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. TITANE Eye roll-inducingly terrible bumper stickers be damned; no one honks if they're horny in Titane. Revving when aroused is more this petrol-doused body-horror film's style, spanning characters both flesh and chrome. When she's seen writhing in fishnets atop a flame-adorned vintage Cadillac, the stony-gazed Alexia (debutant Agathe Rousselle) is working. She's titillating a Fast and Furious-style car crowd with her sexed-up display, but the car model still seems to hum with every gyration. After wrapping up, murdering a grab-happy fan with the metal chopstick keeping her hair up and then showering off the gooey, gory evidence, she's soon purring rhythmically inside that gleaming vehicle. Yes, in a plot detail that spilled the instant Titane premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Palme d'Or, this is the French car sex flick. How does someone fornicate with an automobile? Not inside or on the waxed hood, but copulating with the vehicle itself? That's one of this pumping piston of a movie's least interesting questions, although Titane does go there. In her sophomore effort after the also-phenomenal teen cannibal film Raw, writer/director Julia Ducournau isn't too interested in those specifics. She splashes the bouncy sex scene across the screen with lights flashing, human and motor pulsating as one, and pleasure seeping like exhaust fumes, but it's hardly the picture's only point of interest. Titane isn't the first feature to flirt with carnality and cars — Ridley Scott's The Counsellor had a gas-fuelled rendezvous less than a decade ago; Crash, from body-horror godfather David Cronenberg, is also steeped in automotive eroticism. But Ducournau's addition to the parking lot shrewdly links mechanophilia with agency and control, particularly over one's feelings and body. First, before cylinders start lustily thrusting, Titane finds the initial growls of Alexia's four-wheeled fascination via a quick race through her childhood. As a seven-year-old (fellow first-timer Adèle Guigue), she enjoys audibly rumbling along with the engine. She also likes kicking the chair in front of her, exasperating her dad (French filmmaker Bertrand Bonello, director of Nocturama and Zombi Child) into an accident. For her troubles, she gets a plate of the titular element inserted in her cracked skull. That steely stare matches the alloy in her head even then. From the outset, Ducournau pairs blood and metal, reshaping her central figure while laying bare her vulnerabilities. She kicks her film into a gear it'll keep shifting into again and again, too, because this is a movie about modifications: physically, emotionally and while trying to claim one's own sense of self. Titane isn't just the French car sex film, clearly. It isn't merely a car sex movie about a woman partly forged from titanium, and with a penchant for piercing her way through those who block her road. Nor is it simply the French car pregnancy flick, with Alexia and the Caddy's tryst bearing fruit — a condition she tries to conceal, especially after more deaths lead her to Vincent (Vincent Lindon, At War), a fire chief who takes her in as his long-missing son. If Ducournau had made her script out of metal, she'd be moulding it in its molten form. She'd be letting it bubble; key to Titane's blistering appeal is its eagerness to let things boil, then brim over, because the feelings and ideas it works with are that scorching. If her feature was a car instead, it'd be that libidinous, fire-emblazoned Cadillac, which arrives with a bang, lures Alexia in and then lets loose. Read our full review. VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE What's more ludicrous in Venom: Let There Be Carnage: an alien invasion of one man's body that turns into a parasite-host odd-couple show, or a prologue that thinks Woody Harrelson could've been a 90s teen? Kudos to this sequel to 2018's Venom for starting how it means to go on, at least. With its opening, set in 1996 in a home for unwanted children, the film doubles down on silliness, overblown theatrics and packaging itself as a cartoonish lark. The goofiness of the original box-office hit was among its best traits, and worked because that ridiculousness rattled against the movie's gritty superhero setup. Venom adopted all the stylistic markers that've become the serious-minded caped-crusader formula, then let Tom Hardy bounce around like he was in a comedy. But this time, everyone's gone more than a little vaudeville, as has the movie — and the outcome is right there in the title. Carnage isn't just an apt term to describe the film, which has actor-turned-director Andy Serkis (Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle) behind the lens; it's also the name of its second symbiote, aka a flesh-munching extra-terrestrial who inhabits a bag of bones, then brings out its basest urges. Mercifully, Let There Be Carnage isn't big on rehashing the mechanics established in the initial flick, but Venom fits the bill, too, after the creature took up residence inside San Francisco journalist Eddie Brock (Hardy, Capone), then unleashed the franchise's one-body, two-personality double act. Carnage, the red-hued parasite, is the spawn of Venom, albeit bursting forth from condemned serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson, Zombieland: Double Tap) after a scuffle with Brock. And yes, this is the kind of feature that has the scenery-chewing Harrelson proclaim its subtitle with glee. He bellows "let there be carnage!" with winking jokiness, but resembles a ringmaster announcing the next act in a big top. Scripted by returning scribe Kelly Marcel, who also mined Fifty Shades of Grey for all the humour she could — and using a story co-credited to Hardy, who clearly has an attachment to his Marvel-but-not-Marvel Cinematic Universe character — Let There Be Carnage isn't burdened with much plot. After getting murderous following his separation from girlfriend Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris, No Time to Die) in their youth, Kasady will only tell his tale to Brock before he's executed. The latter goes awry due to Carnage's arrival, and a deal. The new symbiote will reunite Kasady with Barrison, whose ability to manipulate sound has seen her locked in an asylum, if the sadistic criminal assists his havoc-wreaking passenger to dispense with Brock and Venom. Cue the obvious — yes, carnage — and an inevitable showdown. Harrelson wasn't an adolescent in the 90s, but his performance nods to that decade, back when his resume spanned White Men Can't Jump, Natural Born Killers, The People vs Larry Flynt, EDtv and the like. That isn't a compliment; he's simply summoning-slash-parodying that heyday, and he's in a film that wishes it released then. Indeed, Let There Be Carnage could've been the hit of 1993, 1999 or any other year before Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy reshaped the genre, the MCU turned it into one of the predominant forms of big-screen entertainment (and now small screen, too), and superhero flicks began arriving every few weeks. Really, Harrelson's work here feels like a chaotic distraction rather than a throwback nudge, because there's only one great thing about Let There Be Carnage: Tom Hardy arguing with himself Read our full review. BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN Banging is the certainly word for it; when Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn begins, it's with high school teacher Emi (Katia Pascariu, Beyond the Hills) and her camera-wielding husband Eugen (first-timer Stefan Steel) having loud, enthusiastic, pink wig-wearing sex — and filming it. Romanian writer/ director Radu Jude (I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians) shows the explicit three-minute snippet of footage as others will see it, because others will indeed see it: the students at Emi's school, their parents and her fellow teachers among them. All genitalia and thrusting and lustful talk (and shouted queries through the door from whoever is looking after the couple's child), this graphic opening also makes a bold and firm statement. So many people within the film's frames will take issue with it as vocally as Emi and her partner are enjoying themselves — and they're unmistakably enjoying themselves — but Jude definitely isn't one of them. 2021's Berlinale Golden Bear-winner, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn also starts with a gleeful provocation — not just to those seeing Emi and Eugen's home video within the movie, but to Jude's viewers. It's a jolting opening that's exactingly orchestrated to make audiences react, then unpack their own instant reflexes in tandem with the rude on-screen posse that may as well be waving pitchforks. The underlying question: to those who object, what makes this raunchy romp between two consenting adults so shocking? Worse exists on the internet en masse all the time, so is it its unexpected arrival? Within the picture, is it the fact that Emi is a teacher, a woman or that she's unapologetic, too? Both queries speak to ideas long internalised about what we see where, who we allow to do what, and the power that comes from enforcing arbitrary and hypocritical judgements about supposed immorality and obscenity. Indeed, loving, animated, costumed and sex toy-aided intercourse between a married couple in the privacy of their own home is the nicest thing that graces Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn — until the feature's glorious climax, that is. What follows the intimate clip is a razor-sharp satire of a world that's so indifferent to so much ghastliness and so often, yet remains so unaccepting of carnality and so quick to use it as a reason to unbridle our worst sniping impulses. The film wields that notion as a weapon, all as Emi and Bucharest's other residents also navigate the pandemic. Jude could've set his scorching feature at any time, but overtly drawing attention to the daily behaviour that's been accepted while the globe battles a decimating virus — and the fact that some here would rather fixate on a different and trivial kind of viral spread — makes a blunt but perceptive point. Accordingly, in the cinema verite-style first section, Emi rushes around the city on foot, going about an ordinary day that morphs into anything but. Actually, given that she learns of the sex tape backlash while surrounded by everyday hostilities and vulgarities, this chapter reinforces an ugly truth: that the performatively horrified responses from the parents of Emi's students are all too routine. Then, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn's second act unleashes scathing and playful cine-essay snippets about the country's past, the planet's present, human behaviour — often at its most atrocious — and how porn is used as both a scapegoat and an anaesthetic. Lastly, a mask-wearing Emi is interrogated and publicly humiliated by parents and teachers, their punitive savagery and blatant sanctimoniousness on full display. Read our full review. THE UNFORGIVABLE There's a sense of symmetry to the fact that Netflix drama The Unforgivable marks Sandra Bullock's first movie in three years — since she last graced the big screen in Ocean's 8 and also starred in the streaming platform's hit Bird Box, both in 2018. After winning her Best Actress Oscar back in 2009 for The Blind Side, Bullock has appeared on-screen sparingly, featuring in just seven films over that period; however, when she puts in a phenomenal performance, she's as excellent as ever. In The Unforgivable, she does haunted, dead-eyed and determined like it's second nature, playing against-type as a woman just released from prison after a 20-year stint for murder. That said, she's also one of the best things about a movie that's almost everything else enough — serviceable-enough, watchable-enough, engaging-enough, compelling-enough — as it tracks an overstuffed redemption quest. Bullock's Ruth Slater has had two decades to stew on the incident that sent her to prison: the killing of a sheriff (W Earl Brown, No Man of God) who was trying to evict her and her then five-year-old sister Katie (Neli Kastrinos, Yellowjackets) from their family's farmhouse following their father's suicide. Upon getting out, she's warned by her parole officer (Rob Morgan, The United States vs Billie Holiday) about the difficulties of reintegrating back into normality, but finding her sibling (Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale) is the sole thing on her mind. That's complicated by Katherine's lack of memory of anything before her adoption, and her protective new parents (Succession's Linda Emond and The Comey Rule's Richard Thomas). And, while there's enough meat in that family reunion saga for the film's plot, that's only one of its threads. Screenwriters Peter Craig (Bad Boys for Life), Hillary Seitz (Eagle Eye) and Courtenay Miles (Mindhunter) have adapted The Unforgivable from three-part 2009 UK TV series Unforgiven; hence the jam-packed storyline that feels as if it's unwilling to trust that just one or two of its subplots could garner an emotional response. Also included: the stigma of life as a convicted cop-killer, a label that follows Ruth's every move; the sheriff's now-grown sons (Wonder Wheel's Tom Guiry and Dickinson's Will Pullen) and their revenge plans; a tentative connection with a colleague (Jon Bernthal, The Many Saints of Newark) at the fish factory where she works nights; the couple of well-off lawyers (The Suicide Squad's Viola Davis and Godfather of Harlem's Vincent D'Onofrio) who now live in the Snohomish County home that started all her trouble; and a secret that Ruth's been carrying for years. Davis is sorely underused, but also exceptional in her few scenes, carving out as much space as she can in a film that always seems hurried. There should be urgency to The Unforgivable, of course, given Ruth's desperate focus on reconnecting with her sister, but there's a sensation of rushing rather than immediacy. Still, thanks to her two biggest female names — with one yearning yet closed off, and the other segueing from affronted to understanding, Bullock and Davis' scenes together are repeated highlights — filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt (System Crasher) ensures that neither tension nor intensity is lacking in her English-language debut. With cinematographer Guillermo Navarro (Dolittle), she also smartly mines the parallels between Seattle's grey climes and the many shades in Ruth's restarted life, but The Unforgivable still never manages to quite match its best elements. BEST SELLERS Best Sellers is the latest case of casting-by-internet, or so it seems, at least: pairing up Aubrey Plaza and Michael Caine smacks of a feverish film Twitter dream. They both turn in fine performances, too, with the former coming off career-best work in Black Bear to play independent publishing house editorial director Lucy Stanbridge, and the latter getting a meatier role than his last Christopher Nolan-directed bit-part (that'd be Tenet) as cantankerous writer Harris Shaw. Lucy needs a big bestseller to save the business, which she took over from her father. Harris has been typing out manuscripts for the five decades since his sole success, which made the elder Stanbridge, but hasn't submitted the one he's under contract for to the company. Enter Lucy's solution to her pressing problem, and one that the reclusive Harris only goes along with because he's short on cash. Knowing how Best Sellers will turn out is as easy as knowing which marks the always-likeable Plaza and Caine usually hit. Indeed, it's knowing why their team-up instantly sounds like a winner on paper — she's acerbic, albeit in a slightly lighter mode than seen in her breakthrough Parks and Recreation role, while he relishes being a curmudgeonly, outdated drunk who yells "bullshite!" so much that it's soon a viral catchphrase. There's plenty to like about their scenes together, especially when sweetness seeps into the surrogate grandfather-granddaughter bond that develops while Lucy and Harris are on tour spruiking his new book anywhere and everywhere they can. In their solo moments, they both find rich notes of yearning and melancholy in their unlikely duo, too, cementing the film's tender but comic look at odd-couple kindred spirits. Nevertheless, while boasting its own shelf of charms, Best Sellers is more standard than stellar. Mostly, actor-turned-directing first-timer Lina Roessler and screenwriter Anthony Grieco, a fellow thespian-turned-debutant, remain happy doing the minimum — which is understandable when you have Plaza and Caine leading the show, but keeps the film from cutting as deeply as it could. There's hints of savvy savageness in Harris' rallying against the literary world, the commerce of publishing and everything that comes with being a celebrity, although it always sticks to the expected. The same applies in Lucy's willingness to rethink the usual relationship between art and money in order to get the new book, The Future Is X-Rated, to strike a chord with readers as the pair make dive bars their offices on their cross-country road trip. A movie can be nice and neat at once, and for one to be a pro while the other proves a con — and this is one of those movies. Even though it could've been so much more, Roessler's feature is an easy, undemanding and cosy watch, and its soft hues ensure that feeling remains as plain as an all-caps book cover. Best Sellers is also far too eager to stick to cliches, including that aforementioned gentle visual approach, which feels bluntly tailored to the weekday matinee crowd. Time might be against them — he's 88 now, and made it sound as if he might be done with acting while doing real-life promotional duties for Best Sellers, although he then walked that back — but here's hoping that Plaza and Caine get a second on-screen chance. Their first collaboration definitely whets the appetite for more; in fact, that's the firmest imprint it leaves. STRAY In gorgeous and glorious 2016 documentary Kedi, Istanbul's stray cats received their moment in the cinematic spotlight, and also expressed much about the Turkish city and its human inhabitants in the process. The result was perfect — purrfect, even — regardless of whether you're normally a feline fan. Indeed, it's the defining movie about mousers, and also about their relationship with both places and people (even trying to put the likes of Garfield, Cats, A Street Cat Named Bob and its sequel A Christmas Gift from Bob, some of cinema's other go-to kitties, in the same company is thoroughly pointless). With Stray, it's now their canine counterparts' time to shine, so animal-adoring film lovers can spread their love between cats and dogs equally. Where Kedi elicited purrs of elation, this dog-centric delight is a piece of tail-waggingly tender and thoughtful cinema, too. Istanbul isn't just an arbitrary choice of setting for this compassionate film; it has a 'no kill, no capture' law when it comes to the dogs roaming its streets, which is why there's more than 100,000 of them scampering around. That leaves documentarian Elizabeth Lo spoiled for choice, but she only spends time with a few of those woofers. They span street veterans Zeytin and Nazar, both of whom prowl the pavement as comfortably as they would someone's home, as well as puppy Kartal. As they sniff and scurry their way through their days, Lo stitches together a perceptive and textured portrait of their lives, of the city around them, and of the people who help and are helped by them — and, just like in Kedi (which she wasn't affiliated with at all), there's plenty of two-legged Istanbulites who prove forever changed by these canines' presence. Here, there's a group of young street-dwelling Syrian refugees that are especially touched by Zeytin, Nazar and Kartal as well. Making her first full-length film after a background in doco shorts, the director/cinematographer/editor lets her four-legged subjects be the stars, even though humans are an inescapable part of their existence. Lo is also happy to let her audience observe her furry heroes. More than that, she frequently places the camera at canine height so that viewers feel as if they're seeing the world through a dog's eyes, or getting as close as they can (far closer than simply watching your own pet on a home video, for instance). Forget saccharine Hollywood flicks that use that idea as a gimmick (see: A Dog's Purpose and A Dog's Journey — or, better yet, don't see them because they're terrible). In Stray, immersion and insight are the key aims. And, they're feats that the soulful and contemplative movie repeatedly, patiently and ruminatively delivers. The result is a doggie treat of a crisply lensed doco, and one of the biggest joys of both Kedi and Stray alike is the sensory experience that comes with their on-the-ground approach. Neither movie merely wants to just show audiences how their chosen animals live, but to convey as much detail as possible — which is where that canny camerawork, and also the feature's naturalistic soundscape, barks loudest. Some elements of Stray do strive a little too hard to resonate, though, such as its philosophical quotes about dogs and composer Ali Helnwein's score. But just as it's impossible to begrudge a pooch for being too energetic, it's difficult to fault a film this shrewd, earnest and heartfelt about the crucial role that canines inhabit in human civilisation, the many ways we benefit, and the sheer magic of a pure pupper-people connection. CRY MACHO Clint Eastwood has already had his animal phase, thanks to 1978's Every Which Way but Loose and 1980's Any Which Way You Can. At the age of 91, he's already had almost every phase in his career he's going to both in front of and behind the lens. Still, with Cry Macho, he takes the road already well-travelled by seemingly every other on-screen action star and tough guy. Eastwood has been far more than that across his filmography, but he's now buddying up with a child as everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vin Diesel to Dwayne Johnson and Liam Neeson have before him. Indeed, Cry Macho overtly resembles one of the latter's most recent movies, The Marksman, which only hit cinemas earlier in 2021. It stemmed from a former Eastwood collaborator, in fact, and felt like it should've starred him — which leaves his latest following in its footsteps. They aren't impressive footsteps to retread, although Eastwood and screenwriter Nick Schenk (a veteran of the actor/director's Gran Torino and The Mule) help imbue their feature with more depth than its predecessor. Their approach is straightforward and easy, yet it works, in no small part because seeing Eastwood stride across the frame always brings his wealth of prior roles to mind. Cry Macho leans into and toys with that past. That's an apt move in another way, given that this film could've been made with this star/helmer in the 80s, but he passed on it. Schwarzenegger also cycled in and out of the project a decade ago, but it seems this movie needed to wait for Eastwood. The throwback vibe it sports — that comes as much from it being penned by N Richard Nash in the 70s, rejected as a screenplay, then turned into a novel, as from being set in 1979 and 1980. A rodeo star whose life changed via injury (his own) and tragedy (losing his wife and son), Mike Milo (Eastwood) is content enough with his quiet twilight years. Alas, his old boss Howard (country singer Dwight Yoakam) now says that the cowboy owes him a favour. The rancher's teenage son Rafo (Eduardo Minett, La rosa de Guadalupe) apparently needs rescuing from his mother (Fernanda Urrejola, Party of Five), and Mike is the man reluctantly tasked with travelling to Mexico City to carry out the job. Unsurprisingly, the situation isn't as clearcut as Howard contends, with corrupt Federales, car thieves and other unhappy strangers on their path all muddying the road home even further. But a forced stopover in a small town, where cantina owner Marta (Natalia Traven, Soulmates) becomes the new female influence in their lives, helps forge a rapport. There's also a rooster called Macho, which is Rafo's best friend and his source of income via cockfighting — and the reason that Eastwood growls out the line "if a guy wants to name his cock Macho, that's fine with me". Mike doesn't take to the fowl at first but, of course, his way with animals is one of his defining traits. Cry Macho's chief struggle — its balance of what gleams and what's trite — shines through in this rooster relationship. There's something moving in the bond that obviously forms between Mike and Macho, as it does between Mike and Rafo, but it's also happy to be overly mawkish. The film looks the sun-drenched western part, and Eastwood plays his own part with grizzled grace; however, those uneasy balancing acts just keep popping up. Here, reflecting on what it really means to be macho and a hero goes hand in hand with writing off sexually confident women and having the movie's two primary female characters basically throw themselves at Eastwood, for instance. PALAZZO DI COZZO If Franco Cozzo was to spruik Palazzo Di Cozzo the same way he's promoted his baroque furniture business over the decades, he'd likely repeat one phrase: "grand documentary, grand documentary, grand documentary." He'd do so because that's what he's known for, and because his ads peppered with "grand sale, grand sale, grand sale" are a part of Melbourne's history, even inspiring a single that hit the charts. On the city's TV screens, Cozzo has been the face of his eponymous homewares store, so much so that he's a local celebrity. His lively exclamations fill much of this doco, too, through archival clips, observational footage of him at work and a to-camera interview. In the latter chat, he sits on one of the ornate chairs he's made a fortune selling, and answers interview questions like he's holding court — and for Melburnians familiar with his name and citywide fame, and for the uninitiated elsewhere, Palazzo Di Cozzo explains both the reason he's regarded as such a prominent personality. Written and directed by feature-length first-timer Madeleine Martiniello (The Unmissables), the result is a film about the hardworking jump its subject took from arriving in Australia from Sicily in 1956 to becoming part of the cultural fabric of his new home. Speaking about the mural painted of Cozzo in Footscray, graffiti artist Heesco notes that his tale is "the migrant dream"; however, while this affectionate film happily stresses that point, it also blissfully takes the easiest route. As a straightforward chronicle that covers the basics — who Cozzo is, what he's done, and also where, when, why and how — Palazzo Di Cozzo ticks the expected boxes in an informative and engaging-enough fashion. It tracks his story from making the move to Melbourne by boat and starting out as a door-to-door salesman, through to his 70s and 80s heyday, his frequent media presence, and his standing today. It lets his personality lead the way, too. And, the film also spends some of its early moments chatting to people who've decked out their houses with his wares, or watched their parents to do the same, to underscore what the rococo aesthetic has meant to Italian expats as an opulent slice of home. But even when one interviewee is in tears recounting how hard her mum and dad must've worked to spend $17,000 on Cozzo furniture in the 70s, there's always a sense that Palazzo Di Cozzo isn't scratching as deep as it should. The documentary doesn't avoid moments that Cozzo would rather forget, and even shows him getting irate when questioning heads in a direction he doesn't like; however, it also indulges rather than interrogates the persona that's leapt up around him over the years. Cue too many instances of people parroting his style of English back to him, and indulging a cartoonish stereotype — and very little effort to understand why that's the image Cozzo chose, what his popularity for playing that part says about Australia and its attitudes towards migrants, and also what the nostalgia afforded his way now says as well. Palazzo Di Cozzo is now screening in Sydney and Melbourne after opening in Brisbane earlier in the year when New South Wales and Victoria were in lockdown. 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 July 1, July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29; August 5, August 12, August 19 and August 26; September 2, September 9, September 16, September 23 and September 30; October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; and November 4, November 11 and November 18. For Sydney specifically, you can take a look at out our rundown of new films that released in Sydney cinemas when they reopened on October 11, and what opened on October 14, October 21 and October 28 as well. And for Melbourne, you can check out our top picks from when outdoor cinemas reopened on October 22 — and from when indoor cinemas did the same on October 29. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Herself, Little Joe, Black Widow, The Sparks Brothers, Nine Days, Gunpowder Milkshake, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Old, Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Respect, The Night House, Candyman, Annette, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Streamline, Coming Home in the Dark, Pig, Big Deal, The Killing of Two Lovers, Nitram, Riders of Justice, 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 and The Rescue.
Call it an obsession, but as soon as the warm weather arrives, we can't seem to stay away from the water. While you might settle for a backyard pool or your nearest beach, turning up the heat slightly more this summer is made possible at Adventure Park Geelong. Just an hour from Melbourne, Victoria's biggest water park is the ultimate family day out — and it's got a brand-new thrill to explore. With 23 rides and attractions designed for thrill seekers keen to keep cool, the addition of Thunder Falls to this summer's excitement offers a whole other perspective. As Victoria's first-ever free-fall drop waterslide, adrenaline junkies step into a trapdoor floor before plunging into a 105-metre white-water free-fall. On the way down, you'll hit speeds of up to 35 kilometres per hour — that's not for the faint-hearted. For even more adventure, tackle the 7.5-storey Tsunami — the state's only triple-funnel waterslide. There's also the Tornado, a fast and furious waterslide featuring 360-degree twists and turns, and the crowd-pleasing Aqua Racer, featuring a six-lane slide to the finish line. But don't stress if relaxation is more your style. Adventure Park Geelong is also home to tropical lazy rivers, luxe private cabanas and fun-loving play zones for little ones. "Summer at Adventure Park is all about creating unforgettable moments for families," says Managing Director Bree Salmon. "With its unmatched mix of adrenaline, relaxation and family-friendly fun, Adventure Park Geelong continues to set the benchmark as one of Victoria's most complete and compelling summer family experiences."
