Some might say that things were bigger, better and bolder in the 90s. Come Queen's Birthday long weekend, you can find out whether that's true. That's when Richmond's National Hotel hosts a super-charged version of its popular Sunday brunch, dedicated to all things 90s. Venture back in time to an era of Tamagotchis, low-rise jeans and mix tapes for the ultimate throwback brunch feast on Sunday, June 9. Kicking off at noon, there'll be DJs spinning classic 90s jams in the beer garden, as well as free multiplayer Mario Kart to help work up that appetite. Eats and drinks will stick to the retro theme, too. For $70 per person, you'll get your choice of brunch dish from a special 90s-inspired menu, backed by bottomless 90s-themed cocktails right through until 4pm. And, to help you get into the spirit, costumes are most definitely encouraged. Channel the decade that just keeps giving and you could score the revered Best Dressed title. Bookings are highly recommended if you want to nab a table. Give The National a call on (03) 9429 8811 or RSVP via the Facebook event.
It's famed for dishing up generous vegetarian feeds at pay-as-you-feel prices, with four volunteer-run eateries across Melbourne and Sydney. And now, Lentil As Anything has launched a grocery built around the same philosophies. Opening at the back of Lentil's Thornbury restaurant, The Inconvenience Store is the state's first-ever pay-as-you-feel supermarket. The shelves here will be stocked with goods rescued as part of the group's Food Without Borders initiative, which collects quality food from shops and markets which is otherwise destined for landfill. With a Foodprint Project report estimating that Melburnians alone turf more than 900,000 tonnes of edible food each year, this promises to be a great way for locals to do their bit in the war against food waste. The supermarket has no set prices, with customers instead asked to contribute simply what they can afford. Those keen to lend a hand can donate, or even volunteer to work at the store. Lentil As Anything says contributions will go towards keeping its food rescue operations running, covering things like electricity bills, transport costs and storage. Last year, Australian food rescue charity OzHarvest opened a supermarket in Sydney based around a similar concept, it stocks food rescued from supermarkets and restaurants and customers can pay what they like. While everyone is welcome, it's aim is to help people in need. Lentil As Anything's Inconvenience Store is now open 11am–3pm Friday to Monday at 562–564 High Street, Thornbury. Updated: July 25, 2018.
It's not like you need any great excuse to indulge in some cocktail appreciation for World Gin Day. But Richmond distillery Brogan's Way has one, anyway — it's marking the occasion with a globe-trotting tasting event celebrating an international lineup of sips and snacks. On Saturday, June 11, head along to dive into a special menu of gin cocktails, each matched carefully to a sweet or savoury bite. You'll find pairings like the UK-inspired Gin Summer Cup with a jam and cream scone; a riff on USA's Pan Am Clipper sided with a mini Philly cheesesteak slider; and a gin-based sangria with a fittingly Spanish snack of baked chorizo and olive. Flying the flag for Australia is the genius pairing of Brogan's Way's signature Cold Brew Gin Martini and a classic Tim Tam. There'll be six cocktail-snack matches available on the day (1–11pm), starting from $18 per pairing. The distillery's usual food and drink menus will also be on offer. [caption id="attachment_856734" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Will Linstead[/caption] Images: Will Linstead
With 2012's Wadjda, Haifaa al-Mansour became the first female filmmaker from Saudi Arabia to make a full-length movie. Fittingly, she achieved the feat via a powerful tale about a girl breaking boundaries — by fighting to ride a bicycle in the street, an activity that's by no means routine in the Middle Eastern country. A hopeful yet truthful film that depicts the present-day reality for Saudi women, while also remaining committed to dreaming of a different future, al-Mansour's directorial debut marked the first-ever feature shot entirely in her homeland, too. Accordingly, she smashed barriers in multiple ways, including both on- and off-screen. Nine years later, she demonstrates the same spirit again with The Perfect Candidate. After exploring another female trailblazer in 2017 biopic Mary Shelley, then pondering the beauty standards imposed upon women in 2018 rom-com Nappily Ever After, al-Mansour delivers the ideal companion piece to her applauded first picture — this time focusing on a young Saudi doctor who tackles her town's misogynistic and patronising attitudes by running for local council. No matter the day or situation, the ambitious Maryam (debutant Mila al-Zahrani) is repeatedly reminded that women aren't considered equal in her community. In one of The Perfect Candidate's early scenes, an elderly male patient writhes in agony, but is more upset about the fact that she'll be treating him — until Maryam's condescending boss proclaims that male nurses can easily step in and do the job for her. When her recently widowed musician father Abdulaziz (Khalid Abdulraheem) goes away on tour, she attempts to fly to Dubai for a medical conference and subsequent job interview that would see her move to Riyadh. Alas, she's stopped from departing because her dad hasn't updated her travel permit, and she can't leave unless he rectifies the paperwork. A male cousin (Ahmad Alsulaimy) in a role of authority within the government might be able to assist, but even the bonds of blood aren't enough to get her through the door to his office. He's interviewing and approving candidates for the municipal election, so Maryam puts her name forward just to progress past his secretary. That still doesn't help her make her flight, but it does send her in a different direction. While already struggling to convince her employers to pave the road to the town's emergency medical clinic, she decides to run to fix that specific problem — and the more backlash she receives for putting herself in contention, the more determined she is to campaign for change. The Perfect Candidate is filled with moments that convey Saudi Arabia's strong and strict gender divide. The film might start with Maryam driving — a right that was only granted to Saudi women in 2018 — but engrained patriarchal attitudes nonetheless shape every aspect of the character's life. "Keep her away from me! Don't look into my eyes!" the aforementioned patient screams, and horrifyingly so. The reactions from airport staff and bureaucrats when she tries to travel without her legal guardian's approval aren't as blunt, but they still infuriatingly endeavour to put Maryam in her societally deemed place. When she releases a video announcing her candidacy, even her younger sister Sara (Nora al-Awad) is mortified, not to mention embarrassed by the scathing comments sent Maryam's way by women and men alike. During a TV interview with a male journalist, she's asked if she cares about female issues, such as gardening. Naturally, she isn't impressed. And at an event to sway male voters — one where tradition dictates that she can't address them directly, forcing her to rely on new friend Omar (Tareq Ahmed al-Khaldi) to play host — she's instantly dismissed because she's a woman and mocked because her late mother was a wedding singer. When Maryam is glaring daggers at dismissive colleagues from beneath her niqāb, swapping fierce words with her public detractors or doing her best to care for patients that abhor her presence simply because she's a woman, first-timer al-Zahrani is a furious force to be reckoned with. But again and again, she also relays the weariness that lingers beneath every concerted effort to overcome the boundaries applied to Maryam due to her gender. Indeed, two of the film's very best scenes — and two of al-Zahrani's firm highlights — swing from one extreme to the other. The ferociousness that echoes from the screen during Maryam's television appearance sits in stark contrast to the baked-in exhaustion and exasperation that's evident when she's sitting alone in her family's courtyard on election night. Al-Mansour guides nuanced and multi-layered performances out of the bulk of her cast of newcomers, and constantly has Patrick Orth's (Toni Erdmann) naturalistic cinematography peer at them closely, but she has unearthed a powerhouse portrayal from her magnetic lead performer It would've been easy for al-Mansour and al-Zahrani to lean exclusively on anger, dismay and indignation — Maryam's, as well as the audience's — to fuel The Perfect Candidate, but that's not the only approach they take. The sights seen, attitudes expressed and scenes witnessed also help dive into the daily minutiae for Saudi women, including glimpses of the rare occasions when they're permitted a reprieve from male oversight. Both heated and warm exchanges between Maryam, Sara and their elder sister Selma (Dae al-Hilali) are intimately observed. So too are the wedding receptions and parties that the latter sibling stages in her job as an events planner. And the film provides broader context as well, by also spending time with Maryam's worrying father during his travels. He isn't simply concerned about his daughters' choices, but also about the need for him to even play the culturally demanded role as their guardian. Abdulaziz doesn't ever steal the movie's focus, but his subplot does make it plain that the oppressive status quo is also unwieldy for those who just want the best for their children. As penned by al-Mansour and producer/co-writer Brad Niemann, The Perfect Candidate's script may hit plenty of foreseeable narrative beats; however, this rousing, spirited and gripping feature equally unpacks life in Saudi Arabia today, avoids painting it as straightforward or clear-cut, and agitates passionately for change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GC--RZ3jOo
The premise of Between Two Ferns couldn't be more simple. Zach Galifianakis interviews other famous folks, all while sitting in the middle of two leafy plants. Staged to look like a no-budget community television show, it's purposefully silly and surreal, whether Galifianakis is nattering with Natalie Portman, Brad Pitt, Justin Bieber, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Starting off as a short film, then becoming one of Funny or Die's hit webseries over the past decade, the wholly improvised show satirises the Hollywood publicity machine by making fun of the polished promotional chats that are so common whenever a big star has a new movie or TV series to plug. In its latest incarnation, Between Two Ferns will jump on another trend, turning its anarchic antics into a Netflix film. If you're wondering just how the Between Two Ferns concept can sustain a whole movie, there's a story to go with it. Embarrassed by the viral mockery he received when Will Ferrell uploaded his original series, Galifianakis — well, the show's version of Galifianakis — tries to track down a heap of celebrities in attempt to restore his reputation. That involves hitting the road, sitting down with everyone from Paul Rudd to Keanu Reeves and Tessa Thompson, and even momentarily killing Matthew McConaughey. Calling Jon Hamm an idiot and getting propositioned by Chrissy Teigen are also on the agenda. The list of high-profile figures making an appearance goes on — and includes Brie Larson, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Letterman, Adam Scott, John Cho, Chance the Rapper and Rashida Jones. Based on the just-dropped trailer, all of the above folks are in for a rather ridiculous experience — as are Netflix viewers, too. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjljgkCQv5c&feature=youtu.be Between Two Ferns: The Movie hits Netflix on September 20. Image: Adam Rose.
Following the success of their Open House projects, The Design Files are christening a new gallery in Brunswick with work from local abstract artist, Barbara Kitallides. The recently opened TDF Collect is a small gallery that will work to foster emerging artists and provide a space for affordable local work to thrive. Colour us impressed. Kitallides work — which has previously appeared in The Design Files Open House — fits in neatly with the overall aesthetic of the popular blog, proving a smart choice for founder and curator Lucy Feagins. Bold colours pop loudly against the traditional white gallery walls and the space offers a clean simplicity with which to let your mind ooze into the abstract creations. Citing her key influences as inkblot tests, Andy Warhol and "the romantic undertones of Australian landscape artists", Kitallides work marks an interesting start to an exciting new venture. Definitely one to keep an eye on. Decoding the Jungle will be on display till April 3. The next exhibition, featuring the work of Sydney artist Laura Jones, will be held in early July.
