Troye Sivan has something to give Australia and New Zealand: his Something to Give Each Other tour, which has just announced 2024 dates Down Under. The Grammy-nominated and ARIA Award-winning 'Rush', 'I'm So Tired...', 'My My My!' and 'Youth' artist has spent the last couple of months playing shows in Europe to sellout crowds. Next, he's hitting America for a co-headline arena tour with Charli XCX. After that, he'll be making an Aussie return for gigs in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, then hopping over to Aotearoa to start off December. The Perth-raised pop star doesn't have the Western Australian city on his roster, starting his Australian leg at The Drive in the South Australian capital instead on Tuesday, November 19. From there, he has a date with Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Thursday, November 21, then with Brisbane's Riverstage on Tuesday, November 26. Last up for Aussies, everything from 'Got Me Started' to 'One of Your Girls' will echo across the Sydney Opera House Forecourt on Thursday, November 28, before it's NZ's turn at Spark Arena on Monday, December 2. Set to get a huge workout: the 2023 album that gives the tour its name, of course, which was Sivan's first since 2018's Bloom, earned a heap of placings on best-of-2023 lists at the end of last year and hit number one on the album charts in Australia. But given that his discography dates back to 2007's Dare to Dream — and includes fellow EPs TRXYE and Wild, plus his debut album Blue Neighbourhood — he has tracks from across almost two decades to bust out. "It's happening..." said Sivan on social media. "Good morning specifically to Australia and New Zealand. I'm home and I have news." View this post on Instagram A post shared by troye sivan (@troyesivan) Sivan will have Nick Ward in support, and is also set to appear at after parties in Sydney and Melbourne, where fans will have the chance to meet him. For more information on that part of the tour, you'll need to keep an eye on vodka brand Smirnoff's Instagram. It's already been a huge few years for Sivan — as a musician, acting in Boy Erased and The Idol, being parodied by Timothée Chalamet (Dune: Part Two) on Saturday Night Live — and now 2024 is getting even bigger. Dance to this, obviously. Troye Sivan Something to Give Each Other 2024 Australian and NZ Tour Dates: Tuesday, November 19 — The Drive, Adelaide Thursday, November 21 — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Tuesday, November 26 — Riverstage, Brisbane Thursday, November 28 — Sydney Opera House Forecourt, Sydney Monday, December 2 — Spark Arena, Auckland Troye Sivan is touring Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2024, with multiple rounds of ticket presales beginning from 10am local time on Thursday, July 11 — and general sales from 12pm local time on Tuesday, July 16. Head to the tour website for more details. Top image: Arden.
One of the most poorly kept secrets of the year has finally been confirmed: The Cure, patron saints of bedroom dancing and boys in eyeliner, are officially coming to Sydney as part of the Vivid Live lineup. The legendary new-wave '80s band will be playing two shows, entitled 'Reflections,' at the Sydney Opera House on May 31 and June 1. The shows will see the band play three of their most influential albums in their entirety: Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith. Get out your black trench coats and tease up your hair, The Cure are a-coming. Around for more than thirty years, The Cure have had over a dozen line-ups, but it's their earlier albums which have become their most definitive, with their dark and melancholy melodies treasured by generations of goths and boys who don't, but might, cry. In an almost-original lineup, front man Robert Smith will be accompanied by Simon Gallup and Jason Cooper for the performance of Three Imaginary Boys, while the original drummer Lol Tollhurst will come on stage for the performance of Seventeen Seconds and Faith. Rumours that the band were due to appear at Vivid began last week, but it was only when Stephen Pavlovic, 2011's festival curator, rocked up to FBi Radio and played a Cure track, and then proceeded to neither confirm nor deny the possible appearance of The Cure, that the rumours entered into the realm of the bleeding obvious. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xik-y0xlpZ0
UPDATE, May 5, 2021: Willy's Wonderland is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. If you've ever wondered how Nicolas Cage might've fared during cinema's silent era, Willy's Wonderland has the answer. A horror film about killer animatronic restaurant mascots, it's firmly a 2021 feature. It wasn't made a century ago, before synchronised sound forever changed the movie business, so it's definitely a talkie as well. Cage doesn't do any chattering, however. He groans and growls, and often, but doesn't utter a single word. The actor's many devotees already know that he's a talent with presence; whether he's cavorting in the streets under the delusion that he's a bloodsucker in Vampire's Kiss, grinning with his locks flowing in the wind in Con Air, dousing himself with vodka and grunting in Mandy or staring at a vibrant light in Color Out of Space, he repeatedly makes an imprint without dialogue. So, the inimitable star needn't speak to command attention — which is exactly the notion that Willy's Wonderland filmmaker Kevin Lewis (The Third Nail) put to the test. First, the great and obvious news: Cage doesn't seem to put in much effort, but he's a joy to watch. Playing a man simply known as The Janitor, he glowers like he couldn't care less that furry robots are trying to kill him. He swaggers around while cleaning the titular long-abandoned Chuck E Cheese-esque establishment, dances while hitting the pinball machine on his breaks, swigs soft drink as if it's the only beverage in the world and proves mighty handy with a mop handle when it comes to dispensing with his supernaturally demonic foes. Somehow, though, he's never as OTT as he could be. Cage plays a character who doesn't deem it necessary to convey his emotions, and that results in more restraint on his part than the film demonstrates with its undeniably silly premise. Accordingly, cue the bad news: as entertaining as Cage's wordless performance is — even without completely going for broke as only he can — Willy's Wonderland is often a ridiculous yet routine slog. The Janitor finds himself locked in Willy's Wonderland in the sleepy Nevada town of Hayesville courtesy of an inconveniently placed spike strip. Driving over the device trashes his tyres, which local mechanic Jed Love (Chris Warner, Machete) can replace, but The Janitor doesn't have cash, credit isn't accepted and there's no working ATM within a handy distance. So, he's offered a deal. If he spends the night cleaning the shuttered children's eatery for owner Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz, Finding Steve McQueen), Jed will fix his car. The Janitor agrees and gets a-scrubbing, but animatronics Willy Weasel, Arty Alligator, Cammy Chameleon, Tito Turtle, Knighty Knight, Gus Gorilla, Siren Sara and Ozzie Ostrich (no, not Ossie Ostrich from Hey Hey It's Saturday) have him in their sights. Willy's Wonderland could've opted for a stripped-back, action-heavy approach, solely focusing on Cage's clash with the critters after the movie's obligatory setup scenes. The film clearly only exists because he's in it, after all. And, the idea of seeing Cage in a John Wick-style flick that's built upon relentless fights for survival is a concept made in cinematic heaven — if Charlize Theron (in Atomic Blonde) and Bob Odenkirk (in Nobody) can do it, he can as well. But first-time screenwriter GO Parsons opts for a different template. The horror genre's fondness for offing meddling teens comes into play, and Willy's Wonderland is a worse movie for it. Hayesville high schoolers Liv (Emily Tosta, Party of Five), Chris (Kai Kadlec, Dropouts), Kathy (Caylee Cowan, Incision), Aaron (Christian Delgrosso, School Spirits), Bob (Terayle Hill, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Dan (Jonathan Mercedes, Cobra Kai) know that something isn't right at Willy's. They're aware that folks have gone missing there before, too. And, after the rest of the group helps Liv escape the handcuffs her guardian and local sheriff Eloise Lund (Beth Grant, Words on Bathroom Walls) uses to try to keep her safe, they all head to the condemned building to stop The Janitor from becoming its next victim. When it wallows in by-the-numbers slasher territory, just with homicidal puppets and not maniacal humans picking off pesky teens, Willy's Wonderland delivers the least-engaging version of its premise. That's when it resembles the video game Five Nights at Freddy's mixed with terrible sequels to 80s fare like Friday the 13th, and blandly so. Lewis and Parsons might intend to wink and nod at the decades-old pictures that started their chosen subgenre, rather than lazily ape them — as the retro animatronic designs appear to indicate — but when their film happily embraces every cliche it can, it's neither fun or funny. The flick's disposable adolescents make the usual range of stupid choices, including having sex in the doomed space, and whenever they open their mouths, they rarely do the movie any favours. Indeed, the dialogue is so thin, clunky and unconvincing that you can be forgiven for desperately wishing that, like Cage's unnamed drifter, no one in the feature spoke. It isn't hard to squander Cage's talents in a lacklustre-at-best movie, though. Lewis can take solace in the fact that plenty of directors have, and their star has let them. Of late, the actor's resume overflows with films that've only garnered attention because he's in them — see also: the tedious Jiu Jitsu and Primal in just the past two years — and Willy's Wonderland easily joins them. He's nowhere near his best here, but he's still the best thing about the picture. Jittery editing, oversaturated visuals and oh-so-much formula can't dampen his noiseless performance, although, conversely, he can't help Willy's Wonderland overcome its many struggles. 2021 has already let Cage completists see him drip profanity and wax lyrical about the origins of curse words in History of Swear Words, so perhaps this dialogue-free affair is just his way of retaining a sense of cosmic Cage balance. It's never anywhere near as goofy, wacky or out-there as it seems to think, however, and it's positively dull whenever its leading man is out of sight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE5-hkHIZF4
This December, you can score a bottle of vino for as little as $8.50 a pop thanks to Vinomofo's Boxing Day Sale. Running from Friday, December 25 till Thursday, December 31, the sale will offer up to 70 percent off a heap of local and international wines — and it'll all get delivered straight to your doorstep for free. So, get ready to stock up on vino to help ring in the New Year. Vinomofo is an online wine company for those who love wine, but without all the pretension that sometimes comes with it. The Melbourne-based company delivers wine to thousands of people around the world — so it's safe to say it knows what it's doing when it comes to grape juice. The Boxing Day sale will see some of the biggest price drops from Vinomofo yet and will include more than 100 wines. It'll be adding additional daily wine deals over the week, too. Think celebratory champagne, epic-value prosecco and plenty of summer-suitable rosé, plus a huge range of white and red varieties — all for a steal. And, to top it off, shipping for all orders purchased in that time period will be free. Score epic wine deals via Vinomofo's Boxing Day Sale — for a limited time only.
Boasting zombies, cats, ramen, crime and a Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker, the annual Japanese Film Festival is back — and it's making its way around the country with a hefty lineup. Touring Sydney until November 25 and Melbourne from November 22 until December 1, JFF's 2018 iteration delves into the breadth of Japanese cinema. Indeed, ranging beyond the usual suspects is where this festival excels. Everyone loves Studio Ghibli and Godzilla, two of the Asian nation's biggest cinema icons; however there's more to Japan's film industry than gorgeous animation and giant beasts. Much, much more, in fact. JFF features 31 movies that prove that's the case, including our six must-see picks. Because this festival really is all about variety, one of them even stars Josh Hartnett. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2XfUDfjN0 ONE CUT OF THE DEAD A box office extravaganza in Japan that has made its super low budget back several hundred times over (yes, several hundred), One Cut of the Dead starts out like many a zombie flick. Combine a group of people, a creepy setting and a sudden attack of the undead, and you know what you're in for — even if the victims are a team of filmmakers making a zombie movie, and even if it's all initially captured in one unending take. With Shinichiro Ueda's movie, however, you really don't know what you're in for, even when you're certain that you do Saying more is saying too much, but this is a smart, energetic and highly enjoyable take on a busy genre that has a heap of tricks and twists up its sleeves. Book here. https://vimeo.com/252904630 OH LUCY! Resembling a reversal of Lost in Translation, Oh Lucy! follows a Japanese woman seeking more in her life — and finding it in an American in Tokyo. That said, this engaging drama is never quite that straightforward. When the single and unhappy Setsuko (Shinobu Terajima) falls for her English teacher John (Josh Hartnett), she's also trying to hold onto the blonde wig-wearing alter-ego, Lucy, that he's asked her to adopt as part of their lessons. Terajima is fantastic as a lonely soul seeking a different future that she didn't know she wanted, while Japanese-American director Atsuko Hirayanagi combines a somewhat whimsical scenario with deep character insights as she adapts her short film of the same name. Book here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f0nXOk8kJk THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES The cutest film on this or any film festival lineup this year, The Travelling Cat Chronicles isn't afraid to dial up the emotion. Splashing such strong feelings about works a treat for this book-to-screen adaptation, with themes of loyalty, positivity and kindness shining through. The four-legged Nana is an ex-stray cat who is taken in by the kindly Satoru (Sota Fukushi), but her human companion eventually has to find the feisty feline a new home. As they hit the road to visit Satoru's friends, this heartfelt film steps through his backstory and his time with his adorable moggie, all with Nana offering her thoughts. As an ode to the joys of having a pet through life's ups and downs, this moving movie is a sweet delight. Book here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plr3V4TYBQE THE THIRD MURDER Before Hirokazu Kore-eda made one of 2018's great movies in the form of Palme d'Or-winning family drama Shoplifters, the prolific Japanese director stepped into the world of crime. The Third Murder might seem like a departure for a filmmaker known for exploring the bonds of blood, but this quiet yet poignant effort hews closer to his preferred territory than it initially appears. After Misumi (Koji Yakusho) is arrested for murder and robbery, lawyer Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama) is tasked with finding the truth, although that proves far from a simple task. A big winner at this year's Japanese Academy Awards, the end result takes Kore-eda's trademarks into darker yet no less open-hearted and empathetic terrain — complete with his usual winning way with actors. Book here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slop_4sK5PE THE BLOOD OF WOLVES Crime is a gritty, bloody, pulpy business in The Blood of Wolves — and a violent one, too. That's typically the case in yakuza dramas, which filmmaker Kazuya Shiraishi has clearly seen plenty of; however he has still crafted an involving addition to the fold that nods to the past while standing on its own merits. Detective Ogami (Koji Yakusho) and his newly graduated partner Hioka (Tori Matsuzaka) drive the action as they attempt to find a missing person, only to be drawn into the all-out gang turf war that's taking over the city. Set in Hiroshima in 1988, this Japanese underworld flick doesn't hold back, including when it comes to gruesome interrogations — and to ramping up the brutal thrills. Book here. WILDERNESS A word of warning: Wilderness isn't a quick endeavour, with this marathon two-part film clocking in at more than five hours. JFF will screen it with an intermission; however this epic cinema experience is worth getting cosy for. Based on a 1961 novel, Yoshiyuki Kishi's feature might take place just three years in the future now, in 2021, but it has much to say about Japanese society and its expectations, as well as about male friendships. Ultimately a boxing-focused drama set in in a Tokyo that's crumbling rather than bustling, and exploring the stories of quick-tempered Shinji (Masaki Suda) and shy Kenji (Yang Ik-June), this lengthy effort packs a considerable punch. Book here. The Japanese Film Festival screens at Sydney's Event Cinemas George Street from Thursday, November 15 to Sunday, November 25, and at Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image from Thursday, November 22 to Sunday, December 2. For more information, visit the festival website.
Australia is just getting accustomed to life without single-use plastic bags; however Europe is set to go one step further, backing a directive to ban a number of single-use plastic items within the European Union. The European parliament's plan was drawn up to specifically combat the growing amount of plastic that's clogging up the world's oceans, specifically targeting plastic cutlery, plates, stirrers and straws, as well as cotton buds and balloon sticks. And the target date for phasing out these products is soon: 2021. The EU's highlighted items rank among the top ten products found in the sea, the directive states, with reducing the consumption of food containers and beverage cups also on the agenda. By 2025, all EU members will also be required to collect 90 percent of single-use plastic beverage bottles for recycling, while awareness campaigns will ramp up for the likes of general plastic packets and wrappings, sanitary items such as wet wipes and sanitary towels, and cigarette butts. The draft legislation received overwhelming support, passing 571 votes to 53, although it's not yet law. It is, however, the latest recognition that the war on waste is one that needs serious attention. The British parliament announced plans to go plastic-free earlier in the year, France has banned plastic plates, cups and cutlery from 2020, while the Australian government has pledged to ensure that 100 percent of the country's packaging is recyclable, compostable or reusable in the next seven years. And that's on top of the flurry of supermarkets, big name brands, well-known food chains and furniture behemoths making their own commitments to reduce, recycle or eradicate single-use plastics from their operations.