Every single week, new releases grace the country's cinemas, spanning instant masterpieces, forgettable dreck and everything in-between. But as glorious as the silver-screen experience is — for watching a film, there's absolutely nothing like it — that's not the only place to see an ace movie. Plenty of standout flicks are now dropping in your streaming queue every single month without gracing a picture palace first. Sometimes, they've had small film festival runs beforehand — but definitely not always. Back in the day, these would've been dubbed 'straight to video' and come with an air of suspicion. But bypassing cinemas has never been synonymous with terrible films. It certainly hasn't been in 2022 so far, with the first six months of the year delivering a heap of highlights — 15 that we've picked, in fact — that rank among the year's best. Here's the full rundown of the straight-to-streaming gems that you need to catch up with. The added bonus: you can watch them all from your couch now. KIMI For the second year in a row, Steven Soderbergh has made one of the year's best movies and it has completely bypassed Australian cinemas. Unlike last year's No Sudden Move, however, Kimi was always destined for streaming. The latest in his series of paranoid thrillers that also includes Contagion, and once again female-fronted as Haywire, Side Effects and Unsane were too, this Zoë Kravitz-starring standout takes its cues from smart devices, humanity's increasing dependence upon technology, and the kinds of events that a virtual assistant like Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant might eavesdrop on. As a result, Soderbergh has crafted another movie that riffs on a growing area of real-life interest, then turns it into a tense, potent and devilishly smart feature. A bonus: focusing on a protagonist who doesn't feel safe leaving her house, Kimi couldn't better capture how the pandemic has felt without overtly needing to be a COVID-19 film. Kravitz (The Batman) plays Angela Childs, who works for Seattle-based tech corporation Amygdala from the comfort of her own sprawling loft — and from her own audiophile's dream of a computer setup — listening to snippets of conversation captured by smart speaker Kimi for quality assurance. In one clip, she hears what she believes to be a horrible crime and is compelled to follow up; however, her bosses aren't thrilled about her probing. Complicating matters: after being the victim of an assault a couple of years earlier, Angela suffers from anxiety and agoraphobia, making leaving the house to investigate a fraught task. As he did to particularly stellar effect in Unsane as well, Soderbergh styles his latest psychological thriller after its protagonist's mindset, making unease and suspense drop from every aesthetic choice — camera angles and placement, jittery frames and a voyeuristic perspective all included. Kimi is available to stream via Binge. FRESH Finally, a film about dating in the 21st century with real bite — and that's unafraid to sink its teeth into the topic. In this hit Sundance horror-comedy, Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa, and once again gets entangled in a romance that'll leave a mark; here, however, the scars aren't merely emotional. Swiping right hasn't been doing it for Fresh's protagonist, as a comically terrible date with the appropriately named Chad (Brett Dier, Jane the Virgin) demonstrates early. Then sparks fly the old-fashioned way, in-person at the supermarket, with the curiously offline doctor Steve (Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy). Soon, he's whisking her away to a secluded spot for the weekend — a little too swiftly for Noa's protective best friend Mollie's (Jojo T Gibbs, Twenties) liking, especially given that no one can virtually stalk his socials to scope him out — and that getaway takes a savage and nightmare-fuelling twist. If Raw met Ex Machina, then crossed paths with American Psycho and Hostel, and finally made the acquaintance of any old rom-com, Fresh still wouldn't be the end result — but its tone stems from those parts, as do some plot points and performances, and even a few scenes as well. First-time feature director Mimi Cave doesn't butcher these limbs, though, and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn (Ibiza) doesn't stitch them together like Frankenstein's monster. As anchored by the excellent Edgar-Jones and Stan, there's care, savvy, smarts and style in this splatter-filled, satirical, brutal, funny, empowered and sweet film. Its twists, and its cutting take on predatory dating, are best discovered by watching, but being turned off apps, men and meat in tandem is an instant gut reaction. Fresh is available to stream via Disney+. COW As its name so clearly explains, Cow devotes its frames to one farmyard animal — and it's one of the most haunting films of the past few years. It's the third feature to take its title from a four-legged critter in the past 12 months, after the vastly dissimilar Pig and Lamb. It's also the second observational documentary of late to peer at the daily existence of creatures that form part of humanity's food chain, following the also-exceptional Gunda. And, it also joins 2013's The Moo Man in honing its focus specifically upon dairy farming, and in Britain at that. But the key to Cow is Andrea Arnold, the phenomenal filmmaker behind Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights, American Honey and the second season of Big Little Lies. She sees Luma, her bovine protagonist, with as much affection and understanding as she's ever seen any of the women who've led her projects. While watching, viewers do as well. Starting with the birth of Luma's latest calf — and, in the beginning, taking detours to see how it's faring as well — Cow unfurls with the rhythm of its agricultural setting. It's the rhythm of Luma's life, too, as she's milked and fed, moos for the offspring that's taken away too quickly, and is soon impregnated again. There's no doubt where the documentary is headed, either. There's simply no shying away from the fact that Luma and cattle like her only exist for milk or meat. Without ever offering any narration or on-screen explanation, Arnold stares at these facts directly, while also peering deeply into its bovine subject's eyes as often as possible. The result is hypnotic, inescapably affecting, and also features the best use of Garbage's 'Milk' ever in a movie. Cow is available to stream via DocPlay. I'M YOUR MAN Since 2013, any film that's involved making an emotional connection with artificial intelligence has brought Her to mind. Since 2014, any movie about human-android relationships has conjured up Ex Machina as well. And, since 2007, any flick that focuses on the companionship that a lonely human soul might find in an artificial companion has walked in Lars and the Real Girl's footsteps, too. In smart, perceptive and warmly humorous German gem I'm Your Man, however, it's a woman who is opening her life to a male presence — an AI-run robot designed to be her perfect match — and she's not too happy about it. Archaeologist Dr Alma Felser (Maren Egger, I Was at Home, But) is merely and begrudgingly testing out the technology that brings Tom (Dan Stevens, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) into her life, for three weeks at the behest of her boss at Berlin's Pergamon Museum, and solely for the good of science. I'm Your Man is a rom-com, which means exactly what viewers think it does going in: that Alma slowly starts rethinking her position on Tom. But that's about the only aspect of this thoughtful, witty and yearning exploration of what it means to be human and to truly connect that does what's expected. Fresh from winning an Emmy for directing Unorthodox, German filmmaker Maria Schrader helms a charming and insightful take on what's beginning to be an oft-considered topic, and is unpacked in a moving and delightful way in her hands. Her film is also extremely well cast, with Egger thoroughly deserving her 2021 Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Acting Performance as Alma, and Stevens pitch-perfect as the supposed robotic man of her dreams — who just wants love himself. I'm Your Man is available to stream via Binge. HELLBENDER Meet the Adams family — no, not the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky characters that've featured on pages and screens for decades (including in two terrible recent animated flicks), but the filmmaking collective comprised of couple Toby Poser and John Adams, plus their daughters Zelda and Lulu Adams. The quartet might be missing a letter from their well-known counterparts' names, but they're just as fond of all things horror. Case in point: their second feature Hellbender, a self-financed standout that's both a spellbinding tale of witchcraft and a clever coming-of-age story. It starts in a house in the woods, and also spends most of its time there. It includes the arrival of an unexpected stranger, shattering the status quo. But formulaic and by-the-numbers, this must-see isn't. In making first-rate use of its setting, and of a cast that's primarily comprised of Adams family members, it's also a masterclass in lockdown filmmaking. In the most expected aspect of Hellbender, the film's name does indeed refer to a punk-metal band, with 16-year-old Izzy (Zelda Adams, The Deeper You Dig) and her mother (Toby Poser) its sole members. No one else has ever heard them play, either, given that Izzy is both homeschooled and confined to the family's sprawling mountainside property, as she has been since she was five. Her mum tells her that she can't venture into town or around other people due to a contagious autoimmune disease; however, when a lost man (John Adams) wanders their way and mentions that his teenage niece Amber (Lulu Adams) lives nearby, Izzy gets the confidence to go exploring. As both written and directed by three out of four Adams family members — all except Lulu — Hellbender proves an impressive supernatural affair from its opening occult-heavy prologue through to its astute take on teen rebellion. Here's hoping this Adams family spirits up more DIY horror delights soon, too. Hellbender is available to stream via Shudder. APOLLO 10 1/2: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD In 1969, the year that Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is set, writer/director Richard Linklater was nine years old and living in Houston, Texas. This lovely animated film happens to follow a boy around the same age in the same city — and trust the filmmaker behind Boyhood, Dazed and Confused, and the glorious trio that is Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight to make viewers who weren't there then (who weren't even alive and have never been to America, too) to feel as nostalgic about the place and era as he clearly does. As narrated by his Bernie and The School of Rock star Jack Black, the film's entire middle section dances through memories of the time and city with infectious enthusiasm, but its biggest dose of affection radiates towards the technological promise of the 60s. The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions were rocketing into space and it patently felt like anything was possible, a sensation so marvellously captured in each second of Apollo 10 1/2. Jumping back into the rotoscoped animation that served Linklater so well in Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, this loving ode to years and moods gone by also sports a delightful premise. As his older guise (Black) explains, young Stan (debutant Milo Coy) was an ordinary Houston kid with a NASA-employed dad (Bill Wise, Waves), doting mum (Lee Eddy, Cruel Summer) and five older siblings when he was approached by two men (Shazam!'s Zachary Levi and Everybody Wants Some!!'s Glen Powell) to help them with a problem. In the lead up to Apollo 11, it seems that NASA accidentally built the lunar module a couple of sizes too small, so they need a kid — Stan — to help them by going to the moon to test things out before Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins make their famous trip in a bigger version. That fantastical idea feels ripped from Linklater's childhood dreams, and it well might be; it also makes for a warm and charming entry point into a movie that's as much about life's ups and downs, the bonds of family and the wide-eyed optimism of youth as it is about heading to space. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood is available to stream via Netflix. THE JANES In the perfect version of 2022, watching The Janes would resemble unpacking a time capsule. In this documentary's frames, remnants of life during 60s and 70s America flicker across the screen — visions of what the US was like for women before the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling. But, devastatingly, that's not how viewing this Tia Lessin (Citizen Koch)- and Emma Pildes-directed film feels like now thanks to recent developments with America's current conservative-skewed highest judicial body. Accordingly, this powerful doco might just offer a window into the possible future by cataloguing a dark and heartbreaking part of the past. Its focus: members of Chicago's The Jane Collective, who stepped in to provide safe, affordable but also highly illegal abortion services when terminating pregnancies, and therefore giving women agency over their choices and their very existence, was a crime across the nation. Fellow 2022 highlight Happening has charted the same territory at around the same time, but in France and fictionalised. Back in 2020, the phenomenal Never Rarely Sometimes Always examined the situation in the US recently — well, before this year's Supreme Court ruling undoing Roe v Wade — as well. Each of the above, and The Janes as well, unsurprisingly makes for harrowing, infuriating, heart- and gut-wrenching viewing. In this instance, the film sticks with current-day talking heads and archival footage to step through why the service provided by Jane, aka the Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation, was necessary and important. The brave and heroic women involved talked through the details with clarity and potency, as do some of the men who assisted, whether as husbands who were also lawyers, doctors, or construction workers-turned-abortionists. Of course, unlike in the times chronicled, women never come second to men in this gripping and resonant doco. The Janes is available to stream via Binge. CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH With Freshman Year, Cooper Raiff cemented himself as a talent to watch, both on- and off-screen. The writer, director, actor, editor and producer wore many hats on the likeable romance-meets-coming-of-age film, and he wore them all impressively and effortlessly. With Cha Cha Real Smooth, he hands over splicing duties, but he's just as ace in every other guise yet again. Winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, in the prestigious event's US Dramatic competition, this comedy also focuses on the fact that no one really knows how to handle life — this time centring its tale around the just-out-of-college Andrew (Raiff, Madeline & Cooper). The character returns home after graduating with the sole aim of making enough cash to follow his girlfriend to Spain, but falls into a gig hosting Bar Mitzvahs for his younger brother David's (Evan Assante, Dinosaur World) friends. Andrew falls in another way, too: in love with Domino (an exceptional Dakota Johnson, playing a mum again after The Lost Daughter), mother to Evan's classmate Lola (debutant Vanessa Burghardt). Lola has autism, is bullied by the other kids and usually finds herself ignored at parties, somewhat happily so; however, Andrew makes her feel comfortable and accepted, which doesn't go unnoticed. His growing fondness for Domino is complicated, though. So is the object of his affection herself — and, while more than half a century ago The Graduate splashed in a similar pool, Johnson brings her own shades and depths to a woman who is yearning for stability yet rallying against it. Everything also remains complex about Cha Cha Real Smooth's portrait of being a fresh college graduate with everything ahead of you and zero ideas of how what to truly do — and proves always-earnest as well, a description that applies to Raiff's work as Andrew and this low-key, insightful and charming movie alike. Cha Cha Real Smooth is available to stream via Apple TV+. FIRE ISLAND Pride and Prejudice, but set on New York's Fire Island. That's it, that's the queer rom-com that shares its setting's name. Fire Island, the movie, even comes with its own Mr Darcy — here called Will and played by How to Get Away with Murder's Conrad Ricamora, who should enjoy the same career bump that Colin Firth did in the 90s when he stepped into the part in a far-more-faithful TV adaptation. Updating Jane Austen isn't new, of course. Bridget Jones' Diary, also famously starring Firth, did the same with Pride and Prejudice. Stone-cold classic Clueless, which gets a shoutout here in a perfectly co-opted line of dialogue, did it with Emma, too. One of Fire Island's best traits is how new yet comfortable it feels, though, like thumbing through a favourite but seeing it afresh — with hot tubs full of praise deserved by director Andrew Ahn (Spa Night, Driveways) and screenwriter/star Joel Kim Booster (Loot). Booster also boasts a writing credit on The Other Two, one of the best new TV comedies of the past few years — and that bitingly smart, laugh-a-minute tone shines through in Fire Island, too. He takes Austen's tale about love and class and steeps it within the queer community, its subdivisions and subcultures, and issues of race and socio-economic status that ripple through, as they do in America and the world more broadly. That's what Booster's self-confident Noah finds himself navigating on a week-long annual getaway with his best friends, and after he decides to put his pal Howie's (Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live) romantic prospects above his own. If you know the OG story, you know what happens next, including Noah's path towards the initially stern, quiet and standoffish Will. The end product here is witty, funny, heartwarming and sincere, as well as supremely well cast, energetic from start to finish, and bursting with queer pride. Fire Island is available to stream via Disney+. ASCENSION Ascension may not be one of this year's Oscar-winners, losing out to the also fantastic Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), but it'll always be among 2022's nominees. More than that, this two-time Tribeca Film Festival winner will forever remain one of the most arresting documentaries of the past 12 months as well. Helming her first feature-length doco, filmmaker Jessica Kingdon turns her gaze to the Chinese dream — and what she sees, while situated in a very specific cultural context by design, is a clear and easy sibling to its American counterpart. That's part of the statement her film makes, all just by watching on patiently but meticulously as people go about their lives. Starting with factory recruitment on the streets, then moving into mass production, then climbing the social hierarchy up to the rich and privileged, Ascension explores employment and consumerism — and what they mean in an everyday sense in modern-day and modernised China. It's a portrait of the needs that make working on assembly lines a necessity, and of the dreams that inspire every climb, rung by rung, up the societal ladder. Some folks build sex dolls, their uncanny valley-esque forms adding an eerie mood. Others take lessons on etiquette for service jobs, including about not letting your face betray your emotions, and the tone is also unsettling. Observational to a mesmerising degree, Kingdon's exceptional film lets its slices of life and the behaviour, attitudes and patterns they capture do the talking, and they all speak volumes. Indeed, what a clever, telling, incisive and surreal story they unfurl. Ascension is available to stream via Paramount+. THE HOUSE Not to be confused with well-cast but decidedly unfunny Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler-starring comedy of the same name, The House dedicates its weird and wonderful stop-motion animated frames to three tales all set in the same abode. In the anthology film's first chapter from directors Marc James Roels and Emma De Swaef, a poverty-stricken family mocked by richer relatives luck into a deal with an architect, which results in the movie's central dwelling being built — and its new inhabitants getting more than they bargained for. In the second part by Niki Lindroth von Bahr, a developer, who also happens to be a rat, finalises his renovations and readies the place for sale; however, two odd prospective buyers won't leave after the first viewing. And in the third section from Paloma Baeza, the home towers above an apocalyptic future flooded with water, with its owner, a cat, struggling with her fellow feline tenants. Each of The House's films-within-a-film hail from a different creative team, boast different voice casts and splash around their own aesthetics — and they're all a delight. The constants: the titular structure, the fabric-style look to the animation (even as each director comes up with their own take) that makes you want to reach out and touch it, and mix of creativity and emotion in its dark-skewing stories. This is a movie that questions the comfortable mindset that bricks and mortar are expected to bring, and where where just trying to get by is recognised as the struggle it is in a variety of wild and inventive ways. And as for that vocal talent, Matthew Goode (The King's Man), Mia Goth (Emma.), Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown), Susan Wokoma (Truth Seekers) and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker all do ace work. The House is available to stream via Netflix. TURNING RED What'd happen if the Hulk was a teenage girl, and turned into a giant, fuzzy, super-cute red panda instead of going green and getting ultra-muscular? Or, finding a different riff on the ol' werewolf situation, if emotions rather than full moons inspired a case of not-quite-lycanthropy? These aren't queries that most folks have thought of, but writer/director Domee Shi certainly has — and they're at the core of Pixar's Turning Red, her debut feature after winning an Oscar for 2018 short Bao. As many of the animation studio's movies do, the film takes its title literally. But, it also spins the usual Pixar question. Turning Red does indeed wonder what'd happen if red pandas sported human-style emotions; however, the Disney-owned company has been musing on people becoming other kinds of critters of late, with particularly astute and endearing results here. The movie's focus: 13-year-old Chinese Canadian Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang, also making her film debut). The year is 2002, and she loves meeting her strict but doting mum Ming's (Sandra Oh, The Chair) expectations, hanging out with her pals and obsessing over boy band 4*Town. And while her mother doesn't approve of her friends or her taste in music, Mei has become accustomed to juggling everything that's important to her. But then, after a boy-related mishap, the red panda appears. Mei goes to bed feeling normal, albeit angsty and upset, only to wake up looking like a cuddly creature. Like werewolf tales about teenage boys tend to be, Turning Red is all about puberty and doesn't hide it — and whether it's tackling that head-on, pondering generational trauma or showing its rampant love for boy bands, it sports sweetness, soul and smarts. Turning Red is available to stream via Disney+. Read our full review. HUSTLE When well-deserved Oscar predictions came Adam Sandler's way for the astounding Uncut Gems, the actor and comedian said that he'd make the worst movie ever if he didn't win one of the Academy's shiny trophies. He didn't, and then Hubie Halloween arrived — and now Hustle. No, neither is the most terrible film on Sandler's resume. In Hustle's case, it happens to be home to one of his best performances. He has plenty to his name, including in Punch-Drunk Love, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and, of course, Uncut Gems, so it's in good company. There's also an element of art reflecting life in this new sports drama, even though basketball isn't what Sandler is famous for IRL. He knows more than a thing or two about only being seen one way, however, when his talents span much further. Whenever he branches away from the style of comedies that made his name, starting with Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, he knows plenty about being the underdog, too. On-screen, Stanley Sugerman is Hustle's underdog. A scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, he jets around the world scoping out new talent in the hope of finding a future match-winner, but it's not the job he wants. He loves basketball, he used to play and he's long dreamed about being a coach — but when good news arrives, then tragedy strikes, then the calculating Vince Merrick (Ben Foster, Galveston) takes over as the team's owner, it seems he'll be on the road forever. Bo Cruz (real-life NBA player Juancho Hernangómez) might be his ticket to better things, though, if he can get the Spanish construction worker signed or drafted. There's nothing that's surprising about director Jeremiah Zagar's (We the Animals) choices, or screenwriters Taylor Materne (video game NBA 2K20) and Will Fetters' (A Star Is Born) either, but Hustle remains a strong and lived-in character-driven drama as much as a tense against-the-odds sports film — and it's as entertaining and engaging to watch as the playoffs. Hustle is available to stream via Netflix. LUCY AND DESI Icons celebrating icons: when Amy Poehler directs a documentary about Lucille Ball, as she does here, that's the end result. It's fitting that Lucy and Desi includes a letter read mere days after Desi Arnaz's death, about his ex-wife and longterm professional partner, that included a touching line: "I Love Lucy wasn't just the name of the show". Poehler loves Lucy, too, understandably. Watching the compilation of clips curated here — spanning Ball's movie career in the 30s and 40s, as well as her TV shows such as the pioneering I Love Lucy, follow-up The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, and later sitcoms The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy — it's impossible not to see Ball's influence upon the Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation star, and upon the generations of female comedians that've followed Ball. Lucy and Desi loves Arnaz as well, though, and truly adores the pair's tumultuous love story — one that changed the course of comedy history. Forget Being the Ricardos, the average-at-best Aaron Sorkin film that inexplicably earned Oscar nominations — including for its one-note performances — and doesn't even dream of being funny. A deeper, meatier, far more interesting dance through Ball and Arnaz's life comes from Lucy and Desi, which benefits not just from Poehler's affection and her eagerness to ensure that her subjects' personalities shine through, but also from previously unreleased audio tapes of the pair talking about their ups and downs. Recent interviews pepper the film as well, including with daughter Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, and the iconic Carol Burnett. Still, this doco's points of focus truly do speak best for themselves, whether chatting frankly or seen in all of those wonderful sitcom snippets. Lucy and Desi is is available to stream via Prime Video. THE FALLOUT As a next-generation scream queen, Jenna Ortega has had an eventful 2022 so far. She proved one of the highlights of the latest Scream, in fact, then popped up in Foo Fighters horror movie Studio 666. And, she also made a firm impression in 70s-set, porn-shoot slasher X. Similarly a recent highlight: The Fallout, which earned both jury and audience awards for Best Narrative Feature at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, and is horrifying in a completely different way to its star's other roles of late. To be precise, it's devastating. Here, the former child actor plays an American teenager who endures what must be every American teenager's worst nightmare, then understandably struggles to process the aftermath. Surviving a school shooting isn't something that anyone should be expected to come to terms with, to move on from, or to slide easily back into their everyday life — including going back to the same classes — after, obviously. When that terrifying incident occurs, Vada Cavell (Ortega) happens to be in the bathroom. As soon as the first shots are heard, she's hiding in a toilet stall with the school's resident dance star Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler, thankfully worlds away from Music), and both emerge physically unscathed. But the trauma and emotional scars run deep, with The Fallout chronicling Vada's post traumatic stress disorder-affected headspace in the days, weeks and longer that follow. Written and directed by actor-turned-feature filmmaking debutant Megan Park, this is an immensely powerful portrait of grief on several levels — for classmates lost, lives forever changed and innocent views of the world instantly shattered. Every choice made by Park, and also by Ortega and Ziegler, plunges viewers into their Vada and Mia's internal tussles, including the score by Finneas O'Connell. The Fallout is available to stream via Binge. Looking for more viewing highlights? Check out our list of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly. We've also picked our top 15 movies that hit cinemas in the first half of 2022, as well as the 15 best new TV shows and 15 best returning TV shows of the year so far.
Not once, not twice, but nine times, Australia's most-dazzling Indigenous arts festival has lit up the Northern Territory. 2025 will make ten. Parrtjima — A Festival in Light has so firmly established itself as a highlight of Alice Springs, the Red Centre and Australia's cultural scene that it's hard to imagine a time before it. Expect luminous sights again this year, including the reliable star of the show: getting a 2.5-kilometre stretch of 300-million-year-old MacDonnell Ranges glowing every evening. The MacDonnell Ranges Light Show is one of two favourites returning to Parrtjima in 2025, again pairing its eye-catching display with classical music and Arrernte language. The other: Grounded, asking attendees to look down instead of up. A festival of lights in the NT was always going to incorporate the red earth, too, which is where large-scale projections turn the soil into a canvas. This year's version features six artworks. If Parrtjima only boasted those two pieces across Friday, April 4–Sunday, April 13, it'd still be worth heading to the Red Centre to enjoy — but there's far, far more in store across the event's ten days. Four other installations, all new and focusing on the 2025 festival theme 'timelessness', are among the standouts of a lineup that sports contributions from 20-plus First Nations artists, plus more than 100 performers and special guests. At The Gateway at Parrtjima's entrance, towering poles by artists from Antulye, Irlpme, and Mparntwe groups will greet guests. Also, Balanggarra and Yolŋu artist Molly Hunt's Three Generations of Station Women is making an animated comic strip that honours Aboriginal stockwomen, with actor Mark Coles Smith (Apple Cider Vinegar) on soundtrack duties. Then there's Bobby West Tjupurrula's Hypnotic Reverberations, creating a moving dreamscape out of beams of light, mist and reflections on a shallow pool. From Lyall Giles, Transforming Light & Country isn't just about sand dune patterns — it gets festivalgoers to play with them, using drums to create rings of light. Troy Cassar-Daley is headlining the festival's roster of nightly performances, putting on a free show on opening weekend. On the rest of the bill: the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, in what'll be Parrtjima's first-ever orchestral performance, plus gigs by Bumpy, Dem Mob, and Warren H Williams & Western Wind. This year will also feature the fest's debut comedy night, with Andy Saunders and Sean Choolburra sparking laughs. The Blak Markets are back, again showcasing First Nations paintings, jewellery, prints, baskets, sculptures and more — and Cassar-Daley, filmmaker Rachel Perkins (Jasper Jones), Michael Liddle, Armani Francois and Rudi Bremer are among the guests and speakers at the event's in-conversation sessions. If you're keen to learn by doing, the workshops itinerary spans art centre Iltja Ntjarra Many Hands getting participants doing watercolour paintings in the style of Albert Namatjira, Chef Mark Olive and Kungkas Can Cook's Rayleen Brown exploring bushfoods and traditional recipes, Parrtjima Curator Rhoda Roberts leading a weaving workshop, drumming with Dobby, and using native plants in Aboriginal healing with language holder and ecologist Veronica Perrule Dobson. Parrtjima – A Festival in Light will return from Friday, April 4–Sunday, April 13, 2025, at venues around Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. For more information, visit the festival website. Images: Parrtjima – A Festival in Light. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Being able to tell when someone is lying is a handy gift, and one that sits at the centre of supremely entertaining and addictive new 2023 streaming series Poker Face. But no special talents were necessary to predict two obvious things that've come true since the show first started dropping episodes back in January: that it'd be a hit and that a second season would follow. Armchair detectives, get excited about another round of sleuthing with star Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) and filmmaker Rian Johnson (Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery). US streamer Peacock has just announced that Poker Face will return for season two — and, dropping episodes week by week, season one isn't even finished yet. Exactly when Poker Face will return for its sophomore spin, how many episodes season two will span and who else will pop up — because this is a series with a stacked guest cast, too — hasn't yet been revealed. But the news definitely isn't bullshit, as Lyonne's Charlie Cale likes to utter (and often). A mystery-of-the-week series, Poker Face sees Charlie work her way through resolving a different crime in each episode, all while she's on the road in a Plymouth Barracuda. That's where all those other well-known faces come in, including Adrien Brody (See How They Run), The Menu's Hong Chau and Judith Light, Lil Rel Howery (Deep Water) and Danielle MacDonald (The Tourist) in season one's first few episodes. The show's debut go-around also features Lyonne's Russian Doll mother Chloë Sevigny (Bones and All), plus Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Pinocchio), Ellen Barkin (Animal Kingdom), Nick Nolte (The Mandalorian), Cherry Jones (Succession), Jameela Jamil (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) and newly minted Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once). As seen on Stan in Australia and TVNZ On Demand in New Zealand, Charlie is cruising her way across the US after figuring out a crime with personal ties in episode one, all by using that lie-detecting talent of hers, but making considerable enemies in the process. While that's the show's overall framing story, each instalment focuses on its own whodunnit in its own place, including mysterious deaths at garages, related to metal bands, in retirement homes and onstage during a play. "Poker Face is one of those rare, undeniable shows that we all fell in love with from the start, but the critical acclaim and viewer response has been beyond our wildest dreams," said Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. "Working alongside the creative genius of Rian Johnson, Natasha Lyonne and Ram Bergman, along with our partners at MRC and T-Street, has been a spectacular ride, and we can't wait to hit the road for another season as we continue to build momentum across Peacock's originals slate." Check out the full trailer for Poker Face below: Poker Face streams via Stan in Australia and TVNZ On Demand in New Zealand. Read our review of season one.
