Over the past eight months, Melburnians have become accustomed to wearing face masks, with donning the coverings made compulsory back in mid-July and also again in mid-February. Now that Victoria's latest round of COVID-19 restrictions are continuing to ease, rules around covering your face are changing again as well. In big news, they're no longer mandatory in all indoor circumstances since 11.59pm on Friday, February 26. At present, since the change kicked in overnight, you only have to don a mask at all in certain scenarios. You will always have to carry one with you, though — that's still mandatory. If this sounds familiar, that's because Victoria is reverting to the tules that were in place before Christmas. Premier Daniel Andrews made the announcement about masks as part of his latest press conference, where he unveiled a whole heap of other changes — and easing back face mask requirements was one of the big ones. You'll now just have to wear them in specified crowded spots, including when social distancing can't be maintained. First and foremost, Victorians will still be required to keep wearing masks indoors at shopping centres, and in retail stores inside shopping centres — including department stores, electronics stores, furniture stores, hardware stores and supermarkets. You'll also need to keep wearing them at indoor markets. The rule applies to spaces 2000-square-metres or larger, so if you're shopping indoors at a large and busy establishment, you'll need to mask up. Masks are also still mandatory on public transport, and when using ride shares or other commercial passenger vehicles. That's hardly a surprise, given that social distancing is difficult in these situations. https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1365100784828837888 And, you'll need to mask up when visiting a hospital, visiting or working in an aged care facility, and if you're either experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms or you've had a test and you're waiting for the results. If you're still wondering where to grab a mask, we've put together a rundown of local companies making and selling them. For more information about the status of COVID-19 and the current restrictions, head over to the Department of Health and Human Services 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 August's haul. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL NOW HEARTSTOPPER Whether they attend Truham Grammar School or the neighbouring Higgs Girls School, most of Heartstopper's teenagers have much to say, often via text. But perhaps the most apt line of the entire Netflix series so far is uttered by Isaac Henderson (first-timer Tobie Donovan), the quiet bibliophile among the show's main friendship group. "I read all these books where people fall in love and I still have absolutely no idea," Isaac advises in the web-to-page-to-screen hit's second season. As a webcomic, a graphic novel and also a TV series that proved an instant smash when it debuted in 2022, Alice Oseman's creation couldn't better embody this reflection. Heartstopper is Isaac's yearning and confusion turned into art, even as the series remains sweet and joyous in every episode. Isaac gets his own storyline in season two, exploring what that lament means to him as he unpacks his own identity, and it's among the show's weighty narrative threads. But everyone in Heartstopper, from central couple Charlie Spring (fellow debutant Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor, Little Joe) to their maybe-more-than-friends pals Tao Xu (newcomer William Gao) and Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney), plus classmates Tara Jones (Corinna Brown, Daphne) and Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell), live his telling statement in their own ways. Tales about getting swept away by first love adore conveying the rush, buzz and head-over-heels effervescence evoked by the pivotal experience. Awkwardness often factors in, but rarely the reality that no one ever truly knows what they're doing when it comes to romance. A chronicle of coming of age and also coming out, Heartstopper makes the truth that every teen is just doing their best and following their heart one of the show's core guiding concepts. And mostly, usually with each other's help as they traverse the full onslaught of adolescent emotions, this supremely likeable, relatable crew of high schoolers knows that they don't, can't and won't ever have all the answers. Brought to the screen by Oseman as the series' creator and writer, plus director Euros Lyn (Dream Horse) behind the lens — together, they've respectively penned and helmed all 16 episodes, eight in season one and that amount again in season two — Heartstopper spent its debut offering watching Charlie and Nick gravitate into each other's orbits. When the pair were sat next to each other in form class at the beginning of a new term, a friendship and then more swelled. Season two finds them officially and happily boyfriends, and with Nick's mother Sarah (Olivia Colman, Secret Invasion) supportive about Nick's bisexuality. Telling the rest of the world when he chooses to is part of his latest journey, always with the protective Charlie by his side. Heartstopper streams via Netflix. Read our full review. TELEMARKETERS No one likes it when their phone rings from an unknown number, whether "no caller ID" or digits that you don't recognise flash up on your mobile's screen. Telemarketers isn't going to change that response. It won't dampen the collective ire that the world holds towards the pushy people on the other end of the line, either. HBO's thrilling three-part docuseries doesn't just reinforce what viewers already feel about the nuisance industry that thinks it can interrupt your day and life with a spiel that no one wants, and impact your bank balance in the process. In addition, it spins a true tale that demonstrates why a deep-seated dislike of telemarketing is so well-founded, and also why cold-calling operations can be so insidious. This true-crime story about the New Jersey-based Civic Development Group surpasses even the most call centre-despising audience member's low expectations of the field — and it's gripping, can't-look-away, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed stuff. In fact, it's also an account of a tenacious duo revealing a billion-dollar fraud, and bringing this stunning whistleblower documentary to the masses. "Every other telemarketer who drives you crazy in the whole world is because of CDG," advises one of the series' interviewees. That might seem like a big claim, but co-directors Sam Lipman-Stern (Live From the Streets) and Adam Bhala Lough (The New Radical) step through its truth. The former knows the outfit's approach from experience, working there for seven years from the age of 14 after dropping out of high school, while the latter is the filmmaker cousin he wasn't aware of. Lipman-Stern is Telemarketers' on-screen guiding hand, too, but his ex-colleague Patrick J Pespas is its heart and soul. As seen early, Pespas is called a "telemarketing legend". Although he's happy snorting heroin on-camera in 2000s-era footage, he's switched on to CDG's shonkiness; more than that, he's determined to expose it even if it takes two decades. Everywhere that Lipman-Stern and Pespas look from there, this tale gets worse. It's no wonder that Uncut Gems and Good Time filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie are among Telemarketers' executive producers, plus Eastbound & Down's Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. Telemarketers streams via Binge. Read our full review. JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL The man knows how to rock a hat: Timothy Olyphant (Full Circle), that is. He knows how to play a determined lawman with a piercing stare and an unassailable sense of honour, too, and television has been all the better for it for nearing two decades. Pop culture's revival culture has benefited as well — first with HBO's 2004–06 western masterpiece Deadwood returning as 2019's Deadwood: The Movie, and now with 2010–15's US Marshal drama Justified making a comeback as miniseries Justified: City Primeval. Olyphant was perfect in both the first time around, and proves the same the second. Indeed, Deadwood: The Movie's only problem was that it was just a made-for-TV film, not a another season; Justified: City Primeval's sole issue is that it spans only eight episodes, and that a next date with the Stetson-wearing Raylan Givens hasn't yet been locked in. This continuation of Justified's initial six seasons arrives eight years after the show ended for viewers, but also finds Raylan with a 15-year-old daughter. And it's with Willa (Vivian Olyphant, Timothy Olyphant's real-life offspring) that he's hitting the road when a couple of criminals reroute their plans. Now based in Miami, Florida rather than Justified's Harlan, Kentucky, Raylan is meant to be taking Willa to camp, only to be forced to detour to Detroit, Michigan to testify. It isn't a brief stop, after the Deputy US Marshal makes the wrong impression on Judge Alvin Guy (Keith David, Nope), then is personally requested to investigate an assassination attempt against the same jurist — teaming up with local detectives who are adamant about Detroit's particular ways, including Maureen Downey (Marin Ireland, The Boogeyman), Norbert Beryl (Norbert Leo Butz, The Girl From Plainville) and Wendell Robinson (Victor Williams, The Righteous Gemstones). You can take Raylan out of rural America and into the Motor City, as Justified: City Primeval does, but even with silver hair atop his calm glare he's still Raylan. So, he'll always stride around like a lone gunslinger who has seen it all, will confront anything, and is perennially valiant and resolute — and silently exasperated about humanity's worst impulses, too — as Justified: City Primeval welcomes. New location, passing years, the responsibilities of fatherhood, more and more lowlife crooks (including Boyd Holbrook, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny): they haven't changed this character, and audiences wouldn't have wanted that to happen. Justified: City Primeval streams via Disney+. Read our full review. KILLING IT Craig Robinson slays snakes. If Killing It was initially pitched with those four words and those four words alone, it still would've been easy to greenlight. When the latest comedy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor and executive producer Luke Del Tredici first arrived in 2022, it leaned in, too, with terminating serpents the whole point of the contest at the centre of the comedy's debut season. The place: Florida, home to the python-teeming Everglades. The year: 2016, in the lead up to the US election. The reason for vanquishing vipers: a $20,000 payday, which Craig — also the name of Robinson's character — needed to enact his vision of becoming a saw palmetto farmer. Killing It served up far more than just Robinson, a B99 guest and The Office star, polishing off reptiles, however, and not simply because Claudia O'Doherty (Our Flag Means Death) joined in as the hammer-swinging Jillian. As a satire of the type of society that has people resorting to seeking a better future by offing animals competitively, and a nation that celebrates the American dream as the pinnacle of existence without recognising how unachievable that notion is, this series has always sunk its fangs in. Getting Killing It's characters bludgeoning wildlife was a savvy signifier of a horribly broken system in season one. In season two, slaughtering serpents is old news, but venomous foes definitely aren't. They're the uncaring bureaucracy, the shameless corporations, the shaking-down gangs, the car thieves, the cruel insurance bodies, the nation's entire health scheme, the manipulative bosses, the rude customers and the cash-splashing rich. They're absolutely everyone with a solely in-it-for-themselves perspective, which is almost everyone. When Killing It's latest eight-episode go-around kicks off, its central pair have followed through on the saw palmetto plan — albeit at a cost, with Craig's low-level criminal brother Isaiah (Rell Battle, Superior Donuts) now on the lam and posing as a doctor in Phoenix. Their farm is up and running, and perennial-optimist Jillian isn't is the only one who's hopeful. The two business partners even have a buyer for their berries — and, while their margins are thin, they're getting by. Alas, whether they're dealing with a possible giant snail problem, being blackmailed into taking on new colleagues or becoming the subject of a hostile takeover, Craig and Jillian swiftly realise that snakes still lurk everywhere. Killing It streams via Stan. Read our full review. IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA No one should start watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's 16th season with its eighth and last episode (last for this season, that is; the already record-breaking TV comedy, which became the longest-running live-action American sitcom ever with its 15th season, has been renewed for a 17th and 18th go-around). Still, the final instalment from this current batch, called 'Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day', is one the show's best-ever chapters. As a character study of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's most arrogant and abrasive member of its main quintet, aka Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton, Blackberry) — and yes, given his company, that's some feat — it's phenomenal in stepping through how his twisted mind works. A whopping 170 episodes in, it's also a prime example of the series' constant eagerness to push and stretch itself. Season 16 also features It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia instalments that are so classic that they could've aired years ago, not that the program ever repeats itself, but this run also keeps challenging how It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia tells its tale, unpacks Dennis and company, and satirises Pennsylvania's worst Irish bar owners. Howerton remains mesmerising as one of the show's Reynolds twins throughout season 16; however, so does Kaitlin Olson (Hacks) as his sister Dee. This far in, Charlie Day (Bupkis), Rob McElhenney (Mythic Quest) and Danny DeVito (Haunted Mansion) could all play Charlie Kelly, Mac and Frank Reynolds in their sleep, too — but there's no coasting here, only going deeper into what makes the Paddy's Pub crew who they are. Their responses to any given outlandish situation, aka It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's bread and butter, might seem predictable on the surface. Even what proves true, though, nothing is ever straightforward. Amid the scheming, plotting, conning, fighting, revenge plans and more, this bunch constantly unpack and parody America at its most problematic, and western attitudes overall as well. They're as sharp and ridiculous and hilarious now as they were in 2005. In their sights this time: inflation, gun violence, reality TV, chess, celebrity endorsements (complete with a spectacular couple of guest stars), child-friendly food and amusement joints, bowling and, of course, mental health. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia streams via Disney+. VESPER Some films make their audience feel like they could reach out and touch their on-screen worlds, and French-Lithuanian-Belgian movie Vesper is one such picture. Here, that sensation springs from a key element: first-rate world-building efforts on writer/director duo Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper's (ABCs of Death 2) parts. This isn't a sci-fi blockbuster with a massive budget and seemingly thousands upon thousands of companies working on special effects. Rather, Vesper is far more modest in scale, as was its big-screen run, including film-festival berths and no general release Down Under. But without megabucks behind it, Vesper spins a dystopian tale that seems tangible — that, as you watch, feels like you could walk straight into, too — as it focuses on its titular teenager (Raffiella Chapman, His Dark Materials). Her quest: surviving after an ecological crisis while looking after her bedridden father Darius (Richard Brake, Barbarian). In this vision of what might come, the planet's plants and animals have become the victims of viruses that ravaged the globe, leaving insects and bacteria as humanity's main diet. Buožytė and Samper, scripting with Brian Clark (Compulsion), work in English with Vesper. That said, on their latest sci-fi feature after Vanishing Waves, they also frequently work in the space between what's uttered aloud. The narrative sticks with Vesper as she keeps attempting to scrounge up food and electricity, usually with Darius' consciousness floating in a drone by her side — a machine that looks like an old-school TV, but with a face drawn on. The film also charts its namesake's determination to avoid her nefarious uncle Jonas (Eddie Marsan, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), who trades in the blood of children to obtain seeds, which are used as currency and highly protected by towering bases called citadels. And, as it muses on what it truly means to endure and persist, and why, doing so amid grey-toned imagery, a fierce lead performance, meticulous attention to visual detail and expressive silences, it observes what occurs when Vesper finds Camellia (Rosy McEwen, The Alienist) after a crash, then has her perception of an already-tough life challenged. Vesper streams via Paramount+ and Prime Video. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING Corpses and killings don't normally herald joy on-screen, even in pop culture's current murder-mystery comedy wave, but Only Murders in the Building isn't just another amusing whodunnit. There's a particular warmth to this series. In each of its three seasons to-date, the New York-set show has unleashed amateur gumshoes upon a shock death, with its key trio sifting through clues and podcasting the details. Along the way, it has also kept telling a winning story about second chances and finding the folks who understand you. Only Murders in the Building's ten-episode third season relays that tale again, expanding its portraits of artist Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die), theatre director Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and veteran actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated) — and of their friendship. Once more, it embraces the power of chemistry, both within its narrative and for audiences. That isn't new; when the show debuted in 2021, it felt like the murder-mystery comedy genre's version of a cosy embrace because its three leads were so perfectly cast and their odd-throuple characters so full of sparks. While Mabel, Oliver and Charles wouldn't be a trio if it wasn't for a building evacuation, a murder and a love of true-crime podcasts, their connection isn't merely fuelled by chatting about the murders in their building, with crossing each other's paths changing their respective lives. There's a death in season three's initial episode — it first occurred in season two's dying moments, to be precise — and, of course, ample sleuthing and talking about it follows. The victim: Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), a silver-screen star best-known for playing a zoologist who fights crime by turning into a snake in the blockbuster CoBro franchise. (Yes, if those movies weren't just Only Murders in the Building's Ant-Man gag, existed IRL and starred Rudd, they'd be a hit.) But Only Murders in the Building's latest run also opens with Mabel, Oliver and Charles in places that they wouldn't be if they were solo. Largely, that applies emotionally: Mabel is more grounded and open, and now thinking about the future more than the past; Oliver has faced his career fears, resurrecting his showbiz bug with a new show; and Charles is less misanthropic and more willing to take new chances. They're also frequently in a different location physically thanks to Oliver's comeback production Death Rattle (which is where Meryl Streep fits in). No, the series isn't now called Only Murders in the Building and on Broadway. Only Murders in the Building streams via Star on Disney+. Read our full review. THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART In The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, blooms are rarely out of sight and petals never evade attention. Adapted from Holly Ringland's 2018 novel, the seven-part Australian miniseries is set on a farm that cultivates native flora. It dubs the women who tend to them, an ensemble from various backgrounds largely seeking refuge from abusive pasts, "flowers" as well. Whether stem by stem or in bunches, its characters use florets as their own secret language. And yet, as much as bouquets linger, getting all things floral on the mind, star Sigourney Weaver burns rather than blossoms. Fire is another of the show's strong recurring motifs, so it's still fitting that its biggest name is as all-consuming as a blaze. She needs to be that scorching: this is a story about endeavouring to survive while weathering woes that ignite everything in their path. Weaver also draws upon almost five decades of thriving before the camera, often playing steely, smart and sometimes-raging women. Her on-screen career began sparking with Alien, the film that made her an instant icon. Since then, everyone has heard her performances scream — and, in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, she's again dazzling. Flowers frequently surround Weaver's June Hart far and wide. With a carefully selected cutting, the shotgun-toting matriarch of Thornfield Flower Farm can say all she needs to. That's what the eponymous Alice (Ayla Browne, Nine Perfect Strangers) quickly learns about her grandmother when she arrives at the property following a tragedy, becoming one of the farm's flowers after losing her pregnant mother Agnes (Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Hotel Mumbai) and violent father Clem (Charlie Vickers, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a tale about traumas, secrets and lies that lurk as deeply as the earth — about the choices and cycles that take root in such fraught soil, too. When nine-year-old Alice relocates fresh from hospital, the determined June, her doting partner Twig (Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and their adopted daughter Candy Blue (Frankie Adams, The Expanse) aim to shower the girl with sunlight to blaze away her horrors. You can't just bury problems, however, then hope that something vivid and colourful will grow over the top. Dedicating its first half to Alice's childhood and its second to 14 years later, when she's in her early twenties (Alycia Debnam-Carey, Fear the Walking Dead), The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart understands this immutable fact in its core. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. RESERVATION DOGS There's only one thing wrong with the third season of Reservation Dogs: this batch of episodes is the show's last. There's a skill in knowing when something's time has come, but this teen-centric comedy about restless Indigenous North American adolescents is so rich in stories, perspectives and minutiae — and so resonant as well — that it feels like more and more could (and should) just keep following. Ending Reservation Dogs when this ten-episode run wraps up is also an example of the show taking its own message to heart, however. As co-created, executive produced and written by Sterlin Harjo (Mekko) and Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder) — the former its guiding force — Reservation Dogs knows that little lasts. It hangs out with its characters as they learn about life's transience at every moment, whether they're chasing their dreams of leaving the reservation that they've always called home or they're grappling with loss. So, of course the series is moving on. In the process, its farewell season is proving even more moving and thoughtful than ever, even after its debut year delivered one of the best new TV shows of 2021 and its second spin served up one of the best returning shows of 2022. The last time that viewers saw the Rez Dogs — the OG quartet of Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Beans), Elora (Devery Jacobs, Rutherford Falls), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Cheese (Lane Factor, The Fabelmans), plus Jackie (Elva Guerra, Dark Winds), the somewhat-reluctant newcomer to the group — they had finally made the trip to California that they'd been working towards their entire lives. Season three picks up with the group still far away from home, and still journeying even when they do return. Elora considers both her past and her future. Bear goes wandering on his own, including through several revelatory encounters. Harjo still isn't afraid to veer away from his leads along the way, whether sliding into history to explore myths, traditions or horrors inflicted upon Indigenous children. Reservation Dogs finds a story, be it big or small, for everyone within its frames. Bear, Elora, Willie Jack and Cheese especially will be deeply missed, but Woon-A-Tai, Jacobs, Alexis and Factor shouldn't ever be far from screens after this exceptional breakthrough. Reservation Dogs streams via Binge. PHYSICAL Rose Byrne made her acting debut in the 90s, with Echo Point, Wildside, the OG Heartbreak High and Two Hands among her earliest credits. Physical sends the Australian star a decade further back, and the results have kept proving insightful and astute across three seasons. Created by Annie Weisman after the writer and producer previously pondered domesticity in Desperate Housewives and Suburgatory, the series bends and stretches with Byrne (Insidious: The Red Door) as Sheila Rubin, a San Diego housewife when the first episode dropped in 2021 — and an aerobics star not long afterwards. Slipping into a leotard, then getting the blood pumping, isn't just exercise for Physical's protagonist. The late, great Olivia Newton-John mightn't have sung "let's work through our troubles while working up a sweat" (unsurprisingly; it isn't catchy), but that's the thrust here. Among those struggles: Sheila's opinion of herself, including of her body; her relationship with food as a result; the self-critical voice in her head; and her marriage to Danny (Rory Scovel, Babylon) and its impact on her self-esteem. Physical takes the darkly comedic approach to Sheila's ups and downs, including the self-loathing, the lack of fulfilment, the catharsis that aerobics brings and the professional path that it sets her on. In the show's ten-episode third and final season — three being the magic number, just like with Reservation Dogs — its central figure is doing well but wants more, including national exposure and fame. Sheila has also learned to be kinder to herself, at least as herself. When Hollywood actor Kelly Kilmartin (Zooey Deschanel, Dreamin' Wild) encroaches into her territory, she's the new scolding tone in Sheila's brain. Physical has always boasted a stellar cast that can flip between laughs and drama as swiftly as the show does, which is often, and Deschanel is no exception as a newcomer in this swansong run. That said, Byrne's comic chops keep proving a dream (see also: this year's Platonic), while Dierdre Friel (Second Act) is a constant scene-stealer as Sheila's friend and business partner Greta. Physical packs an emotional punch, too, as it embraces Sheila's imperfect journey and her imperfections in general. Physical streams via Apple TV+. AHSOKA In this or any other galaxy, whether here, near or far, far away and a long time ago, Star Wars streaming shows can't all be Andor. In cinemas, the franchise's movies can't all be Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, either. So, in both formats, they aren't always the weightiest and most grounded instalments that the series has ever delivered, all while demonstrating about as much interest in nostalgia as Jar Jar Binks has in not being annoying. The latest TV effort in the George Lucas-started space-opera saga, Ahsoka doesn't want to follow exactly in the last new Star Wars small-screen entry's footsteps, however, even if it's another sidestep tale about battling evil that champions folks who are rarely at the fore. Instead, it has intertwined aims: serving up a female-led chapter and drawing upon the franchise's animated realm. So, as it tells of eponymous ex-Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson, Clerks III), it links to streaming's three seasons of The Mandalorian and 2021–22's The Book of Boba Fett, and also springs from animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the TV series it spawned, plus fellow animated shows Star Wars Rebels and Tales of the Jedi. Ahsoka's inter-franchise Star Wars links are strong, then, but it isn't just for fans who've watched every frame that the saga has ever sent hurtling across screens. Cue diving deeper beyond the obvious Star Wars fodder while still engaging more-casual franchise viewers. Cue another tale of mentors and students, too, with Ahsoka once a pupil to Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen, Obi-Wan Kenobi) before he went to the dark side. Then, she passed on knowledge herself to rebellious, flame-haired Mandalorian Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Guns Akimbo). Thanks to the man who became Darth Vader, Ahsoka is wary about the Jedi order and cautious in general. Via her prior time with Sabine, she knows the difficulties of being a guide to a headstrong protégée. While the series gives its central figure nefarious foes to battle, it also has her grappling with her past traumas, mistakes and regrets. She's guarded there, too; when rebel crew member and now-New Republic general Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)) suggests that the way forward might involve enlisting Sabine's help, Ahsoka is uncertain. But only the youngest of the main trio can unlock a pivotal orb that holds a map that could lead to exiled Imperial officer Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen, The Kingdom) and Ahsoka's fellow one-time padawan Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi, The Inspection). Ahsoka streams via Disney+. Read our full review. A STONE-COLD CLASSIC FILM TO WATCH (OR REWATCH) IMMEDIATELY OLDBOY Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) remaking your movie is a massive compliment, but Park Chan-wook's magnificent Oldboy didn't ever need that tick of approval. The former's US-set and English-language version of the latter's stone-cold Korean classic is great as its own film — albeit maligned when it released ten years ago, so much so that it skipped a cinema date Down Under as a result — but the latter's original is a work of brutal, powerful and astonishing art for the ages. That's Park's wheelhouse, of course. When it arrived in 2003, his Oldboy was the middle chapter in the acclaimed auteur's Vengeance Trilogy, after all, following 2002's Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and preceded by 2005's Lady Vengeance. Joint Security Area, Thirst, Stoker, The Handmaiden, TV's The Little Drummer Girl, 2022's very-best film Decision to Leave: Park's resume is filled with remarkable efforts; however, that he'll always be synonymous with Oldboy, as well as its hammer and live octopus, isn't because nothing else on his filmography beats it. Every Park movie is its own gem in its own way — again, Decision to Leave was the finest film of 2022 — but this one is 100-percent designed to hit hard. The story: it's 1988, Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik, Big Bet) gets drunk and misses his daughter's fourth birthday, then needs a pal to collect him from the police station. But the sloshed businessman doesn't make it home. Instead, he's forced to spend 15 long years in a hotel room that he can't leave, all while being imprisoned by kidnappers that are committed to keeping him alive, too. Of course a quest for revenge springs from there. Adapted loosely from a Japanese manga of the same name, Oldboy's narrative throws up surprise after surprise before, during and after its protagonist's captivity, though. Every element of the plot makes a statement. Every decision that Park makes as a filmmaker does, too. This is a raw, dark exploration at human nature, as helmed with incisiveness, anchored by a stunner of a lead performance and featuring a corridor-set action scene to end all action scenes — and it's always worth watching, be it on a screen big or small, for the first time or as a revisit. Right now, a date with Oldboy also means celebrating its 20th anniversary. Oldboy streams via Shudder and AMC+. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June and July this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream shows from this year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023's first six months, top 15 returning shows over the same period and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies from January–June 2023, too.
