When Ben & Jerry's wanted to call for action on climate change, it stuck to its strengths, releasing a new ice cream flavour to draw attention to the topic. When it wanted to specifically target the Australian Government's support for fossil fuels, it did the same as well. But, in its latest effort to support renewables, the dessert brand has decided to branch out. Its new release won't just satisfy your sweet tooth — it'll also quench your thirst. For a limited time, Ben & Jerry's beloved choc chip cookie dough flavour is no longer just something that you eat. You can now drink it, too, thanks to a collaboration with 4 Pines. The brew tempting your tastebuds: a new Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Nitro beer. And yes, like ice cream, it's best served as cold as possible. When you crack open a can — which can be bought individually, in four-packs and in 24-tin cartons from Monday, May 17 — you'll then sip a lactose-infused brown nitro brew. Expect a decadent and creamy taste, as well as plenty of colour thanks to the nitro infusion. You'll also find the beer on tap at selected venues, and on the menu at the GABS Craft Beer and Cider Festival in Melbourne and Brisbane — and if you start hankering for dessert afterwards, well, that's understandable. When 4 Pines was in the brewing stage, the new beer was made with energy sourced from solar and wind — which powers the brewery's main Brookvale site and headquarters. But that's not the only way that the ice cream-inspired brew is drawing attention to renewable energy. Teaming up with community-owned power company Enova Community Energy, Ben & Jerry's and 4 Pines are contributing funds from the beer project to Enova to use to install solar panels for a community group. So, your next brew can help a worthy party do their bit to help the planet. Ben & Jerry's and 4 Pines' Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Nitro beer hits bottle shop shelves on Monday, May 17. You'll also find it on tap at selected venues, and at the GABS Craft Beer and Cider Festival in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The name might not ring a bell, but his creations would certainly be familiar. Yoram Gross is the man behind classic cartoons such as Blinky Bill and Dot and the Kangaroo. Now, rather than telling the tale of a mischievous koala, he is publishing his own memoirs. As is often the case, fact can be more interesting than fiction. As a Jewish boy in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II, Gross was forced to move between over 70 hideouts, even passing himself off as a séance host. After the war he settled in Israel, where he became an award-winning film maker, and in 1968 he was on the move again, this time heading to Australia with his family where he would eventually create some of the country’s most iconic cartoon characters. Looking back on the films — if you need a recap Blinky Bill has his peaceful bush home destroyed by invading humans and must rescue his mother from captivity, Dot is lost in the bush and must rely on her new animal friends to find her way home — it is enlightening to see the stories with adult eyes, recognising that the light-hearted adventures that entertained us as children have much more serious layers with their roots in Gross’ own experiences. As his life, and his films show, you can always make the best of a bad situation. And you should enjoy the kangaroo rides while you can! My Animated Life is published by Brandl & Schlesinger.
Already in 2023, streaming viewers have watched Sam Richardson get spiteful in one of the most kindhearted sitcoms in recent years, and get nominated for his second Emmy for it. They've witnessed him host oh-so-silly game shows, too. It isn't just Ted Lasso and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson that've been keeping him on-screen, but also rom-com Somebody I Used to Know and voicing Shaggy in new Scooby Doo take Velma. Only The Afterparty, which returned to Apple TV+ for season two on Wednesday, July 12, has him playing buddy cop with Tiffany Haddish, however. Actually, The Afterparty has the ever-busy Richardson playing a wealth of roles, but only stepping into one character's shoes. Aniq Adjaye is a wedding guest, doting boyfriend and eager-to-please potential future son-in-law. He's the guy who finally made good on his high-school crush at his reunion in season one, after getting accused of murder when a classmate would up dead at, yes, the afterparty. And, he's whatever his fellow revellers see — because this murder-mystery comedy from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, and The Lego Movie's Christopher Miller is a whodunnit about perspective. The clever, inventive and entertaining twist? Every episode not only takes a different character's viewpoint, but filters their recollections through a parody of a different genre. Sometimes, then, Richardson dives into a romantic comedy within the ensemble murder-mystery comedy. That's what the show's two Aniq-centric episodes — the opening chapters of both 2022's season one and now 2023's season two — have delivered, and delightfully. Richardson is the series' lead no matter which on-screen figure's memories guide each instalment, though, teaming up with Haddish's (The Card Counter) Danner to interrogate his fellow partygoers. So, sometimes Richardson is also plunged into the world of action. Or, he's whisked into a musical, a teen drama or police procedural. In season two, the list includes a Jane Austen-style period romance, both Hitchcockian and erotic thrillers, Wes Anderson's aesthetic and film noir. The Afterparty's second go-around takes Aniq and his other half Zoe (Zoe Chao, Party Down) to her younger sister Grace's (Poppy Liu, Dead Ringers) nuptials to the wealthy-but-awkward Edgar (Zach Woods, Avenue 5). After the ceremony, then the reception, then the post-proceedings, there's a body, a winery full of suspects and questions to ask. There's also Richardson proving as versatile as ever, a skill that's served him exceptionally on everything from underseen Tim Robinson-costarring comedy Detroiters to stealing scenes upon scenes as Veep's Richard Splett — plus a six-episode run on The Office, cinema stints as varied as Spy and Promising Young Woman; and Werewolves Within and Hocus Pocus 2 as well. With The Afterparty season two now streaming, Richardson chatted us through the joy of the show's comedic layers, his odd-couple dynamic with Haddish, living the murder-mystery dream as a big fan of the genre, how he'd respond if one of the series' situations crossed over to his real life, I Think You Should Leave's unhinged reactions and more. ON MAKING A MURDER-MYSTERY COMEDY THAT'S ALSO A ROM-COM, AN ENSEMBLE COMEDY AND A SPOOF OF EVERY GENRE IT CAN FIT IN "There's so much that I love about all these things. I'm a big fan of a murder-mystery — Sam Richardson is. I'm a big fan of a rom-com. And I'm a big fan of an ensemble comedy. So the show is all three of those things. So I got to do that the first season, and then the second season we get to heighten all of that. Now Aniq is investigating not just to protect himself, but to try to figure out actually who the murderer is with him outside the gaze of suspicion. He's now trying to solve this mystery, and also his retelling of the story is a rom-com sequel. So now everything's all heightened when he's telling the story — big setpieces and big physical-comedy bits. That's a really fun thing for me to do, and to get to work with the new cast — everybody's so funny —and all these new genres." ON MAKING A BUDDY-COP COMEDY WITH TIFFANY HADDISH, TOO "They're an unlikely pair [Aniq and Danner], but it turns out they're good partners. One balances the other. And getting to perform with Tiffany — she's so funny. So it's good to play off of that dynamic and that energy. It was such a great thing to do and to get to play with. The two of them — her methods are unorthodox at first, and then his methods are maybe a little sloppy. So together they're able to get through this thing, but [make] an unlikely pair." ON TICKING MURDER-MYSTERY OFF THE ACTING BUCKET LIST "There's nothing more fun than being the one to get to put the pieces together at the end of the mystery — that sort of monologue that Sherlock Holmes has where he explains all the pieces that he's seen, that you've seen as the audience, but now I'm giving you the grand thing, the Colombo sort of speech, the "one more thing, you thought I didn't know this, but ha!". Getting to be in that role is a dream come true for me." ON THE CHALLENGES AND FUN OF JUMPING BETWEEN GENRES FROM EPISODE TO EPISODE "It's definitely both, because you are getting pulled in a bunch of different ways. But that is the fun of it, because you get to explore your character and these genres from all these different perspectives. As an acting exercise, and as a challenge to an actor, you get to say not only 'what is the perspective of this character whose story I'm in, the person who's telling the story, what's their perspective on me?' but also 'what is the trope of this genre?'. 'What is this character in a film noir? And who who is the person within that trope? Who is this person in this Jane Austen story? What is that person in this trope?' But then also at the same time, 'what does the character telling the story think of me? Does this person think I'm untrustworthy? Do they think that I'm a weak person? Do they think that I'm more maybe more bold than I am? Do they think that I'm behaving surreptitiously?'. So that's a fun thing to explore in a show like this." ON THE BEST GENRE TO DIVE INTO SO FAR — AND A DREAM PICK FOR THE FUTURE "I really do love the the big rom-com sequel that I got to do this season — big set pieces and physical comedy. I also really enjoyed the Wes Anderson-style episode, the costumes of the Jane Austen [episode]. Each one has it's [merits] — it's so hard to pick one. But if there was another genre that I would want to do, it'd would be a kung-fu movie. That would be so much fun." ON PLAYING OLD HIGH-SCHOOL BUDDIES WITH SEASON ONE'S CAST — THEN STRANGERS AT A WEDDING WITH SEASON TWO'S "The first season, the cast, and getting to play with that cast, was terrific. And then also the idea that you have this shared history and so you're looking back on these relationships that you've had — but what's the dynamic now? — was such a great thing to get to do. So in this season, there are some dynamics that have existed before. But for Aniq especially, he's meeting so many people for the first time. And so getting to be introduced to these characters, and then to get to work with some of these actors for the first time as well, it was such a great fertile playground for reactions. You're absorbing these people for the first time — whereas on the other side of the coin, you get to fall back on 'oh, this guy behaves like this and I know they do'; this time, you get to be like 'this guy behaves like this, what are they doing?'. So it's two sides of the coin, but the coin is still 25 cents." ON HOW RICHARDSON WOULD REACT IF HE WAS LIVING A MURDER-MYSTERY IRL "I fear that day happening greatly. But I do wonder how I would react, because you want to hope that you'd be bold and be like 'no, it has to have been this'. And you'd answer all the things. I myself, I do like to solve things. So I really would be trying to look at things objectively and be like 'well, no it couldn't have been this because these three people were here at this time, that person was there, and I know they were, and they said that before'. That's kind of how I approach things anyway, so I think if somebody got murdered in my high school, I'd figure out who it was." [caption id="attachment_903580" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix © 2023[/caption] ON WHAT RICHARDSON LOOKS FOR IN A ROLE "Good money. I look for, you know, does it pay my insurance? I am entirely joking — but also not. I really just like characters who have very fun wants, and characters who are able to react to things. So for I Think You Should Leave — I Think You Should Leave is its own sort of thing. That's my best friend's show, and it's sketch, and I very much love sketch and I love playing these characters who have wants that are a little bit unrealistic, and then the reaction to not getting those wants is also unhinged. That's a fun thing to get to do. But then with with shows like Detroiters, the wants there are to spend time with your best friend and represent your city in the best way. I think it ultimately comes down to wants — the interestingness of what characters want, and getting to see how these characters go about trying to achieve them, is what I look for most." Season two of The Afterparty streams via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, July 12. Read our full review of season two.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've been under the weather. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are eight that you can watch right now at home. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 Almost a quarter-century has passed since Keanu Reeves uttered four iconic words: "I know kung fu". The Matrix's famous phrase was also the entire movie-going world's gain, because watching Reeves unleash martial-arts mayhem is one of cinema's purest pleasures. Notching up their fourth instalment with the obviously titled John Wick: Chapter 4, the John Wick flicks understand this. They couldn't do so better, harder, or in a bloodier fashion, in fact. Directed by Keanu's former stunt double Chad Stahelski, who helped him look like he did indeed know wushu back in the 90s, this assassin saga is built around the thrill of its star doing his violent but stylish best. Of course, The Matrix's Neo didn't just know kung fu, but gun fu — and Jonathan, as The Continental proprietor Winston (Ian McShane, Deadwood: The Movie) still likes to call him, helps turn bullet ballet into one helluva delight again and again (and again and again). Picking up where 2019's John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum left off, and once again so expertly and inventively executed that it's mesmerising, John Wick: Chapter 4 saddles its namesake with a new adversary: the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård, Barbarian), emissary of the death-for-hire business' powers-that-be, aka the High Table. After Wick puts the assassin realm's head honchos on notice during an early trip to the Middle East, the series' latest nefarious figure wants rid of him forever, wasting no time laying waste to the few things left that John loves. The Marquis has company, too — seeking a big payday in the case of the mercenary known as Tracker (Shamier Anderson, Son of the South), who has his own devoted dog; and due to a familiar deal with Caine (Donnie Yen, Mulan), a martial-arts whiz who is blind, and an old friend of John. That said, Wick has pals in this clash between the hitman establishment and its workers, which doubles as an eat-the-rich skirmish, including Winston, the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne, All the Old Knives), and the Osaka Continental's Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada, Bullet Train) and Akira (Rina Sawayama, Turn Up Charlie). John Wick: Chapter 4 is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BEAU IS AFRAID Beau is afraid. Beau is anxious. Beau is alone. Beau is alive. Any of these three-word sentences would make a fitting name for Ari Aster's third feature, which sees its titular middle-aged figure not just worry about anything and everything, but watch his fears come true, concerns amplify and alienation grow — and then some. And, in the Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker's reliably dread-inducing hands, no matter whether Beau (Joaquin Phoenix, C'mon C'mon) is wallowing in his apartment solo, being welcomed into someone else's family or stumbling upon a travelling theatre troupe in the woods, he knows that he's truly on his own in this strange, sad, surreal and savage world, too. More than that, he's well-aware that this is what life is inescapably like for all of us, regardless of how routine, chaotic or grand our individual journeys from emerging out of our mother's womb to sinking into death's eternal waters happen to prove. Aster has opted for Beau Is Afraid as a moniker, with this horror-meets-tragicomedy mind-bender a filmic ode to existential alarm — and, more than that, a picture that turns catastrophising into a feature. Psychiatrists will have a field day; however, experiencing the latest in the writer/director's growing line of guilt-dripping celluloid nightmares, so should viewers in general. Even with Chilean The Wolf House helmers Cristóbal León and Joaquin Cosiña lending their help to the three-hour movie's midsection, where animation adds another dreamlike dimension to a picture book-style play within an already fantastical-leaning flick frequently running on dream logic, Aster embraces his favourite deranged terrain again. He makes bold choices, doesn't think twice about challenging himself and his audience, elicits a stunning lead performance and dances with retina-searing imagery, all while pondering inherited trauma, the emotional ties that bind and the malevolence that comes with dependence. Beau Is Afraid is available to stream via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BROKER No matter how Hirokazu Kore-eda's on-screen families come to be, if there's any actual blood between them, whether they're grifting in some way or where in the world they're located, the Japanese writer/director and Shoplifters Palme d'Or winner's work has become so beloved — so magnificent, too — due to his care and sincerity. A Kore-eda film is a film of immense empathy and, like Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm and The Third Murder also in the prolific talent's past decade, Broker is no different. The setup here is one of the filmmaker's murkiest, with the feature's name referring to the baby trade. But showing compassion and humanity isn't up for debate in Kore-eda's approach. He judges the reality of modern-day life that leads his characters to their actions, but doesn't judge his central figures. In the process, he makes poignant melodramas that are also deep and thoughtful character studies, and that get to the heart of the globe's ills like the most cutting slices of social realism. It isn't just to make a buck that debt-ridden laundromat owner Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho, Parasite) and orphanage-raised Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won, Peninsula) take infants abandoned to the Busan Family Church's 'baby box' — a chute that's exactly what it sounds like, available to mothers who know they can't embrace that part for whatever reason — then find good families to sell them to. There's a cash component, of course, but they're convinced that their gambit is better than letting children languish in the state system. In Kore-eda's usual kindhearted manner, Broker sees them with sensitivity. Even if blue hues didn't wash through the film's frames, nothing is ever black and white in the director's movies. The same understanding and tenderness flows towards mothers like So-young (Lee Ji-eun, Hotel Del Luna, aka K-Pop star IU), whose decision to leave Woo-sung (debutant Park Ji-yong) isn't easily made but puts Broker on its course. Broker is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. PEARL 70s-era porn, but make it a slasher flick: when Ti West's X marked the big-screen spot in 2022, that's one of the tricks it pulled. The playful, smart and gory horror standout also arrived with an extra spurt of good news, with West debuting it as part of a trilogy. 30s- and 40s-period technicolour, plus 50s musicals and melodramas, but splatter them with kills, genre thrills and ample blood spills: that's what the filmmaker behind cult favourites The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers now serves up with X prequel Pearl. Shot back to back with its predecessor, sharing mesmerising star Mia Goth (Emma), and co-written by her and West — penned during their two-week COVID-19 quarantine period getting into New Zealand to make the initial movie, in fact — it's a gleaming companion piece. It's also a savvy deepening and recontextualising of a must-see scary-movie franchise that's as much about desire, dreams and determination as notching up deaths. In one of her X roles, Goth was magnetic as aspiring adult-film actor Maxine Minx, a part she'll reprise in the trilogy's upcoming third instalment MaXXXine. As she proved first up and does again in Pearl, she plays nascent, yearning, shrewd and resolute with not just potency, but with a pivotal clash between fortitude and vulnerability; when one of Goth's youthful X Universe characters says that they're special or have the X factor, they do so with an astute blend of certainty, good ol' fashioned wishing and hoping, and naked self-convincing. This second effort's namesake, who Goth also brought to the screen in her elder years in X, wants to make it in the pictures, too. Looking to dance on her feet instead of horizontally, stardom is an escape (again), but Pearl's cruel mother Ruth (Tandi Wright, Creamerie), a religiously devout immigrant from Germany turned bitter from looking after her ailing husband (Mathew Sunderland, The Stranger), laughs at the idea. Pearl is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. POLITE SOCIETY Fists fly in Polite Society. Feet as well. When the latter aren't suspended in mid-air attempting to execute stunning kung-fu stunts, they just might be busting out their best Bollywood dance moves. Words are screamed and shouted, often between sisters Ria (Priya Kansara, Bridgerton) and Lena Khan (Ritu Arya, The Umbrella Academy), who are thick as thieves until they suddenly aren't. Schoolyard fights rumble like they've spilled straight out an action movie, which budding stuntperson Ria dreams of being in. Showdowns with Lena's future mother-in-law Raheela Shah (Nimra Bucha, Ms Marvel) could've burst from a Quentin Tarantino film. Espionage missions are undertaken by high schoolers, as are heists at a spectacular Muslim wedding in a lavish London mansion. Lena scoffs down a whole roast chicken on a public footpath like it's the only thing she's ever eaten. Ria and Lena free themselves from their angst by letting loose in their living room to The Chemical Brothers' dance-floor filler 'Free Yourself'. And being a dutiful member of her community is the absolute worst fate that could await an ass-kicking British Pakistani teenage girl. In other words, a little bit of everything happens in Polite Society, the anarchic and eye-popping debut feature from We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor. That includes nods to Jackie Chan movies and The Matrix, plus Bond-style antics and Ennio Morricone-esque music drops. Add in riffs on Get Out, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-inspired wuxia, video-game flourishes, musical dance numbers, and nudges in Jane Austen and Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan's directions. Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Kill Bill leave imprints. When it examines intergenerational pressure, so do Everything Everywhere All At Once and Turning Red. Whatever this high-energy charmer throws at the screen, it always serves the narrative. It also showcases Manzoor's lively and bold filmmaking eye. But more importantly, Polite Society is the spin-kicking whirlwind it is because that's what it feels like to be a schoolgirl training in martial arts, yearning to pack a literal punch, desperate to become anything but what society demands and tired of being dictated to — and saddled with cultural expectations but determined to propel along one's own path in general, too. Polite Society is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. OF AN AGE You Won't Be Alone isn't just the name of Macedonian Australian writer/director Goran Stolevski's debut feature, which hit cinemas in 2022. It's also a phrase that applies now that his second film is here. Of an Age initially premiered in the same year as well, bowing in Melbourne International Film Festival's opening-night slot — and, while it tells of growing up queer in 90s Melbourne, falling in love for the first time, then sifting through the aftermath a decade later, it's a glorious companion piece to its predecessor. No one is chosen by a sorceress here. The place isn't Macedonia, the period isn't the 19th century and supernatural shapeshifting isn't part of the narrative. But even just a mere duo of movies into his helming career, Stolevski makes pictures that profoundly ruminate upon two of life's purest truths: that absolutely everything changes and, consequently, nothing completely lasts forever. 1999 is inching towards becoming Y2K when Of an Age begins, and 17-year-old Nikola aka Kol (Elias Anton, Australia Day) is only hours from taking to the floor at a Melbourne dance championship. That's how his day is meant to pan out, at least, and what he's preparing for when the film meets him practising his smooth ballroom moves in his suburban garage — conjuring up visions of John Travolta in a flick made famous two decades prior, in fact. Kol's ordinary morning fever breaks, however, thanks to friend and dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook, Savage River) and her bender of an evening. She's awoken on the beach in Altona with no idea where she is, scrounging up change for the payphone call to say she thinks she'll miss the recital unless Kol can pick her up. To attempt to make his big performance, he has to convince Ebony's older brother Adam (Thom Green, Eden) to play taxi — and he's still all aflutter with anxiety, and just the inertia of being so keyed up from endeavouring to sort things out, when he slides into the twentysomething's brown car and feels sparks fly instantly. Of an Age is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. EVIL DEAD RISE There will be blood in Evil Dead Rise, the latest addition to the Evil Dead fold, and not just inking The Book of the Dead's pages. There's gallons of it, in fact, with assistance from an elevator overflowing with crimson liquid. Writer/director Lee Cronin is clearly happy to jump from his 2019 debut The Hole in the Ground to this beloved horror franchise while giving The Shining some love as well. And yet, nods to past Evil Dead films and scary fare in general aren't the main point of Evil Dead Rise, even though they're still there — loudly when "dead by dawn", words that are also part of Evil Dead II's title, is yelled. It shouldn't feel so rare to see a feature that isn't solely kept beating by gobbling up as many pieces of its predecessors as possible, but that's these nothing-must-die times. (When intellectual property is revived repeatedly by Hollywood's intonations, bringing back Evil Dead over and over couldn't be more appropriate.) Familiar swooping and whooshing camerawork kicks Evil Dead Rise into gear, though, knowingly so. In a clever touch, it stems from a is doing the shooting, not due to supernatural nefariousness. There's a remote abode in the woods — an A-frame shack this time, levelled up to match 2023's travel aesthetic — and unsettling things afoot; however, the bulk of the film takes place a day earlier. That's when guitar technician Beth (Lily Sullivan, Picnic at Hanging Rock) cuts out a the worldwide tour to surprise her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland, New Gold Mountain). The latter is a tattoo artist and mother of three who has recently been left parenting solo, and is interrupted dying her hair 'cool mum' red when her sibling arrives. There's baggage between the pair, but there'll soon be viscera as well when Ellie's teenage son Danny (Morgan Davies, Blaze) finds a certain text — and, because he's a budding DJ, some dusty vinyl sporting words that no one in an Evil Dead movie should be saying or hearing. Evil Dead Rise is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE It took 30 years, plus a warp pipe from live-action to animation, but Super Mario Bros finally gained a cinematic mushroom. While these are peak product-to-screen times — see also: The Last of Us, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, Tetris and Air, plus the upcoming Barbie, BlackBerry and latest Transformers flick — Nintendo's plumber siblings were long flushed out of movies thanks to their underperforming first outing. 1993's Bob Hoskins (Snow White and the Huntsman) and John Leguizamo (Violent Night)-starring film, the first-ever live-action video game film, isn't terrible. It followed its own dark path and hit its own wild blocks, something that stands out even more now that slavish obsession to intellectual property and franchise-building is king. If 2023's The Super Mario Bros Movie is a response to its predecessor, it's a happily dutiful one, doing its utmost to copy the video game. The strongest feeling it inspires: making viewers want to bust out their old NES or SNES or Game Boy, or emulators of any of them, or Nintendo's current Switch, and mash buttons as the red-capped, moustachioed, overalls-wearing Mario. In images that look like they've been ported straight from consoles, Italian Americans Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt, Thor: Love and Thunder) and Luigi (Charlie Day, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) essentially find themselves in the Super Mario Bros version of The Wizard of Oz. Like the 90s flick, they're also transported to another realm where a villainous creature lusts for power— Bowser (Jack Black, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood) here, with an army of the turtle-like koopas doing his bidding. A sewer flood whisks Mario and Luigi out of their own world, after they try to fix it to drum up customers for their plumbing business. On the other side of the tunnel, Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi ends up Bowser's prisoner. Cue a quest, including along the rainbow road, to reunite the brothers, stop Bowser and keep him away from Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu) — who definitely isn't a damsel in distress, but the target of Bowser's obsessive affections. The Super Mario Bros Movie is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April and May, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies, plus movies you might've missed and television standouts of 2022 you mightn't have gotten to.
