UPDATE, June 29, 2022: Midsommar is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. In the dark, sprawling house at the centre of Ari Aster's Hereditary, nightmares flourished in even the safest of spaces. In the writer-director's sophomore release, Midsommar, devilish deeds and diabolical forces thrive in lush meadows dappled with unrelenting Swedish daylight. Once again weaving a maze of death, trauma, family, secrets, strange sects, unnerving rituals and eerie altercations, the acclaimed filmmaker is clearly fascinated with specific themes and motifs. He has a type, even with the evident change of location and colour scheme. And yet, Aster can't be accused of making the same movie twice. Watching on as a group of Americans encroach upon a secret Nordic community near the North Pole, joining their celebrations during a once-in-a-lifetime festival, Midsommar dives into a whole new world of terror. Crucially, it thrusts the horror genre's lingering malevolence out of dim rooms and musty corners, and into the fresh, vibrant, perennially sun-drenched air. Midsommar commences with the passing of loved ones, in what's become the director's typical fashion. That Aster has already established an authorial pattern just two movies into his feature-filmmaking career (across less than two years) speaks volumes. Midsommar doesn't seem like a rehash, nor like he's filtering his past hit through the somewhat similar The Wicker Man or Kill List. Instead, it feels as if Aster is finding new ways to unpack ideas that keep devouring his mind and soul. Through the grief-stricken Dani (Florence Pugh), he gives the bone-rattling pain of mourning the most distraught face he can, his committed new lead matching Toni Collette's turn in Hereditary for intensity. Then, he pushes his bereaved protagonist much, much further out of her comfort zone. Tagging along with her barely caring boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) as he accompanies his college friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) back to the close-knit commune where the latter grew up, Dani is an interloper twice over. The frat boy-ish Mark (Will Poulter) is visibly unhappy that she's joined their trip and, though fellow anthropology student Josh (William Jackson Harper) offers her kindness, it's obvious that she wasn't initially part of the group's plans. Of course, like their unwanted guest, this motley crew of self-absorbed men don't quite gel at their destination. They're met with hearty smiles, plastered across the faces of serene Swedes who wear white cotton from head to toe, sport floral headdresses and spend their afternoons tripping on mushrooms, but the visitors still stand out. And the more time that Dani, Christian, Mark and Josh spend with the Hårga, as Pelle's pagan community is known, the further they become entrenched in the summer solstice festivities. While it begins with feasts, ceremonies, love runes and laced drinks, disappearances, ominous maypole dances, deaths and worse soon follow. A film steeped in loss, Midsommar is also a movie as much about belonging as longing. The agony and uncertainty someone feels when they don't fit in, and the contentment that springs when they're welcomed with open arms, courses through the picture's veins. Tied to both is Aster's favourite sensation, with dread the movie's emotional baseline. Wherever and whenever he can, the filmmaker layers his sights and sounds with anxiety and apprehension — and with fear and foreboding on top. Unease ripples across the Hårga's leafy haven like a slight but quickening breeze, as made all the more disquieting by the long, wide shots favoured by returning cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski, and the needling, string-heavy refrains that mark The Haxan Cloak's stirring score. Once again, Aster has crafted a work of commanding control and startling technical precision, each element carefully calculated to disturb viewers with maximum effect. Midsommar is also a work of meticulous pacing, a factor that has more of an impact than might be anticipated. As anyone who has experienced it knows, mourning is a process of waiting for time to tick by, and for soul-crushing sadness to fade from a searing flame to a bearable simmer. Likewise, relishing the joys of feeling safe and wanted also hinges upon time — although, in that situation, no one ever wants their bliss to end. Starting patiently then working up to a frenzy, Midsommar packs much into its 147-minute duration, but mirroring these feelings of grief and of comfort just might be its most devastating achievement. With that in mind, Dani is torn in two conflicting directions, simultaneously wishing her ordeal would finish and hoping that it keeps branching into eternity. Reynor's largely dazed and confused Christian feels the same way, but for his own reasons given that their relationship keeps snapping and straining towards its breaking point. The duo are distressed and drugged, yet they're also caught in the commune's thrall, and Aster asks his audience to share their sentiments. It's easy to do as the director asks, unless you're squeamish. A hallucinatory horror trip that doesn't hold back on its deranged imagery, Midsommar is a glowing, sinister dream. It couldn't look more alluring and idyllic, all while exposing festering miseries and inescapable woes. Every inch a sunlit nightmare, it shocks by bathing its dark heart in gleaming brightness, and intoxicates even as it repeatedly unsettles viewers to their core. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9ZeUWXI2s
Instead of Gen V, you could call this spinoff The Boys Jnr and it'd fit in an array of ways. The superheroes are younger, with the series' eight-episode first season focusing on students attending Godolkin University, rather than adults who've been there, done that and are weathering the brutalities of life as grown caped crusaders. The minutiae of Gen V's characters' lives is firmly teen-centric as a result, including dates and crushes, dorms and lectures, making new friends and peer pressure, and the like. Obviously, their worries largely aren't of the world-weary, years-of-existential-malaise kind, but span making friends, scoring the right classes, wanting to be popular, breaking curfew, navigating social media, body image, sex positivity, morning-after regrets, dealing with overbearing parents and plotting out the future. There's nothing smaller about the hefty, hearty, utterly gleeful splashes of gore and violence, however — the eager amounts of guts and penises, too — in the latest show inspired by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's comic book. Streaming from Friday, September 29, Prime Video's next dive into this satirical superhero world is The Boys but in college, the same chaos, carnage and characteristic raucousness all included. Slotting into the Vought Cinematic Universe after the OG series (which has dropped three seasons, with a fourth on the way) and the animated The Boys Presents: Diabolical, Gen V stems from the 'We Gotta Go Now' storyline, sporting youthful leads but zero tone and vibe changes. So springs an OTT coming-of-age tale that's gruesome, irreverent, subversive, funny and, yes, filled with bodily fluids. Set at the same time that The Boys' fourth season will take place when it hits — its episodes have been filmed, but no release date has been locked in yet due to Hollywood's 2023 strikes — Gen V follows the blood-bending Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as she scores a university place that could change everything that she knows. Stuck under the cloud of a past tragedy until now, her scholarship to the Vought-approved God U is the ticket to her dreams, with becoming the first Black woman in The Seven her ultimate aim. Her approach going in: putting her head down, working hard and securing a path beyond the facility that's been her home for much too long. She's warned what will occur if she doesn't succeed, with more time spent institutionalised the only other option that superhero organisation Vought foresees. Before Marie arrives at God U, Gen V begins with her backstory, plus with the reason that doing her best is so important. The show's developers Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg and Eric Kripke, all The Boys alumni, also establish that their adolescent angle is as essential as caped crusaders and diving back into havoc caused by the corrupt mega-corporation that is Vought. When a young woman has Marie's distinctive powers, how do they manifest? When she reaches puberty and gets her first period. In opening moments set eight years earlier, just as A-Train (Jesse T Usher, Smile) is welcomed into Vought's top-tier superhero crew, there's a body count, emotional scars that Marie will never get over, and also an ultraviolet start to the series' exploration of compound V-dosed kids who were given the drug by their mums and dads to turn them into something special, only to be forced to live with the consequences. Accordingly, college's everyday trials and tribulations were never going to be the only challenges in store once Gen V steps foot on campus, and Marie with it; more follow. Academic disappointment comes early, when hotshot Crimefighting Department head Professor Rich Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown, Ahsoka) won't let her into her dream course, but that soon seems like a minor woe. As Marie rooms with Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway, Based on a True Story), who can scale down her size, fitting in doesn't come easily. And when she meets the resident cool clique, including literally hot number one-ranked pupil Luke 'Golden Boy' Riordan (Patrick Schwarzenegger, The Staircase), his persuasive girlfriend Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips, Teenage Bounty Hunters), the magnetic Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo, also Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and the gender-shifting Jordan Li (Never Have I Ever's London Thor and Shining Vale's Derek Luh), she swiftly discovers that everything at her new school isn't what it seems. There will be blood by the bucketload — even if Marie's powers weren't tied to it, this is a VCU entry — plus secrets, lies, class clashes and life-and-death stakes. And, in a show that also gives its characters a mystery to chase, there's also a creepy underground facility known as The Woods that Marie, Emma and their pals keep being drawn to. Gen V delivers a savvy balance of wild fun and perceptive smarts as well, in a series that plays like The Boys mixed with The Sex Lives of College Girls, Scooby Doo, Wednesday and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like the latter pair, it's highly cognisant that growing up is weird and hellish. It similarly knows how to use fantasy and horror — here, being a caped crusader at a sinister uni that specifically trains them, rather than the ultimate goth girl or vanquishing the undead while living on a hellmouth — to explore the many struggles that accompany facing maturity. While a few key cameos pop up from its predecessor, Gen V's is 100-percent focused on the franchise's newbies, their supe and uni experiences, and the shady happenings around them — which is a pivotal move. Indeed, that's what makes it a perfect The Boys spinoff, and never an easy facsimile, lazy wannabe or unsubtle reminder of what else exists in the broader saga. Gen V dwells in the same realm with the same atmosphere and same bite, but always dons its own personality, is committed to telling its own characters' tales and proves genuinely keen to broaden the Vought Cinematic Universe. Tearing into what's become the biggest type of on-screen stories right now is still the same mission, complete with blatant Marvel digs, yet it's done in a story that puts the ups and downs of being a teen in this situation first and foremost. It's no wonder, then, that Gen V is as entertaining as The Boys to watch. It's also no surprise that Marie and her classmates easily earn the same investment as Billy Butcher (Karl Urban, Thor: Ragnarok), Hughie (Jack Quaid, Oppenheimer), Frenchie (Tomer Capone, One on One), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara, Bullet Train) Mother's Milk's (Laz Alonso, Wrath of Man), Starlight (Erin Moriarty, Captain Fantastic), Maeve (Dominique McElligott, The Last Tycoon) and company. Alongside confidence, strewn-around viscera and its sense of humour, casting remains one of this core franchise's talents, especially with Sinclair, Broadway, Perdomo, Thor and Luh. And any X-Men or The New Mutants comparisons? Just as The Boys knowingly smashed through its Avengers and Justice League commonalities, so does this new sharp, cynical and imaginative chip off the old block. Check out the trailer for Gen V below: Gen V streams via Prime Video from Friday, September 29.
UPDATE, Thursday, March 28, 2o24: Oppenheimer is available to stream via Netflix, Binge, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Cast Cillian Murphy and a filmmaker falls in love. Danny Boyle did with 28 Days Later and Sunshine, then Christopher Nolan followed with Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and Dunkirk. There's an arresting, haunting, seeps-under-your-skin soulfulness about the Irish actor, never more so than when he was wandering solo through the empty zombie-ravaged streets in his big-screen big break, then hurtling towards the sun in an underrated sci-fi gem, both for Boyle, and now playing "the father of atomic bomb" in Nolan's epic biopic Oppenheimer. Flirting with the end of the world, or just one person's end, clearly suits Murphy. Here he is in a mind-blower as the destroyer of worlds — almost, perhaps actually — and so much of this can't-look-away three-hour stunner dwells in his expressive eyes. As J Robert Oppenheimer, those peepers see purpose and possibility. They spot quantum mechanics' promise, and the whole universe lurking within that branch of physics. They ultimately spy the consequences, too, of bringing the Manhattan Project successfully to fruition during World War II. Dr Strangelove's full title could never apply to Oppenheimer, nor to its eponymous figure; neither learn to stop worrying and love the bomb. The theoretical physicist responsible for the creation of nuclear weapons did enjoy building it in Nolan's account, Murphy's telltale eyes gleaming as Oppy watches research become reality — but then darkening as he gleans what that reality means. Directing, writing and adapting the 2005 biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, Nolan charts the before and after. He probes the fission and fusion of the situation in intercut parts, the first in colour, the second in black and white. In the former, all paths lead to the history-changing Trinity test on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexico desert. In the latter, a mushroom cloud balloons through Oppenheimer's life as he perceives what the gadget, as it's called in its development stages, has unleashed. Pre-Los Alamos Oppenheimer is all nervy spark, whether he's excited about a Cambridge lecture by Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh, Death on the Nile), meeting other great minds in his field around Europe, taking his learnings home from to start the US' first quantum mechanics class, or cultivating what'll later be disparaged by a security clearance-decreeing Atomic Energy Commission panel as a far leftwing mindset. He's electric when an animated ideological chat with Communist Party member Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh, The Wonder) leads to slipping between the sheets for a tumultuous affair. When he meets botanist and biologist Kitty (Emily Blunt, The English) in the smoothest of sexual tension-dripping conversations, his inertia gets her answering "not very" when he asks if she's married. Determination mingles in, too, when Lieutenant General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon, Air) thunders into his classroom on a recruitment mission for top-secret work in a race to beat the Nazis. And, it lingers as the ball is put in motion, then keeps rolling, to construct the most fateful ball of them all. Post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki Oppenheimer is solidified in his certainty that his big bang, then the others that America's military detonated swiftly in Japan once they knew it worked, is on the wrong side of history. He's fragmented, though, by the response to his horror — including the McCarthy-esque committee mercilessly scrutinising him, his colleagues and others closet to him, while deciding whether they'll still give him access. Amid the political fallout for Oppenheimer's advocacy for scaling back afterwards, AEC commissioner Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr, Dolittle) is weaved in, also answering dissecting questions. Oppenheimer is a talky film, sound and fury echoing as heatedly in its words as when blazing light fills the screen. Both the discussions-slash-interrogations and the incendiary moment that forever altered all incendiary moments are impeccably, immaculately, thrillingly and viscerally staged. Nolan identifies chain reactions, and creates them. As he slams the movie's two parts together with his Tenet editor Jennifer Lane's exacting splicing — also letting the contrasting segments lensed so meticulously by Oscar-nominated Dunkirk cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema fling closer and bounce apart, and linking everything with Black Panther Oscar-winner Ludwig Göransson's evocative and relentless score — he crafts his most complex and complicated film yet. His subject demands it. Oppenheimer follows, digs into memory and can't sleep with what's happened. It notices what grows in darkness, shifts reality, reaches for the cosmic and hops through time, too, all in its own ways. It plays like a culmination of Nolan's work as a result — it's certainly made like exactly that — as its namesake tries "not to set the sky on fire", as Groves tells him, then attempts to kill the terrible threat of burning skies as a power-boosting military tactic. If someone told Nolan not to set the screen alight and aglow with his 12th feature in 25 years, and his second about World War II in six, he didn't listen — be it with his resonant ideas, his execution or his stars. He paints a fiery portrait of America, especially in monochrome. He unpacks the lengths that humanity will go to to gain control and garner recognition, and the grave costs. He fires moments at the screen that just keep expanding in impact, and combining like Dunkirk's onslaught from land, air and sea. An early gripping scene involving Oppenheimer as a student, an apple and cyanide is one. So is the immediate expectation to lead the cheering after the Trinity test, just as the full meaning of what's occurred dawns, in a sequence that uses dissonant sound to immersive and galvanising effect. And, piercing too is the rat-tat-tat of the interrogation dialogue. Murphy is spectacular, and has never been better as Nolan stares so intimately and contemplatively at his revealing face. How joyous it is to see Downey Jr, also never better, actually act again — his astounding, awards-destined performance is meaty, mesmerising, and something that's been sorely missed. Oppenheimer's is an explosive cast, also spanning Blunt at her steeliest; pivotal contributions by Josh Hartnett (Black Mirror), Benny Safdie (Stars at Noon) and David Krumholtz (White House Plumbers) as fellow scientists; and the influential Jason Clarke (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Macon Blair (Reservation Dogs), Dane DeHaan (The Staircase) and Alden Ehrenreich (Cocaine Bear) among the lawyers, military and political aides. Present, too, each in small but significant parts: three consecutive 2017–19 Best Actor Academy Award-winners in Manchester by the Sea's Casey Affleck, Darkest Hour's Gary Oldman and Bohemian Rhapsody's Rami Malek. Nolan deploys them all in a film that bellows, billows and blasts. Watching, and plunging into Oppenheimer's mind, isn't a passive experience.
UPDATE, March 4, 2021: Moonlight is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. "At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you're going to be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you," Miami drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali) tells nine-year-old Little (Alex Hibbert). They're warm words of wisdom offered by someone who wouldn't be seen as a substitute father figure in most movies — and given to a shy, bullied boy desperately in need of a guiding hand. Their connection, defying expectations and complicated by Little's crack-addicted mother Paula (Naomie Harris), forms much of Moonlight's first chapter, but their interactions will influence the entire film. As the story progresses, Little grows into awkward teenager Chiron (played by Ashton Sanders), a young man who still struggles with who he is and how he feels. Then, finally, he transforms into the hardened, Atlanta-based Black (Trevante Rhodes), styling himself in Juan's image. He'll keep trying to forge his identity, while grappling with the different visions of masculinity around him, as well as his own sexuality. As he comes of age, he'll also be shaped by his mother's troubles, the nurturing presence of Juan's girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe), and his friendship with his classmate Kevin (played by Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome and André Holland over the years). Written and directed by Barry Jenkins from an unstaged play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight is a film of moments and mindsets, one that values sensations and textures more than any other storytelling tool. Jenkins constructs the emotions and experiences of his protagonist from the people, places, dreams and encounters that define him at any given point, plus his ongoing quest to find a persona, a companion, and a space that provides comfort and solace. Narrative-wise, it might sound slight. Thematically, visually and in its performances, Moonlight is a powerhouse. Stressing how things left unseen and unsaid are as crucial as sights glimpsed and words uttered, every frame, look and line of dialogue proves a piece of the puzzle that is Chiron in his various guises. Often, Jenkins and his college roommate turned cinematographer James Laxton make the audience stare into the eyes of their leads, conveying a pain and a yearning that borders on contagious. More frequently, the filmmaking team adopts their character's perspective, gazing into a world teeming with uncertainty. Subjectivity reigns, such as when the dialogue and imagery fall out of synch during moments of distress, or when a painful memory is cast in heightened, almost neon hues. Even when the film peers in from the outside, the little things still matter, be it green blades of grass spied up close, a hand grasping at sand during an intimate exchange, or a man removing the armour-like grill from his teeth. Jenkins seamlessly brings all of the above together, creating a cinematic symphony of the patterns and rhythms that come with deciding who you're going to be. However, he also crafts a sensitive stage for his three lead actors to infuse their protagonist with heart and soul, as a poor, black, queer boy becomes a man. Though matched in every scene by exceptional co-stars — including the charismatic, stereotype-defying work of Ali, as well as the quiet tenderness of Holland — the main trio are never anything less than devastating.
