Maybe you loved Knives Out, rightfully so. Perhaps you adore Agatha Christie's books, and couldn't watch the latest big-screen versions of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile fast enough. Or you might've become a true-crime podcasting obsessive thanks to Serial and found yourself instantly hooked. Whichever category fits — and perhaps several of them do — it's likely that you're a murder-mystery fan. We all are. And, it's just as likely that you adore Only Murders in the Building, the true-crime and true-crime podcasting comedy that proved one of 2021's surprises and delights. We're never too far away from a new murder-mystery in some shape or form, of course, and the second season of Only Murders in the Building knows it — because it's tasking its NYC neighbours-turned-sleuths (and true-crime podcasters) with investigating a second killing. This time, though, the trio of residents in the fictional Arconia in New York are suspects, and they're also the subjects of a competing podcast. That's what the just-dropped new trailer for the show's second season teases, following on from an initial sneak peek a couple of months back. If you missed the first season in 2021, Only Murders in the Building takes a great idea and turns it into a breezy murder-mystery gem. If you've ever listened to a true-crime podcast, decided that you'd make a great Serial host yourself and started wondering how you'd ever follow in Sarah Koenig's footsteps, then this is definitely the series for you. The show focuses three New Yorkers who basically follow that same process. Here, actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die) are all addicted to a podcast hosted by the fictional Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, Girls5eva). They find themselves unexpectedly bonding over it, in fact. And, when someone turns up dead in their building, they decide that they can sleuth their way through the case by getting talking themselves. That's how the first season panned out. Now, Charles-Haden, Oliver and Mabel are weathering the fallout from the last batch of episodes. Complicating their efforts in season two are a trio of factors: their public implication in the death in question; that new podcast about them and this murder; and the suspicions of their neighbours, who think they're guilty. Exactly how that'll play out won't be unveiled until Tuesday, June 28, when Only Murders in the Building returns — but you don't need to be an amateur detective to know that it's bound to be both amusing and twisty. Whatever happens, both Cara Delevingne and Amy Schumer are involved, with the pair joining the cast as guest stars. Check out the latest trailer for Only Murders in the Building season two below: Only Murders in the Building's second season will start streaming Down Under via Star on Disney+ on Tuesday, June 28. Read our full review of the show's first season.
Australian fashionistas no longer have to pay a fortune in shipping (or travelling) if they want to get their hands on COS — representatives of the Swedish fashion retailer have confirmed they'll be opening their first store in Australia. The chosen spot? That would be Melbourne, again, with the The Strand on Elizabeth Street the locale du jour. COS is the slightly higher-end arm of the more well-known retailer H&M, but with a simpler, more stripped-back aesthetic. As yet, they haven't announced an opening date for the COS store, but H&M is set to open their flagship Australian store later this year in Melbourne's GPO building, taking over three floors. H&M and COS are joining the Australian high street market at an extremely competitive time. In the past couple of years, a lot of big-name retailers have started to realise that not only do Australians want to buy their clothes but we also came out of the GFC looking pretty good. Sydney currently boasts the recently opened Topshop and Zara, and overseas brands H&M, Uniqlo (Japan), Marks & Spencer (UK) and Forever 21 (US) are all on their merry way over. Via Vogue.
Queen Vic Market manages to fill just about every Wednesday night of the year with a huge food, music and shopping party, be it the Summer Night Market, the Winter Night Market or the Hawker 88 Night Market. But the latter isn't a rinse-and-repeat kind of situation like the others. Each night is unique, embracing a different Asian-inspired theme. During 2024's autumn iteration, running from Wednesday, April 10–Wednesday, May 8, you'll find yourself immersed in a heap of other cultures and cuisines as you feast your way through a lineup of street food stalls, with live entertainment, local artisans and eating competitions rounding out the festivities. The first Wednesday spreads its love across Asia in general, so every region gets a go. There'll be a stack of cultural performances such as colourful lion dances, plus a dumpling-eating competition. If you have a mate who goes ham at bottomless yum cha, consider signing them up for this one. This will be followed by a Southeast Asia night where the divisively fragrant durian is in the spotlight. For those who love the fruit, there'll even be a durian-eating competition. Malay dancers and martial arts demos will also be on the cards. The following week, K-pop dancers will take over the QVM sheds and laneways, alongside a Japanese band and some taiko drumming. Those heading over for Island Night get the chance to participate in yet another eating contest, this time tasked with downing as many skewers as possible. Plus, there'll also be a beer pong championship, with them facing off the next week for the title. The five-week night market culminates in the Full Moon Festival on Wednesday, May 8, as DJs spin tracks and a live Filipino band gets people dancing. It's going to be one massive party to end this year's Hawker 88 Night Market.
Husband and wife team John and Kerry Sartori have been supplying Melbourne's vintage lovers with all their 70s, 80s and 90s retro needs since 1995. Luckily, unlike other secondhand stores, the racks at American Vintage are always easy to explore, so finding that limited edition dark denim wrangler jacket, or scoring a pair of USA Levi's signed by Australian actor Eric Banner, isn't out of the question. In case you couldn't tell from the name, it's all very Americana – which means checkered flannels and Harley Davidson tops galore. But hey, that's the point. Images: Parker Blain.
Fast food doesn't seem all that speedy when you're sat in your car, queued nine vehicles deep and trying to get through a drive-through that's at a standstill. For folks who want their finger lickin' good fried chicken as soon as possible, with minimal waiting and hassle, KFC is set to trial a new solution — its first drive-through-only store. Moving away from the usual one-lane drive-through model — that is, a drive-through that's attached to a restaurant where you can also dine inside — the chain is launching a five-lane drive-through-only concept in Newcastle. The first spot of its kind in the world, it'll feature separate areas for online and app purchases, as well as regular drive-through transactions. Customers will be able to order in advance, then whiz through and pick up their food, or choose on the spot and and then collect their chicken. If it's successful, expect more drive-through-only sites to pop up. As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, the pilot store is currently under construction on Lambton Road in Broadmeadow, with a November opening slated. The idea reflects the growth on online ordering, and endeavours to respond to the rise of home delivery services such as Deliveroo and UberEats. It also admits to a blatant fact — that, for many folks, eating in at a suburban KFC doesn't often cross their minds. For Broadmeadow customers who choose to order by app, they'll receive a code with their transaction, which they'll then enter on a touchscreen when they drive up. Whichever way Newcastle residents decide to ask for their fried chook, they'll still need to wait for it to be cooked — but the whole concept is designed to speed up the time between asking for a two-piece feed and snatching those drumsticks through the drive-through window. Of course, if you need something to listen to in your car while you wait, KFC has that covered as well. Last year, it launched KFChill, a wellness website that lets you unwind to the sound of chicken frying, gravy simmering or bacon sizzling away in a pan. Yes, it'll make you hungry. Via The Sydney Morning Herald / news.com.au
Side-by-side in the backstreets of Abbotsford, neighbourhood bar Molli and its sister venue, all-day deli Little Molli, have undergone a revolution. Guided by The Mulberry Group, Molli has been reborn as a relaxed day-to-night eatery, while next door, Little Molli will transform into a pantry and workshop space. Leading this transformation is head chef Caitlin Koether (Bar Tartine in San Francisco, Relæ in Copenhagen) and an all-female leadership team — Kayla Saito (Capitano, Aru, and Sunda) and Bonnie Maguire (Falco). Now open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Molli now boasts a seasonally evolving menu that takes a less structured approach than its predecessor, with diners now encouraged to pick and choose from various sections based on their mood and appetite. Right now, the all-day breakfast menu includes options like house-made yoghurt with sour cherry granola and cashew butter, wood-fired baked beans with coddled egg and a maple and sage sausage muffin with egg. The lunch menu, served from 11am, brings a range of smørrebrød and tartines to the table, alongside chopped salads, bread and pickles plates and lunch sets inspired by Koether's love of Korean banchan. The dinner menu is also a choose your own adventure, ranging from lighter options like creative house-made dips (we're eyeing off the tomato and charred bread dip with smoked mussels) — to hearty salads and larger mains like grilled trout with green fisherman's stew and confit radish. Throughout the menu, you'll find produce from The Mulberry Group's Common Ground Project — a regenerative farm and social enterprise based in the Surf Coast town of Freshwater Creek — as well as a range of elements made in house. "Our food is ever-changing, a bit unexpected and genuinely informed by seasonality, drawing on the techniques I was exposed to working with the incredible teams at Bar Tartine and Relæ," says Koether. "When we're limited by the season's harvest or have an opportunity to extend flavour at its peak, it's those fermentation and preservation techniques we draw on...I want people to feel nourished and be able to come in and have an entire meal without breaking the bank." Complementing this large-scale reimagining is a change in decor. The new Molli will take the same thoughtfully laidback approach as its menu, with high-top tables, cosy banquettes and spots for communal seating, plus a street-side al fresco area all coming together to create a venue that feels more genial than grandiose. The adjoining Little Molli — which will open later this month — will become a pantry and workshop space dedicated to preserved and fermented goods. Using locally sourced ingredients as much as possible, Koether and her team will be using this space to create condiments, cheese, breads, pickles, as well as fortified non-alc beverages and vermouths. The all-new Molli is now open weekdays from 7am (with the kitchen open at 7.30am), and weekends from 8am, with dinner service from 5pm Tuesday–Saturday, at 20 Mollison Street, Abbotsford. Head to the venue's website for more information.
An irreplaceable part of Melbourne's food scene for quite a while now, it seems our loveable taco-wielding, dessert-driven rolling truckies won't be disappearing anytime soon. Practically invented for summer, there are a whole slew of food truck gatherings happening around the city this season, from St Kilda's Hank Marvin Markets to Welcome to Thornbury to the new post-apocalyptic themed Richmond Yard. So grab some of Melbourne's best street food and chow down practically anywhere under the sun — it all depends on where they decide to anchor for mealtimes. So without further hungry ado, here are Melbourne's best food trucks and where to find them. THE LITTLE MUSHROOM CO. If you thought good street food only came in a greasy, deep-fried, meaty form, The Little Mushroom Co. is keen to change your perception. Despite its strictly vegetarian-only menu, the majority of Melburnians have had little trouble welcoming this particular four-wheeled friend. Serving up some of this city's best vego grub, the truck is known for its dynamic, punchy spices and succulent mushroom burgers — as you might have guessed. What to order: The Ultra Mexican Mushroom Burger. Their bestseller, a combo of portobello and Swiss brown mushrooms with spicy chipotle, balsamic and rocket on a pillow-soft, crunchy ciabatta bun. Where to find it: At the Queen Victoria Night Market every Wednesday (until March 2016); at the Hank Marvin Market every Saturday; on rotation at Welcome to Thornbury. thelittlemushroomco.com SUPER TACO Dispelling the myth that all Mexican street food is a potential hazard to your stomach, Super Taco's tacos not only get the tick of approval, their humble food truck creations are some of the best in Melbourne. One of the newer trucks on the scene, the taco truck comes from the guys behind Mr Burger and Fancy Hanks. Catering to they city's curiosity for strange food, Super Taco is known for utilising special (super, even) unconventional ingredients like cactus. Look for the playfully obnoxious blue and yellow truck – we don't think you'll have any trouble locating it. What to order: Four-mushroom taco with Meredith goats' feta and pickled red onion. Where to find it: The Super Taco truck is a regular at Welcome to Thornbury and Federation Square, and keeps their Twitter updated with their location. facebook.com/gosupertaco HAMMER & TONG One of Fitzroy's favourite cafes, Hammer & Tong, reached the pinnacle of good ideas when they decided to hit the streets of Melbourne. The truck is part time roamer of the Melbourne city streets, and part time resident at their Brunswick location, aptly named BCKYRD. While the guys are best known for their soft shell crab burger, the BCKYRD menu differs slightly, including smoked meats and gumbo. What to order: Soft shell crab burger with sesame slaw, Sirarcha mayo and coriander. Where to find it: At BCKYRD every Saturday and Sunday; at various other locations during the week — watch their Facebook and Twitter to follow their whereabouts. facebook.com/hammertongtruck MR BURGER From one lonely little food truck to four permanent stores and seven rolling truckies, you could say that Mr Burger has grown on Melbourne, just a bit. If there's one thing this city loves more than a good food truck, it's a food truck that sells darn good burgers. These gloriously tender meat patties are sandwiched between buns of salad-y, cheesy goodness and topped with Mr Burger's impeccable signature sauce. You might as well give up on the idea of a healthy lunch and order some crispy chips and a decadent milkshake too. What to order: An all-out Mr Double with double of the good stuff: double beef, double cheese, double bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and signature special trucker sauce. Where to find it: Mr Burger have four permanent locations in Little Bourke Street, Fitzroy, Windsor and the Queen Vic Market. Plus, they have six food trucks roaming Melbourne, including one at Federation Square Wednesday to Sunday, and one on rotation at Welcome to Thornbury. For the other trucks' whereabouts, check their website. mrburger.com BLENDCO The perfect summer refreshment coming to a (hopefully) convenient corner near you. The now-international juice brand still sells some of Melbourne's tastiest and healthiest super juice blends out of their truck in Cremorne. With a standard location on Newton Street, the van also frequently visits festivals and other Melbourne events. Look for the adorably minimalistic, whitewashed, fruity-smelling truck. What to order: The Red Blend: raspberries, blueberries, coconut water, banana and SKIN superfood blend. Where to find it: 3 Newton Street, Cremone, Monday to Friday; at various festivals and events on the weekend. blendco.com.au TOASTA Shining the spotlight on the humble toastie, don't be fooled into underestimating the powers of the everyday sandwich. In the hands of TOASTA, one of Melbourne's finest food truck institutions, these toasties are some of the best things since sliced bread. Crunchy, stringy, piping hot and balanced with a king-hit of fresh herbs or veg, be warned — these cheese-filled contraptions are dangerously addictive. What to order: The Sammi: four cheeses, blanched spring greens and dill. Where to find it: TOASTA usually frequents the Hank Marvin Markets on Saturdays and the Welcome to Thornbury food truck park. You can track them down through Facebook and Twitter. toastafoodtruck.com.au LIL NOM NOMS Just when you thought Melbourne's Vietnamese food scene couldn't get better, Lil Nom Noms rolls out. A Melbourne favourite, the truck offers tasty traditional steamed bao, rice paper rolls, banh mi sliders and herby rice noodle salads. It's fresh, light street eating that every foodie can get on board with. What to order: Two steamed bao: one braised pork, coriander and cucumber, and one lemongrass chicken with slaw and hot sauce. Where to find it: It doesn't have one fixed place, but you can track its movement on Twitter. lilnomnoms.com.au BIBIMBAP Everyone loves a good bibimbap. There's literally nothing not to like about the mixed Korean veggie bowls topped with your favourite tender meat. And, considering Melbourne's Bibimbap food truck was crowdfunded online, it's safe to say our city has more than a good appetite for the Korean dish. What to order: Tofu bibimbap with sesame sauce. Where to find it: The Bibimbap food truck is on rotation at Welcome to Thornbury and Chadstone Shopping Centre — you can find them via their Facebook page. bibimbap.com.au BILLY VAN CREAMERY Don't settle for artificial flavours this summer. Billy Van Creamy's handmade, natural gelato skips the colours, preservatives, emulsifiers and stabilisers all together, producing some of Melbourne's best tasting gelato. Out of a truck. Who would've thunk it? We're not sure what the magic recipe is behind this gelato, it could have something to do with the organic milk, fresh nuts or seasonal fruit, but we're happy to indulge whenever they're around anyway. What to order: Watermelon gelato. Full stop. Where to find it: Billy Van Creamery regularly appear at the Hank Marvin Markets and Welcome to Thornbury, and are sometimes stationed at Rucker's Hill, Northcote. For their whereabouts, check their Instagram. billyvancreamy.com.au GRUB FOOD VAN Unlike other moveable food trucks, Grub Food Van is a permanent fixture on Moor Street. More like a cafe that happens to be in a van, dilapidated picnic chairs and tables sit outside the food truck in summer, and there's an indoor greenhouse for when the weather turns sour. The space around the back of the van houses picnic-style chairs, ping-pong tables, greenery and mismatched rugs. Not too shabby for some (supposedly) grubby food. What to order: Charcuterie board with jamon serrano, ossocollo, calabrese, duck rillettes, pickles and grilled sourdough. Where to find it: Permanently moored at 87-89 Moor Street, Fitzroy. grubfoodvan.com.au
This winter, Melbourne's surfside diner is embracing a new passion — premium Gippsland lamb. Overlooking the breaks of Urbnsurf, Three Blue Ducks is adding a slew of meaty menu additions, as it invites you to raise a fork for Lamb Month. From Friday, July 22–Monday, August, 22, the restaurant is firing up the barbecue and the spit to showcase a stack of new lamb-based creations at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Head in to feast on plates like the pulled lamb and mashed potato cakes with poached eggs and harissa yoghurt; spiced lamb ribs teamed with burnt eggplant and tabouli; and barbecued lamb starring celeriac, hazelnuts, radicchio and lashings of Bodriggy stout gravy. What's more, to wash the new specials down, Three Blue Ducks has teamed up with mates at Abbotsford brewery Bodriggy, offering their oatmeal stout as the perfect wintry lamb pairing. Three Blue Ducks is open for breakfast Friday to Sunday, and for lunch and dinner Wednesday to Sunday.