Have you ever looked at Sydney Tower, the Harbour City's tallest structure, and wondered what it'd look like with 40-kilometre-long laser beams shooting out of it? When Vivid Sydney arrives for 2024, you'll no longer need to just ponder that question. The answer comes via Global Rainbow, which will project a fan of light from the tower courtesy of US artist Yvette Mattern. Vivid always boasts light installations and openair art as one of its key pillars, but the annual festival just might outdo itself with this year's display in the heavens. Across 23 nights between Friday, May 24–Saturday, June 15, in what marks the event's 14th year, Vivid has a plethora of other ways to liven up the New South Wales capital on its just-revealed 2024 lineup. Whether you'd like to hear tunes by Air, Budjerah and Yasiin Bey, or see artwork by Archibald Prize winner Julia Gutman on the Sydney Opera House's sails, or feast your way through a night food market, you'll be catered for at the winter showcase of music, luminous sights, culinary events and conversation. The theme: humanity. "Humanity is at the core of everything we do, and this year Vivid Sydney is diving deep into what makes us uniquely human," said Vivid Sydney Festival Director Gill Minervini. "We have curated a diverse program that explores the human spirit, designed to foster connections, spark imagination and showcase the multitude of ways creativity enriches our lives. Everyone is invited to be part of this global event in the world's most beautiful city to connect, create and celebrate." The Vivid Light program doesn't just include lengthy lasers and Gutman's Echo, but also the return of Lightscape to the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney so you'll be able to mosey through lit-up leafiness again. Plus, Reg Mombassa is turning the Customs House facade into a tribute to Aussie road trips, while Guan Wei's works will deck out the Museum of Contemporary Art's exterior. Our Connected City will light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as The Rocks, Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House and a range of buildings in the CBD. If you head to Barangaroo, you'll be able to see two dazzling displays. First, the Stargazer Lawn will welcome a circular projection of the brolga's mating dance called Nest from Leila Jeffreys and Melvin J Montalba. Also, Sinclair Park's Stateless will get 4000 solar-powered LED candles glowing amid the sandstone blocks at Barangaroo Reserve. Vivid Music, the fest's music festival within the broader festival, is anchored by a heap of must-see gigs at the Sydney Opera House — French favourites Air celebrating their 1998 debut album Moon Safari chief among them. After playing Vivid 2019, Underworld are back to bust out 'Born Slippy (Nuxx)' again at more Australian-exclusive shows. Arca, Sky Ferreira, Fever Ray, Snoh Aalegra, Devonté Hynes with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: they're all on the bill, too, as are parties from House of Mince, Mad Racket and Astral People. Budjerah is one of the highlights on Tumbalong Nights' free lineup, which also features grentperez, Mallrat, sunwoojunga and Silica Gel. And Yasiin Bey, who was formerly known as Mos Def, has a two-night stint at Carriageworks, where he'll work through his tunes and influences. Other standouts on the music program include working the Machine Hall Precinct into the mix, which is where Deerhoof, Underscores, Jen Cloher, No Fixed Address and Ngulmiya will play — and where Trackwork, The Huxleys and CLUB 4A will throw shindigs. Mary's Underground will again host the Vivid Sydney Supper Club. Back at Carriageworks, the venue will welcome Tirzah, Yves Tumor, Electric Fields and X CLUB as well. At Vivid Food, Vivid Fire Kitchen will go all in on barbecue in its new location at The Goods Line. Vivid Residence and Vivid Chef Series will also be back, but with details still to be revealed. Kyiv Social's Plates with Purpose: A Taste of Ukraine is a ten-course degustation that will make you feel like you're sat at a Ukrainian family's table. And, don't miss the chance to hit up the VividPlace Food Trail, which'll turn Sydney Place and Bulletin Place's laneways into a night food market each night of Vivid. There's also Our Shared Humanity at Refettorio OzHarvest, with Christine Manfield, Darren Robertson, Mitch Orr and more whipping up three-course vegetarian menus using rescued produce — plus Aurorae at Bennelong Bar, Bennelong's pop-up snack and cocktail bar. Also, A Culinary Canvas by Danielle Alvarez celebrates women in the Australian food and wine scenes in Sydney Opera House's Yallamundi Rooms. [caption id="attachment_945243" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] If you're eager to dissect the current state of the world, that's where Vivid Ideas comes in — and, in 2024, After the Fact especially. It's a new nightly chat through the news cycle, with the panel of guests set to rotate, but keeping the topics up-to-the-minute the aim. Or, if you're keen to embrace Vivid's overarching theme, Golden Age of Humanity will feature Kylie Kwong, Kate McClymont and other influential Aussie introducing films that typify humanity to them over nine evenings. Plus, at AI Will Destroy Humanity: A Future Science Debate, what the future might hold for humankind gets a comic spin. Add in the participatory A THOUSAND WAYS: An Encounter by New York company 600 Highwaymen, the Kings Cross- and Darlinghurst-focused Sex Work: A legal and social history, and Say My Name: The Humanity of Names — which is all about monikers that are unfairly considered tricky — and there's much to get you thinking. Two other such chances: Window Dressing, with Liesel Badorrek getting audiences peering into folks' ordinary lives via eight windows in a Frank Gehry building on The Goods Line; and Shifting Perspectives, featuring dancers performing around 24 mirrored plinths. [caption id="attachment_945240" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shifting Perspectives, Saige Prime[/caption] Vivid Sydney runs from Friday, May 24–Saturday, June 15 at various locations around Sydney. Head to the festival website for further details and tickets. Top image: Destination NSW.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've had a close-contact run-in. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are 20 that you can watch right now at home. THE NORTHMAN Satanic goats don't talk in The Northman. Heartthrobs don't masturbate while fondling mermaid figurines, either. Still, within ten minutes, pre-teen Viking prince Amleth (Oscar Novak, The Batman), his glory-seeking warrior father King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke, Moon Knight) and jester-meets-shaman Heimir (Willem Dafoe, Nightmare Alley) descend into a fire-lit cave to take hallucinogens, growl, grunt, bark like wolves and fart like it's a god-given superpower. If viewers didn't know who's behind this bold, brutal, brilliant, and blood- and guts-strewn Scandinavian opus before then, there's no doubt from this trippy scene onwards: after The Witch and The Lighthouse, writer/director Robert Eggers' touch, approach and style have become that distinctive just three remarkable features into his helming career. In Eggers' new untamed and laid-bare portrait of the past, something is rotten in the state of Iceland — as it was in Denmark via William Shakespeare, and in the Pride Lands of Africa in both versions of The Lion King. "I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir," says Amleth as a boy on a north Atlantic island in 895, when he witnesses the latter's (Claes Bang, Locked Down) treachery. He flees after hearing his uncle bay for his head, too, and seeing him carry off Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos) as a spoil of his victory. Two decades later, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård, Succession) is a hulking, wolfskin-clad Viking berserker, living life flinging whatever weaponry he can find while viciously pillaging through the lands of the Rus. But amid the bloodlust, gore and piling-up body count, the intense marauder is thrust back onto his vengeance-seeking path. A Slavic seeress (Björk, in her first film role since 2005) whispers stark truths about his current savagery and lapsed mission against Fjölnir, reigniting his yearning for that promised slaughter — and the single-minded behemoth learns that his uncle is now sheep-farming in Iceland, having lost the kingdom in another coup. The Northman is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE GRAY MAN It's been four years since Ryan Gosling last graced screens, rocketing to the moon in First Man. No, Barbie set photos pored over on every internet-connected device don't count. Since he played Neil Armstrong, much has happened. There's the obvious off-screen, of course — but then there's Chris Evans farewelling Captain America, and also appearing in Knives Out with the scene-stealing Ana de Armas. After co-starring in Blade Runner 2049 with Gosling back in 2017, she leapt from that Evans-featuring whodunnit to palling around with 007 in No Time to Die. Also during that time, Bridgerton pushed Regé-Jean Page to fame, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood earmarked Julia Butters as a young talent to watch. This isn't just a history lesson on The Gray Man's cast — well, some of them, given that Billy Bob Thornton (Goliath), Jessica Henwick (The Matrix Resurrections), Dhanush (Maaran), Wagner Moura (Shining Girls) and Alfre Woodard (The Lion King) also pop up, plus Australia's own Callan Mulvey (Firebite) — for the hell of it, though. Back in 2018, before all of the above played out, it's unlikely that this exact film with this exact cast would've eventuated. Making an action-thriller about attempting to snuff out hyper-competent assassins isn't new — both John Wick and Atomic Blonde have already been there and done that, and the Bourne and Bond movies — but the combination of this collection of current actors and that familiar setup isn't without its charms. Gosling plays Court Gentry, aka Sierra Six; "007 was taken," he jokes. Before he's given his codename and paid to do the CIA's dirty work, he's in prison for murder, then recruited by Donald Fitzroy (Thornton). Fast-forward 18 years and Six is a huge hit at two things: being a ghost, because he no longer officially exists; and covertly wreaking whatever havoc the government tells him to, including knocking off whichever nefarious figure they need gone. But one stint of the latter leaves him in possession of a USB drive that his arrogant new direct superior Carmichael (Page) will ruthlessly kill to destroy. Actually, to be precise, he'll pay Lloyd Hansen (Evans) of Hansen Government Services to do just that, and to do the dirty work that's too dirty for the criminals-turned-government hitmen in the Sierra program, with Six the number-one target. The Gray Man is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PETITE MAMAN Forget the "find someone who looks at you like…" meme. That's great advice in general, and absolutely mandatory if you've ever seen a Céline Sciamma film. No one peers at on-screen characters with as much affection, attention, emotion and empathy as the French director. Few filmmakers even come close, and most don't ever even try. That's been bewitchingly on display in her past features Water Lillies, Tomboy, Girlhood and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, any of which another helmer would kill to have on their resume. It's just as apparent in Petite Maman, her entrancing latest release, as well. Now 15 years into her directorial career, Sciamma's talent for truly seeing into hearts and minds is unshakeable, unparalleled and such a lovely wonder to watch — especially when it shines as sublimely and touchingly as it does here. In Sciamma's new delicate and exquisite masterpiece, the filmmaker follows eight-year-old Nelly (debutant Joséphine Sanz) on a trip to her mother's (Nina Meurisse, Camille) childhood home. The girl's maternal grandmother (Margot Abascal, The Sower) has died, the house needs packing up, and the trip is loaded with feelings on all sides. Her mum wades between sorrow and attending to the task. With melancholy, she pushes back against her daughter's attempts to help, too. Nelly's laidback father (Stéphane Varupenne, Monsieur Chocolat) assists as well, but with a sense of distance; going through the lifelong belongings of someone else's mother, even your spouse's, isn't the same as sifting through your own mum's items for the last time. While her parents work, the curious Nelly roves around the surrounding woods — picture-perfect and oh-so-enticing as they are — and discovers Marion (fellow newcomer Gabrielle Sanz), a girl who could be her twin. Petite Maman is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. THIS MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE How do you make a concert film when no concerts can be held to film? Australian director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, Killing Them Softly) and his now two-time subjects Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have the answer. How do you create a personal documentary that cuts to the heart of these Aussie music icons when, whether stated or implied in their vibe, both are hardly enamoured with having their lives recorded? Again, see: Dominik's new Cave and Ellis-focused This Much I Know to Be True. Performances in cavernous empty British spaces fill the movie's frames but, via stunning lighting, staging and lensing, they're as dazzling as any IRL gig. The interludes between tunes are brief, and also intimate and revealing. The result: a phenomenal doco that's a portrait of expression, a musing on an exceptional collaboration and a rumination upon existence, as well as a piece of haunting cinematic heaven whether you're an existing Cave and Ellis devotee, a newcomer or something in-between. Dominik, Cave and Ellis initially teamed up when the latter duo scored the former's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Later this year, when upcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde hits screens, the same arrangement will provide its soundtrack. But in the middle sits 2016 doco One More Time with Feeling and now This Much I Know to Be True, as entrancing a pair as the music documentary genre has gifted viewers. The first factual flick found Cave and Ellis recording the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Skeleton Tree, as Cave also grappled with the death of one of his sons. Here, its follow-up is shaped by the first performances of Cave and Ellis' latest albums — the Bad Seeds 2019 release Ghosteen, and Cave and Ellis' 2021 record Carnage — plus the pandemic and the lingering effects of grief. This Much I Know to Be True is available to stream via Mubi. Read our full review. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS Somewhere in the multiverse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is terrific. In a different realm, it's terrible. Here in our dimension, the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe teeters and twirls in the middle. The second movie to focus on surgeon-turned-sorcerer Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog), it's at its best when it embraces everything its director is known for. That said, it's also at its worst when it seems that harnessing Sam Raimi's trademarks — his visual style, bombast, comic tone and Evil Dead background, for instance — is merely another Marvel ploy. Multiverse of Madness is trippy, dark, sports a bleak sense of humour and is as close as the MCU has gotten to horror, all immensely appreciated traits in this sprawling, box office-courting, never-ending franchise. But it stands out for the wrong reasons, too, especially how brazenly it tries to appear as if it's twisting and fracturing the typical MCU template when it definitely isn't. Welcomely weirder than the average superhero flick (although not by too much), but also bluntly calculating: that's Multiverse of Madness, and that's a messy combination. It's apt given its eponymous caped crusader has always hailed from Marvel's looser, goofier and, yes, stranger side since his MCU debut in 2016's plainly titled Doctor Strange; however, it's hard to believe that such formulaic chaos was truly the plan for this follow-up. The last time that audiences saw Stephen Strange, he reluctantly tinkered with things he shouldn't to help Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Those actions had consequences, and recalling Raimi's time with Spidey came with the territory. Strange's reality-bending trickery has repercussions here as well, because Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen, Sorry for Your Loss) isn't thrilled about her fellow super-powered pal's exploits. Yes, Multiverse of Madness assumes viewers have not only watched all 27 past MCU movies, but also its small-screen offshoots — or WandaVision at least, where the enchantress that's also Scarlet Witch broke rules herself and wasn't still deemed a hero. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MEN Since popping up over the last decade, the term 'elevated horror' has always been unnecessary. Used to describe The Babadook, It Follows, The Witch, Get Out, Hereditary, Us, Midsommar and more, it pointlessly claims that such unsettling flicks have risen above their genre. Each of these movies is excellent. They all boast weight and depth, trade in metaphors with smarts and savvy, and have style to go with their creeps and thrills. But thinking that's new in horror — that pairing unease with topical woes or societal fears is as well — is as misguided as dubbing Michael Myers a hero. With a name that makes its #MeToo-era point plain, Men has been badged 'elevated', too, yet it also does what horror has at its best and worst cases for decades. That the world can be a nightmare for women at the hands of men isn't a fresh observation, and it's long been a scary movie go-to. Still, Men stresses that fact in an inescapably blunt but also unforgettable manner. Hailing from Ex Machina, Annihilation and Devs' Alex Garland, Men's setting is an English manor, where Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter) hopes for a solo stint of rest, relaxation and recuperation. Processing a tragedy, shattering memories of which haunt the movie as much as its protagonist, she's seeking an escape and a way to start anew. The initial hint that she won't find bliss comes swiftly and obviously, and with a sledgehammer's subtlety. Arriving at an idyllic-looking British countryside estate, Harper is greeted by an apple tree. She plucks one from the abundant branches, then takes a bite. Soon, she's told by her host Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear, Our Flag Means Death) that it's forbidden fruit. He also says he's joking — but in this garden, a woman will again shoulder a society's blame and burdens. Men is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. NUDE TUESDAY Relationships are all about communication. So much about life is, too. And, so is storytelling. With absurdist comedy Nude Tuesday, expressing emotions, connections and narrative details all boils down to two things, though: gibberish and bodies. This extremely amusing New Zealand film from writer/director Armagan Ballantyne (The Strength of Water) and writer/star Jackie van Beek (The Breaker Upperers) does indeed strip its performers bare, as its name makes plain — but it saddles them with conveying almost everything about their characters via body language long before that. The reason: every piece of dialogue spoken in the movie is uttered in gibberish, with completely made-up and wholly improvised words that take a few cues from The Muppets' Swedish Chef in cadence. While they're subtitled in English by British comedian and writer Julia Davis (Camping), that text was penned after shooting, in one of the film's other gleefully silly twists. The result is patently ridiculous, and marvellously so — and hilariously, too. It's such a clever touch, making a movie about marital disharmony and the communication breakdown baked within that's so reliant upon reading tone and posture, as couples on the prowl for the tiniest of micro-aggressions hone in on. Van Beek and Australian The Tourist actor Damon Herriman play that pair, Laura and Bruno. Living on the fictional pacific island of Zǿbftąņ, they're as stuck in a rut as any married, middle-class duo can be, and they're gifted a getaway to ẄØnÐĘULÄ to help. But this mountainside commune, run by the charismatic and lustful sex guru Bjorg Rassmussen (Jemaine Clement, I Used to Go Here), wants them to bare all in multiple ways. The film doesn't live up to its moniker until its last third, but its perceptive and side-splittingly funny from the get-go. Nude Tuesday is available to stream via Stan. Read our full review. THE DROVER'S WIFE THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON Leah Purcell's resume isn't short on highlights — think: Black Comedy, Wentworth and Redfern Now, plus Lantana, Somersault and Last Cab to Darwin (to name just a few projects) — but the Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri actor, director and writer clearly has a passion project. In 2016, she adapted Henry Lawson's short story The Drover's Wife for the stage. In 2019, she moved it back to the page. Now, she brings it to the big screen via The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Only minutes into her searing feature filmmaking debut, why Purcell keeps needing to tell this 19th century-set tale is patently apparent. In her hands, it's a story of anger, power, prejudice and revenge, and also a portrait of a history that's treated both women and Indigenous Australians abhorrently. Aussie cinema hasn't shied away from the nation's problematic past in recent times (see also: Sweet Country, The Nightingale, The Furnace and High Ground); however, this is an unforgettably potent and piercing movie. In a fiery performance that bristles with steeliness, Purcell plays the eponymous and heavily pregnant Molly. In the process, she gives flesh, blood and a name to a character who wasn't ever afforded the latter in Lawson's version: a 19th-century Indigenous Australian woman left alone with her children on a remote property for lengthy stretches while her husband works. During his latest absence, new sergeant Nate Clintoff (Sam Reid, The Newsreader) and Aboriginal fugitive Yadaka (Rob Collins, Firebite) separately venture Molly's way. From there, this sometimes-stagey but always blistering western digs sharply into issues of race, gender and identity — and eagerly, shrewdly and ferociously draws cinematic blood. The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE BOB'S BURGERS MOVIE Across its 12-season order to-date, the best episodes of Bob's Burgers have always resembled exactly what they should: a delicious serving of the meat-and-bread combination that shares the hit sitcom's name. There's a knack to a great burg — to a tastebud-thrilling, so-appetising-I-need-more-now example of this extremely accessible culinary art — and it's all about perfecting the absolute basics. No matter what else gets slotted in (and plenty of other ingredients can), every burger's staples should be the stars of the show. Indeed, a top-notch burg needn't be flashy. It definitely mustn't be overcomplicated, either. And, crucially, it should taste as comforting as wrapping your hands around its buns feels. On the small screen since 2011, Bob's Burgers has kept its version of that very recipe close to its animated, irreverent, gleefully offbeat heart. Unsurprisingly, the show's creators whip up the same kind of dish for The Bob's Burgers Movie, too. It's a winning formula, and creator Loren Bouchard knows not to mess with it while taking his beloved characters to the big screen. As always, the action centres on the film's namesake — the diner where patriarch Bob (H Jon Benjamin, Archer) sizzles up punningly named burgs to both make a living and live out his dream. And, as the show has covered frequently, financial woes mean that Bob and his wife Linda (John Roberts, Gravity Falls) have more to worry about than cooking, serving customers, and their kids Tina (Dan Mintz, Veep), Gene (Eugene Mirman, Flight of the Conchords) and Louise (Kristen Schaal, What We Do in the Shadows). Their solution: a burger, of course. But their bank manager isn't munching when they try to use food to grease their pleas for an extension on their loan. That mortgage also involves their restaurant equipment, leaving them out of business if they can't pay up. As their seven-day time limit to stump up the cash ticks by, Bob sweats over the grill and Linda oozes her usual optimism — only for a sinkhole to form literally at their door. The Bob's Burgers Movie is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HATCHING With a savvily sinister-meets-satirical blend, Hatching begins by unpacking a fallacy as fractured as Humpty Dumpty after the nursery-rhyme character's fall — and that still keeps being lapped up anyway. In suburban Finland, among homes so identical that the song 'Little Boxes' instantly pops into your head, 12-year-old gymnast Tinja (debutant Siiri Solalinna), her younger brother Matias (fellow first-timer Oiva Ollila), and their mother (Sophia Heikkilä, Dual) and father Jani Volanen, Dogs Don't Wear Pants) are living their best lives. More than that, as the soft lensing and music that helps open the movie establishes, they're also beaming that picture of pink, white and pastel-hued domestic perfection to the world. Tinja's unnamed mum is a vlogger, and these scenes are being captured for her cloyingly named blog Lovely Everyday Life. Naturally, showing that this family of four's daily existence is anything but enchanting is one of Bergholm's first aims. In Finnish writer/director Hanna Bergholm's bold and memorable body-horror, twisted fairy tale and dark coming-of-age thriller, the initial crack comes from outside, crashing through the window to ruin a posed shot alight with fake smiles and, of course, being filmed with a selfie stick. Soon, broken glass, vases and lamps are strewn throughout a lounge room so immaculately arranged that it looks straight out of a supermarket-shelf home-and-garden magazine — and the crowning glory, the chandelier, has descended from a luminous pièce de résistance to a shattered mess. A garden-variety crow is the culprit, which Tinja carefully captures. She hands it to her mother, thinking that they'll then release it outside. But her mum, placid but seething that anything could disrupt her manufactured picture of bliss, ignores that idea with a cruel snap and instructions to dispose of the animal in the organic waste. When Tinja disobeys that order, taking the egg into her care, nurturing it tenderly and placing it inside a teddy bear for safe keeping, she gains her own little universe to dote over. Then the egg keeps growing, and a human-sized chick emerges. Hatching is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE INNOCENTS Thanks to his Oscar-nominated work co-penning The Worst Person in the World's screenplay, Eskil Vogt has already helped give the world one devastatingly accurate slice-of-life portrait in the past year. That applauded film is so insightful and relatable about being in your twenties, and also about weathering quarter-life malaise, uncertainty and crisis, that it feels inescapably lifted from reality — and it's sublime. The Innocents, the Norwegian filmmaker's latest movie, couldn't be more different in tone and narrative; however, it too bears the fingerprints of achingly perceptive and deep-seated truth. Perhaps that should be mindprints, though. Making his second feature as a director after 2014's exceptional Blind, Vogt hones in on childhood, and on the way that kids behave with each other when adults are absent or oblivious — and on tykes and preteens who can wreak havoc solely using their mental faculties. Another riff on Firestarter, this thankfully isn't. The Innocents hasn't simply jumped on the Stranger Things bandwagon, either. Thanks to the latter, on-screen tales about young 'uns battling with the supernatural are one of Hollywood's current favourite trends — see also: the awful Ghostbusters: Afterlife — but all that this Nordic horror movie's group of kids are tussling with is themselves. Their fight starts when nine-year-old Ida (debutant Rakel Lenora Fløttum) and her 11-year-old sister Anna (fellow first-timer Alva Brynsmo Ramstad), who is on the autism spectrum, move to an apartment block in Romsås, Oslo with their mother (Blind's Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and father (Morten Svartveit, Ninjababy). It's summer, the days are long, and the two girls are largely left to their own devices outside in the complex's communal spaces. That's where Ida befriends Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim) and Ben (Sam Ashraf), albeit not together, and starts to learn about their abilities. The Innocents to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. ITHAKA To look at John Shipton is to see the obvious, even if you've never laid eyes upon him before. The family resemblance is immediately clear, and the traits that've likely been passed down from father to son — determination and persistence, blatantly — become apparent within minutes. Shipton needs to be resolute for the battle that documentary Ithaka captures. It's a fight that's been waged for a decade now, publicly, and not just in embassies and courtrooms but across news headlines worldwide. He's visibly Julian Assange's dad, and he's been helping spearhead the campaign for the WikiLeaks founder's release. Assange fell afoul of US authorities in 2010, when his non-profit whistleblower organisation published documents about the American military's war crimes leaked by army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. As Ithaka makes plain, The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel revealed the same information at the same time; however, only Assange now sits in London's Belmarsh prison. Plenty about the past 12 years since Manning's leaks were exposed to the world is filled with numbers. Plenty about the ten years this June since Assange first took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London is as well. The Australian editor and publisher spent almost seven years in that diplomatic space, seeking political asylum from sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden that he contended would be used to extradite him to America. If the US succeeds in its efforts, and in its espionage charges against him, he faces up to 175 years in incarceration. The list of figures goes on, but filmmaker Ben Lawrence (Hearts and Bones) makes two pivotal choices. Firstly, he surveys Assange's current struggle not through the Aussie himself, but through both Shipton and Stella Moris, his South African-born lawyer and now wife. Secondly, although those aforementioned numbers are inescapable, the riveting and affecting Ithaka brings humanity to this well-publicised plight. Ithaka is available to stream via ABC iview. Read our full review. ABLAZE A documentary that's deeply personal for one of its directors, intensely powerful in surveying Australia's treatment of its First Peoples and crucial in celebrating perhaps the country's first-ever Aboriginal filmmaker, Ablaze makes for astonishing viewing. But while watching, two ideas jostle for attention. Both remain unspoken, yet each is unshakeable. Firstly, if the history of Australia had been different, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta man William 'Bill' Onus would be a household name. If that was the case, not only his work behind the camera, but his activism for Indigenous Aussies at a time when voting and even being included in the census wasn't permitted — plus his devotion to ensuring that white Australians were aware of the nation's colonial violence — would be as well-known as Captain Cook. That said, if history had been better still, Bill wouldn't have needed to fight so vehemently, or at all. Alas, neither of those possibilities came to a fruition. Ablaze can't change the past, but it can and does document it with a hope to influencing how the world sees and appreciates Bill's part in it. Indeed, shining the spotlight on its subject, everything his life stood for, and all that he battled for and against is firmly and proudly the feature's aim. First-time filmmaker Tiriki Onus looks back on his own grandfather, narrating his story as well — and, as aided by co-helmer Alec Morgan (Hunt Angels, Lousy Little Sixpence), the result is a movie brimming with feeling, meaning and importance. While Aussie cinema keeps reckoning with the nation's history regarding race relations, as it should and absolutely must, Ablaze is as potent and essential as everything from Sweet Country, The Nightingale and The Australian Dream to The Furnace, High Ground and The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Ablaze is available to stream via ABC iview, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA The movies have come to Downton Abbey and Violet Crawley, the acid-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham so delightfully played by Maggie Smith (The Lady in the Van) since 2010, is none too fussed about it. "Hard same," all but the most devoted fans of the upstairs-downstairs TV drama may find themselves thinking as she expresses that sentiment — at least where Downton Abbey: A New Era, an exercise in extending the series/raking in more box-office cash, is concerned. Violet, as only she can, declares she'd "rather eat