Baz Luhrmann has always had a knack for casting. As his three-decade filmography shows, he's long had a talent for plenty more — dazzling imagery, pitch-perfect needle drops, and a hyperactive and immersive vibe that makes viewers feel like they've stepped right into his movies, for starters — but his films are always immaculately cast. He had 90s teens swooning over Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. His made Elizabeth Debicki a star via The Great Gatsby. And just try to name someone who didn't want Ewan McGregor to serenade them after Moulin Rouge!. You can't; they don't exist. Elvis, Luhrmann's biopic about the king of rock 'n' roll, is no different. Indeed, the acclaimed Australian filmmaker wouldn't have made it if he wasn't able to find the right actor for the job. And that stellar stroke of casting, enlisting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Austin Butler to sport the pompadour, sideburns and oh-so-many jumpsuits, has exactly the effect that Luhrmann intended. Watching Butler in the film's meticulous recreations of Presley's live performances, you instantly understand why the singer became an icon. You see what audiences in the 50s, 60s and 70s saw. Even better: you feel as thrilled and excited as they must've felt. Charting Presley's life from his birth in Tupelo, Mississippi to his death in 1977 at the age of 42 — as told by his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) — Elvis spans the details that a big-screen biography about one of entertainment's most famous names needs to. It's also made by a filmmaker with his own name recognition and sense of style. The result: an Elvis movie and a Luhrmann movie. It has the swagger of both. It mixes Presley's songs — some sung by Butler, some by the man himself, some blending the two — with hip hop. It sashays between swirling imagery and a Luhrmann-esque sensory onslaught to concerts so electrifying that you can almost smell the sweat. It's little wonder that Elvis debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to a 12-minute standing ovation. It's also unsurprising that bringing the film back to Australia, including to the Gold Coast where it was shot, was one helluva party. During the whirlwind Aussie tour, ahead of the movie's local release on June 23, we chatted to Luhrmann about all things Elvis — spanning everything from telling more than just Presley's story to Butler's virtually fated casting, thank you, thank you very much. THE MUSIC BIOPIC ALL SHOOK UP From Strictly Ballroom, his hit debut back in 1992, through to his 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby, his most recent big-screen release until now, music has been a crucial part of Luhrmann's films. Perhaps that's why Elvis feels like a movie that he was always going to make — and the style of feature, a music biopic, that was always going to pop onto his resume at some point. Asked if it felt that way to him, Luhrmann says that he was drawn to making more than just a music biopic. "I always liked the way Shakespeare would take a historical figure and make a bigger idea," he says — and as Romeo + Juliet fans know, Luhrmann's long been a fan of the Bard. "And I was so in love with Amadeus. I don't know how old I was when I saw that, but the thing about that film is it's called Amadeus but it's not really about Mozart. It's Salieri's story — and who the hell is Sailieri? That's the point of the movie. He was the most famous composer on the planet, and god goes and puts genius in this piglet of a person and he's very angry about it. So the film's about jealousy," Luhrmann continues. "I wanted to use the canvas of Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker — never a Colonel, never a Tom, never a Parker — this giant, out-there character, who, you know, was a carnival barker and a sort of Svengali type. He saw this kid who had grown up in one of the few white houses in the Black community and went 'I don't know what he's doing but that's the best carnival act I've ever seen'. And I just think the spread of the life — the 50s, 60s, 70s — if you want to explore America, what a great canvas. And through music, what a great canvas." FROM DANCING TO 'BURNING LOVE' TO DIRECTING AN ELVIS MOVIE Thanks to a wonderful piece of trivia from Luhrmann's past, directing Elvis almost seems like it was meant to be. He says the same about Butler playing Elvis — but only Luhrmann won a dancing contest to 'Burning Love' when he was ten. "I did. I went up to the DJ and I said 'hey mate, can you put on 'Burning Love' because it really gets going, you know?' Luhrmann recalls. "And we had the matinees at our little cinema for a while" — because, yes, Luhrmann's father Leonard ran a small-town movie theatre when he was growing up — "and I just thought he was cool". Ask a teenage Baz about Presley, though, and his answer would've differed. Unpacking why is part of the reason he has made Elvis now. "Pretty quickly, by the time I was about 18, I was into Bowie and stuff like that, and Elvis kind of was in the background," Luhrmann says. "But I think he was always present to me, but I was also very aware that under 35, he's just kind of a Halloween costume. My kids are like, he's the funny guy in the white suit, you know?" "Anything that is iconic, that becomes rusty — at some point something iconic must've been amazing, must've felt amazing, but it's just become ossified," Luhrmann continues. "So I've spent my life taking kind of implausibly cheesy things and trying to re-code them so that what they felt like, you can feel again." In what quickly proves typical Luhrmann fashion, he has an anecdote to explain, one relating to one of the most memorable songs in his movies yet. "When I was doing Moulin Rouge!, we were thinking about the key love song, and I was at a piano bar in San Diego. And 'Your Song' came on. And the guy was like "it's a little bit funny…" — every cheesy bar in the world would play 'Your Song' by Elton John. But I went home with Anton [Monsted, the film's executive music supervisor, and Elvis' music supervisor as well] and we listened to the original recording. And, we realised, what an amazing song." GETTING THE RIGHT ELVIS IN THE BUILDING Call it a case of suspicious minds: if Luhrmann was going to make Elvis, he wasn't going to cast just anyone. The world is full of Elvis impersonators, which is a skill all of its own. But that wasn't what Luhrmann was looking for — and although Harry Styles was also considered, the pop star wasn't what the director was after, either. Butler wanted the part so badly that he made and sent a video of himself singing 'Unchained Melody' before Luhrmann was even casting. "It wasn't like an audition," the filmmaker says. "He talks about it now, but I only learned recently or during the process that what happened was, he'd made another video and it wasn't good, he thought. And he had lost his mum the same year that Elvis did. So he has this nightmare and he goes down the stairs and thinks 'what I am going to do with this terror?'." "So he goes down and he just sort of, he's in a bathrobe, and he's playing it, and shooting with an iPhone as he's singing it. And I thought, it wasn't an audition. I thought it was like spy cam or something. I said 'who is this? What is this?'." "And then he came in, and pretty much he was Elvis from the moment he walked in," Luhrmann continues. "He just kept getting more and more Elvis, to the point where during the pandemic I had to tell him to slow down, like he was going to break himself. But I think it's like a life or death commitment for him." THOSE PHENOMENAL LIKE-YOU'RE-THERE CONCERT SCENES Strictly Ballroom had brilliantly choreographed and shot ballroom scenes. Moulin Rouge! was filled with big musical numbers, including in the eponymous Parisian establishment. The Great Gatsby boasted parties that could sit in the dictionary under 'decadence'. Luhrmann knows how to direct a spectacle — and, in Elvis, that comes via the concert scenes. Chatting about them, he credits the team effort — and Butler. "Firstly, you've got to start with Austin, whose commitment — it was like, it's a freak situation. I mean, his casting in the role is almost a freak situation. It's like forces beyond me almost, without getting too Hammer horror. He was drawn to be in this movie, and I wasn't going to make it unless I could find someone to play it," Luhrmann notes. "Then, COVID meant that whatever he was doing, he had to do it for another year. And by then he was so Elvis." Obviously, there's more to Elvis' centrepiece scenes than just pointing the camera at the Butler, as exceptional as he is. Luhrmann was determined to use the recreated footage to show — rather than tell — the audience what made Presley a star, and so incendiary, and why he was such a hit. Again, viewers don't just see the singer and his impact; they feel it, like they're there in that audience in the 50s, 60s and 70s. "Working with [cinematographer] Mandy Walker and [executive music producer] Elliott Wheeler, and the music people and all that, [we were] making sure shot by shot — making sure the look, shot by shot, it was identical in many regards," Luhrmann says. "But then you flip the coin, and you show what you didn't see in the documentaries and what you don't see in the concert footage. So it's getting the two sides to it." Elvis screens in Australian and New Zealand cinemas from June 23. Read our full review. Image: Hugh Stewart / © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Send in the clowns, Stephen King must have thought to himself back in the '80s at he put pen to paper on It. The prolific horror author wasn't the first to turn makeup-caked comic performers into nightmare fodder, but boy oh boy did he help make the concept stick. One glance at Pennywise — the white-faced, flame-haired figure who jumped from the novel to a '90s mini-series and now a feature film — and it's easy to see why the character has become so iconic. Even for those who don't suffer from coulrophobia, he's a terrifying sight that no one would want to spy peering out at them from a storm drain. As such, It is at its best when it embraces Pennywise's frightening presence and runs with it, whether he's roaming around a crumbling old house, splattering blood all over a bathroom or crawling out of a screen. It knows which buttons to push, and when to have the sinister villain appear suddenly to ratchet up the scares. That's to say nothing of the fact that, in addition to just being an inherently upsetting concept, an evil clown makes for a potent symbol of innocence corrupted. Indeed, when it comes to watching kids get spooked by not only a shape-shifting monster, but by a spate of dramatic and everyday childhood traumas, the film delivers. We first meet Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) on a rainy 1988 afternoon in Derry, Maine, as pre-schooler Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) floats a paper boat in the gutter. Needless to say, it doesn't end well for the curious boy. The next summer, his 13-year-old brother Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) still holds out hope that Georgie is alive, and enlists his pals to help in the search. From the outspoken Richie (Finn Wolfhard) and mama's boy Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), to the overweight Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and rumour-plagued Beverly (Sophia Lillis), they're the picked-upon, self-named Losers Club of the school, each with their own set of troubles. Before long they all start seeing Pennywise — along with the unfriendly entity's various other guises — as they delve deeper into their small-town's death-ridden past. In a considerable step up for Mama director Andy Muschietti, It assembles a clown car full of effective elements: horrific imagery aplenty, the skills to make it stick, and the smarts to show that supernatural bogeymen and real-life bullies aren't all that different. Each does the trick, even when viewers can guess what's coming. It helps, too, that it's all paired with an impressive cast. Skarsgård, brother of True Blood's Alexander, is an unease-inducing delight as the murderous Pennywise, which might be the only acceptable way to say something nice about a character who's most definitely not. The kids all play their parts well, though relative newcomer Lillis steals the show from the teenage boys she finds herself sharing the screen with. Ironically, the inclusion of Stranger Things' Wolfhard draws attention to the film's main weakness: the demogorgon that is nostalgia. Swapping the book's '50s setting for the decade in which it was written smacks of jumping on the current '80s-loving bandwagon. It's a cycle as vicious as Pennywise feeding off the fear he creates: the Netflix series was influenced by King's body of work, and the new movie in turn tries to ape its success. Ultimately, it leaves It feeling suitably unsettling, yet all-too-familiar in its eagerness to copy recent retro-styled hits and era-appropriate horror fare. Even so, you'll probably still have clown-filled dreams after you finish watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulSJ1yQmZ5Q
In US, the middle of 2024 has been dubbed the "summer of Shyamalan". The seasons don't fit Down Under for such a catchy alliterative term to apply, but it's still a big time for the Shyamalan family on the big screen. In August, M Night Shyamalan's Trap, his 16th feature, has a date with cinemas. One of its stars: Saleka, aka M Night's eldest daughter, with the IRL R&B singer playing a musician in the serial-killer thriller. Cinephiles needn't wait until then for a Shyamalan-driven horror movie, though, with the Ireland-set and Dakota Fanning (Ripley)-led The Watchers marking the film directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan. Ishana isn't new to the genre that's clearly in her genes — she says that working in it "felt very inevitable", she tells Concrete Playground — after initially making an imprint as a director and writer on TV's Servant, which M Night was the showrunner on. But this is her first feature, and it both continues the family tradition and champions her own interpretation of eerie screen stories. Based on the novel by AM Shine, The Watchers embraces the gothic side of horror as it unfurls its story in an expansive forest that's a beacon for stray souls. Fanning's American-abroad Mina finds much among its trees, including Madeline (Olwen Fouéré, The Tourist), Ciara (Georgina Campbell, Barbarian) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan, We Are Lady Parts); a bunker called The Coop that's their only form of shelter; and the titular creatures who observe their every movement each night. When the woodland won't let you leave, no one can escape it by daylight and danger lurks at night, however, Mina and her new roommates risk being consigned to remaining lost. If Mina's moniker seems like a clue that there's a twist coming — another Shyamalan trait — it springs from Shine's pages. The character has a sister called Lucy, though, a change that Ishana did make in adapting the book for the screen. Yes, there is indeed a surprise at the film's core as it charts its characters attempting to work out why they're stranded, what's watching them and how to leave the remote thicket peppered with warning signs about points of no return, and also darkened burrows in the ground, but nods Bram Stoker's way are an illustration of how Ishana has taken her influences from far beyond her dad's filmography. "It was actually a very unintentional thing," she explains of the names. "I didn't think about Dracula until much later, and I think it's one of those things where you're subliminally inspired by various things. I realised I had named the sister Lucy later, and I was like 'oh my god, those are the two names'," she notes. "But gothic literature and just gothic art in general was a big, big influence and driving factor of this particular movie. It's a style that I love, and I think it's just so, so wonderful and fun. So I very much structured the story to feel like a gothic piece — so I think it's all just intertwined in that way." [caption id="attachment_961260" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marion Curtis / Starpix for Warner Bros.[/caption] Still, viewers can be forgiven for spying what Ishana has inherited from M Night on The Watchers, and where a lifetime of having a father making horror movies has shaped her as a filmmaker. The writer/director behind The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, The Visit, Split and Glass is also one of the picture's producers. Supernatural horror movie? Tick. An inescapable sense of tension as suspense drips? Tick again. Audiences waiting for the pieces of the film's puzzle to fall into place? Tick once more. Narrative-changing revelations? A haunted feel to the feature's lead performance? A strong visual command? Just keep ticking. One thing that Ishana, who was a second-unit director on her dad's Old and Knock at the Cabin, definitely hasn't continued is M Night's fondness for popping up on-screen in his own movies. "Absolutely not. I'm very afraid being in front of the camera. There was one thing I was thinking I could do as a joke, but then I was like 'that's not me — I can't, I can't cameo'," she says. She was keen to give her father a part, but it didn't pan out. "I wanted to put him in the movie actually, but I didn't get to do it." What did Ishana learn from being surrounded by filmmaking from birth? From working on Servant, too? Was getting behind the lens always her path? Why did Shine's book strike a chord? Also, how was Studio Ghibli great Hayao Miyazaki an influence? With The Watchers opening in Australian cinemas on Thursday, June 6 and in New Zealand on Thursday, June 13, we spoke with Ishana about all of the above and more, including about this Shyamalan-heavy period at the flicks, telling original tales and the expectations that come with her surname. On How Writing and Directing Episodes of Servant Prepared Ishana for Making Her First Feature "It was such a wonderful, wonderful experience for me. I think coming right out of film school and going to Servant, I was very much able to treat that as a second film school. And I think just the style of the show, being so restrained and limited, gave all the filmmakers on that project the ability to play with form and technique as your main languages there. So I really felt throughout each episode that I was able to think very specifically about those base elements of filmmaking, like shot-making and what specifically I wanted to get out of these performances. That was very much, I think, an archetypal film experience for me." On Ishana's Initial Response to AM Shine's Book "The book was brought to us by a producer to read it for consideration. I had no context to know what it was about, just had the cover and the synopsis on the back, and just started reading it — and it was just something that I felt incredibly locked in on. I thought it was just such masterful storytelling within the book, and had all of these tonal elements that I was interested in playing with in my exploration of the genre space as well. And then by the end of the book, it becomes this really masterful depth-specific world. And I just fell in love with it, so it felt inevitable in that way." On the Shared Feeling of Claustrophobia That Simmers in Both The Watchers and Servant "I think the process has been very much about leaning into my own fears — which, yeah, I'm afraid of finding myself in situations like that. As a human being, your mind just goes to those places of 'what if I was trapped somewhere? What if I couldn't get out?'. So those ideas I think all felt very, very, quite real and and relatable to me. I haven't thought too much about if that's something that's specific to me or just what I feel. Overall, I think I often have anxiety of being stuck in various forms of my life. One of my main fears as I navigate the world is being trapped in some feeling or with people that I'm scared of. So that is definitely something that I feel quite personally in my life — always the feeling of needing to get out of a place and the ability to move." On Ishana's Approach to Cultivating a Mood and Vibe in Horror "To me, I think the guiding principle was always to just lean into the visuals and energies that I felt love for, that I felt seduced by. A lot of times, horror or survivalist pieces like this have a very similar aesthetic, which is bleak and stripped down. So I was really interested in exploring that same feeling, but in much more maximalist, grandiose visual language. So that was one of the most-interesting things about it to me — how do you create a tone that feels completely fresh in this experience that we've seen a lot in film?" On Playing with Shadows and Light Visually in The Watchers — and Using Imagery to Reflect the Film's Themes "It became very clear to me early on that the movie hinges on daylight and darkness, and that contrast between between light and dark, which is obviously a very classical painterly technique to use — that chiaroscuro approach to the work. But it very much was embedded into the concept of the movie. Even on the book, on the novel itself, the tagline is 'stay in the light' there. So I was really interested in playing with that element of it. I had talked a lot with my DP [Eli Arenson, Lamb] and my production designer [Ferdia Murphy, The Last Girl] about creating this very classic, literal. stage-like approach to our hero space in the movie, which is The Coop, which you see as where they've been trapped. So that was very much something that we went in and wanted to do, where it was distinctive pools of light that our characters are moving in and out of, and it feels like they have that feeling when you don't really control the space that you're in." On Considering Hayao Miyazaki a Source of Inspiration for The Watchers "I grew up watching the Miyazaki films and they, throughout my life, have been a very spiritual thing for me. So I'm always aspiring to mimic that feeling that I feel when I watch them, which is one of wonder and innocence. I felt when I read the book that it had exactly that thing, which is this sense of a character going on an adventure and experiencing a new world. That was very, very exciting for me and gave me a lot of peace to know that I could enter the filmmaking space with something that felt really wondrous to me — so more in the vibe of what I'm trying to achieve with the movie, which I think just carries you into other worlds and hopefully, hopefully has that same feeling." On Deciding to Go Into the Family Business of Filmmaking "It was something that came to me much later in life as I was about to go to school and deciding what I wanted to do as my future. I'd always move through different art forms and known that I had wanted to be an artist in some way — and then it was only later in my life when I was able to even visualise the possibility of myself being a filmmaker. It came very much as a product of all the various things that I love doing going up. And so it felt very much like a surprise to me that this was the thing I was interested in." On What You Learn When Making Movies Is All Around You From Birth "My whole life has been a process of watching and listening to my dad as he's moved through his creative journey, and that's been just so wonderful, I think, to see the morals that he's built and the preciousness with which he regards the art form. So I really think I could've come into filmmaking already with that emphasis on technique and approach to the art-making process. So it was really wonderful, I think. I tried to honour his approach to filmmaking, which is respecting it as much as possible, and that it takes an incredible amount of emotional stability and persistence and work. I really am lucky that I have that visual to touch base with when I'm struggling with the experience myself." [caption id="attachment_961268" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marion Curtis / Starpix for Warner Bros.[/caption] On The Watchers and Trap Forming a Season of Shyamalan It's very interesting. He and I talk about it all the time because it is so anomalous, I think, that there's these two movies are coming out so close to each other. They're very, very different movies. They exist in completely different spaces, which I think is quite cool that they're not of the same world. All things happen for a reason, so my hope is that they can both artistically speak to each other and can communicate. But overall it's just a wonderful thing that we have this space within a giant summer to put out two original movies — I think that's just a wonderful, wonderful thing." On the Shyamalans Making Original Movies at a Time When Existing Intellectual Property and Long-Running Franchises Dominate "It's a different world for sure, and I'm definitely pondering it all the time. I think both he and I value that classical experience of going into theatre with a bunch of people who are different than you and watching something very specific that you didn't know anything about, and feeling the same way about it. I think we both believe that there is this power of a collective original experience where you're seeing some fresh cutting-edge stuff. It's definitely something that I will try to preserve that space as well. And I see a lot of other young filmmakers doing the same, so it makes me quite hopeful for the future of movies, that we can have all different flavours of things." On the Expectations That Come with Ishana Following in M Night's Footsteps — Especially in Horror "The genre for me felt very inevitable. It's just always the art that I've been drawn to and that I've made has played in this slightly darker space. So that felt there was no other option for me than to enter a similar space to him. There's definitely opinions and expectations — and I think I love that feeling. There's something to prove, and having to cut my own space into the creative spirit is a really intriguing challenge for me. So I'm just trying to do the best I can and be as creatively honest as possible, and then I hope things things will go as they should." The Watchers released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, June 6 and hits New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, June 13. Read our review.