There's rarely a still moment in BlackBerry. Someone is almost always moving, usually in a hurry and while trying to make their dreams come true everywhere and anywhere. Those folks: Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel, FUBAR) and Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson, Anne at 13,000 Ft), who created the game-changing smartphone that shares this movie's name; also Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), the executive they pitch to, get knocked back by, then hire as co-CEO. That near non-stop go-go-go look and feel — cinematography that's constantly roving and zooming to match, too — isn't just a stylistic, screenwriting or performance choice. It's a case of art imitating the impact that the BlackBerry handsets and their tiny QWERTY keyboards had on late-90s and early-00s life. Before the iPhone and its fellow touchscreen competitors took over, it was the key device for anyone with a work mobile. The big selling point? Letting people do their jobs — well, receive and send emails — on the move, and everywhere and anywhere. Should you blame Research in Motion, the Canadian technology company that Lazaridis and Fregin founded, for shattering work-life balance? Dubbed "crackberries", their phones played a significant part in extending the office's reach. Is anyone being inundated with after-hours emails on a BlackBerry today? Unless they have an old handset in their button-pressing hands, it isn't likely — and BlackBerry the film explains why. Spinning on-screen product origin stories is one of 2023's favourites trend, as Tetris, Air and Flamin' Hot have demonstrated; however, history already dictates that the latest addition to that group doesn't have a happy ending. Instead, this immersive and gripping picture tells of two friends with big plans who achieved everything they ever wanted, but at a cost that saw the BlackBerry become everything, then nothing. Like its fellow object-to-screen flicks, it follows a big leap that went soaring; this one just crashed spectacularly afterwards. "A pager, a cell phone and an e-mail machine all in one": that's how Mike and Doug explain the PocketLink, the idea that'll turn into the BlackBerry, when they're trying to drum up investors. It's a winning concept, including in 1996 when the film kicks off, but these two pals know computers, coding and tech better than getting their creation out into the world. Balsillie, after rejecting them in a job he's feeling undervalued in, approaches the pair with an offer to assist. Give him a title, authority and a stake in the company, and he'll put in his own cash, become their business saviour and get their phone out into the world. And he does. BlackBerry devices were everywhere in the 2000s. Then Steve Jobs launched the handset that's become ubiquitous since, RIM responded, and the aftermath is well-known in everyone's pockets. There's a cautionary-tale air to this quickly compelling third feature from Johnson, who doesn't just slip into Doug's shoes while rocking an ever-present red headband — he directs and writes, as he did with The Dirties and Operation Avalanche, co-scripting here with Matthew Miller (Nirvanna the Band the Show, another Johnson-starring and -helmed project). BlackBerry isn't content to merely chart an upswing and downfall, plus a trouncing by a corporate adversary, digging into the perils of at-any-cost perspectives in every frame. Always as glaringly evident as a BlackBerry's buttons: if RIM hadn't made short-sighted choices and shady deals, cut corners, and played everything fast and loose while splashing around cash, the film mightn't wrap up as it does irrespective of the iPhone's success. Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs inspired dramas (see: The Social Network, Jobs and Steve Jobs), but Lazaridis, Fregin and Balsillie have sparked a tragedy meets farce. Stepping through IRL events that concluded badly, famously so, doesn't stop Johnson from staying playful as a filmmaker. Indeed, BlackBerry is firmly a satire. Non-fiction book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by journalists Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff provides the movie's starting-off point, the overall rise-and-fall arc sticks to the facts, and the era-appropriate aesthetic and pop-culture references — including The Strokes, Moby and The White Stripes needle drops; The Breakfast Club quotes; and Point Break posters — are spot on, but this flick would also go well with The Office or Office Space. The core character dynamic demands a sense of humour, pairing a smart but socially awkward couple of mates with big hopes with a ruthless and shark-like salesman. Reality demands it, too, with the film taking a "what else can you do but laugh?" approach to capitalism in action at its worst. That restless, shaky, zipping-around cinematography by Jared Raab (also The Dirties, Operation Avalanche and Nirvanna the Band the Show, plus We're All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel)) captures plenty that's ridiculous and yet also never surprising. BlackBerry is an eager parody — it purposefully isn't 100-percent accurate in every single detail, and it's as offbeat in vibe as Johnson's past work — but the peppily paced picture remains affectionate about an undersung chapter of Canadian history. So, it chuckles, boggles and chronicles. It perfects the gist of RIM's journey to great heights and back to earth again so savvily that everything feels authentic (emotionally at least) and winking at once. BlackBerry makes cheeky jokes about the device's name, shows LANs and movie nights that couldn't be further away from the corporate normality, giggles when eye-watering figures are thrown at other company's employees and lets Howerton lean into the cut-throat exec type with visible relish — and always keeps clicking as a portrait of faking it till you make it, chasing a quick win over a long-term plan, tech-industry greed and hubris, and selling out over going with your gut. The cast, especially Howerton, buzz on the film's wavelength on the strongest setting possible. While he'll forever be Dennis Reynolds, as he has on the small screen across 16 seasons so far since 2005, he's also a powerhouse as the relentlessly calculating, hockey-loving, take-no-prisoners figure who knows that he's a predator — and he's equally and astutely hilarious. Sporting a shock of greying hair even while playing a thirtysomething, Baruchel is similarly excellent, and subtler. BlackBerry isn't chortling at Balsillie, or at Lazaridis and Fregin, though. Rather, it's amused by the fact that each does exactly what they were always bound to based on their personalities, taking RIM's tale down the only path they probably could with this trio thrust together at the helm. Blackberry phones were once a character-defining status symbol; this can't-look-away movie is three fascinating character studies inside a comedic corporate horror show.
For the tail end of winter, The Westin Melbourne's ever-popular, cheese-themed high tea series is set to become even more indulgent than usual. The aptly dubbed High Cheese will score a full truffle makeover, serving up an elevated, truffle-infused menu from August 1–31. This brie-lliant culinary situation is yours to enjoy daily (11am–8pm) in the hotel's Lobby Lounge. The limited-edition truffle lineup clocks in at $140 per person which will see you tuck into an elaborate spread by celebrated cheesemonger Anthony Femia (of Maker & Monger) and Westin Executive Chef Michael Greenlaw. Expect the likes of a baked le Duc Vacherin with shaved truffle on top and specialty sourdough for dipping; alpine cheese scones teamed with Gippsland jersey butter; and the L'Artisan Grand Fleuri brie layered with sautéed mushrooms and leeks in Oloroso sherry, and finished with even more black truffle. Dessert-style treats include stracciatella paired with a Four Pillars negroni marmalade, as well as the famed walnut praline madeleines filled with whipped comté, now teamed with extra truffle and fresh honeycomb. To match, there'll be free-flowing Jing teas, Vittoria coffee and hot chocolates. Plus, there's a curation of vino from South Australian winery Bird in Hand, if you'd like to accompany that truffle-laced cheesy feast with something a little stronger. Rather not leave the house? This year, High Cheese can also be enjoyed from the comfort of home, in the form of a high tea hamper delivered via Providoor.
If Parasite and Burning introduced you to the spectacular world of Korean cinema, we have great news: there's much, much more where they came from. As well as delivering two of the very best movies of 2019, Korea's film industry is filled with other gems. And, each year, the Korean Film Festival in Australia (KOFFIA) brings the latest and greatest to local screens. In 2020, KOFFIA in streaming its lineup to everyone's screens, actually. Adapting to the pandemic, the fest has curated a program of 18 features that'll be available to watch digitally nationwide from Thursday, October 29–Thursday, November 5. Plus, if you need some extra motivation to spend more time staring at your TV or phone, the event is entirely free. On the bill: crime caper By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture, sporting comedy My Punch-Drunk Boxer and sibling drama Family Affair, the latter of which stars Parasite's Jang Hye-jin. Or you can check out the multiple stories in Fukuoka, page-to-screen adaptation Kim Ji-young: born 1982 and assassination thriller The Man Standing Next. The list goes on — but you will need to note the exact date and time that each film is available, with every title only on offer to start viewing within 30 minutes of its scheduled timeslot. Also, courtesy of SBS On Demand's free Korean Film Festival Selects, seven more flicks from past KOFFIAs will be available to stream — at your leisure — from Sunday, November 1–Sunday, November 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT5w9y7OVy8
This is one suave-as-all-blazes tour announcement. After the recent announcement of their national tour set for November, Flight Facilities have revealed their perfect sidekicks for the road: Client Liaison. Currently touring the country on a cheeky headline tour of their own, the Melburnian duo are set to play their biggest shows to date with FF. They've recently released their perpetually listenable, essentially '80s-meets'90s debut LP Down to Earth through Dot Dash/Remote Control and now they're one of Australia's most must-see artists. Seriously. Flight Facilities have sold out their first Sydney and Melbourne shows, with extra dates announced all round. This is one show you're going to want to suit up for, lest you feel underdressed by the talent. FLIGHT FACILITIES + CLIENT LIAISON TOUR DATES: Thu 6 November — Adelaide HQ Sat 8 November — Perth CAPITOL Thu 13 November — Melbourne FORUM SOLD OUT Fri 14 November — Melbourne FORUM Sat 15 November — Brisbane TIVOLI Thu 20 November — Sydney ENMORE SOLD OUT Fri 21 November — Sydney ENMORE Tickets available here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=L_7DN_X4zsk
Master sommelier Madeline Triffon describes pinot noir as 'sex in a glass'. Winemaker Randy Ullom calls it 'the ultimate nirvana'. Broadway wannabe Titus Andromedon loved it so much he compares it to 'caviar, Myanmar, mid-size car' (see below). No wonder the good folk at Revel — who bring Malbec Day and Mould our way each year — are coming back to town with Pinot Palooza, an epic travelling wine festival celebrating all things peeeno noir. For just one day, Melbourne wine connoisseurs will have the chance to sample more than 200 drops, direct from Australia and New Zealand's best producers. Whether you're a newbie who wants to start with something light and inviting, or a pinot pro ready for the biggest, most complex mouthful on the menu, there'll be an abundance of selections at either end — and plenty along the spectrum, too. If, at any point, you need to take a pause in your tasting adventures, you'll be catered for. Food will be supplied by a whole heap of local favourites — we'll let you know when they're announced. Pinot Palooza will hit the Royal Exhibition Building on Saturday, October 5. Tickets are $65, and include all tastings and a take-home wine glass. What's more, those keen to fuel their brains (as well as their tastebuds) can spot $90 for a VIP pass. For that you'll get access to the VIP area, a glass of bubbles on arrival, entry into wine talks and masterclasses with one of the event's sommeliers. https://youtu.be/A6yttOfIvOw
More than 100 years ago, Russian composer Igor Stravinsky crafted The Rite of Spring. The ballet became famous not only for its tale of ritual and sacrifice during the eponymous season, but for its avant-garde music and choreography. Indeed, since first premiering in Paris in 1913, it has been held up as one of the 20th century's masterworks. Returning to Melbourne International Arts Festival after her 2017 hit Under Siege, Chinese choreographer and dancer Yang Liping has reimagined this iconic piece — filtering it through Chinese and Tibetan culture, and taking particular inspiration from the two nations' symbols of nature. Hitting the stage between Thursday, October 3 and Sunday, October 6, the result is a fusion of old and new, east and west, and movement and music, complete with Yang's expressive style, 15 dancers, plus designer Tim Yip, who won an Oscar for art direction for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The big screen is going green at the sixth annual Transitions Film Festival, Australia's leading showcase of socially-conscious cinema. In Melbourne from February 16 to March 3, this year's festival lineup is jam-packed with deep-diving documentaries about some of the biggest social, environmental and geopolitical issues facing the world today. Standout films include A Plastic Ocean, about the harmful effects of plastic on marine life; Riverblue, a look at the disastrous environmental cost of the global fashion industry; and Power to Change, which chronicles the fight by German activists and entrepreneurs for a more energy efficient future. For the full Transitions Film Festival lineup, visit transitionsfilmfestival.com.