pebbles" than watch a film crew at work within the extravagant walls of her family's home. The rest of us mightn't be quite so venomous, but that's not the same as being entertained. The storyline involving said film crew is actually one of the most engaging parts of A New Era; however, the fact that much of it is clearly ripped off from cinematic classic Singin' in the Rain speaks volumes, and gratingly. A New Era begins with a wedding, picking up where its predecessor left off as former chauffeur Tom Branson (Allen Leech, Bohemian Rhapsody) marries Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton, Mank) with everyone expected — the well-to-do Crawleys and their relatives, plus their maids, butlers, cooks, footmen and other servants — in attendance. But the film really starts with two revelations that disrupt the Downton status quo. Firstly, Violet receives word that she's inherited a villa in the south of France from an ex-paramour, who has recently passed away. His surviving wife (Nathalie Baye, Call My Agent!) is displeased with the arrangement, threatening lawsuits, but his son (Jonathan Zaccaï, The White Crow) invites the Crawleys to visit to hash out the details. Secondly, a movie production wants to use Downton for a shoot, which the pragmatic Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery, Anatomy of a Scandal) talks the family into because — paralleling the powers-that-be behind A New Era itself — the aristocratic brood would like the money. Downton Abbey: A New Era is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. FIRESTARTER Would the latest big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter have been better or worse if it had included The Prodigy's hit of the same name, aka the most obvious needle-drop that could've been chosen? Although we'll never know, it's hard to imagine a film with less personality than this page-to-screen remake. Using the 1996 dance-floor filler would've been a choice and a vibe — and a cliched one, whether gleefully or lazily — but it might've been preferable to the dull ashes of by-the-numbers genre filmmaking from director Keith Thomas (The Vigil) that's hit screens instead. Zac Efron looking so bored that blood drips from his eyes, dressing up King's 1980 story as a superhero tale (because of course) and having its pyrokinetic protagonist say "liar liar, pants on fire" when she's torching someone aren't a recipe for igniting movie magic, or for even occasionally just lighting a spark. As the first version of Firestarter in 1984 did, and King's book as well, Firestarter follows the McGee family, whose lives would blaze brighter if they didn't have abilities most folks don't. After volunteering for a clinical trial in college, Andy (Efron, Gold) and his wife Vicky (Sydney Lemmon, Fear the Walking Dead) have telepathic and telekinetic powers; being experimented on with mind-altering chemical compounds will do that. And, from birth, their now 11-year-old daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, It: Chapter Two) has been able to start fires with her mind. Unsurprisingly, the McGees have spent years attempting to blend in, hiding their powers and fleeing the shady government department, The Shop, that's responsible for their situation — and now sports a keen interest in using Charlie as a weapon. Then she literally explodes at school, The Shop head honcho Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben, City on a Hill) puts bounty hunter John Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes, Rutherford Falls) on their trail and the heat is on. (No, that track from Beverly Hills Cop, which reached cinemas the same year that the OG Firestarter did, doesn't feature here either.) Firestarter is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HOW TO PLEASE A WOMAN When Magic Mike stripped its way into cinemas a decade ago, it didn't just turn Channing Tatum's IRL background into a movie and give his chiselled torso oh-so-much attention; it understood that women like sex, boast libidos and have desires, too. Its sequel, Magic Mike XXL, doubled down on that idea, and winningly so — even if the saga dances with a notion so blatant that it definitely shouldn't feel revelatory to see it thrust front and centre in a big-budget Hollywood film. There's no trace of Tatum in How to Please a Woman, and it has nothing to do with the saucy franchise that has a third flick on the way, but this Aussie comedy nonetheless follows in Magic Mike's footsteps. Here, women also like sex, boast libidos and have desires, and that's something that the stuck-in-a-rut Gina (Sally Phillips, Off the Rails) turns into a lucrative business. When first-time feature writer/director Renée Webster begins her sunnily shot, eagerly crowd-pleasing leap to the big screen — following helming gigs on TV's The Heights and Aftertaste — Gina's relationship with sex is non-existent. She has long been wed to lawyer Adrian (Cameron Daddo, Home and Away), but he still thinks that having a tumble on their last holiday years ago is enough bedroom action to keep their marriage going. Gina's resigned to that fact, too, until her ocean swimming club pals book her a stripping surprise for her birthday. Tom (Alexander England, Little Monsters) shows up at her door, starts gyrating and undressing, and says he'll do whatever she wants. Although her friends are later horrified, Gina asks him to clean her house instead — and its their eagerness to truly take Tom up on his offer that inspires a plan to turn a removalist company she thinks she can save into a male escort service, covering scrubbing and shagging alike. How to Please a Woman is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HELMUT NEWTON: THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL One of the great treats in Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful stems from perhaps the film's simplest move: letting viewers peer at the often-provocative photographer's works in such a large format. Being able to do just that is the reason why the Exhibition On Screen series of movies exists, surveying showcases dedicated to artists such as Vincent van Gogh, David Hockney and Frida Kahlo over the years — and this documentary isn't part of that, but it understands the same idea. There's nothing like staring at an artist's work to understand what makes them tick. Writer/director Gero von Boehm (Henry Miller: Prophet of Desire) fills The Bad and the Beautiful with plenty more, from archival footage to recent interviews, but it'd all ring empty without seeing the imagery captured by Newton's lens firsthand. Every word that's said about the German photographer, or by him, is deepened by roving your eyes across the frequently contentious snaps that he sent Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Playboy and other magazines' ways. Those photos aren't run-of-the-mill fashion pics. Largely, the highly stylised images are of naked women — naked famous women, if not then then now, such as Isabella Rossellini, Charlotte Rampling, Grace Jones and Claudia Schiffer — and they're as fetishistic as the artform gets. They're the kinds of snaps that saw Susan Sontag call Newton out for being a misogynist to his face, as seen in a French TV clip featured in the film. The Bad and the Beautiful is an affectionate doco, but it also dives headfirst into the trains of thought that his work has sparked for decades. Anna Wintour explains that when someone books Newton, "you're not going to get a pretty girl on a beach". Women who posed for him, including the aforementioned stars, plus Marianne Faithfull, Arja Toyryla, Nadja Auermann and Hanna Schygulla, all talk through their differing experiences as well — and the portrait painted is varied. Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. LAST SEEN ALIVE Perhaps the most positive thing that can be said about Last Seen Alive is this: it's definitely a Gerard Butler-starring kidnapping thriller. That isn't meant as praise, though; rather, the film simply manages to be exactly what viewers would expect given its star and premise. There's clearly far less cash behind it than the also-terrible trio of Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen — or Geostorm, Den of Thieves, Hunter Killer and Greenland among the Scottish actor's career lowlights over the past decade, either. There's visibly less effort, too, and more of a phoning-it-in vibe. The second collaboration between actor-turned-filmmaker Brian Goodman (What Doesn't Kill You) and producer/writer Marc Frydman after 2017's Black Butterfly, it plays like something that a streaming platform's algorithm might spit out in an AI-driven future where new movies are swiftly spliced together from pieces of past flicks. Yes, among Butler's output and with its abduction storyline, it's that derivative. Butler plays Will Spann, a real estate developer who already isn't having a great day when the film begins — but it's about to get worse. He's driving his unhappy wife Lisa (Jaimie Alexander, Loki) to her parents' home, where she's keen to decamp to find herself and take a break from their marriage, and Will is desperate to convince her to change her plans en route. His charm offensive isn't working when they stop at a petrol station mere minutes away from their destination, and he has zero charisma for anyone when Lisa unexpectedly disappears while he's filling the tank. Fuming that local police detective Paterson (Russell Hornsby, Lost in Space) hasn't just dropped everything immediately, and that he also has questions about their relationship, Will decides to chase down any lead he can himself. Meanwhile, Lisa's unsurprisingly wary parents (Queen Bees' Cindy Hogan and Master's Bruce Altman) direct their suspicions his way. Last Seen Alive is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. INTERCEPTOR Four decades back, Interceptor would've happily sat on a crowded video-store shelf alongside a wealth of other mindless, machismo-fuelled action thrillers. It would've been the epitome of one of the genre's straight-to-VHS flicks, in fact. Don't just call it a throwback, though; instead of testosterone oozing from every actor within sight, except perhaps a token wife worrying at home, this nuclear attack movie from Australian author Matthew Reilly focuses on a woman making waves in a male-dominated world. That's firmly a 2022 move, reflecting today's gender politics. So too is the fact that said protagonist, US Army Captain JJ Collins (Elsa Pataky, Tidelands), has just been reassigned after putting in a sexual harassment complaint against one of her past superiors. Don't go thinking that Interceptor doesn't tick every other box its 80s counterparts did, however. It couldn't lean harder on all of the cliches that've ever been involved with world-in-peril, military-driven movies, and with action fare at its most inane in general. A global success for his airport novels, writer Reilly doesn't just turn screenwriter here — with assistance from Collateral, Tomorrow, When the War Began and Obi-Wan Kenobi's Stuart Beattie — but also jumps behind the lens for the first time. Alas, his directorial instincts prove as flat and by-the-numbers as Interceptor's wanly boilerplate plot, as well as its clunky-as-clunky dialogue. And, that storyline really couldn't be more formulaic. In her new post on a remote platform in the Pacific Ocean, Collins soon finds herself under attack by terrorists led by the grating Alexander Kessel (Luke Bracey, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan). Her sea-surrounded station is one of two sites, alongside Alaska's Fort Greely, that can intercept a nuclear warhead launch on the US. Naturally, Kessel and his men have already taken out the other one, and have also pilfered nukes from the Russians in their possession. Interceptor is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. FATHER STU The last time that Mark Wahlberg played a real-life boxer, The Fighter was the end result. The last time that Mel Gibson played the burger-chain owner's father, the world was forced to suffer through Daddy's Home 2. Combine this mismatched pair and you don't quite get Father Stu, the former Marky Mark's first step into faith-based films — but even watching the latter, the second instalment in his woeful comedy franchise with Will Ferrell, is preferable to this mawkish true tale. Drawn from the IRL Stuart Long's life, it's meant to be an inspirational affair, covering the familiar religious-favourite beats about sinners being redeemed, wayward souls seizing second chances and learning to accept physical suffering as a chance to get closer to the divine. First-time feature writer/director Rosalind Ross is earnest about those messages, and her film visibly looks more competent than most sermon-delivering recent cinema releases, but what preaching-to-the-choir sentiments they are. How ableist they are as well. When Wahlberg (Uncharted) first graces the screen as Long, he could've stepped in from plenty of his other movies. In his younger days, the titular future priest is a foul-mouthed amateur boxer from Montana, but he has big dreams — and when he hits Los Angeles with acting stars in his eyes, viewers can be forgiven for thinking of Boogie Nights. Porn isn't Long's calling, of course, although salacious propositions do come his way in the City of Angels, in one of the film's hardly subtle efforts to equate the secular and the sordid. It's actually lust that pushes the feature's protagonist on the path to the priesthood, however, after he spies volunteer Sunday school teacher Carmen (Teresa Ruiz, The Marksman) while he's working in a grocery store. To have a chance with her, he even gets baptised. Then, a drink-driving accident brings a vision of the Virgin Mary, sparking Long's determination to make Catholicism his calling. Next, a shock health diagnosis both tests and cements his faith. Father Stu is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and our best new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies from the first half of 2022. Or, check out the movies that were fast-tracked to digital in January, February, March, April, May and June.
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image might be all about celebrating screen art — peering at films and TV shows, stepping into virtual reality and showcasing the talents that've made such a huge impact, for instance — but that doesn't mean that the Melbourne-based venue doesn't appreciate nature. The world around us can look stunning projected as large as a cinema can allow. David Attenborough has turned his documentaries about the planet into their own spectacular genre, too. And the natural realm can provide experimental artists with quite the playground to ponder, as Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature is set to unveil. This just-announced world-premiere exhibition will see art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast unveil a showcase of works that muse on trees, black holes, cells, breathing, space, science and more. Hitting ACMI from Thursday November 23, 2023–Sunday, April 14, 2024, Works of Nature spans five major pieces that aim to deeply contemplate and appreciate humanity's role in nature, and just nature overall. And, these aren't tiny pieces — all digital, they're aiming to inspire awe in both their size and content. [caption id="attachment_917015" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Distortions in Spacetime', 2018, courtesy of the artists[/caption] This is the London-based MLF's first major showcase in Australia, adding a stint Down Under to appearances at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals, the Istanbul Design Biennial, Lisbon Triennial and the V&A and Design Museum in their hometown. That impressive history is matched by a significant lineup of names involved with MLF's immersive Works of Nature pieces. Cate Blanchett (The New Boy) lends her narration, director Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life) executive produces, while Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood (Licorice Pizza) and fellow acclaimed composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (Last and First Men) are among the talents providing music — the latter's work continuing to entrance after his passing in 2018. Daisy Lafarge provides poetry, while Jon Hopkins, Meredith Monk and Howard Skempton also contribute tunes. [caption id="attachment_917016" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Evolver', 2023, courtesy of the artists and Wave Museum.[/caption] Whether you're a Melburnian or have a trip to the Victoria capital in your future, you'll be able to see the meditative Evolver, which uses Blanchett's voice to journey through the human body, breath, the origins of cells and the cosmos — and Distortions in Spacetime, which heads to a black hole's edge. Or, there's the large-scale Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest, a video installation about the Amazon's kapok trees. Thanks to The Tides Within Us, oxygen is in focus again via six static pictures. And with We Live in an Ocean of Air, MLF explore how that last word in the piece's moniker connects life on earth. [caption id="attachment_917019" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest', courtesy of the artists and Sandra Ciampone.[/caption] "ACMI is thrilled to bring the work of Marshmallow Laser Feast to Australia for the first time. This exhibition reflects the power of large-scale moving image works and creative use of projection technologies to produce immersive experiences that demonstrate how our bodies and the natural world are so intrinsically connected. Works of Nature is an unforgettable experience that can inspire us to work towards a better future," said ACMI Director and CEO Seb Chan, announcing the exhibition. "Our artistic practice is a constant journey of discovery into the world beyond the limits of human senses. Our passion for ecology, astronomy, and technology has driven us to collect tree data in the Amazon, explore the sound of black holes and scan the entirety of the human body in microscopic detail, then transforming these explorations into transcendent, immersive experiences," added Ersin Han Ersin, MLF Partner and Director. "We are excited to share our work with ACMI's audiences and to engage in a conversation about the beauty of the natural world and the wonders of the universe." [caption id="attachment_917012" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature, 2023, photo by Eugene Hyland.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_917018" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'We Live in an Ocean of Air', courtesy of the artists.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_917013" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature, 2023, photo by Eugene Hyland.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_917017" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest', courtesy of the artists and Sandra Ciampone.[/caption] Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature will display at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne, from Thursday November 23, 2023–Sunday, April 14, 2024 — head to the ACMI website for further details or to get tickets. Top image: Marshmallow Laser Feast, 'Distortions in Spacetime', 2018, courtesy of the artists.
Shusai Mijo is a little oasis of luxury on the much-loved Johnston Street strip‚ best known for its underground arts scene, small bars, cheap eats and smattering of local designer shops. Here, it almost seems strange to find a high-end omakase restaurant where you fork out $250 for an extravagant degustation. But it is a sign of the area's gentrification, with plenty of locals now on the hunt for fine-dining haunts. And those folks are in for a real treat. Chef Jun Oya (ex-Warabi) is running the show with Sous Chef Takuro Abe (ex-Warabi) for a different kind of omakase experience than you might be used to. At Shusai Mijo, Oya is championing a Kappo-style omakase, which includes more cooked dishes than you'll find at other Melbourne omakase spots. The menu changes seasonally, mostly depending on what fish is available both from Australia and Japan, but it does tend to follow a particular pattern of courses. A somewhat complex appetiser starts off the proceedings — we had the mixed seafood dish made with pufferfish, scallops, snow crab and tiny firefly squid. There's a lot going on here, but the delicate combination of flavours is handled with a master's touch. This is reflected throughout Oya's menu, where you won't be hit in the face with big flavours, but instead invited to explore a more understated and subtle cooking style, where the top-grade seafood is the champion of each dish. Everything else is but a stellar support act. The second course is a steamed dish, followed by some sashimi, then a deep-fried dish, two separate rounds of sushi, a grilled plate, and finally a dessert. Some of these courses include one large plate of food, while others include a selection of smaller one-bite options. Each is sublime — especially the melt-in-your-mouth wagyu nigiri that's cooked with hot coals right in front of you. When it comes to drinks, Matthew Ng (also ex-Warabi) has curated a tight but truly impressive list of wines and sakes from all over, many of which won't be found anywhere else in Melbourne. Whether you're drinking wine, sake, cocktails or beers, he'll pair them up with whatever creation is being plated up next. The trio of Warabi alums struck out on their own and have created a damn good fine-diner in Fitzroy. If you're in the area and can afford such a luxurious experience, do check to see if they can fit you at the eight-seater omakase bar. You'll find Shusai Mijo at 256 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, open 6–10pm from Tuesday to Saturday. For more information, head to the restaurant's website.
What a time to be alive for gin lovers. Last month, we introduced you to a rainforest-infused gin from Byron Bay. Now, we're heading south, to Tasmania, where brand new distillery Southern Wild has just opened. Its first offering is a trio of gins known as Dasher + Fisher, named for two rivers that travel from Tassie's snowy mountains to its northwest coast. Each spirit represents a section of the rivers' journey, the first being 'Mountain', the second, 'Meadow' and the third, 'Coast'. What all three have in common is a trio of uniquely Tasmanian botanicals: pepperberry, lavender and wakame seaweed. Distiller George Burgess, who's been perfecting his recipes for a decade, then blends these base botanicals with additional native ingredients, sourced from local growers, to give each gin its distinctive profile. "My goal, right from the get-go, was to try and create a gin that would allow me a multi-layered experience," says Burgess. "It took a lot of experiments and a lot of work to try and get that layering to the point where it was achieving what I set out to do." 'Mountain' is a dry-style drop, which puts the pepperberry up front, surrounded by another ten botanicals, including eucalypt, rosemary and sage. 'Meadow', a modern gin, emphasises the lavender, which is combined with 14 other botanicals, including freshly-picked oranges. Meanwhile, 'Ocean' is all about powering up the wakame seaweed, made more complex thanks to 11 other botanicals. You can buy Dasher + Fisher online, via Southern Wild's website. To visit in person, get yourself to Devonport, on Tassie's north coast. The distillery is open Monday to Wednesday between 10am and 5pm, and Thursday to Sunday from 10am till late. There are live music events and, if you're keen to take a tour with George, it's a good idea to book in advance. Images: Jason Loucas.
Checking into holiday accommodation, scouring every inch of your new home away from home and savouring your temporary scenic sights is part of everyone's vacation ritual — and most of us have the photos to prove it. And, while the jaw-dropping sensation that stems from peering over a beachside balcony is all well and great, it's certain to pale in comparison to the feeling you get when you stay in a volcano. At Wilderness Safari's Bisate Lodge in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, visitors can check into one of six thatched forest villas that are located within a volcano, and near even more towering peaks. Lava won't be flowing in the accommodation, of course, with the cosy dens built within the amphitheatre of an eroded volcanic cone. For those after some fiery action, the Bisoke volcano lurks close by, with the site featuring views towards the active land rupture, as well as of the inactive Karisimbi and dormant Mikeno mountains. With the individual lodges fitted out with luxurious furnishings, huge fireplaces and private decks, the 42-hectare site doesn't just offer volcanic thrills, but forms part of an eco-minded trip. Bisate acts as a base for tourists keen to enjoy a gorilla conservation experience, which includes morning treks to view the creatures, tree planting in the massive reforestation nursery, nature walks and more. Unsurprisingly, holing up here for a night or several doesn't come cheap, starting at around AU$1400 per night. Images: Wilderness Safaris.
Many would agree that it was Mamasita, opening her doors back in 2010, that led Melbourne's still-simmering Mexican charge. Now, six years, a couple of family additions, and plenty of location hunting later, owners Matt Lane and Nick Peters are at it again, last week launching their second venue. The hotly anticipated Hotel Jesus has set up shop in the iconic Collingwood Post Office building, with the lofty, light-filled space now setting the scene for Smith Street's own Mexican fiesta. As a casual tostaderia, Hotel Jesus eschews Mamasita's well-loved restaurant formula in favour of a more easy-going drinking and dining affair. Here, you'll drop by for house-made tostadas, cocktails on tap, and Mexican beers, served straight from a supersized ice trough behind the bar. With Yasser Garcia on the pans, expect a food menu that's authentic, lively and mostly familiar, running from ceviche and seafood, to tacos and those tostadas. Meanwhile, a "tacowey" (that's their way of saying takeaway) section has a more experimental edge, dabbling in a looser interpretation of Mexican cuisine. Those looking to jump on the mescal bandwagon will find plenty of opportunity to do so here. Peters is Australia's only Master Mezcalier (it's a thing), and the drinks list he's created provides a solid introduction to the agave spirit — which comes just in time for summer. Backing that up, there's an expectedly great tequila lineup, a tight selection of natural wines, and plenty of easy-drinking, imported brews. Hotel Jesus is now open at 174 Smith Street, Collingwood. For more info, visit hoteljesus.com.au.
These days, Easter promises a whole lot more than just generic choccy eggs and old-school hot cross buns. Bakeries, chocolate brands and dessert shops across the city are getting more inventive with each passing year, whipping up all sorts of creative treats worthy of a spot in your own personal Easter hunt. Here, we've rounded up some of the coolest grown-up goodies to seek out, from decadent booze-filled Easter eggs to hot cross bun-inspired bao and a choc-forward Easter-themed beer. Which of these creations will the Easter bunny be bringing you this year? DIY EASTER EGG COCKTAILS FROM COCKTAIL PORTER Ready for the ultimate adult riff on the classic choccy egg? The dessert maestros at Gelato Messina have teamed up with drink delivery service Cocktail Porter to offer a new DIY cocktail kit with a very Easter twist — these boozy concoctions are served not in glasses, but in chocolate eggs. Each pack contains all the cocktail ingredients, including some of Messina's legendary dulce de leche, plus Baileys, cold-drip coffee and Mr Black Coffee Liqueur. You'll also score Easter eggs for serving and salted caramel popcorn for a garnish. The kits are available here for delivery Australia-wide, with two sizes to choose from — the smaller option has ingredients to make five drinks ($80), while the larger makes 12 ($140). MORK X BUNS FROM MORK CHOCOLATE These hot crossed creations from Mork Chocolate are fast becoming an annual favourite, reimagining the humble Easter bun as an orange-scented Swedish-style cinnamon roll. The Mörk X Buns are sticky and buttery, crammed full of the kitchen's secret spiced fruit blend, along with extra hits of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Best enjoyed warmed up, the signature treats are available now to pre-order and pick-up from the North Melbourne Brew House. But you'll want to be quick to nab yours — over 600 of the buns have been flying out the door each day and as soon as Easter wraps up, they'll be gone for another year. HOT CROSS BAO FROM DIN TAI FUNG The dumpling masters at Din Tai Fung are celebrating Easter with a multicultural mash-up that's sure to delight any sweet-toothed folk — these rather charming hot cross bun-inspired bao. A nod to the traditional Easter bun, the pillowy little beauties are made with steamed bread and filled with oozing molten chocolate, each one finished with a sweet white cross. Available for a limited time on the menu at Din Tai Fung's Emporium restaurant, they'll set you back $5.80 for a serve of two. Otherwise, you can extend the Easter vibes well into April by stocking up on a bag of three frozen hot cross bao, delivered to your door for $8. HOT CROSS DOUGHNUT FROM SHORTSTOP One of Shortstop's best-loved seasonal treats is the one that makes an appearance every Easter — the smash-hit hot cross doughnut. A hole-y riff on the traditional bun, it's made using a spiced dough that's spiked with plenty of brandy-soaked fruit, with each doughnut dunked in a sweet honey glaze and topped with the telltale cinnamon sugar cross. As always, these return favourites are here for a good time, but not a long time, with the ovens churning out fresh batches on the daily, only until Monday, April 5. Stock up in-store, or head to the website to pre-order a few for pick-up or home-delivery. LOADED EASTER BROWNIE FROM BURCH & PURCHESE Not surprisingly, Easter is a favourite time of year for the creative minds at Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio. And among the latest batch of limited-edition desserts they're whipping up, you'll find this stunner — a supersized, finish-at-home brownie. It's fudgy and indulgent, and can be delivered to your door (or picked up in-store), ready to pop straight in the oven. With it, you'll also score a whole stack of fun toppings, just waiting for you to unleash your inner cake-decorating genius and impress your Easter guests. We're talking lush chocolate sauce, free-dried berries, crispy pearls, bunny-shaped biscuits, honeycomb chunks, vanilla marshmallows, choc-coated choc chip cookies and more. GELATO EASTER EGG FROM PICCOLINA This Easter, Piccolina Gelateria is doing what it does best — marking the occasion with a new line of limited-edition gelato treats. Available now in-store and online, you'll find three varieties of the gelato Easter egg (Uova di Pasqua), each hand-crafted, hand-wrapped and presented in a cute Piccolina tin. Choose from the white chocolate and pistachio Colomba, featuring a gooey caramel centre; the Tiramisu, blending boozy Savoiardi sponge with mascarpone gelato and coffee crema; and the Ferrerolina — a decadent assembly of Nutella-inspired gelato, puffed rice crunch and gianduja ganache, encased in dark chocolate and roasted hazelnut. Each egg clocks in at $25 and is designed to feed two to three people. If you can manage to share, that is. HOT CROSS BITES FROM KOKO BLACK Renowned Aussie chocolate brand Koko Black has some serious game when it comes to dreaming up Easter treats, with a hefty assortment of sweet delights on offer each year. But one that's earned a particularly loyal following is its inventive riff on a classic — the signature hot cross bites. They're miniature bundles of cinnamon and Easter spice, double-coated in chocolate and loaded into a big jar to be enjoyed (read: scoffed) by the handful, no toasting necessary. And if you prefer a more indulgent kind of packaging, there's the pimped-out version, featuring 200g of these tasty morsels housed in a big milk chocolate half-egg. B'EASTER EGG IMPERIAL CHOC ALE FROM DAINTON Fancy a choccy fix you can sip by the glass? Melbourne-based craft brewery Dainton has taken those familiar Easter egg flavours and transformed them into a rich, full-bodied beer, with a big, sweet finish. The B'Easter Egg imperial choc ale is as hearty as the name suggests, clocking in at nine percent ABV, though the addition of lactose helps counteract that booziness with a creamy, silky finish. A can of this will more than satisfy your Easter chocolate cravings, though it's only around for a limited time — grab yours from Dainton's online store, sample it at the Carrum Downs taphouse, or keep an eye out at your local bottle shop. HAPPY HOPPIN' CARAMEL POPCORN EGGS FROM HEY TIGER The minds at Hey Tiger have a knack for whipping up fun and innovative chocolate bar recipes, their repertoire including crafty flavour combinations like caramel and cracker crumb, and the birthday cake-inspired Glitter Kitten. And you can bet they're throwing around plenty of sweet ingenuity this Easter. Right now, you can get your mitts on a range of mini eggs and specialty bars, housed in colourful cardboard packaging that's designed to be upcycled into your next craft project. For a supremely scoffable Easter fix, hit the online store to try the Happy Hoppin' eggs, featuring smooth milk choccy bites with puffs of caramel sea salt popcorn at their centre.