If you're looking for a unique Las Vegas experience, this is beautiful in every single way: an Airbnb hosted by Christina Aguilera, with the entire weekend booking designed around the the 'Dirrty', 'Genie in a Bottle', 'What a Girl Wants' and 'Lady Marmalade' singer. She'll chat with you over drinks. You'll hit up her favourite Vegas restaurant. You'll also see her intimate show in the Nevada city. And, of course, you'll spend two nights making the most of your reservation, including slumbering just off the Vegas strip. Missed Aguilera at her one-night-only gig in Melbourne in 2023, which was her first Down Under since 2007? This is your chance to go one better — and head to her, too. Here's hoping that your calendar is blank in the near future, however, because the Airbnb stay is only on offer from Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2. [caption id="attachment_942172" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dennis Leupold[/caption] "Welcome to Las Vegas! I'm a big believer in self-love and embracing your true, authentic self, so I'm thrilled to host a stay in Sin City for fans to let loose and give themselves some much deserved TLC for the weekend," said Aguilera about her hosting gig. "This glam stay is all about empowerment, pleasure and play. Get ready." Included in the booking, which covers up to four people: that conversation with Christina while drinking cocktails; staying in the luxe four-bedroom, four-bathroom Airbnb for the weekend; a private burlesque lesson from choreographer and dancer Sarah Mitchell, who has worked with the singer for more than a decade; and VIP seats to Christina Aguilera at Voltaire, the star's current Las Vegas residency. You'll also score that restaurant experience; a glam session with Christina's team to learn about — and don — her looks — as well as a boudoir photoshoot. Thanks to Christina's sexual-wellness brand Playground, you'll take some goodies home with you, too. The one-of-a-kind Aguilera-focused stay is the accommodation platform's latest such once-in-a-lifetime experience. Shrek's swamp, Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse, the Ted Lasso pub, the Moulin Rouge! windmill, Hobbiton, the Bluey house, the Paris theatre that inspired The Phantom of the Opera, the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine, The Godfather mansion, the South Korean estate where BTS filmed In the Soop, the Sanderson sisters' Hocus Pocus cottage and Santa's festive cabin in Finland have all featured before (and the list goes on). For you, if this is what a girl (or guy) wants, needs, will make you happy and set you free, you'll need to try to nab the free booking at 5am AEDT / 4am AEST / 7am NZDT on Friday, February 23. Whoever gets these special kinds of Airbnb reservations is usually responsible for their own travel, including for this one. So, making the trip to Las Vegas and back is on your own dime. The rest? Money really can't buy it. For more information about the Christina Aguilera-hosted Las Vegas Airbnb stay, or to book at 5am AEDT / 4am AEST / 7am NZDT on Friday, February 23 for a stay across Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2, 2024, head to the Airbnb website. Images: Victor Leung. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Hip hop used to be associated with overt displays of machismo, but there has been a steady evolution since those days. Arguably, this advancement and modernisation is represented nowhere better than with the rise to prominence of Cakes Da Killa. Originating on New York's queer rap scene, Cakes Da Killa has earned plaudits for his fusion of hip hop, house and dance over the last decade, alongside acts such as Mykki Blanco and Le1f. With the beats from his latest album, Killa Essentials (2021), in tow, the game-changing creative's impending trip to Sydney is sure to bring an unforgettable evening to Oxford Art Factory. Images: Ebru Yildiz
For the past five years, Josh Niland has been showcasing his seafood prowess to Sydneysiders, with the acclaimed chef first opening restaurant Saint Peter in 2016, then launching fishmonger Fish Butchery in 2018. Last year, he shared his recipes in The Whole Fish Cookbook, letting seafood fiends everywhere follow in his footsteps at home. And now that ocean-focused text has just picked up the prestigious James Beard Book of the Year Award. On Wednesday, May 27 in the US, Niland nabbed the coveted prize — which is considered the top culinary book award in America and worldwide. Handed out by the culinary-focused non-profit James Beard Foundation each year, the James Beard Awards recognise food-centric media across a number of categories, including chefs and restaurants, books, journalism and broadcast media. They also bestow prizes in fields such as restaurant design, leadership, humanitarian work and lifetime achievement. In receiving the Book of the Year Award, Niland became the first Australian to ever take out the prize. And, he scored a second honour as well, with The Whole Fish Cookbook also winning in the Restaurant and Professional field. Niland's debut cookbook, The Whole Fish Cookbook champions his culinary philosophy, with an ethical and sustainable approach to seafood paramount to his cooking. The book's recipes include cod liver pate on toast, fish cassoulet, roast fish bone marrow, and the chef's 'perfect' version of fish and chips. [caption id="attachment_771910" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Rob Palmer[/caption] The Whole Fish Cookbook has been picking up praise and accolades since it was first published last September, with the James Beard Book of the Year Award joining a long list of gongs. It also received the Food Book Award at the 2019 André Simon Awards, was named illustrated book of the year at the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards, earned photographer Rob Palmer the National Portrait Gallery's National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020 for one of his photos of Niland, and has been longlisted for the Australian Booksellers Association Booksellers' Choice Awards 2020. To peruse the full list of 2020 James Beard Award winners, visit the awards' website. For more information about The Whole Fish Cookbook, head to publisher Hardie Grant's website. Top images: Rob Palmer.
It has been 13 years since Planet Earth, the 11-part documentary series that combined stunning high-definition images of this place we all call home with David Attenborough's inimitable narration. It has been three years since Planet Earth II, the show's six-part sequel, did the same too. A third program, Planet Earth III, is slated to join them in 2022 — but you don't need to wait that long for your next Attenborough-voiced nature doco fix. Four years in the making, Netflix's Our Planet will help fill the gap. Releasing in April, it isn't related to BBC's Planet shows — which also include The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet — but it does still feature Attenborough's informative tones. Across eight episodes, the iconic broadcaster and natural historian will talk viewers through the planet's remaining wilderness areas and their animal inhabitants. The series is made in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, so expect to see plenty of astonishing and majestic critters. And we do mean plenty. Our Planet was filmed in 50 countries across all the continents of the world, heading everywhere from the remote Arctic wilderness to the South American jungles — and to sprawling African landscapes and the depths of the ocean, as well. In total, it took 600 crew members to shot the series, who helped capture a plethora of never-before-filmed sites over more than 3500 filming days. It's also filmed in ultra high-definition at 4K resolution, so should your TV support it, you'll be in for quite the detailed glimpse at the natural world. Check out the full trailer below: Our Planet starts streaming on Netflix on April 5. Image: (c) Ben Macdonald/Silverback Films.
It's time for another madcap, star-studded, pastel-hued adventure with Wes Anderson. Hooray! The follow-up to Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel follows Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a manager at the swanky eponymous establishment and his devoted lobby boy, Zero Moustafa. The suave Gustave is a hit with the mature lady guests, and when one of them dies, he is suspected of murder and theft. So he and his precious sidekick make a run for it, and the story unfolds into the whirlwind of adventure, mystery, romance and, of course, comedy that captivate us with Anderson's films. It looks like Anderson won't be abandoning his colourful, dreamy sets; dry, poker-faced humour; and eccentric characters anytime soon. The usual suspects in the cast include Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Tilda Swinton, Jude Law and Saoirse Ronan are also thrown in, making The Grand Budapest Hotel one Anderson's most dynamically cast films yet. The Grand Budapest Hotel is is in cinemas on Thursday, April 10, and thanks to Twentieth Century Fox, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk
It seems we can't get enough Robo-Cop inspired tech. The robot exoskeleton that confers superhuman strength is already out there, and now circuit-laden contact lenses are being developed to beam augmented reality straight to your retina. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed lenses embedded with semi-transparent electronics, which most pundits report as an internet accessible contact lens. The reality, at this stage, is much more modest. So far the team have been able to put an 8 x 8 pixel array on a contact lens, and tested it on rabbits for twenty minutes — think Robo-Rabbit playing a quick game of checkers, rather than Minority Report. This article by the lead researcher Babak A Parviz discusses the difficulties with developing an augmented reality contact lens, but shows that we already have the technology to overcome most of the hurdles. The only question is getting it small enough, and safe enough, to fit on 1.5 square centimetres of polymer that sits on your eye. The piece also suggests uses for the tech other than web surfing — being in constant contact with fluids, it would be an ideal place for sensors to monitor health metrics like glucose levels. Being able to bat your eyelids and check your email might still be a pipe-dream, but perhaps we're not so far from having a health bar in the corner of the 'screen' reminding us when to have our next check up. https://youtube.com/watch?v=h1SlPUkC6Fc [via PSFK]
It was the film that forced two beloved superheroes into a fight; however that's not the only battle Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has faced. Critics were far from impressed, and nor were the folks behind the Golden Raspberry Awards. After bestowing eight nominations upon the Zack Snyder-directed, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill-starring flick, the gongs also known as the Razzies have backed that up with four trophies. At the 37th awards, BvS took out worst screenplay; worst screen combo for Sad Affleck and his "baddest foe forever"; worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel; and worst supporting actor for Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Still, the movie's clashes are never over, it seems, with conservative political documentary Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party coming out on top — or is it bottom? — in the worst picture, worst actor and worst director fields (and, worst actress, though BvS didn't get a look in there). Kristen Wiig was among those adding an unwanted accolade to their resume, thanks to her work in Zoolander 2. The Razzies also recognise someone whose career has taken a turn in a better direction, with Mel Gibson this year's recipient of the Razzie Redeemer Award thanks to the success of Hacksaw Ridge. The Razzies are held the day before the Academy Awards, giving the industry a moment to consider the other side of the Hollywood filmmaking spectrum before showering the best and brightest of the year in statuettes. For anyone that's been living in a musical rather than in the real world, La La Land remains the Oscars favourite after nabbing a record-equalling 14 noms, but here's hoping there'll be plenty of love for eight-time-nominee Moonlight. Check out our helpful guide before the February 27 ceremony, Australian time. GOLDEN RASPBERRY NOMINEES AND WINNERS 2017 WORST PICTURE Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Dirty Grandpa Gods of Egypt Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Independence Day: Resurgence Zoolander 2 WORST ACTOR Ben Affleck, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Gerard Butler, Gods of Egypt and London Has Fallen Henry Cavill, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Robert De Niro, Dirty Grandpa Dinesh D'Souza [as Himself], Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Ben Stiller, Zoolander 2 WORST ACTRESS Megan Fox, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Tyler Perry, Boo! A Madea Halloween Julia Roberts, Mother's Day Becky Turner [as Hillary Clinton], Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Naomi Watts, Divergent Series: Allegiant and Shut-In Shailene Woodley, Divergent Series: Allegiant WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Julianne Hough, Dirty Grandpa Kate Hudson, Mother's Day Aubrey Plaza, Dirty Grandpa Jane Seymour, Fifty Shades of Black Sela Ward, Independence Day: Resurgence Kristen Wiig, Zoolander No. 2 WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR Nicolas Cage, Snowden Johnny Depp, Alice Through the Looking Glass Will Ferrell, Zoolander 2 Jesse Eisenberg, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Jared Leto, Suicide Squad Owen Wilson, Zoolander No. 2 WORST SCREEN COMBO Ben Affleck & His BFF (Baddest Foe Forever) Henry Cavill, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Any 2 Egyptian Gods or Mortals, Gods of Egypt Johnny Depp & His Vomitously Vibrant Costume, Alice Through the Looking Glass The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors, Collateral Beauty Tyler Perry & That Same Old Worn Out Wig, Boo! A Madea Halloween Ben Stiller and His BFF (Barely Funny Friend) Owen Wilson, Zoolander 2 WORST DIRECTOR Dinesh D'Souza and Bruce Schooley, Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Roland Emmerich, Independence Day: Resurgence Tyler Perry, Boo! A Madea Halloween Alex Proyas, Gods of Egypt Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ben Stiller, Zoolander 2 WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL Alice Through the Looking Glass Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Dawn of Justice Fifty Shades of Black Independence Day: Resurgence Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Zoolander 2 WORST SCREENPLAY Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Dirty Grandpa Gods of Egypt Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Independence Day: Resurgence Suicide Squad
Wave your hand, see a massive roster of musicians behind the microphone across the Harbour City: that's the SXSW Sydney Music Festival setup. The live tunes part of the event lets you wander between more than 200 performances on 25 stages over seven days if you have a wristband, and the 2024 lineup just keeps expanding. After a successful Australian debut in 2023, SXSW Sydney is back for a second year from Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20 — and the program announcements continue to drop. This time, the festival's music strand has added over 25 acts, plus a heap of speakers. When you're not dancing to China's Berlin Psycho Nurses, Indonesia's KATHMANDU and mindfreakk, YONLAPA from Thailand and Sydney's own 2touch making their live debut — and also the likes of Touch Sensitive, Heno., dogworld, GIMMY and Kurilpa Reach — you'll be hearing from Academy Award-winning composer AR Rahman as the man behind the Slumdog Millionaire score gets chatting. SXSW Sydney 2024 started revealing its lineup details back in May, and has kept growing it since. A further announcement arrived in June, then not one, not two, but three more in July — and also another, focusing on the free hub at Tumbalong Park, at the beginning of August. Accordingly, no one can say that they don't have anything to see when the fest makes its comeback this year, especially if the music bill gets your toes tapping. Other fresh additions span Arky Waters, Bakers Eddy, Big Sand, Charm of Finches, Dave Kent, Elizabeth M Drummond, Holiday Sidewinder, Hydra Fashion Week, Ivoris, Kinder Bloomen, Majak Door, Nao Yoshioka, overpass, Rub Of Rub, Tim Hicks, YAHYAH and Yawdoesitall among the folks taking to the stage. Joining the speakers: Priyanka Khimani, who was named one of the top music lawyers by Billboard; veteran bookers Marty Diamond and Larry Webman; A&R Island Records head Marihuzka Cornelius; and plenty more. In one of those aforementioned July drops, 2024's SXSW Sydney Music Festival also added 40-plus talents, such as the UK's Jorja Smith on the 'Be Honest' musician's Australian tour — and also Canada's Aysanabee, Thailand's PYRA, New Zealand's Brandn Shiraz and XUZZ, and the UK's Submerse. Aussies Brazen Barbie, Jamahl Yami, Kitschen Boy and Special Feelings scored a spot as well. And prior to that, the 2024 program already confirmed human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, author Johann Hari, Australian race car driver Molly Taylor, pianist Chad Lawson, Westworld's Luke Hemsworth hosting a session about the Tasmanian tiger, Aussie astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg, TikTok marketing head Sofia Hernandez, Heartbreak High star Ayesha Madon, cricketer David Warner, Mortal Kombat director Simon McQuoid and documentary Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts, about the new uses of former Pizza Hut buildings across America — and that's barely scratching the surface of the lineup specifics announced so far. SXSW Sydney 2024 will run from Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20 at various Sydney venues. Head to the SXSW Sydney website for further details. Images: Peter McMillan, Jordan Kirk, Jess Gleeson and Ian Laidlaw.
Renowned chef Alejandro Saravia is a longtime champion of the Gippsland region and he's been fiercely celebrating the area's finest produce at his 80 Collins Street restaurant Farmer's Daughters for the past 18 months. Now, he and the team are extending the love further afield, with a new eatery that's set to hero the whole of Victoria and its diverse regions. Dubbed Victoria by Farmer's Daughters, the 250-seat restaurant is gearing up to open on Thursday, July 28, in collaboration with the folks at Fed Square. Set overlooking the Yarra, it's a tasty, multi-faceted homage to the produce, people and places that make up this state we call home. Victoria boasts not only a bar, dining room and open kitchen, but also an all-weather terrace, an interactive 'Ingredients Table' and a Victorian wine library. The space itself celebrates our regional landscapes with an earthy colour palette splashed across interiors designed by Agents of Architecture, and a curation of homewares and art chosen to reflect a strong sense of place. Working alongside Saravia, Head Chef David Boyle will be plating up an ever-evolving food offering set to hop right across the state's regions, offering plenty of road trip inspiration along the way. Along with an a la carte menu, a second provenance menu will operate by rotation, showcasing a different 'region in residence' at any one time, celebrating its produce, winemakers and chefs. Expect plenty of theatrical flair as you watch ingredients being cooked over wood and charcoal, and devour share-friendly plates heroing produce like pasture-raised Summerfield lamb from the Pyrenees and whole rock lobster plucked from the waters of Apollo Bay. The custom-made, hand-carved Ingredients Table takes pride of place in the dining room — a sensory showcase of Victorian produce that'll change with the seasons. Of course, the drinks offering serves up another hearty dose of local love, with an all-Victorian lineup of beer, wine and spirits. But you can prepare to be especially wowed by the 20-seat wine library, which doubles as an education space and houses over 3000 bottles of wine. Masterclasses and tasting events will be regular occurrences here, overlooking the river. Find Victoria on the ground floor of the Yarra Building, Federation Square, Melbourne, from July 28. It'll open 5pm–late Thursday to Saturday, and 11.30am–5pm Sunday.
How many spider-men is the optimal amount of spider-men? Asking for the best Spider-franchise there is: the Spider-Verse series. Sure, 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home messed with multiverse madness, complete with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland's versions of the titular character — but the stunning 2018 Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse not only got there first, but topped that first. Now, the animated flick's upcoming sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going one better yet again. Initially set to release in 2022 — and even dropping a first trailer in 2021 — but now arriving in June 2023, Across the Spider-Verse is the first of two follow-ups to the Miles Morales (Shameik Moore, Wu-Tang: An American Saga)-focused franchise. And, it isn't holding pack on its spider-people. Where the initial film gave us a spider-woman, spider-robot and spider-pig, as well as Nicolas Cage as a 30s-era spider-vigilante, this one has another whole onslaught of Spideys heading Miles' way. This time around, the movie's Brooklyn-based friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is slightly older, and also faced with a spider-team, who are keen to protect the multiverse's existence. When there's that many Spideys, agreeing on how to handle things — including a new threat — isn't easy. That's how the clash between Miles and his fellow spider-folk comes about, as animated in the series' usual dazzling onslaught of colour and movement in the just-released sneak peek. Also included amid all the spider-alternatives in the trailer: Miles reuniting with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld, Hawkeye). And, there's Spider-Woman (Issa Rae, Insecure), the Spider-Verse version of The Vulture (Jorma Taccone, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) and the return of Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight). (If you're wondering about Isaac's character, he first turned up in the post-credits section of Into the Spider-Verse, and he's an alternate version of Spidey from a specific Marvel Comics imprint.) The voice cast spans Daniel Kaluuya (Nope) as Spider-Punk and Jason Schwartzman (I Love That for You) as The Spot as well, and Jake Johnson (Minx) is also back as Peter B Parker — alongside Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train) as Miles' dad and Luna Lauren Velez (Power Book II: Ghost). Expect to see Miles head into other Spidey realms, too, in a franchise that made every single live-action Spidey film pale in comparison to its initial instalment. Once again produced by The Afterparty's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — and this time co-written — Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by third film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2024. There's also a female-focused spinoff in the works as well. Check out the new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer below: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will release in cinemas Down Under on June 1, 2023.
Victoria's stunning Inverloch region is an epicurean haven, with plenty of top-notch local produce and cool-climate vino. If you find yourself atop Gippsland's rugged cliffs in the small regional town of Kilcunda, be sure to visit Udder & Hoe. This quaint little tin-shed store, set behind Kilcunda General Store, is packed to the brim with goods, heroing local producers and farmers. Here, you'll find tubs filled with fresh produce, stacks of freshly baked sourdough, olive oils and buckets filled with nuts and grains.
Whether you're the kind of fan who has a lightsaber on your shelf and a Jedi robe in your cupboard, or you prefer simply watching and rewatching every last second of the space-themed science fiction franchise, it has never been easier to indulge your love for Star Wars. We've just seen five new films hit big screens over the latter half of the past decade, The Mandalorian keeps bringing new tales to streaming and, pre-pandemic, an event devoted to the series was never too far away no matter where Down Under you reside. When 2021 rolls around, though, you'll be able to live, breathe and sleep the saga by staying not only in a themed hotel, but onboard a Star Wars spaceship. Yes, in the very near future, in this very galaxy, you can set your sights on Walt Disney World's immersive 360 vacation concept in Orlando. Disney first announced this addition to its growing theme park realm back in 2017, and dropped specific details for all those wannabe Jedis clamouring for a unique holiday back in 2019 — but now it has released a sneak peek of what its new hotel, called Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, will look like. When you're getting some shuteye, expect grey and orange tones combined with white surfaces, and an industrial look and feel as well. Fancy climbing up a ladder to kick back in a space built into an alcove — yes, as seen in oh-so-many space-set flicks? Well, based on the initial mockup imagery, that's in store. To answer the obvious question: no, you won't actually be going into space (although that idea isn't as out-of-this-world as it may sound). You will have a blast pretending that you're headed to a galaxy far, far, away, though. We're happy to report that the resort is taking the immersive part very seriously, with Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser allowing patrons to embark upon a two-day, two-night adventure on the starcruiser Halycon. First step: leave your real life at the door. Upon check-in, guests become a citizen of the galaxy — which means that, every minute of every day of your stay, you're a part of the Star Wars story happening around you. You'll hang out in the Atrium, where crew and passengers gather; operate the Halycon's navigation and defence systems, with plenty of guidance; and learn how to use a lightsaber, because an interactive Star Wars-themed stay wouldn't be complete without wielding a glowing weapon. You'll also sleep in the aforementioned spaceship cabins, drink in the passenger lounge and try to sneak into the crew-only engineering rooms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOGH5fpqStE&feature=emb_logo Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will form part of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Walt Disney World's new sprawling zone dedicated to the space-set franchise — which opened at the Orlando site, and at Disneyland in California as well, in 2019. For now, the hotel doesn't have an exact 2021 opening date given the current state of the world at the moment; however, you can sign up to register your interest. If you're keen to give it a whirl once it opens (and once international travel gets back to normal, too), you'll have to be committed to the experience. The "every minute of every day" comment may well include sleeping hours — the dark side never sleeps, after all. For more information about Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, which is due to open sometime in 2021, head to Walt Disney World's website. Image: Disney/Lucasfilm via Disney Parks Blog.