When Easter rolls around each year, one thing is always on everyone's minds: eating as much chocolate as humanly possible. Chocolate eggs, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cocktails, chocolate-filled hot cross buns — the list goes on. Thanks to SBS, Easter 2020 won't just involve eating chocolate, however. Courtesy of The Chocolate Factory: Inside Cadbury Australia, Australian audiences can also spend three hours watching chocolate Easter treats get made. It's the latest instalment in the network's 'slow TV' series — which has previously let viewers spend 17 hours watching a train journey on not one but two occasions, and tracked a lengthy cruise from Broome to Darwin, and a trip from New Zealand's north island to its south island as well. Of course, vicariously indulging your wanderlust is one thing. Teasing your sweet tooth is another entirely. Spanning three hours — and set to a new original score by Amanda Brown and Caitlin Yeo — The Chocolate Factory: Inside Cadbury Australia charts the chocolate-making process from beginning to end, starting with seeing sugarcane being harvested from north Queensland fields and milk being collected from a Tasmanian dairy farm. Naturally, the observational documentary devotes the bulk of its time to the factory itself, focusing on the creation of its best-selling easter eggs and chocolate bunnies by combining the aforementioned two ingredients with cocoa imported from Ghana. Expect melting, rolling, drying, shaping and wrapping. Expect to be mesmerised by the routine and rhythm, too. Airing twice over the Easter weekend of Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12 — and then available for a year on SBS On Demand — it's basically Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, just without the Oompa-Loompas, songs or everlasting gobstoppers. That said watching chocolate come to fruition will likely have your stomach singing out with hunger, so don't forget to stock up on appropriate snacks (yes, chocolate) to accompany your viewing. Check out the trailer for The Chocolate Factory: Inside Cadbury Australia below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFSE3TW7EPc&feature=youtu.be The Chocolate Factory: Inside Cadbury Australia screens is now available to watch on SBS On Demand.
Like to walk on the wild side when it comes to food and flavour combinations? Well, so do the burger fiends at The Beast CBD. And so do the innovative minds at Thornbury ice creamery Kenny Lover. And luckily for your adventurous tastebuds, the two have come together to whip up a special summer collaboration menu that's both nostalgic and a whole lotta fun. Available from the CBD venue until the end of February, the new Summer of Love menu promises to add a dash of retro goodness to your season. First up, you've got a reworking of the classic banana split ($13), reimagined with Kenny Lover's raspberry and lemon myrtle ice cream and Comet's all-natural Raspberry & Lemon Myrtle Syrup, plus loads of whipped cream and crushed cookies. Further transporting you back to childhood, there are two ice cream spiders ($12) — pina colada, and raspberry and chocolate. But be sure to save room for the sweet-meets-savoury pièce de resistance. Beast CBD's famed maple butter-glazed fried chicken is teamed with Kenny Lover's smoky Sriracha-flavoured ice cream, served atop a buttermilk waffle, and finished with crispy bacon and a drizzle of hot sauce ($19). Images: Allegra Paolo
Fans of The Handmaid's Tale have had to wait longer than expected for its fourth season, with the dystopian series' next batch of episodes among the many things that were postponed due to the pandemic. But, this coming week, that delay will come to an end — and yes, the word you're looking for is 'finally'. The new season will kick off Down Under on Thursday, April 29, airing weekly on SBS and streaming episodes via SBS On Demand in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Based on the three trailers so far — a first teaser last year, a second glimpse early in 2021 and a third back in March — you can expect your anxiety levels to ramp up several notches while you're watching. Of course, viewing The Handmaid's Tale has never been a stress-free experience. Given its storyline, that was always going to be absolutely impossible. As seen in the sneak peeks so far, season four will see June (Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man) still battling against Gilead after season three's cliffhanger ending. In fact, after everything that the oppressive regime has done to her and her loved ones — and the ways in which it has changed life for women in general — she's firmly out for justice and revenge. That'll involve taking new risks, but that's what a rebel leader has to do, even if it threatens the relationships that she holds dear. So, that's what you'll be seeing play out on-screen when the new season hits. Fans will be watching where the show's narrative heads for some time to come, too, with a fifth season of The Handmaid's Tale green-lit before the fourth even airs. Toppling a totalitarian society that's taken over the former United States, tearing down its oppression of women under the guise of 'traditional values', and fighting for freedom and equality doesn't happen quickly, after all. Neither does exploring the tale initially started in Margaret Atwood's 1985 book via an award-winning TV series. Check out the latest season four trailer below: The fourth season of The Handmaid's Tale will hit start airing in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, April 29 — on SBS TV, and to stream via SBS On Demand and Neon, with new episodes arriving weekly.
Australia no longer has to wait out the storm; it’s time to dance in the Purple Rain. After months of rumours, Prince’s Australian tour dates have finally been confirmed. This is the first time in eight years that Prince has toured Australia, and he’s bound to return in all of his sparkly, guitar-soloing glory. So far, only three performances have been confirmed; shows will be held in Sydney on May 11, Melbourne on May 14, and Brisbane on May 18. There may be more in the works, however. The last time Prince visited Australia, he performed a series of ‘secret’ shows and held after-parties at local clubs, so stay tuned. Tickets start at $99 and are available from 9am on Monday, April 16 through Ticketek, but you can get more expensive VIP tickets via pre-sale here.
Subscriptions services have taken off over the last few years and for good reason. Whether it's for craft beers and natty wines, house plants or colourful socks, it's like giving yourself a little gift every month. If you're a caffeine enthusiast and you enjoy brewing your own cuppas at home or you're looking to cut down on your trip to the cafe, Thieves Coffee is the subscription service for you — and it's just introduced a new coffee pod option to its range so all home brewers can get involved. Thieves Coffee drops you off a different bag of coffee beans or set of pods from a new roaster each month. You can expect choice selections from small independent coffee companies like Stella or Criteria Coffee, through to larger beloved brands like Rumble and Industry Beans. If you're the kind of coffee drinker who enjoys branching out and trying different makers and flavours in your morning cup o' joe, your subscription will provide you with a regular rotation of top-quality varieties that the Thieves team has hand selected. Originally focusing on beans, Thieves has now added the option to have selections of pods for your pod-based coffee machine dropped to you each month. Plenty of popular and boundary-pushing brewers have expanded to offering compatible coffee pods recently, including local favourites like Stitch and ST. ALi, as well as the sustainability-minded Tripod. With your daily flat white or oat cap hitting upwards of $5 at cafes right now, Thieves is also a penny-pinching alternative. If you go the bean route, you have the option to order between 250 grams of beans each month, all the way up to three kilograms. If you want just one bag delivered each month, that will set you back $25 including shipping Australia-wide, or you can up your delivery to two bags (500g) for $40 or four bags (1kg) for $60. This means each cup of coffee will cost you as little as $1. These beans can be ordered either for espresso machines or for simpler filter or Aeropress coffee — plus you can choose between whole beans or pre-ground coffee depending on if you have your own grinder. As for the pods, subscriptions start from $15 for 10 pods and go up to $255 for 300 pods which can be ordered on a monthly basis or once every two or three months. Head to the Thieves Coffee website to check out all the options and treat yourself to a monthly coffee surprise. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
We've all been there: you're eating something delicious and your adorable dog wants some, but it's just not good for them. Everyone who shares their life with a barking four-legged best friend has experienced this scenario, because pooches always want to do whatever their humans are doing — and eat whatever they're eating, too. Sadly, while cute pups love the sight and smell of plenty of human treats, they just can't stomach some foodstuffs. Chocolate is a culprit, as everyone remembers come Easter. Thanks to its milk and sugar content, ice cream is another. If your four-legged best friend goes yapping mad over heaped ice cream cones, here's the good news: Gelatissimo is releasing a new limited-edition flavour that's both human and canine-friendly. We're not saying that you and your fluffball should share the same cone of the frosty dessert, but you definitely could. Made fresh in-store, the new scoop is banana and strawberry flavoured. To make it suitable for dogs, it's made with oat milk, so it's also vegan. It also features cavendish bananas and strawberries, unsurprisingly. That said, puppers with a history of pancreatitis or allergies do need to steer clear. Those who can tuck into a tub will find it at Gelatissimo outlets around the country from early October, but only for a limited time. If it all sounds familiar, that's because Gelatissimo did something similar back in 2019, but with a peanut butter flavour. "Our last pup-friendly gelato was the hugely popular, limited-edition Pawesome Peanut Butter," says Filiz Kaya, Gelatissimo's Head of Product Innovation. "It is still requested to this day, so we wanted to bring back the concept, but this time with a fresh and fruity twist." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Harvey the Border Collie 🐾 (@henlo.itsharvey) Vegan banana strawberry gelato is available at all Australian Gelatissimo stores for a limited time from early October. For more information and to find your nearest store, visit Gelatissimo's website.
Melbourne Design Week is back for 2025 — and this year, it's shining brighter, digging deeper, and getting sportier than ever before. For its ninth edition, Australia's largest design festival — which last year welcomed over 100,000 people — will see more than 350 events popping up around the city between Thursday, May 15–Sunday, May 25, from dazzling light exhibitions and neurodivergent-friendly design to design debates, pop-up book fairs and even a designer basketball tournament. The 11-day program is a love letter to creativity in all forms, presenting both high-concept ideas and hands-on experiences across architecture, lighting, furniture, publishing, sport and beyond. The event aims to showcase design thinking to all — whether you're a design die-hard or just keen for something interesting to do on the weekend, Melbourne Design Week is giving Melburnains and visitors alike the opportunity to explore the city in a whole new way. [caption id="attachment_1001834" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Elliat Rich, Tones of Shimmer (Gravel) 2022. Image: Sara Maiorino[/caption] Among the more eye-catching installations is 100 Lights, which takes over North Melbourne's Meat Market Stables with a glowing gallery of contemporary lighting by 100 artists and makers, including Adam Goodrum, Ross Gardam and Tantri Mustika. At this immersive display curated by Friends & Associates, you'll find table lamps, pendants and wall lights that showcase both function and cutting-edge form. Another fascinating highlight is Sibling Architecture's Deep Calm. This exhibition explores how design can support neurodivergent people, with a soothing showcase of weighted sofas and tactile rugs that represent the culmination of a year-long research project by the Curtin House-headquartered practice. [caption id="attachment_1001833" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Sibling Architecture[/caption] Events won't just be taking place in Melbourne, though. Bacchus Marsh will host exhibition A New Normal, which presents a suite of radical ideas by 12 Melbourne architects to make the city self-sufficient by 2030 — including public sculptures that double as water-treatment plants, waste-to-energy sports facilities, and adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings. The exhibition is set in the heritage-listed Boyd Baker House — one of Australia's most important modernist structures that collects its own water and features a design based on perfect geometry. A New Normal has become one of Melbourne Design Week's biggest success stories, with architects Kennedy Nolan and NMBW having both completed projects utilising concepts from the award-winning 2021 exhibition, and the project having gone on to be developed for Sydney, Perth and Guadalajara. Elsewhere, two legends of Australian design will embark on a well-earned victory lap: lighting designer Volker Haug and furniture designer Trent Jansen, who will both mark 20 years in the game with retrospective shows tracing their significant creative legacies. At the NGV, Melbourne Art Book Fair (Thursday, May 15–Saturday, May 17) returns to the Great Hall with over 100 publishers and a special focus on Southeast Asian designers — plus free kids' storytime sessions led by local children's book authors under Yayoi Kusama's towering Dancing Pumpkin sculpture in Federation Court. The program also features exhibitions exploring the sustainable reuse of timber from urban trees, typography shows, memorial-making workshops, curated book pop-ups, and, as part of Open House Melbourne, a two-day symposium called Beyond the Grave that delves into the architecture, places, issues and practices associated with the end of life. And if you've ever wanted to shoot hoops with a furniture designer, you're in luck — this year's program includes a two-on-two basketball tournament for designers and design enthusiasts at a Reko Rennie-painted court in Cremorne. Our city's collective obsession with sport will be further explored at Reimagining the Clubhouse: Melbourne Design Week's 12-hour denouement featuring the works of eight designers that challenge the concept of a traditional sporting clubhouse. It'll also host a trophy-making competition and the official Melbourne Design Week closing party at Collingwood Yards' Runner Up bar. [caption id="attachment_1001839" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Volker Haug, Fire Trees[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1001838" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Melbourne School of Design - Tout le cochon[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1001837" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Made Studio, OffCuts, Garrett In Workshop. Image: Alex Lark[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1001835" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anton Gerner[/caption] Melbourne Design Week 2025 takes place between Thursday, May 15–Sunday, May 25 at various venues throughout Victoria. For more information and the full program, head to the event website. Top image: Peter Bennetts, March Studio x Reko Rennie.
Some desserts always tempt the tastebuds, because there's going wrong with a classic. As well as tasting great every time you bite into them, some of those same sweet treats have inspired a heap of creative takes, too. If you've ever sipped a lamington-flavoured milkshake or plunged a scoop into some Iced VoVo gelato, then you know exactly what we're talking about. The next dessert mashups on offer hail from chocolatier Koko Black — and, if you're particularly fond of nostalgic Aussie favourites, your stomach might just start growling. As part of its new Australian Classics Collection, the Melbourne-founded company is making chocolate versions of plenty of your childhood staples. Think honey joys, chocolate crackles and Golden Gaytimes, plus the perennial go-tos that are Iced VoVos and lamingtons. The artisanal range turns some of the above sweets into separate bars sold in three-packs, and some into slabs of chocolate. So, you can tuck into Gaytime Goldies, which combine vanilla and malted caramel ganache, then dip the bar in dark chocolate, before covering it with hazelnuts — or opt for a block of Koko Crackles, which features rice bubbles, caramelised coconut and white chocolate, as then dipped in dark chocolate. Also available: a Lamington Slice slab, combining chocolate marshmallow and raspberry jelly, as covered in dark chocolate and dusted with coconut; bars of Koko Vovo, aka milk chocolate-coated biscuits topped with strawberry rosewater marshmallow, raspberry jelly and coconut; and Jam Wagons, which top biscuits topped with marshmallow and raspberry jam, then coat them in milk chocolate. Or, there's also Honey Joys, if you like your cornflakes drizzled with honey, then mixed with either milk chocolate or dark chocolate. The Australian Classics Collection is available separately or as one big hamper, with prices ranging from $15.90–$169. If you're keen, they've already hit Koko Black's online store — with delivery available nationally — and will show up in its physical shops from September 24. For more information about Koko Black's Australian Classics Collection, visit the store's website. Images: Studio Round.
Sydney fine-dining institution Nel is known for its next-level set menus, with its always-popular Disney degustations taking beloved animated films and turning them into mind-blowing dishes, and its Christmas banquet bringing the ultimate festive cheer with inventive takes on seasonal classics. Now, the CBD venue is going rogue with a 11-course set menu based on everyone's favourite fried chicken fast food chain — the home of 11 secret herbs and spices, KFC. Available for $75 per person across just three days on the weekend of Friday, April 1–Sunday, April 3, the dinner will take iconic menu items from the Colonel and transform them into luxurious, unrecognisable culinary creations. The experience has been created by Nel's owner Nelly Robinson, with each course designed to combine the extravagance of Nel with the fun and playfulness associated with fast food. Highlights from the menu are too abundant to list out, but some exciting concepts you'll be presented with include supercharged wings charred and served on a bed of charcoal, a candle made of gravy that will drip onto a potato bun, and the portrait of Colonel Sanders that's used as the KFC logo recreated on a plate with flavours of fried chicken, tomato, lettuce and pepper mayo. Elsewhere on the menu, you'll find takes on popcorn chicken, Original Recipe drumsticks and the twister — all manipulated and elevated by the chefs at Nel — as well as some yet-to-be-revealed surprises. Wines will be served to compliment the dishes, and finishing off the whole affair will be a nitrogen-dipped chocolate mousse that promises to melt in your mouth. "As a lifelong fan of KFC, creating an 11-course degustation with their most-loved menu items and elevating them to new heights has been a dream come true," Robinson said. The profits are also going to a good cause, with 100-percent of the proceeds from the three nights being donated to KFC's charity partners The Black Dog Institute, ReachOut Australia and Whitelion. With both Nel and KFC expecting this limited-time banquet to be in high demand, you'll have to sign up to a waitlist at KFC's website in order to be in the running to nab tickets to the event. [caption id="attachment_846235" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nelly Robinson[/caption] KFC and Nel's degustation will be happening at a secret location in Sydney between Friday, April 1–Sunday, April 3. You can join the waitlist at KFC's website.