If you'd been hoping to dance like Christopher Walken, pretend you're in Cruel Intentions, or just get transported back to the late 90s and early 00s when Fatboy Slim plays Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl in late April, we have bad news: that gig is sold out. But, thanks to a just-announced new addition to the British dance music legend's Australian itinerary, you can now hit the club — Revolver Upstairs, to be specific — for his 'live in the cage' DJ set for one night only. The man born Norman Cook will take to the decks on Wednesday, April 26, two nights before his openair show. And, tickets are just $43.95, although they're bound to get snapped up quickly. There will be some on the door on the night, too, but only until sold out. [caption id="attachment_878696" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] If you've seen Cook spin tunes before, you'll know that this is news to get excited about right about now. His 1998 album You've Come a Long Way, Baby was the club soundtrack to end the 20th century — a staple of every 90s teen's CD collection, too — and responsible for hits like 'Right Here, Right Now', 'The Rockafeller Skank' and 'Praise You'. As for 2000's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, it gave the world 'Weapon of Choice' and its iconic Walken-starring (and Spike Jonze-directed) video. Alongside the Chemical Brothers (a huge highlight of this year's Coachella livestream), The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, The Propellerheads and Crystal Method, Cook helped bring the big beat sound to mainstream fame. [caption id="attachment_878697" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] He's been making music since the 80s, but took on the name Fatboy Slim in the mid-90s, starting with 1996 record Better Living Through Chemistry. His discography also spans 2004 album Palookaville and 2013 single 'Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat'. Cook's Australian tour marks his return after his 2020 headline shows — pre-pandemic — with his Melbourne gig at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl recorded for an epic live video that's notched up more than 2.4-million views. At Revolver Upstairs, he'll do a three-hour set from 10.30pm–1.30am, with Mz Rizk, Luke McD and Luke Vecchio also getting spinning beforehand, and Sunshine afterwards. FATBOY SLIM 2023 AUSTRALIAN TOUR Wednesday, April 26 — Live in the Cage at Revolver Upstairs, Melbourne Friday, April 28 — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Wednesday, May 3 — Riverstage, Brisbane Friday, May 5 — The Entertainment Quarter, Sydney Sunday, May 7 — Burswood Park, Perth FATBOY SLIM LIVE IN THE CAGE AT REVOLVER UPSTAIRS LINEUP: IN THE CAGE 6–7.30pm — Mz Rizk 7.30–9pm — Luke McD 9–10.30pm — Luke Vecchio 10.30pm–1.30am — Fatboy Slim 1.30am–close — Sunshine ON THE STAGE 9.30–11pm — Joey Coco 11pm–12.30am ‚ Sarini Fatboy Slim tours Australia in April and May 2023, with tickets on sale now. Tickets for Fatboy Slim's Live in the Cage DJ show at Revolver Upstairs go on sale at 10am, Tuesday 18 April, with limited tickets also on the door until sold out. Top image: Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México via Wikimedia Commons.
In 2021, the Royal Exhibition Building is set to be overrun with pooches of every shape and size. Returning for another year, the Melbourne Dog Lovers Show usually welcomes more than 200 exhibitors and upwards of 30,000 visitors. Whether you're in the market for a new family pet or are just looking for a bit of a cuddle, you won't find a more adorable event in Melbourne. Obviously, cat people need not apply. Taking place between Friday, October 22–Sunday, October 24, this year's show includes a number of special events for guests on two legs and four. There'll also be a doggy pool show and a parade of famous Instagram puppers, while celebrity vets typically run seminars on canine health. Several of Victoria's dog shelters will also be there, with no shortage of rescued animals looking for permanent homes. Oh, and in case that doesn't make your heart melt, they've also got a dedicated puppy patting zone. A note: while the Dog Lovers Show is all about dogs and features dogs, it isn't for dogs to attend — so you'll need to leave your own pooch at home.
The life and times of Joseph Merritt will play out on the Malthouse stage in Tom Wright's The Real and Imagined History of The Elephant Man. Running from August 4–27, the new play tells the story of Merrick, a young man whose unique deformities made him a subject of fascination in late 19th century London. Having previously been brought to life on stage by the likes of Mark Hamill and David Bowie — and in film by John Hurt in a performance that scored him an Oscar nomination — here Merrick will be played by acclaimed local actor, dancer and filmmaker Daniel Monks in his Malthouse debut. "Joseph Merrick has been a role that I have dreamt of playing for many years," said Monk. "As a young disabled person, Joseph and his story had a huge impact on me, as I know he has had on many others, and I feel honoured to be part of sharing his powerful story with new audiences."
As Melbourne's legendary food scene embarks on a necessary shake-up to suit the post-lockdown age, we're set to see plenty of clever and out-of-the-box events landing on our culinary calendars. That includes Everleigh-After — a multifaceted, art-filled dining experience from new culinary concept SSIXX, which hits Melbourne for seven weeks this summer. This envelope-pushing event will serve up a multi-sensory fusion of visuals, sonic delights, food, drink, art and aromas, in a collaborative effort between famed cocktail haunt The Everleigh, Ides' renowned chef-owner Peter Gunn and SSIXX's founder Philip Bucknell (who has imagined creative experiences for the likes of The Met Costume Gala, MOMA and New York Fashion Week). Taking place across a limited run of sittings from Tuesday, January 12, Everleigh-After features a series of intimate 14-person communal dinners, held within a futuristic cube at a secret inner-city location. Yes, it's set to be an immersive, otherworldly affair, offering a simultaneous feast for all the senses. And, while it comes in at a cool $250 a pop, this one aims to blow all your previous food experiences out of the water. While the visual splendour, bespoke scents and aural offerings unfold, guests will also enjoy a lineup of specialty Everleigh cocktails, carefully matched to a four-course feast. Much is being kept under wraps for now, though you can expect to taste a masterful reworking of Gunn's iconic Black Box dessert somewhere along the way — a much-loved Ides creation made famous after an appearance on Masterchef Australia. It seems that Melbourne is just the beginning, too. The minds behind Everleigh-After have confirmed the concept is a "travelling experience", imagined "in collaboration with culinary experts, artists and designers Australia wide." SSIXX presents Everleigh-After will host a limited run of sittings every Tuesday–Sunday from January 12–February 28, 2021. The location will be revealed to guests closer to the date of their dinner. To learn more and book a spot, head to the website.
Some days, you wake up, go about your business as normal, and absolutely nothing unusual or exciting happens. Other days, you're hit with the unexpected announcement that new Rick and Morty has just landed. That's the way the news goes sometimes, including today, Monday, June 21 — because the first episode of the animated comedy's fifth season has just landed on Netflix. Get ready for more interdimensional adventures — and to get schwifty if you want to — because the show's specific brand of chaos is back for another go-around. Once again, Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (both voiced by show co-creator Justin Roiland) will do what they do best: not just aping a concept straight out of Back to the Future, but wreaking havoc in as many universes as they can stumble across. Also back are Morty's mother Beth (Sarah Chalke, Firefly Lane), father Jerry (Chris Parnell, Archer) and sister Summer (Spencer Grammer, Tell Me a Story) — and, as not one but two trailers have already demonstrated, they're playing a big part in Rick and Morty's dimension-hopping antics this time. Rick and Morty trailers are more about the mood, look and feel than the storylines — so, while you can obviously expect a heap of out-there situations, battles and general sci-fi mania, just what's in store is always best discovered by sitting down and watching a new episode. In season five, though, there'll be nods to and parodies of everything from Voltron to Blade. Rick and Morty will argue, too, because that's one of the thing that this Back to the Future-inspired pair do best. If you're keen to rejoin the smartest Rick and Morty-est Morty in the universe, you can check out the fifth season's first episode now — with new episodes then dropping each week. Now, unless you're a total Jerry, you've got something to look forward to come quittin' time for the next few Mondays. Watch the latest Rick and Morty season five trailer below: Rick and Morty's fifth season will stream weekly from Monday, June 21 on Netflix in Australia and New Zealand.
Take in the scenery and work up a proper thirst at Red Hill Brewery's annual Ride with the Brewer. Riders will be split into through groups based on skill level before embarking on a fully guided cycling tour of the picturesque Red Hill region. Afterwards you can cool down with beers and lunch back at the brewery. Not a bad way to spend your Sunday, and a lovely low-key outing for the final day of Good Beer Week 2017.
For a lot of us, 2020 so far has involved a whole heap less travel than we'd usually like. With devastating bushfires raging across the country, many had to forego our annual summer trips and stay at home. Then, COVID-19 hit Australia, resulting in nationwide restrictions on travel. Recently, the Australian Government announced its three-step roadmap out of COVID-19 lockdown, with talks of interstate and possibly trans-Tasman travel happening before the end of July. Finally, we can start dreaming of our next trip away. And to help inspire your post-iso plans, Tourism Australia is hosting an online program of virtual travel experiences and entertainment. Best of all, it's completely free. Dubbed Live from Aus, the program will run from Saturday, May 16 to Sunday, May 17 via its YouTube channel and Facebook page. It'll feature everything from Phillip Island's penguins to underwater reef tours at the Great Barrier Reef, music by First Nations artists with Uluru as its backdrop, Mona's Spectra light show, an Australian wine tour with Adelaide Hills' Unico Zelo, a cheesemaking session with Jo Barrett and Matt Stone, sunrise yoga at Byron Bay and cooking the ultimate Aussie brunch with Darren Robertson, Mark LeBrooy and Andy Allen from Three Blue Ducks (if you want to cook along, you can check out the recipes here). All up, expect a taste for Australia's natural beauty, food, music, wildlife and culture. Other highlights include a disco party with The Wiggles, an exploration of Indigenous Australian ingredients with famed chef and MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo, tours of Australia's greatest golf greens, pub trivia, a coffee making tutorial with Ona Coffee, a tour of Kangaroo Island, a night at the Opera House and Dreamtime stories with Darren 'Capes' Capewell. You can check out the full program and times here. Live from Aus will kick off at 7am AEST on Saturday, May 16 till Sunday, May 17. You can tune in for free via Facebook or its website. Images: Uluru Sunset Session with First Nations music curated by Sounds Australia, Underwater Reef Tour at the Great Barrier Reef, Penguin Parade Bedtime Stories from Phillip Island and Kangaroo Island Tour with Craig Wickham — all courtesy of Tourism Australia.