It's a great time to be a horror film fan. Get Out won an Oscar earlier this year, scary franchises — such as Insidious, The Purge and Unfriended — keep piling up the sequels and movies like Truth or Dare and Upgrade hit the big screen almost every month. And, of course, this October has seen iconic slasher franchise Halloween return with its 11th instalment — and it's a welcome return to form. That's because the film's producer, Jason Blum, is experienced in this kind of stuff — in fact, he's the person to thank for the current big-screen scary movie revival. Since he worked on 2007's surprise found-footage hit Paranormal Activity, Blum's name has been attached to many of the genre's big hits, including everything that we've just mentioned. The Joel Edgerton-directed thriller The Gift is also on his resume, and not-so obvious efforts like TV series The Jinx, Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman and Whiplash (which, Blum jokes is the "Sundance version of a horror movie"). During a recent trip to Australia to promote Halloween's release, we chatted to the prolific producer about different types of horror, helping to bring the genre back to prominence and restoring the Halloween series to its former glory — and what he'd like to revive next as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL_I2vNwkXQ BRINGING BACK HALLOWEEN 40 YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL "The first movie was one of the great horror movies of all time, and there've been nine sequels — some better than others, none too great. We make movies in a very specific way at Blumhouse, and I wanted to see if our system would work on this intellectual property that's been around for so long, and produced one spectacular movie and nine less spectacular movies. I wanted to see if we could make something great, so that was kind of a challenge that I was excited about. And in terms of now, I think because the first movie was so good, there's just been a desire from fans to try to see another Halloween that is as good as that one. I don't think ours is better than the first movie — I think no one's going to beat John [Carpenter, the writer and director of 1978's Halloween]. But I think ours is definitely second, and that's obviously very satisfying to me." AND BRINGING BACK JOHN CARPENTER AND JAMIE LEE CURTIS "I didn't want to do the movie unless John would agree to executive produce it. That was the only requirement for me — that I wasn't going to go forward unless John agreed to do the movie. I really don't believe that you can make successful sequels to movies without the person who made the success in the first place involved. And I went to John, and we had a meeting, and I got him to say yes — he initially said no, for quite a while, but I'm very convincing and persuasive so I twisted his arm and got him to agree. When he came on board, we hired David [Gordon Green, Halloween 2018's director and co-writer] and Danny [McBride, Halloween 2018's co-writer]. And they came up with the idea for what the movie is, which is this continuation of the story from 40 years ago. Then David met with Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jamie also was kind of reticent to join us. But I think it was the combination of John being back, and of her really responding to David's take on the movie, and that her godson in Jake Gyllenhaal — and Jake had just done Stronger, which David had directed, and Jake gave it very very high marks. It was all those things that got Jamie involved in the movie." FINDING THE RIGHT APPROACH TO MAKING THE 11TH FILM IN THE FRANCHISE "The storytelling is a continuation to the first movie, but there's a lot of nods in the movie to the other nine movies. I think the trick with making a sequel is making it feel original and entertaining to fans who've never seen a Halloween movie before, but also having it share enough DNA with the first movie so there's a reason to call it Halloween, and so that fans who've seen all other ten movies are also satisfied. The way that we approached that was to get John and Jamie involved — Jamie not just as an actress, but as an executive producer. So getting them involved as creative sources in the mix — and then add the new generation, which is David and Danny, who are very super talented guys in their own right but have never done a Halloween movie before. I really thought that by mixing those four creative forces together, you really get the best of both worlds. And I really think that they achieved it, so I'm very proud of that." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHEl7Pji0f8 WHERE BLUM FINDS HIS SCARES "I like to define the work that Blumhouse Productions does through the lens of what scares us. Clearly, mostly that's horror movies, but that isn't all that scares us. There's nothing scarier, certainly to me, than the Klu Klux Klan, and that's what BlacKkKlansman is about. Sharp Objects is not horror, but it's a clearly super dark-themed subject matter about a psychotic, overbearing mother. And even Whiplash — to me, these movies squarely fit under the umbrella of what scares us. That's what I look for — first and foremost, things that are great, but I like them to fit under the moniker of what's scary to us, and what's scary to me." HIS PART IN RESTORING HORROR TO GREATER MAINSTREAM PROMINENCE "I think our approach to the way that we make these movies has resulted in horror being more in vogue. I think there are directors who would have never done horror movies, who are now looking at horror as a way to reach young people through movies in a movie theatre — and to get what they want to say out to younger audience. But I think the thing that did the most for it was kind of the Academy's recognition of Get Out. That changed people's idea of what horror can be currently. Horror goes in and out of fashion, and has since the beginning of cinema, but I think right now it's getting more and more in fashion — and if I think there's one biggest reason, I would say it is because of Get Out." "I think we kind of have a unique way that we approach filmmaking, and I think it pays off. I think that cynical people approach horror movies by reverse engineering — they think about what should the scares be, and then figure out the story after that. We do it the opposite way. I really impress upon the executives at the company and the filmmakers we work with to be storytellers first and scary movie makers second, and I think as a result of that the movies are much more scary." SO, DOES HE HAVE PLANS TO RESURRECT OTHER HORROR ICONS? "I'd love to resurrect Friday the 13th. I have a pretty specific idea about it, but I haven't tried yet. I'm waiting for Halloween to come out, but after Halloween comes out I'm going to talk to the rights holders of Friday the 13th and see if I can talk them into it." Halloween is in cinemas now. Read our full review here. Top image: Alex J. Berliner, ABImages.
One of the biggest names in the world of Australian women's fashion, Melbourne's own Toni Maticevski has shown at numerous fashion shows both here and in New York. Now, the award winning designer will be the subject of a comprehensive exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. Running from August 13 until November 20, Maticevski: Dark Wonderland will chart its subject's journey from RMIT graduate to one of the leading design figures of his generation. Along the way, the exhibition will showcase many of Maticevski's most memorable and innovative garments, explore his recurring motifs and inspirations, and highlight his collaborations with major Australian cultural institutions, including the Australian Ballet, the Sydney Dance Company and the National Gallery of Victoria. Image: Toni Maticevski, Doona Dresses, Fall 2007/2008. Photographer: Georges Antoni.
Despite living in cities teeming with exciting events and activities all around us, it seems way too easy to fall into the same old routines when another weekend rolls around. We are, after all, creatures of habit. Given this, we've teamed up with Truly Hard Seltzer to bring you seven weekend activities to try if you're looking to add a little extra flavour to your weekend. Don't worry, we'll never suggest switching up your always-necessary morning coffee. [caption id="attachment_793358" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Boud[/caption] INSTEAD OF SEEING A MOVIE, JOIN A DANCE CLASS Going to the flicks is generally a guaranteed good time — even if the movie isn't great, there are always snacks. Given all the streaming we've been doing over the past two years, why not step away from the screen when you've got some downtime and hit up with a dance class to get your blood flowing? Who knows, you might just unlock a hidden passion and discover you're a natural at the cha-cha. There are plenty of places that offer casual classes in a range of styles and for all experience levels. In Sydney, you could live out your childhood ballerina or Broadway fantasies at Sydney Dance Company; give Bollywood dancing a go via Class Bento; or learn to salsa or cha chat with Move Dance Studios. In Melbourne, give afrobeats a go with The Space; go retro with a jazz class at Dance Factory; or throw on the tap shoes for a class at Dance World. INSTEAD OF A COASTAL WALK, PLAY A GAME OF BEACH VOLLEYBALL OR TAKE YOURSELF TRAIL RUNNING Instead of embarking on your usual oceanside stroll this weekend, try something a little more active by running along a coastal trail. That way you can still get in some of the refreshing ocean air while getting the heart pumping and and your body primed for a post-workout lunch by the sea. In Sydney, try taking on the scenic Bondi to Coogee run or heading inland to do a loop of the Narrabeen Lagoon. In Melbourne, the popular Bay Trail is your best bet, especially when you add in a pit stop at the St Kilda Sea Baths, while inland tracks can be found along both the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers. If it's a group activity you're after, add some friendly competition to the mix with a game of beach volleyball. In Sydney, you can hire a net at Manly or Maroubra, while in Melbourne you and your crew can dig and spike your way to glory on St Kilda or Altona beaches. INSTEAD OF WATCHING NETFLIX, HIT UP AN ARCADE Put down the remote — your streaming queue can wait another day. Instead, head to an arcade to revel in some nostalgia from your younger years and give your brain (and maybe body) a bit of a workout. It's also a great way to get bragging rights over mates — as long as you win, that is — and enjoy some quality snacks and bevs. Don't know where to start? Archie Brothers hosts adults-only circus and cocktail events once a month in its Melbourne and Sydney locations, while B. Lucky & Son's Entertainment Quarter and Melbourne Central outposts offer some serious prizes — think Google Home speakers, vintage Chanel bags and more. INSTEAD OF THE GYM, GO BOULDERING A good sweaty gym session is a weekend staple, but consider another heart-pumping activity like bouldering — the more strategic cousin of rockclimbing — instead. As a super social activity that's all about cheering each other on, it's a great one to do with your mates, too. Given the sport's increasing popularity, there are plenty of bouldering gyms to check out across Melbourne and Sydney, too. In its Port Melbourne and Marrickville sites, BlocHaus cleans and resets four sectors a week, meaning there's a new wall to tackle on just about every visit. Elsewhere in Victoria, Urban Climb in Collingwood (and coming soon to Blackburn) offers a range of boulder and rope climb experiences, as well as fitness and yoga classes to ensure a well-rounded workout. In Sydney, 9 Degrees has — you guessed it — nine different levels of difficulty to try out at its gyms in Waterloo, Lane Cove, Alexandria and Parramatta. INSTEAD OF DOOM SCROLLING, DISCONNECT IN A FLOAT TANK Unfortunately, falling into a doom scrolling cycle is far too easy to do in the modern day. So, if you want to zone out but avoid the traps of TikTok and Insta, turn your phone off for a few hours and head to a flotation tank instead. Chill out in the saltwater, take a break from the real world and enjoy a bout of meditation while relieving some stress. Sydneysiders looking for some time away from the screen can head to Brookvale or Darlinghurst's Sydney Float Centre, which boasts state-of-the-art zero-gravity tanks, or even book into a private floatation room at City Cave, which has locations spanning from Mona Vale to Minchinbury to Campbelltown. For Melburnians, Northcote's Gravity Float and Wellness offers a range of holistic therapies ranging from flotation tanks to multi-day retreats, while the well-appointed Resthouse Float Centre in Hampton East and Water Temple Flotation in Armadale offer flotation memberships for those looking for regular offline time. [caption id="attachment_659517" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Laura at Pt Leo Estate, Jason Loucas[/caption] INSTEAD OF THE PUB, HEAD TO AN OUT-OF-TOWN CELLAR DOOR Want to get a little fancy this weekend? Press pause on the pub plans (your parma can wait until Wednesday night) and venture a little further to an out-of-town cellar door. Both Sydney and Melbourne are within easy reach of a number of world-class wine countries, so the only question you'll have is where to begin. We've done the research for you though with these excellent cellar doors that are worth the day trip from both Sydney and Melbourne. Before you know it, you could be sipping a preservative-free drop at Hungerford Hill in Pokolbin, or enjoying a degustation at Pt Leo Estate's illustrious fine diner Laura in the Mornington Peninsula. INSTEAD OF ORDERING TAKEAWAY, JOIN A COOKING CLASS After a long work week, it can be pretty tempting to outsource the weekend cooking for a bit of a splurge. This time, get on the tools (tongs) yourself by joining a cooking class, where you can learn some new tricks that you can impress your mates and fam with. Class Bento offers nationwide cooking classes for master chefs and disaster chefs alike, with workshops ranging from sushi-making to cake-decorating. Elsewhere, Sydney Cooking School offers a year-round calendar of classes and state-of-the-art equipment from its Neutral Bay headquarters, while in Melbourne, Moonee Ponds' Gourmet Kitchen offers weekend classes perfect for home cooks looking to add a new dish or two to their repertoire. Add extra flavour to your weekend with Truly Hard Seltzer, available at local bottle shops now in watermelon and kiwi or lime flavours. For more info, check out the website. Top image: Archie Brothers, Zennieshia Butts
Just when you thought it was safe to watch another film set by the sea, The Shallows takes cinema audiences back into shark-infested waters. More than four decades after Jaws scared viewers away from the shoreline, this Gold Coast-shot American thriller endeavours to do the same. But whereas Steven Spielberg really fleshed out the idea of a menacing creature stalking a small beach town, this new effort, from Non-Stop, Unknown and Run All Night director Jaume Collet-Serra, keeps things much more simple. Blake Lively's holidaying Nancy is first left to fend for herself after a friend opts to skip their planned trip to a secluded spot on the Mexican coast. Giving the jaunt a miss isn't an option for Nancy — not just because the Texan medical student is a keen surfer intent on catching some waves, but because the specific locale has links to her recently deceased mother. When she arrives, two unnamed guys are happily hanging ten. Alas, when they leave, she's joined by a more fearsome, blood-thirsty form of company. If it all sounds like a rather flimsy excuse for another lone survivor film in the same vein as All is Lost and Life of Pi, that's because it is. Collet-Serra simply takes what's fast becoming a familiar genre and adds a shark — and some GoPro-shot footage — to the mix. In a move inspired by Cast Away, Nancy is at one point gifted a seagull named Steven to talk to. But for the bulk of the movie she's just trembling on a rock, narrating events to herself and yelling at the lurking great white beast. Of course, as something as silly as the Sharknado series continues to prove, there are always thrills to be found in the notion of humanity versus nature — and ample cheesiness, too. The Shallows succeeds in ramping up the tension surrounding every urgently paced, frenetically edited attack, particularly given how sparse the storyline is. It doesn't fare as well in other departments though — from the obvious dialogue and thin existential musings cooked up by screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski, to the tendency of the camera to linger leeringly over Lively's bikini-clad body. Thankfully, Lively still ranks among the film's best elements in what is basically a one-woman effort. Whether she's screaming for her life or performing gruesome surgery on herself, there's a primal element to her performance that invests her protagonist with the right balance of vulnerability and determination. Indeed, while Collet-Serra has become best known for showcasing Liam Neeson being Liam Neeson, he also knows how to turn Lively into a formidable but relatable force. If you've seen any of his previous films, you should know what to expect here: a taut, trashy action flick that doesn't stray far from its concept. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdxIlSuB70
If you've been wondering about the story behind today's rainbow Google doodle, here's the low-down. With the Winter Olympics opening ceremony to be held tonight in Sochi, the online giant has put its weight behind the protest against Russia's discriminatory laws. Six stylised athletes are depicted participating in various winter sports, from ice hockey to figure skating to bobsledding. Underneath, a quotation from the Olympic Charter reads, "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." Activists all over the world have spoken out against the International Olympic Committee's decision to hold the Games in Russia, where the law bans the promotion of non-traditional sexuality and prevents under-18-year-olds from having access to information about homosexuality. On Wednesday, February 5, protests were held in 19 different cities. Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon acknowledged the issue in his speech to the IOC, stating, "Many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice. We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people. We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face."