Earlier this year, the Newtown legends at Young Henrys took the sustainable brewing game to the next level. The beer brand added a glowing bioreactor among its tanks, with the plan to drastically reduce the brewery's carbon emissions. The 400-litre bioreactor is filled with microalgae, which consumes carbon dioxide (one of the main byproducts of the brewing process) and produces as much oxygen as one hectare of Australian forest. Now, as part of National Science Week, Young Henrys has teamed up with the UTS Deep Green Biotech Hub to host Beer & Algae: Brewing a Greener Future. The free online event will take place on Thursday, August 20 from 5.30–7pm. It'll begin with a virtual tour of the brewery, hosted by YH Co-Founder and Director Oscar McMahon and UTS Research Associate Dr Janice McCauley. Then an interactive panel discussion will take over and explore practical steps toward sustainability in various industries — including urban farming, fashion and, of course, brewing. Moderated by Triple J's Lucy Smith, the panel will include Professor Peter Ralph (Executive Director of the Climate Change Cluster (C3) and Founder of the Deep Green Biotech Hub) alongside YH Head Brewer Jesse Seals, Pocket City Farms Founder Emma Bowen and Fashion Designer Dr Mark Liu. While the live streamed event is free, registration is a must.
Looking for a delightfully different designer piece? Want to dress up your walls with a Whiteley? Need to hit refresh in your furniture department? Or, simply dreaming of a Hermès handbag or a pair of Gucci earrings? Design Icons by Leonard Joel is here for you. This November, the auction house is hosting a series of viewings and live auctions that hold a spotlight to the best of design. From Friday, November 11 till Sunday, November 13, head to University Place in Clayton to view the collections that are ready and waiting to go to the highest bidder. More like an exhibition of the impeccable pieces, even if you're not looking for your next forever-piece, it's still guaranteed to be a fascinating culture trip (and the ideal time for you to cut your auction-teeth if you're new to the scene). When will the collections meet the gavel? Modern Design on Monday, November 14, Luxury on Tuesday, November 15 and Prints and Multiples on Wednesday, November 16. The renowned Aussie auction house is a far cry from the dusty antiques and outdated estate sales your brain might first conjure. And, if you've ever been intimidated by an aggressive auctioneer, you need not worry either. Design Icons is redefining the auction experience, making investing in a piece of fine fashion, furniture or art fresh, fun and a whole lot more affordable (plus, you'll be bidding on pieces that are bespoke, vintage and limited edition). Leonard Joel knows what its doing — having done it for over a century. Whether you have your heart set on something or you simply want to check out a unique retail experience, Design Icons is set to deliver a treasure trove of both experiences and pieces. Design Icons by Leonard Joel is hosting viewings from Friday, November 11 till Sunday, November 13 and auctions on Monday, November 14; Tuesday, November 15; and Wednesday, November 16. For more information and to browse the catalogue ahead of time, visit the website.
Whatever your plans are on Thursday, April 20, 2023, it won't just be an ordinary day. No matter where you are across Australia, a solar eclipse will be making its presence known in the sky. Just like the song that you probably have stuck in your head, there'll be a total eclipse in one part of the country, in the Ningaloo region in Western Australia — and also a partial eclipse elsewhere. This eclipse isn't any ordinary eclipse, not that the moon passing between the sun and the earth, casting its shadow on the planet we call home and blocking out our source of natural light ever is. This one is a hybrid solar eclipse, which means that it switches between a ring-shaped or annual eclipse and a total solar eclipse according to Space.com — and the last time that happened was in 2013. After this, it won't occur again until 2031 and then 2164. Wondering what else you need to know? When it'll be happening, where and what to do? We've run through all the details below. WHAT IS IT? As we noted above, a solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, casting its shadow on the latter and blocking out the former. When it's a total solar eclipse, the moon completely blocks the sun. During a partial eclipse, that only partly occurs, as the term suggests. During a total eclipse, there's a period of totality, which is the amount of time that the sun is completely obscured. It can only last for up to seven minutes — and it only happens on the path that the moon's shadow takes as the planet's natural satellite moves over the earth's surface. That's known as the path of totality. There's also two types of shadows: the umbra, which is the dark space in the centre; and the penumbra, which is partially illuminated. WHAT KIND OF SOLAR ECLIPSE IS THIS? This is both a total and a partial eclipse, depending on where you're located in Australia. If you're in the Ningaloo region, including in Exmouth, you'll witness a total eclipse, with the path of totality passing over. According to the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA), that will last will last around a minute, and the eclipsed sun will be 54 degrees above the horizon. For the rest of the country, it's a partial eclipse. As also explained above, this is a hybrid solar eclipse, too. So, it switches between a ring-shaped or annual eclipse and a total solar eclipse — which will only happen one more time this century. WHEN IS IT HAPPENING? In Exmouth, totality will start at 11.29am AWST — 50 seconds past that exact minute, to be exact — and will last about one minute, according to the ASA. Still in WA, in Perth, the partial eclipse will start at 10am, peak at 11.20am and finish at 12.47pm. Sydney's times for all of the above are 1.37pm AEST, 2.29pm and 3.19pm. In Melbourne, it's 1.15pm, 2.09pm and 3.01pm. For Brisbane, take note of 1.44pm, 2.45pm and 3.42pm. And in Adelaide, it's 12.24pm, 1.30pm and 2.35pm. WHERE IS IT HAPPENING? The short answer: everywhere across Australia. That said, do not look directly at the solar eclipse — see more details below. So, you might want to hit the livestream, which Perth Observatory will be doing with TimeAndDate.com. Hop online from 11.30am AEST. CAN I LOOK UP AT THE SOLAR ECLIPSE? Again, the short answer: not directly. We repeat: do not look directly at the solar eclipse. As the ASA advises, "it is never safe to look directly at a partial solar eclipse or the partial phases of a total solar eclipse without the proper equipment and techniques". Dr Hessom Razavi of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) and the Lions Eye Institute explains: "never look directly at the sun. It can cause serious and permanent eye damage, and that's true even during a solar eclipse." So, the ASA notes that best ways to observe an eclipse are by using eclipse glasses, which are special-purpose spectacles for the occasion and meet the ISO 12312 2 standard; hand-held solar viewers that have solar filters up to the international standard; and pinhole projection using a large card with a two-millimetre hole in the middle, which then projects an image of the sun onto a different surface around a metre away. Accordingly, definitely do not just look up with your naked eyes, or even just while wearing your normal glasses of sunglasses. The ASA has more details on its website. If you're wondering why you can't peer directly at a solar eclipse, that's because exposing your retinas to intense light will damage the eye's rod and cone cells, which are extremely light-sensitive. In fact, RANZCO says that even the special eclipse glasses come with some risks, and advises that "the only way to guarantee the prevention of solar retinopathy is to avoid all forms of direct sun viewing". It has also put together further details. WHEN WILL A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OCCUR IN AUSTRALIA AGAIN? Australia is about to become a haven for total solar eclipses, with five taking place in our skies in a 15-year period. The first is this one on Thursday, April 20, but then more will follow in 2028, 2030, 2037 and 2038. On July 22, 2028, it'll cross the Kimberley in Western Australia, as well as the Northern Territory, southwest Queensland and New South Wales, including passing over Sydney. Then, on November 25, 2030, it'll cross South Australia, northwest NSW and southern Queensland — and end at sunset in southeast Queensland. Come July 13, 2037, the eclipse will pass over southern WA, southern NT and western Queensland, including over Brisbane and the Gold Coast. And, on Boxing Day in 2038, it'll go over central WA, SA, and also along the NSW/Victorian border. The solar eclipse will take place on Thursday, April 20, 2023. For further information, head to the Astronomical Society of Australia website. Images: Terry Cuttle.
With her obliteration and infinity rooms drawing huge crowds around the globe, a range of merchandise brandishing her dot-filled designs on scarves and umbrellas, and even her own busy museum in Tokyo, Yayoi Kusama is one of the most popular artists alive today. That makes a documentary about the art star feel almost inevitable; however for filmmaker Heather Lenz, Kusama: Infinity was nearly two decades in the making. Drawn to Kusama's work as an art student in the 90s, Lenz decided to make a movie about the Japanese artist long before her pumpkins filled Instagram feeds. It wasn't an easy process. As a female filmmaker trying to direct a documentary about a female artist — and, more than that, about a female Asian artist — the path from concept to finished film was filled with knockbacks and setbacks. And that's before even getting Kusama involved. In several ways, the difficulties that Lenz experienced prove apt for a doco about Kusama, who found the world far from welcoming when she started to pursue her dreams. Lenz's struggles are also indicative of a filmmaker who was simply ahead of the times. When Kusama's star began to rise, the writer/director/producer/editor's path became smoother. With Kusama: Infinity now screening in Australian cinemas, we chatted to Lenz about her colourful and informative movie. The first-time feature filmmaker actually initially planned to make a biopic about Kusama — and that's just one of our topics of discussion, alongside the long and complicated process of bringing the documentary to fruition, the allure of Kusama's work and the joys of meeting the artist. BECOMING INTERESTED IN KUSAMA'S WORK BEFORE HER CURRENT FAME "It began in the early 90s — that's when I first saw an image of her work. I was earning degrees in art history and fine art, and for probably every thousand or so male artists we learned about, we learned about perhaps five women artists. And Kusama was definitely not among them at that time. Around 1990, there was an exhibition at the Centre for International Contemporary Art, and that helped start the process of putting Kusama back on the map in America. I saw an image of her work in that catalogue, which at the time was the only catalogue on her art — and I really felt from that exposure that her contribution to the American art world hadn't been properly understood or recognised. I was just really interested in her, and later I decided to go back to school and get a film degree. While I was a student, I started working on a biopic script about her. Then, over time, I decided to put that on hold and work on a documentary — in part because Kusama was still alive and able to tell her story her own words." THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE FILM'S DIFFICULT PATH AND KUSAMA'S OWN CAREER "In the beginning, it was her artwork and the fact that she had been neglected that attracted me to her. But over time, I began to tune in more and more into her tenacity and everything that she had to overcome in order to finally achieve success — because it was, of course, mirroring the issues that we were facing. When I started the film, I was rather naive about the obstacles and challenges women directors faced. I just thought, 'oh, if you work hard, you can achieve whatever you set your mind to'. But when I started pitching the film to people, I was constantly told that it was a terrible idea, that no one would be interested. And it was men telling me that. I just felt like, well, we don't have the same taste. But there was a point where I had the opportunity to pitch the film to a woman who actually worked for Madonna back when she had a production company. And I thought, 'oh wow, she's really going to love this'. Instead, she questioned the fact that I wanted to make a film about a foreign female, so it never advanced to Madonna to review. At the time, I really wasn't thinking of Kusama as a woman or as Asian. I just thought here's someone who's lived this super compelling, interesting life, who's a brilliant artist, so she would be a great subject for a film. But that's when I started to get the idea that there were pre-conceived ideas about what's going to sell and what isn't. And even within the last few years, I had someone tell me 'you can't put her on the poster because she's Asian and no one will want to see the movie'." DOING MORE THAN JUST CONNECTING THE DOTS "I wanted to shine a light on her and her accomplishments — I wanted her to get more attention. These days, people know about her from social media, so they've seen images of her art, but they really don't know her backstory. I wanted to show the world in which she was raised, which was Matsumoto City. She was growing up in the 30s, and her dreams and ambitions to be an artist at this time, they were just completely out of step with the expectations for her. The idea her family had for her was that she was get married — not only get married, but have an arranged marriage — and become a mother. And to just to have a much more conventional life. She was just really really out of step with that. I think she thought that when she got to America [in the 50s] that the doors would be much more open and things would be much easier, but of course she still had many, many obstacles to overcome. I wanted to show everything she was up against, and to correct her place in history. That remains very very important to me. Recently I screened the film at a college and I had an art history professor, who was a man, tell me that the film was going to change the way he taught this section of art history in the 60s. That was very exciting. Those kinds of things are really meaningful." THE ALLURE OF KUSAMA'S ART "She's made a broad range of work. The work that seems to be featured these days is a lot of the infinity rooms and a lot of the more colourful pieces she's made in recent years. I think people see it as a very optimistic and cheerful work, which is very interesting given the issues she's had with depression and everything. It's almost like she's managed to take her own trauma and transform it into art that functions in a way like an antidepressant for society." WORKING WITH KUSAMA "Kusama actually has a history of cancelling on people, because maybe she's not feeling well or she's just not in the mood or whatever it is. So it was very risky to go all the way to another country, hire a crew and just take on all this expense and just not even know if she would show up. But fortunately she did show up and we really clicked. At the end I told her it was the happiest day of my life, and she said 'mine too'. Then a few months later I was able to go back, and that time I was able to spend a whole month in Japan. I had this very rare opportunity to go through her archives, which were just extraordinary. There were so many amazing photos. There were letters and receipts and calendars — there was just a treasure trove of archival materials for me to explore. It was really amazing." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRqxWNn3iQU Kusama: Infinity is now screening in Australian cinemas. Read our review.
If you spend your free time binging on true crime, then you would've watched I'll Be Gone in the Dark last year. The HBO docuseries honed in on the Golden State Killer, who terrorised California between 1974–1986, committing more than 100 burglaries, over 50 home-invasion rapes and at least 12 murders. More than that, the show explored the case through writer Michelle McNamara, who had been kept wondering about the culprit over the years and decades — because, astonishingly, no one was sentenced for the Golden State Killer's crime spree until August 2020. McNamara's own tale is filled with intrigue, too, which the series also explored. She'd spend her nights spent sleuthing through unsolved crimes and penning the blog True Crime Diaries while her family slept. Fixating on the Golden State Killer actually led McNamara to writing an article for Los Angeles Magazine, plus a book deal. But before she could finish her manuscript, McNamara — who was also married to comedian Patton Oswalt — died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in her sleep. Her book I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer was published two years after her death, and before an arrest was made in the case, with the six-part HBO series stepping through this whole scenario. I'll Be Gone in the Dark's central figure was interested in other cold cases, too — and, because seemingly everything can return these days (and not just beloved sitcoms), the show is now coming back for a special follow-up episode to delve further into her obsessions. Viewers can expect to hear more about McNamara's work on cold cases in general, and to dive into one that affected her deeply: the rape and murder of Kathy Lombardo back in 1984, which happened in McNamara's hometown of Oak Park, Illinois. Once again, McNamara's own archival research and voice recordings will play a big part. The one-hour special episode will also feature interviews with residents of present-day Oak Park, all as part of a broader musing on how unsolved crimes cause their own traumas. In Australia, it'll be available to watch on streaming service Binge on Tuesday, June 22 — in line with when it airs in the US on HBO. Check out the trailer below: I'll Be Gone in the Dark's special follow-up special will be available to stream via Binge on Tuesday, June 22. Top image:HBO.
Plan a trip to South Australia, and spending time surrounded by grapes is probably on your agenda. This year, you can pair all those winery visits with plenty of pumpkins, too, because Yayoi Kusama's pumpkin-focused infinity room The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens will display at the Art Gallery of South Australia from Friday, April 1. Australia just keeps going dotty for Kusama. Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art's hosted a kaleidoscopic exhibition dedicated to the Japanese artist back in 2017, her Obliteration Room has proven a hit in the Sunshine State several times and, going one better, Canberra's National Gallery of Australia acquired The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens back in 2018. While the latter is a permanent addition to the NGA's collection, it's also going on the road on — which is why Adelaide is your next place to see oh-so-many dots. The piece was first exhibited in 2015. Comprised of a mirrored cube filled with yellow, dot-covered pumpkins, it's a quintessential Kusama work. Whether you're a devoted fan who considers visiting the artist's own Tokyo museum a bucket-list moment, or someone who has simply placed stickers around one of her obliteration rooms, you would've noticed that dots and the concept of infinity are crucial to her art — "our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos," she says. Inside the cube, the bulbous vegetables appear to create an endless field thanks to the shiny surface. On the outside of the cube, the structure's mirrored exterior reflects the yellow-and-black walls in the surrounding installation room — again, making it appear as though the pattern stretches on forever. The NGA's acquisition was made possible via a gift from Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett, which is also supporting the infinity room's tour. AGSA hasn't revealed how long it'll be on display, but entry will be free — and it's obviously a must-visit addition to any Adelaide itinerary. Images: Installation view, THE SPIRITS OF THE PUMPKINS DESCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS by Yayoi Kusama, 2017, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. © Yayoi Kusama, courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai.
