Gin dreams are made of this: a sprawling distillery that doubles as an indoor/outdoor gin garden, lets spirits aficionados sip plenty of gin (obviously), and also serves up snacks made with spent gin botanicals. That's all on the menu at Four Pillars' redeveloped Healesville base, which relaunched to the gin-adoring public following a hefty $7 million makeover in April 2022. Gin fiends of Australia have been singing the brand's praises for a decade, with the beloved distillery setting up shop in 2013, then opening up its Healesville digs to the public in 2015 — and the latter's revamp only evoked more cheers. Sitting directly adjacent to the company's original home on Lilydale Road, the new 1000-square-metre space helps turn the brand's headquarters into an epic gin destination, and has almost tripled the area available to visitors. As well as the aforementioned Jude's Gin Garden — which overlooks leafy trees and has sliding floor-to-ceiling windows to let the outside in (when the weather permits) — there's multiple new event and function rooms, a dedicated Four Pillars Gin Shop, and a gleaming new copper bar. On the menu: a changing array that spans tasting paddles, gin classics and familiar cocktails, plus a snack range designed by Made From Gin's Matt Wilkinson with Caro Gray. Think: duck liver pate with Bloody Shiraz Gin jelly; bagels with olive leaf gin-cured salmon; plus gin-laced potato, zucchini and dill croquettes — all using those spent gin botanicals. Still on food, the Four Pillars Tuck Shop also opened later in 2022, serving up more substantial dishes on weekends and public holidays. Of course, a visit to this gin-swilling spot is always going to be about the spirit in question — and here it's piped into the main bar using featured copper, all so that Four Pillars can reduce its glass waste. Tonic is largely being served from kegs as well for the same reason, at a site that goes big on solar and recycling to lower the venue's carbon and environmental impact. That shouldn't come as a surprise, with Four Pillars announcing that it had gone carbon-neutral back in 2022 as well. Tubing is also a big design feature, with 1650 metres of raw copper tubing used to enclose the entire site — the OG building and the new base — in a veil. As well as looking stunning, it's designed to work as a natural heat exchange to reduce energy consumption. Melbourne's sustainability-led Breathe Architecture led the revamped spot's design, which also heroes recycled and upcycled concrete and bricks, plus pineapple 'leather' upholstery. The furniture has been sourced locally, and local natives and botanicals play a big part in the landscaping both indoors and out. And yes, many will end up in Four Pillars' gins in the future. Updating the production side of things was also part of the makeover, allowing Four Pillars to now produce more than one million bottles of gin a year as well. To the delight of your tastebuds, that means more of its award-winning range — which includes barrel-aged, bloody shiraz, rare dry, yuzu, Christmas, overproof, olive leaf and summer-inspired gins. And yes, Healesville 2.0's launch helps cap off a huge few years for the gin company. It was named the world's best gin producer for two years running, sold half of its business to beer behemoth Lion and opened a Sydney bar in the middle of the pandemic — and now, of course, this.
It's happening again. Another year, another round of shiny trophies being handed out throughout Hollywood. Indeed, before Monday, March 13 comes to a close Down Under, Tinseltown will have anointed a new batch of Oscar winners. The nominations dropped in late January, speculation over who'll emerge victorious dates back well into 2022, and now it's time for the Academy Awards to name its latest greats at its 95th ceremony. Here's hoping that the focus will be on the films rather than mid-ceremony mayhem in 2023. The past year boasts no shortage of exceptional flicks deserving plenty of love — whether multiverse chaos, war epics, high-soaring sequels, music biopics or Irish gems end up scooping the pool, sharing the attention or going home empty-handed. Plus, in a bonus for movie lovers in Australia, you can watch 37 of this year's nominated features right now. Some are playing in cinemas, others are streaming, and a few give you options for either big- or small-screen viewings. Here's your pre-Oscars binging rundown on where to see them all. ON THE BIG SCREEN: AFTERSUN Nominations: Best Actor (Paul Mescal) Our thoughts: The simplest things in life can be the most revealing, whether it's a question asked of a father by a child, an exercise routine obeyed almost mindlessly or a man stopping to smoke someone else's old cigarette while wandering through a holiday town alone at night. Following the about-to-turn-31 Calum (Paul Mescal, The Lost Daughter) and his daughter Sophie (debutant Frankie Corio) on vacation in Turkey in the late 90s, this astonishing feature debut by Scottish writer/director Charlotte Wells is about the simple things — but Aftersun is always a movie of deep, devastating and revealing complexity. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: Nabbing the Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, this documentary by Citizenfour Oscar-winner Laura Poitras is a film about many things: photographer Nan Goldin, her complicated history, her work, her chronicles of the LGBTQIA+ community and the 80s HIV/AIDS crisis, and her efforts to counter the opioid epidemic all included. Flitting between her images, recollections, and ongoing battle to bring the company and wealthy family behind OxyContin to justice by targeting their ties with galleries, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is also a passionate, empathetic and piercing emotional epic. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER Nominations: Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Our thoughts: When James Cameron's second dip in what's now officially a franchise manages to be as involving as he wants it to be, and has audiences eagerly awaiting its third, fourth and fifth instalments in 2024, 2026 and 2028, it's an absolute visual marvel. When that's the case, it's also underwater, or in it. Yes, Avatar: The Way of Water takes its subtitle seriously, splashing that part of its name about heartily in as much magnificently detailed 3D-shot and -projected glory as its director, cinematographer Russell Carpenter (a True Lies and Titanic alum) and hard-working special-effects team can excitedly muster. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. CLOSE Nominations: Best International Feature Film Our thoughts: When 13-year-olds Léo (debutant Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (first-timer Gustav De Waele) dash the carefree dash of youth in Close's early moments, rushing from a dark bunker out into the sunshine — from rocks and forest to a bloom-filled field ablaze with colour, too — this immediately evocative Belgian drama runs joyously with them. Girl writer/director Lukas Dhont starts his sophomore feature with a tremendous moment, one that sees his two leads bolting from the bliss that is their visibly contented childhood to the tussles and emotions of being a teenager, and it only gets better from there. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. EMPIRE OF LIGHT Nominations: Best Cinematography Our thoughts: 1917, director Sam Mendes jumps back to 80s for this ode to cinema — to the coastal town of Margate in Kent, where the Dreamland Cinema has stood for 100 years in 2023. In Empire of Light, the art deco structure has been rechristened The Empire, and is where a small staff under the overbearing Donald Ellis (Colin Firth, Operation Mincemeat) all have different relationships with their own hopes and wishes. But duty manager Hilary (Olivia Colman, Heartstopper) and new employee Stephen's (Micheal Ward, Small Axe) stories are thankfully far more complicated than simply paying tribute to a medium. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. LIVING Nominations: Best Actor (Bill Nighy), Best Adapted Screenplay Our thoughts: Somehow, Bill Nighy made it all the way into his 70s before receiving a single Oscar nomination; his nod for Living isn't a career nod, however, but thoroughly earned by his sensitive turn as a dutiful company many facing life-changing news. Set in 50s-era London, it's an adaptation several times over — of Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru, which takes inspiration from Leo Tolstoy's 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. At all times, Nighy, director Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) and screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro (also the author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go) live up to that lineage. Where to watch: Living officially opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, March 16, with preview screenings from Friday, March 10–Sunday, March 12. TÁR Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Todd Field), Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing Our thoughts: The least surprising aspect of Tár is also its most essential: Cate Blanchett being as phenomenal as she's ever been, plus more. The Australian Nightmare Alley, Thor: Ragnarok and Carol actor — "our Cate", of course — best be making space next to her Oscars for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine as a result. Playing a celebrated, pioneering maestro who plummets to a personal and professional low just when it seems her fortunes can't soar higher, Blanchett is that stunning in Tár, that much of a powerhouse, that adept at breathing life and complexity into a thorny figure, and that magnetic and mesmerising. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. TO LESLIE Nominations: Best Actress (Andrea Riseborough) Our thoughts: Forget the controversy that's surrounded Andrea Riseborough's inclusion among this year's Oscar nominees. A stunning performance is a stunning performance no matter whether other famous names advocate for accolades on its behalf or not — and the Possessor and Amsterdam star is indeed stunning in To Leslie. There's such weight and soul to her titular portrayal in this tale of redemption, after single mother Leslie wins the lotto, drinks and parties away the proceeds, then tries to reconnect with her now-adult son (Owen Teague, The Stand) six years latter, plus face a town with a long memory. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Ruben Östlund), Best Original Screenplay Our thoughts: Beware the luxurious worlds of Ruben Östlund's films. Beware any feelings of ease, opulence or awe that spring at ski resorts, in art museums, or, in Triangle of Sadness, within the fashion industry and on high-end holidays, too. The Swedish filmmaker isn't interested in keeping his characters comfortable regardless of their lavish surroundings, which proves true with his second feature in succession to win Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or. Here, he has modelling, influencers and the super-rich in his sights, plus unpacking societal structures and the divides they rely on (and cause). Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. THE WHALE Nominations: Best Actor (Brendan Fraser), Best Supporting Actress (Hong Chau), Best Makeup and Hairstyling Our thoughts: The actors have it: in The Whale, Brendan Fraser (No Sudden Move), Hong Chau (The Menu) and Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) are each masterful, and each in their own way. For viewers unaware that this drama about a reclusive 600-pound English professor stems from the stage going in, it won't take long to realise — for multiple reasons. As penned by Samuel D Hunter from his award-winning semi-autobiographical play, The Whale's script is talky and blunt. It also favours one setting. But the performances that Darren Aronofsky (mother!) guides out of his cast are complicated, masterful and powerful. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. WOMEN TALKING Nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay Our thoughts: Get Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand and more exceptional women in a room, point a camera their way, let the talk flow: Sarah Polley's Women Talking does just that, and the end result is phenomenal. The actor-turned-filmmaker's fourth effort behind the lens does plenty more, but its basic setup is as straightforward as its title states. Adapted from Miriam Toews' 2018 novel of the same name, it draws on events in a Bolivian Mennonite colony from 2005–9, where a spate of mass druggings and rapes of women and girls were reported at the hands of some of the group's men. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. IN CINEMAS OR AT HOME: BABYLON Nominations: Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design Our thoughts: What happens when aspiring 1920s actor Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie, Amsterdam), veteran leading man Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt, Bullet Train) and eager show business everyman Manny Torres (Diego Calva, Narcos: Mexico) navigate Golden Age Hollywood, starting at the same decadent soirée? That's what jazz-loving, La La Land Oscar-winning, Tinseltown-adoring writer/director Damien Chazelle charts in Babylon — and how. This is a relentless and ravenous movie that's always a lot, not just in length, but is dazzling (and also very funny, and sports an earworm of a Justin Hurwitz score) when it clicks. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Martin McDonagh), Best Actor (Colin Farrell), Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon), Best Supporting Actor (Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing Our thoughts: The rolling hills and clifftop fields look like they could stretch on forever in In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin, even on a fictional island perched off the Irish mainland. For years, chats between Padraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell, After Yang) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson, The Tragedy of Macbeth) have sprawled similarly — and leisurely, too — especially during the pair's daily sojourn to the village pub over pints. But when the latter calls time on their camaraderie suddenly, his demeanour turns brusque, and nothing for these characters will ever be the same. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE FABELMANS Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Supporting Actor (Judd Hirsch), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design Our thoughts: "Movies are dreams that you never forget," says Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) early in Steven Spielberg's autobiographical The Fabelmans. Have truer words ever been spoken in any of the director's 33 flicks? Uttered to her eight-year-old son Sammy (feature debutant Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), Mitzi's statement lingers, providing the film's beating heart even when the coming-of-age tale it spins isn't always idyllic — which is often, as Sammy hits his teen years (played by The Predator's Gabriel LaBelle), chases his movie dreams and navigates his family. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: Who doesn't want to see a kitty swashbuckler voiced by Antonio Banderas (Official Competition), basically making this a moggie Zorro? Based on the 2011 Puss in Boots' $555 million at the box office, that concept is irresistible to plenty of folks — hence, albeit over a decade later, sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Pairing the right talent to the right animated character doesn't instantly make movie magic, of course; however, The Last Wish, which literally has Puss seeking magic, is among the best films that the broader Shrek saga has conjured up so far. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. VIA STREAMING: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Our thoughts: Helming and co-scripting, All My Loving director Edward Berger gives All Quiet on the Western Front its first adaptation in German, its native tongue. The film focuses on 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (debutant Felix Kammerer) and his ordeal after naively enlisting in 1917, thinking with his mates that they'd be marching on Paris within weeks. This is a movie haunted: by the callous disregard for human lives by power-seekers far removed from any fatal consequences, the wide-eyed fervour and blind faith with which boys pledge themselves to war, the desperation in the thick of the fray, and oh-so-much death. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. ALL THAT BREATHES Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: Pictures can't tell all of All That Breathes' story, with Delhi-based brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud's chats saying plenty that's essential. Still, the images that Shaunak Sen (Cities of Sleep) lets flow across the screen — and, befitting this poetic documentary's pace and mood, they do flow — in this Sundance- and Cannes-winner are astonishing. The pair adore the black kites that take to India's skies and suffer from its toxic air quality, tending to the creatures' injuries. As Sen watches, this film trills about urban development, its costs and consequences, and caring for others both animal and human. Where to watch: Streaming via Binge. ARGENTINA, 1985 Nominations: Best International Feature Film Our thoughts: As reliable a screen presence as cinema has ever been blessed with, The Secret in Their Eyes, Truman and Everybody Knows-starring Argentinian actor Ricardo Darín is magnetic in this weighty and important courtroom drama. Filmmaker Santiago Mitre (15 Ways to Kill Your Neighbour) dramatises the Trial of the Juntas, focusing on public prosecutor Julio César Strassera (Darín) and his deputy Luis Moreno Ocampo (Peter Lanzani, Maradona: Blessed Dream) as they attempt to bring military officials who led the country under its 1976–1983 dictatorship to justice for crimes against humanity. Where to watch: Streaming via Prime Video. BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS Nominations: Best Cinematography Our thoughts: Everyone wants to be the person at the party that the dance floor revolves around, and life in general, or so Alejandro González Iñárritu contends in Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. Everyone wants to be the filmmaker with all the fame and success, records, winning prestigious awards and conquering Hollywood, he also asserts. Alas, when you're this Mexican director, that isn't as joyous or uncomplicated an experience as it sounds. On-screen, his blatant alter ego is a feted documentarian (Daniel Giménez Cacho, Memoria) applauded at home and overseas, and also a man conflicted again and again. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. THE BATMAN Nominations: Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Our thoughts: The elder Waynes are still dead, and have been for two decades. Bruce (Robert Pattinson, Tenet) still festers with pain over their loss. And the prince of Gotham still turns vigilante by night, cleaning up the lawless streets one no-good punk at a time with only trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis, Long Shot) in on his secret. Still, as directed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes' Matt Reeves, and co-scripted with The Unforgivable's Peter Craig, The Batman offers a more absorbing version of the character than seen in many of the past Bat flicks that've fluttered through cinemas. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER Nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Angela Bassett), Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling Our thoughts: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever isn't the movie it was initially going to be, the sequel to 2018's electrifying Black Panther that anyone behind it originally wanted it to be, or the chapter in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe that it first aimed to be — this, the world knew once Chadwick Boseman passed away. That vast void isn't one this film can fill, but returning director Ryan Coogler still has a top-notch cast — Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke, plus new addition Tenoch Huerta, most notably — drawing eyeballs towards his vibrant imagery. Where to watch: Streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLONDE Nominations: Best Actress (Ana de Armas) Our thoughts: Usually when a film leaves you wondering how it might've turned out in other hands, that isn't a great sign — but Blonde, the years-in-the-making adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' fictionalised Marilyn Monroe biography of the same name, demands a watch. It's a fascinating movie, including for what works astoundingly well and what definitely doesn't. In the first category: Ana de Armas (The Gray Man) as Norma Jeane Mortenson, the woman who'd become not just a star and a sensation during her life, but an icon across the six decades since. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. CAUSEWAY Nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Brian Tyree Henry) Our thoughts: Trauma is a screenwriter's best friend; however, few films are happy to sit with trauma in the way that (and as well as) Causeway does. Starring Jennifer Lawrence (Don't Look Up) as a military veteran sent home from Afghanistan after being blown up, working her way through rehab and determined to re-enlist as soon as she has medical sign-off — plus Atlanta and Bullet Train's Brian Tyree Henry as a New Orleans mechanic with his own history — this subtle, thoughtful and powerful movie grapples with the fact that some woes do genuinely change lives, and not for the better. Where to watch: Streaming via Apple TV+. Read our full review. ELVIS Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Austin Butler), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Our thoughts: Making a biopic about the king of rock 'n' roll, trust Baz Luhrmann to take his subject's words to heart: a little less conversation, a little more action. The Aussie filmmaker's first feature since The Great Gatsby isn't short on chatter. It's even narrated by Tom Hanks (A Man Called Otto) as Colonel Tom Parker, the carnival barker who thrust Presley to fame. But this chronology of an icon's life is at its best when it's showing rather than telling. That's when Elvis is electrifying, in no small part due to its treasure trove of recreated concert scenes — and Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as the man himself. Where to watch: Streaming via Google Play, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design Our thoughts: Imagine living in a universe where Michelle Yeoh isn't the wuxia superstar she is. No, no one should want that reality. Now, envisage a world where everyone has hot dogs for fingers, including the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon icon. Next, picture another where Ratatouille is real, but with raccoons. Then, conjure up a sparse realm where life only exists in sentient rocks. An alternative to this onslaught of pondering: watching Everything Everywhere All At Once, which throws all of the above at the screen and a helluva lot more thanks to the Daniels, aka Swiss Army Man's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Where to watch: Streaming via Binge, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. FIRE OF LOVE Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: What a delight it would be to trawl through Katia and Maurice Krafft's archives, sift through every video that features the French volcanologists and their work, and witness them doing their highly risky jobs against spectacular surroundings. That's the task that filmmaker Sara Dosa (The Seer and the Unseen) took up to make superb documentary Fire of Love about the couple's lives — and, as set to the otherworldly sounds of Air, her magnificent effort is an incredibly thoughtful, informative and moving film from start to finish. Where to watch: Streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay Our thoughts: This murder-mystery opens with a puzzle box inside a puzzle box. The former is a wooden cube delivered out of the blue, the latter the followup to 2019 hit Knives Out, and both are as tightly, meticulously, cleverly and cannily orchestrated as each other. With writer/director Rian Johnson (Poker Face) back at the helm and Daniel Craig (No Time to Die) playing southern detective Benoit Blanc again — alongside a new star-studded cast — long may this franchise keep sleuthing. Long may it have everyone revelling in every twist, trick and revelation, as the breezy blast that is Glass Onion does. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. GUIILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: Guillermo del Toro hasn't yet directed a version of Frankenstein, except that he now has in a way. Officially, he's chosen another much-adapted story, but there's no missing the similarities between the Nightmare Alley filmmaker's stop-motion Pinocchio and Mary Shelley's ever-influential horror masterpiece. Both carve out tales about creations made by grief-stricken men consumed by loss. Both see those tinkerers help gift existence to the inanimate because they can't cope with mortality's reality. Both notch up the fallout when those central humans struggle with the results of their handiwork, too. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: A House Made of Splinters premiered at Sundance in January 2022, with Danish documentarian Simon Lereng Wilmont returning to Eastern Ukraine after The Barking of Distant Dogs to tell of the residents at The Lysychansk Center for The Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children. That timing saw his latest film debut before the Russian invasion, but the war's impact since 2014 make itself felt as the kids in the doco's frames step through their experiences — and grapple with a fraught reality — in a facility that's only meant to house them for nine months until their paths from there can be plotted. Where to watch: Streaming via Docplay. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: It started as an in-joke, thanks to a voice put on by Parks and Recreation Jenny Slate for her now ex-husband Dean Fleischer-Camp. Then came their 2010, 2011 and 2014 shorts, plus two best-selling children's picture books. On- and off-screen, the world's cutest talking shell has taken the internet-stardom path from online sensation to more — and the sweet, endearing, happily silly, often hilarious and deeply insightful Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a touching meditation upon loss, change and valuing what's truly important, as well as an all-round gem. Where to watch: Streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS Nominations: Best Costume Design Our thoughts: The title is accurate: in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, war widow and hardworking cleaner Ada Harris (Lesley Manville, The Crown) takes a surprise windfall to the French capital in the 50s to buy her very own Christian Dior dress. Cue class-clash snootiness (personified by The Godmother's Isabelle Huppert as a disapproving fashion house bigwig) and unexpected kindness (including from a model, accountant and Marquis played by Warrior Nun's Alba Baptista, Ticket to Paradise's Lucas Bravo and Benedetta's Lambert Wilson), in the kind of tale that plays out exactly as expected, albeit nicely. Where to watch: Streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. NAVALNY Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: In August 2020, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned while flying from Tomsk to Moscow. The toxin: a Novichok nerve agent. That's just one aspect of the Vladimir Putin opponent's story in recent years, which filmmaker Daniel Roher (Once Were Brothers) shot as it unfolded for his documentary Navalny. The details are astonishing and infuriating, with Navalny a candid and determined interviewee. No matter whether you know the details from copious news headlines or you're stepping through his tale for the first time, this doco couldn't be more gripping. Where to watch: Streaming via Docplay, SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE QUIET GIRL Nominations: Best International Feature Film Our thoughts: This tender, affecting and resonant Gaelic-language coming-of-age film sees the world as only a lonely, innocent, often-ignored child can. Devastatingly moving and beautiful, The Quiet Girl also spies the pain and hardship that shapes its titular figure's world — and yes, it does so softly and with restraint, but that doesn't make the feelings it swirls up any less immense. Filmmaker Colm Bairéad, who directs and adapts Claire Keegan's novella Foster, makes a stunning feature debut. Also exceptional is newcomer Catherine Clinch as pivotal nine-year-old Cáit. Where to watch: Streaming via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. RRR Nominations: Best Original Song Our thoughts: The letters in RRR's title are short for Rise Roar Revolt. They could also stand for riveting, rollicking and relentless. They link in with the Indian action movie's three main forces, too — writer/director SS Rajamouli (Baahubali: The Beginning), plus stars NT Rama Rao Jr (Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava) and Ram Charan (Vinaya Vidheya Rama) — and could describe the sound of some of its standout moments. What noise echoes when a motorcycle is used in a bridge-jumping rescue plot, as aided by a horse and the Indian flag, amid a crashing train, after all? Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. THE SEA BEAST Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: One of the undying ideas about monsters is also one of the most humane: perhaps what we perceive as monstrous doesn't always deserve that label. Set centuries back in prime seafaring times — but, thanks to the eponymous creature, clearly a work of animated fiction — The Sea Beast ponders this notion after seasoned beast-hunter Jacob Holland (voiced by The Boys' Karl Urban) pledges to slay a critter dubbed the Red Bluster. Here, eye-catching animation and a familiar but still potent story combine in Big Hero 6 and Moana co-director Chris Williams' hands. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. TOP GUN: MAVERICK Nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Our thoughts: Top Gun: Maverick flies high when its jets are soaring. The initial Top Gun had the perfect song to describe exactly what these phenomenally well-executed and -choreographed action scenes feel like to view; yes, they'll take your breath away. Thankfully, this time that Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible — Fallout)-led adrenaline kick is accompanied by a smarter and far more self-aware film, as directed by TRON: Legacy and Oblivion's Joseph Kosinski. Top Gun in the 80s was exactly what Top Gun in the 80s was always going to be — but Top Gun in the 2020s doesn't dare believe that nothing has changed Where to watch: Streaming via Paramount+, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. TURNING RED Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: What'd happen if the Hulk was a teenage girl, and turned into a giant, fuzzy, super-cute red panda instead of going green and getting ultra-muscular? Or, finding a different riff on the ol' werewolf situation, if emotions rather than full moons inspired a case of not-quite-lycanthropy? These aren't queries that most folks have thought of, but writer/director Domee Shi certainly has — and they're at the core of Pixar's Turning Red, her debut feature after winning an Oscar for 2018 short Bao, and a movie with particularly astute and endearing results. Where to watch: Streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review.
Fans of huge pop-culture behemoths, we hope you have a comfortable couch, because you're going to be spending a lot of time sitting on it over the next month or so. Not one, not two, but four massive franchises are dropping new streaming series between now and mid-September — and with everyone's queues set to be so busy, one is now arriving a little later than initially planned. That show: Andor, the second Star Wars Disney+ spinoff for 2022, following Obi-Wan Kenobi. Originally set to debut at the end of August, it has just pushed its premiere date out to Wednesday, September 21, arriving after Marvel's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon and the Middle-earth-set The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — so you'll be waiting a bit longer to dive into its tale of espionage and rebellion. The rest of the series' details remain the same, though — including providing a prequel to 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and bringing some spy thrills to a galaxy far, far away. And yes, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor takes a favourite big-screen character and steps back into their story before the events that viewers have already seen. As its title makes plain, Andor focuses on its namesake — Cassian Andor, again played by Diego Luna (If Beale Street Could Talk). Star Wars fans have already seen him as a Rebel captain and intelligence agent, and also watched how his story ends, hence the show's need to jump backwards. The focus: following Andor as he discovers how he can play a part in fighting the Empire. Indeed, charting the rebellion, and how people and planets joined in, is the series' whole remit. Alongside Luna, Andor sees filmmaker Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy) — who co-wrote the screenplay for Rogue One — return to the Star Wars franchise as the series' creator and showrunner. And, on-screen, Luna is joined by the Genevieve O'Reilly (The Dry) — who is also back as Mon Mothma — as well as Stellan Skarsgård (Dune), Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough (Monday) and Kyle Soller (Poldark). Oh, and a cute-looking new robot that was first scurrying around in the show's initial trailer, although how big a part it'll play is yet to be revealed. Andor also just dropped its full trailer, which teases the titular figure's quest to make a difference against the Empire — with a big push at first, and with help where he can get it afterwards. Unsurprisingly, the mood is grim and weighty. "The Empire is choking us all slowly. We're starting not to notice," Andor is told by Luthen Rael (Skarsgård). "What I'm asking is this: wouldn't you give it all to something real?" Andor is set to span two seasons, both running for 12 episodes each and adding to Disney+'s ever-expanding array of Star Wars programming. Also on its way: the third season of The Mandalorian, which'll arrive in February 2023; and the recently announced Skeleton Crew, which'll star Jude Law and hit streaming queues sometime next year as well. Check out the full trailer for Andor below: Andor will now start streaming via Disney+ from Wednesday, September 21. Images: ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd & TM. All Rights Reserved.