Sometimes, you can fall out of love with your city, get stuck in a monotonous 9-to-5 routine and start to feel a little like you're living in Groundhog Day. The best thing to do is pack your bags and get outta town for a couple of days, maybe more. Sydney is teeming with new places to while away a sunny day, it's the perfect destination if you want to escape the Melbourne weather or hightail it out of Brissie for a long weekend. But you don't want to get stuck visiting the same old tourist traps. To help you out, we've partnered with Qantas and curated sunrise-to-sunset guide for Sydney's hip 'n' happenin' inner-city suburbs, so you won't miss out on a thing. First destination: Coogee. There's more to this chill beachside suburb than a broad sandy beach, our step-by-step itinerary will show you how to pack the most into a day-long Coogee frolic and see all the best sites. From sunrise boxing on the beach to lounging on the rooftop at Coogee Pavilion, outdoor yoga at the Baths to dog-spotting on the foreshore, you can have an active, ocean-drenched, food-filled day all at once down at one of Sydney's most laid-back eastern suburbs beaches. Now, it's time to explore. 6AM: GO BOXING ON THE BEACH Book one of Beachfit and Wellbeing's outdoor boxing classes to kick-start your day with the zest of a lifestyle blogger. Coogee Beach itself gets fairly packed on sunny days, so the best way to enjoy the sand between your toes is to get down there early. Like, sunrise early. Meet at the centre of Coogee Beach, watch the sun come up and smash out a workout before most of Sydney has even registered that it's a new day. Don't forget to snap an Insta pic to make your interstate friends jealous. 7AM: GRAB COFFEE AND BREKKIE AT THE LITTLE KITCHEN Rinse off the sunrise sweat at one of the council's outdoor showers, and walk towards the south end of Coogee to The Little Kitchen. A family-run cafe open from 7am daily, you'll find modern Aussie cafe food in a relaxed, freshly refurbished setting. Pick a seat at one of the long tables inside away from the sun. Double Roasters coffee or cold drip takes care of all your caffeine needs. Keep brekkie simple with a humble order of fruit toast and ricotta, or have the grilled chorizo with roasted peppers, herb salad, hummus and labne for a more substantial feed. Don't forget to bring a book or the paper — anyone who gets up before 8am truly earns the right to savour that morning coffee. 8.30AM: ENJOY SOME PRIME DOG-SPOTTING Scientific fact: dogs are freaking cute. But you can test this hypothesis for yourself if you must. Grab a coffee to go, meander along the boardwalk towards Trenerry Reserve and you'll be in the heartland of peak dog-spotting action. Remember to wear a hat, some sunscreen and sunnies as those Sydney rays can be quite strong if you're not used to them. 9.30AM: PRACTICE YOUR SUN SALUTATION AT OUTDOOR YOGA Keep the active-wear on for a relaxing outdoor yoga session. From the dog park, just wander 100 metres back towards Coogee Beach to the historic Wylie's Baths for a wholesome al fresco Hatha Flow. Run by Wylie's Wellness, classes take place in the shade of a marquee overlooking the sea, so you can enjoy stunning ocean views while you're stretching it out. 12PM: FISH AND CHIPS AT CHISH N FIPS After an active morning, it's time to chill. Lunch from Chish N Fips is a local favourite and must-try for visitors. It's a reasonably priced, no-frills joint reminiscent of grabbing a feed on a camping car trip with the family circa 1998, but, more importantly, it's very tasty. Order calamari and chips to take away and enjoy unparalleled views of Coogee beach, with the sand beneath your toes and salty ocean breeze on your face. 2PM: COOGEE PAVILION Unequivocally the best place to scout a prime view overlooking the whole of Coogee Beach is from the rooftop balcony of Coogee Pavilion. Nab one of their balcony umbrellas, grab a Pavilion Pina Colada ($18) and some grilled haloumi wrapped in vine leaves ($12.50) and wind down overlooking post-card perfect views of the beach. Ah, how's the serenity? 4PM: SNORKELLING AT GORDONS BAY You don't have to travel to the Great Barrier Reef to live out your marine biologist dreams — check out the teeming aquatic life down at Gordons Bay, the coastal inlet just north of Coogee Beach. The word that comes to mind when describing the bay is 'magical'. This might sound like the overzealous puffery of a high-end Maldivian resort guidebook write-up, but when you're floating in the water looking up at the surrounding cliffs, you will second this assessment. Just think, if you were a Sydneysider you could do this every weekend. 6PM: DINNER AT SUGARCANE RESTAURANT Conclude your Coogee adventure with dinner and drinks at Sugarcane. It's a contemporary Asian dining experience with Japanese, Malay, Thai and Chinese cuisines all featuring on the menu. The decor has Balinese Seminyak vibes, but the ocean view from the restaurant's balcony tables is pure Sydney. Now's probably a good time to start planning your next trip back to this magical place. Ready to get away and experience Sydney? Book with Qantas for great fares to Sydney and NSW until 24 September. Terms and conditions apply.
Flinders Street Station is sporting a flashy new look with the unveiling of its new state-of-the-art LED lighting system, a part of the building's $100 million upgrade. Featuring more than 20 kilometres of cable and 1100 lights, the system is able to bathe the station in any colour of the rainbow, and is set to be used for large-scale light shows at a range of major events. Completely automated and operated remotely, it's the first of its kind to be used on a heritage building in Australia. The lights themselves have been painstakingly colour-matched to the station's original flood lights and carefully placed to best show off the building's recently repainted exterior. They're also proving much a more budget-friendly option, using around a third of the energy of the originals. "The new light system is the finishing touch of an exterior restoration that leaves the station looking as fresh as it did when it opened in 1910," explained Minister for Major Projects Jacinta Allan. Other projects currently being tackled as part of the government's Flinders Street Station makeover include restoration of the Degraves and Elizabeth Street subways, improvements to the main ticket hall and increased passenger seating. Images: HiVis Pictures
Filmmakers frequently trade in dreams and reality, plus the space where the two meet, clash and contrast. Directing a movie that's steeped in the daily actuality of being a woman in Mumbai, Payal Kapadia does exactly that with her first fictional feature. In All We Imagine as Light, three nurses go about their lives in India's most-populous city — big-smoke existences that appear independent, but are dictated by patriarchal societal norms, class and religious stratifications, and the growing gentrification of the nation's financial capital. Making the leap from documentary to narrative films after 2021's A Night of Knowing Nothing, Kapadia sees her characters' plights with clear eyes. Her 2024 Cannes Grand Prix-winning picture isn't afraid to embrace their hopes and desires, however, or to be romantic and poetic as well as infuriated and impassioned. Head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti, Maharani), her younger colleague and roommate Anu (Divya Prabha, Family), and their elder co-worker Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam, Snow Flower) all seem to be enjoying their own paths. In everything from where they live to who they love, though, their choices aren't completely their own. Hailing from Kerala, Prabha is married to a husband that she barely met before they wed, and who now works abroad in Germany. As she tends to the wounds and helps with the woes of others, the life that she so desperately wanted has failed to come to fruition. While fellow Malayali nurse Anu is carefree and in love, her boyfriend Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon, Mura) is Muslim, so their romance plays out in secret — and simply finding somewhere to be intimate is a constant mission. Maharashtrian Parvaty faces moving back to her Ratnagiri village due to Mumbai's changing skyline, with her chawl earmarked for demolition in favour of a high-rise, and her rights to her home given little consideration. For spending time with Prabha, Anu and Parvaty in this character- and mood-driven rather than story-driven gem — for juxtaposing the perceptions and the truths about their existences, too, and of women who head to Mumbai to forge their careers in general — Kapadia cemented herself as one of 2024's cinematic revelations. Awards and nominations have kept following. When it received Cannes' second-most prestigious annual prize after the Palme d'Or, so coming in behind Anora, it did so after becoming the first Indian film in 30 years to play in the renowned festival's official competition. From there, All We Imagine as Light earned two Golden Globe nods, with its guiding force a Best Director nominee. Oscar buzz lingers, even if the film wasn't selected by India as its submission for the Best International Feature category. Another tick of approval, among many, came when Kapadia's picture was named as one of Barack Obama's ten favourite movies for 2024. Is this response all that the writer/director dared to imagine when All We Imagine as Light first sprang to mind as a student project? "No, of course not," Kapadia tells Concrete Playground. "I took some time to raise the funding for this film. It was raised using a lot of funds from public institutions all over Europe, so it was a long process that they have there, and you just want to be able to make the film. That's your main priority. So we were just slowly, slowly building the budget to be able to shoot it. For us, everything has come as such a bonus — the making of the film itself was such a great, great thing for us that we, at points, would think 'are we going to be able to do it?'. Because it really takes time and that's fine. I appreciate the process. But you don't really think of what will happen. You hope, of course, that it'll do well and people will see it. But this was quite unexpected, I have to say." "I'm really so grateful," Kapadia also advises, while recognising that the fact that she's still just one of two women contending for the Best Director Golden Globe at 2025's ceremony — alongside The Substance's Coralie Fargeat — should be a relic of the past, as should cinema's poor history of appreciating female filmmakers. "And it's not just about women and a gender thing, but representation in all ways. There is diversity that needs to be there in representation, which is people of all races and castes and class. If selection committees were more diverse, I think this problem would not exist," Kapadia notes. All We Imagine as Light isn't just helping to push diversity in filmmaking accolades to the fore, but also the diversity of Indian cinema with audiences outside of the country itself. "I think in India, we have a very self-sustained ecosystem of cinema." Kapadia says. "I think that the West needs to start looking more at Indian cinema and accepting that there are different ways. There are different ways of acting. There are different ways of performance. We come from a very theatrical, sometimes melodramatic background, and that is also a way. So I think that the diversity of Indian cinema is not restricted to Bollywood. There is Tamil cinema, which is absolutely incredible; Malayalam cinema, which is really doing very avant-garde stuff; and, of course, Telugu cinema has now travelled with RRR and things like this." What did it mean for All We Imagine as Light to break a three-decade drought for Indian films in Cannes' competition? How did the film evolve from an idea for a graduation film? Kapadia also chatted with us both — as well as what influenced the movie's narrative elements, and inspires the filmmaker in general; the many layers to the script, and how to balance what is told visually versus what's conveyed in dialogue; how the writer/director's non-fiction filmmaking background had an imprint; bringing a different vision of Mumbai to the screen; and more. On All We Imagine as Light Being the First Indian Film to Play in Competition at Cannes in 30 Years "I think it was really great that we were in competition. It's also a bit scary, because it's your first fiction movie and it's competing with all these big directors who you've admired and who you studied at film school. So you're a bit nervous, like 'oh my god, what is it going to be?'. So I think for for me it was a lot of nerves, and I was a bit like 'will I be, will it …', about standing up to all these expectations of this thing about 30 years. But the truth is that in India, we do have — like this year, there was an Indian film in every section in Cannes. And that's really great because I think that having not having a film in 30 years is a bit of a disappointment for us as Indian filmmakers. I think that Indian films have been doing really well in other festivals. And a lot of competitions, in Venice and Locarno, there's more or less always an Indian film. So I think this 30-year pressure was a bit overdue, in that it should have had more Indian films. But yeah, I was nervous that I hoped that the film would be accepted and wouldn't feel like it was not worthy of being there." On the Movie's Evolution From Student Project to Earning Global Attention and Accolades "I had to make my what we call a diploma film at the Film and Television Institute of India. I had a very two-page thing about two two women who are friends, roommates, but have two different ideas of morality, and this was the starting point. But it was a very short 20-minute thing. And I had already thought that they should be nurses. So I was spending a lot of time trying to do more research about nursing. That's when I realised that I couldn't have done this in 20 minutes. I knew nothing. I needed more time to to think about all these things, to really explore this subject. I felt that 20 minutes was not enough. So I put it aside. But at that time I already got in touch with Kani Kusruti, to play the younger nurse at that time because it was eight years ago. And then I stopped the project and I did something else for my diploma. And I had put it aside for some time, and then I thought I should get back to it. A few years later, I got back to it and I started doing more research, meeting more people, spending a lot more time working on the details of the script. I was also making another movie at the same time, A Night of Knowing Nothing. So it was an on-off thing that I was doing, coming back to this film from time to time. And as I met more people, I got more stories that made it into the film, with all the interviews that I did and all of the young women I spoke to — and some part of myself, growing older also, because I went from being from the younger nurses age to the older nurse's age in the span of all this time. And I think that as you grow older, your perception of things also changes, of course. So my gaze also began to change a bit. And finally, this is the film that you see." On Where the Movie's Main Narrative Elements Sprang From, Including Focusing on Three Women Across Generations, Classes and Languages "I was thinking a lot about this question of friendship, and how certain friendships are very big city-driven. These people probably couldn't or wouldn't have met, or wouldn't have been friends, if it wasn't for Mumbai. For example, when you live in a city like Mumbai, you have to have a roommate — because it's really expensive, and sometimes you just have the roommate because you need to fill up the slot of the bed next to you because you need somebody to pay half the rent. So that's an odd kind of relationship, because you might not get along with this person. You don't want to be their friend. But now you're stuck with them for the 11-month lease. So that's a unique friendship. So Prabha's Anu's boss, in a way. She's the head nurse. But now she's stuck with this girl who is very different from her — and they are age-wise also different from each other, and their perspectives to life are very different. I was interested in this juxtaposition of two people who are so different in their way of thinking, but have to share a room, and what could come out of this relationship. And even Parvaty, who works with Prabha now, she's Maharashtrian and she speaks a different language. And they would not have met if it wasn't for Mumbai, because she would never have gone to Kerala. And there's nowhere else that Prabha would have probably gone. So that friendship is also unique because, again, it's a very Mumbai friendship between a Maharashtrian woman and a Malayali nurse. So I wanted to kind of have these unique friendships, which are, for me, very Mumbai friendships, in the film. And the character of Parvaty wasn't really that important when I started writing the film, but as I began to do more research into the housing situation — which for me was something that I had seen, but I hadn't delved into in a big way — I felt that it was something that I had to really address in the film." On Layering the Impact of Societal Expectations, Cultural Clashes and Gentrification Upon the Film's Characters Into the Script "It was quite a balancing act, because if you have three different trajectories, it's always a bit difficult to balance. And what we shot was a lot more than than you see in the film, of course. But I think we had a good editor, and along with him, we were finding that balance between the three stories and how they reflect on each other. How Parvaty doesn't feel lonely, even if she doesn't have a family — she doesn't want to go live with her son. While Prabha is somebody who's been so obsessed with the idea of a family, of a husband, and how that reflects on her — and how Prabha sees how free Anu is. And Anu is just a young girl, and she just wants to have sex with her boyfriend. It's a very fundamental thing. And the city doesn't really allow that. So I was thinking of it that it's not individual stories, but how they reflect on each other and what they gain from each other's interactions with them. It was a difficult thing — and I also feel sometimes that I could have had a longer film, but my producer was like 'two hours is good enough'." On Drawing Upon Kapadia's Background in Non-Fiction Filmmaking "The way that we shot the film has a lot of non-fiction process to it. When I was writing the script, my same cinematographer shot my previous movie also, which was the documentary. So while I was writing the script, we would go out into the city and we would both shoot. Then we would come back and we would analyse what we chose to shoot, as if we were making a documentary — because in a documentary you can shoot a lot, and then you can come back and edit it, but in fiction, everything is fixed. So we have to understand how we want to look. So we did a lot of tests of how our gaze should be towards the city. How do we feel about the lensing, and the camera movement, the feeling of space? So we thought a lot about these things, and that came from documentary, because we were shooting like documentary in our research. And we also, I spoke to a lot of people at this time, like 100, 200 people, at least. Some people, I thought I will cast them in the film, so I would call them for screen tests, but then that ended up just being long conversations and no possibility of acting, but just conversations in the afternoons. So I wanted to keep some sense of that in the film, those interactions somehow, to keep them as well. So we came up with this thing of putting a small, short documentary-like footage in the beginning and in the middle of the film — and giving it a sort of sense of a city symphony. And just talk about how diverse Mumbai really is. It's a city that is made by people who come from outside. There was nothing there. It was a bunch of islands. Only the Koli people lived there, and the British came and they reclaimed the land, and invited people to come to live and work there to create a new port. So the fundamental idea of this city is that it's made up of people who are not from there, and I wanted to highlight that somehow." On What Was Most Crucial for Kapadia to Convey About the City That She Was Born in, Then Came Back to as an Adult After Going to School Elsewhere "The multilingual quality of the city. And also one of the things that is very important to me was the trains. Because it's what you end up seeing the most, because you spend a lot of time in the transport. And they become a space for a lot of different interactions — or relationships of the ladies compartment, where you make friends. You see the same people, you don't know them but you always nod because you know you'll see them tomorrow. And you try to think about their life outside of that compartment. But for those two hours, you are in that journey together. And all these things, I think a lot about. Maybe I'm too romantic about it, but I don't know, it's how I feel. Also this question of gentrification was important to me, and the right to people owning property, and who has this right. I feel I could have made another whole film about it, because it's so complicated and there is so much anger that one feels towards this situation. I wanted to also in a visual way talk about that. So you always see the buildings and then also the smaller houses and the slum area all together in a frame, and I wanted to give a visual sense of what the city is." On Knowing What to Convey Visually and Where to Let Dialogue Tell the Story "This is a real struggle. It's something that, as a filmmaker, you think about a lot because you don't have the visuals exactly on paper. You can't exactly say what they will be. And you have to rely a bit on the writing of the visuals and of the dialogue for the person who's giving you the grant to be able to understand it. But for me, I can put an image of the city and I know what I'm thinking. So this is a big, big issue for me, about finding that balance. And finally, when I'm editing, it's when I actually realise the balance and I can let go of a lot of information — which is being, I hope, conveyed visually and it doesn't need to be told in lines. But its a big balancing act and I hope to get better and better at it because sometimes I feel — it's complicated, I have a complicated relationship with this." On the Guidance That Kapadia Gave Her Cast When They're Tasked with Revealing Complicated Characters Via Actions and Expressions as Much, If Not More, Than Dialogue "We we did a lot of rehearsals before shooting. For three weeks, we we all stayed together. We did it like a theatre workshop. So we worked on each of the characters' body language, on how silences are — and we did a really fun exercise, which was that we did many scenes where the actors would play the characters, but between dialogues say what the character is thinking. So if there was silence, you would hear what Anu's mind is going on, thinking to herself about — let's say how she's planning something or how she's bored or whatever. So we would do these exercises where the thoughts were all spoken out, so we all know how to think about it. And the actors are really, really great, and they brought in a lot of their own thoughts about this, and I think it was way beyond what I had even thought. It was really collaborative and rich process for me." On What Inspires Kapadia as a Filmmaker "Everything inspires me. I think that that's the privilege of being a filmmaker, that life seems more interesting than cinema, and I want to make films about everything all the time. It's crazy. I feel, I think just being in the world and seeing the world around you, really everything is so inspiring. And for me, my films are also about very daily things, so that is why daily life for me is is my inspiration." On the Importance of Conveying Prabha, Anu and Parvaty's Ongoing Fights for Agency "It was really what you're saying, that it is these tentacles of this patriarchal society that still hold you down, and in spite of being financially independent and physically away from the family, it is something that is for me, certainly, a real pity. It's a matter of genuine anger. Because I've seen it in people in my family as well, and girlfriends around me, and it's something that always just makes me very frustrated. So I wanted to bring out that frustration in the film and say that at least if this society is failing us in so many ways, if we could find some utopian-like space where we could all connect, at least in a way that is beyond our immediate identity and beyond our immediate morality, to at least be supportive of one another — it's a small move, but it's, for me, a big one." On How the Film's Sometimes-Romantic, Sometimes-Clinical Aesthetic Adopts Its Characters' Different Gazes "I wanted to shoot the film from the gaze of the characters. So for Anu, whenever we see her and Shiaz, the city seems very nice. They're walking through the Mohammed Ali Road and eating kebabs and the beautiful lights, and the smoke coming out. Because I think cities are better when you are with a friend or when you are with a lover. If you are in that mood, then somehow things look better. They might not be, but it's how it is. You don't mind sitting in a really crowded public bus — you don't mind that there is traffic because it means you'll have a little bit more time together. And these very normal things that would annoy you suddenly become okay. So I wanted to have that kind subjectivity to the film, whenever we are with Anu and Shiaz, then we also feel delighted at everything. And if you see the city through the wet droplets, that all looks so. Then with Prabha, it's more about the daily grind. She's not going to look at how beautiful it is, but just go from one place to the other, and it's a functional look. And for Parvaty, there is a sense of this complete injustice, feeling that she's going to be thrown out of a place that she's been calling home for 22 years. So I was trying in some senses to have a different gaze to the city, because I think it is all these things. It is a place of freedom for a lot of young women. It is a place of anonymity and that anonymity gives freedom. But it's also a harsh reality and a difficult city. So I was hoping that through these different gazes these layers came out." All We Imagine as Light opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024.
Bright lights aren't hard to find in Tokyo, and neither are gorgeous patches of greenery. And yet, the city's best blend of both sits inside a warehouse on an artificial island. Lengthy lines (another Tokyo hallmark) snake outside the seemingly average building from mid-morning until early evening, with the eager masses queuing beneath a giant ferris wheel. They've ventured over the famous Rainbow Bridge to get there, and possibly spied both a replica of the Statue of Liberty and a towering Gundam monument on their travels; however what awaits inside eclipses it all. Welcome to Tokyo's Borderless Digital Art Museum. Open since June 2018 in Odaiba, and run by interdisciplinary art collective Teamlab, it's an immersive playground teeming with kaleidoscopic digital works that move, shift, evolve and interact with each other. And we do mean teeming — this hefty collection of digital art spreads across more than 10,000 square metres, using 520 computers and 470 projectors for more than 50 works. Indeed, from the moment that patrons step through the museum's black curtains, the entire space is alive with pieces begging them to look and touch. And to sit in wonder and stare at as well. As you'll see if you scroll through the #borderless Instagram feed, it also invites audiences to take many, many, many photos. If some of them look familiar, it might be because Teamlab ran an exhibition at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum earlier year. Given the astonishing digital art on display, dropping your jaw and capturing the art on camera are completely understandable reactions. There's just so much going on. One instant, you're frolicking in a field of flowers. The next, you might be relaxing on a suspended net while watching fish swim, or wandering through a sea of glowing lamps, or feasting your eyes and ears on an astonishing concert of light and music. You could be relaxing as the ocean's waves come towards you, or spying flowers bloom from your cup of tea. It just might be the most vibrant place in a city filled with more stunning sights than anyone could see in a lifetime, and it's an absolute must-see on any trip to Tokyo, with more than a million people doing just that in the museum's first seven months. For those making the journey, we've run through seven of the dazzling delights that await in this digital art wonderland. WANDER THROUGH AN EVER-CHANGING FOREST OF FLOWERS If The Forest of Flowers and People was all that the Borderless Digital Art Museum had to offer, it'd still be a stunning achievement. The space's main section is a labyrinthine assemblage of halls, corridors and open voids where animated flowers grow, bud and blossom — and weave and wind their way around the huge room. Each bloom also withers, sheds its petals and decays, and responds to both the other works in the space (think butterflies, stampeding animals, waterfalls and more), and the museum's visitors. It's never the same work twice, with its cherry blossom hues proving equally calming and energising. You could walk around all day, never be bored and never see the exact same thing, although you will want to find your way to the cavernous Rock Where People Gather at the heart of it all. WATCH LIGHT BEAMS TURN INTO A SYMPHONY OF SCULPTURE It looks so straightforward: a darkened square room, with lights mounted on all four walls, as well as along the floor and across the ceiling. You scamper inside and find a spot to sit on the ground, and then look up. But what happens next is far from straightforward. Across ten pieces with names like The Haze, Light Vortex and Descent of the Gods, beams of light erupt through the space, building both monochromatic and colourful sculptures out of nothing more than their luminous rays. Each work is also set to a mesmerising soundtrack that's played loud to truly immerse you in the moment. While the entirety of the Borderless Digital Art Museum feels futuristic, this feels like being steeped in a sci-fi film in the very best way. LET THE OCEAN WASH OVER YOU Whether rushing towards the shore in stormy weather or lapping gently under the glistening sun, the ocean is an ongoing natural artwork. It's also a soothing sight, especially at a time when we all spend our days staring at screens rather than at the planet around us. Black Waves combines the best of both worlds, turning walls into a canvas and projecting a constant barrage of digital water across it. Unsurprisingly, people don't just sit here — they recline upon the island in the room's centre and simply let the waves wash over them. Prepare to feel vey calm — you'll want to get cosy and stay here for hours. WALK THROUGH A HYPNOTIC FOREST OF COLOURFUL LAMPS To enter the Borderless Digital Art Museum, there's a line. To then enter The Forest of Resonating Lamps, there's another — but both are worth it. Specifically, this walk-through installation lets you mosey through a mirrored room where suspended lanterns made of Venetian glass and hung at different heights are the main attraction. As you get close to a lamp, the colour changes, and then the whole space starts to cycle through a palette of eye-catching pastel views. Only a select number of people are allowed inside at a time, and you won't spend more than two minutes within the forest; however you will want to queue up for a second wander immediately afterwards. JOURNEY THROUGH A MOUNTAINOUS RICE FIELD First, you'll feel small. Then, you'll feel tall. Yes, playing with size and scale are what this piece is all about. You'll enter a room that resembles a mountainous rice field, wandering beneath a sea of plant sculptures and then towering above them, and you'll feel the enormity of the landscape. That said, that's just the structural part of the artwork. The Memory of Topography is located in a digital art museum, after all. While the main projection evokes life in a real field, complete with insects and flowers and changing seasons, another fish-fuelled effort flows across the space's varying elevations, painting with colour in reaction to whoever's in the room. BOUNCE BETWEEN BULBOUS FLOATING SCULPTURES Sometimes, the simplest things are the most thrilling, which is true in this interactive installation in Borderless Digital Art Museum's more active Athletics Forest. In The Weightless Forest of Resonating Life, bulbous sculptures float through a room as you — and plenty of other folks — roam between them. Some are weighed to the floor, and tip and sway when you walk past. Others rise into the air, heading towards the ceiling. Their colours change when someone touches them, which in turn influences all of the other 3D sculptures around them. If it's busy in here, which it always is, expect a rainbow of hues and a cavalcade of movement. ENJOY AN EXTRAORDINARY CUP OF TEA Walking around the Borderless Digital Art Museum is exciting and exhilarating. Given that you can spend hours inside, it's also a little exhausting. That's where the EN Tea House comes in, and it doesn't just serve up different flavours of both hot and cold green tea. While you're sitting at long benches in a dimly lit room, your cuppa will come to life thanks to Flowers Boom in an Infinite Universe Inside a Teacup. It all starts with a flower on top of your tea, then moves with your drink. When you've finished sipping, this gorgeous piece finishes as well. Find teamLab Borderless Tokyo: MORI Building Digital Art Museum in Odaiba Palette Town, 1-3-8 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It's open seven days a week — for more information, visit the museum's website. Images: Sarah Ward.
Great movies live on forever, garnering acclaim and accolades, earning eager rewatches and retrospective screenings, and getting discovered afresh by new audiences. Terrible flicks can also keep drawing in fans, becoming cult hits and having spoons thrown at them — and films don't get much worse-but-glorious than the one and only The Room. In the near future, Tommy Wiseau's disasterpiece won't be a one-off, however. Twenty years after it first hit screens, it's being remade. No, Wiseau isn't behind the do-over, although that does sound like a very Wiseau thing to do. Instead, the new The Room stars Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul favourite Bob Odenkirk. This is a greenscreen remake, which Slashfilm first reported — and then Odenkirk confirmed. "This is real. This is true. And let me tell you, I tried my best to SELL every line, as honestly as I could... and I had a BLAST," the actor tweeted. If this news is tearing you apart, that's understandable. This is real. This is true. And let me tell you, I tried my best to SELL every line, as honestly as I could...and I had a BLAST https://t.co/v261E1DKnG — Mr. Bob Odenkirk (@mrbobodenkirk) March 9, 2023 If you're wondering why — and you want more than the obvious answer: why not? — The Room 2.0 is coming to life for Acting for a Cause, which raises money for charity. And if you're wondering about The Room's storyline because you've missed this whole film phenomenon over the past two decades, it tells the tale of a banker, his adulterous fiancée, his conflicted best friend, a local teen caught up in a drug deal, a mother with cancer, a particularly tense party, a bunch of guys playing football in tuxedos and the worst apartment decorating scheme you've ever seen. View this post on Instagram A post shared by B̸R̸A̸N̸D̸O̸ ̸C̸R̸A̸W̸F̸O̸R̸D̸ (@professorbrando) The Room truly is the vampire of bad movies. It's been living on via event screenings, Greg Sestero's memoir The Disaster Artist, the the star-studded film that book spawned and Sestero's frequent tours. For a while, Wiseau even put it online for free in high-definition. There's no word yet as to when it'll be time to say "oh hi Bob", or where. There's also no sneak peek at the end result, either. But, to tide you over, you can check out the OG film's trailer below: The Bob Odenkirk-starring remake of The Room doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when further details are announced. Via Slashfilm. Top image: Better Call Saul.