Something delightful is happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are starting to reopen — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made over the past three months, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qn70iqo-4Q MONOS The relentlessness of modern life, the ongoing unrest in Colombia, and the ceaseless trials and tribulations that plague all teens facing adulthood — they all sit at the centre of stunning South America-set thriller Monos. Set in a camp of teen guerrillas, Alejandro Landes' third film follows gun-toting rebels that have barely said goodbye to childhood, but are still tasked with guarding an American hostage (The Outsider's Julianne Nicholson). Unsurprisingly, even with nothing around but fields, jungle, a cow to milk and occasional enemy fire, little goes according to plan. Engagingly lingering between a dark fairytale and a psychological treatise on war, combat and humanity's dog-eat-dog nature, the result is the definite standouts of the past year. From the eye-popping landscape cinematography and the needling tension of Mica Levi's score, to the commanding performance from the young cast, there's a reason that Monos proved a huge festival hit around the globe in 2019 — including winning Sundance's Special Jury Award — before finally releasing in Aussie cinemas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzqevBnUUZU&t=3s THE ASSISTANT After exploring the JonBenet Ramsey case not only with precision, but via a perceptive re-enactment technique that interrogated its impact — with excellent documentary Casting JonBenet the end result — trust Australian filmmaker Kitty Green to turn one of the biggest topics of the past few years into a compelling, unsettling, fiercely searing thriller. The subject: the culture of sexual harassment and sexually predatory behaviour in the entertainment industry. The context: #MeToo, obviously. Following a day in the professional life of an entry-level personal assistant, Jane (Ozark's Julia Garner), as she works for an unseen film production company head honcho, The Assistant unnerves by showing the routine, everyday nature of inappropriate workplace conduct, as well as the powerlessness of those both subjected and witness to it to stop it. As always in Green's films, every element is fine-tuned to evoke a strong and earned response — which, here, includes a grey colour palette, claustrophobic camerawork, a taut script, a commitment to authenticity and a devastatingly stellar performance by Garner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqO25i-XNEU THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD He's skewered British, American and Russian politics in The Thick of It, In the Loop, Veep and The Death of Stalin. This year, in the eerily prescient Avenue 5, he pondered what would happen if a group of people were confined on a cruise of sorts — a luxury space voyage — for an extended stretch of time. But, in period comedy mode, The Personal History of David Copperfield might just be Armando Iannucci's most delightful work yet. Indeed, playfully trifling with a Charles Dickens classic suits the writer/director. Boasting a charming performance by Dev Patel as the eponymous character, and also starring Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw and Game of Thrones' Gwendoline Christie, this is a fresh, very funny and sharp-witted rendering of the obvious literary source material. Recreating this tale of a Victorian-era young man cycling from wealth to poverty and back again, Iannucci and his frequent co-scribe Simon Blackwell take shrewd liberties with the story, while never letting issues of class, abuse, loss, corruption and the dog-eat-dog nature of capitalism slip from view. And, Iannucci's visual inventiveness — including the use of split screen and rear projection — also leaves an imprint. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVlPl0SXFiE BAIT When a film is described as 'textured', the term typically refers to its narrative, themes and emotional impact, with nothing smooth, shallow or straightforward evident. That applies to Mark Jenkin's Bait as it hones in on feuding Cornish fisherman siblings Martin (Edward Rowe) and Steven Ward (Giles King). Indeed, examining not only family in-fighting, but culture clashes, the growing chasm between tradition and modernity, and the effect of tourism on local residents of scenic spots, this is a rich, tense, complex and mesmerising affair that muses as deeply on blood ties as it does on gentrification. Jenkin's film also boasts ample visual texture, too. It's noticeable from the feature's first moments, is intrinsically linked to its tone, and proves utterly inescapable as the sea, craggy shorelines, twisted nets and gnarled ropes all fill the screen. And, as shot on location with a 16mm Bolex camera — and on black-and-white stock that the director hand-processed — Bait's look and feel is as important to the movie as anything else within its frames. In fact, paired with a noticeable penchant for close-ups that forces the audience to stare firmly at both people and objects, this stunning British feature couldn't make a bigger or more powerful aesthetic splash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DOiI_zYQrs BELLBIRD Bruce (Cohen Holloway) has long since reached adulthood. And, for all of the garbage dump worker's life, his mother Beth (Annie Whittle) has provided a buffer between him and his stoic father Ross (Marshall Napier). When tragedy strikes, however, they're forced to not only face a future without her — including the minutiae of running their scenic Northland dairy farm — but to truly face and talk to each other in a meaningful way for the first real time. Marking the feature directorial debut of teacher-turned-filmmaker Hamish Bennett, made in the area he grew up in and following the same characters from his 2014 short film Ross & Beth, Bellbird explores a straightforward and well-traversed concept, with mourning no stranger to screens. That said, this patient, understated and gently humorous New Zealand drama is a soulful and thoughtful gem. As well as finding a wealth of depth in two men ill-equipped to confront their complicated emotions but given no choice but to try, this gorgeously shot and weightily performed feature matches Bruce and Ross' taciturn ways with an astute script that conveys more through silence than words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BewCjGqefoQ LOVE SARAH Also focusing on connection and reflection sparked by grief, Love Sarah steps into another family attempting to cope with loss. In this case, the dearly departed is the titular chef — the estranged daughter of ex-circus performer Mimi (Celia Imrie), beloved mother of dancer Clarissa (Shannon Tarbet), and best friend and business partner of Isabella (Shelley Conn). When the latter decides to forge ahead with Sarah's plans to open a bakery, she realises that she can't do it without both Mimi and Clarissa's help. Also lending a hand: Sarah and Isabella's culinary school pal Matthew (Rupert Penry-Jones), who might be Clarissa's father. Directing her first feature, filmmaker Eliza Schroeder lets everything about Love Sarah play out as expected, including its soft hues, appetising cake and pastry shots, and exploration of renewed bonds and new opportunities in the face of life-altering change. The film is suitably sweet, of course, and always palatable; however it's far too happy to stick to the easiest recipe possible — with some plot strands overstressed to add extra drama, and one of the movie's more enticing and interesting narrative elements quickly introduced and then abandoned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tzas-d8MgM THE WRETCHED For part of this year, when US cinemas were closed but some drive-ins were still open, The Wretched topped the American box office. In no other scenario would that have occurred, so consider the attention afforded Brett and Drew T Pierce's instantly familiar but always effective horror film one of the few silver linings of pandemic-inspired lockdowns. Set in a small coastal town, the siblings' slickly crafted feature follows teenager Ben (John-Paul Howard), who's visiting his divorced father Liam (Jamison Jones). As tends to happen in this type of creepfest, his arrival coincides with strange goings-on at the house next door — namely a sinister force that's wreaking havoc on his neighbours and threatening to spread its malevolence even further. Immediately recalling 80s-era spookiness (and clearly the product of writer/directors who've spent much of their lives watching scary flicks from the period), The Wretched perfects the genre's jumps and bumps with ease, as well as the filmmaking nuts and bolts. In terms of its supernatural storyline, though — and its witchy villain — it does lean heavily on cliches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K4qawhyasA&feature=emb_logo A SON A tragic accident causes a long-kept secret to come to light — and sparks a series of difficult choices for a Tunisian struggling couple — in the tense and moving A Son. Despite that description, however, this isn't just an intimate drama about messy personal lives tested by heightened circumstances, although it definitely fits that bill. As well as chronicling the fallout when Aziz (Youssef Khemiri), the 11-year-old son of Fares (Sami Bouajila) and Meriem (Najla Ben Abdallah), is hit by a stray bullet during an on-the-road ambush by an armed group, debut filmmaker Mehdi Barsaoui examines the societal underpinnings deepening the family's troubles. Aziz is in dire need of a liver transplant in the aftermath of the attack, but the quest to find a donor is complicated due to cultural, religious and political reasons, as well as a revelation that rocks Meriem and Fares' marriage. Playing parents and partners pushed to their limits, Bouajila and Abdallah are superb. And, while some of the movie hits predicable narrative beats, Barsaoui isn't afraid to veer in confronting directions, or to peer intently at the state of Tunisia today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq2n6LJrrZY THE BOOKSELLERS Calling all bibliophiles — whether your bookshelves are bulging, you've spent far too much of your life in bookstores or you've always dreamed about turning your passion for reading into your profession. Focusing on New York's rare booksellers, as well as the ups and downs of their industry, US documentary The Booksellers touches on all of the above. It's also catnip for anyone who's never more content than when they're thumbing through a printed tome, and convincingly evokes the feeling of trawling through shelf after shelf of old, beloved volumes. Cycling through the main players in NYC's antiquarian and secondhand book scene, stepping through the history of dealing in rare texts and contemplating what the future might hold as technology threatens to change everything, this is a meticulously structured, deftly edited, and immensely fascinating ode to the printed word and the happiness it brings. Filmmaker DW Young doesn't make any surprising moves, but he doesn't need to, with his overall topic, his individual subjects and the world they inhabit proving as captivating as any must-read page-turner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VSaaTCrhlU IT MUST BE HEAVEN In It Must Be Heaven, Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman both directs and plays himself. He also doesn't say a single word on-screen. Serving up a slice of observational comedy, he instead bears witness to and satirises the world around him — starting in his hometown of Nazareth, then roaming to Paris, New York and Montreal. In each place, absurdity reigns. Suleiman isn't interested in overt farce, though, but in a comically heightened, expertly choreographed exploration of the type of strangeness and silliness that lingers in ordinary lives, everyday situations and widespread attitudes. Think: run-ins with authority, examples on the increasingly engrained nature of violence, pondering global tourism and ruminating on the way that one's homeland shapes identity. The ebbs and flows of Suleiman's filmmaking career provide the scantest narrative framework, complete with a brief appearance by Gael Garcia Bernal as himself; however It Must Be Heaven favours vignettes, sight gags, soulful reflection, expressive comedy and strikingly staged moments over neat storytelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w5Ej4SF2LE MASTER CHENG The ability of food to overcome national, cultural and racial bounds — to erase barriers, bring people together and help forge new bonds — is an overused cinematic trope. So too is the healing, happiness-inducing power of a great dish, including in fish-out-of-water and down-on-one's-luck scenarios. That doesn't stop Finnish comedy Master Cheng from giving all of the above a workout, though. Here, the titular Chinese chef (Pak Hon Chu) heads to the European country with his son Nunjo (Lucas Hsuan) in tow, plans to connect with an old colleague, but finds himself forging ties in a remote village instead. Naturally, there's a slow-simmering romantic connection with a local in the form of diner owner Sirkka (Anna-Maija Tuokko). Just as expectedly, the community warms to the newcomer's presence. What helps lift Master Cheng, however, isn't filmmaker Mika Kaurismäki's love of a clearcut (and clearly sentimental) template, but the time and attention he invests in building characters, as evidenced best in the film's fleshed-out central duo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qF-TrY0hBg&feature=youtu.be ROMANTIC ROAD Many a screenwriter has probably tried to pen a similar tale, but the story of Rupert and Jan Grey, their retirement plans and the adventure that followed could've only stemmed from truth. Invited to attend a festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the couple decide to drive Rupert's father's 1936 Rolls Royce across India to get there. The journey proves revelatory and life-changing in a variety of ways; however it's the detail captured by filmmaker Oliver McGarvey and his documentary Romantic Road that couldn't be more authentic. The Greys' road trip hits obstacles, both expected and not-so. That's part of the genre, whether based on fiction or fact. Here, though, McGarvey doesn't just focus on the trek and the ensuing escapades along the way, but spends much of the film unpacking his subjects' 35-year relationship — and their motivation to add this hefty drive to their lifetime's worth of affection and memories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhwx30NPMY4 THE TAVERNA Setting a film inside a bustling restaurant — here, the White Village Greek Tavern in Melbourne's Elsternwick — almost feels like science fiction at this very moment. With The Taverna, though, it's inspiration for modest laughs, dramas and insights, with this ensemble piece charting the action in its obvious setting across one particularly chaotic night. Owner Kostas (Vangelis Mourikis) has plenty to deal with, including a car accident involving his shady son Angelo (Christian Charisiou), trying to get his his waitress Sally (Emily O'Brien-Brown) to replace his belly dancer Jamila (Rachel Kamath), and troubles with the latter, her ex-husband Arman (Peter Paltos) and his new girlfriend Rebecca (Tottie Goldsmith). Embracing multicultural Australia to an extent that isn't always seen on local screens, the result is a warm, sometimes wavering but generally engaging film from writer/director Alkinos Tsilimidos (Silent Partner, Tom White, Em 4 Jay). From 11.59pm on Wednesday, July 1, until at least Wednesday, July 29, stay-at-home orders have been reintroduced in ten Melbourne postcodes, which means their residents can only leave for one of four reasons: work or school, care or care giving, daily exercise or food and other essentials. For more information, head to the DHHS website.
When Michael Crichton put pen to paper and conjured up a modern-day dinosaur-filled amusement park, he couldn't have known exactly what he'd done. The author easily imagined the story making its way to the big screen, because the Jurassic Park novel started out as a screenplay. He could've also perceived that a whole film franchise could follow, and that folks would be quoting the movies for decades. And yet, we're guessing that he didn't predict the latest development: a recreation of Jurassic World, the fourth movie in the series, out of Lego. Melburnians can now wander through and peer at more than 50 dinosaurs, props and scenes from the 2015 movie that have all been recreated with the popular plastic bricks. They're on display at Jurassic World by Brickman, an exhibition displaying at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre until Monday, May 31 before touring the rest of the country. More than six million Lego blocks have been used in the exhibition, to create the four-metre-tall park gates, the lab where the dinosaurs are genetically engineered, those instantly recognisable jeeps, a petting zoo, a heap of creatures and more. Lego dinosaurs are obviously the main attraction, and this event is going big. You'll see a life-sized brachiosaurus that weighs more than two tonnes, a huge tyrannosaurus rex, two life-sized velociraptors (Blue and Delta), and everything from a stegosaurus to a triceratops, too. And, you'll spy some in a baby dinosaur enclosure, encounter others on the loose, and learn how to track them over the exhibition's recreation of Isla Nublar (while using your imagination a whole heap, obviously). If it all sounds rather sizeable, Jurassic World by Brickman will be the largest Lego experience in Australia. And if getting a closer look at Jurassic World sounds a little familiar, you might remember the non-Lego exhibition that hit Melbourne back in 2016. Lego aficionados will also be able to get building while they're there, with 2.5 million bricks to play with. Obviously, this'll be a family-friendly affair, so expect to have plenty of small dinosaur fans for socially distanced company. Jurassic World by Brickman makes its world premiere in Melbourne and, after hitting up the rest of Australia, will also tour globally. And if you're wondering when you'll next see a Jurassic World flick on the big screen, Jurassic World: Dominion — the followup to 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — is due to release in June 2022.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X7KkP68RZE THE DRY In The Dry, a man heads back to the drought-stricken town he grew up in for the first time in two decades, returning in the aftermath of a new tragedy and unearthing the still-blistering remnants of an old one in the process. An Australian Federal Police officer who left the regional farming community of Kiewarra under terse circumstances, Aaron Falk has the look of someone who long ago let the ability to display his feelings dry up — and while that isn't what the film's title refers to, Eric Bana plays the movie's protagonist as if it was. He's dogged and no-nonsense. He can shoot a glare at someone that's as severe as his profile, and often does. Twenty years after Chopper made Bana's name as a dramatic actor, rather than a sketch comedy star whose movie career began with The Castle, he's a canny pick for The Dry's lead role. As he stalks through his first Australian movie since 2007's Romulus, My Father, he silently simmers with intensity in every gaze; however, viewers already know that Bana never just plays the hard man — or, in his comic days, just one type of funny guy either. And so, in this big-screen adaptation of Jane Harper's award-winning novel of the same name, the audience can also spot that his unrelenting exterior holds back a storm of Aaron's pain and loss, all lurking behind an expression as parched as the yellowed fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. Conveying that balance of steely focus and buried heartache isn't a new task; tales on the page and screen are filled with characters, typically men and often those with a badge, who fit the type. But one of the reasons that Bana is so right for The Dry is that, in his hands, Aaron isn't merely the sum of his well-worn traits. Similarly, he isn't just a cookie-cutter conflicted cop in yet another small-town murder-mystery about a community torn apart by a young woman's death, never recovering, then rehashing their woes when another trauma arises. Directed by Robert Connolly (Paper Planes) and co-written with Harry Cripps (the forthcoming Penguin Bloom), The Dry is a whodunnit multiple times over. It boasts a vast lineup of characters and a stellar array of talent behind them (including Glitch's Genevieve O'Reilly, 1%'s Matt Nable and filmmaker John Polson, acting for the first time since Mission: Impossible II), but it's Aaron's journey that always demands attention. Indeed, one of the most intriguing aspects of this solid, engaging but rarely surprising Australian crime movie is how it's clearly stitched together from familiar elements — not just regarding its central character, but throughout the entire narrative — but, through Aaron, this tale of grief, guilt, secrets, stark truths, dusty fields and emotional desolation finds a way to resonate. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLKbMAZNGI PIECES OF A WOMAN Everyone has heard the claim that women forget the pain of childbirth, with hormones and maternal stirrings washing away the agony of labour once a mother meets their bundle of joy. But in Pieces of a Woman, Boston-based expectant mother Martha (Vanessa Kirby, Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw) won't forget what occurred when her water broke, her husband Sean (Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy) remained by her side and midwife Eva (Molly Parker, Words on Bathroom Walls) delivered her baby. Neither will viewers of this daringly intimate drama from White God and Jupiter's Moon director-writer duo Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber, thanks to a tense and harrowing 23-minute home birthing scene that plays out in one continuous take. The shot isn't the movie's first, but it does precede its title card — with the filmmakers making it plain that, after getting a front-row seat to Martha's trauma, the audience will now witness her attempts to stitch herself back together. That's Pieces of a Woman's storyline. Shattered instead of feeling ecstatic and complete, as she had anticipated, the feature's protagonist tries to work out how to go on. But her marriage has lost its lustre, her overbearing mother Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn, House of Cards) won't stop giving her two cents and, at Sean and Elizabeth's urging, there's also a court case to deal with. Pieces of a Woman doesn't lack narrative developments, involving both Martha and those in her bereaved orbit. However, after stepping through her life-changing moment in realistic detail, the movie makes the bold choice to explore its protagonist's emotional and mental state. The ravenous monster that is grief is just one factor. Pieces of a Woman is heartbreakingly unrestrained in showing how it feels to navigate loss, specifically the kind that isn't often addressed in society let alone in cinema. Just as effectively, though, the film also unpacks how women are constantly expected to stick to set roles, even when tackling what might be the most distressing thing that'll ever happen to a mother. No matter what's going on, Martha is always supposed to fit a type dictated by long-held ideas about being a woman, and her husband, mum and anyone else with an opinion can't quite accept her refusal to adhere to convention. Accordingly, in a career-best performance, Kirby weathers an ordeal rarely laid bare with such candour, does so via a dynamic and lived-in portrayal, and remains resolute about Martha's right to fracture and fray however she needs to. She's compelling to watch, in a feature that plunges viewers headfirst into Martha's experience. Nothing has been sanitised here, either by the filmmakers or by their unforgettably real and raw central character. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovIfo0Saht0&list=UUQ2zp9FmJzOG_JzUJ0A-FlQ MONSTER HUNTER It has been nearly two decades since writer/director Paul WS Anderson turned a video game hit into an action-horror franchise starring Milla Jovovich, so it must be time to try to achieve the same feat again. In good news, the married couple seem to have farewelled all things Resident Evil after 2016's abysmal Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (a reboot is in the works for a 2021 release, but neither are involved). In bad news, the dull and derivative Monster Hunter is on par with the worst that its zombie-fuelled predecessor served up — and, other than 2002's original instalment, the bulk of the undead saga is flat-out terrible. A filmmaker who also has 1995's Mortal Kombat on his resume, Anderson has a knack for bringing elaborate new worlds to the screen in detail, as video games always strive to. The ability to translate that task to the cinematic realm can't be underestimated. Anderson clearly agrees, because Monster Hunter even begins with text waxing lyrical about new worlds; however, once you create an intricate visual space, you need to do something with it. Monster Hunter's sandy deserts and craggy rocks aren't just a backdrop here, linking into the action and the movie's imagery in clever ways. But, they really shouldn't be the most interesting and inventive thing about the film. Given the storyline — also penned by Anderson, as based on the Capcom game series that dates back to 2004 — that outcome hardly comes as a surprise. Jovovich plays US Army Ranger Captain Artemis, but she really could be playing Resident Evil's Alice in a military uniform. Even with oversized critters roaming around and wreaking havoc, that's how generic Monster Hunter always feels, Jovovich's routine performance as another nondescript hero included. During a mission in the desert, Artemis is inexplicably sucked through a portal to a different dimension, watches giant monsters attack her team, and is then forced to befriend a warrior known only as The Hunter (Tony Jaa, Jiu Jitsu) in order to survive. The reluctant new pals don't speak the same language, which is where most of Monster Hunter's non-creature feature tension (and misplaced comedy) is supposed to spring from. When the titular beasties become involved, which is often, an onslaught of CGI monopolises the movie — and it really isn't as unnerving or engaging as Anderson hopes. At its most basic level, Monster Hunter delivers exactly what its moniker promises. There are monsters, there are hunters, and the two cross paths. A bewigged Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy) also pops up, as does a human-sized cat cook called Meowscular Chef, but they're rare over-the-top highlights in a film that is too bland to be entertaining in a mindless, ridiculous way, and just meandering and monotonous in general. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been throughout the year — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23 and July 30; August 6, August 13, August 20 and August 27; September 3, September 10, September 17 and September 24; October 1, October 8, October 15, October 22 and October 29; and November 5, November 12, November 19 and November 26; and December 3, December 10, December 17 and December 26. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Personal History of David Copperfield, Waves, The King of Staten Island, Babyteeth, Deerskin, Peninsula, Tenet, Les Misérables, The New Mutants, Bill & Ted Face the Music, The Translators, An American Pickle, The High Note, On the Rocks, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Antebellum, Miss Juneteenth, Savage, I Am Greta, Rebecca, Kajillionaire, Baby Done, Corpus Christi, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The Craft: Legacy, Radioactive, Brazen Hussies, Freaky, Mank, Monsoon, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt), American Utopia, Possessor, Misbehaviour, Happiest Season, The Prom, Sound of Metal, The Witches, The Midnight Sky, The Furnace, Wonder Woman 1984, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles and Nomadland. Images: Pieces of a Woman, Benjamin Loeb/Netflix.