The returning Fantastic Film Festival Australia isn't just about celebrating cult-classic movies. This cinema showcase is one of several in Australia that wears its love for the weird, wild and wonderful — the strange and surreal, too — on its screens, and that means going heavy on the latest flicks that fit that description. But when the Melbourne event includes beloved retro titles on its lineup, it usually does something special with them. So, in 2023, as part of its just-announced program, it has particularly attention-grabbing plans for Zoolander and the OG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action movie. Ben Stiller's comedy about the world of modelling might be all about donning clothes, but FFFA's session of the film is going in the opposite direction, joining the fest's growing spate of nude screenings. The event debuted the concept in 2021, then brought it back in 2022 for the 25th anniversary of The Full Monty. Now, patrons are asked to wear nothing but their best blue steel look — or magnum if they prefer — while watching a really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking movie. Clothes are required at FFFA's showing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but don't worry about eating pizza beforehand — you'll be able to smell it during the session. The fest is going with a scratch-and-sniff experience, in what it's calling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Stink-O-Vision and will be a world-premiere. As you watch Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael (and Sam Rockwell in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it part), you'll be told to scratch a card at certain moments to get smelling. Some scents will be tasty. Some definitely won't. Running from Friday, April 14–Sunday, April 30 at Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn, FFFA's 2023 bill also features a 2K restoration of Takashi Miike's Audition, but mostly it's serving today's fresh flicks that'll be tomorrow's cult favourites. Opening the fest is Polite Society, about a martial artist-in-training endeavouring to save her sister from an arranged marriage — and a hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Closing it: LION-GIRL, a futuristic, post-apocalyptic sci-fi film about saving humanity (aren't they all?) that boasts character design by manga artist Go Nagai. Elsewhere on its 2023 program, Fantastic Film Festival Australia will screen the 1997-set Zillion, the highest-grossing film in Belgium in 2022, which tells of a computer whiz who creates the biggest discotheque in the world; Evil Dead Rise, the latest title in the ongoing zombie franchise, and prime fodder for a midnight slot; and Holy Shit!, which is completely set in a portaloo rigged with explosives. Or, there's a movie that FFFA is calling An Untitled and Perfectly-Legal Coming-Of-Age Parody Film — it isn't naming it because it was surrounded by controversy at its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, but you can easily work out by a quick online search, especially if you're fond of comic-book characters. It'll screen with the director in attendance, in what'll be one of its rare public showings so far. A number of Australian efforts are also on the lineup, starting with Rolf de Heer's The Survival of Kindness, which recently proved a hit at the Berlin International Film Festival. There's also Beaten to Death, a new-wave Ozploitation thriller set in remote Tasmania; the giallo-style Blur, about an investigation into a strange entity; and The End of History, about Australian techno producers Darcy and Pat as they chase their creative dreams in Berlin.
In what's already one of this year's most impressive makeovers, renowned chef Shane Delia has transformed his OG Biggie Smalls kebab store into new venture: elegant meze and cocktail bar Maha Bar. The Smith Street space that once sported a playful diner fit-out is now entirely unrecognisable, reimagined by Studio Y in a vision of warm timber panelling and elegant curves. Where Delia's long-running CBD fine diner Maha is pushing the creative envelope, Maha Bar is the more classic-leaning, smart-yet-casual counterpart. It has similar vibrant Middle Eastern flavours, but with a menu that beckons you to sit down and settle in for some good old-fashioned feasting. [caption id="attachment_763410" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] The menu starts with drinking snacks and works its way up to heartier dishes, offering plenty of vegan goodness along the way. Grab a drink and tuck into bites like crispy buns stuffed with spiced beef or eggplant, dainty semolina crumpets topped with saffron-cured egg yolk and caviar, creamy hummus paired and a medley of maple-roasted carrots. Grilled fish comes matched with capers, green olives and a burnt butter sauce, while a dish of Macedon Ranges duck breast features pomegranate and a crispy bastilla. And if decisions aren't your thing, you'll find soufra or 'feed me' menus for both vegans and carnivores (both for $65). Behind the bar, a range of house-infused raki and arak takes centre stage, alongside a strong collection of crafty cocktails. You'll find drinks like a raki sazerac, a turkish delight martini and four styles of negroni, including a chocolate and orange riff made with whisky and amaro. A smart curation of wine and boutique brews is also on offer, while on Mondays and Tuesdays, punters are allowed to BYO wine. [caption id="attachment_763235" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] If you need any extra encouragement to head in for a feasting session, just look at what awaits you at the bar every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In the generous spirit of Delia's Maltese heritage, the kitchen's plating up a rotation of free meze snacks from 3–5pm for anyone enjoying a drink. Order a cocktail and pique your appetite with a taster of what's to come — perhaps some lentil kibbe, traditional pork sausage or warm yoghurt bread matched with za'atar. Find Maha Bar at 86 Smith Street, Collingwood. It's open daily for dinner from 5pm, and for lunch on Friday to Sunday from 12pm. Images: Julia Sansone
Some real-life incidents just keep fascinating Hollywood, and the tale of Candy Montgomery is clearly one of them. Back in 1990, TV movie A Killing in a Small Town — directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, dad to Ambulance's Jake and The Deuce's Maggie — stepped through her story. In 2022, Candy did the same with Jessica Biel playing the titular part. Now, Love & Death is set to do it all over again, this time having WandaVision's Elizabeth Olsen segue from playing a superhero gone dark to getting accused of being an axe murderer. Hailing from HBO — streaming via its online service HBO Max in the US, and on Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand — Love & Death turns the grisly details into everyone's likely next true-crime obsession, with the team behind Big Little Lies and The Undoing behind it. If you don't already know the story, it's best to discover all of the ins and outs while watching, but it all starts with two church-going couples in Texas. As the just-dropped full trailer for the seven-part show makes plain, Montgomery isn't thrilled with her suburban life, suggesting an extramarital dalliance. Soon, there's a body and plenty of suspicions going her way. How it all plays out is a matter of history, of course, and chronicled in the book Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs. Love & Death takes inspiration from that text, plus a collection of articles from Texas Monthly, with viewers getting to see the show's take on the story from late April. Alongside Olsen, Love & Death stars Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog), Lily Rabe (Shrinking), Patrick Fugit (Babylon), Keir Gilchrist (Atypical), Elizabeth Marvel (The Dropout), Tom Pelphrey (She Said) and Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones). TV veteran David E Kelley both writes and produces, adding another series to his hefty list after the aforementioned Big Little Lies and The Undoing — and Nine Perfect Strangers, Boston Legal, The Practice, Ally McBeal and more — while Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) directs the first four and the last episodes. Check out the trailer for Love & Death below: Love & Death will stream via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand from Thursday, April 27. Images: HBO Max.
Melbourne's famed floating bar is back for another summer season on the Yarra, this time promising to be bigger and better than ever before. Arbory Afloat, which made its debut in 2015, is being reimagined this year as a sprawling, 500-square-metre floating pontoon, installed on the river in front of sister venue, Arbory Bar & Eatery. And it's a monster. Open to the public from Wednesday, November 15, the temporary bar and restaurant clocks in at a whopping 50 metres long, with room for 407 guests. Design-wise, this year's bar riffs on the beach clubs of The Mediterranean, accented in eye-catching Klein Blue and boasting a central bar, with a mix of day beds, banquette seating and restaurant dining. The breezy Mediterranean influence extends to the food and drink offering, with Chef Nick Bennett's laidback menu featuring seafood aplenty, house-made gelato and Neapolitan-style pizzas from the woodfire oven. Sun-drenched drinking sessions here will feature fruit-driven cocktails from an extensive, Euro-influenced lineup, and bespoke gin and tonic creations, crafted on a range of small-batch tonics and clever garnishes. Meanwhile, National Good Food Guide 2018 Sommelier of the Year Raul Moreno Yagüe has worked his magic on the wine list, to deliver an offering that's fresh, vibrant and geared perfectly to summer sipping by the water. Arbory Afloat will open 7am will 1am daily (including Christmas Day) from Wednesday, November 15 at Flinders Landing. For more info visit arbory.com.au.
To Valhalla, George Miller went: when Mad Max: Fury Road thundered across and shone upon the silver screen in 2015, and it did both, it gave cinema one of the greatest action movies ever made. It has taken nine years for the Australian filmmaker to back up one of the 21st century's masterpieces with another stunt-filled drive through his dystopian franchise — a realm that now dates back 45 years, with Mad Max first envisaging a hellscape Down Under in 1979 — and he's achieved the immensely enviable. Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's white-hued, silver-lipped war boys pray to gain entry to a mythological dreamscape just once, but Miller keeps returning again and again (only 1985's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, in a now five-film series that also includes 1981's Mad Max 2, is anything less than heavenly). "The question is: do you have what it takes to make it epic?" Miller has Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Love and Thunder) ask in Furiosa as biker-horde leader Dementus, he of the post-apocalyptic Thor-meets-Roman gladiator look and chariot-by-motorcycle mode of transport. Returning to all things Mad Max after an affecting detour to 2022's djinn fable Three Thousand Years of Longing, the writer/director might've been posing himself the same query — and he resoundingly answers in the affirmative. An origin story-spinning prequel has rarely felt as essential as this unearthing of its namesake's history, which Fury Road hinted at when it introduced Furiosa (then played by Charlize Theron, Fast X) and made her the movie's hero above and beyond Mad Max (Tom Hardy, Venom: Let There Be Carnage). Discovering the full Furiosa tale felt imperative then, too, and with good reason: Miller had already planned the figure's own film to flesh out her background before her celluloid debut, and that she existed well past her interactions with Max was always as apparent as the steely glare that said everything without words. Now with both Anya Taylor-Joy (The Super Mario Bros Movie) and Alyla Browne (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) playing the lead, Furiosa is an act of seeing how sands shift. Time, terrors and tragedy sweep through Furiosa's life, moulding her into Fury Road's formidable figure — and the grains blasted around by the years, and the trials and tribulations, assist with the shaping. As exceptional as Theron was, owning her time in the role and the film that she was in, Miller was smart to recast with Taylor-Joy rather than deploying digital de-ageing. His new Furiosa doesn't mimic her predecessor, but evolves into her take on the character, including via fierce and anxious eye emoting beneath slicks of grease in a frequently wordless performance. Browne is also excellent, and equally as determined. Furiosa has chosen all of its key talents wisely; in a showcase turn, Hemsworth peacocks and drips evil like he's never had so much fun on screen, while Tom Burke (Living) is commandingly stoic as Praetorian Jack, a war rig pilot and a thoughtful mentor. When Browne begins the film as Furiosa, The Green Place of Many Mothers and the Vuvalini, its matriarchal custodians, are the character's safe haven and guiding forces — blissfully so. But she's resourceful, knowing to sever the fuel line on the bike of roving scavengers to stop them from finding her home. The girl that audiences already know will become an Imperator under The Citadel warlord Immortan Joe (Three Thousand Years of Longing's Lachy Hulme, taking over from the now-late Hugh Keays-Byrne) — and will then secret away his captive wives, each treated as little more than human breeding stock — can't stop the raiders from snatching her up, however. Their hope: impressing the volatile Dementus, who rides across the desert with a teddy bear strapped to him, with living proof that more than the wasteland's dust and savagery exists. Furiosa's world-building first hour spends its time with its protagonist as a plucky pre-teen trying to escape back to her mother Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser, Anyone But You) — who is in swift pursuit — and then internalising the trauma of becoming her captor's adoptee as he plots dominance guided by sheer arrogance, entitlement, cruelty and buffoonery (Hemsworth wears his bluster as well as he does red capes, which he amusingly isn't done with in this move away from Marvel). She's still a girl when Dementus and his gang arrive at The Citadel, where she's traded into Immortan Joe's care. Fifteen years pass in Miller and Fury Road co-scribe Nick Lathouris' new narrative, but Taylor-Joy's step into Furiosa's shoes leaves the character no less enterprising and consumed by anger at a world where everything that she loves has been taken from her. Max Rockatansky was a vigilante, after all — and, as shot in Australia for the first time since Beyond Thunderdome, Miller is still making a vengeance story here. "We are the already dead, Little D, you and me," Dementus will tell Furiosa later. This remains a movie where speeding along dirt roads in the vehicular equivalents of Frankenstein's monster — tinkered together road trains ferrying arms from the Bullet Farm and petrol from Gas Town — is an eye-popping high-octane spectacle, but it's also one where pain, grief and, yes, fury run deep. With Aussie accents everywhere, and a sunburnt country that's inching closer to reflecting reality every day baking parched sights into the Simon Duggan (Disenchanted)-lensed frames, Furiosa doesn't forget that it's in a franchise about ecocide, what humanity robs from itself by committing it and what it takes to endure afterwards. Fury Road didn't, either, but by adding more room between the on-the-road chaos, its prequel buzzes and thrums with the urgency and immediacy of survival, and also lets the weight of Furiosa's plight land. With Oscar-winning editor Margaret Sixel (Happy Feet) and costume designer Jenny Beavan (Cruella) both back — the first working with Eliot Knapman (a second assistant editor last time) and whipping up action sequences as frenetic as ever, the second in vintage form — Miller has top-notch help etching stunning sights into cinema history again. Although Furiosa isn't just one long pedal-to-the-metal display, it's still filled with them. A mid-movie 15-minute setpiece is as tremendous as Mad Max flicks get. While CGI leaves bigger tyre marks this time, there's an apt air to the glossier look versus Fury Road's lived-in aesthetics, reflecting Furiosa's journey. The wasteland and its horrors greet her afresh in this film, but they're as caked on as mud when she's an Imperator. It also feels fitting that Furiosa arrives, finally, in a year that sand has already stretched across screens as far as could be seen in Dune: Part Two, and also revenge has fuelled Love Lies Bleeding and Monkey Man and Boy Kills World. Making the vast, primal and eternal feel vivid and shiny and new keeps proving Miller's 00s-era Mad Max wheelhouse — and what a treat, what a lovely treat, it makes for viewers.
A cult favourite on the local stand-up scene, the comedy of Laura Davis is at once baffling, confronting and uproariously entertaining. Her show at last year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival saw her deliver jokes from the top of a ladder while wearing a blindfold. On paper it sounds like a gimmick; in execution it was one of the funniest and most disarming acts we saw all festival. Her follow-up is titled Cake in the Rain, and we haven't the faintest idea what it's about. But you can bet your bottom dollar we'll be there opening night.
Three Malaysian architecture students have won the 2010 Skyscraper Competition for their revolutionary and ambitious design of a prison in the sky. Chow Khoon Toong, Ong Tien Yee and Beh Ssi Cze proposed the Vertical Prison System, a prison that would be suspended above a city with the prisoners living in a 'free' community that contributes to the host city below, with the only access via elevator pods that run from the prison down to the ground. The reasoning behind the design is that studies have shown that rates of re-offending are so high because prisoners are not given the opportunity to rehabilitate in a desirable community. As well as avoiding the need for prison bars, the design includes farms, factories and recycling plants to produce goods for the wider community and serve to rehabilitate the inmates. The Vertical Prison System would revolutionalise the penitentiary system in a sustainable and ecological friendly design. The design also makes potential escape from the prison more difficult or at the very least more exciting, there would be no scaling walls, no Shawshank Redemption tunneling, however there would be plenty of opportunities for Hollywood blockbuster escape plans involving helicopters, jetpacks or ridiculous parachute designs.