Taking a hard shift away from the minimalist aesthetic of so many Melbourne bars, The Shady Lady's decor is lush and fun, mirroring the kind of night you're bound to have inside. Tasseled lampshades, leather upholstery, NSFW artwork from local creatives, shimmering gold curtains and disco balls make this dive bar feel a little bit like your over-the-top great aunt's pool room. Plus there's a similarly decorated, astroturfed and blue-walled courtyard out the back. If that all sounds a little bit trashy, it's because it is — in the best possible way. There's no space for pretentious attitudes at The Shady Lady, which serves up a pretty short and sweet drinks list including a few local beers in tinnies (including dive bar Mexican staple Tecate), a couple of wines by the glass, your usual selection of spirits and, the real hero, alcoholic slushies capped off with little umbrellas. There are also a few snacks, like $5 nachos, most of which can be done vegan if you say the word. The LGBTQI+ friendly venue hosts a bunch of different events throughout the week, like YouTube karaoke, drink and draw nights, porno bingo and psychic aura readings. Get down early every second Saturday for Bacon Fat, a "greasy 'n' sleazy" rhythm and blues party, complete with gogo dancers from 11pm. The Shady Lady is open until 1am every night except Sunday, and most weekends there'll be someone on the decks spinning everything from 'I'm Coming Out' by Diana Ross, to the latest track from Lizzo. There's no strict genre at The Shady Lady, anything that fits with the 70s-inspired vibe — and you can shake your booty to — is on the cards.
The spirit of cabaret is alive and well in Melbourne, with one of the world's most celebrated chanteuses lighting up Queen Victoria Market's Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Her particular mix of debauchery, dark humour and biting social commentary make this one of the festival's must-see shows. German kabarett superstar Bernie Dieter — described as "an electrifying cross between Lady Gaga, Marlene Dietrich and Frank-N-Futer in sequins" — will bring her infamous gin-soaked haus band and her troupe of bombastic bohemians back to Melbourne throughout October. Gather your fellow deviants for this one. [caption id="attachment_841679" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Johannes Reinhart[/caption] The show encapsulates the spirit of the notorious kabarett clubs of Weimar Germany, and features a vibrant lineup of international talent. The billing includes the dangerous art of hair hanging (we're getting split ends just from the mere mention of this one), flame breathers, gender bending aerial performances and plenty of strip teasing and pole dancing. The colourful show celebrates freedom and diversity in all its forms — Dieter herself describes it as "the ultimate party at the end of the world". Just as spectacular as the performance is its iconic — and all too appropriate — setting. Bernie Dieter's Club Kabarett will take place in Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent at Queen Vic Market. The venue is one of the country's largest and most spectacular spiegeltents and an ideal setting for such a spellbinding cabaret show.
Rinaldo 'Ronnie' Di Stasio and his namesake restaurants are major players in the Melbourne hospitality industry, and they have been for almost four decades. Now, their future existence hinges on whether Ronnie's (and business partner Mallory Wall's) companies can settle the outstanding debts allegedly owing to the Australian Taxation Office — and it appears they have just days to do so. As reported by The Age, two of Di Stasio's companies, Di Stasio Pty Ltd and Di Stasio Citta Pty Ltd, were recently served winding-up applications and given 21 days to settle tax debts totalling just shy of $1 million. The debts of $200,000 and $710,000, respectively, relate to Cafe Di Stasio in St Kilda and Di Stasio Citta in the CBD. The brand's Carlton outpost (where a pizza could set you back a casual $54) is not impugned in the Federal Court action. If the debts are not settled on time, the companies could be deemed insolvent, with a liquidator appointed. The winding-up applications are set down for hearing by the Federal Court on October 31 and November 7. At the time of publishing, it appears that the restaurants continue to trade as usual. Images: Kate Shanasy. Check out the best Italian restaurants in Melbourne now.
Come the really raw bits of winter, our gut instinct generally tells us to bunker down in our own homes with blanket forts and hot comforting stews. Nothing says 'let's stay home in our pyjamas tonight' like frosty air and something trashy on TV. But don't fret — mini-holidays are still achievable (even in winter) and in Melbourne weekends away are at your fingertips. All you have to do is jump into your car and go for a little spin. Cold places can make for beaut weekends away, and Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges are a very valid option. Only 35 kilometres east of the CBD, The Hills, as they're affectionately known, will make you feel like you're in a tiny European village at the best of times, or lost in the forest at the worst (hint: take a map with you). Stretching from the southern ranges to Belgrave, the foothills and hilltop villages like Sassafrass and Mount Dandenong, here are some tips for a weekend away in the area filled with woodfires, ferns and a plethora of dessert options. [caption id="attachment_581918" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Hideaway Cottage[/caption] STAY Heading up to stay a few nights? Feeling cosy in Airbnb cottages are what it's all about up there, so have yourself a gander at this one. Hideaway Cottage is right up the top of the mountain in the area actually called — fittingly enough — Mount Dandenong, and it's a sweet little stone cottage house embodying all things quaint. There's a loft bedroom up a spiral staircase, a fireplace for those wintry times and even a veranda as an added bonus. You'll be sitting out the front wrapped in your blanket cocoon saying things like "this is what life is all about" before you know it — not even minding that your toes have gone a bit numb. If you want to step it up a notch and go full forest, head up to the Linden Rainforest Retreat; it's also in Mount Dandenong, but a whole level above when it comes to indulgence. You can choose from one of four 'designer suite' retreats, there's room service, and you can even pre-order a cheese platter and/or rose petals to be strewn about your bed before you arrive. It's prime fare for a couple celebrating something special, or just for a single really going for it in the treat yo'self stakes. 100 points for you. Alternatively, just go bush and camp somewhere in the basically enormous expanse of green camping possibility that the Dandenong Ranges are. There are a bunch of well-equipped camping grounds dotted around the ranges — here's a list to start you off. But a warning to you, the Dandenongs do tend to hover a few degrees lower than the mainland down below at all times, so nights outdoors in winter will be frosty indeed. [caption id="attachment_581920" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Ripe Sassafrass[/caption] EAT AND DRINK Contrary to popular opinion, it's not all about scones up here. Okay, it is a little bit. A hot tip is avoiding the over-touristy and over-priced Miss Marple's Tearoom in Sassafras and heading a few doors down to Ripe. The café has a produce store attached, a heated deck so you can sit amongst the ferns, and a Devonshire tea that includes a hot drink in the price (unlike Miss Marple's). For those who aren't all about lashings of cream and jam, Ripe also does a solid baguette menu — and it almost goes without saying that the prosciutto, quince paste and brie is the winner over here. [caption id="attachment_581922" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Cafe de Beaumarchais[/caption] If you've done a fair whack of walking around the mountainous surroundings, it could be high time for some sweet treats. Café de Beaumarchais (also in Sassafras) has you sorted with a fairly hectic cake display and great coffee, and a general vibe making you feel like you're in a tiny village in France. For heavier fare head to Woods Sherbrooke — the Sri Lankan chef and owner's contemporary Asian menu will warm your belly on a cold winter's night. Drinking holes are a little harder to come by in the hills, so our first suggestion would be to make a big vat of your own mulled wine and drink it by the fireplace in your cottage. If you're very keen to venture on out, Belgrave is probably the place to go. Sooki Lounge on Burwood Highway isn't the hallmark that the bar it replaced, the famous Ruby's Lounge, once was, but it still does live music and organic tapas. Oscar's Alehouse, also just down the road, is a bit of Brunswick in Belgrave — there's a heap of different craft beers and you can even BYO pizza in. [caption id="attachment_581933" align="alignnone" width="1280"] RJ Hamer Aboretum, Matthew Paul Argall via Flickr[/caption] SEE AND DO Getting around in the Dandenongs can be slow-going — thanks to the one-lane Mount Dandenong Tourist Road starting at Tremont and running all the way up to Montrose — so don those old runners, flex your feet and set off on foot. It's like the hills are urging you to go a-hikin' through them, and there's plentiful walks to be done. A tip is avoiding the tourist-saturated 1000 Steps Walk on a weekend because it ends up being more of a shuffle/whoops-avoid-the-family-of-five-plus-their-dog type affair. Instead, head to the huge RJ Hamer Arboretum in Olinda. Here stand over 150 different types of trees and, when the leaves start to fall in cold weather, it has a real resemblance to Narnia. The National Rhododendron Gardens nearby are also beautiful, covered in colour, and quite hilly so you can get a bit of cardio in at the same time. [caption id="attachment_581935" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Ashim D'Sliva[/caption] Rainier days might see you heading into Belgrave's Cameo Cinemas, an eight-screen effort showing arthouse and cult hits as well as blockbusters, with an outdoor cinema in the warmer months. But if you want some more R&R (that is, if watching the new Tarzan isn't relaxing enough for you), the Japanese Mountain Retreat in Montrose has more mineral springs and massage therapies than you could have time for over a single weekend. Shopping-wise, Sassafras has options that range from homey and fragrant (Tea Leaves) to tasty pantry things (Cream), to kooky wooden puppets (Geppetto's), if that's your jam. Or, if you're up there between November and April, take home some edible souvenirs from Blue Hills Berries & Cherries by picking your own strawberries, raspberries, or cherries as fresh as they come. [caption id="attachment_548957" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Sherbrooke Falls Trail[/caption] ALRIGHT, LET'S DO THIS Public transport is sparse, but you can jump on a train and take the Belgrave line out to Upper Ferntree Gully Station, then wait for the 688 bus (every half hour or so), which runs along the Mt. Dandenong Tourist Road up the mountain. The drive is quicker — about 50 minutes from the CBD. The Burwood Highway and Mount Dandenong will take you up there pretty swiftly. Top image: Adrian Mohedano via Flickr.
Fun fact: during the 1870s, the Southgate precinct played host to a giant wooden waterslide and amusement park. The well-dressed citizens of Melbourne would be willingly loaded, fully clothed, into wooden shoots and sent hurtling down into the Yarra. Who would have known? And now, some 150 years later, a new Southgate bar is paying homage to this interesting moment in time — but thankfully it's a much more sophisticated venue, where you can wet your whistle without actually getting wet. Waterslide is all about luxury and good times. Opulent decor, attentive and friendly table service and well-dressed clientele make this bar stand out in the already bustling Southgate precinct. A wide variety of beers are available on tap with a special keg of seasonal beer changing throughout the year. We were pleasantly surprised to find a strong focus on local craft beers, along with a top-notch wine list and a full back bar of spirits. However, it's the signature cocktail list that's the crowning jewel of the bar. Created with Melbourne's temperamental weather in mind, there are seasonal drinks perfect for the coldest nights or the brightest of days. We recommend the Name in Lights: a tasty blend of Pampero Blanco rum, passionfruit, fresh lime, pho spices and Vietnamese mint ($17). If you're a purist and looking for a classic cocktail to ease into the night, then make sure you order a Blinker with rye whisky, fresh grapefruit juice and house-made grenadine ($17). In fact, the majority of syrups used at Waterslide are made in-house — just another level of detail the bar brings to the table. A considered bar snack menu is available, offering market fish carpaccio ($18), charcuterie platters ($21) and even a decadent Cuban sandwich ($14.50) of roast pork, ham, Gruyère cheese, mustard and pickles. This, along with the stunning view over the Yarra and Melbourne's magnificent skyline, make Waterslide's outdoor balcony seating a hot commodity. It's also well-heated for those chilly winter nights. With views like this, we're not surprised that the bar is fast becoming the new after work drinks venue or fancy date bar of choice along the river. These days, there's no actual waterslide on-site, but you're bound to have just as much — if not more — fun at Waterslide Bar.
How Billy Van Creamy manages to churn out some of Melbourne's finest ice cream from a truck is a mystery. But as well as roaming the city in their ice cream van, BVC have also opened a store which is always parked at Best Street in Fitzroy North. All gelato is made by hand with all natural ingredients like organic milk, crunchy nuts and vanilla beans. The rotating selection of flavours includes the salted caramel, espresso and an incredibly rich vanilla bean ice cream. There are also a host of vegan flavours, of which you can't go past the peanut butter choc chip.
From cafes banning disposable cups, to creatives making adorable ceramic keep cups, to the company recycling coffee waste into environmentally friendly cups, the push to minimise waste in Australia's coffee scene is growing. With National Recycling Week upon us from November 13 to 19, two Melbourne cafes are giving customers an extra incentive to ditch one-off takeaway containers for a permanent, reusable alternative. Two words: free coffee. All week, caffeine lovers can head into Lights in the Attic in Hawthorn and The Crux and Co. in South Melbourne, and as long as they have their own keep cup, they'll get a hot cuppa without spending a cent. Offered in partnership with reusable cup brand frank green, the deal does have a few conditions — it isn't valid at The Crux and Co.'s CBD spot, for example. But, if you're near the two cafes in question, you can get one complimentary takeaway 8oz regular coffee, hot chocolate or mocha per day per person (with regular milk and soy milk only, and without any additions or changes). Yes, you'll save some money and help save the environment at the same time, and get a warm beverage for your troubles. Kevin Li, director of Lights in the Attic and The Crux & Co., acknowledges that it's a small step, but it's one worth taking. "It's important small businesses continue to think about what they can do for the environment," he explains. Get a free cup of coffee from Lights in the Attic, 38 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East, and The Crux & Co., G01 35 Albert Road, Melbourne during their regular opening hours between November 13 and 19. Head to the websites for Lights in the Attic and The Crux and Co. for further details.
Not everyone gets off on being packed like a sardine into a club or spending your NYE countdown in line for the bar. Beer Gypsies Matt Bywater and Dan Cerra thought that sounded awful too and will be setting up shop at the Second Story Studios warehouse with a great selection of craft beers and ciders on tap and plenty of room to move. You won’t have to drink those delicious craft brews in silence either because musicians Owl Eyes, City Calm Down, Set Sail and Tully on Tully will be playing all night. Lots of craft beer, wine and cider will be provided from Napoleone and Co. Cider, Mildura Brewery and Six Foot Six Winery.
This is a true story: in 2014, Hollywood decided to take on a task that was destined to either go as smoothly as sliding on ice or prove as misguided as having a woodchipper sitting around. Revisiting Fargo was a bold move even in pop culture's remake-, reboot- and reimagining-worshipping times, because why say "you betcha" to trying to make crime-comedy perfection twice? The Coen brothers' 1996 film isn't just any movie. It's a two-time Oscar-winner, BAFTA and Cannes' Best Director pick of its year, and one of the most beloved and original examples of its genre in the last three decades. But in-between credits on Bones, The Unusuals and My Generation, then creating the comic book-inspired Legion, writer, director and producer Noah Hawley started a project he's now synonymous with, and that's still going strong five seasons in. For the TV version of Fargo, the setup mirrors the film. "This is a true story," all iterations of Fargo claim. "At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed," each season of the series goes on, as the movie did before them. "Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred," they also advise. What follows from there is always a twisty tale set in America's midwest, as filled with everyday folks in knotty binds, complicated family ties, crooks both bumbling and determined trying to cash in, and intrepid cops investigating leads that others wouldn't. Hawley's stroke of genius: driving back into Fargo terrain by making an anthology series built upon similar pieces, but always finding new tales about greed, power, murder and snowy landscapes to tell — including the latest, which starts releasing episodes via SBS On Demand in Australia and Neon in New Zealand from Wednesday, November 22. Consider Fargo a Coen brothers remix, too, nodding to its inspiration while existing in the same universe, and also winking at the sibling filmmakers' other features. It's a series where stars from Joel and Ethan's movies have key roles, such as The Man Who Wasn't There's Billy Bob Thornton, A Serious Man's Michael Stuhlbarg and The Big Lebowski's David Thewlis, to mention a few. References to The Big Lebowski's white russians, mugshots that ape Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?-esque bluegrass and calling someone "friendo" No Country for Old Men-style also happily pop up. Lines of dialogue, monikers, shots, scenes, character types, plot specifics: from Blood Simple and Barton Fink to Burn After Reading and Hail, Caesar! — and Miller's Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs as well — the links keep coming. Hawley's Fargo adores the Coenverse overall, enthusiastically scouring it for riches like it's the TV-making embodiment of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter's namesake. That film hailed from Damsel's David Zellner instead, and took cues from the urban legend surrounding the purported Fargo ties to the IRL death of Japanese office worker Takako Konishi; however, wanting the contents of the Coen brothers' brains to become your reality is clearly a common thread. Of course, for most of the fictional figures who've walked through the small-screen Fargo's frames, they'd like anything but caper chaos. Scandia, Minnesota housewife Dot Lyon (Juno Temple, Ted Lasso) is one of them in season five. North Dakota sheriff, preacher and rancher Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm, Good Omens) isn't as averse to a commotion if he's the one causing it. Minnesota deputy Indira Olmstead (Richa Moorjani, Never Have I Ever) and North Dakota state trooper Witt Farr (Lamorne Morris, Woke) just want to get to the bottom of the series' new stint of sometimes-madcap and sometimes-violent mayhem. The events depicted in Fargo season five take place in 2019, after the film's 1987 timing, then season one's 2006 setting, season two's jump back to 1979, season three unfurling in 2010 and season four using 1950 as a backdrop. This is the most current of the franchise's interconnected stories in two ways, with America's recent political climate and corresponding polarisation key to its ten-episode narrative. Indeed, when Dot and her tween daughter Scotty (Sienna King, Under the Banner of Heaven) are introduced in the fifth season's opening scene, it's at a PTA meeting-turned-brawl. After Dot busts out a taser to escape the mob, her presence in the melee ends with an arrest by Olmstead, worry from her car salesman Wayne (David Rysdahl, Oppenheimer), disapproval from his debt collection company CEO mother Lorraine (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hunters) and the latter's in-house lawyer Danish Graves (Dave Foley, The Kids in the Hall) snapping into action. Similarly a consequence: the dawning realisation by those around her that this stay-at-home mum has secrets. Fans of the movie are in for a treat as Hawley treads in its footsteps more directly than ever, but still cleverly, entertainingly, and while reinforcing the idea that basic human nature sparks tales like this over and over. A home invasion and kidnapping, dispatched criminals doing a job that goes awry, a massive face wound and the line "it's a beautiful day" — uttered here by Olmstead — all feature. As Dot joins Fargo's array of indomitable women, so do Olmstead and Lorraine, offering three stripes on an upstanding, ruthless and caught in-between flag. And the saga's savaging exploration of masculinity? The Trumpian Tillman, who sees the law as a mere guide, is all about boosting his own status, has son Gator (Joe Keery, Stranger Things) following his lead and also sports the Anton Chigurh doppelgänger Ole Munch (Sam Spruell, The Gold) on the payroll, is its primary target. Season five kicks off with a title card in addition to the playful "this is a true story" spiel (it's well-established by now that Fargo trades in anything but, at least where narrative facts are involved). Defining "Minnesota nice" as "an aggressively pleasant demeanour, often forced, in which a person is chipper and self-effacing, no matter how bad things get" gives way to the school riot. In mere minutes, Hawley hammers home the truth that even putting on niceties is a rare occurrence in today's America — and 2019's. The season unpacks this notion, setting its sights on the society, attitudes, leaders and powerbrokers perpetuating self-serving fractures so deep that smiling and pretending to get along isn't possible. Fargo sees the fightback, too, both when class and gender are involved, and especially in the resourceful Dot. She could give MacGyver a run for his money, gets compared to a tiger and, out of necessity, never stops notching up ways to outsmart her foes. Add Temple's lead performance to Fargo's long list of standout portrayals; Frances McDormand received her first of three Best Actress Oscars (before also winning for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Nomadland) for the film, after all. Add Hamm to the franchise's can't-look-away villains, swapping his Mad Men charm for the prickliest of confidence. And, add another delight of a run to the show's pile, this time delivering a striking service station siege, the memorable use of The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up' and multiple references to The Nightmare Before Christmas along the way. Here's another genuinely true story: Fargo keeps proving one of the best film-to-TV adaptations there is. Check out the trailer for Fargo season five below: Fargo season five streams via SBS On Demand in Australia and Neon in New Zealand from Wednesday, November 22. Images: Michelle Faye/FX.
There are some long-standing rivalries in Australia: Sydney versus Melbourne, Essendon versus Hawthorn and even pavlova versus lamington. There is one rivalry however which will be postponed for at least this week: which side of the Yarra is better — North versus South. The team behind student friendly bars Bimbo DeLuxe and The Lucky Coq have been bringing both sides of Melbourne together in our mutual love of cheap pizza and free live music since 2008. Fittingly, The Best of Both Sides Festival takes place in these two bars over multiple nights and for the first time ever a new bar is being added to the roster with the inclusion of Brunswick icon The Penny Black. Over five nights between the April 17-21, there will be a huge collection of local musicians and DJs playing at each venue including The Melbourne Techno Collective, Psyde Projects, Spacey Space and DJ Silversix. A stack of support will be delivered by Melbourne locals Obese Records, Tom Showtime, King of the North, DJ Hijack and Sydney guests Betty & Oswald. The most convenient way to see the full lineup will be to jump aboard one of the free busses running between the venues starting at 8pm. The freebies don’t stop there either, with punters getting two free drinks on arrival of Stolen Spiced Rum or Little Creatures Bright Ale when they ride the free shuttle between venues. Just make sure you keep quiet about which side is better. For more information including a full program of events and artists, check the festival website.
Created by French artist, designer and master of audience interaction Antonin Fourneau, this Treasury Gardens experience is one for the creatives, young and old. The enchanting Waterlight Graffiti features a wall made up of thousands of LED lights, which illuminate when touched by water and revert to darkness once dry. White Night punters of all ages are invited to experience the mystical sensation of using water to draw light — scrawl a glowing message to that special someone, or have some fun with environmentally friendly graffiti. It's said that the lights shine brighter the more water is thrown on them, so pack a poncho and some gumboots and get ready to make a big of a splash. Hot tip? Rainy nights make for some pretty spectacular Waterlight Graffiti fireworks — we suggest keeping an eye on the weather forecast. Waterlight Graffiti is open Thursday–Friday 7pm–midnight and Saturday 7pm–2am.
Melbourne's inner north is set to score another new independent brewery, only this one's got Brunswick in its sights. Local label CoConspirators has announced plans to build a 195-seater pub and full 12-hectolitre brewery. Set to launch by mid-2020, it'll be the brand's first permanent brewery, after three years spent contract brewing out of various other local breweries. Known for the bold, playful portraits adorning its cans, CoConspirators is the work of two couples: Maggie and Deon Smit, and Jacqui Sacco and Tim Martin. Launched back in 2016 and now with a slew of familiar core beers under its belt, the label is taking the next big step with plans to create and collaborate on even more unique brews in the future. Fan favourites including The Matriarch New England IPA, The Salesman XPA and The Editor passionfruit and guava sour will all be available onsite, along with new release drops and even a few exclusive brews you won't be able to get your hands on anywhere else. Full details about the new Victoria Street venue are yet to drop, although we do know it's being imagined by the crew at architect studio Humble and will align with CoConspirators' environmentally conscious leanings. Not only is the team looking into incorporating both solar energy and thermal dynamic insulation, but it's also keen to pull a Melbourne-first move by installing aerobic digestion technology to process the brewery and food waste into grey water. CoConspirators is slated to open at 377 Victoria Street, Brunswick, by mid-2020.
Rooftop at QT will re-emerge from its chrysalis in mid-October. With it will come new drinks, a new vibe and a Mediterranean menu with a fresh coat of inspiration — and the same skyline vistas. First off, the drinks. Chris Stock, the man who helped Dandelyan in London strut to the number one spot on the World's 50 Best Bars list back in 2018, is overseeing the beverage program. He's mixing classics with a twist that promises to be more than your average G&T. On the food front, Nic Wood has returned to the QT chain after a stint in LA to take the helm of Executive Chef. Expect a Mediterranean menu encompassing everything from snacky delights to grand sharing platters that will, for better or worse, end up in a lot of your mates' Instagram stories. For those keen on ambience and vibe, designer Nic Graham is handling the interior facelift of the joint. He's serving up private booths, an intimate lounge, an outdoor bar, high banquet seating, a brand new private dining room and tabletops with custom tiling. "It's an exciting time for QT Melbourne as we embark on the first phase of our culinary evolution with the appointment of Nic Wood," says QT Melbourne's General Manager Kristen Foat. "We look forward to welcoming back our loyal Melbourne food and beverage aficionados, along with visitors in need of Melbourne's most extraordinary views, service, hospitality and nightlife experience." Rooftop at QT will reopen in mid-October 2023 at QT Melbourne, 133 Russell Street, Melbourne — we'll update you with an exact date when one is announced. QT images: Rooftop at QT pre-renovations, Kate Shanasy.
Wake up, Prime Video viewers: come October, your streaming queue is getting nostalgic. If The Wiggles can top the Hottest 100, take their rainbow-hued skivvies to Mardi Gras and motor their big red car to the same Falls Festival as Little Nas X, then of course they can be the subject of a new documentary that'll hit the online service this October. First announced in 2022, Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles will tell exactly the tale you think it will, following the group's career over more than three decades, including the new levels of fame and popularity that 2022 sent their way. Sure, Dorothy the Dinosaur mightn't need an origin story, but OG Wiggles Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Jeff Fatt are getting one, with Sally Aitken (Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks, David Stratton: A Cinematic Life) directing. Also featured: never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, too. Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles will arrive on Prime Video on Tuesday, October 24; however, that isn't the film's first stop. Before that, it'll enjoy its world premiere at the first-ever SXSW Sydney, showing as part of the event's Screen Festival. At the fest, The Wiggles in attendance for this trip down memory lane — their own, and everyone in Australia's as well — including for Q&As and performances. "When we first formed The Wiggles more than three decades ago, our aim was to educate and inspire children through music, and that continues today," said Field back when Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles was first announced. "Looking through the archives has brought back so many incredible and emotional memories, from our first shows for 30 children to touring America and the world, playing to arenas. It's been such an incredible and evolving journey and we can't wait to share our story with everyone." "At first glance, the notion of preschool teachers selling out Madison Square Garden is downright absurd," said Aitken. "What a phenomenal story for a director to unpack: how did a group of teachers become like The Beatles for preschoolers? I have been entertained and moved in making this film, discovering an amazing journey of self-belief and the power of purpose. The Wiggles' story comes with heartache and joy, reinvention and the wisdom of children. So grab your tissues and your smiles, because with intimate interviews and unique, behind-the-scenes moments, I hope you see the individuals behind the iconic sweaters — musicians and artists driven by genuine passion, resilience, reinvention and joy." There's no trailer for Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles — we'll update you when one drops. Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles will stream via Prime Video from Tuesday, October 24.