Ivan Sen has always gone it alone. In the world where we live, filmmakers have set decorators, editors, production managers, post-production technicians, concept artists, storyboard artists and legions of other scurrying assistants. Not Ivan Sen. He's an Australian filmmaker who does it all himself, and his outsider approach has so far taken him from his native rural New South Wales to places like Sundance, Cannes and Berlin film festivals. This directive — hands-on, honest, thoughtful, singular filmmaking — now stretches into the guts of his latest film, an outback murder case, Mystery Road. It's a quiet, steady yet thrilling film, held together by Aaron Pedersen's staggering performance as a lone, Aboriginal detective. To talk about Ivan's films, you have to talk about equality. In Sen's film worlds (Toomelah, Beneath Clouds), as in this world, some people are more equal than others. When Julie Mason, an Indigenous girl, is found with her throat cut off Mystery Road near Massacre Creek, no one gives a shit — not the cops, not anyone. This is the crime genre plot-point that opens up to a chasm of inequality. Underneath the high skies and low plains of Mystery Road, something else surfaces — a frighteningly beautiful, dead-on look at a troubled country. THE START OF MYSTERY ROAD "It's been a bit of a journey, this film," says Ivan. "I first mentioned it to Aaron in 2006 in Kings Cross, around midnight. We were passing like ships in the night, and I said, 'brother, I got an idea for you'. And he said, 'alright'. Then five years later, I ring him up and say, 'here's this idea, here's the script, it's time to do it'. It's a story that's come from my own experiences, my own heart, from my family and their experiences. So everything you see in some way comes from reality. The whole thing about Jay Swan being this cop caught between two worlds is something that's very close to my heart, coming from a small town, growing up, not quite belonging to the Aboriginal part of town, and not quite belonging to the white part of town. That's what I've always been fascinated by: the turncoat, the black tracker, the black trooper, the Native American scout. The person who's got a foot in both worlds, walking along the edge." Mystery Road comes at the crest of a wave of Indigenous storytellers making movies for all audiences — films like Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires. "There are all kinds of young warriors trying to change the face of the industry, trying to tell our stories," says Aaron. "I've done a lot of mainstream material before on television. People used to always tell me, 'you play too many coppers!' Not now, because all those cops got me this job! Ivan wrote the role for me. It's something I'll never forget and a job I'll never get again." "I think [the murder storyline] is something that affects a lot of Indigenous families," says Ivan. "A distant cousin of mine was found underneath the roadway in very similar circumstances, a long time ago now. The killer has never been brought to justice. If you actually pursue reality in a film, that can make things more interesting and suspenseful than all this artificial and contrived conditioning." Adds Aaron, "This film is important to this country, the lessons of healing and understanding. It's about our lives. There are a lot of cold cases in this country, a lot of people left behind after murders." THE ONE-MAN BAND What's behind the all-encompassing role of director, writer, camera operator, editor and composer? "It's just easier to do it yourself," Ivan says. "I just started doing it a long time ago, back in the 1990s. And now technology's caught up and I can edit on the laptop, soundtrack on the plane, write in a cafe. For me, why should film production be the way Hollywood says it is? What right do they have to define all these things?" "Let's hope he doesn't learn how to act, because then there'll be no work for actors!" Aaron's having a go, but you suspect he might be right. "Ivan had all these hats that he'd been wearing [on set], but I'll keep saying 'till the day I die, if he was stressed out, you wouldn't have known. Incredible leader. I was so glad to be part of the project on this big scale — not just as a hired gun, but as someone who helped implement the operation. It was kind of like ceremony in a way. It was really beautiful, really personal. You don't usually have that relationship with a director. We became brothers." SEN GOES SCI-FI I've heard Ivan's next film is a science-fiction epic set in China, his new home. "Yeah, sci-fi," says Ivan. "Set in the future. Big action, romance. Commercial." At first it seems worlds away from the art-film vibe of Mystery Road. How do you cater for the largest possible audience without turning your film to shit? "Someone like Christopher Nolan is in massive demand," Ivan continues. "He puts his heart and soul into what he does, and really wants to give the audience something unique. There's not many other guys with the talent and heart trying to give the masses something special. Because it's all controlled by suits. Chris Nolan's not a suit, but he wears one. He gets the deals without losing any freedoms or destroy his personal approach." It's true — you see a big budget movie with heart and talent and intelligence (Robert Zemeckis's classic space movie, Contact, springs to mind), and you think, hey, that's what Hollywood could be for, that's what all those big budgets and beautiful faces could be doing all the time. They could have big ideas, too. "There's a big hole there, in the commercial arena, for quality," says Ivan. "There's so many shit films for big audiences. You go to the cinema and it's like, 'which crap movie do I have to pick?'" "I actually don't go to the movies very much 'cause of that," admits Aaron. "Too many people are spoon-fed their opinions in this world. That's another audience [than the one for Mystery Road]." Ultimately, for Ivan, leaping into sci-fi just makes sense to him as a filmmaker. "I don't want to make the same film over and over. It's boring. I'm a lover of cinema. Watching cinema gave me emotions that I'd never felt before in my whole eight-year-old life. I'd never felt that connection before." Mystery Road carries this sensibility — beyond being a genre piece, is cuts to the emotional heart of a country that's been torn by dysfunction for too long. At a screening of the film in Sydney's inner west, Aaron spoke plainly, and passionately. "History did not start 225 years ago in this country ... This role is more than a job, it's a chance for me to show my ancestral trauma. This film is larger than this script: it's a cinematic campfire. Sit around it. Take something from it. Be smarter for it. Be a better nation for it."
Myers Place: That tiny laneway capillary between Bourke and Little Collins streets, flowing with booze and the aroma of exotic cooking. As one of Melbourne's original inner-city small-bar destinations, it's now home to a small fortune in restaurants, art venues and drinking holes — all within metres of each other. This time we move beyond the solid stuff, as Eat Streets shows you not only where to get fed but watered and cultured too. Lily Black's Boasting the 'largest collection of bitters in world', Lily Black's prides itself on the cocktail craft. The seasonal cocktail menu is testament to the claim, best attacked using their ingenious visual key — choose between bitter, boozy, dry, hot, refreshing, rich, savoury, smoky, sour or sweet flavours, and let your bartender do the rest. Take a seat in the speakeasy-style surrounds and watch the staff chisel hand-cut shards from the ice block and shake drinks like they're Ricky Martin with a set of maracas. On the last Sunday of every month, check out the Iron Bartender competition — an opportunity for Melbourne's best mixers and shakers to demonstrate their flair and brew up their cocktail best. Until then, drop by after dinner for a Hot Forest (Maker's Mark bourbon, maple, lemon and charred cedar; $19) or a Japanese Cigar (Courvoisier VS cognac, Ardbeg whisky, hickory-smoked orgeat and bitters; $19) — they're open late. 12 Meyers Place, Melbourne, (03) 9654 4887, lilyblacks.com.au San Telmo After a cocktail next door, don't be surprised if you find yourself on the doorstep of San Telmo, succumbing to the enticing pull of the Argentinean grill. Inside, carnivores congregate around the Parilla (the imported Argentine charcoal grill, pronounced par-ee-sha) — feasting on slabs of tender, smokey charred meat. Order by cut: short ribs, flank, rib eye and all the steaks of rump are on offer here. The menu is designed to share, which means that our vegetarian friends needn't miss out. The sweet-burnt carrots with thyme and goats cheese ($13), provolone, mozzarella, basil and capsicum empanadas ($6), or Brussels sprout, roasted shallots, hazelnuts and agave vinaigrette will appease the non-animal eaters, while desserts like the dulce de leche creme caramel with salted peanut praline ($14) will have both tribes fighting over the fork. 14 Meyers Place, Melbourne, (03) 9650 5525, santelmo.com.au The Waiters Club It's been around since 1947 and still resembles an old Coles canteen from the 70s, but, despite missing out on the neighbouring Meyers Place revolution, the Waiter's Club remains a city stalwart. Originally a members-only, after-work venue for Melbourne's new-Australian waiters, the restaurant now hosts a cross-generational legion of foodie fans. Tuck in to a welcoming bowl of pasta or a generous slice of tiramisu; fine dining it's not, but it's homely and dependable. In fact, its no-frills service, laminex tables and daggy curtains might remind you of Nan's kitchen as it remains immune to the evolving trends of the streetscape downstairs. Let's hope it never changes. 20 Meyers Place, Melbourne, (03) 9650 1508 Meyers Place Meyers Place was a pioneer of Myers Place when it first opened in 1994 (as one of the first on the scene, its owners probably didn’t realise how confusing their name would one day become). Part of Melbourne's original hole-in-the-wall bar revolution, the venue was first conceived by a group of mates who lived in the city and wanted somewhere nearby for a drink. From there, 6 Degrees Architects took responsibility for the build, using recycled materials such as ex-government office fittings, train armrests and timber panelling ripped from the old stage of Melbourne's town hall. Doubling as an art space, the regular program of exhibitions allows punters to feels cultural while imbibing in a $5 house wine. After all, it's all part of the arts experience — and there's nothing wrong with that. 20 Meyers Place, Melbourne, (03) 9650 8609, meyersplace.com.au Senoritas While Mexican food might not be as in-vogue as it once was (long surpassed by the dude food trend, food trucks, and science-lab gelato), people are still willing to queue down the street for a taste of taco, suggesting its popularity remains strong. Joining the likes of Touche Hombre and Mamasita, Senioritas gains a competitive advantage over their popular peers by allowing bookings — saving diners an agonising wait in the queue. This allows maximum time to sit back and try the tequila — perhaps matched to grazing the selection of tacos like the roasted pork shoulder with cinnamon, orange, thyme, frijoles and pickled red onion ($14), or the sweet potato, epazote and black bean taco with queso fresco and chipotle mayo ($12). Eating amongst the dramatic neon-lit interior and ghoulish, Day of the Dead-themed decor isn't as authentic as grabbing a quesadilla from the dusty Mexican roadside, but it sure makes for an entertaining night out. 16 Meyers Place, Melbourne, (03) 9639 7437, senoritas.com.au Unfortunately Senoritas has temporarily closed, but hopes to reopen again shortly. Loop Part bar, part performance venue, Loop provides a space for artists, film makers and live audiovisual performers (and fans of all the above) to share their creative energies — over a pizza and pot of beer. With an event calendar that offers something different almost every night of the week, expect film festival screenings, performances of buzzing electro-pop and DJs every weekend. Loop is also a pillar of the local filmmaking community, presenting Comfortable Shorts each month — a series of short films from local and international creatives. 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne, (03) 9654 0500, looponline.com.au Lane's Edge Fuss free, friendly and a bit of fun, Lane's Edge serves as casual entry point to the off-Bourke laneway. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to hospitality — the kind that warrants anything from a morning coffee with the paper, a lunch break with your work colleagues or a late night passed with a stranger on a loose night out. Accompany any of the above with a bowl of pumpkin soup. The bamboo-clad beer garden provides offers a discrete vantage point from which to enjoy sneaky lunchtime beers, while still keeping an eye on the laneway antics. Chances are you might catch a glimpse of your boss at the bar next door. 39 Bourke Street (cnr of Bourke and Meyers Place), Melbourne, (03) 9654 2409, lanesedge.com
When Pharrell Williams first made contact with Morgan Neville, the Oscar-winning documentarian behind 20 Feet From Stardom, their conversation could've started like this: "it might seem crazy what I'm 'bout to say". The famed producer, N.E.R.D. co-founder, 'Happy' singer, and Daft Punk and Snoop Dogg collaborator's proposal to the filmmaker also behind the Mr Rogers-focused Won't You Be My Neighbour?, then Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain and STEVE! (martin): a Documentary in 2 Pieces, was for Neville to tell Williams' life story — a request that doesn't seem out of the ordinary. But Pharrell wanted this journey through his upbringing in Virginia Beach in Virginia, his music dreams as a kid and a teenager, and then the ups and downs of his career to solely be relayed using Lego animation. How do you explore anyone's existence, let alone someone so influential in music for decades, while rendering them, other interviewees and everything else that's seen on-screen only in the style of The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Ninjago Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part? Just as importantly, why would you? Piece by Piece, the film that results, sits alongside Brett Morgen's David Bowie-adoring Moonage Daydream as recent music docos that know how to expertly takes their cues for their approach, aesthetic and vibe from their subject. In both cases, it's instantly apparent that any other method wouldn't have done the folks at their centre justice. Piece by Piece boasts the childhood details, the stories shared by loved ones and colleagues, the glimpses into the studio and the examples of Pharrell's work, his music and the videos that go with them alike. As the movie's title states so clearly, however, they have all been built piece by piece in Lego animation. This effectively meant making the film twice, first featuring the raw materials, including chats with Williams, his N.E.R.D. bandmates Shae Haley and Chad Hugo, his distant cousin Timbaland, fellow Virginia Beach residents Pusha T and Missy Elliott, and then everyone from Daft Punk and Snoop to Gwen Stefani and Kendrick Lamar — and secondly with that initial cut, which Neville dubs the "radio edit", animated frame by frame in the Lego fashion. Spliced into the initial version were storyboards for scenes that simply wouldn't have been possible to realise without Piece by Piece's unconventional biodoc technique, many of which bring Pharrell's synesthesia to the screen. Music appears to him as colours, and shapes as well. The film not only recreates that sensation for the audience, but does so with exacting detail: when the beats that Pharrell creates appear as pulsating bricks, be it for N.E.R.D's 'Rock Star' or No Doubt's 'Hella Good', or for Snoop Dogg's 'Drop It Like It's Hot' or Williams' own mega hit from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack — and much more — the forms and hues depicted are exactly what Pharrell sees. In every piece, frame and moment, this is a documentary that's intimately in tune with its subject, then. It celebrates a dreamer by crafting those dreams out of bricks. Yes, it all clicks. It's an ode to creativity and imagination, too, right down to deploying one of the first formats that almost every child uses to make new worlds, because that's what Lego lets us do. While there are tie-in kits available for sale, as happens with Lego-based movies, the medium matches the man perfectly. Indeed, that's so accurate that the feature wouldn't have happened otherwise, including if Lego hadn't be on board with the idea, Neville told Concrete Playground. "We'd thought about it, whether there were other ways of doing it if Lego said no. And I think we all agreed if Lego said no, there was going to be no film," the director shares. "It just felt like Lego itself was actually an important piece, as it were, of what the film was — that it wasn't just a gimmick, that it actually felt part of who Pharrell is in his story and how he sees the world." We also chatted with Neville about how you respond when Pharrell asks you to make a movie about him using Lego — a version of which is seen in the film — plus creating a type of music documentary that hasn't been made before, the added possibilities that come with examining someone's life and career in Lego, heroing creativity, his starting point whether he's making docos about Williams or Bourdain or Martin, and more. On How You React When Pharrell Suggests That Lego Would Be the Perfect Medium to Tell His Story "What happens in the film is a version of what happened in real life. But that was the one moment that I didn't actually record, because the first time I met Pharrell, he pitched me on this idea where he said 'I want you to make a movie about me, and then I want you to throw away all the visuals and do it again in Lego'. And honestly, when he said that I was totally hooked. So that's the difference. I think in the movie I'm a little unsure, but I think in real life I jumped right into it. That was the thing that got me incredibly excited, because I didn't know what it was going to mean. It was a crazy idea, but I love crazy ideas." On Making a Type a Music Documentary That Hasn't Been Made Before — and Whether It Feels Daunting, Freeing or a Bit of Both "I feel like being a film director, there's a kind of wilful amnesia that you have, where you intentionally forget how difficult it is to make films. Because if you remembered, you wouldn't make them. So I vaguely knew that this was going to be climbing a mountain, but I really just looked at this path in front of me and said 'well, this is interesting. What if I do this, and what if I think about this? And, well, let's talk to Lego. They could kill it. It might go away'. We talked to Lego and they said 'we love it'. And then we just kept trying things. And so step by step it came together, but it was five years of work to get there." On How Using Lego Allowed the Film to Explore and Expand Areas and Details That Wouldn't Have Been Possible Otherwise — or in Such an Evocative Way "That was the amazing realisation I came to early on, was that because of the Lego, we could do things you can't normally do — you certainly couldn't do in a documentary and you couldn't do in a lot of films — which is visualise imagination, or visualise things in somebody's head. And so the synesthesia was an important thing because Pharrell sees colour when he hears sound. We wanted to get that right. We actually brought in Michel Gagné, who's a famous animator, who had done the synesthesia in Ratatouille, to work on this — to think 'how do you do synesthesia, but in Lego?'. But then also the idea that we can visualise beats — the beats that Pharrell has made are physical Lego objects. And every beat in the film is actually reflective of how Pharrell sees that song. So the colours and the shapes of the beats in the film are accurate to what Pharrell sees in his head, even though nobody else knows what that is. Every song, we're like 'Pharrell, okay what are the colours? How does this look?'. Because it's interesting, he has a library in his head of every song you mention, he'll tell you what the colours are of that. So things like that you could do in Lego, which I don't know how else you would do that." On the Importance of Connecting Celebrating Creativity and Imagination with One of the First Gateways to Unlocking Both for Children "I think many people, most people, probably grew up with some connection to Lego toys. I did. I was of the era where when I bought a set of Lego, you would just get a big box of pieces. There were no instructions, it was just 'okay, make whatever you want'. I always ended up with a big tub of random pieces and you would just make stuff. I think Pharrell, also Lego he said was a really important toy his parents would give him when he was young. And it's interesting how much it comes up in the creative community. I've talked to architects and artists and designers, and Lego actually is kind of a building block of creativity. It's this thing that I think is just pure imagination in that way. And so imagination is a huge theme of the film. I love making films about creative people and how they think, and Lego just felt like this perfect way of exploring that. And the idea that it was Pharrell's conceit makes it even more organic to why it works in this film." On Neville's Starting Point When He's Making a Documentary, No Matter Who or What His Subject Is "My starting point on every project, I do a couple of things. I start a playlist of music. So for every film, I have a playlist of music, even if it's not about music. I'm a musician and I've made a lot of films about music, and it helps me get a feel for the tone of what a film could be. In this case I had like ten playlists, because Pharrell had done so much music. So I had solo work and produced by, and with the bands he had done and influenced music. And I spent months listening to all of it, waiting for songs to pop out and for me to hear them and say 'oh, I could see this, it feels like this song belongs in a scene' or 'this song has a theme that could work to the story'. So that's a big part of it. Then I gather visuals and references, and all that kind of stuff. So all that just goes into a pod as I start to conceive of what this film might be. But I think all that other stuff, tone and aesthetic, are all things I'm thinking about in the beginning. And then I just talk as much as I can to the subject or other people. I just am trying to take in as much input as I can get. Then it starts to form in my head and little things start coming together." On the Difficult Task of Knowing What to Include and Leave Out When You're Making a Film About Someone with Such a Wide-Ranging Career "It always is. This was difficult because Pharrell has done so much, but I always think about it more like 'what are the things that influenced his life?'. I mean, a big part of this movie is his childhood, which was a huge part of what made him who he is. But it's not his career. So in that way, the career stuff, he had so many more hits that aren't even in the film. He's done so much. But to me it's about the moments where things turn. It's where maybe a failure — failures are as interesting as successes when it comes to looking at a narrative of a person's life, because that's where we learn. So I think it was really identifying the moments where something felt different, or where he learned something, or where something clicked or didn't click. I always try to avoid what I think of as 'the Wikipedia version' of a person's life, because it's not that interesting to just go through everything they accomplished. But to hit the moments that actually meant something to them, that were part of their personal growth or their creative growth, that's what I try to zero in on, and so that helps me cut stuff out unfortunately." Piece by Piece opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, December 5, 2024. Images: courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC.
If the end times were coming, and the antichrist as well, how would an angel and a demon on earth cope? That's the question that fantasy authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman explored in 1990 novel Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, winning awards and plenty of fans as a result. Now, what'd happen if Michael Sheen (Quiz) was that heavenly figure and David Tennant (Doctor Who) his demonic counterpart? That's exactly what the Good Omens streaming series dived into when it initially arrived back in 2019. Four years later, the Prime Video show is finally returning for season two. With Sheen back as Aziraphale and Tennant as Crowley, that key casting remains intact. Jon Hamm (Confess, Fletch) also returns as Gabriel, this time showing up at Aziraphale's bookshop with zero memory of who he is — sparking the show's new mystery. Cue hiding the archangel from all interested parties — below and above — and, as is Good Omens' custom, getting Aziraphale and Crowley leaning on each other. Cue jumping from before The Beginning through to modern times as well, including stops in the biblical and Victorian eras, and the Blitz in 1940s England. As the trailer for season two shows, divine chaos ensues, even though Aziraphale and Crowley thwarted the apocalypse in season one. How it all turns out, other than amusingly, will be revealed when the series hits streaming again on Friday, July 28. Also back for a second go-around are Doon Mackichan (Toast of Tinseltown) as archangel Michael, plus Gloria Obianyo (Dune) as archangel Uriel, while Miranda Richardson (Rams), Maggie Service (Life) and Nina Sosanya (His Dark Materials) return as well — but in different parts. They're all joined by series newcomers Liz Carr (This Is Going to Hurt), Quelin Sepulveda (The Man Who Fell to Earth) and Shelley Conn (Bridgerton), the latter as Beelzebub. And Neil Gaiman is back as executive producer and co-showrunner, helping guide a season that now expands past its source material. Check out the trailer for Good Omens season two below: Good Omens returns for season two from Friday, July 28 via Prime Video.
Located at South Wharf in Melbourne, the Pan Pacific, with its elegant wooden finishes throughout, is one of the premier luxury hotels in the city. And with all good luxury hotels, stunning views, five-star leisure facilities, a stunning foyer, and the comfiest bed you'll ever sleep in aren't enough. There needs to be world-class dining options, too, and with several options available, it's got you covered. The highlight of its dining experiences, however, is surely its high tea. A bespoke experience presented by its director of culinary experiences, Deepak Mishra, the high tea here is a three-tiered experience of sweets, savoury and warm delights. The offerings are served with Singaporean TWG Tea, Vittoria Coffee and Veuve Clicquot champagne, with options for an extra glass available. Cold savoury treats include torn burrata baby peas with asparagus, bush apple gel, candied macadamia and olives; mini lobster rolls with finger lime and Yarra Valley salmon roe; and egg and black truffle with aged parmesan and caviar, roasted onion and Tasmanian pepper mousse. For a warm, savoury treat, it offers Serrano ham croquettes with truffle aioli and Serrano crisp; cauliflower and Sebago potato petite pies with whipped goat's curd and golden raisin; and slow-cooked pork belly with Davidson Plum gel and soused cucumber in a soft bun. From the patisserie, expect a green tea sphere with milk chocolate crèmeux, strawberry gum and berry compote and hazelnut dacquoise; a calamansi and mango tart with jasmine tea veil and Geraldton Wax; and a black Sesame, almond praline ring with wattleseed sable. The highlight of high tea is always the scones and here is no different. Its scones include warm buttermilk and orange blossom, white chocolate and lavender. They are served with a delicious strawberry and rose petal preserve with lemon curd and clotted cream.
