global filmmaking. Fish and Cat went beyond what could be a gimmick to deliver one of the most compelling experiences of the festival and divide audiences (including our little reviewing team). The film portrayed a collection of professional kite-flyers embarking on a camping trip by a wintery lake and spindly forest, a series of ghostly presences, and a cyclical narrative that plays with time by showing us the same moments from different characters' perspectives. Often high concept films elevate tricky narrative ploys, but Fish and Cat went beyond cleverness to show us something honest and true. Rehearsed for two months and shot in only one take — and inspired as much by mathematics, MC Escher and physics than by cinema — Fish and Cat suggests more films need less editing and more spirit and intelligence. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TgsfyMMYAZI MANAKAMANA A cable car traverses the lush greenery of the Nepalese mountains, ferrying its contents to and from the Manakamana Temple. Each load of passengers contains pilgrims seeking the wish-fulfilling gifts of the temple's Hindu goddess — and while diverse in their constitution, they remain united in their journey. Filmed in 16mm and comprised of 11 rides towards and away from the famous destination, the documentary that shares its name continues the immersive observational ambit of Harvard University's Sensory Ethnography Lab, as previously evidenced in 2009's Sweetgrass and 2012's Leviathan. Each segment, shown uncut and spanning approximately ten minutes in duration, stands alone as couples sit in silence, friends chatter about music and play with a kitten, and even goats enjoy the aerial view, yet together they make a hypnotic and rhythmic whole. MOMMY The latest film from 25-year-old enfant terrible Xavier Dolan pours unconstrained emotion into a claustrophobic space. Shot in boxy 1:1 aspect ratio, the film tells the story of fiery widow Dianne and her troubled teenager Simon, a pair of bombastic outsiders in a white-bread, buttoned-down world. Anne Dorval and Antoine Olivier Pilon are both stunningly good, their performances positively glowing with uninhibited feeling. The tightness of the frame, meanwhile, reflects Di and Simon's limited options, even as their energy threatens to force the edges apart. This is a funny, earnest, devastating film, one that's vitalised, rather than limited, by its intriguing technical conceit. https://youtube.com/watch?v=a8vy-DO-I5E 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH 20,000 Days on Earth is a documentary that's fiction. So, there's that. It imagines the 20,000th day on earth of singer and raconteur Nick Cave, and it's a day that includes him talking to his shrink, recording an album, helping archivists make sense of his historical record, lunching with his pals, driving Kylie Minogue around Brighton, and playing at the Sydney Opera House. A pretty great day, by any standards. Instead of clarity and chronology, what you get is a fragmented sense of biography that is sometimes deeply insightful, sometimes electrifying and sometimes frustrating. Artists-turned-directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard have basically conjured a new format here, and there's a sense that it could be applied to tell nearly anybody's personal tale (though having the flair and flamboyance of Cave certainly helps). It's not like anyone would want every documentary to be made this way, but it sure is an interesting divergence. Most WTF Moments https://youtube.com/watch?v=9gahZEIg73I Miss Violence Greek cinema has been pretty weird lately, but no one in the cinema for Alexandros Avranas Miss Violence was quite expecting it to take the turn it did. And that's even after it started with an 11-year-old girl committing suicide at her birthday party to the soundtrack of Leonard Cohen's 'Dance Me to the End of Love'. Things got repulsive around the time of the graphic, several-minute-long teen rape scene, and they did not improve. No matter your stance on the use of trigger warnings, you'd probably feel this could have been signposted a little better in the synopsis. On Tuesday this played directly after Ruin, so the truly unlucky copped a double feature of confronting sexual violence akin to watching Irreversible twice. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lHLLMaJ27SQ LAKE AUGUST We were hoping Lake August would provide us with the kind of telescopic view of China that Westerners rarely glean. It didn't. A series of extremely long takes of characters whose names and backgrounds, desires and regrets were never revealed, left us cold and, well, a little bored. Fans of slow-burn, long-unrolling cinema will go for this, and festival curators will love the offbeat perspective this offers us — there are so many kaleidoscopic ways to understand and access the non-monolith that is China. We appreciate a tiny chip in the blockbuster schedule of sequels and comic-book franchises, but Lake August was too oblique, too distant and like China, too inexplicable. Most disappointing films https://youtube.com/watch?v=vFnmRNMBL4I COLD IN JULY Although it certainly has its defenders, few films on the festival program were as cringingly uneven as Jim Mickle's Cold in July. Set in Texas in the late 1980s, the film stars Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall, as a mild-mannered family man who shoots a home intruder. But what starts as an exploration of guilt soon takes a bizarre-left turn into John Carpenter-style slasher territory, before shifting again into pulpy film noir and then again into vengeful vigilante thriller. Good on Mickle for attempt to skew genres, but the tone is all over the map. Moreover, the character dynamics are flimsy, while certain dramatic scenes are pitched to such histrionic heights that they end up being unintentionally entertaining. https://youtube.com/watch?v=t3ofy3B90gI RUIN Amiel Courtin-Wilson's previous film Hail was an unforgettable story of down-and-out Australians whose voices are rarely heard in cinema. So Ruin, co-directed with Michael Cody, arrived with more than a little cinephile hype. It was an interesting film. But was it a successful one? Not so much. Set in Cambodia, and portraying a romance of two abused and terrified runaways, Ruin did a beautiful job of mixing a sense of observational documentary with lovely abstract, textural sequences, and it pivoted on two extraordinary, hyper-naturalistic performances.The dream fantasies were beautiful, emotionally complex and visually stunning. But it was right on the line between an open-ended film and an underbaked one. It's good to see challenging cinema that doesn't spoon-feed audiences exposition. But more answers and more context to match the gorgeous cinematography and dreaminess would have gone a long way. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ChM2icbWo9w The Rover A dark Shakespearean crime drama, 2010's Animal Kingdom was one of the most resounding Australian films in years. Not only did it launch the international careers of Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver, it also heralded the arrival of writer-director David Michôd, a filmmaker whose tightly controlled aesthetic suggested even greater things to come. His sophomore effort is The Rover, a barebones narrative that mirrors his debut in both its technical precision and its nihilistic tone. What's missing, however, is a similarly compelling set of characters. Without them, a pervasive sense of bleakness soon swallows the movie whole. Full review here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=4_8nOSuRFE4 Palo Alto Um, yuck. It may have sold out three screenings over, but Palo Alto was one long, empty cliche about coming of age. It goes to show we can't assume James Franco can write with depth just because he can act, and we can't assume that Gia Coppola can direct with expertise just because her family can. It makes an ass of u and me. By Rima Sabina Aouf, Lauren Carroll Harris, Sarah Ward and Tom Clift.