When it comes to watching films in the open air when the weather is warm, Melbourne isn't short on options, whether you're keen to hit up Moonlight Cinema's local program, or head to the Lido's rooftop, hit up the Classic's roof as well or enjoy Pentridge's outdoor setup. Here's another joining them from Wednesday, February 1–Saturday, March 4: Sunset Cinema, which is adding a St Kilda season to its national tour. Maybe it's the twilight glow. Perhaps it's the stars twinkling above. Or, it could be the cooling breeze, the picnic blankets and beanbags as far as the eye can see, and just seeing a movie grace a giant screen with a leafy backdrop. When the weather is warm enough, a trip to the cinema just seems to shine brighter when it's outdoors for all of these reasons and more — and that's what's on offer at the St Kilda Botanical Gardens for just over a month. Kicking off the St Kilda run is The Menu and its culinary thrills — and it pops up on the program again later in the season, too. Or, viewers can enjoy Oscar-nominees The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once, Aussie drama Blueback and Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling. It's an eclectic array of flicks, clearly. Other titles include box-office behemoth Top Gun: Maverick, the Tom Hanks-starring A Man Called Otto, adorable animation Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and M3GAN's robo-horror chaos. Or, get a blast from the past with Crazy, Stupid, Love on Valentine's Day — when else? — and see why Paul Mescal deserves his first ever Academy Award nod for Aftersun. This is Sunset Cinema's second Victorian stint this season, after hitting up Mt Martha first. No matter where it heads — with its full 2022–23 itinerary covering one stop in Canberra, three in New South Wales, two in Victoria and one in Queensland — this excuse to see a movie under the stars pairs new and classic titles with a setup perfect for cosy date nights or an easy group hangs outdoors. BYO picnics are encouraged here, but the event is fully licensed, so alcohol can only be purchased onsite. Didn't pack enough snacks? There'll be hot food options, plus plenty of the requisite movie treats like chips, chocolates, lollies and popcorn. Sunset Cinema screens at the St Kilda Botanic Gardens from Wednesday, February 1–Saturday, March 4. Head to the Sunset Cinema website for further details.
When Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Captain America and their fellow caped-crusader pals all cross paths on-screen, they do so within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When it's Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman's turn, they populate the DC Extended Universe. But these kind of big-screen franchises aren't just the domain of superheroes. In the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, for instance, a number of Spider-Man supervillains are getting their own interconnected movies. First came 2018's Venom, starring Tom Hardy (Dunkirk) as a journalist who is forced to share his body with an alien symbiote. Next year — delayed from 2020 — Morbius will see Jared Leto (The Little Things) play a figure also known as the "Living Vampire". In-between the two, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is also hitting screens. The initial flick about Hardy's Eddie Brock and his parasitic pal did ridiculously big business at the box office, so it was always going to get a sequel. Due to hit cinemas Down Under in September — and just releasing its first trailer overnight — Venom: Let There Be Carnage signals its other main point of focus in its title. This time around, Venom isn't the only formidable figure that Brock has to deal with, with Woody Harrelson (Zombieland: Double Tap) joining the cast as Carnage. For those who haven't dived deep into Spider-Man's comic book history, Carnage is another of the web-slinger's adversaries. Inhabiting the body of a serial killer called Cletus Kasady, he's also Venom's nemesis. And while Eddie's life isn't all that straightforward when the Venom: Let There Be Carnage trailer begins — as seen during a peek at his attempts to find a way to live in harmony with Venom, including their complicated breakfast routine — things get a whole lot more chaotic when Carnage enters the scene. As these two villains face off, here's hoping that Venom: Let There Be Carnage gives Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon) more to do than the first Venom movie did, with the four-time Oscar-nominee returning as Eddie's ex-fiancée. Also seen briefly in the trailer: Naomie Harris (The Third Day) as yet another Spider-Man villain, Shriek, plus Stephen Graham (The Virtues) as Detective Mulligan. And, behind the lens, Lord of the Rings actor-turned-Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle filmmaker Andy Serkis directs. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USAsr2i4jiQ&feature=youtu.be Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens in Australian cinemas on September 16.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jWZ6P1rWy4 FIRST COW Gone are the days when every image that flickered across the screen did so within an almost square-shaped frame. That time has long passed, in fact, with widescreen formats replacing the 1.375:1 Academy aspect ratio that once was standard in cinemas, and its 4:3 television counterpart. So, when a director today fits their visuals into a much tighter space than the now-expansive norm, it's an intentional choice. They're not just nodding to the past, even if their film takes place in times gone by. With First Cow, for instance, Kelly Reichardt unfurls a story set in 19th-century America, but she's also honing her audience's focus. The Meek's Cutoff, Night Moves and Certain Women filmmaker wants those guiding their eyeballs towards this exquisite movie to truly survey everything that it peers at. She wants them to see its central characters — chef Otis 'Cookie' Figowitz (John Magaro, Overlord) and Chinese entrepreneur King-Lu (Orion Lee, Zack Snyder's Justice League) — and to realise that neither are ever afforded such attention by the others in their fictional midst. Thoughtfully exploring the existence of figures on the margins has long been Reichardt's remit, as River of Grass, Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy have shown as well, but she forces First Cow's viewers to be more than just passive observers in this process. There's much to take in throughout this magnificently told tale, which heads to Oregon as most of Reichardt's movies have. In its own quiet, closely observed, deeply affectionate and warm-hearted fashion, First Cow is a heist movie, although the filmmaker's gentle and insightful spin on the usually slick and twist-filled genre bucks every convention there is. Initially, after watching an industrial barge power down a river, First Cow follows a woman (Alia Shawkat, Search Party) and her dog as they discover a couple of skeletons nearby. Then, jumping back two centuries and seeing another boat on the same waterway, it meets Cookie as he's searching for food. Whatever he finds, or doesn't, the fur-trapper team he works with never has a kind word to spare. But then Cookie stumbles across King-Lu one night, helps him evade the Russians on his tail, and the seeds of friendship are sown. When the duo next crosses paths, they spend an alcohol-addled night sharing their respective ideas for the future. Those ambitious visions get a helping hand after the Chief Factor (Toby Jones, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom) ships in the region's highly coveted first cow, with Cookie and King-Lu secretly milking the animal in the dark of night, then using the stolen liquid to make highly sought-after — and highly profitable — oily cakes. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcOP5kQrABk WRATH OF MAN With revenge thriller Wrath of Man, filmmaker Guy Ritchie (The Gentlemen) and actor Jason Statham (The Meg) reunite. The pair both came to fame with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, repeated the feat with Snatch, then unsuccessfully tried again with Revolver, but they've spend the past 16 years heading in their own directions. During that stretch, the former subjected the world to his terrible Sherlock Holmes films, fared better with left-field additions to his resume like The Man From UNCLE and Aladdin, but didn't quite know what to do with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. The latter has become an action go-to over the same time — with both forgettable and memorable flicks resulting, including three Fast and Furious movies and a stint scowling at Dwayne Johnson in the franchise's odd-couple spinoff Hobbs & Shaw. Thankfully, now that they're collaborating again, they're not just interested in rehashing their shared past glories. From Wrath of Man's first moments, with its tense, droning score, its high-strung mood and its filming of an armoured van robbery from inside the vehicle, a relentlessly grim tone is established. When Statham shows up shortly afterwards, he's firmly in stoic mode, too. He does spout a few quippy lines, and Ritchie once again unfurls his narrative by jumping between different people, events and time periods, but Lock, Stock Again or Snatch Harder this isn't. Instead, Wrath of Man is a remake of 2004 French film Le Convoyeur. While walking in someone else's shoes turned out horrendously for Ritchie with the Madonna-starring Swept Away, that isn't the case with this efficient, effective and engaging crime-fuelled effort, which finds its niche — and it's a new one for its central duo, at least together. Statham plays Patrick Hill, the newest employee at the Los Angeles-based cash truck company Fortico Securities. On his first day, his colleague Bullet (Holt McCallany, Mindhunter) dubs him H — "like the bomb, or Jesus H," he says — and the nickname quickly sticks. H joins the outfit a few months after the aforementioned holdup, with the memory of the two coworkers and civilian killed in the incident still fresh in everyone's minds. So, when gunmen interrupt his first post-training run with Bullet and Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett, Penny Dreadful), they're unsurprisingly jumpy; however, H deals with the situation with lethal efficiency. Cue glowing praise from Fortico's owner (Rob Delaney, Tom & Jerry), concern from his by-the-book manager (Eddie Marsan, Vice) and intrigue about his past from the rest of the team (such as Angel Has Fallen's Rocci Williams and Calm with Horses' Niamh Algar). Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MGhAbSsKtQ LAND Pitting humanity against nature is one of cinema's favourite setups; however, when movies dwarf a lone soul in their expansive surroundings, then watch them try to survive, the medium endeavours to explore exactly what makes us tick. The mere sight of a single figure attempting to endure against the elements can send a potent message, reminding viewers of how small we each are compared to the planet we live on, how fleeting our existence ultimately proves in its lengthy history and how witnessing one day following the next is never a given for anyone in any situation. Like everything from Into the Wild and The Grey to All Is Lost and Arctic before it, Land conjures up these ideas and themes within its hauntingly beautiful frames. It also boasts the space and patience to ponder the impressions our traumas and tragedies leave, too. None of these notions are new or unique, and Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam's (Submergence) screenplay doesn't ever pretend otherwise or treat them as such. Rather, this thoughtful drama knows that it's traversing well-worn and universal territory, and that films past and future will continue to walk similar paths — but director and star Robin Wright (Wonder Woman 1984) is also well aware that continually interrogating and reevaluating why we're here, where we fit into this world, what we choose to do with our lives, and how we change and evolve along the way is what makes us human. In her filmmaking debut after helming ten episodes of House of Cards over the years, Wright plays Edee, a woman who can only see one way to cope with the type of pain, loss and heartbreak that has forever upended life as she once knew it. With a trailer filled with tinned and dry food, she escapes to the Wyoming wilderness, where nothing but a rustic cabin, clear lakes, trees and mountains as far as the eye can see, and the occasional animal awaits. But when a bear destroys her food supplies and the region's frosty winters prove punishing beyond her expectations, Edee struggles to find the peace she seeks. Enter the kindly Miguel (Demián Bichir, Godzilla vs Kong), a kindred spirit with his own troubles to work through, and with his own draw to the land as well. When done badly, movies about finding solace and strength in the great outdoors threaten to turn the "nature is healing" trope into a movie, but Land isn't that feature. It doesn't unravel a romance against cinematographer Bobby Bukowski's (Irresistible) scenic imagery, either. Instead, it watches as Edee works through the minutiae of her chosen new existence, faces challenges, rediscovers the value of having even just one person to reach out to and slowly comes to terms with who she is after all she's been through. Wright's internalised performance is phenomenal, and although its final act moves too quickly, this is always a compassionate, poignant and affecting film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrpibk1CgUw CLIFF WALKERS 2016's Matt Damon-starring The Great Wall might've threatened to prove otherwise, but when Zhang Yimou makes a movie, it usually demands attention. The Chinese filmmaker's 1988 debut Red Sorghum won Berlinale's Golden Bear, 1991's Raise the Red Lantern remains stunning on multiple levels, and 2002's Hero, 2004's House of Flying Daggers and 2018's Shadow remain dazzling examples of the wuxia genre at its finest. With new release Cliff Walkers, the acclaimed director toys with an espionage narrative. Jumping into the spy realm is new for him, but when the film starts with sweeping shots of snowy Manchukuo — a Japanese-controlled state in China's northeast in the 30s and 40s, and the site of a death camp that's pivotal to the story — it's clear that he's behind the lens. Indeed, these frosty moments are so visually striking that, when the white landscape gives way to terse, tense altercations on trains and then within the city of Harbin, feeling disappointed is an instant side effect. Zhang has a meticulous eye for streets and interiors, too, however. And, for secret exchanges and fraught chases also. Benefiting from the filmmaker's regular director of photography Zhao Xiaoding as well, there isn't a single shot in Cliff Walkers that doesn't demand attention. Even the sight of fallen snow collecting in the brims of the hats worn by the feature's characters boasts its own beauty. Within its eye-catching frames and amidst its entrancing era-appropriate production design, Cliff Walkers tracks four Chinese operatives who've been tasked with rescuing a survivor of a massacre at the Manchukuo camp from the Japanese authorities — a job that's filled with peril from the outset. After parachuting into the snow in the feature's vivid and alluring opening, Zhang (Zhang Yi, The Eight Hundred) and Lan (Liu Haocun, A Little Red Flower) tackle one part of the mission, while their romantic partners Yu (Qin Hailu, The Best Is Yet to Come) and Chuliang (Zhu Yawen, The Captain) are paired up and saddled with the other. It's the 30s, and double-crossing, double agents and danger all follow, as does betrayal, heartbreak, tests of loyalty and hard choices. The film that unfurls doesn't overflow with surprises, plot-wise, but Zhang and first-time feature screenwriter Quan Yongxian focus on the details, making every coded interaction and suspenseful altercation as gripping as the movie's multi-layered cat-and-mouse games. After his previous picture, One Second, was pulled from the 2019 Berlinale at the last moment — officially due to "technical difficulties" — Cliff Walkers' patriotic leanings don't come as a shock; however, it doesn't dampen the film's visual splendour or involving narrative, either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24umxshK1f8 TWIST Forget watches, calendars and social media reminders that tell you what you were doing on this day years ago whether you like it or not — when it comes to conveying the passing of time, the entertainment industry has a surefire tactic. There's nothing quite like seeing the now-grown child of a famous face start appearing on-screen to make you realise how quickly the seconds, minutes, hours and more melt away. Twist is the latest film to have that effect, thanks to the first-time lead actor that plays the titular Charles Dickens-penned character. Rafferty Law looks exactly like his father, sounds like him and has the same stare that's worked so well for the latter for years, including in The Third Day and The Nest of late. He also appears here opposite Michael Caine, who Jude Law co-starred with in 2007's Sleuth; however, this isn't quite the start to his big-screen career that the younger Law would've hoped for. A modern version of Oliver Twist that reframes the famed orphan as a freerunner and graffiti artist who leaps between London's rooftops and tags the tallest of buildings, it's the update that no one could've asked for — including the teenage audience it's targeting. And, at a time when even Guy Ritchie is moving on from his usual bag of tricks with Wrath of Man, it enthusiastically follows in his decades-old footsteps. Presumably director Martin Owen (Killers Anonymous), screenwriters John Wrathall (The Liability) and Sally Collett (The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud), and the seven other folks given either idea or additional material credits just couldn't handle living in a world where Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Dickens hadn't crossed paths. There are no gruelling orphanage scenes in Twist, but there is a criminal mastermind called Fagin (Caine, Tenet), a gang of light-fingered pickpockets led by Dodge (Rita Ora, Fifty Shades Freed) and an abusive villain named Sikes (Lena Headey, Game of Thrones). When the eponymous teenager falls into their company, he's rightly apprehensive; however, he just wants to belong, even if that means becoming part of an art heist. If it wasn't for fellow building-leaping crew member Nancy (Sophie Simnett, Daybreak), Twist mightn't fall in as thickly with the thieves as he does. But Owen and his fellow creatives never let a cliche pass by. Similarly, as their hero and his new pals plot to pilfer paintings from gallery owner Losberne (David Walliams, Murder Mystery), the film doesn't miss an opportunity to spout hackneyed dialogue, fill its soundtrack with oh-so-literal choices and throw in more parkour whenever it seems that a few minutes might tick along without it. Caine should've left his Dickensian escapades to The Muppets Christmas Carol, while everyone else should've expended more than a couple of seconds thinking about this flimsy wannabe caper. And, while Rafferty Law's presence might remind the audience that time passes so quickly that multiple generations of families keep popping up on our screens (see also: Scott Eastwood in Wrath of Man, Lily-Rose Depp in Voyagers and John David Washington in Tenet, just to name a few), Twist makes its 88-minute running time feel like an eternity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN9RO5SnnCs THE DEVIL HAS A NAME In one of the many courtroom scenes in The Devil Has a Name's second half, Californian almond farmer Fred Stern (David Strathairn, Nomadland) takes the stand in the $2 billion lawsuit that he has brought against Shore Oil. He's demanding compensation for the poisoning of the land beneath his property for the past ten years, and the questioning and corresponding testimony turns to matters of intention and knowledge — with Stern pointing out that the energy behemoth mightn't have deliberately contaminated his farm initially, but it also didn't change its ways once it discovered the environmental effects of its actions. Instead, regional director Gigi Cutler (Kate Bosworth, Force of Nature) sent a flunky (Haley Joel Osment, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile) to try to buy Stern off. The latter's foreman Santiago (Edward James Olmos, Mayans MC) immediately questioned the motives behind the deal, but it took the sight of toxic water streaming out of his shower to inspire Stern to fight. As told in flashbacks by a whisky-swilling Cutler to Shore Oil's slimy CEO (Alfred Molina, Promising Young Woman), the resulting battle sees lawyers both crusading (Martin Sheen, Judas and the Black Messiah) and corporate (Katie Aselton, The Unholy) become involved, a villainous fellow company employee (Pablo Schreiber, First Man) endeavour to derail Cutler, Stern's property threatened and Santiago's undocumented status given a public airing. Olmos also directs The Devil Has a Name, working with a script by first-timer Robert McEveety. Just like the company at its centre, their film has an intention-versus-reality problem. Taking its cues from the very real water contamination wars in Central Valley, passion, anger and a worthy point pump through the feature. But The Devil Has a Name isn't merely the latest in a long line of sincere dramas about corporate exploitation of natural resources and the very real consequences for everyday folks, as seen with Dark Waters, Promised Land and Erin Brockovich. Thanks to its overboiled tone, Bosworth and Molina's scenery-chewing, Schreiber and Osment's utter cartoonishness, and its eager bluntness, it strives for the comic causticity that Thank You for Smoking applied to the tobacco industry and I Care a Lot to legal guardianship. Finding a sense of balance between earnest and darkly comedic isn't Olmos' strength, though, and nor is pairing social activism with exaggerated melodrama. It doesn't help that Reynaldo Villalobos' (Windows on the World) cinematography always appears to be moving, with little reason, or that Bosworth is only ever asked to be in femme fatale or hysterical mode. When any combination of Strathairn, Olmos and Sheen share the screen, however, it's easy to see how The Devil Has a Name would've worked without its soapy, over-the-top quirks — but that's not the movie that Olmos has made, sadly. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1, April 8, April 15 and April 22. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda, Supernova, The Dissident and The United States vs Billie Holiday.
It's impossible to think about Mythic Quest without the fellow television show that helped it come to fruition also springing to mind. If there was no It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this Apple TV+ series about a video-game studio wouldn't exist. 2025 marks two decades since the world first met the Paddy's Pub gang in Rob McElhenney's initial small-screen hit. Midyear, TV's longest-running live-action sitcom will drop its 17th season. With his It's Always Sunny co-star Charlie Day and Megan Ganz, one of the show's writers, he also created Mythic Quest in 2020 — and five years later, it's been streaming its fourth season since late in January, will be accompanied by a companion anthology series Side Quest in March and has cemented itself as another beloved workplace-set favourite. One of the reasons that Mythic Quest has returned not once, not twice, but three times now since its debut run: its stellar cast. McElhenney (Deadpool & Wolverine) plays Ian Grimm, the man behind both the studio that shares the show's name and the hugely successful game that it makes; however, this is an ensemble effort. As crucial at MQ as its original architect is Australian Poppy Li, the lead engineer who has joined Ian as co-creative director over the years. On the business side of the company, high-strung executive producer David Brittlesbee endeavours to keep everything running smoothly. Charlotte Nicdao (The Strange Chores) and David Hornsby (Merry Little Batman) are among the show's standouts — but when the roster of talent also includes Community alum Danny Pudi as a ruthless money man, Ashly Burch (Chibiverse) and Imani Hakim (Will Trent) starting out as testers, and Jessie Ennis (Better Call Saul) as a determined personal assistant, there's no weak links. With Mythic Quest, Nicdao continues a mini trend across her career: tales with media ties. For Australian comedy queens Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Deadloch), she was part of breakfast TV-skewering delight Get Krack!n. Then came the also-excellent Content, the short-form web series that enlisted Nicdao as a wannabe influencer willing to do pretty much anything for fame. Building on a resume that also spans A gURLs wURLd, The Slap, Please Like Me, Top of the Lake and Bluey, her path to Poppy hasn't always stuck to the topic, but she's happily at home portraying a successful woman in the gaming world — a well-rounded character with ups and downs, as Concrete Playground describes the role to her; "really flawed and kind of an arsehole" is Nicdao's take, she tells us. And, she's also eagerly expanding the world's view of Australians on-screen. Nicdao's Filipino Australian dad Alfred Nicdao was one of the first Asian actors on Aussie television. Although she initially auditioned for Mythic Quest with an American accent, getting to bring her Asian Australian heritage — keeping her natural voice in the process — to international TV is a rare feat, as she's well aware. "Honestly, it's an honour for me. I don't think that that's overstating it," she advises. When he joined Mythic Quest at the outset, Hornsby came onboard not just as a star but also as an executive producer. Thanks to It's Always Sunny, it's a balancing act that he knows well — and it was "working with friends" that got him excited about being part of the MQ cast alongside playing Sunny's Rickety Cricket, plus his off-camera roles on both, he notes. On the two shows, the Pearl Harbour, Minority Report, Six Feet Under, Flags of Our Fathers, Jake in Progress, How to Be a Gentleman, Idiotsitter and Good Girls actor is also among the writers. Mythic Quest's second-ever episode was penned by him, in fact. Plenty has indeed changed for both Poppy and David over the course of the show so far — and evolves again in the fourth season, too, through romances, pregnancies, friendships and the like. They're both far more sure of who they are and what they want, and willing to fight for it. They're both much more comfortable beyond MQ. This is a workplace comedy, but it's also a series about dreams and fulfilment, and the mental and emotional toll of chasing both. Increasingly, it's as interested in not forgetting to put yourself first, even when you might be working on your dream. Indeed, one of the key themes of its latest batch of episodes is knowing when to make space for something beyond your job or an obsession — and that working on, creating, overseeing or loving something doesn't need to be anyone's defining trait. As a series, Mythic Quest keeps levelling up and broadening its focus, including among MQ team members, their loved ones and players within the narrative. That all-embracing approach equally applies off-screen. Hornsby and Nicdao have both made their directorial debuts with the show — the former in season three, the latter this season on an episode that Hornsby wrote. Burch, Pudi and Hakim have stepped behind the lens as well. Hornsby sees Mythic Quest as facilitating its key players reaching new stages together. "It moves the marker forward and makes you feel like you're growing in your life, and in your in your profession," he advises. Our chat with him and Nicdao also covered the initial appeal of being in a workplace sitcom set in a video-game studio, stepping into the shoes of layered characters as David and Poppy, potential Aussie It's Always Sunny episodes and more. On What Interested Nicdao and Hornsby About Starring in a Workplace Sitcom Set in a Video-Game Studio When Mythic Quest First Came Their Ways David: "It was a job." David to Charlotte: "Is that what your answer's going to be?" Charlotte: "Well, definitely — I mean, at the time, I was very much an unemployed actor. So yeah, it was a job. But also, I say this all the time, I feel like I manifested this show into existence. Because I feel like if you had've asked me to write down my absolute dream gig before I was cast in Mythic Quest, it would have been a heartwarming workplace comedy that was really funny, where I got to stretch my dramatic chops sometimes. And one of my favourite shows ever was Community, and I think Always Sunny is one of the greatest shows on TV. So the fact that now I get to be on this show that I feel like I dreamed up with these people who have already created some of the greatest shows of our time, I'm like 'how did I land this?'." David: "I think a workplace comedy is really great, just because it's really relatable. You can set the tone from the beginning — and I'm really, really happy with the tone that we've forged over these four seasons, of being able to be ridiculous and absurd sometimes, but always hopefully tethered to reality. And then being able to break away and explore some different episodes that really pay tribute to the complexities of stories related to video games. It felt like it was surprising, I think, when it came across my desk of sorts, that there was not already a show that truly lived in the video-game world that was an office-based comedy." On the Number of Projects, From Get Krack!n and Content in Australia to Mythic Quest, with a Media Angle on Nicdao's Resume Charlotte: "That's so funny. I hadn't thought about that before, but you're right, there is kind of a media bent to a lot of my work. I don't know what that is, and sometimes I wonder if it's — I mean, all of those things are fairly contemporary or modern themes to get into, and so sometimes I wonder that's something that I'm particularly comfortable in, for whatever reason. Those projects that you mentioned — Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, who created Get Krak!n, are the some of the funniest people working in Australian television, and everything that they do is brilliant. So the fact that they wrote that role in for me was really exciting. And then with Content, Daley Pearson brought me that project. I'd worked with Ludo Studios before on an animated show, and when he brought me Content I was like 'I've never seen anything like this before and I have no idea how we're even going to shoot it, but I definitely want to be part of that'. So I'm glad that it lives on." On What Excited Hornsby About Taking His Collaboration with the It's Always Sunny Team Into a New Series David: "Working with friends, initially — it usually starts with Rob and Charlie calling me up and asking 'hey, we've got a part for you. We were thinking of a new show. We were thinking of you. Would you want to act on it and write on it?'. What more can you want except to do the thing that you love with your friends, who make you laugh and raise your bar? That in itself is a door I'm willing to walk through and then see what adventure it leads to." On What Nicdao Draws Upon to Play a Smart, Successful Woman in the Gaming World — But Also a Very Well-Round Character with Flaws and Struggles Charlotte: "I love that you're calling it well-rounded, when really what we all mean is that she's really flawed and kind of an arsehole. Yeah, that's a great question. Coming into the role without that gaming background — and I certainly didn't know anything about programming, that's definitely not how my brain works — I did speak to some game developers about what drew them to their particular jobs. And I loved hearing about this idea of programming being very much about solving puzzles, like being able to take something apart and put it back together in new ways that you wouldn't expect. So I feel like that was my way into understanding a little bit about how Poppy's mind works. It's like she doesn't really have control over most of her life, but this is a space that she fully understands and she can do anything in this world of programming. And that's kind of what makes her so good at her job, is that confidence that she has in this area and maybe no other area. I feel like I relate to that a little bit in terms of — I don't think, I would never think, that I am as good at acting as Poppy is at coding, but I definitely know that feeling of when you lock into something that you love doing and the rest of the world fades away, and you finish shooting a scene and you're like 'whoa, where am I?'. I don't really do that, but that's the feeling." On Hornsby's Task Playing the Most Sensitive and Vulnerable Character in the Series — and One Who Is Steering the Ship, But Is Also Often the Butt of the Office's Jokes David: "It involves me taking my ring off and walking in front of a camera, and then when I'm done, I put my ring on and I go home. No, it's really fun. I enjoy pushing the stories forward and serving the crazier egos in the show, but also having, when I was able to be the wolf back in a previous season, something like that. The specificity of this character and being able to then have earned that storyline is, is super fun. The wins taste sweeter, the victories taste sweeter, for this character when he gets them. So whether he's being a pawn in Brad's game or being overlooked by Poppy or Ian, it's always fun for me, for this character, to get a little victory here and there, and just to see what he does with it." On Knowing When to Make Space Beyond Work or an Obsession Being a Key Theme in Season Four — But Not a Sign That the Show Is Winding Down Charlotte: "I also hope that it's not leading to the end of the show. I don't think that's the intention. I actually think it opens up a whole lot of new story actually. And specifically with Poppy, this season is very much about her trying to discover who she could be outside of work. We see that right in the very first episode, with her having a boyfriend, which is something you never — I never, certainly — expected for the character. But I also think that it's something that we continue to explore and realise, that her whole life, since she was a child, has been about work. And in episode six we get introduced to her sister, who's played by another Asian Australian actress, Natasha Liu Bordizzo [Ahsoka], who I'm sure you know is fantastic — and a close friend. And we had so much fun on set. And this character comes in and reveals a little bit to the audience about who Poppy has always been — and I think that makes it all the more poignant that Poppy is now trying to break outside of that way of being. And I would be really interested to see, with the progress that Poppy makes this season, what that would mean for her in seasons to come in terms of her relationship with Ian and with the game." On the Parallels Between Mythic Quest Broadening Its Focus Among Its Characters and the Show's Cast, Such as Nicdao and Hornsby, Expanding Their Involvement by Writing and Directing David: "When a show's cast well, I think sometimes it's a fine line between who we are and who the characters are — certainly with my character in some ways — but we've all grown into our characters more. We've grown into ourselves more over time. A lot has happened since we started the show. We went through COVID and the pandemic. We made a show during it. That brings us together. That shows us what we're capable of. We've got to do our own makeup. We've got to shoot our own thing. We grow to appreciate the other person's job, especially when you have to do your own makeup. So at the end of the day, at five years later, I think we all have grown and feel, having gone through all this together — from professional firsts, like directing when I did it or when she did it, to doing a new episode or going to a new place with your character — it does make you, it moves the marker forward and makes you feel like you're growing in your life, and in your in your profession." On What It Means for Nicdao to Help Expand the World's View of Australians — and Initially Auditioning for Mythic Quest with an American Accent Charlotte: "Yeah, it's honestly, it's an honour for me. I don't think that that's overstating it. I feel like the world has a very particular idea of what an Australian looks like, and the fact that I get to show a different kind of Australian on an international level is, yeah, I'm really proud of that. And I'm so grateful that during that audition process, I think it was Rob, that was like 'wait, wait, stop'." Charlotte to David: "Well, maybe it was even you. I definitely remember you being in some of my early auditions and this conversation starting around 'well, but what if you just did your natural accent?'. I was so used to auditioning in my American accent at that time." David: "I wanted us to all become Australian." Charlotte: "He wanted everyone to do an Australian accent." David: "But then it just came like 'no, what if she just does it?'." Charlotte: "Yeah, it was like 'maybe just the Australian should do it'. But yeah, I was particularly proud of the episode 'Sarian' in season three that portrays Poppy with her young Filipino Australian family. Filipinos are the fifth-largest migrant group in Australia, there's a big community of us there. And since that episode has come out, I've spoken to people who have stopped me on the street in Australia, in Melbourne, who were like 'I loved that episode because that's what my family looked like growing up — like we spoke Tagalog at home and we had Australian accents at school'. I'm so grateful to the show for helping to tell that story." Concrete Playground: "Everyone becoming Australian sounds like it's going to be a future episode of It's Always Sunny." Charlotte: "Yes! 'The Gang Goes Australian'." David: "Yeah — yeah, that's fun." Mythic Quest streams via Apple TV+. Read our reviews of season one, season two and season three.