From slinging back a shot of whisky with a frosty lager to chase, to sampling a flight of single malts with paired craft brews, whisky and beer have walked hand in hand for years. But what is it about these two particular drinks that just works? What other possibilities exist on the horizon of adult beverages, beyond the humble boilermaker? We caught up with Michael Nouri, brand ambassador of single malt whisky, Auchentoshan (pronounced 'ock-un-tosh-un'), to delve deeper into the world of fermented grains. No stranger to the heavenly duo, Auchentoshan are serving up their own take on whisky and beer throughout June in Sydney and Melbourne with the Auchentoshan & Ale, a refreshing cocktail of Auchentoshan American Oak, pale ale, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup. So strap in, friends, to see why whisky and beer make up a power couple that rivals even the Underwoods. THE IRREFUTABLE FACTS OF CHEMISTRY While the idea of actually mixing whisky and beer together might seem a little counterintuitive, the result exposes a whole new level of flavours. By the very nature of their chemistry, the brew and spirit are simply destined to be partners in crime. "Whisky starts its life as beer," Michael explains, so from the get go, the two share characteristics that complement one another. "You're taking whisky back to its origins. The spirit has a great cereal-like, grain structure to its flavour profile, and so does beer," so putting the two together is a no brainer, like with the Auchentoshan & Ale, where the scotch's distinctive nut and citrus base notes match those of many pale ales. However, even though whisky and beer have so much in common, another important part of the pairing equation is the fact that they're also so different. As their shared characteristics are enhanced by combining the two, the differing aspects of their profiles are also accentuated. Since beer is so refreshing, it adds a nice counterbalance to the warmth and intensity of a straight spirit like whisky, Michael explains. Auchentoshan American Oak, for example, balances the sweetness of the oak with the subtle fruity hops and citrus acidity of pale ale; ice-cold frothiness meets with a slick heat, and that's where the magic happens. "You know what whisky tastes like, and you know what beer tastes like, but when you put them together, it's a completely different beast." AN ENDLESS WORLD OF POSSIBILITY When you've got two ingredients that both complement and contrast each other, you're left with a combination that's too great to fail, and what's even better is how there's an absolutely endless stream of pairing possibilities. From matching a young bourbon to a rich porter, to combining a crisp pale ale with a rounded scotch like in the Auchentoshan & Ale, there are endless whiskies and beers to try together, and the industry is always coming out with new variations. "The beer camp, just by virtue of the industry itself, is quite progressive," Michael says. And while the whisky world can be a little conservative, it is catching up with new trends and ideas. You have distillers like Auchentoshan who are challenging the norms, and triple distilling their whisky to create a delicate flavour that's great on its own, but also makes for an interesting drop to experiment with. "You've got a whole variety of experimentation happening now, with different grains, with rice, with quinoa and a whole variety of other stuff," and these new variations mean boundless products to pair up. BEYOND THE BOILERMAKER With these endless possibilities, comes a lot of experimentation. The boilermaker is almost old hat now that both brewers and distillers are trialling more and more combination styles. "That's the whole beauty of what we do, it's experimental. We're trying new things, we're discovering combinations, and we're finding new ways to bring something interesting to people that they've never thought was interesting before" — like combining scotch, pale ale, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup into one refreshing tipple. But when it all comes down to it, it's important to bear in mind that "ultimately, all you want to do is sit there, close your eyes and enjoy that drink." We couldn't agree more. Sit back, close your eyes and enjoy an Auchentoshan & Ale found around Sydney and Melbourne until the end of June.
Your art and culture fix has likely looked a little different than usual the past few months, as Aussies sank deep into #stayathome mode, and institutions like galleries and museums shut their doors to the public in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines. With crowds and gatherings off the menu, a slew of large-scale art events and exhibitions were forced to cancel, postpone or switch to the digital realm. But as of June 1, the Victorian Government has given the green light for museums and galleries to reopen to a limited number of visitors. Yep — along with regional road-trips and restaurant dinners, real-life gallery-hopping is back on the cards. From this month, you can catch a much-anticipated solo show dedicated to modernist icon Joy Hester, check out a pandemic-inspired group exhibition and delight in decades of trailblazing threads by Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons at the NGV. Here are our top picks of Melbourne art exhibitions you can visit IRL this winter. From 11.59pm on Wednesday, July 1, until at least Wednesday, July 29, stay-at-home orders have been reintroduced in ten Melbourne postcodes, which means their residents can only leave for one of four reasons: work or school, care or care giving, daily exercise or food and other essentials. For more information, head to the DHHS website.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've been under the weather. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are nine that you can watch right now at home. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN In The Banshees of Inisherin, the rolling hills and clifftop fields look like they could stretch on forever, even on a fictional small island perched off the Irish mainland. For years, conversation between Padraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell, After Yang) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson, The Tragedy of Macbeth) has been similarly sprawling — and leisurely, too — especially during the pair's daily sojourn to the village pub for chats over pints. But when the latter calls time on their camaraderie suddenly, his demeanour turns brusque and his explanation, only given after much pestering, is curt. Uttered beneath a stern, no-nonsense stare by Gleeson to his In Bruges co-star Farrell, both reuniting with that darkly comic gem's writer/director Martin McDonagh for another black, contemplative and cracking comedy, Colm is as blunt as can be: "I just don't like you no more." In the elder character's defence, he wanted to ghost his pal without hurtful words. Making an Irish exit from a lifelong friendship is a wee bit difficult on a tiny isle, though, as Colm quickly realises. It's even trickier when the mate he's trying to put behind him is understandably upset and confused, there's been no signs of feud or fray beforehand, and anything beyond the norm echoes through the town faster than a folk ballad. So springs McDonagh's smallest-scale and tightest feature since initially leaping from the stage to the screen, and a wonderful companion piece to that first effort. Following the hitman-focused In Bruges, he's gone broader with Seven Psychopaths, then guided Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell to Oscars with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but he's at his best when his lens is trained at Farrell and Gleeson as they bicker in close confines. The Banshees of Inisherin is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE FABELMANS "Movies are dreams that you never forget," says Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) early in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans. Have truer words ever been spoken in any of the director's flicks? Uttered to her eight-year-old son Sammy (feature debutant Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), Mitzi's statement lingers, providing the film's beating heart even when the coming-of-age tale it spins isn't always idyllic. Individual pictures can come and go, of course. Only some — only some on the Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and West Side Story filmmaker's own resume, in fact — truly stand the test of time. But as former concert pianist Mitzi understands, and imparts to her wide-eyed on-screen Spielberg boyhood surrogate, movies as an art form are a dream that keeps shining in our heads. We return to theatres again and again for more. We glue our eyes to films at home, too. We lap up the worlds they visit, stories they relay and fantasies they inspire, and we also add our own. To everyone that's ever stared at the silver screen in awe, The Fabelmans pays tribute far more than it basks in the glow of its director. Because everyone is crafting cinematic memoirs of late, Spielberg adds this tender yet clear-eyed look at his childhood to a growing list of self-reflective flicks; however, he's as fascinated with cinema as a dream-sparking and -making force as is he with fictionalising his own tale. Slot The Fabelmans in alongside James Gray's Armageddon Time, Kenneth Branagh's Belfast, Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths from the past year or so, then, but don't merely consider it Spielberg jumping on a trend. Focusing on Sammy's film fixation, including as a teen (played by Gabriel LaBelle, The Predator) and as his fragile family hops around the US following his computer-engineer dad Burt's (Paul Dano, The Batman) work, this is a heartfelt, perceptive and potent movie about how movies act as a mirror — a vividly shot and engagingly performed one, too, complete with a pitch-perfect late cameo — whether we're watching or creating them. The Fabelmans is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON Every couple has in-jokes, a valuable currency in all relationships, but only Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp have turned a cute private gag into Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. The Parks and Recreation actor and the Fraud director are no longer together romantically, marrying and divorcing in the 13 years since they first gave the world the cutest talking shell anyone could've imagined; however, they've now reteamed professionally for an adorable film based on their 2010, 2011 and 2014 shorts. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On also gave rise to two best-selling children's picture books, unsurprisingly, following a familiar internet-stardom path from online sensation to print and now the big screen. Neither Slate and Fleischer-Camp's faded love nor their joint project's history are ignored by their footwear-sporting seashell's cinematic debut, either; in fact, acknowledging both, whether subtly or overtly, is one of the things that makes this sweet, endearing, happily silly, often hilarious and deeply insightful movie such an all-round gem. That inside jest? A voice put on by Slate, which became the one-inch-high anthropomorphic Marcel's charming vocals. In Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's three initial mockumentary clips, the tiny critter chats to an unseen filmmaker chronicling his life, with earnestness dripping from every word. ("My name is Marcel and I'm partially a shell, as you can see on my body, but I also have shoes and a face. So I like that about myself, and I like myself and I have a lot of other great qualities as well," he advises in his self-introduction.) The same approach, tone and voice sits at the heart of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's feature-length leap, of course, but so does a touching meditation upon loss, change and valuing what's truly important. Fleischer-Camp plays the movie's documentarian, mostly off-camera, who meets Marcel and his grandmother Connie (voiced by Isabella Rossellini, Julia) after moving into an Airbnb following a relationship breakup — and, yes, their work together becomes a viral phenomenon. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BABYLON Exclaiming "I'm already a star. You don't become a star: you either are one or you aren't. I am!" to get into the hottest party in Los Angeles, aspiring 1920s actor Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie, Amsterdam) has ambition. Gracing the same Golden Age soirée after ending his latest marriage with an overplayed joke that could've sprung from Inglourious Basterds, veteran leading man Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt, Bullet Train) wouldn't have gotten where he is without the same drive and determination. And, helping the shindig be the only place to be, including wrangling an elephant for the night's entertainment (a pachyderm that empties its bowels on everyone pushing it up a hill no less), Manny Torres (Diego Calva, Narcos: Mexico) has the eagerness to do something — anything — in show business. Meet Babylon's zeal-dripping on-screen threesome, a trio matched only in their quest to rocket sky-high as the man conjuring them up: jazz-loving, La La Land Oscar-winning, Tinseltown-adoring writer/director Damien Chazelle. As Babylon unfurls across its hefty 189-minute running time, it takes a colossal heap of ambition — perhaps as immense as the pile of cocaine that Nellie gravitates towards inside the party — to make it or even fake it in the film industry. For his fifth feature, and first since 2018's First Man, Chazelle waves around his own as enthusiastically as he possibly can. Even just considering his hefty list of conspicuous influences makes that clear, with the filmmaker unshackling his inner Baz Luhrmann, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and David Lynch, to name a mere few overt nods. The Great Gatsby, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Mulholland Drive: swirl them together with Kenneth Anger's 1959 publication Hollywood Babylon, plus everything from Sunset Boulevard to Hail, Caesar!, and that's just the beginning of Chazelle's plans. The end result also makes for a relentless and ravenous movie that's always a lot, not just in length, but is dazzling (and also very funny) when it clicks. Babylon is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS Ruben Östlund isn't interested in keeping his viewers comfortable, no matter how cushy their cinema chair. To watch the Swedish filmmaker's features is to feel yourself reacting — emotionally, always, and sometimes physically as well. It was true of 2014's phenomenal Force Majeure, aka as clever and cringe-inducing a portrait of marriage and masculinity as the 21st century has provided. With dropped jaws over a divisive piece of art within a divisive piece of art, it was true of 2018's The Square, the writer/director's first Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or-winner, too. And, earning him that same prestigious prize again in 2022, it's also wholly accurate of Triangle of Sadness. Make a movie with a shape in its title, score one of the biggest filmmaking awards there is: that's been a nifty formula for Östlund of late. But even if he directs a flick called something like Hexagonal Dreaming soon, or anything else with a geometrical bent, and it too nabs that Cannes gong, beating Triangle of Sadness' vomit sequence is highly unlikely. To remind audiences that responding to films and life alike is an involuntary reflex, Östlund shows plenty of his characters doing just that — to existence, and to a choppy luxury cruise. It makes for simply unforgettable cinema, but it's also just one part of Triangle of Sadness and its sublimely shot unpacking of wealth, privilege and social hierarchies. Appearing to be coasting through perfection is an ongoing quest for Carl (Harris Dickinson, See How They Run) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean, Black Lightning), well-known models-slash-influencers, and the movie's focal point. When they take to the sea among the uber rich, they're still working the requisite angles (and snapping everything for Instagram from every angle). But then, under the captain's (Woody Harrelson, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) watch, being stranded on an island becomes their fate — and the way that Östlund satirically carves into the resulting chaos is equally hilarious and and astute, even when his film is both obvious and hardly subtle. Triangle of Sadness is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. M3GAN Book in a date with 2 M3GAN 2 Furious now: even if it doesn't take that name, which it won't, a sequel to 2023's first guaranteed horror hit will come. Said follow-up also won't be called M3GAN 2: Electric Boogaloo, but that title would fit based on the first flick's TikTok-worthy dance sequence alone. Meme-starting fancy footwork is just one of the titular doll's skills. Earnestly singing 'Titanium' like this is Pitch Perfect, tickling the ivories with 80s classic 'Toy Soldiers', making these moments some of M3GAN's funniest: they're feats the robot achieves like it's designed to, too. Although unafraid to take wild tonal swings, and mining the established comedy-horror talents of New Zealand filmmaker Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) and screenwriter Akela Cooper (Malignant) as well, this killer-plaything flick does feel highly programmed itself, however. It's winking, knowing, silly, satirical, slick and highly engineered all at once, overtly pushing buttons and demanding a response — and, thankfully, mostly earning it. Those Child's Play-meets-Annabelle-meets-The Terminator-meets-HAL 9000 thoughts that M3GAN's basic concept instantly brings to mind? They all prove true. The eponymous droid — a Model 3 Generative Android, to be specific — is a four-foot-tall artificially intelligent doll that takes the task of protecting pre-teen Cady (Violet McGraw, Black Widow) from emotional and physical harm deadly seriously, creeping out and/or causing carnage against everyone who gets in its way. Those Frankenstein-esque sparks, exploring what happens when humanity (or Girls and Get Out's Allison Williams here, as Cady's roboticist aunt Gemma) plays god by creating life? They're just as evident, as relevant to the digital age Ex Machina-style. M3GAN is more formulaic than it should be, though, and also never as thoughtful as it wants to be, but prolific horror figures Jason Blum and James Wan produce a film that's almost always entertaining. M3GAN is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MAGIC MIKE'S LAST DANCE Ted Lasso fans, rejoice — the Magic Mike franchise is taking its lead from the hit sitcom now. Swap soccer for stripping, obviously. From there, the sports-themed favourite and Magic Mike's Last Dance both transport their namesakes to London, then give them jobs under wealthy women managing publicly beloved assets after bitter marriage breakdowns, all as those ladies try to spite their exes while also finding themselves and sorting out their lives. In the third film in the Channing Tatum (Bullet Train)-starring series, there's a team to oversee featuring players from around the globe, too, plus a gruff butler doing his best not-AI Roy Kent impression. And, it all climaxes with a showcase event demanding dedicated training. That said, only this exceptionally choreographed but never earth-shattering flick fills its final quarter with wall-to-wall gyrating, including a male-revue number soundtracked by 1998 Dandy Warhols' single 'Boys Better' that has to be seen to be believed. New Magic Mike movie splashing glistening chiselled abs across the screen, same Magic Mike, though. Tatum and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Kimi) — the prolific creative force who helmed, shot and spliced the first instalment; then just lensed and cut the second with his regular assistant Gregory Jacobs (Wind Chill) directing; and now returns to his trio of OG roles (still credited as Peter Andrews for his cinematography and Mary Ann Bernard for his editing) — have Mike Lane living his own Groundhog Day in a way. The more things change, the more that plenty stays the same for the saga's hero. This series started out not just putting its star's ripped physique and knack for erotic dancing to eye-catching use, but drawing upon his own story thanks to Tatum's past onstage Florida. He isn't currently getting by stripping while striving to follow his passion, of course. Before Magic Mike was scorching the screen, he'd already made it big. But these films, all three of which are penned by Reid Carolin (Dog), understand that Tatum's reality isn't the way that this tale usually goes. Magic Mike's Last Dance is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE LOST KING When King Richard III was killed in battle in the 15th century, did anyone wonder about a public holiday? Given the era and its working conditions, likely not. There's also the hardly minor fact that the monarch was slain by the forces of Henry Tudor, who promptly became England's ruler, so downing tools for a day of mourning probably wasn't a priority. The world has a frame of reference for grieving a British sovereign, though, and recently. When Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, pomp and ceremony reigned supreme. Dramatising the discovery of Richard III's remains, The Lost King wasn't made with the queen's passing in mind. Actually, it world-premiered a day afterwards. But the Stephen Frears (Victoria & Abdul)-directed, Steve Coogan- and Jeff Pope (Philomena)-scripted drama benefits from audiences knowing what's done now when whoever wears the crown is farewelled. The Lost King isn't about chasing a parade, pageantry, and a day off work for the masses in Britain and further afield. Charting the true tale of Richard III's location and exhumation 527 years after he breathed his last breath, it follows a quest for recognition and respect. When the film opens, Philippa Langley (Sally Hawkins, The Phantom of the Open) wants it for herself, as a woman over 40 overlooked for a promotion at work in favour of a younger, less-experienced colleague — and as someone with a medical condition, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, who's too easily dismissed due to her health. She's also newly separated from her husband John (Coogan, This Time with Alan Partridge), adding to her unappreciated feelings. It's no wonder that Richard III's plight catches her interest thanks to a production of Shakespeare's Richard III, aka one of the reasons that the king was long seen as a hunchbacked villain. More surprising: that the film about all of this, while engaging enough and featuring stellar work by Hawkins, doesn't seem to trust that its real-life story can hold its own. The Lost King is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. A MAN CALLED OTTO In reality, cantankerous curmudgeons don't routinely possess hearts of gold. Genuine intentions don't always gleam behind petty folks with grudges spouting insults, either. Movies like A Man Called Otto keep claiming otherwise, though, because cinema is an empathy machine — and placing viewers in the shoes of characters different to them, whether in background, behaviour, situation or temperament, remains key among its functions. Tom Hanks, the silver screen's beloved everyman of more than four decades, knows this. Veteran filmmaker Marc Forster does as well. After getting villainous in Elvis and sweet with Christopher Robin, respectively, the actor and director join forces for a feature advocating for understanding, kindness and acceptance. Behind that cranky nitpicker, local annoyance or rude aggressor might just lurk a story worth appreciating and a person worth knowing, it sentimentally posits. This Americanisation of A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman's Swedish 2012 novel that first hit the screen in its native language in 2015, did indeed come about exactly as expected. Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson saw the Oscar-nominated OG movie, contacted its producer Fredrik Wikström Nicastro (Borg vs McEnroe), then went about making a US-set, Hanks-starring iteration. Wilson is now also one of A Man Called Otto's producers. Truman Hanks, Tom's youngest son with Wilson, co-stars as the young Otto (nabbing just his second on-screen credit after popping up in his dad's News of the World). This flick's smooth path to cinemas and the easy family ties behind it speak volumes about the film that results; despite focusing on a man repeatedly trying to take his own life, attempts at which are constantly interrupted by his rule-breaking neighbours, openly and breezily warming hearts and pleasing crowds is this remake's aim. A Man Called Otto is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January and February, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies, plus movies you might've missed and television standouts of 2022 you mightn't have gotten to.
It's hard to find a soul out there who isn't a fan of the humble sandwich in Melbourne. Invented by the fourth Earl of Sandwich in the 18th century, the convenient 'meat between two slices of bread' has come a very long way in that time. Today, cafes and delis across Melbourne are paying worthy homage to this iconic dish, plating up riffs on global favourites, reinvented classics and everything in between. Whether you've got a penchant for panino, you cherish a good ciabatta, or you're mad for meatball subs — this city's got a standout sandwich joint to suit. We've done the hard work for you and hunted down eight Melbourne sandwich spots that are simply smashing it in the sandwich department. All that's left is to decide which one you'll try first. Recommended reads: The Best Burgers in Melbourne The Best Cafes in Melbourne The Best Restaurants in Melbourne The Best Ramen in Melbourne
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kkZAKjkiw COLLECTIVE We can only hope that one day, likely in a far distant future, documentaries will stop doubling as horror films. That time hasn't arrived yet — and as Collective demonstrates, cinema's factual genre can chill viewers to the bone more effectively than most jump- and bump-based fare. Nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature at the 2021 Academy Awards (only the second time that's ever happened, after last year's Honeyland), this gripping and gut-wrenching Romanian doco starts with a terrible tragedy. On October 30, 2015, a fire broke out at a metal gig in Bucharest, at a club called Colectiv. Twenty-seven people died in the blaze, and 180 people were injured as they tried to escape via the site's lone exit; however, that's just the beginning of the movie's tale. In the four months afterwards, as burn victims were treated in the country's public hospitals, 37 more passed away. When journalist Cătălin Tolontan and his team at The Sports Gazette started investigating the fire's aftermath and the mounting casualty list, they uncovered not only widespread failures throughout Romania's health system, but also engrained corruption as well. This truly is nightmare fuel; if people can't trust hospitals to act in their patients' best interest after such a sizeable disaster, one of the fundamental tenets of modern society completely collapses. Early in Collective, director, writer, cinematographer and editor Alexander Nanau (Toto and His Sisters) shows the flames, as seen from inside the club. When the blaze sparks from the show's pyrotechnics, hardcore band Goodbye to Gravity has just finished singing about corruption. "Fuck all your wicked corruption! It's been there since our inception but we couldn't see," the group's singer growls — and no, you can't make this up. It's a difficult moment to watch, but this is a film filled with unflinching sights, and with a viscerally unsettling story that demands attention. Nanau occasionally spends time with the bereaved and angry parents of victims of the fire, even bookending the documentary with one man's distress over the "communication error" that contributed to his son's death. The filmmaker charts a photo shoot with Tedy Ursuleanu, a survivor visibly scarred by her ordeal, too. And yet, taking an observational approach free from narration and interviews, and with only the scantest use of text on-screen, Collective's filmmaker lets much of what's said rustle up the majority of the movie's ghastliest inclusions. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zadWJ8tPmnU VOYAGERS He's an Australian treasure, he's one of Hollywood's recent villainous go-tos and he definitely isn't in Voyagers. That'd be Ben Mendelsohn, who comes to mind anyway while watching this sci-fi thriller. In a softer mode, the Rogue One and Ready Player One star could've played Colin Farrell's part here. That's not why Voyagers makes him pop into viewers' heads, though. Rather, it's because his brand of slippery menace still slinks through this space-set flick, all thanks to its most vivid performance. Should an upcoming movie ever need a fresher-faced version of Mendelsohn's latest bad guy or next morally complicated figure, Dunkirk, The Children Act and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch's Fionn Whitehead needs to be on speed dial. He channels Mendo perfectly as Zac, one of 30 test tube-bred teenagers who are rocketed into the heavens as humanity's last hope for survival. In the latter half of the 21st century, Earth is near-uninhabitable, so he's on an 86-year mission to a newly located planet. The young Humanitas crew's main purpose is to beget the next generations who'll colonise their new home — but, after learning that he's being drugged into obedience, Zac decides not to play nice. Ten years in, when the quieter Christopher (Tye Sheridan, X-Men: Dark Phoenix) realises that the drink they all call 'blue' contains an unidentified compound, the decision is easy. First Christopher, then Zac, then the rest of their shipmates all stop sipping it and start letting their hormones pump unfettered for the first time in their intricately designed and highly controlled lives. Richard (Farrell, The Gentlemen), the lone adult and the closest thing any of the crew have ever had to a father, is suddenly treated with suspicion. Christopher and Zac begin testing boundaries, indulging desires and flouting rules, too — and realising that they're both attracted to dutiful Chief Medical Officer Sela (Lily-Rose Depp, Crisis). Then an accident changes the dynamic, with the two pals challenging each other while fighting to lead. Factions are formed, chaos ensues and the very folks entrusted with saving the species are now simply trying to outlast each other. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE5-hkHIZF4 WILLY'S WONDERLAND If you've ever wondered how Nicolas Cage might've fared during cinema's silent era, Willy's Wonderland has the answer. A horror film about killer animatronic restaurant mascots, it's firmly a 2021 feature. It wasn't made a century ago, before synchronised sound forever changed the movie business, so it's definitely a talkie as well. Cage doesn't do any chattering, however. He groans and growls, and often, but doesn't utter a single word. The actor's many devotees already know that he's a talent with presence; whether he's cavorting in the streets under the delusion that he's a bloodsucker in Vampire's Kiss, grinning with his locks flowing in the wind in Con Air, dousing himself with vodka and grunting in Mandy or staring at a vibrant light in Color Out of Space, he repeatedly makes an imprint without dialogue. So, the inimitable star needn't speak to command attention — which is exactly the notion that Willy's Wonderland filmmaker Kevin Lewis (The Third Nail) put to the test. First, the great and obvious news: Cage doesn't seem to put in much effort, but he's a joy to watch. Playing a man simply known as The Janitor, he glowers like he couldn't care less that furry robots are trying to kill him. He swaggers around while cleaning the titular long-abandoned Chuck E Cheese-esque establishment, dances while hitting the pinball machine on his breaks, swigs soft drink as if it's the only beverage in the world and proves mighty handy with a mop handle when it comes to dispensing with his supernaturally demonic foes. Somehow, though, he's never as OTT as he could be. Cage plays a character who doesn't deem it necessary to convey his emotions, and that results in more restraint on his part than the film demonstrates with its undeniably silly premise. Accordingly, cue the bad news: as entertaining as Cage's wordless performance is — even without completely going for broke as only he can — Willy's Wonderland is often a ridiculous yet routine slog. Read our full review. Willy's Wonderland opens in Sydney and Brisbane on April 8, and hits home entertainment on April 21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZmgl4TkFBc ANTOINETTE IN THE CÉVENNES In some other parts of the world, Antoinette in the Cévennes is known as My Donkey, My Lover & I. Both titles summarise the French comedy in a literal sense, but only one taps into the unexpected survivalist thread weaved through its woman-and-animal antics. Parisian primary school teacher Antoinette (Laure Calamy, Only the Animals) does indeed travel to the Cévennes, the mountain range in France's south. The lovestruck fortysomething makes the trip to follow her married lover Vladimir (C'est la vie!), who has cancelled their plans for the school holidays to hike with his wife Eléonore (Olivia Côte, No Filter) and daughter Alice (first-timer Louise Vidal), the latter of which is one of Antoinette's students. And, setting off on a six-day trek, she walks with a donkey, just like Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde author Robert Louis Stevenson did in the 1870s — as he chronicled in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Chaos and convenient plotting ensues, with the film's eponymous figure unprepared for her journey, inexperienced at both hiking and walking with a donkey, quickly becoming the talk of the trail and greeted with awkward horror by Vladimir when they eventually cross paths. But as a tale of a woman finding herself — and finding out how to truly survive and thrive in her own skin — Antoinette in the Cévennes is both thoughtful and charming. Luminous star Calamy is so essential to Antoinette in the Cévennes, it's hard to see the feature working without her. She plays her titular part with the commitment rather than recklessness or naive confidence; Antoinette knows that her decisions are guided by her heart rather than by any amount of consideration, but she's determined to see them through. In the movie's opening sequence, when Antoinette dons a sparkly dress and overshadows her class during a performance, Calamy conveys both yearning and spirit. In the many moments that her character finds herself alone on the trail unburdening her romantic woes to Patrick, the stubborn donkey who becomes her unlikely confidante and much-needed animal companion, she's unguarded and without a drop of self-consciousness. Just as crucially, writer/director Caroline Vignal (Girlfriends) has penned a character who smacks of typical rom-com traits at first glance, yet continually proves anything but. Her script gives its central figure time and space not just to grow, but to realise who she really is. That time can pass more patiently than the film's 97-minute running time should, and that gorgeously lensed space — by Knife + Heart cinematographer Simon Beaufils — is as much the star of Antoinette in the Cévennes as Calamy and her four-legged co-star; however, the end result is never anything less than a winsome and perceptive jaunt. Antoinette in the Cévennes opens in Sydney and Melbourne on April 8, and in Brisbane on April 15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6vOhD_fI2I&feature=emb_logo ASCENDANT More than halfway into Australian sci-fi thriller Ascendant, Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best, Tidelands) finds herself facing one of the modern world's worst nightmares: a dying phone battery. She's trapped in a 120-storey Shanghai building, and in an elevator that plunges downward and jerks back up seemingly at random. She awoke bound, gagged and blindfolded, and with no recollection of how she came to be in such a predicament. She's at the mercy of sinister Russians (led by The Mule's Alex Menglet), who are holding her father (Jonny Pasvolsky, The Front Runner) hostage and live-streaming his torture into her suspended cage. But if her phone was to stop working, it'd be the movie's most monumental development. She'd no longer be drip-fed Ascendant's exposition, and first-time feature writer/director Antaine Furlong (co-scripting with fellow debutant Kieron Holland) would also lose his main way to relay those details to his audience. The low battery hardly comes as a surprise, given that Aria has spent the bulk of the film to that point using the device. Because logic is absent here, Aria's mobile keeps working long after she starts stressing about its demise, too. But the importance placed on her phone — both in relaying much of the feature's story, Buried- and Locke-style, and in providing an easy source of drama — speaks volumes about this muddled struggle of a film. The Russians want information, but Aria doesn't know what they're talking about. Enter flashes of memories from her childhood, which help fill in the gaps. Throw in flimsy supernatural elements as well, and that's the crux of Furlong and Holland's screenplay, which primarily feels like a series of one-upping "what if?" questions — "what if she isn't merely stuck, but she's being tormented?", "what if one wall of the elevator is a big TV screen?", "what if her name makes everyone think of Game of Thrones?", "what if it's all taking place in China?", "what if the CIA is involved?" and "what if there's an ecological aspect?", for instance. Living up to her surname as the feature's standout actor, Best turns in a convincing and layered performance as the perplexed Aria. Stunt double Marlee Barber (The Invisible Man) deserves ample credit given the amount of time that the film's protagonist spends being thrown around, and production designer Fiona Donovan (Back to the Rafters) makes the movie's eerie setting look both unsettling and striking. Their efforts can't lift a picture that's big on ideas but light on cohesion, though. Furlong has a keen eye and doesn't lack in ambition — but Ascendant sinks rather than rises. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; and March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody and The Father.