Maybe you've always had a Lego collection, because the popular plastic bricks really are for everyone. Perhaps you signed up for a subscription service back when COVID-19 lockdowns first came into effect, because there are only so many puzzles one person can do. Either way, you probably need something to store your Lego in — and, in a collaboration due to hit Australia in 2021, IKEA now has a solution. Obviously, IKEA has plenty of storage on offer. Walk through one of the Swedish retailer's shops and just try to come out without a basket, box, container or other type of storage in your big blue bag — it's virtually impossible. But, when its new Bygglek range arrives, it'll actually feature Lego studs. Keep your bricks in them, or use them to build with (or both). As part of a team-up first announced in 2019, the collection will encompass four different sets: one of three small boxes, two different types of bigger boxes, and one of Lego bricks. All of the above will connect to existing Lego products, too, because of course it will. https://www.facebook.com/ikea.au/photos/a.276205668287/10158652209723288/?type=3&theater IKEA hasn't announced exactly when the Bygglek products will hit Down Under, other than sometime in early 2021. And while they're part of IKEA's children's range, everyone knows by now that Lego isn't just for kids. Nor are creative storage boxes, should you need to a few containers to keep something other than Lego in. IKEA's Lego Bygglek collection will hit Australian stores sometime early in 2021 — keep an eye on the IKEA website for further details.
While it's been a long time between drinks for international tours here in Australia, overseas artists are beginning to pencil in dates for Australian shows next year. With our vaccination rate on the rise, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing a roadmap towards opening up our borders, 2022 tours are beginning to feel a little more possible. So far, Lorde has locked in February and March dates off the back of her just-dropped album Solar Power, and Splendour in the Grass is shooting for a return next July with three international headliners on the cards. One of those headliners is US hip-hop and fashion trailblazer Tyler, The Creator who has now revealed plans for his own headline tour around Australia and New Zealand in 2022. Tyler, The Creator has announced a set of tour dates alongside his appearance at Splendour's 20th-anniversary festival to support the release of his latest album Call Me If You Get Lost. Australian and New Zealand fans can catch the genre-bending album, which features collaborations with the likes of DJ Drama, Lil Wayne and Pharrell Williams, performed alongside back-catalogue hits from Tyler at four dates throughout July and August. The tour will kick off at Auckland's Spark Arena on Friday, July 22, before heading across the ditch to land at Perth's RAC Arena on Tuesday, July 26. This will be followed by performances at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena on Friday, July 29 and Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday, August 2. Accompanying the hip-hop favourite on tour will be R'n'B singer-songwriter and frequent Tyler, The Creator collaborator Kali Uchis. The last time Tyler graced Australian shores was for a series of festival appearances over New Years 2020/21, hitting up the likes of Beyond the Valley and Field Day. The upcoming 2022 arena tour will, however, mark Tyler, The Creator's first set of headline shows down under in over eight years. [caption id="attachment_823366" align="alignnone" width="2556"] Luis 'Panch' Perez[/caption] TYLER, THE CREATOR — CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST TOUR Friday, July 22 – Spark Arena, Auckland Tuesday, July 26 – RAC Arena, Perth Friday, July 29 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Tuesday, August 2 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Tickets for the Call Me If You Get Lost Tour will be available to Frontier Members from Tuesday, August 31. General public sales will open on Thursday, September 2. Find more details at Frontier Touring's website. Top image by demxx
UPDATE, October 21: Rebecca is available to stream via Netflix. Primarily set in a sprawling British estate that'd make Downton Abbey's characters envious, starring one of that show's cast members and telling a tale taken from the pages of an iconic gothic novel, the latest version of Rebecca arrives with a splash. A visible one, too; every frame is not only elegant and atmospheric, but often overtly gorgeous. Each second of this Netflix-funded film drips with extravagance. A parade of striking visuals saunters before viewers' eyes, surveying not only the movie's main location, but the luxe furnishings within it, the scenic coastal patch of land it sits on and the finely tailored attire donned by those walking its halls. At every turn, it appears as though no expense has been spared in bringing Rebecca to the screen, and in striving to sweep audiences up in its lavish imagery and 1930s-era story. Alas, while the first part of that equation is easily, almost instantly achieved, the latter portion proves a bigger struggle. Like its source material, Rebecca starts with an evocative line: "last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again". It's uttered in voiceover by a young woman who is never known as anything but Mrs de Winter (Lily James), and who viewers first meet before she takes that moniker, when she's working as a lady's companion to acid-tongued socialite Mrs Van Hopper (The Handmaids' Tale's Ann Dowd) on a trip to the French Riviera. During the picturesque getaway, the unnamed heroine crosses paths with wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer). Tasked by her boss to pay their hotel's staff to seat him at their table (for Van Hopper's benefit, not her own), her unassuming nature soon draws his attention. Romance quickly blooms — much to the shock of the well-heeled masses similarly summering by the sea — setting Maxim and his blushing new bride en route to the family mansion he vocally treasures. Back at Manderley, however, the second Mrs de Winter can't escape the lingering presence of the movie's titular figure. Everywhere she looks, she sees Rebecca's monogrammed belongings. Every conversation in the house seems to revolve around her as well, especially her tragic passing. With housekeeper Mrs Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas), all Manderley's newcomer feels is passive-aggressive and sometimes openly aggressive menace — and the fact that the stern employee was absolutely, utterly devoted to Rebecca. Maxim's mood changes drastically, too, and while those unacquainted with Rebecca's twists and turns should keep it that way going in, his second wife is increasingly troubled by the sensation that much is awry. In other words, the film's central young woman — the one that's still living and breathing, that is — is caught in the shadow of her new husband's late previous wife. In the pages of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel, on the big and small screens several times since, and in this new iteration, that's a scenario laden with ample psychological thrills. Here, director Ben Wheatley patiently teases out the details, but it's noticeable (and perhaps fitting) that he also subjects his viewers to the same kind of experience endured by his protagonist. From the moment it was announced, Wheatley's film was forever destined to be compared to Alfred Hitchcock's Oscar Best Picture-winning 1940 version of the beloved book. That's what happens when you follow in Hitch's footsteps and, now that Rebecca circa 2020 has reached viewers, that won't change. Wheatley is a stellar filmmaker, and has a resume filled with everything from Down Terrace, Kill List and Sightseers to High-Rise, Free Fire and Happy New Year, Colin Burstead to prove it. But, in his most mainstream, least boundary-pushing effort to date, he has crafted a brooding movie that engages enough, yet never surprises and rarely has a strong lasting impact. That's the case even when it deviates from the famed changes that Hitchcock's version of the story was forced to implement under Hollywood's strict production code at the time (which didn't allow content and plot developments considered morally indecent to reach the screen). This iteration of Rebecca doesn't do du Maurier's adored text or the gothic genre it hails from a disservice. It's perfectly watchable, generally handles the narrative capably and proves near-overwhelmingly handsome, in fact. And still, even for audiences coming to it anew, with zero attachment to an 80-year-old previous adaptation, everything about it proves so expected. It must be terrifying, unsettling, dispiriting and downright soul-crushing to feel as if you're haunted by your predecessor, to have someone doing their utmost to ensure that impression never dissipates and to barely exist to those around you (that James' character isn't given a first name isn't an accident). Rebecca is as moody as it is visually lush, but it can't quite nail that crucial sensation. It tries, though. While the overall movie frequently seems content to serve up a standard period-set melodrama rather than leaning too far into taunting and lurching emotional horrors, Scott Thomas' turn as Mrs Danvers is supremely, disquietingly chilling — to the point that, if casting her in the part was the sole reason this film was made, that's understandable. Too much around her isn't willing to commit as heartily, however. James and Hammer always hit their marks, but do little more, for instance. All those opulent sights catch the eye, too, but as the feature's heroine herself learns, sumptuous packaging alone is rarely ever truly and completely satisfying. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFVhB54UqvQ Top image: Kerry Brown, Netflix.
"I'm always looking to do something new and something that excites me, and something challenging — and I think this is all of those things," Tony Armstrong tells Concrete Playground about a unique project on the ex-AFL player-turned-TV mainstay's resume. The former ABC News Breakfast sports presenter has previously hosted television shows about dogs, Australia's untold history, famous Aussie stuff, plus sport in general and football specifically. Variety has been the spice of his on-screen career so far. But Eat the Invaders was destined to stand out; a series about putting Australia's invasive species on the menu will do that. "When I think about the kind of career I want to have, I don't necessarily want to ever be pigeonholed into one thing. And this was a great opportunity to stretch my skill set," Armstrong continues. "It was just so — I can't begin to explain how good the pitch deck and that first impression of the way the idea was going to be presented was. It was just so good. I was hooked from then." Eat the Invaders' title applies literally. Across six episodes, all of which are available to stream via ABC iView, Armstrong tours the country to explore whether animals that are waging war on Australia's native critters and plants should end up on our plates. In the process, he tucks in. Whether camel, carp or even cane toads are being considered as potential meals — rabbits, deer and sea urchin, too — each instalment dives into the history of its chosen creatures, their impact upon Australia's landscape, how people regard them, eradication efforts, the attitudes around each animal as food and why they might appeal as a meal. The show also puts its rhetoric where its mouth is in another way, with Armstrong heading to Tasmanian art gallery Mona in every episode for a feast featuring the ingredient in the spotlight. Joining him for the series of dinners: everyone from Poh Ling Yeow, Claire Hooper and Nat's What I Reckon to Rona Glynn-McDonald — who happens to be his partner — and her filmmaker father Warwick Thornton (The New Boy), plus Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Geoffrey Robertson. Also driving the series, both from Mona, are artist and curator Kirsha Kaechele and acclaimed culinary figure Vince Trim. The former's Eat the Problem project — an exhibition and a book — sparked Eat the Invaders. The latter is the gallery's Executive Chef, and therefore tasked with whipping up Mona-worthy dishes using the show's menagerie. In addition, Armstrong checks in with professors Andrew Lowe and Phil Cassey, invasion biologists, as he steps through why each animal could be a candidate for the end of someone's fork. This isn't just the type of show that doesn't grace screens every day, or the kind of project that doesn't come Armstrong's way often, either — it was also a helluva way for its host to travel around Australia. "I felt like I was getting away with something: in a mail plane from Alice Springs airport, going west for three hours, flying over some of the most-beautiful country in the world, and I'm just like 'what a privilege — what an absolute privilege it is to be able to do this for work'," he notes. "Most people have to work really hard and then take time off, and then pay to do that. That wasn't lost on me." Most people don't try the most-controversial animal on the Eat the Invaders menu, too, whether they're holidaying around the nation or not. When it comes to contemplating eating cats, Armstrong welcomes the conversation that he hopes the series will inspire, including about the destruction waged by the animals so beloved as pets. We also spoke with the A Dog's World, Great Australian Stuff and Tony Armstrong's Extra-Ordinary Things star — and former Adelaide, Sydney and Collingwood footballer, and recent Memoir of a Snail voice actor — about the challenges of making the show, which ingredient should become an everyday staple and cognitive dissonance around Eat the Invaders' topic. What excites him about a new project, plus Armstrong's journey from the footy field to here: they're part of our chat as well. On the Animal That Immediately Stood Out Among Eat the Invaders' Different Species "Cat. Cat for sure. Because I know how much people love them — and how love can be blind. Cats can make great companions, all that kind of thing, but the damage that so many cats have done — feral and domestic — is crazy. They are killing machines. And our native animals here, because cats are a relatively recent introduction when you consider how old so-called Australia is, a lot of the animals don't view cats as predators yet in the way that they might view others. They don't have those thousands and thousands of years of adaptation to know how to deal with them. So the damage that cats are doing is immense. And what a great hook to get people in to watch an episode that isn't actually about — it's about eating cat, but it's not actually about eating cat. I can't wait to get in arguments. The show is also about our prejudice. Why is it okay to eat a cow? What's the difference? I don't see the difference. Maybe it's because cats in popular culture are presented in a certain way, so we don't necessarily think about them in the way that we should. And that's not to say that people shouldn't own cats and all that kind of thing. I think dealing with cats, it's about how can we be better owners? How can we be more responsible at that end? I don't want people not to have fun with an animal they love — but I want them to be responsible and think about the native animals that are getting smoked by cats." On the Biggest Challenges of Making Eat the Invaders "I reckon the biggest challenge with any show that's factual is how do we not make it boring? How do we keep it simple?. Because we could have gone down the path of crazy, crazy high-end and deep-dive science — we could have done that. Then it's also how can you be compelling enough to get people to listen to you talking about eating cat?, for instance. That's quite the tightrope to walk. And then it's also 'god, I hope when we're out here in the desert, because we've got one day here, we get a cat'. We might not. We had, I think, a day in WA to find camels, and we were lucky, we found a bountiful amount. But when we arrived on the station, they were like 'hey, look there's a huge chance we don't see any camels'. So there's that as well — trying to remain positive and upbeat about stuff, and also taking calculated risks. You can plan as hard as you want and then things can go wrong. So I guess the other thing is about being as adaptable and as quick-thinking as you can be." On Humanity's Cognitive Dissonance Around Animals When It's Considered Acceptable to Eat Some But Not Others "I think so much of it is nurture. So much of it is where you're brought up, what you've done as you've grown up, the way you as an individual approach the world — do you approach the world with a growth-type mindset where you're happy to be curious and all that kind of thing, or are you more conservative, are you more fixed? And then, are you someone who's willing to have a respectful debate? This cognitive dissonance is just so, so interesting. I think so much of that is baked into nurture through all the different touchpoints that make us who we are." On the One Candidate in Eat the Invaders That Left Armstrong Certain That It Should Become an Everyday Food "Carp. It's so easily accessible. The reason why I don't think cat is that's just not going to happen. The reason why I don't think camel is because, as delicious as it is and as many of them as there are, and how there's an industry waiting to happen, the infrastructure to set that industry up is just going to take so much investment, so the barriers to entry for that are too high. I totally think with carp, that is such a perception thing on how the animal tastes. Everyone just thinks of it as a shit fish, right? But if it is prepared properly, and killed properly, humanely, ethically, all those kind of things, it is delicious. It is so yum. And if you saw that episode where we're eating at Africola in Adelaide, that's some of the best food I've had. And that's carp. And Mark and Duncan just prepared two beautiful dishes showing the versatility of carp fillet versus carp in a salad. So it's a versatile fish. It takes on all of the flavours of the food around it. There's so much carp. And we already have a fishing industry. So I think that would be the most viable one — but also I am the last person who should ever, ever take charge of a business, so huge caveat right there." On the Species Explored in the Series That Are Part of Armstrong's Own Diet "So I already ate camel. Not all the time, but going to the Vic Markets, there's camel that you can buy — you can buy little camel steaks and that kind of thing. And it's delicious. It is bloody delicious. I've had it beforehand, but since the show I actually ironically haven't eaten much. I also have eaten quite a lot of rabbit in my time as well. So camel and rabbit are ones that were already part of my diet. But I think in the winter, I'll cook a lot of rabbit. I want to make stews and little pasties and stuff like that with rabbit." On What Excites Armstrong About a New Project, After a Unique Journey From Three AFL Clubs to an Array of TV Shows, Presenting Sports on News Breakfast, Film Voice Work and More "I think first, as I'm as I'm getting older and I suppose more established, it's the quality of the work that is the first thing I think of. I've always thought about that, but the very first thing I think about is 'do I think this will be well-executed and do I think I can have a role in that?'. When Memoir of a Snail came along, it was like 'hell yeah'. I've done voice acting for Reef School and that kind of thing, and I really enjoy that. I think now it's a mixture of 'is it something new and exciting and challenging?' and then 'do I think it will be good?'. That's kind of where I'm at. Probably the only world I haven't really gone into is proper performance, and that's something interests me. It's just something where if I'm like 'oh yeah, I'm pumped. That sounds cool. I'm excited. I'm a bit nervous', then I know I'm in the right spot." On Whether Armstrong Imagined the Path His Career Has Taken Back When He Was Drafted to Play AFL "Not even in the slightest. When I got drafted, in my mind I was like 'sweet, I'm going to become an AFL legend' — because that's what everyone thinks, right? Right now I'm supposed to be a bagillionaire former player who is the best ever, and I've just retired and now I smoke cigars and cruise around my many properties. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite the case. [caption id="attachment_843998" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong[/caption] We were talking about 'not a bad way to see the country' before, and I was just like 'I'm constantly on sets or I'm in a voice booth, or I'm somewhere doing something' — and I'm like looking left and right, and I'm like 'when are they going to realise that I don't know what the fuck I'm doing? The jig's going to be up soon, Tone'. I'm so grateful, and I work and all of that stuff, which everyone does — but yeah, a lot of pinch-myself stuff." Eat the Invaders streams via ABC iView.
If you haven't heard, Pontoon, our favourite beachside bar, has partnered with top hard seltzer brand White Claw to bring you an epic live gig that you won't want to miss on Sunday, February 13. And, the great news is, you and your mates can attend with the full VIP treatment. We're inviting you and five mates to the White Claw Weekend x Pontoon party, where you will dance the night away to one of the hottest emerging music acts in the country. That's right, Melbourne-based duo Close Counters will be playing from 5pm, spinning up some soulful, genre-traversing tunes. The lucky winner will ride in style in a Kombi limo that will pick you up. While you cruise the city in the Kombi, you and your mates will enjoy White Claw hard seltzers and tasty snacks while listening to a curated playlist to get you ready for the night. Then, you'll enjoy the sweet sounds of Close Counters and dance the night away. Nothing screams summer more than a beachside party, so make it a day you won't forget. Keen to kick it with your crew this summer? Enter details below to go in the running. [competition]840949[/competition]
Zach Braff is doing it, Amanda Palmer turned it into an art form, and now crowdfunding has landed on the Sydney hospitality scene with Stanley Street's IconPark. It's a simple enough genesis story: Spreets co-founder and former CEO Dean McEvoy bought a property, asked Paul Schell (formerly of Ruby Rabbit) to open a business, and got a potentially revolutionary concept instead. Happy accidents, hey? "People get great ideas in hospitality, but they don't have access to the capital, infrastructure and knowledge to make it a reality," explains McEvoy. "And we saw that dynamic from other industries where crowdfunding was working and by early indicators we are on the right track." And, with noise already coming from New York, California and London to launch the platform overseas, it sounds like he is underplaying his hand. "Our aim is to actually go big on this one ... it's going to be a global brand." Come Tuesday, March 25, the winner of the inaugural three-month residency will be announced, and a new tri-level hospitality concept will be born at 78 Stanley Street — albeit for a brief tenure before season two. One hundred and seventeen hands answered IconPark's premier cattle call. McEvoy, Schell and their team then shrunk that number to 24 before they teamed up with mentors Darren Robertson (Three Blue Ducks), Sudeep Gohil (Droga 5), Chris Morrison (Head Sommelier at the Guillaume group), Joel Meares (Time Out) and Claire Bradley (Inside Out Magazine) to pick the final six. The ball is now in our court. "The consumer decides and lets the IconPark platform know what is the product they want to experience," says Schell. "The main reasons why hospitality businesses fail is that they are not really hitting on something the market wants — you can go and spend millions on a lease and fitout and then open the doors and find out no one really wants what you've got," elaborates McEvoy. "So this mechanism lets the customer have early input into what will and won't work." Given the explosion of the small bar scene — and how Sydney's ever-growing appetite for new culinary destinations seems only surpassed by its appetite for opening them — it is astounding to think this platform has not surfaced earlier. Okay, let's meet your season one finalists (in order of most pledgers at the time of writing) and find out what a $50 pledge will get you: https://youtube.com/watch?v=htsQ34VJKlU Stanley St. Merchants An all-hours sustainable funhouse from the mind of West Wind Gin's Jeremy Spencer with rock 'n' roll chef Matt Stone, and coffee shop of the year St Ali (from Victoria). These boys will feed and caffeinate you; settle in for amaro and dominos or head upstairs to cocktail guru Bobby Carey (formerly of Shady Pines) for a mess hall-themed tipple. $50 pledge: $50 voucher redeemable throughout the building. Ruby's BBQ Husband-and-wife team and Bondi-ites Ruby and Eli Challenger promise a man-cave to bring the fabled flavours of US BBQ to Stanley Street; smoked meats, trivial pursuit, potential for a mini-golf set-up and cocktails courtesy of Fat Rupert's bar manager Sean Duncan. Condiments, competitions and meat by the gram. $50 pledge: A share platter and booze for two. Sedgwick Ave Street art. Hip Hop. Katz-style sandwiches. NYC cocktails and coffee. All that and internationally renowned chef Alejandra Saravia. Sedgwick Ave wants to bring a bit more Brooklyn to Stanley Street than it can handle. Oh, and check out the Mr Brainwash walk-through they pulled off to prove their networking skillz. $40 pledge: Sit yourself down for a cocktail class with Paul Flynn. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tVvrQaGKd2Q Min Joo Social K-Pop karaoke, cocktails, photo booths and Korean BBQ are looking for a home on Stanley Street under the guidance of Jamie Woolcott, David Wright and Phil Bracey. $50 pledge: $50 to spend in the building. British India Trading Co. A celebration of cultural cross-pollination centred around British India and heaped with chef Matt Taylor's Michelin star experience to bring you an exploration of flavours that keep vegos, meatheads and booze hounds satiated equally. $55 pledge: A Royal British India platter for two. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2bkahk4_WcU Blackcats Jazz, gin and wagyu beef. Jay Gray (formerly of Lobo Plantation), Pia Andersen (vintage songstress) and chef Phil Tsompansis have partnered with Victor Churchill Meats (that gallery-like Woollahra butcher that's been tempting vegetarians since 1876) to promise coffee, late-night tunes and choice cuts within a 19th-century gin palace decor. $50 pledge: Dinner and a show. https://youtube.com/watch?v=g4IQRENio20 All six finalists will be vying for your attention at Taste of Sydney (March 13-16) to ensure their spot in the top four. Applying next time? Ruby's BBQ got over the line by tempting the panelists back for seconds during the tasting session and Sedgwick Ave set the bar for branding. McEvoy recalls, "We walked down to work one morning down here and the whole front of our building had been tagged with the words Sedgwick Ave; it was a really nice piece … and they only revealed who they were on the last day of applications." Mind you, if Stanley St Merchants stays in top spot, you may not get the chance. "I intend to make the profit book strong enough that they don't want us to go," says Spencer when asked about a future past IconPark. But McEvoy has his own plans: "Our goal is to really create a hospitality icon for the future that people will look to in a couple of years and say, they really set a trend for the city."