In celebration of National Reconciliation Week, Melbourne Quarter will be showcasing the work and stories of First Nations creatives, businesses, and individuals. From May 30–June 1, the lobby at One Melbourne Quarter will play host to a market stall pop-up showcasing threads and homewares from celebrated First Nations businesses, retailers and creatives. Meanwhile, the lobby at Two Melbourne Quarter will feature a captivating lobby installation of remarkable weaving pieces curated in partnership with Ngali, a First Nations fashion retailer. Some of the woven pieces were recently been featured at Afterpay's Australian Fashion Week in Sydney. Be immersed in the art of weaving led by First Nations artists. These three weaving workshops delve into the diverse applications of First Nations' weaving, including jewellery making, headwear, and basket weaving. This series offers limited spaces, so be sure to register on the website. Experience the transformative power of art at Gunpowder Walk, where the work of Alinta Koehrer takes centre stage with this year's art mural. Alinta, an up-and-coming artist and young Woi-Wurrung Wurundjeri and Yorta Yorta woman infuses the space with her unique artistic vision — her mother, Simone Thomson, contributed to the National Reconciliation Week art mural for Melbourne Quarter in 2022. Sergy Boy will be recognising National Reconciliation Week by offering First Nations beverages during its happy hour specials on June 1, from 4–7pm. Explore the flavours of Jarrah Boy, brewed on Kabi Kabi country in Queensland by founder Dale Vocale, a proud Monero Ngarigo man from East Gippsland, Victoria. Or sip on Sobah Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Australia's first non-alcoholic craft beer company founded by Dr Clinton Schultz, a proud Gamilaraay man from Queensland. Live music will enhance this vibrant atmosphere. Join Melbourne Quarter in celebrating National Reconciliation Week, as it honours the rich tapestry of First Nations cultures and contributions that enrich the community. Images: Melbourne Quarter
Whether beloved bands are reuniting, old lineups are reforming or still-touring groups who hit the charts decades ago are simply heading our way again, we're living in a golden age of musical blasts from the past. On a stage near you at any given time, one of your old-school favourites is likely taking to the microphone, spanning across a huge range of genres. The latest to join the trend: Sugababes. The British girl group is hitting up Australia's east coast this summer, with shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in February. If you're a fan, you likely now have 'Push the Button' or 'Overload' stuck in your head — or a medley that includes 'Freak Like Me', 'Round Round', 'Hole in the Head', 'Walk This Way' and 'About You Now' as well. This isn't just any old throwback tour, however. It will also see Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy — aka Sugababes' OG members — bust out the group's hits. Each of the trio left individually in the 00s, with Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen taking their places, but they've been back together with the initial lineup since 2012. This'll be the first time in more than two decades that Buena, Buchanan and Donaghy have hit Australia together, which is massive news for fans. And, given that Sugababes were one of the British girl groups of the early 21st century — and are one of the biggest-selling British girl groups of all time — there's plenty of those around. SUGABABES AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2023: Thursday, February 23 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Friday, February 24 — Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne Monday, February 27 — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Sugababes are touring Australia in February 2023, with pre-sale tickets available from 9am local time on Tuesday, December 20 and general sales from 9am local time on on Wednesday, December 21. Head to the tour website for further details.
Melburnians are very much partial to a bottomless, boozy brunch feast, but they're usually not the most virtuous way to spend a weekend dining session. That is, until now, with the launch of Sons of Mischief's brand-new 'cleaner' version. The Highett cafe is coming to the party with a kombucha-heavy boozy brunch, running every second Sunday throughout winter, kicking off on July 7. And while a brunch with bottomless booze is not exactly 'healthy', the food is loaded with colour and packed full of nutrients and, supposedly, really good for your gut. Each creation is FODMAP-friendly, with plenty more options for gluten- and dairy-free diners. You've got five dishes to choose from, including a sesame-crusted salmon matched with soba noodles and a shiitake master broth, and a revamped smashed avo, topped with saganaki. See also, the superfood salad, starring Moroccan spiced cauliflower, a sumac beetroot labneh and house-made haloumi. This brunch even comes with an alcoholic twist, thanks to Bucha Brothers' new boozy kombucha concoctions, all of which are vegan, natural and free of preservatives. For $60, guests can match their chosen meal to two hours of free-flowing kombucha cocktails (including a pink spritz, mojito and blood orange mojito version), along with a range of other alcoholic options. Healthy Bottomless Brunch runs from 11am–1pm or from 1–3pm.
When the colonising British left Nigeria in 1960, the nation welcomed a new era of transformation, but with independence came instability. This festering civil unrest forms the backdrop of Half of a Yellow Sun, with personal troubles coloured by political uncertainty. As the country attempts to cope with the fighting of power-seeking factions, two sisters become immersed in the conflict. In her 2006 bestseller and Orange Prize for Fiction winner, author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie balanced the broader context of the war with the circumstances of twins Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose), their efforts to forge lives beyond their well-to-do Lagos upbringing forever shaped by Nigeria's volatility. The film adaptation, written and directed by novelist and playwright Biyi Bandele in his directorial debut, sparkles with potential but plays out with predictability. The setting and the characters may be unique to this tale, but audiences have seen the story — or one just like it — many times before. Providing the punctuation between handsomely shot scenes, archival newsreel footage furnishes chapter stops to the episodic slices of the siblings' lives, with Olanna the film's centre. A sociology professor freshly returned from London, she struggles with her romance with revolutionary-leaning fellow academic Odenigbo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), blissful domesticity never a potential outcome. Odenigbo's overbearing mother (Onyeka Onwenu) is forceful with her disapproval, and instrumental in his affairs. Running the family business, Kainene flits in and out of Olanna's orbit with her British lover, writer Richard (Joseph Mawle), offering her own headstrong opinions and status-climbing ambitions. As a melodrama of strained interpersonal relationships that threatens to betray its based-on-a-true-story origins, Half of a Yellow Sun makes its emotional arcs apparent. As a portrait of the Biafran war, it goes to great efforts to show the wide-ranging impact upon the Nigerian populace, never shying away from the many horrors. What proves less successful is the use of the former to enhance the latter. An emotionally embellished narrative isn't needed to emphasise the devastation and turbulence of the civil war, nor is the absence of subtlety to the feature's benefit. Within such confines, the cast switch between concentrated emoting and smouldering restraint, Newton and Ejiofor faring best as the obvious points of focus. Their innate talents anchor the sentiments beyond their sweeping treatment in the story, even if the feature's female leads swiftly stand in their male co-stars' shadows. Sumptuous but strained, Half of a Yellow Sun thus waxes and wanes between its aspirations and authenticity, reaching for more but restricted by its adherence to convention and cliche. Resonance lingers, but more so in the reality than the depiction. The true scenario speaks for itself, with the incursion of overt theatrics lessening the film's power. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WlINmnyLO9E
The fact that it took 50 years to bring Misbehaviour's true tale to the screen is nothing less than remarkable. Following the protests staged by the women's liberation movement at the 1970 Miss World Pageant in London, it harks back to a noteworthy and important chapter of history — so much so that you would've expected filmmakers to have been clamouring to give it the cinematic treatment. A plethora of compelling topics are baked into this story, after all, including calling out the gross sexism inherent in objectifying women and ascribing their worth according to their looks, questioning society's narrow view of beauty and making plain the racial prejudice that's also frequently in play. But you don't need a movie about all of the above to tell you the obvious, and also the probable reason that a film about this incident hasn't existed until now. Much may have changed in the past half-century, but the feminist quest for recognition, fairness and equality in every way isn't over yet. Indeed, it's galling how many of Misbehaviour's observations about the way women are treated — and how women of colour fare on top of that — continue to ring true in 2020. Also rather telling: that, of the two big controversies that surrounded the pageant that year, this is the one that has finally reached movie-watching audiences. Again, Misbehaviour focuses on crucial events. It's a tale that should be told, about a battle that isn't over yet, and focusing on women who helped kickstart the progress that has been made over the last five decades. Still, the uproar that arose afterwards in response to the pageant's winner also speaks volumes. The result was questioned, for reasons this review won't give away even though it's a simple matter of record, and the extent of the narrow-minded attitudes cultivated and encouraged by such exercises in objectification couldn't have been more blatant. This film comes to a conclusion before then, however, simplifying what deserves to be a complex and multifaceted examination of the entire affair. Audiences might've endured a hefty wait to see the 1970 situation get any big-screen attention, but they don't have to wonder why Misbehaviour favours the approach its does for very long. Director Philippa Lowthorpe (Swallows and Amazons) and screenwriters Rebecca Frayn (The Lady) and Gaby Chiappe (Their Finest) are eager to pay tribute to pioneering feminists, but they're also very keen to make a feel-good, cheer-inducing movie that fits a clear formula. So it is that a seemly mismatched group comes together, united by the shared goal of improving how women are regarded by society, and decides to target the giant, glitzy and televised spectacle that is the Miss World Pageant — which 100 million people will watch. The two main instigators, aspiring history academic Sally Alexander (Keira Knightley, Official Secrets) and graffiti-spraying anarchist Jo Robinson (Jessie Buckley, I'm Thinking of Ending Things), are initially worlds apart, but squaring off against a common enemy has a way of bringing people together. Making a TV appearance after the protestors make their plans publicly known, Sally stresses one huge point: they're not rallying against the Miss World contestants themselves, but at the institution they're interacting with. Misbehaviour takes that view too, splitting its time — not in equal portions, though — between Sally, Jo and their pals, and also the women vying for the sash and crown. Jennifer Hosten (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Farming), aka Miss Grenada, receives the lion's share of attention among the contenders. That said, Swedish favourite Maj Johansson (Clara Rosager, The Rain), US entrant Sandra Wolsfeld (Suki Waterhouse, The Broken Hearts Gallery) and 'Miss Africa South' Pearl Jansen (Loreece Harrison, Black Mirror) — a late addition after a journalist constantly questions why South Africa's competitor is always white — also get their moments. The film spends time with pageant founder Eric Morley (Rhys Ifans, Berlin Station) and the year's host Bob Hope (Greg Kinnear, Strange But True) as well, serving up two prime examples of the kinds of attitudes that Sally and Jo are trying to tackle. The result is exactly the type of rousing, overt and easy movie that Lowthorpe and her colleagues set out to make — a film that ticks all the boxes it has placed on its own checklist, but doesn't do anything more. That makes Misbehaviour spirited, heavy-handed and well-intended in tandem, and also immensely straightforward. Anyone familiar with the likes of Calendar Girls, The Full Monty and Swimming with Men will able able to spot the template at work, for instance, even though the narrative specifics vary significantly. Misbehaviour has the same shine and energy, too, and the same crowd-pleasing nature. Its recognisable cast all do what's asked of them as well, as seen in Knightley and Buckley's fight against the patriarchy, Mbatha-Raw's quiet determination to give women of colour more prominence, Ifans and Kinnear playing the slimy villainous roles, and Keeley Hawes (Rebecca) and Lesley Manville (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) as the latter pair's other halves. In other words, being caught up in Misbehaviour's plot, purpose and impressively staged climax is almost a foregone conclusion. Being happy that it's hitting screens and telling this tale at all after all of these years is as well. But so is knowing that this is the most standard and clearcut rendering of this story possible — and noticing that, even as it completely avoids one big part of the pageant's aftermath, the film always keeps viewers well aware that there are other tales related to these events it could and definitely should be exploring and unpacking in more detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp3WjuJJYB8
Teenagers lay slain on the steaming streets of Manila as audiences surround the survivors, baying for blood. Some of the frenzied cries are rehearsed, others not so much — the lines between theatre and reality have been severed and everyone involved must decide for themselves whether it's for better or worse. Kids Killing Kids is an introspective show that tells this story. In 2011, four young Australian writers travelled to Manila to collaborate with local artists from the Sipat Lawin Ensemble on an adaptation of the famous novel Battle Royale. The story was to revolve around a class of teenagers held captive by a teacher and forced to murder one another until just one survives. The show attracted huge crowds as each performance birthed a cultish following. It received massive international media coverage, and suddenly people were asking questions of it: in this culture, at this time, in this place, was it all just fun and games? Written and performed by the playwrights as a unique combination of documentary, lecture and narrative, Kids Killing Kids has some obvious tensions. To start with, you want to see the blood. You can't help but feel desperate for the action and mayhem on those streets — the exhilaration of the experience. But instead, you are kept at a distance. Everything is methodical and sanitised. When there is blood, it is handled delicately in a glass jug with a lid — those on stage wear plastic ponchos and take the time to lay sheeting on the ground before a controlled usage. At one point there's a slide projector, a metal pointer and an overhead projector. Not to shun one of the iconic devices of my public school education, but had anyone else forgotten these existed? This is all so excellently deliberate though. Through each step of the story, the audience is positioned alongside them. We are polite tourists trying to respect the Filipino culture while being pushed around Manila's gritty streets. We experience the success and the failures of the show as the writers explore their role and seek absolution from it. The retelling is so honest, precise and relatable, the performance can effortlessly springboard from violent civil war to the straight-up hilarity that is six-year-old street kids krumping to Lil Jon. It would be easy for Kids Killing Kids to fail. The form is experimental, the story itself demands a lot of catch-up to fill you in on the background knowledge, and to a disinterested audience member it could come off as pretty egotistical — four writers telling you what a bang-up job they did on this thing a few years ago. Cool story, bro. But that's just it, I don't think you could be disinterested in the story that's being told and it really does deserve the examination given to it. For all this ambition, Kids Killing Kids comes together seamlessly. In just over an hour it addresses our fascination with violence, the problems with cross-cultural collaboration, an entire nation's political history, and the role of theatre itself. Who would have thought such a beautifully surreal and thought-provoking story would involve little more than some milk crates, a few plastic blood packs, and an OHP?