It's hard to talk about The Darkside. It's a collection of true Aboriginal ghost stories. It's the follow-up to Warwick Thornton's first feature, Samson and Delilah. And it's unlike any other feature film — in format, in feeling and in content. It's a bit like The Turning by Robert Connolly — an anthology of mini-films rather than a long narrative that arcs forward in a straight line. So you have to take it for what it is; there's no suite of regular characters who change or interact or grow or hug or learn together, there are no subplots, no tricks, no twist at the end, no irony, no winking cleverness, definitely no CGI. In 12 small chapters, an encounter with an Indigenous ghost is recounted, usually by an actor, straight into the camera in leisurely, long takes. It's a simple and honest approach to pure storytelling without the cinematic gimmicks we're used to. That makes The Darkside a film to approach with total trust and zero skepticism. Thornton put a call-out all over the country for people to tell their stories of interactions with spirits and the inexplicable. The fact that the stories are real is important. The fact that you may not believe in ghosts is unimportant. After all, you don't need to believe in zombies to enjoy a horror movie. I engaged less with the spiritual side of the film, and more with its sincerity and its unique Indigenous cultural perspective. Thornton's detours from the direct-to-camera thing are highlights: we watch artist Ben Quilty painting a symmetrical, roaring landscape with the spirit of a small, lost girl floating sideways (it is astonishing, and a rare insight into this painter's creative process). We see a long-limbed Claudia Karvan meets the rainbow serpent and dances into Massive Attacked oblivion. And we see quietly distressing archival footage of 1900s colonialists' anthropological studies into Aboriginal people, who were once thought of as the missing evolutionary link between 'legit' humans and apes. There are a few sneaky laughs and a few sneaky creeps. This new tide of Indigenous filmmakers — Thornton, Wayne Blair, Ivan Sen, Rachel Perkins — are speaking for themselves, making Aboriginal stories for all audiences, and showing that black culture cannot be compartmentalised into the past or into the margins of non-white populations: this is not Australia's heritage, this is Australia's present. This film may be in limited release in theatres, festivals and galleries, but it deserves to be seen by everyone. The Aboriginal ancestors of Australia are still here and they're living on in The Darkside. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AUQ-8MBFjjE
Unlimited noodles, bottomless booze. That's what's on offer every weekend lunchtime at Richmond's New Quarter. The Vietnamese restaurant — from the team behind Hanoi Hannah, Tokyo Tina and Firebird — has jumped on the Melbourne bottomless brunch train, but is swapping out eggs and avocado on toast for oodles of noodles. For a very modest $49 per person, diners get to choose two snacks from a lineup of mini banh mis, hot and sour oysters, wagyu beef skewers and grilled corn tartlets — before they dive into bowls of unlimited noodles. Let us give you a preview of what you're dealing with on the noodle front. [caption id="attachment_804577" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Parker Blain[/caption] There are five different noodle dishes available during New Quarter's Non-Stop Noods lunch, and diners can swap from one to the other as they lick each of the bowls clean. You can either focus on the food, not letting anything else distract you as you work your way through the noods, or you can add a bottomless booze package to the whole affair. For $60 per person, you'll get two hours of unlimited tap beer, wine and carafes of the crew's house margarita made with makrut and ginger-infused blanco tequila. And while there is a time limit of two hours on the bottomless booze, there is no cap on how long you can feast on noodles. Consider this New Quarter bottomless lunch as a proper eating challenge, but a damn delicious one. Food and drink images: Ashley Ludkin
If you're wondering how to make a good bar even better, look no further than Bar Liberty. The Fitzroy bar — which was our favourite new bar of 2016, mind you — has added a standalone outdoor bar out the back of their Johnston Street space, called Drinkwell. The small space is built on fake grass and features a corrugated iron bar and a few long communal timber tables that are surrounded by murals, one of which is by Melbourne artist Kitt Bennet. All up, the backyard bar, which opens onto a small sidestreet, seats about 30 people. Oh, and it's dog-friendly (even at nights). The drinks list features two beers on tap at a time, as well as some tinnies, wines and a few cocktails. If you're looking for something you can't get just anywhere, go for the Okar Spritz ($12). Okar is made by South Australian distillery Applewood and is basically the Australian version of Aperol, only a little more bitter and rich in flavour. It's an acquired taste — but if you like an Aperol Spritz, give these homegrown bitters a go. If you visit Drinkwell with the intent of not eating, that's fine, but we urge you to reconsider. Regardless of which drink you choose, pairing it with hummus, falafel or a plate heaped with salad (or all of the above) will not be regretted. Drinkwell is relaxed, no fuss, and a great spot to make some new pals. It's both a top choice to kick off a night out and wind down with a nightcap — whether you're just having dinner inside at Bar Liberty or heading further afield. The lack of heaters, however, may cut your not-so-summery Melbourne summer night short. Let's hope they've arrived by winter. Images: Brook James. UPDATE DECEMBER 10, 2017: Drinkwell has reopened for the summer, complete with a new food menu (falafel) and drinks offering (wine in mini goon sacks).
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue in December. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery opens with a puzzle box inside a puzzle box. The former is a wooden cube delivered out of the blue, the latter the followup to 2019 murder-mystery hit Knives Out, and both are as tightly, meticulously, cleverly and cannily orchestrated as each other. The physical version has siblings, all sent to summon a motley crew of characters to the same place, as these types of flicks need to boast. The film clearly has its own brethren, and slots in beside its predecessor as one of the genre's gleaming standouts. More Knives Out movies will follow as well, which the two so far deserve to keep spawning as long as writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi) and Benoit Blanc-playing star Daniel Craig (No Time to Die) will make them. Long may they keep the franchise's key detective and audience alike sleuthing. Long may they have everyone revelling in every twist, trick and revelation, as the breezy blast that is Glass Onion itself starts with. What do Connecticut Governor and US Senate candidate Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision), model-slash-designer-slash-entrepreneur Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr, The Many Saints of Newark) and gun-toting, YouTube-posting men's rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista, Thor: Love and Thunder) all have in common when this smart and savvy sequel kicks off? They each receive those literal puzzle boxes, of course, and they visibly enjoy their time working out what they're about. The cartons are the key to their getaway to Greece — their invites from tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton, The French Dispatch), in fact — and also perfectly emblematic of this entire feature. It's noteworthy that this quartet carefully but playfully piece together clues to unveil the contents inside, aka Glass Onion's exact modus operandi. That said, it's also significant that a fifth recipient of these elaborate squares, Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe, Antebellum), simply decides to smash their way inside with a hammer. As Brick and Looper also showed, Johnson knows when to attentively dole out exactly what he needs to, including when the body count starts. He also knows when to let everything spill out, and when to put the cravat-wearing Blanc on the case. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery streams via Netflix. Read our full review. KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF Not once, not even jokingly, does Annie Murphy utter the words "ew, David" in Kevin Can F**k Himself. She's never ever just a little bit Alexis, either. Murphy is just as exceptional and awards-worthy here, however, in a superb show that's a clever and cutting dark comedy — and, perhaps more accurately, offers a clear-eyed unpacking of what sitcoms usually mean (Schitt's Creek excluded, obviously) for women. In its first season in 2021, Kevin Can F**k Himself cast its star as Allison Devine-McRoberts, wife to the manchild of a titular figure (Eric Petersen, Sydney to the Max), and clearly in the kind of TV show about obnoxious husbands and their put-upon spouses that've been a small-screen mainstay for far too long. In those segments of the series, the lights glow, the McRoberts home looks like every other abode in every other program of its ilk, multiple cameras observe the action and viewers can be forgiven for expecting Kevin James to show up. Also, canned laughter chuckles — always unearned. Consider the above setup Kevin Can F**k Himself's starting point, though, because the show itself does. From there, creator Valerie Armstrong (Lodge 49) exposes what life is truly like for Allison — who is considered Kevin's wife first and foremost by almost everyone around her — including by switching looks, hues and camera arrangements whenever its namesake isn't around. The visible change is smart and effective, with this two-season show keeping digging into Allison's bleak situation from there. In the spirit of the series' title, she's trying to rid herself of her horrible marriage, including with help from neighbour Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden, The Righteous Gemstones). Alas, as this second and sadly last batch of episodes shows — as its first did as well — nothing is ever that easy. In a better world, Kevin Can F**k Himself would've had more time to unfurl and interrogate its story, but in this world it doesn't put a foot wrong with the time it's been given. Murphy and Inboden make one of TV's best duos, too; fingers crossed that someone reteams them again sometime soon. Kevin can F**k Himself streams via AMC+. Read our full review of 2021's season one. LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER Neither Emma Corrin's nor Jack O'Connell's resumes lack past highlights — The Crown for the former, and Skins, Starred Up, '71 and The North Water among the latter's — but the two actors scorch up the screen in Lady Chatterley's Lover. There'd be a problem if they didn't, given that the film adapts DH Lawrence's famously steamy and even banned 1928 novel. (In Australia, even a book about the British obscenity trial that the tome inspired was censored.) To tell this tale about an upper-class wife, her unfulfilling marriage to a Baronet injured in World War I, and the sexual and emotional yearning she quenches with the family property's gamekeeper, chemistry has to drip from the images, sparks need to fly so furiously that the movie's frames almost ignite, and a feverish and all-encompassing mood is a must. Along with actor-turned-director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (The Mustang), Corrin and O'Connell bring all of the above to the latest take on Lady Chatterley's Lover, and help the sumptuous erotic period drama itself not just bubble but boil. As lensed with a sensual eye by cinematographer Benoît Delhomme (At Eternity's Gate), this achingly romantic film sees its titular Lady Connie (Corrin, My Policeman) meet her also-eponymous paramour Oliver Mellors (O'Connell, Seberg) following the war, after Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett, A Confession) has returned paralysed and moved his bride into his stately estate. Talk of an heir remains — pre-injury, it was the first thing mentioned in their wedding toast — but Clifford's condition, as well as his focus on writing a novel and then modernising the local mine, prove obstacles. Connie could have a discreet affair for the sole purpose of getting pregnant, however, as Clifford suggests. But it isn't just a head-over-heels clandestine love that springs with Mellors, who's also a veteran. Connie and Oliver are bowled over by the kind of adoration, affection and lust that inspires frolics in the fields and stripping down in the rain, all while their romance also helps interrogate class clashes. As well as woozily heady, vibrantly performed and handsomely shot, Lady Chatterley's Lover also enjoys eating the rich; yes, that's sexy, too. Lady Chatterley's Lover streams via Netflix. NANNY In Nanny, Aisha (Anna Diop, Us) is haunted, both when she's asleep and awake. Her slumbers are disturbed by nightmares, but seeing rising waters and unwelcome spiders isn't just relegated to when the Senegalese woman in New York closes her eyes. A gut-wrenching sense of unease also lingers while she works, after securing a childminding job for rich Upper East Side residents Amy (Michelle Monaghan, Echoes) and Adam (Morgan Spector, The Gilded Age). Their five-year-old daughter Rose (Rose Decker, Mare of Easttown) adores Aisha — more than her parents, it often seems. And, the nannying gig helps Aisha distract herself from missing her own son, who she's desperately trying to bring over to the US. She's haunted by his absence, too, and by the stolen snippets of conversation she gets with him on the phone, constantly juggling the time difference. The supernatural disturbances plaguing Aisha and her feelings about leaving her child in Senegal to chase a better future for them both are clearly linked, although Nanny is atmospheric and insightful rather than blunt and overt. The first horror film to win Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, this evocative effort hails from writer/director Nikyatu Jusu, who makes her feature-length debut with quite the calling card. 2022 isn't short on affectingly moody and evocative female-focused thrillers with a maternal bent — see: Resurrection, which also debuted at Sundance — but Nanny's addition to the fold is deeply steeped in Aisha's immigrant experience. Thanks to all that otherworldly water, it feels like it's always steeping, in fact, soaking in the troubles and struggles of trying to snatch even a piece of the American dream when you're not wealthy, white and originally from the so-called land of the free. Also prominent: the dispiriting minutiae of Aisha's day, aka exactly what she has to endure to even have a chance of gaining what comes easily and obliviously to her employers. Like its central figure, Nanny is haunted several times over, too. Nanny streams via Prime Video. COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS A girl, a guy and a meet-cute over an adorable animal: that's the delightful and very funny Colin From Accounts' underlying formula. When medical student Ashley (Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Patrick Brammall, Evil) cross paths in the street one otherwise standard Sydney morning, they literally come to an impasse. He lets her go first, she flashes her nipple as thanks, then he's so distracted that he hits a stray dog with his car. As these circumstances demonstrate, Colin From Accounts isn't afraid to get awkward, much to the benefit of audiences. There's a syrupy way to proceed from the show's debut moments, intertwining sparks flying with idyllic dates, plus zero doubts of a happy ending for humans and pooches alike. If this was a movie, that's how it'd happen. Then there's Dyer and Brammall's way, with the duo creating and writing the series as well as starring in it, and focusing as much on ordinary existential mayhem — working out who you want to be, navigating complex relationships and learning to appreciate the simple pleasure of someone else's company, for example — as pushing its leads together. Just like in the Hollywood versions of this kind of tale, romance does blossom. That Dyer and Brammall are behind Colin From Accounts, their past chemistry on fellow Aussie comedy No Activity and the fact that they're married IRL means that pairing them up as more than new pals was always going to be on the show's agenda. It's how the series fleshes out each character and their baggage — including those who-am-I questions, Ash's difficult dynamic with her attention-seeking mother Lynelle (Helen Thomson, Elvis), and the responsibility that running your own business and committing to care for other people each bring — that helps give it depth. Colin From Accounts lets Ash and Gordon unfurl their woes and wishes, and also lets them grow. Sometimes, that happens by peeing and pooping in the wrong place, because that's also the type of comedy this is. Sometimes, it's because the show's central couple have taken a risk, or faced their struggles, or genuinely found solace in each other. Always, this new Aussie gem is breezy and weighty — and instantly bingeable. Colin From Accounts streams via Binge. Read our full review. DREAMING WALLS: INSIDE THE CHELSEA HOTEL Part of Manhattan since the 1880s, the Chelsea Hotel is as much a New York City icon as the Statute of Liberty or the Empire State Building, and as influential over the cultural landscape as well. It's where 2001: A Space Odyssey was written by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, where Janis Joplin and Allen Ginsburg have resided — Patti Smith, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Leonard Cohen as well — and a key factor in the Andy Warhol co-directed 1966 film Chelsea Girls. It's the last place that poet Dylan Thomas stayed, and where Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious, was found dead. All of these details could fuel a documentary, or several, but that's not the approach that the Martin Scorsese-produced Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel takes. As the building undergoes extensive renovations that've been happening for years, upending long-term inhabitants and transforming historic apartments, filmmakers Amélie van Elmbt (The Elephant and the Butterfly) and Maya Duverdier spend time with the people determined not to leave. Everyone who still calls the Chelsea home knows the ins and outs of its past; "the ghosts who haunt it," as one puts it. But Dreaming Walls considers those everyday dwellers — most linked to creative fields in one way or another, of course — the life and soul of the current joint. That might be easy when so much of the place, and its gorgeous gothic architecture, is a construction site in the documentary's frames. The contrast between stripped-bare walls and jam-packed apartments that've been occupied by the same people for decades is haunting as well. It's no wonder that this ethereal and evocative film is largely content to loiter, to listen and to bear witness to the folks who've been there, seen it all, heard what they didn't personally experience and aren't willing to simply move just because a boutique spot is poised to take over. Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel streams via DocPlay. BUMP Time-jump alert: when Bump returns for its third season, four years have passed in this supremely bingeable Aussie dramedy's on-screen world. Oly (Nathalie Morris, Petrol) and Santi (Carlos Sanson, Sweet As) are no longer high schoolers, or even teenagers. They're also no longer the couple that took a big leap at the end of season two by moving into their own apartment, away from both of their chaotic families, while Oly finished her HSC, Santi started working full-time and both juggled all of the above with caring for baby J. Indeed, this new batch of Bump episodes begins with its central pairing taking the now almost five-year-old Jacinda (Ava Cannon) to her first day of kindergarten. All three are both excited and nervous amid the awkward co-parenting energy between the now-split Oly and Santi — and as Oly's mother Angie (Claudia Karvan, Moja Vesna) surprises them en route. Times and ages may have changed, and situations and appearances as well, but the warmth this series feels for its characters — and the complexity it works through in well-worn scenarios — steadfastly remains. We said it when the first ten-episode season dropped at the end of 2020, and we still stand by it today: Heartbreak High fans, Bump is for you, too. That isn't just because Karvan starred in The Heartbreak Kid, the movie that the OG Heartbreak High spun off from, but due to its dedication to chronicling the ins and outs of growing up and parenting in Sydney — yes, with school a focus as well. Bump has matured as Oly and Santi also have, however, even if the same can't always be said about Angie, Oly's dad Dom (Angus Sampson, The Lincoln Lawyer) and her older brother Bowie (Christian Byers, Between Two Worlds). A key theme in season three: what it means when life already hasn't turned out as planned when you still have so much of it left ahead of you. The show is called Bump, after all, and finds plenty of them paving everyone's paths. With the series also devoting its time to Santi's stepmother Rosa (Paula Garcia, Thirteen Lives) and best friend Vince (Ioane Saula, Preppers) among its broader look at Oly and Santi's support network, it also finds an array of ways to contemplate hopes, dreams, loves, losses, joys and disappointments. Bump streams via Binge from December 26. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK ABBOTT ELEMENTARY The Office did it, in both the UK and US versions. Parks and Recreation did so, too. What We Do in the Shadows still does it — and, yes, there's more where they all came from. By now, the mockumentary format is a well-established part of the sitcom realm. Indeed, it's so common that additional shows deciding to give it a whirl aren't noteworthy for that alone. But in Emmy-winner Abbott Elementary, which is currently streaming its second season, the faux doco gimmick is also deployed as an outlet for the series' characters. They're all public school elementary teachers in Philadelphia, and the chats to-camera help convey the stresses and tolls of doing what they're devoted to. In a wonderfully warm and also clear-eyed gem created by, co-written by and starring triple-threat Quinta Brunson (Miracle Workers), that'd be teaching young hearts and minds no matter the everyday obstacles, the utter lack of resources and funding, or the absence of interest from the bureaucracy above them. Brunson plays perennially perky 25-year-old teacher Janine Teagues, who loves her gig and her second-grade class. She also adores her colleague Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ray Donovan), the kindergarten teacher that she sees as a mentor and work mum. Actually, Janine isn't just fond of all of the above — she's so devoted to her job that she'll let nothing stand in her way. But that isn't easy or straightforward in a system that's short on cash and care from the powers-that-be to make school better for its predominantly Black student populace. Also featuring Everybody Hates Chris' Tyler James Williams (also The United States vs Billie Holiday) as an apathetic substitute teacher, Lisa Ann Walter (The Right Mom) and Chris Perfetti (Sound of Metal) as Abbott faculty mainstays, and Janelle James (Black Monday) as the incompetent principal who only scored her position via blackmail, everything about Abbott Elementary is smart, kindhearted, funny and also honest. That remains the case in season two, where Janine is newly single and grappling with being on her own, sparks are flying with Williams' Gregory and James' Ava can't keep bluffing her way through her days. Abbott Elementary streams via Disney+. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Is every vampire film destined to become a television series? Where Buffy the Vampire Slayer, What We Do in the Shadows and Interview with the Vampire have already tread — the latter just this year, too — Let the Right One In now follows. Originally a devastatingly haunting Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, then an entrancing 2008 film in its original language, then an American big-screen remake called Let Me In, this one just keeps drawing audiences in. In its present guise, it takes its tale to New York, where Mark Kane (Demián Bichir, Godzilla vs Kong) and his daughter Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez, Selena: The Series) are trying to live as normal a life as they can when the latter is a member of the bloodsucking undead. Other changes abound, including the fact that Ellie has been blighted by her condition for just a decade; that NYC is being plagued by a series of brutal but strange killings; and that former pharmaceutical executive Arthur Logan (Željko Ivanek, The Last Duel), his estranged daughter Claire (Grace Gummer, Dr Death) and afflicted son Peter (Jacob Buster, Colony) factor into the narrative. Because everything is a murder-mystery of late — see: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery above, and fellow recent streaming hits Only Murders in the Building, The Afterparty, Bad Sisters and Black Bird — so is Let the Right One In circa 2022 in its way. When Ellie befriends a boy, as has happened in every version of this tale so far, his mother happens to be a police detective investigating those aforementioned deaths. So, while the show chronicles Ellie and Isaiah Cole's (Ian Foreman, The Holiday Switch) affinity as outsiders, with the magic-loving neighbour kid bullied at school, it also charts his mum Naomi's (Anika Noni Rose, Maid) time on the job. And, this Let the Right One In is also a survival quest, chasing a cure for Ellie's predicament. In other words, creator and writer Andrew Hinderaker (Away) has taken the source material, filtered it through thoroughly 2022 obsessions, conjured up there requisite moody vibe and filled it with weighty performances. Sinking your teeth in is recommended. Let the Right One In streams via Paramount+. 2022 CINEMA HIGHLIGHTS WORTH CATCHING UP WITH AT HOME FLUX GOURMET Flickering across a cinema screen, even the greatest of movies only engage two senses: sight and hearing. We can't touch, taste or smell films, even if adding scratch-and-sniff aromas to the experience has become a cult-favourite gimmick. British director Peter Strickland hasn't attempted that — but his features make you feel like you're running your fingers over an alluring dress (In Fabric), feeling the flutter of insect wings (The Duke of Burgundy) or, in his latest, enjoying the smells and tastes whipped up by a culinary collective that turns cooking and eating into performance art. Yes, if you've seen any of his movies before, Flux Gourmet instantly sounds like something only Strickland could make. While it's spinning that tale, it literally sounds like only something he could come up with as well, given that his audioscapes are always a thing of wonder (see also: the sound-focused Berberian Sound Studio). And, unsurprisingly due to his strong and distinctive sense of style and mood, everything about Flux Gourmet looks and feels like pure Strickland, too. The setting: a culinary institute overseen by Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie, Wednesday), that regularly welcomes in different creative groups to undertake residencies. Her guests collaborate, percolate and come up with eye-catching blends of food, bodies and art — hosting OTT dinners, role-playing a trip to the supermarket, getting scatalogical and turning a live colonoscopy into a show, for instance. Watching and chronicling the latest stint by a 'sonic catering' troupe is journalist Stones (Makis Papadimitriou, Beckett), who also has gastrointestinal struggles, is constantly trying not to fart and somehow manages to keep a straight face as everything gets farcical around him. Asa Butterfield (Sex Education), Ariane Labed (The Souvenir: Part II) and Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed play the three bickering artists, and their time at the institute get messy and heated, fast — but this is a film that's as warm as it is wild, and stands out even among Strickland's inimitable work. Also crucial: riffing on This Is Spinal Tap. Flux Gourmet streams via Shudder. Read our full review. STREAMING HIGHLIGHTS FROM EARLIER IN THE YEAR WORTH CATCHING UP ON THE LAST MOVIE STARS Filmmakers adoring filmmakers is basically its own on-screen genre. Six-part documentary limited series The Last Movie Stars gives that idea a different spin: actors loving actors. Here, Ethan Hawke turns director, not for the first time — see: films Blaze, Seymour: An Introduction, The Hottest State and Chelsea Walls — to show his affection for the inimitable Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Unsurprisingly, he has a wealth of company, some chatting through their fondness for two Hollywood talents like no other and some contributing by giving voice to interview transcripts. For a memoir that didn't eventuate, Newman and Woodward compiled chats by a who's who of showbusiness during their careers; however, they also had the tapes destroyed. Cue George Clooney voicing Newman's chats, Laura Linney doing Woodward's, and everyone from Oscar Isaac, Sam Rockwell and Mark Ruffalo to Rose Byrne and Zoe Kazan also subbing in for other famous names. That's where The Last Movie Stars' audio comes from, echoing with insightful discussions given the emotion they deserve. Hawke also includes new zoom chats with his players, as well as with Martin Scorsese, his daughter and Stranger Things star Maya and more, but his engrossing and probing series is head over heels for pairing those recreated interviews with archival footage. Staring at Newman and Woodward is easy, as is celebrating them and their relationship. This isn't just a case of deserved worship, though, but shows its subjects as real people rather than just stars — all while exploring Hollywood at the time, stepping through their careers and contemporaries, and overflowing with clear-eyed warmth. Hawke doesn't avoid tricky traits or truths, and this in-depth doco is all the more enlightening and compassionate for it. Whether you already treasure Newman and Woodward or you've always wanted to know more about the two legends, this is a movie buff's pure and utter dream. The Last Movie Stars streams via Binge. MO For three seasons on Ramy, Mohammed Amer has played Mo, the diner-owning cousin to the show's namesake. For those three seasons, including 2022's batch of episodes, he's also been part of one of the best and most thoughtful shows currently streaming, especially when it comes to the immigrant experience and telling Muslim American stories. Instead of just co-starring in an art-imitates-life dramedy inspired by someone else's existence, however, Amer has taken a leaf out of Ramy Youssef's book with Mo — a show with the same underlying concept, as co-created by Amer and Youssef. This time, the pair draw upon Amer's background rather than Youssef's. So, Amer's on-screen alter-ego is a Palestinian living in America. He's a refugee, in fact, who fled the Middle East when he was a child and sought asylum with his family. His US home: Houston, Texas. IRL, every one of these points is drawn from Amer's existence, as fans of his Netflix standup specials Mo Amer: The Vagabond and Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas will recognise. That's the history behind Mo, with the series' eight-episode first season honing in on its protagonist's attempts to gain US citizenship. Mo Najjar (Amer, Black Adam), his mother Yusra (Farah Bsieso, Daughters of Abdul) and brother Sameer (Omar Elba, Limetown) have been waiting two decades to have their cases heard — another detail ripped from reality — and trying to forge new lives while remaining in legal limbo has long since taken a toll. Spanning losing jobs, trying to find a new one as an undocumented American resident, the Najjars' family dynamic, pain from back home they haven't processed, the weight of cultural traditions and expectations, and Mo's relationship with Mexican and Catholic mechanic Maria (Teresa Ruiz, Father Stu), there's no shortage of detail and drama to Amer's passion project. Indeed, every second of the series feels as personal and authentic as it clearly is, and does far more than merely give Amer his own Ramy. Mo streams via Netflix. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream 2022 shows as well — and our best 15 new shows of the year, top 15 returning shows over the same period, 15 shows you might've missed and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies of 2022.