Icons teaming up with icons: when documentary series Pretend It's a City hit Netflix in 2021, that's what it served up. Earning attention: Fran Lebowitz, with Martin Scorsese directing. The focus: the acclaimed writer, humorist and social commentator chatting about her life for the legendary filmmaker, following on from Scorsese's Lebowitz-focused 2010 feature-length doco Public Speaking. Of course, Lebowitz doesn't need to be nattering with Scorsese, or in front of The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman helmer's lens, to prove a must-watch figure. Her sharp opinions and deadpan humour have made her famous for more than five decades now, and over a career spanning magazine columns, books, working with Andy Warhol, notable late-night talkshow appearances and public-speaking tours. It's the latter that's bringing her back to Australia in 2024 — getting talking along the east coast. [caption id="attachment_912247" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Harrison Dilts[/caption] "Ever since Pretend It's a City exploded on our screens, we have wanted to bring Fran Lebowitz back to the Sydney Opera House. In this special event, we all get to take on the role of Marty Scorsese and ask her what she thinks about absolutely anything in our puzzling, frustrating, sometimes maddening world," said Sydney Opera House Head of Talks & Ideas Chip Rolley, with Lebowitz's Harbour City stop presented in conjunction with the venue's talk-focused programming strand. "It's then our job to sit back, relax and laugh until we can no longer. Sydney should prepare itself for a banner night out with one of the world's great cultural satirists." [caption id="attachment_912248" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lia Clay Miller[/caption] Melbourne and Brisbane should also prepare accordingly, with Lebowitz also taking to the stage at Hamer Hall in the Victorian capital and QPAC in the Sunshine State in February. Will she chat about attending the Succession season four premiere party? Her role as a judge in the Law & Order franchise (and The Wolf of Wall Street)? Saturday Night Live's parody of Pretend It's a City? Being a columnist for Warhol's Interview mag? Growing up in New Jersey? New York in the 70s? Topics such as race, gender, media and politics? Anything that vexes her? Everything? At least some will earn an unfiltered mention — including at the audience Q&As. AN EVENING WITH FRAN LEBOWITZ: Tuesday, February 13 — Sydney Opera House, Sydney Thursday, February 15 — QPAC, Brisbane Sunday, February 18 — Hamer Hall, Melbourne An Evening with Fran Lebowitz hits Australia in February 2024. Head to the Sydney Opera House, QPAC and Arts Centre Melbourne websites for tickets — with pre sales from Tuesday, August 8 and general sales from Thursday, August 10 — and further details. Top image: Bill Hayes.
UPDATE, Wednesday, October 9: Cheri's opening has been delayed and is now set to open its doors on Wednesday, October 30. Darling Group is best known for opening and acquiring some of Melbourne's top cafes (Higher Ground, Top Paddock, The Terrace, Kettle Black), while recently branching out into the restaurant scene (Token and Stringers). Like many of the larger hospitality groups in Melbourne, the Darling Group continues to expand (even if the industry is struggling right now), preparing to open Cheri — a new all-day eatery located right across from South Melbourne Market — on Wednesday, October 9. Cheri has taken over neighbouring sites Bibelot and Chez Dre, transforming them into one huge 150-seat venue that will be open from 7am–5pm every day of the week. Darling Group's Executive Pastry Chef Michael Germanos is making sure Cheri will be home to incredible pastries, cakes and bread, made on-site every morning to be exclusively sold here and across all of Darling Group's other venues. Expect an expansive collection of sweet and savoury croissants, classic eclairs, small and large tarts and cakes, sourdough loaves, baguettes, piadinas and focaccia sandwiches. It's giving full bakery energy throughout the morning, while also serving up an all-day dining menu that covers most of your breakfast and lunch bases. Brekkie bites will include polenta porridge with confit spiced dates, mandarin, creme fraiche, cinnamon and pistachios; croissant loaf french toast with maple syrup and cultured butter; eggs benedict served on a croissant wheel; and a lamb merguez fry-up with poached eggs, za'atar yogurt, preserved lemon, mint and pita bread. This is a stacked morning menu that reads like those at Melbourne's best breakfast spots. For lunch, you've got ricotta gnocchi with pancetta, broad bean leaf verde, spring peas, stracciatella and green onion oil; chicken cotoletta with sprouting broccoli leaves, asparagus and cafe de Paris sauce; and seven different pizzas made with 72-hour fermented dough. Pair this all with some signature cocktails — you can never go wrong with a cheeky bloody mary — teas, shakes, sodas, and a decadent Cheri hot chocolate that's made with milk chocolate, whipped cream and crema di pistachio. You can drop by this spot for a quick takeaway pastry and coffee, or choose to sit in the main dining room or 50-person courtyard — when the sun is shining. We have high expectations for Cheri, not only because Darling Group has proven it knows how to cafe, but because this food menu sounds like an absolute banger. [caption id="attachment_974006" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Darling Group Director Nick Seoud, Executive Chef Ashley Hicks and Creative Director Chris Seoud.[/caption] Cheri — located at 285-287 Coventry Street, South Melbourne — is slated to open on Wednesday, October 9, and will be open from 7am–5pm daily. For more information, check out the venue's website. Images: Julian Lallo.
The city is buzzing back to life with a bang as Melbourne's events calendar fills up. And if you're out and about taking advantage of the action, you've now got a hot new underground bar to add to your itinerary. But you'll want to be quick — Bar Paradox has made its home beneath Supernormal for just two weeks, from Monday, April 11–Sunday, April 24. Taking walk-ins only, the pop-up drinking destination is showcasing next-level sips by former World Class Bartender of the Year, Orlando Marzo. A five-strong cocktail list is built around the mixologist's signature bottled range, Loro, featuring the likes of a bergamot negroni, a reworked manhattan with cherry and cacao, and the Paradox Bramble — a liquid nod to Supernormal, blending Tanqueray Royale blackcurrant gin with native strawberry gum. As always, there'll be some solid snacks flying from the kitchen, with bites like the prawn roll finished with bonito mayonnaise and Tasmanian wasabi; silken tofu and sesame crackers; and raw fish sourced from the Sapphire Coast. Soundtracking each night's antics will be Efficient Space label head, DJ and radio host Michael Kucyk, while the bar's forward-thinking design comes courtesy of creative agency Space Between. Bar Paradox will open nightly from 5pm until late, except for Easter Monday (April 18). [caption id="attachment_849941" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jo McGann[/caption] Top Images: Parker Blain.