Timothée Chalamet has played a teenager falling in love over summer (Call Me By Your Name), King Henry V (The King), Paul Atreides (Dune and Dune: Part Two, Willy Wonka (Wonka), a cannibal (Bones and All), a love interest for Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird and Little Women), a young man struggling with addiction (Beautiful Boy), the Vice President's son (Homeland) and more, but there's a look of fierce enthusiasm that comes over him when he's talking about a project that he spent more than half a decade working on, stars in and also produced: A Complete Unknown. Portraying Bob Dylan on-screen isn't a simple task. In fact, when I'm Not There attempted the feat in 2007, it enlisted six actors, including Australians Heath Ledger and Cate Blanchett (The New Boy), to share job. As evident from his hypnotic performance in A Complete Unknown — and his singing and guitar-playing, learned for the feature — Chalamet not only embraced but aced the challenge. For A Complete Unknown, he steps into Dylan's shoes from back when the movie's title proved true, then stays in them until four years later when that phrase definitely no longer applied. In 1961 at the age of 19, Dylan met his idol Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy, Speak No Evil), visiting him in hospital as a fan from Minnesota. Come 1965, after songs such as 'Blowin' in the Wind', 'The Times They Are a-Changin' and 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' had struck a chord, whether he'd go electric at the Newport Folk Festival was the source of huge controversy. Dylan did, as history will always remember. Chalamet, working with director James Mangold (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), brings that specific slice of the icon's life to the screen in a film that keeps garnering him award nominations. He's the young Dylan, arriving to chase his music dream with little more than the guitar that's rarely out of his hands. He's also the thrust-to-fame-swiftly Dylan, after mentorship from Pete Seeger (Edward Norton, Asteroid City), while cultivating a complicated relationship with the already-renowned Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, Fubar), and as he's trying to maintain a relationship with artist and activist Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning, The Great), who is based on the real-life Suze Rotolo. And, Chalamet wouldn't mind being Dylan again in the future, if the "incredible opportunity" came up. "The amazing thing about Bob Dylan is every chapter is interesting. This is almost the most fertile because it's the beginning," Chalamet advises. This is the period of his life where the least is almost available, especially in the early 60s, but you can make a movie out of almost any period of Bob's life." How does it feel to lead a Bob Dylan biopic and to have the man himself tweet about it? "I didn't know if he was ever going to say anything because, true to the reclusive artist that Bob is, I don't know if he'll ever see the movie, truthfully," Chalamet says. "But seeing that post was hugely affirming. When you're a young artist, I don't care how successful you are, to get a pat on the back from a legend — especially a legend of few words like Bob Dylan — it was a dream come true, literally. I mean, it was beyond my wildest dreams. It was an enormous pat on the back and affirmation, and a moment for me in my life and career to go 'okay, I'm doing the right thing'." Passion radiates from Chalamet, clearly. It does the same from Mangold, who returns to the music-biopic genre after 2005's Johnny Cash-focused Walk the Line — Cash is also part of this flick, with Boyd Holbrook (The Bikeriders) in the part — plus from Fanning and Barbaro, too. "Think about it: between the ages of 19 and 24, he wrote 15 or 20 of the most-important songs of the century," the filmmaker behind A Complete Unknown, who co-wrote the script with Jay Cocks (Silence), adapting Elijah Wald's 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties, notes of Dylan to Concrete Playground. "That's pretty remarkable when you think about what probably we were all doing between 19 and 24 years of age." Fanning was a massive Dylan devotee going in; "I was huge Bob Dylan nut, and I had a poster of him on my wall and I was a fanatic, so I felt like I kind of manifested this part in in many ways," she shares about playing Russo, a take on Rotolo with the name changed at Dylan's request. For Barbaro with portraying Baez, she speaks about her gig, the IRL great that she's acting as and performing with Chalamet — after learning to sing and play guitar herself — with equally deep feeling. "It's an absolute career highlight for me," she tells us. As it works its way from Guthrie's hospital bedside to Newport, exploring who Dylan was at the time through his music and impact, the commitment from its many key forces echoes from A Complete Unknown as memorably as its wealth of tunes. Chalamet, Mangold, Fanning and Barbaro also spoke with us about how important it is that the movie isn't trying to paint one definitive portrait of its subject, the film's exploration of an artist evolving, speaking with Baez, Cash and Dylan's connection, parallels for the cast with reality and more. On How Mangold Knew That Chalamet Was the Right Actor to Bring This Period of Dylan's Life to the Screen James: "Well, 'know' is the strange word. I had an instinct that he'd be good. We don't know anything. I mean, we just try. And Timmy's phenomenally talented. Can sing. And I think has some of the mercurial, playful aspects of Bob in him, in his own personality. I thought he could find parallels. The act of playing a role like this isn't really the act of doing an impression or mimicry — it's really, to me at least as I feel it, it's about finding the harmonies between your own personality and the person you're playing, and finding a way to meet somewhere in the middle where you're still bringing your authentic acting self. You're not just doing an impression in which the performance is judged by how well you do Bob's mannerisms only, but how well you can fold that into who you are and come out with something authentic, and real, and soulful that exists in the space between. He's one of the best young actors of our time. And he's also a wonderful guy. And it seemed so logical, it seemed actually a no-brainer, to be honest. It seemed like a really exciting proposition. I cannot say I knew he would hit it so far out of the park that he would find such a great chord. We often present ourselves, as directors, we often try to get you guys to write about us like we knew everything in advance and we had a vision, and the vision comes to life — and we love it when you write about us that way. But in reality that isn't the way it is. We have a hunch. We have a hope. We have a prayer. And sometimes we're right and we keep it in the movie. Sometimes we're wrong and, if we can, we get it out of the movie. But the reality is that I had a hunch Timmy would be great. But I also demanded a lot of him. He had to learn over 40 songs and play them live, and be still in character acting, meaning it's not just 'can you learn the song and sing?' — it's 'can you learn the guitar, sing this song and do it like Bob Dylan in a scene while there's romantic tension or some other kind of dramatic energy going on?'. You're talking about a lot of chewing gum and riding bicycles and juggling at the same time. And Timmy's a pretty remarkable talent himself. And you're also talking about a young man in Timmy who has met with fame from an early age like Bob. So there are whole other levels where — and stardom and all that it brings — so that there were so many levels that he could bring insight and talent to this job." On How Crucial It Was to Chalamet That This is a Film About a Moment in Time and an Artist Evolving Timothée: "That's exactly it. This is a movie firmly about an artist evolving, as you so wonderfully put it. This is an interpretation. This is not a definitive act, and I think James Mangold, our director, always had a very solid eye on that. This is a man who's alive and well, who knows the history of how this went down. And a lot of the footage, not particularly from 1961–63, but definitely from 64 onwards, is available online and it's wonderful. It was very helpful to me in my interpretation of the character and of this period, but ultimately this is an interpretation. That's why Elle Fanning's character is a Sylvie Russo, as opposed to Suze Rotolo. This is more of a fable. And nonetheless, it's also, of course, a Bob Dylan biopic." On How the Film's Exploration of Artistic Evolution Resonates with Fanning Given That She's Been Acting Since She Was a Toddler Elle: "Yeah, technically two, because I would play my sister at a younger age in things, in flashback scenes — they would just call me in. But I think that's one of my favourite things, honestly, about this film and watching it as a whole. This slice of Dylan's life was so much about making artistic choices and not being pigeon-holed into one thing. So it's actually been a really nice reminder to me to follow my instincts. I always have followed my instincts pretty much. And when I haven't, it's like 'oh god, it's always best to do that'. And I love surprising people and picking parts that are going to surprise people, and surprise myself and challenge me. That's just what I want. I don't want to ever be put into a box of a certain genre or certain film. I mean, people will try to do that to everyone, because it's more palatable for people when you understand where they're coming from. That's what Dylan has done — he's never allowed anyone to do that to him. So it's been inspiring, and the movie is really about that, to be honest. So I loved watching the film for the first time, and seeing that journey was great. Because obviously I wasn't in every single scene, so it's fun to watch the scenes I wasn't in. But I try to push myself." On How Portraying an IRL Figure, and an Icon, Changed How Barbaro Approached Her Part Monica: "It was very big shoes to fill. She's an exceptional musician and I had no music training, so my main call to action was to learn to play guitar, and learn to sing, and get my proficiency up to a level where you would believe that I'd been doing that for years and years. And then also, the benefit is, as much as her voice is absolutely impossible to replicate, she had these iconic qualities that people referred to a lot. When they talk about her, they mentioned her tight vibrato and the key that she sings these songs in. And so just trying to expand my range and trying to sound like her — the finger-picking, that was a particular style that she played with. And just diving into those specifics to try to get that recognisability there was a huge part of the process." On Mangold Revisiting Johnny Cash On-Screen After Walk the Line — and Finding Someone New to Play Him James: "I really didn't give it much thought in terms of my own oeuvre, although I was aware that it was the second time this real-life character was appearing in my film. It just seemed a necessity, the more research I did. It wasn't really very featured at all in Elijah Wald's book, but the more research I did — and I also had the knowledge from making Walk the Line that Johnny Cash and Bob had been pen pals during this period — but the more research I did, and knowing that Cash was on stage in the wings when Bob went electric, was there and even lent his guitar, his acoustic guitar to Bob when he went back out on stage to sing his last song 'Baby Blue', the last acoustic song, at Newport 65, I thought 'well, what am I going to do with Johnny?'. And I asked Dylan's manager, Jeff Rosen, if they still had the letters that Johnny Cash had written to Bob. And they did. And he sent me scans of all these letters, which were magnificent — a kind of beautiful, romantic example of an artist a few years ahead of Bob, writing him fan letters and bolstering a sense of confidence in the young man about his writing and his ability from someone Dylan admired. And so this correspondence suddenly became central to me, because as I was trying to assemble — as much as I was trying to tell Dylan's story, he is a bit inscrutable, and I felt like you could learn more by also telling the story of those that surrounded Dylan, and the way his genius affected each of them differently. And what was so necessary about bringing Johnny into the story was that he's the devil on that shoulder. If you have Pete and Lomax and Joan Baez all on this shoulder saying 'stick with the team; don't cross over to that dangerous, suspicious popular music', you had Johnny Cash on the other shoulder who was saying 'track mud on someone's carpet'. Which was literally one of Johnny's lines in his letters to Bob. And that he made it his business to encourage Dylan to stay bold and to stay on the leading edge, was so wonderful to me. And then Cash also ironically had a band, and somehow got special dispensation to bring his band on the stage at Newport without anyone having a meltdown — which indicates or, I think, reveals, how Bob was a symbol. The reason they didn't want Bob to go electric was not because they hated all music with an electric guitar or a drum, but because he had become the centre pillar, holding up the tent of classical folk music. And if Bob turned, that meant the tent would fall." On Chalamet's Run of Playing Young Men Discovering the Reality of What Fame and Power Means as Paul Atreides and Bob Dylan — and Parallels with His Own Experience Timothée: "I think what's most fascinating about the world of Dune, and of this period of Bob Dylan that we explore in this film from 1961–65, is both were born of the open-mindedness of culture in America in the 1960s. Dune was written in this middle 60s period, it was written on the West Coast, but in a similar time in American history where people were groundbreaking with their creativity and open mindedness. And as far as relating to these roles, it's really not that fascinating to try to dissect or even to talk about, because the ways or parallels are apparent or not apparent, and I have no interesting perspective for anyone beyond the ways they're apparent to you or to me. And the ways they're not apparent are also apparent, because I'm not a space prophet and I'm not a lyrical prophet." On What Fanning Was Excited About, Coming to A Complete Unknown as a Huge Dylan Fan Since She Was a Teenager Elle: "Well, I was excited about multiple things. Jim and I were supposed to, he was supposed to direct me in a film many years ago, and so to be able to — that didn't work, but then he remembered me from that time and so asked me to come on for this. And I'd done a movie with Timmy before, so we were friends. I was huge Bob Dylan nut, and I had a poster of him on my wall and I was a fanatic, so I felt like I kind of manifested this part in in many ways. And obviously, the film was like five, well, more than five, years in the making. We were supposed to film it five years ago and then COVID and the strikes happened. So we had a lot of time to think about it. There were points where we thought it might fall apart — is everyone's schedules going to work? — so I was very happy that the schedules worked out that I was able to stay on and do it. [caption id="attachment_987697" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kate Green/Getty Images for The Walt Disney Company Limited[/caption] And then, the thing is Sylvie, even though her name is different, she really she is Suze Rotolo. So she's not actually a fictionalised character, it's just that her name is changed because Bob Dylan himself, he talked to Jim a lot about the script and he's read the script — I haven't met him or talked to him — but he wanted her name changed. That was the one thing that he wanted, because he felt like she, and this is touched on in the movie a lot, that she was a private person. She never wanted to be a public figure. And Suze has now passed. So there was something, there was a weight to that, that I subconsciously always felt every day. Because I don't know if Bob will ever see this movie, but still if he does one day, I hope that I captured that essence of their first love, because obviously it was a very sacred and precious thing to him. And Suze wrote a novel, a memoir called A Freewheelin' Time, so I read that and had so much information about their relationship. And honestly, scenes from that book are verbatim in our story. So in a lot of ways, her story is very true to the trajectory of their relationship. Dates are changed, she wasn't in Newport in 65, but the fights that they had and the things that they shared together is very true to what the relationship was. Obviously Suze was, I guess, a muse, but I guess more inspired him many times over. There's so many songs he's written about her. And he really wasn't in the political scene, he wasn't into politics until he met Suze, because she was a real political activist at that time in the 60s, in the West Village and the youth movement and civil rights movement, she introduced that to Bob. I knew how special of a figure she was to him, so I wanted to honour that and make it true to first loves around the world that we have. Inevitably they don't work out, but keep 'em in your heart." On What Barbaro Drew From Speaking with Baez — and What It Meant to Her Monica: "I did have the chance to speak with her. I was nervous about reaching out, but I was so absorbed and obsessed with her and her life, and every corner of what I could find in any interview, memoir, documentary, and even within the songs and the way she sang them, that we were starting to film and I started having dreams about her. And I kept dreaming that we were hanging out and we always had a really good time. And so I think my subconscious was telling me that 'it's okay to reach out' — like 'you do understand her, I think, well enough to know that she'll have a conversation with you'. And I felt like it was a very Joan thing to do, to be bold enough to reach out so. So I did, and we spoke on the phone, and hearing the sound of her voice on the phone with me is one of the most-beautiful experiences I think I've ever had. It was emotional. It was everything to me, and she mentioned at one point that she was hoping I would reach out — and that just felt incredibly validating in my decision. And also I felt it made me feel like I really had understood something about her, and that I was on the right path. And the next day I performed 'Don't Think Twice' live, which was my first song live in front of a live audience on a big stage with guitar, with singing — difficult guitar song, too, that I had taken a year to learn with no prior experience. And so I was all bundled up and nervous for that, and then as we were doing takes of it, I just felt something release, and I felt like she had sort of — whether she knew it or not — sort of sent me on my way, and I was able to fully embrace the research I had done, but try to blossom into this character in the movie, and create as her and try things as her. I felt like somehow, even though she didn't give me permission, I felt somehow like I suddenly had it, had that permission to try things as Joan." A Complete Unknown releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Images: courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Name a fictional detective — be it Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nancy Drew, Scooby-Doo, Inspector Gadget or Benoit Blanc — and, no matter who they are or which cases they've solved, someone has wanted to follow in their footsteps. Actually, more than a few someones have. We've all done it: watched, read or listened to a murder-mystery, then figured that we could solve a big case if the situation arose. Thanks to podcasts such as Serial, as well as the recent true-crime boom in general, that's become the default reaction to hearing about an unsolved or thorny story. It's also the premise behind returning Disney+ series Only Murders in the Building, which satirises the fact that everyone has wanted to be Sarah Koenig over the past decade. Only Murders in the Building has its own version of Koenig, called Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, Girls5eva). As viewers of the show's first season know, though, she's not the marvellous murder-mystery comedy's focus. Instead, it hones in on three New Yorkers residing in the Arconia apartment complex — where, as the program's name makes plain, there's a murder. There's several, but it only takes one to initially bring actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die) together. The trio then turn amateur detectives, and turn that sleuthing into their own podcast, which also shares the show's title. In season two, which starts streaming Down Under on Tuesday, June 28, the show returns to the same scene. No time has passed for Only Murders in the Building's characters — and, while plenty has changed since the series' debut episode last year, plenty remains the same. Viewers now know Charles, Oliver and Mabel better, and they all know each other better, but that only makes things more complicated. Indeed, there's a lived-in vibe to the program and its main figures this time around, rather than every episode feeling like a new discovery. Among the many things that Only Murders in the Building does exceptionally well, finding multiple ways to parallel on- and off-screen experiences ranks right up there. That applies to podcast fixations, naturally, and also to getting to know someone, learning their ins and outs, and finding your comfort zone even when life's curveballs keep coming. There wouldn't be another season without another murder, however. This time, Arconia board president Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell, Little Women) has left the land of the living. The OMITB crew were all known to have their struggles with her, so they're all persons of interest. They have media profiles now, due to their first-season success. Canning herself starts a podcast about the podcasters. It's Mabel who finds Bunny, in fact, sparking too many internet theories. And, to the joy of the actual NYPD detective on the case (Michael Rapaport, Life & Beth), all the evidence keeps pointing at her, Charlies and Oliver. Even if you've only watched one murder-mystery before, you know the old cliche about returning to the scenes of crimes. Generally, that's what the guilty do, driven by a need to witness the aftermath of their handiwork, insert themselves into the investigation and enjoy a second round of thrills. But Only Murders in the Building makes a comeback for a different reason, which definitely doesn't involve zapping more enjoyment out of evil deeds. At a series level, there's none of the latter to revel in anyway. The first season was such a warm and amusing gem — and smart and astute, too, whether it was serving up odd-thruple banter, or parodying whodunnits and their obsessives — that it instantly became one of 2021's best small-screen newcomers. What makes season two tick is the same thing that made season one tick, though: the show's fondness for people above all else. They're the only thing that ever truly matters in any murder-mystery, as should always be the case when someone has lost their life at the hands of another. In its first batch of episodes, Only Murders in the Building made a point of identifying its victim's flaws and troubles — explaining why more than a few people wanted him dead, because that's the genre's whole concept — but also took great care to flesh him out as a person, too. It does the same with Bunny the second time around, unsurprisingly. Indeed, diving into the ups and downs, strengths and struggles, and wins and losses that make the Arconia's inhabitants who they are is as crucial a part of the show as figuring out who decides to wield a gun, knife or knitting needle. Only Murders in the Building has been doing exactly that with Charles, Oliver and Mabel from the outset, of course, and keeps digging into its central trio. But new residents and familiar faces alike still get the same treatment during season two, including Amy Schumer as herself and the returning Theo Dimas (James Caverly, A Bennett Song Holiday). Viewers learn more about Charles' past with his father, which may be linked to Bunny — and his connection to Lucy (Zoe Colletti, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), the now-teenager who was almost his stepdaughter. Oliver's bond with his son Will (Ryan Broussard, Modern Love) gets pushed into the spotlight, as does his need to be the dip-eating centre of attention. And Mabel's distrust of others continues to help drive the narrative, especially after she becomes the key suspect and gets badged #BloodyMabel on social media. Around of all the above, there are blackouts and 70s-style parties, canny commentary about lives lived online and lonely hearts in equal measures, wonderful one-liners and knowing in-jokes, and an impressive balance of comedy and heart. If cracking any case is all about puzzling together the right pieces, then Only Murders in the Building has found its ideal components — more so in season two, which is weightier, deeper, funnier, more insightful and more charming. It's also an even better showcase for its three leads, who just might be the most likeable trio currently gracing any series. Martin, Short and Gomez all such delights together that they deserve their own podcast about why they're so great playing podcast-obsessed podcasters. If you're already a fan of Only Murders in the Building, you know you'd listen to it. Check out the trailer for Only Murders in the Building season two below: Only Murders in the Building's second season starts streaming Down Under via Star on Disney+ on Tuesday, June 28, starting with two episodes, then airing new instalments weekly. Read our full review of the show's first season. Images: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu.