We cannot even count the number of times the Rose St Artists' Market has come up with the goods when it comes to last-minute present shopping. From mini terrariums to vibrant clay-beaded jewellery to Able and Game cards, they've got what you need. On top of that, you're supporting local artists and designers, so they make for great presents for out-of-towners who want something 'very Melbourne'. The Rose St Artists' Market is open every Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm, so grab a basket/calico tote bag and head to Fitzroy.
Here's a sentence that would've made zero sense two years ago: from 1am on Saturday, January 15, getting into Queensland will become a whole heap easier. The Sunshine State has had various levels of border rules in place during the pandemic, and currently only allows double-vaccinated interstate visitors to travel to the state and stay without quarantining first — but come 1am on Saturday, January 15, it'll scrap all domestic border restrictions. That means that whether you're a local keen to visit Sydney or Melbourne and then return home, or you reside in those cities and you've been dreaming of a sunny beach holiday, you'll no longer need to show a border pass or provide proof of a rapid antigen test to make the trip into Queensland. Border checkpoints will be taken down as well. "Anyone coming domestically across into Queensland, either by our road or by air, they do not have to show that they have had their border pass, they don't have to show that they have had a rapid antigen test," announced Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today, Thursday, January 13. "This is the time and the time is now right as we head towards hitting that 90 percent [double-dosed vaccination target] next week." BREAKING: Domestic border restrictions will be removed from 1am on Saturday with Queensland expected to hit 90% double vaccination next week. #covid19 pic.twitter.com/fXAhpVz8rL — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) January 13, 2022 Queensland's rules around international travel are set to change, too once the state hits 90-percent double-jabbed, with restrictions lifting for double-dosed overseas arrivals. That said, an exact date for when the loosened requirements will kick in hasn't yet been confirmed. The Premier advised that further details will be announced once Queensland reaches the vaccine threshold. While restrictions around travel are changing, the Sunshine State's rules regarding visiting venues all remain in effect. As previously announced, you need to be double-jabbed to enter places such as restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas, stadiums, festivals, libraries, galleries and museums — but all of those types of sites across the hospitality and entertainment industries no longer have capacity restrictions. Queensland reported 14,914 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, January 13, and currently has 145,294 active cases. Queensland's border rules will ease at 1am AEST / 2am AEDT on Saturday, January 15. For more information about Queensland's border policies and border passes, head to the Queensland Government website.
Netflix viewers, toss a coin to your new favourite watering hole — the only spot in Melbourne (and Australia) that'll bring The Witcher, Stranger Things, Squid Game and more to life while you're sinking a brew. For five days only, the Who's Watch Inn will pop up in Carlton, offering fans of the streaming platform's hit shows a unique pub experience. Always wanted to throw down a beverage or several while sitting under a mounted demogorgon head? Yes, that's on the menu. Also on offer: coveting the piggy bank jackpot, reclining on Emily in Paris' Parisian garden bench and just generally feeling like you've stepped inside (and you're drinking inside) your Netflix faves. That covers the food and drinks menu, too, which'll showcase pub grub favourites and themed tipples — including the 'Emily in Parma' (taking on the old pub classic, obviously) and a Squid Ink Dark Ale. Even better: everyone who drops by the Who's Watch Inn will get a free drink on arrival (although there is just one per person). That's probably all the excuse you need to head to the Clyde Hotel across the Netflix takeover's five streaming-worshipping days, running from Wednesday, September 28–Sunday, October 2 (open from 7–11pm on Wednesday, 12–11pm on Thursday, 11am–1am on Friday, 12pm–1am on Saturday and 12–11pm on Sunday). The Who's Watch Inn will also host a Netflix pub trivia night on Thursday, September 29, plus a comedy evening on Friday, September 30 featuring Urzila Carlson, Nazeem Hussain and Melanie Bracewell live — and all events are free. Bookings are recommended, and if you're wondering why the themed watering hole is happening at all, that's because it's been a big couple of days for Netflix — all thanks to a celebration that the streaming platform calls Tudum: A Netflix Global Fan Event, where the company drops details about and trailers from its upcoming slate. That's why you might've seen a sneak peek at The Crown season five, a trailer for Dead to Me's third and final season, and a clip from Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story over the past few days, for instance.
UPDATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2020 — Due to popular demand, The Fork Festival has extended for three weeks, which means you have until Saturday, February 29 to snag a tidy 50 percent off your total food bill. It also means this deal is sticking around for Valentine's Day — you know what to do. When Christmas and New Year are over, the temptation to hibernate grows pretty strong — so, you're probably going to need a little something extra to tempt you off the couch. Handily, online reservation platform The Fork has a winning idea up its sleeve: it's offering a huge eight weeks of dining specials nationwide. Kicking off on Monday, January 6, the second ever The Fork Festival will see top restaurants across the country offering sit-down meals for half the usual price. Yep, 50 percent off your total food bill, folks — think of it as the proverbial carrot luring you out of the house. So far, 300 restaurants have signed up, but The Fork is expecting this number to grow. To snag a half-price meal, you just need to make a reservation through The Fork website or app at one of the participating eateries for any service (breakfast, lunch or dinner) during the five weeks. [caption id="attachment_704314" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pretty Boy Italian Steakhouse[/caption] There are some great venues coming to the party, too. Melbourne venues include Tulum Restaurant, Mukka, Souk, White Oaks Saloon, Pascale Bar & Grill and Casa Nom Bar y Restaurante, Din Tai Fung and Pretty Boy Italian Steakhouse. You might want to revisit an old favourite or you could get a little adventurous and road-test somewhere new. Either way, there's ample time to squeeze in a fair few discount feasts before the festival wraps up on February 29. You can check out the full list of participating restaurants on the website. Top image: Casa Nom by Griffin Simm.
2020. It's a year so difficult to summarise that even the Oxford Dictionary couldn't decide on a single word of the year. But in Melbourne's hospitality scene, one in particular rings true: resilience. Despite months of restrictions and some devastating closures, its cafes managed to proliferate. And, impressively, they continue to push the boundary further. We've seen zero-emission street food spots land in the CBD, one of the country's best roasters take over a warehouse in Brunswick and a patisserie with croissants so good they sell out in hours. So, we're celebrating the good that's come from the past 12 months by rounding up the best new cafes to open in 2020.
If bliss to you means peering at infinite reflections in lit-up mirror rooms, wading through brightly coloured ball pits and having pillow fights — plus hanging out in digital forests, watching tales told via shadows and hopping over musical tiles, too — then prepare to beam with joy when Dopamine Land arrives Down Under. The latest multi-sensory experience that's hitting Australia, it's being pitched as an interactive museum. Inside, you'll find themed spaces that you can mosey through, engage with their contents and, ideally, bask in nothing but pure happiness. With a name like Dopamine Land, it's immediately clear that contentment, glee, merriment and exuberance is the aim of the game here. So is evoking those feel-good sensations through nostalgia, because this is another kidulting activity — it's all-ages-friendly as well — and it's making its Aussie debut in Brisbane from Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Brisbanites, and anyone keen for a Sunshine State trip to revel in more than the sun's glow, can look forward to wandering around Dopamine Land at Uptown in the River City's Queen Street Mall. Locals know that the site was previously the Myer Centre — and, decades back, was home to a dragon-themed rollercoaster. So, it's a fitting venue to get everyone channeling their inner child, unleashing their imagination and, yes, hitting each other with cushions. Heading this way direct from London, the experience combines optical illusions, engaging soundscapes and more across its ten themed rooms. The ball pit is self-explanatory, but also takes its cues from Miami in the 80s, complete with a pina colada scent, an electro soundtrack and LED lights that pulse to mirror waves. The pillow-fight space also doesn't need much explaining; however, the decor is inspired by marshmallows and boxes of lollies, Mexican wrestling is also an influence and you can win the pillow-fighting championship. Fancy seeing stories play out via shadows? There's a room for that featuring a big top-style roof. If you try your hand at the musical tiles — well, your feet, to be more accurate — you'll create a melody as you jump around, with the lights changing as you go as well. And if getting as serene as possible is your aim, head to the Keep Calm Forest, which artificially recreates a woodland via LED trees, mirrors and sounds to match. There's even a room dedicated to the autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, which goes big on projections and animations by Australian digital artist Cassie Troughton.
The next level of the global transport economy is fast approaching — even Down Under. First, there was news that Melbourne could be one of the first cities to test Uber's flying cars, then came the announcement of the proposed Hyperloop Transport System, which would get you from Sydney to Melbourne, or Brisbane to Sydney, in just 37 minutes. Sure, these are still a relatively distant dream, but one such technological advance is much closer than you may think — an Uber-like service with driverless electric cars, courtesy of Tesla. At a conference earlier this week, Tesla founder Elon Musk announced that the company is planning to roll out a massive fleet of one million self-driving 'robotaxis' as early as next year. These autonomous vehicles are planned to hit roads in the US by mid-2020 — regulatory approvals pending, of course. If all goes to Musk's plan, here's how it'll work: the app will function much the way all ride-sharing apps do — except the car will drive itself. The existing Tesla app will be fitted with a 'summon' option, where you'll be able to order the closest robotaxi from its stored location, and it'll drive itself over to pick you up. [caption id="attachment_718225" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tesla ride-sharing app[/caption] Plus, some Telsa owners will be able to add their own car to the service, with the options to limit sharing to friends, co-workers or social media contacts. In areas where not enough share vehicles are available, Tesla will release a dedicated fleet to ensure short wait times. But what does this mean for Australia? According to the ABC, Australian transport ministers plan to have a regulation for commercial self-driving vehicles in place by next year — a neatly timed goal with Musk's ambitious roll out. So, depending on which way next month's election swings, we could soon be riding in cars with no-one at the wheel. If you're really interested, a four-hour livestream of the Tesla conference, in which Musk discusses the ride-sharing service, is available to watch here. Tesla is aiming to put one million self-driving 'robotaxis' on US roads by mid-next year, depending on regulatory approvals. In Australia, regulations for commercial autonomous vehicles are set to be in place by next year.
Much-loved for its waterfront beer garden and sweeping views across the bay, the Portsea Hotel is once again taking on the live music scene this summer — bringing festival vibes down to Mornington Peninsula. Their Summer Music Series kicks off on Monday, December 23, with Jesse James and Carter Walsh supporting Darley who takes to the stage for an early evening performance. New Year's Eve sees Jake Webb hit the Portsea Hotel's stage — helping partygoers dance their way into 2025 — with the help of Ventura and Alex Jozza. Beyond that, you'll find DJ Levi performing on Saturday, January 4, and Jon Stevens and Band on Saturday, March 9. But we are most stoked about The Presets hitting the Portsea Hotel on Saturday, January 25 (on the long weekend). Tickets for this one are expected to sell out fast. Each of the shows will run from around 5pm and kicks on until the sun sets. It's not a bad way to end a big summer's day by the beach.
Dream musical double alert: this winter in Australia, you can make a theatre date to see both Hamilton and In the Heights. Sydney is hosting the only Aussie return season for Lin-Manuel Miranda's second big Tony Award-winning show from late July — and now it's also welcoming his debut smash, too. Sydney Opera House will turn into New York City's Washington Heights for a six-week season of In the Heights, also kicking off the same month. Initially staged in 2005, then leaping to off-Broadway in 2007, then playing Broadway from 2008–11 (which is where it nabbed those 13 Tony nominations and four wins), Miranda's first stage sensation spends its time with Usnavi, a bodega owner from the Dominican Republic who dreams of going back — and who also sports a crush on Vanessa, who aspires to move out of the neighbourhood. Miranda himself originated the role of Usnavi, scoring a Tony nomination for his efforts. In Australia this winter, Ryan Gonzalez (Moulin Rouge! The Musical) will step into the part. When the show's Sydney Opera House run spans Saturday, July 20–Sunday, August 25, fellow Moulin Rouge! The Musical alum Olivia Vásquez will play Vanessa. Alongside Gonzalez, she'll be joined by Richard Valdez (All Together Now — The 100) as the Piragua Guy — another character that Miranda has brought to life personally, this time in the 2021 film version of In the Heights. On the stage and on-screen, the production not only follows Usnavi and Vanessa's connection, and their respective hopes for the future, but also the residents of Washington Heights, their family ties across multiple generations and their friendships. And the soundtrack — which helped In the Heights win Best Musical and Best Original Score Tonys — as well as the vibe and mood bring together salsa, soul, rap, hip hip, merengue and street dance. "In the Heights is an uplifting musical that celebrates collective joy in a truly genuine and spirited way. Community, culture, connection and colour explode on-stage in a vibrant setting, as we are enveloped into the lives of characters holding fast to their history and creating new traditions," said Sydney Opera House Head of Contemporary Performance Ebony Bott, announcing the season. If you're keen to watch the movie — or rewatch — in the interim, it stars Anthony Ramos (Dumb Money) as Usnavi and Melissa Barrera (Abigail) as Vanessa, as well as Leslie Grace (In the Summers), Corey Hawkins (The Color Purple), Jimmy Smits (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Stephanie Beatriz (Twisted Metal) and Olga Merediz (Somebody I Used to Know). Check out the trailer for the film below: In the Heights will play Sydney Opera House's Drama Theatre from Saturday, July 20–Sunday, August 25, 2024, with ticket presales from 9am on Tuesday, May 7 and general sales from 9am on Friday, May 10 — head to the venue's website for more details. Images: Daniel Boud.