When Midnight Special starts, TV news reports splash Roy Tomlin's (Michael Shannon) face across the screen. He's wanted for kidnapping eight-year-old Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher), with the film swiftly showing him and his accomplice Lucas (Joel Edgerton) holed up in a motel with the kid. They're about to leave, but when Roy picks up the goggle-wearing Alton to carry him outside, the boy clings to him lovingly. That's not typical abductor-captive behaviour — and this isn't your typical film. A host of questions spring up, as audiences find themselves asking who, why and what's really going on. A cult leader (Sam Shepard) gives two men four days to find Alton shortly before FBI agents interrupt his evening sermon. By the time beams of light shine from Alton's eyes, and a storm of fiery space debris showers down upon him, it's clear we're in entirely uncharted territory. That's by design. Midnight Special asks its characters and viewers alike to wonder, but refuses to flesh out too many details or offer up easy solutions. Indeed, as filmmaker Jeff Nichols tells Roy and Alton's tale — tracking their drive through America's south, picking up Alton's mother (Kirsten Dunst) along the way, and attracting the attention of NSA officer Paul Sevier (Adam Driver) — he seems to have stolen Fox Mulder's catchphrase. He wants to believe, or, more accurately, he wants to tell tales about people who place their faith in something, in the hope that audiences will too. His three previous features may appear a diverse bunch; however 2007's Shotgun Stories, 2011's Take Shelter and 2012's Mud all focused on figures who chose to trust in a force other than themselves, be it vengeance, apocalyptic dreams or the power of love. Now, with Midnight Special, he veers into science-fiction to explore the conviction that comes from a parent's bond with their child. It's an ambitious task, but if anyone is up to it, it's Nichols. With a command of visual and emotional storytelling, he crafts a film that's a road movie, chase thriller, intimate drama and otherworldly adventure all in one, yet remains united in tone and mood. Everything from the cinematography to the evocative score feels heartfelt and mysterious. And then there's the pitch-perfect performances, particularly from the filmmaker's continued main man Shannon, who provides yet another quietly haunting portrayal. Of course, Nichols' latest offering doesn't just follow in his own footsteps, even though he's clearly carving out his own niche. Courtesy of its supernatural narrative, it also conjures up thoughts of '70s and '80s sci-fi fare. Think John Carpenter's Starman and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. A lingering sense of awe emanates from not only the writer-director's material, but from the genre greats that inspire him. It's no surprise that the movie that results proves as enigmatic as it is enchanting, delivering Nichols' fourth knockout in a row.
NGV International has just dropped the new Friday Nights lineup, and, as always, it's a cracker. A mix of local and international music acts make up the latest late-night roster, which will tie in with the NGV's new Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition Van Gogh and the Seasons. Throw after-dark gallery access and killer food and beverage options into the mix, and the cold winter nights suddenly look a lot more appealing. UK blues singer Gemma Ray, New York folk-rocker Steve Gunn, and local music legends The Blackeyed Susans are just a few of the names on the winter roster, which also features rising Indigenous singer Gawurra, and Youth Group's Toby Martin – the latter of whom will perform with a five-piece band featuring Arabic and Vietnamese instruments. There'll also be a special Saturday night performance by The Panics on July 8, and series of art talks related to the exhibition, which runs from April 28 to July 19. NGV FRIDAY NIGHTS WINTER 2017 LINEUP 28 April – Gemma Ray (UK) 5 May – Toby Martin (Youth Group) 12 May – Gareth Liddiard 19 May – Emma Russack 26 May – Gawurra 2 June – Two Steps on the Water 9 June – The Fauves 16 June – Grouper (US) 23 June – The Blackeyed Susans 30 June – Ben Salter Band 7 July – Steve Gunn (US) 8 July – The Panics
Yeah, we're thinking he's back — John Wick, that is. Five years after Keanu Reeves introduced everyone's favourite assassin (and dog owner) to the world, and two years after the film scored its first sequel, the action-packed franchise is bringing its third instalment to the big screen in 2019. Entitled John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and due to hit cinemas in May, the series' latest follow-up picks up where the last flick left off, aka with Wick being hunted down by his fellow killers. With a $14 million price tag on his head, plenty of hitmen and women are out to collect the bounty. And all of this because, in the first film, he became the proud owner of an adorable puppy. If you're not up on your Latin, parabellum means 'prepare for war', which is just what a kick-ass Keanu looks primed to do. This time, he'll have Halle Berry in his corner — and he's not adverse to brandishing some firepower while riding a horse. As for the rest of the cast, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Jason Mantzoukas all return from the previous flicks, as does Reeves' The Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne, while Anjelica Huston ranks among the new additions. Check out the first trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v2P3cpPOXY&feature=youtu.be John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 16.
Cinema Nova will once again play host to the Transitions Film Festival, screening docos from around the globe with a focus on sustainable living. Beginning February 15 with a free screening at Federation Square, the documentary fest will then take root at the Lygon Street location for eight straight days of socially conscious cinema. This year’s schedule contains plenty of highlights, including multiple Australian premieres. In Project Wild Thing, a worried father attempts to market nature to his kids, while Musicwood sees three famous guitar manufacturers travel to the Amazon in an attempt to stop over-logging and save the acoustic guitar. On the local side of things, Aim High in Creation! follows Anna Broinowski, whose crusade against coal seam gas mining takes her from Sydney to North Korea, where she learns propaganda filmmaking from the nation’s leading directors. A majority of festival screenings will also be followed by Q&A discussions, either with the given film’s director, or academics and social entrepreneurs. Environmentally friendly patrons can also get tickets at concession prices by presenting their bike helmets, or by recycling their old mobile phones at the Cinema Nova box office. For the full Transitions program, including Q&A speakers, visit their website.