Welcome to the world of wild speculation surrounding the destination for The White Lotus season three. According to Variety, the next season will be set somewhere in Thailand. HBO hasn't confirmed this news, but it does seem to be the likely home of Mike White's next murder mystery. But the predictions don't end there. Variety has sourced — from multiple folks close to the publication — that The White Lotus team might also stick with filming at Four Seasons resorts. They have doubled as the titular fictional hotel chain for two seasons so far, meaning it isn't a stretch to think they'll be used again. That puts four possible Thailand spots on the list: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and the Golden Triangle. And we've done some digging around our own travel booking website, Concrete Playground Trips, to come up with an even juicier theory. As it stands, you can book three of these lavish hotels and resorts through Concrete Playground Trips, but one of them is unavailable for many months. Has Mike White already placed his reservation? Or are we simply grasping at straws? Read on to get a closer look at each of the Four Seasons hotels we think might be the next filming location for The White Lotus — three of which can be booked with us right now. FOUR SEASONS HOTEL BANGKOK This opulent Four Seasons hotel is located within Thailand's bustling capital city. You can enjoy views over the Chai Phraya River and of the surrounding cityscape from one of the 299 rooms, the three outdoor pools or the six restaurants and bars. Within the hotel, there are clearly heaps of luxe filming locations where guests could meet their untimely end. The local galleries, boutique stores, restaurants and cafes would certainly need to make an appearance — as well as many of Bangkok's other superb travel destinations. This would be the first city location for The White Lotus, which may be an interesting change of pace for the show, too. FOUR SEASONS TENTED CAMP — GOLDEN TRIANGLE (CHIANG SAEN) A series of luxury treehouses and lodges scattered around the jungle in Chiang Saen — in the north of Thailand, right near Myanmar and Laos — would be a pretty epic setting for the next series. We can already hear the ominous The White Lotus music playing now, as guests wander around the remote landscape in designer clothes. Want to visit? You'll wake up in your own glamping tent fitted out with bamboo furniture, free-standing bathtubs and large private balconies overlooking the nearby river and lush rainforest before exploring more of the area. FOUR SEASONS RESORT KOH SAMUI Thailand's island of Koh Samui is an incredibly popular tourist destination. People flock here all year long, exploring the gorgeous beaches backed by tropical vegetation and some of the nearby islands where you can either party or totally escape from the rest of the world. The Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui offers up access to all of this, with ridiculous levels of comfort — expect bespoke travel experiences, a glamorous spa, pools aplenty and a long list of places to eat and drink within the property's grounds. FOUR SEASONS RESORT CHIANG MAI This Four Seasons is currently unavailable to book, so we're wildly speculating that Mike White has something to do with it. White hinted about the next series of The White Lotus focusing on traditional Eastern culture and religion, making this remote location absolutely perfect. At Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, several villas and residences are spread out amongst rice fields and wild countryside. Guests can play tennis, join yoga classes, walk to hidden waterfalls, learn local crafts or simply swim about their private pools overlooking the property. Feeling inspired to book a truly unique getaway? Head to Concrete Playground Trips to explore a range of holidays curated by our editorial team. We've teamed up with all the best providers of flights, stays and experiences to bring you a series of unforgettable trips in destinations all over the world. Top images: Four Seasons Tented Camp — Golden Triangle
If you're familiar with sunglasses brand Colab, then you know they put out some pretty amazing designs. As suggested by its name, the company collaborates with independent artists, musicians, filmmakers and designers to create limited edition lines. In the past they've created killer shades with the likes of Toro Y Moi, Elke Kramer, and Kill Pixie. Their latest project with Sydney-based artist, Beastman is no exception. Beastman, personally known as Brad Eastman, is best known for his amazing street art murals in Australia and around the world. Eastman has since expanded to include gallery work, apparel design and skateboard graphics. His partnership with Colab was not his first artistic merger, but certainly proved to be new challenge. When Eastman was approached by Colab to do the collection two years back, he admits that he "didn't know anything about making sunglasses". But with a background in graphic design and a fully capable team of Colab engineers, Beastman set about bringing his vision from paper to plastic. "I drew everything," said Eastman. "I redesigned [the shape] and Colab helped with the whole process." Working closely with the Colab's (now ex) creative director, Carl Tindall, Eastman went through an 18-month process of forwards and backwards steps. He described the process as, "do something, send it to Carl, and then hear nothing for three months. Then he'd ring me, show me some sample and I'd say 'no that's shit, let's try this' and then another six months would go by." Seems like an exorbitant amount of time, but making the perfect frames proved to be quite challenging. "I gave him an idea and said 'I want get these three different colour waves of patterns,'" said Eastman. Carl would travel to factories in China, Italy and Japan searching for acetate colours that hadn't been used before. Then came the endless amounts of tweaking, shaving and adjusting to create the ideal shape. If you're familiar with Beastman's art, then you know it's pretty loud. Intricate patterns, swirling lines, and bright colours make up his dreamlike designs of mythical gods and creatures. Now you're wondering 'how that could possibly translate onto a pair of plastic frames?' Beastman's trio of wayfarer-shaped sunnies are comfortably subdued. "I wanted to make something that was unisex and subtle," said Eastman- and he succeeded in accomplishing just that. Made in brown, blue, and green, the swirly-printed acetate frames show an organic side to Beastman's art. He explained, "all my work is about patterns in nature; and how different natural elements combine and work together." The symbols of these elements, which vary by frame colour, are slyly marked on the arms. Notice a tiny leaf on a green pair or dainty orange triangles on the brown. Beastman's iconic prints weren't all lost in this project. His famous bright, geometric patterns were incorporated onto the sleeve and poster that come with every pair. Maintaining his signature style, Eastman said, "I wanted to include something for people to see the relation between the sunglasses and my work." Only 1000 people will be able to get their hands on this sweet deal. "I like doing limited edition things," said Eastman, "I don't like doing super mass-produced products." Functional products seem to be the direction Beastman's art is moving towards. Prior to his project with Colab, he's done apparel design and skate deck graphics for labels like Element. Now, he and his wife are working on a limited-edition line of furniture and homewares. Designing for everyday products is important to Eastman because, "It's not something you hang on your wall and look at; It's something you can use and wear ... that's (the theme) of all of the stuff I'm doing." We can agree with that, because who wouldn't want a coffee table or a pair of sunnies designed by a baller artist? The new Colab + Beastman sunglasses will be launched at the exhibition and end-of-year bash on Wednesday, December 11, from 6-8pm at Somedays store/gallery, 72B Fitzroy Street, Surry Hills, NSW. It will feature a limited edition print release. Join the party by RSVPing to media@somedays.com.au. Thanks to Colab + Beastman, we have one pair of their new sunglasses 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
You've had a bad day, you're feeling tense and stressed, you've received some news you wish you hadn't, or things just aren't looking as rosy as you'd hoped. We've all been there. In fact, we're all cycling through these exact scenarios at the moment — and being glued to your social media feed, TV or go-to news site 24/7 is probably taking its toll. As the old cliche goes, laughter is the best medicine. Really, actual medicine is always the best medicine. In response to COVID-19, preventative actions such as social-distancing also rank high on the list. But there's nothing wrong with needing an amusing, rib-tickling, gut-busting distraction from all the seemingly non-stop coronavirus updates at present — and we're here to help with ten sources of hilarity that'll help brighten your day, even if only momentarily. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e-TYLdOIss LADY DYNAMITE With BoJack Horseman and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on its slate, Netflix has become home to a number of episodic comedies that tackle mental health in a smart and thoughtful way — but Lady Dynamite just might be the most bizarre and playful of the bunch. Created by South Park alumni Pam Brady and Arrested Development's Mitch Hurwitz, it stars Maria Bamford as a version of herself, following her ups and downs as she endeavours to get her career back on track. That might sound like a standard sitcom setup, but Maria has just spent six months in treatment for bipolar disorder, and no one around her quite knows how to handle her return. Also featuring a standout performance by veteran comedian Fred Melamed as Maria's agent, and boasting appearances by everyone from Jenny Slate, Tig Notaro and Patton Oswalt to Judd Apatow, Andy Samberg and 'Weird Al' Yankovich, this is a comedy that swings big, dives deep, and knows how to be both delightfully loopy and astutely candid at the same time. Lady Dynamite's two seasons are both available to stream on Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9veOumGnuU GARTH MARENGHI'S DARKPLACE Matt Berry crooning a slick 80s-style tune about romantic woes, complete with an awkward rap segment by Richard Ayoade. A TV medical drama where one of the doctors is an ex-warlock (Matthew Holness), another is occasionally psychic (Alice Lowe), and worrying about a hellmouth, mysterious cats, flying objects and extraterrestrial broccoli infections is all in a day's work. Behind-the-scenes commentary about said ultra low-budget series, with "author, dreamweaver, visionary, plus actor" Garth Marenghi (also Holness) and his publisher and publicist Dean Learner (also Ayoade) among the folks providing their thoughts. That's all part of six-part 2004 sitcom Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, which serves up the best three hours of TV comedy made this century. Filled with sublimely offbeat scenarios, off-kilter gags, witty wordplay and purposefully over-the-top performances, the weird and wonderful show has a cult following for a reason — and not just because The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt also show up. All six episodes of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace are available to stream on iTunes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhdrA9qz79o HOT ROD Sometimes, if you're Kevin Bacon, you're struggling with a dancing ban in a small town and you're starring in 1984's Footloose, you just need to punch-dance out some rage. And sometimes, if you're Andy Samberg in 2007 comedy Hot Rod, you just need to gallop into a wooded glen and do the same in a stellar parody of the 80s flick. Gleefully ridiculous even when it's not satirising decades-old dance flicks, Hot Rod has plenty of other highlights. Samberg's pre-Brooklyn Nine-Nine stint as the eponymous wannabe stuntman is one of them, as is the great supporting cast that also includes Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Isla Fisher and Deadwood's Ian McShane. Overall, though, it's the surreal and silly vibe of the whole film that shines brightest — which won't come as a surprise given that The Lonely Island, Samberg's comedy trio with Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone (and the driving force behind Saturday Night Live's 'Dick in a Box', 'Lazy Sunday' and 'I'm On a Boat') are behind it. Oh, and the rousing scene soundtracked by John Farnham's 'You're the Voice' helps, too. Hot Rod is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Foxtel Now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrYB8hgyq4s MONSIEUR HULOT'S HOLIDAY, MON ONCLE AND PLAYTIME French filmmaker Jacques Tati only directed six feature-length films — all of which he wrote and starred in, too — but his body of work left an enormous imprint on comedic cinema. Offering a wry, subtle, irony-laced brand of physical comedy, he's rightfully considered one of the genre's best both in front of and behind the lens. In his breakout 1953 film Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, in which he introduces his eponymous (and clumsy) on-screen alter-ego, he takes visual satire to sublime lengths while pondering class differences. In his 1958 Best Foreign-language Film Oscar winner Mon Oncle, he unleashes his prowess while tasking his in-film surrogate with contemplating the rise of consumerism. And in his masterpiece Playtime, which took three years to make and features one of the most stunning sets ever seen on screen, he tackles a futuristic, highly industrialised Paris. All three are currently available to stream — and, once you've caught the Tati bug, so are his other three features Jour De Fete, Traffic and Parade. Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, Mon Oncle and Playtime are all available to stream on SBS On Demand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IZWeAwdJ-s PARKS AND RECREATION She's the government worker we all wish could be in charge of, well, absolutely everything — and she's the Indiana city of Pawnee's most devoted employee and biggest fan. We're talking, of course, about Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler's super passionate waffle-loving character in iconic sitcom Parks and Recreation. Willing to work hard in any situation and always ready to lean upon her friends and co-workers, Leslie knows how to handle almost anything. In one particular fifth-season episode of the Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe-costarring series, that also includes grappling with a pandemic. Created by The Office's Greg Daniels and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation may have only come to the end of its seven-season run back in 2015, but the sitcom has been an instant classic from the get-go for one reason: focusing on relatable characters, the minutiae of their lives and the time working in local government, workplace-based comedy has never felt more kind-hearted, or — thanks to the show's penchant for letting its main players talk directly to the camera — so inclusive. All seven seasons of Parks and Recreation are available to stream on Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuCCtBleq6w THE MUPPET MOVIE AND THE MUPPETS It's impossible to watch The Muppets, Jim Henson's most famous creations, and not have a smile plastered across your face. Seeing the late, great puppeteer's furry characters talk, joke and get up to all kinds of sketch-style antics — witnessing Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy's melodramatic romantic back-and-forth, Gonzo's zany stunts and the Swedish Chef's mumbling cooking segments, to name just a few — is warm, joyous and often absurdist fun, pure and simple. You can't really go wrong with whichever Muppets film or TV series you pick, and there's plenty to choose from; however two stand out from the crowd. Go old school with 1979's The Muppet Movie, where Kermit and the crew follow the stars in their eyes by trying to chase their Hollywood dreams. Or, join Jason Segel, Amy Adams and the usual felt-covered suspects as they attempt to save Muppet Theatre in 2011's delightful big-screen comedy-musical The Muppets. The Muppet Movie and The Muppets are available to stream on Disney+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYzFieit8dI THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED) Before Noah Baumbach charted the end of a couple's wedded bliss in Netflix's heartbreaking Marriage Story, and before Adam Sandler tried dealing diamonds in the streaming platform's tense and glorious Uncut Gems, they paired up for another of the service's other great films in recent years. That'd be The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), one of Baumbach's perceptive comedy-dramas about the ties, woes and dysfunctions that bind people together — in this case, a family of adult siblings (Sandler, Ben Stiller and Elizabeth Marvel), as well as the sculptor father (Dustin Hoffman) who still proves a considerable presence in their lives. As seen in the likes of Frances Ha, While We're Young and Mistress America, too, Baumbach's sense of humour is bittersweet, honest and insightful. It's also simultaneously loose and sharp, never feeling too tightly wound but never letting a clever moment pass by either. All of that is on display here, as are a winning range of performances, especially from Sandler, Stiller and Hoffman. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) is available to stream on Netflix. Images: Lady Dynamite, Doug Hyun/Netflix. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. SHE SAID Questions flow freely in She Said, the powerful and methodical All the President's Men and Spotlight-style newspaper drama that tells the story behind the past decade's biggest entertainment story. On-screen, Zoe Kazan (Clickbait) and Carey Mulligan (The Dig) tend to be doing the asking, playing now Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. They query Harvey Weinstein's actions, including his treatment of women. They gently and respectfully press actors and Miramax employees about their traumatic dealings with the Hollywood honcho, and they politely see if some — if any — will go on the record about their experiences. And, they question Weinstein and others at his studio about accusations that'll lead to this famous headline: "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades". As the entire world read at the time, those nine words were published on October 5, 2017, along with the distressing article that detailed some — but definitely not all — of Weinstein's behaviour. Everyone has witnessed the fallout, too, with Kantor and Twohey's story helping spark the #MeToo movement, electrifying the ongoing fight against sexual assault and gender inequality in the entertainment industry, and shining a spotlight on the gross misuses of authority that have long plagued Tinseltown. The piece also brought about Weinstein's swift downfall. As well as being sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York in 2020, he's currently standing trial for further charges in Los Angeles. Watching She Said, however, more questions spring for the audience. Here's the biggest heartbreaker: how easily could Kantor and Twohey's article never have come to fruition at all, leaving Weinstein free to continue his predatory harassment? In a female-driven movie on- and off-screen — including director Maria Schrader (I'm Your Man), screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Small Axe) and cinematographer Natasha Braier (Honey Boy) — She Said details all the moments where the pivotal piece of reporting could've been forced to take no for an answer, something that Weinstein wasn't known for. At the NYT, assistant managing editor Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects) and executive editor Dean Baquet (Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) are always supportive, starting when Kantor picks up the story, and continuing when she brings in Twohey fresh off an investigative article into Donald Trump's sexual misconduct. But, unsurprisingly, the women made victims by Weinstein are wary. Many also signed non-disclosure agreements. Kantor and Twohey's pitch: by speaking out and ideally going on the record, they can assist in ensuring that what they endured doesn't happen to anyone else. Knowing the end result, and the whole reason that She Said exists, doesn't dampen the film's potency or tension. Instead, it heightens the appreciation for the bravery of those who spoke out — at first and afterwards — and the care with which Kantor and Twohey handled their task. The two reporters knew that they were asking women to revisit their darkest traumas, make their worst ordeals public and take on a man who'd been untouchable for decades (with the spate of NDAs and settlements with many of his targets to prove it). Even Rose McGowan (voiced by The Plot Against America's Keilly McQuail) is hesitant; she's mentioned but not quoted in the final piece. Persevering to bring Weinstein's crimes to attention, Kantor and Twohey keep digging, and keep trying to persuade their potential interviewees — and She Said doubles as a lesson in compassionately and respectfully doing just that. Read our full review. BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS Everyone wants to be the person at the party that the dance floor revolves around, and life in general as well, or so Alejandro González Iñárritu contends in Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. In one of the film's many spectacularly shot scenes — with the dual Best Director Oscar-winning Birdman and The Revenant helmer benefiting from astonishing lensing by Armageddon Time cinematographer Darius Khondji — the camera swirls and twirls around Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho, Memoria), the movie's protagonist, making him the only person that matters in a heaving crowd. Isolated vocals from David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' boom, and with all the more power without music behind them, echoing as if they're only singing to Silverio. Iñárritu is right: everyone does want a moment like this. Amid the intoxicating visuals and vibe, he's also right that such instances are fleeting. And, across his sprawling and surreal 159-minute flick, he's right that such basking glory and lose-yourself-to-dance bliss can never be as fulfilling as anyone wants. That sequence comes partway through Bardo, one of several that stun through sheer beauty and atmosphere, and that Iñárritu layers with the disappointment of being himself. Everyone wants to be the filmmaker with all the fame and success, breaking records, winning prestigious awards and conquering Hollywood, he also contends. Alas, when you're this Mexican director, that isn't as joyous or uncomplicated an experience as it sounds. On-screen, his blatant alter ego is a feted documentarian rather than a helmer of prized fiction. He's a rare Latino recipient of a coveted accolade, one of Bardo's anchoring events. He's known to make ambitious works with hefty titles — False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is both the IRL movie's subtitle and the name of Silverio's last project — and he's been largely based in the US for decades. Yes, parallels abound. While dubbing Bardo as semi-autobiographical is one of the easiest ways to describe it, simplicity isn't one of its truths, even if the film champions the small things in life as existential essentials. Another easy way to outline Bardo: Silverio faces his choices, regrets and achievements as that shiny trophy looms, and ponders where his career has taken him, who it's made him and what that all means to him. From the filmmaker who first earned attention for telling narratives in a fractured, multi-part fashion (see: his debut Amores Perros, plus 21 Grams and Babel), and lately has loved roving and roaming cinematography that unfurls in the lengthiest of takes (see: Birdman and The Revenant), this was never going to be a straightforward affair, though. And so he weaves and wanders, and has the silver-haired Silverio do the same, while weighing up what's brought them both to this point. Bardo opens by visibly recalling Birdman, with a bounding force casting a shadow upon an arid land, but it's an early glimpse at a house from above that encapsulates Iñárritu's approach best. The home initially resembles a miniature, which Silverio then flits through — and, given its lead often segues between places and times like he's stepping through a doorway, the movie functions in the same manner. Sometimes, he's in a hospital corridor as his wife Lucía (Griselda Siciliani, The People Upstairs) gives birth to a baby boy who whispers that the world is too broken for him to want to live in, and is then pushed back into the womb. Or, he's picturing how a big TV interview with a bitter ex-colleague could go wrong, or shrinking down to childhood size to chat with his deceased father. Sometimes, Silverio is in Los Angeles holding a bag of axolotls, or striding through Mexico City streets that are empty except for corpses. Read our full review. GREENHOUSE BY JOOST When Joost Bakker helped pile 3000 kilograms of clothing waste in Melbourne's Federation Square in April 2022, all to draw attention to fast fashion, he viewed the project with his usual optimism. "Even if it's just one person who walks through that structure and gets inspired and comes up with a solution — that's what's so exciting," the renowned zero-waste campaigner noted. Those exact words could've been uttered about the venture at the centre of Greenhouse by Joost, too. A three-storey home made entirely out of recyclable materials that don't generate waste, and designed to operate as a closed food system with everything catered for onsite and not a scrap spared, it predates his spotlight on the textile industry. Clearly, it boasts the same sustainability focus. In fact, Bakker could've said the same thing about past pop-ups in the same spot over more than a decade, including fellow waste-free eateries also called Greenhouse since 2008. Scratch that — it isn't merely likely that the Dutch-born floral designer and activist could've expressed the same sentiments; it's certain he must've. Eliminating waste is Bakker's passion. Not wasting any time trying to put that aim into action is just as much of an obsession. His work doesn't merely talk the talk but walks the walk, and attempts to help the world see how crucial it is to reduce humanity's impact upon the earth. The habitable Greenhouse is quite the undertaking, though, given its purpose: building an abode that two people can get shelter, food, water and energy from, all in one cosy and clever self-sustaining ecosystem. Chefs Jo Barrett and Matt Stone (ex-Oakridge Wines) agreed to do the residing, and to put Bakker's Future Food System to the test. They were named among the world's 50 best next-generation hospitality leaders in 2021 for their efforts, for what's a vital, pioneering and fascinating enterprise. It's no wonder that filmmakers Rhian Skirving (Matilda & Me) and Bruce Permezel (The Obesity Myth) — both directing, the former writing and the latter lensing — were driven to document it. Shot since the conception and building stage, then chronicling the COVID-19 setbacks, the logistical and setup woes, and the daily reality of living in the structure, it's also no wonder that the resulting Melbourne International Film Festival Audience Award-winner makes such compelling viewing. Greenhouse by Joost is both a record and an aspirational tool: it shows what can and has been done and, as Bakker always hopes, it wants to get everyone watching following in his, Barrett and Stone's footsteps. Of course, for most, money will be a very real and practical obstacle. There's no doubting that Greenhouse stems from considerable resources, both in finances and time. But that's the thing with ambitions: they have us shooting for the stars, breaking our goals down into everyday pieces and finding ways to make even small parts of them happen. Evoking that exact response when it comes to making life's basics sustainable — what we eat and drink, where we stay and sleep, and how we power it all — is Bakker's aim, too. With Bakker as the film's on-screen guide, Greenhouse by Joost does just that itself as well, stepping through the idea and the execution like it's laying out a roadmap for its audience to chart. Viewers won't walk out of the doco ready to move into their own such dwelling, but learning plenty about the ingenious design, the bits and pieces that go into it, and the work required — to get it up, ready and operating smoothly, and also to have it function as a small-scale restaurant — comes with simply watching. Although the cooking, serving, welcoming in eager diners and sharing the titular building comes later in the movie, obviously, it's a crucial piece of the project overall and of Skirving and Permezel's feature. How much more doable does just living in the Greenhouse and taking care of yourself seem compared to running it as a mini eatery? Oh-so-much. How much easier does putting some of its principles to use in your own home seem, too? The answer remains the same. Read our full review. MILLIE LIES LOW A scene-stealer in 2018's The Breaker Upperers, Ana Scotney now leads the show in Millie Lies Low. She's just as magnetic. The New Zealand actor comes to the part via Wellington Paranormal, Shortland Street, Educators and Cousins — and the film first debuted at festivals before her role in God's Favourite Idiot — but it's an exceptional calling card. It isn't easy playing someone so committed to making such utterly questionable choices, yet remaining so charmingly relatable; however, that's Scotney's remit and achievement in this canny, savvy and amusing comedy. It also isn't easy to pull off the timing needed to highlight the hilarious side of Millie's hijinks, while ensuring that her woes, hopes and everything that's led her to lie low but lie about living it up remain understandable; consider her entire portrayal a masterclass in just that. Scotney plays the film's eponymous Wellington university student, who panics aboard a plane bound for New York — where a prestigious architecture internship awaits — and has to disembark before her flight leaves. She says she isn't anxious. She also says it isn't an attack. And by the time she realises what she's done, she's alone in the airport, the aircraft has departed and her own face beams down at her from a digital billboard. Even getting that Big Apple opportunity had made her the toast of the town, and huge things were meant to await, hence the ads and publicity. Now, a new ticket costs $2000, which Millie doesn't have. Admitting that she hasn't gone at all — to her family, friends, teachers, school and the NZ capital at large — wouldn't cost her a thing, but it's a price she isn't willing to pay. First, Millie endeavours to rustle up the cash from her best friend and classmate (Jillian Nguyen, Hungry Ghosts), and then her mother (Rachel House, Heartbreak High). Next, she hits up a quick-loan business (run by Cohen Holloway, The Power of the Dog) but is still left empty-handed. Millie's only solution, other than admitting the situation and facing the fallout: faking it till she makes it. As she searches for other ways to stump up the funds, she hides out in her hometown, telling everyone that she's actually already in NYC. To support her ruse, she posts elaborate faux Instagram snaps MacGyvered out of whatever she can find (big sacks of flour standing in for snow, for instance) and scours for every possible spot, building feature and poster that can even slightly double for New York. There's a caper vibe to Millie's efforts skulking around Wellington while attempting to finance the ticket to her apparent dreams. Sometimes, she's holed up in a tent in her mum's backyard. Sometimes, she's putting on a disguise and showing up at parties in her old flat — eavesdropping on what her mates are saying in her absence, and spying on the boyfriend (Chris Alosio, Troppo) she's meant to be on a break from. While she's doing the latter, she's also reclaiming the car she sold pre-trip to use as loan collateral, because she's that determined to get to America and leave her nearest and dearest none the wiser. Making her feature debut, director and co-writer Michelle Savill has more than just a laugh and a lark in her sights, though, as entertaining as Millie Lies Low's namesake's antics are. There's a caper vibe to the picture of Millie's supposedly perfect existence that she's trying to push upon herself as much as her loved ones as well, like she's selling herself on an unwanted fantasy. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on August 4, August 11, August 18 and August 25; September 1, September 8, September 15, September 22 and September 29; October 6, October 13, October 20 and October 27; and November 3 and November 10. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Bullet Train, Nope, The Princess, 6 Festivals, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Crimes of the Future, Bosch & Rockit, Fire of Love, Beast, Blaze, Hit the Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Orphan: First Kill, The Quiet Girl, Flux Gourmet, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Moonage Daydream, Ticket to Paradise, Clean, You Won't Be Alone, See How They Run, Smile, On the Count of Three, The Humans, Don't Worry Darling, Amsterdam, The Stranger, Halloween Ends, The Night of the 12th, Muru, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, Black Adam, Barbarian, Decision to Leave, The Good Nurse, Bros, The Woman King, Sissy, Armageddon Time, The Wonder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Velvet Queen.
It's the American cable TV network everyone knows by name in Australia, even though it doesn't air here. We all know its famed television static intro clip, too. That'd be HBO, which keeps carving out a place in TV lovers' hearts because it just keeps delivering must-see television programs. We've all just finished streaming our way through The White Lotus, after all — and next comes Scenes From a Marriage. As its name makes plain, Scenes From a Marriage steps inside a relationship, and finds that it's hardly a picture of domestic bliss. It stars two supremely watchable leads: Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. The former was last seen on our screens saving the galaxy and fighting evil in Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, and will also show up in Dune when it finally hits cinemas. The latter last popped up in IT: Chapter Two and the straight-to-digital Ava. And if pairing them up sounds familiar, that's because they've already navigated a complex and fraying marriage in 2014's A Most Violent Year. Given that their last collaboration turned out phenomenally, seeing Isaac and Chastain team up again looks to be a treat. And if you know your classic Swedish TV, you'll know they're following in footsteps other than their own, too. If that doesn't apply to you, this miniseries is adapted from an iconic work by one of the best Swedish filmmakers ever — the late, great Ingmar Bergman. Chastain plays Mira, a tech executive who is unhappy in her marriage to Isaac's Jonathan. He's keen to save their relationship, but marital troubles are never that straight forward — as this series promises to explore through the couple's private conversations. HBO is positioning its version of Scenes From a Marriage as a "re-imagining", which means that it shouldn't fastidiously stick to the original's beats, and it'll also jump to contemporary times. It'll still explore love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage and divorce, though. As the just-dropped full trailer shows, it's obviously going to get emotional. Writer/director Hagai Levi (In Treatment, The Affair) does the honours behind the lens — and you'll be able to watch and stream the full series via Foxtel in Australia from Monday, September 13, with new episodes airing weekly And yes, thanks to not just The White Lotus, but to everything from Watchmen, Chernobyl and The Undoing to I Know This Much Is True and Mare of Easttown, HBO has had a particularly great run with its miniseries recently. Obviously, that's yet another reason to be excited about Scenes From a Marriage, too. Check out the trailer below: Scenes From a Marriage will screen on and stream via Foxtel in Australia from Monday, September 13.
Bacon and bourbon have been lifelong drinking buddies, dredging up wild west frontier images in their smoky, smoky team-up. But the porch-lovin' pair usually remain on plate and glass, woefully separated from realising their true fusion potential. However, things are changing for bacon and bourbon romances, as well as their steadfast fans. While US company Old Major have already teamed the two in their own infused spirit, we're looking for something a little closer to home. From the Speakeasy team behind Eau De Vie and The Roosevelt Bar and Diner, brand new Australian spirit venture The Experimental Spirits Co. is launching their own smoked bacon bourbon. Coinciding with the latest unofficial hashtag on the Australian calendar, Australian Bacon Week, the smoky, smoky spirit marks the first endeavour for the brand new company — plus, they're crowdfunding it. "I had an idea to create a unique boutique spirits company some time ago, when I ran my own consultancy outfit (Behind Bars), but due to various conflicts of interests I was unable to do so," owner, founder and renowned spirit guru Sven Almenning says. "Having now untangled myself from that, I am very excited to be launching the Experimental Spirits Co. We developed this great little whisky when we were working on our Eau De Vie Small Batch Cocktails — currently available through Vintage Cellars — and we thought it was too good not to share with the world in a more familiar format." So how do you actually infuse bourbon with bacon? The key to the whole shebang is what's known as a 'fat washing' process, allowing the smoked bacon flavour to be soaked into the whiskey. Then it's filtering time (ten times over) before the alchemy is bottled and wax sealed. It's a handmade labour of love for the Experimental Spirits Co. "It’s quite a laborious process," admits Almenning. "But that’s the nature of the products we want to produce." While you'll only initially be able to enjoy the Smoked Bacon Bourbon in the Speakeasy Group venues (both Eau De Vie venues in Sydney and Melbourne, Sydney's recently opened Eau De Vie Apothecary plus The Roosevelt Bar & Diner) plus a handful of specially-picked bars, the team are making their infused bourbon a special edition crowdfunding perk of its own — $80 donations will get you a bottle of the bourbon to swill at your own leisure. So with $25,000 as the target, where's the money going? "Primarily the funds will go towards purchasing whiskey and the down payments on all the equipment that is required for creating the product," say the team. "We hope that this campaign will assist us in covering some of the costs for new production equipment such as more high-volume filtration systems as well as the rental of a small ‘lab’ where we can base our work and the new business." With the smoked bacon bourbon up and running, the Experimental Spirit Co. intend to launch a salted coconut spiced rum and a 'new-age' gin with a twist later in the year. For now, its all about bringing home the crowdfunded bacon. Throw your sweet cashola at it over here.