Under current COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria, there are restrictions on gatherings in place. For more details on Victoria's current restrictions, see the Department of Health and Human Services website. When Melbourne's skies are putting on a proper show — bruising the clouds purple, petal and peach, the city looks like something out of a fairytale. Melbourne is home to some of the most beautiful skies in the whole world, so a spectacular sunrise or sunset can be one of the only times everyone in the city is looking up. So, we've compiled a list of the best places to catch Mother Nature in action. Drag your eyes away from your phone (after you've snapped the obligatory sunrise or sunset shot) and look up. [caption id="attachment_818358" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ain Raadik for Visit Victoria[/caption] RICHARD PRATT GARDENS, SOUTHBANK Admire a sunset against the scenic backdrop of Melbourne's hustle and bustle. Hidden between the Arts Centre and Hamer Hall, this quaint piece of greenery is home to a sleek black sculpture created by Inge King. Forward Surge (1972–1974) is made up of four pieces of imposing black steel waves — the looming artwork is eye-catching and surprisingly comfortable to lean back on while watching the sunset. The lawn of the Richard Pratt Gardens also hosts a weekly Sunday Market (10am–4pm), with local artisans showcasing a selection of handmade goods ranging from arts and crafts to delicious delicacies. Let yourself be tempted by the smell of freshly made spinach and feta gozleme and a bag of piping hot jam doughnuts — they're the perfect companion for window shopping. If you're looking for somewhere a bit more private, face north-west towards the Hamer Hall Stage Door and you'll find a small set of stairs leading up and around the Arts Centre. There's a patch of turf that overlooks Flinders Street Station and Southbank that makes for ideal viewing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mark O'Toole (@markdotoole) ROYAL PARK, PARKVILLE Just a short drive (or tram ride) away from Melbourne's CBD is Royal Park. The impressive 180+ hectares of native parkland is home to one of Australia's best playgrounds, plenty of leash-free areas for any furry friends and a big, grassy hill that conveniently provides one of the best views of Melbourne's cityscape. If you're peckish, make a quick detour to Beatrix, a small corner bakeshop in the north with a cult following. The menu rotates weekly depending on customer demand and what's in season, with daily specials posted on their Instagram page each morning. [caption id="attachment_818465" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pete Glenane (@hivispictures)[/caption] PRINCES PIER, PORT MELBOURNE Instantly recognisable by its series of mesmerising wooden pillars, this pier in Port Melbourne has become one of the most Instagrammable backdrops for sunrise and sunset. Stretching over a whopping 580 metres, Princes Pier is steeped in rich history — which provides visitors with a unique opportunity to experience the open-air museum. As you walk down the refurbished wooden planks, learn the story of how Princes Pier used to be one of the major points for new migrants arriving in Australia for over half a century. Afterward, you can head over to Ciao Cielo on Bay Street, a refined Italian restaurant that will transport you to the streets of Tuscany. During the colder months, they set up a beautiful winter garden, complete with a fully heated marquee. Warm up with a plate of their Northern style oxtail ragu layered on top of saffron casarecce and a serve of their warm chocolate brownie served with the richest dark chocolate ganache. [caption id="attachment_818466" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Larry Koester[/caption] KINGS DOMAIN GARDENS, MELBOURNE Although the majority of us struggle to wake up with enough time to put together a nutritious breakfast in the morning — there's always a few dedicated hearts with enough energy to run a lap around Kings Domain Garden before cooling down at the Shrine of Remembrance to watch the sunrise. From the steps, the masterfully designed Ceremonial Avenue will provide you with a clear view of Melbourne's glittering skyline. On your way back into the city, reward yourself with a strong matcha latte from Little Rogue and a freshly baked pastry from Bakemono Bakers nearby. Indulge in the zesty twist on an almond croissant with subtle hints of yuzu, or the crowd-favourite matcha and red bean croffle — a hybrid of a croissant and waffle that's crispy on the outside and buttery and hot in the middle. [caption id="attachment_818467" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Graham Denholm[/caption] BIRRARUNG MARR, MELBOURNE Most Melburnians would have taken a seat on this giant slope of grass during the annual Night Noodle Markets — but for the other 11 months of the year, it's still a damn good place to watch a sunrise or sunset. You can lazily watch as boats drift past on the Yarra River and snap a pic with the iconic 'Angel' sculpture which stands at 10 metres tall and is covered head to toe in bright, hand-painted ceramic tiles. Trek back up the steep hill and cross over Flinders Street to discover the iconic Spanish bar and tapas restaurant, MoVida. Tucked inside the graffiti-scrawled walls of Hosier Lane, chef Frank Camorra and his team set the bar for Spanish produce, food and culture in Melbourne. The Cantabrian hand-fileted anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet on a crunchy crouton is not to be missed. THUNDER POINT LOOKOUT, WARRNAMBOOL A must-visit lookout point for any tourist wanting to explore the cosy town of Warrnambool, Thunder Point Lookout provides endless stretches of coastline and the kind of peaceful quiet that's impossible to find in the city. By V-Line, the ride from Southern Cross will take approximately 3.5 hours, or you can jump in the car for a road trip with a similar journey time. It'll all be worth it by the time you watch the sunset over the sparkling water of Lady Bay. Take a stroll or catch a ride back to the town centre to enjoy a modern Australian dinner at Clovelly Restaurant. Feast on dishes like fluffy bao buns filled with sticky pork belly and slaw; perfectly juicy eye fillet served with crispy potato bacon hash; housemade sweet potato gnocchi paired with creamy shiitake mushrooms and roasted garlic; and juicy lamb rump that has been lovingly slow-roasted for 16 hours. NAKED IN THE SKY, FITZROY Arguably one of the OGs of the rooftop bar scene, Naked in the Sky is open till late and offers up 270-degree views of Melbourne's horizon. Indulge in some of their gooey baked camembert cheese served with crusty ciabatta, or a dark chocolate ganache tart to share — it arrives drizzled in thick salted caramel with a generous scoop of coffee ice cream on top. There are not many better ways to finish the day than with snacks, a glass of house-infused vodka in hand and the sun slowly descending behind Melbourne's skyscrapers. [caption id="attachment_818355" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Emily Godfrey for Visit Victoria[/caption] THE GROTTO, PETERBOROUGH Victoria's Great Ocean Road is over 243 kilometres long, but we (and many other Melburnians), truly believe that this naturally carved out cave cannot be missed. After a long day of driving, this is the epitome of saving the best for last — watch the sun slowly set through the archway, as beams of colour and light reflect against the rock pools. We recommend grabbing a quick bite to eat at Forage on the Foreshore in Port Campbell as the penultimate stop. The food on the menu is mostly grown, produced or foraged locally. Enjoy dishes such as local cheese plates, braised calamari, house-made gnocchi and freshly grilled fish until 5pm. Hot tip: locals in the area have noted that the number of tourists peak at around 3pm, so plan with caution. [caption id="attachment_818468" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julian Kingma for Visit Victoria[/caption] BOROKA LOOKOUT, HALLS GAP The Grampians National Park is famous for its spectacular scenery and insane lookout points — the 168,000 hectares of land provide visitors with dozens of walks, hikes and waterfalls to explore. It makes the sunrise here especially stunning, so get out of bed early to soak in the rugged mountainous landscape as the sun paints the valley ablaze. Boroka Lookout is located in the Grampians northern region, which also happens to house the largest regional zoo in Victoria — Halls Gap Zoo. Spend the rest of the day with their inquisitive meerkats, gigantic giraffe and colossal rhinoceros. [caption id="attachment_792742" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] PONYFISH ISLAND, UNDERNEATH EVAN WALKER BRIDGE, MELBOURNE Tucked underneath the Evan Walker Bridge lies Ponyfish Island — one of Melbourne's worst-kept secrets. This floating haven is only accessible from a single stairwell descending from above and is adorned with a recently renovated Palm Springs-inspired feel. The island is home to an impressive food and drink menu, and it's also one of the few places in Melbourne with an unobstructed view of the glowing sunset dancing across the Yarra River. The wind can get a little chilly as the night progresses, so we recommend bringing a jacket and ordering a cup of warm mulled wine (or two). [caption id="attachment_818356" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mark Watson for Visit Victoria[/caption] THE BIG DRIFT, WILSONS PROMONTORY The rugged track to reach the top of the Big Drift is slightly grueling, but the view is worth it. The drive will take you approximately two and a half hours from Melbourne's CBD, so we recommend making a day out of it. Take a dip at Shallow Inlet, a sheltered beach just outside of Wilsons Prom and have a well-deserved swim before watching the sunset. This other-wordly landscape is a series of ever-changing sand dunes with views of Vereker Range in the east and the sea to the west. Remember to pack light with plenty of water, and choose footwear that you don't mind getting sandy. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gerard Shanahan (@gas_clgs) LILY STREET LOOKOUT, ESSENDON WEST It might just look like another suburban street in Melbourne, but this lookout point has won hearts in the west. You'll find rows of bicycles leaning against metal fences as herds of cyclists and runners take a well-deserved break after trudging up the Maribyrnong River Trail to admire the view. It's an underrated gem that allows Melbourne's entire city skyline to be captured within a single frame — what more could you ask for? After the sun has dipped behind the skyline, head to Hampton Road Fish and Chips, a local favourite known for their old school potato cakes and humongous pieces of flake. Finish the night off with a cheeky deep-fried Mars bar for the drive home. Top Image: Boroka Lookout, Julian Kingma for Visit Victoria & The Big Drift, Mark Watson for Visit Victoria
Painting sky-high grain solos and 20-storey housing complexes is all in a day's work for Matt Adnate, with the Melbourne street artist earning plenty of attention in recent years for his soaring pieces. For his next project, he's going even bigger, taking on Perth's new Art Series Hotel — which, in keeping with the chain's tradition, will also bear his name. Due to open this October, The Adnate will pay tribute to Australia's renowned big wall artist both inside and out; however you won't need to book a stay to enjoy the site's exterior displays. In a work dubbed the 'Mega Mural', Adnate will splash his creative magic across the entire west-facing side of the hotel, painting a 27-storey-high piece. If that sounds huge, that's because it'll eclipse his work in Collingwood, which became the tallest mural in the southern hemisphere when it was unveiled. In fact, this new record-holder will stand just five storeys shorter than the world's tallest mural in Toronto, which measures 32 storeys. The Adnate's towering external artistry mural won't simply earn a place in the record books; it'll highlight the city's cultural history and community. Three large-scale portraits will emblazon the wall, with the mural depicting "the past through the cultural representation in the subject's dressing elements, the present with contemporary faces, and the future as the subjects are the youth of today," according to the artist. "What excites me most about this collaboration with Art Series is the opportunity to capture the stories and emotions of my subjects and to share them with a new audience in the west," Adnate explains. "I've always held a personal connection towards the First Nation people I paint. Whether it be a connection to country or a strong emphasis on spirituality, I believe we have a lot to learn." With The Adnate marking the first Art Series hotel dedicated to street art, its namesake will also contribute a 50-metre-long external painting known as the 'Laneway Mural', which will include multiple portraits in collaboration with a local Indigenous artist. Inside the hotel, Adnate is completing a 'Staircase Mural', as well as two original canvases. They'll be joined by up to 650 reproductions of 30 of his most famous works from around the world, which guests will spy on the site's internal walls and in its hallways. Other than a vast array of Adnate's art, the hotel will feature 250 rooms, a centrepiece pool area on its first floor, plenty of cocktails and a focus on Mediterranean cuisine. It slots into Art Series' existing hotel portfolio, which spans five sites in Melbourne (The Olsen in South Yarra, The Blackman on St Kilda Road, The Cullen in Prahan, The Larwill in Parkville and The Chen in Box Hill), one in Adelaide (The Watson in Walkerville) and two in Brisbane (The Johnson and The Fantauzzo). The Adnate will open at a yet-to-be-announced date in October at 900 Hay Street, Perth. For further details, head to the hotel's website.
As its name suggests, Second Home is the kind of place where you can get comfortable and unwind. Housed within a recently renovated mid 1970s building created by architect Alistair Knox, the beauty of the space is all within the details: vast skylight windows, gum trees, lush furnishings and an open fireplace. Second Home is one of the newest additions to Jason M Jones' empire (joining Entrecôte, Bancroft Brewers, The Stables of Como, Porgie and Mr Jones), so it makes sense that this space has been established with comfort in mind. Located down a quiet backstreet in Eltham and surrounded by warehouses, it's somewhat of a sanctuary in an unlikely place. So, in escaping from the everyday, it might be fair to say that locals and visitors flock to the cafe just to observe that lived-in feeling in a home away from home. Humans — we're an odd bunch. Fans of Jones will recognise familiar items off the menu, which is split into Beautiful Brunch and Lovely Luncheon — particularly, his famous golden folded eggs ($15.90), which continue to be a crowd pleaser. A comprehensive list of options extends to also include an on-trend almond milk chia pudding ($14.90) and robust breakfast burger featuring grilled Hopkins River beef ($17.90). The standout remains the hearty Ploughman's Lunch ($18.90), which varies in its selection of terrines, cheeses and pickled vegetables. Come weekends, the libations trolley is also sure to soothe (or aggravate) any headaches, with a Bloody Mary, Bellini or Aperol Spritz ($12.90-13.90) amongst many friends at the ready. A north-facing courtyard has recently opened which is sure to extend the sitting time at Second Home. In addition, a rotating selection of art available for purchase also creates a gallery amongst the gumtrees. With all of this, the Eltham cafe covers every staple needed in creating the living room you never had, but always needed.
A lot of doco makers rely on the adage that 'truth is stranger than fiction'. A few supremely lucky ones find a story that is so mind-bogglingly strange that they could sit back and let the film make itself. The Imposter is just such a story, at every stage revealing another layer of the bizarreness of which human beings are capable. British director Bart Layton is no slouch, either; the film is slickly made, metring out its tantalising information and almost single-handedly reviving the use of re-creation as a respected documentary tool. The subject is an incident in 1997 in which a 17-year-old Texan boy, Nicholas Barclay, was returned to his family after having been missing for three years. Except he turned up in Spain, had no physical resemblance to the missing blue-eyed boy, was noticeably older, and spoke with a French accent. He was accepted back into the family regardless. His sister thought she could recognise that smile anywhere. From the relatives to the authorities, everyone around him seemed ready to excuse the differences, taking the 'he's not the little boy you knew' trope to extreme and literal levels. In reality, the boy was French con man Frederic Bourdin, a 23-year-old obsessively seeking the comfort of childhood. At first, it seems the documentary reveals his identity prematurely, almost right from the beginning — but that's just because you don't know, at that point, of all the twists that remain for the story to take. The supremely tense Imposter features sensitive, in-depth interviews with almost all of the major characters in the incident, including Bourdin, the FBI agent who handled his repatriation, the PI whose suspicions uncovered the truth and Nicholas's mother and sister. Without them, no number of re-creations could have carried the story so far or got you close to understanding any of these people's motivations. And as for the re-creations, they're filmed with a keen cinematographer's eye and a sense of enigma, putting them at a long distance from those we're used to on made-for-TV specials. https://youtube.com/watch?v=mENui3UdMOY
Everyone loves dessert. In fact, some of us even indulge in a cheeky "second dessert" when the evening calls for it. But now you can indulge in an epic five course dessert, thanks to Syracuse head chef and all-round legend Philippa Sibley. Affectionately known as the Queen of Desserts, Philippa will host her first event at the restaurant this November. Those with a sweet tooth are invited to join what will be a breathtaking degustation, with matched drinks to boot. Guests will start with the Snow White & Rose Red (strawberry soup, coconut sorbet, rhubarb and rose) before moving on to tasting the Meyer Lemon Tart. Third course comes in the form of Hansel & Gretel (a pineapple tart satin with Speculoos ice cream) before the Teddy Bear's Picnic comes out to play (a toasted lavender ice cream sandwich with pear sorbet, blueberry jam and honey). Saving the best for last is Sibley's take on the much loved chocolate bar in the Syracuse Snickers. A selection of cocktails, wine, mocktails and soft drinks will be matched to the offerings by the restaurant's talented bar staff.
Robert Reid's The Joy of Text, directed here by Peita Collard, is meant to be punny. It straight-up references that 1970s classic and explores another radical, albeit fantastical text called The Illusion of Consent — a provocative novel that is being considered for the year 12 syllabus within the play. The four central characters are primed by the performance's focus on a hypothetical story to mar distinctions between truth and fiction. Danny (Colin Craig) is a smart but vindictive teenager. Flabbergasted by his spunky young teacher's refusal to see his assignment on satire as anything other than a smartass send-up of the system, Danny broods on how best to get his own back. What better way than intertextualising, aka intersextualising, his way through his next oral assignment? There's an immediate, juicy twist: Danny’s English teacher has her own relationship with the novel and some rather personal ideas about what constitutes appropriate behaviour between students and teachers. Inspired by famous literary hoaxes, The Joy of Text is packed with wordy dialogue and cultural references. Set designer Rob Sowinski has incorporated two onstage screens to provide intellectual 'footnotes' and Danny's peers are brought into context via large projection screen. Stylistically, the use of multimedia works better in some scenes than others, as at times the stage is distractingly busy. However, by the time Danny films the audience with a hand-held camera, effectively breaking the fourth wall, his explanation of satire is both pithy and poignant. True to its titillating title, The Joy of Text is comedy with an edge — more about literary allusions than laugh-out-loud moments. Overall, it is intelligent and interesting with a focus on clever dialogue, making it enjoyable viewing for big kids who like their schoolroom drama with a serious side of satire.
Get in the spirit of things this autumn with a feast for the eyes at the Tesselaar KaBloom Festival of Flowers. Held in Silvan – just beyond Melbourne's fringe in the Dandenong Ranges – five acres of colourful sunflowers, salvias, marigolds, dahlias and much more have been arranged in captivating patterns for your wandering pleasure. Running from Saturday, March 29 to Sunday, April 27, the festival has a new element for the first time in 2025, with the KaBloom Ferris Wheel offering the ideal vantage point to admire the vibrant designs below. Whether you're keen for a laidback stroll with nan or somewhere that inspires the kids to get in touch with nature, this verdant event is just what you need. Besides the blooms, there's also a stacked entertainment lineup for all ages. Daring performers from Circus Oz Now for Wow bring acrobatics, juggling and hoop diving to the party, while the whimsical Becky Bubble Show delights onlookers with dreamy rainbow-coloured bubbles. Meanwhile, fairy storytellers weave enchanting tales for little ones in the magical Fairy Garden. You can also score handcrafted goods at the Market Faire, dine on tantalising flavours from local food trucks, or take part in garden games, obstacle courses, scenic tractor rides and even drumming workshops. Plus, with easter on the horizon, KaBloom will get in the mood with a fun-loving hunt where finding mischievous rabbits equals more sweet treats.
In March 2024, things are really heating up at The Beast on Lygon Street, the official home of the Melbourne Chilli-Eating Championship. On Saturday, March 2, a bunch of brave souls will put their lives on the line in this searing-hot contest to find Melbourne's steeliest tastebuds. Firing up for its ninth edition, the competition will unfold throughout the afternoon, with things getting progressively spicier as the competition intensifies. Challengers will be consuming chillies that rank above two-million units on the Scoville scale, including the Trinidad scorpion, ghost chillis, the naga viper and the ever-so-feisty Carolina reaper. Participants can be eliminated by tapping out, passing out or unleashing a cheeky vomit — although, hopefully it doesn't come to that. If you want to partake, you'll need to visit The Beast and sample one of the chillies that'll be eaten on the day, or you can send in a video of yourself eating a chilli that has the equivalent or higher heat score of a habañero. You'll also have to sign a waiver, of course. Alternatively, you can simply watch on as these folks take their tastebuds to the edge. And be sure to stick around for the special celebrity round. Who will be participating hasn't been announced, but expect some Hot Ones energy. Backing up the championship is a whole afternoon of spicy fun. There'll be a special fiery food and drinks menu on offer, plus a sausage sizzle outside that'll be frying up spicy snags made just for the day. Into the night, the team will also host live band karaoke and DJs, and give out prizes for the best dressed — the theme is 'spicy Australiana' for all those wanting to really lean into the Melbourne Chilli-Eating Championship festivities. Images: Duncographic.
If the Scream franchise can make another comeback — and, come January 2022, it will again — then another late 90s horror series can pop up again, too. Both Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer were penned by the same screenwriter, they each followed slashers terrorising teens and, on-screen, they pushed Party of Five cast members to the fore. Now, as Scream already did between 2015–19, I Know What You Did Last Summer is heading to the small screen. We know what you'll be doing this spring, clearly. Once again, Lois Duncan's 1973 novel of the same name will come to life — and yes, a car accident will play a pivotal part here as well. This time, the show's group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a killer a year after their graduation night turned bloody. You know how it goes from there, with I Know What You Did Last Summer's central characters forced to try to stay alive while they're also still attempting to hide their secret — and they need to work out who's swinging weapons their way, obviously. To flesh out the underlying concept over the course of the series, this version of the story is set to ponder everything else that lurks in the key figures' seemingly perfect town, so it's taking a few more cues from Scream there as well. On-screen, Madison Iseman (Jumanji: The Next Level), Bill Heck (Locke & Key), Brianne Tju (47 Metres Down: Uncaged), Ezekiel Goodman (Dragonfly), Ashley Moore (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping), Sebastian Amoruso (Solve), Fiona Rene (Underwater), Cassie Beck (Joe Bell) and Brooke Bloom (The Sinner) will be endeavouring to survive — or, maybe one of them is the killer? Australian director and horror genre hitmaker James Wan (The Conjuring, Saw, Insidious) executive produces the series, while Sara Goodman is in the writer's chair. Amazon Prime Video will start airing I Know What You Did Last Summer from Friday, October 15, with new episodes dropping weekly until Friday, November 12. The streaming platform has also just dropped an initial teaser trailer, if you're wondering how the premise shapes up almost a quarter-century after the original film. And no, there's no word if Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe or Freddie Prinze Jr will make cameos in the series. Check out the first teaser trailer below: I Know What You Did Last Summer starts streaming via Amazon Prime Video on Friday, October 15.
Fans of Trainspotting will probably want to check out Filth, the new film adaptation of the 1998 Irvine Welsh novel. Jon S. Baird directs James McAvoy as Bruce Robertson, a bipolar, misanthropic junkie detective (role of a lifetime) who, when he's not awash in drugs, alcohol and sex games, spends his time plotting the downfall of his fellow colleagues. In his quest to trump them and secure a coveted promotion, he stops at nothing — stealing their wives, exposing their darkest secrets. Oh, and there's a murder to be solved, too. Things escalate to the point of madness, with plenty of manipulation, hallucination and downright insanity. McAvoy won critical praise for his performance upon the film's UK release and is supported by some stellar UK actors including Jim Broadbent, Jamie Bell and Eddie Marsan (who was so good in Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky and Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur). The film will no doubt give a typically Welsh-ian insight into the grim, violent underbelly of Edinburgh — with a few laughs. Filth is in cinemas on November 21, and thanks to Icon Films, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
For the first time in five years, artist Patricia Piccinini's floating artwork Skywhale is back in Victoria. The Skywhale isn't any old artwork either, it's a 34-metre-long hot air balloon in the form of a large fleshy animal — and it just flew high above the Yarra Valley. Taking off in the wee hours (when you were hopefully still curled up in bed) from Dixons Creek, it made its way across the Yarra River travelling from Yarra Glen to Tarrawarra. The theriomorphic balloon isn't floating here by chance, either, it's in the Valley to promote Piccinini's latest exhibition at the TarraWarra Museum of Art, dubbed Patricia Piccinini and Joy Hester: Through Love..., which kicks off this Saturday, November 24. On display until March 11, 2019, the exhibition not only focuses on Piccinini's weird and wonderful works — that tread the thin line between humanity and animal — but on fellow Australian artist Joy Hester. If the latter's name doesn't sound familiar, she was a Melbourne artist who passed away in 1960, favoured brushwork and ink on paper, and is considered one of Piccinini's key influences.This'll be the first time anywhere in the world that a gallery has explored the connection between the pair, with more than 50 pieces on display. But back to our Skywhale. Here it is floating in all its fleshy glory today: https://www.instagram.com/p/BqdGVb_l7a8/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BqdBj1Dhm4b/ If you missed it this AM, it might be taking flight once again this weekend. While the flight is dependant on the weather, if it does takeoff, it'll be doing so very early in the morning (around 5.45am). For updates, keep an eye on the TarraWarra Museum of Art Facebook page. Image: Patricia Piccinini Skywhale, 2013, courtesy of the artist, the Australian Capital Territory Government, Tolarno Galleries and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.