That wide-open highway between Melbourne and Sydney has so much to offer. So, why settle for the routine route when you can have a rural adventure? In partnership with Canadian Club and Empty Esky, we want folks to make the great Aussie road trip even better. We've plotted the perfect itinerary, spotlighting regional towns that have had a rough go lately but are back to welcoming tourists with open arms. The next time you hit the bitumen, make it a mission to do some good and discover cool new things. Brave a haunted house, explore Aboriginal cultural heritage, splurge on a boutique hotel, treat yourself with sweets and a bakery pilgrimage and admire a really big sheep. WANGARATTA Your first stop should be for a hearty lunch with a side of cultural education in Wangaratta. Hit the all-day breakfast menu at Cafe Prevue — is there ever a wrong time of day for pancakes? Or, opt for fried chicken bao, mushroom arancini or a trusty toastie. Afterwards, wander down to the river and along the Bullawah Cultural Trail. This project was a collaboration between over a dozen Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and organisations to acknowledge and celebrate the Pangerang people and their long heritage and continued connection to Country. Through artworks, info boards and a bush tucker garden, discover the ways of living and stories that belong to this place and its people. [caption id="attachment_801899" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] BEECHWORTH If you're passing through Beechworth, hit Beechworth Bakery for the lunch of champions: the signature Ned Kelly Pie, stuffed with steak, bacon, cheese and egg. You'll find "Australia's Greatest Bakery" in one of the beautiful historic buildings typical of this picturesque gold rush town. Room for dessert? We suggest the classic vanilla slice or one of its famous Beestings: a fluffy, filled bun spilling custard into your hands with each bite. You'll need some treats for the road, too, so visit The Beechworth Sweet Co for the whimsy of an old-timey sweet shop. Admire the glass jars of boiled sweets, sherberts and jellies, and sample some of its handmade fudge. JUNEE You haven't really explored the country unless you've picked up some bric-a-brac and local handicrafts. The Olde School T-House in Bethungra is crowded with curios and collectibles, so stop in for a browse and some morning tea. Then, steel yourself with an ice-cold Canadian Club and Dry at Junee Hotel before you dine with the dead (maybe) at Monte Cristo Homestead. Test your nerve at this grand homestead, which was once the Crawley family's (the town's founding family) seat of power. The homestead ghost tour includes a three-course dinner, accommodation and breakfast — a friendly touch for what's considered Australia's most haunted house. Oh, and there's an additional gift "if you make it through the night". For some comfort the next day, head to the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory. You can pick up organic chocolates, take a tour around the old mill (currently on hold due to COVID restrictions) or stop at the cafe for a decadent hot chocolate laced with turkish delight, butterscotch or even chilli. [caption id="attachment_795809" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] GUNDAGAI You know it for The Dog on the Tuckerbox, now discover Gundagai's fancier attractions. Heritage meets stylish minimalism at the boutique hotel, Flash Jacks. Starting life as a convent in 1891, these Victorian bricks have been born again as the ultimate luxe retreat, where you can splurge on a room with a bay window daybed. The perfect accompaniment to this top-notch stay is one of the best coffees you can get between Melbourne and Sydney. The Coffee Pedaler is a bright, cheery cafe that punches well above its weight. Sit outside for a pretty street view towards the hills, and tuck into a city-worthy brunch with generous country portions. [caption id="attachment_801901" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Public Art Walk, Destination NSW[/caption] GOULBURN Is it an Aussie road trip if it doesn't include at least one Big Thing? Goulburn's Big Merino (Rambo to his mates) celebrates the great Australian wool industry. If you're a dyed-in-the-wool art lover, take a free tour of Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, which showcases some of the best regional contemporary and emerging artists, then wander the Public Art Walk from there to the Information Centre. Afterwards, join the locals at the Goulburn Workers Club for a Canadian Club and Dry and a game of pool. Recover the next morning at Grit Cafe with an espresso and get your granola on. Or, grab a homemade bagel, artisanal sausage roll or brekkie burrito to see you through to Sydney. For more road trip inspiration, check out these guides from Canadian Club and Empty Esky. Top image: Monte Cristo Homestead, Destination NSW
Coffee is a complicated game. You need to source the right beans, grind them correctly, filter them for the specified time, perhaps froth the milk to that just-right temp and you need some pure-ass water. That's because coffee is 98 percent H2O, so some average water will mean your coffee will taste average — which is a damn shame if you've shelled out for some luxe Panama Geisha beans. Specialty coffee cafes are all over this and filter their water extensively, but baby home baristas aren't so diligent. So, to ensure they don't waste those beans on sub-par water, some genius has created a type of purified water specifically for making coffee. It's called Aquiem, and it's labelled its product as 'enhanced water'. While that sounds like total wank, it's essentially water that's been distilled to take all the extra stuff out of it. Then, a blend of good minerals that are supposedly meant to enhance the flavour of coffee are added back in. Then they're packaged and sold for a couple of dollars a pop. "What you definitely do not want is to have things like zinc and lead, fluoride, chlorine and large amounts of calcium in the water. All of that effects the taste of the coffee," co-founder Rob Vidacovich told Daily Coffee News. "What does have a favourable effect on coffee are things like magnesium, potassium, and a certain right blend of calcium." The whole idea is to allow non-pro baristas to make the most of their beans and drink a damn good cup of coffee every time. The Louisiana-based company has been working on the product for six years, but officially launched at the start of this year. Aquiem is currently sold in retailers in the state, but can be ordered online. Via Daily Coffee News.
There's no shortage of great Lebanese joints around Melbourne, but probably the most well-known is Abla's, which has been around since 1979. Its namesake and mastermind, Abla Amad, moved from Lebanon in 1954 at the age of 19. Influences from all over Lebanon mean her menu is packed with flavours from many regions and recipes passed down from one generation to the next. Load up on dips, makaneek (spiced lamb sausages), falafel, tabouleh and skewers of succulent grilled meats, then finish up with baklava and turkish delight. You can BYO wine for $10 per bottle from Monday to Thursday. Abla's offers BYO wine. Images: Tracey Ah-kee
Watching television can't solve many problems, but some woes can be temporarily soothed by spending your evenings enjoying cartoons from three decades ago. Had a terrible day at work? Feeling overstretched and underappreciated? Stuck hovering under a cloud of meh? You can now feast your eyeballs on Australia's new free-to-air Nickelodeon channel and its retro lineup each weeknight for a pick-me-up. Switching to channel 13 from Tuesday, August 1 Down Under now means being greeted by Nickelodeon's wares. It's the first-ever premium free-to-air Nickelodeon channel in Australia, and it's catering for all ages. That includes adults via the Nick@Nite lineup, which also makes its Aussie debut on free-to-air, and will feature Ren & Stimpy, Angry Beavers, Rocko's Modern Life, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Catdog. It was true when you were a kid — whether you grew up in the 90s or discovered it later — and it's true now: watching a perennially angry chihuahua and a good-natured cat fight and pal around is cathartic viewing. Nickelodeon will also screen late-night movies, digging into the brand's catalogue. Here's hoping that the SpongeBob films get a run — they're as much of a delight for adults as they are for kids, as any big-screen franchise that features What We Do in the Shadows' Matt Berry as a talking dolphin and John Wick's Keanu Reeves as a sage is meant to be. During the day, the new channel will focus on Nick Jr preschool fare such as PAW Patrol, Blue's Clues & You!, Baby Shark's Big Show! and Santiago of the Seas. In the afternoons, it'll air season 12 of SpongeBob SquarePants, plus everything from The Smurfs and Double Dare to iCarly and The Thundermans. Indeed, if you have children or sometimes babysit nieces and nephews, you might want to take note of the daylight programming, too. Watching SpongeBob will always be for everyone, though. Find Australia's new free-to-air Nickelodeon channel at channel 13 from Tuesday, August 1.
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.
While technically in the neighbouring suburb of Kingsville, Olive Oil & Butter is a stone's throw from the beating heart of Footscray and is well worth a visit. This family-run business is one of those credited with kicking off the resurgence of Greek eateries in Melbourne's west, harking back to its Hellenic roots to create Greek-inspired dishes for breakfast, brunch and lunch. The menu covers all bases, with everything made fresh in-house and from scratch. Plates range from the excellent straptsada, a traditional village recipe of scrambled eggs, feta, tomato, oregano and spring onion served with sourdough, to the vegan Kalamboki with roasted corn and sage polenta, grilled avo, tomatoes, shallots and gigantes beans. If you're not full already, there are traditional Greek pastries in the display cabinet — the galaktoboureko here is one of the best in town. There's also a well-stocked larder of imported Greek groceries if you fancy trying your hand at an at-home recipe.
For the second year in a row, Darling Harbour's Tumbalong Park is getting in on the Vivid Sydney action with the introduction of Tumbalong Nights. From Thursday to Saturday throughout the festival — plus Sunday, June 11 — you can enjoy performances from the very heart of the Light Walk. The 12 nights of free live music span exciting up-and-coming artists through to established Australian faves of all kinds of sounds and genres. The program will kick off with a night of hazy pop for fans of the sounds of Lana Del Ray and Lorde with the dynamic duo of shoegaze hitmaker Hatchie and local indie-pop group Egoism on Friday, May 26. [caption id="attachment_899339" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hatchie by Lissyelle[/caption] Other highlights include legendary Yolngu supergroup Yothu Yindi with Ziggy Ramo on Saturday, May 27; an R&B match made in heaven of Kaiit and Chanel Loren; a night of hook-heavy ballads with Dan Sultan and Cala Wehbe on Saturday, June 10; and Japanese cult-producer Cornelius with support from psych-rock band Nice Biscuit. On Friday, June 2, triple j is celebrating 15 years of Unearthed High with a one-off showcase of some of the best artists to come out of the annual program featuring Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Lastlings, JACOTÉNE and Arno Faraji. Plus, each Saturday during the festival, there'll be free kids music from 5pm as a curtain-raiser for the main acts, with Zindzi & the Zillionaires, Junkyard Beats, Peter Combe and the Bellyflop in a Pizza Band, and Tiptoe Giants all popping up. Explore the program at Vivid's website. Top image: Destination NSW
Spring in Victoria means one gorgeous thing: the stunning annual Blossom Festival descending upon Cherryhill Orchards for two weeks of quintessential springtime revelry. From Saturday, September 16–Sunday, October 1, the Yarra Ranges orchard will come alive to celebrate the new cherry blossom season — though there's much more on offer here than an abundance of beautiful blooms. Visitors will be able to enjoy cherry-infused sips, cherry ice cream and plenty of live tunes while they stroll through the rows of blossoming trees. Once you've worked up a thirst, you can soak up some spring sunshine while sipping cherry vodka, which uses the orchards' cherries; cherry blossom gin, for something else boozy and on theme; and both cherry blossom frappes and cherry blossom tea. Or, opt for high tea among the blossoms as hosted by Mary Eats Cake. If the superb scenery has inspired your creative side, there's also a program of hands-on family-friendly workshops running through the festival, covering everything from flower crown creation and candle-making to beekeeping basics. And if you're in the mood for romance, you can precede your visit with a sunrise hot air balloon ride, thanks to the folks at Global Ballooning. Only for over-18s: the sip-and-paint workshop, which'll unleash your creative side over drinks across a 2.5-hour session. Adult general admission is $12.50 on weekdays and $15 on weekends, with various experiences and food packages available to add to your booking. And just like in 2022, dogs are welcome to join your blossom adventures.
Musical fans of New South Wales and Victoria, the iconic theatre shows just keep coming, including for return seasons — and the latest production heading the region's way again wants you to take a jump to the left, then a step to the right. After already starting its Australian comeback in 2023, which featured Sydney and Melbourne stints, The Rocky Horror Show has locked in return dates to both cities in 2024. For half a century now, this hit musical has been astounding. And, with the Richard O'Brien-created production lasting that long, perhaps time really is fleeting. Either way, whenever this sci-fi/horror musical hits the stage — and wherever — a glorious kind of madness takes its toll. Come February, Melburnians will be able to listen closely again. From the end of March, the same will be true for Sydneysiders. Jason Donovan will be back as Frank N Furter, too, putting his hands on his hips, then bring his knees in tight at the Athenaeum Theatre and Theatre Royal Sydney. The dates: from Friday, February 9 in Melbourne and from Sunday, March 31 in Sydney. The show is also doing a Newcastle season from Friday, January 12 at the Civic Theatre. On offer: the tale that theatre audiences have loved for five decades — and movie-goers as well, thanks to 1975's iconic big-screen release The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For the uninitiated, the story involves college-aged couple Brad Majors and Janet Weiss getting a flat tyre, then wandering over to an old castle to ask for help. That's where they discover an extra-terrestrial mad scientist from the galaxy of Transylvania, plus his staff and his Frankenstein-style experiments. Spicks and Specks favourite Myf Warhurst will also be back as The Narrator. The show also features fellow returnees Ellis Dolan (School of Rock) as Eddie/Dr Scott, Darcey Eagle (Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical) as Columbia, Deirdre Khoo (Once) as Janet and Henry Rollo (Jagged Little Pill the Musical) as Riff Raff. Since initially premiering in London in June 1973, The Rocky Horror Show has played in more than 30 countries — and over 30 million people have seen songs like 'Science Fiction/Double Feature', 'Dammit, Janet!', 'Sweet Transvestite', 'Over at the Frankenstein Place' and 'Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me'. If you haven't been before — and missed the live broadcast from Sydney back in March — this is your turn to join in. THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW 2024 AUSTRALIAN TOUR: From Friday, January 12 — Civic Theatre, Newcastle. From Friday, February 9 — Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne From Sunday, March 31 — Theatre Royal Sydney The Rocky Horror Show's 2024 Australian tour will kick off in January, with tickets on sale now via the production's website. Images: Daniel Boud.
Eye-catching and thought-provoking art has once again descended upon Sydney's coastline, with the 23rd Sculpture by the Sea exhibition kicking off today. Stretching along two kilometres from Bondi to Tamarama Beach, you'll find 111 sculptures from 19 countries. The exhibition is free, and you can catch it from October 24 through November 10. This year, you'll find sculptures by ten Czech and Slovak artists marking the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, a series of protests that led to the fall of communism in what was then Czechoslovakia, and the collaborative Succah by the Sea, which sets out to re-imagine the Jewish Festival of Succot. You'll also be able to hear directly from the artists every Saturday and Sunday. Among the 100-plus incredible installations, and the 450,000 people expected to visit the spectacle over the 18-day exhibition, it can be tricky to know where to look. And, considering this might be the last year Sculpture by the Sea is held in Bondi, it would be tragic if you missed any of the best pieces. Here are our pick for this year's highlights. [caption id="attachment_747672" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] WANG KAIFANG: THE STATUE OF MAD LIBERTY Made of 24-karat gold (and copper and stainless steel, but that's not quite as fancy), Chinese artist Wang Kaifang's The Statue of Mad Liberty reflects the chaotic nature of the modern world. The distorted figure represents the way freedom fills us with joy, before the panic sets in. It is meant to encompass all that goes into society, humanity, science and art. The swirling gold piece sits well among the artist's numerous previous works — Kaifang is considered one of China's most influential cross-disciplinary artists, and while his portfolio covers everything from architecture and fashion, through to painting and photography, shimmering metallics and abstract shapes are recurring motifs. [caption id="attachment_747796" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] ANGELA FEMIA, CAROLYN HUNTER, PAULINE PLUMB AND CRISTINA HARRIS: OUT OF REACH This is an artwork you could easily miss or dismiss as part of the scenery on a particularly bright day, but we think it's one you should keep an eye out for. A team of four local artists — all graduates of the Sydney College of the Arts and regular collaborators — is responsible for these quaint ceramic houses, nestled among the rocks alongside the trail. The tiny white homes of all different shapes and sizes were inspired by the current nationwide angst about the unattainability of the Australian Dream — something a lot of millennials can certainly relate to. Artists Angela Femia, Carolyn Hunter, Pauline Plumb and Cristina Harris created Out of Reach as a playful take on the pursuit of that white picket fence. [caption id="attachment_747676" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] JOEL ADLER: VIEWFINDER Emerging Sydney designer Joel Adler wants you to look a little closer at the undercurrents and the impacts of constantly demanding more. From its spot on a cliff by Marks Park, Viewfinder reflects the whirling waves below using a toughened double-sided glass mirror, like a periscope. The weighted sculpture is made from weathered steel, creating a rather aesthetically pleasing contrast between the rust orange of the structure and the ocean blue beyond. The sculpture allows you to see parts of the waves below that you can't usually see from the path, which the artist hopes will make you consider the possibilities created by new perspectives and how we view our relationship with the land. [caption id="attachment_747679" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] JIAO XINGTAO: YELLOW AND GREEN Another installation that hits close to home is Jiao Xingtao's two-piece Yellow (2015) and Green (2012). While these sculptures are made from painted fibreglass, its easy to see why his work is known for being hyperrealistic — the tears, scrunches and ripples of discarded packaging are carefully replicated. Even for art novices, the screwed up packets of Wrigley's Doublemint and Juicy Fruit gum are a clear commentary on waste and consumerism. If you want to check out more of his work, Xingtao is currently exhibiting as part of White Rabbit Gallery's tenth birthday retrospective Then — here are our picks for that one, too. [caption id="attachment_747680" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] LUKÁŠ RITTSTEIN AND BARBORA SLAPETOVA: BIRD OF PARADISE A large steel bird, bright and vibrant, emerges from a car in a symbol of purity and an optimistic outlook for the future, from Czech artists Lukáš Rittstein and Barbora Slapetova. A melding of the technological and the natural world, Bird of Paradise and its brights colours are meant to make you want to dance, love and search for something new. This striking piece is part of a showcase of ten Czech and Slovak artists exhibiting at this year's event, in honour of the 30 years that have passed since the Velvet Revolution (known as the Gentle Revolution to the Slovaks), which saw the end of more than four decades of totalitarian communist oppression of Czechoslovakia. [caption id="attachment_747764" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Clyde Yee[/caption] MORGAN JONES: THE SUN ALSO RISES New Zealand sculptor Morgan Jones is the recipient of the $70,000 Aqualand Sculpture Award for his piece The Sun Also Rises — so it's kind of a big deal. Made from weathering steel, the work is representative of the circular inevitability of our existence, designed to restate its rhythms. In that vein, Jones has referenced a quote from the book of Ecclesiastes, one of the books of the Old Testament, for the sculpture's title: "The sun also rises, and the sun goes down. And hastens to the place where it arose." It seems fitting to take it all in as the sun rises over the sea. Sculpture by the Sea runs until November 10. For more info, visit sculpturebythesea.com. Top images: Trent van der Jagt.