We're going to take a shot in the dark and say that this news will probably be relevant to your interests: the Westin Melbourne and cheesemonger Maker & Monger are once again pairing up to offer a tiered cheese experience this winter. A more dairy-filled version of a high tea, the High Cheese feature both sweet and savoury cheese dishes, created and sourced by the Westin chef Michael Greenlaw and Anthony Femia of Maker & Monger. The whole shebang will set you back $70, which includes all the food as well as unlimited cups of coffee and tea. Wine and bubbles also available, but you'll need to pay for that by the glass. There will still be scones, but they'll be infused with gouda and served with whipped butter — and there will also be a cheesy (and salted white chocolate) tiramisu, cannoli filled with ricotta and gruyère-filled gougères, too. The possible pièce de résistance, however, is an entire baked Normandy camembert served with lavosh to dip in it (if you don't resort to your fingers, that is). Many other cheese and cheese-themed dishes are on the menu (including roquefort served with Four Pillars gin marmalade), but simply too many to list before dinner: we're already hungry. You can satisfy yours from 5.30pm every day between May 24 and August 31. High Cheese is available from 5.30pm daily. To reserve your spot, head to the website. UPDATE: AUGUST 8, 2019 — Due to popular cheese demand, the Westin will continue to run High Cheese until the end of the year.
It's a truth universally acknowledged that dads are absolutely, 100 percent, without a doubt the hardest people in our lives to buy gifts for. They don't really want or need much — and they tend to buy whatever they do need for themselves anyway. If you're like us, you probably have a default roster of generic items that you keep on rotation for special occasions. But let's be real: Dad doesn't really need another pair of socks. And he still hasn't cracked the cover of the last book you bought for him. So, we're here to help you out. Together with Maker's Mark, we're giving away an excellent whisky-themed gift pack that'll take Dad's after-dinner tipple to the next level. Valued at $450, this prize pack has a bunch of liquor cabinet essentials, including a bottle of Maker's Mark, an ice stamp, two glasses and a barrel head. And if you really want to cement that coveted favourite kid status, fix him a drink after he's unwrapped the gift — keep an eye out for our recipe guide, which is coming soon. To be in the running, enter your details below. [competition]779157[/competition]
For yogis who reckon they've conquered every possible distraction, here's a new challenge: doga. That's yoga with dogs. Or, as you could call it, trying to stay still and breathe deeply while stacks of curious, adorable puppies are trying to work out what you're up to. Moonee Pond's Studio 3 is teaming up with Campbellfield's not-for-profit Second Chance Animal Rescue to put you in a yoga class surrounded by fluff balls. Taking place on Saturday, December 8, the event aims to raise funds for a brand new community animal hospital. Every pup you meet will be from Second Chance's shelter and, therefore, up for adoption. Watch out: you might well find yourself falling in love before shavasana. Please note: for safety reasons and to keep the focus on the needy pups, Studio 3 asks that you leave your own furry friends at home.
A South Melbourne favourite is in a bit of a pickle and it's asking for your help. Coming off the back of some particularly tough times, the duo behind The Pickle & The Patty are rallying the troops, inviting pickle-loving Melburnians to throw a little extra support behind their upcoming Save the Pickle Pity Party. Taking over the diner from 11.30am on Saturday, April 1, it's set to be an all-day affair, starring loads of specials and exclusive menu additions. You'll find $9 cheeseburgers, all tap brews priced at $10 a pop and something dubbed the Hangover Walking Taco — a serve of Mi Goreng-flavoured crisps elevated with chopped cheese-style beef, a peanut butter drizzle, blueberry jam, bacon and jalapeño. If you fancy digging a little deeper, there'll be a ticketed feasting series running throughout the day. Nab a $58 ticket to enjoy a set menu filled with surprises and quirky twists, as well as a unique drink to kick things off. While there, you'll be able to help out the venue's fundraising efforts by snapping up The Pickle & The Patty merch, plus signature products ranging from pickles to hot sauce. There'll even be a silent auction the team is labelling "quirky, weird and wonderful".
For so many, being self-employed is the dream. You don't have to answer to anybody, you can work from wherever you want, and if it's a beautiful 30 degree day, hey, maybe you can go to the beach instead. The only downside is that it's easy to get a bit lonely. All that time alone in your cramped home office would send even the best of us a bit nutty. This is where co-working spaces come in and, after a huge 18-month revamp, Nest is among the best of them. Housing industry professionals from fields as diverse as horticulture, software development and performance art, Nest is the ultimate collaborative environment for creative types. "The idea is to have the best of both worlds — the flexibility of working for yourself, but with the professional networks, resources, and a professional space away from noise, where you're proud to bring clients and collaborators," says founder Jay Chubb. No longer confined to dingy home studios, freelancers now have a space to work together, communicate and enjoy a clean and dynamic aesthetic to reignite those creative juices. In fact, design was a big motivator for the project. Melbourne architect Nicholas Eric Harding upcycled most of the materials from demolished local mansions, then installed acoustically designed raw wood panelling on the walls. Tables and light fittings are all handmade, and there is even a sound recording studio floor designed by Brent Punshon from Head Gap Studios. Of course, it's not all work and no play. Behind the office space lies a 40-people amphitheatre and microcinema that is soon to be used in partnership with the Shadow Electric. The space will also be used for pop-up exhibitions, BBQs, talks and screenings open for local enjoyment. Far from the world of bad air-conditioning and broken photocopiers, this is an office space we can get behind. Thanks to Nest Coworking, we have a month membership of 32 hours valued at $200 to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. For more information about membership and pricing, see the Nest website.
When it comes to Australia's annual collection of Jewish cinema, variety isn't simply the spice of life — it's the festival's guiding principle. Showcasing the breadth and depth of Jewish culture and storytelling is this event's aim, and it has the range to match. In fact, 2017's Jewish International Film Festival lineup boasts 65 films from 26 countries, including Danish dramas, Aussie docos, Israeli love stories, restored Polish classics, Russian projects and everything in between. A heartbreaking array of factual efforts? Tick. The sounds of Yiddish? Tick again. Explorations of famous Jewish filmmakers? A Sundance-like range of US indies? Multiple perspectives on Israeli life? Just keep ticking. With the fest making its way around the country between October 25 and November 22, we've chosen our five must-see movies from this year's program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83UoZcdX__Y MENASHE If you only see one Yiddish-language movie this year, make it Menashe, which has been earning ample praise since it premiered at Sundance back in January. Loosely based on the real life of its Hasidic first-time actor and star Menashe Lustig, writer-director-producer-cinematographer Joshua Weinstein's debut full-length film unravels the story of a grocery store worker desperate to keep custody of his son after his wife's death — but beholden to strict religious tradition that dictates otherwise unless he remarries. For extra authenticity, the film was reportedly shot in secret within New York's ultra-orthodox community. Screening in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. https://vimeo.com/224428115 IN BETWEEN Three female friends cope with life, love and navigating society's standards in In Between, a film that sounds oh-so-familiar — until it comes to its setting and cultural perspective. Screens big and small are filled with similar stories, but this isn't just Girls set in Tel Aviv. Rather, first-time feature filmmaker Maysaloun Hamoud delves into the difficulties confronting her trio of Palestinian protagonists as they try to wade through several layers of oppression, refuse to conform to expectation, and — crucially — fight to be themselves in a world of rules, tradition and control. Screening in Sydney and Melbourne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjt3J9mM7aE REBEL IN THE RYE For a famous recluse who shunned the spotlight for the bulk of his adult life, the late JD Salinger is rarely far from public attention. Writing one of the most iconic novels of the twentieth century will do that. While Salinger refused to let anyone turn The Catcher in the Rye into a film (not that it stopped the likes of Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio trying), the author's own tale keeps popping up on screen. Documentary Salinger stepped through his story back in 2013, and now Rebel in the Rye dramatises his early years — with Nicholas Hoult as the scribe and Mad Men actor turned writer-director Danny Strong behind the camera. Screening in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. https://vimeo.com/209150832 SCARRED HEARTS After helming the nineteenth century-set Romanian art-western Aferim!, filmmaker Radu Jude once again opts for something far from ordinary with Scarred Hearts. Based on autobiographical writings by Jewish Romanian author Max Blecher, the film tells the story of a twenty-something man's bedridden state as he recovers from bone tuberculosis, falls in love with a recovering former patient, and endeavours to reach beyond his confined state. A tale of living, resting, trying to find small joys, and coping with both illness and Facism, suffice it to say that this isn't the type of film you see every day. Screening in Sydney and Melbourne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXAkITImGU BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY She amassed 35 acting credits to her name in both Europe and the US, and starred alongside everyone from Judy Garland to Spencer Tracy to the Marx brothers in her '40s and '50s heyday. That's only part of Hedy Lamarr's considerable true tale, however. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story steps through the smarts behind the screen persona, with the Austrian-born talent not only an actress but an accomplished inventor. Self-taught, she devised a frequency-hopping signal that was used by the Allies during the Second World War, as this Diane Kruger-narrated documentary explores. Screening in Sydney and Melbourne. The 2017 Jewish Film Festival screens at Sydney's Event Cinemas Bondi Junction and Hayden Orpheum from October 26 to November 22, Melbourne's Classic Cinemas and Lido Cinemas from October 25 to November 22, and Brisbane's New Farm Cinemas from October 26 to November 1. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
In the coming years, works by Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, Brett Whiteley and Arthur Boyd will find a new home on the New South Wales south coast. The pieces will form part of an art gallery that's set to spring up on the Bundanon property at Riversdale in the Shoalhaven region, with the New South Wales government committing more than $8.5 million to revamp the site. A quarter of a century since the 1100-hectare property was gifted to the Australian public by artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne Boyd — becoming a haven for creativity, arts and education, as well as remaining a working farm — it'll welcome a new space to house the Boyds' other gift: over 3800 items, including with more than 1300 works by Arthur Boyd himself. At present, hundreds of pieces can be viewed in the existing Bundanon Homestead, as well as in Arthur Boyd's studio; however the forthcoming expansion will see the construction of a gallery and storage facility for the huge art collection, which is valued at $43 million. While the new plans centre around the gallery itself, which will built into the site's hillside and boast windows that frame the artwork with glimpses of the natural splendour outside, that's not the only addition as part of the project. A 140-metre-long by nine-metre-wide structure will branch out of the gallery, into a bridge spanning across the Bundanon bushland and parkland, and across to 34 bedrooms, a teaching and dining space, and a public cafe. Stepped terraces, an openair arrival hall and an outdoor learning space are also mooted. The NSW government's contribution has been allocated through the state's Regional Cultural Fund, with $28 million required in total to complete the project — and an opening date yet to be announced. "Arthur Boyd's extraordinary works live on as enduring inspiration for the many passionate and talented artists across regional NSW," commented NSW Minister for the Arts Don Harwin. "This new facility housed on this famous landscape will pave the way for the Bundanon Trust's revered $43 million collection to be housed and presented for all visitors to enjoy." Images: Kerstin Thompson Architects.
Another year, another version of Batman. The Dark Knight doesn't get a new famous face quite that often, but you can be forgiven for thinking that it feels that way. Following in the footsteps of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck, Robert Pattinson is now the latest actor to don the recognisable cape and mask — all thanks to upcoming superhero flick The Batman. No one really needs a plot synopsis for flicks about the Gotham City-dwelling character, because yes, we've all seen multiple versions of Batman over the years. This one is meant to stand completely apart from the most recent Affleck-starring DC Extended Universe version of the character, though. So, basically, what DC Films and Warner Bros Pictures did with Joker in 2019 — serving up a grimmer, grittier iteration of the infamous figure that has absolutely nothing to do with the rightfully hated Jared Leto version — they're endeavouring to do for Batman now. Also following the same playbook: enlisting a top-notch star in the lead role. Remember, it was only last that Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for playing the clown prince of crime. As well as Pattison as the titular character and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne, The Batman stars Zoe Kravitz (Big Little Lies) as Catwoman, Paul Dano (Escape at Dannemora) as the Riddler, Colin Farrell (Voyagers) as the Penguin, Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Commissioner Gordon and Andy Serkis (Long Shot) as Alfred Pennyworth. Plenty of these figures have popped on screens large and small multiple times, too — but Farrell's version of the Penguin certainly stands out in the film's just-dropped (and suitably dark, brooding and violent) full trailer. Originally slated to release this year, The Batman is one of the many movies that've been delayed due to the pandemic. And yes, you have gleaned a sneak peek before, with the movie dropping its first teaser trailer more than a year ago. Pattinson did just star in the Christopher Nolan-helmed Tenet in 2020, so perhaps it makes sense for him to play a character that Nolan helped bring back to cinemas 16 years ago. This time around, however, Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves is in the director's chair. Check out the full trailer for The Batman below: The Batman is currently due to release in Australian cinemas on March 3, 2022. Images: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/ ™ & © DC Comics.