Under normal circumstances, when a new-release movie starts playing in cinemas, audiences can't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the pandemic forcing film industry to make quite a few changes over the past year — widespread movie theatre closures will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you're in lockdown. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here's 12 you can watch right now at home. IN THE HEIGHTS Lin-Manuel Miranda isn't the first lyricist to pen tunes so catchy that they get stuck in your head for years (yes, years), but his rhythmic tracks and thoughtful lines always stand out. Miranda's songs are melodic and snappy, as anyone who has seen Hamilton onstage or via streaming definitely knows. The multi-talented songwriter's lyrics also pinball around your brain because they resonate with such feeling — and because they're usually about something substantial. The musical that made his name before his date with US history, In the Heights echoes with affection for its eponymous Latinx New York neighbourhood. Now that it's reverberating through cinemas, its sentiments about community, culture, facing change and fighting prejudice all seem stronger, too. To watch the film's characters sing about their daily lives and deepest dreams in Washington Heights is to understand what it's like to feel as if you truly belong in your patch of the city, to navigate your everyday routine with high hopes shining in your heart, and to weather every blow that tries to take that turf and those wishes away. That's what great show tunes do, whisking the audience off on both a narrative and an emotional journey. Miranda sets his words to hip hop beats, but make no mistake: he writes barnstorming songs that are just as rousing and moving, and that've earned their place among the very best stage and screen ditties as a result. Watching In the Heights, it's hard not to think about all those stirring tracks that've graced previous musicals. That isn't a sign of derivation here, though. Directing with dazzling flair and a joyous mood, Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon M Chu nods to cinema's lengthy love affair with musicals in all the right ways. His song-and-dance numbers are clearly influenced by fellow filmic fare, and yet they recall their predecessors only because they slide in so seamlessly alongside them. Take his staging of the tune '96000', for instance. It's about winning the lottery, after word filters around that bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos, a Hamilton alum) has sold a lucky ticket. Due to the sweltering summer heat, the whole neighbourhood is at the public pool, which is where Chu captures a colourful sea of performers expressing their feelings through exuberantly shot, staged and choreographed music and movement — and it's as touching and glorious as anything that's ever graced celluloid. Of course, $96,000 won't set anyone up for life, but it'd make an enormous difference to Usnavi, In the Heights' protagonist and narrator. It'd also help absolutely everyone he loves. As he explains long before anyone even hears about the winning ticket, or buys it, every Heights local has their own sueñitos — little dreams they're chasing, such as his determination to relocate to the Dominican Republic. And that's what this intoxicating, invigorating, impassioned and infectious captures with vibrant aplomb. In the Heights is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. A QUIET PLACE PART II When every noise you make could send savage aliens stalking, slashing and slaughtering your way, it's the waiting that gets you. When you're watching a nerve-rattling horror film about that exact scenario, the same sentiment remains relevant. In A Quiet Place, the Abbott family went into survival mode after vicious creatures invaded, hunted down every sound and dispensed with anyone that crossed their path. For the characters in and viewers of the 2018 hit alike, the experience couldn't have screamed louder with anxiety and anticipation. Evelyn and Lee (Wild Mountain Thyme's Emily Blunt and Detroit's John Krasinski) and their children Regan (Millicent Simmonds, Wonderstruck), Marcus (Noah Jupe, The Undoing) and Beau (Cade Woodward, Avengers: Endgame) all silently bided their time simply trying to stay safe and alive, but their continued existence lingered under a gut-wrenching shadow. The critters were still out there, listening for even a whisper. It was a matter of when, not if, they'd discern the slightest of noises and strike again. That type of waiting drips with tension and suspense, and also with the kind of inevitability that hovers over everyone alive. A certain bleak end awaits us all, a truth we routinely attempt to ignore; however, neither the Abbotts nor A Quiet Place's audience were allowed to forget that grim fact for even a moment. Initially slated to arrive in cinemas two years later, then delayed by the pandemic for 14 months, sequel A Quiet Place Part II isn't done with waiting. Written and directed once again by Krasinski, the film doesn't shy away from the stress and existential distress that marking time can bring, but it also tasks its characters with actively confronting life's inevitabilities. After an intense and impressive tone-setting opening flashback to the first day of the alien attack, when the Abbotts' sleepy hometown learns of humanity's new threat in the cruellest fashion, the storyline picks up where its predecessor left off. It's day 474 — the earlier film spent most of its duration around day 472 — and Evelyn, Regan, Marcus and the family's newborn are grappling with their losses. That said, they're also keenly aware that they can't stay in their Appalachian farmhouse any longer. After spotting smoke on the horizon and setting off in that direction, they reconnect with Emmett (Cillian Murphy, Peaky Blinders), an old friend who has been through his own traumas. Evelyn sees safety in numbers, but he's reluctant to help. Then Regan hears a looping radio transmission playing 'Beyond the Sea' and decides to track down its source — and a film that's less thrilling, potent and unsettling than its predecessor eventuates. A Quiet Place Part II is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. BLACK WIDOW Closure is a beautiful thing. It's also not something that a 24-film-and-growing franchise tends to serve up often. Since 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has operated with the opposite aim — extending and expanding the series at every turn, delivering episodic instalments that keep viewers hanging for the next flick, and endeavouring to ensure that the superhero saga blasts onwards forever. But it's hard to tick those boxes when you're making a movie about a character whose fate is already known. Audiences have seen where Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story) story finishes thanks to Avengers: Endgame, so Black Widow doesn't need to lay the groundwork for more films to follow. It's inexcusable that it has taken so long for the assassin-turned-Avenger to get her own solo outing. It's indefensible that this is just the second Marvel feature to solely focus on a female figure, too. But, unlike the missed opportunity that was Captain Marvel, Black Widow gives its namesake a thrilling big-screen outing, in no small part because it needn't waste time setting up a Black Widow sequel. Instead, the pandemic-delayed movie spends its 143 minutes doing what more MCU flicks should: building character, focusing on relationships, fleshing out its chosen world and making every inch of its narrative feel lived-in. The end result feels like a self-contained film, rather than just one chapter in a never-ending tale — which gives it the space to confidently blend family dramas with espionage antics, and to do justice to both parts of that equation. Sporting an impressive cast that also includes Florence Pugh (Little Women), David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), Black Widow begins in 1995, in small-town Ohio. Here, Harbour and Weisz play Alexei and Melina, parents to young Natasha (Ever Anderson, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter) and Yelena (Violet McGraw, Doctor Sleep), and the portrait of all-American domesticity — or that's the ruse, at least. The film doesn't revel in small-town life, neighbourhood playtimes, 'American Pie' sing-alongs and an existence that could've been ripped from The Americans for too long, however, with the quartet soon en route back to Russia via Cuba at shady puppetmaster Dreykov's (Ray Winstone, Cats) beckoning. When the action then jumps forward to 2016, and to the aftermath of that year's Captain America: Civil War, Natasha hasn't seen her faux family for decades. On the run from the authorities, she isn't palling around with the Avengers, either, with the superheroes all going their separate ways. Then the adult Yelena (Pugh) reaches out, because she too has fled her own powers-that-be: Dreykov, the fellow all-female hit squad she's been part of for the last 21 years, and the mind-control techniques that've kept her compliant and killing. There's an unmistakable air of Bourne and Bond to Black Widow from there, but this deftly satisfying flick doesn't trade the MCU's blueprints for other franchises' templates. With Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland (Somersault, Lore and Berlin Syndrome) in the director's chair, this welcome addition to the franchise spins a thoughtfully weighty story about women trapped at the mercy of others and fighting to regain their agency. Black Widow is available to stream via Disney+ with Premium Access. Read our full review. MY NAME IS GULPILIL Lengthy is the list of Australian actors who've started their careers on home soil, then boosted their fame, acclaim and fortunes by heading abroad. Some have won Oscars. Others are global household names. One plays a pigtailed comic book villain in a big film franchise, while another dons a cape and wields a hammer in a competing blockbuster saga. David Gulpilil doesn't earn any of the above descriptions, and he isn't destined to. It wouldn't interest him, anyway. His is the face of Australian cinema, though, and has been for half a century. Since first gracing the silver screen in Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout, the Yolŋu man has gifted his infectious smile and the irrepressible glint in his eye to many of the nation's most important movies. Indeed, to peruse his filmography is to revel in Aussie cinema history. On his resume, 70s classics such as Mad Dog Morgan and The Last Wave sit alongside everything from Crocodile Dundee and Rabbit-Proof Fence to Australia, Goldstone and Cargo — as well as parts in both the first 1976 film adaptation of Storm Boy and its 2019 remake. The latest film to benefit from the Indigenous talent's presence: My Name Is Gulpilil. It might just be the last do to so, however. That sad truth has been baked into the documentary ever since its subject asked director Molly Reynolds and producer Rolf de Heer — two filmmakers that Gulpilil has collaborated with before, including on Another Country, Charlie's Country, Ten Canoes and The Tracker — to make something with him after he was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. That was back in 2017, when he was given just six months to live. Gulpilil has been proving that diagnosis wrong ever since. Cue this heartfelt portrait of an Australian icon like no other, which celebrates a star who'll never be matched, reminds viewers exactly why that's the case, but is never a mere easy, glossy tribute. Anyone could've combined snippets of Gulpilil's movies with talking heads singing his praises. In the future, someone probably will. But Reynolds is interested in truly spending time with Gulpilil, hearing his tale in his own words, and painting as complete a portrait of his life, work, dreams, regrets, spirit, culture and impact as possible. My Name Is Gulpilil is available to stream via ABC iView. Read our full review. VALERIE TAYLOR: PLAYING WITH SHARKS Steven Spielberg directed Jaws, the 1975 horror film that had everyone wondering if it was safe to go back into the water — and the movie that became Hollywood's first blockbuster, too — but he didn't shoot its underwater shark sequences. That task fell to Australian spearfisher and diver-turned-oceanographer and filmmaker Valerie Taylor and her husband Ron, who did so off the coast of Port Lincoln in South Australia. If it weren't for their efforts, the film mightn't have become the popular culture behemoth it is. When one of the animals the Taylors were filming lashed out at a metal cage that had held a stuntman mere moments before, the pair captured one of the picture's most nerve-rattling scenes by accident, in fact. And, before Peter Benchley's novel of the same name was even published, the duo was sent a copy of the book and asked if it would make a good feature (the answer: yes). Helping to make Jaws the phenomenon it is ranks among Valerie's many achievements, alongside surviving polio as a child, her scuba and spearfishing prowess, breaking boundaries by excelling in male-dominated fields in 60s, and the conservation activism that has drawn much of her focus in her later years. Linked to the latter, and also a feat that many can't manage: her willingness to confront her missteps and then do better. The apprehension that many folks feel when they're about to splash in the ocean? The deep-seated fear and even hatred of sharks, too? That's what Valerie regrets. Thanks to Jaws, being afraid of sharks is as natural to most people as breathing, and Valerie has spent decades wishing otherwise. That's the tale that Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks tells as it steps through her life and career. Taking a standard birth-to-now approach, the documentary has ample time for many of the aforementioned highlights, with Valerie herself either offering her memories via narration or popping up to talk viewers through her exploits. But two things linger above all else in this entertaining, engaging and insightful doco. Firstly, filmmaker Sally Aitken (David Stratton: A Cinematic Life) fills her feature with stunning archival footage that makes for astonishing and affecting viewing (Ron Taylor is credited first among the feature's five cinematographers). Secondly, this powerful film dives into the work that Valerie has spearheaded to try to redress the world's fright-driven perception of sharks. Like last year's David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, 2017's Jane Goodall documentary Jane and underwhelming 2021 Oscar-winner My Octopus Teacher, this is a movie about being profoundly changed by the natural world and all of its splendour. Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks is available to stream via Disney+. Read our full review. CRUELLA A killer dress, a statement jacket, a devastating head-to-toe ensemble: if they truly match their descriptions, they stand the test of time. Set in 70s London as punk takes over the aesthetic, live-action 101 Dalmatians prequel Cruella is full of such outfits — plus a white-and-black fur coat that's suspected of being made from slaughtered dogs. If the film itself was a fashion item, though, it'd be a knockoff. It'd be a piece that appears fabulous from afar, but can't hide its seams. That's hardly surprising given this origin tale stitches together pieces from The Devil Wears Prada, The Favourite, Superman, Star Wars and Dickens, and doesn't give two yaps if anyone notices. The Emmas — Stone, playing the dalmatian-hating future villain; Thompson, doing her best Miranda Priestly impression as a ruthless designer — have a ball. Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road costume designer Jenny Beavan is chief among the movie's MVPs. But for a film placed amid the punk-rock revolution, it's happy to merely look the part, not live and breathe it. And, in aiming to explain away its anti-heroine's wicked ways, it's really not sure what it wants to say about her. Before she becomes the puppy-skinning fashionista that remains among Glenn Close's best-known roles, and before she's both a wannabe designer and the revenge-seeking talk of the town played by Stone (Zombieland: Double Tap), Cruella is actually 12-year-old girl Estella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland, Game of Thrones). In this intellectual property-extending exercise from I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie, she sports two-toned hair and a cruel that streak her mother (Emily Beecham, Little Joe) tries to tame with kindness — and she's also a target for bullies, but has the gumption to handle them. Then tragedy strikes, an orphan is born, loss haunts her every move and, after falling in with a couple of likeable London thieves, those black-and-white locks get a scarlet dye job. By the time that Estella is in her twenties, she's well-versed in pulling quick heists with Jasper (Joel Fry, Yesterday) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser, Songbird). She loves sewing the costumes required more than anything else, however. After years spent dreaming of knockout gowns, upmarket department stores and threads made by the Baroness (Thompson, Last Christmas), she eventually gets her chance — for fashion domination, as well as vengeance. Cruella is available to stream via Disney+ with Premium Access, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. MARTIN EDEN The last time that one of Jack London's books made the leap to cinema screens — just last year, in fact — it wasn't a pleasant viewing experience. Starring Harrison Ford and a CGI dog, The Call of the Wild forced viewers to watch its flesh-and-blood lead pal around with a needlessly anthropomorphised canine, to groan-inducingly cheesy results. Martin Eden is a much different book, so it could never get the same treatment. With his radiant imagery, masterful casting and bold alterations to the source material, writer/director Pietro Marcello (Lost and Beautiful) makes certain that no one will confuse this new London adaption for the last, however. The Italian filmmaker helms a compelling, complicated, ambitious and unforgettable film, and one that makes smart and even sensuous choices with a novel that first hit shelves 112 years ago. The titular character is still a struggling sailor who falls in love with a woman from a far more comfortable background than his. He still strives to overcome his working-class upbringing by teaching himself to become a writer. And, he still finds both success and scuffles springing from his new profession, with the joy of discovering his calling, reading everything he can and putting his fingers to the typewriter himself soon overshadowed by the trappings of fame, a festering disillusionment with the well-to-do and their snobbery, and a belief that ascribing worth by wealth is at the core of society's many problems. As a book, Martin Eden might've initially reached readers back in 1909, but Marcello sees it as a timeless piece of literature. He bakes that perception into his stylistic choices, weaving in details from various different time periods — so viewers can't help but glean that this tale just keeps proving relevant, no matter the year or the state of the world. Working with cinematographers Alessandro Abate (Born in Casal Di Principe) and Francesco Di Giacomo (Stay Still), he helms an overwhelmingly and inescapably gorgeous-looking film, too. When Martin Eden is at its most heated thematically and ideologically, it almost feels disquieting that such blistering ideas are surrounded by such aesthetic splendour, although that juxtaposition is wholly by design. And, in his best flourish, he enlists the magnetic Luca Marinelli (The Old Guard) as his central character. In a performance that won him the Best Actor award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Marinelli shoulders the eponymous figure's hopes, dreams and burdens like he's lived them himself. He lends them his soulful stare as well. That expression bores its way off the screen, and eventually sees right through all of the temptations, treats and treasures that come Eden's way. Any movie would blossom in its presence; Martin Eden positively dazzles, all while sinking daggers into the lifetime of tumult weathered by its titular everyman. Martin Eden is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. I BLAME SOCIETY She's fired by her manager after he finally reads one of her scripts, then deems the topic of Israel "too political". When his assistant wrangles her a meeting with a couple of indie film producers in the aftermath, she's asked to lend her perspective to stories about strong female voices, breastfeeding in public, and either intersexuality or intersectionality — when it comes to the latter two, they aren't quite sure which. So, as I Blame Society gleefully posits in its savage takedown of the film industry today, it's little wonder that Gillian (writer/director Gillian Wallace Horvat) decides to follow up a leftfield idea. Three years earlier, some of her friends told her that she'd make a great murderer, a notion that she took as a compliment and has been fascinated with to an unhealthy degree ever since. Indeed, at the time, she went as far asking her pal Chase (co-writer Chase Williamson) if she could hypothetically walk through the process of killing his girlfriend. The request put a long-lasting pause on their friendship, to no one else's surprise. Now, as she resurrects the project, her editor boyfriend Keith (Keith Poulson, Her Smell) keeps reiterating that it's a terrible idea; however, with no other avenues forward, Gillian is committed to doing whatever she thinks she needs to to kickstart her career. During a mid-film conversation, an increasingly exasperated Keith reminds Gillian that no "there is no movie that is worth hurting someone for". He's endeavouring to get her to agree, but "if it's a very bad person for a very good movie…" is her quick and firm reply. I Blame Society is equally direct. While Horvat plays a fictional character — and, the audience presumes, hasn't ever flirted with or committed murder in real life — she absolutely slaughters her chosen concept. Not every line or moment lands as intended, but this biting satire sticks a knife into every expectation saddled upon women in general and female filmmakers especially, then keeps twisting. The film's recurrent gags about likeability cleave so close to the truth, they virtually draw blood. Its aforementioned parody of supposed allyship among powerbrokers and gatekeepers is similarly cutting and astute. In their canny script, Horvat and Williamson find ample time to poke fun of a plethora of industry cliches and microaggressions, the treatment of marginalised voices both within filmmaking and in broader society, and even the current true-crime obsession, all without ever overloading the 84-minute movie. And, on-screen as well, Horvat is a savvy delight. She wants viewers to both cringe and nod, and everything about her performance and her feature directorial debut earns that response. I Blame Society is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. A FAMILY Just five letters are needed to turn A Family's title into the name of one of popular culture's most famous clans. The Addams crew aren't the subject of this Australian-produced, Ukraine-shot blend of comedy and drama, but it does delve into the creepy, kooky and mysterious anyway. The feature debut of director Jayden Stevens — who co-wrote the script with his cinematographer Tom Swinburn (Free of Thought) — the absurdist gem spends time with the stern-faced Emerson (first-timer Pavlo Lehenkyi). With none of his family around for unexplained reasons, he pays other Kiev locals to play their parts, staging dinners, Christmas parties and everyday occasions. They eat, chat and do normal family things, all for Emerson's camera. His actors (including Maksym Derbenyov as his brother and Larysa Hraminska as his mother) all need to stick to his script, though, or he'll offer them a surly reprimand. Olga (Liudmyla Zamidra), who has been cast as his sister, struggles the most with her role. She's also the member of this little faux family that Emerson is particularly drawn to. Her own home life with her mother Christina (Tetiana Kosianchuk) is far from rosy, with the pair suffering from her dad's absence, so eventually Olga decides that Emerson's role-play game might work there as well. A Family is a film of patient and precise frames, awkwardly amusing moments, and bitingly accurate insights into the ties that bind — whether of blood or otherwise. It's a movie that recognises the transactional and performative nature of many of life's exchanges, too, and ponders how much is real and fake in both big and seemingly inconsequential instances. To perfect all of the above, Stevens walks in Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite), Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre, The Other Side of Hope) and even the usually inimitable David Lynch's shoes. His feature is austere, deadpan and surreal all at once, and smart, amusing and savage at the same time as well. Indeed, if a bigger-name filmmaker had made this purposefully and probingly off-kilter picture, it would've likely proven a film festival darling around the globe. A Family did start its big-screen run at a fest, at the Melbourne International Film Festival back in 2019. Now reaching Australian cinemas after a year that's seen everyone either spend more time with or feel more physical distance from their nearest and dearest, it feels doubly potent. Every lingering image shot by Swinburn — and all of the pitch-perfect performances that he captures — speak loudly to the cycle of yearning and disconnection that comes with being alive, and that never stops being put under a microscope. A Family is available to stream via iTunes. THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT Starting in 2013 with The Conjuring, expanding with 2014's Annabelle, and also including The Conjuring 2, both terrible and much better sequels to Annabelle, the dismal The Nun and the formulaic The Curse of the Weeping Woman, The Conjuring Universe now spans eight evil-fighting flicks — and they're all as straightforward as it gets when it comes to battling the nefarious. Circling around real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the franchise posits that the supernatural exists, darkness preys upon the innocent and its central couple usually has the tools to combat everything untoward. That template remains firmly in place in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. With director Michael Chaves (The Curse of the Weeping Woman) and screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Aquaman) doing the honours — taking their cues from James Wan, the Australian Saw and Insidious co-creator who helmed the first two Conjuring flicks — it once again serves up the usual bumps, jumps and scares that have haunted this franchise since day one. That said, the third Conjuring flick within the broader Conjuring realm does attempt a few changes. Rather than getting creeped out by haunted houses, it gets spooked by a kid and then a teenager who are both possessed. True to form, bone-shakingly horrific things can't simply occur without some kind of excuse and entity at play. The Warrens (Patrick Wilson, Aquaman, and Vera Farmiga, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) are first tasked with saving eight-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard, WandaVision) from a demon after his family moves to stereotypically sleepy Brookfield, Connecticut. Their efforts seem successful, even if Ed has a heart attack mid-exorcism, but the evil force they're fighting has really just jumped ship. Arne Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor, The Spanish Princess), the boyfriend of David's sister Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook, NOS4A2), is quickly besieged by strange occurrences. He's soon also covered in blood after stabbing his landlord to Blondie's 'Call Me'. The death penalty beckons; however, the Warrens convince Arne's lawyer to plead not guilty by reason of demonic possession — the first time that ever happened in the US — and then commit to unearthing whatever paranormal details they can to save his life. The trailer for The Devil Made Me Do It teases legal thrills, but in a bait-and-switch way, because this film is barely concerned with Arne's court case. The true tale, which was previously dramatised in a 1983 TV movie starring Kevin Bacon, merely provides an easy setup for souped-up demonic antics and a routine, happily by-the-numbers, never remotely terrifying threequel. Indeed, the fact that more flicks will undoubtably still follow is the scariest thing about the film. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. THE HITMAN'S WIFE'S BODYGUARD Someone involved with The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard must really love paperwork; that's the only reason anyone could've given its script the go-ahead. Perhaps Australian filmmaker Patrick Hughes, who also directed 2017's The Hitman's Bodyguard, likes nothing more than keeping his documents in order. Maybe returning screenwriter Tom O'Connor (The Courier) falls into that category, or his debuting co-scribes Phillip and Brandon Murphy — they all made the subject the focus of their screenplay, after all. Whoever fits the bill, their attempt to force audiences to care about bodyguard licensing falls flat. So does the misguided idea that the certification someone might need to unleash their inner Kevin Costner would ever fuel an entire movie. Instead, what was already a needless sequel to a terrible action-comedy becomes even more of a dull and pointless slog, with this by-the-numbers follow-up showing zero signs that anyone spent more than a few seconds contemplating the story. A significant plot point here: that Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds, The Croods: A New Age) has lost his official tick of approval. He's no longer triple A-rated after a mishap in the line of duty, and he isn't coping well. To be fair, no one watching The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard will handle that news swimmingly either, but only because they're made to hear about it over and over, all as Bryce rekindles his begrudging association with assassin Darius Kincaid (Samuel L Jackson, Spiral: From the Book of Saw) and the latter's con artist wife Sonia (Salma Hayek, Bliss). When Darius gets snatched up by nefarious folks during his belated honeymoon with Sonia, only Bryce can help — or so says the angry Mrs Kincaid. She interrupts the latter's vacation with swearing, shouting and shootouts, because that's the kind of feisty Mexican wife that Hayek plays. From there, Reynolds primarily complains, Hayek sticks with stereotypes and Jackson attempts to exude his usual brand of couldn't-care-less cool; however, even more than in Spiral: From the Book of Saw, he's on autopilot. As also seen in Jackson's last big-screen appearance, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard insists on reminding its audience about its stars' better movies. You don't cast both Hayek and Antonio Banderas (who plays a European tycoon plotting the world's demise) if you don't want to bring Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico to mind (and Frida and even Spy Kids 3, too). Thinking about the pair's shared past highlights is far more enjoyable than enduring their current collaboration, unsurprisingly. Making fun of accents is considered the height of comedy here, women can only be hot-headed nags and manchild daddy issues get almost as much love as paperwork. The jokes aren't just scattershot; they're non-existent. The messy, incoherent and over-edited action scenes fare just as badly. None of the above is likely to save us from a third movie, though, which'll probably be called The Hitman's Wife's Baby's Bodyguard's Lost Birth Certificate. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. FATALE Only 14 women have ever won more than one Academy Award for Best Actress, and Hilary Swank is one of them. When she earned the Oscars double for 1999's Boys Don't Cry and 2004's Million Dollar Baby, she beat both Meryl Streep and now three-time recipient Frances McDormand to the feat — but her career hasn't brought the coveted accolade her way again since. Fatale isn't going to change that recent trend. It hasn't earned Swank a Razzie either, but she could've easily been in the running. Playing a Los Angeles cop who has a one-night stand in Las Vegas with an ex-college basketball star turned high-profile player manager, then starts stalking her way through his life while also trying to intimidate her politician ex-husband into giving her back access to her young daughter, she has one mode here: stern-faced yet unbalanced. Even when her character, Detective Valerie Quinlan, is first seen flirting, Swank plays her as if something isn't quite right. That's accurate, plot-wise, but it robs Fatale of any semblance of tension it might've possessed. The film is meant to be an adultery-focused thriller in the Fatal Attraction mould — with even its title blatantly nodding that way — but it just ends up recycling tired, simplistic, overused cliches about unhinged women into a monotonous and unnecessarily convoluted package. Valerie and Derrick (Michael Ealy, Westworld) hit it off at a Vegas bar, then get physical; however, the next morning, he heads home to his wife Tracie (Damaris Lewis, BlacKkKlansman), who he actually suspects of being unfaithful herself. Before Derrick can meaningfully process either his infidelity or his fears about his crumbling marriage, his swanky home is broken into one night — and, because director Deon Taylor (Black and Blue) and screenwriter David Loughery (The Intruder) are content to hit every expected beat there is (and because they've seen every 80s and 90s erotic thriller ever made, too), Valerie is the investigating officer. Despite being woefully predictable from the outset, Fatale doesn't dare have fun with its cookie-cutter narrative. It doesn't evoke thrills, bring anything more than surface style or prove particularly sexy, and it never gets its audience invested in its obvious twists, one-note characters or rote dialogue. And, although having its badge-toting stalker use excessive force and exploit her power to target a person of colour could've been a choice that said something about America's current reckoning with law enforcement, race and police brutality, Fatale doesn't even contemplate anything other than clunky formula. Fatale is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Check out our lists of movies fast-tracked from cinemas to streaming back in May and June. You can also take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows.
Gracing the intimate space next door to Peter Gunn's Collingwood fine diner IDES, is the star chef's genre-bending wining and dining venture, March. Embracing various elements of a wine bar, a pub and an izakaya, it's not about to be locked into just one box — just know that it's moving in a very different direction than its sibling. The 26-seater is your go-to for clever small bites with contemporary flair, matched to a broad-ranging curation of sake, wine and cocktails. Expect a moody space rocking deep charcoal tones throughout, and with a low, marble-topped statement counter allowing plenty of interaction between those with front-row seats and staff behind the bar. As you'd expect given Gunn's culinary street cred, the drinking snack game here is strong. While the two venues share a kitchen and a flair for creativity, March's menu walks its own path with a concise, oft-changing lineup rooted in Japanese flavours and technique. Venture in for plates like edamame coated in some kind of umami magic ($9), green chilli pickled mussels with crispy garlic ($15), sake-steamed pippies finished in a yuzu parsley butter ($25) and braised pork belly with a spicy nori glaze ($25). Plus, a crispy sweet and sour quail ($28) that'll have you making fast use of the supplied hot towel. IDES sommelier Hayley McCarthy heads up the drinks offering, with Victorian and South Australian drops ruling the by-the-glass lineup, and next door's wine list and cellar selection delivering even more gems. Expect interesting pours that'll shake a few preconceptions (perhaps a Dilworth & Allain pinot noir blend, or the Konpira Maru Pan Opticon riesling out of the King Valley) alongside signature cocktails and a solid crop of sake.
Let's face it, you can't buy a whole lot for 50 cents in 2022. But on one day — Wednesday, April 6 to be exact — you can consider that little dodecagonal coin your best friend. That's all you'll need to grab a cheeseburger at McDonald's on that date, with the fast-food giant treating the whole country to 50-cent burgs. If this sounds familiar, that's because Macca's has dished up this deal a few times now. On this current occasion, which coincides with the launch of McDonald's new chicken range, there are 350,000 50-cent cheeseburgers available Australia-wide. So, you'll want to get in early to get this classic combo for pocket change — beef, bun, onion, pickles, ketchup, cheese and all — because that cheap price will apply on a first-in, first-served basis. To claim your 50-cent burger, you'll first need to download the MyMacca's app via the Apple Store or Google Play. Then, log on, check the My Rewards section and boom — Ronald's your uncle. Unfortunately, there's a limit of one 50-cent cheeseburger per customer, which probably isn't enough to make a meal of. But we're sure there are a few other Macca's menu items that might tempt your tastebuds while you're there. Because you have to use the MyMacca's app, you'll only be able to get your cheap burg via takeaway, drive-thru or in-store — not through McDelivery. McDonald's 350,000 50-cent cheeseburgers are available on Wednesday, April 6 until sold out via the MyMacca's app.
A glorious handful of Australia's most celebrated restaurants will be waking up with a big ol' smile this morning, finding a spot amongst the mightily prestigious World's Best Restaurants list overnight. Sydney's Sepia and Quay nabbed a highly coveted spot on the list, as well as Victoria's Brae, with the top 51-100 announced separately for the first time ever. Judged by international critics and industry heavyweights, the World's Best Restaurants is a worldwide poll holding some pretty heavy weight. Sydney's longtime culinary leader Quay came in at 58, while super Sydney hotspot Sepia (who was just voted by Australia's top chefs and restaurateurs as Best Restaurant in Australia in the Australian Financial Review Top 100 Restaurants) came in at 84. Dan Hunter's Birregurra restaurant Brae in Victoria came in at 87, a win for the non-CBD-dwelling establishment. The top 50 has yet to be announced, in fact, it's a first that the World's Best list organisers have revealed the 51-100 list already. The top 50 will be announced in London next Monday, at a super fancy awards ceremony with probably insane function food. Who's up for the top spots? Last year's list saw Copenhagen's Noma take out the top spot, followed by El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain and Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. There are high hopes for Ben Shewry's Attica, which came in at second in the AFR Top 100 and hit number 32 in the World's Best list last year — the only Australian restaurant in the Top 50. The Top 50 World's Best Restaurants will be announced next Monday, June 1. For this year's 51-100 list, head over here. Via Good Food.