In the latest chapter of life imitating TikTok, Crown's all-day California-inspired bar and dining room Marmont is taking what is literally the hottest #DrinkTok trend of the moment and pouring it straight into your glass. That's right — jalapeño wine is now available in Melbourne. For the uninitiated, this riff pretty much does what it says on the tin: slices of frozen and seedless jalapeño are dropped into a glass of sauvignon blanc, creating a serve that's crisp, aromatic and surprisingly balanced. Think of it like the oenophile's take on the classic spicy marg. The Marmont version sees a handful of slices swimming in a glass of Motley Cru sauvignon blanc. The King Valley wine is an ideal candidate for the jalapeño treatment, thanks to its bright and aromatic nose that gives way to notes of tropical fruits, lime and gooseberries. It's being served up Monday–Friday from noon until late, for $19 a glass. Much like a TikTok trend, this one won't be around forever — so if you're looking to spice up your next get-together, you'll want to get in quick.
The Union Club Hotel is a Fitzroy stalwart. Walk into any of its rooms, any day of the week, and you'll see a steady collection of loyal locals knocking back pots. While it's a traditional Aussie pub, it has adapted to the times. It's lineup of good pub grub (parmas, burgers and steaks) come with considered gluten-free and vegetarian alternatives (eggplant parma, felafel burger and Nepalese dahl). It's walls are covered with music posters from yonder, but other walls adorn more recent street are, and the sprawling, heated beer garden downstairs is spotted with lush fig leafs. There's another option for outdoor dining, too, a rooftop deck — perfect for sunlit after-work drinks.
Across two seasons in 2016 and 2018, Fleabag was the only dramedy that mattered. If you weren't watching Phoebe Waller-Bridge's smash hit, you were hearing all about it from everyone you knew. If you were watching it, you were then rewatching it — and, of course, telling all of your friends. But before it was a hit TV series, Fleabag was a one-woman theatre show. That history behind Phoebe Waller-Bridge's award-winning series isn't new news, of course. As the television version of Fleabag kept picking up accolades — a BAFTA for Best Female Performance in a Comedy for its writer/creator/star; Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series; Best Actress and Best Television Series Golden Globes; and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series among them — that past was well-known. But if you haven't seen the OG stage production, a recorded version of that stunning performance is coming back to the big screen in Melbourne. The story remains the same, charting an incredibly relatable tale of trying to balance work, life, love and the like. When it was playing theatres from 2013–2019 after premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Fleabag was just as applauded. And, as plenty of hit UK productions are, it was filmed by NT Live, then beamed into cinemas. It's that recording that's heading to picture palaces again from July 13, complete with Waller-Bridge stepping through the story of Fleabag's titular character. Captured at London's Wyndham's Theatre, it initially started doing the rounds for filmgoers in 2019. Indeed, that debut silver-screen stint broke box-office records. If you're unfamiliar with the TV show, let alone the theatre production before it, Fleabag's existence is perhaps best described as chaotic. Friends, family, job interviews, keeping a guinea pig-themed cafe afloat — they're just the beginning. The idea behind it came at one of Waller-Bridge's pal's storytelling nights, as a challenge to create a character for a ten-minute slot. Images: Matt Humphrey.
UPDATE, June 2, 2023: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. When Anthony Bourdain strode around the world, and across our screens, in food-meets-travel series A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, The Layover and Parts Unknown, he was as animated as he was acerbic and enigmatic. Beneath his shock of greying hair, the lanky New Yorker was relatable, engaging to a seemingly effortless degree and radiated a larger-than-life air, too. The latter didn't just apply because he was a face on TV, where plenty gets that bigger-than-reality sheen, but because he appeared to truly embrace all that life entailed in that hectic whirlwind of travelling, eating and waxing lyrical about both. Arriving three years after his suicide in 2018, documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain captures that. It's so filled with Bourdain thanks to all that time he'd spent in front of the camera, it'd be near-impossible for it not to. But it also lurks under a shadow due to its now-infamous choice to use artificial intelligence to add dialogue that its subject didn't speak. Watching the film, there's no way of knowing which words Bourdain merely penned but didn't utter; the technology truly is that seamless. It still resounds as an unnecessary move, though, especially when such lines might've been incorporated in ways that wouldn't sit at stark odds with his visible liveliness. Roadrunner delves behind the facade that Bourdain presented to the world, of course. It notes his death immediately and goes in search of the sorrow and pain that might've led to it, as mulled over by friends such fellow chefs David Chang and Éric Ripert, and artist David Choe; crew members on his shows; and his second wife Ottavia Busia. Still, once you know about the AI, there's a sense of disconnection that echoes through the doco — because it surveys all that Bourdain was, compiles all of this stellar material and still resorted to digital resurrection. Thankfully, the passion and curiosity that always made Bourdain appear so spirited — yes, so alive, as compared to being vocally recreated by AI after his death — still makes Roadrunner worth watching. That's true for Bourdain fans and newcomers alike, although director Morgan Neville (Oscar-winner 20 Feet From Stardom) doesn't use his two-hour-long film as a birth-to-life primer for the uninitiated. Crucially, as also proved the case with his 2018 Mr Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Neville jumps through the details of Bourdain's life in a way that also muses on what his success and popularity said about the world. Why he struck such a chord is as essential an ingredient in Roadrunner as how he went from cook to celebrity chef, TV host, best-selling author and travel documentarian. The footage of Bourdain — from his shows, obviously, as well as from a plethora of TV interviews, behind-the-scenes clips and home videos — is edited together with the same restlessness that the man himself always exuded. You don't spend most of your year travelling if you can be easily pinned down, after all. It's a wise choice on Neville and editors Eileen Meyer (Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution) and Aaron Wickenden's (Feels Good Man) parts, but Neville has long had a knack for making his films feel like his subjects. Talking-head chats are spliced throughout, offering further details and grappling with how Bourdain's story ends; however, Roadrunner is repeatedly at its finest when it's peering at him and showing how his work encouraged us all not just to watch, but to eat, travel, think, talk and live. That said, those interviews aren't merely filler. With Chang and Choe in particular, they show Bourdain's friends confronting the type of grief that doesn't ever fade. Biographical documentaries about famous figures who are no longer with us inherently offer the same kind experience to the masses — giving viewers the opportunity to reflect upon their central figures, all while gifting us with more time in their presence — and seeing Chang and Choe struggle so openly cements that parallel. If only Roadrunner was as sensitive when covering Bourdain's relationship with actor Asia Argento, his girlfriend before his death. Argento isn't interviewed but, in the film's second poor choice, its search for a reason behind Bourdain's suicide makes an uncomfortable and overt swerve in her direction. Whether made now or after more time had elapsed since his passing, a film about Bourdain was always going to be complicated. The big, obvious, easy draw — spending longer with him on-screen — is there for all to see, and delightfully so. It's bittersweet, naturally, because there's no divorcing all those images and soundbites from the reason that this movie even exists. It's heartwrenching as well, a sensation heightened every time his upset, angry, frustrated pals make appearances. It's thoughtful in pondering what Bourdain gave the world, and what it took from him in return. It's also messy because there are no answers to much that it contemplates, and also because it sits under a cloud sparked by that superfluous AI. As its title plainly states, Roadrunner is indeed a film about Anthony Bourdain, though — and, even with its missteps, it recognises the complexity of that task. It really didn't need to put his words back into his mouth to make you wish his tale, and his life, was still simmering; that's what it was always going to plate up regardless.
A scroll through your social media feeds can often leave you feeling like you're the only one not on holidays. While you're doing the same old nine-to-five slog, there are your peers inconsiderately boasting about all of the worldly arts and culture (and food) they're consuming. But, as it happens, you don't need to fork out the big bucks for a plane ticket to see some of the world's most important artworks. Come October, the Art Gallery of NSW will launch its next major exhibition Masters of Modern Art from the Hermitage. It'll see 65 artworks from some of the early 20th century's most revered artists — think Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso and Gauguin, plus their celebrated Russian contemporaries Malevich and Kandinsky — drawn extensively from St Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum. This landmark exhibition focuses on a revolutionary era in art history when these now legendary artists "freed themselves from tradition" and began to imagine art in previously untold vibrant, innovative and abstract ways. The collection acts a self-contained timeline tracking this defining period, with highlights including Monet's Poppy Field (1890), Picasso's Table in a Café (1912) and Kandinsky's Landscape near Dünaberg (1913). The exhibition also delves into the lives of visionary Russian art collectors Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov — more than two-thirds of the exhibition has been drawn from their art collections. Realising the potential of the French modern masters, from the beginning of the 20th century, both Shchukin and Morozov acquired many of today's most acclaimed artworks. The Masters of Modern Art from the Hermitage is half of the 2018/19 Sydney International Art Series, with the Museum of Contemporary Art's David Goldblatt making up the other half. Master of Modern Art from the Hermitage will run from Saturday, October 13, 2018 to Sunday, March 3, 2019. You can purchase tickets now from the Art Gallery of NSW website. We also have double passes to the exhibition to give away. To enter, see below. [competition]687134[/competition] Images: Paul Cézanne 'Fruit' 1879-1880. Courtesy of The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Claude Monet France 1840–1926 'Poppy field' 1890/91. Courtesy of The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Pavel Demidov and Konstantin Sinyavsky; Henri Matisse 'Game of bowls' 1908. Courtesy of The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Vladimir Terebenin and H Matisse/Copyright Agency; Wassily Kandinsky 'Landscape: Dünaberg near Murnau' 1913. Courtesy The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg and Vladimir Terebenin.
Treat yo'self to something sweet, help save one of Australia's most beloved animals: that's what's on the menu right now thanks to Lindt. The brand has just launched a limited-edition item that not only looks adorable, but also assists a great cause — with its new koala-shaped chocolates raising funds for the Australian Koala Foundation. Everyone knows Lindt's gold Easter bunnies, so consider this the suitably silver and thoroughly Aussie version, all to support the AKF's work to ensure the Aussie marsupial's survival. Beneath that shimmering foil and its cute red ribbon with a heart-shaped pendant, the 100-gram chocolate is shaped like a koala, obviously. It's hollow inside, but you'll taste notes of both caramel and honey within the milk chocolate itself. For each koala purchased — with the new choccies only available via Lindt's retail stores and its website — the brand is donating $1 to the AKF. And, for every dollar that Lindt donates, AKF is matching it. Those funds are specifically earmarked for the foundation's 'Koala Kiss Project', which is all about finding where the species' fragmented habitat comes close to joining up, then regenerating the landscape to create a koala conservation corridor — with the first stage of the project focusing on developing software and collaborating with scientists to plot out all those 'kiss points' over a 1.5-million-square-kilometres patch between Cairns and Melbourne. "The Lindt koala is more than just chocolate. We want our Lindt koala to raise awareness and educate the community of the important role the Australian Koala Foundation plays in the long-term survival of our beloved native animal," said Lindt Australia CEO Michael Schai. "If we achieve contiguous habitat across the entire stretch of the koala range, then all creatures great and small could traverse through the bush unthreatened. With over 30 years of research behind the Koala Habitat Map, AKF's next grand vision could redirect the fate of the koala," added Deborah Tabart OAM, Chair of Australian Koala Foundation. "Lindt's support will help kickstart those efforts, with an ultimate vision to save the koala with 'kisses' through chocolate." Lindt's chocolate koalas are available to purchase for $6.25 at Lindt stores and via the Lindt website for a limited time.
Mention bubbles these days, and you're no longer just talking about baths, sparkling wine, gum or tea. For the past 15 months or so, the term has been on every hopeful holidaymaker's lips, referring to arrangements between countries that allow COVID-safe overseas travel in these pandemic-afflicted times. Discussed since mid-2020 and in effect since April 2021, Australia currently has a quarantine-free travel bubble in place with New Zealand — allowing Aussies and New Zealanders to fly back and forth between the two countries for holidays, even while Australia's international border remains shut to the rest of the world. As first floated back in March, that arrangement might soon be joined by another, this time between Australia and Singapore. Initially, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack advised that Aussies might be able to fly to the island city-state for a holiday by July. That's only a month away, and it doesn't look like it'll happen then. However, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has just met with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, with the pair releasing a joint statement affirming that they're working towards the travel arrangement. "We discussed how two-way travel between Singapore and Australia can eventually resume, in a safe and calibrated manner, when both sides are ready," said Lee following the two leaders' joint press conference. "Before COVID-19, many Singaporeans travelled to Australia for business, for holidays and to pursue their education, and vice versa. We need to resume these people-to-people flows to maintain our close and excellent bilateral relationship," he continued. Although no timeframe was given, Lee also said that the two countries "need to prepare the infrastructure and processes to get ready to do this" — and named "mutual recognition of health and vaccination certificates, possibly in the digital form" as one of the first steps. "When all the preparations are ready, we can start small with an air travel bubble to build confidence on both sides," he advised. At the press conference, Morrison also addressed the proposed travel bubble, noting that it's a target "sooner rather than later". He continued: "I welcome the fact that we will now work together to put the infrastructure in place and the systems in place to enable us to open up in a similar way that we've been able to open up to New Zealand from Australia when we are both in a position to do so." If you're after more details, that's all that was discussed; however, when the Australia–Singapore bubble was first suggested a few months back, it was reported that Aussies would be permitted to go to Singapore for work or leisure. Getting permission from the Department of Home Affairs — which is the only way you can go overseas at present while the nation's international border restrictions are in place — wouldn't be necessary under the arrangement. That said, according to those initial reports, the bubble might only apply to folks who've been vaccinated against COVID-19. Singaporeans who've been vaccinated would also be able to travel to Australia without undergoing the currently mandatory 14-day quarantine period. While the details are clearly yet to be finalised, if the Australia–Singapore travel bubble does come into effect, it'll be great news for everyone that's been dreaming of overseas holidays since the pandemic began — or, at present, for those dreaming of heading further than New Zealand. 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.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. THE LOST CITY Sometimes, they do still make 'em like they used to: action-adventure rom-coms in this case. Drive a DeLorean back to 1984, to the year before Robert Zemeckis made DeLoreans one of the most famous types of movie cars ever, and the director's Romancing the Stone did huge box-office business — and it's that hit that The Lost City keenly tries to emulate. This new Sandra Bullock- and Channing Tatum-starring romp doesn't hide that aim for a second, and even uses the same broad overall setup. Once again, a lonely romance novelist is swept up in a chaotic adventure involving treasure, a jungle-hopping jaunt and a stint of kidnapping, aka exactly what she writes about in her best-selling books. The one big change: the writer is held hostage, rather than her sister. But if you've seen Romancing the Stone, you know what you're in for. Movies that blandly and generically recreate/riff on/rip off others will never be gleaming cinematic jewels; the good news is that The Lost City is neither dull nor dispiritingly derivative. Cinema has literally been there and done this before, but directors Aaron and Adam Nee (Band of Robbers) are gleefully aware of that fact and don't even pretend to pretend otherwise. Rather, they wink, nod, serve up a knowing tribute to the 80s fare they're following, and repeatedly make it as blatant as can be that everything they're doing is by design. Their tone is light, bouncy and breezy. Their cast, which also spans Daniel Radcliffe and a delightfully scene-stealing Brad Pitt, is always on that wavelength. Indeed, swap out the vibe or The Lost City's four biggest on-screen names and the film would fall apart, especially without Bullock and Tatum's charisma and chemistry. With them all, it remains by the numbers but also terrifically likeable. As penned by the Nees, Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat) and Dana Fox (Cruella) — based on a story by Baywatch director Seth Gordon — The Lost City's plot is ridiculously easy to spot. Also, it's often flat-out ridiculous. Anyone who has ever seen any kind of flick along the same lines, such as Jungle Cruise most recently, will quickly see that Loretta Sage (Bullock, The Unforgivable), this movie's protagonist, could've penned it herself. Once she finds herself living this type of narrative, that truth isn't lost on her, either. First, though, she's five years into a grief-stricken reclusive spell, and is only out in the world promoting her new release because her publisher Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The United States vs Billie Holiday) forces her to. She's also far from happy at being stuck once again with the man who has been sharing her limelight over the years, Fabio-style model Alan (Tatum, Dog), who has graced her book's covers and had women falling over themselves to lust-read their pages. Loretta is hardly thrilled about the whole spectacle that becomes her latest Q&A as a result, and that makes her a distracted easy mark for billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe, Guns Akimbo) afterwards. He's noticed her new work, spotted similarities to the ancient riches he's chasing IRL, and gets his underlings to swoop in and snatch her up. His plan: leaning on Loretta's past as a serious historian to help him find his holy grail on a remote Atlantic island. She's given zero choice, but once the puppy dog-like Alan notices she's missing, he calls in expert assistance from devilishly suave and competent mercenary Jack Trainer (Pitt, Ad Astra). Of course, it doesn't take long for Loretta and Alan to be fleeing as an odd-couple duo, attempting to find the treasure, and endeavouring to avoid Abigail and his minions — and stay alive, obviously. Read our full review. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Imagine living in a universe where Michelle Yeoh isn't the wuxia superstar she is. No, no one should want to dwell in 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. Yes, its title is marvellously appropriate. Written and directed by the Daniels, aka Swiss Army Man's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, this multiverse-hopping wonder is a funhouse of a film that just keeps spinning through wild and wacky ideas. Instead of asking "what if Daniel Radcliffe was a farting corpse that could be used as a jet ski?" as their also-surreal debut flick did, the pair now muses on Yeoh, her place in the universe, and everyone else's along with her. Although Yeoh doesn't play herself in Everything Everywhere All At Once, she is seen as herself; keep an eye out for red-carpet footage from her Crazy Rich Asians days. Such glitz and glamour isn't the norm for middle-aged Chinese American woman Evelyn Wang, her laundromat-owning character in the movie's main timeline, but it might've been if life had turned out differently. That's such a familiar train of thought — a resigned sigh we've all emitted, even if only when alone — and the Daniels use it as their foundation. This isn't a movie that stays static, however, or wants to. Both dizzying and dazzling in its ambitions, the way it brings those bold aims to fruition, the tender emotions it plays with and the sheer spectacle it flings around, Everything Everywhere All At Once is a magnificent dildo-slinging, glitter cannon-shooting, endlessly bobbing and weaving whirlwind. Everything Everywhere All At Once is the movie version of a matryoshka set, too. While Russian Doll nods that way as well, the possibilities are clearly endless when exploring stacked worlds. Multiverses are Hollywood's current big thing — the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Extended Universe, the Sony Spider-Man Universe and Star Trek have them, and Rick and Morty adores them — but the concept here is equally chaotic and clever. It starts with Evelyn, her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's Short Round and The Goonies' Data) and a hectic time. Evelyn's dad (James Hong, Turning Red) is visiting from China, the Wangs' daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) brings her girlfriend Becky (Tallie Medel, The Carnivores) home, and IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween Kills) is conducting a punishing audit. Then Evelyn learns she's the only one who can save, well, everything, everywhere and everyone. There's a great gag in that revelation, playing smartly yet savagely with perspective — because Everything Everywhere All At Once is all about how we choose to see things. Imagine trudging over to your local tax department, trolley full of receipts in hand and possible financial ruin in front of you, only to be told mid soul-crushing bureaucratic babble that it all means nothing since the very fate of the universe is at stake. But, at the same time, imagine realising that it's the simplest things that mean the most when space, time, existence and every emotion possible is all on the line. Although that isn't how a different version of Waymond puts it to Evelyn, it's what sparkles through as she's swiftly initiated into a battle against dimension-jumping villain Jobu Tapaki, discovers that she can access multiple other iterations of herself by eating chapsticks and purposefully slicing herself with paper cuts, and gets sucked into a reality-warping kaleidoscope. Read our full review. HAPPENING It's hard to pick which is more horrifying in Happening: the graphic scenes where 23-year-old literature student Anne Duchesne (Anamaria Vartolomei, How to Be a Good Wife) takes the only steps she can to try to regain control of her life, or the times she's repeatedly told by others, typically men, to accept a fate that only ever awaits her gender. Both hit like a punch, by design. Both are wrenching, heart and gut alike, and neither are surprising for a second. Also leaving a mark: that few care that Anne's future is now threatened in this 2021 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion-winner, because that's simply a consequence of having sex for women in France in 1963, the movie's setting. There's another truth that lingers over this adaptation of author Annie Ernaux's 2001 memoir of the same name, which uses her own experiences at the same age, time and in the same situation: that in parts of the world where pro-life perspectives are entrenched in law or regaining prominence, Happening's scenario isn't a relic of the past. Late in the movie, Anne describes her circumstances as "that illness that turns French women into housewives". It's a blunt turn of phrase, but it's accurate. It also speaks to how writer/director Audrey Diwan (Losing It) and co-scribe Marcia Romano (Bye Bye Morons) approach the film with the clearest of eyes, declining to indulge the idea that forcing unwanted motherhood upon young women is a gift or simply a duty, and likewise refusing to flinch from showing the reality when the personal freedom to choose is stripped away. This is a feature made with the fullest of hearts, too, compassion evident in every boxed-in Academy ratio frame that rarely leaves Anne's face. It spies the appalling options before her, and sees the society that's okay with stealing her choices. And, it stares deeply at both the pain and determination that've understandably taken up residence in Anne's gaze. The second of Ernaux's works to hit screens of late after the also candid and moving Simple Passion, Happening begins with hope, with Anne and her Angoulême college dormmates Hélène (Luàna Bajrami, The Hill Where Lionesses Roar) and Brigitte (Louise Orry-Diquéro, Occidental) getting ready for a dance. They're filled with the excitement that comes with believing anything could happen — there's fun to be had, men to meet and lives to be changed — but, once there, it's obvious that these kinds of nights always follow the same pattern. Their university's resident mean girls glare on in judgement when Anne even talks to a guy, but she doesn't let that stop her. She isn't one to weather their bullying, gossip and slut-shaming, including once she discovers she's expecting three weeks after a casual fling. The only thing that terrifies the ambitious and bright working-class student: losing the ability to live the life that she's been working towards. The alternative is highly illegal, so much so that securing help from medical professionals, friends and family is overwhelmingly difficult. Delivering the surprising pregnancy news, Anne's family doctor (Fabrizio Rongione, Azor) is sympathetic to the stark scenario facing his patient, knowing the stigma that'll come her way for being an unwed single mother, and that her dreams of teaching will be derailed. Still, given that prison is the punishment for illicit terminations, he shuts down any notion of lending a hand. Even chatting about abortion hypothetically with Hélène and Brigitte before they know she's with child earns the same dismissive response. The baby's father (Julien Frison, Lover for a Day), a visiting student, just wants the situation handled, and asking a flirtatious classmate (Kacey Mottet Klein, Farewell to the Night) for assistance just ends with him hitting on Anne; she's already pregnant so he figures she'll be up for it and there'll be no consequences. Read our full review. THE GOOD BOSS Despite being nominated for Best Actor for Being the Ricardos, Javier Bardem had zero chance of nabbing a shiny trophy at the 2022 Oscars. The movie he deserves his next nod for instead: savagely sharp workplace satire The Good Boss, which is home to a tour-de-force of a performance from the Spanish actor. Already an Academy Award-recipient for his powerhouse effort in No Country for Old Men — and a prior contender for Before Night Falls and Biutiful, too — Bardem does what he long has, playing a character who uses a set facade to mask his real self. Here, he's a seemingly kindly factory owner who makes a big fuss about treating his employees like family, but happily lets that ruse slip if they want more money, or have problems at home that disrupt their work, or happen to be an attractive intern. He still sports a smile though, naturally. In his latest Goya Award-winning part — his 12th to be nominated, too — Bardem becomes the outwardly friendly, inwardly slippery Básculas Blanco. Given the darkness that lingers in his self-serving, self-confident, self-satisfied true nature, the character's name is patently tongue-in-cheek. He presides over a company that makes professional-grade scales, which he inherited from his father, and tells his staff "don't treat me like a boss". But filmmakers who put the word 'good' in their movie's monikers rarely mean it literally, and writer/director Fernando León de Aranoa (who reteams with his lead after 2002's Mondays in the Sun and 2017's Loving Pablo) is one of them. As portrayed with quietly compelling magnetism by Bardem, The Good Boss' ostensibly respectable CEO finds his perfectly calibrated public persona cracking slowly, surely and devilishly, all thanks to the weight of his own ruthlessness. Awards aren't just coming Bardem's way off-screen for this exceptional turn; they're baked into the movie's plot as well. When The Good Boss begins, Blanco is determined to win a prestigious business prize — but he can't be called desperate, because appearing anything other than commanding, magnanimous and prosperous isn't in the grey-haired, sleekly attired manager's wheelhouse. Still, everyone around him knows how insistent he is about emerging victorious, including his clothing boutique-owning wife Adela (Sonia Almarcha, The Consequences). Their dutiful but hardly passionate marriage says plenty about Blanco, how he operates, and how careful he is about maintaining the illusion he wants the world to see. Indeed, when pretty young Liliana (Almudena Amor, The Grandmother) starts in his marketing department for a month-long stint, she instantly earns his attention, while he still outwardly flaunts committed family-man vibes. Liliana's arrival isn't without complications either professionally and personally. But in a film that skewers nine-to-five life and relationships alike, that's one of several troubles that upsets the company's balance. Just as Blanco's business is set to be inspected during the prize's judging process, his orderly world is pushed askew. There's the just-retrenched José (Óscar de la Fuente, The Cover), who won't accept his sacking, has set up outside the worksite's gate with a loudspeaker shouting out his woes and even has his school-aged children in tow. Then, there's underling and childhood friend Miralles (Manolo Solo, Official Competition), whose marital struggles are impacting day-to-day operations. And, trusted employee Fortuna (Celso Bugallo, The Paramedic) calls upon Blanco's sway for help with a domestic situation of his own. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; February 3, February 10, February 17 and February 24; and March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31; and April 7. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, The King's Man, Red Rocket, Scream, The 355, Gold, King Richard, Limbo, Spencer, Nightmare Alley, Belle, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Belfast, Here Out West, Jackass Forever, Benedetta, Drive My Car, Death on the Nile, C'mon C'mon, Flee, Uncharted, Quo Vadis, Aida?, Cyrano, Hive, Studio 666, The Batman, Blind Ambition, Bergman Island, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, The Souvenir: Part II, Dog, Anonymous Club, X, River, Nowhere Special, RRR, Morbius, The Duke and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance and Memoria.