When something shows you its true colours, believe it. The Kingsman franchise certainly did when it debuted in 2014, as viewers have been witnessing ever since. That initial entry, Kingsman: The Secret Service, gave the espionage genre an irreverent and energetic spin, and landed partway between update and parody. But, while making Taron Egerton a star and proving engaging-enough, it didn't know when to call it quits, serving up one of the most ill-judged closing moments that spy flicks have ever seen. Since then, all things Kingsman haven't known when to end either, which is why subpar sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle arrived in 2017, and now unnecessary prequel The King's Man. Another year, another dull origin story. Another year, another stretched Bond knockoff, too. Stepping from 007's latest instalments, including No Time to Die, to this pale imitation, Ralph Fiennes takes over leading man duties in this mostly World War I-centric affair. He looks as if he'd rather be bossing Bond around again, though, sporting the discomfort of someone who finds himself in a movie that doesn't shake out the way it was meant to, or should've, and mirroring the expression likely to sit on viewers' faces while watching. Simply by existing, The King's Man shows that this series just keeps pushing on when that's hardly the best option. It overextends its running time and narrative as well. But as it unfurls the beginnings of the intelligence agency hidden within a Saville Row tailor shop, it ditches everything else that made its predecessors work — when they did work, that is. Most fatally, it jettisons its class clashes and genre satire, and is instead content with being an outlandish period movie about the rich and powerful creating their own secret club. Adapted from Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar's 2012 comics, the Kingsman series hasn't cut too deeply in its past two movies, but it did make the most of its central fish-out-of-water idea. It asked: what if a kid from the supposed wrong side of the tracks entered the espionage realm that's so firmly been established as suave and well-heeled by 007? Finding out why there's even a covert spy organisation staffed by the wealthy and impeccably dressed for that young man to join is a far less intriguing idea, but returning filmmaker Matthew Vaughn — who has now helmed all three Kingsman films — and co-screenwriter Karl Gajdusek (The Last Days of American Crime) don't seem to care. Vaughn has mostly ditched the coarse sex gags this time, too, and for the better, but hasn't found much in the way of personality to replace them. It's in a prologue in 1902 that Fiennes makes his first appearance as Orlando Oxford, a duke travelling to South Africa during the Boer War — and soon made a widower, because The King's Man starts with the tiresome dead wife trope. Twelve years later, Oxford is staunchly a pacifist, so much so that he forbids his now-teenage son Conrad (Harris Dickinson, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) from enlisting when WWI breaks out. But the duke hasn't completely given away serving his country himself, overseeing an off-the-books intelligence network with the help of his servants Shola (Djimon Hounsou, A Quiet Place Part II) and Polly (Gemma Arterton, Summerland). That comes in handy when a nefarious Scottish figure known only as The Shepherd interferes in world affairs, with King George V of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (all cousins, and all played by Bohemian Rhapsody's Tom Hollander) his targets. Using real-life history as a backdrop, The King's Man weaves in Rasputin (Rhys Ifans, Spider-Man: No Way Home), too. If only it possessed the sense of humour to include Boney M's 70s dance-floor filler of the same name, or even a vodka-filled shot glass of its vibe. Rasputin, the character, is actually the best thing about the film, and solely because he's the most entertaining. Ifans plays the part like he's in on a joke that no one else in the production has gotten, amping up a goth mystic, busting out dance-inspired fighting moves and proving the liveliest thing in a feature that's frequently ridiculous yet rarely fun. Making a screwy but banal First World War spy-fuelled action flick surely wasn't on the franchise's agenda, but The King's Man can barely be considered a comedy. Vaughn does stuff his overladen plot with lip-service sentiments fired in a few directions, however, tearing into war and colonialism — but that, like everything that The King's Man purports to do, comes across as half-hearted. In showing the horrors of combat, it doesn't help that 1917 is so fresh in cinematic memories (and it's definitely unfortunate that Dickinson could easily play the brother of 1917's star George MacKay). It's also hardly handy that Vaughn and Gajdusek's script manages to both rally against imperial rule and eagerly celebrate monarchies and the British Empire. That's the kind of thematic muddle the film wades through, making it clear that no one has thought too deeply about any of these concepts. The same applies to Oxford's pacifism, given that The King's Man heartily splashes around OTT violence. Here, an idea or position is only convenient when it's needed to further the story, and it's thoroughly disposable seconds later. Manners may maketh man, as the series' eponymous society has intoned in three pictures now, but throwing together whatever disparate parts happen to be at hand doesn't make a good movie. If the same approach was taken to tailoring, the resulting suits wouldn't pass the central secret service's sartorial standards. Poking fun at the past, name-dropping historical figures, giving Hounsou and Arterton so little to do: none of that turns out well, either. Plus, while zippily staged, all of the film's action scenes that don't involve Ifans get repetitive fast. But The King's Man still commits to its franchise duty, pointlessly setting up a sequel that no one wants in its dying moments. A follow-up to The Golden Circle, called Kingsman: The Blue Blood, is also in the works, as well as a TV show about its American Statesman offshoot. Keeping on needlessly keeping on: that's still this spy series' main trait, as it always has been.
Regional Victoria is set to score its own taste of Melbourne's late-night White Night magic when Ballarat plays host to a one-night-only spectacular of light and sound on Saturday, September 21. Themed around the idea of lighting 'a spark', White Night Ballarat 2019 promises an illuminating showcase of local talent, featuring over 50 artworks and experiences across a diverse range of mediums. You can paint with LED water at Antonin Fourneau's Waterlight Graffiti, walk through a storybook-like installation made almost entirely from wool in Kathy Holowko's Spidergoat & The Insect Electro, step inside calming musical clouds and visit giant animal lanterns. The Ballarat Anglican Church will also be transformed into a Versailles-inspired fantasy land and artworks by award-winning artist Wathaurung/Wadawurrung Elder Marlene Gilson will be projected onto the facade of the Old Bank of NSW. A crew of emerging and established local special-needs artists will show a series of works inspired by the ways in which words can hurt our feelings, and one of the world's best aerial acts will transform the night sky into a stage for Heliosphere. Throw in a program of roving entertainment, live tunes and captivating projections, and you'll find yourself happily wandering the historic centre right through until White Night wraps up at 2am. White Night Ballarat will run from 7pm–2am.
If snacking on fresh seafood is one of your go-to summer pastimes, Cutler & Co has a little extra goodness in store for you right now. The acclaimed fine diner is seeing out the end of summer with a bonus menu of ocean-fresh fare and seasonal sips for its Summer Crustacea Bar offering. It's starring at the Cutler & Co Bar on Thursday to Sunday nights, as well as Sunday lunch, up until Sunday, February 27. The weekly-rotating menu is inspired by the sea and peppered with premium Aussie produce; featuring treats like Shark Bay scallops with nori and pickled fennel, devilled crab toasts, poached Torrumbarry yabby served chilled, and Skull Island tiger prawns paired with marie rose and Scotch Bonnet hot sauce. You'll even find serves of Giaveri beluga caviar, and whole Fraser Island spanner crabs matched with brown butter sauce and warm brioche. As you'd expect, there's some top-notch drinking to be done also, across a tight curation of fizz and classic cocktails. Team your seafood feast with a glass of Tassie's Ghost Rock Catherine Cuvée Brut or a frozen vodka martini and you're looking at one heck of a summer session. Both bookings and walk-ins are welcome. [caption id="attachment_841983" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jo McGann[/caption] Images: Jo McGann
You've watched the original movie to death, surely had some of that sweet 80s merch, and probably watched the all-female reboot flick when it hit cinemas in 2016. Now, you can take your Ghostbusters obsession to the next level, as a spooky new escape room inspired by the cult film lands in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne just in time for Halloween. Dubbed GhostMaze, the immersive pop-up will take over a secret location in each city, where you can live out your wildest ghostbusting fantasies and soak up some old-school gaming nostalgia. Details are scarce, but we do know that this movie-inspired adventure will take the form of a full-sized maze, with dark corners to navigate, prizes to hunt down and ghosts to avoid... unless you fancy being slimed. GhostMaze will be held across various sessions, with each one will featuring DJ tunes, a pop-up bar pouring Ghostbusters-themed cocktails and, of course, more prizes for the punters with the best costumes. Better start rounding out some mates to join in the fun — who you gonna call? In the meantime, you can rewatch the trailer for outfit inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vntAEVjPBzQ To find out more details as they drop and to register for pre-release GhostMaze tickets, sign up now at the website.
My high school art teacher would call Esther Mitchell a sicko. She thought it of all hard-edge artists, and I suppose I can understand. The process must be painstaking — forever trying to remove any trace of the artist's hand. The artwork's final sheen harbouring no trace of free movement or sporadic whim. But there's something beautiful to it as well. The clean lines, the methodically organised colour — it's a perfectionist's dream. It's clear to see this beauty in Esther Mitchell's work, and her new exhibition, Geometric Colour, should be no exception. In a dynamic fusion of art, craft, and design, Mitchell creates bold and entrancing works that explore the relationship between — you guessed it — geometry and colour. But through these simple means, the work also explores the nature of objects as a whole. Each artwork breaks down the visual plane into seemingly disparate elements and exposes how they are able to interact and bounce off one another. Far from what you may have learnt in Year 10 mathematics, geometry can in fact be engaging, and this new exhibition is your best chance to embrace it.
If you, like us, long to spend every evening in the cinema but also need to preserve your doubloons to pay rent, this is the competition for you. To celebrate the release of Suburbicon, we're giving away 110 double passes to an early screening of the film. Suburbicon, just to pique your interest, is a film about dirty deeds happening in idyllic 1950s suburban America. In true Clooney style, it's not heavy, but more a dark comedy (that would be the influence of the Coen brothers, with whom he co-wrote the film). Matt Damon and Julianne Moore play a family who get in over their heads with with mob and are forced to navigate their way through some comically dark situations. They're supported by Josh Brolin and Oscar Isaac, all set against a vintage backdrop. Even though it's a little heretic to put George Clooney (silver fox and everyone's favourite Nespresso advocate – sorry Penelope Cruz) behind a camera, instead of dancing in front of it, the man has directing chops. And a double pass (for you and a lucky date) will let you watch his latest offering before the rest of Australia at the iconic Palace Kino cinema on Collins Street at 6.30pm on October 25. Truly, a very swanky way to spend a Wednesday night. To enter, see details below. Suburbicon is out in Australian cinemas from Thursday, October 26. [competition]640996[/competition]
When the much-anticipated second season of Stranger Things hits Netflix next week, you could simply watch it from the comfort of your couch. Or you could mark the occasion with a proper spooky knees-up at Stomping Ground Brewery's Stranger Things '80s-themed Halloween party. On Tuesday, October 31, the Collingwood brewpub will be tripping back in time, with retro arcade games, '80s-style snacks and a soundtrack of vintage tunes to jam to. You'll even enjoy old-school drink prices, with your first beer costing just $1.65 — about the same as it would have back in 1985. To celebrate the arrival of a fresh batch of binge-worthy Stranger Things goodness, episodes of the show will be showing up on the big screen, including season two's long-awaited first episode. Enjoy it while you sip themed creations like Stomping Ground's one-off release Black Demoggorgan gose and the Upside Down brown ale.
Advertising all the new films and TV shows coming our way, trailers are designed to get audiences excited. If you're seeing them in a cinema, they're telling you what you should be heading back to watch next. If you're checking out sneak peeks for new television and streaming releases, they want you to add them to your viewing list. Sometimes, however, a trailer stands out because it has fun with the concept — and the sneak peek at Netflix's new Cowboy Bebop series is one such example. Not only does it send its three central characters on a lively bounty and drop plenty of snarky, quippy dialogue, but it also gets them playing with a split-screen setup in quite the slick, vivid and eye-catching way. Hopefully, that's a sign of visually inventive things to come when the show hits the streaming platform on Friday, November 19, and of the tone that both existing fans of the cult Japanese anime of the same name and newcomers can expect as well. Like its source material, this live-action series is filled with space western hijinks — it wouldn't be Cowboy Bebop otherwise — all as bounty hunters Spike Spiegel (John Cho, The Grudge), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir, The Deuce) and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) chase down all of the most dangerous criminals in the solar system. Obviously, Netflix's algorithm told it that everyone loves the original animated 90s series — and that everyone loves Searching, Gemini and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle star Cho as well. When it's right, it's right, clearly. Alex Hassell (The Boys), Elena Satine (Twin Peaks) and New Zealand actor Rachel House (Cousins, Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) also feature on-screen, while the High Fidelity remake's André Nemec leads the charge behind the camera as Cowboy Bebop's showrunner. Check out the Cowboy Bebop trailer below: Cowboy Bebop will be available to stream via Netflix from Friday, November 19. Top image: Geoffrey Short/Netflix.