It’s a sweltering night in Brunswick, the week’s heatwave at its crest, and one has to feel for the actors gamely stepping out under the stage lights in suit jackets and ties. Still, a bit of sweat doesn’t go astray in The Temperamentals, a tale combining steamy romance and a thick atmosphere of fear. The year is 1950, the place Los Angeles, and Harry Hay (Angelo de Cato), a gay teacher, has hit breaking point. Tired of having to conduct his romantic life in secret, Hay decides to take a stand and writes a manifesto asserting equal rights for homosexuals — the seed, he hopes, for a new civil rights movement. The Temperamentals, penned by Pulitzer prize winning American playwright Jon Marans, is not fiction but a docudrama about the little known gay rights movement of the early fifties. Hay and his lover, Rudi Gernreich (Tim Constantine) — later an acclaimed fashion designer — founded an activist group called the Mattachine Society, one of the earliest organisations of its kind, and the play traces their often frustrating experience trying to get a public movement started among a group committed to secrecy. Taking its name from a code word by which gay men of the time identified each other, The Temperamentals gives a nuanced account of social repression. The censure of society is depicted subtly but persistently, creating an atmosphere of constant tension. The psychological impact of repression is powerfully depicted, the characters riven by inner turmoil — themselves embedded in 1950s attitudes about masculinity and propriety, even as they struggle against them trying to establish their own identity. The interplay between the fledgeling struggle for queer rights and the other social tensions of the day, from anti-communism to endemic racism, adds another layer to the rich text too. The Temperamentals first played in New York in 2009 and this production from local indie outfit Mockingbird Theatre is the first performance of it in Melbourne. It uses a stark set and a tight cast of five. De Cato gives a powerful turn as the seething, conflicted Hay, delightfully contrasted by Constantine as his elegant lover. The three energetic support actors (Chuck Rowland, Jai Luke and Sebastian Bertoli) do a lot of switching between minor roles early on, and it can at times be a little tricky differentiating who’s who, but the play really finds its stride once they settle into ongoing characters who are able to develop more. The play goes from strength to strength, alive with historical detail without being weighed down by it, emotive without being heavy handed and rousing without needing to sugarcoat the fractured politics and personalities involved in the story. While there could have been better use of props, with some odd inconsistencies such as a significant costume item not being the colour the characters say it is, the performances are heartfelt, the cast very likeable and the script incisive and witty. Whether what you want sharp social commentary or sharply dressed men getting torrid with each other, The Temperamentals delivers. It is a riveting show and one that shines a light on a fascinating slice of history.
Words like 'hidden kingdom' and 'radio broadcast' don't often find themselves hanging out too often. But one of Nepal's most remote spots is now on air, broadcasting from one of the world's most stunningly designed stations to date. Nestled in one of Nepal’s most remote regions lies the 'hidden kingdom' of Mustang. Accessed on horseback via the old Salt Route of the Kali Gandaki River valley, Mustang sits on the border of Tibet and was one of the last parts of the country to encounter Westerners. Dubbed the best example of traditional Tibetan life in the world, Mustang’s surrounding Himalayan mountain range and isolation from major metropolises has kept things pretty traditional, centered around the kingdom’s Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. The old king’s palace hasn’t been used in years and is falling into disrepair. But this tiny Tibetan kingdom, who hasn't changed much since the 15th century, is about to leap into the 21st century with an unexpected new development: a radio station. Being cheap as chips to set up, broadcast and listen to, radio is a super democratic medium. Isolated regions can stay on top of things, access crop and weather details and get news bulletins much quicker than the ol' hand delivery. But if you’re 8,400 feet above sea level and surrounded by the Himalayas, radio frequencies might give your town a miss. You'll also be at a bit of an environmental and sociopolitical disadvantage without radio so, according to Gizmodo, nonprofits like the Center For Rural Technology are helping to establish radio stations all through the region, with 144 existing to date in Tibet and Nepal. Now, the Mustang town of Jomson has landed its very first radio station, a stunning, gneiss-walled establishment that looks straight from Grand Designs. Although radio is celebrated as a cheap medium to set up, South Korean communications heavyweight MBC fronted up a whopping $930,000 to build the station. Why would a South Korean bigwig blink an eyelid at a tiny Tibetan community? MBC stated that "the radio station has been established to enhance the awareness of Nepalis in the rural area and assist them to live a quality life". Then the company claimed the station would be the world’s most beautiful broadcasting center. Well, they kind of nailed it. Architect Kim In-cheurl and his firm Archium took on the project, working with extremely temperamental weather, steep hillsides and Mustang’s isolated location. The resulting station is an elegant, modern space that seamlessly corresponds with Jomson’s existing architecture. Gneiss stone walls, sunken courtyards and sleek wooden pegs seats. The studio and event spaces live downstairs, protected by stone walls from Mustang’s extreme weather. The antenna, the heart of the station, has been adorned with prayer flags. So what will Mustang be crankin' up? Broadcasts, which will be sent to about 2,000 people in 98.9 MHz frequency, will cover news, weather, health, culture and the odd trekking tip for the Annapurna circuit. We’ll just have to wait to see if it makes it online, so we can brag to our friends about our love for sweet hidden kingdom radio. Via Gizmodo and Karobar Daily. Images by Taylor Weidman/The Vanishing Cultures Project and Jun Myung-jin/ArchDaily.
It's finally happening. No longer will you click excitedly on our stories only to find out the 'Top 5 Ramen Joints' are actually all in Sydney. No longer will you suffer through announcements of free burgers and ice cream happening insufferably far from your house. Concrete Playground Melbourne's Facebook is up and running, and it's a grade-A Melbourne-only zone. With our very own sweet spot additional to the Concrete Playground you already know and love, this southern sister will be taking all the best of our food, drink, arts, and culture and making it relevant to you. This is a space for those who want to know where the dollar pot nights are (and the sorry suckers among us still hitting up Boney at 5am). Not sure if you're our type? Here are some guidelines: When you were keen to check out Kong, then remembered they don't take bookings. When you're on first name basis with the Monday staff at Cinema Nova. When you don't know what to say when someone defends instant coffee. When you buy new jeans from Dejour just for that rockstar feeling. When you know The Supper Club's too fancy for you, but you try to fit in anyway. When you're already familiar with every store in Emporium. When you resent yourself for still hitting up Boney at 5am. When you'd never be seen walking into Crown. When you're still fighting for the Palace Theatre. When you regularly sit on milk crates at cafes. When you put in your tips every week, but are not so big on the AFL. When you've put on a few kilos since Gelato Messina opened. When you have strong feelings about the other side of the Yarra. When you've got your tram etiquette down. When you've been to at least one performance or exhibition in a laneway. When you know a Sunday brunch will come with a 40-minute waitlist. When you can never decide whether the Splendour lineup is worth the trip. When you know there's no shame in ordering multiple pizzas at Bimbos. When you always know which bar is holding $1 or $2 pot nights. When you've accepted the fact that our beaches don't have waves. When you have regular Pho and dumpling restaurants and won't even consider changing. When you're always the first to start dancing at Cherry Bar. When you can't believe the 'cultural capital of Australia' didn't have its own page till now. Check out our new page here. To subscribe to our Melbourne newsletter, you'll want to click here.
Hello, sunshine and goodbye cold winter nights — that's right, summer is right around the corner, which means we can finally get our tan on at the beach or enjoy a sunny Sunday (boozy) brunch. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when planning a day out in the heat, so we've joined forces with Mr Black to compile a list of things for you to take note of to further elevate your summer experience. From revamping your picnic setup to stocking up on ready-to-drink Mr Black Espresso Martinis, here's your cheat sheet on how to be best prepared for the warmer days ahead. [caption id="attachment_870994" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chloe Smith[/caption] UPGRADE YOUR PICNIC GEAR WITH A MULTI-PURPOSE BASKET Picnics usually happen on the spur of the moment, so having a multi-purpose basket on hand — like one of these sturdy, insulated ones by Picnic Season — is always a good idea. Consider opting for one with sturdy straps to keep cutlery, cups, plates and more in place, as well as a built-in thermally-insulated cooler bag to store your cold drinks (like a pack or two of Mr Black Espresso Martinis). A good rule of thumb: have a basket on hand that looks bigger than what you think you'll need. [caption id="attachment_870827" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Declan Blackall[/caption] INVEST IN A PICNIC TABLE WITH DRINK HOLDERS If there's one thing more heartbreaking than dropping your picture-perfect sanga on the ground, it's spilling your drink all over your picnic setup. To avoid potential disaster (and clutter), consider investing in a picnic table that comes with drink holders. Whether it's for your canned espresso martini or – if you're taking a break from alcohol – iced latte, a table like this one from Temple & Webster will save you from cleaning up a mess. Trust us, you'll thank us later. CATCH THE SUN WITH A SUNSET APP — AND MAKE SURE THERE'S PLENTY OF SUNSCREEN Admit it, there's a 99% chance that you've got at least one sunrise or sunset photo on your phone or camera. To make life a little easier for you and not disappoint your next sunrise or sunset adventure, download the Sun Chaser app to keep track of when the next Instagram-worthy sunrise or sunset will happen in your current location. The platform provides details like the intensity of the clouds and how colourful the light rays will be on any given day. And if you're chasing the sun, don't forget the sunscreen, too! [caption id="attachment_870828" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Declan Blackall[/caption] OVERSTOCK ON THE ICE (ESPECIALLY TO KEEP YOUR CANNED ESPRESSO MARTINIS COOL) The weather has been exceptionally unpredictable recently, so you've got even more reason to be prepared for the unexpected. Despite what your weather app says, you'll never know how hot the day could get. So if you're at the beach (or basically anywhere outdoors) this summer, always bring more ice than you need — especially if you're storing drinks that are best consumed cold, like a Mr Black Espresso Martini. [caption id="attachment_870830" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Declan Blackall[/caption] KEEP IT INTERACTIVE WITH ACTIVITIES LIKE FINSKA, KUBB OR A FRISBEE While sunbathing, eating and drinking sound like the perfect combination, why not kick it up a notch by taking part in an activity with your crew? Stick to the classics like Finska or Kubb, which will without a doubt unleash everyone's competitive side while also getting the endorphins going. You could also go for a laid-back activity like frisbee to get your fur baby involved as well. [caption id="attachment_871154" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Supplied[/caption] SEATING, BLANKETS AND CUSHIONS KEEP THINGS COSY AND COMFORTABLE Don't neglect your comfort. Be sure to always have a quality picnic blanket if you plan to spend the day at the garden or beach — we love the colourful, waterproof and eco-friendly designs by Central Coast maker Saltwater Picnic Co (pictured above). Spruce your setup with cosy cushions and extra blankets in case you decide to extend your stay. [caption id="attachment_870834" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Declan Blackall[/caption] PREPARE ONE-BITE FOOD THAT'S EASY TO EAT Some of you might love to go the extra mile and prepare a hearty spread when you're out and about. However, if you aren't in the mood to go through a 12-step recipe, you could always put together something simple like a hearty, veggie-filled sandwich or wrap. After something sweet that won't melt? On the morning of your trip, chop up fresh seasonal fruit and store them in a reusable container, with an ice block or two to keep it cool. [caption id="attachment_870835" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Artur Lewandowski (Unsplash)[/caption] A GOOD SPEAKER TO CREATE THE PERFECT VIBE Music not only brings people together, but it's the easiest way to set a mood. Which makes a speaker an essential item to bring when you're out with your crew. If you want to go the extra mile, curate a playlist for the day, too. If you currently don't have a portable speaker, look into the Marshall Emberton Portable Bluetooth Speaker or a UE MEGABOOM 3, which bring both style and good vibes to any gathering. [caption id="attachment_870847" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Declan Blackall[/caption] MAKE SURE THERE'S REAL CUTLERY AND GLASSWARE (PERFECT FOR ESPRESSO MARTINI O'CLOCK) Sipping on an espresso martini out of a lovely glass just hits different and you can't deny that. Treat yourself and your crew by elevating your picnic setup with stainless steel flatware, ceramic plates and wine or cocktail glasses for an upgraded experience. This is where your multi-purpose basket will come in handy as you won't need to worry about your cutlery and glassware shattering into pieces during your commute. Looking for more easy ways to elevate your summer gatherings — especially when espresso martini time hits? Head to the Mr Black website. Top image: Declan Blackall
Every September and October, Germany erupts with brews, food and lederhosen-wearing revellers for its annual Oktoberfest celebrations. When that time rolls around Down Under, Australia follows suit. One such festivity is Oktoberfest in the Gardens, which has been throwing big Bavarian-themed celebrations around the country for 14 years — and is returning to Melbourne for 2024. Oktoberfest in the Gardens will make its latest Victorian stop at Catani Gardens in St Kilda on Saturday, October 12. If you're keen to head along, expect company; the event expects to welcome in over 65 people enjoying steins, schnitties and German shindigs across this year's seven-city run. Melbourne's fest will serve up the same kind of beer- and bratwurst-fuelled shenanigans that Germany has become so famous for. So, if you have a hankering for doppelbock and dancing to polka, it's the next best thing to heading to Europe. Oktoberfest in the Gardens boasts a crucial attraction, too: as well as serving a variety of pilsners, ciders, wine and non-alcoholic beverages, it constructs huge beer halls to house the boozy merriment. When you're not raising a stein — or several — at the day-long event, you can tuck into pretzels and other traditional snacks at food stalls, or check out the hefty array of entertainment. Live music, roving performers, a silent disco, rides and a sideshow alley are all on the agenda.
Heading on holiday and finding somewhere to stay isn't just about camping, glamping or checking into a fancy hotel. Sometimes it's about completely escaping into your passions. Love Marvel? You'll soon be able to stay in a superhero-themed establishment. Obsessed with Star Wars? Yep, you'll be able to sleep like you're in a galaxy far, far away as well. Have a soft spot for Toy Story? You guessed it — you can also slumber in spaces inspired by Andy's bedroom. Continuing Disney's love of immersing fans in their favourite movies, you'll soon be able to indulge your affection for Toy Story in Japan. In 2021, Tokyo Disney Resort is set to open a Toy Story-themed hotel. When you're done exploring the broader park, around 600 rooms will await, all nodding to Pixar's first and most beloved franchise. And it won't just be the hotel's interior that brings Toy Story out of the screen and into your waking — and sleeping — life. The building's exterior and its gardens will also look like they're made of toys. Inside, expect brightly coloured furniture and plenty of appearances by Woody, Buzz Lightyear and company. There'll also be themed dining options, as well as that theme park staple: a gift shop. If this is the news you need to lock in that 2021 Tokyo trip — to Japan and beyond! — that's understandable. If you can't wait, this isn't the first Toy Story hotel at a Disney theme park. In 2016, Shanghai Disney Resort took those honours — and, yes, everything from the sheets to the wallpaper to the complimentary slippers references the animated films. The Shanghai park also boasts a dedicated Toy Story Land as well. Via Disney Parks Blog.