If you live in one of the 82 million households that gave Bridgerton a stream during its first month on Netflix — making it the platform's most-watched new series ever — then you're probably also a fan of its reigning monarch. Sure, the soapy series spends most of its time with the eponymous family, with its first season following Daphne Bridgerton's (Phoebe Dynevor, Younger) quest to find a husband, and her dalliances with the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page, Sylvie's Love). But whenever Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel, Lady Macbeth) enters a scene, she steals it so convincingly and savagely that everything else around her withers in comparison. Clearly, Netflix noticed this, too. And, fresh from renewing Bridgerton for its third and fourth seasons before the second even streams, the service has announced a Queen Charlotte-centric spinoff. Get ready to spend more time with the character, but in her younger guise, with the currently untitled new show set to be a prequel. At this immensely early stage, few other details have been revealed — although Charlotte will be joined by a few other familiar faces. Younger versions of Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell, Deep State) and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh, The Witcher) will also feature in the new series, if you've ever wanted to know more about their backstories. Just who'll be playing Charlotte, Violet and Lady Danbury also hasn't been announced, and neither has exactly when the show about them will hit your streaming queue. It has been revealed that the new series will be penned by Bridgerton executive producer (and Grey's Anatomy and Scandal creator) Shonda Rhimes, though. She's calling the Charlotte-focused show part of "the Bridgerton-verse" — so yes, you can probably expect more spinoffs to follow. For now, you can revisit the original Bridgerton trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpv7ayf_tyE The first season of Bridgerton is available to stream now via Netflix. The show's Queen Charlotte-focused spinoff doesn't yet have a release date — and neither does Bridgerton's second, third and fourth seasons — but we'll update you when details come to hand. Top image: Liam Daniel/Netflix.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. DRIVE MY CAR More than four decades have passed since Haruki Murakami's debut novel reached shelves, and since the first film adaptation of his work followed, too; however, the two best page-to-screen versions of the author's prose have arrived in the past four years. It's easy to think about South Korean drama Burning while watching Drive My Car, because the two features — one Oscar-shortlisted, the other now the first Japanese movie to be nominated for Best Picture — spin the writer's words into astonishing, intricately observed portraits of human relationships. Both films are also exceptional. In the pair, Murakami's text is only a starting point, with his tales hitting the screen filtered through each picture's respective director. For Drive My Car, Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi does the honours, taking audiences riding through another of the Happy Hour, Asako I & II and with Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy helmer's layered, thoughtful and probing reflections on connection. Using Murakami's short story from 2014 collection Men Without Women as its basis, Drive My Car's setup is simple. Yes, the film's title is descriptive. Two years after a personal tragedy, actor/director Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima, Silent Tokyo) agrees to bring Chekhov's Uncle Vanya to the stage in Hiroshima, and the company behind it insists on giving him a chauffeur for his stay. He declines— he'd asked to stay an hour away from the theatre so he could listen to recorded tapes of the play on his drive — yet his new employers contend that it's mandatory for insurance and liability reasons. Enter 23-year-old Misaki Watari (Tôko Miura, Spaghetti Code Love), who becomes a regular part of Yūsuke's working stint in the city. Drive My Car doesn't hurry to its narrative destination, clocking in at a minute shy of three hours. It doesn't rush to get to its basic premise, either. Before the film's opening credits arrive 40 minutes in, it steps through Yūsuke's existence back when he was appearing in a version of Uncle Vanya himself, married to television scriptwriter Oto (Reika Kirishima, Japanese TV's Sherlock) and grappling with an earlier heartbreak. His wife is also sleeping with younger actor Takatsuki (Masaki Okada, Arc), which Yūsuke discovers, says nothing about but works towards discussing until fate intervenes. Then, when he sits in his red 1987 Saab 900 Turbo just as the movie's titles finally display, he's a man still wracked by grief. It's also swiftly clear that he's using his two-month Hiroshima residency as a distraction, even while knowing that this exact play — and Oto's voice on the tapes he keeps listening to — will always be deeply tied to his life-shattering loss. This prologue does more than set the scene; there's a reason that Hamaguchi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Takamasa Oe (The Naked Director), directs so much time its way. Where tales of tragedy and mourning often plunge into happy lives suddenly unsettled by something catastrophic or the process of picking up the pieces in the aftermath — typically making a concerted choice between one or the other — Drive My Car sees the two as the forever-linked halves of a complicated journey, as they are. The film isn't interested in the events that've forever altered the plot of Yūsuke's life, but in who he is, how he copes, and what ripples that inescapable hurt causes. It's just as fascinated with another fact: that so many of us have these stories. Just as losing someone and soldiering on afterwards are unshakeably connected, so are we all by sharing these cruel constants of life. Read our full review. BENEDETTA What do two nuns in the throes of sexual ecstasy gasp? "My god" and "sweet Jesus", of course. No other filmmaker could've made those divine orgasmic exclamations work quite like Paul Verhoeven does in Benedetta, with the Dutch filmmaker adding another lusty, steamy, go-for-broke picture to his resume three decades after Basic Instinct and more than a quarter-century since Showgirls. His latest erotic romp has something that his 90s dives into plentiful on-screen sex didn't, however: a true tale, courtesy of the life of the movie's 17th-century namesake, whose story the writer/director and his co-scribe David Birke (Slender Man) adapt from Judith Brown's 1986 non-fiction book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy. For anyone that's ever wondered how a religious biopic and nunsploitation might combine, this is the answer you've been praying for. Frequently a playful filmmaker — the theories that Showgirls is in on its own joke keep bubbling for a reason — Verhoeven starts his first film since 2016's Elle with that feature's more serious tone. The screen is back, the words "inspired by real events" appear and the score is gloomy. When Benedetta's titular figure appears as a girl (played by Elena Plonka, Don't Worry About the Kids), she's the picture of youth and innocence, and she's also so devoted to her faith that she's overjoyed about joining a convent in the Tuscan village of Pescia. But then villains interrupt her trip, and this pious child demonstrates her favour with the almighty by seemingly getting a bird to shit in a man's eye. It isn't quite as marvellous as turning water into wine, but it's its own kind of miracle. As an adult (Virginie Efira, Bye Bye Morons), she'll talk to strapping hallucinations of Jesus (Jonathan Couzinié, Heroes Don't Die), too, and use her beloved childhood statuette of the Virgin Mary as a dildo. There is no line between the sacred and the profane in Benedetta: things can be both here, and frequently are. Case in point: on her first night at the convent, after a bartering session between her father (David Clavel, French Dolls) and the abbess (Charlotte Rampling, Dune) over the girl's dowry for becoming a bride of christ, a statue of the Virgin Mary collapses upon Benedetta, and she shows her sanctity by licking the sculpture's exposed breast. So, 18 years later, when she's both seeing Jesus and attracted to abused newcomer Sister Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia, Versailles), they're the most natural things that could happen. To Benedetta, they're gifts from god, too. She does try to deny her chemistry with the convent's fresh novice at first, but the lord wants what he wants for her. Unsurprisingly, not everyone in the convent — the abbess' daughter Sister Christina (Louise Chevillotte, Synonyms) chief among them — agrees, approves or in believes in her visions. Verhoeven puts his own faith in crafting a witty, sexy, no-holds-barred satire. That said, he doesn't ever play Benedetta as a one-note, over-the-top joke that's outrageous for the sake of it. His protagonist believes, he just-as-devoutly believes in her — whether she's a prophet, a heretic or both, he doesn't especially care — and he also trusts her faith in her primal desires. His allegiance is always with Benedetta, but that doesn't mean that he can't find ample humour in the film or firm targets to skewer. The hypocrisy of religion — "a convent is not a place of charity, child; you must pay to come here," the abbess advises — gets his full comic attention. Having the always-great Rampling on-hand to personify the Catholic Church at its most judgemental and least benevolent (at its money-hungry worst, too) helps considerably. Indeed, what the veteran English actor can do with a withering glare and snarky delivery is a movie miracle. Read our full review. DEATH ON THE NILE Some folks just know how to rock a moustache. When Kenneth Branagh (Tenet) stepped into super-sleuth Hercule Poirot's shoes in 2017's Murder on the Orient Express, he clearly considered himself to be one of them. The actor and filmmaker didn't simply play Agatha Christie's famously moustachioed Belgian detective, but also directed the movie — and he didn't miss a chance to showcase his own performance, as well as that hair adorning his top lip. You don't need to be a world-renowned investigator to deduce that Branagh was always going to repeat the same tricks with sequel Death on the Nile, or to pick that stressing the character's distinctive look and accompanying bundle of personality quirks would again take centre stage. But giving Poirot's 'stache its own black-and-white origin story to start the new movie truly is the height of indulgence. Branagh has previously covered a superhero's beginnings in the initial Thor flick, and also stepped into his own childhood in Belfast, so explaining why Poirot sports his elaborately styled mo — how it came to be, and what it means to him emotionally, too — is just another example of the director doing something he obviously loves. That early hirsute focus sets the tone for Death on the Nile, though, and not as Branagh and returning screenwriter Michael Green (Jungle Cruise) must've intended. Viewers are supposed to get a glimpse at what lies beneath Poirot's smarts and deductive savvy by literally peering beneath his brush-like under-nostril bristles, but all that emerges is routine and formulaic filler. That's the film from its hairy opening to its entire trip through Egypt. At least the moustache looks more convincing than the sets and CGI that are passed off as the pyramids, Abu Simbel and cruising the titular waterway. It's 1937, three years after the events of Murder on the Orient Express, and Poirot is holidaying in Egypt. While drinking tea with a vantage out over the country's unconvincingly computer-generated towering wonders, he chances across his old pal Bouc (Tom Bateman, Behind Her Eyes) and his mother Euphemia (Annette Bening, Hope Gap), who invite him to join their own trip — which doubles as a honeymoon for just-married heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot, Red Notice) and her new husband Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer, Crisis). Poirot obliges, but he's also surprised by the happy couple. Six weeks earlier, he saw them get introduced by Linnet's now-former friend and Simon's now ex-fiancée Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey, Sex Education). That awkward history isn't easily forgotten by the central duo, either, given that Jackie has followed them with a view to winning Simon back. Boating down the Nile is initially an escape plan, whisking the newlyweds away from their obsessive stalker. But even as the group — which includes jazz singer Salome Otterbourne (Sophie Okonedo, Wild Rose), her niece and Linnet's school friend Rosalie (Letitia Wright, Black Panther), the bride's own ex-fiancé Linus Windlesham (Russell Brand, Four Kids and It), her lawyer Andrew Katchadourian (Ali Fazal, Victoria and Abdul), her assistant Louise Bourget (Rose Leslie, Game of Thrones), her godmother Marie Van Schuyler (Jennifer Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie) and the latter's nurse Mrs Bowers (Dawn French, The Vicar of Dibley) — adjust to the change of schedule, two things were always going to happen. The pouty Jacqueline can't be thwarted that easily, of course. Also, the fact that there'll soon be a murder for Poirot to solve is right there in the movie's moniker. Read our full review. MARRY ME Romantic comedies are all about timing. Whoever pairs up in whichever film, they share moments: meeting-cute at just the right time, going on life-changing dates, coming to big realisations in tandem and such. Marry Me lives for those kinds of incidents, but the film's timing itself is also unfortunate. Based on Bobby Crosby's webcomic and subsequent graphic novel of the same name — with the former dating back to 2006 — it arrives on the big screen at a time when Starstruck has already delightfully riffed on Notting Hill's tale about an everyday person falling for someone super famous, and when reality TV's Married at First Sight has been making people who've just met get hitched since 2013 (and in versions made in multiple countries), too. If Marry Me managed to transcend its Starstruck/Notting Hill-meets-MAFS premise, it could reach cinemas whenever and it wouldn't matter; however, even Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson's charms can't make that happen. Releasing a rom-com starring Lopez and Wilson in 2022 does toy with time a little, though. Its source material doesn't date back 25 years, to when its stars were both in Anaconda, but its broad strokes could've still fuelled a late-90s addition to the romantic-comedy genre. That's how creaky it feels; of course, that timing would've meant spinning a story without livestreamed concerts — and livestreamed lives, outside of films such as The Truman Show and EdTV — but it also would've rid the movie of one of its biggest crutches. Marry Me finds it too easy to blame too many character choices on the always-online, always-performing, always-oversharing mentality that's now the status quo. It too lazily uses the divide between constantly broadcasting one's every move via social media and happily living life offline to fuel its opposites-attract setup as well. It's no wonder that the movie always feels shallow, even for an obvious fairytale, and even as the script attempts to layer in knowing nods to how women like its central popstar are treated by the world whether or not they record and share every moment they're awake. That singing celebrity is Kat Valdez, aka Lopez playing a part that could've easily been originally penned with her in mind. Kat is a global superstar who, to her dismay, is known as much for her hits as for her personal life. That said, she also willingly combines the two in the track 'Marry Me', a duet with her fiancé Bastian (Colombian singer Maluma) that the pair plan to get married to during a show livestreamed to 20 million people. But moments before Kat ascends to the on-stage altar, news that Bastian has been unfaithful spreads across the internet. Sick of being unlucky in love — and just as fed up with being publicly ridiculed for her romantic misfortunes — she picks out Owen's middle-school maths teacher Charlie Gilbert from the crowd and weds him instead. He's just holding a banner with the movie's title on it for his pal and fellow educator Parker Debbs (Sarah Silverman, Don't Look Up), and he's accompanied by his daughter Lou (Claudia Coleman, Gunpowder Milkshake), but he still says yes. Director Kat Coiro (A Case of You) knows the kind of glossy, crowd-pleasing, comfort-viewing fare she's making and has a feel for that exact niche, but no one is served well by John Rogers (The Librarians), Tami Sagher (Inside Amy Schumer) and Harper Dill's (The Mick) paper-thin script. Worlds away from their last respective big-screen roles in Hustlers and The French Dispatch, Lopez and Wilson do what they can with the fluffy, frothy material, but make viewers wish they had something better to work with. Charismatic casting can keep formulaic rom-coms afloat, and this pairing frequently does, but it can't hide Marry Me's surface-level skimming of anything that could've given it depth. What's expected of women, especially in the public eye; the struggle to keep believing in love when past relationships have silenced your hope; the chasm between the dream of fame and the reality: fleshed out, they all could've helped make Marry Me sing something more than the same old romantic-comedy tune. SIMPLE PASSION To watch Laetitia Dosch in Simple Passion is to watch a woman flipped and flung about by the forces of love and lust, sometimes literally, while proving steadfastly willing to flail and even flounder in the pursuit of her desires. After appearing in films such as 4 Days in France, Gaspard at the Wedding and Of Love and Lies, the French Swiss actor plays Hélène Auguste, a Parisian university lecturer caught in the throes of her most profound sexual relationship yet. Alas, Russian diplomat Aleksandr Svitsin (ballet star Sergei Polunin, The White Crow), the man she can't get enough, has a wife and another life in a different country. He also alternates between showing up unannounced for marathon lovemaking sessions, ghosting her texts and standing Hélène up on hotel rendezvous, a dynamic that leaves her as tussled and tumbled as their rumbles between the sheets. Passion is the perfect word for what she feels, as the movie's moniker proclaims — but the other term in its title couldn't be more loaded. Hélène's attraction to and obsession with Aleksandr is simple in its most primal form. Whenever the couple are in bed — or on whatever other surface fits the task in her sunny home, as writer/director Danielle Arbid (Parisienne) eagerly depicts — everything just clicks. But when more than flesh against flesh is involved, it isn't merely complicated; the infatuated Hélène may as well be an errant rose petal caught in a gusty breeze on a glorious day. The passion that she holds so dear, that makes her feel like something other than a single mother with a straightforward life, and that seems so perfect when coloured by post-coital bliss, is also a whirlwind that can thrust her in any direction at any time without notice. She wants to bask in the glow that her affair with Aleksandr ignites, not just internally and emotionally but in the way it makes everything about her existence seem brighter, and yet that happiness is always at his mercy. Arbid adapts Annie Ernaux's novel of the same name with a key, calm and clear-eyed aim: steeping her film deep within Hélène's mindset so that every frame reflects her longing and desire, and her passion at its most simple and complex alike. As its lengthy sex scenes linger on Polunin's body, the feature firmly sports a female gaze — the yearning that Hélène feels for Aleksandr filters through every image, whether the couple is getting physical, she's peering at the stoic face that so infrequently betrays what he's thinking, or she's taking her time cataloguing his tattooed torso. Simple Passion is explicit, and often, including with Hélène's ecstatic moans as its soundtrack. It's sensual, soulful and emotional, though, traits that equally apply in the dead space between the dates that its protagonist anticipates breathlessly. Indeed, Arbid and cinematographer Pascale Granel (The Wild Boys) capture the way that she stares around her house as she keenly awaits any sign from Aleksandr with the same intimacy and delicacy. That's a pivotal touch; stylistically, Hélène is never defined by Aleksandr, but by her own feelings. Dosch is remarkable as Hélène, turning in a rich and subtle performance that's both physically expressive and deeply internalised, and usually at the same time. Her body speaks its own language when she's with Aleksandr, while her face coveys everything that bubbles inside — sometimes hope and joy, sometimes despair and listlessness — whether she's revelling in his presence or rueing his absence. In fact, she so sensational that she helps the film patch over easy choices that, in hands less meticulous and careful than Arbid's, would threaten to put Simple Passion in the 50 Shades of Grey and After franchises' company. Of course Hélène is a literature professor, because female-focused features about thorny affairs that spring from the page to the screen love the field. Of course the movie's pop-music cues are heavy-handed. Of course Polunin operates in one register, even if his off-screen infamy lends more texture to his character. Nonetheless, when Simple Passion rises to its seductive and astute peaks, it showers the screen in sparks. WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE Add The Castle to the list of influences flavouring Australian zombie franchise Wyrmwood: here, as in the beloved homegrown comedy, it's the vibe of the thing. Starting with 2014's low-budget labour of love Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead and now continuing with Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, this bushland-set saga has atmosphere to spare. Free-flowing gore, a crash-and-bash urgency and a can-do attitude splatter across the screen in abundance, too. They're key factors in all movies about a dystopian future ravaged by the undead, but filmmaking siblings Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner ask that mood and tone to do much of their series' heavy lifting. The Wyrmwood films blast away with affection for all of the zombie flicks that've preceded them, and all of the outback thrillers, Ozploitation fare and mad scientist-fuelled tales as well — and they couldn't be more blatant about it — but, even with that teeming passion and prominent energy, they still prove less than the sum of their evident sources of inspiration. As its predecessor did, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse nonetheless makes a smart move or two within its sea of well-worn concepts and overt nods. The strongest and savviest here: casting Shantae Barnes-Cowan and Tasia Zalar, and pointing the camera at them at every chance possible. The former takes on the shuffling, brain-munching masses fresh from battling vampires in the outback in Aussie TV series Firebite, and turns in another fierce and formidable performance. The latter arrives with The Straits, Mystery Road and Streamline on her resume and, while playing a character who needs rescuing — a half-human, half-zombie at that — she could never be described as a damsel in distress. Indeed, Barnes-Cowan and Zalar help set this sequel's ferocious tone as much as the gritty, go-for-broke aesthetics that the Roache-Turner brothers and their returning cinematographer Tim Nagle gleefully and eagerly covet. Writer/director/editor Kiah and writer/producer Tristan still stick with the most obvious protagonist, however: Rhys (Luke McKenzie, Wentworth), a special forces soldier who also happens to be the twin of a crucial figure from the prior film. He weathers dystopian life by holing up in a fenced-in compound where he uses a pen full of zombies to his advantage — aided by various contraptions, plenty of chains and shackles, plus blood-dripping carcasses as incentives — and by driving a Mad Max-style vehicle to round up undead test subjects for The Surgeon (Nicholas Boshier, The Moth Effect). In fact, after crossing paths with Zalar's Grace, he delivers her for military-approved experiments, but Barnes-Cowan's Maxi soon demands that he help set her free. Rhys has been operating under the assumption that The Surgeon and his armed pals had humanity's best interests in mind, despite all glaring appearances otherwise, a misguided belief that Maxi quickly vanquishes. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse also weaves in ex-mechanic Barry (Jay Gallagher, Nekrotronic) and his sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey, The Pet Killer), survivors of the first film, and toys with zombies controlled by virtual reality, too. Just like its heaving pile of influences, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse doesn't lack in moving parts — although that isn't the same as telling an engaging story, which the sequel doesn't ever muster up. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead already echoed too loudly with been-there, done-that touches; this follow-up positively screams, especially for fans of both horror and science fiction who've seen all the same movies that the Roache-Turners clearly have. Unsurprisingly, while Bosher steals scenes by pure force in his attempt to one-up even the craziest of past on-screen mad scientists, everything around Barnes-Cowan and Zalar — McKenzie's supremely standard leading role included — frequently feels like filler in an familiar wasteland. BLACKLIGHT In most movies, Liam Neeson's Blacklight character wouldn't be the protagonist. Secret FBI fixer Travis Block likely wouldn't even be given a name. Instead, he'd merely be a brief presence who popped up to help other on-screen figures — the federal agents he gets out of tricky situations, for instance — as they went about their business and connected the script's necessary plot points. Turning someone who'd usually be seen as disposable into its lead is this action-thriller's one good idea, but the flattened henchman scene in Austin Powers gave the notion more thought than the entirety of Blacklight demonstrates. There's a difference between thrusting a character to the fore and fleshing them out, especially when a film is happy to define them solely by the actor in their shoes. Here, Travis Block is another prosaic entry on Neeson's action resume first and foremost. When Blacklight begins, Block has spent his career doing whatever FBI Director Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn, Elementary) has asked. Typically, that's assisting on-the-books operatives struggling with off-the-books missions — and Block is great at his job. But when he's tasked with aiding the suddenly erratic Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith, Shadow in the Cloud), he begins to see more in the rogue agent's story than his old Vietnam War pal Robinson wants to share. Crane has quite the wild tale to tell, tied to the assassination of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-style politician Sofia Flores (Mel Jarnson, Mortal Kombat) and filled with dark government secrets, and he's eager to share it with scoop-chasing reporter Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman, The Umbrella Academy). That's exactly what Block is supposed to stop, with his new crisis of conscience putting his daughter Amanda (Claire van der Bloom, Palm Beach) and granddaughter Natalie (debutant Gabriella Sengos) in peril. Spotting similarities between Blacklight and Neeson's other recent work isn't just a sign of spending too much time watching the Irish actor's features of late. His latest release shares a filmmaker with Honest Thief, which reached cinemas less than 18 months ago — and writer/director Mark Williams doesn't stretch himself or his star in their second collaboration. Another flick that's solely about getting Neeson to deploy the no-longer-special set of action skills he's been trotting out since the Taken films became such hits, Blacklight is dispiritingly bland and by the numbers, even within the growing pile of movies that fit the same description (see also: The Marksman and The Ice Road in the past year). It isn't just that first-time co-scribe Nick May's formulaic script ticks every expected box, and that Williams' every directorial choice sticks to the easy and obvious as well. Flatter than the weary gaze emanating from Neeson at every turn, the film persistently suffers from a lack of life and energy. Melbourne dubiously stands in for Washington DC, and the conspiracy-fuelled action that takes over its streets and buildings is even less convincing; whether tracking foot chases or crashing along roadways, the movie's set pieces are perfunctory at best. And while the subplot involving Travis' yearning to spend more time with Amanda and Natalie is meant to add depth amid the routine blows, it's as flimsy and implausible as everything else in the narrative (especially when Amanda can't fathom why her dad, whose personality is solely defined by his work, family and having OCD, has a paranoia problem). The twists surrounding Robinson prove just as laboured, and Neeson and Quinn's long-standing on-screen rapport — dating back to 1986's The Mission — can't bolster the dialogue or the dynamic between their. Indeed, when Neeson utters resigned lines about making poor career choices, it rings with truth for all of the wrong reasons. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; December 2, December 9, December 16 and December 26; January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; and February 3. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter, The Scary of Sixty-First, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, The Matrix Resurrections, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Worst Person in the World, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, The King's Man, Red Rocket, Scream, The 355, Gold, King Richard, Limbo, Spencer, Nightmare Alley, Belle, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Belfast, Here Out West and Jackass Forever.