2014 is looking to be a good year for music in Australia and New Zealand, with visits from Neko Case and Gold Panda. Indie rocker and singer/songwriter Neko Case (of The New Pornographers) has announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for the release of her newest solo album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I fight, The More I Love You. Released this past September, this is Case's first album since 2009's extremely popular Middle Cyclone. The Worse Things Get... is full of tracks with the same vigour and bluntness that audiences appreciated in past hits such as 'People Got a Lotta Nerve' and 'I'm an Animal'. Her lyrical candour is particularly riotous in 'Man', where she declares, "And if I'm dipshit drunk on the pink perfume / I am the man in the fucking moon / 'Cause you didn't know what a man was / Until I showed you." Indubitably, Case is a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, electro highflier Gold Panda (aka Derwin Powers) first popped onto the radar in 2009, and has constantly thrown EPs and 7"s at us since. He's dropped two critically praised albums, 2010's Lucky Shiner and 2013's Half of Where You Live. This latest album holds truth in its name. Half of Where You Live is an electronic echo of the producer's experiences: having lived in Japan and travelled extensively, he's now based in Berlin. With tracks such as 'An English House', 'Enoshima' and 'My Father in Hong Kong 1961', our ears get an ambiguous, aural journey through Powers' experiences and geography. Neko Case February/March 2014 Tour Dates Perth: 27 February at Fly By Night Melbourne: 1 and 2 March at Corner Hotel and Melbourne Zoo Twilights Sydney: 3 March at Sydney Opera House Brisbane: 5 March at Hi Fi Adelaide: 7 March at Fowlers Live Mossvale: 8 March at Meeniyan Town Hall Meredith: 9 March at Golden Plains Festival Wellington: 12 and 13 March at NZ Festival Auckland: 14 March at Powerstation Tickets available from Handsome Tours Gold Panda March 2014 Tour Dates Sydney: 6 March at Oxford Art Factory Melbourne: 7 March at Corner Hotel Perth: 9 March at The Bakery Also appearing at Golden Plains Festival. Tickets available from Handsome Tours. https://youtube.com/watch?v=unNa-9qGkfI
Melbourne, we have lift-off. Collingwood brewery Stomping Ground has officially opened the doors to Australia's first working airport brewery, located inside domestic Terminal 3 at the Melbourne Airport. And we'll happily snub the overpriced sushi in favour of some pre-flight beers and pub grub. The new 330-square-metre venue takes its cues from Stomping Ground's OG Gipps Street beer hall, even imagined by the same award-winning designers Studio Y. You'll find a big central bar at its heart, bold murals from local artist Justine McAllister adorning the walls and a six-hectolitre brewery system on show behind glass. Up to 30 beers will be brewed on-site each year, which means even the regular jetsetter should be able to find something new to sip each time they swing by. There are 24 taps devoted to house brews — such as the Hop Stomper West Coast IPA, sour Key Lime Smash, nutty Upside Down brown ale and nitro milk stout Bearbrass — and another six pouring wines, including drops like the Mornington Peninsula's Quealy pinot grigio. Mixed six-beer tasting paddles and takeaway tinnies are also on offer. An all-day food lineup from Stomping Ground Executive Chef Ben Isaacs features breakfast options (available 6am–12pm), alongside contemporary pub-style share plates and mains. Fuel up for that early morning flight with the likes of a passion fruit bircher or go large with the brewer's brekkie — a hearty serve of bacon, mushrooms, roast tomato, andouille sausage, kale and eggs. Later in the day, there are bites like a classic chicken schnitty, a twice-cooked lamb shoulder with tahini dressing, ricotta dumplings and grilled haloumi with figs. The new permanent venture follows Stomping Ground's popular summer pop-up beer garden, which graced a space in between Terminals 3 and 4 in both 2017 and 2018. It's also just one part of a major hospitality overhaul for Melbourne Airport's Terminals 2 and 3. Acclaimed chef Shane Delia will open his new concept Moors by Shane Delia here, Scott Pickett is set to unveil a new outpost of his produce-driven Pickett's Deli & Rotisserie and coffee favourites Cobb Lane, Axil Coffee Roasters and Proud Mary are also set to call the airport home. Over in the international terminal, you'll find a new outpost of St Ali, too. Find Stomping Ground in Terminal 3, Pier E (before Gates 4 and 6) at Melbourne Airport. It's open from 5am–9.30pm daily.
Back when streaming platforms and digital television were just a futuristic dream, and when every Australian TV network only had one channel, SBS was an Aussie cinephile's go-to source for free international cinema. The public broadcaster has continued to uphold that role over the past decade or so, especially via its online service SBS On Demand. But now it's giving movie buffs what we've always wanted: a new, free-to-air, 24-hour world movies channel. SBS World Movies will launch on Monday, July 1 on channel 32, playing flicks from around the globe all day, every day. Prepare for quite the movie marathon, as more than 700 films will be broadcast each year. The channel will also become the network's third in HD — a far cry from the days when folks at home would record the station's international movies on grainy VHS tapes to watch again later. While the full launch slate hasn't been revealed, a selection of recent high-profile titles will be heading SBS World Movies' way, including Yorgos Lanthimos' dark and twisty The Killing of a Sacred Deer with Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman; moving French drama Amanda, which just screened at this year's Alliance Française French Film Festival; and applauded 2018 festival hit Ash is the Purest White, the latest film by acclaimed auteur Jia Zhangke. Norwegian historical drama The 12th Man, French thriller Just A Breath Away and Belgian Cannes winner Girl round out the just-announced first movies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=QT3KlMWHfzw The channel will also showcase women in film via a weekly double focusing on female filmmakers and lead actors, highlight favourites from the international film festival circuit, delve into up-and-coming cinema from far-flung corners of the world, and curate seasons around events like Diwali, Lunar New Year, International Women's Day and Mardi Gras. Along with programming world movies on its existing channels, as well as on SBS On Demand, SBS is no stranger to the dedicated film channel game. For nearly a quarter of a century up until January 2018, World Movies was available via subscription TV services such as Foxtel. When SBS World Movies joins the network's lineup, it'll sit alongside existing channels SBS, SBS VICELAND, SBS Food and NITV. SBS World Movies launches on Monday, July 1 on channel 32.
In 1887, John Casselden had six brick cottages built in Melbourne's (then-notorious) Little Lon area in the north end of the CBD. For the next 60 years, the single-storey houses were used as private residences until, eventually, five of the six cottages were demolished. The last one — at 17 Casselden Place — is thankfully still standing and, in 2018, was turned into a small gin distillery and bar that the public can visit and enjoy. There are quite a few spaces like this around Melbourne — like a heritage-listed renaissance revival-style bank that has been turned into restaurants and a former red light district cottage that is now a CBD gin distillery. These are little slices of Melbourne history that you can visit basically whenever you like. Brunch inside them, dine inside them, have after-work drinks in them. Talk to the sandstone walls, see what you can get out of them.