Youth of Australia are having wins across the board this week. For Sydneysiders, renowned party pooper Mike Baird has announced his retirement from politics. For Melburnians, a new government-funded inner city arts space. The City of Melbourne has announced it will transform 1000 square metres of vacant retail space in Southbank into a brand new hub for artists and creatives through their Creative Spaces program. Those among you who freelance will no doubt know of Creative Spaces. They began as a broker for leasing studio and co-working spaces for the creative sector. Which is jargon for 'their Australia-wide website lists all the studios and co-working spaces, big and small, that cater to artists and aren't overrun with money-grabbing suit-wearing corporates'. So they know what creative studios need to function, and have put all this wisdom into the new project, dubbed Creative Spaces: Guild. As well as your standard offices and boardrooms, the new space at 152 Sturt Street — located in the arts precinct right near the Malthouse, ACCA and the VCA — will offer a rehearsal space, a co-working space for theatre producers and creatives, a public gallery, and (of course) a cafe to fuel it all. The National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) and Melbourne Fringe are already on-board as tenants. The aim of the hub is to guarantee affordable (and central) spaces for small to medium creative teams, and will be designed by architects Archier. No word yet on an ETA for the project yet, but in the meantime you can check out the Creative Spaces site to find yourself a sick work studio.
Almost a quarter-century has passed since Keanu Reeves uttered four iconic words: "I know kung fu". The Matrix's famous phrase was also the entire movie-going world's gain, because watching Reeves unleash martial-arts mayhem is one of cinema's purest pleasures. Notching up their fourth instalment with the obviously titled John Wick: Chapter 4, the John Wick flicks understand this. They couldn't do so better, harder, or in a bloodier fashion, in fact. Directed by Keanu's former stunt double Chad Stahelski, who helped him look like he did indeed know wushu back in the 90s, this assassin saga is built around the thrill of its star doing his violent but stylish best. Of course, The Matrix's Neo didn't just know kung fu, but gun fu — and Jonathan, as The Continental proprietor Winston (Ian McShane, Deadwood: The Movie) still likes to call him, helps turn bullet ballet into one helluva delight again and again (and again and again). The John Wick movies — the first blasting into cinemas in 2014, John Wick: Chapter 2 hitting the target in 2017, John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum shooting straight in 2019, and now this striking four years later — seem like they should be oh-so simple. Slip Keanu into a black suit, let his 90s grunge-style hair frame his face, get him next to an array of dazzling backdrops, let him raise hell against whoever is thrown his way: that's the basic formula. And, wanting nothing more than a quiet life with the dog left to him by his deceased wife, then the pets that've replaced that pooch since, the eponymous Wick doesn't like to overcomplicate anything. Witnessing a John Wick film, though, means seeing how much stunning action choreography, energetic cinematography, lightning-fast editing and stellar production design goes into making these pictures flow so smoothly. Reeves is so in his element that he'll always be remembered as John Wick (and Neo, Bill & Ted's Theodore 'Ted' Logan and Point Break's Johnny Utah), but the John Wick movies are spectacular technical achievements. All that gun-fu mastery spins through a story — one that is similarly straightforward, but also meticulously constructed to look and play that way. Initially, the happily retired but recently widowed John got dragged back into the hitman life over that aforementioned puppy and a full-hearted quest for revenge. Since then, that move keeps sparking consequences in an action franchise that mixes the western genre's gunslingers and crusades for vengeance, plus their strong, silent types and scenic use of backgrounds, with a musical's rhythm, steps and set pieces. So, Jonathan tried to stay out of the game. Then, he endeavoured to escape the death-for-hire business after its powers-that-be, aka the High Table, started meting out punishment for breaking their rules. Summing up the situation brings another epic crime saga's words to mind: "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!". Picking up where its immediate predecessor left off, John Wick: Chapter 4 saddles its namesake with the Marquis (Bill Skarsgård, Barbarian), the High Table's emissary, as his new adversary. After Wick puts the assassin realm's head honchos on notice during an early trip to the Middle East, the series' latest nefarious figure wants rid of him forever, wasting no time laying waste to the few things left that John loves. The Marquis has company, too — seeking a big payday in the case of the mercenary known as Tracker (Shamier Anderson, Son of the South), who has his own devoted dog; and due to a familiar deal with Caine (Donnie Yen, Mulan), a martial-arts whiz who is blind, and an old friend of John. That said, Wick has pals in this clash between the hitman establishment and its workers, which doubles as an eat-the-rich skirmish, including Winston, the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne, All the Old Knives), and the Osaka Continental's Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada, Bullet Train) and Akira (Rina Sawayama, Turn Up Charlie). Retaliating against the High Table, and just trying to stay alive, involves jumps to Japan, Berlin and Paris — starting from New York, naturally — and shooting, stabbing, slicing and battling through hotels, nightclubs, apartment blocks and more. In the latter category sits two of the saga's most ambitious locations yet, where two of its most glorious fight scenes take place: the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe and the 222 steps up to Montmartre's Sacré-Coeur Basilica. Indeed, with Stahelski a four-film John Wick veteran, cinematographer Dan Laustsen (Nightmare Alley) up to three, and editor Nathan Orloff (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) dropping in seamlessly as a newcomer, all 169 minutes of John Wick: Chapter 4 is an action marvel. More John Wick has long been a good thing, whether more movies or more in those movies; the last hour here, as Wick and the Marquis' conflict sprawls across Paris, is the franchise's pièce de résistance. With frenetic frays such a focus, and so expertly and inventively executed — doorbell sensors and bulletproof vests have significant parts, gun fu becomes car fu, and filming flats from above is mesmerising — it'd be easy for anyone new to the ways of John Wick to assume that the plot is secondary. Or, that screenwriters Shay Hatten (returning from Chapter 3) and Michael Finch (American Assassin) have built John Wick: Chapter 4's narrative around the onslaught of carnage, not vice versa. These are lovingly crafted films, however — and layered and thoughtful, as seen when Winston name-drops Ned Kelly and his supposed last words "such is life". The John Wick series is deeply steeped in its own mythology, which swirls around John aka the Baba Yaga, the High Table's workings and love of retro tech, the various Continentals, and all the regulations that underscore the to-ing and fro-ing that leads to such a massive body count, so referencing an IRL figure also steeped in myth is a smart and knowing move. Casting has always worked comparably, drawing upon McShane's Deadwood standing, Lance Reddick's The Wire pedigree, Franco Nero's history as the OG Django in Chapter 2 and Skarsgård's time as Pennywise, for instance. No one is as immaculately cast in the John Wick universe as Keanu, who continues to invest everything into his stoic-faced character by playing it just right — never adding anything superfluous, never undercooking his performance, and always dancing through the franchise with the weight and agility it needs. Still, Yen is his absolute equal, to zero astonishment given that he's Donnie Yen. Physical feats so fleet that they stand out even in this highly physical flick, charm and wit in spades, pitch-perfect doses of comedy: they're all on show. Yen also delivers a gleaming Point Break nod, and owns John Wick: Chapter 4's debt to Japan's swordplay-heavy Zatoichi pictures (a homage he knows well thanks to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but he's not repeating himself). No matter how a John Wick movie finishes, it ends with viewers wanting more — and this is no exception, including more of Yen as Caine alongside Keanu.
Enjoy the charms of the French countryside right in your own backyard, when So Frenchy So Chic in the Park rolls back into town. This massive annual picnic will once again bring the sights, sounds and flavours of France to revellers at Werribee Park. Ooh la la. This year's musical lineup features four unique artists. Moroccan-born folk blues singer Hindi Zahra has earned comparisons to Patti Smith and Billie Holiday; duo Brigitte bring a mix of lounge pop and retro folk disco; chanteuse Lou Doillon makes her So Frenchy debut; and Balkan electro collective Soviet Suprem will have you dancing all afternoon long. Food offerings will include an array of delectable hampers and cheese plates — although, if you want to get in on that action, you'll need to reserve one pronto. Don't worry if you miss out though, as you can BYO food, and they'll also be serving up a banquet of seafood, crepes, macaroons and ice cream, along with beer, wine, champagne and cocktails.
From dead characters to killer plants, M Night Shyamalan's films are known for veering off in out-there directions, as everything from The Sixth Sense and The Village to The Happening and Split have shown. So, when a trailer for one of his movies drops, you can expect that it'll tease a strange twist — and the first look at his latest flick, Old, doesn't disappoint. This initial sneak peek only runs for 30 seconds, so it doesn't have time to give too much away. Still, it manages to convey the film's basic premise and establish an eerie tone. A family led by Gael García Bernal (Ema) and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) are enjoying a beachside holiday, and everyone seems to be lapping up the secluded setting. Then, the couple's kids disappear behind a few rocks, only to return looking much older than they did mere seconds ago. If you're wondering where Shyamalan will take the concept from there, you'll have to wait until the thriller releases in cinemas in July. The filmmaker has penned the movie's script, too; however, he's based it all Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters' graphic novel Sandcastle. Hoping that it turns out more like Unbreakable and less like The Visit is understandable. As well as Bernal and Krieps, Old has amassed a hefty cast, although most don't appear in the teaser. However the premise plays out, though, it'll involve Rufus Sewell (The Man in the High Castle), Ken Leung (Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens) and Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Australian actors Abbey Lee (Lovecraft Country) and Eliza Scanlen (Babyteeth), and New Zealand's Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit). None of them say "I see old people" in the trailer, and hopefully that'll remain the same in the movie itself. Check out the teaser trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB1m-WogYeg Old opens in Australian cinemas on July 22. Top image: 2021 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
There’s a lot of hype surrounded Ryan Trecartin in the art world these days; the young American artist who's installations and video projects have many curious and enthralled. So it's pretty exciting stuff that the NGV has snapped up Trecartin’s work for their latest exhibition Re’Search Wait’S. The NGV has also acquired Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch’s collaborative 2011 piece Available sync — now showing as part of Transmission: Legacies of the Television Age at NGV. The pair first met when they began studying together at Rhode Island School of Design in 2001. The rest, as they say, is history. Re’Search Wait’S will be comprised of four film works: Ready, The Re’Search, Roamie View : History Enhancement and Temp Stop. Together they form an immersive and cutting essay on consumerism and identity. The films contain multi-linear narratives, where the characters endure having every action studied. This exhibition is a wonderful chance to see an exciting, hyped-up young artist reflect on our world today, make time for it.
Yarra Valley winemakers Giant Steps are pairing up with French-inspired gastro pub L'Hotel Gitan to throw one of the the fanciest dinners in the Aussie Wine Month rotation. Hosted in the intimate and elegant Alfie's Bar (a function space within the Prahan-based L'Hotel Gitan), chef Jacques Reymond will be serving up four-course French feast. Giant Steps will pair the meal with an immaculate wine list curated by their chief winemaker Steve Flamsteed, who will simultaneously school you on wine tasting.