Cafes, bars and restaurants aren't generally known for being lucratively profitable (unless you're a celebrity restaurateur, say, or a certain hospitality juggernaut in Sydney). But Cost Price Cafe is taking it to the other extreme — it makes zero profits. The cafe, which launched in March this year, serves uni students and workers alike from its truck in Marshall Park. The prices of its items are fluid, changing every fortnight. At present, it's selling small coffees for $2.50, large for $3, tea for $1 and biscuits for 50 cents. There's no extra charge for alternative milk or an extra shot and you also get a 20-cent discount if you bring in a reusable cup. The items are costed as such to cover wages, ingredients and other essentials — but if the cafe sells more than expected and "makes a profit" the price of the items will decrease. And owner Leonie Bucher expects that they will — she explains in a graph on the cafe's Facebook page that if the cafe consistently sell 150 coffees a day, the price will go down to $1.48. To maintain transparency, you'll be able to monitor the current price of coffee — as well as the cafe's other costs — on its Facebook page. It's a bold idea, but here's hoping you'll be able to swing $1 coffee sometime soon. Find Cost Price cafe Marshall Park, Kelvin Grove Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. It is open from 6.30am to 11.30am, Monday to Friday. For more info, visit costpricecafe.com.au.
UPDATE, February 10, 2021: News of the World is currently screening in Australian cinemas, and is also available to stream via Netflix from Wednesday, February 10. The first time that Tom Hanks was nominated for an Oscar, it was for munching on baby corn spears like they were full-sized cobs. His nod for Big stemmed from more than just that scene, but the way he handled the tiny vegetables perfectly illustrates how, at his best, he can make anything look and feel convincing. He didn't win for the 1989 comedy, and he hasn't taken home an Academy Award since he went two for two with 1994's Philadelphia and 1995's Forrest Gump; however that skill has remained a vital reason for his prolonged success. And, it applies equally to the silliest roles on his resume — early movies Splash, Turner & Hooch and The 'Burbs, for instance — and to the far more serious and subtle parts. Last year's Oscar-nominated performance in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood typifies the latter, and featured Hanks in such exceptional form that it couldn't have been easier to see him as children's presenter Mr Rogers. His latest great film, western News of the World, also belongs in the same category. This time around, Hanks plays a Civil War veteran-turned-travelling newsman who becomes saddled with escorting a child back to her family, and he's as gripping and compelling to watch as he's ever been. Hanks' character, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, is a travelling newsman in the very literal and era-appropriate sense. He journeys from town to town to read newspapers to amassed crowds for ten cents a person, all so folks across America can discover what's going on — not just locally, but around the country and the world. Then, on one otherwise routine trip in 1870, he passes an overturned wagon. Only a blonde-haired ten-year-old girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), remains alive. Kidd soon discovers that she had been abducted by the Kiowa people years earlier during a raid that saw her entire family slaughtered, and was then raised as one of their own, but she has now been left homeless after more violence. The wagon was transporting Johanna to her last remaining relatives and, in the absence of any officials willing to take over — or ensure her safety until they get around to setting off — Kidd reluctantly agrees to the task. Reading the news is still part of their trek, but so is avoiding the many dangers that plague their ride across Texas' golden-hued landscape. If the sight of a wearied Hanks donning a wide-brimmed hat, sitting atop a trusty horse and galloping across scrubby plains feels unfamiliar, that's because it hasn't happened before — with News of the World marking his first-ever western more than four decades after he made his acting debut. (No, his time voicing cowboy plaything Woody in the Toy Story movies doesn't count.) Hanks is a natural fit, unsurprisingly. The grounded presence he has brought to everything from Apollo 13 to The Post couldn't pair better with a genre that trots so openly across the earth, and ties its characters' fortunes so tightly to the desolate and wild conditions that surround them, after all. As a result, the fact that News of the World eagerly recalls previous western standouts such as The Searchers and True Grit doesn't ever become a drawback. Instead, this adaptation of Paulette Jiles' 2016 novel makes a purposeful effort to put its star in the same company as the many on-screen talents who've shone in — and strutted and scowled through — the genre. Hanks takes to the saddle like he's been perched upon one his entire career, of course, and takes to Kidd's lone-rider status with the same naturalistic air as well. Indeed, Hanks plays Kidd as an everyman, another key trait that's served him excellently for years — but the ex-soldier is also a wanderer for a reason. A handful of poignant scenes help shade in the character's painful past, and make it plain why his eventual connection with Johanna is perhaps a bigger deal for him than it is for her. They're an ideal match, actually, even if it doesn't instantly seem like it. He's quiet and stoic, she's unafraid to voice her displeasure, and a father-daughter rapport slowly springs. But Hanks isn't the only actor who ensures that this pairing works so disarmingly well, with his young co-star just as phenomenal. For anyone who saw Zengel's performance in 2019's System Crasher, which won the pre-teen the German Film Prize for Best Actress, that won't come as even the slightest surprise. Also pivotal to News of the World is filmmaker Paul Greengrass, who directs Hanks for the second time following Captain Phillips. Working with a script co-written with Australian screenwriter Luke Davies (Lion, Beautiful Boy, Angel of Mine), the United 93, 22 July and three-time Bourne franchise helmer opts for a more polished visual approach than he's known for — less frenetic and jittery, and noticeably so, but with imagery that still pulsates with emotion. When Kidd and Johanna find trouble along their trek, including from a shady trio with despicable intentions, Greengrass expertly ramps up the pace without ever letting the film's classic feel subside. With stellar assistance from cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) and editor William Goldenberg (an Oscar-winner for Argo), he ensures that the wagon chase and cliffside shootout that ensue are as tense and thrilling as they are exacting and meticulous. And, when his central duo arrive in a town where the local heavy (Thomas Francis Murphy, The Secrets We Keep) isn't keen on any news he doesn't approve of, he never overemphases the contemporary parallels with today's political cries against the media. Greengrass also fills News of the World with a top-notch supporting lineup, including Deadwood's Ray McKinnon, True Grit's Elizabeth Marvel, Hanks' Turner & Hooch love interest Mare Winningham and The Queen's Gambit's Bill Camp — a touch indicative of the film's finesse on every level. In fact, as perfectly cast and reliably great as Hanks is here, in the latest role that's likely to see awards nominations come his way, the empathetic and absorbing movie he's in meets him at every turn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG_EVA58P-g Image: Bruce W Talamon/Universal Pictures/Netflix.
A celebration of all things green, The Plant Society is the work of architect and interior designer Jason Chongue, who's passionate about getting younger generations hooked on the joy of indoor gardening. Alongside a nifty online store, you'll find the flagship bricks-and-mortar space, nestled within the Collingwood warehouse it shares with Japanese lifestyle store Cibi. It's brimming with life, boasting a tidy array of indoor plants, along with a considered curation of books, accessories and homewares. The team also hosts a program of workshops and classes, from beginners' tutorials covering the basics to a parent-child session designed to inspire mini green thumbs. Image: Armelle Habib
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wnmC7uLTNQ THE DISSIDENT If you know even the slightest thing about the circumstances surrounding Jamal Khashoggi's death, it's impossible to watch The Dissident without feeling angry. That's most viewers' starting mood, given that the Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist's assassination has garnered ample media attention — and Oscar-winning director Brian Fogel (Icarus) is well aware of how much coverage the subject has received, and of how the world feels about the situation. Indeed, his thorough and exacting documentary both feeds upon and fuels that shock and ire. The mood is tense, the commentary is pointed and the prevailing sentiment is savage. Both rage and outrage permeate each frame, unsurprisingly so, as the film lays bare the brutal facts surrounding Khashoggi's murder, its lead-up and its aftermath. No other tone would be acceptable. Nothing other than dismay, abhorrence and anger would be either. When you're making a movie about a man who entered his nation's embassy to obtain paperwork so that he could get married, then left it in dismembered pieces while his bride-to-be waited outside, how could anything other than fury, horror and alarm eventuate? Although the details have already been well-documented since October 2, 2018, they're still reassembled in The Dissident. Accordingly, the doco tells of Khashoggi's visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul just over a year after fleeing his country, after which he was never seen alive again. He wanted to marry academic Hatice Cengiz, his Turkish fiancée. To do so, he needed a document certifying that he was no longer wed to his prior wife. He'd first sought that necessary certification from the embassy just a few days earlier, so they knew that he'd be returning — and once he stepped inside once more, he was ambushed, attacked and killed by a newly arrived team of Saudi agents. Cengiz contacted the authorities when the man she thought she'd be spending the rest of her life with didn't surface, but the Saudi government claimed that the exiled reporter had left via a back entrance. It didn't take long to ascertain the truth, as was suspected from the moment he failed to reemerge. The official story changed several times, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied any knowledge of a premeditated plot, but the fact remains that Khashoggi was slaughtered by operatives from his homeland. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGLmTd8q3Ec&t=7s THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY More than 80 years after it was first sung and heard, Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit' still isn't easily forgotten. Drawn from a poem penned to protest lynchings, it's meant to shock and haunt. It's designed to galvanise and mobilise, too, as drawing attention to the extrajudicial killings of Black Americans should. Indeed, so vivid is the song in its language — "Black bodies swingin' in the southern breeze" describes the third line — US authorities demanded that Holiday stop performing it. She refused repeatedly, so there were repercussions. Concerned that the track would spark change, inspire Holiday's fans to fight for civil rights and justice, and perhaps motivate riots against against oppression and discrimination as well, the US Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics went after the musician for her drug use. If it couldn't get her to cease crooning the controversial tune via other means, such as overt warnings and a prominent police presence at her shows, it'd do whatever it could to keep her from reaching the stage night after night. With Andra Day (Marshall) turning in an intense, impassioned, career-defining portrayal as its eponymous figure (and in her first lead film role, too), so tells The United States vs Billie Holiday, the latest Oscar-nominated biopic to step through its namesake's life. Back in 1972, Lady Sings the Blues loosely adapted Holiday's autobiography of the same name, enlisting Diana Ross to play the singer — but, in taking inspiration instead from Johann Hari's non-fiction book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, this latest big-screen vision of the music icon's story adopts its own angle. Holiday's troubled childhood and youth has its part in this tale, which is scripted for the screen by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Her addiction, and the personal woes that she tried to blot out, clearly don't escape filmmaker Lee Daniels' (The Butler) attention, either. But The United States vs Billie Holiday also falls in alongside Seberg, MLK/FBI and Judas and the Black Messiah in interrogating bleak truths about mid-20th century America. In a film that manages to be both rousing and standard, that includes surveying the misplaced priorities of its government during multiple administrations, and the blatant determination shown by an array of agencies under various presidents to undermine, persecute and silence those considered a supposedly un-American threat to the status quo. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNE7ap2lOnU MORTAL KOMBAT No one enjoys watching someone else mash buttons. While it's a passable way to spend a few minutes, losing interest quickly simply comes with the territory. That's how viewing Mortal Kombat feels as well, except that watching your friends play any of the martial arts video game franchise's 22 different arcade and console titles since 1992 (or any game at all) would be far more entertaining. Shot in South Australia and marking the feature debut of filmmaker Simon McQuoid, the latest attempt to bring the popular series to the big screen — following a first try in 1995 and a sequel in 1997 — feels like watching cosplay, too. The movie's cast literally dresses up in the outfits needed to recreate the game's characters, of course, but the film shouldn't so overtly resemble fans donning costumes at a pop culture convention. And yet, Mortal Kombat evokes this situation from the moment its 17th century Japan-set prologue, which is also its best scene, comes to an end. After establishing a mythic and bloody backstory for the movie's narrative as a whole, the character that'll become an undead ninja ghost called Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada, Westworld) and his prophecised descendants, this B-grade flick is happy to, in fact. It's not just the violence that's cartoonish here; it's every glare exchanged and word uttered, with much of the script trading in cliches, dramatic pauses and catchphrases. Mortal Kombat's gaming fanbase may be eager to see their beloved characters given flesh and blood, face off against each other and spout lines that usually emanate from a much smaller screen, but that doesn't make a movie engaging. Nor can a flimsy screenplay by first-timer Greg Russo and Wonder Woman 1984's Dave Callaham, which follows the battle between Earthrealm and Outworld — one that'll be lost by the former if an MMA fighter named Cole Young (Lewis Tan, Wu Assassins), who bears a dragon birthmark, doesn't team up with the other figures with the same marking to stop humanity from losing for the tenth time. That's where the no-nonsense Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee, Black Water: Abyss) comes in, and also the grating, wisecracking Kano (Josh Lawson, Long Story Short). The villainous Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim, Warrior) might be threatening to freeze all of earth's champions so that Outworld's Shang Tsung (Chin Han, Skyscraper) can rig the tournament before it even happens, but Mortal Kombat still has time — and far too much of it — to spend pondering supernatural destinies and letting an over-acting, always grating Lawson mug for attempted laughs. The end result is intentionally ridiculous, and presumably unintentionally dull, all while setting up an unearned sequel. And although brutal enough amidst the silliness for an R rating, even the film's fight scenes merely go through the motions, especially given the heights that films like The Raid and John Wick have scaled in with their eye-popping action choreography over the past decade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YZuNQLSJlQ EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE In The Nightingale, Sam Claflin wasn't charming, kindly or gallant. He was worlds away from his roles in rom-com Love, Rosie, weepie drama Me Before You and the page-to-screen Hunger Games franchise — and, playing a supporting but still key part in the exceptional 2019 film, he was excellent. Alas, while he remains in darker territory with Every Breath You Take, this psychological thriller isn't a highlight on his or anyone's resume. The good news: it doesn't feature the 1983 single by The Police that shares the film's title. The not-so-great news: it is indeed about someone surveilling others, so it must've taken the production's entire reserves of restraint not to include that song. Little subtlety seems to be displayed elsewhere, including by Claflin, and little intelligence, either. In development for almost a decade, once set to be directed by Misery's Rob Reiner, and also slated to star Harrison Ford and Zac Efron over the years, the film focuses on the fallout from a psychologist's decision to talk to one of his patients about his own problems. Not long after gushing to a lecture hall filled with students about his successful new technique, however, he finds himself the target of a vindictive stalker who is intent on destroying his entire family's lives. Debut screenwriter David Murray has clearly seen Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful, Cape Fear and Fear, and The Silence of the Lambs as well, and he's not afraid to mash pieces of each together here. Looking pensive, grappling with family woes again but worlds away from his Oscar-winning performance in Manchester by the Sea, Casey Affleck (The Old Man and the Gun) plays Philip, the analyst in question. He crosses paths with James (Claflin, Enola Holmes) at the scene of a tragedy, then finds him knocking on his door — and soon his wife Grace (Michelle Monaghan, The Craft: Legacy) and teenage daughter Lucy (India Eisley, Dead Reckoning) are both bumping into the newcomer seemingly everywhere they go. In an already tense household thanks to an accident years earlier, James easily upsets the status quo. When Philip starts having professional problems as well, the trio's struggles only deepen. It's hard to guess what attracted this starry cast to such a routine film, but it definitely isn't the pulpy script or Vaughn Stein's (Inheritance) overboiled direction. Indeed, in a movie that somehow thinks that being as blatant as possible will ramp up the suspense — which, unsurprisingly, it doesn't — only the icy visuals by cinematographer Michael Merriman (another Inheritance alum) garner much attention. Well, that and the screechy score by Marlon Espino (also returning from Inheritance), although the latter does so with the same obviousness that characterises almost everything about the feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COLOJaM3k_M SISTER More than once during Sister, An Ran (Zhang Zifeng, Detective Chinatown 3) is reminded that her status as a sibling — and as a woman — is burdened with strong expectations in China. With her much-younger brother An Ziheng (Kim Darren Yowon) earning pride of place in her parents' hearts, and in Chinese society's patriarchal hierarchy in general, she's meant to defer her dreams and desires in favour of her family's male heir. That's just what's done, and always has been. And, after the pair's mother and father are killed in a car accident, no one can quite understand why An Ran is determined to buck convention. But, after weathering a childhood coloured by her dad's disappointment about her gender, she has spent years trying to break free from her past. A nurse hoping to gain acceptance into medical school so that she can become a doctor, and so distanced from her parents and brother that she doesn't even know the latter, she doesn't just vehemently disagree with the idea that she should now devote her life to An Ziheng; she refuses to abide by it. Instead, An Ran wants to sell the family apartment, find adoptive parents for her sibling and continue working towards her own future. Neither director Yin Ruoxin (Farewell, My Lad) nor screenwriter You Xiaoying (Love Education) shies away from the harsh reality facing their protagonist in Sister, or from the fact that her plight is emblematic of the nation's women in a much broader sense. And, for most of its duration, their sensitive but clear-eyed drama firmly and unflinchingly tackles the ramifications of simply being born female in China. The continued pressure directed An Ran's way and the treatment she receives for not toeing the line aren't the film's only sources of conflict, with class differences and the way that power structures play out both domestically and professionally also playing their part in the movie's layered narrative. They're aided by Zhang's weighty performance, too — a portrayal that segues seamlessly back and forth from defiant and committed to exhausted and exasperated, and shows both the will to eschew norms and the weariness from the constant battle on multiple levels. The film's boldness is eventually undercut, though. Budding within its naturalistically lit imagery and its often roving and restless frames is an awareness that the bonds of blood will eventually pull at An Ran. The script ensures that her growing bond with her brother feels genuine; however, it's also a far more sentimental turn of events than Sister indulges otherwise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SodO2VN0iYY SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT Eddie Izzard takes inspiration from her home town of Bexhill-on-Sea in Six Minutes to Midnight, using its pre-World War II history as the basis for an intriguing but also muddled thriller. Before the conflict broke out, the coastal spot was home to the Augusta Victoria College, where the daughters of high-ranking Germans were sent to finish their education. In Izzard's hands as the film's star, executive producer and co-writer — the latter with Celyn Jones (The Vanishing) and director Andy Goddard (A Kind of Murder) — this real-life scenario gives rise to espionage antics. She plays Thomas Miller, the school's new teacher, and also a spy sent to keep tabs on the students' whereabouts for British intelligence. Headmistress Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench, Blithe Spirit) dotes on the girls, and naively sees only camaraderie in the college's existence, but Miller and his superiors are concerned that the institution's pupils could be smuggled out in secret. It doesn't