Eating out in Melbourne is arguably a Melburnian's favourite thing to do. Even those on a budget should be able to eat at nice places. And you can! Plan your days correctly and you won't pay more than $15 for a meal again; play the system right and you can still eat like a king (oysters included). With our guide to the best culinary bargains around town, you can eat cheap (but not poorly) seven days of the week. Monday BURGERS AND SLIDERS - THE RAINBOW HOTEL, FITZROY Apparently this 140-year old pub — sitting slightly out of the Brunswick street spotlight — exists in a tiny pocket of Fitzroy that inflation forgot. A fact that, on Monday nights, is reflected in the form of $12 burgers and $7 slider specials. $29 BUFFET - CHINA BAR, CITY China Bar buffet: it's not the height of class, but it's what I imagine heaven might look like. The $29 weekday lunch session (Monday to Thursday from 11.30am - 3pm) might not seem that cheap to the untrained eye, but to the savvy student it's an opportunity to consume one's own body weight in roast meats, seasonal stir-frys and weird Asian desserts — eliminating the need to eat for several days afterwards. $15 BURGER AND A PINT - THE MERRYWELL, SOUTHBANK While it may be a little too close to the Crown Complex for comfort, Merrywell's $15 burger and pint happy hour between 4-6pm provides down-on-luck punters an affordable feed — particularly after an unfortunate turn in the casino arena. $1 PINXTOS - NAKED FOR SATAN, FITZROY Diners pluck their own pinxtos (delicate morsels like jamon, pickled octopus or arancini balls which sit atop slices of crusty bread) from the glass cabinets at the bar, and count the number consumed at the end of the night. Somehow, the serve-yourself honesty system works surprisingly well — but then, who's seriously going to cheat when it's only $1 a serve? FANCY LUNCH BOX - CAFE VUE, CITY The three-piece lunch box ($18) serves up a starter, savoury and sweet, all packed up and ready for you to take back to your desk in lieu of the full Vue de Monde experience. Also available in vegetarian and gluten free lunch packs, expect prettily packaged treats like chow mein salad, broccoli with crispy garlic, chilli and yuzu, pulled pork bun, and chocolate and passionfruit sundae. Tuesday $10 BURGER APOCALYPSE MEAL DEAL - ZOMBIE BURGER, ST KILDA Sure the branding might be a little aggressive, but if the zombie apocalypse ever hits, there will no doubt be time aplenty to down a couple of $10 burgers (served with fries and drink) while you watch the undead slowly converge from down the street. $9 BURGERS - 1000 POUND BEND, CITY People pack in to this loosely assembled warehouse space — which looks suspiciously like the lounge room of a student sharehouse — for $9 burgers and happy hour drinks every Tuesday from 4 - 11pm. Stay for the free wifi and stream a few episodes of House of Cards while you’re at it. $15 BURGER DEAL - MARKOV, CARLTON Burger, chips and a Brunswick Bitter will only set you back $15 on Tuesday nights at Markov. If you tend to buck the brioche trend — favouring something a bit more old school — it's here that you'll reach meaty, savoury nirvana. $3 TACOS - THE REVERENCE, FOOTSCRAY There is not a lot more that needs analysis here. When tacos are offered at such an inoffensive price, one accepts, whether hungry or not. It’s simply the right thing to do. Top up the Myki and make the trip to the Footscray badlands. $5 PIZZAS - WHOLE LOTTA LOVE, EAST BRUNSWICK It's all about the music at Whole Lotta Love. But as luck would have it, they dish up a mean pizza as well — keeping you drinking and enjoying tunes until the early hours. $5 every single day of the week. Wednesday $1 WINGS - TRANSPORT BAR, CITY From 5-9pm, load up on chicken for only $1 a bird-bite. This is the kind of thing that makes hump-day a little more manageable. $17 ALL YOU CAN EAT WINGS - FATHER'S OFFICE, CITY Father's Office has flown under the radar for too long, written off by many as a thinly-guised booze barn. But look past the suits and student specials — this venue is a lot of fun. On Wednesdays, don a bib and tuck into All You Can Eat chicken wings for $17. $29.50 ALL YOU CAN EAT TAPAS - THE LONG ROOM, CITY From Tuesday to Thursday, Longroom turn their al a carte menu into an unlimited tapas feast. Order two dishes at a time, as many times as you like, until you've worked your way through the entire menu — for less than $30. $10 STEAK SANDWICH - GLORIA SWANSTON'S KITCHEN, CITY Lounge is known to get a little loose on the late night shift, but at lunchtime their kitchen knocks out a killer student feed. Specials vary each day;, but on Wednesdays it's the steak sandwich for a tenner. $5 PIZZAS - CUSHION LOUNGE, ST KILDA Partied too hard last night, forgot to eat and now your body is being uncooperative? Rookie mistake. Head to Cushion midweek, where you can down those cheeky beers with a wad of discount pizza to absorb the blow. Thursday $12 PUB LUNCH - CAPTAIN MELVILLE, CITY Pub classics like parmas, fish and chips and burgers are most generously plated between 11.20am and 3pm, Monday to Thursday. For an extra $3 you can add a sneaky lunchbreak beer. $1 OYSTERS - PANAMA DINING ROOM, FITZROY Mother Shucker's Oyster Hour happens every night of the week between 6-7pm, where you can gorge on freshly shucked oysters for $1 per piece, and ultimately leave the restaurant both satisfied and highly aroused. $12.50 LUNCH SPECIAL - BONEY, CITY Between 12-2pm, duck into this revamped dive bar to dine on their daily special. On Thursdays it's a vego-friendly barley risotto with eggplant, tomato and feta. $4 PIZZAS, DOGS AND SALADS - LUCKY COQ, WINDSOR The Coq has been a saviour to Melbourne's financially-struggling students, artists and musicians for many years, but they've now taken things to the next level. Deals are on every day, but on Sunday you can get any pizza, hotdog or salad you fancy for just $4 from open 'til close. $4 PIZZAS & $12 BURGERS - THE PENNY BLACK, BRUNSWICK What better way to relax than with an afternoon sess in the courtyard on the ciders, some live music, and a few rounds of pizza with mates? At $4 a pop with free entry, you may as well skip work and make a day of it. $1 TACOS - THE DAN O'CONNELL HOTEL, CARLTON Making all our taco dreams come true, every Thursday The Dan churns out $1 tacos all night. Charging a super cheap price, probably in line with these little corn tortillas are worth, it's a good excuse to inhale as many tacos as you like without breaking the bank (we're looking at you Mamasita). Friday DIRT CHEAP SPRING ROLLS AND DUMPLINGS - HAPPY PALACE, CITY The staff name badges may be unbelievably politically incorrect (they all say 'Nigel'), but those with a sense of humour will consider this a selling point. For everybody else, at least come for the $2 dumplings (5-6pm) and $5 boxes of spring rolls. $3 HOTDOGS - FERDYDURKE, CITY The happiest hours for hotdogs at this alleyway bar are between 12 and 5pm, where for $3, you can throw back classics such as the Dirty Furke (frank with cheese and chilli beans), or the Charles Bronson (frank with cider, caramelised onions, gherkins and cheese). $7 PIZZAS - POLLY, FITZROY For those decadent, cocktail drenched evenings when a street-corner souvlaki seems inappropriate, a gourmet pizza at Polly (like gorgonzola, fig and pancetta) should fit the bill — and from 5-11pm, that bill will only come to $7. $1 OYSTERS - ALBERT PARK HOTEL, ALBERT PARK Just because a venue is known for finer dining doesn't mean it's above putting on a budget oyster hour. The seafood soiree is available all day Friday, at $1 a shucked treat. $7.50 LUNCH DEAL - YIM YAM, COLLINGWOOD Having set up shop in four locations throughout Melbourne so far, this Thai restaurant