Schmoopy woopy and bubba bear, lil' puffy wuffy, honey pie or spicy chilly philly. Maybe just the classic: babe. Regardless of whether you're coupled up or flying solo, pet names for partners can be divisive at the best of times. Whether you love them or loathe them, we've joined forces with Melbourne-based Grinders Coffee Roasters to make a case for sharing yours with the world. In anticipation of Valentine's Day, let's delight in (or cringe at) the pet names we use to refer to our nearest and dearest — and then send 40 of you honey pies on an all-out date. Simply tell us the delightfully soppy (or saucy) nickname you use on your lover (or bestie, cos we're into that platonic love too), and you and snookums could be scoring a $500 Mastercard e-gift card from Grinders Coffee — the grounds for a very good date. Maybe you wear your alter ego on your sleeve, having your barista prepare a double-shot cap for Sergeant Snuggles. Or maybe you save it for home time, downloading after a long day while bae strokes your forehead and calls you boo boo. Whatever your preference, we wanna know about it — and reward you for your honesty. From Monday, January 16 until Tuesday, February 14, someone will score the prize each and every day. And on that day of days? Ten extra winners will be selected. That's 40 stand-out dates with the bill taken care of. Red hot. To go in the draw, enter your details below. Top image: LanaStock
UPDATE, January 29, 2021: The MSO's 2021 Sidney Myer Free Concerts will be live-streamed, too, so that folks who missed out on tickets can still watch along. You'll need to head to the MSO's YouTube page — with the first show streaming from 7.30pm AEDT on Friday, January 29, and remaining available to view for 24 hours afterwards. A staple of Melbourne's cultural calendar for more than 90 years and counting, the Sidney Myer Free Concerts are back for another year. Held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the latest of this long-standing favourite will, as always, features a trio of performances from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Whether you're a classical music buff or just want to stretch out with a picnic on the grass, there's a good reason these concerts have become a summertime tradition. After kicking off on Friday, January 29, and keeping the fun going on Saturday, February 6, Melburnians can enjoy the last evening in the series on Wednesday, February 10. The first night, The Faun and The Firebird, will feature works by Debussy, Stravinsky and Australian composer Ross Edwards. On the second evening, Mambo! Dancing across the centuries will see showcase the efforts of Rameau, de Falla, Bernstein, and contemporary Australian composers Joe Chindamo and Paul Stanhope. And, finally, there's Spanish Harlem, which will include Duke Ellington tunes, Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major and a world premiere by Australian jazz composer Vanessa Perica. Of course, since the free concert series was last held in 2020, much has changed in the world. So, this will be a socially distanced affair — with tables of two or four available, and lawn deck spots for groups of six as well. All three performances begin at 7.30pm; however, gates usually open earlier, with times still to be confirmed. Tickets for The Faun and The Firebird on Friday, January 29 will be available from 12pm on Friday, January 8. Tickets for the other two shows will be available on Friday, January 15.
One pair of Aussie pastry chefs are on a mission to make the humble lamington famous. Well, famous outside of Australian borders — just how Iranian-born jalebi and Italian cannoli are now found the world over. To do this, Min Chai and Eddie Stewart, founders of Australia's N2 Extreme Gelato, have launched Tokyo Lamington. Currently available in Singapore and Tokyo, the dessert brand doesn't just make traditional takes on the quintessentially Aussie chocolate- and coconut-covered cake. Instead, the sponge gets an international makeover with iterations in pandan, ube, lemon myrtle, black sesame, matcha and milk tea. While the duo has initially been focused on piquing the interest of overseas tastebuds, the chefs are heading back Down Under this July to the lamington's motherland for a one-day pop-up. [caption id="attachment_774462" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] On Tuesday, July 7 — and on Tuesday, July 7 only — the pair's untraditional lamingtons will be available at Koko Black stores across Sydney and Melbourne. The chefs have collaborated with Koko Black's Master Chocolatier Remco Brigou to create three flavours that are definitely luxe and a little Aussie. There's a sweet and sour davidson plum lamington made with dark fruity Sao Thomé Callebaut chocolate; a triple choc number with 80 percent dark chocolate ganache and finished with chocolate shavings; and a caramelised coconut sponge coated in white chocolate. On the day, you'll be able to buy these lamingtons in packs of three for $21 at the following Koko Black stores: The Strand Arcade and the QVB in Sydney; and Carlton, Chadstone, Como Centre, Doncaster, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Town Hall, Royal Arcade and The Glen Shopping Centre in Melbourne. Like all good things, we expect these sweets to sell out fast, so head in early if you can. Tokyo Lamington's limited-edition lamingtons will be available at select Koko Black stores across Sydney and Melbourne on Tuesday, July 7. Images: Nikki To
One of the best parts about being in Melbourne during spring is getting out of it. No, really. We love all the outdoor happenings that start to pop up following the winter hibernation — markets, rooftop bars and outdoor gatherings — but it's also a great time to explore other parts of the state. And, at just under two hours drive southeast of Melbourne, Gippsland is perfectly primed for a weekend escape. The region has all the right ingredients to let you indulge in the better weather while escaping the big smoke and breathing in that fresh out-of-town air. If you need a helping hand with planning your getaway, you're in the right place. For starters, we suggest staying in Inverloch. The seaside town is a great place to base yourself and start your series of adventures around the region. Read on to discover the seasonal produce and local vino you should be sampling, places to get your culture fix and outdoorsy activities keep your bones warm. From pristine beaches and bountiful wine regions to alpine hideaways and bustling country towns, Australia has a wealth of places to explore at any time of year. We've partnered with Tourism Australia to help you plan your road trips, weekend detours and summer getaways so that when you're ready to hit the road you can Holiday Here This Year. While regional holidays within Victoria are allowed from May 31, some of the places mentioned below may still be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please check websites before making any plans. [caption id="attachment_734990" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cape Paterson, Visit Victoria[/caption] TAKE A COASTAL DRIVE Start the day with a cuppa from The Coffee Collective in the centre of Wonthaggi, just ten minutes from Inverloch. While you're there, grab a house-made cake or sweet treat to enjoy on the road. After you've got your caffeine kick, hit the road and make your way along Bunurong Coastal Drive. Include a stop at Flat Rocks Beach, and along the 14-kilometre strip you'll be presented with some pretty spectacular coastal scenery running from Cape Paterson and finishing back at Inverloch. Once you arrive back in Inverloch, treat yourself to a nice glass of wine and a hearty pub meal. Head to Inverloch Esplanade Hotel (or the Invy Espy as the locals call it) for the roast of the day, a chicken parma or scotch fillet. Want something beyond standard pub fare? Head upstairs to the Captain's Lounge for split king prawns with chimichurri, roasted chicken with maple brussels sprouts or pan-seared mackerel. FARMHOUSE CHEESE AND FURRY FRIENDS If you feel like starting the day a tad later than usual, then roll out of bed and take a leisurely drive to Fig and the Bay in Glen Forbes. The brunch menu is perfect holiday fare — think beef brisket benedict. Afterwards, head to Bassine Speciality Cheeses to keep the food train steaming ahead. Once you've stocked up on artisanal farmhouse cheese, head over to Maru Koala and Animal Park to walk off the day's feast. While there, take part in a spot of mini golf and get up close and personal with koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, emus, wombats and even a crocodile. On your way back to Inverloch, swing by Bass River Winery's cellar door to sample some of its single-vineyard drops, including pinot noir and chardonnay. The cellar door is open every day except Wednesday, between 10am–5pm. RIDE AND DINE Build up your weekend appetite with a cycle around the Bass Coast Rail Trail. Pump your calves on the 21-kilometre track between Woolamai Race Course and the old Wonthaggi Railway Station and take in views of farmland, rugged coastline and coastal bushland along the way. On your way back, drop by Harman Wines and enjoy a glass of cool-climate vino with views of the region. The vineyard, which is family owned and run, also serves woodfired pizzas on Fridays and Saturdays. [caption id="attachment_734997" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] GET A TASTE OF FARM LIFE There is no better way to start your day than with a big brekkie at The Bayside Lady, right in the centre of Inverloch. After you've had enough eggs, hash brown, house-made baked beans, spinach and mushroom to keep you going till Christmas, jump in the car and head west along the coast to Macca's Farm. This buzzing space is full of fresh seasonal produce, including hydroponically grown vegetables, free-range meats and honey. You can also pick your own strawberries from over one-kilometre of waist-high rows. Treat yourself to some (more) vino at The Gurdies Winery, which specialises in cool-climate drops including riesling and chardonnay. Haven't had enough of the great outdoors yet? Book into one of The Inverloch Glamping Co's luxury bell tents and you can spend the night sleeping under the stars. TAKE A DIY LOCAL PRODUCE CRAWL One of the best parts about a sojourn in the Gippsland region is getting the chance to sample all the local produce — and you can make a day of it. Start with breakfast at Vaughan's Cafe Deli in the heart of Inverloch. Before you leave, stock up on goodies from its jam-packed deli cabinet — think artisanal cheeses, cured meats and olives. Follow that with a trip to neighbouring town Kilcunda and visit Udder & Hoe. This quaint little store, which is set behind Kilcunda General Store, is packed to the brim with local goods. You'll find tubs filled with fresh produce, stacks of freshly baked sourdough, olive oils and buckets filled with nuts and grains. Then for dinner, head to The Grove — a 60-acre farm with olive and truffle groves. Every week its restaurant changes its menu based on what local produce is in season. One week you'll be tucking into wild mushroom gnocchi, another week it's grilled fish with chimichurri and Jerusalem artichoke. [caption id="attachment_735008" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dirty Three Wines, Visit Victoria[/caption] PAINTINGS, PINOT AND POOCHES Kick off the day by taking a squiz at the Fiona Kennedy Art Studio, where you'll find the artist's large canvas oil paintings. Next, take a short walk down to and along Inverloch Beach to gaze upon something just as beautiful: doggos at the beach. The stretch of sand between Grandview Grove to Cuttriss Street is an off-leash area, so you can watch the pups go wild with freedom. Once you're finished playing fetch, giving pats and getting wet-nose kisses, stroll through town to Dirty Three Wines and indulge in a midday drop or two (you are on a getaway, after all). The urban cellar door specialises in pinot noir and the three 'dirts' the vines grow in. For the folks behind the drop, it's all about creating wine with soul and passion — so you know it's got to be good. Whether you're planning to travel for a couple of nights or a couple of weeks, Holiday Here This Year and you'll be supporting Australian businesses while you explore the best of our country's diverse landscapes and attractions. Top image: Inverloch Beach, Visit Victoria.
If you're looking for a one-stop shop for luxury homewares, you need to explore Fenton & Fenton. This store has it all – from quirky monkey lamps (that surprisingly kind of work), to comfy armchairs, sheepskin rugs and beautiful side tables. That's as well as fine art pieces, bed linen and bird light holders. You name it, and Fenton & Fenton probably stocks the best version of it. As such, things don't come cheap here. But even if you're not ready to shell out $1250 for a side table, it's still worth a visit for inspiration. The store is full of colour and pieces will have you ready to start a full home makeover ASAP. In addition to its Collingwood store, Fenton & Fenton also has an outpost in Prahran.
The Laneway Greens family has expanded, with owners Adrian and Luke Cala bringing their sustainable, healthy fare to a second Richmond venue. Following the success of their 12-seat CBD eatery on Flinders Lane, which opened back in 2015, the boys are now taking on Swan Street as they continue their ultimate mission to reconnect diners with the food they're eating. Launching last week, the new all-day canteen boasts a grander space and a beefed-up offering, though the focus remains firmly the same, from top to toe. Built on the notion that quality, seasonal food should be accessible to everyone, the menu heroes ingredients produced transparently, sustainably and with minimal impact on the environment. Ora King, which supplies the restaurant's salmon, is certified by the Global Aquaculture Alliance and has an environmental footprint of less than 0.01 percent, while producers like Mungali Creek Dairy, Slaters Farm rain-fed rice and Keehoes cultured vegetables are part of a local biodynamic farming co-op. Even the store itself mirrors that ethos of sustainability and minimalism, built with locally made, durable materials and designed with a mind to diners coming together over food. An outdoor dining area is coming too — it should be ready to go by November 17. As with the original, the menu runs from supercharged smoothies to bowls, both sweet and savoury — think free-range pork with spring greens and barley, and a stuffed roasted sweet potato loaded with house-made tzatziki and root vegetable slaw. If you often grab your lunch to-go from the CBD store, you'll be happy to know that the Swan Street space has room for 60 diners and, unlike its sister venue, also offers a range of booze, including a tight lineup of on-tap organic wines as sourced by distributor Campbell Burton (The Builders Arms Hotel, City Wine Shop). Beer includes craft brews from Victoria's Mount Peninsula, Queensland's Balter and NZ's Garage Project, and single origin filter coffee by Fitzroy's Industry Beans. Laneway Greens is now open 7am – 10pm Monday to Friday and 8am – 10pm Saturday and Sunday at 89a Swan Street, Richmond. For more information, visit lanewaygreens.com.au.
There ain't no burger like a Queensland burger, it seems — even if you live in Melbourne. Perhaps that's why the Sunshine State's finest purveyors of beastly burgers keep expanding down south. First it was Betty's Burgers — now, it's fellow Gold Coast-based outfit Brooklyn Depot. Of course, you can't tell the eatery's state of origin from their name, but you can tell the theme of its cuisine. Yes, everything American is on the menu here, including stacked towers of beef and cheese, a hearty list of wings, rings, strings and things, and their signature drinks — which not only includes alcohol-infused shakes, but also a rum old-fashioned or two. After gaining fans in Surfers Paradise, where they opened in 2015, Brooklyn Depot has since opened in Brisbane and Sydney — and come this Thursday, February 23, they'll be flipping burgs at 399 Lonsdale Street. As if Melbourne was wanting in the American-style burger department. But, nonetheless, we're swayed by the promise of their 'Brooklynised' fries with bacon, onion rings, cheese sauce and a side of frickles (aka battered and fried pickles). Brooklyn Depot will open at 4/399 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne at 11am on Thursday, February 23. Check out their website for more information.