Let them entertain you: with Better Man, the Robbie Williams biopic that takes its name from one of the British singer's tunes, filmmaker Michael Gracey and actor Jonno Davies have a clear mission that's shared with the man in the spotlight himself. The Australian-made, 16-time AACTA-nominated movie tells the warts-and-all tale of the boy from England's Midlands who has become an international superstar. It charts Williams' path through a complicated childhood, teen boy-band fame, relentless press attention, struggles with drugs and alcohol, tabloid-fodder relationships, a well-publicised reputation for partying, going solo, huge hits, sizeable scandals and plenty of reinvention — and, while never shying away from the tumultuous times that its subject has endured, it matches its unflinching view of his ups and downs with his love of monkeying around and putting on a show. The simian aspect of Better Man is literal. More than 20 years after 'Me and My Monkey' was a track on Williams' fifth studio album Escapology — a record that skewed personal to explore his experiences with pop stardom, and made hits out of 'Feel' and 'Come Undone' — his story reaches the screen with the former Take That member portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee. The approach renders Williams both a cheeky monkey and a performing monkey, and also reflects a journey that's had him swinging from limb to limb in life's jungle. The conceit was Gracey's choice, but based on the musician's own descriptions when chatting the Australian filmmaker through his existence. Better Man's helmer and subject first met when the director needed the singer's assistance with the former's debut feature. One of The Greatest Showman's original tunes won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar; however, star Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine) had doubts about the songs going in — and, because the actor kept referencing Williams as a touchstone for his lead portrayal in the movie, Gracey hit him up for his thoughts and powers of persuasion. From there, the pair kept talking, then started recording Williams recounting his life story in the latter's studio. Next sprang the idea to make Better Man, which is how an Aussie talent came to craft a homegrown flick about one of the UK's biggest music figures of the past three decades. The film was initially announced in 2021, and news of Davies playing Williams arrived in 2022. That Better Man was going ape remained a secret until initial viewers cast their eyes on the flick at its world-premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, which was no easy feat. "I was astounded, because we really didn't want people to see any images from the film, and it blew me away that we managed to keep that under wraps for so long — just because we did scenes where we had 2000 extras, so at any point someone could've even given away shots of Jonno in the motion-capture suit. Or some image from the work that Wētā were doing could've found its way online. And it just didn't," Gracey tells Concrete Playground. "We tried really hard to make that the case because we wanted it to land in a way that was a very unique way to lens this story. And also having pitched it unsuccessfully for many years to financiers, I also knew that it would never make sense until people got to watch it," the filmmaker continues. "So there was really no point having chatter about an image and the conversation of whether that looks like Robbie or doesn't look like Robbie. I think that the most overwhelming response has been from people who are even sceptical about the conceit, that once they watch the film, they understand. And so I just desperately wanted to get in front of people before the conversation about 'why the monkey?'." [caption id="attachment_985602" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] A decade on from his screen debut in British TV's Casualty, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Hunters alum Davies has notched up what might prove the most-unique role of his career: playing Williams via motion-capture, and also voicing him in his younger years (Williams lends his own vocals to the movie, too). For his efforts, he's among the AACTA contenders for Best Actor. A fan going in of the man that he's portraying and of The Greatest Showman, Davies was instantly keen to take on the part, and has been revelling in the reactions that the movie has been earning since. "What's brilliant is seeing different audiences respond to the movie, whether that's an age thing, whether it's different continents, people that are Robbie Williams fans, people that have never heard of Robbie at all, and seeing how different people respond to it in different ways," Davies shares. "And seeing it being universally accepted — I think that was something we always wanted to focus on, is that Robbie is an everyday man. There's something in him, whether it's the relationship he has with his nan, whether it's his fear of imposter syndrome, there's something in him that anyone can relate to. There's something there that people connect [to]. I know Michael's had people coming up to him and saying 'I spoke to my dad for the first time in seven years' or people watch it and go 'you know what, it's made me want to ring my mum more or get in touch with the people I love'. Having those different connections and different responses is why you want to make cinema, why you want to make a film — is to affect people. It's been a joy." Down Under, Better Man was already making a splash before it reached Aussie cinemas on Boxing Day 2024; breaking the record for the most AACTA nods in a single year will do that. In a country with well-known fondness for Williams — if a biopic wasn't going to come out of Britain, Australia always seemed the next logical place for it — its main man has been popping up headlining the ABC's New Year's Eve coverage and doing a free gig in Melbourne's Federation Square, helping to give the movie a push, too. For viewers not instantly enticed by its subject or approach, the flick's biggest enticement sits within the feature itself, though. When 'Rock DJ' breaks out in a sequence filmed on London's Regent Street, it's a spectacular movie-musical moment. Gracey and Davies are relaying the tale of another great showman, after all, although that standout scene almost didn't happen. We also spoke with Better Man's director and co-writer, plus its star, about that unforgettable segment of the film, stepping into Williams' shoes — or a chimpanzee's feet, to be more accurate — and why monkeying around was the best way to tackle Williams' tale, as well as fandom, resilience and the full impact of Hugh Jackman's Williams obsession on The Greatest Showman. On Davies Playing the Man Responsible for One of His First Music Memories Jonno: "I was definitely a fan growing up. I saw him concert when I was nine with mum and dad. It's one of my earliest music memories, really. And when you're a child, you have no idea what your identity is, you're just in for a good time — and seeing this rock star on stage, peacocking about like he does, connecting with an audience, seeing how he's there to entertain the crowd rather than entertain himself. So then to 25-odd years later to be the one to play him is quite a pinch-me moment. I think it helped being from the UK, understanding the peak of his fame, how heavily, heavily documented his life was — much to his detriment, the lack of privacy there when he was suffering — I think that was a nice insight to have. But then also meeting in-person when we were in Melbourne when we first started, and then getting the rest of the story and sitting down with him, and him sharing some of his more vulnerable parts of himself — because he wants to make sure that this was an honest depiction. It takes someone very brave to allow themselves to be painted in quite a bad light a lot of the times in the movie. And so the fact that he then gave us his trust to collectively tell his story in a very honest and truthful way, I think it shows a calibre of a person." On How The Greatest Showman and Hugh Jackman Helped Bring Better Man About Michael: "It all stems back to working on The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman. Whenever we would talk about PT Barnum and what it was to be a great showman, he would always reference Robbie Williams — which used to make me laugh, and then after a certain period of time really annoyed me, because it was just always his go-to reference. Whether he was talking about music, whether he was talking about his swagger, or his charisma, or whether we were talking about choreography, he's like 'you know, the way that Robbie sort of moves' and I was like 'you know, every reference can't be Robbie Williams'. So at a certain moment when we were close to going into production, Hugh had a lot of voices in his ear about the music not being good enough, and he started to question the music. And at that point, we'd been working on the film together for six years, so I'd lost a lot of weight in my voice — because I was always the boy who cried wolf, who was like 'no, it's going to be great. This'll be the year we make it'. After six years, people start losing faith a little bit. So in a moment where Hugh felt that we should start again on the music, and I knew that that would mean the end of the film — and this is the music that is in the final film that Benji Pasek and Justin Paul wrote — I got in touch through my lawyer, because his daughter is friends with Ayda [Field], who is married to Robbie Williams. You know how you're always just like three people away from the person you want to get to? So I got a meeting with Robbie on a Sunday at his house, where I told him the story of The Greatest Showman, and then I played him the music. And at the end of the meeting, I said 'look, the only thing more bizarre than me showing up at your house on a Sunday is what I'm about to ask you now. It's one thing for me to tell Hugh Jackman what you think of the music. It's another thing for you to tell him entirely. So if you don't mind, can I just video you and you just talk into the camera as if you're talking to Hugh Jackman?' And that's what he did. He did this video message, which, to this day, if I'd written the script and said 'can you please read this to convince Hugh that this music is going to be great?' — what he did off the top of his head with ten-seconds' notice is why he is such an amazing showman. He was so compelling, the way he spoke about the music, he basically said to Hugh 'I've spent the last year working on my new album. I would scrap that album to sing these songs'. He literally was that effusive about how great the music was for The Greatest Showman. And he was right. The music was great. And history went on to prove that. But in that moment, that's exactly what Hugh needed to hear to have the confidence to move forward and make the film. So in many regards, there would be no Greatest Showman if there wasn't that video message from Robbie Williams. That's how we started then talking, and I just really enjoyed whenever we would talk, when he would tell me stories about his life. And with no intention to make a film — because unlike Jonno, I didn't grow up a Robbie Williams fan. Obviously growing up in Australia, you can't escape him. He's everywhere, but it's not like I listened to him. [caption id="attachment_985603" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures[/caption] But what I really did love is I loved the way in which he talked about his life — and not just the events, but actually his delivery. I really enjoyed the manner in which, whether he's writing lyrics as a storyteller or telling you a story, he's a great storyteller. So I then just asked, knowing that he had a recording studio, when I was in LA, I would just drop over to his house and we would just sit in his recording studio and just chat. And those conversations took about a year and a half, and at some point during that, I started thinking 'wow, I could probably chop these up and make a radio play'. Then I went from there to 'actually this could make a really powerful film'. And in fact, those some of those recordings are in the actual voiceover of the film — those original recordings. But it was never the intention to make the film. It all stemmed from him and me just sitting in a studio just talking." On Why Portraying Williams as a Chimpanzee Was the Right Way to Tell His Story Michael: "I think that creatively, I just wanted to come at it with a unique angle. And also, I knew that narratively I wanted to explore both his internal life and his external life. So it was trying to find a device that would allow us to step between those two worlds, the world of the imagination and the world of reality. I think in a musical you're already in a heightened reality, because people are breaking into song, but I wanted something creative that would allow us to see more of Robbie than if it was just an actor playing him. And when I went back to those original recordings and I was listening to them, just time and time again Rob would refer to himself as a performing monkey. He would just say things like 'I was just dragged up on stage to perform like a monkey' or 'I'm up the back dancing around like a performing monkey'. And he said enough times that I was like 'there's definitely something to this performing monkey'. And when I looked at his story, whether it's him pretending to be tougher than he is in front of the kids in Stoke-on-Trent, where he grew up, or whether it's jumping up in front of the TV hoping that his dad would look at him the same way that he looks at Sinatra, there were just all these moments within the story that I was like 'he's always been that little performing monkey'. And the moment that I framed the entire film in that conceit, it just made me smile. I just thought 'this is going to work and it's going to work unbelievably well'. Convincing other people of that was the difficult part, but not convincing Rob. Rob was onboard in two seconds. I literally went to him and said 'if you're an animal, how would you see yourself?'. And he immediately said 'lion' and looked very proud. Then I sort of went 'really?'. And after about 30 seconds, he went 'nah, more of a monkey'. On Davies' First Reaction to Such a Unique Part Jonno: "There are so many challenges in this thing for an actor that every one is like 'oh my god, another reason to do it, another reason to do it'. One: motion-capture. Two: you are telling someone's story that's still alive, and someone that has many predetermined opinions on them, and so it's kind of up to you to try to shift those things. And I think that's what's useful about the monkey, is it separates people from Robbie Williams, and you follow this monkey story rather than necessarily this global superstar that people think they already know. But I was blown away by the concept. And I was I was blown away by the dream of it really. That's one of Michael's best assets, is he sells you the dream — but unlike many others, you get to actually go along with it. You get to join it. I was a massive fan of The Greatest Showman. I have always loved musicals. I love dancing, I love singing, but never thought I really had the chops to be a part of that world — certainly not a Broadway or a West End singer. So to be able to have Rob do the singing and me do the dancing, I was like 'how could I possibly not try to make this mine?'." On the Film's Celebration of Resilience and Persistence — and What That Concept Means to Davies and Gracey Jonno: "Resilience certainly comes in with the life of an actor. You are told 'no' many more times than you are told 'yes.' And you often value yourself on your last job, or the last job you did not get. I think it's about trying to stay resilient and trying to remember that you are authentically you, right? And so even though you're getting your nos, it doesn't mean you're crap, it means that you're just not right for this opportunity. It's a hard memory to keep inside, but I think it's one that is premier above all else. Otherwise you start to lose your identity. If you start thinking that 'I'm getting nos because I'm not good enough' or 'I'm not the right person', you start shifting your identity. Then you don't become what makes you, and that's essentially your best asset. And so resilience for me is about staying true to yourself, and if you're going to do something — Guy Chambers says it in our film, he says 'own it'. If it's crap, make it your crap. And I think that's a form of resilience that we can all take onboard." Michael: "Resilience is my entire life, because you have these grand ideas and it's up to you to continue to believe in them year after year after year. Showman took seven years to make, and at one point or another every single person involved in that project gave up hope — and you as the director cannot. Everyone else can lose faith, and you just have to keep on, you have to stand in that burning building and tell everyone it's going to be okay. This took six years. It was a high-concept idea that scared a lot of people, because the concept of the monkey immediately doubled the budget of the film. It made it a much more risky prospect. And it scared a lot of financiers away. The number of meetings that I had to do where people would just flat-out, the moment the monkey was mentioned, were like 'what are you talking about?' — and 'this is the end of the meeting'. That was the much more common response to that idea. And yet, I knew if there was a way to bring it into reality, it would be unique and it would be something that I'd be incredibly proud of. And so resilience is my entire career, and I would not be a director if I did not have that resilience. I think the joy you get as a director is finding other people to believe in that impossible dream, who stand alongside you and make it a reality, and that is the greatest privilege that you have as a director." On What It Took to Make the 'Rock DJ' Scene a Reality Jonno: "A lot of pogo-stick practice. It was the pinnacle of joy, right, in the film. It's the one moment that Robbie and the audience gets to really just live in dreamland, and there's no darkness that encases it, there's no version of himself telling him telling him he's rubbish. And so we were determined that when we arrived on Regent Street, that would be the feeling that we would feel. And, of course, you can only have that joy if you've put in the graft beforehand. And that's not just Michael. It's every department. It's Ash and Jen [Ashley Wallen and Jenny Griffin, both returning from The Greatest Showman], the choreographers, making sure that not only us, the Take That boys, but the 500 dancers were drilled so that we were never getting a bad take because of the dancing. You only have a set amount of time on Regent Street, so everyone had to just be shit hot, for want of a better term. We taped out a hangar, so the minute details, so every bush, every lamp post, was in its exact spot, so that when we arrived on the street, we were ready to go. It wasn't figuring out any proximity, etcetera. But it was a joy. It was one of my favourite experiences on set. I think you see it on our faces when we when we do Regent Street. I think you can probably see it in our pupils as well. There's kind of joy, combating a bit of 'we've got to get this done'. But it's such an iconic street, and it demanded an iconic routine — and I think Michael has delivered with that. Michael: "The practicalities of pulling that off were enormous. It was a year and a half in the planning. As Jonno mentioned, we rehearsed in a hangar the week before with the entire cast and crew, and double-decker bus and taxi, all those elements — only because the moment we got on the street, we had to start shooting, and we had very limited time overnight where we could lock down the entire street and film. It was shot over four nights, but after that week of rehearsal in the hangar, literally the day before we were about to start filming, the Queen passed away. And so we got shut down. There's ten days of mourning after the death of the Queen. Regent Street is crown land. So it was devastating because we paid out all of the costs to shoot. We'd locked down all those stores for those dates. We'd booked all of those dancers. So we lost all that money. There was no insurance for the death of the Queen. At that point, there were a lot of very serious conversations about cutting the number from the film. And I was like 'we've got to go out, we've got to raise that money again, we've got to get back onto Regent Street and we have to shoot this number — it is absolutely a cornerstone of this story'. It took another five months to find a window where we were allowed back on the street, and to raise the money again. And so every time that number plays, I just go in my head 'we were this close to that never happening' — but that comes back to your question about persistence. Better Man opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024. Michael Gracey will chat about the film at the 2025 AACTA Festival, which runs from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast.
Calendars out, Marvel fans: if you've been looking forward to adding more superheroes to your small-screen viewing in 2023, Disney+ has just the solution. First, Secret Invasion is on its way this winter, focusing on Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury. Then, come spring, both the second season of Loki and the debut of newcomer Echo will follow. 2023 marks two years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe's God of Mischief first hit streaming queues, doing so with a final promise: "Loki will return in season two". When it premiered, it was just the third MCU series to hit Disney+ after WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and it's been followed by Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But a couple of years has felt like a hefty wait for more of Tom Hiddleston (The Essex Serpent) getting his superpowered trickster on. The date to lock into your diary now: Friday, October 6, with the new batch of episodes set to pick up where season one left off. So, expect more chaos from the MCU favourite, more of Owen Wilson (Marry Me) as Mobius M Mobius, more banter (naturally) and more clone trickery. "Loki is back at the TVA, he's had a very difficult confrontation with Sylvie, and Mobius and Hunter B-15 don't know who he is," Hiddleston advised back in 2022, before season two also scored a brief sneak peek as part of Disney+'s streaming highlights trailer for 2023. [caption id="attachment_862338" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.[/caption] As for Hawkeye spinoff Echo, it's locked in for Wednesday, November 29 — and it'll enjoy a first for the MCU on streaming. Disney+ usually drops a few episodes at once for each show, then unfurls the rest weekly afterwards. But this one will arrive all at once on the same day. Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) is the Echo's focus — and, as first seen in Hawkeye, she's the gang leader who is deaf that had Clint Barton in her sights for a stint of revenge. In a series also starring Chaske Spencer (The English), Tantoo Cardinal (Three Pines), Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs), Cody Lightning (Run Woman Run), Graham Greene (The Last of Us) and Zahn McClarnon (Dark Winds), the character now gets an origin story. There's no trailer yet for either Loki season two or Echo, but you can check out Disney+'s 2023 trailer below: Loki season two will premiere on Disney+ on Friday, October 6, while Echo will arrive on Wednesday, November 29. Top image: ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Of all the ridiculous food trends to hit Melbourne in the last few years, this most recent one ranks... somewhere in the middle. Now open at 380 Victoria Street in Richmond, the menu at Crompton Coffee has a very particular focus. We’re talking toast. Lots of toast. Inspired by a toast-only cafe in San Francisco called The Mill, Crompton offers a slightly fancier alternative to the Wonder White and jam you’d otherwise be munching on at home. Inch-thick artisanal bread will come with an array of lavish toppings and condiments, including ricotta, fig and honey and pear, walnut and blue cheese, as well as a requisite avocado option with buffalo mozzarella. And yes, before you ask, they also have vegemite, with a grilled cheese Tiger Toast option too. While Crompton will be the first of its kind of Melbourne, the toast craze is already well-established in the U.S, with toast cafes and toast bars cropping up from Seattle to Minneapolis to New York. Although The Mill helped popularise the concept, it actually originated at another San Francisco cafe called The Trouble Coffee & Coconut Club, whose founder was recently the subject of an episode of This American Life. Whether Melburnians embrace toast with the same passion remains to be seen — although frankly, if a cereal cafe can be a hit then these guys shouldn’t have much trouble. Crompton Coffee is located at 380 Victoria Street, Richmond. For more information, check out their Facebook.
We're here today to conduct an experiment: To see if it's possible for me, as a man of 22 years of age and of sound mind and body, to spend a week ordering food from a convenience store without even leaving my home 7-Eleven presented me with this challenge, and who would I be to refuse? Now that the road trip-snack-central convenience store chain has brought its catalogue of food, essentials and treats to Menulog, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to nobly abandon all kitchen duties for a week and instead attempt to exist by only eating meals ordered from my local 7-Eleven through Menulog. I would spend the hours from Monday morning to Friday night eating food exclusively bought from 7-Eleven, with only emergency exceptions permitted. Sunday: Stocking up on Essentials For the Week My week began with planning and preparation, particularly for the most important meal of the day. Breakfast. I take breakfast very seriously, and I like it balanced. For the week ahead, I was going to need the following: Zymil Lactose-Free Milk 1L Carman's Muesli Classic 500g 7-Eleven Maxi Wholemeal Bread 850g Chobani strawberry Greek yoghurt pouches x5 Pace Farm Free Range Eggs 12pk Ben and Jerry's Choc Chip Cookie Dough 450g 7-Eleven Protein Bar Salted Caramel Bread, milk, eggs — the bare essentials. Muesli and yogurt are great for weekday breakfasts since they're quick, easy, and delicious. Eggs are also good if I need something substantial, especially if I want to make my favourite easy but big breakfast: scrambled eggs on toast. I know what you're thinking, but I can explain. Protein bars are for emergency snacking. And the ice cream? Come on, let's stop pretending ice cream isn't an essential. It was ordered and delivered in the one bundle and delivered pretty quickly too, the ice cream probably helped to keep everything else cold. Monday: Starting Simple Day one started with a lovely bowl of muesli and a yoghurt pouch, enough to fuel through the start of the day. I was feeling confident on the way to work and the plan for the day was to keep it simple. Lunch: 7-Eleven Ham, Cheese and Tomato Sandwich, Bundaberg Ginger Beer When lunch rolled around, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, so I picked the classic convenience store menu item: the sandwich. And what sandwich is more beloved than ham and cheese? Ordering just a sandwich felt like criminal behaviour though, so I added a drink, too. Dinner: 7-Eleven 100% Aussie Beef Pie Speaking of classics, what's more classic than a beef pie? As an Aussie, I love a good pie but my hopes weren't high for the convenience store version. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the flavour, the substantial filling and the flaky crust. A moreish delight that was as easy as it was delicious. Tuesday: Feeling Indulgent Monday was a success. I was feeling good. But, if I wanted to subsist on sandwiches and pies, I'd go back to uni. It's time to level up this challenge. After the same breakfast as the day before (I do love routine), I decided to dive deeper into 7-Eleven's menu. Lunch: 7-Eleven Hot Bites Mac & Cheese, Nobby's Porky Bits When I think of the word 'indulgent', one of the first things that comes to mind is mac and cheese. It's a simple yet beloved dish that never fails to delight, and this is no exception. However, on reflection, I can see that my palate is still tuned to the uni diet, especially since I added the pub snack classic Nobby's Porky Bits as an extra crunch to accompany the bites. Dinner: 7-Eleven Southern Fried Chicken Wrap Emboldened by my urge to enjoy the menu's full extent, I chose to get something with more depth. I chose the southern fried chicken wrap, which, with its combo of chicken, veggies and smokey mayo, proved to be a complete experience of crunch and indulgence that had some of the depth my lunch lacked. At the recommendation of our 7-Eleven contact, I customised it slightly with a spin in the sandwich press, which took it from great to elite. Wednesday: Balance Is Key That was fun (and tasty), but I was starting to feel the effects of the lack of balance in the diet. Just because I'm limited to the meals ordered from 7-Eleven on Menulog doesn't mean I have to limit myself to simple (but delicious) carb-heavy eats. To shake up the muesli monotony for breakfast, I instead went with fried eggs on toast for breakfast, which never disappoints. Lunch: 7-Eleven Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich, Liquid Death Sparkling Water That's why I chose to return to the most sacred of all food forms: the sandwich. This time, a stacked chicken schnitzel sandwich (toasted by my own grand design). It had a lot going for it, with enough veggies to keep my conscience quiet alongside lovely schnitzel. And to feel fancy, a can of Liquid Death that caught my eye by the branding alone and turned out to be the most refreshing and interesting sparkling water I've ever drunk, tasting more like water than the usual mineral flavour. Dinner: My Muscle Chef Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl Remember what I said about balance? By dinnertime, I was hungry for something that put protein first. I'm a carnivore, after all. I opted instead for the always delightful My Muscle Chef Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl, perfect for cosying up on the couch and watching Shōgun, come at me, gym bros. After an episode or two I had room for more, so I enjoyed a date with that tub of Ben and Jerry's before bed. Thursday: The New Normal The home stretch had begun. I was starting to lose interest in the routine elements of my menu, which was making me come to terms with the habits I supposedly loved. So, on Thursday morning, I treated myself to a little treat in the form of a latte and an Original Glazed® Krispy Kreme. Lunch: 7-Eleven Spinach & Ricotta Roll It made sense to return to another Aussie classic today. I started this journey with a beef pie, so why not throw a sausage roll in the mix? One problem. I don't really like sausage rolls, un-Australian, I know. The next best thing for me is a spinach and ricotta roll, which helps eliminate the recurring meat out of the diet, too. It was as hearty as I needed, with a lovely cheesy flavour and a warmth that survived the delivery. Dinner: 7-Eleven Asian Style Chicken Noodle Salad In keeping with my (slightly) healthier choices in these final 48 hours, I decided to come as close as I could to a full-blown salad and opt for the Asian-Style Chicken Noodle Salad. This was the right call. Its zesty hit of sesame chicken goodness carried me through the evening. Friday: A Grand Finale At last, my week of scientific study on the modern convenience diet was coming to an end. I was pleasantly surprised with the week, but soon, I'd return to the joys of preparing my own food rather than waiting for it to arrive with a knock at my door. But I had one day left, so I was going to make the most of it. Starting with, at long last, my specialty (but basic, I'm no gourmet chef) scrambled eggs. Lunch: 7-Eleven Spicy BBQ Beef Brisket Wrap It was a brave swing here, I know, but the idea of anything with beef brisket always catches my attention. My fatal mistake was missing the keyword 'spicy' as I do not handle spice well. Thankfully, it was not immediately as hot as I was worried about, being more of that smokey barbecue spice than actual chilli. Dinner: DIY Charcuterie Board — Nobby's Original Beef Jerky, 7-Eleven Vintage Cheese and Pretzels, 7-Eleven Savoury Snack Mix To me, nothing says 'celebration' quite like a good charcuterie board. So, to celebrate the end of my experiment, I created a board using only the ingredients 7-Eleven could provide me: jerky, vintage cheese pretzels and a savoury snack mix. My presentation didn't look the best, but it tasted good, and it went down well. The saltiness of the pretzels, matched with the creamy vintage cheddar, was pleasantly complemented by every carnivore's favourite trail snack, beef jerky. And like that, it was over. I never expected to take part in an experiment like this, but I genuinely was impressed by the range of options available and the quality of what I found on offer. 7-Eleven is available for delivery through Menulog now. Delivery not available in all areas and product availability may vary per store.
According to fast food joints, taxis and supermarkets, living in southeast Queensland is a little like living in the future. Already, the region has trialled KFC delivery by drone. And, using self-flying cabs for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics has been floated. The latest move in this same space, aka the Sunshine State's skies? Coles' new store-to-door grocery deliveries by drone. If finger-lickin'-good chicken pieces, burgers, nuggets and fries can be ferried to hungry Queenslanders' homes via air, then household staples can, too — and the same drone company is behind it. As well as working with KFC, on-demand drone outfit Wing is teaming up with Coles to bring groceries to consumers within minutes. For now, the trial is limited to southeast Queensland, and to the Gold Coast — to the suburbs of Ormeau, Ormeau Hills and Yatala, to be exact. That's where Coles' first store-to-door deliveries will be tested from Wednesday, November 2, soaring to customers from the supermarket brand's location at Ormeau Village Shopping Centre. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a drone carrying bread, fresh produce and snacks? Clearly, the latter now applies on the Gold Coast. Wing's Coles deliveries will also carry convenience meals, health care items and other household essentials, with 500 of the supermarket chain's most popular grocery items available for the drone service. After this trial, the plan is to expand to nearby suburbs on the Gold Coast. Also, Wing will offer Coles items for delivery in Logan in the near future, departing from the rooftop of Grand Plaza — where locals have been able to get goods flown to them by drone from select onsite businesses for more than 12 months. And, given that Gold Coast deliveries follow a Canberra pilot program that started in March 2022, albeit flying groceries from a Wing drone centre rather than direct from a Coles location, watch this space — and the heavens — for more developments. If you're now wondering "will people actually get their groceries sent by drone?" — a fair and reasonable question, and also a sign of the times — the answer based on the Canberra test is yes. Wing says that it made more than 5000 trips in the ACT, bringing folks everything from fresh fruit, milk and eggs to confectionery and cold drinks. Residents of Ormeau, Ormeau Hills and Yatala will need to download the Wing delivery app to have their pantry and fridge items swoop down from above — and the service will only operate from 9am–4.30pm Tuesday–Sunday. Here's how it works: after you place your order, Coles staff members will process and pack them. They'll then hand your goods over to the Wing team, who will operate a fleet of delivery drones in the Ormeau Village Shopping Centre carpark. Once loaded, the drone will fly to your house within around ten minutes, slow down upon arrival, bring itself to a delivery height of about seven metres above the ground, and gently lower your food on a tether — which'll automatically release. You don't need to unclip anything, and the drone doesn't need to land, either. Don't live in southeast Queensland, the Gold Coast and those three specific suburbs? Fingers crossed that you'll be living in the future soon, too. To order groceries from Coles via drone from Wednesday, November 2 if you live in Ormeau, Ormeau Hills and Yatala, download the Wing delivery app.
Melbourne, it's pretty much official — you're the live music capital of the world, with a music venue-to-resident ratio that trumps every other city on the planet. And that's just one of the great findings from the Melbourne Live Music Census 2017, which were revealed this week. The survey, headed up by Music Victoria and the City of Melbourne along with Collarts, RMIT and local councils, sets out to analyse the climate of Melbourne's live music industry every five years. In its second edition, conducted on November 25 last year, it found that climate to be pretty darn healthy. In 2017 alone, greater Melbourne played host to over 73,605 advertised gigs and saw a total live music attendance of 17.5 million punters — that's up 19 percent and 12 percent respectively from 2012's census. In fact, audience numbers for live music events throughout the year were bigger than for AFL, cricket, the Spring Racing Carnival, A-League, basketball, netball, NRL and the Australian Grand Prix combined. And, while we hear plenty about Sydney live music venues shutting up shop, it seems the future's looking brighter for their southern counterparts, with 55% reporting an increased audience in the past 12 months. But the biggest news is perhaps that Melbourne now boasts one live music venue for every 9503 residents, making local music lovers the best-served in the world. Compare those figures with London's one venue per 34,350 residents, New York's one per 18,554 and LA's one per 19,607 ,and you'll have to agree Melbourne's absolutely killing it. The full Melbourne Live Music Census 2017 report is set to be presented at the Music Cities Convention - Melbourne on April 19.
Everyone loves Jamie's Italian. Or at least that's what we discovered when, back in November last year, we reported that the Jamie Oliver had officially bought back his Australian restaurant chain after its parent company, the Keystone Group, went into receivership. People were ecstatic. Now the deal has officially gone through and the man, the myth, the legend himself is heading to our shores to relaunch his six Jamie's Italian restaurants with a greater Aussie focus in mind. Oliver will visit Sydney between May 8 and 12 to launch a brand new menu that will centre on Australian produce and wine, collaborating with local suppliers including Sydney's Joto Fresh Fish and Serendipity Ice Cream, Adelaide's Boulangerie 113 and Melbourne's That's Amore Cheese. He's also got managing director Ben Shaughnessy in the fold, who moved to Sydney earlier this year after seven years at the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group UK – no doubt to get this Aussification process started in advance of the big boss' arrival. The menu will continue to feature Italian classics, but will now be more focused on sustainable and locally sourced ingredients — think wild mushroom ravioli (made fresh daily on-site), 12-hour slow-cooked oxtail lasagne and slow-roasted juicy porchetta stuffed with garlic, chill and herbs. The updated wine list will be decidedly more Australian too, which is a welcome (and necessary, in our opinion) change for the restaurants. To celebrate the launch, Jamie's Italian will offer a signature pasta dish for only ten bucks, starting May 8 through to the end of the month and changing every Monday. Oliver is also introducing 'kids eat free' during the Easter holiday in all six of the restaurants, with a selection of six 'award-winning' kids' menu dishes available for every main course ordered. To maintain brand consistency, Parramatta's Jamie's Italian Trattoria will change names and become the sixth Jamie's Italian in Australia, joining existing locations in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and, of course, Sydney. Perhaps Oliver's arrival in Australia will even see him scope out a location for a venue in Melbourne, which has oddly been left out of the Jamie's Kitchen fold. Either way, we can't wait to dig in to some delicious, lovely jubbly pasta and know that it was made with the Australian climate and produce in mind. Jamie Oliver will visit Sydney from May 8–12 to officially relaunch Jamie's Italian. But you can visit any of his six restaurants at any time. For more information, visit jamieoliver.com.