group most recently opened up in Collingwood, where they’re offering $7.50 lunch specials every day of the working week. Saturday $5 FRIED CHICKEN PO BOYS - HORSE BAZAAR, CITY Firing up the fryer from 8pm on Saturday nights, Horse Bazaar complements the live music and art projection by pumping out po boys for only $5 a serve. DIRT CHEAP DUMPLINGS - CAMY SHANGHAI, CITY Revel in the charmingly rude service as you devour mountains of steamed pork parcels — best enjoyed with a group of mates and bottle of BYO. No matter how hard to try or how much you order, somehow it never costs more than $15. PAY AS YOU FEEL - LENTIL AS ANYTHING, ABBOTSFORD Often mistaken for a hippy hang-out, this socially-conscious restaurant has been providing visitors with wholesome vegetarian meals for over 13 years on a pay-as-you-feel basis. Now spread across three venues (Abottsford convent, St Kilda and Footscray), as testament to the strengths of the social enterprise industry. $2.99 BREAKFAST - IKEA, RICHMOND There's something terribly sterile about canteen dining, but at Ikea they at least know how to do it with maximum efficiency for the lowest possible price. Until 11am every day you can get a full hot breakfast — including scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and hash brown — from only $2.99, no home assembly required. $5.50 ALL YOU CAN EAT - CROSSWAYS, CITY An inner-city Hare Krishna temple providing vegetarian lunches for only $5.50 ($7.50 without a concession), where you'll be welcomed with open arms and flowing sarongs. Saturday lunch is Special Subji and rice with pappadum, lassi, date halva and custard. Sunday $10 BREAKFAST CHEESESTEAK - SPARROW'S PHILLY CHEESESTEAKS, FITZROY For the uninitiated, a philly cheesesteak is an American steak sandwich combining thinly sliced beef and melted cheese in a bread roll. Of the various incarnations available, Sparrow's $10 special 'breakfast' cheesesteak — of beef, cheese, egg and hash brown — is a clear market leader. HOURLY PARMA SPECIALS - ROCHESTER CASTLE HOTEL, FITZROY Pay-by-the-hour parma deals ($6 at 6pm, $7 at 7pm and $8 at 8pm) are in dwindling supply in these modern times. Fortunately, the Rochester pays blatant disregard to such progression and does it anyway; in keeping with their penchant for playing 90s indie rock. FREE BBQ - WORKSHOP, CITY Workshop is not just that bar you find yourself in at 1am, gyrating on the dance-floor against a Columbian backpacker. It's also the place of a cheap daytime feed — and few meals are cheaper than a free BBQ (6-7pm Sundays). LOCALS CURRY NIGHT - HORN PLEASE, FITZROY NORTH North Fitzroy locals have been onto it for years; the local curry night buffet ($20) on Sundays allows punters to enjoy favourites from Horn’s menu, served fast and friendly and in an unlimited manner — allowing you to spend your savings on craft beer. $3 FISH AND CHIPS - 29TH APARTMENT, ST KILDA This is not a joke; it only costs $3 to score a fish'n'chip combo at 29th Apartment. It's only available with a drink purchase, but let’s be honest — the best time to immerse yourself in fried goods is after a session on the ciders.
Summer in Australia must've treated Kesha well at the beginning of 2025, because she's repeating the trip in 2026. Last January, the pop star ventured Down Under for two gigs, playing a House of Kesha show in Sydney and also the Australian Open's music lineup. In February 2026, she's taking to the stage at a series of headline concerts around the country, including in Melbourne. The two-time Grammy-nominee is bringing The Tits Out tour this way, with her Australian gigs part of the biggest headline run of Kesha's career so far — which kicked off in July 2025 in the US and also has European shows locked in for March 2026. [caption id="attachment_1015395" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ryan Bakerink/FilmMagic[/caption] With ten top-ten singles across her career so far, plus six albums under her belt — 2023's Gag Order and 2025's Period among them — Kesha has no shortage of tunes to draw upon live. 'JOYRIDE', 'TiK ToK', 'Only Love Can Save Us Now', 'Your Love Is My Drug', 'Take It Off' and 'We R Who We R' are among the tracks on her current setlist. In the Victorian capital, she's playing Margaret Court Arena on Sunday, February 22. [caption id="attachment_975223" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brendan Walter[/caption]
Ichi, ni, san — SAKE BOMB! Remember how that night ended? Me neither. Or maybe you prefer some kind of lychee-infused-sake cosmo situation. But the elusive Japanese speciality of sake is more than capable of standing alone, as Black Market Sake co-owner Matt Young explains to Concrete Playground. Young and co-owner Linda Wiss started the groundwork for Black Market Sake some five years ago while they both worked at Sydney's Aria. Today they import from about 16 Japanese producers and have a standout reputation. And Australia's having a burgeoning love affair with sake; we are now the second largest sake importer, behind the United States, and can boast an impressive annual growth rate of 12 percent in the market. But let's set the figures aside and get you brushed up ahead of Melbourne's next drinking trend. What is sake? C'est simple! It is a Japanese alcohol brewed from specifically grown rice, water, yeast and koji-kin. But, in the great tradition of Peking duck and Mumbai vs. Bombay, we have a few things to clear up. Firstly, sake just means booze in Japanese, and while that was once near-exclusively what we call sake, in the modern era of Japanese whisky, beer and wine the locals call it Nippon shu, meaning Japanese drink. Our next erroneous assumption is rice wine — this Western shorthand ignores that being brewed from a grain not from fruit makes sake closer to beer than wine, and its booze content puts both to shame, with most sakes coming in just under the 20 percent mark. Wait, koji-kin? Koji-kin is the magical ingredient, which is very unique to Japan and it is what helps break the starch in the rice down into sugar — so the sugar is then fermented into alcohol. It is also used in the production of many other products, notably soy, mirin miso and so on. It is a kind of mould, but the good kind, Young is quick to explain, "like the kind you find in cheese". He even likens the glossy texture koji-kin gives the rice to Camembert cheese. Is it big in Japan? Sake consumption within Japan has steadily decreased over the last hundred years; the number of breweries has halved since the 1970s to about 1500 today, and it did the same from the 1930s to the '70s. "The consumption in Japan has been on the slide for a long time. The younger generation got into beer and whisky and gave up on sake as an old man’s drink." Does sake exist outside of Japan? Production of rice-wine started in China and — along with Korea — it is still made today. However, in both instances large quantities of additives and distilled alcohol go into the product. “So, Japan has the most refined drink — although you can trace it back to the Chinese.” What's in a name? Sake menus have an anxiety causing reputation amongst even the most seasoned diners, and a lot of that is due to their lengthy naming system, but the truth is all the information you need is right there in front of you. "The more words that are on the label the less has been done to the product — so no charcoal filteration (muroka); not-pasteurised (namazake) that sort of stuff is always on the label, but if they do it than there won't be anything on the label,” says Young. Here are a few keywords to help you unlock a sake list, first up: junmai. This is your producer telling you that they have made a pure sake, i.e. no distilled alcohol or flavour additives