This time last week, Melbourne was enjoying the pandemic's version of normality — so much so that a new rebate scheme to entice diners to eat out in the CBD had just been announced. But a lot can change in just seven days, as Victoria's current COVID-19 cluster has shown. The state is now on day four of a seven-day lockdown, case numbers have been growing and the list of exposure sites just keeps ballooning, too. When the first cases were revealed last week, two venues were named on Monday afternoon. The list had gone up to 43 by Wednesday morning, and then hit a whopping 83 locations on Thursday. Now, on Monday, May 31, it has reached 271 locations. So if you've spent your time in lockdown binging whatever you can stream and constantly refreshing the Victorian Department of Health's rundown of exposure sites, that's perfectly understandable. Among the latest inclusions, Chadstone Shopping Centre is one of the big ones. The alert covers seven locations within the overall site over a single day including the entire centre itself — as a Tier 2 site — from 11.53am–2pm on Wednesday, May 26. If you went shopping during that window of time, you'll now need to get tested immediately and self-isolate until you receive a negative result. If you went to Bakers Delight between 12.40–12.45pm, Zimmerman between 12.50–1.30pm, Optus between 12.27–1.17pm, Breadtop between 1.03–1.37pm and Woolworths between 1.16–1.56pm, you fall into the same category. And if you were at Yokozuna from 11.55am–12.52pm, you were at a Tier 1 site, which requires getting tested immediately and self-isolating for 14 days regardless of the result. https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1398903110207033347 Other recent additions to the list include the 412 and 525 PVT bus routes at various times on Wednesday, May 26 and Thursday, May 27 (all Tier 1); Target and Coles at Point Cook Shopping Centre from 3.30–5.30pm on Wednesday, May 26 (Tier 1); and various sites at Northland Shopping Centre on Saturday, May 22 (including Tier 1 for H&M between 2.30–3.50pm). Obviously, with 271 places now named, the list goes on — also spanning the likes of Dan Murphy's Brunswick East (Tier 2, from 2.30–3pm on Saturday, May 22), Brighton Beach Hotel (Tier 2, from 3.09–4.52pm on Sunday, May 23) and the La Trobe University library (Tier 1 on level one and Tier 2 elsewhere, all from 11.45am–2.30pm on Tuesday, May 25) as well. Melburnians can keep an eye on the local list of exposure sites at the Department of Health website — as usual, it will change as more sites are identified. For those looking to get tested, you can find a list of testing sites including regularly updated waiting times also on the Department of Health website. And, has remained the case throughout the pandemic, Melburnians should be looking out for coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste, symptoms-wise. For further details on the latest exposure sites and updated public health advice, see the Department of Health website. Top image: Google Maps.
Palm tree-lined beaches and World Heritage-listed rainforests aren't all that Tropical North Queensland has in abundance — there's an array of tasty treats to experience, too. From tropical twists on classics to award-winning cuisine, there is truly something for every culinary craving in this picturesque holiday destination. To help you curate your must-do dining destinations, we've uncovered ten places in the far north that the locals love. So whether you want a First Nations-led cultural experience, to peel piles of prawns on the back of a docked boat or to discover the delicious tropical fruits, bookmark this for all your food and drink needs in Tropical North Queensland. [caption id="attachment_829657" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] LEARN ABOUT NATIVE INGREDIENTS WITH FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES Walkabout Cultural Adventures is a 100-percent First Nations-owned and operated cultural tour company based on Kuku Yalanji Country, also known as Port Douglas and the Daintree. Owner Juan Walker has been working in the region for nearly two decades and prides himself on offering informative and personalised tours to all guests. Under Juan's expert guidance, you'll discover the wonders of Kuku Yalanji Country, including where two World Heritage-listed sites — the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef — meet. The half- or full-day tours will give you the opportunity to learn about food and medicines grown in the region and how Kuku Yalanji people have managed the land and its natural resources for millennia. You'll also get to sample bush foods, collect shellfish and try your luck at catching delicious mud crab. [caption id="attachment_829896" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tropical North Queensland[/caption] TAKE YOUR PALATE TO PALM COVE FOR LUXE BEACHFRONT DINING If you're looking for beachfront dining while in Tropical North Queensland (and why wouldn't you be?), Palm Cove's Nu Nu Restaurant is a must. With stunning views of the Coral Sea and picture-perfect palm trees framing your vista, this beachfront restaurant will satisfy both your visual senses and your tastebuds. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the menu boasts a great selection of dishes that embrace locally grown produce. For brekkie, try the crab omelette with a zingy ginger caramel and white pepper broth or Nu Nu's take on bircher featuring pineapple and coconut cream-soaked muesli topped with mango, tropical fruit and toasted coconut. If you stop by for lunch or dinner we recommend starting with a tropical cocktail like the vanilla ginger mojito with Daintree vanilla sugar and a starter of Pacific oysters with finger lime. Then, follow it up with sake-poached octopus with pickled shiitake and spring onion oil or sugarcane-smoked duck with barbecued cabbage and rhubarb. [caption id="attachment_829658" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tropical North Queensland / Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] LOAD UP ON FRESH PRODUCE AT THE LOCAL FARMERS' MARKETS A trip to the tropics isn't complete without a wander through Rusty's Markets in Cairns. Open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at Rusty's you'll find everything from exotic fruits, tropical tasting plates, freshly baked bread and more. With over 45 years of trade under its belt and more than 180 stalls to visit, there are plenty of reasons locals love to load up on fresh food at this bustling marketplace. The top-tier produce found at Rusty's also attracts many of Tropical North Queensland's finest chefs who can often be spotted roaming the stalls as they source the best locally grown ingredients for their restaurants. Make sure you stock up on fresh fruit for your day exploring the local waterfalls — there's nothing quite like devouring your favourite fruit on a boulder before cooling off at a freshwater swimming hole. [caption id="attachment_829660" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] TASTE TROPICAL TWISTS ON AUSTRALIAN CLASSICS AT OCHRE Native ingredients take centre stage at Ochre, a Cairns institution that has been impressing diners with its creative cuisine for almost 30 years. It's a feast for the eyes, too, as its waterfront location on the Harbour Lights boardwalk offers picturesque views of the adjacent inlet and lush mountains beyond, serving as a reminder of the region's rich and abundant food sources. Take it all in as you tuck into signature dishes like salt and native pepper leaf prawn and crocodile with Vietnamese pickle and lemon aspen sambal; char-grilled kangaroo sirloin with sweet potato fritter, bok choy and a quandong and chilli sauce; and wattleseed pavlova with davidson plum sorbet and macadamia biscotti. The dedication to local is also showcased via the drinks offering, which includes an exclusively Australian wine list with over 30 available by the glass, as well as an impressive selection of Australian spirits. [caption id="attachment_829662" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] PIG OUT ON PRAWNS ON BOARD A PARKED FISHING TRAWLER If a tropical holiday gets you prawny for seafood, then push Prawn Star to the top of your culinary list when visiting Tropical North Queensland this summer. Serving fresh, locally sourced seafood right off the back of a repurposed fishing trawler, this fleet of four floating restaurants is an experience that reflects Cairns' laidback lifestyle. The succinct menu showcases the best seafood that Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef has to offer, and includes platters of prawns, bugs, crayfish and oysters that are best enjoyed with simple condiments or juicy chunks of fresh lime. Head to Prawn Star for lunch or dinner from 11am any day of the week and pair your seafood feast with its very own tap Prawn Beer or Prawn Cider available for $7 all day long. [caption id="attachment_829894" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tropical North Queensland[/caption] DIG INTO DAIRY IN THE ATHERTON TABLELANDS The Mungalli Creek Dairy farm in the Atherton Tablelands is much more than cows and pasture — it's one big living organism. With over 30 years of organic biodynamic farming practices under its belt, this family-run farm has mastered the art of cultivating delicious dairy products for decades. At the heart of the property, you'll find The Farmhouse Cafe, which was once the house that owners and brothers Rob and Danny Watson grew up in. Take a seat on the cafe's verandah overlooking the Johnston River Gorge, World Heritage-listed rainforest and Bartle Frere — Queensland's highest mountain — and enjoy a meal loaded with the farm's biodynamic dairy products and locally sourced organic produce. The cafe is also BYO, so take a bottle of tropical wine to pair with one of its cheese platters. Hot tip: make sure you leave room for the crepes — they're a family recipe and are served with Mungalli's luxurious lactose- and gluten-free Broken Nose vanilla ice cream. TRY TROPICAL TREATS AT CHARLEY'S CHOCOLATE FACTORY Charley's name may invoke a well-known chocolatey tale, but the Mt Edna property is as unique as they come — it's home to Australia's only cocoa tree to chocolate bar experience. The concept of showcasing the full chocolate journey at Charley's is the brainchild of Chris and Lynn Jahnke, the husband and wife team who, a decade after uprooting themselves from Melbourne to farm cattle near Mission Beach, planted their first cocoa seeds in 2012. Since then, the pair have crafted a tour at Charley's that is hands-on, hugely informative and most importantly, includes tasting the delicious chocolatey treats. Charley's core products are single-origin 70 percent dark chocolates and milk chocolates with rare Tropical North Queensland flavour combinations like the davidson plum dark chocolate, lemon myrtle milk chocolate, tropical pineapple milk chocolate and beach coconut dark chocolate. [caption id="attachment_829659" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] SIP COCKTAILS BY THE SEA AT SALT HOUSE Salt House is a popular waterfront watering hole for locals seeking delicious cocktails by the sea. Marrying inspiration from a custom-built Argentinian wood-fired grill with fresh seafood and local fare, Salt House's menu aims to champion local produce and the exciting flavours of Tropical North Queensland. Sip on a refreshing rainforest sour packed with davidson plum jam before ordering a dozen fresh oysters, followed by mains like gnocchi with woodfired vegetables, ratatouille sauce, blistered tomatoes, coconut feta and pine nuts. If a seaside seafood feast is what you're craving, try the generous seafood sharing platter or the yellow curry loaded with mussels, local tiger prawns and wild barramundi. DINE IN DECADENCE AT TAMARIND If you're craving decadence after a day on the water, Tamarind Restaurant will put a fresh wind in your sails. The multi-award-winning restaurant combines Australian cuisine, local produce and exceptional service for dinner between Tuesday–Saturday. Start with the market fish ceviche and follow it up with the slow-braised duck curry loaded with lychee, caramel pumpkin and spiced peanuts or the abalone ravioli with roasted scallop, lemongrass and ginger. If making decisions is something you like to leave behind while on holiday, opt for the five-course tasting menu to take the work out of it. Want to extend your summer with a trip to the tropics? Time to book a holiday to Tropical North Queensland. For more information and to book your autumn getaway, visit the website. Top images: Tourism Tropical North Queensland
When discount airlines started soaring into business, they made air travel both easier and much more affordable, drastically shaking up the aviation game. Now that you can routinely fly from Sydney to Melbourne for less than the cost of a degustation dinner, conquering longer flights, reducing the environmental impact and offering niche services have become the industry's new sources of inspiration. Think direct Australia-to-London journeys, trips fuelled by mustard seeds, and now an airline dedicated to art events. Launched by Chinese-American performer Qinmin Liu, Angelhaha Airline "promises to only fly to art," as its website explains. Its first flight will take off on December 6, travelling from New York to Miami for the latter's Art Basel event; however the artist and choreographer has further one-way trips planned for jaunts between Beijing and Hong Kong in March, London and Venice in May, and Berlin and Paris in October, among others. Each coincides with an exhibition, art month, art fair or something similar. In total, 25 flights are currently listed on the airline's website, though The Guardian reports that they don't come cheap. Tickets aren't available at present — although you can sign up to be notified when the next flight opens for bookings — but the maiden voyage, on a private plane taking nine passengers, is setting back travellers between $2,700-$3,500. https://www.instagram.com/p/BbmyuFdHKeH/?taken-by=qinmin_liu In addition to its specific destinations, Angelhaha also aims to turn flying through the sky into a happier experience. "Angelhaha will do everything to provide the happiest moment and environment to human beings," the website states. Just how it will achieve that task is yet to be revealed, but if France can start an airline for millennials, and Europe a service that only heads to ski fields, then the world can have a joy-spreading, art-loving carrier as well. Via The Guardian.
A world-first exhibition dedicated to the late Nelson Mandela has opened in Australia, in what would've been the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's 100th year. Travelling exhibition MANDELA My Life runs from September 22, 2018 to March 3, 2019, with Melbourne Museum hosting the most comprehensive collection of the human rights icon's memorabilia ever to be shown outside South Africa. Alongside a huge assortment of artefacts, including the warrants of committal for Mandela's 27-year stint in prison, the exhibition explores his life through a series of film and audio archives. In total, more than 200 pieces from The Nelson Mandela Foundation and Nelson Mandela's private collection are on display, taking up ten galleries. Highlights include an immersive film piece that places attendees in the courtroom as he delivers his 1964 Rivonia Trial speech against apartheid, a seven-metre-long projection wall that charts his journey through childhood, and a gallery filled with small cell-like rooms based on his time in prison. Visitors can also relive the events of Mandela's first day of freedom in 1990, view a selection of the colourful patterned 'Madiba shirts' he was known for wearing, and see the signed boxing glove gifted to Mandela by Muhammad Ali. In addition, MANDELA My Life includes 16 original artworks by South African artist John Meyer, each of which depicts an event from or theme of Mandela's life. An exhibition within the exhibition, it features renderings of Mandela's childhood in Qunu, his years as a dedicated lawyer in 1950s Johannesburg, his time in jail and and his post-release achievements. Victorian Minister for Tourism and Major Events John Eren said that Melbourne's hosting of the centenary exhibition was a huge win for the city. "Nelson Mandela fought every day for freedom, love and human rights — changing the world and making it a better place," Eren said. "We're proud this exhibition is making its world debut in Victoria, continuing Mandela's incredible legacy and reminding us all that it's in our hands to make a difference." MANDELA My Life is supported by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which is the custodian of most of the revolutionary's personal photographs, documents and memorabilia. After premiering in Melbourne, the exhibition will embark on a world tour of up to 20 cities, expected to be seen by as many as 2.7 million visitors globally. MANDELA My Life is on display from September 22, 2018 to March 3, 2019 at Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton. For tickets and more information, visit the exhibition's website. Images: 'Father of the Innocents' from the series 'Mandela, A Life's Journey' by John Meyer / Keith Bernstein / Jon Augier, Museums Victoria/
Fine dining luxury in Rural Victoria. Bounty from a kitchen garden on a 20-hectare estate. The majestic Mt Sturgeon. Chef, Dan Hunter. The Royal Mail Hotel plates up intelligent food from a serious kitchen in the 'middle of nowhere' – the kind of Dunkeld 'nowhere' both national and international foodies justify as worth the pilgrimage. Brainchild of multi-millionaire barrister and pastoralist Allan Myers, the Royal Mail Hotel is a prodigious example of a restaurant built on plenty of money; a restaurant that is more like a mountain escape compound complete with hotel rooms and cottages. But hey, we're not complaining. We want you to meet Chef Hunter. He's a fine dining rockstar. After four years in Spain, two of which were spent heading up one of the world's top restaurants, Maugaritz in the Basque Country, Hunter returned to the motherland and was too experienced and thus 'unemployable'. It was back then, in 2007, the Royal Mail Hotel beckoned. Now we're going to be upfront about this. The Mail experience is not for everyone. It's not for those with conservative food tastes and it's definitely not for those seeking out a mindless dining experience. The restaurant is more than a three hour drive from Melbourne and the 13 course degustation will set you back $170 a head or $285 with matching wines. But let us say this, everything about this place, in our opinion, is totally worth it: the unrivaled service, best produce, and stunning surrounds. Enough with the justifications. We started with rice paper, finger lime and salmon roe. The dish was texturally exciting and offered a balance of sweet and sour. Rainbow trout, coffee, black treacle was next followed by chicken crisp. At this stage we were still indulging in the 1996 Pol Roger Cuvee Reserve, Epernay France. The pancetta and spanner crab, rye cream and candied radish was a highlight as was the 1996 Crawford River Riesling, Henty Victoria. The delicacy of the nutty cream combined with the richly meaty pancetta and silky crab was hearty, intense in flavour and completely satisfying. The eel and bone marrow, eggplant and pickled vegetables was probably what I was thinking about when I spoke of the Mail not being for those with conservative food tastes. Smoked eel sits atop a heavy bone marrow, alongside pungent eggplant puree. Then there's those miniature pickled vegetables to provide the pop and crunch effect. 2005 Pio Cesare, Barbaresco Italy, has gone down a treat. Hunter's Fallen Fruit examples his fondness of nature. Bite into the crisp apple, that has been treated with calcium hydroxide, to discover a gooey inside. The almond, caramel and chamomile additions welcomed an extra sweetness to this dessert as did the 1999 Dr Loosen, Mosel Germany. For the dairy intolerant, it's likely the Mail will treat you to a quince macaroon - delectably light and fruity. So is it worth the trek? Most certainly. Hunter's food is respectful of flavours and textures. The ornate aesthetic of his menu matches perfectly the delicacy ingrained within each dish. His food is clever, attitude persevering, and hospitality unmatched.