Wasting food can often just come down to aesthetics: a bruised apple, a twisted carrot, a dinted onion. So Harris Farm Markets is launching Imperfect Picks, a range of would-go-unloved fruit and vegetables that may not look perfect, but are just as delicious and nutritious as their counterparts who made the 'good looks' cut. Good thing is, the uglies are now available for up to 50% cheaper. Inspired by the success of the 'Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables' campaign by French supermarket chain Intermarche earlier this year, Harris Farm aims to raise awareness of the Australian supermarket industry's overly strict standards of perfection regarding the appearance of fresh fruit and veg. "It is our hope that through this campaign, we encourage Australians and the big supermarkets to rethink what's important when buying fruit and vegetables," says Harris Farm CEO Tristan Harris. "Our commitment to freshness and taste won't ever change, [but] we've come to realise that when it comes to fresh produce, we shouldn't always judge a product by how it looks." https://youtube.com/watch?v=-U23XgEkZf0 But who doesn't search for the roundest orange or the straightest carrot in the bunch when on their weekly grocery run? The startling fact is that our pickiness as customers, coupled with unnecessarily high industry standards, has lead to about 25% of fresh food wasted each year. With the stats being this high, there's no doubt we're facing a food waste crisis. "It's such a crime and everyone needs to get involved. Sustainability is everybody's responsibility," says Rockpool's Neil Perry. "I'm really hoping that the… campaign grows and that it forces the other supermarkets and Australian consumers to realise that there is such great food being wasted," he says. Perry is just one example of chefs taking part in a sustainable table movement spreading across the country, showing us that today's funnily-shaped fruit and veg can be tomorrow's gourmet offering — and proving our pickiness unwarranted. So next time you drop in to your local Harris Farm, why not choose that two-headed potato or that wonky zucchini? Not only will you be helping to reduce environmental waste, but you'll also be supporting Aussie farmers and saving hugely on your grocery bill to boot. On offer in the first range of Imperfect Picks will be Packham pears, Navel oranges, Pink Lady apples, plus bananas, carrots, potatoes, swedes and zucchinis — all deliciously imperfect and in need of some lovin'.
If there was a Morpho machine IRL rather than just in The Big Door Prize, and it dispensed cards that described the potential of television shows instead of people, this is what it might spit out about the Apple TV+ program that it's in: "comforting". This mystery-tinged existential dramedy is filled with people trying to discover who they are and truly want to be after an arcade game-esque console appears in their small town out of nowhere, and the series is both thoughtful and charming. In making the leap from the page of MO Walsh's book to the screen not once but twice now, The Big Door Prize has always also proven both cathartic and relatable viewing. Timing, dropping season one in 2023 as the pandemic-inspired great reset was well and truly in full swing, is a key factor in why the show resonates. Last year as well as now — with season two debuting on Wednesday, April 24 — this is a series that speaks to the yearning to face questions that couldn't be more familiar in a world where COVID-19 sparked a wave of similar "who am I?" musings on a global scale. Everyone now knows the scenario, then, before even watching a minute of The Big Door Prize. Everyone has been living this concept for half a decade. For viewers, of course, it was the drastic change of life as we know it due to a deadly infectious disease that got the planet's inhabitants probing how we're each meant to spend our lives — and to pine for an easy response at a time that's been anything but. Nothing IRL is doling out "royalty", "superstar" and "liar" in white lettering atop a gorgeous shade of blue, though. Actually, the Morpho in The Big Door Prize isn't anymore, either. The difference for the residents of the US midwest locale of Deerfield in the show's second spin: their path no longer simply involves pieces of cardboard that claim to know where the bearer should be expending their energy, but also spans new animated videos that transform their inner thoughts and hopes into 32-bit clips. Some snippets link to memories dating back decades. Some present alternative futures. Each ushers in a new wave of contemplation — because the focus of The Big Door Prize is how high-school teacher Dusty (Chris O'Dowd, Slumberland) and his neighbours react to the clairvoyant contraption and the information that it imparts. When the machine first made its presence known, Irishman-in-America Dusty was cynical. Initially, he held back as everyone clamoured for their business card-sized fortune. When he finally relented, he was unimpressed with the results: "teacher/whistler", the gizmo decreed about his destiny. Now, in a place where the Morpho remains the number-one talking point, he's taking the same route as everyone else in his community. As his wife Cass (Gabrielle Dennis, The Upshaws) and daughter Trina (Djouliet Amara, Fitting In) both are, Dusty has given in to letting the Morpho steer his decisions. Another question that The Big Door Prize poses: if being guided in the right direction was as straightforward as putting a quarter into a console, could you resist? Whether Dusty is making moves that'll impact his marriage, or his restaurant-owning best friend Giorgio (Josh Segarra, The Other Two) is leaping into a new relationship with Cass' best friend Nat (Mary Holland, The Afterparty), uncomplicated happiness rarely follows in this astute show. So when Dusty and Cass deem the Morpho's visions, as the townsfolk dub them, a sign that they need some space to stop being stuck in a rut, it isn't the move they think it will be. As their friends and acquaintances also hold up the Morpho up as a source of wisdom, the same keeps proving true. Trina's relationship with Jacob (first-timer Sammy Fourlas), the twin brother of her deceased boyfriend; Jacob's own efforts to grapple with loss and being without his sibling; his widowed father Beau (Aaron Roman Weiner, Power Book III: Raising Kanan) exploring echoes from his childhood; Cass' mum and Deerfield mayor Izzy (Crystal Fox, The Haves and Have Nots) working through her relationships: they all chart the same course. The Big Door Prize's tech element could fuel a Black Mirror instalment. In fact, The Big Door Prize is as concerned with what humanity does with the inventions that we create to better our existence as Charlie Brooker is. But bleakness never swirls through the mood here. Rather, this is a curious and empathetic series. While season two of the David West Read (Schitt's Creek)-developed show still treats its magical machine as a puzzle for characters and viewers to attempt to solve — and, especially through bartender Hana (Ally Maki, Shortcomings) and local priest Father Reuben (Damon Gupton, Your Honor), still ponders why the Morpho exists, how it knows what it knows and where it comes from — it firmly digs deeper into the quest for answers that we all undertake while gleaning deep down that there's no such thing as a simple meaning of life. In season two as in season one, it's no wonder that The Big Door Prize keeps feeling like staring in a mirror, then — and that it keeps constantly intriguing as well. When Dusty and company each return to the apparatus that holds such sway, they're greeted by a message: "are you ready for the next stage?". The show's audience may as well be asked the same. After 2023's episodes established The Big Door Prize's characters — and with Mr Johnson (Patrick Kerr, Search Party), who owns the store where the Morpho materialises, also among the main figures, there's no shortage of them — 2024's revisit can examine why they respond to the promise of knowing their life's purpose as they do. Not in its style of humour, but in its portrait of a town's eclectic residents, there's a Parks and Recreation, The Simpsons and, yes, Schitt's Creek vibe as the show unlocks another level of potential. It also helps that The Big Door Prize is extremely well-cast, starting with being well-led by O'Dowd. He isn't new to portraying a state of arrested development — going back to The IT Crowd, his resume is built upon it — but he turns in as sincere a performance as he ever has as someone beginning to confront the term. Everyone in Deerfield was cocooned in their routines, sometimes contentedly and sometimes not, before the Morpho appeared. Now, whether sporting oversized personalities (Segarra still steals every scene he's in) or as naturalistic as characters come (Amara, Fourlas, Maki and Gupton fall into that category), they're all fluttering towards finding light in their lives. The Big Door Prize knows that the story is in the journey, crucially — and if it continues flying, viewers will want to stay along for the ride. The Big Door Prize streams via Apple TV+. Read our review of season one, and our interview with Chris O'Dowd and Josh Segarra about season two.
"The World Has Enough Superheroes". That's not our opinion, mind. Rather, it's literally the slogan for Venom, right there up on the posters. After watching the film, one wonders if it wasn't actually a studio note placed on the banners by accident. It's true, Venom is more antihero than superhero, but given he is still part of the wider Marvel universe (a Spider-Man spinoff owned by Sony Pictures), to call this anything other than a superhero movie is as laughable as Tom Hardy's attempt at bumbling comedy. Here he plays Eddie Brock, a VICE-like gritty street journalist whose video segments focus on taking down the rich, powerful and corrupt. Fixed firmly in his sights this time is the Elon Musk-esque tech mogul Carlton Drake (Rogue One's Riz Ahmed), whose determination to advance humankind routinely requires him to also sacrifice them in human trials. Drake's current focus is on four "symbiotes": amorphous sentient blobs from space who need to occupy a human host in order to survive our atmosphere. But Drake believes they also hold the key to humans being able to survive in space (which we'll need to do, because...global warming). In the course of his investigation, Eddie becomes entangled with one such symbiote (aka Venom), who wildly enhances Eddie's strength, speed and stamina, but also compels him to commit regular acts of extreme violence (mainly head eating) as they grapple to form some sort of symbiotic relationship. It's a device not entirely unlike the earlier Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus, but even more so the recent Aussie film Upgrade, whose protagonist becomes infused with an AI that speaks to his subconscious and allows him to fight off hordes of villains whilst essentially watching on as a passenger in his own body. Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), Venom flicks back and forth between violent battle scenes and mismatched buddy comedy, so much so that it never fully lands the vibe of either. It's almost as if Fleischer himself was possessed by a studio symbiote, one compelling him to make one type of film whilst he sought to make another. This incongruity is never clearer than in Hardy's misfiring performance as Brock, whose scratchy and stammering accent sounds like a half-baked Adam Sandler impression. Brock's presented as a hard-hitting journo one minute, then consistently called a loser the next – including by Venom. He's shown as principled and driven, then spends half the movie avoiding responsibility. He'll do whatever it takes, but often does nothing at all. The result is a character without an arc, ending the film – at best – somewhere in the ballpark of where he started. In all, Venom feels like an enormous squandered opportunity. Hardy is a juggernaut of charisma and physicality when given the right material, so to use him in this way is like using a prized stallion for birthday party pony rides. The same goes for his character's fiancée in the film, Anne, played by Michelle Williams. Decked out in the Spider-Man franchise's weirdly consistent tartan skirt and knee-high boots ensemble (seriously, what's up with that?), she's a paper-thin character with almost no reason to be there. An actor of her calibre deserves far better. There's the inevitable teaser of a sequel in the film's closing moments, including the introduction of another terrific performer. It's possible that with the back story and setup out of the way, Hardy and the gang could cast off the origin movie shackles and properly go for it next time round. That's assuming they even get the chance, which is by no means a lock given Venom's disastrous beginning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Mv98Gr5pY
Fitzroy locals, this one is for you. If you've been searching for a way to enjoy Bistro Morgan's beloved baked goods without having to trek to the flagship outpost in Prahran, you're in luck. You can now enjoy the bakehouse's classics in a new Fitzroy locale. Following its transition from a successful pop-up to a Prahran staple, the bakery has finally expanded its reach. A second Bistro Morgan outpost arrived on Brunswick Street in late August. Need a snack before or after hitting up Brunswick Street Bookstore? A visit here will fuel the search for your next page-turning adventure with a cuppa or a brew. "The Fitzroy store is more than a location; it's a sentiment," said Bistro Morgan's founder Morgan Hipworth. "It's a fresh chapter in the Bistro Morgan journey, one where every corner, every product and every interaction tells a story." The suburb's newcomer has settled into an intimate eatery hosting up to 15 customers. Its casual fitout, designed by Studio Esteta, creates an inviting and relaxed atmosphere with timber furniture, soft lighting and an eye-catching marbled stone bench. Bistro Morgan's Fitzroy outpost maintains its flagship venue's ethos, keeping takeaway at the core of its operations. Swing by the new store and you'll be met with its handcrafted doughnut range — including the popular creme brûlée, naughty tella and cookie monster flavours — as well as its soft-centred cookies and its lightly-coated scrolls. For those with a preference for savoury treats, the toastie range on offer makes for a great snack. You can take your pick from five varieties — the pesto melt and reuben are crowd favourites — or opt for your own creation. Plus, Bistro Morgan's milkshakes and curated variety of coffee are available to wash down your selection of bakery goods. Find Bistro Morgan Fitzroy at 400 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, open from 8am–4pm daily.
As every horror fan knows, some things just won't die. In countless scary movie sagas, that statement applies to determined heroes and heroines facing off against insidious killers and creepy forces, to those fear-inducing evil-doers, and to plenty of ominous entities lingering around and wreaking havoc well after their time has expired. As many a long-running series has also shown (think: Halloween, Saw, The Grudge, The Ring and Child's Play, just to name a few), it also proves accurate when it comes to the franchises themselves. Add Scream to the pile of horror series that just keep kicking on — including, come January 2022, with a fifth film. An instant classic ever since the first movie smartly blended slasher scares and self-aware laughs back in 1996, the franchise has served up three sequels so far, as well as a TV spinoff. Now, it's returning with a flick that's being badged a 'relaunch', but will also include a heap of familiar faces. As 2018's excellent Halloween demonstrated, bringing back original cast members can turn out rather nicely for horror sagas — so the new Scream has enlisted Courteney Cox, David Arquette and none other than Neve Campbell. They'll all reprise their roles as reporter Gale Weathers, deputy-turned-sheriff Dewey Riley, and initial Ghostface target Sidney Prescott, respectively. Yes, this series has always had a thing for Sid, and it still does. Cox, Arquette and Campbell will co-star alongside The Boys' Jack Quaid, In the Heights' Melissa Barrera and You's Jenna Ortea. Behind the lens, with filmmaker Wes Craven — who directed all four original Scream films — passing away in 2015, Ready or Not's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will take the helm. And, story-wise, expect everyone to head back to the original setting of Woodsboro, California — where more scream-inducing incidents are clearly going to take place. If you're keen to rewatch your way through the franchise to-date, Scream, 1997's Scream 2 and 2000's Scream 3 are all available to stream in Australia on Stan (with 1 and 3 on Amazon Prime Video, too), with Scream 4 on Google Play and YouTube Movies, and Scream: The TV Series on Netflix. In New Zealand, Scream and Scream 3 are available on Amazon Prime Video, Scream 2 is on Google Play and YouTube Movies, Scream 4 is on Neon and Scream: The TV Series is on Netflix. Or, you can revisit the original Scream's trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWm_mkbdpCA The new Scream movie will hit cinemas Down Under on January 13, 2020.
A jaunt around Victorian-era Europe, a destination wedding in Sydney or hopping between Greek islands? Animated ducks or a kingdom based around wishes? An affecting true tale of heroism or superhero fare? Cinemagoers of Australia, they're among your choices on the annual movie calendar's release day to end all release days. That'd be Boxing Day, which always packs picture palaces with new flicks, plus eager audiences keen to see them. Indeed, along with hitting the sales, enjoying the beach and recovering from your Christmas food coma, seeing a movie on December 26 is a yearly tradition. Feel like you're spoiled for choice? Not sure which film should tempt you out of the summer sun and into an air-conditioned darkened room? Keen to see a few movies, but don't know where to start? Thanks to Boxing Day's hefty array of newcomers, plus Wonka still a fresh arrival on big screen, there's plenty of picks. We've watched them all — and here's our rundown. POOR THINGS Richly striking feats of cinema by Yorgos Lanthimos aren't scarce. Sublime performances by Emma Stone are hardly infrequent. Screen takes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein couldn't be more constant. For Lanthimos, see: Dogtooth and Alps in the Greek Weird Wave filmmaker's native language, plus The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Favourite since he started helming movies in English. With Stone, examples abound in her Best Actress Oscar for La La Land, supporting nominations before and after for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Lanthimos' aforementioned regal satire, and twin 2024 Golden Globe nods nods for their latest collaboration as well as TV's The Curse. And as for the best gothic-horror story there is, not to mention one of the most influential sci-fi stories ever, the evidence is everywhere from traditional adaptations to debts owed as widely as The Rocky Horror Show and M3GAN. Combining the three results in a rarity, however: a jewel of a pastel-, jewel- and bodily fluid-toned feminist Frankenstein-esque fairy tale that's a stunning creation, as zapped to life with Lanthimos' inimitable flair, a mischievous air, Stone at her most extraordinary and empowerment blazing like a lightning bolt. With cascading black hair, an inquisitive stare, incessant frankness and jolting physical mannerisms, Poor Things' star is Bella Baxter in this suitably wondrous adaptation of Alasdair Grey's award-winning 1992 novel, as penned by Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara (The Great, and another Academy Award-nominee for The Favourite). Among the reasons that the movie and its lead portrayal are so singular: as a character with a woman's body revived with a baby's brain, Stone plays someone from infancy to adulthood, all with the astonishingly exact mindset and mannerisms to match, and while making every move, choice and feeling as organic as birth, living and death. In this fantastical steampunk vision of Victorian-era Europe, London-based Scottish doctor Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe, Asteroid City) is Bella's maker. Even if she didn't call him God, he's been playing it. But curiosity, the quest for agency and independence, horniness and a lust for adventure all beckon his creation on a radical, rebellious, gorgeously rendered, gloriously funny and generously insightful odyssey. So, Godwin tries to marry Bella off to medical student Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef, Ramy), only for her to discover "working on myself to get happiness" and "furious jumping" — masturbation and sex — and run off to the continent with caddish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) instead. Read our full review. ANYONE BUT YOU Greenlighting Anyone But You with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell as its leads must've been among Hollywood's easiest decisions. One of the rom-com's stars has been everywhere from Euphoria and The White Lotus to Reality of late, while the other is fresh off feeling the need for speed in Top Gun: Maverick. They both drip charisma. If this was the 80s, 90s or 00s, they each would have an entire segment of their filmographies dedicated to breezy romantic comedies like this Sydney-shot film, and probably more than a few together. Indeed, regardless of his gleaming casting, Anyone But You director and co-writer Will Gluck makes his first adult-oriented flick in 12 years — since Friends with Benefits, with Annie and the two Peter Rabbit movies since — as if it's still two, three or four decades back. The gimmick-fuelled plot, the scenic setting, swinging between stock-standard and OTT supporting characters: even amid overt riffs on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, they're all formulaically present and accounted for. So is the fact that Anyone But You's story always comes second to Sweeney and Powell's smouldering chemistry, and that most of its obvious jokes that only land because the pair sell them, as well as the whole movie. Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) meet-cute over a bathroom key in a busy cafe. That first dreamy day ends badly the next morning, however, with more pain in store when Bea's sister Halle (Hadley Robinson, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty) gets engaged to Ben's best friend Pete's (GaTa, Dave) sister Claudia (Alexandra Shipp, Barbie). Cue their feud going international at the destination wedding in Australia, then getting a twist when Bea and Ben pretend that they're together. They're trying stop their fighting ruining the nuptials, get her parents to back off from pushing for a reunion with her ex (Darren Barnet, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) and make his own past love (model-turned-acting debutant Charlee Fraser) jealous. Every expected narrative beat is struck, then, while nodding to other rom-com wedding flicks — My Best Friend's Wedding co-stars Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths play Bea's mum and dad, with the latter also a Muriel's Wedding alum — and getting cheesily Aussie via koalas, endless shots of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, and Bryan Brown (Faraway Downs) and Joe Davidson (Neighbours) playing the stereotypical parts. And yet, Sweeney and Powell ace their performances and rapport, and also couldn't be more watchable. Read our full review. ONE LIFE Nicholas Winton's "British Schindler" label wasn't invented for One Life, the rousing biopic that tells his story; however, it's a handy two-word description that couldn't better fit both him and the film. In the late 1930s, when the then-Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland was occupied by Nazi Germany, the London-born banker spearheaded a rescue mission to get children — mostly Jewish — out of the country. After being encouraged to visit Prague in 1938 by friends assisting refugees, he was so moved to stop as many kids as possible from falling victim to the Holocaust that he and a group of fellow humanitarians arranged trains to take them to England. The immense effort was dubbed kindertransport, with Winton assisting in saving 669 children. Then, in the decades that followed, his heroic feat was almost lost to history. In fact, it only returned to public knowledge in 1988 when his wife Grete Gjelstrup encouraged him to show his scrapbook from the time to Holocaust researcher Elizabeth Maxwell, who was married to media mogul Robert Maxwell. Smartly, One Life captures both remarkable aspects to Winton's story, flitting between them as it tells its powerful and stirring true tale. The film's jumps backwards and forward also allow room for two excellent performances, enlisting Anthony Hopkins as the older Winton and Johnny Flynn (Operation Mincemeat) to do the honours in his younger years. With The Two Popes, his Oscar win for The Father, Armageddon Time and now this, Hopkins has been enjoying a stellar run in his 80s. If matching one of Hopkins' great portrayals in a period filled with them — a career, too, of course — was daunting for Flynn, he doesn't show it. As with Kurt and Wyatt Russell on the small screen's Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, they're playing the same man but also someone who changes, as everyone does, through his experiences. Accordingly, a lively Flynn captures Winton's zeal and determination, while a patient Hopkins wears the haunted disappointment of someone who has spent half of their life thinking that he hasn't done enough. When he finally realises the full impact of his efforts, it's a devastatingly touching moment in a potent feature that looks the standard sombre part, but also knows that flashiness isn't what leaves an imprint in a story as important as this. AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM The DC Extended Universe is dead. With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the comic book-to-screen franchise hardly swims out with a memorable farewell, hasn't washed up on a high and shouldn't have many tearful over its demise. More movies based on the company's superheroes are still on the way. They'll be badged the DC Universe instead, and start largely afresh; 2025's Superman: Legacy will be the first, with Pearl's David Corenswet as the eponymous figure, as directed by new DC Studios co-chairman and co-CEO James Gunn (The Suicide Squad). Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ends up the old regime about as expected, however: soggily, unable to make the most of its star, and stuck treading water between what it really wants to be and box-ticking saga formula. Led by Jason Momoa (Fast X), the first Aquaman knew that it was goofy, playful fun. Its main man, plus filmmaker James Wan (Malignant), didn't splash around self-importance or sink into seriousness. Rather, they made a giddily irreverent underwater space opera — and, while it ebbed and flowed between colouring by numbers and getting entertainingly silly, the latter usually won out. Alas, exuberance loses the same battle in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Having spent its existence playing catch-up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DCEU does exactly that for a final time here. As with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there's such a large debt owed to Star Wars that elements seem to be lifted wholesale; just try not to laugh at Jabba the Hutt as a sea creature. 2018's initial Aquaman used past intergalactic flicks as a diving-off point, too, but with its own personality — no trace of which bobs up this time around. Wan helms again, switching to workman-like mode. He's co-credited on the story with returning screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Orphan: First Kill), Momoa and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett (The Last Manhunt), but there's little but being dragged out with the prevailing tide, tonal chaos and a CGI mess on show. Now king of Atlantis and a father, Arthur Curry has another tussle with Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ambulance) to face, with his enemy aided by dark magic and exacerbating climate change. Only Aquaman teaming up with his imprisoned half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson, Insidious: The Red Door) will give the world a chance to survive. Even with an octopus spy and Nicole Kidman (Faraway Downs) riding a robot shark, a shipwreck results. Read our full review. MIGRATION It mightn't seem like Migration and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget should be twin films. The first is Illumination's latest non-Minions effort. The second is the long-awaited sequel to 2000 claymation favourite Chicken Run. But this pair of animated movies is definitely the newest example of the long-running cinematic déjà vu trend. Past birds of a feather have included Antz and A Bug's Life, Deep Impact and Armageddon, Churchill and Darkest Hour, and Ben Is Back and Beautiful Boy — and oh-so-many more — aka pictures with similar plots releasing at around the same time. The current additions to the list both arrive in December 2023, focus on anthropomorphised poultry, and initially find their clucking and quacking critters happy in their own safe, insular idylls, only to be forced out into the scary wider world largely due to their kids. Chaos with humans in the food industry ensues, including a life-or-death quest to avoid being eaten, plus lessons about being willing to break out of your comfort zone/nest/pond. Famous voices help bring the avian protagonists to the screen, too — Elizabeth Banks (The Beanie Bubble) and Kumail Nanjiani (Welcome to Chippendales) are the parents in Migration, for instance, and Thandiwe Newton (Westworld) and Zachary Levi (Shazam! Fury of the Gods) in Dawn of the Nugget — although that's long been the industry standard in animation in general. If you've seen Chicken Run's return, then, Migration will instantly feel familiar. This is an instance of two studios hatching near-identical films that both have their own charms, however. With Migration, a voice cast that also spans Awkwafina (Quiz Lady), Keegan-Michael Key (Wonka), Danny DeVito (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Carol Kane (Hunters) brings plenty of energy. As the key behind-the-camera talents, director Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine) and screenwriter Mike White (yes, The White Lotus' Mike White) know how to enliven the narrative. That tale tells of mallards Mack (Nanjiani) and Pam (Banks), one nervous and the other adventurous, who follow another family from New England to Jamaica via New York City with their eager ducklings Dax (Caspar Jennings, Operation Mincemeat) and Gwen (first-timer Tresi Gazal), and cantankerous uncle (DeVito). But the Big Apple brings a run-in which a chef, after initially falling afoul of a flock of pigeons, befriending their leader (Awkwafina) and endeavouring to rescue the homesick parrot (Key) who knows the way to their sunny winter getaway. WISH Arriving in the year that Walt Disney Animation Studios celebrates its 100th birthday shouldn't mean that Wish needs to live up to a century's worth of beloved classics. And it wouldn't for viewers, even with the Mouse House's anniversary celebrations everywhere, if the company's latest film didn't bluntly draw attention to Disney hits gone by. Parts are cobbled together from Cinderella, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. Not just fellow animated efforts get referenced; alongside shoutouts to Bambi and Peter Pan, Mary Poppins earns the nod well. Overtly elbowing rather than winking, directors Chris Buck (Frozen and Frozen II) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (head of story on Raya and the Last Dragon) plus screenwriters Jennifer Lee (another Frozen alum) and Allison Moore (Beacon 23) ensure that their audience has the mega media corporation's other fare in their heads. It's a dangerous strategy, calling out other movies if the feature doing the calling out is by-the-numbers at best, and it does Wish no favours. No one might've been actively thinking "I wish I was watching a different Disney movie instead" if they weren't pushed in that direction by the flick itself, but once that idea sweeps in it never floats away. While the importance and power of dreams is Wish's main theme, the film forgot to have many itself. If it hoped to be a generic inspiration-touting fairy-tale musical, however, that fantasy was granted. Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) and Chris Pine (Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves) star as teenager Asha and all-powerful sorcerer Magnifico, respectively. The latter created the kingdom of Rosas as a sanctuary to protect people's wishes, which hover in his castle — but he's stingy with granting them. When Asha discovers that the land's sovereign isn't as benevolent as he seems, then wishes on a star that becomes her beaming friend (and makes her goat Valentino talk, sporting the voice of Peter Pan & Wendy's Alan Tudyk), she decides to topple his rule and free the deepest desires of her fellow townsfolk. Oscar-winner DeBose brings her best to the movie's songs, which would've fallen flat and proven forgettable in anyone else's hands, but they're the most vivid part of a film that starts with the storybook cliche, leans too heavily on chattering critters and can't match its classic look with an instant-classic picture. TWO TICKETS TO GREECE Laure Calamy is heading away again. In Full Time, France's current go-to actor could only dream of a getaway. Around that career-best performance, however, she's trekked with a donkey in Antoinette in the Cévennes, enjoyed family reunions on Côte d'Azur island Porquerolles in The Origin of Evil and now holidays on the Balkan Peninsula in the likeable-enough Two Tickets to Greece. Her latest packs more than a few other familiar elements into its suitcase: chalk-and-cheese protagonists, midlife crises, confronting the past, seizing the future, reviving old friendships, making new pals and finding oneself. Writer/director Marc Fitoussi, who reteams with Calamy after Call My Agent!, knows that every trip swims or sinks based on the company, though. He explores that very idea in his narrative, and has the film live it via Calamy as the chaotic Magalie, Olivia Côte (The Rose Maker, and also in Antoinette in the Cévennes) as her strait-laced childhood bestie Blandine — who she hasn't seen for decades after a teenage falling out — and an against-type-and-loving-it Kristin Scott Thomas (Slow Horses) as the go-with-the-flow Bijou. Scott Thomas puts in such an earthy-yet-layered performance as Magalie's friend, who lives the island life in Mykonos with artist Dimitris (Panos Koronis, The Lost Daughter), that Two Tickets to Greece is a better movie once she's on-screen. It's a more-rounded film, relying less on an odd-couple dynamic — even though both Calamy and Côte perfect their parts. Fitoussi first introduces his main duo as high-schoolers (Les invisibles' Marie Mallia and Vise le coeur's Leelou Laridan) who obsessively adore 1988 diving drama The Big Blue. They only meet again as adults after Blandine's son Benjamin (Alexandre Desrousseaux, Standing Up) pushes them back into each other's lives out of worry for his divorced-and-unhappy-about-it mum. He's meant to be going to Greece with his mother, in fact, but soon the erratic and impulsive Magalie has his ticket. Their destination is Armogos, The Big Blue's setting, although every detour that can redirect the pair's sun-dappled path away from a stock-standard luxe hotel stay — ferry mishaps, cute surfers, dancing on restaurant tables, island-hopping, big fights, hard truths, health scares and the like — does. COUP DE CHANCE A stroke of luck starts Coup de Chance, befitting the name of this French-language romantic thriller-slash-farce from Woody Allen. On the streets of Paris, gallerist Fanny (Lou de Laâge, The Mad Women's Ball) is recognised by writer Alain (Niels Schneider, Spirit of Ecstasy), with the pair classmates during their school days abroad in New York. He had a hefty crush all those years back, he reminds her. Even in their first reacquainted encounter, it's plain to see that he still does now. Reminiscing leads to future plans to catch up, then to leisurely walks and sandwich-fuelled picnics in parks on her lunch breaks. And, with Fanny clearly unhappily married to flashy, self-made millionaire wealth manager Jean (Melvil Poupaud, One Fine Morning), who possessively and controllingly considers her a trophy more than a person, an affair springs, too. Cue the suspicions of Jean, complete with a private detective doing his snooping and a raging case of entitlement seeping from his pores. Cue Fanny's mother Camille (Valérie Lemercier, Aline) figuring out the situation, and getting involved as well. Also, cue Allen in familiar territory from 2005's Match Point, which was set in London rather than Paris. Only a non-French filmmaker would have his Parisian characters order foie gras and frogs' legs in a restaurant. Working in Europe almost by necessity, and a writer/director whose output will always lurk under a cloud, only Allen would make the movie's yearning romantic alternative a bookish sort called Alain that's his latest on-screen surrogate. But those cliches and box-ticking elements don't stop Coup de Chance from being his best film in some time — since 2013's Blue Jasmine, which won Cate Blanchett an Oscar — with considerable help from his cast. The helmer's 50th movie sports warm autumnal hues via cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (who also shot Cafe Society, Wonder Wheel and A Rainy Day in New York), a jazzy soundtrack, plus actors who can effortlessly ride the plot's conveniences, twists and constant musings on fate alike. That said, almost any filmmaker could point their lens de Laâge, Schneider, Poupaud and Lemercier's way with engaging results; however, Allen's first film in a language other than English is repeatedly buoyed by their presence.