UPDATE Thursday, August 5: Josh Niland's Take One Fish Butchery Masterclass has been postponed until Monday, November 15 Saint Peter and Fish Butchery's Josh Niland has spent the past half-decade spreading his love for sustainable seafood around Australia. The neighbouring Sydney spots have grown a cult following since opening and built Niland a reputation that landed him on the list of the world's top 50 next-generation hospitality leaders. With a new charcoal fish restaurant set to open next month, Niland is going on tour to preach the benefits of cooking with sustainable seafood. The masterclass will cover the how-tos of preparing, storing and cooking with fish, in support of his new book, Take One Fish. It's the follow-up to his The Whole Fish Cookbook, which snagged the James Beard Book of the Year award. Niland was the first Australian author to win the converted award last year. "I am looking forward to the evening and offering complete transparency around our work and to unpack all that we have learnt to date. I hope that people will leave having enjoyed a great night out, and take away practical solutions for how we can approach fish differently, not just at home but when ordering fish on a menu or in a market," Niland said. Hosting the evening is author and ABC Culinary Correspondent Alice Zaslavsky who is kicking off her new series of 'in conversation' events with acclaimed culinary professionals, dubbed Here's One I Prepared Earlier. The tour is beginning at the Sydney City Recital Hall on Monday, October 25, before moving on to Melbourne's Hammer Hall on Monday, November 15 with each evening running two 45-minute sessions and a short intermission. Pre-sale tickets are on sale now. [caption id="attachment_739656" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fish Butchery[/caption]
A quarter of a century ago, M Night Shyamalan started coaching audiences to associate his surname with on-screen twists. Now that The Sixth Sense writer/director's daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is following in his footsteps by making her first feature, decades of that viewer training across Unbreakable, Signs, The Visit, Split, Glass and more laps at The Watchers' feet. The question going in for those watching is obvious: will the second-generation filmmaker, who first worked as a second-unit director on her dad's Old and Knock at the Cabin — and also penned and helmed episodes of exceptionally eerie horror TV series Servant, on which her father was the showrunner — turn M Night's well-known and -established penchant for surprise reveals that completely recontextualise his narratives into a family trademark? Viewing a Shyamalan movie from The Sixth Sense onwards has always been an exercise in piecing together a puzzle, sleuthing along as clues are dropped about how the story might swiftly shift. It's no different with The Watchers, which Ishana adapts from AM Shine's novel and M Night produces. The younger filmmaking Shyamalan leans into the expectations that come with being her dad's offspring and picking up a camera, making a supernatural mystery-thriller horror flick and living with his brand of screen stories for her entire life. That said, while it's easy to initially think of The Village when The Watchers sets its narrative in isolated surroundings where the woods are filled with threats, and also of Knock at the Cabin given that its four main characters are basically holed up in one, Ishana demonstrates her own prowess, including by heartily embracing her source material's gothic air. This is a tale with a Mina at its centre, after all, because Shyamalan isn't the only name attached to The Watchers that means something in horror. As gothic stories in the genre long have told, it's also a tale of being haunted — here, by the monsters that lurk among the trees in a mysterious patch of western Ireland, and also by the kind of loss and sorrow that reshapes entire lives. As Ishana dials up the foreboding while dancing with fantasy, too, The Watchers proves a reckoning with identity as well. Yearning for the ability to define your own sense of self is another familiar gothic notion (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein puts it among the ideas at its centre), and also a fitting theme and statement for a person who's leaping into a field where they're immediately standing in someone else's shadow. Hours from Galway, shade also looms as The Watchers kicks off. As captured with a moody gaze by cinematographer Eli Arenson — and an eye for the claustrophobia that can simmer in expansive natural spaces, as he also splashed around in 2021's Lamb — warm rays barely filter through the forest even when the sun is high in the sky. In a state of near-perpetual twilight, the woodland possesses an otherworldly and ominous feel. A man (Alistair Brammer, Ancient Empires) is spied trying to flee its sprawling cover; however, the signs about not being able to turn back keep proving accurate. Birds flutter in a swooping and circling flock, the thicket buzzes with its own noise — both with unease as dense as the canopy above — and the picture advises that this location is absent from maps and a beacon for lost souls. A command of atmosphere bubbles through the movie from the outset, then, even before Mina (Dakota Fanning, Ripley) wanders through the same grove. She's entering rather than trying to leave — at first. An American artist working in a pet shop in a biding-her-time fashion, the 28-year-old is tasked with a normal albeit time-consuming delivery, but then her car breaks down and her phone dies shortly after driving into the greenery. Prior to Mina hitting the road, The Watchers dapples her everyday existence with a disquieting vibe. In her life in the Irish city, she's plastering literal wigs and metaphorical masks over her unhappiness while avoiding calls from her sister Lucy and grappling with the death of their mother 15 years earlier. En route to being stranded in a bunker called The Coop, which is sat in a tract where no one should go down to the woods by dark, she's also already feeling as caged as the parrot that she's about to try to ferry to a Belfast zoo. The Coop is no ordinary cabin in the woods, not that many on-screen are, with kudos deserved by The Watchers' production designers. Mirrored glass lines one of its walls, letting interested eyes peer in unseen (their audible reactions provide a soundtrack as well) as the motley crew that is Madeline (Olwen Fouéré, The Tourist), Ciara (Georgina Campbell, Barbarian), Daniel (Oliver Finnegan, We Are Lady Parts) and now Mina navigate their new routine. Each strangers going in and each trapped, they're all endeavouring to survive the creatures that demand to observe them eating, watching an old dating-style reality TV series and sleeping every evening — and, without their captors realising, to ascertain how to escape a place that appears impossible to exit. There are rules to enduring. There are grim consequences for not abiding by them. No one has made it out to seek help and returned, the stern Madeline cautions. When a reflective surface plays such a pivotal part, it's hardly astonishing when a film trades in parallels, including with an IRL world that's frequently becoming one giant online performance (to stress the point, one of The Watchers' most-striking shots shows how Mina and company inhabit a stage for their keepers). As well as absorbing her father's fondness for spinning unsettling tales, Ishana has inherited his ambition, clearly, as she also works in Celtic lore and the impact of colonialism. While it's one thing to aim big and another to thoroughly wrestle everything that you're eager to explore and touch upon into one movie, her directorial debut sports an instantly intriguing premise that draws viewers in effectively, a flair for imagery and tension, and an excellent lead. When Fanning is playing the feature's protagonist as someone who can't see anything but her own pain — who can't see the forest for the trees, aptly — she wears Mina's fragility and vulnerability like a second skin. When her character is forced to confront being put on display, she's just as mesmerisingly relatable.
One of the most significant films in the history of Greek Cinema will be screened under the stars in the inaugural 2014 MPavilion, now located in the courtyard of Melbourne's Hellenic Museum. Released in 1962 to widespread acclaim — including a win for Best Cinematic Transposition at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film — Michael Cacoyannis' Electra brings the Euripidean tragedy to the silver screen. Part of the Hellenic Museum's ongoing summer cinema series, featuring a different iconic picture every week, the event will also feature mouthwatering Greek-style BBQ lamb, ancient grain salads, a Greek coffee version of the classic movie choc top, plus a wide selection of Hellenic beverages. Food and drink starts at 7pm, giving you plenty of time to fill your stomach before the movie begins at sundown.
UPDATE, NOVEMBER 18, 2016: After a successful first weekend, Bon Fromage has had to postpone the second weekend of the festival due to permit issues. They plan to bring the festival back, bigger and better, in early 2017. Melburnians have always liked cheese, but in recent years things have gotten serious. Dedicated fromageries have popped up across our fair city and we've enjoyed at least three dedicated cheese festivals in recent memory. Our stomachs are working overtime to digest all the lactose — and, honestly, we've never been happier. And the love affair continues with this latest cheesy announcement. France (or more specifically, a Parisian centre for cheese, which is a real thing) is bringing us Bon Fromage, a ten-day cheese festival celebrating European cheese. The whole thing will happen in a laneway behind Carlton's King and Godfree from the November 11. First and foremost is cheese — the venue will be transformed into a cheese marketplace and wine bar for two weekends, alongside pop-ups from Melbourne cheese royalty Shifty Chevre, Milk the Cow and Harper and Blohm. But the cheese festival isn't just about eating so much cheese you puke. Anthony Femia of Prahran Market's Maker and Monger and Johnny Di Francesco from 400 Gradi will be there too, holding masterclasses in, we assume, the correct way to draw a cheese fondue bath for yourself. The festival is supported by the European Union, presumably to get Australians on board with the European cheese industry. To us, this seems like a bit of a misfire because we're already very on board with cheese (from Europe or elsewhere), but whatever — we'll be there front and centre with our bibs on regardless. Bon Fromage: Festival of European Cheeses will run from Friday, November 11 until Sunday, November 20 in Faraday Lane, Carlton, behind King and Godfree. For more info, visit the Facebook event.
If you often rue the day in your adolescence that chicken nuggets became an unacceptable item to eat for dinner, well, Christmas has come early. This weekend, Welcome to Thornbury will take fried chicken back to junk food basics and throw its first Chicken Nugget Festival. The permanent food truck park will dedicate November 11 to nuggets, with a vast selection ranging from traditional nuggets all the way through to a nugget burger, specially produced by Mr Burger. Welcome to Thornbury will also be serving their homemade Szechuan sauce and platters from Melbourne Hot Sauce for your dipping needs. The full lineup includes Shaun's Nuggs, Hot Star Melbourne, Roadrunner Fried Chicken and many more. Welcome to Thornbury has also announced a dessert nugget from Dip'd Gourmet Mini Donuts to complete your three-course nugget experience. The festival is free entry but bring a gold coin donation — all the money raised will go to Melbourne Legacy. This single day festival kicks off at 11am and ends at 10pm, so chicken nuggets will be in full force right up until the eleventh hour.
Filmmaker James Gray lays the American dream bare in his reserved but affecting period drama, The Immigrant. Set in New York City just a few years after the end of the First World War, the film begins with a shot of the Statue of Liberty peering through the fog. It's an image of hope and prosperity that on reflection holds a tragic kind of irony. The Immigrant is a bleak film, at times a little cold. But thanks to the magnificent work of Gray's cast, it's difficult to forget. Marion Cotillard plays Ewa, the immigrant of the title. Having fled war-torn Poland, she arrives on Ellis Island in search of a new life, only to face immediate deportation after her sister is quarantined with tuberculosis. Enter Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), a well-connected stranger who intervenes on her behalf and arranges for her to be allowed into the city. A partner at a seedy burlesque theatre, Bruno offers Ewa a job as a seamstress, only to quickly coerce her into dancing and prostitution. Wracked with self-loathing but desperate to survive, the one ray of hope in Ewa's new life comes in the form of Bruno's charming cousin Orlando (Jeremy Renner), who promises to spirit her away. But Bruno won't part with his favourite dove so easily, and soon his jealousy and obsession threatens to boil over into violence. Gray could hardly have assembled a more talented trio of actors. Phoenix, of course, is magnetic as Bruno, a man who is simultaneously pitiable and vile. Although undoubtedly the villain of the piece, Gray allows Bruno genuine dimension, the kind that characters such as this are rarely given. Renner's cocksure charisma, meanwhile, lends energy and life to every scene he's in. Without him, the film might well have been too grim to bear. That said, neither Phoenix nor Renner can hold a candle to Cotillard, who may well be one of the most gifted actresses alive. Every indignity Ewa suffers is registered in her eyes, which stare accusingly out of the sepia-tinted frame. It's a haunting performance full of vulnerability, wounded pride and quiet strength. She's the heart and soul of the picture, and the single biggest reason to seek it out. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ohVv5-rq-JY