A couple embraces. A man thrusts. The next shot shows, from above, a car driving directly up a straight road. Viewers everywhere can put two and two together. The cut from one to the other is actually meant to be subtle, segueing from an adulterous duo to the man they've cuckolded — but it's also meant to complete a tastefully sensual picture. That's The Aftermath in a nutshell: prim, proper and discreet; brandishing plenty of emotions underneath; and obvious even though it's trying desperately to remain restrained. You could say the same about many period dramas starring Keira Knightley, and you'd be right, however this one particularly sticks to the familiar template. Dressing up in her 20th-century finest as she did in Atonement, A Dangerous Method and The Imitation Game, Knightley plays British military wife Rachael Morgan. After spending most of the Second World War alone, even when bombs were dropping on London, she now joins her colonel husband Lewis (Jason Clarke) in Hamburg. He's been tasked with overseeing the city's enormous rebuilding project, and she's once again left in their acquired home while he works. This time, she has the grand building's original owner, brooding German widower Stefan Lubert (Alexander Skarsgård), for company. Whether you've read Rhidian Brook's 2013 novel of the same name or you're coming to The Aftermath with fresh eyes, guessing what comes next couldn't be easier. No film is going to let Knightley and Skarsgård roam around a sprawling, stately mansion without taking the blatant next step, not even when the story is set immediately after such widespread devastation. Accordingly, while Knightley starts out staring daggers and Skarsgård smoulders sorrowfully in knitted jumpers, it doesn't take long for director James Kent to connect the dots. But in making its post-war romance so straightforward, the movie lacks the one thing every torrid affair thrives on: passion. An absence of passion isn't the same as an absence of emotion, and lacking one particular quality isn't the same as purposefully holding back in general. The Aftermath doesn't skimp on histrionics, or on creating an elegant mood, but the end result is just so dutiful and formulaic. Indeed, it's hard to feel for characters caught in a love triangle, let alone get swept away by their amorous entanglements, when every plot development is as glaring and forceful as the many bombed-out buildings lining Hamburg's streets. And the less said about the movie's unconvincing attempts to dig into deeper territory — courtesy of Stefan's Nazi-sympathising teenage daughter (Flora Thiemann), as well as his own thorny past — the better. Kent previously combined matters of the heart with the horrors of combat in 2014's First World War romance Testament of War, which proved both handsome and heartfelt. While The Aftermath isn't helped by its script, the filmmaker has only managed to tick one of those boxes here. There's no denying the film's rich imagery, which recreates the time with stellar detail. That said, there's also no denying that cinematography, costuming and production design rank among the movie's best traits. Pretty pictures are part and parcel of any period drama, but when they steal the show above all else, it's never a good sign. They mightn't always succeed, however Knightley and Skarsgård endeavour to stand out — against the eye-catching scenery and routine narrative, and despite their star-crossed lovers barely being given any depth. Although neither actor is asked to rise to any challenges, when sparks fly between them, it's easy to wish they were carrying a better film. In a way, that's The Aftermath's big problem. So certain of its stars' power, it thinks that the two can simply carry the entire movie. In fact, it largely squanders Clarke in the process. But, even with gorgeous visuals and a striving cast, the heart still wants what the heart wants: in this case, a story that doesn't feel finished before it starts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPv3e2FZOgo
For cinephiles who like their movies dark, twisted, offbeat and out there, Monster Fest has been a beloved name on Australia's festival circuit for more than a decade. The event started back in 2011 as a Melbourne-only showcase of weird and wild cinema, and has expanded to hit up Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, too — because everyone deserves a strange and surreal (and sometimes chilling and horror-fuelled) night or several at the pictures. In 2022, Monster Fest is back for another whirl, although you're forgiven if that idea sounds familiar: earlier in the year, it hosted weekender mini fests to sate movie buffs' appetites. Now, it's time for the full festival experience, which unfurls over 11 days in Melbourne, again highlighting the latest and greatest in genre filmmaking. If it's a horror, sci-fi or thriller movie and it's destined for a cult following, you'll likely see it here first. When it gets things started at Carlton's Cinema Nova from Thursday, November 24–Sunday, December 4, Monster Fest 2022 will kick off with the Yuletide terrors of Christmas Bloody Christmas, which features a robotic Santa malfunctioning, then going on a murderous rampage. 'Tis the season and all that. From there, other standouts include Stephen Dorff- and Emile Hirsch-starring The Price We Pay, which begins with two criminals on the run and gets deadlier from there; The Offering, about a family battling an ancient demon; and Swissploitation flick Mad Heidi, which has its namesake fight fascist rule in a grindhouse frenzy. Or, there's On the Edge, the latest from American Mary filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska; Subject, the sophomore release by Australian Watch the Sunset filmmaker Tristan Barr; and Ribspreader, another Aussie effort, this time about getting rid of smoking — and smokers. Closing night features Kids vs Aliens, a coming-of-age sci-fi/horror effort that sees a house party gatecrashed by visitors from another galaxy as directed by Hobo with a Shotgun's Jason Eisener. Elsewhere on the lineup, even though the idea of people fighting to survive their way through a building isn't new by any means — see: High-Rise, Dredd and The Raid, for starters — French film Lockdown Tower is giving it another go. A must-see for everyone: the special presentation of Friday the 13th Part III to celebrate its 40th anniversary, as screening in 3D and 4K. And a word of warning: if you like your movies happy and chirpy, this clearly isn't your kind of festival. For everyone else, settle in.
How do you capture the essence of a pub in a drink? How do you make sipping a cocktail conjure up the feeling of hanging out in a hotel's front bar, with your feet almost glued to the carpet and the unmistakable smell of beer in the air? How do you whip up a spirit that pays tribute to an iconic Australian watering hole that's closing in on a century and a half of pouring beverages, too? These are the questions that Four Pillars is answering with its Sticky Carpet Gin. This tipple dates back to 2018, when it arrived as a boozy ode to the legendary haunt that is The Espy in St Kilda in Melbourne. First, you could only try it in cocktails at the pub it was inspired by. Then, it became available by the bottle in 2019, but only as a limited release. Now, Four Pillars has brought it back — and also given it some tinkering. The Healesville distillery had one aim from the outset with its Sticky Carpet Gin: capturing the spirit of a venue that's meant many different things to different people for many, many years. Four Pillars co-founder and distiller Cameron Mackenzie's first effort was such a success that it's become the gin that more folks request to be brought back than any other of the brand's gin. Start saying cheers to Sticky Carpet Gin again, then, given that it's back in Four Pillars' online store now. The new version of the tipple still wants to give everyone that's sipping it an unmistakable pub feel. This time, however, Mackenzie has swapped out roasted dark stout for using Little Creatures Pale Ale in the gin's base. The beer goes into the still with juniper, coriander, barley, cassia, macadamia nuts, orris root, lemon myrtle, honey, lavender, ginger and lemon peel, plus the base spirit. Also, hops hang in a bag over it to extract the aromatics. "The Little Creatures brewers have made a beer that is the benchmark for American-style pale ale, with slightly tropical and resin-y flavours, like Sierra Nevada, my fave US beer," said Mackenzie. "In a way, this is the closest we've come to making a Jenever-style of gin. It's a dense canvas of resin-y juniper with deep brown spice notes. There's a chewy, malty hop character that hangs onto the macadamia nut and it's a touch fruity with bright citrus notes, too. As well as buying Sticky Carpet Gin online for your gin shrine or getting it from Four Pillars in-person — it retails at $88 for a 700-millilitre bottle — it's on offer at The Winery in Surry Hills in Sydney; both The Regatta and Riverland in Brisbane; Yarra Botanica, The Espy (of course) and Garden State Hotel in Melbourne; and the Claremont in Perth. The Espy is also hosting a free launch party on Wednesday, April 17 from 6pm, complete with free gin and tonics upon arrival. You'll need to nab a complimentary ticket to attend, however — and you'll catch live sets from Floodlights and Back Pocket as well. For those knocking it back at home, Four Pillars recommends using Sticky Carpet Gin in a new twist on the G&T called Sticky and Tonic, in a boozy pink lemonade spider, with cordial, or as part of a lemon, lime and bitters sour. Four Pillars Sticky Carpet Gin is available to purchase online, from Four Pillars in-person, and from select bars — head to the distillery's website for more details.
If you're have a pet, you'll know that an overnight getaway just isn't the same without your fur baby in tow. Thankfully, a new breed of modern hotels is cottoning on to our animal-obsessed ways and delivering pet-friendly accommodation options all over Australia. The latest of these is Richmond's Element — an eco-conscious Westin brand hotel that's welcoming guests of both the human and four-legged variety. The Swan Street venue also marks Element's Australian debut. The hotel is kitted out with 168 suites, sporting a contemporary design by award-winning local architects Rothelowman and rocking a colour palette inspired by native Australian flora. But to be fair, your pooch probably doesn't give a toss about the clean, modern lines, or the eco-friendly elements like LED lighting, energy-efficient kitchenettes and water-saving taps. They will, however, be pretty keen on being able to stay with you in your room. Comfy dog beds are available for any four-legged guests, though there is a maximum of two dogs per room and they can't weigh more than 20 kilograms each — apologies to all those particularly leggy hounds and hefty pooches. The hotel also has dog-friendly mini-bar offerings, with a specially curated pet degustation (dog-ustation?) menu featuring bites like the 'Quarter Hounder' (pan-fried steak served with green vegetables) and 'The Good Dog' (market fish with steamed carrot). If you are bringing along your canine mate, there's an $80 pet cleaning fee per room, per stay. Of course, there's plenty in the way of onsite eats and drinks for humans, too. The main dining space transforms daily from a breakfast cafe to Mint Lane Restaurant & Bar for lunch and dinner, and there's a 24-hour grab-and-go pantry stocked with a sizeable range of snacks and other essentials. In keeping with the whole Westin label, the hotel also has a strong wellness focus, catering to active guests on the go. You'll find yoga classes, a 24-hour high-tech gym and even a free Bikes-to-Borrow bicycle hire program. Melbourne pet owners are having a pretty great run of late. Just a couple of weeks ago the Southside's Chapel Street stretch became Australia's first permanently pet-friendly major shopping precinct, while over in St Kilda, the Newmarket Hotel is now whipping up dog-friendly parmas. Find Element Melbourne at 588 Swan St, Richmond.
You've filled your house with their minimalist designs and homewares, and dreamed of living in their flat-pack homes and tiny pre-fab huts. MUJI fans, your love affair with the Japanese home goods giant isn't over yet. Next on the retailer's agenda is their own range of hotels, with sites slated for Shenzhen and Beijing in China, and Tokyo in Japan. In fact, the Shenzhen location will open on January 18, featuring 79 rooms, a new two-level concept store, and a diner and library for hotel patrons. Guests can expect MUJI's usual minimalist aesthetic — think recycled wooden interiors and spaces filled with plenty of the brand's furniture — plus interior walls and courtyards repurposed from the pillars and walls of traditional Chinese houses. It'll be joined by the Beijing establishment on March 20, while construction on a retail and hotel complex in Tokyo's Ginza began in June, working towards a 2019 completion for the 13-floor building. It'll be comprised of three levels below ground, and ten — including a two-floor penthouse — above. Seven storeys will feature shops, including MUJI's global flagship store, while five will boast their first Japanese hotel. Concept and interior design managed by MUJI-owning company Ryohin Keikaku. https://www.instagram.com/p/BcwNRpDjCEJ/?taken-by=muji_global Images: Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd / Ryohin Keikaku Co.
Among all of the dream jobs that everyone wishes they had, picking the globe's top stretches of sun, surf and sand sits up there with taste-testing new gins and trying out every bar and eatery in Tokyo. That particularly proves true whenever a new list of the world's best beaches is revealed — although, Australians can always pretend by heading to one of the high-ranking spots on our own shores. In FlightNetwork's just-announced lineup of the planet's best beaches, which ranks 50 idyllic locations, four Aussie spots made the cut. And, in news that will come as no surprise to anyone, the Whitsundays' Whitehaven Beach came in at number two. It's the latest accolade for the picturesque Queensland favourite, after it was named TripAdvisor's best Aussie beach earlier this year. Hyams Beach in New South Wales' Jervis Bay also made the top ten, placing eighth, while Western Australia was responsible for the country's other two top spots — with Lucky Bay at 18th and Turquoise Bay at 29th. If you're wondering which coastal oasis beat them all to first place, that'd be Grace Bay Beach in Turks and Caicos. A British Overseas Territory situated around 1,000 kilometres from Miami in the North Atlantic Ocean, it boasts warm Atlantic waters, its own barrier reef and sunny weather approximately 319 days of the year. The picks were made by more than 600 travel journalists, editors, bloggers and agencies, aka folks who work in the travel and beach trade, and therefore know their stuff. Among their other selections, Anse Lazio in Seychelles, Pink Sands Beach in the Bahamas, Navagio Beach in Greece, Baia Dos Porcos in Brazil, Playa Paraiso and Hidden Beach in Mexico, and Trunk Bay in the United States Virgin Islands all rounded out the top ten. Thinking about taking your own trip to Whitehaven Beach? Check out our Outside Guide to the Whitsundays. Via: FlightNetwork. Image: Damien Dempsey via Wikicommons.
Have you ever thought back longingly at '80s and '90s VHS classics that you thought you might never watch again, because who the heck still has a VCR? Fear not film nerds, we have just the screening event you have been looking for. Now in its second season Deja-View Cinema is out to prove that sometimes, the sequel is better than the original. This season brings some brilliant second offerings (think Terminator 2, Gremlins 2, etc) but also some cult classics all shown in HD. To add to the experience of watching VHS, there will also be original film trailers and pre-film entertainment. We're not sure what that will entail, but we're certainly intrigued. The John Candybar will have you covered for American sweet treats during the film, as well as handmade themed choc-tops. If you’re craving a dose of nostalgia and a fun night in, this could be the ticket. This week isn’t a sequel, but it certainly takes two to tango, with The Man with Two Brains. Steve Martin stars as Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr, a brain surgeon who’s a little insane in the brain himself. He has fallen in love with a brain in a jar he communicates with telepathically; all he needs now is a body to put it in. If Donovan’s Brain, Bride of Frankenstein, or even Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein floats your boat, you’d better strap in for this wild ride. Bar is open from 7pm and the film starts at 8.30pm, so get in early for a beverage and prime position.
This modern Melbourne izakaya takes both its name and its culinary inspiration from bincho-tan – a top-quality white charcoal traditionally used in Japanese cooking. Bincho Boss has landed on Little Bourke Street, and it's teaming contemporary Japanese flavours with seasonal Aussie ingredients. Here, much of the menu is brought to life by the kitchen's konro grill, promising big flavours and plenty of heady aromas. A modern, neon-splashed space is the backdrop for fun, casual dining, for both lunch and dinner. Sure-fire hits include salt-crusted, charcoal-grilled wagyu beef matched with soy wasabi ($36), a two-person turkey hot pot starring meatballs in an aromatic broth ($26), and a pan-fried udon loaded with scallops, calamari and prawn ($18.50). Fresh, house-made tofu is reminiscent of the kind you'll find in Tokyo ($7), while a signature dessert teams espresso-flavoured creme caramel with a rich chestnut sauce. You can grab the seven-course 'bincho' set menu for $55, or drop $85 each to settle in with ten courses of 'The Boss'. In true izakaya style, the drinks offering has a little something for everyone, featuring imported brews, Asahi on tap, a largely local wine list and a strong selection of sake, including the smooth, umami-rich Kiku-Masamune koujo junmai-shu ($15.50). Meanwhile, a crafty cocktail list will see you sipping on clever concoctions like the Shimanchu Fizz blend of black sugar umeshu, grapefruit and prosecco ($17).