Ever been on a bushwalk or beach stroll and and wondered if you can eat that shrub or flower? Maybe it was a pepperberry or some type of edible beach succulent — but who really knows. Well, now you can now go foraging for wild food more easily than ever, thanks to a new app developed by René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma. He made the announcement yesterday at World's 50 Restaurants 15th anniversary talks event in Barcelona. The app, which is called VILD MAD (meaning 'wild food' in Danish), shows you what edibles are nearby according to landscape. There are also instructions (in both Danish and English) on how to eat and cook them, including a few recipes. Plus, you can record your foraging adventures and keep notes on what you find. Redzepi is perhaps the most famous champion of native foods, and, as well as cooking with them at his Copenhagen restaurant, he made the most of Australia's native ingredients when Noma popped up in Sydney in 2016. "Knowing your ABCs in nature, the flora and the fauna, the patterns in the landscape, and the rhythms in the seasons is as important, we believe, as learning math, learning to read, learning to write — especially today when people think cacao milk comes from brown cows," Redzepi said at the 50 Best Talk, as reported by Eater. The app is just one part of a bigger initiative led by the Danish chef. Along with lots of useful resources on his MAD website, Redzepi is also leading some serious foraging education opportunities, including workshops to be delivered all over Denmark by park rangers and a curriculum for Danish school kids. His aim? To get people to pick food from nature like they do from supermarket shelves. While a lot of the content is specific to Denmark, anyone can download VILD MAD for free at the App Store or Google Play and identify some ingredients. While we'd love an Australian and New Zealand app like this to be developed, in the meantime, you can get acquainted with Australian native foods and which restaurants use them over here. Via Eater.
As COVID-19 continues to affect daily life in Australia, a whole host of regular activities have come to a pause. For Melburnians, heading to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image's home away from home at The Capitol for Melbourne Cinémathèque's weekly sessions is one such shuttered event, with screenings suspended for the time being — so ACMI and Melbourne Cinémathèque are going virtual. Available to movie buffs everywhere — not just in Melbourne — Virtual Cinémathèque will host weekly sessions from Wednesday, March 25. Cinephiles, folks looking for something to watch in self-isolation and everyone who has exhausted their Netflix queue can expect double bills showcasing both new and old movies, as linked by a common director, performer or theme. The folks at ACMI and Melbourne Cinémathèque will be on curation duty and, where possible, they'll be accompanying each week's lineup with introductions and further information about the films showing — just as Melbourne Cinémathèque usually does at its in-person events. They'll also do their best to pick flicks available on free and easily accessible platforms, so getting your movie fix won't cost you a cent. For details of what's on each week, keep an eye on ACMI and Melbourne Cinémathèque's social media channels. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
With its first season, Yellowjackets instantly became one of 2021's best new series. Its second season is due in March, which already makes it one of the most-anticipated shows of 2023. Expect that excitement to continue in 2024 or beyond as well, with the hit thriller about the fallout from plane crash just locked in for a third season. While it couldn't be a more perfect theme tune to play over the show's opening credits, Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker's 90s-esque track 'No Return' doesn't apply to Yellowjackets' fate on our screens, clearly. US cable network Showtime has already renewed the series ahead of its season-two premiere — three months ahead, in fact, with the show's second batch of episodes due late March (streaming from Friday, March 24, 2023 via Paramount+ in Australia and Neon in New Zealand). The woods have a way of calling you back. #Yellowjackets is renewed for Season 3. pic.twitter.com/7e3LPzlBle — Yellowjackets on SHOWTIME (@yellowjackets96) December 15, 2022 If you're new to Yellowjackets, it's filled with eeriness, chills, 90s threads and survival skills, as a series about a New Jersey high school's girls soccer team after they crash in the forest and possibly turn to cannibalism should be. The show deepens its mysteries across two timelines: that tragedy and its immediate aftermath, and the ripples still being felt 25 years later. Not everyone seen in the former makes it to the latter, as the first season made plain. In their high-school prime, Shauna (Don't Look Up's Melanie Lynskey as an adult, and also The Kid Detective's Sophie Nélisse as a teenager), Natalie (Welcome to Chippendales' Juliette Lewis, plus The Book of Boba Fett's Sophie Thatcher) and Taissa (Billions' Tawny Cypress, and also Scream's Jasmin Savoy Brown) were key players on the titular high-achieving squad, while Misty (Wednesday's Christina Ricci, as well as Shameless' Samantha Hanratty) was the squad's frequently bullied student manager. Then, en route to a big match in Seattle on a private plane in 1996, they entered Lost territory. That accident saw everyone who walked away from the accident stranded in the wilderness — and those who then made it through that ordeal stuck out there for 19 months, living their worst Alive-meets-Lord of the Flies lives. Season two will pick up after plenty of chaos in both timeframes, and with new faces among the cast. Introducing more of the team in their adult guise is very much on the agenda, including Simone Kessell (Muru) playing the older Lottie and Lauren Ambrose (Servant) as the older Van. In their younger years, both characters are played by Australian actors, with Courtney Eaton (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Lottie and and Liv Hewson (Santa Clarita Diet) as Van. Also joining the show: Elijah Wood, who is no stranger to leafy surroundings thanks to his time in the Lord of the Rings franchise. He'll play Walter, a citizen detective who is set to challenge Misty — the adult version, presumably. It's obviously too early for a sneak peek at season three, but you can check out Yellowjackets' first teaser for season two below: Season three of Yellowjackets doesn't yet have a release date. Season two will start streaming from Friday, March 24, 2023 via Paramount+ in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Read our review of season one.
We could probably all do with some more phone-free time, what with today's always-connected society, not to mention the cancer scares. But sometimes it's handy to have a functional phone even when you're trying to get away from it all. Music festivals are a prime example: you're out in a paddock enjoying music all day and when the speakers fall silent you need to call your friends to find your tent. So, UK phone company Orange teamed up with renewable energy experts gotwind to develop some new ideas for Glastonbury this year: wellies with thermocouples that harness the funky heat of your feet after throwing shapes all day, and a shirt that charges your phone by converting soundwaves into electricity. And if you're getting back to nature by going camping, you might just need that phone to make a call if something goes wrong... or to post a photo of what a great time you're having away from all your facebook friends. Japan's TES New Energy have come up with what is basically a cooking pot with a power cord, so that you can harness the extra heat from boiling the billy to charge your smart phone. [via PSFK]
When Australia's annual Spanish Film Festival returns this year, it'll offer cinephiles a two-for-one affair. Fancy seeing the latest and greatest movies from the European country? Keen to watch fresh flicks from Spanish-speaking Latin America too? They're both on the lineup. While Latin American cinema has received its own dedicated Aussie fest over the past three years, in 2019 the Cine Latino Film Festival will form part of the Spanish Film Festival. In short: this year's April–May fest presents the best of both worlds across a 32-title program that'll tour the country. It all gets started with the Aussie premiere of applauded and acclaimed Spanish comedy Champions, which picked up this year's Goya award for best film, as well as the best new actor prize for star Jesús Vidal. The feel-good flick follows an amateur Spanish basketball team comprised of players with mental disabilities and an arrogant coach who's sentenced to community service to help them bounce their way to glory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo_PDXou77c At the other end of the event is a bona fide classic: Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. While the festival sadly hasn't snagged the Spanish director's latest, the Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz-starring Pain and Glory, it will close out the 2019 lineup with this 1988 black comedy — one of the movies that first helped bring Banderas to fame. Other program highlights include action-packed bank robbery drama 70 Big Ones, moody thriller The Uncovering, doppelgänger effort Ana by Day, character-driven melodrama Petra, and comedy Super Crazy, which focuses on a woman who suddenly can't stop speaking her mind. If you've ever wanted to know all there is to know about olive oil, there's also a documentary on the topic: Virgin & Extra: Jaén, The Land of the Olive Oil. And from the Cine Latino contingent, Argentinian title Royo delves into corruption before the country's mid-70s coup, while Tremors explores a Guatemalan family's secrets. The Projectionist also road trips through the Dominican Republic and comedy Looking for a Boyfriend... For My Wife reunites the cast of Chile's version of Married with Children. Across its full slate, the Spanish Film Festival also showcases 11 titles by female filmmakers, ranging from established talents to up-and-comers. Watch out for romance Carmen & Lola, which has proven a hit on the queer circuit; star-studded comedy-thriller Crime Wave, which stars Maribel Verdú, Javier Cámara and Luis Tosar; and the 1982-set The Good Girls, which follows the wives of wealthy Mexican men. The Spanish Film Festival tours Australia from April 16, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona and Palace Central from April 16 to May 8; Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Balwyn, Kino Cinemas and The Astor Theatre from April 18 to May 8; Brisbane's Palace Barracks and Palace James Street from April 24 to May 15; and Perth's Palace Cinema Paradiso from April 24 to May 15. For more information, visit the festival website
No, you're not having a stroke. Although you might be after a few dozen cheeseburgers. Everyone's favourite LA fast food powerhouse In-N-Out Burger has secretly popped up in Melbourne today. Set up at 212 Little Collins Street, these total legends are pumping out hamburgers, regular cheeseburgers and double cheese until 3pm today. Get amongst the inevitable burger-crazed mosh. This is happening right now. This isn't the first time these sneaky sneaksters have done this either. Last year, In-N-Out popped up for a one-day appearance in Sydney and stock sold out in a frantic two hour free for all. This is your time to shine, Melbourne. Get into the city immediately. There's a reason this joint is frequented by celebrities and regularly called "heaven on earth". Admittedly, it has a lot to do with cheese fries. OMG. In-n-Out pop up in Melbourne! (Not my burger, apparently couldn't do grilled cheese???????) #innout #innoutmelbourne A photo posted by j_fosk (@j_fosk) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:15pm PST The In-N-Out burger pop up will close at 3pm November 6 or until they sell out. Move. Now.
Vegans of the north, rejoice. The age of meat is waning and it's nearly your time to inherit the earth. To build your strength, head down to Welcome to Thornbury for the Vegan Vegout. The all-vegan food truck event usually rolls into High Street on the first Wednesday of every month. For the September event, you can expect a lineup of vegetarian and vegan snacks from the likes of Woking Amazing, Pierogi Pierogi, Mr Burger, and Quintessence Patisserie, which means everything from vegan meatballs to vegan peking duck will be covered. The event kicks off from 5pm and dogs are welcome. Vegan Vegout runs from 5–9pm.
It's not only the playing of tennis that works up a healthy appetite — it's also the watching of it. But, when you're at the Australian Open, surrounded by fellow ravenous spectators in 40-degree heat, working out where to get a decent bite can be a challenge. So, we thought we'd save you some trouble by tracking down the best places to eat in and around Rod Laver Arena this year. Whether you want to stick to the village or roam over to the CBD or Richmond, here are some spots to try. And if you're visiting from out of town, you'll also get to tick a few of Melbourne's best places to eat off your list. [caption id="attachment_704328" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 400 Gradi[/caption] GRAND SLAM OVAL, AUSTRALIAN OPEN VILLAGE Grand Slam Oval – located within the Australian Open village – is a gathering place for pop-ups, food trucks and bars. You'll find OTT kebabs by Biggie Smalls, Mexican street food by Collins Street's Mamasita, burgers by Neil Perry's Burger Project, some of the world's best slices from 400 Gradi, and, from Beijing Betty, Chinese fusion snacks created exclusively for the event. There are also bars for drinkers of all kinds, including one dedicated to champagne, one to beer and another to Aperol Spritz. Ideal if you don't have much time before the coin toss or can't be bothered to leave the village between matches. HARLOW, RICHMOND If you're looking for a new adventure, settle in at Harlow, a pub that, in December, took over the space then belonging to the Great Britain. It's on Church Street, Richmond. Whether you hang out in the dining room or head into the beer garden, you'll be starting with creative bites, like mini crab doughnuts and duck and bacon sausage rolls. The mains list is more about decadent takes on classics: there's a steak sandwich loaded with maple bacon and Swiss cheese, a smoked beer hot dog and a behemoth vegan burger. It's open from midday right through until late. ARBORY AFLOAT, SOUTHBANK Cool off by the Yarra at Arbory Afloat, at 69-metre-long floating bar that, since 2015, has set up on the river every spring, ready to get you through long hot days and balmy evenings. Downstairs is a citrus-and-fig grove, inspired by the Cinque Terre, while upstairs is dotted with day beds. Wherever you are, you'll be sipping on blood orange Aperol spritzes, watermelon sangria and piña coladas, and tucking into Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizzas, seafood platters and salads. Arbory Afloat is at 2 Flinders Walk – just a 15-minute walk down the Yarra from the Australian Open. THE CORNER HOTEL, RICHMOND Two years ago, this Melbourne live music stalwart scored a rooftop refurbishment and a tasty new menu. Thankfully, it hasn't lost any of its down-to-earth good vibes. If you haven't caught enough sun at the Open, go straight upstairs to relax in the fresh air; otherwise, stay downstairs where many a band has played into the wee hours. Either way, the food offerings include fried chicken, roast chicken roulade, the Corner parma and the Patti Smith beef burger. Craft beers a-plenty are on-tap. The Corner is a 15-minute walk from the Open. GAZI, CBD Weekend attendees can factor in a little trip to the Greek Islands at Gazi. This Hellenic eatery is hosting yum cha every Sunday, from midday till 3pm. The dishes have their roots in Mediterranean cuisine, but pay homage to Chinese, too. Among them are spanakopita gyoza, feta honey sesame spring rolls and sweet bread filled with lamb. A reasonable $49 buys a ten-course banquet and, for $35, you can add bottomless cocktails. Gazi is at 2 Exhibition Street in the CBD – 15 minutes from the action. FEAST OF MERIT, RICHMOND Fuel up before you hit the court at Feast of Merit, on Swan Street, around a 20-minute walk from the Rod Laver Arena. Among street art, vintage furniture and hanging greenery, you'll be feasting on hearty, Middle Eastern-influenced brekkies, such as börek, a vegetarian dish of corn fritters, poached egg, garlic yoghurt, feta and dukkah, or smoked ocean trout with asparagus, potato rosti and sour cream. For hardcore ticket holders, it's hard to knock back the büyük kahvalti, a big breakfast piled with eggs, sucuk sausage, haloumi, spinach, heirloom cherry tomatoes and flatbread. It's also open for dinner if you're looking for something post-match. [caption id="attachment_636986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Emily Blake[/caption] CUMULUS INC., CBD Take a rest from the heat, grit and grunts in a low-lit corner at Cumulus Inc., a dreamy escape designed to soothe your every sense. Owned and run by chef Andrew McConnell (Builders Arms Hotel, Cutler & Co. and Supernormal), this all-day eatery celebrated its tenth anniversary last year and has been stocking up on Good Food hats since 2010. Begin with beef tartare, tarragon and anchovy toast, then move onto snapper with mussels, fennel pollen and dill oil. There's also a tasting menu, which changes daily. Cumulus Inc. is at 45 Flinders Lane – 15 minutes' walk from the tennis. Top image: Visit Victoria.