went into the brewing process. Some 80 percent of sake made in Japan fail this first test and are categorised as futsu-shu, which is essentially an inferior, cheaper drink. The next consideration is how much they polished the rice, in layman terms: as you remove more of the grain; the more expensive the sake becomes. “The more you polish away the more aromatic it will be, the less you polish away the more kind of palate weight (it will have) and (the more) textural it will be.” The most polished sake is called daiginjo, where at least 50% of the rice has been removed and then ginjo comes in at least 60%. (For a full list of common sake terms check out the glossary on the Black Market Sake website.) How do I spot a good sake? "Quality for me in sake is balance and complexity on the palate," says Young. "Often you'll see sake that is quite fragrant and elegant and pretty, but it doesn't have a lot of texture or weight on the palate, and coming from a wine background I prefer that more textural sake. So something that has lovely balance a little bit sweetness and something that finishes dry — evenness when you taste it.” Characteristics he finds more dependent on the skill of the toji (master-brewer) and the quality of the ingredients than whether 70% or 60% of the grain has been removed. Hiroshima, Kyoto and Chiba are all top sake-producing regions. Which cuisines match well with sake? Other than the obvious, "French techniques have a lot in common with sake," says Young. So, consommes and broths are easily matched, while more robust sakes (ask for spice and high levels of acidity) stand up to heavier dishes like braised pork. But, if you want to hear Young wax a little lyrical, mention the marriage of cheese and sake. To spite the well-worn tradition of cheese and wine, this sommelier pairs Swiss mountain cheeses, parmesan and other hard cheeses with the Japanese beverage (to apparently elating effect). Also, try a dark chocolate match, as per Young's suggestion. Hot or cold? “The Japanese believe that every sake has a sweet spot, and that could be chilled, room temperature or warmed," says Young. "And when we say warmed, we mean gently warmed, 'cause you don't want to boil it but heat it to body temperature, essentially.” That being said, there are two reasons heating sake became popular. Quick warning: it is embarrassing if you never guessed reason A. Japan is a cold country, and sake breweries are generally about 4-5°C (brewing often takes place in winter — fun fact), so sake brewers would heat up their knock-off sake to heat them up. Similarly, when sakes have had alcohol, sugars and enzymes added to them (remember that is 80% of sakes), there's nothing like a bit of gentle heat to mask the inferiority of the product. For those playing at home, that means futsuu sakes are likely best served warm, while unpasteurized sakes are almost always best chilled. When is sake traditionally drunk? The short answer is all the time, but Young notes that in Western culture it has garnered a reputation as an aperitif (that's before the meal, guys). Where to enjoy sake in Melbourne? The best thing about sake is that it's made to enjoy with good Japanese food — and we have a lot of that. Toshi Maeda has curated a stellar sake list at Smith Street's Pabu Grill & Sake, Misuzu's in Albert Park still has over 40 varieties to choose from, and old favourites Hihou and Izakaya Den have you covered too. If you're looking to buy a bottle (or two) of the stuff, Chef's Armoury Sakeshop lets you choose you kind of sake based on complexity, intensity, umami and even chuggability. You can shop online or get educated at their Richmond store. Top image, What is sake image, Koji-kin image, How do I spot good sake? image and What's in a name image courtesy of Black Market Sake.
With Lacoste tennis dresses donned, twee baked goods in hand and Famous Friend bingo card at the ready, we checked into Wes Anderson’s newest and wildly anticipated new pop-up book of a cinematic endeavour, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Murder, art theft, pastry and Adrien Brody's moustache — Anderson serves up his most diabolical, zany undertaking yet, using every trick in his own book. FUTURA IS DEAD Looks like Anderson has relinquished his hold on his longtime minimalist typeface go-to Futura, handing the reins to Lorde and Vampire Weekend and opting for a more weighted, slab serif font called Archer. Often featured in credits sequences of old Italian films, Archer is described by developers Hoefler & Co. as "sweet but not saccharine, earnest but not grave, Archer is designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm." Film schools worldwide will undoubtedly be mass-installing the new typeface immediately. POLITENESS GETS YOU EVERYWHERE, EVEN OUT OF JAIL Sporadically reciting romantic poetry, giving lectern-delivered philosophical orations to the hotel staff about guest rudeness, serving up mush in prison with five-star finesse, Ralph Fiennes solidifies himself as downright godly in his role as M. Gustave, the flamboyant, charming and silver-tongued concierge of The Royal Budapest Hotel. Winning as many friends as he makes enemies, Fiennes sees Gustave balancing art theft, jailbreaks and cologne appreciation with breezy, theatrical conviction. Goes to show, a little complimentary affection will get you everywhere, darling. CELEBRITY BINGO MEANS A TOPNOTCH CAST A well-known fact, Anderson has accrued quite the crew of illustrious buddies simply by sticking with familiar faces all career long. Zissou-Tenenbaum-Rocket leads Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman have stepped back from the top spots for cheer-inducing pop-ins and supporting roles, making way for the new Wanderson Posse of Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody. Prompting constant outbursts of “Ohhh, it’s that guy!” from cinemagoers, we’ve come to actually wait for Anderson’s flurry of crafty cameos. Once again, Anderson’s cohort of well-liked celebs play dress up and wear All The Moustaches, with every screen guru from Tom Wilkinson to Jude Law and Harvey Keitel making their fleeting moments count. Now with added newbies Lea Seydoux and Saoirse Ronan, being in a Wes Anderson cast is now the hottest bill around. JEFF GOLDBLUM MAKES LEGAL JARGON SOUND UNBELIEVABLY EROTIC Jur-is-diction. Ex-ec-u-tor. If Jeff Goldblum wasn’t mystical and unnervingly alluring enough, he’s gone and landed himself one of his most potentially meme-worthy roles to date, with circular, thick-rimmed spectacles to boot. Using flashcards to describe a murder scene without taking one eye off the camera, dumping his dead Persian in a trashcan and being chased through an art museum by Willem Defoe aren’t nearly as exhilarating moments as Goldblum simply reading the contents of a last will and test-a-ment. IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT Meticulously premeditated and artful mise en scene, idiosyncratic scripting, perfectly flawed and outlandishly eccentric characters and a ukulele-fuelled soundtrack have become a formidable formula for Anderson, slowly developing into an extreme form of his own genre. After being royally reprimanded by critics for Moonrise Kingdom being a little too cute for their liking (heartless bums), TRBH sees the Twee King back on form with all the artful weirdness of The Royal Tenenbaums peppered with The Life Aquatic’s epic storybook set detail and The Fantastic Mr. Fox’s jolly good humour. With super zooms, painted landscape backdrops, frontal character portraits, horizontal tracking shots and whole lot of font, Anderson seems more settled in his own style than ever. And that’s quite alright, darling. The Grand Budapest Hotel opens April 10.