help that Ilse Keller (Carla Juri, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit), the school's only German employee, hardly seems trustworthy. The pro-Nazi ideology infused into her lessons is hardly a promising sign, but soon it's Miller that is the object of suspicion, despite his efforts to uncover just who in English society has been pledging their allegiance abroad. No one can fault Izzard's interest in Augusta Victoria College, or her eagerness to bring its little-known place in Britain's past to the screen. But Six Minutes to Midnight is so caught up in being a spy film — and one that takes its cues from Alfred Hitchcock at that — that it serves up a paper-thin story that's on the verge of blowing over in the East Sussex breeze. Twists, double crosses, wavering loyalty, murder, chases, interrogations and clandestine plots all ensue, but with few surprises, and with exactly why the students' possible return to Germany would be so catastrophic never fully fleshed out. Handsome seaside scenery does abound, though, and so does a committed performance from Izzard. She spends much of her screen-time running, as she often does in reality — completing 43 marathons in 51 days in 2009, 27 in 27 days in 2016 and 32 in 31 days earlier this year — but her wit and charisma are always evident. Saddled with a one-note role, Dench is less convincing, but supporting players Jim Broadbent (King of Thieves) and James D'Arcy (Avengers: Endgame) make the most of their small parts as a kindly bus driver and a wily detective respectively. As for the young women, the fact that they're primarily regarded as a group, rather than given the time and space to convey their personalities, speaks volumes about their function as the feature's MacGuffin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xXFm78O6P8 MOON ROCK FOR MONDAY Kurt Martin, the first-time feature writer/director behind Moon Rock for Monday, must owe much of his film education to Australian cinema of the 90s. His road-trip drama — which is also a coming-of-age tale and a crime thriller, and happens to be set in the 90s, too — takes clearcut cues from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Two Hands. Here, though, a 12-year-old girl and an older teen sit at the centre of the narrative. Thankfully, while the nods towards other prominent homegrown movies are obvious, these sources of inspiration don't cast an overbearing shadow. There isn't much about Moon Rock for Monday that proves overtly novel, but it doesn't simply trudge in other films' footsteps, either. The importance of the feature's canny casting can't be understated, with fellow debutant Ashlyn Louden-Gamble a winsome presence as the titular pre-teen and George Pullar (Playing for Keeps) infusing his wayward but well-meaning jewellery store thief-turned-fugitive with more depth than might be expected. Indeed, their rapport as their characters first evade the police on Sydney's streets, then take to the highway towards the Northern Territory, gives this warm-hearted movie enough charm to do more than simply coast by. Named for the day she was born, Monday's (Louden-Gamble) entire life has revolved around an illness that requires frequent medical treatment. But, despite the lived-in weariness and worry perennially plastered across the face of her dad Bob (Aaron Jeffrey, The Flood), she handles the situation with a sunny disposition, an eagerness to see the world and an obsession with Uluru — or Moon Rock, as she calls it. Then, this father-daughter duo stumble into Tyler's (Pullar) orbit. Soon Monday is by the latter's side, indulging her thirst for adventure and tagging along as he hightails it out of town. Bob isn't the only one desperate to find them, with Detective Lionell (David Field, Mortal Kombat) also on their trail in the aftermath of Tyler's light-fingered ways. From the outset, even before Monday and Tyler start heading west, there's an episodic feel to Moon Rock for Monday; however, flitting from one narrative incident to the next suits the road-trip premise. When nothing but landscape surrounds its central pair, that dusty red expanse does plenty of heavy lifting — a scene outside of Coober Pedy is particularly striking, both visually and emotionally — but this is still a promising big-screen start for its director and leads alike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyopYXVJNmQ THIS LITTLE LOVE OF MINE Blatantly formulaic rom-coms are cinema's version of junk food, as Netflix has been trying to use to its advantage. Scroll through the platform's catalogue, especially around Christmas, and a wealth of straight-to-streaming movies that eagerly play up every trope and cliche await — but being easy to make and undemanding to consume isn't the same as being worth watching. This Little Love of Mine is debuting in cinemas; however, it'll feel at home when it does find its way into a streaming service's lineup. Its story is that predictable and its dialogue is that hoary. The setup: ambitious workaholic lawyer Laura (Saskia Hampele, The Heights) is certain that she'll finally make partner and be able to start doing worthwhile work helping small business owners if she convinces a building magnate's (Martin Portus, Home and Away) island-dwelling boat captain grandson Chip (Liam McIntyre, Them) to take over his billion-dollar development company. The catch: the island, Sapphire Cove, is where she grew up before she left for her high-powered, big-city life in San Francisco, and Chip is the childhood best friend she's thought of fondly over the years, but hasn't seen since she departed. Romantic comedies don't need to trade in surprises. When you're just aiming to bring two characters together so that they can presumably live happily ever after, twists aren't a necessary feature. But viewers should enjoy their time watching said central figures overcome the obligatory obstacles that come their way on the inevitable path to becoming a couple. They should get invested in their plights, be charmed by their personalities and care about their fates —and, even with the ultimate outcome remaining obvious to anyone and everyone, no one should feel as if they're just peering on as a movie works through a checklist. While Hampele and McIntyre do their best to liven up Georgia Harrison's (Rip Tide) rote script, they can't nudge This Little Love of Mine into engaging waters. The same applies to Lynn Gilmartin (How Do You Know Chris?) as Laura and Chip's fellow lifelong friend Gem, who proves the kind of dutiful sidekick-slash-trusty confidant character that could've strolled out of almost every rom-com ever made. Also unable to lift the material: the eye-catching Far North Queensland backdrop, which sets a suitably swoon-worthy scene; however, the repeated palm tree and beach shots peppered throughout the film by first-time director Christine Luby and cinematographer Simon Harding (Ruben Guthrie) begin to feel like filler quickly. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1 and April 8. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda and Supernova. Top image: Takashi Seida.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. BODIES BODIES BODIES The internet couldn't have stacked Bodies Bodies Bodies better if it tried, not that that's how the slasher-whodunnit-comedy came about. Pete Davidson (The Suicide Squad) waves a machete around, and his big dick energy, while literally boasting about how he looks like he fucks. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Oscar-nominee Maria Bakalova plays the cautious outsider among rich-kid college grads, who plan to ride out a big storm with drinks and drugs (and drama) in one of their parents' mansions. The Hunger Games and The Hate U Give alum Amandla Stenberg leads the show as the gang's black sheep, turning up unannounced to zero fanfare from her supposed besties, while the rest of the cast spans Shiva Baby's Rachel Sennott, Generation's Chase Sui Wonders and Industry's Myha'la Herrold, plus Pushing Daisies and The Hobbit favourite Lee Pace as a two-decades-older interloper. And the Agatha Christie-but-Gen Z screenplay? It's drawn from a spec script by Kristen Roupenian, the writer of 2017 viral New Yorker short story Cat Person. All of the above is a lot. Bodies Bodies Bodies is a lot — 100-percent on purpose. It's a puzzle about a party game, as savage a hangout film as they come, and a satire about Gen Z, for starters. It carves into toxic friendships, ignored class clashes, self-obsessed obliviousness, passive aggression and playing the victim. It skewers today's always-online world and the fact that everyone has a podcast — and lets psychological warfare and paranoia simmer, fester and explode. Want more? It serves up another reminder after The Resort, Palm Springs and co that kicking back isn't always cocktails and carefree days. It's an eat-the-rich affair alongside Squid Game and The White Lotus. Swirling that all together like its characters' self-medicating diets, this wildly entertaining horror flick is a phenomenal calling card for debut screenwriter Sarah DeLappe and Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn (Instinct), too — and it's hilarious, ridiculous, brutal and satisfying. Forgetting how it ends is also utterly impossible. The palatial compound where Bodies Bodies Bodies unfurls belongs to David's (Davidson) family, but it's hurricane-party central when the film begins. That said, no one — not David, his actor girlfriend Emma (Wonders), the no-nonsense Jordan (Herrold) or needy podcaster Alice (Sennott), and definitely not Greg (Pace), the latter's swipe-right older boyfriend of barely weeks — expects Sophie (Stenberg) to show as they're swigging tequila poolside. She hasn't responded to the group chat, despite claiming otherwise when she arrives. She certainly hasn't told them, not even her childhood ride-or-die David, that she's bringing her new girlfriend Bee (Bakalova) along. And Sophie hasn't prepared Bee for their attitudes, all entitlement, years of taken-for-granted comfort and just as much mouldering baggage, as conveyed in bickering that's barely disguised as banter. When the weather turns bad as forecast, a game is soon afoot inside the sprawling abode. Sharing the movie's title, the fake murder-mystery lark is this crew's go-to — but, even with a hefty supply of glow sticks (handy in the inevitable power outage), it doesn't mix too well with booze, coke and Xanax. The essentials: pieces of paper, one crossed with a X; everyone picking a scrap, with whoever gets the marked sliver deemed the perpetrator; and switching off the lights while said killer offs their victim, which happens just by touching them. Then, it's time to guess who the culprit is. That's when the mood plummets quickly, because accusing your friends of being faux murderers by publicly checking off all their shady traits will do that. It gets worse, of course, when those bodies bodies bodies soon become literal and everyone's a suspect. Read our full review. MOONAGE DAYDREAM Ground control to major masterpiece: Moonage Daydream, Brett Morgen's kaleidoscopic collage-style documentary about the one and only David Bowie, really makes the grade. Its protein pills? A dazzling dream of archival materials, each piece as essential and energising as the next, woven into an electrifying experience that eclipses the standard music doco format. Its helmet? The soothing-yet-mischievous tones of Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane/The Thin White Duke/Jareth the Goblin King himself, the only protective presence a film about Bowie could and should ever need and want. The songs that bop through viewers heads? An immense playlist covering the obvious — early hit 'Space Oddity', the hooky glam-rock titular track, Berlin-penned anthem 'Heroes', the seductive 80s sounds of 'Let's Dance' and the Pet Shop Boys-remixed 90s industrial gem 'Hallo Spaceboy', to name a few — as well as deeper cuts. The end result? Floating through a cinematic reverie in a most spectacular way. When Bowie came to fame in the 60s, then kept reinventing himself from the 70s until his gone-too-soon death in 2016, the stars did look very different — he did, constantly. How do you capture that persistent shapeshifting, gender-bending, personal and creative experimentation, and all-round boundary-pushing in a single feature? How do you distill a chameleonic icon and musical pioneer into any one piece of art, even a movie that cherishes each of its 135 minutes? In the first film officially sanctioned by Bowie's family and estate, Morgen knows what everyone that's fallen under the legend's spell knows: that the man born David Jones, who'd be 75 as this doco hits screens if he was still alive, can, must and always has spoken for himself. The task, then, is the same as the director had with the also-excellent Cobain: Montage of Heck and Jane Goodall-focused Jane: getting to the essence of his subject and conveying what made him such a wonder by using the figure himself as a template. Nothing about Bowie earns an easy description. Nothing about Bowie, other than his stardom, brilliance and impact, sat or even stood still for too long. Driven by themes and moods rather than a linear birth-to-death chronology, Moonage Daydream leaps forward with that same drive to ch-ch-change, the same yearning to keep playing and unpacking, and the same quest for artistry as well. Taking its aesthetic approach from its centre of attention means peppering in psychedelic pops, bursts of colour, neon hues, and mirrored and tiled images — because it really means making a movie that washes over all who behold its dance, magic, dance. That's the reaction that Bowie always sparked, enchanting and entrancing for more than half a century. In successfully aping that feat, Morgen's film is as immersive as an art installation. Exhibition David Bowie Is has already toured the world, including a 2015 stint Down Under in Melbourne; Moonage Daydream sits partway between that and a Bowie concert. This gift of sound and vision is as glorious as that gig-meets-art concept sounds — and yes, live footage beams and gleams throughout the documentary. Among the snippets of interviews, smattering of music videos, melange of clips from cinema touchstones that reverberate on Bowie's wavelength in one way or another, and scenes from his own acting career on-screen and onstage, how could it not? During his five years, fittingly, spent making Moonage Daydream, Morgen had access to the original concert masters, from which he spliced together his own mixes using alternative angles. Zooming back to the androgynous space-alien Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tour is exhilarating, including when the feature's eponymous song explodes. Jumps to the 90s, to the Outside and Earthling tours, resonate with awe of a more grounded but no less vibrant kind. The Serious Moonlight segments, hailing from the 80s and all about pale suits and glistening blonde hair, see Bowie relaxing into entertainer mode — and, amid discussions about his wariness about making upbeat tunes, mastering that like everything else. Read our full review. TICKET TO PARADISE Here we go again indeed: with the George Clooney- and Julia Roberts-starring Ticket to Paradise, a heavy been-there-done-that air sweeps through, thick with the Queensland-standing-in-for-Bali breeze. The film's big-name stars have bounced off each other in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Money Monster before now. Director Ol Parker has already sent multiple groups of famous faces to far-flung places — far-flung from the UK or the US, that is — as the writer of the Best Exotic Marigold flicks and helmer of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Enough destination wedding rom-coms exist that one of the undersung better ones, with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, is even called Destination Wedding. And, there's plenty of romantic comedies about trying to foil nuptials, too, with My Best Friend's Wedding and Runaway Bride on Roberts' resume since the 90s. Hurriedly throw all of the above into a suitcase — because your twentysomething daughter has suddenly announced she's marrying a seaweed farmer she just met in Indonesia, if you're Clooney and Roberts' long-divorced couple here — and that's firmly Ticket to Paradise. As The Lost City already was earlier in 2022, it too is a star-driven throwback, endeavouring to make the kind of easy, glossy, screwball banter-filled popcorn fare that doesn't reach screens with frequency lately. It isn't as entertaining as that flick, and it certainly isn't winking, nodding and having fun with its formula; sticking dispiritingly to the basics is all that's on Parker's itinerary with his first-timer co-scribe Daniel Pipski. But alongside picturesque vistas, Ticket to Paradise shares something crucial with The Lost City: it gets a whole lot of mileage out of its stars' charisma. A quarter-century back, David (Clooney, The Midnight Sky) and Georgia (Roberts, Gaslit) were the instantly besotted couple impulsively tying the knot (if Ticket to Paradise is successful enough to spawn more movies, a prequel about the pair's younger years will likely be on the list). Alas, when this film begins, they can't stand to be anywhere near each other — room, city or state — after splitting two decades back. With their only child Lily (Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick) graduating from college, they're forced to play faux nice for a few hours, but squabble over the armrest, then get publicly competitive about who loves their daughter more. This wouldn't be a rom-com led by Clooney and Roberts if schoolyard teasing logic didn't apply, though: they fight because sparks still fly deep down. And they keep verbally sparring when Lily announces a month later that she's met Bali local Gede (Maxime Bouttier, Unknown) on a getaway before she's supposed to put her law degree to its intended use, and that she'll be hitched within days. If another template that Ticket to Paradise happily follows is to be believed, parents don't respond well to their kids plunging into matrimony, especially without notice. David and Georgia are no different, desperately wanting to stop Lily from repeating their own mistakes and willing to zip halfway around the world to do so — hence the feature's airfare moniker. They attempt to unite over sabotaging the wedding, but old habits die hard amid tussling with biting dolphins, stealing rings and putting up with Paul (Lucas Bravo, Emily in Paris), Georgia's younger, deeply infatuated boyfriend. Amid drunken beer pong matches and daggy dances to 90s tracks, plus getting stuck in the Balinese jungle overnight as well, older feelings die harder still, of course — and a ticket to surprises or fresh material, this clearly isn't. Read our full review. CLEAN "It's a shock to the system. It's a change to the everyday, regular routine. It's where the unhappy gene comes out — and it's a sign of the times today." That's the gloriously candid and empathetic Sandra Pankhurst on trauma, a topic she has literally made her business. Later in Clean, the documentary that tells her tale, she describes herself as a "busy nose and a voyeur"; however, that's not what saw her set up Melbourne's Specialised Trauma Cleaning. For three decades now, her company has assisted with "all the shitty jobs that no one really wants to do," as she characterises it: crime-scene cleanups, including after homicides, suicides and overdoses; deceased estates, such as bodies found some time after their passing; and homes in squalor, to name a few examples. As she explains in the film, Pankhurst is eager to provide such cleaning services because everyone deserves that help — and because we're all just a couple of unfortunate turns away from needing it. The 2008 movie Sunshine Cleaning starring Amy Adams (Dear Evan Hansen) and Emily Blunt (Jungle Cruise) fictionalised the trauma-cleaning realm; if that's your touchstone at the outset of Clean, prepare for far less gloss, for starters. Prepare for much more than a look at a fascinating but largely ignored industry, too, because filmmaker Lachlan Mcleod (Big in Japan) is as rightly interested in Pankhurst as he is in her line of work. Everything she says hangs in the air with meaning, even as it all bounces lightly from her lips ("life can be very fragile", "every dog has its day, and a mongrel has two" and "life dishes you out a good story and then life dishes you out a shit one" are some such utterances). Everything feels matter of fact and yet also immensely caring through her eyes, regardless of the situation that her Frankston-headquartered employees are attending to. Sometimes, STC does confront harrowing and grimy messes that could be ripped straight out of a crime drama, but ensuring that the families don't have to swab up themselves after a gory incident is a point of pride. Sometimes, it aids people with disability or illness by playing housekeeper when they can't, or sorts through a lifetime of possessions when someone has turned to hoarding. There's no judgement directed anyone's way, not by Pankhurst or the crew of committed cleaners who've formed a family-like bond under her watch. It takes a particular sort of person to do this gig, everyone notes, and the group is as sensitive and considerate as their boss because most have experienced their own hardships. They can also see what she sees: "everyone's got trauma; it's not the demographic, it's the circumstance". Pankhurst's company and tale isn't new to the public eye, thanks to Sarah Krasnostein's award-winning 2018 book The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay and Disaster — and both there and here, the role she has played and the fortitude she has displayed while sifting through her own personal traumas earns merited attention. Mcleod keeps his focus on STC for the film's first third, aided by Pankhurst's frank insights, but the many layers to the business, its workers and its clients are paralleled in her own multifaceted story. Clean takes her lead, though; never within its frames does Pankhurst offer up a simple assessment of herself, other than saying she'd liked to be remembered "as a kind human being — nothing more, nothing less". As a transgender woman who was adopted at birth, grew up in an abusive household, married and had a family, performed as a drag queen, undertook sex work, survived rape and drugs, transitioned, and became one of Australia's first female funeral directors, nothing about her can be deduced to a few mere words. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30; and July 7, July 14, July 21 and July 28; August 4, August 11, August 18 and August 25; and September 1 and September 8. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday, Ali & Ava, Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man, The Phantom of the Open, The Black Phone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Official Competition, The Forgiven, Full Time, Murder Party, Bullet Train, Nope, The Princess, 6 Festivals, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Crimes of the Future, Bosch & Rockit, Fire of Love, Beast, Blaze, Hit the Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Orphan: First Kill, The Quiet Girl and Flux Gourmet.