It kicked off more than four decades ago with one of the best horror movies ever made; however the Halloween franchise has been through quite a few ups and downs over the years. Clocking up ten follow-ups and 11 movies in total so far, the slasher series has delivered excellent and terrible sequels, veered into remake territory, both killed off and brought back its heroine, and completely erased parts of its own past several times. But, like its mask-wearing villain Michael Myers, it always finds a way to go on. Since 2018's Halloween, that's been especially great news — with the Jamie Lee Curtis-starring, Jason Blum-produced 11th flick in the franchise proving a smart, thrilling horror delight, and ranking second only to the movie that started it all. Indeed, the movie was such a success that two more sequels are set to come from the same team (aka Blum, writer/director David Gordon Green and co-scribe Danny McBride): Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. Originally, Halloween Kills was due to hit screens his year, in October — when else? — but, as announced this week by franchise creator John Carpenter, it's now moving back its release to October 2021. As the iconic filmmaker explained via social media, "if we release it in October this year as planned, we have to face the reality that the film would be consumed in a compromised theatrical experience. After weighing our options, we have chosen to push the film's theatrical release by one year". Fans will now need to postpone their return trip to Haddonfield and their next encounter with Curtis' spirited Laurie Strode and her lifelong nemesis — but, if you're wondering what's in store, Carpenter also unveiled Halloween Kills' first teaser trailer. As the 30-second clip shows, the sequel is picking up where the last movie left off. Cue the iconic, Carpenter-composed theme music, obviously. Carpenter also noted that the new film has "lined up a cast of legacy characters... alongside some new faces, [and] we aggressively made the second chapter of our Halloween trilogy. It unfolded into an experience that was a creative playground and we feel confident that our misfit pleasures will be seen as an unexpected entry into this franchise". Check out the Halloween Kills teaser trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHhZDYVoV7w Halloween Kills will release in Australian cinemas on October 15, 2021.
Coworking spaces offer the chance to break free from the daily office grind and work in an environment that fosters flexibility and community. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand, Christie Spaces has you covered with top-notch facilities designed to elevate your business and help you succeed. And, because life shouldn't be all about work, there are plenty of opportunities to create and collaborate, too — from professional networking events to yoga classes and art workshops. We sat down with Christie Spaces CEO Robert Christie to get the lowdown on everything on offer at the dynamic coworking spaces located across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. So, if you've been thinking about making the transition from a passé office cubical to an invigorating shared space, read on — we've got all your curly questions covered. WHAT KIND OF FACILITIES DO COWORKING SPACES HAVE? One of the best things about coworking spaces is that they reflect the dynamism of modern working life. Whether you're running your own business, slogging away at a start-up or simply freelancing, Christie Spaces allows you to focus on your business in a slick environment with all the mod cons. Depending on the size of your team, you can choose between open workspaces and private offices, which can comfortably accommodate 100 people. As there's no life without wifi, all spaces are equipped with top-notch connections. CEO Robert Christie says that much thought has gone into creating a space that meets the needs of all types of businesses. "For creatives, we have photo studios, podcast booths and high-quality printing," says Christie. "We also have project pitching rooms and Skype in our meeting rooms, and we're even looking at installing relaxation rooms in our new spaces as we really understand the need to switch off from everything," Because life isn't paper-free just yet, there are printing facilities located on each floor, too. And, maybe best of all, there's also a dedicated coordinator on site to answer any questions and provide support. HOW IS IT DIFFERENT TO WORKING IN A TRADITIONAL OFFICE? Coworking spaces are the perfect antidote to the drudgery of 9-to-5 office life. The team at Christie Spaces understands that good results don't come from sitting behind a screen all day, so there are plenty of opportunities for creativity that extend beyond the desk. When it's time for a reset, head to the chill-out room to take a load off and recharge. Or, give your brain a break and stretch the rest of your body downward dog-style in the yoga space. If you'd rather flex your creative muscles instead, partake in a daytime art workshop and get the synapses firing — who knows, you might even create something worth pinning on the fridge. In addition to these activities, there are regular networking and community events, which provide an opportunity to meet like-minded people and might even lead to a new professional relationship. "Coworking spaces are hubs of collaboration and creativity," says Christie. "I've heard of so many people meeting their business partners in coworking spaces," And, despite it not being a traditional office space, Friday night drinks are still celebrated at the Christie Spaces. Cheers to that. WHAT'S IT LIKE WORKING SOLO IN A COWORKING SPACE? As anyone who's ever tried to "work from home" knows, the term is just a euphemism for sitting on the couch in your pyjamas and watching Netflix all day. Never fear, though, if you're a party of one needing to get work done, Christie Spaces is the ideal place to set yourself up for solo success. Hot desking offers the freedom of a flexible work environment while still being connected to all the equipment and facilities you might need. Although you may not be working directly with others, surrounding yourself with people on the same level will help to motivate you (and shame you out of that mid-afternoon nap). Christie believes the versatile nature of Christie Spaces is perfect for those working solo. "What's great about a coworking space is that if you want to collaborate you can, and you're celebrated for that. But if you also want to work solo in an inspiring place, that's fine, too. There's no pressure," Christie explains. MOST IMPORTANTLY, ARE COWORKING SPACES DOG FRIENDLY? Even though a dog can't hold a stapler, a furry office companion is far superior to a human one. That's why pooches are welcome at the Sydney and Melbourne Christie Spaces and the business is currently looking into options for pet-friendly spaces within the Brisbane offices, too. Just imagine, instead of closing the door on your best mate in the morning or making excuses to head home early just to pet them, they can be at work with you. Dogs don't just make good looking coworkers, they're also known stress relievers. When you've got a deadline bearing down on you or a mountain of emails piling up, they're more sympathetic to your needs than any colleague could ever be. And, if you're not lucky enough to have a pup of your own, you can always creep out on someone else's doggo. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO JOIN A COWORKING SPACE? When it comes to running a business, cost is always important. Fortunately, Christie Spaces' impressive facilities and networking opportunities don't cost a fortune — for a base membership, you're looking at around $450 a month, which includes internet, maintenance and all the other perks. At the moment, you can set yourself up in Christie Spaces in three major cities. Sydney has three offices — two in North Sydney and one in the CBD — Brisbane has two offices in the city centre, and Melbourne has one office in the heart of the CBD. Plans are afoot to expand to Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Perth and regional locations such as Newcastle and the Central Coast, too. Christie Spaces is located in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. To find your office space and start hustlin' head to christiespaces.com.au.
Returning for the first time since 2019, Falls Festival has one clear thing to say about its 2022 events: it bets you'll look good on the fest's dance floors. It wants you to get on your dancing shoes, too, and make the most of spending a couple of days immersed in live tunes — from Arctic Monkeys, for starters, as well as from fellow big-name acts Lil Nas X, Peggy Gou, Chvrches and Jamie xx. Your destinations this time around: Pennyroyal Plains, Colac in Victoria from Thursday, December 29–Saturday, December 31; North Byron Parklands, Yelgun in New South Wales from Saturday, December 31–Monday, January 2; and Fremantle Park, Fremantle in Western Australia from Saturday, January 7–Sunday, January 8. That's where and when the fest will hit to either see out 2022, kickstart 2023 or both — after revealing back in 2021 that it was saying goodbye to its usual Tasmanian leg in Marion Bay after 17 years, and also moving from Lorne in Victoria after a 27-year stint. As always, Falls has delivered one helluva lineup — one that's exciting, broad, hops between international stars and homegrown hits, and is certain to draw crowds. Also making appearances: Aminé, Ocean Alley, Camelphat and Spacey Jane, plus DMA's, G Flip, Pinkpantheress, Rico Nasty, Amyl and the Sniffers, Mall Grab and Ben Böhmer. And yes, that's just a taste of the bill. The tunes will be backed by a colourful curation of art events, performances, pop-ups, markets, wellness sessions and gourmet eats — because that's the Falls Festival way. Think: morning yoga, hammocks, swimming pools, three-legged races, backyard cricket, non-alcoholic beer pong and pinot-and-paint sessions, plus burgers, Korean chicken, woodfired pizza and ramen on the food lineup. Drinks-wise, everything from margaritas to hard seltzers (and beers and bubbles) will be on offer. Camping options include renting a tent or glamping in both NSW and Victoria. And yes, if it feels a little early for a Falls lineup, there's a reason for that. Pre-pandemic, the fest usually unveiled its bill in August; however, we all know how the world has changed in the past couple of years — and that we're all planning much further ahead than usual. Anyway, here's what you're here for — the lineup as it currently stands, with more to be announced. FALLS FESTIVAL 2022 LINEUP: Arctic Monkeys Lil Nas X Peggy Gou Chvrches Jamie xx Aminé Ocean Alley Camelphat Spacey Jane DMA's G Flip Pinkpantheress Rico Nasty Amyl and the Sniffers Mall Grab Ben Böhmer DJ Seinfeld Genesis Owusu TSHA CC:DISCO! Young Franco Anna Lunoe Luude Lastlings MAY-A Choomba The Vanns King Stingray Peach PRC Beddy Rays Jean Dawson Telenovela Biscits Barry Can't Swim Elkka Floodlights Wongo Yng Martyr 1300 Moktar Magdalena Bay Dameeeela Ebony Boadu Rona. Elsy Wamayo Juno Mamba and more FALLS FESTIVAL 2022 DATES: Pennyroyal Plains, Colac, VIC — Thursday, December 29–Saturday, December 31 North Byron Parklands, Yelgun, NSW — Saturday, December 31–Monday, January 2 Fremantle Park, Fremantle, WA — Saturday, January 7–Sunday, January 8 Falls Festival 2022 will take place in December 2022 and January 2023 in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. Pre-sale tickets are available from 9am (local time) on Monday, May 9, with general sales kicking off at 9am on Thursday, May 12. For more info and to buy tickets, visit the festival's website.
Who made the rule that Valentine's Day was just for pairs, couples and duos? You can turf that old-school thinking out the window, because we're here in 2023, happy in the knowledge that love comes in all shapes and sizes. And this year, QT Melbourne is embracing that notion with an inclusive Valentine's Day celebration that's best enjoyed in a crew of three. On Tuesday, February 14, the Russell Street hotel is paying special homage to the throuples and trios out there in lovers' land with its You, Plus Two package. While venues across the city will likely be brimming with tables for two, the hotel's sky-high bar and terrace will be celebrating three as the magic number. Book a table for three on the Rooftop at QT that evening and you'll enjoy a little extra love in the form of the venue's Aphrodisiac Hour offering. That's half a dozen oysters and three mini vodka martinis on the house, all to kick off your date night right. Of course, there's lots more to love about the bar menu up here, with a range of stone-baked pizzas, plus plates like coconut popcorn prawns, barbecue pork bao with pork floss, loaded kimchi fries, brisket burgers and everything in between. What's more, you'll have the chance to unleash your competitive edge. All tables of three on the night will be in with a shot at being crowned the Throuple in Residence. If you win, you'll be invited to keep the loved-up festivities going with a private room upstairs, complete with robes, pillows and all the cushy amenities you could hope for. QT Melbourne's You, Plus Two package is available for all tables of three booked for Tuesday, February 14. Secure your spot online.
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 watching anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this months latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from October's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW THE GREEN KNIGHT Mesmerising and magnetic from its first moments till its last, The Green Knight is a moving musing on destiny, pride, virtue, choice, myths and sacrifice, all wrapped in a sublime spectacle. The medieval fantasy hums with haunting beauty and potency as it tells of Arthurian figure Gawain (Dev Patel, The Personal History of David Copperfield), nephew to the King (Sean Harris, Mission: Impossible — Fallout), and the only man who accepts a bold challenge when the eponymous figure (Ralph Ineson, Gunpowder Milkshake) — a mystical part-tree, part-knight — demands a duel one Christmas. The catch: whichever blows the eager-to-prove-himself Gawain inflicts on this towering interloper, he'll receive back in a year's time. So, when this initial altercation ends in a beheading (and with the Green Knight scooping up his noggin and riding off), Gawain faces a grim future. Twelve months later, that bargain inspires a quest, which The Green Knight treats as both a nightmare and a dream. There's an ethereal look and feel to every inch of this stunning movie, where the greenery is verdant, and the bloodshed and battlefield of skeletons just as prominent. Playing a man yearning for glory yet faced with life's stark realities, Patel is in career-best form — and the latter can also be said of writer/director/editor David Lowery. Every film he makes has proven a gem, from Ain't The Bodies Saints and Pete's Dragon to A Ghost Story and The Old Man and The Gun; however, The Green Knight is a startling and riveting feast of a feature that's as as contemplative as it is visionary. The Green Knight is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Excellent filmmakers helming exceptional documentaries about music icons just might be 2021's best movie trend. It isn't new — see: Martin Scorsese's filmography as just one example — but any year that delivers both Edgar Wright's The Sparks Brothers and Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground is a great year indeed. Both docos are made by clear fans of the bands they celebrate. Both films find creative and engaging ways to approach a tried-and-tested on-screen formula, too. And, both movies will make fans out of newcomers, all while delighting existing devotees. They each have killer soundtracks as well, obviously. They're each tailored to suit their subjects, rather than leaning on the standard music bio-doc template. As a result, they each prove the kind of rich, in-depth and electrifying features that only these two directors could've made. With The Velvet Underground and Haynes, none of this comes as a surprise. As well as the astonishing Carol and the just-as-devastating Dark Waters, he has experimental short Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, glam-rock portrait Velvet Goldmine and the Bob Dylan-focused I'm Not There on his resume, after all. Here, he makes two perceptive choices: splitting his screen Andy Warhol-style to show both archival materials and new interviews simultaneously, and avoiding the allure of giving the late, great Lou Reed all his attention. The result is an inventive, impassioned and wide-ranging doco that charts the band's story and impact; captures the time, place and attitudes that gave rise to them; and proves as dazzling as The Velvet Underground themselves. The Velvet Underground is available to stream via Apple TV+. SPREADSHEET When Katherine Parkinson starred in The IT Crowd 15 years ago, she played a woman trying to exude a cool, calm and collected air, but constantly finding her life — and her new job in IT — hindering that aim. In Spreadsheet, her new sitcom role, Parkinson's latest character isn't attempting the same feat. Instead, freshly divorced Melbourne-based lawyer and mother-of-two Lauren has has accepted that her existence is now messy; however, having a spreadsheet to keep track of her revamped love life is meant to help. Embracing being single, and all the opportunities for casual hookups that apps now bring, she isn't looking for a relationship. She even has her colleague Alex (Rowan Witt, Adore) helping to maintain her fast-growing database of sexual options. But this clearly wouldn't be a comedy if her new status quo turned out smoothly and stress-free. As this new Australian sitcom knows and keenly relies upon, there's a breeziness to Parkinson's comic performances that hits both humorous and relatable notes. Indeed, the British actor is the key reason that Spreadsheet's eight-episode first season is so incredibly easy to binge. Whether Lauren is being introduced in the throes of pleasure in the car park outside the Palais Theatre, is getting intimate in a snake dungeon or sports an eye patch after a run-in with a cuckoo clock, Parkinson is a comedic whirlwind. In a series that approaches its 'sex in the suburbs' setup with smarts and insights, too, she's also surrounded by an impressive local cast that includes Witt, Stephen Curry (June Again), Katrina Milosevic (Wentworth) and Zahra Newman (Long Story Short). The first season of Spreadsheet is available to stream via Paramount+. THE DONUT KING The documentary that comes with an obvious serving suggestion — avoiding pastry cravings while watching is impossible — The Donut King chronicles the life of Cambodian American Ted Ngoy. In the mid-70s, the soldier-turned-refugee fled the Khmer Rouge for a new start in the US. Then, after being enticed by the smell wafting out of a Californian doughnut shop, he found owning his own the path to success. After beginning with one venue, Ngoy grew his empire. In the process, he even helped cement pink-hued doughnut boxes as the industry standard — the pop culture standard, too. Inhabiting a constant cinnamon cloud might've been bliss, and it certainly was the impetus behind Ngoy's rags-to-riches story; however, filmmaker Alice Gu covers much more than pastry highs in this incisive and thoughtful portrait of the American Dream. Not even the best job is ever 100-percent filled with glaze and sprinkles, including when making desserts is your daily trade. For Ngoy, becoming a doughnut kingpin was the result of hard work — not just his own, but his whole family's — as well as savvy choices. His business also helped set a path for fellow Cambodians, as well as fostering a sense of community, by sparking a run of expat-owned doughnut shops in California. Gu captures all of this lovingly, with a celebratory tone, and with a warm appreciation for Ngoy's achievements both in general and as an immigrant entrepreneur. That said, she doesn't shy away from the twists and turns that've complicated his path, and this story, along the way. The Donut King is available to stream via Docplay. THE GUILTY It's the remake that was always going to eventuate; the remake that was announced before the original Danish film even reached Australian cinemas, in fact. A high-concept thriller set in a police call centre and solely conveying its dramas via telephone conversations, The Guilty was instantly destined to get the Hollywood treatment — not only because it's predicated upon a commanding concept, but because the first time around made for exceptional, Oscar-shortlisted, outstandingly tense and gripping viewing. Thankfully, Netflix's take on the tale lives up to its predecessor. It's as suspenseful and taut, as economical and evocative, and as superbly acted. Twenty years after Donnie Darko made him a star, Jake Gyllenhaal's resume isn't short on highlights; however, The Guilty easily sits among them. Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far From Home) plays LAPD officer Joe Baylor, who's been demoted to taking 911 calls after an on-the-job incident that'll see him in court the next day. His evening at work will prove just as stressful, after a woman called Emily (Riley Keough, Zola) advises that she's been kidnapped by her ex (Peter Sarsgaard, Interrogation), with their kids left home alone. Joe springs into action, and tries to get his colleagues to do the same. But as the excellent series Calls also demonstrated, words can tell viewers the whole story while keeping on-screen characters twisting. Reteaming with Gyllenhaal after Southpaw, filmmaker Antoine Fuqua directs this intense affair with that truth firmly in mind. The Guilty is available to stream via Netflix. A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX When a certain Sydney-shot, Keanu Reeves-starring sci-fi/action film did big box-office business 22 years ago, it did more than just start a huge movie franchise. The Matrix and its sequels also gave proponents of the simulation hypothesis — the idea that this life we all call our own is merely an artificial simulation, but we don't know it — an enormously successful pop culture touchstone. Examining that notion, as well as its connection to the series that shares part of its title, A Glitch in the Matrix couldn't arrive at a timelier moment. The concept is about to get another blockbuster billboard, after all, with The Matrix Resurrections just months away from release. What truly interests this documentary, however, isn't the answer to that reality-versus-simulation question, but all the reasons that might inspire someone to think that nothing about their experience is genuine. Documentarian Rodney Ascher likes delving into ambiguous and liminal spaces. With Room 237, he pondered conspiracy theories around The Shining. Next, he dedicated his sophomore effort The Nightmare to sleep paralysis. He's clearly fond of fascinating, mind-bending concepts, too, but there's always a shagginess to his films — a sense that the underlying ideas he clasps onto are far more compelling than actually charting the stories he selects on his chosen topic. A Glitch in the Matrix is no different, but it's also ambitious and engrossing as it mixes everything from animation and archival clips to interviews. A movie can be thought-provoking and also messy, of course, and still make for compelling viewing. A Glitch in the Matrix is available to stream via Docplay. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK SUCCESSION For fans of blistering TV shows about wealth, power, the vast chasm between the rich and everyone else, and the societal problems that fester due to such rampant inequality, 2021 has been a fantastic year. The White Lotus fit the bill, as did Squid Game, but Succession has always been in its own league. In the 'eat the rich' genre, the HBO drama sits at the top of the food chain as it chronicles the extremely lavish and influential lives of the Roy family. No series slings insults as brutally; no show channels feuding and backstabbing into such an insightful and gripping satire of the one percent, either. Finally back on our screens after a two-year gap between its second and third seasons, Succession doesn't just keep plying its astute and addictive battles and power struggles — following season two's big bombshell, it keeps diving deeper. The premise has remained the same since day one, with Logan Roy's (Brian Cox, Super Troopers 2) kids Kendall (Jeremy Strong, The Trial of the Chicago 7), Shiv (Sarah Snook, Pieces of a Woman), Roman (Kieran Culkin, No Sudden Move) and Connor (Alan Ruck, Gringo) vying to take over the family media empire. This brood's tenuous and tempestuous relationship only gets thornier with each episode, and its examination of their privileged lives — and what that bubble has done to them emotionally, psychologically and ideologically — only grows in season three. It becomes more addictive, too. There's no better show currently on TV, and no better source of witty dialogue. And there's no one turning in performances as layered as Strong, Cox, Snook, Culkin, J Smith-Cameron (Search Party), Matthew Macfadyen (The Assistant) and Nicholas Braun (Zola). The first two episodes of Succession's third season are available to stream via Binge, with new episodes dropping weekly. Read our full review. LOVE LIFE Mere minutes into Love Life's second season, a big query arises. With The Good Place's William Jackson Harper taking over from Anna Kendrick as the show's lead, it's an obvious question: what would Chidi Anagonye think? He'd recognise the indecision bubbling away inside Harper's new character, Manhattanite book editor Marcus Watkins. From a moral and ethical standpoint, he'd be less enamoured with Marcus' other choices, especially the flirtatious friendship that Love Life's new protagonist pursues with Mia (Jessica Williams, Booksmart) while still married to Emily (Maya Kazan, Love Is Love Is Love). Thankfully, it doesn't take long for Harper to settle into his new part, and for the ghost of Chidi to fade. The latter would still protest, of course, but Love Life sends the man behind him wading through a different pool of rom-com dilemmas. It's a delightful stroke of casting, in a series that has always hinged upon its audience's connection with its main character. Harper doesn't ever let his natural charm eclipse Marcus' flaws — Love Life doesn't trade in perfect protagonists or easy, clearcut romantic fantasies — and that balance adds both weight and depth to the show's second season. That said, the storylines here won't seem particularly different to Love Life's season-one viewers. This is a case of new lead, same city, similar romantic struggles. It isn't a spoiler to note that Marcus and Emily's marriage doesn't last long, or that the relationships that follow take him on quite the rollercoaster ride, but Harper instantly gets you hooked on the journey. The first three episodes of Love Life are available to stream via Stan, with new episodes dropping weekly. FOUNDATION If you've ever wondered whether good things truly do come to those who wait, as the old adage insists, let Foundation convince you. In the 90s, these Isaac Asimov-penned sci-fi stories were slated to become a film trilogy, but those plans faltered. In the late 00s, Independence Day's Roland Emmerich was onboard to direct a different movie adaptation — and thankfully that didn't eventuate either. It's hard to see how Foundation would've worked on the big screen, unless it fuelled a sizeable number of features. On the small screen, it still spins an immensely dense storyline, but it also has room to breathe. Stepping into a futuristic world on the precipice of ruin, this is a series that rewards patience. (If you've ever seen the Party Down episode that jokes about hard sci-fi, you'll know how seriously it takes its genre, too.) Created by screenwriters David S Goyer (Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy) and Josh Friedman (the TV version of Snowpiercer), Foundation splashes its sizeable budget across the screen — all while reimagining Asimov's tales almost eight decades after they were written. Mathematics professor Hari Seldon (Jared Harris, Chernobyl) remains a key part, though, thanks to his prediction that the Galactic Empire will soon fall. That prophesy angers the three cloned versions of Emperor Cleon, especially Brother Day (Lee Pace, Captain Marvel), with his dismay sparking action just as Seldon's new protege Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell, Voyagers) arrives. That's just Foundation's setup, too, and it's sci-fi catnip. The first six episodes of Foundation are available to stream via Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping weekly. A RECENT MUST-SEE YOU CAN (AND SHOULD) STREAM NOW THE OTHER TWO You're in your twenties, trying to make it in New York and struggling to chase your dreams. The only thing that's making you feel better is the knowledge that your sibling is doing the exact same thing. Then your kid brother comes up with a throwaway pop hit, adopts the stage name ChaseDreams and becomes a YouTube sensation — and suddenly you're related to the world's next Justin Bieber. That's the premise of sitcom The Other Two, which follows struggling actor Cary (Drew Tarver, Bless the Harts) and his ex-dancer sister Brooke (Helene York, Katy Keene) as they come to terms with their new situation. Yes, they're thrilled for their baby brother; however, they're also shocked, envious and desperate to get their own time in the spotlight. That's the other thing about having a famous sibling: riding their coattails isn't the same as making it yourself. The Other Two leans upon two things: its sense of humour and the way it interrogates the celeb game, and its casting. Both are as sharp as Chase's rise to stardom; Case Walker even got that part after becoming a Musical.ly sensation IRL. Tarver and York's back-and-forth is the series' anchor, however. Also excellent: Molly Shannon (The White Lotus), Ken Marino (Black Monday), Wanda Sykes (Breaking News in Yuba County) and Josh Segarra (The Moodys). Its second season hasn't arrived in Australia yet, but The Other Two's first ten episodes are hilarious, acerbic and perceptive, especially when it comes to today's celebrity-obsessed, influencer-heavy society. It's an instant classic (it was one of our best new shows of 2019, in fact), and it's instantly rewatchable. The first season of The Other Two is available to stream via Paramount+. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September this year — and our top straight-to-streaming movies and specials from 2021 so far, and our list of the best new TV shows released this year so far as well.