Over the past few years, the air travel industry has been flitting back and forth between two extremes. The desire for longer flights — especially non-stop from Australia to London and New York — keeps getting stronger. At the same time, the push to reduce the environmental toll of soaring through the sky has also been growing. Where the latter is concerned, Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly set itself a goal of becoming the world's first plastic-free carrier. Closer to home, Qantas pledged to phase out single-use plastics and boarding passes — and has been using mustard seed biofuel to power its planes. For Canadian seaplane outfit Harbour Air, however, the solution is electric. And, this month, it launched the first fully electric commercial aircraft. So far, the ePlane — a six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver magnified by a 750-horsepower (or 560 kilowatt) magni500 propulsion system — has only just completed its first test flight, which took place in Vancouver on December 10. Still, with Harbour Air aiming to build world's first completely electric commercial seaplane fleet for its 30,000 commercial annual flights across 12 routes around Vancouver and Seattle, it's the first step. The ePlane's magni500 propulsion system is the key to turning Harbour Air fully electric dream — and its desire to focus on clean, efficient, environmentally friendly power — into a reality. It's created by a company called magniX, which has its headquarters in the US but actually started in Australia — on the Gold Coast, where it still has an engineering centre. Before Harbour Air can bring its fleet to fruition, the two outfits will first need to get the magni500 propulsion system certified and approved — and then retrofit the airline's aircraft. For further information about Harbour Air, visit the company's website. Images: Harbour Air
A good night's sleep is one of life's pure joys and what better way is there to enhance your new year with a new set of bed sheets or a new mattress. Melbourne-designed Eva Mattress is here to help up your comfort level with its end-of-year Boxing Day sale. Think half-price sheets and hundreds of dollars off mattresses — and that's just the start. For its 13 day sale, running from 10am, Wednesday, December 23 until 10am, Tuesday, January 5, the local Aussie retailer is offering big end-of-year discounts. Expect $150 off its Eva mattress, $40 off the Eva pillow, $50 off Eva hemp linen and $50 off timber bed-frames. The award-winning mattress-in-a-box has been engineered as a hybrid, which means it combines the comfort of memory foam with the support of pocket springs. The memory foam pillow uses activated charcoal to keep you cool and dry throughout the night. The timber bed frame, winner of a 2020 Good Design Award, has been certified by the Forrest Stewardship Council meaning it's made from sustainably sourced timber. If you do spring for the mattress, sheets, pillow or bed frame, they come with a 120-night free trial, so you can be sure they'll help you get a good night sleep before you commit. All mattress orders come with free next-day delivery to metro areas and a 12-year warranty, ensuring you'll be sleeping pretty for years to come. Browse the store and pick up a discount. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
When the end of the week rolls around it's always worth a tiny celebration — heck even if there are 52 of them, you made it through another one! It's easy to fall back on going to the pub around the corner, or the closest bar to your office, but isn't it about time you did something a little different, and even a bit special? We've done the leg work for you and found seven great bars that will shake you a sublime cocktail, and add in something a little special. Round up your mates and pick one of these from a hat — we can guarantee they will take your Friday night drinks to another level of decadence, deliciousness and double taps. Whether you've hit your targets at work, or been kicking goals at the gym, you deserve to treat yourself for the small wins and milestones. The world's finest French vodka, Grey Goose, celebrates its versatility and commitment to quality ingredients as it allows bartenders to create incredible cocktails that upgrade any summer occasion — starting with those Friday night drinks. Here's where we think you should go — and what you should order as your first, premium cocktail of the night.
One of 2013's best album covers, Pennsylvanian Kurt Vile's LP Waking On a Pretty Daze featured a specially commissioned mural by Steve "ESPO" Powers in Philadelphia. Now the bright, purely inoffensive mural — which controversially features a rampaging dancing snowflake, threateningly adorable postbox and a terribly welcoming couch surround by a love heart and the words "There's a place for all my friends." — has been painted over by local man DJ Lee Mayjahs, according to Philadelphian radio station WXPN. Why? Apparently the mural was "attracting graffiti to the neighbourhood." WARNING: Vile fans, this photo hurts a little. Philadelphia journalist Leah Kaufmann spoke to Mayjahs, turns out he really didn't know what he was doing when he took to the mural with white paint. Mayjahs is apparently horrified by his actions and has offered every sincere apology. "I got home and started doing research on my computer. I can't believe what I had done ad I wrote a letter to Kurt Vile apologising," he said. "I wrote a letter to the artist Espo apologising, telling them that I would pay Espo to come down and repaint it. I also wrote a letter to the mural arts apologising. Apparently it wasn't official. Even though it wasn't official I'm sorry for everything I did. I would do whatever I could do to make it right. I really am sorry. I don't know what I was doing. I literally lost my mind and took it out which was the dumbest thing I've ever done in my entire life." "I live in that neighbourhood. I've lived there for 15 years. I'm always cleaning up the streets and alleyways. I don't know… for some reason I feel like ever since that piece has been there it's attracted more and more graffiti to that neighbourhood, he said. "Every time I paint over illegal graffiti I was blaming it on it (the mural) and I didn't realise the people in the neighbourhood love it, I've never really sat and looked at it. I never did any research on it and then I just snapped." "I didn't think anything through and acted false pretence. I didn't think about the consequences of my actions. I'm sorry about that, I love Philadelphia, I love my neighbourhood and I love the arts. I'm a big supporter of the arts and so for me to do something that offends all of these people is completely out of character for me. Anybody who knows me will tell you the exact same thing. I'm sorry about it." Vile's rep has confirmed to that ESPO will head back to the mural and repaint it. The building's owner and the attached restaurant are apparently fans, seeing no reason to fear a graffiti influx to their Philadelphian streets because of it. Check out the mini-doco about the creation of the mural and just stare forlornly at the Waking On a Pretty Daze album cover for consolation: https://youtube.com/watch?v=I4RlljcBKg0 Via Pitchfork, Metro and WXPN.