Melbourne's annual winter festival RISING is back, taking over public spaces, theatres and galleries all around the city from Saturday, June 1–Sunday, June 16. All up, 105 events are running throughout the two weeks, featuring 480-plus artists. It's massive. And while it is great to have so much going on, it can easily be overwhelming. Where do you begin? That's where we come in. We've rounded up a bunch of the best Melbourne RISING events you can still book a spot at — or that you can simply rock up to enjoy at your leisure. Most of these are very reasonably priced, and plenty are totally free to enjoy. There's no excuse for missing out on RISING. Recommended reads: The Best Things to Do in Melbourne This Weekend The Best Things to Do in Melbourne This Week The best Things to Do in Melbourne This Month The Best Restaurants in Melbourne's CBD
If you haven't heard of 28 Hongkong Street before now, don't feel too out of the loop. Sure, it's been voted Asia's best bar for three years running and knocks out some seriously amazing cocktails — but it also operates as one of those mysterious, super secretive, word-of-mouth-only venues, hidden away behind an unassuming 1960s shopfront. Plus, it's been hanging out all the way up in Singapore, 6000 kilometres and an eight-hour flight away. Until now. For three nights this month, 28HKS will be hitting our shores as part of Sydney Bar Week. The brief touchdown on Australian turf will see the Singaporean enigma visit Sydney and Melbourne to take over two of our own hidden cocktail bars and give lucky locals a whirlwind taste of all the cocktail magic. They're not cutting any corners, either. The pop-ups — which will grace Darlinghurst's Henrietta Supper Club on September 18, and Fitzroy's The Everleigh from September 21-22 — will offer a bang-on recreation of the 28HKS concept. Expect those award-winning cocktails alongside a selection of the American-leaning share plates, all delivered by five of 28HKS's mixologists, floor staff and chefs. They're even bringing over the soundtrack to round-out the experience. It's not the first time Australia's had a fleeting taste of international cocktail greatness and, given the success of Attaboy's February stints at The Everleigh and Dead Ringer, and last year's Please Don't Tell pop-up at The Black Pearl, it's probably safe to say that this latest cocktail-wielding visitor won't be the last. One thing's for sure, though — at $20, these tickets won't hang around for long. Snap one up here for the Sydney pop-up, or here for the Melbourne one. 28 Hongkong Street will pop up at Henrietta Supper Club, Darlinghurst, on Sunday, September 18, and The Everleigh, Fitzroy, from September 21-22. There will be two sessions available each night, with each session running for 1.5 hours. Tickets are $20, and include a cocktail on arrival.
Serving up high tea in Melbourne for over a century, The Hotel Windsor is a true institution, complete with elegant, delicate ribbon sandwiches. Served out of its restaurant One Eleven Spring Street, the space is adorned with glittering chandeliers, velvety chairs and stretches of Victorian-style carpet. It's a brilliantly traditional space where you can sample cakes, scones, savoury bites and some of the many speciality teas — think peppermint and lavender herbal teas and The Hotel Windsor's famous afternoon blend. If you're there outside of that time between lunch and dinner and want to have, well, lunch or dinner (or breakfast), the restaurant also has an a la carte menu and a pre-theatre menu to order from. The Spring menu includes French sparkling wine on arrival, mushroom tarts with truffle oil, lamb and rosemary sausage rolls and a braised beef cheek tart with mashed potato. When it comes to the sandwiches, you'll experience smoked salmon with capers, curried eggs with aioli and a classic chicken Waldorf. For something sweet at The Hotel Windsor, you'll enjoy honeydew melon, milk chocolate mousse, lemongrass ganache and blueberry-baked cheesecake. Finish it all off with strawberry jam and cream scones, and feel like royalty.
UPDATE, December 2, 2020: Disobedience is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. There's a moment in every Sebastian Lelio film that cuts to the core of the writer-director's protagonists; that lets audiences peer into their hearts and souls. As seen in Gloria and A Fantastic Woman, it's usually a contemplative pause amidst a hectic frenzy — one heightened not only by the filmmaker's empathetic gaze, but by the stellar talent he's always pointing his lens towards. In Disobedience, this moment comes early. Photographer Ronit Krushka (Rachel Weisz) segues from busy days taking pictures to frantic nights finding comfort in bars, clearly masking her true feelings behind a carefully controlled facade. And so she sits for mere seconds, catching her breath, her eyes darting around as she looks towards the camera, and her hands ripping at her shirt with frustration and yearning. If Ronit is inwardly restless just going about her regular New York routine, then she's almost jumping out of her skin when she's called back to North London upon the death of her rabbi father. The Orthodox Jewish community she once belonged to is barely cordial, with the traditional greeting "may you have a long life" cutting like a weapon. But childhood friends Dovid (Alessandro Nivola) and Esti (Rachel McAdams), now married and still devout, welcome Ronit into their home, black sheep though she may be. Grief about her dad and guilt over their estrangement aren't the primary source of Ronit's distress, however. Nor is the rebellious, defiant reputation she's instantly given upon her homecoming. Rather, it's the torrid relationship that Ronit shared with Esti when they were teenagers — and the rekindled feelings sparked by her return. Adapted by Lelio and co-writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida) from Naomi Alderman's 2006 novel of the same name, Disobedience isn't a film about romance with religious tension layered on top, or one about religion with romance thrown in. Matters of affection and matters of theology are both involved, but characterising this complex, nuanced and soulful movie as one or the other does it a disservice. This is a story that recognises the many competing factors that shape a person's identity and choices, as well as the ongoing tussle between being true to oneself and meeting the expectations of others. Accordingly, desire, duty and faith intertwine in a picture that charts the influence each has had upon each member of its central love triangle. And make no mistake: while the film follows its two female protagonists as they try to follow their hearts amidst oppressive circumstances, Disobedience is a love triangle as much as it's a lesbian love story. The sensitivity Lelio brings to the forbidden romance is also applied to Dovid, a rabbi-in-training who embodies the fundamentalist principles blocking Ronit and Esti's bliss, yet proves just as torn about what's right. A lesser film would paint him as the villain, but that's the kind of easy depiction Disobedience shies away from at every turn. Although the movie delves into a cloistered world that's set in its ways and unwilling to change, nothing about its characters, their emotions or their struggles is anywhere near as straightforward or clear cut. There's a reason that Lelio favours shades of grey, visually, after all. Weisz, McAdams and Nivola are similarly multifaceted — so much so that, in the ultimate compliment to each actor, their respective characters feel as though they could walk right off the screen. The blend of steeliness and vulnerability Weisz brings to the bulk of her work courses through Ronit's veins, with the star also one of the movie's producers. Nivola plays Dovid as decent but conflicted, weathering every narrative beat with quiet poignancy. But it's McAdams who is in rarely-seen form. Earlier this year, she stole the show while showcasing her comedic chops in the vastly dissimilar Game Night. Now, she dons a kosher wig to lay bare the devastating pain of a woman torn between her head and her heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnCLTbLKfv4
The really great thing about summer is that entertaining flies no matter what time of day. Whether a lazy picnic, a barbeque lunch or a knockout dinner party is your fancy, you can do it on the cheap and cheerful if it's summertime. We’ll take you through a day of dining to delight the senses and suit the budget. Day: PICNIC Two words: Potluck Picnic. We love gatherings we don't have to organise ourselves nearly as much as we love impressing each other with our innovative/shameful/purchased dishes. If you want to divvy up the dishes (salad, sweets, nibbles, etc), do that, but it's even better if you can cover the bases yourself and let others fill in the blanks. For food, sort out a frittata, some dips and pull apart bread, and a good old fashioned barbecue chook for plate fillers. Some hearty salads are a must — think rice salad, pasta salad and a simple garden. Pack everything into a cooler and don't forget the bag of ice. Food storage containers are a lifesaver — if the picnic's going as great as you hope it will, you'll be distracted by the fun and games while the ants and insects* are gorging themselves on your camembert. Serve everything buffet style. Picnics are all about the bits and pieces. Some pointers: forget paper plates, paper napkins and plastic cutlery — clunky and causes loads of wastage. A set of linen napkins from a budget store are super cheap and they look fancy. Likewise, platters are good value, last forever, and quick and easy to clean. If you've got plastic KeepCups, use those for drinks. Don't forget the rug and think about music: jazz is great any time of day and a little Bill Evans goes a long way. If you're planning on your humble picnic rolling into the sunset ,just make sure your playlist can go the distance. *be a hero and bring a whopping citronella candle. Afternoon: BURGER BARBEQUE Barbeques are great because they’re all about the BYO. You can use your crockery and cutlery and get the dishwashers happening or a couple of eager beavers on the dishes to minimise cleaning up. For nibbles, forget bags of chips and packets of dips and cheese: it all adds up to dollars and a spoilt appetite. Make a batch of tortilla chips using a bag of flat bread sprinkled with oil and salt and rubbed with garlic. Cut into triangles and pop in the oven. A quick guacamole using full cream yoghurt to mix will help you out, or else one of those inexplicably excellent layered Mexican dips that still make the odd appearance at suburban baby showers. For food, hamburgers all the way — but they don't need to be boring. It's all about what you add to the mince to make it a treat. Chop up a bunch of parsley, sauté some onions, tear up some fresh bread — you want small chunks, not those fine little breadcrumbs — crack a couple of eggs and add some fresh chilli or flakes, salt and pepper. You're good to go. Grab some good buns or a good loaf of crusty bread; forget those trendy mini buns, you want something to sink the teeth into. Grilled onions and tinned beetroot are must-haves, along with chopped tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. Think bacon, cheese and pineapple for extras, or consider a homemade garlic bread. And dessert? Pavlova is super cheap to make: get a good recipe, some seasonal fruit, a nice thick cream whipped with a little caster sugar and vanilla essence, and you're everyone's best friend. Night: MOROCCAN SUMMER PARTY This summer, let's head to Morocco. There are loads of yummy vegetarian dishes which are always cheaper than meat — keeps everyone happy as long as it's delicious. Start with dips. Making your own is way cheaper and a great point of conversation. If you don't have a food processor, borrow one for the occasion. Serve hummus and capsicum dip with sprigs of coriander and fresh, bright vegetables for dipping. For drinks, do a Moroccan-style sangria by adding loads of fresh mint. Serve in whatever you’ve got — plastic coloured cups are just as good as tall glasses. If you're skint, have guests each bring a cheap bottle of red. Then all you're forking out for is a bit of white rum, tea and fruit. Dinner is a Moroccan vegetable tagine — so easy and time effective. It looks like pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini and carrots boiled up and combined with a homemade harissa paste. Make sure you add sauteed onions, garlic and chilli; whack in a few tins of tomatoes and some lemon juice; and then let it all cook up so it forms a nice sauce. Have a bunch of small bowls laid out on the table filled with finely sliced almonds, mint and coriander for sprinkling on top. Serve the tagine on a bed of quinoa (or if the budget is super low, couscous). Dessert is spicy poached pears in red wine. Skin your pears, chop them up into quarters, fill a saucepan up with red wine, chuck in a couple of sticks of cinnamon and some brown sugar and a couple of cloves, and cook for around 40 minutes. Spend what you've saved on economical cooking on a snazzy carton of vanilla ice cream. Presentation-wise keep this one simple; the load of fresh, colourful, tasty food and drink carries the evening alone. If you do want to tizz the place up, it's all about loud, bright accessories — red napkins, a loud tablecloth and bunch of bright flowers in the middle of the table for the win. Picnic image by Lindsay Smith.
After a somewhat tumultuous history and an ever-shifting popularity over the decades, gin has fought its way back and into the glasses of today’s modern, sophisticated drinkers. It’s thanks, in no small part, to the well-loved and widely poured Bombay Sapphire. Uniquely crafted using the vapour infusion process, the spirit takes on broader, more balanced flavours, creating a complex drop that has changed the way we look at, and drink, gin. We caught up with Bombay Sapphire’s global brand ambassador, Raj Nagra, to find out about his work and to chat all things gin. How did you cut your teeth in the industry and what’s led you to your current role? When I finished school, I worked with some people that really led my interest into the industry with a bit more focus. Working at a Sheraton Hotel in Sydney, I met three very famous London bartenders and they really showed me the level of high-end cocktails. I worked in several Sydney bars in the '90s, went to London, then returned to help open Gas nightclub. I did some consulting in Dubai and Australia before Bacardi approached me with an Australian ambassador role, which I started in 2001. After that, I was given a full-time Asia-Pacific role, then moved to Miami seven years ago for a national role there, before I took on my current position. Talk us through some of the things that your work entails. Well, there’s a lot of travel, obviously. It can be anything from global competitions, going to various markets, supporting local activations to presenting at trade events, training programs and lots of PR-type stuff. So it’s a combination of many different aspects, but it’s really just speaking to any number of audiences on behalf of the brand. There’s a lot involved, so it keeps things interesting! How has Bombay Sapphire set itself apart from the rest? I think when Bombay Sapphire launched, it was singlehandedly responsible for gin’s modern renaissance. In the '90s we started to see a lot more style bars pop up, a lot more interest in drinking culture and Bombay was at the forefront of that. It really has led the modern gin charge that we have — it’s allowed modern gin to exist. How Bombay sets itself apart is the distillation process. The flavour infusion is really like the difference between steaming and boiling vegetables; what you end up with when steaming is a lot more expressive — more forward, more vivacious, a more engaging type of experience. As far as I know we’re the only gin company in the world to have a Master of Botanicals [Ivano Tonutti]. That’s quite unique to us — we have that interest in where our ingredients come from. What are some things people might not know about gin? It’s a lot more approachable than people might think and much more mixable than vodka, for example. It has a lot more to lend and it’s quite a refined taste. I think people are quite often surprised when they mix it, as to how palatable it really is. What excites you about Australia’s bar industry? Australia’s one of the leading cocktail markets in the world – it’s cutting-edge, it’s polished and it’s come such a long way. There are so many bartenders travelling globally and coming back with a lot of knowledge and experience — they’ve really pioneered an amazing array of bars. I think it’s a great showcase. Consumers are also a lot savvier these days and Australians like to go out and have fun, so there’s plenty of good drinking to be had. What has Bombay Sapphire got in store for us in the coming months? Well, Star of Bombay is just walking out the door now. It’s really one of the most incredible gins in the world, and I can say that, not just because I work for them! It’s a higher proof and we use a method called slow distillation where we slow down, and steam up and slow down the production process. Because we’re not boiling it, we have a lot more control over the aspects that we gain from the botanicals, so what you end up with is a full-bodied, textured, sipping style of gin which you can’t really find anywhere else. It’s bold, but it mixes in a lot of different ways. What are your favourite gin cocktails? At the moment I’m quite fond of the Clover Club. It’s a great classic, and a really approachable drink. I’ve also been getting into 50/50 martinis — half Bombay, half Noilly Prat Dry, with a dash of orange bitters and an orange twist. And of course, negronis. It’s not often I’m out and not drinking a negroni. Experience Bombay Sapphire in all its flavour at Project Botanicals. The pop-up will be open from June 24 to July 11 (Wednesday to Saturday) at 64 Sutton St, North Melbourne. Tickets $45pp (plus booking fee) via Eventbrite.
Last year, Four Pillars dropped a boozy ode to the legendary haunt that is The Espy. Fittingly dubbed Sticky Carpet Gin, the creation was crafted in celebration of the historic pub's much-hyped reopening. But, you couldn't actually buy it — you could only try it in cocktails at the St Kilda pub. Now, the Healesville distillery has dropped a super limited release of the gin on its online store. There are only a very small number of the $85 bottles available, and they're limited to two per person, so don't sleep on it if you want one. If you do miss out, however, there'll be a few available to buy from the distillery door from Saturday, September 14, too. [caption id="attachment_701623" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lauren Bamford[/caption] With this drop, Four Pillars co-founder and distiller Cam Mackenzie set out to capture the spirit of a venue that's meant many different things to different people. To lend an unmistakable pub feel and give a malty edge, the gin uses local Watts River roasted dark stout in its base. On top of that, some roasted barley and cascade hops push the beer flavour a little further, mingling with other botanicals like juniper, coriander, green pepper, honey and cassia, and a fresh hit of lemon peel and ginger. The result is a little bit deeper and darker than your usual gin of choice, aptly described by Cam as "a gin for beer lovers". Even the Sticky Carpet Gin's packaging gives a firm nod to The Espy, with old band posters recovered from the venue used on the underside of the labels. Four Pillars Sticky Carpet Gin is available to purchase online, and from the Four Pillars distillery, 2A Lilydale Road, Healesville from Saturday, September 14. Top image: Lauren Bamford.