Don't sweat it. Just don't. That's a great sentiment, but putting it into action isn't always so easy. Humanity has long wanted to care less about all of the things that really don't matter, including since before self-help was a book genre — and since before there were books. Nothing else has quite summed up that concept quite like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, though, even just in its title. It sits among a seemingly endless array of texts about living your best life and forgetting pointless strife, but Mark Manson's 2016 hit perfectly captured the idea that we should all devote less attention to matters that simply aren't worth it. First came the book. Then came the film version of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Since Manson's famous tome hit shelves, he's also popped up to chat about it and offer his brutally honest self-help advice — and he's returning Down Under in November 2024 to do exactly that again. Consider heading along to this The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck live tour as the next step in pursuing the ultimate goal: giving less fucks. More than 20-million copies of the book have been sold, so you're probably familiar with Manson's take on living more contented and grounded lives already, but there's something to be said about hearing about it in person. Couldn't be arsed reading the text? Then this is another way to soak in its contents. Of course, Manson's spin isn't about never giving a fuck. Rather, he knows that it's wise to choose where to direct our fucks, what to give a crap about and what genuinely bloody matters. The book's chapter titles are as telling as its overall moniker, boasting names such as 'Don't Try', 'Happiness is a problem', 'You are not special', 'You are wrong about everything (But so am I)', 'The importance of saying no' and 'And then you die'. Also the author of Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope, Manson will be onstage exploring this train of thought on a seven-stop trip around Australia and New Zealand, including in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland. Attendees can expect a deeper dive into the principles stepped through in his book, plus practical tips and stories from real life. This is an event to give a fuck about, clearly. Here's the trailer for the film, too, if you haven't yet seen it: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Live with Mark Manson Dates: Monday, November 4 — Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Sydney Wednesday, November 6 — Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Thursday, November 7 — QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane Saturday, November 9 — Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Sunday, November 10 — Festival Theatre, Adelaide Monday, November 11 — Perth Concert Hall, Perth Friday, November 15 — Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Live tour hits Australia and New Zealand in November 2024, with ticket presales from 10am local time on Wednesday, July 17 — except in Melbourne, where ticket sales start at 11am local time on Monday, July 22. Head to the tour website for more details.
Already the stuff of sweet, cheesy dreams, Prahran's go-to dairy destination Maker & Monger has taken things to the next level. From humble beginnings as a Euro-style artisan food cart, launched by renowned cheesemonger Anthony Femia in 2015, this operation has just moved into a new, bigger, permanent store at the Prahran Market. And it's a deadset cheese wonderland. Having made a name for its silky Swiss raclette and all-American cheese toasties, Maker & Monger is celebrating its roomier digs with an expanded specialty offering, complete with dine-in menu, a booze list and a monster, seven-metre-long cheese cabinet. The brass- and marble-clad space sits just around the corner from Femia's former site, with a look and feel that's largely inspired by the cheese heartland of the Swiss Alps. Here, a custom-built maturation room acts like a natural cave, used to house and mature a curation of boutique cheeses from both near and far. You'll spy dreamy dairy creations from across France, Switzerland and England, and exclusive batches from some of Victoria's own micro-dairies — all available to take home cut-to-order, as well as starring throughout the food menu. Meanwhile, fresh iterations of mozzarella, burrata and ricotta are whipped up on-site in collaboration with That's Amore. The kitchen's celebrating this bespoke cheese selection alongside produce fresh from the adjoining market, with a series of daily menus. Breakfast might mean bites like a labneh-topped bruschetta, or perhaps the new cuban toastie featuring free-range Berkshire pork shoulder, ham off the bone and melted Marcel Petite comté. Come afternoon, it's all about the aperitivo offering, pairing cheesy delights with a range of natural wine, vermouth and, down the track, sake. If you're looking to expand your cheese knowledge, the store will also host regular masterclasses and wine events, including a monthly Italian feast helmed by Femia's mother Maria. Find Maker & Monger's new home at Shop 98, Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Road, South Yarra. It's open from 7.30am until 4pm every day except Monday and Wednesday.
Looking for an excuse to start making holiday plans? A massive flight sale with one million discounted fares on offer will do the trick. For a week, Qantas is slinging cheap tickets across its domestic network, spanning 60-plus routes — and prices start at under $150 one-way on more than 30 of them. Getaway dates vary, but winter is the ideal time to make a booking for one inescapable reason: when we're all spending more time rugged up indoors to escape the chillier weather, who isn't dreaming of their next break away from their own four walls? The sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Sunday, June 30, 2024, but the usual caveat applies: you'll want to get in quickly to nab a bargain (and, as always, if fares sell out earlier, you'll miss out). Whether you're a Sydneysider thinking about a Gold Coast jaunt, a Melburnian keen to finally hit or return to Tasmania or a Brisbanite eager to make a date with The Whitsundays, you have options. Indeed, you can get from Sydney to the Gold Coast for $109, Brisbane to the Whitsunday Coast from $129 and Melbourne to Hobart from $149. Other routes and fares include Adelaide to Melbourne from $139, Launceston to the Gold Coast from $199, Sydney to Cairns for the same price, and Sydney to Perth for $339. Business class flights are on sale as well, if your budget can stretch that far. Trips to and from Ballina, Newcastle, Mildura, Albury, Coffs Harbour, Kangaroo Island, Townsville, Tamworth, Rockhampton, Port Macquarie, Alice Springs, Uluru and Darwin are also on the sale list. Inclusions-wise, the sale covers fares with checked baggage, complimentary food and beverages, wifi and seat selection. Qantas' one million seat sale runs until 11.59pm AEST on Sunday, June 30, 2024, or until sold out. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Think about geomagnetic storms and you might think about disaster movies. If you were in a part of Australia where the Aurora Australis was visible over the weekend of Friday, May 10–Sunday, May 12, 2024, the term will now always be synonymous with a stunning sky show. Thanks to extreme planetary conditions, as per the Bureau of Meteorology, aurora sightings lit up the heavens — and widely, including not just in Tasmania, but also in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and even Queensland. If there's ever been a reason to look at the night sky, this was it — and look, plenty of people did. So, whether you slept through the bursts of colour, couldn't see the Aurora Australis in your part of the country or are keen for another glimpse, there's ample photographic proof that inky black heavens gave way to psychedelic hues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Luke Tscharke | Tasmania (@tscharke) Missed all the details, too? The Bureau first issued a warning for a G4 geomagnetic storm on Friday, May 10, noting that the event — which sees the earth's magnetic field experience fluctuations — could arrive that night. The G4 grading is the second-highest on the G-scale, with G1 considered minor and G5 extreme. The Bureau also advised that a few things can happen, such as disrupting power grids and satellite services, and also creating vivid auroras — including the latter in places normally considered dark-sky locations. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sean O' Riordan | Ireland (@seanorphoto) Then, on Saturday, May 11, the organisation revealed that the geomagnetic storm was a G5 event — the first since 2003 — and that the conditions would continue that day. On Sunday, May 12, it advised that the storm had shifted down to G3, but aurora sightings would still be possible. Cue social-media feeds filled with spectacular snaps — some of which we've compiled above and below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ela / Australia (@sea.of.lights1) Aurora Australis last night at Mentone Beach, Victoria, Australia #AuroraAustralis #aurora pic.twitter.com/0Gb9zEnsEB — Findlay Ferguson (@Findlaybf) May 12, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eliza Sum 沈韪嫦 (@elizasum) I lived in Finland for 6 years and never thought that the best Aurora in my life I'd see in Melbourne 😳#AuroraAustralis pic.twitter.com/nZ4ulfrHaF — Maria Ermakova (@mary_in_vivo) May 11, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brent Martin (@brent_martin_photography) I lived in Finland for 6 years and never thought that the best Aurora in my life I'd see in Melbourne 😳#AuroraAustralis pic.twitter.com/nZ4ulfrHaF — Maria Ermakova (@mary_in_vivo) May 11, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lachlan Gardiner (@lachlan_gardiner) Visible with the naked eye from the far southwest of Western Australia! ⭐️💥⭐️#AuroraAustralis pic.twitter.com/PpsJVE2gbo — Jinni Wilson (@earthseastar) May 11, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by George Berg (@george_berg_photography) For more information about the geomagnetic storm and Aurora Australis, head to the Bureau of Meteorology website. Top image: patrickkavanagh via Flickr.
If you've ever dreamed of your reality aligning a little more closely with that of, say, late-'70's rock band The Runaways or old-school Aussie indie act The Sunset Strip, consider Collingwood's FeeFee's Bar your new happy place. Gracing that eastern stretch of Johnston Street between Wellington and Hoddle, this newcomer clocks in on the glamorous side of grunge, with the spirit of rock 'n' roll coursing through its veins. For owner Fiona Meiklejohn, FeeFee's is the upscale, music-focused bar the area was missing — it's Melbourne's answer to iconic, rock-tinged haunts like London's Crobar, Le Fanfaron in Paris and The Burgundy Room in Hollywood. "It's a place for people to come, sit in a beautiful environment and enjoy a cocktail, whilst soaking up the rock vibes,"" she explains. "A haven for those who love real music." To that end, expect a complete departure from sticky carpets and dive bar shabbiness. Instead, Meiklejohn and partner Jonas Schöfer have gone for what they describe as a '1970s Scandinavian après-ski vibe', with a rock 'n' roll influence. It's a space that speaks to a bygone era of music-inspired revelry, all flocked wallpaper, sexy lighting, and framed portraits of rock gods and goddesses lining the walls. Meanwhile, the bar's slinging crafty cocktails and top-shelf gins alongside all your favourite tinnies, and the soundtrack changes focus throughout the week, gearing up to weekend DJ sets of disco, funk, and old-school rock.
Having launched cafes in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and, most recently, Sydney's Surry Hills, Veneziano Coffee Roasters now has a treat for its local fans, opening its original Richmond headquarters to the public from next week. A bright, new 80-seat dining space now sits alongside the River Street roastery and barista training studio, allowing guests to sip their morning macchiato while watching — and smelling — those beautiful beans roasting. There's a cupping lab, too, for those wanting to get up close and personal with their brew, and an interactive micro-roastery where you'll be able to see the magic unfold. Opening Monday, July 30, the brew bar is set to showcase the label's signature Bond St blend, with a selection of microlots (sourced from one small area of a plot) also on rotation. To match, the kitchen is plating up a modern cafe menu for both breakfast and lunch, designed around local, seasonal ingredients. True coffee aficionados can also get excited for a beefed-up range of barista courses offered in the onsite training studio. "It presents the perfect opportunity to showcase the brand as an end-to-end specialty experience for coffee lovers and those keen to learn more," said Veneziano Managing Director Craig Dickson. Find Veneziano's new Melbourne cafe at 16 River Street, Richmond, from Monday, July 30. It will be open daily from 7am–4pm.
The UK city of Kingston upon Hull (better known as Hull) made big news this weekend as over 3000 locals and visitors walked the streets naked, painted in four different shades of blue. While this sounds like something Tobias Fünke would inadvertently find himself in the middle of, the nudity was all in the name of art — specifically, for New York-based artist, Spencer Tunick's latest installation. The artwork, appropriately titled Sea of Hull, is a celebration of the seaside town and its relationship with the sea. The 3200 blue participants, which came from 20 countries, traipsed across many of the city's most historic sites for installation and photographing. They even posed on the Scale Lane Bridge, an award-winning swing bridge that crosses the River Hull. The installation is the largest of its kind to be staged in the UK, beating Tunick's previous installations in Gateshead (2005) and Salford (2010). A photo posted by The Best Picture of the Day (@zumapress) on Jul 10, 2016 at 12:09pm PDT A photo posted by La Vanguardia (@lavanguardia) on Jul 9, 2016 at 9:53am PDT Tunick's newest piece was commissioned by Hull's Ferens Art Gallery, who will highlight this piece in their 2017 program. Next year will be a big one for the city, as Hull has once again secured the bid for UK City of Culture, which they also hosted in 2013. The award is given every four years to a city that demonstrates the belief in the power of culture, and Hull City Council is promising to deliver a 365-day program of transformative cultural activity in 2017. Having staged over 90 installations, Tunick's art has encouraged mass nakedness worldwide, including his nude shoot for diversity in front of the Sydney Opera House back in 2010. Other such locations — apart from New York, of course — include the Dead Sea, Mexico City and Cleveland, Ohio. Via SMH.
Break out the martinis and prepare for a shaken but not stirred couch session: Bond, James Bond, is coming to your lounge room. Just in time for wintry binge-viewing marathons, the famed espionage franchise has hit Prime Video, spanning every flick in the series from the now 60-year-old Dr No through to 2021's No Time to Die. Sean Connery smouldering his way through everything from that first-ever Bond instalment through to Diamonds Are Forever, Roger Moore stepping into 007's shoes between Live and Let Die and A View to A Kill, Timothy Dalton's two-film run in The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill — they're all included. So is Pierce Brosnan's stint as the secret agent between GoldenEye and Die Another Day, and Daniel Craig's five contributions from Casino Royale onwards, wrapping up with what might be the best Bond film yet. Aussie actor George Lazenby's one-movie appearance as Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service is also on the bill. That's all 25 official movies in total covered, but there is also a 26th movie, Never Say Never Again, that you might want to watch. Made in 1983, it stars Connery as the suave spy. But, because it was made by a different company from the rest of the Bond movies, it's not considered part of the franchise itself. If you're a completist, it's also on Prime Video now. Exceptional Bond flicks, terrible ones, everything in-between: if 007 is involved, it's now in this one spot. For everything other than No Time to Die, this isn't the first time the franchise has all sat on one streaming platform, and we've all seen various flicks hop between different services over the years. That said, the Bond movies aren't likely to move from Prime Video moving forward given that Amazon recently purchased MGM, the nearly century-old film studio that's behind all things 007. That deal will see the platform access MGM's 4000-plus films and more than 17,000 TV episodes, spanning the likes of the Rocky and Legally Blonde franchises, as well as other classics such as Thelma & Louise, The Silence of the Lambs, The Magnificent Seven and Raging Bull. For now, though, the focus is on a certain Aston Martin-driving spy — and the villains, women, gadgets, songs and stylishing opening credits sequences that go with him. If you want to don a tuxedo while you watch, well, that's up to you. The entire Bond franchise hit Prime Video on Wednesday, May 11 — and is now available to stream.
This Cremorne plant store is so darn pretty, it doubles as an events space and wedding venue. Step through the doors of Glasshaus Inside and you're met with a sprawling assortment of indoor plants, from wee little devil's ivy, to rafter-kissing fiddle leaf figs. There's big appreciation here for the rare and unusual, so it's a solid choice if you're hunting something a little bit different to add to your collection. Otherwise, you can just wander through the warehouse jungle for an easy dose of nature. And if your house is reaching peak capacity, you'll find a huge range of outdoor plants in Richmond at Glasshaus' Stanley Street outpost. You'll find Glasshaus Outside at 52-54 Stanley Street, Richmond, and Glasshaus Florist at 101 Swan Street, Richmond.
We all have a mate who thinks, talks, and posts stories about eating and drinking. Not that you mind too much. They've always got the best new bar and restaurant recos, and they bring excellent snacks to picnics. When it comes to getting them a gift, buying something they can consume is a pretty safe bet — but you've gotta keep your standards high because theirs certainly will be. So, in partnership with Square, we've picked out nine gourmet gifts for the epicurean in your life. If you're lucky, they'll share some of the tasty goodies with you. And you may even impress by introducing them to a local producer that wasn't already on their radar. If you are a small business owner, Square has the tools you need to to take payments and maximise your sales, including an ebook with tips to help you get started this holiday season. MONTHLY CHEESE SUBSCRIPTION, MOULD ($75 PER MONTH) If you like to remind your mate regularly of just how lucky they are to have you as a friend (even though they are, of course), a subscription gift will do it for you — every month. And a cheese subscription? Well, you may be the best friend ever. Available from Mould, host of our favourite annual cheese festival, each monthly box features four gourmet cheeses from artisans across Australia, like a mature cheddar from Pyengana and camembert from Robe Dairy. Payment is processed on the first day of every month and the box is shipped the Monday following, so you'll know exactly when to show up at your mate's door with a bottle of vino for an 'impromptu' catch-up. [caption id="attachment_729021" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Parker Blain[/caption] VOUCHER, BAR MARGAUX ($50–200) If it's been too long between martinis at Bar Margaux, make sure your next catch-up is over steak frites at this basement bistro. Earlier this year, the Made in The Shade collective started offering online gift vouchers to give customers a way to support the French-style diner during lockdown. And when you're buying for someone who has exceptional taste, a voucher for their favourite bar and eatery is a failsafe option. Choose from values of $50, $100, $150, $200 — or a custom amount — then select from two gift card colours. There's even a handy tick box to send the gift directly to your mate's inbox. [caption id="attachment_701672" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gareth Sobey[/caption] THE FAMOUS FOUR SET, THE EVERLEIGH ($72) Another Made in The Shade gem, award-winning cocktail bar The Everleigh kept many of us well sauced through the long nights in lockdown. No doubt you're familiar with its bottled cocktail packs, including pocket-sized single and double serve classics, including negronis, manhattans, martinis and old fashioneds. We're here to remind you they make excellent gifts when you're buying for someone who has discerning taste. Go all-out on the Famous Four gift set for $72. Delivery is $9.99 when you spend over $50 and the drinks come wrapped and ready to present. MUSHROOM GROW YOUR OWN KIT, URBAN FARMING COLLECTIVE ($25–40) Know what really gets a food fanatic excited? Growing their own product, expanding their knowledge and ultimately having bragging rights at your next group feast. Plus, growing your own veggies is more achievable than you think, even if you've got limited space and time. Melbourne's Urban Farming Collective helps people grow their own food by offering advice and selling planter kits, like its White Button Mushroom Grow Your Own Kit. Add the hobby-sized kit to your cart and ship it to a friend. In 10–12 weeks, they'll be able to show off up to three kilograms of their own homegrown organic mushrooms. LITTLE MISS YOKO GIN, LITTLE LON DISTILLING ($80) What with bars being closed for a while and many booze brands jumping on the virtual masterclass trend during lockdown, your mate may have gotten pretty skilled in making their own cocktails this year. And one they should certainly add to their repertoire is a lychee martini using Little Lon's Little Miss Yoko Gin. The limited-batch, double-distilled gin gives off notes of vanilla, baking spices and, of course, lychee, making it an excellent year-round addition to their bar cart. According to the Melbourne-based distillery, it also suits a fruity sour cocktail or, if your mate wants to keep things simple, tell them to mix it with elderflower tonic water. WITH GRATITUDE GIFT PACK, LOVE TEA ($55) If there is something your epicurean mate loves more than anything, it's trying new things. So, with over 60 different blends on offer, Love Tea is sure to be right up their alley. Since 2006, Love Tea's founders Emma Watson and Damien Amos have collaborated with growers across the world to source top-quality organic ingredients, before crafting, blending and packing the teas in flavours like dandelion chai, hibiscus and coconut orange in Melbourne. A gift pack is the best introduction to the brand, so thank your mate for another year of friendship with the With Gratitude pack, which comes with white rose and goji, lemongrass and ginger, peppermint and organic chai. Shipping is $9 or free for orders over $65. POUR OVER COFFEE KIT, MARKET LANE COFFEE ($100) Maybe your mate is one of those still working from home for the foreseeable future. Or perhaps their caffeine game is pretty weak whenever you visit. Either way, they need their coffee situation sorted pronto. Market Lane's Pour Over Coffee Kit will have them ditching the freeze-dried nonsense in the pantry and transform an early morning cuppa into their favourite part of the day. This starter kit comes with a pour over cone, filter papers, digital pocket scales, a Pitchii jug and a guide to make the entire process easy peasy. Shipping is free for orders over $40. ESTATE TO PLATE VOUCHER, MONTALTO ($350) For $350, you could get an unforgettable gift for two epicureans in your life. Award-winning winery Montalto runs Estate to Plate experiences that include chef-run kitchen garden tours, wine tastings and a five-course lunch with matched wines at Montalto Restaurant. Which, considering the restaurant has earned 16 Good Food Guide hats since opening in 2002, makes this one very impressive gift. It's an exxy pressie, but the benefits are a memorable and long-lasting gift. You'll receive a PDF voucher instantly and vouchers are valid for up to three years from purchase. CHRISTMASSY FAVES GIFT, HEY TIGER ($45.50) We've consumed enough chocolate on Christmas Day to know two things to be true. One: it's a winning gift idea. And two: not all chocolate is created equal. And it's that second point that really sets Hey Tiger apart. The Aussie brand is dedicated to changing the cocoa industry by ethically sourcing its ingredients and donating a portion of every bar sold to The Hunger Project. But it's not simply making a social impact — it's doing it with some innovative flavours, including a whole range of game-changing vegan bars. The Christmassy Faves comes with a caramel and gingerbread white chocolate, a strawberry trifle milk chocolate, and three mini bars. To make your life easy, it comes in a gift box already and you can add a card for just a buck more at the checkout. Oh, and every order comes with a free mini bar, so you won't even need to drop hints to your mate to share their loot. Find out how Square is supporting small businesses with the tools they need to grow, here. f you are a small business owner, Square has guidance on how best to maximise sales in the run up to the Christmas holiday period in its ebook, found here.