"Accio April 2022" isn't something any character has uttered in either the Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts films, but it's what you might be chanting to yourself right now if you're a fan of both. Four years after the last big-screen entry in the Wizarding World — the franchise that's sprung up around The Boy Who Lived — Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has just dropped its first trailer. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 reached cinemas a decade back, it was never going to be the end of the on-screen story. Cue the Fantastic Beasts series, which took an illustrated guide book about magical creatures, spun a story about its magizoologist author Newt Scamander, and started a Harry Potter prequel saga. Conjuring up more enchantment hasn't been quite so straightforward this time around, however — and how you feel about 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and 2018's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald might just depend on how spellbound you are with everything HP. But this franchise-within-a-franchise was always going to go on, and The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third entry in the planned five-film series. When it hits the silver screen next year, The Secrets of Dumbledore will once again give Jude Law another 'young' role; he played The Young Pope, so seeing him step into young Albus Dumbledore's shoes in The Crimes of Grindelwald felt like the most natural thing in the world. And, just like in that last Fantastic Beasts flick, Law's version of the future Hogwarts headmaster is pivotal to Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and his pals' efforts to face off against the evil Gellert Grindelwald. That said, Grindelwald, the dark wizard who just keeps trying to control all things magical — and wreak havoc on everything in general — isn't quite the same this time around. Both Colin Farrell (Voyagers) and Johnny Depp (Minamata) have previously played the role, but Mads Mikkelsen (Riders of Justice) has now replaced the latter. As the trailer for The Secrets of Dumbledore shows, Grindelwald is still solemnly up to no good — and his devoted following is only growing — so it's up to Scamander, Dumbledore, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston, The Third Day), Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol, Between Us) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler, The Walking Dead) to try to save the day. That requires a dangerous mission led by Scamander, who obviously crosses paths with plenty of beasts (it's right there in the franchise's title). Ezra Miller (Zack Snyder's Justice League) also returns as Credence/Aurelius Dumbledore, while Jessica Williams (Love Life) follows up her brief appearance in The Crimes of Grindelwald by return as Ilvermorny professor Eulalie 'Lally' Hicks. And making the magic happen behind the lens is David Yates, who has directed every Wizarding World film — Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts alike since 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Break out the butterbeer and check out the trailer below: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore opens in cinemas Down Under on April 7, 2022.
Every film festival has its traditions. At the Sydney Film Festival, adding to its program just days before the curtain lifts is a tried-and-tested part of its annual cycle. First, the Harbour City's major cinema showcase reveals a few titles in April to start getting movie lovers excited. Then, it advises who'll be the focus of its big retrospective. Next, it drops its complete lineup in May, but it isn't actually quite complete. This year, closing night's film was unveiled after that. And, once the Cannes Film Festival takes place, SFF also throws in a few more picks from France's prestigious event. SFF 2023 starts on Wednesday, June 8, running until Sunday, June 19 — and the day before the fest kicks off, it has boosted its bill with nine more features. The huge drawcard: Anatomy of a Fall, a drama about an author (Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann) accused of her husband's murder, which just won French director Justine Triet (Sibyl) the Palme d'Or. She became just the third female filmmaker to earn the coveted prize after Jane Campion — the subject of this year's SFF retrospective — for The Piano in 1993 and Julia Ducournau for Titane in 2021. Also hitting Sydney after competing for Cannes' major prize are Club Zero and May December. Helmed by Little Joe's Jessica Hausner, the former stars Mia Wasikowska (Blueback) as a boarding-school teacher spearheading a conscious-eating movement. The latter hails from Carol director Todd Haynes, is led by Natalie Portman (Thor: Love and Thunder) and Julianne Moore (Sharper), and dives into a scandal. SFF has also added body-horror film Tiger Stripes, which is set in the Malaysian jungle and won the 2023 Cannes Critics' Week Grand Prize — and Inshallah a Boy, about a woman in Jordan who fakes a pregnancy because it's the only way she can secure her inheritance. Plus, from Cannes Directors' Fortnight comes Georgian feature Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, about an autumn romance. Also from the Croisette: Anselm, Wim Wenders' (Submergence) portrait of artist Anselm Kiefer; and Four Daughters, which won Cannes' top documentary prize for its tale about a Tunisian mother and her missing children. And, while it screened at Sundance instead, The Persian Version — an Audience Award-winner at the Utah fest, focusing on Iranian American filmmaker Leila (Layla Mohammadi, The Sex Lives of College Girls), her romantic life and her mother Shireen's (Niousha Noor, Kaleidoscope) story before her — rounds out the new additions. SFF attendees, you'll now need to rejig your schedule. That's one of this film festival's annual traditions, too. Sydney Film Festival 2023 runs from Wednesday, June 7–Sunday, June 18 at various Sydney cinemas — head to the festival website for further information and tickets.
The Italian Dolomite region of the European Alps is dotted with mountain huts called rifugi, simple lodgings that serve hearty food and drink after a long day on the slopes. The Alps — Commercial Road's cosy neighbourhood wine bar — channels that same spirit, offering Melburnians an inviting rifugio of their own, whether on a lazy afternoon or a chilly evening. Run by the team behind hatted Richmond wine bar Clover, The Alps recently unveiled a thoughtful revamp, complete with an expanded food menu and a new-look courtyard. The once snack-heavy offer has made way for a heartier — yet no less shareable — menu by new Head Chef Miller Cowie (ex-Freddy's and Zita's) and Charley Snadden-Wilson (Co-owner and Executive Chef of Clover) that's now anchored by thin-based Roman-style pizzas with sauce that reaches right to the edges. The menu will feature a mix of permanent signature pies and seasonally rotating specials. Wine remains a core part of the experience — and on the 400-strong list, you'll find a cleverly curated selection spanning alpine producers, natural trailblazers and old-world icons. There's also a smart selection of local beers, Alpine-inspired cocktails and a strong showing of amari behind the bar, for those after something different. Out the back, an updated courtyard is now an all-weather affair thanks to a retractable awning and heaters, making it primed for year-round catch-ups. Inside, a newly integrated open kitchen brings the action to the bar, while the venue's warmth remains intact thanks to the open fire in The Cabin, which continues to host The Alps' signature Cabin Conversations — a fortnightly dinner and conversation series led by winemakers, importers and wine journalists. Plus, Thursday nights host complimentary wine tastings, with a different producer spotlighted each week. Images: Jack Carlin.
Finding a designated driver on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve is not an easy feat — nan is stuck into the boozy pud, dad has pulled a dusty one out of the cellar and you don't really want to carpool with that weird uncle. And no one's putting their hand up to find a park near the fireworks on December 31. Public Transport Victoria understands, and is easing the pain of commuting on the two big days (slightly) by offering all public transport for free. Over Christmas Day, all trains, trams, buses and V/line services will be free from 3am on Wednesday, December 25, till 3am on Thursday, December 26. Most public transport services will be running to a Sunday timetable, and there will be limited V/Line coaches and trains to regional cities (it recommended that you book spots for these). There will, however, be no night buses, trams, trains, so if you do spend too much time sipping sherry with your aunt, you might have to try your luck with a taxi or Uber. A few days later, over New Year's Eve, the same public transport services will be free from 6pm on Tuesday, December 31 until 6am on Wednesday, January 1. As there will most likely be hordes of people flocking to get home after the fireworks, metro trains will be running every ten minutes from midnight till 2.30am, extra V/Line services, trams running every five-to-ten minutes until 2am and the 426, 905, 906, 907 and 908 buses will be extended until 1.50am. You can check out a comprehensive rundown of New Year's Eve services at the Public Transport Victoria website. If you do want to check out the midnight fireworks, they'll be four spots to catch them: Docklands, Flagstaff Gardens, Treasury Gardens and Kings Domain. The City of Melbourne has created this handy map pinpointing the closest train stations, too: On both days, you won't need to touch on (or be carrying) your Myki — but, if you do, you won't be charged. Find more information on the free travel periods here and check for updates on the PTV website. Image: Josie Withers/Visit Victoria.