After an epic ticketing hack spoiled everything for hyperventilating punters on release day, Splendour in the Grass has rectified the situation with a fresh batch of tickets. Initially released in early May, Splendour tickets found themselves both the target of more festival-seekers than ever in Splendour history and hackers who charged said ticket buyers thousands in sneaky fees. Attempting to put smiles back on the dials of festivalgoers and shareholders alike, Splendour and North Byron Parklands applied for a capacity increase of 2500 tickets. Prompting high fives Australia-wide, the Department of Planning and Environment have approved the increase. The new load of tickets will go on sale at 9am AEST on Thursday, June 12 via Moshtix. Splendour are releasing a mixture of three-day, single-day and camping tickets. If you miss out on this predictably chaotic bid for tickets, Splendour's Re-sale facility allows ticketholders who bail on Byron plans to offload their ticket to anyone who missed out. The Re-sale will be open through Moshtix from 9am AEST Monday, June 16. Splendour is pleading with punters to avoid buying through online auction sites or dodgy-looking creeps outside the front gate. Your name and DOB will be printed on your ticket. The Splendour in the Grass lineup and more details are over here.
It has finally happened, Melburnians. After two prolonged periods spent empty this year, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Melbourne picture palaces are back in business. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made over the past three months, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer from this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufBK5XheeCU THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART It starts with the disco beats of 'Stayin' Alive' echoing through the cinema. Although he doesn't ever phrase it quite so bluntly, it ends with surviving Gibb brother Barry wistfully and wishfully applying that song's title to his siblings and fellow Bee Gees members Robin and Maurice. In-between, career-spanning documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart steps through all of the band's ups and downs — from the group's humble beginnings when its members were growing up during the British-born trio's childhood stint in Brisbane, to the rollercoaster ride that saw them top the music world several times but also endure time both apart and off the charts. As tales of fame, fortune and trying to survive go, this one has everything, including brotherly rivalries, tabloid-fodder weddings, shock splits and comebacks, and drugs and the stereotypical celebrity lifestyle. It also spans a public call for their music, and the disco genre they were virtually synonymous with in the late 70s thanks to the mega-hit Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, to be literally blasted into smithereens. Through candid recent chats with Barry, as well as the use of archival interviews with Robin and Maurice before their deaths, director Frank Marshall (Arachnophobia, Alive) details it all. From early success 'Spicks and Specks' (aka the song now used as a theme tune for the TV quiz show of the same name) through to the post-Saturday Night Fever single 'Tragedy' — and yes, featuring the track that gives the movie its title as well — How Can You Mend a Broken Heart surveys the band's enormous contribution to music, of course. Getting a Bee Gees' song stuck in your head, or several, is part of the experience of watching. So is instantly imagining how tunes such as Diana Ross' 'Chain Reaction' and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' 'Islands in the Stream' would've sounded if the Gibbs had sung as well as penned them in their second life as hit songwriters for other acts. But, whether you've cut a rug to 'You Should Be Dancing' before or you've only ever paid attention to their music in passing, what resonates in this thorough documentary is its candour and its detail, especially when it is focusing on Barry, Robin and Maurice's brotherly relationship and their artistry. Less successful are the intertwined interviews with other musicians, including Noel Gallagher noting that working with family can be a blessing and a curse and Chris Martin spouting mumbo jumbo about how tracks just come to musos out of the air, which always feel like superfluous padding in a fascinating and involving doco that definitely doesn't need it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFOrGkAvjAE SOUND OF METAL When Sound of Metal begins just as its title intimates, it does so with the banging and clashing of drummer Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed, Venom) as his arms flail above his chosen instrument. He's playing a gig with his girlfriend and bandmate Lou (Olivia Cooke, Ready Player One), and he's caught up in the rattling and clattering as her guttural voice and thrashing guitar offers the pitch-perfect accompaniment. But for viewers listening along, it doesn't quite echo the way it should. For the bleached-blonde, tattooed, shirtless and sweaty Ruben, that's the case, too. Sound of Metal's expert and exacting sound design mimics his experience, as his hearing fades rapidly and traumatically over the course of a few short days — a scenario that no one wants, let alone a musician with more that a few magazine covers to his band's name, who motors between shows in the cosy Airstream he lives in with his other half and is about to embark upon a new tour. That's not all the film is about, though. Ruben's ability to listen to the world around him begins to dip out quickly and early, leaving him struggling; however, it's how he grapples with the abrupt change, and with being forced to sit with his own company without a constant onslaught of aural interruptions distracting him from his thoughts, that the movie is most interested in. With apologies to cinema's blockbusters (which usually monopolise the sound categories come Oscars time), no other feature this year mixes its acoustics together in as stunning and stirring a fashion, and also bakes every single noise heard into its script, and its protagonist's journey, as well. As Ruben takes up residence at a rural community for addicts who are deaf, it expresses Ruben's distress at his situation as immersively as possible; 'intense' is the word for Sound of Metal, but it's also a term that doesn't completely do the movie justice. Making his feature directing debut, and co-writing another screenplay with filmmaker Derek Cianfrance as he did with 2012's The Place Beyond the Pines, Darius Marder turns his picture into a masterful exploration and skilled evocation of the kind of anxiety that's drummed deep into a person's darkest recesses. Viewers don't just hear what Ruben hears, but also feel what he feels as he rages and rallies against a twist of fate that he so vehemently doesn't want yet has to live with. While the film specifically depicts hearing loss, it's so detailed and empathetic in conveying Ruben's shock, denial, anger and hard-fought process of adjustment that it also proves an astute rendering of illness and impairment in general. That's Ahmed's recent niche, as also seen in this year's Berlinale-premiering Mogul Mowgli, and his powerfully physicalised performance shows the fight and fortitude required for Ruben to learn to cope. Sound of Metal is screening in select cinemas in Melbourne, and is also available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ0jBNa6JUQ THE PROM A word of warning to filmmakers eager to make the next big on-screen musical: cast James Corden at your peril. It may now seem like a lifetime ago that Cats proved a gobsmacking catastrophe, but that 2019 movie's horrors are impossible to shake — and while Corden's latest, The Prom, thankfully doesn't resort to repeating the word 'jellicle' over and over again to try to convince the world that it means something, it still follows in the feline-focused flick's paw prints as this year's all-singing, all-dancing misfire. The two films' common star is grating and relies upon gratuitous overacting in both features. He's hardly alone in bombing and flailing, though. In The Prom's case, a 2018 Broadway success with an important message about acceptance and being true to one's self has been transformed into an over-long star vehicle, as well as a movie that can't see past its sequin-studded pageantry and smug attitude to actually practise what it preaches. Its continually, needlessly and irritatingly circling cinematography captures its struggles perfectly, because The Prom is too caught up in shiny things, recognisable faces and disposable songs to let everything that should matter, including its main statement, have any real impact. Miscast from the get-go, Corden plays Barry, a Broadway veteran playing second fiddle to multi-Tony-winning drama diva Dee Dee (Meryl Streep, Little Women) in Eleanor!, a new production about former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Initially, the pair is on top of the world after the show's opening night — but then the reviews start piling in and piling on. Distraught from the critical savaging as they drown their sorrows with perennial chorus girl Angie (Nicole Kidman, The Undoing) and Juilliard-trained actor-turned-sitcom lead-turned bartender Trent (Andrew Rannells, The Boys in the Band), they concoct a plan to get back in the showbiz industry's good graces. Scrolling through Twitter, Angie spies a news story about Indiana teenager Emma (feature debutant Jo Ellen Pellman), whose high school has just completely cancelled the prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend. As quick as a burst of confetti, Barry, Dee Dee, Trent and Angie are on a Godspell tour bus to America's midwest to rally against this injustice and whip themselves up some flattering publicity. In the screenplay written by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, both of whom worked on the original stage production, this is all meant to be a joke: that fading, has-been and never-were celebrities shallowly and calculatingly try to use one young woman's horrific plight for their own gain, that is. But The Prom likes the gag so much that it misguidedly decides that favouring stars over substance is the best approach in general. The Prom is screening in select cinemas, and will also be available to stream via Netflix from Friday, December 11. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykWO1FhqTfo THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN For decades across the page and screen, science fiction has pondered just where artificial intelligence might take humanity, in ways both positive and negative. The field of science has as well, making some of those possibilities a reality already — however, as The Trouble with Being Born makes clear, we shouldn't just be wondering what AI can do for us, but also what it will and does reflect about our nature. This Berlinale-premiering feature from Austrian director Sandra Wollner asks a plethora of questions, all of them difficult and provocative, about the role of robots in our future. It explores the possibility of becoming dependent on android substitutes for human contact, including in acceptable and abhorrent situations, and examines the emotional toll for both sides of the relationship. With a steely look that's purposefully disconcerting, an opening scene that aims to assault and disrupt the audience's senses to leave them interrogating and intricately observing everything in front of them, and a willingness to pose a severe worst-case scenario (by implication, rather than gratuitous detail), The Trouble with Being Born aims to make its audience uncomfortable while probing these thorny ideas. That it initially focuses on a ten-year-old android girl called Eli who is deployed by her flesh-and-blood owner as a stand-in for his runaway daughter speaks volumes. In Australia, The Trouble with Being Born will always be marked by controversy. It's the movie that the Melbourne International Film Festival scheduled for its 2020 online-only event, then pulled from its lineup after a backlash caused by an article in The Age, which quoted concerns by forensic psychologists specialising in child abuse cases who had either not watched the film in full or at all. But Wollner's feature has taken great pains to approach its subject carefully and sensitively — its child star, Lena Watson, goes by a pseudonym, and is disguised in the movie by under a silicone face mask and via CGI — and to engage viewers in an unnerving but intelligent series of questions about its topic and scenarios. While it rarely makes for straightforward viewing, it's also one of the year's essential films. It is cinema's place to challenge, and to examine aspects of life that are tough and unpleasant; making her second full-length movie after 2016's The Impossible Picture, Wollner accepts and embraces that task. She explores identity and memory as well, and the role in the latter in shaping the former. And, she adds a film both distinctive and important to the growing list of works (see also: AI, Her, Ex Machina, Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049) that ponder what the creation and use of AI says about humanity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi2MK9K1hxc THE GODFATHER CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE The Godfather saga might eventually gain a new chapter. In this time of constant remakes, reimaginings and decades-later sequels, absolutely nothing can be discounted, after all. But The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone isn't a new addition to the gangster epic. Rather, it's a recut version of 1990's The Godfather Part III, aka the least acclaimed movie in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed trilogy. As his multiple versions of Apocalypse Now have shown over the years, the filmmaker has a penchant for tinkering with his past work. We've all looked back and wished we could do something over gain, so he's doing just that (last year, he not only released another new version of his Vietnam War masterpiece, but of The Cotton Club as well). Here, by renaming the revised third Godfather movie Coda, he's repositioning as well as re-editing, though. Coppola is telling the world that he sees this feature less as a second sequel and more as an epilogue to the first two exceptional Godfather movies — a message that might seen a bit cheeky, especially given how much this new iteration has in common structurally with the first film, but encourages viewers to give The Death of Michael Corleone more distance from its two Oscar Best Picture-winning predecessors than its has otherwise been afforded. Both upon its release three decades ago and again now, Coppola's third Godfather film doesn't match his first two. It suffers from Robert Duvall's absence, after the studio wouldn't pay him what he asked for to return a third time — and also from Sofia Coppola's inexperienced presence, with the On the Rocks director co-starring as Mary Corleone, daughter to Al Pacino's titular Michael, after Winona Ryder dropped out just before shooting started. But it's still an interesting, ambitious and mostly engaging movie, endeavouring to chart the struggle its eponymous figure endures as he tries to divest himself from illicit dealings and go legit. If you've ever heard the oft-quoted line "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in", you'll know that achieving this plan isn't easy. Also on the elder Coppola and writer Mario Puzo's minds here: how that back-and-forth struggle between the life one knows and the better future they've been striving for ripples down through later generations, as seen through the inclusion of Andy Garcia as Michael's hotheaded nephew. The changes made to turn The Godfather Part III into The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone are minor, other than the astute moving of one pivotal scene from partway through to the film's beginnings; however, as intended, it welcomely forces a revisit and re-evaluation with fresh eyes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqEQyL8prJg&list=PL6F30AC1F68415FCE IN THE NAME OF THE LAND In We'll End Up Together, French filmmaker and actor Guillaume Canet directed a sequel to his friendship-driven drama Little White Lies, this time ruminating on his characters' choices and struggles years latter. In La Belle Époque, he played the man behind a company that lets anyone pay to recreate the place and time of their choosing, whether to enjoy a life they didn't get to live, temporarily try to correct past wrongs or revel in happier memories. His third release to reach Australian cinemas this year, In the Name of the Land is a vastly different film — but it too is about someone grappling with his chosen path and wondering what might've been. Here, Canet steps into the shoes of Pierre Jarjeau, who returns to his dad's (Rufus, Amelie) modest farm in 1979 after a stint on a vast Wyoming cattle ranch and, with a 25-year-old's hope for the future, instantly agrees to take over the family property. Fast-forward to the mid to late 90s, when the majority of the movie takes place, and Pierre is saddled with debt and trouble. He's still repaying his father, the price he earns for his produce just keeps dropping and, despite his wife Claire's (Veerle Baetens, The Broken Circle Breakdown) disapproval, he's certain that expanding and taking on bigger loans is the only way forward. Pierre's plan requires building a coop to house 20,000 chickens — livestock he doesn't currently farm — and getting into bed with a giant agriculture company to do so. First-time feature writer/director Edouard Bergeon bases In the Name of the Land on his own father's story, and it's a grim one, as every move Pierre makes seems to place the Jarjeaus in a worse situation with ever-increasing stress and higher stakes. Given that this is a personal tale and topic for the filmmaker, it's hardly surprising that he draws such nuanced and authentic performances from Canet, Batens and Rufus, and from young actor Anthony Bajon (The Prayer), who is virtually playing the director's on-screen surrogate. The prominence given to the gorgeously shot landscape, including golden and green fields that stretch as far as the eye can see, isn't the least bit astonishing either. And, neither is this solemn but passionate movie's unshakeable condemnation of the current state of French agriculture, and of the very real toll that the push towards corporations and mass production is taking on those who dedicate their life to working the land. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47ooNWugxRE OLIVER SACKS: HIS OWN LIFE Three decades ago, one of neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks' books was turned into a film. Drawn from his time in the late 60s treating patients with encephalitis lethargica — people catatonic thanks to a pandemic that spread around the world between 1915–26, and still hospitalised across all those intervening years — Awakenings brought an astonishing true tale to the screen, with Robin Williams playing Sacks' on-screen surrogate and Robert De Niro co-starring as one of the afflicted. The work that led to the text, and the fact that it was adapted into a movie, are both significant achievements. But Sacks' life was filled with many remarkable acts, deeds and successes. He passed away in 2015 aged 82; however, documentary Oliver Sacks: His Own Life assembles a wealth of footage shot as he was facing his end and looking back on his ups and downs. Days after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier that year, he penned an article for The New York Times, called My Own Life, about learning the news — and that same year he published an autobiography, On the Move: A Life — so sharing his thoughts to camera, and stepping through the ebbs and flows of his life that brought him to that junction, was a natural extension of a reflective process he was already going through. There's much to look back on; Sacks might've dedicated his medical career to getting inside the minds of others, and to advancing the understanding of many conditions that affect the brain, but his own life could inspire a comparable wealth of material. Consequently, filmmaker Ric Burns (Made for Each Other: A History of the Bond Between Humans and Dogs) has the job of synthesising the abundance of incidents and details from his subject's eight-decade existence into a thorough and accessible 111-minute film — a considerable feat, but one he masters. Whether you're familiar with Sachs and have read his popular books, you only know him via Awakenings or you're a complete newcomer to his tale, His Own Life unfurls not just the requisite biographical data, but a true sense of spending time in Sachs' inimitable, always-curious, incessantly-thoughtful company. That, and his outlook as he was forced to face the end of his days, are the gifts this doco gives audiences. Sachs' friends and colleagues all pop up as talking heads, offering their recollections and thoughts as well, with Burns structuring his picture in a straightforward fashion — but there's nothing standard about the man at the touching movie's centre, or everything that comprised his life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv99TgifpH0 A CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM BOB The true tale behind 2016's A Street Cat Named Bob and now this year's A Christmas Gift From Bob is undeniably heartwarming, especially for anyone who has welcomed a pet — and a friendly feline at that — into their lives and been forever altered for the better. Homeless and struggling to kick a heroin habit, James Bowen finds the companionship and purpose he needs in a ginger kitty that wanders off the streets and into his flat. A firm bond is forged, and much changes for both the two-and four-legged sides of the relationship. That's the story that the first movie charted. This sequel now picks up after Bowen has become a literary success from turning his kinship with Bob into a bestselling book, although he's still busking, selling The Big Issue and working hard to get by. The struggle with both movies, however, is just how sappy and soppy everything feels at every single moment. It really shouldn't take much to be moved by Bowen and Bob's tale, but these films push the sentiment so forcefully, completely failing to trust that viewers will connect with the story without an overdose of mawkishness. It was true of A Street Cat Named Bob, and it still rings accurate in A Christmas Gift From Bob — which, as the moniker makes plain, is set during the festive season for an extra stint of heartstring-pulling. Life may have improved for Bowen (Luke Treadaway, Unbroken) thanks to Bob, but it doesn't take much to put the pair in a precarious situation. A Christmas Gift From Bob's big dramas come in the form of animal control, who threaten to take the cute cat away after they see him out with his owner in the chilly winter weather. That this happens just as Bob needs veterinary attention adds another layer, as does the easily spiral Bowen navigates due to living on a financial knife's edge. In a nicely drawn performance, Treadaway gives his role more depth than either director Charles Martin Smith or writer Garry Jenkins ask for. Alas, that the former's resume also spans Air Bud, Dolphin Tale and its sequel, and the slushy A Dog's Way Home, is telling — as is the fact that the latter returns after penning the lacklustre first Bob film. There's no point in A Christmas Gift From Bob where it isn't advising its audience how to feel via its dialogue, warm colour scheme and sugarcoating in general. There are zero moments that recognise that Bowen's plight doesn't need to be brought to the screen in such an overt and schmaltzy manner, either, and that both his experiences with Bob and in general are inherently affecting. And, even if you're the biggest feline fancier there is, not even a famous cat (playing himself no less) can patch over the movie's troubles, although its makers clearly think otherwise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fla02yFATuY HOW DO YOU KNOW CHRIS? The sounds of You Am I's 'Berlin Chair' fill its opening moments. An Ivy and the Big Apples-era Spiderbait t-shirt is given by one person to another. The Sydney Olympics are mentioned, too. Accordingly, if Australian film How Do You Know Chris? didn't inform its audience that it was set in 2000, they'd be able to hazard a very firm guess anyway. Spilling out a plethora of details, then asking viewers to piece them together: that's this Melbourne-shot and -set drama's approach. Its characters are in the same situation, after the eponymous Chris (Luke Cook, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) invites a disparate group of people to his apartment for a party. He gives them all different reasons for the shindig, including telling his boss Shane (Stephen Carracher, The Doctor Blake Mysteries) that it's costumed. He hires a waiter to serve beverages, to keep everyone socially lubricated. But, making them wait, drink, chat, get to know each other if they don't and work through long-held grudges if they're already acquainted — with commerce student Emi (Tatiana Quaresma, another The Doctor Blake Mysteries alumnus) falling into the first category, and high school classmates Justin (Jacob Machin, The Twilight Zone), Claire (Ellen Grimshaw, Bloom) and Blucker (Dan Haberfield, Wrong Kind of Black) in the second — Luke then takes his time to show up himself. Other guests are present, such as couple Ray (Lee Mason, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears) and Dot (Lynn Gilmartin, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee), plus the kohl-eyed Christal (Rachel Kim Cross, Mr Inbetween) — all with different connections to the chameleonic Luke, which get teased out over the course of the film. As a result, first-time feature director Ashley Harris and screenwriter Zachary Perez (a fellow debutant) ask a considerable amount of their cast, with the party attendees' awkward chatter and the general uncertainty they feel about the event driving the majority of the movie. As for why everyone is there, that's a tense puzzle for How Do You Know Chris?'s on-screen figures, but not its viewers. While there's weightiness to the idea of someone taking stock of their existence by inviting key people who've made a mark on their life to the one gathering, and to the big reveal when Luke's guests discover the purpose of the shindig, the movie nonetheless feels overstretched. Still, for its first two-thirds, this low-budget Aussie effort makes the most of its main players, the suspense they're saddled with and the movie's apartment-set cinematography. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-0bUxBs8lE THE WAR WITH GRANDPA There is very little that's impressive about The War with Grandpa, which is based on Robert Kimmel Smith's children's novel of the same name, other than its ability to repeatedly remind viewers that its adult leads have been in much, much better movies. The film not only nods to the Robert De Niro-starring Taxi Driver, but reunites him with his The Deer Hunter costar Christopher Walken. It has Uma Thurman playing the nagging mother of a black bob-wearing teenager called Mia (Decker, not Wallace, but the elbowing in Pulp Fiction's direction can't be accidental). These inclusions are meant to satiate adult audience members either watching along with their children, or just watching in general. Really, though, they just stress that this'll never rank among the standouts on De Niro, Walken or Thurman's resumes. It's unfair to compare The War with Grandpa with any of their career highlights, of course, but aside from its recognisable cast, this family-friendly comedy about a kid who overreacts when his grandfather moves in and takes over his bedroom doesn't boast anything other than overplayed and overly formulaic inanity. It's supposed to garner laughs from all ages; however, older viewers are unlikely to even crack a smile and kids 100-percent deserve more. After widower Ed (De Niro) has trouble with a supermarket self-checkout, accidentally becomes a shoplifter and causes a scene, his daughter Sally (Thurman) decides that it's time for him to live with her family instead of on his own. But her son Peter (Oakes Fegley, The Goldfinch) has to relocate to the attic to accommodate the household's new member and, really just because the movie's premise wouldn't work otherwise, he's brattishly unhappy about the change to the point of acting out. He declares war, in fact, even going as far as penning a letter announcing his plans — and soon grandpa and grandson are both engaged in a battle of escalating pranks over turf. While De Niro has plenty of forgettable features to his name (see also: this year's The Comeback Trail), he's also taken enough roles that just require him to be silly that his casting in films like this is no longer anywhere near funny. And director Tim Hill has a long history working on SpongeBob SquarePants, including helming this year's entertaining The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, so it is easy to see why he was drawn to the project — this storyline would've likely worked well in an animated format, set under the sea, and with that zany critter facing off against a nemesis — but there's not even the slightest trace of engaging goofiness here. If you're wondering what else is currently screening around Melbourne, we've also picked the 12 best flicks that started gracing the city's silver screens when indoor cinemas were given the green light to reopen. When outdoor cinemas relaunched before that, we outlined the films showing under the stars, too. And, we've run through all the pictures that opened in the city on November 12, November 19 and November 26 as well. You can also read our full reviews of The Personal History of David Copperfield, Waves, The King of Staten Island, Babyteeth, Deerskin, Peninsula, Les Misérables, Bill & Ted Face the Music, An American Pickle, On the Rocks, Antebellum, Kajillionaire, The Craft: Legacy, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Radioactive, Brazen Hussies, Freaky, Mank, Monsoon and Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt), American Utopia, Possessor, Misbehaviour and Happiest Season, all of which have been showing in Melbourne since cinemas reopened. And, you can check out our rundowns of the new films that released in other cities over the past few months — on July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23 and July 30; August 6, August 13, August 20 and August 27; September 3, September 10, September 17 and September 24; October 1, October 8, October 15, October 22 and October 29; and November 5 — as a number of those movies are now showing in Melbourne as well.
Out in the California High Desert last month, people saw a mysterious apparition: a transparent log cabin named Lucid Stead, the latest installation by artist Phillip K Smith III. At first glance the structure doesn't look real. Is it a mirage, a vision, a portal to another world? The structure's Pre-Romanesque stripes are no hallucination: Smith achieved the optical illusion of transparency by inlaying lengths of mirror between the splintery old wood planks of a 70-year-old homesteader shack in Joshua Tree national park. When the artwork was unveiled, he was surprised by an influx over two days of 400 visitors who'd gotten word of the magical cabin. Search #lucidstead on Instagram and you'll see many photographic perspectives on what they saw. (And riddle me this: how come we can't see any trace of a photographer reflected in these images? Witchcraft.) Like Lucy Humphrey's Horizon in this year's Sculpture by the Sea, here is an artwork that uses its surrounding environment to fill its own canvas, seamlessly melding the natural and manmade. Smith likes to make artworks that appear to breathe and move, blurring the border between geometric rigidity and the organic; he says he is attracted to the idea of "something that you cannot hold on to... That slips between your fingers." As the day progresses, Lucid Stead's appearance changes completely, reflecting the different colours of dawn to dusk. After-hours, it takes on a new role, generating its own light rather than merely reflecting it; the windows become vivid, floating blocks of coloured LED illumination. In the pictures below you'll notice the LEDs brighten the surrounding shrubbery in an unearthly rainbow, not unlike the surrealist nighttime photography of Gregory Crewdson. These colours change, controlled by an Arduino computer system, in a continuous flow that's all part of making the viewer look twice. Smith explains: "The color of the door and window openings are set at a pace of change where one might question whether they are actually changing colors." Check out the video below to see a before-and-after view of the shack, and to hear Lucid Stead's creator talk about his interest in the basic elements of light and change. Images by Stephen King for Royale Projects. Story via Colossal.
There's nothing like watching a film at the planetarium, but it's something most of us don't do all that often. Daytime sessions cater to school groups — and in the years that the Melbourne International Film Festival has hosted a fulldome program, it's only been for a few sessions. Thankfully, Scienceworks' late-night series changes that. Every Friday evening in September and October 2024, once the planetarium's usual working day is done, adults can have some after-hours fun in the venue's impressive space. That means sitting in the reclining chairs, looking up at the 16-metre domed ceiling, listening to the 7.1 surround-sound system and soaking in the best the fulldome video projection system has to offer. In September, the Planetarium's Friday-night program is exploring the relationship between humans and frosty climes during the 7.30pm session, thanks to a fulldome film called Worlds of Ice. Then, at 9pm, it's time to get lost in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which is back by popular demand. October's lineup features Black Holes — Journey into the Unknown in the early slot, and the MC Escher-style XYZZY in the late timing. Making things even better is the fact that the whole thing is boozy, so you can grab a drink from the bar, take it into the auditorium and sip while you watch.
It has finally happened again, Melburnians. The city's projectors remained silent, its theatres bare and the smell of popcorn faded over the recent almost two-week lockdown; however, Melbourne's picture palaces are now back in business. Under stay-at-home restrictions, no one is ever short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made over by now, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent more time than usual over the past 18 months 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 films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that. And, we've rounded up, watched and reviewed the new movies that have just arrived in theatres this week. JUNGLE CRUISE Take two charming actors, then couple them up for a feature-length volley of fast-paced banter: that's the screwball rom-com formula. Place this pleasing pair in a scenic but challenging setting — one that'll highlight their individual strengths, see them turn seeming weaknesses into new skills, and will obviously bring them closer together — and that's exactly how plenty of action-adventure movies have unfurled. Sending the always personable and likeable Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt to the Amazon, Jungle Cruise stitches together these two well-established formulas. It traverses its cinematic rapids in the slipstream of 80s fare like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone (and their respective sequels), and even rollicks along in the footsteps of The Mummy franchise of the late 90s and early 00s (a series which actually gave Johnson his first big-screen roles). But, as anyone with even a passing knowledge of Disney's theme parks knows, Jungle Cruise also falls from the attraction-to-film mould that the Mouse House clearly loves. Pirates of the Caribbean is an overt influence, right down to the way that some of this new flick's villains look, and thrusting all these blatant templates to the fore — and together — doesn't quite result in movie magic. Indeed, despite Johnson and Blunt's charismatic and capable pairing, as well as the movie's visually boisterous imagery, the film's modest pleasures all fade oh-so-quickly, as happens with every amusement ride. Directed by Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter's Jaume Collet-Serra, who makes a workmanlike but hardly memorable jump from unleashing Liam Neeson's special set of skills, Jungle Cruise wants to whisk viewers off on a spirited ride. That's the experiential aim of most theme park-based films: these flicks want audiences to feel like they've stepped inside the attraction from their cinema seat. So, before the movie's title card graces the screen, two sequences endeavour to set this tone. It's 1916, and Dr Lily Houghton (Blunt, A Quiet Place Part II) sneaks into an all-male science society to look for a treasured arrowhead from the Amazon. She's tasked her fussy brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall, Good Omens) with deflecting the organisation's members by telling them her theories about a fabled South American tree, called the Tears of the Moon, that can cure any illness or break any curse. The men are dismissive, but she knows they will be. She's there to steal the trinket so it can lead her to the mythical plant, all while Prince Joachim of Germany (Jesse Plemons, Judas and the Black Messiah) tries to get his hands on it as well. When Lily comes out on top, the Houghtons are off to Brazil to hit the river, but they'll need a captain to guide their watery jaunt. In his introductory scene, the roguish Frank Wolff (Johnson, Jumanji: The Next Level) is spied conducting tourist trips down the Amazon, every step choreographed like an amusement park ride, and with his own pun-heavy showman patter narrating the journey. He's corny, and he has a jaguar in on the act, too. Accordingly, there are zero surprises when Lily enlists his services reluctantly and after some subterfuge on his side, or when he keeps trying to trick her into giving up her quest. Read our full review. THE MISFITS Imagine Robin Hood meets Ocean's Eleven meets the Fast and Furious franchise, but helmed by the filmmaker behind Deep Blue Sea, and somehow starring the unlikely combination of Pierce Brosnan (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), Tim Roth (Luce) and rapper/comedian/TV presenter Nick Cannon (Chi-Raq). Then, picture a film set in the fictional Jeziristan, because appropriating a particular culture and applying it to a made-up place is apparently okay by this flick's powers-that-be — and also envision a movie so blatant with its Islamophobia at every turn that Cannon's character is almost constantly making fun of Middle Eastern accents and Arabic names, citizens of this part of the globe are largely depicted as terrorists or psychopaths, a group of villains is called the Muslim Brotherhood, but all the gloss and glitz of Abu Dhabi, where the movie is shot, is leered at (as are the scantily clad women seen in its hotels, too). No one wants to visualise this flick, but unfortunately it exists. And yes, The Misfits is as atrocious as it sounds. Director Renny Harlin (who also has Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight to his name) seems like he's simply trying to recreate shots, looks and scenes he likes from far better films, but badly. And, the fact that co-screenwriter Kurt Wimmer also has the atrocious 2015 remake of Point Break on his resume makes a huge amount of sense, because this bag of tripe just stitches together plot points from almost every other heist feature there is (as exacerbated by dialogue as bland and cliched as every aspect of the narrative). A big contender for the worst movie to reach Australian cinemas this year, and a film that surely wouldn't have ever gotten the chance if the pandemic hadn't upended the theatrical release slate, The Misfits brings together a ragtag gang of well-meaning criminals. They anoint themselves with the movie's moniker after ruling out 'motley crew' for obvious reasons, if you're wondering how stupid and inane this feature gets — and quickly. Bank robber Ringo (Cannon) usually flexes his light-fingered skills to rip off the wealthy and give back to the poor, so obviously he's keen to form a makeshift family with martial arts expert Violet (Jamie Chung, Lovecraft Country), who likes punishing terrible men; explosives-obsessed Wick (Thai popstar Mike Angelo), who blows up nasty businesses; and 'the Prince' (Rami Jaber, Tough Love), who may or may not be royalty in another made-up country. Their next target: a vault of gold hidden inside a maximum-security Jeziristan jail overseen by nefarious businessman Warner Schultz (Roth). Their latest recruits: UN-employed humanitarian Hope (Hermione Corfield, Sea Fever) and, if she can convince him, her conman dad Richard Pace (Brosnan), who of course has a history with their mark. Much that happens is nonsensical, which also applies to the messily staged and shot action scenes. The movie's sexism goes hand in hand with its blatant racism, too. Daddy issues, second chances, car chases, slow-motion explosions, pointless visual tricks — that's all part of this hideous package as well, alongside absolutely zero subtlety or enjoyment. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately before lockdown — check out our rundown of new films released in Melbourne on March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22 and April 29; May 6, May 13, May 20 and May 27; June 3, June 10, June 17 and June 24; July 1 and just this week, when the last lockdown ended. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as 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, Supernova, The Dissident, The United States vs Billie Holiday, First Cow, Wrath of Man, Locked Down, The Perfect Candidate, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, Ema, A Quiet Place Part II, Cruella, My Name Is Gulpilil, Lapsis, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Fast and Furious 9, Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks, In the Heights, Herself, Little Joe, Black Widow, The Sparks Brothers and Old.