Sure, Melbourne's inner-city cafe scene is littered with gems, but sometimes the weekend calls for a little more adventure. So, jump in the car and venture down to the Mornington Peninsula and you'll discover that it's got much more to offer than idyllic wineries and beautiful beaches. This coastal pocket is also dishing up some great cafe finds, from vibrant vegan haunts, to buzzy waterfront spots where you'd be more than happy to laze away an afternoon. The weekend is calling — here are our picks for Mornington Peninsula cafes well worth the road-trip from town. Recommended reads: Six of the Best Natural Hot Springs and Spas in Victoria The Best Cafes in Melbourne A Weekender's Guide to the Mornington Peninsula Ten of the Most Luxurious Stays You Can Book on the Mornington Peninsula
The party specialists at Innocuous are making the most of the summer weather, with a trio of Sunday shindigs at the Shadow Electric. Dolce, Dolce, as the series has been christened, will see an eclectic mix of music acts take over the grounds of the Abbotsford Convent, spinning chilled out dance tracks until well into the night. The inaugural event, which kicks off at 4pm on Sunday, January 24, will be headlined by Swedish DJ Anton Klint in his debut Australian show. Other artists on the bill include local lads Midlife, Sydney DJ Nite Fleit and Innocuous co-founders 6AM AT THE GARAGE, to name but a few. The lineup for future parties — to be held on February 21 and March 20 — will be announced in due course. But if you want to get down ASAP, tickets for this Sunday's party are available through the Shadow Electric website.
UPDATE, January 8, 2021: It Comes at Night is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. When It Comes at Night begins with a man gripped by an infection, viewers are primed to expect a particular type of horror film. Something frightening is clearly in the air, which only becomes more apparent after his spluttering culminates in a wheelbarrow ride towards a fiery end. Death and devastation lurk quietly in this sparse post-apocalyptic realm, and those who have managed to survive trust no one. It's dystopian thriller 101, leaving audiences waiting for zombies or monsters to rear their ugly heads. What they'll find instead is Jean-Paul Sartre's famous phrase brought to life on screen: hell is other people. That observation might seem obvious, but writer-director Trey Edward Shults isn't done toying with common existential worries. Playing on our collective fear of the unknown, he ramps up the atmosphere of suspicion and unease by purposely leaving the details of the film's catastrophic catalyst to the imagination. Whatever it was that sparked disaster isn't nearly as important as how those who remain deal with the fallout — and yet viewers can't help but wonder. It's a smart move, with Shults not only focusing attention on the tense interactions that follow, but mirroring the characters' uncertainty about each other. Here, stoic father Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), their 17-year-old son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and dog Stanley hole up in their boarded-up house in the woods with canned food for sustenance and weapons at the ready. Then Will (Christopher Abbott) somehow stumbles through their locked door in the middle of the night, claiming to be looking for shelter for his own wife Kim (Riley Keough) and their young son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner). It's telling that Shults' first film, the family reunion drama Krisha, also brought a group of people together and then revealed their true nature through conflict. It should go without saying that forcing strangers into close quarters in a traumatic situation rarely leads to a happy outcome, so the movie doesn't say it. Rather it shows it — terse, anxious and unsettling. Cue performances (some brooding, some itching with physicality) that demonstrate just how people bristle up against each other in times of great stress. Accordingly, jumps and bumps aren't anywhere near as terrifying as furtive looks, overheard whispers and what someone else might be plotting behind closed doors. With claustrophobic cinematography and an ominous score, It Comes at Night seethes with intimacy — not of the warm and friendly variety, but foreboding, unnerving and ruthless. Paranoid and uncomfortable, the characters squirm, yearn and threaten to turn on one another. Yet even that's not the most terrifying thing about what Shults has crafted. Instead, as the film lingers in dark hallways and thuds with nervous heartbeats, it's the fact that he has managed to taunt his viewers into feeling the exact same way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5aq1HClkq0
Writers' festivals are getting more and more 'with it' these days. People wear shirts with hashtags on them, you're encouraged to live-tweet questions for authors on panels, and the events are no longer held at local library reading rooms, but cool back-alley warehouse spaces. The kind of place where everyone's wearing black-rimmed glasses and talking about Tao Lin. All this is old news now however, as the Emerging Writers' Festival has just announced the creation of the world's first exclusively online writers' festival to take place in February 2014. While writers' festivals once lamented the damning effects of the internet and digital technology on the written word, the Digital Writers' Festival will be a 12-day celebration of it. Digital publishing, eBooks, alt lit, fan fic, webcams and Twitterbots — the publishing industry and the nature of writing itself has transformed dramatically in even the past few years, and DWF is going to be a dedicated space in which to examine it. This also has a huge impact on accessibility. Do you live in the Northern Territory and always feel jealous when you see pictures of the Melbourne Writers' Festival? Maybe you live in Melbourne, but never felt quite cool enough to head along to the events. Perhaps you tried, but got lost looking for the event down a laneway? The DWF will be the first truly accessible festival for a vast array of people all over country, and more than that, the world. Admittedly it could all be a little confusing though. We talked to the new DWF Director, Connor Tomas O'Brien about what the festival will be and how it will all work. We talked on Twitter because that's what the cool kids do now, right? Right? The full DWF program of events and artists will be released in January 2014.
Death and vengeance are the common threads in Damián Szifron’s Wild Tales, one of the most deliriously savage black comedies to hit cinemas in years. Argentina’s nomination to the most recent Foreign Language Oscar race, the film consists of six separate vignettes, following six everyday people driven to the point of no return. The ensuing mayhem resembles the spawn of the Coen Brothers, Almodovar, Tarantino and Bunuel; a wicked tour de force as sharp as a corkscrew and every bit as twisted. Whether it’s a wealthy couple trying to cover up their son’s indiscretions, a lowly waitress taking revenge on the man who ruined her family or just two drivers struck down by a serious case of road rage, every chapter in the film is propelled by a wonderful inevitability: eventually, everything will be thrown horribly, hysterically and often violently out of control. And believe it or not, there’s actually method to Szifron’s madness — an intelligence lurking beneath all that wonderful chaos. The cathartic pleasure we feel watching his characters rebel against what’s socially (and ethically) acceptable comes directly from our own frustrations with the everyday world. Wild Tales is in select cinemas (Sydney: Dendy Newtown and Palace Verona. Melbourne: Palace Brighton Bay and Cinema Nova) from May 21, and thanks to Sony Pictures, we have 15 double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email us with your name and address. Read our full Wild Tales review here. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au
The year: 1943. The place: America. The sport: baseball. Misty faces: apparently not allowed. Yes, there's no crying in baseball, again — and yes, after proving a hit on the big screen back in 1992, A League of Their Own is back as an eight-part streaming remake with those firm thoughts about waterworks still intact. That said, in both versions, there definitely are tears in the sport. Someone proclaims there shouldn't be, although Tom Hanks doesn't do the honours the time around. And, when it arrives in Prime Video's series, which is streaming its first season in full from Friday, August 12, that line isn't code for the entire perspective that A League of Their Own is rallying against: that the bat-swinging pastime isn't for women anyway. The new A League of Their Own's characters are still forced to deal with that abhorrent view, however. The same storyline, and the same societal journey — starting with horrified newspaper editorials about the masculinisation of women, then building to excited crowds embracing the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — slides through the show's frames, too. Indeed, much is familiar, including a small-town star catcher chasing her lifelong dream while her husband serves in the Second World War, a ragtag group of other women living their fantasies as well, a world that sees them as a joke and a male manager who used to be a major star but is only in this gig to restart his own career. But Broad City's Abbi Jacobson, who leads, co-writes and co-created this A League of Their Own, helps ensure that the series broadens its playing field. Bringing the show to fruition with Mozart in the Jungle's Will Graham, she anchors a do-over that covers a far wider range of bases. In the original Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell-starring film — which did initially spark a short-lived TV spinoff in 1993, continuing the movie's story but without its best-known stars — a pivotal moment happens early. Alas, it lasts mere seconds and doesn't go anywhere. At the Chicago AAGPBL tryouts, a Black woman (DeLisa Chinn-Tyler) tosses back an overthrown ball, and it's clear that she isn't permitted to be a part of this realm. A League of Their Own circa 2022 takes this idea and keeps lobbing it, dedicating half of its time to Max Chapman (Chanté Adams, Voyagers). While an immensely talented pitcher, she isn't allowed to audition, let alone play, due to her race. Back home in Rockford, she can't get a game either because she's a woman, even when she takes a job at the town screw factory in the hopes of joining the company team. Max's attempts to even get on the mound, a quest that's supported by her comic book-loving best friend Clance Morgan (Gbemisola Ikumelo, The Power) but frowned upon by her salon-owning mother Toni (Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Better Call Saul), are as much a focus as the Rockford Peaches' on- and off-field exploits. That's the team that the anxious Carson Shaw (Jacobson) is recruited to alongside lifelong pals Greta Gill (D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place) and Jo De Luca (Melanie Field, The Alienist) — plus everyone from non-nonsense pitcher Lupe Garcia (Roberta Colindrez, Vida) and the similarly dedicated Jess McCready (Kelly McCormack, George & Tammy) through to fellow teammates Esti González (Priscilla Delgado, Julieta), Maybelle Fox (Molly Ephraim, Perry Mason) and Shirley Cohen (Kate Berlant, Search Party). Just as in the OG movie, the Peaches' path to baseball success is bumpy. A chaperone (Dale Dickey, Palm Springs) oversees their every move, enforcing rules about drinking, dating and not wearing pants in public — and manager Dove Porter (Nick Offerman, The Resort) mightn't be the drunk that the film's equivalent was, but he also doesn't take the team seriously. Deportment lessons and makeovers are more important to the higher-ups than gameplay, and the whole league just a way for a candy bar mogul (Kevin Dunn, King Richard) to sell tickets to his baseball field while male baseballers are off at war. That's A League of Their Own's overall framework, which tweaks specific character beats but sticks to the same general match plan as its predecessor. Fleshing out the details couldn't be more important, thankfully, including exploring the reality of being a queer woman in the era. Again, that's a glaring omission in the 1992 feature — a beloved sports comedy by director Penny Marshall (Big) that's warm, spirited and charming, yet only nods to queer players via subtext. The new series is determined to redress that gap, exploring same-sex relationships across both Carson and Max's halves of the show, and painting a clear portrait of how fraught life was at the time if you were anything other than a straight, white, married and stereotypically feminine homemaker. Being more inclusive and honest can't lift a remake all on its own; however, it gives this batch of A League of Their Own characters more depth and emotional resonance. In all of its guises, this has always been a story about finding and owning your own park, and surveying the wide array of obstacles in these women's ways — not just sexism, but racism and homophobia as well — is crucial in providing the full picture. Making A League of Their Own today but keeping 1990s or 1940s sensibilities would've been pointless, of course. In what proves a worthy extra innings, there's never any doubt that the new series is firmly a 2022 creation, as echos through in its dialogue. Rather than feeling anachronistic, even in big speeches that encourage the team to make things epic, it helps build the sense that Carson, Max, their respective pals and their individual plights weren't ever allowed to fit in neatly at the time. It also befits a show that reconsiders as much as it remakes its source material, and that has more than a little in common with another unrelated streaming effort about women finding themselves while navigating a traditionally male-dominated sport: the cancelled-too-soon wrestling-focused Netflix gem GLOW. A League of Their Own's gorgeous ladies of baseball span an impressive cast — so much so that the series deserves a second season to bring them all back. Jacobson's first starring role after Broad City isn't a stretch, but her brand of awkwardness and uncertainty also wasn't a twenty-first century invention, something else this show implicitly acknowledges. A separate program could've been made around Adams and the scene-stealing Ikumelo, even without the A League of Their Own brand attached. And Carden continues to improve everything she's in, including when it's already excellent (see also: The Good Place, naturally, and also Barry and her one-episode part in Killing It). Colindrez, McCormack, Dickey, Berlant: they hit it out of the park, too. Being glad that A League of Their Own has a heartfelt show of its own with them in it, and roving fresh eyes over the past, is as easy as cheering for a home run. Check out the trailer for A League of Their Own below: A League of Their Own streams via Prime Video from Friday, August 12.
Style inhibits substance in 2 Autumns, 3 Winters, a stilted French dramedy from writer-director Sébastien Betbeder. Chapter breaks, out-of-body experiences and a never-ending stream of voiceover are just a few of the tricks Betbeder throws haphazardly at his audience. Apparently no one told him that the French New Wave happened decades ago. Truth be told, there's nothing even remotely 'new' about this self-conscious little indie, one in which the seeds of dramatic sincerity are smothered by constant affectation. For the most part, 2 Autumns plays less a film with a plot, and more a series of loosely related anecdotes. You know, the kind you might find yourself being forced to listen to at a party after accidentally getting trapped in a discussion with the vaguely pompous friend of a friend (the one who likes to reference obscure Swedish arthouse films into everyday conversation, yet can't fathom why no one will give him a job). In any case, the chief storyteller here is Arman (Vincent Macaigne), a Parisian art school grad who, after 33 years of doing very little, decides to get his life in shape. His reinvention begins with a jog through the park, where he literally bumps into the beautiful (if somewhat regrettably named) Amélie (Maud Wyler). He falls for her immediately, although it's only after he gets stabbed in the stomach while saving her from two would-be rapists a few weeks later that the pair officially begin dating. You've got to give Betbeder credit: it's a pretty original meet-cute. And so, for the next two autumns and three winters, we watch Armon and Amélie weather the trials of a long-term relationship. Both characters, we soon learn, have a tendency towards excessive self-analysis, which they exercise (at great length) in monologues spoken to the camera. Also getting in on the introspective action is Arman's best friend Benjamin (Bastien Bouillon), who like Arman discovers romance in an unexpected place. While 2 Autumns belongs firmly in the category of 'quirky indie romance', Betbeder's movie has almost none of the charm or energy of Chinese Puzzle or (500) Days of Summer. In those films, the visual whimsy felt driven by the characters and the story. By comparison, the plot in Betbeder's film — to the extent that there even is one — feels basically like an afterthought. On a more fundamental level, it's not particularly interesting listening to characters describe what's happening in front of us. "Tears rolled down Amélie's face," narrates Arman at one point (as we watch tears roll down Amélie's face). Yeah, no kidding.
The Irishman screens in cinemas from Thursday, November 7, and will also stream via Netflix from Wednesday, November 27. Is Martin Scorsese cinema's foremost purveyor of pissing contests? In the posturing men that fill the filmmaker's frames, penis-measuring and ego battles keep bubbling up. The urge to assert one's superiority and claim one's domain pulsates through gangster classics such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas and The Departed. It's also evident in The Wolf of Wall Street, which takes aim at the need to one-up everyone and everything. But, spread across six decades and told with a deeply melancholy sense of contemplation, this notion seeps through The Irishman with particular weight and purpose. It's impossible not to notice it when, surrounded by mob heavies on one side and a corrupt labor union leader on the other, the film's central hitman observes these two opposing forces agitating for supremacy — by any means possible, and frequently to their own detriment. That hitman is Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), after the World War II veteran-turned-truck driver crosses paths with Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). Taken under the crime boss's wing, he rises through the ranks as far as any non-Sicilian can — becoming, at his mentor's behest, the mob's conduit to outspoken Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Adapted by Steven Zaillian (The Night Of) from Charles Brandt's 2004 non-fiction text I Heard You Paint Houses, Scorsese's film is told from the octogenarian Sheeran's perspective, as he reflects on his life's volatile ups and downs while remembering a pivotal road trip, and the events that led to it. It's no spoiler to say that, in bookending scenes, he's whiling away his remaining days in a nursing home. And even if you don't know your 20th century American history, it's no spoiler to say that Sheeran's cronies don't all enjoy the same fate. Sometimes, Scorsese introduces bit-players via text outlining their name, date of death and its cause, stressing the cutthroat nature of the gangster world. In the process, he illustrates the cost of behaviour that's as common as breathing in The Irishman, and that his protagonist becomes accustomed to. As Sheeran progresses from stealing steaks to grease mob wheels, to "painting houses" (read: killing), to taking on a union role to help control the headstrong Hoffa, he's thrust into the thick of ego-driven conflict. He not only adapts, but prospers at the expense of many a life, with this violent true tale doubling as an indictment of the destructive deeds and mindsets that remain baked into society. It's telling that, when a remorseful Sheeran finally confronts the fallout from these constant power struggles, he's no longer cool, calm and collected. It's just as potent when, after seeing her dad at his worst, his daughter Peggy (played by Lucy Gallina as a child and Anna Paquin as an adult) makes the movie's biggest statement by shunning this dog-eat-dog regime, and refusing to even really speak. Scorsese ruminates on the consequences of acquiescing, and the strength required to avoid being complicit — ideas that reach far wider than Sheeran's story. The director has probed the murky basis of American life in complex gangster flicks for half a century, with The Irishman proving a meaty musing on the subject as filtered through one mobster's recollection. And, what a gangster flick this is. Nearing 80 himself, Scorsese is as stunning a filmmaker as ever. The Irishman swaps the endless energy of his earlier output for a more patient but still lively unravelling across three-and-a-half hours — and revelling in the minutiae, hearing conversations that seem to go nowhere, and spying the cycles and repetition is all by design. Stylistically, the film is classic Scorsese from the opening tracking shot that recalls Goodfellas through to the devastating final image, all thanks to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Silence). As she's done since Who's That Knocking at My Door and Raging Bull, editor Thelma Schoonmaker not only gives the movie its pace, but moves seamlessly between time periods as Sheeran's story jumps back and forth between decades. What would a Scorsese film be without his on-screen muses, though? De Niro is a powerhouse, taking the ebbs and flows of Sheeran's life in his stride, and acting his way past the barely noticeable de-aging special effects that help wind back the clock. Somehow, this is Scorsese and Pacino's first pairing, but the director and actor are on the same wavelength, especially when they're at their most boisterous. Harvey Keitel steps in front of the filmmaker's lens for the sixth time, and Vinyl's Bobby Cannavale and Ray Romano make an imprint as fellow mobsters, too. If one star acts as weathervane for The Irishman, though, it's the inimitable Pesci in his welcome return. He has barely acted since Casino, and he's in quietly menacing rather than frenetically ferocious mode, which sums up this compelling epic perfectly. Gangster chest-beating resonates through every second of the phenomenal crime drama, which earns its lengthy running time — but the toll that's left unsaid echoes far louder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXxVmeGQUc
Few festivals in Australia have the energy and dynamism of Next Wave. Even though it has just hit 30 years of age, the festival is still bouncing around in fluoro lycra, staying out in galleries all night, and finding the best emerging artists from home and abroad. This year Next Wave boasts a lineup of 239 artists over a month-long program in locations all across the city. And, with a real life fight club and a yoga dance party, the work on show is unlikely to disappoint. Themed 'New Grand Narrative', festival director Emily Sexton defines this year's offering as "a rallying call". "Many institutions that operated throughout the 20th century are cracking," she says. "These institutions have deep, deep flaws, and in this time of transition – to what, we don't know – we offer this festival and these artists, as a series of potent visions for a new world, and the relationships within it." Accordingly, much of the work on show is concerned with outsider stories. From the festival's keynote initiative Blak Wave to a puberty-themed games arcade made by transgender artist Jackson Fydim Stacy — Next Wave tackles the big issues with thoughtful detail and a little bit of a cheeky grin. The Testosterdome Puberty is a time of our lives often wilfully forgotten. The hormones, the hair, the social awkwardness and general awfulness... the mental scars rival the ones left over from our acne. But with this work, Sydney artist Jackson Fydim Stacy asks us to reexamine the maligned rite of passage in the best way possible. In the simplest terms, Testosterdome is a puberty-themed video games arcade. Instead of Dance Dance Revolution, Stacy gives us Sad Boy Hoop Shooter — a game in which we "slam dunk our repressed emotions"; the obligatory race-car game is transformed to a way of chasing girls. All of this does however come with a message. Stacy is a queer transgender artist who described the process of coming out and taking hormones a kind of "second puberty" — a complex time of transition that's not as easy to forget as teenage wet dreams. Fort Delta, May 1 - 11, Free Article 14.1 Next Wave Director, Emily Sexton, once described this artist's work as having an "eloquent politics", and this latest offering is no exception. From March 1 - 11, Phuong Ngo will be living in plain sight at No Vacancy Gallery with the same rations his parents had on their 10-day boat journey to Australia in 1981. In an act with obvious but important political implications, Ngo invites audience members to sit with him during the work and fold origami boats out of bank notes while listening to narrative recordings of other Vietnamese refugees. On the final night these boats will be burned in a huge, ritualistic fire. No Vacancy Gallery, May 1 - 11, free A Wake: Kids Killing Kids This show is a bit of an anomaly. In 2011, four young Australian writers travelled to Manila to collaborate with local artists from the Sipat Lawin Ensemble on an adaptation of the famous novel Battle Royale. The show attracted huge crowds as each performance birthed a cultish and worrying following. Then the writers decided to translate their experience to the stage in last year's Fringe hit Kids Killing Kids. This new show will tell the same story from the perspective of their Filipino collaborators. Is it overkill (for lack of a better word)? Time will tell. Either way, this is what it looks like when theatre-makers go full-on Inception. Arts House, May 1 -4; 7-11, $18 - $23 Maximum This latest work from Natalie Abbott is all about extremes. Big and small, toned and flabby — for something so diverse, it's nothing short of amazing that our bodies all operate in much the same way. In Maximum, Abbott is set to explore these differences and push them into the extreme. Joined on stage by a bulky male body-builder, this small lithe dancer will investigate the universal nature of the body and test its limits via the oh-so-gruelling medium of physical movement. Featuring dance, posing, lifts and even fake tan, Maximum seems more like a durational live art piece than a formal show. This is exacerbated by the fact it has nearly 10 performances in under two weeks. Yikes. Our muscles are hurting already (but we can't wait to see the results). Arts House, May 1 - 4; 7 - 11, $18 - $23 The Blaktism Part of Next Wave's Blak Wave program, this work by Megan Cope tells the true story of the artist obtaining her 'Certificate of Aboriginality' and the concerns which this process raised. "After discussing with an Elder about the procedure, the thought of being legitimately certified suddenly cast a dark shadow of doubt across my mind and left me wondering if I was Aboriginal enough," said the artist. This seven-minute film screening daily at Screen Space expounds that journey through satire and wit, and questions the relevance of such bureaucracy. Through caricatures of Australian racism and tradition, Cope interrogates the frameworks of power and assimilation that still lay in place today. Screen Space, May 1 - 14, free Deep Soulful Sweats Ever thought your yoga class would be more entertaining if there was some good dance music cranking? Maybe you've been dissatisfied with a night clubbing because you felt disconnected from your chakras? Either way, this yoga class come dance party has all your unspoken prayers answered. That's right — it's a yoga dance party. Punters are advised to come dressed in lycra, stretch valour and the same colour clothing as your star sign (just go with it), and all other instructions will be given at the door. Though no yoga or dance experience is necessary, participants should be willing to let loose in the LED mayhem. After all, what is a yoga dance party if not the perfect place to relax? Northcote Town Hall, April 24, $15 Can We Please Play the Internet? New media artworks about "the internet" and "the Facebook" and the "total lack of privacy in our networked society leading to a enormous cultural and artistic shift in our generation" can often be a bit naff. Everything always leads to Skynet references and inevitable doomsday predictions. What's refreshing about this show is its light tone. Can We Play the Internet is a joint exhibition at West Space featuring the work of Janine DeFeo & Paul Zaba (pictured), Andrea Buren & Eleonora Sovrani, Angus Tarnawsky & Nathan Liow and Ilya Milstein. If you've ever wanted to see Google Image search results printed and mounted on all four walls of a white room, this is the show for you. West Space, April 11 - May 11, free Smell You Later The best thing about these festivals is that art pops up all over the place. A drink with friends at the festival club can easily turn into a makeshift audience for a roaming performer; at the Fringe club I was even pulled into a closet for an intimate one-on-one performance. But Next Wave is going one step further and taking art to the corridors, stairwells and lobbies of venues all over the city — furthermore, it's art you can't even see. From May 1 - 11, artists will be hiding distinctive aroma diffusers around their shows, capitalising on the strong link between scent and memory. Two weeks after your festival experience you'll smell an apple and cinnamon pie and suddenly feel compelled to talk about a particular artwork. Magic! Various loactions, May 1 -11, free Altertruism Technology, hedonism, and performance seem like the making of a great party, but the work of Brisbane collective Golden Solution is a little more complex than that. From May 2 - 10, Michael Candy, Kiah Reading and Andrew McLellan will be confronting their audience with some particularly trying social experiments. Hosting Shower Party at Goodtime Studios on May 2, the group have crafted a system where guests can serve themselves cocktails, but each drink adjusts the correspondent water level in a giant martini-shaped goldfish tank. To induce further guilt, both the lighting and music are also controlled via motion detectors in the tank. Other happenings include a drones hovering over your head at BUS Projects, and a public symposium "for the future automation of our civil life". Goodtime Studios, May 2 - 10, free The Club 3.0 This is a real life fight club. I repeat: a real life fight club. The work is brought to us by one of the festival's few international commissions — Dutch collective, New Heroes — and it looks to be every bit as gritty, dark and political as both the seminal 1996 Palahniuk novel and subsequent David Fincher film. "This is not a play," the event reads. "It's a fight club in which people can fight, talk, blow up ideas and rebuild them again. This is a club where you search for your role in society." Covering topics as dense and diverse as climate change, asylum seekers and the economic crisis, New Heroes will be calling upon willing audience members to let out frustration via their fists. But don't worry — although we may have just broken the first rule — if this is your first time at fight club, you don't have to fight. Arts House May 1 - 4 & 7 -11, $18 - $23 For a full program of events including ticketing information, check the Next Wave website.