Don't you hate it? You finish carving it up on the black run, having linked together some pretty sweet tricks, only for your buddy to claim his jumps were airier and his landings smoother. If only you had some way of objectively measuring just who was the more extreme… Perhaps you can. Nokia have teamed up with leading snowboard company Burton to develop Push Snowboarding, adding sensors to the board and rider that track your every action. Motion data and biometrics such as heart-rate and skin conductivity are collected wirelessly by the phone sitting in your pocket, allowing you to back up your bragging, or just monitor your progress. The development of 'connected' products can sometimes be an unnecessary gimmick, but in the sports world performance data is priceless for elite athletes. Innovatively, rather than keep the tech in-house and hush-hush, the platform is open to the boarding world, allowing the end-users to hack their own uses for the technology. It's a clever strategy from Nokia, effectively crowd-sourcing their customers to help develop ideas for the product. It could lead to purely entertaining uses, such as loading real runs up to video games, or improved safety features that aid in search and rescue. Whether it ends up as the next must-have accessory for the slopes, or is consigned to the tech junk heap along with the internet fridge, now rests in the hands of the boarders themselves. [via PSFK] https://youtube.com/watch?v=1y8nMUAUeKM
Memories don't just dwell in the mind — they also linger in places. Gazing at a piece of furniture may inspire recollections of younger, wilder days, just as playing a particular record in a specific room can conjure up visions of times gone by. In Aquarius, as retired music critic Clara (Sônia Braga) battles to save her seaside apartment from developers, this is what she's fighting for. Her home, where she raised her three now-grown children, is more than simply a lucrative piece of real estate in an area undergoing gentrification. As she's reminded with every glance, it's where her life has unfolded. Understanding that sentiment is easy in Kleber Mendonça Filho's second fictional film. Or, to be more accurate, the Brazilian writer-director makes it look easy. Named after the structure at its centre, Aquarius starts with a flashback to the 1980s, ensuring that viewers will already appreciate just what Clara's home means to her once developers come calling. "This is a generous offer," she's told when her doorbell rings in the present. But you can't put a price on what Clara has, and what she wants to hold on to. Before long, they begin to push harder, and even her kids start chiming in. Still, our protagonist remains unfazed, embracing her quest to save her very own castle. In truth, Clara's fight for her right to live where she wants is tied to and heightened by several other factors. Focusing on a beloved, rough-around-the-edges building that's being cast aside for supposedly bigger and better things, the film's statement on the current climate of upheaval in Brazil is inescapable. And then there's Clara herself: an older woman who refuses to be ignored or bulled by a younger generation that thinks they know better, or to behave in a more 'age-appropriate' way. In short, Clara is a force to be reckoned with – and that goes more than double for the magnetic actor portraying her. Spying parallels between Aquarius' protagonist and its main place of interest aren't hard, and nor are they meant to be. But what would have likely been clumsy and clichéd in most other hands proves complex and nuanced here, largely thanks to Filho's leading lady. A stock-standard crank well past her prime Braga's character most definitely is not. After spending much of her recent career popping up in American TV shows such as Luke Cage, Alias and Sex and the City, the veteran actress couldn't be more commanding, whether Clara is flirting with the young lifeguard across the street, dancing in her living room to Queen's 'Fat Bottomed Girls' or reminding her nemesis at the construction company that she won't be pushed around. The movie might be given room to grow and breathe over the course of 142 minutes, but Braga ensures that her performance is memorable from the outset. From the steely glint in her eye to the confident swagger in her walk, she makes Clara the passionate and determined 65-year-old everyone wants to grow up to become. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zln78CcFkA
Decadence is also a very relevant feeling at Mámor, where you can forgo a standard afternoon tea for the Lux High Tea and Chocolate High Tea options. Sink into its plush red velvet furniture and feel a little bit beyond your means as you pick your high tea poison. The petit option — which is still quite extra — is more of a traditional situation, with scones included as well as petit fours and artisan chocolates, and bottomless tea or filter coffee and hibiscus lemonade (and sparkling wine available as an extra). [caption id="attachment_686930" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Judy Hudson[/caption] The Luxe option is stepped up a notch or two, with seafood croquettes, parmesan shortbreads, and cakes filling up your savoury stomach and scones and petit fours and chocolates doing the same for your sweet side. And, if you're really raring for a chocolate time (this is a chocolate cafe, after all), go for the Chocolate High Tea option: all your desserts will be rich and chocolatey.
Maybe you love nothing more than telling simulated people what to do. Perhaps a fantasy universe is your favourite place to escape to when you're mashing buttons. More than a quarter-century back, virtual critters might've been your go-to pastime. The Sims, World of Warcraft and Neopets have all made an impact on the gaming world, and on audiences. All three are also scoring plenty of love when Game Worlds takes over the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. For five months from mid-September 2025 till February 2026, this video-game exhibition will shine a spotlight on 30 iconic titles — and make attendees feel like they're stepping inside some of them, too. Expect everything from original concept art and never-before-seen designs to rare objects to fill the Federation Square site's Gallery 4. Expect to be able to get playing, rather than just peering, as well. [caption id="attachment_997869" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Blizzard Entertainment[/caption] Although the full lineup of games featured hasn't been revealed as yet, they'll span from the 70s until now, and 20 of them will be playable. Demos, games from years gone by, trying to break speed records: they're all part of the setup, which will include international hits, new Australian releases and everything in-between. "As the home of videogames in Australia, Game Worlds celebrates the continuous evolution of this century's defining artform. It builds on ACMI's multi-decade experience in making video-game exhibitions, and our long-term support of the Australian video-game sector through preservation, education, industry partnerships and our dedicated Games Lab," said ACMI Director & CEO Seb Chan, announcing the exhibition. "Whether you love games as much as we do or have never picked up a controller, Game Worlds gives fresh insight into video games and their cultural impact." [caption id="attachment_997868" align="alignnone" width="1920"] World of Neopia[/caption] As Chan referrenced, ACMI has staged major video-game showcases before. This is its third, in fact, following 2008's Game On and 2012's Game Masters. Since the latter, the venue has also hosted smaller gaming exhibitions, such as 2017's Code Breakers — where women in the industry were the focus — and 2024's Honk! Untitled Goose Exhibition. Earlier in 2025, it celebrated 25 years of The Sims across one nostalgic weekend. As it regularly does with its showcases, the gallery will pair Game Worlds with talks, film screenings and other events, family-friendly activities among them. [caption id="attachment_997870" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Blizzard Entertainment[/caption] [caption id="attachment_997871" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Blizzard Entertainment[/caption] Game Worlds displays at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, Melbourne, from Thursday, September 18, 2025–Sunday, February 8, 2026. Head to the venue's website for more details. Top image: Electronic Arts.
Founded in 2012 by a group of former soldiers, Coburg's Wild Timor is a cafe that serves both its local community, as well as the communities of coffee growers in Timor-Leste from which this cafe's beans are sourced. There is, of course, a story here: the lads behind this Sydney Road spot were deployed to assist in peacekeeping during recent times of conflict in Timor-Leste. During their time in service, they developed close friendships with the local citizens — and a love for their coffee. With this in mind, they set out to provide a way to bring the product back home to Australia, while continuing to support the community they had grown to feel part of. To this day, they continue to source beans at a fair price from their original suppliers. The beans themselves are endemic to Timor-Leste, and a delicious natural hybrid of arabica and robusta that offers notes of caramel, chocolate and cherry, with bright hints of citrus and a touch of rum-like sweetness to round it out. The wholesome offer also expands to the food menu here, with a selection of more than serviceable brunch and lunch dishes — try the Timorese-style sweet and sour eggs, with a housemade sweet potato rosti, paired with tomato relish, spinach, coriander relish, Timorese chilli sauce and fried eggs. Images: Julia Sansone
Sitting pretty away from the buzz of Flemington's Racecourse Road, Wolf and Hound is a compact, Jack Russell-sized brunch spot. With just one floor spanning 35-square metres, the phrase 'big things come in small packages' has never been more applicable. Tucked between the peeling paint and coffee-coloured tiling that runs down Pin Oak Crescent, Wolf and Hound's white-tiled interior beckons you in. First-time cafe owner Luke Whitworth says he wanted to create a space that was warm and inviting, and that came with 'dog-friendly perks for pooches'. Ever true to his word, Wolf and Hound has an array of clever additions to keep your best furry friend happy while you grab your morning coffee or a lengthy midday brunch. There's a secure tie-up station attached to the concrete front of the cafe, with a metal water bowl and cosy doggie blankets for winter sharing. Dog treats are also available for those in the inner circle. For Whitworth, sharing Flemington's local hotspots and his neighbourhood favourites was equally important to Wolf and Hound's character. "I wanted to make simple, fresh, honest food and throw down the best coffee in Melbourne's west," he says. Wolf and Hound's coffee beans come from Kensington's Rumble Coffee Roasters, a relatively new player in Melbourne coffee scene, with a rotating menu of single-originals and filter roasts. Perfect for purists and mocha-drinkers alike. Created by kitchen manager Kate Minto in collaboration with Rumble Coffee, the menu is specifically designed to suit the cafe's small fit out. Neat and efficient, what the menu lacks in options, it more than makes up for in simple, flavoursome meals. Choose between classic brunch options, like crumpets or a darn good avo smash ($13.50). But it's the toasties you'll want to order. In keeping with the exceedingly hospitable, intimate nature of the cafe, the toasted sandwich creations are named after Whitworth's fuzzy pals: Gracie the greyhound takes the namesake for a garlic broccoli and cheddar number, while Franklin the wolfhound heralds the impressive Cuban. Not a hound but just as beloved is Grizz the cat — after whom the soft thyme-buttered mushrooms and shaved pecorino toastie is named ($13.50). This one's a must for veg-heads and carnivores alike. Swing by Wolf and Hound on Saturday and you're more than likely to encounter a few sociable pooches and people, along with Whitworth's infectious cheerfulness. In Melbourne's competitive cafe scene, finding this kind of sincerity is few and far between. But at barely 24 years of age, Whitworth is outrageously humble. "I would be lying if I said that I had created the next Code Black," he remarks. And Wolf and Hound isn't Code Black — it's smaller, more local and completely personable. But he's onto something. And for the first time this afternoon, I don't quite believe him.
The Autark Home redefines waterfront living. Passivhaus, an independent research institute, has built an eco-friendly floating houseboat. The houseboat is highly energy-efficient, runs completely on solar power and is ten times more energy efficient than the average house. The Autark Home is currently flaoting in Maastricht, Netherlands. Designed by Pieter Kromwijk, the prototype has gained popularity because of its ultra-low energy consumption. There are plans to produce more Autark Homes to meet the demand of willing buyers.
Fresh off the heels of opening its massive 1200-person island-themed bar in Docklands, the Moon Dog crew has announced plans for another venue — this time down the coast in Frankston. Moon Dog Beach Club is slated to open at the end of 2024, and will bring tropical island vibes to the seaside suburb. It is still currently under construction, but we can expect to find a huge balcony beer garden with day beds and palm trees, four bars slinging cocktail buckets and boozy slushies, and a beer- and prawn-filled cabana hut — because, why not? In true Moon Dog style, this is set to be over the top and a heap of nonsensical fun. Moon Dog Beach Club will also host regular DJs and live music sets that'll play late into the night, plus pour a stack of its own beers, seltzers, and playful cocktails. The kitchen will then be dishing up pub classics like parmas, burgers and ribs (you'll find these eats at just about every Moon Dog bar), alongside seafood platters, a Big Kahuna burger, and a selection of snacks. Moon Dog CEO and co-founder Josh Uljans shared, "When we found the site, we immediately knew our only option was to put a Moon Dog spin on a beach club, to make something really special and unique for the area. "We want Moon Dog Beach Club to be somewhere people can go to spend time with their mates and leave their worries at the door!" [caption id="attachment_975851" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Doglands[/caption] Moon Dog Beach Club is slated to open in late 2024 at 490 Nepean Highway, Frankston. For more information, you can check out the venue's website.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from January's haul. Brand New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Boy Swallows Universe A magical-realist coming-of-age tale, a clear-eyed family drama, a twisty crime and detective thriller, a time capsule of Brisbane in the 80s: since first hitting the page in 2018, Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe has worn its happy flitting between different genres and tones, and constant seesawing from hope to heartbreak and back again, as confidently as readers have long envisaged Eli Bell's wide grin. That hopping and jumping, that refusal to be just one type of story and stick to a single mood, has always made sense on the page — and in the excellent seven-part adaptation that now brings Australia's fastest-selling debut novel ever to the screen, it also couldn't feel more perfect. As played by the charmingly talented Felix Cameron (Penguin Bloom), Eli's smile is indeed big. As scripted by screenwriter John Collee (Hotel Mumbai), and with Dalton among the executive producers, the miniseries embraces its multitudes wholeheartedly. Like style, like substance: a semi-autobiographical novel penned by a writer and journalist who lived variations of plenty that he depicts, learned and accepted early that everyone has flaws, and patently has the imagination of someone who coped with life's hardships as a child by escaping into dreams of an existence more fanciful, Dalton's tome and every iteration that it inspires has to be many things in one bustling package. Its characters are, after all. Seeing people in general, parts of a city usually overlooked, and folks with complicated histories or who've made questionable choices — those forced in particular directions out of financial necessity, too — in more than just one fashion flutters at the centre of Boy Swallows Universe. In the Australian Book Industry Awards' 2019 Book of the Year, Literary Book of the Year and Audio Book of the Year, and now on streaming, Eli's nearest and dearest demand it. So does the enterprising Darra-dwelling 12-year-old boy who knows how to spy the best in those he loves, but remains well-aware of their struggles. His older brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley, The Heights) hasn't spoken since they were younger, instead drawing messages in the sky with his finger, but is as fiercely protective as elder siblings get. Doting and dedicated mum Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin, Babylon) is a recovering heroin addict with a drug dealer for a partner. And Lyle Orlik (Travis Fimmel, Black Snow), that mullet-wearing stepfather, cares deeply about Eli and Gus — including when Eli convinces him to let him join his deliveries. Boy Swallows Universe streams via Netflix. Read our full review, and our interview with Bryan Brown. Society of the Snow It was meant to be a fun trip to Chile with friends and family for a game. When the Old Christians Club rugby union team boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in Montevideo on October 13, 1972, destination Santiago, no one among them knew what would happen next. The plane didn't make it to its destination, as 1976 Mexican film Survive!, 1993 American movie Alive and now Spanish-US co-production Society of the Snow each cover. All three features boast apt titles, but only the latest sums up the grim reality and existential dilemma of crashing in the Andes, being stranded for 72 days in snowy climes with little resources against the weather — or for sustenance — and attempting to endure. Taken from the memoir by Pablo Vierci, aka La sociedad de la nieve in Spanish, only this phrase adorning JA Bayona's (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) picture encapsulates the tremendous effort that it took to find a way to persist, as well as the fact that trying to remain alive long enough to be rescued meant adapting everything about how the survivors approached each second, minute, hour, day, week and month — and also links in with how a catastrophe like this banded them together, doing whatever it took to find a way off the mountains, while reshaping how they contemplated what it meant to be human. Society of the Snow isn't just a disaster film detailing the specifics of the flight's failed trip, the immediate deaths and those that came afterwards, the lengthy wait to be found — including after authorities called the search off — and the crushing decisions made to get through. Bayona, who also helmed the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami-focused The Impossible, has made a weighty feature that reckons with the emotional, psychological and spiritual toll, and doesn't think of shying away from the most difficult aspects of this real-life situation (including cannibalism). This is both gruelling and meaningful viewing, as crafted with technical mastery (especially by Don't Breathe 2 cinematographer Pedro Luque, plus Cinco lobitos' Andrés Gil and Cites' Jaume Martí as editors), built upon brutal candour, and paying tribute to resilience and then some. Its feats extend to its hauntingly acted performances from a cast that includes Enzo Vogrincic (El Presidente), Agustín Pardella (Secrets of Summer) and Matías Recalt (Planners), all contributing to an account of camaraderie and sacrifice that deserves its Best International Feature Film Oscar nomination. Society of the Snow streams via Netflix. The Tourist Same cast, new location, similar-enough scenario: that's the approach in The Tourist's second season, which brings back what was meant to be a once-off series from 2022. In its debut run, Jamie Dornan's (A Haunting in Venice) Elliot Stanley awoke in the Aussie outback with zero memory and his life in danger. When the first six episodes ended, he'd uncovered who he was, complete with a distressing criminal past, but was en route to starting anew with Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald, French Exit), the constable who helped him get to the bottom of his mystery. After the show worked so swimmingly to begin with, swiftly earning its renewal, screenwriters Harry and Jack Williams (Baptiste, The Missing, Liar) switch part of their initial setup for its next spin. The story moves to Elliot's homeland, while Helen is the tourist (as is her grating ex Ethan, as played by Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe's Greg Larsen). Remaining in the compellingly entertaining thriller-meets-dramedy's return is the lack of recollection about Elliot's history, even as he actively goes looking for it. The Tourist first rejoins its main couple on a train in southeast Asia. While not married, they're firmly in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. But the now ex-cop has a revelation: Elliot has received a letter from one of his childhood pals who wants to meet. Quickly, off to the Emerald Isle they go. Trying to shave off his bushy holiday beard in a public toilet leads to Elliot being kidnapped, plus Helen playing investigator again. As he attempts to flee his captors (Outlander's Diarmaid Murtagh, Inspektor Jury: Der Tod des Harlekins' Nessa Matthews and The Miracle Club's Mark McKenn), she seeks help from local Detective Sergeant Ruairi Slater (Conor MacNeill, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), but any dreams that The Tourist's globe-hopping couple had about happy reunions or relaxing Irish getaways are sent packing fast. Disturbing discoveries; feuding families led by the equally formidable Frank McDonnell (Francis Magee, Then You Run) and Niamh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré, The Northman); again bringing Fargo and TV adaptation to mind: they're all influential factors in The Tourist's easy-to-binge (again) second season. The Tourist season streams via Stan. Read our full review. Echo With its ninth live-action streaming series on Disney+, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has broken out a new label:" Marvel Spotlight". It's now being applied to anything that's apparently less about ongoing MCU continuity and sports a greater emphasis on character. The idea is that watching shouldn't feel like homework, with no prior viewing required. Echo has also dropped its entire five-episode span at once, another MCU first. The focus on badging this Hawkeye spinoff about Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox, who made her acting debut in the earlier series) as something different because it isn't just connecting Marvel dots and setting up more to come is a curious choice, though. It's also the wrong point to stress. Echo isn't worth watching thanks to a lack of constant MCU winking, nudging and future nods. In fact, given that Avenger Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner, Mayor of Kingstown), Matt Murdoch/Daredevil (Charlie Cox, Kin) and Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio, Dumb Money) appear, that "no knowledge necessary" claim isn't accurate. What makes Echo a must-see, rather, is its protagonist, the authenticity with which it explores her story as an Indigenous woman who is deaf and has had a limb amputated, its cast and the potency that gathers across its run. By deviating from its standard release pattern — where it usually launches with a few episodes at once, then doles the rest out weekly — and unveiling the full series in one go, Disney isn't dumping Echo. If anything in the MCU's streaming catalogue demands a one-sitting binge, it's this. As created by Marion Dayre (Better Call Saul), and directed Sydney Freeland (Reservation Dogs) plus Catriona McKenzie (the Australian filmmaker behind 2012's Satellite Boy), Echo's power resounds with more strength the longer that it continues. The show takes time to step into Maya's backstory, explore her Choctaw community in Oklahoma, see how Kingpin's criminal enterprise reverberates through her family and thread its elements together. The three prologues that kick off the first three episodes, each telling of one of Maya's foremothers, start painting the full picture: this is an MCU TV entry made with careful attention to and affection for the cultural heritage that it depicts, and ensures that that's a genuine and crucial part of the narrative, even if Marvel also still being Marvel comes with the territory. Echo streams via Disney+. Read our full review. The Kitchen He has an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Judas and the Black Messiah. He was nominated for all of the above accolades for Get Out, and should've won them all then, too. His resume spans Skins, one of Black Mirror's most-memorable episodes, plus Sicario, Widows, Black Panther, Queen & Slim and Nope as well. But The Kitchen marks a first for Daniel Kaluuya: his first movie as a director. Hopefully more will follow. Co-helming with Kibwe Tavares — who also notches up his feature debut behind the lens after shorts including Jonah and Robot & Scarecrow, which both starred Kaluuya — and co-penning the screenplay with Calm with Horses' Joe Murtagh, the actor makes a stunning arrival as a filmmaker. The Kitchen's setup: in the year 2044 in London, with class clashes so pronounced that not being rich is basically treated as a crime, a man (Top Boy's Kane Robinson, aka rapper Kano) living in the titular