Now that March is in full swing, it's time to don those jackets and look forward to the cooler months ahead. Lucky for Melburnians, the chill in the air also means that spots all over regional Victoria start transforming into a glorious blaze of red, orange, brown and gold as we speak. Whether you're up for an entire weekend away or can only swing a half-day trip, there's an autumnal sight within reach. Here's our guide to the best views that regional Victoria has to offer this season. [caption id="attachment_710240" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tieve Tara Website[/caption] MOUNT MACEDON Named after an Ancient Greek kingdom, Mount Macedon lies around 60 kilometres northwest of Melbourne in, well, the Macedon Ranges. Autumn splendour abounds everywhere you look, but one of the most striking sights is the Gardens of Tieve Tara. Its 7.5 acres make a dreamy landscape of pristine lakes and majestic trees. Expect a considerable variety of deciduous plants on offer — from maples, aspens and silver birches to liquid ambers, virginia creepers and copper beeches. Meanwhile, in the centre of Macedon Village, you'll find Honour Avenue. Lined with colourful, massive oak trees, the main street acts as a stunning tribute to the 154 local men and women who enlisted in World War I. HIGH COUNTRY You can find the most vibrant autumnal hues in all of Victoria in the High Country. Begin in the village of Bright, around a 3.5 hours drive northeast of Melbourne. Two of our favourite hikes in the region are the three-kilometre Canyon Walk and the five-kilometre Cherry Walk, both of which wind through brilliant forests and babbling brooks. To really get into the spirit of the season, visit during the Bright Autumn Festival from April 26 to May 5. An hour's drive north will land you in the village of Beechworth, famous for its impeccably preserved 19th-century architecture. After you're done perusing the historic designs, take a leisurely stroll nearby — be it on the Lake Walk, the Churches Walk or some other route. Prefer to be on two-wheels? Conquer the Pedal to Produce Cycling Trail, along which you can combine your sight-seeing with sampling the autumn harvest. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] George Tindale Gardens[/caption] DANDENONG RANGES What started out as a tiny reserve in 1882 has grown to become the 3500 hectares of the Dandenong Ranges National Park. It offers a range of opportunities to surround yourself with autumnal beauty — all within an hour's drive of Melbourne. Visit Cloudehill Gardens to see the enkianthus shrubs turn from purple to crimson in April, and catch the golden maples in May. Other landscapes in the Dandenong Ranges to visit include the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens, renowned for its waterfalls and ornamental lake; the George Tindale Gardens, where rare plant species shelter under towering mountain ash; and the town of Olinda, which houses the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden. GIPPSLAND Gippsland, one of Victoria's most diverse regions, contains thousands of kilometres of beaches, rivers, forests, mountains and snowfields. And Walhalla, about 2.5 hours east of Melbourne, is one of the best areas to lose yourself in this autumn. The gold mining town was once among Australia's wealthiest but, according to the 2017 census, has just 20 residents left — meaning you can wander through the autumnal colours without battling the crowds. For the most breathtaking views, take the Walhalla Tramline Walk. Even more vibrant colours are on display in the Nunniong Plains, within Snowy River National Park. The Nunniong Forest Drive is a 67-kilometre adventure through subalpine grasslands, heathlands and old-growth forest. Keep an eye out for black cockatoos, who are particularly active in autumn. DAYLESFORD Rather than merely gazing at your surrounds, head to Daylesford and properly enjoy the season at Lavandula — a lavender farm found 90 minutes northwest of Melbourne. Here, you can experience the lush autumn harvest, immersed in the heady scent of lavender and surrounded by green hills. Better yet, plan a trip on Sunday, May 19 for the farm's autumn festival packed with local artisans, producers and plenty to explore around the gardens and farmland. Back in town, Lake Daylesford is an explosion of colour. The man-made lake is a magnet for birds, picnickers and boaters alike. In autumn, the deciduous trees around its shore transform into gold, red, orange, brown and all shades in between. If you're looking for other things to do while you're in town — or considering staying over — check out our weekender's guide. MURRAY RIVER Given that the Murray River is around 2500 kilometres long, there are plenty of spots where you can enjoy autumn on the water — and so many ways to do it. If you have time for an overnight escape, hire a houseboat and drift along at your leisure or get adventurous and pull up alongside the river's bordering villages, stop by wineries for tastings or try your hand at fishing. If you've cash to splash, go for a luxury model, such as Magic Murray Houseboats' Magic or Murray River Houseboats' Decadence, which all include a spa and sun deck, perfect for enjoying the scenic views. Meanwhile, Mildura Houseboats' fleet ranges from back-to-basics to total extravagance, so there are options for any budget. Stacks more boats are listed on the Visit Victoria website. Or, for day-trippers, hire a kayak or canoe. There's no shortage of picturesque camping spots on sandy beaches, either. Alternatively, choose a riverside town as a base from which to launch your adventures — take Echuca, for example, which lies around a 2.5-hour drive north of Melbourne. See the leaves from the water on a legendary 19th-century paddle steamer, or go rolling along local cycle paths. While it is possible to ride the entire length of the Murray, from its source on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko to its mouth in Coorong, if you don't have weeks to spare (and Amazonian legs), then there are plenty of shorter cycle paths to explore. In Echuca, the Food and Wine Trail takes in numerous cellar doors and local producers, including Morrisons Winery and Cape Horn Vineyard. You can even drive the ten minutes from Echuca to Billabong Ranch, a 390-acre property where you can jump on a horse's back and canter alongside the river and through red river gum forest. For more autumnal places, spaces and events in regional Victoria, visit Your Happy Space.
While the words "winter camp" might conjure up images of shivering in the woods and setting up wonky tents, banish those thoughts immediately — Chuckle Park's version of winter camp will warm you up from the inside out, mostly due to the fact that there will be free mulled wine on offer. Running from midday until 9pm on Sunday, July 29, it might just be the perfect place to celebrate making it past the halfway point of winter. The CBD bar is teaming up with distiller Melbourne Moonshine to create innovative and warming cocktails, including an apple pie-inspired shot and Smokey The Bear, made with whisky, apricot hickory bitters and hickory smoke in a bear-shaped jar. There will be DJs playing all day and a cookout is on the agenda with sausages, of course, as well as vegan options — and, all the cookout proceeds will go to New Beginnings Animals Rescue. Dogs are very welcome and there'll even be a best-dressed camper award, so get those thermals out. Getting back to the very important bit, though, free mulled wine will be flowing from 12–3pm, and you can add to the warmth by downing some free toasted marshmallows, too, which will be available all day.
Melbourne is a blessed city. We have trams and trains connecting most of our major streets and suburbs, there are huge gardens on the outskirts of our CBD that provide beautiful walking routes into work, and we have one of the highest rates of cyclists of any Australian city. So why are so many of us still driving into the CBD? It's got a little to do with convenience and a lot to do with laziness, but Melbourne City Council is about to put a stop to it. With a draft walking plan to be considered by this week, the council have outlined a detailed initiative to make the CBD more accessible to walkers. In the proposed plan, many of the city's main strips would become shared zones with 10km/hr speed limits or closed to traffic completely. "We want to make all of Melbourne a lot more pedestrian friendly," Councillor Cathy Oke told the ABC. The proposed changes would include sectioning off Elizabeth Street in a similar manner to Swanston Street — making it only available to pedestrians and trams. Street closures would also take place on sections of Little Bourke, Little Collins and Flinders Lane making them exclusive "walking streets" and undoubtedly easing the crowds on their larger namesakes. The proposed "shared zones" would include Market Street between Collins Street and Flinders Lane, the area of Spring Street adjacent to Parliament Station and the Princes Theatre, and Queen Street near the Queen Victoria Market. According to the council, walking accounts for 66 percent of trips made around the CBD and they'd like to see that number increase to 69 — an oddly specific and suspicious target, if you ask us. Nonetheless, it's a noble plan. People will feel more compelled to walk, the congestion in the CBD will be eased, and retail spaces will presumably see a boost from increased foot traffic. It's going to be a huge pain in the neck for business types with an aversion to public transport, but a big win for the rest of us. At the very least, we'll be beating Sydney's new pedestrian policies ten-fold — and really, isn't beating Sydney what it's all about? Via ABC. Photo credit: jungmoon via photopin cc and mugley via photopin cc.
Melburnians will have a rare chance to experience a white Christmas right here in their own backyard, when the Queen Victoria Market plays host to the city's first-ever summer outdoor ice-skating rink. Keeping us cool through the normally balmy stretch of December 1 to 24, the Air Canada pop-up will transform the Market's historic sheds into a festive, wintery wonderland, to celebrate the airline's new non-stop Melbourne to Vancouver route. The rink will host hourly skating sessions, with all the kit available to hire, from skates and helmets to knee pads. What's more, the fun continues off the ice, with a plethora of tasty rink-side offerings. Think fairy floss, buttery popcorn, maple syrup ice cream from Market stalwart Geloso Gelateria, and of course, plenty of poutine — Canada's famed dish of French fries, cheese curds and gravy. The Air Canada Ice Rink will open market days (Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays), as well as Wednesday nights to coincide with the Summer Night Market season.
Add a touch of glamour to your outdoors or music festival experience with a designer tent. Designed by a diverse group of artists, photographers and illustrators, FieldCandy tents feature quirky designs ranging from a wedge of cheese to a drawing of a little old granny. There is a jelly bean tent for the sweet tooth, a galactic-themed tent for the nerd, and many more. Adorable, yes, but these tents aren't just for show--they are all rough-and-tumble ready. Appropriate for those hardcore hikers and campers, and for those of us traveling no farther than our back yard, FieldCandy tents are sure to brighten up your camping experience. Looking for a place to getaway to? Check out Concrete Playground's favourite camping destinations.
Chunky Monkey, Clusterfluff, New York Super Fudge Chunk. These are just some of the more popular flavours of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream — a leading cause of happiness around the world since 1978. While doctors in the future will no doubt tell us otherwise, we can’t think of many things better than gorging on a giant tub of sweet, sweet ice-cream on a warm summer day, except for maybe getting some friends together and going to the movies. Well, it turns out Ben & Jerry’s can help us there as well. Starting on November 30 and running until late December, the 10th Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema, erected right by St Kilda Beach, will combine recent releases like Interstellar, Whiplash and The Drop with some more nostalgic picks, including Labyrinth, The Breakfast Club and a sing-along screening of Grease. We're even presenting our very own session of Fury on Sunday, December 6. Having started out on top of the St Kilda Sea Baths, Openair Cinema has now moved down to the lawns by the water, allowing plenty more space for bean loungers, picnics and general unwindulaxing. Festivities start daily at 6.30pm, with live music squeezed in before the film (plus plenty of time to suss out the bar and stock up on snacks). Best of all are the Sunday ‘Sundae’ Sessions, which kick off at 5pm with additional music, games on the lawn and unlimited free Ben & Jerry’s for all. For session times and more information, check out the event website.
Men, Women and Children is no glossy Hollywood rom-com. There are no vacuous high school dramas, nor are there any cheesy family clichés. It's a film that looks at the paradox of connecting in the digital age: the persistent preoccupation with being active online, contrasted with difficulty remaining present in person. Directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno and Labor Day), the film features a pretty impressive cast including Ansel Elgort, Jennifer Garner, Adam Sandler and Rosmarie DeWitt. Throughout the interweaving story lines of the eleven main characters, the film dissects the impact that technology has on our relationships — dealing with pertinent issues such as video game culture, anorexia and infidelity. Men, Women and Children is in cinemas November 27. Thanks to Paramount Pictures, we have ten double passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
As Melbourne continues to shake off the cobwebs and reawaken post-lockdown, its collection of new drinking spots seems to be growing by the day. One of the latest is a summer-friendly pop-up beer garden gracing the rooftop of the newly refurbished Prince Hotel. Joining a suite of offerings that now includes a public bar, dining room, deck, wine bar and bottle shop, the Prince Rooftop Beer Garden is a team effort, created in collaboration with Brick Lane Brewing and Nagambie Brewery & Distillery. The upper level of the site's multi-storey car park has been kitted out as a laidback openair bar for at least the next four weeks, complete with pallet seating, fairy lights and sparkling bay views. A rotation of local DJs will supply the soundtrack to your afternoon sipping sessions, as you tuck into icy cold Brick Lane beers, wines from Mitchelton's Preece, and breezy cocktails crafted using Nagambie 3608 Gin. The relaxed vibe extends to the menu, with the kitchen serving up fare that's perfect enjoyed sans cutlery, alongside a tipple or two. Think, hot chicken rolls and deep-pan pizza by the slice, as well as Euro-inspired picnic packs of cheese and charcuterie courtesy of Little Prince Wine downstairs. And, for those balmier days, there'll even be beer-flavoured icy poles from the folks at Brick Lane. Dogs and kids are welcome up here, so there's no need to leave anyone at home. And you won't even need to worry about wrangling a booking as this rooftop's doing walk-ins only. Find The Prince Rooftop Beer Garden at 2 Acland Street, St Kilda. It's open 4-9pm Thursdays, 12-9pm Friday–Saturday and 12-6pm Sunday.