Almost three decades ago, Spiderbait made Australian music history when they won Triple J's 1996 Hottest 100 with 'Buy Me a Pony'. They were the first local act to top the countdown. Now, that catchy track has a chance to again notch up a huge feat: taking out Triple J's new Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. Aussie tunes have emerged victorious in the station's annual countdown plenty of times since, of course. So, it isn't just 'Buy Me a Pony' that's in the running to be a two-time winner. That feat mightn't be achieved at all anyway — because there's no shortage of excellent Australian tracks that haven't topped a Hottest 100 before but might just come out in the number-one spot in the Aussie-only poll. Whichever song that you're certain should be named Australia's best, voting is open as at 8am AEST on Tuesday, June 17. You've got a month to pick your favourites — until 5pm AEST on Thursday, July 17, 2025. The results will then be broadcast from 10am AEST on Saturday, July 26, 2025 on not only Triple J, but also Double J, Triple J Unearthed and its dedicated Triple J Hottest station. Although no one needs a reason to celebrate Aussie music, Triple J has one: 2025 marks its 50th birthday. That fact ties into one big caveat when you're voting, you do need to choose a track that was released before the station hit that milestone on Sunday, January 19, 2025. [caption id="attachment_854346" align="alignnone" width="1920"] M Drummond[/caption] The Triple J and Double J voices that'll be counting down your picks include Ash McGregor, Dave Woodhead, Dylan Lewis, Yumi Stynes, Abby Butler, Tyrone Pynor, Concetta Caristo, Luka Muller, Zan Rowe and Lucy Smith. And if you're curious about which other tunes, aside from 'Buy Me a Pony', could score the double win, 'No Aphrodisiac' by The Whitlams, 'These Days' and 'My Happiness' from Powderfinger, 'Amazing' by Alex Lloyd, 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl?' from Jet, 'Wish You Well' by Bernard Fanning, 'One Crowded Hour' from Augie March, and 'Big Jet Plane' by Angus and Julia Stone are also in the running, for starters. Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know', Vance Joy's 'Riptide', Chet Faker's 'Talk Is Cheap', The Rubens' 'Hoops', Flume's 'Never Be Like You' and 'Say Nothing', Ocean Alley's 'Confidence' and The Wiggles' 'Elephant' have also all topped the yearly poll before. Tame Impala's 'The Less I Know the Better' won the 2010s-centric countdown, while DMA's 'Believe' did the same for the Like a Version poll. Triple J's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs will broadcast from 10am AEST on Saturday, July 26, 2025 — with voting open between 8am AEST on Tuesday, June 17–5pm AEST on Thursday, July 17, 2025. Head to the Triple J website for further details. Top image: Ocean Alley, Neegzistuoja via Wikimedia Commons.
Lorde is back. After five years away from music and touring, the New Zealand pop sensation has returned with the first taste of her next album and dates for a massive tour of Australia and New Zealand. The tour will run from Saturday, February 26 through until Saturday, March 19. Australians are scoring four dates across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, while New Zealanders can choose from six shows. Accompanying the tour news is an announcement that Lorde's third studio album Solar Power will be unveiled to the world on Friday, August 20. The album comes five years after her critically acclaimed sophomore release Melodrama and is "a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalising the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I'm outdoors," Lorde says. The Australian and New Zealand tour will begin at Christchurch's Electric Avenue on Saturday, February 26. From there the 'Royals' singer will make her way around New Zealand throughout late February and early March, and arrive in Australia on Thursday, March 10 for a show at the Brisbane Riverstage. Australia's east coast will be treated to two more shows at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl and the ICC's Aware Super Theatre in Sydney before the tour wraps up at Perth's Belvoir Amphitheatre on Saturday, March 19. The last time either country was treated to Lorde's live show was her headline set at Splendour in the Grass 2018, a full circle moment for the singer as she returned to the stage of one of her first ever performances as a last-minute replacement for Frank Ocean back in 2013. A year prior, in 2017, Lorde also toured some of Australia's largest and most iconic outdoor venues including the Sydney Opera House Forecourt. Tickets to The Solar Power Tour are sure to be snatched up quickly and there are a few ways to get your hands on them if you're looking to belt out all the words to 'Ribs' or 'Green Light' early next year. Telstra customers will receive first dibs as part of a Telstra Plus pre-sale on Monday, June 28. If you sign up to be a Frontier Member you'll receive pre-sale access on Wednesday, June 30, before general public ticket sales begin on Monday, July 5 at noon. Head to the Frontier website for all the details. Lorde The Solar Power Tour Saturday, February 26 – Electric Avenue, Christchurch Saturday, February 27 – Neudorf Vineyards, Upper Moutere Tuesday, March 1 – Days Bay, Lower Hutt Wednesday, March 2 – Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North Friday, March 4 – TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth Saturday, March 5 – Outer Fields Western Springs, Auckland Thursday, March 10– Riverstage, Brisbane Saturday, March 12 – Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Tuesday, March 15 – Aware Super Theatre, Sydney Saturday, March 19 – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth Lorde's The Solar Power Tour will take place between Saturday, February 26 and Saturday, March 19. Head to the Frontier website for all info on tickets. Top image: The Come Up Show
Before they were chasing storms in Twisters, the 28-years-later sequel to one of the disaster-film blockbusters of the 90s, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos were no strangers to whirlwinds. Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung, who directs the Twister follow-up, swirls alongside them in the same category. The last few years have seen the careers of all four rise rapidly. Normal People made Edgar-Jones a star. Powell has enjoyed a Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You and Hit Man hot streak. Ramos is a Lin-Manuel Miranda favourite with an originating part — two actually — in Hamilton and a lead role in the big-screen In the Heights adaptation. And Chung is fresh from drawing upon his own life in Minari, which won an Oscar and collected five more nominations, including for Best Director. How did this quartet end up following in the footsteps of Helen Hunt (Hacks) and the late Bill Paxton (The Circle), as well as cinematographer-turned-filmmaker (and Die Hard and Speed veteran) Jan de Bont? Chasing fun, valuing the chance to focus on the human side of weather wreaking havoc, bringing America's Tornado Alley to the screen, not only having a personal connection with the first film but wanting the second to feel personal: they're among the answers that Twisters three leads and its director shared with Concrete Playground. For Chung, growing up on the Oklahoma border means that he's also no stranger to tornadoes IRL. As a teenager in the 90s, he was mesmerised with the original Twister, as the entire world was. "That was a really big deal for me, and for my friends and for my family," he advises. Under his guidance — working with a script by The Boys in the Boat and The Revenant screenwriter Mark L Smith, which started with Top Gun: Maverick helmer Joseph Kosinski — Edgar-Jones, Powell and Ramos play storm obsessives on a mission. Make that missions, plural, beginning in college. At first Edgar-Jones' Kate and Ramos' Javi are on the road attempting to establish that tornadoes can be tamed. Then, tragedy strikes. Five years later, the pair reteam to scan the seasonal gusts that terrorise the US heartland, using portable radars that Javi has built a business around, albeit with now New York-based meteorologist Kate reluctant to be back out in the field and Javi leaving the details of his funding out of their conversation. Also seeking the same squalls is Powell's swaggering Tyler Owens, who prefers livestreaming his crew's exploits — and being a "tornado wrangler", merchandise and all — over taking the ultra-professional ethos sported by Javi's team. As Edgar-Jones and Ramos do with their characters, he ensures that this is a part that feels like only he could've slipped into. Indeed, Twisters doesn't enlist its impressive main on-screen trio just to get them caught up in the well-staged spectacle and action. [caption id="attachment_965979" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros.[/caption] No one gets out of the film without battling wild weather, of course, a process that's "like being in a washing machine, really", Edgar-Jones explains. "A great dirty washing machine," Powell adds. That said, the naturalistic imagery that Chung and cinematographer Dan Mindel (Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker) paint their tale with, favouring an aesthetic approach that makes Twisters visually resemble Minari more than the standard disaster flick, also mirrors the film's handling of Kate, Javi and Tyler. There's always storms to chase, plus run from, with special effects proving both pivotal and phenomenally convincing; however, there's also a genuine sense of character as its key threesome face devastating vortexes alongside their own baggage. Appreciating the communities impacted by destructive gales feels equally as authentic. If it seems like a leap for Chung to hop from Minari to here, he went via an episode of The Mandalorian — and that his latest movie falls in the middle of those two extremes, even if it might appear closer to the latter on paper, also came up in our chat. With Twisters in cinemas Down Under since Thursday, July 11, 2024, we also spoke with Edgar-Jones, Powell, Ramos and Chung about tackling a sequel to a beloved film after almost three decades, perfecting the right look, the human element of the narrative and more, including preparing to play the resident cowboy who wants to shoot flares into the storm. "I always came to set with fireworks and rockets," Powell jokes. "Nobody ever knew when I was just going to fire those things off." On Twisters Falling in the Middle of Minari and The Mandalorian Isaac: "After I made Minari, I was editing Minari and watching The Mandalorian — that's where I decided I'd love to do an episode of The Mandalorian, just because I fell in love with that TV show. When I worked on that show, it was so much VFX work, so much work on these LED screens and on a stage that, in taking Twisters, I wanted to bring our production back out to the field and back out to Oklahoma. So it did feel like it was kind of zigging and zagging and trying to figure out what I've learned from Minari, what I've learned from The Mandalorian, trying to bring those two things together in some way." On the Appeal of Chasing Tornadoes On-Screen Anthony: "It sounds fun — and that's kind of the biggest appeal. It's something that I never thought I'd ever do. And to work with this team has been a dream. It's cool, just the thought of going out into Oklahoma and driving trucks and being in the elements out there, and working with an incredible cast — I think that's what made it so appealing. That's what made it sound like 'hey, this is something I want to do, sounds fun'." On How Growing Up on the Oklahoma Border Influenced Chung's Decision to Direct Twisters Isaac: "That was a hugely influential part of taking on this project. I felt like growing up, there aren't many big films, blockbuster films, that take place in that world. And when Twister came out, that was a really big deal for me, and for my friends and for my family. And I remember that being really special. When I saw that this project was happening, I thought it was just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go back to where I grew up with a big tentpole action movie. So absolutely, that was a huge part of that decision-making." On Ensuring That This Is a Disaster Film with a Strong Human Element Daisy: "I think that was a big part of why I was so excited to be involved with this film. I'd watched Minari — I'm such a huge fan of that film and Isaac as a filmmaker — and obviously that's got a very indie sensibilities, very character-driven. And so when I heard he was making Twisters, I was so curious to see what that mixture would be like, someone who has this real interest in detail and interpersonal dynamics, but also this huge scale, this blockbuster feel. And so I think that was what was so exciting when we were involved, that all of the characters feel very beautifully drawn out. It's imbued with a lot of reverence for nature, but it also has this fun, this scale, this adrenaline to it. And I just think Isaac did such a remarkable job of really making all the individual characters feel so grounded in truth. As an actor, that's the thing I'm most excited about: to represent people truthfully." On Taking on a Sequel to a Film That's Widely Adored — and Making It Personal Isaac: "It really makes it very challenging because everybody has their own reason for loving that previous work. I'd encountered that already when I was working on the Star Wars shows, which I think Star Wars audiences are maybe the least forgiving, because I love that world so much. So I got my feet wet already with the idea of 'how do I honour something that a lot of people love for very good reasons, and still try to bring in my personal side and my own spin to things?'. In general, what I find with audiences is that if you really start with that love and appreciation for something, then they come around to whatever you choose to do as long as you're really honouring. So that was my approach with this. I wanted to honour that first film, but also make it personal to myself." On What Goes Into Playing the Resident Cowboy Storm Chaser Who Wants to Shoot Fireworks Into the Wild Weather Glen: "At the end of the day, it's Kate's journey to rediscover something she loves, something that should give her a lot of joy. And so Tyler's role in this movie is just to remind Kate why chasing something that gives you joy is the greatest pursuit of your life. And so it's fun to show up in a cowboy hat and jeans, and cowboy boots and drive trucks across the Oklahoma plains, and shoot rockets into the sky. I recommend it. It's a good way to go to work." On Favouring Naturalistic Cinematography That Grounds the Film Over a Glossy Action-Blockbuster Sheen Isaac: "I worked with an incredible cinematographer named Dan Mindel, and he's a real legend behind the camera. When he came on board, we were already talking about old western movies like The Searchers, we were talking about Kurosawa. We wanted to create a sense of place and space, and also evoke a feeling of a western with this movie. And then when we knew that we were going to be filming a rodeo, we wanted it to really feel like rodeo photography from the 1970s in magazines. So there was a lot of that thought going into the process to bring out the texture of the place. And hopefully that comes through. It was just a real joy working with him." On Filming Action Scenes in a Movie That's Not Only About Tornado Season in Oklahoma, But Was Shot During Tornado Season in Oklahoma Daisy: "Every scene felt quite laced with irony in the sense that we would have to shut down filming pretty constantly for actual weather, to then start filming again to then recreate the weather we had to shut down for. It was so incredible to really be in Oklahoma during storm season. There were a lot of tornadoes that did touch down while we were filming, and weather like I've never seen before, but it really helped us imbue the whole thing with truth. And everybody we met that was there, that were background artists from Oklahoma, they were chasers, they were also Red Cross workers, it really helped, I think, to imbue the film with as much truth as possible. The actual filming of tornado sequences is just sort of wild. It's like being in a washing machine, really. You don't really know what's happening." Glenn: "A great dirty washing machine." Daisy: "You're just hoping that there's some acting happening, but you're just kind of in it." Anthony: "Yeah, if you're getting pelted with wind and your face, you can't help but to make a face because you're getting rained on, there's dirt all over you. I see stills of me in some of the scenes that we shot, and I'm dusty and my clothes are filthy — and that's what you want when you shoot this kind of movie. You want to be in it. You want to feel that, and they were so good about making sure that we did it." Twisters opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Read our review.
What goes into the perfect gin and tonic? Quality gin, for one. Tonic water — ideally from a glass bottle. A fruit garnish (lime or cucumber, depending on the gin) and a tower of ice cubes. All necessary components in a balanced, four-part harmony. A plastic straw, placed triumphantly into the glass by your bartender? Or one you've fished out of a dusty pint glass on the corner of the bar? Not necessary. While the plastic straw has always seemed like the final puzzle piece, recent times have seen a move away from these often arbitrary additions to our drinks. And it's becoming ever more prevalent that this arbitrary addition is having a global impact. While there's no exact figure for Australia, it's estimated that 500 million plastic straws are used and discarded every day in the US — that's enough to fill 125 school buses. With this in mind, venues across Australia are beginning to acknowledge the impact this plastic waste is having on our oceans and ecosystems, and many have begun phasing out non-reusable straws and offering eco-friendly alternatives. Brisbane's Crowbar began phasing out single-use plastic straws in 2016, stating publicly on social media, "we are conscious of the environmental impact of plastic and are taking steps to reduce our footprint". Sydney's Dead Ringer announced late last year that it had eliminated plastic straws in favour of reusable metal straws and Pink Moon Saloon in Adelaide has a sign hanging above the bar stating, "save a turtle, don't use a plastic straw". The Last Straw, an initiative aiming to end the use of plastic straws in Australia, keeps an extensive list of venues committed to the cause. In Melbourne, many bars have followed suit, including Dr Morse in Abbotsford, which announced its intention to go plastic-straw free in the winter of 2017. Bar manager Jac Morgan says, "there was a bit of customer backlash when we decided to go completely straw free, but since we've brought in alternatives most customers don't even notice the difference". The bar replaced all plastic straws with paper straws (that are fully recyclable) and a bamboo resin alternative, which only takes three months to break down. To put this in perspective, the plastic straw you picked up on a whim winds up in a landfill site and takes up to 500 years to degrade (some scientists say it never fully degrades). If not in landfill, then the ocean — lodging itself in a turtle's nose or being ingested by an animal and steadily making its way up the food chain. It's understood that by 2050, plastic will outweigh fish in our oceans. Morgan says that the phasing out of plastic straws is a trend sweeping the hospitality industry, "there's definitely movement happening; a lot of venues have been trialling alternatives to plastics, even major venues and nightclubs". And customers are recognising and taking part in the shift, too. "We have a high turnover of clientele and we've noticed a lot of people saying no to straws altogether," says Morgan. "When we were using plastic straws, we'd easily get through 2500 a week. Nowadays, with the bamboo alternative positioned behind the bar, usage has dropped to around 2500 a month." Out of sight, out of mind. Countries around the world are acknowledging the threat of non-degradable plastics to our ecosystem. Canada and the UK have banned the use of microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products, with New Zealand and Ireland expected to follow suit. In 2016, France enacted a ban on plastic cups, plates and cutlery, which will come into effect in 2020. South Australia banned the use of single-use plastic bags back in 2009 — with ACT following suit in 2010, NT in 2011, Tasmania in 2012 and Queensland this year — establishing itself as a frontrunner in Australia's war against waste. It's clear that a small change can have a huge impact. So next time you're out and about, consider partying without the plastic. International Straw Free Day is on Saturday February 3, 2018. For more information on ways you can encourage venues to ditch the plastic, visit The Last Straw.
Much has happened in the Melbourne International Film Festival's 70-year history. A vast array of movies have flickered across big screens and, via its online program during the past few years, through Australian homes as well. Famous names aplenty have graced the fest on-screen and in-person. Films have brought their glow to the planetarium, dedicated cinephiles have sat through 13-hour rare gems, and plenty of heated discussions about what's great — and isn't — have livened up cinema foyers. But only in 2022 has MIFF awarded a $140,000 to the winner of its very own film prize. That lucky flick: Afrofuturist musical Neptune Frost, which has just been named the Bright Horizons Award-recipient at the fest's closing night. Back in February, MIFF announced that it was launching its own competition — to commemorate the longest-running film fest in the southern hemisphere's huge milestone year, and join the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals, as well as Sydney, in giving out a prestigious gong. Eleven movies were chosen to compete as part of the full 2022 fest program, with the winner receiving the Best Film Award — and, thanks to that $140,000 sum, the southern hemisphere's richest feature film prize. Hailing from poet and musician Saul Williams and playwright Anisia Uzeyman, who co-direct, Neptune Frost is a bold and inventive Rwanda-set sci-fi musical that firmly stands out among the Bright Horizons contenders — which also included Australian films Petrol and The Stranger, the Paul Mescal (Normal People)-starring Aftersun, wild Filipino genre-bender Leonor Will Never Die, weighty American drama Mass and Mexican drug trade drama Robe of Gems. Its MIFF win comes after proving a critical hit at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and also after boasting Lin-Manuel Miranda's seal of approval, with the Hamilton creator and star one of the movie's executive producers. Picking the winner: actor and director Shareena Clanton (Fires, Wentworth), the jury president, plus filmmaker and artist Lynette Wallworth (Tender), cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (Animal Kingdom, True Detective) and director/screenwriter Mouly Surya (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts). Announcing their selection, Clanton said that "Neptune Frost was like nothing we have ever seen before. By disrupting the colonial gaze and connecting the rising influence of technology in all our lives, this film penetrates deeply into your heart and soul to say that you are not too far disconnected from me. It felt at once absolutely specific, and entirely global." The MIFF jury also highlighted one other film from the fest's 2022 lineup for another gong: the $70,000 Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award. Also new, it recognises an outstanding Australian creative from one of the festival's movies, and can span span a large number of roles, including the winning flick's director, technical or creative lead, or other craft positions. This year's recipient was indeed a filmmaker, Nyul Nyul/Yawuru director Jub Clerc (The Turning), who emerged victorious for coming-of-age road movie Sweet As — starring Tasma Walton (How to Please a Woman), Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin), Carlos Sanson Jr (Bump) and Shantae Barnes-Cowan (Firebite). And, similarly announced at MIFF's 2022 closing night: this year's MIFF Audience Award Winner, which went to Bruce Permezel and Rhian Skirving's Greenhouse by Joost. As the name makes plain, it follows zero-waste activist Joost Bakker and his Future Food System, which resulted in a farm-to-table restaurant in Melbourne's Federation Square. The 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival runs until Sunday, August 21 in-person, and until Sunday, August 28 via MIFF Play, the fest's online platform.
Twisted true tales getting the TV treatment: that's 2022 in a nutshell. The trend isn't confined to this year alone, it won't go away once December 31 hits, and it isn't new or a passing fad; however, the list of crime dramas based on IRL events has just kept growing in recent months. From Pam & Tommy to Inventing Anna, and The Dropout through to The Girl From Plainville and The Staircase, one case after another has been filling streaming queues — and that's just to name a few such shows. Still, even with such a hefty roster reaching screens of late, Black Bird grabs attention. It also boasts an immediately compelling premise: the quest to get a serial killer to confess to his crimes to ensure that he'll never be released from prison. Now available to stream in full via Apple TV+, the six-episode miniseries focuses on Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton, Rocketman), a former star high-school footballer turned drug dealer. A charmer — with women and in his illicit line of work alike — he's happy in his narcotics-financed life, even if facing hairy situations comes with the territory. But that all crumbles when he's arrested in a sting, and has zero chance of escaping jail time. Offered a plea bargain with the promise of a five-year sentence (four with parole) by prosecutor Edmund Beaumont (Robert Wisdom, Barry), he takes the deal on the advice of his former cop dad Big Jim (the late Ray Liotta, The Many Saints of Newark), but ends up getting ten anyway. Seven months afterwards, still fuming at Beaumont and worried about Big Jim's ailing health, Keene is given the opportunity to go free. The catch: as put to him by FBI agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi, The Killing of Two Lovers), he needs to transfer to a different maximum-security prison out of state, where the most vicious and violent are held, and where hellish conditions await. While there, he'll have to befriend suspected kidnapper and murderer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser, Cruella), an avid civil war reenactment attendee. Hall is accused of abducting, raping and killing up to 14 girls young teenage girls, possibly more, and Keene's job is to get him to reveal where he's buried his victims' bodies. The first instalment of Black Bird is unsurprisingly instantly gripping, charting Keene's downfall, the out-of-ordinary situation put to him and the police investigation into one Hall's suspected victims. When Jessica Roach (debutant Laney Stiebing) is found dead, Vermilion County sheriff's investigator Brian Miller (Greg Kinnear, Crisis) tracks the clues to the man considered a harmless weirdo by those who know him — and given that includes local law enforcement in Hall's own hometown, the cop's intuition is dismissed. The slow-spoken, sideburn-sporting person of interest, and grave-digger's son, also has a history of confessing to murders, then routinely recanting and proving unreliable. Accordingly, Hall is labelled an attention-seeking serial confessor, but Miller isn't convinced that's all there is to his story. Black Bird takes its tale from Keene's autobiographical novel In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption, making two things plain from the outset for those who don't know the tale. Clearly, he'll have to get to the point where there's a memoir to write — and he'll have to be alive to do so. But that doesn't make the series any less compelling, tense or chilling; in fact, the wild and riveting details just keep on coming in each episode. With Dennis Lehane, author of Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River and Shutter Island, as its behind-the-scenes driving force, Black Bird dives deep into its complicated scenario as Keene starts to truly realise that his own life and freedom aren't the most important things at stake. A prison drama, a catch-a-killer game of cat and mouse, a psychological thriller, a redemption journey: Black Bird ticks all of these boxes. As Keene strikes up a tentative friendship with the reluctant Hall, the series also features a sadistic guard (Joe Williamson, All Rise) extorting Keene for cash under threat of blowing his cover, plus a mafia old-timer (Tony Amendola, Father Stu) with his own veiled threats — and Miller and McCauley's continued investigations, especially after one of Hall's appeals is granted. It covers Hall's relationship with his handsome twin brother Gary (Jake McLaughlin, Quantico) as well, and Big Jim's guilt over failing to stop Jimmy ending up behind bars, which compounds his health woes. These all add emotion and detail, but if Lehane had solely focused Black Bird's grey-hued frames on its two central inmates, the series wouldn't have been any less powerful. At its core, this is an intense two-hander about two men laying bare their true natures in thorny, anxiety-dripping back and forths, and Keene learning the cost of getting his life back in the process. In a weighty acting showcase, the look on Egerton's face frequently says it all in; Keene will always have to live with what he discovers from Larry, with crimes like these impossible to forget. 2022 marks a decade since Egerton's first on-screen credit as a then-23 year old, and he's rarely been out of the cinematic spotlight since — but Black Bird is his most mature performance yet. The confidence that's so crucial to his work in the Kingsman movies dissipates the further that Keene is plunged into a nightmare. The adaptability that worked so well for Egerton as he hopped through Eddie the Eagle, Robin Hood and Rocketman also comes in handy. It's a multi-faceted turn, and it's fantastic. Black Bird is home to excellent performances all round, each one proving pivotal. Liotta makes a firm imprint as Big Jim, and is particularly heartbreaking to watch after the actor's sudden passing in May. Hauser's menacing efforts won't ever be forgotten, either — and ranks among the great on-screen serial killer portrayals. That too is a packed field, but from the sluggish, wheezy voice through to the distinctive casual-yet-taught body language, his time as Hall is that unnerving, that raw, and that eerily extraordinary. If you were to come across the actor in-character after watching the series, you'd want to run the other way. That, and feeling echoes of Mindhunter as well, couldn't be more of a compliment. Check out the trailer for Black Bird below: Black Bird streams via Apple TV+.