housing development crosses paths with a 12-year-old boy (newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman) who has just lost his mother, with the pair discovering that they have no one but each other as they endeavour to find a way to survive. Robinson's Izy has bought into the social-climbing dream when The Kitchen begins. He'll do so literally if he can come up with the cash for an apartment in a swankier tower away from everything he's ever known within 21 days, a dream that he's been working towards at his job selling funerals. It's at the latter that he meets Bannerman's Benji, who has nowhere to live after his mother's death and no one else to turn to for help. The film's scenario is pure dystopia, reflecting the inequities, oppressions and realities of today as all great sci-fi should. Its intimate emotional core hones in on people attempting to persist and connect, as the genre's best always does as well. Accordingly, this is an impassioned and infuriated portrait of society's gaps as everyone watching can recognise, a nightmarish vision of what might come and a thoughtful character study. As directors, Kaluuya and Tavares excel at world-building, at bringing such rich detail and texture to the screen that viewers feel like they could step straight into its social realist-leaning frames, and at guiding affecting performances out of both Robinson and Bannerman (who adds to the feature's impressive first efforts). The Kitchen streams via Netflix. Prosper Prosper is the Australian TV series that was always bound to happen. Now that it exists, it's also easy to predict remakes of this involving drama popping up elsewhere in the world. Hillsong very likely inspired the eight-part show, which turns the angling within a Sydney-based megachurch's hierarchy into a Succession riff within religious confines, but the underlying story of power, corruption, and the complicated bonds of family and faith is universal. Richard Roxburgh knows what it's like to lead an Aussie effort that gets a US spin, thanks to Rake — and here he turns in another mesmerising performance. This time, the star of Elvis, The Crown, Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe, Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Go!, Fires and Bali 2002 in just the past four years alone plays Cal Quinn, a charismatic pastor whose belief in himself is just as strong as his devotion to the almighty. The fact that scandals keep raining down upon U Star, the name for the mix of worship and song he's trying to spread around the world with his wife Abi (Rebecca Gibney, Back to the Rafters) and their offspring, doesn't dent his certainty. The Quinns have big dreams to conquer the US, and also just-as-hefty chaos at home to deal with. Eldest son Dion (Ewen Leslie, The Clearing) wants to be more than just his dad's right-hand man, but has a fraying relationship with his wife Taz (Ming-Zhu Hii, La Brea) that's troubling him. Daughter Issy (Hayley McCarthy, Sylvie's Love) and her husband Benji (Jordi Webber, In Limbo) have their eyes on the American expansion, too. Cal and Abi are desperate to do anything that's necessary to bring Jed (Jacob Collins-Levy, The Witcher: Blood Origin), who left the church to work with the unhoused in the community, back to the fold. Throw in youngest child Moses (Alexander D'souza, Angry Indian Goddesses), a high schooler eager to understand who he truly is — and also family lawyer Eli Slowik (Jacek Koman, Faraway Downs), who knows everyone's secrets — and there's ample fuel for a rollercoaster-ride of a thriller. But as Prosper unpacks the Quinns' lives and lies, it also works in eager parishioner Rosa (Brigid Zengeni, The Artful Dodger) and her skeptical daughter Juno (Andrea Solonge, Class of 07), plus star US singer Maddox (Alex Fitzalan, Chevalier), who claims that he wants to be saved. Prosper strams via Stan. Good Grief Grief is a frequent filmic theme, but also a difficult one. Movie-of-the-week weepies have built their own set of cliches. The worst of the worst use someone's illness to try to claim that dying isn't worse than being by a person's ailing side. Dramedy Good Grief knows that the subject that's right there in its name is tricky, however — and that there's no one-size-fits-all experience of mourning. It also manages a complex task, focusing on a man who becomes a widower when his husband is killed suddenly, following his plight as he realises that not everything about their relationship was as idyllic as he thought, but never using someone losing their life solely as fodder to make its protagonist more interesting or tragic (or both). The directorial debut of Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy, who also pens his first feature screenplay, this sincere grappling with mortality and love cares about its characters deeply. It sees their intricacies and their flaws. This is also a film about the messy space that awaits when everything you thought your future holds crumbles, and then all that you're holding onto feels like it's floating away. Levy also stars as Marc, adding to a busy past year that's also seen him in The Idol, Haunted Mansion and Sex Education. When his character throws a Christmas party with his husband Oliver (Luke Evans, Nine Perfect Strangers), the only thing that doesn't seem rosy is the fact that the latter has a business trip to Paris that's taking him away mid-shindig. But the evening turns heartbreaking, leaving Marc lamenting the perfection he's lost — until he learns that there's more to Oliver's jaunts to France. Accompanied by his best friends Sophie (With Negga, Passing) and Thomas (Himesh Patel, Black Mirror), a visit to the City of Love himself awaits, where the stark discoveries keep coming in tandem with earnest soul-searching. Levy helms and pens this like he's lived it, especially in the honest dialogue. He unfurls the story with humour, too, and soulfulness. And he also never lets the inescapable truth that grief never disappears — and that its evolution never ends, either — fade from view. Good Grief streams via Netflix. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week True Detective Even when True Detective had only reached its second season, the HBO series had chiselled its template into stone: obsessive chalk-and-cheese cops with messy personal lives investigating horrifying killings, on cases with ties to power's corruption, in places where location mattered and with the otherworldly drifting in. A decade after the anthology mystery show's debut in 2014, True Detective returns as Night Country, a six-part miniseries that builds its own snowman out of all of the franchise's familiar parts. The main similarity from there: like the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led initial season, True Detective: Night Country is phenomenal. This is a return to form and a revitalisation. Making it happen after two passable intervening cases is a new guiding hand off-screen. Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López directs and writes or co-writes every episode, boasting Moonlight's Barry Jenkins as an executive producer. True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto remains in the latter role, too, as do McConaughey, Harrelson and season-one director Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die); however, from its female focus and weighty tussling with the dead to its switch to a cool, blue colour scheme befitting its Alaskan setting, there's no doubting that López is reinventing her season rather than ticking boxes. In handing over the reins, Pizzolatto's police procedural never-standard police procedural is a powerhouse again, and lives up to the potential of its concept. The commitment and cost of delving into humanity's depths and advocating for those lost in its abyss has swapped key cops, victims and locations with each spin, including enlisting the masterful double act of Jodie Foster (Nyad) and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One) to do the sleuthing, but seeing each go-around with fresh eyes feels like the missing puzzle piece. López spies the toll on the show's first women duo, as well as the splinters in a remote community when its fragile sense of certainty is forever shattered. She spots the fractures that pre-date the investigation in the new season, a cold case tied to it, plus the gashes that've carved hurt and pain into the earth ever since people stepped foot on it. She observes the pursuit of profit above all else, and the lack of concern for whatever — whoever, the region's Indigenous inhabitants included — get in the way. She sees that the eternal winter night of 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle come mid-December isn't the only thing impairing everyone's sight. And, she knows that not everything has answers, with life sometimes plunging into heartbreak, or inhospitable climes, or one's own private hell, without rhyme or reason. True Detective streams via Binge. Read our full review. Criminal Record It was accurate with side-splitting hilarity in The Thick of It, as dripping with heartbreak in Benediction and in the world of Doctor Who in-between: Peter Capaldi is one of Scotland's most fascinating actors today. Criminal Record uses his can't-look-away presence to excellent effect, casting him as DCI Daniel Hegarty, one of the eight-part series' two key detectives. By day, the no-nonsense Hegarty is a force to be reckoned with on the force. By night, he moonlights as a driver, seeing much that lingers in London as he's behind the wheel. In his not-so-distant past is a case that brings DS June Lenker (Cush Jumbo, The Good Fight) into his orbit — a case that she's certain is linked to a distressed emergency call by a woman trying to flee domestic abuse, and who says that her partner has already committed murder, gotten away with it and sent another man to prison for the crime in the process. Hegarty contends otherwise, and gruffly, but Lenker is determined to discover the truth, find her potential victim, ascertain whether someone innocent is in jail and learn why every move she makes to dig deeper comes with professional retaliation. This is no odd-couple cop show. It's largely a two-hander, however — and saying that it couldn't be better cast is an understatement. Capaldi is already someone who makes every moment that he's on-screen better. So is Jumbo, which makes watching them face off as riveting as television gets. Passive aggression oozes from the frame when Hegarty and Lenker first confront each other. Tension drips throughout the series relentlessly, but do so with particular vigour whenever its key cops are in close proximity. Criminal Record doesn't waste time keeping audiences guessing about who's dutifully taking their role as part of the thin blue line and who's part of policing at its most corrupt; instead, it lets those two sides that are both meant to be on the upstanding end of the law-and-order divide clash, surveying the damage that ripples not just through the fuzz but also the community. While twists and mysteries are also layered in, they regularly come second to Criminal Record's extraordinary performances, plus its thematic willingness to tear into what policing should be, can be and often is. Criminal Record streams via Apple TV+. Expats Adapting Janice YK Lee's 2016 novel The Expatriates, Lulu Wang's first major stint behind the lens since The Farewell has been dubbed Expats as a miniseries. The six-parter marks a shift in location to Hong Kong and a splinter in focus to three protagonists for its guiding force — with Wang creating the show, executive producing, helming all six episodes and writing two — but she's still plunging deep into bonds of blood, deceptions amid close relationships, grappling with grief and tragedy, and being caught between how one is meant to carry on and inescapable inner emotions. It too sees not only people but also its chosen place. It's a haunting series and, albeit not literally in the horror sense, a series about women haunted. And it's spectacularly cast, with Nicole Kidman (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom), Sarayu Blue (A Million Miles Away) and Ji-young Yoo (The Sky Is Everywhere) each stellar as its three main characters, all who've relocated for love, work or new beginnings, then make each other's acquaintance. The year is 2014, and Margaret Woo, her husband Clarke (Brian Tee, Chicago Med) and their family aren't new Hong Kong arrivals — but their past 12 months have been under a shadow ever since their youngest son Gus (debutant Connor James) went missing. No one is coping, including elder children Daisy (Tiana Gowen, True Love Blooms) and Philip (Bodhi del Rosario, 9-1-1). But while Margaret refuses to give up hope of finding her three-year-old boy, there are still lives to lead and, to help start Expats, a 50th birthday party for Clarke to host. In the lift at The Peak, the towering symbol of wealth inhabited by plenty who give the show its title, she's also insistent that her friend, downstairs neighbour and fellow American Hilary Starr (Blue) attend the shindig. The frostiness that fills the elevator also stems from Gus' disappearance, and accusations made against Hilary's recovering-alcoholic husband David (Jack Huston, Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches). When the soiree takes place, Mercy (Yoo) is there working one of her gig-economy jobs. Indeed, the lives of the privileged aren't solely this show's domain — because while this is a tale of three Americans adrift with their sorrows, where and the reality that surrounds them is equally as important as how and why. Expats streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. Death and Other Details There's no doubting that Death and Other Details loves whodunnits, or that it's made with a murderers' row of them in mind. Playing "spot the nod" is one of this ten-part series' games. Sleuthing along with its plot is the other, obviously. So, as an odd couple with an age discrepancy team up to attempt to solve "a classic locked-room mystery" — the show even calls it such — among the preposterously wealthy on holiday, and on a boat at that, where everyone has a motive and a battle over who'll seize control of a family business is also taking place, gleaning what creators and writers Heidi Cole McAdams and Mike Weiss (who also worked together on Stumptown) have been reading and watching isn't a puzzle. Nudges and references are regularly part of the murder-mystery genre anyway; here, recalling Agatha Christie's oeuvre and especially Death on the Nile, as well as Only Murders in the Building, Knives Out, Poker Face, The White Lotus and Succession, is part of sailing into a tale that's also about what we remember and why. Indeed, when other films and shows earn a wink here, Death and Other Details also digs into the purpose behind the minutiae that sticks in our memories. It's a savvy yet risky gambit, getting viewers ruminating on how they spy patterns and filter their perspectives, too, while chancing coming off as derivative. Mostly the series bobs in the first direction; however, even when it sways in the second, it still intrigues its audience to keep watching. Its seemingly mismatched pair: Imogene Scott (Violett Beane, God Friended Me) and the Hercule Poirot-esque Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin, Homeland), with the second regularly dubbed "the world's greatest detective". Most folks might believe that label, but Imogene does not. The duo shares a history spanning two decades, from when she was a child (Sophia Reid-Gantzert, Popular Theory) mourning the shock killing of her mother that he couldn't solve. Back then, Rufus was on the case at the behest of the wealthy Colliers, who work in textiles, employed Imogene's mum as a personal assistant to patriarch Lawrence (David Marshall Grant, Spoiler Alert) and took the girl in when she had no one else. Now, both Rufus and Imogene are guests on a cruise chartered by them — she's there as basically a member of the family; he's accompanying the Chuns, with whom the Colliers are in the middle of a billion-dollar business deal — when bodies start piling up. Death and Other Details streams via Disney+. Read our full review. One of the Best Films of 2023 That You Absolutely Need to Watch — or Rewatch Killers of the Flower Moon Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon quickly. Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon often. While Martin Scorsese will later briefly fill the film's frames with a fiery orange vision — with what almost appears to be a lake of flames deep in oil country, as dotted with silhouettes of men — death blazes through his 26th feature from the moment that the picture starts rolling. Adapted from journalist David Grann's 2017 non-fiction novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, with the filmmaker himself and Dune's Eric Roth penning the screenplay, this is a masterpiece of a movie about a heartbreakingly horrible spate of deaths sparked by pure and unapologetic greed and persecution a century back. Scorsese's two favourite actors in Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Robert De Niro (Amsterdam) are its stars, alongside hopefully his next go-to in Lily Gladstone (Reservation Dogs), but murder and genocide are as much at this bold and brilliant, epic yet intimate, ambitious and absorbing film's centre — all in a tale that's devastatingly true. As Mollie Kyle, a member of the Osage Nation in Grey Horse, Oklahoma, incomparable Certain Women standout Gladstone talks through some of the movie's homicides early. Before her character meets DiCaprio's World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart — nephew to De Niro's cattle rancher and self-proclaimed 'king of the Osage' William King Hale — she notes that several Indigenous Americans that have been killed, with Mollie mentioning a mere few to meet untimely ends. There's nothing easy about this list, nor is there meant to be. Some are found dead, others seen laid out for their eternal rest, and each one delivers a difficult image. But a gun fired at a young mother pushing a pram inspires a shock befitting a horror film. The genre fits here, in its way, as do many others as Killers of the Flower Moon follows Burkhart's arrival in town, his deeds under his uncle's guidance, his romance with Mollie and the tragedies that keep springing: American crime saga, aka the realm that Scorsese has virtually made his own, as well as romance, relationship drama, western, true crime and crime procedural. Killers of the Flower Moon streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review, and our interview with Martin Scorsese. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer.
Pizza and tequila are about to embark on a tasty summer fling at new southside bar and eatery Chacho's Windsor. The Chapel Street space is keeping things fresh and fun with a Mexican-inspired pizza offering, an edgy urban fitout and a selection of agave spirits that's worth crossing town for. In the kitchen, ex-Lazerpig chef Dan Pegg is turning his pizza prowess to a line of crafty pies made on 12-inch sourdough bases and topped with all manner of non-traditional flavour combinations. The Del Toro ($21) is loaded with roasted onions, chorizo, corn and jalapeños, then crowned with a central ring of corn chips for dipping into guacamole and sour cream. The Whole Hog ($22) features pork and fennel sausage, caramelised onion and a sprinkle of pork crackling, while the Holy Mole ($21) riffs on the classic meat lover, teaming slow-cooked pork, coriander and pickled red onion with a Mexican mole sauce. Meanwhile, a range of 'Not Pizzas' includes bites like cream cheese-stuffed jalapeños, a roast sweet potato salad, or grilled corn cobs doused in chipotle aioli, chilli, parmesan, lime and tequila salt. The party vibes continue over behind the Chacho's bar, where a sprawling selection of tequila and mezcal is put to good use throughout a lively list of cocktails. You'll find a swag of margaritas, both savoury and sweet, alongside drinks like the Coco-Loco ($18), teaming elderflower liqueur, coconut tequila with a tropical coconut rim, and the Negave ($18), with mezcal, Antica Formula, Campari and grapefruit. There are tequila flights, too, available in both 20ml and 30ml serves. And there's even more fun in store for your wallet, depending what time of the week you pop in, a daily 5–7pm happy hour promises $10 pizzas and $10 margaritas to soothe those after-work blues, and there are $10 bloody marys up for grabs, all night every Sunday.
Chic, sleek and stylish alert: Australia's most stunning places to drink, eat, grab a coffee and spend a night away from home have just been named for 2023. Each year, the Eat Drink Design Awards shower some love — aka its annual hospitality design accolades — on Australia's most stunning bars, eateries and hotels. On this year's list are a heap of Sydney venues, plus spots in Melbourne and Adelaide as well. If soaking in gorgeous surroundings while you sip, snack and slumber is your ideal way of heading out of the house, then consider the awards' yearly picks a must-visit guide. At these spots — all of which were completed between July 1, 2022–June 30, 2023 — chefs, signature dishes, creative cocktails, stellar coffee and comfortable beds aren't the only attractions. [caption id="attachment_929397" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Beau and Dough, Romello Pereira[/caption] For restaurants, cafes and hotels, Sydney emerged victorious. In fact, the Harbour City is so stacked with beautiful and innovative places for a meal that two shared the restaurant category: Beau and Dough in Surry Hills and Kiln at Ace Hotel Sydney. The first was praised for "designing for two separate yet interconnected venues", while the second earned compliments because its "design plugs into current conversations about sustainability, collaboration and community". In the cafe field, S'wich Bondi in Bondi Beach got the nod. "This little gem is a brave circuit breaker; it's not your average pitstop cafe-sandwich bar. A beautifully crafted bespoke space that aesthetically delivers in spades, it manages to weave together urban chic and Bondi's laid-back, fashionable culture," said the 2023 Eat Drink Design Awards jury, which consisted of Good Food journalist Emma Breheny, Akin Atelier director Kevin Ho, Hassell associate Di Ritter, The Bentley Restaurant Group chef and owner Brent Savage, and Artichoke acting editor Amy Woodroffe. [caption id="attachment_929398" align="alignnone" width="1920"] S'wich Bondi, Claudia Smith[/caption] Over in the hotel category, Capella Sydney was singled out. "The jury members were all impressed by this example of adaptive reuse. What used to be a government building has been painstakingly restored such that the original property, once inaccessible to most people, has been given new life and opened up to the public," the statement about this pick noted. For the best bar design, lock in drinks in the South Australian capital, with Adelaide's Dolly in Unley winning the gong. This is a "tactile wine bar" and "boasts a distinctive and timeless ambiance", said the jury, which also called out the fact that "the project's creative vision revolved around transforming the existing space into an experiential haven for locals". Victorian venues took out the retail deign and identity design fields, with the former going to LeTAO in Melbourne and the latter to Kōri Ice Cream in Hawthorn. [caption id="attachment_929400" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kōri Ice Cream, Architects EAT, Saville Coble[/caption] For the 2023 Hall of Fame Award, Sydney French restaurant Bistro Moncur in Woolhara, as designed by Tzannes, received recognition. As it does every year, this year's Eat Drink Design Awards also named commendations in various categories. Among the venues also getting some praise: Babylon Brisbane, the now-shuttered Butler in South Brisbane, Glory Days Bondi, Convoy in Moonee Ponds, Sydney's Hotel Morris and Bar Morris, Fitzroy's Pidapipó Laboratorio and Glenside's Kin Seafood. [caption id="attachment_929401" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bistro Moncur[/caption] "There was a diverse aesthetic in this year's winners expressing a lot of individuality, suggesting clients have allowed their design teams to lean into strong concepts and narratives. Plenty of examples of ambitious interiors offer complete sensory experiences, drama and bespoke craftsmanship," said the jury. "The very high level of design execution and attention to detail deserves extra praise this year, given the social and economic climate these works have occurred within. The judges applauded those designs that took risks and tried something innovative; yet at the same time, they praised designs that spoke softly and will likely retain relevance for decades in an industry with a proclivity for impermanence." [caption id="attachment_929402" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Capella Sydney, Timothy Kaye[/caption] [caption id="attachment_924664" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kiln, Anson Smart[/caption] [caption id="attachment_929403" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dolly, Jonathan VDK[/caption] 2024 EAT DRINK DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS: Best Restaurant Design: Beau and Dough by Smart Design Studio (Surry Hills, NSW) and Kiln, Ace Hotel Sydney by Fiona Lynch Interior Design (Sydney, NSW) Best Cafe Design: S'wich Bondi by Studio Shand (Bondi Beach, NSW) Best Bar Design: Dolly by Genesin Studio (Unley, SA) Best Hotel Design: Capella Sydney by Bar Studio (Sydney, NSW) Best Retail Design: LeTAO by K Holland Architectural Interiors (Melbourne, VIC) Best Identity Design: Kōri Ice Cream by Principle Design (Hawthorn, VIC) For the full list of winners and commendations, head to the Eat Drink Design website. Top image: Kiln, Anson Smart.