As someone who spends a lot of time indoors (that's where the internet is), I can understand that leg itch, the twitch, that feeling of needing to go outside, and do something that really makes you feel alive. Some people jump out of planes, or wing suit down huge mountains. Those particular activities might be a bit much for some, but to celebrate the release of Berlin Syndrome, a film that really gets the blood pumping, we've come up with a list of activities to get you fired up without the risk of severe injury or death. GET OUT OF AN ESCAPE ROOM The premise of the escape room is simple enough. You're in a room, now escape it. The devil, as always, is in the detail. Escape room themes can be anything from an asylum to a gaol cell or a haunted house — anywhere that's going to get your brain imagining every possible outcome. And you're going to need your brain, if you ever want to get out of the room (jokes, of course you can leave whenever you want, if you're chicken). You and your team solve the clues, and break yourselves out.There are heaps of rooms around Melbourne, like Shutdown by Strike in the Melbourne Central, or Trapt on Lonsdale St. TACKLE A TEETERINGLY HIGH WALL While there are many who would argue that the point of climbing to the top of a cliff that you're just going to abseil down is a little counter productive, these arguments would tend to come from those who've never done it before. Rock climbing gets you going for a number of reasons — the fear of falling, the drive to push yourself to the top, and that feeling of the only other alternative, halfway up, is a leap of faith. Which we all know is a terrible idea. Melbourne Adventure Hub comes to the rescue again, with some great deals on climbs all within an hour from town. SEE A MODERN THRILLER IN A DARK CINEMA Based on a novel of the same name, the film follows Australian photojournalist Clare (played by Teresa Palmer) as she embarks on her first solo trip to Berlin. While travelling, she meets and begins a passionate romance with charismatic local man Andi. Their relationship soon takes an unexpected and sinister turn—she wakes one morning to discover that Andi has left for work and locked her inside his apartment, with no intention of ever letting her leave. Filmed on location in Berlin and Melbourne, the film is a thoughtful, psychological thriller written and directed by Australian Cate Shortland (who also directed the critically acclaimed Somersault). It examines tough topics such as emotional manipulation, gaslighting and Stockholm syndrome in a provocative fashion, leaving the audience with a new outlook on the relationship that can occur between captor and captive. Berlin Syndrome opens in Melbourne cinemas on April 20. GO WHITE WATER RAFTING WITHIN THE CITY There aren't many more things that'll get your heart rate up faster than careening down a choppy river at blistering speed in a boat that's made out of the same material as a raincoat. But don't worry, you get a helmet. While it might not be an activity for the faint of heart, white water rafting is a real thrill, kind of like canoeing but with an insane sugar rush. It's all about working in teams to overcome the problem which, in this case, is water that is trying to kill you (nah, you'll be safe, don't worry). Melbourne Adventure Hub puts private groups through their paces on the King River. GO CANYONING WITHIN A RELATIVELY QUICK DRIVE OF THE CBD There are many ways to the bottom of a canyon, but the fastest is by abseiling down with the assistance of some well placed ropes and a few sturdy carabiners. The real rush comes at the exact moment you step out, backwards over the precipice, and all over a sudden gravity has never been more apparent. Leaning back, you take that first step off the rock face and, boom, that's living. As usual, Red Balloon has some top experiences at Yarra Junction. Berlin Syndrome will be released in cinemas nationally on April 20 — watch the trailer here.
The Perserverance Hotel’s menu might not be a shining example of local innovation, but on the second Sunday of every month you can complement your pub grub with some of the craftiest wares this side of the city. Blackbird Market sees the Brunswick Street establishment get more fittingly Fitzroy with stalls peddling jewellery, bicycle accessories, PJs, zines and vintage clothing. Slide your pins into some reflective legwarmers from Melbourne’s most sartorially discerning cycle store CycleStyle, get an inky hit of culture from the latest copy of Spook Magazine and pick up the requisite nick nacks from grandmas florals, then dump them all into a plush leather satchel by Sarah van Oosterom. Since it’s still technically a bar there will be DJ tunes plus plenty of tasty liquids on tap to encourage financial nonchalance. But at least you’ll still feel good about your purchases later on in the afternoon.
Melburnian burger-lovers, it just became a whole lot easier to get your mouth around an Easey's creation on your lunch break, with the Collingwood cult burger venue launching two new food pop-ups this past month. Just weeks after announcing a kitchen take-over of South Yarra's Two Wrongs, it turns out Easey's has also landed itself some new CBD digs, setting up shop within The Bottom End as part of the bar's recent revamp. The crew's working their magic out of a casual pub-style space on the ground floor, serving up burger-fuelled good times from 11.30am, five days a week. Foodwise, expect a similar offering to what you've been scoffing down at the original Easey's; from gutsy burgers and hot dog creations, through to those glorious sides, and the occasional amped-up special. There'll also be a handful of venue specific additions, including the mi goreng fried chicken sandwich (yep, that's fried chicken, coated in noodles) being given permanent residency on the menu. Of course, if Collingwood's Easey's taught us anything, it's that a can of Melbourne Bitter is the perfect accompaniment to a messy ol' cheeseburger, and they've worked the drinks list here accordingly. Backing up the eats, you'll find a range of easy-drinking tap beers and tinnies, and a lineup of low-key cocktails, with weekday happy hour specials between 4-7pm. Get your Easey's burger fix at The Bottom End, 579 Little Collins Street, CBD, from 11.30am till late, Monday to Saturday.
It was first announced back in 2017 and originally slated to open its doors this March. Now, the three-year wait is over. Society, the much-anticipated venture from Chris Lucas (Chin Chin, Kisume), and Sepia's Martin Benn and Vicki Wild, will make its debut next Thursday, July 22. The long-awaited newcomer has made its home within the 80 Collins dining precinct, sporting a timeless aesthetic courtesy of renowned local architects Russell & George. The interior fuses elements of art deco, mid-century, art nouveau and brutalist sensibilities, with numerous works by Victorian artist David Noonan gracing the walls. Society Dining Room and Society Lounge will be the venue's first spaces to launch, with the second restaurant Lillian Terrace following suit in August. The food offering, by celebrated chef Benn, is a choose-your-own-adventure scenario with a multi-faceted menu of dishes that work as both shared and solo dining plates. The menu is considered, and the food boasts a level of precision inspired by ikebana, the ancient Japanese art of flower arranging. A strong team of head chefs helps to bring it all to life, including Rhys Connell (ex-Sepia), Luke Headon (ex-The Fat Duck) and Thomas Wooks (ex-Woodland House). At Society Dining Room, you're in for refined creations like albacore tuna matched with shiso and rhubarb, bonito with ume yuzu and roast chicken jellies, and a wagyu beef rib cap starring a Japanese pickle and wasabi butter. Meanwhile, the Lillian Terrace menu nods to the Euro influences of Benn's earlier career, running to plates like a spiced crown of chicken cooked over coals with charred lime and tomato, and a playful riff on the Napoleon mille feuille for dessert. [caption id="attachment_819105" align="alignnone" width="1920"] By Kristoffer Paulsen[/caption] To match, expect a sharp drinks offering, with the headline act an impressive wine curation assembled by Loic Avril (ex-Fat Duck and Dinner by Heston). Think, two pouring lists, cellar displays you can browse before you order and Dom Perignon available by the glass. Even more top-notch drinking can be found at Society Lounge, where a cocktail list by World Class Bartender of the Year Orlando Marzo stars with delights like the caviar-infused martini. Find Society at 80 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD, from July 22. Society Dining Room and Lounge will initially open from 5.30pm nightly, with expanded opening hours to follow come August. Reservations are now open for the Dining Room, while the Lounge will take walk-ins only. Lillian Terrace will launch from August 5. Images: Food by Adrian Lander, interiors by Tom Blachford
You're successful in your career, but your personal life suddenly takes an unwanted turn. Then, your childhood best friend-slash-crush and Keanu Reeves both turn up. That's the premise of Netflix new rom-com Always Be My Maybe, which follows celebrity chef Sasha (Ali Wong), who reluctantly reconnects with her dependable old buddy Marcus (Randall Park) after falling out with him 15 years earlier — only for a slick newcomer (Reeves) to threaten their reunion. If that sounds like your idea of a good night in, that's what the streaming platform is counting on. As well as serving up highly binge-able TV shows and plenty of viewing options with a strong female lead, Netflix loves flicks of the romantic and comedic persuasion, especially among its original content. Clearly audiences love a rom-com too, which is why the service keeps making them. Always Be My Maybe arrives with an impressive pedigree, with director Nahnatchka Khan known for Fresh Off the Boat and Don't Trust the B____ in Apt. 23, and stars Wong and Park co-writing (with Grimm's Michael Golamco) and co-producing as well. Cast-wise, the stacked lineup also includes Lost's Daniel Dae Kim, Broad City's Michelle Buteau, Miracle Workers' Karan Soni and Paper Heart's Charlyne Yi, plus Lyrics Born and Keanu, of course. Check out the trailer below and then watch the film on Netflix immediately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHBcWHY9lN4&feature=youtu.be You can now stream Always Be My Maybe on Netflix. Updated: June 28, 2019. Image: Ed Araquel / Netflix.
Huge new plans are coming to Queen Victoria Market's Southern Precinct, including a brand new Market Square which is set to include a 1.8-hectare park and green space. The current openair carpark will be converted into a public green space rich in biodiversity, making it one of the largest open spaces in the CBD. The City of Melbourne will partner with Lendlease to undertake this $1.7 billion development, which also includes new apartments, affordable housing, student accommodation and new office spaces. [caption id="attachment_911282" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Render, supplied[/caption] Dubbed Gurrowa Place, meaning place of exchange, the project will be developed by Lendlease in consultation with Traditional Owners. "The creation of Gurrowa Place begins the next chapter in the evolution of Queen Victoria Market. It will celebrate the rich history of the place, while introducing new spaces for the community and a vibrant precinct that welcomes locals and visitors," Lendlease Managing Director Development Tom Mackellar says. The City of Melbourne is aiming high with this one, including targeting 5-Star and 6-Star Green sustainability ratings. [caption id="attachment_894413" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: QVM, Hawker 88[/caption] "Our landmark divestment of the Southern Precinct will transform our city's north with a vibrant new precinct bursting with uniquely Melbourne experiences — creating an enduring legacy for the Queen Victoria Market for generations to come," Lord Mayor Sally Capp says. The news comes as ongoing works on the $450 million Munro Development continues. The Munro Development will play host to a community hub featuring family services, shared work spaces and affordable housing units in addition to a new, rooftop library. Works on the Southern Precinct are expected to commence in early 2024 and will be delivered in stages over five years. Meanwhile, the community will have the chance to have their say on the use and design of Market Square and the Queen's Corner Building in the coming months, so watch this space. Top image: Renders, supplied.
America has discovered what we have known for years — Wally de Backer is pretty much a living legend. The artist more commonly known as Gotye topped the US Billboard Hot 100 charts today with his hit 'Somebody That I Used to Know', featuring New Zealand singer/songwriter Kimbra, which first started receiving crazy amounts of Southern Hemisphere radio play back in 2011. Belgians have already claimed Wally as their own since he spent all of two years living there, but Melbourne is where he spent formative years busting his musical chops. So in honour of this fact — and because it's an excellent excuse to resurrect Savage Garden and watch Olivia Newton-John do sexy aerobics — here are all of the Aussie anthems to have commanded the top spot on the Billboard charts. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hiaKiqIsi2s RICK SPRINGFIELD - JESSIE'S GIRL (1981) https://youtube.com/watch?v=vWz9VN40nCA OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN - PHYSICAL (1981) MEN AT WORK - DOWN UNDER (1983) https://youtube.com/watch?v=w-rv2BQa2OU INXS - NEED YOU TONIGHT (1987) https://youtube.com/watch?v=-ZDMRJXY0nk SAVAGE GARDEN - I KNEW I LOVED YOU (2000) GOTYE - SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW (2012)
In a week that already gave our nostalgic hearts hope for a reunion of The Nanny, here comes an even better piece of news: Daria, your favourite late 90s realist gal, will be finding her way back to our screens thanks to MTV. Big mood. The news comes as part of MTV's announcement that it's launching a new production unit, MTV Studios, which'll be working on a number of reboots. As well as Daria, other past TV hits getting the revival treatment include Aeon Flux and The Real World. The new outfit will also work on several new reality shows, but it's probably safe to say cult fave Daria is the one to get fans most excited. Feminist icon Daria Morgendorffer blessed our screens with smarts, satire, sardonicism and being a general slacker from 1997 to 2002, with the show revolving around her acerbic cynicism and its disconnect with the teenage girl world she lived in. And, even though it's been nearly two decades since the show went off the air — running for 65 episodes, plus the pilot, two specials, and made-for-television films Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet? — she is very far from forgotten if yearly Halloween costumes are anything to go by. Melburnians certainly haven't been letting the character slip from their memories, with not one but two parties dedicated to the series taking place in 2017. The new reboot will be called Daria & Jodie, and it'll follow your gal and her friend Jodie — another character from the original series, and one of Daria's classmates at Lawndale High School — as they "take on the world with their signature satirical voice while deconstructing popular culture, social classes, gender and race", according to MTV. Written by Grace Edwards (Inside Amy Schumer, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), you can probably rest assured that this is one reboot that won't ruin the original (we're looking at you, Charmed — although, to be fair, that new witchy series won't air until later this year). Stay tuned for premiere date information, and start kicking about in those old black Doc Martens again to celebrate. Via Variety.
When Robert Pattinson put on pop culture's most famous cape and cowl, it wasn't a once-off, with a sequel to 2022's The Batman on the way. In the same film, when the latest version of Oswald Cobblepot made an appearance, that wasn't the only time that audiences would see the Gotham crime figure otherwise known as The Penguin, either. Come spring 2024 Down Under, the villainous character will feature in a HBO series that dives into his tale — called, yes, The Penguin. The show has been in the works for some time, and been teased in the US network's promotions for its 2024 slate. Now, it has its own initial trailer. If the Batman nemesis met The Sopranos or The Godfather, this series might be the end result, at least based on this early glimpse. Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) reprises the show's titular role. In the new footage, his take on Oz waxes lyrical about the command, fear and respect once demanded by another gangster — and how he'd like to have the same status. "Can you imagine to be remembered like that?" he notes of Rex Calabrese, who mightn't be a household name beyond dedicated comic-book fans, but boasts significant ties on the page to a very well-known Batman character. The Penguin is set to span eight episodes, and is obviously designed to extend the Dark Knight's big-screen crime saga. The show doesn't have an exact release date, other than fall this year in the US — which, again, is spring in Australia and New Zealand. Alongside Farrell, The Penguin stars Cristin Milioti (The Resort), Rhenzy Feliz (Encanto), Michael Kelly (Pantheon), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Damsel), Deirdre O'Connell (The Big Door Prize), Clancy Brown (Gen V) and Michael Zegen (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel). Off-screen, The Batman director Matt Reeves is back as an executive producer, while Craig Zobel (Mare of Easttown) directs the show's first three episodes. 2024 is a big year for Farrell fans keen to see him in streaming series. Before his time following in Danny DeVito's footsteps again, Farrell leads Apple TV+ detective drama Sugar, which premieres in April. Check out the teaser trailer for The Penguin below: The Penguin is set to stream in spring Down Under, including via Binge in Australia — we'll update you when an exact release date is announced. Images: Macall Polay/Max.
Disney's latest live-action remake will have you believing that elephants can fly — and, if the just-dropped trailer is anything to go by, it'll have you turning on the waterworks as well. The words "from the imagination of Tim Burton" mightn't elicit as much excitement as they once used to; however Dumbo could just be the film to change that. Based on the 1941 animated effort — which was only Disney's fourth-ever feature — the movie once again tells the tale of a pachyderm who is ridiculed for his oversized ears, but can also use them as makeshift wings. Expanding upon the original story, which was itself based on a tale written for a toy book, Dumbo follows circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito), as well as his former star Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) and his children Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins). The Farrier family care for the young elephant — but, after entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) takes an interest, they discover the darker side of life in the arena. Eva Green also features as a French trapeze artist and Alan Arkin as a tycoon, although the real star looks to be the movie's CGI. With Disney enthusiastically adapting their animated hits to live-action versions, Dumbo follows in the footsteps of Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book, with The Lion King and Aladdin also on the way. Prepare to get teary over the gorgeous trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NiYVoqBt-8 Dumbo releases in Australian cinemas on March 28, 2019.
Heads up, Mother's Day is just around the corner. (It's happening on Sunday, May 10, in case you temporarily forgot.) You can frantically message your siblings later, there's pressie planning afoot, and we've found quite the showstopper for your dear ol' mumsie this year thanks to Gelato Messina. Never one to miss an opportunity to experiment with new ways to inhale sweets, Messina has been cooking up quite the delicate novelty dessert for Mum: a Italian-inspired box of chocolates. These brownie point-winners launched in 2015 — and have been selling out every year since — are sure to bring it home again this year, just a little differently to usual. While these chocolate bon bons have been filled with gelato for the past four Mother's Days, this year, they're all chocolate (single origin Ecuadorian chocolate, no less) — so they can be shipped to mums across Australia. And, this time round, they come with a stunning bouquet of flowers from Floraly, too. Each box comes with nine handmade chocolate bon bons in five flavours — gianduja, milk choc chew, coffee and dulce, pistachio praline and honey caramel — and a bunch of farm-fresh flowers in an illustrated gift box and a personalised card. The bouquet does require a little bit of constructing, but the flowers come with an easy step-by-step guide as well as care instructions. The Mother's Day boxes are going for $79 a pop and can be shipped across Australia, with the gifts set to arrive between Thursday, May 7 and Saturday, May 9. Gelato Messina's Mother's Day Bon Bons and Bouquets are available to order online now for delivery across Australia.
A massive Gandhi exhibition is on its way to Melbourne's Immigration Museum. Curated from more than 1000 photos, over two hours of footage, an hour's worth of film clips and 20 audio recordings, the show focuses on Gandhi's role in leading India to independence, as well as his travels in England and South Africa. At the same time, it's a celebration of Indian diaspora all over the world. One of the reasons the exhibition is heading for Victoria is that the state is home to more people of Indian descent than any other place in Australia. "Mahatma Gandhi was an inspirational leader and I'm thrilled that Victorians will be able to enjoy this incredible exhibition," said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who's in India this week checking out the show. It's been at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in Delhi since October 2016. "Victoria is home to Australia's largest Indian population and this exhibition is an important way to acknowledge their cultural heritage and build the cultural understanding of India among the wider Victorian community." You'll have until July to head along. The show is just one of many upcoming events celebrating Victoria's Indian connections, following the release of Victoria's India Strategy: Our Shared Future. The Mahatma Gandhi Exhibition will be at Melbourne's Immigration Museum from April to July, 2018.
Smith Street rejoice! The universe has heard your cry for more meat, cheese, wine and all things deli and has answered with an ambitious new butcher shop and eatery named Meatsmith (and politely asks if you would stop sending letters about the matter). Meatsmith is a collaborative effort between chef and restaurateur Andrew McConnell (of Cumulus Inc., Supernormal amongst many) and butcher Troy Wheeler, once of Peter Bouchier. Meatsmith features an in-house deli with a fine dining twist. Alongside the standard deli fare, you'll find pre-prepared, take-home versions of fancy Cumulus dishes, like the whole slow-roasted lamb shoulder and other mouthwatering cuts (hello, braised beef cheeks) that ensure you'll never eat McDonalds on the run again. The eatery also serves up a divine selection of charcuterie, pâtés, house-made preserves and mustards, homemade terrines and lots of French and European style cold-cuts and smallgoods. Wheeler says the point of difference for the Meatsmith butchers is the expertise of the staff, who all have extensive practical knowledge (and more than a little charm) from working in hospitality, as opposed to the classic brusque butcher stereotype. "If you walk in not knowing what you want for dinner or if you want to impress at a dinner party, our staff can help," he says. "We would like to think we're accessible to people who know good food and want good food, as well as people who want some confidence in the staff and want clear information. The design of the shop reflects this idea; we don't have the big high butchers counters and the barrier between us and the customer, so we're accessible."
Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire's highly-acclaimed storytelling event is coming back to where it all began. This Sunday, October 26 letter-lovers young and old will be packing into Northcote's Regal Ballroom for some cozy Sunday afternoon feels. Though things won't quite be as you remember them — this offshoot event of the better known Women of Letters, will mark the fourth time men have been invited to the stage. Once again they'll be penning their letters to the "woman who changed [their] life". Iconic Indigenous actor Uncle Jack Charles will be kicking things off with what will no doubt be a great performance, news presenter Peter Hitchener will be taking a break from his journalistic diction and crime writer Shane Maloney will be keeping everyone intrigued. Other actors on stage will include Alex Papps and Offspring's Patrick Brammall, joined by writer and comedian Paul Verhoeven. Representing their fields alone will be filmmaker Richard Lowenstein, musician Darren Hanlon and chef Shane Delia, but the real highlight of the afternoon will be actor Samuel Johnson. Earlier this year Samuel rode 15,955 kilometres across the country on a unicycle to raise over $1.4 million in support of his sister who was diagnosed with breast cancer. No guesses at who he'll be writing about.