Famous for its 55-minute workouts and worldwide following, Barry's Bootcamp has become a fitness heavyweight since first setting up shop in West Hollywood back in 1998 — and now it's bringing its studios to Australia. From September 2018, Sydneysiders will be able to put themselves through Barry's high-intensity interval training sessions in Surry Hills, Martin Place and another yet-to-be-revealed CBD location. Then, in early 2019, the brand will set up its first Melbourne location. If you're a gym junkie, celebrity obsessive or just familiar with the term "Barry's body", then you'll have heard of Barry's. Already active in 18 cities around the globe — including Los Angeles, New York, Milan, London and Dubai — it's claimed that the studio's sessions burn over 4000 kilojoules. That's thanks to a regimented program that incorporates 25 minutes of treadmill work, 25 minutes of strength and conditioning with free weights and resistance bands, and then a five-minute cool-down. The focus of each class changes daily across Barry's weekly schedule, with each session targeting a different muscle group. As extra motivation, Barry's classes are held in high-energy red rooms, complete with mood lighting and the kind of music you're more likely to hear in a nightclub. Adding to the vibe, each location features its own bar serving up locally designed shakes and smoothies — and patrons will also be able to buy workout outfits onsite. "From the time the client arrives in studio to when they're ready to leave, we've accounted for every step of their visit to ensure a seamless and enjoyable experience," says Australian head of operations Heston Russell, who's overseeing the brand's local launch alongside fellow fitness guru Blake Bridges. That might be their aim, but we're guessing everyone else's involves working out and finding a new spot for luxe gym Instagram posts. Find Barry's Bootcamp at Sydney's Surry Hills, Martin Place and another yet-to-be-revealed CBD location from September 2018, and in Melbourne from early 2019. Visit the Barry's Bootcamp website for further information.
Passing Clouds is a pioneering name in Victorian wine, with co-founders Graeme Leith and Sue Mackinnon launching the family-owned operation back in 1974. Named after a wistful hope for rain, the Bendigo vineyard's specialties are shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. Now in the skilled hands of son Cameron and his partner Marion, the winery's focus has shifted to Musk, on the outskirts of Daylesford, with a particular passion for pinot noir and chardonnay. For those keen to taste this collection of drops, the Hotel Trentham invites diners and drinkers to a special one-night-only event. Presented from 5.30–7.30pm on Thursday, July 3, Passing Clouds winemaker Tim Castle will be in the house showcasing the winery's acclaimed selection of vino, while talking guests through its journey from grape to glass. Meanwhile, a special food pairing will match Passing Clouds' celebrated wines with several delicious dishes. With every drop available by the glass, plus special prices for bottles and cases, now is the ideal opportunity to sample one of Victoria's trailblazing wineries. Images: Nikol Ramsay / Ash & Elm Studios.
It's not every day that you get to sample drops worth 95-plus points in the eyes of premier Australian wine critic James Halliday. But if you venture to Seville Estate in the upper Yarra Valley, that's exactly what you'll be doing. Hidden away in the Dandenong foothills, this dreamy spot — which Mr Halliday has consistently awarded five stars — is great for an afternoon of wine and food. You'll be gazing at idyllic vineyards, backdropped by Mt Donna Buang's mighty summit while swirling and sipping your way through the entire collection, made exclusively from the Estate's 26 acres of grapes. Two of the 2017 drops scored a whopping 99 points in the James Halliday Wine Companion 2019, taking home best shiraz and best pinot noir. But they're far from the only varietals you'll be tasting — gear up for killer riesling, cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, too. The Seville folks are also celebrating a recent revamp. Re-landscaping has given the gardens a new edge and there's now a stunning restaurant with an unbeatable view, open for lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday, and lunch on Sunday. If you're keen to hang around all weekend, stay over. Choose between the original four-bedroom homestead, built in 1975 by Seville's original owners Dr Peter McMahon and his wife, Margaret, and three self-contained apartments.
After years selling their delicious delights at Night Noodle Markets all over the country, the geniuses behind Hoy Pinoy's much-loved Filipino BBQ have set up a permanent restaurant and bar. It's called Frankie Says and you'll find it tucked behind an apartment building complex in an obscure part of Richmond. The hidden-away location has some cracking advantages. First up, it's right on the Yarra River, so you get serene water views and bush vibes with your feast. Secondly, it's just over the road from IKEA. And it's way less crowded and frenetic than most other spots in the city — at least for now. Founders Megan Phillis and James Meehan designed the eatery to make diners feel like they're walking into a private kitchen. "Opening Frankie Says is like inviting people into our home," Megan says. "This is how we love to eat, with flavour, sharing and laughter turned up high." "We want Frankie Says to be somewhere people can feel totally relaxed as they enjoy a Champagne brunch, catch up with friends over an afternoon antipasto, or simply take a moment to themselves in the leafy surrounds with a cup of coffee." The cheery, light-filled, high-ceilinged venue features solid timber pillars and glass walls, which open onto a vast, sunny, outdoor area overlooking the river. Inside, the feel is chic but informal, with hardwood floors, rendered concrete walls, mosaic tiles and pendant lighting. Meanwhile, the menu is designed to encourage repeat visits. Its ever-changing selection of yumminess include antipasto boards, house-made stone-oven pizzas and tasty breakfasts, like a deep dish pancake and truffle eggs with artichoke paste. They also have their own table wines: a 2013 sauvignon blanc and a 2012 cab sav, both from South Australia.
Across four nights this month, the newly revamped Collingwood Yards precinct will become the canvas for immersive multi-arts festival called A Strange Space. A collaboration between Midsumma Festival and the Centre for Projection Art, it'll present a dazzling showcase of projections, music, dance and performance — all courtesy of a sparkling lineup of LGBTQIA+ artists and allies. Each night from Thursday, April 22–Sunday, April 25, the northside precinct will come alive with a diverse curation of projects celebrating artistic connections and human interactions. After the sun dips, you'll be treated to a broad-ranging program of works from the likes of Megan Beckwith, Leisa Prowd, Drew Pettifer, Wendy Yu, Jonathan Homsey, Wesley Dowling, Jenna Eriksen and more. Each artist will dive into the theme of 'a strange space' and the feels it encapsulates. Sets by graduates of the Yarra Youth Services x Vinyl Vixens DJ program will soundtrack your after-dark art wanderings, while the bar slings beers and seltzers from Moon Dog. And if you're hungry, you'll find tasty fare from both the Hope Street Radio Restaurant and a lineup of food trucks. [caption id="attachment_801198" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Stefan Postles[/caption]
Before 2020 sent Melburnians into lockdown not once but twice, you probably didn't pay much attention to the city's soundscape. You heard it, of course — the wind rustling through the streets, the chiming from Melbourne Central's giant clock and all those tram announcements, for instance — but, because it was always just there, we're guessing you weren't spending your time thinking about it. At this point in this chaotic year, however, you've probably found yourself missing all the things that you previously took for granted. And that includes the beep when you touch on your Myki, the squawks of birds by the river, the constant train station messages and those buzzing crossing signal noises. While Melbourne residents aren't currently permitted to venture any further than five kilometres from home, and can only leave the house for a select number of reasons, a new video compilation has brought together all the above sounds for you to experience at home. Available on Instagram thanks to @whereiskapa, it provides a window into everyday Melbourne life — as it was pre-March, at least — via the sights and noises that you used to see and hear everyday. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGGvkf2BXSS/ The video is brief, but it'll instantly make you feel nostalgic. If that same sensation saw you buy tram-seat inspired socks earlier in the year, then you have the perfect thing to wear while you're watching. For those keen to check out a short flick about everyday life through the latest bout of restrictions, you can also watch nine-minute-long documentary Iso-Cray: A Story of Melbourne Locked Down. Top image: Global Panorama via Flickr.
Months of lockdown might have spelled the end of productivity for many — but that sure doesn't seem to be the case for Melbourne chef-restaurateur Joe Vargetto (Mister Bianco, Massi) and good mate Maurice Terzini, aka the Sydney-based heavyweight behind Icebergs Dining Room and Bar and CicciaBella. The pair have kept busy working on their new joint venture, Cucina Povera Vino Vero, which is gearing up to launch in Melbourne's CBD in mid-November. The project will see the site of Vargetto's existing venue Massi stripped back and reimagined as a cosy Italo-Aus diner that's a little bit punk and, as the name suggests, built on a simple 'less is more' approach to cooking. The vibe is inspired by the garages of suburban Melbourne and Sydney, with Terzini defining the style brief as: "Rick Owens makes passata". "We want this juxtaposition of these beautiful old traditions that we respect and this really old Italian peasant food, but brought into a really high contemporary punk setting," The restaurateur explained to Concrete Playground. "We always say, traditions are beautiful but it's time we create our own." [caption id="attachment_720794" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Massi[/caption] With front-of-house led by Terzini's son Sylvester and Vargetto heading up the kitchen, Cucina Povera is set to champion simplicity from its food right through to its styling. A minimalist makeover by multi-disciplinary firm Latitude will see the 52-seat space transformed, with various tones of grey and heavy timber swapped out for a cleaner, more contemporary vision. The equally simple menu is set to showcase a modern interpretation of Italian peasant food, while a short, sharp drinks offering will feature around eight wines sourced hyper-locally and served by the carafe. "Stuff that might not make the bottle, but makes the winemaker's table," explains Terzini. Meanwhile, Romeo Lane's Joe Jones is working on developing a short crop of fun, reimagined classic cocktails, all designed to be quaffed alongside good food. And guiding the sonic side of things is long-time Terzini friend and collaborator Mike Simonetti, of techno label Pale Blue, tasked with creating a soundtrack that sums up the restaurant's vibe. "We just want it to be really, really authentic in its approach to dining and to eating," says Terzini. "You don't have to be at the Icebergs all the time to have a great meal ... this one is no budgets, no forecasts — it's just a real gut feeling of this is just going to be really good, you know?" Cucina Povera Vino Vero will open at 445 Little Collins St, Melbourne, from mid-November.
With the arrival of autumn, you might have been planning on spending less time outdoors. The produce of regional Victoria, however, has the exact opposite idea. This is its time to sprout, thrive, ripen and drop. This is its time in the sun — the gentle autumn sun, to be precise. So if you're a person who enjoys eating fresh food, you're missing out if you don't pull on your Blundstones and get out there. One of the best spots for produce in the autumn months is the Murray River region. Not only do the colours of autumn look twice as good reflected in the water, the area is home to a trail of farm gates where you can shop for produce that's seen zero food miles, roadside honesty boxes offering fresh fruit, and restaurants that turn their neighbours' harvests into high-quality dishes. A stream of events — like the Sun Country Food and Wine Festival and the Flavours of Echuca Moama — celebrate the bounty at this time of year, while workshops in pickling and preserving help get you prepped for the colder, leaner months ahead. To experience it for yourself, head two-to-three hours' north of Melbourne to the Sun Country on the Murray or Backroads trails, or make a beeline for the farm gates we've picked out below. And for more autumn highlights, check out the Wander Victoria website. PICK AND PRESERVE FRUIT AT THE STRAWBERRY PICK 359 Lady Augusta Road, Echuca Village Live your most bucolic life by heading to The Strawberry Pick, a farm where you can pick your own strawbs (and sometimes flowers too). If you've only ever had strawberries from the supermarket, this is a must — commercial fruit is picked early in its cycle so it transports well, but actually it develops more depth of flavour when left on the vine for longer. Most of The Strawberry Pick's crop are the sweet Albion variety, and although they produce fruit for almost three-quarters of the year, grower Wayne Mattschoss says they're particularly good in autumn. "The size of our strawberries will increase in autumn as well as the complexity of flavour because of the cooler nights, which extend the time required for the ripening process," he says. In particular, there is a "flush" in early to mid-autumn where the fruit is at its most abundant and easy to find in the field. If you don't want to spend hours foraging, that's your sweet spot. An added attraction: this season, the farm is for the first time teaming up with Tim Harley of Quincey Jones Jelly to run weekly strawberry jam-making workshops on site. STOCK UP AT MANTO PRODUCE 293 Campbells Road, Cobram Manto Produce is your number-one Murray destination for fresh fruit. The 200-acre farm has been run by the Mantovani family for more than 25 years, and when they started, it was entirely without machinery. They grow stone and pome fruit here, which in the autumn means lush new-season Pink Lady and Granny Smith apples, as well as sweet, blushing apricots. You can pick them up in the farm gate shop, which also sells produce from the neighbours, so you can count on the likes of fresh leeks, parsnips, broccoli, mandarins, lemons, oranges, persimmons, pomegranates, chestnuts and walnuts at this time of year. For more on the fruit and veg front, stop at Eden Farm in Numurkah as well. EAT AND LEARN TO GROW GARLIC AT KATAMATITE GARLIC 1307 Chapel Road, Katamatite Garlic might not be the first vegetable to come to mind when you think of tantalising fresh produce. But odds are its one of your favourite flavour enhancers, and it will be extra good if you get it at Katamatite Garlic, where the summer garlic crop is usually available until around May. Autumn is the time to stock up on the fresh stuff before it sells out, while also exploring other forms of the bulb. "We grow 30 varieties of garlic with ones that can store up to 10-12 months," says Lisa Eddy of Katamatite Garlic. "We also make lots of other garlic products such as garlic jellies — they're great on meat or cheese or as something different on a cheese platter — a range of pickled garlic, garlic salts, dried garlic flakes and three different flavoured garlic pastes." The farm also runs workshops — check out autumn's lessons in garlic planting and how to prepare your garden for winter — and will hold an open day on Sunday, May 6, 2018, which is International Permaculture Day. GET LOST IN CACTUS COUNTRY 4986 Murray Valley Highway, Strathmerton Based on the varied cacti collection that farm founder Jim Halls bought from his father in 1979, Cactus Country is home to eight acres of the desert plants in every conceivable colour and shape. And while cacti are in season year-round, there's a distinct advantage to coming to this spot in autumn: that more mild weather means you'll have more stamina to survive hours in the exotic gardens, which are frequently used for film and photo shoots and are a guaranteed heavy-lifter in your Instagram feed. Re-energise with the farm's trademark cactus cake (made with opuntia leaves), cactus jam (in Peruvian apple, orange or purple cactus pear varieties) or a tequila cocktail splashed with cactus syrup. Easter weekend is one of the busiest times here, as the gardens host an Easter egg hunt for kids. Enjoy or avoid accordingly. DINE AT CAFE3641 54 Main Street, Strathmerton You've eaten well on the Farm Gate Trail. But several separate tastings don't add up to a proper sit-down meal, and for that there's no better spot than Cafe3641 in Strathmerton. Newly harvested produce from the local farms is funnelled into the kitchen here and turned into seasonal dishes. What's on the menu in autumn? It's impossible to say until the day, but the lemon meringue cheesecake and the high tea that happens on the last Sunday of each month are two guaranteed winners. PAUSE FOR CIDER AT BYRAMINE HOMESTEAD BREWERY AND CIDER HOUSE 1436 Murray Valley Highway, Burramine Autumn is the season for apples. Apples go in cider. Your visit to the cider-producing Byramine Homestead & Brewery is written in the stars. One of Victoria's oldest homesteads, Byramine was originally built by explorer Hamilton Hume for his sister-in-law Elizabeth and her nine children after her husband was murdered by bushrangers. These days, it's a working vegetable farm, brewery and cider house. Try the sparkling Remi's Remedy apple cider, or for something a little left of centre, Quinn's Poison, which holds a twist of lemon and lime. MAKE A SIP STOP AT PFEIFFER WINES Distillery Road, Wahgunyah The Murray region is one of Australia's biggest wine-growing regions, so take advantage of it. Pfeiffer Wines is a great stop as not only do they grow some premium wines that you can taste at their cellar door, they host an autumn farmers' market on Saturday, April 7, that is a favourite of the local producers. Consider getting a chardonnay from here — the Murray region is renowned for them and a more full-bodied white will pair well with autumnal dishes. Lighter reds like pinot noir or merlot are also perfect for the season. For more ideas on how to spend your autumn getaway to the Murray region, check out the Wander Victoria website.
Making its home on Collingwood's bustling Smith Street, co-working space Worksmith is focused on what the area does best — food and bev. In fact, it's specifically designed for those working in the industry and is set up to empower talented Australians, allowing a creative space for their professional development in the hospitality scene. Co-founded by hospo heavy hitter Michael Bascetta (Bar Liberty, Attica, Capitano) and his childhood friend Roscoe Power (a property development and construction specialist), the duo wanted to create a space that "encourages collaboration without limitation." "We've seen [Growth Assembly] bring together amazing talent, nurture friendships and provide a platform to inspire, learn and support one another within the industry," says Bascetta. "Worksmith takes it one step further by putting those amazing values into practice, every day." Launched in February this year, Worksmith supports its members by creating a community of collaborative spaces, industry events and member projects. In addition to 65 desks, as well as meeting rooms and a podcasting studio, Worksmith boasts an eleven-metre bar pumping out craft beers by partner Moon Dog and an event space that caters for up to 100 people. It'll soon open a fully-equipped commercial kitchen with a La Marzocco espresso machine. Membership ranges from a 24-hour day pass ($40) to a 'resident' ($690 per month) — the latter of which includes a permanent desk, 24/7 access, unlimited internet, coffee by local partner Square One, Unico Zelo wine, brews from a beer vending machine, a locker, bike storage and invites to all social events. Bascetta is also backed by other big wig founding members, including three-time Sommelier of the Year Banjo Harris Plane (The Wine Gallery, Attica, Bar Liberty) and Dave Kerr (The Beaufort), along with international pickup Luke Whearty (Operation Dagger, Singapore). And, in terms of members, the space has already attracted the likes of drink companies Four Pillars, Marionette and Archie Rose, plus start-ups such as posBoss, Dish app, Feastively, HoppApp, The Humble Dumpling and Eighteen Thousand Islands. The team is also looking to expand — both within Melbourne, thanks to its popularity over the past six months, as well as interstate. Find Worksmith at 450 Smith Street, Collingwood. To learn more, visit its website.
It seems Melbourne's love affair with pretty pastries and supremely attractive café spaces still has plenty left in it. South Melbourne café and patisserie, The Crux & Co., is a shiny new neighbour for the ever-stylish Kettle Black, gracing the lower level of The Emerald apartment building across the road. It's the brainchild of Kevin Li (Lights in the Attic, 3Lives), who's teamed up with ex-Brunetti pastry maestro, Louise MK Lee, and kitchen gun Oggie Choi (also of Lights in the Attic) to create Melbourne's newest destination of culinary decadence. The chic space comes courtesy of EAT architects, its '60s-style curves, pastel hues and riot of textures reflected in the array of downright gorgeous cakes, pastries and macarons on display. No sweet tooth? No worries. The savoury offering here is equally as impressive and every bit as pretty; the modern Korean-accented menu runs from artful brunches to pure lunch break gold. Choi might be pushing a few breakfast boundaries — think squid ink garlic toast — though, generally, this is a menu for anyone who gets excited about good food. MK Lee's house-made croissants come filled with smoked salmon and ricotta, while a scotch quail egg, an arancini ball and a falafel team up for one of the most multicultural dishes going around. Some clever hands behind the coffee machine — Yutaro Mitsuyoshi (Addict Food and Coffee) and Ratchanon Theppabutra (Manchester Press) — will be working with Five Senses, offering a "wine by the glass" coffee concept (whatever that means) to round out the Crux & Co. experience. This one promises to be nothing short of an all-round sensual feast, so get you sweet tooth — and your iPhone, of course — at the ready.
Collingwood's Smith Street has seen plenty of changes and welcomed scores of new additions since Attica alum Peter Gunn opened his sleek restaurant IDES on the strip in 2016. But for the chef, none have been quite so exciting as the arrival of March — Gunn's intimate new wining and dining venture, which opened in the neighbouring space last week. Embracing various elements of a wine bar, a pub and an izakaya, March isn't about to be locked into just one box — just know that it's treading a whole new direction to its next-door sibling. It's your go-to for clever small bites with contemporary flair, matched to a broad-ranging curation of sake, wine and cocktails. The 26-seat space is a moody one, created by IDES' architect Grant Cheyne Design and rocking deep charcoal tones throughout. A low, marble-topped statement counter runs down its length, 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 now and you can dip into plates like edamame coated in some kind of umami magic, green chilli pickled mussels with crispy garlic, sake-steamed pippies finished in a yuzu parsley butter and braised pork belly with a spicy nori glaze. Plus, a crispy sweet and sour quail that'll have you making fast use of the supplied hot towel. The drinks offering comes courtesy of IDES sommelier Hayley McCarthy, with Victorian and South Australian drops ruling the by-the-glass lineup, and next door's cellar offering and wine list offering a huge range of gems. Expect interesting pours that'll shake a few preconceptions, alongside signature cocktails and a solid crop of sake. Find March at 90 Smith Street, Collingwood. It's open 6pm–late Wednesday to Saturday, and 2pm–late Sunday.
Shusai Mijo is a little oasis of luxury on the much-loved Johnston Street strip‚ best known for its underground arts scene, small bars, cheap eats and smattering of local designer shops. Here, it almost seems strange to find a high-end omakase restaurant where you fork out $250 for an extravagant degustation. But it is a sign of the area's gentrification with plenty of locals now on the hunt for fine-dining haunts. And those folks are in for a real treat. Chef Jun Oya (ex-Warabi) is running the show with Sous Chef Takuro Abe (ex-Warabi) for a different kind of omakase experience than you might be used to. At Shusai Mijo, Oya is championing a Kappo-style omakase which includes more cooked dishes than you'll find at other Melbourne omakase spots. The menu changes seasonally, mostly depending on what fish is available both from Australia and Japan, but it does tend to follow a particular pattern of courses. A somewhat complex appetiser starts off the proceedings — we had the mixed seafood dish made with pufferfish, scallops, snow crab and tiny firefly squid. There's a lot going on here, but the delicate combination of flavours is handled with a master's touch. This is reflected throughout Oya's menu, where you won't be hit in the face with big flavours, but instead invited to explore a more understated and subtle cooking style where the top-grade seafood is the champion of each dish. Everything else is but a stellar support act. The second course is a seamed dish, followed by some sashimi, then a deep-fried dish, two separate rounds of sushi, a grilled plate and finally a dessert. Some of these courses include one large plate of food, while others include a selection of smaller one-bite options. Each is sublime — especially the melt-in-your-mouth wagyu nigiri that's cooked with hot coals right in front of you. When it comes to drinks, Matthew Ng (also ex-Warabi) has curated a tight but truly impressive list of wines and sakes from all over, many of which won't be found anywhere else in Melbourne. Whether you're drinking wine, sake, cocktails or beers, he'll pair them up with whatever creation is being plated up next. The trio of Warabi alums struck out on their own and have created a damn good fine-diner in Fitzroy. If you're in the area and can afford such a luxurious experience, do check to see if they can fit you at the eight-seater omakase bar. You'll find Shusai Mijo at 256 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, open 6–10pm from Tuesday to Saturday. For more information, head to the restaurant's website.
Dust off your sombreros, amigos. The latest international excuse for a good time to reach our shores is Cinco de Mayo — a celebration of all things Mexican (which, if we’re being nit-picky, is really more of an Americanisation than anything but shh, let us party). In celebration, the folks at Corona and Beach Burrito Company Fortitude Valley are putting together a fiesta, complete with face painting by local street artists and the first ever Taco Time Trials Eating Contest. For the less competitively inclined but equally taco-happy, Cinco de Mayo falls conveniently on a Tuesday, and Beach Burrito Co’s regular $3 taco deal applies, so your pesos’ll stretch further. With what you’ve got left, you can sip salt-rimmed margaritas, down trays of tequila shots (not recommended) or share a bucket of ice-cold Coronas. And, of course, come prepared to smash and whack your way to glory, because they wouldn’t be doing Mexico right without pinatas.
Maybe it's a budget thing. Perhaps you can't get time off work. Your diary just mightn't be able to spare a whole three days in Byron Bay, plus travelling there and back. Can't make it to Splendour in the Grass in 2023? There are plenty of reasons why that might be the case, but the festival's official sideshows are here to help cure your FOMO. This year, everyone from Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Lewis Capaldi to Little Simz and Tove Lo are hitting stages around Australia outside of their Splendour sets — and Loyle Carner, Rainbow Kitten Surprise and Noah Cyrus as well. Keen to see your favourite act do their own show? They might be on this list, albeit with the usual Sydney- and Melbourne-heavy focus. As is almost always the case with sideshows to Byron-based fests, Brisbane doesn't get a look in. If you're located in the Sunshine State and you're keen, Splendour or a trip to the New South Wales and Victorian capitals is in your future. Sam Fender's only sideshow is in Perth, however, and Lewis Capaldi's already on-sale sideshows only have tickets remaining for his Perth stopover. For folks in Adelaide, Loyle Carner is coming to South Australia, and Capaldi as well, but his solo gig is already sold out. That said, Secret Sounds, the crew behind Splendour, is also bringing its winter festival Spin Off back to the City of Churches, complete with SiTG acts Hilltop Hoods, Pnau, Tove Lo, BENEE, iann dior and Noah Cyrus. Yeah Yeah Yeah's sideshows come after the band was meant to make the trip to Australia for 2022's Splendour, complete with their own concerts, but had to drop out. Lizzo's Australian arena tour isn't on this list given that it was announced before Splendour, but that's another way to see the fest's talent without a trip to Byron. SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2023 OFFICIAL SIDESHOWS: YEAH YEAH YEAHS With Automatic Thursday, July 20 — MCA, Melbourne Monday, July 24 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney SAM FENDER Thursday, July 20 — HBF Stadium, Perth LITTLE SIMZ Wednesday, July 19 — MCA, Melbourne Friday, July 21 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney TOVE LO With Blusher Wednesday, July 19 — Forum, Melbourne Tuesday, July 25 — Roundhouse, Sydney LOYLE CARNER Saturday, July 22 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Tuesday, July 25 — Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide Thursday, July 27 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne IANN DIOR Wednesday, July 19 — 170 Russell, Melbourne Saturday, July 22 — Metro Theatre, Sydney RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE Thursday, July 20 — Metro Theatre, Sydney Friday, July 21 — 170 Russell, Melbourne NOAH CYRUS With PJ Harding Sunday, July 9 — Metro Theatre, Sydney Sunday, July 16 — 170 Russell, Melbourne SUDAN ARCHIVES Saturday, July 22 — Liberty Hall, Sydney Tuesday, July 25 — 170 Russell, Melbourne DEL WATER GAO Friday, July 21 — Howler, Melbourne Saturday, July 22 — Oxford Arts Factory, Sydney LEWIS CAPALDI (on sale now) With Noah Cyrus Friday, July 7–Saturday, July 8 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney — SOLD OUT Tuesday, July 11 — RAC Arena, Perth Thursday, July 13 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide — SOLD OUT Friday, July 14–Saturday, July 15 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne — SOLD OUT Splendour in the Grass will take over North Byron Bay Parklands from Friday, July 21–Sunday, July 23, 2023. The festival's sideshows are popping up across Australia in July, with tickets on sale from 9am, Tuesday, May 9 — and presales from Monday, May 8.