Never a brand to do things like anyone else, Melbourne-based skincare label Aesop has just launched their first collection of room sprays as a multi-sensory experience. With fragrance said to evoke some of the strongest emotional responses (it's the sense most associated with memory), the modern-day alchemists asked composer and musician Jesse Paris Smith (daughter of Patti and Fred 'Sonic' Smith) to create three unique tracks to 'narrate the journey' of each scent. It's pretty poetic. As with Aesop's fragrances, each track has been deconstructed, with top notes (ones that are perceived immediately), heart notes (the ones that emerge just before the top notes dissipate) and base notes (the lingering finale). Smith's three compositions are ambient and perfectly calming — and available to download for free off the Aesop website. It's like being at a health spa in the comfort of your own home. Each scent is named after an ancient Greek city and is distinct without being overpowering — there's no sickeningly sweet vanilla here. Rather, Aesop has developed three characteristically sophisticated scents. Istros combines pink pepper, lavender and tobacco, while Cythera embraces geranium, patchouli and Myrrh, and Olous is a citrusy burst of botanicals, cedar and cardamom. Aesop's aromatic room sprays retail for $60 each and and can be bought here. [embed]https://vimeo.com/224417380[/embed]
Melbourne is a bit partial to a good citywide festival, as you might have noticed from the likes of White Night, RISING and Melbourne Fringe. The latest festival to join the party is Now or Never, a huge 17-day event that's set to make its debut this winter, serving up a bumper celebration of creativity, innovation and big ideas. Originally announced in November last year, Now or Never has just revealed the first of its hefty lineups, descending on Melbourne's historic Royal Exhibition Building. Underneath its spectacular cathedral ceilings, the World Heritage listed site will play host to some of the festival's biggest events. Excitingly, Now or Never's festival lineup will mark the first large-scale live music performances in the iconic building in over 20 years. [caption id="attachment_902936" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Ayebatonye[/caption] "For the first time in more than two decades, Now or Never will bring large-scale live music back to the spectacular Royal Exhibition Building — with an unmissable line-up that celebrates our incredible homegrown talent, alongside ground-breaking work from international artists," Lord Mayor Sally Capp says. Topping the bill: a cutting-edge club night co-hosted by Untitled Group, the same crew behind Beyond the Valley, Pitch Music & Arts and Ability Fest. This high-energy twilight party will be headlined by German house and techno producer Âme, along with renowned DJ, producer and creative director of Irregular Fit, Ayebatonye. Joining them: Stockholm's tech and house producer Axel Boman, Melbourne native CC:DISCO!!, and Brisbane mainstay and Yuggera woman, dameeeela. [caption id="attachment_902935" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: dameeeela[/caption] There is also an Australian-exclusive performance by legendary singer, songwriter and producer Kelela, who will be supported by R&B musician serpentwithfeet. Plus, a night of live electronic music in pitch-black darkness with English duo Autechre, joined by electronic music duo Actress and bass-heavy innovators Giant Swan. Finally, Orchestra Victoria is partnering up with avant-garde composer Steve Reich to deliver an intricate performance. In more huge news, the southern hemisphere's biggest and longest-running festival of ideas, Semi Permanent, is dropping into Melbourne for a one-day iteration dubbed Never Permanent. Expect a collection of industry-leading thinkers and doers, across creativity, tech and design. [caption id="attachment_902934" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Kelela[/caption] "Never Permanent brings together the best creatives and innovators from around the globe," Semi Permanent Founder Murray Bell says. "This lineup for Never Permanent is shaping up to be one of our best yet, and we're thrilled for this to be a part of Now or Never." This is Now or Never's first lineup announcement, which run from Thursday, August 17–Saturday, September 2. Further details are expected to drop in late June, with Now or Never teasing a hefty program of free and ticketed events spanning a diverse array of experiences, art, talks, installations, music, culinary delights and more. Expect a calendar of happenings running both by day and into the night, including everything from virtual reality experiences, live tunes and digital exhibitions through to multi-sensory feasts, thought-provoking talks and captivating visual art. Now or Never will run from Thursday, August 17–Saturday, September 2 at venues across the city. Tickets for the first lineup announcement are on sale now. We'll share more details as they come. Top image: Supplied.
Bringing authentic(ish) Indian food to Gertrude Street, Ish fuses modern and traditional elements of the cuisine. The share menu is split between 'peckish', 'moreish' and 'famished' categories. Smaller plates include free-range chicken tikka with ginger and garlic, Indian scotch eggs with curried onion and pulled confit duck marinated in Indian spices. Also try the home made pan buns with a spiced potato fritter and mint and coriander chutney, a classic on the streets of Mumbai. Bigger plates feature the slow-cooked Kerala beef curry with Malabari paratha (flatbread), Punjabi style tick creamy butter chicken with cashew nuts, an eggplant moiled curry served with turmeric, coconut curry and mustard seeds or the Bengali lamb curry, flavoured with yogurt, cashew paste and poppy seeds. From the sea enjoy the island fish curry or the prawn and eggplant moiled with coconut and turmeric. The fit-out was designed by Melbourne's Studio Round and Indian interior designer Annu Bains, with all of the bespoke furniture imported directly from India, too. Stepping through the doors, you'll feel transported to contemporary India. Spread over two floors, the restaurant features leather banquettes, timber high tables and exposed brick walls downstairs, while upstairs boasts forest green accents, round tables and brass and leather seating. Grab a seat, get comfy and prepare to feast on all manners of tasty Indian treats. Images: Rhiannon Taylor.
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are finally back together on the big screen. Whilst they may not be crashing weddings, they are still making everyone laugh, this time as 'dinosaur' salesmen torpedoed by the digital age. When they're forced to compete against the younger generation of brains for a prestigious position at Google, hilarity ensues (with Quidditch even appearing at one point). The Internship also stars John Goodman and Rose Byrne, and they are not the only big names involved; Google has played a large role. The film features a range of Google products as well as a cameo from co-founder Sergey Brin himself. It looks to have been a smart PR move from the internet giant, which must have learned from the hard lesson taught to Mark Zuckerberg when he opted not to be involved in the creative process of The Social Network. Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox, we have three double passes to give away to the Melbourne premiere on June 11 at Village Crown, which Vince Vaughn is attending. To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven't already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. The Internship is in cinemas June 13.
This former corner milk bar is a relaxed, friendly way to start the day. Despite being a crowd favourite with the Bay Road Lycra Brigade on the weekends, this little Bayside treasure is the perfect caffeine pit stop en route to a dip in the bay. The little brother of Ripponlea's acclaimed Hawk and Hunter, Little Ox benefits from the daily delivery of Hawk pastries, not to mention the Red Star fair trade coffee extracted to perfection. The all day breakfast ensures even the staples are presented with a fresh approach. The Spring Bruschetta ($21.50), for example, features house-cured salmon pastrami, seasonal mixed asparagus, pea smash, Persian feta, balsamic glaze and a poached egg. Naturally, all eggs are free range and local from Happy Hens. The lunch selection is similarly inspired with the roast porterhouse, horseradish aioli and caramelised onion sandwich ($17), and the pan-fried calamari salad is lip-smackingly tasty for $18.50. A recently introduced liquor licence ensures the food goes down extra smoothly, while the welcoming interior, decorated with white tiles and signature yellow stools, makes this particularly well-stocked seaside kitchen feel like home. The iced coffee — served in a trendy jar, no less — was especially good on a warm February day, as was the cold pea, mint and cucumber soup, a summer special for $10.50. With a solid menu and customer base, this Little Ox is no lightweight — proving that good things often do come in small packages.
George Calombaris is a long way from Masterchef. In the world of Sydney photographer, Daniel Sponiar, Calombaris is embroiled in a coup de etat with his head chef and sommelier — knife poised for the final strike. In other snaps, Shane Delia plays racecars with his son, and Guy Grossi is practically the Godfather. The world of Australian cuisine is nothing if not diverse. Showing at Edmund Pearce as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Yes Chef! is a playful look at the men behind the menus. Produced in discussion with the chefs themselves, Sponair's photographs tap into their lives beyond the kitchen. "My aim is to present a fresh perspective that reveals who they really are, what has led to their success or what drives their creativity," says Sponiar. For some the answer seems straightforward — family, or leisure in the form of a motorcycle or a surfboard. For Calombaris it worryingly seems he's driven by the murderous rage of his colleagues. Everyone knew the kitchen was cut-throat.
It’s nothing new to reference the explosion of social media across our cultural landscape, how it mediates our fumbling navigation through the murky and glorious waters of the World Wide Web, nor how its various forms facilitate and foster ever-expanding networks of communication, knowledge and connection globally. Rather than contracting our cyber presence to the corners of our computer screens, sites such as GetUp! and Twitter have become the go-to tools of a dynamic, interwoven and international citizenry in their various en-masse calls for change to governments, institutions and laws (think of the Arab Spring, or the current ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement). A concurrent trend of the Noughties has been the popularisation of ethical consumerism. No longer the exclusive domain of hippies or hipsters, the growth of demand for organic food, fairtrade goods, farmers markets and the like reveal a genuine awakening regarding the production of goods as well as a desire to align one's consumerism with one's values. Cue the bright-eyed, pigtailed offspring of these two trends, Slavery Footprint. A new app developed by Justin Dillon, Slavery Footprint aims to show you how many ‘slaves’ your consumption entails via the supply chain, which, the website informs, now enslaves more people than at any time in human history. The application isn’t designed as a guilt trip or a disincentive to buying, but rather is geared towards heightening awareness as an avenue for inciting change – change through you, and your choices. And not just a change in the brands you buy – the app doesn’t offer ‘alternative, cruelty-free’ options so as to avoid the emergence of expensive, ‘ethical’ brands only economically accessible to certain demographics – but rather a change in the entire mentality towards consumption and, hopefully, along with it, the enterprise of slave labour that sustains it. Says Ambassador Luis CdeBaca of the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, who helped develop the app, “You’re going to be touched by slavery no matter what, and I think that’s actually a liberating thing. We can no longer say this is someone else’s problem….” Overwhelmingly, the ethos of the app is empowerment, and apparently Dillon has struck an untapped reservoir of empowerment-hungry shoppers. On a recent trip to Melbourne I happened across a piece of paper stuck to a graffitied wall in an alleyway that asked “Is our empathy on the rise?” After ponderous deliberation, I wrote “Maybe, but I think we can do better”. And with the aid of innovations such as Slavery Footprint, perhaps we can, after all.
Archer's restaurant at Melbourne Marriott Hotel Docklands has partnered with several independent Victorian distillers to host a monthly whisky tasting and dinner experience in its main dining room. Following a sold-out whisky dinner in May, the team has decided to revive the concept for three more monthly events. The series kicks off on Saturday, September 2 and will be hosted in collaboration with Morris Whisky — a local distiller that's been around since 1859. This will be followed by Timboon Distillery on Saturday, October 7 and Chief's Son Distillery on Saturday, November 4. Each of the three evenings will see guests tuck into a one-time-only menu designed by Archer's Executive Chef Ryan Flaherty (The Fat Duck and Stokehouse), made to be paired with a selection of whiskies curated by the distillers themselves. The four-course meal with matched whiskies comes in at $130 per person and can easily be followed by more good times in the hotel's main bar, Ada's — which boasts its own whisky cart that gets rolled around each evening. If you want to claim a spot at Archer's monthly whisky dinners, head to the restaurant's website.
There are few more anxious moments in our lives than the wait we must endure for Korean fried chicken. Our mouths can't help but water, our hands can't help but fidget. Chris Lucas has inflicted a slightly torturous wait upon us, but thankfully it's also nearly over. Kong BBQ will officially be open for business in its permanent Richmond home this Friday, May 30. For those that haven't yet been swept up in this BBQ bonanza, Kong is the brainchild of famed restauranteur Chris Lucas — the guy behind Chin Chin and Baby Pizza. After the announcement of Kong's imminent arrival in December last year, Lucas has been hard at work. Kong has been built from scratch, taking advantage of the best in Korean BBQ cuisine; plus it has already been trialled as a pop-up in the much-loved CBD street food park Rue & Co. Now the dress rehearsal is over, everyone is sufficiently tantalised and the real thing is nearly upon us. With Chin Chin's Benjamin Cooper on board as executive chef, Kong will be taking up residence in what was once Church Street's Pearl Cafe. Taking inspirations from traditional Asian smoking techniques, the restaurant will specialise in BBQ favourites like ribs and wings while using chemical-free charcoal and sustainable Australian hard wood. Unsurprisingly, it will also take on Chin Chin's infamous walk-in only policy. Kong will not take bookings and with this amount of hype, we suggest you get there very early to secure a table. Luckily they'll also offer a takeaway menu. With menu items characterised by kimchi, soy and sesame, at least this is takeaway food you can feel semi-okay about scoffing. Kong will be open from 11am-late from Friday, May 30. It's located at 599 Church Street, Richmond.
UK singer-songwriter Olivia Dean will make her ARIA Awards debut in Sydney this November, performing live just one day before a special headline show. ARIA confirmed the news today, announcing that Dean will take the stage at the Hordern Pavilion on Wednesday, November 19. The London-born artist will stick around for a one-off Sydney gig the following evening, before returning in 2026 for a full arena tour. "I love Australia and I'm so excited to perform at the 2025 ARIA Awards," Dean said in a statement. "This will be my first time at the awards ceremony, it's going to be lots of fun!" The announcement follows the release of Dean's sophomore album The Art of Loving, which dropped last week and is already climbing the ARIA charts. Its third single, 'Man I Need,' is sitting at #2 on the Singles chart and is tipped to go Platinum within a fortnight. This year's ARIA Awards are shaping up to be a big one, with Ninajirachi, Dom Dolla and RÜFÜS DU SOL among the top nominees. The ceremony will stream live on Paramount+ and air on Channel 10. Check out the full list of ARIA Award nominees. Images: Getty
Put away the gadgets, turn off the Netflix, round up the family and lace up your (and the little guys') joggers. Victoria's variety of scenic walking trails offer the perfect opportunity to get some fresh air with the whole family — all the while surrounded by the pristine natural landmarks that make this state a hiker's dream. To help you get out there with the entire fam, we've teamed up with our mates at Macpac to track down getaways perfect for all ages. Load up that picnic basket and head to these coastal adventures and lakeside saunters that everyone will love. These family-friendly hikes are well within reach of the city, so the kids won't get bored in the car — and you'll make it home for dinner. [caption id="attachment_717127" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Visit Victoria.[/caption] MORNINGTON DOG-FRIENDLY WALK The Mornington Foreshore offers everything from stunning camping spots and sandy beaches to great quality food and drinks. Featuring a dog-friendly path and modern playground, the walk begins in native bushland and includes many vantage points to glimpse a spectacular water view. Along the way, you'll get to explore Mothers Beach and its vibrant boat houses before arriving at the popular Mornington Pier. Don't forget to bring your fur baby along, too — the Royal Beach is leash-free, and the water and rock pools provide a great spot to rest. Pack this: Kahuna 18L Urban Backpack ($71.99) [caption id="attachment_717128" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Visit Victoria.[/caption] YOU YANGS BIG ROCK WALK Set between Melbourne and Geelong, the You Yangs Regional Park is a great place to visit if you want to get back to nature but not too far away from the city. Home to towering granite rock formations that rise out of the volcanic soil, this place is most popular among rock climbers and mountain bikers. The Big Rock Walk is a leisurely 30-minute stroll winding its way between thick vegetation, eventually arriving at said 'big rock'. The name may lack some imagination, but you'll be inspired by the view from the top. On those cooler Victorian days, the rock soaks up the sun and makes for a pleasant picnic spot with incredible scenery. Pack this: Soft Touch Water Bottle 1L ($24.49) [caption id="attachment_717130" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Visit Victoria.[/caption] WADAWURRUNG COUNTRY WALK Beginning at Point Impossible, the Wadawurrung Country Walk showcases incredible white-sand beaches and coastal shrubbery that attract visitors from near and far. Plus, you can learn about the traditional Wadawurrung people that lived there for thousands of years as you journey along its path. The Torquay Sundial is another highlight and, set near the playground, is a great spot for the kids to discover. Designed by local artists Claire Gittings and Glenn Romanis, the sundial's art combines flora, fauna and oral stories significant to the local community. As you make your way along this 90-minute walk, make sure to stop off at the likes of Whites Beach Playground and the Elephant Walk Park to keep the kids entertained and their energy high. Pack this: Summit Ridge 22L Daypack — Kids ($80.00) [caption id="attachment_703508" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Brianna Laugher via Flickr.[/caption] LERDERDERG GORGE Only an hour's drive from the CBD, Lerderderg State Park is a sprawling spot that spans 14,250 hectares. Begin your descent into the gorge from MacKenzies Flat, then follow the well-signed track towards the river that carves through the landscape. Roam the sandstone and slate rock formations of this 300-metre deep gorge and spot some of the beautiful flora and fauna dotting the area. The kids will have fun leaping across the stepping stones and splashing around int he shallows. Pack this: Cub 10L Daypack — Kids ($54.99) [caption id="attachment_717125" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Visit Victoria.[/caption] LAKE ELIZABETH WALK The Otway Ranges are home to some challenging climbs, but this walk is accessible for the whole family. Take a relaxing stroll around Lake Elizabeth and find out why this tiny section of the Otways is so beloved. Located just a ten-minute drive from the tight-knit community of Forrest, the Lake Elizabeth Walk offers the opportunity to wander through the ferns and even spot a platypus or two. Towering trunks burst from beneath the lake's surface, remaining from when the valley was flooded more than 50 years ago. There's also a small jetty where you can bring a dingy and paddle your way across the water. Pack this: Possum Child Carrier V2 ($239.99)
