What's better, the smell of fresh popcorn or the scent of fresh air? Now that starlight screenings have returned to Lido's Rooftop Cinema in Hawthorn, you can enjoy both at once. Perched atop the Glenferrie Road picture house, the outdoor screen is once again lighting up with a selection of new release and retro movies in the open air for the rest of spring and throughout summer. Highlights on the 2023–24 Lido on the Roof season include the biggest movie of the year, aka Barbie; big suits and brilliant tunes in the remastered Stop Making Sense; fresh titles such as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Napoleon; and Christmas flicks when the time comes. Also on the bill: everything from Grease, 24 Hour Party People, The Parent Trap and Spice World, to take care of the classics, through to Past Lives, Wonka, Priscilla and Ferrari. Always a hot ticket, sessions sell out quickly here — if you need any more motivation to get booking. Also, don't forget that the bar opens an hour before session start times for rooftop — and sunset — drinks.
CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice is a global bubble tea player that now has a bunch of stores all across Melbourne, including this outpost on Flinders Street. The menu is broad, with options to suit bubble tea veterans and novices alike, and new seasonal offerings being rolled out all the time. Here, milk tea creations range from a classic bubble cup crowned with pearls, to a supercharged version loaded with egg pudding, grass jelly and boba. Familiar flavour infusions including chocolate and caramel sit alongside Asian classics like red bean, or you can ditch the dairy in favour of fruit-based sips like a mango green tea (topped with a hefty scoop of those house pearls, of course). As well as four in the CBD, CoCo Fresh has shops in Box Hill, Springvale, Glen Waverley, Footscray and Chadstone. Image: Allan Ran via Flickr.
Grazeland Director John Forman is preparing to open two new Mexican restaurants in Melbourne this year, and has enlisted the help of siblings Neven Hayek and Sandrow Yalda from El Taco (also at Grazeland) to run the kitchens. The duo has been pumping out tacos, quesedillas and loaded fries from the shipping container from the Spotswood site since 2019, and they are now taking things to a whole new level with these new sibling venues in Preston and Yarraville. The first site, Bar Mexico, is slated to open on Thursday, June 13, within the old Northside Food Hall on the Preston end of High Street. The bar will showcase over 50 tequilas, mezcals and raicillas sourced directly from distilleries across Mexico — either in cocktails or tasting flights — while the kitchen will serve up El Taco's signature Mexican-style street eats. You can expect to find birria quesadillas and taco platters that you can personalise. Latin music and DJs will also be blasting tunes throughout the week. The second venue, Hotel Mexico, will be more like a pub than bar, opening within Yarraville site that formerly housed live music venue The Mersh sometime in August this year. The food and entertainment offer won't be too dissimilar to its sibling venue, but here, the crew has also gone all out by redesigning the venue's front bar, beer garden and private events space. As for the design, both Hotel Mexico and Bar Mexico's interiors are inspired by hacienda-style Mexican architecture and mid-century Central American beach culture — think stucco walls, rustic wood accents, archways, art deco murals and an eclectic mix of lighting. They'll be big, bright and buzzing with party energy. Once Bar Mexico and Hotel Mexico open this year, we expect they'll be hosting some proper taco- and tequila-fuelled fiestas. Bar Mexico will open on Thursday, June 13, at 39 High Street, Preston. Hotel Mexico is slated to open in August this year and will be located at 238 Whitehall Street, Yarraville. We'll be sure to keep you updated with additional information as we get it.
Vintage fashion treasure trove Hawkeye Vintage is back for its first in-person event since 2020. From Friday, December 1 to Sunday, December 3, you can take your pick from a wide range of pre-loved designer handbags, clothing and accessories from brands such as Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Fendi, Versace and Louis Vuitton at Ovolo South Yarra. Browse over a 1000 handbags under $1000, or go big with the premium selection starting at $1200. Seems too good to be true? Hawkeye Vintage will have authentication cards available for all bag purchases, and there'll be an Entrupy authentication machine for you to use on-site. Get in quick — the first 100 shoppers will receive a goodie bag worth over $500. You could also win $500 to spend by entering the giveaway on Hawkeye Vintage's Instagram page and dropping at least $750 at the sale. You'll need to register to attend, so reserve your spot for $10 at the event website. Happy shopping! The sale will run from 10am–7pm from Friday, December 1 to Sunday, December 3. Head to the Hawkeye Vintage Facebook event page for more information.
The latest indoor-outdoor space to join Melbourne's latest wave of sky-high drinking destinations is Sardine, boasting uninterrupted views of Melbourne's city skyline in the east. Announced as part of Chadstone's new $70-million entertainment hub, The Social Quarter, Sardine will form the second level of the new White + Wong's. Nestled on the upper level of the 750 square-metre restaurant, the standalone bar can accommodate up to 95 patrons. The drinks menu runs to the likes of local beers, wine, mocktails and cocktails. Standouts include the Moon Rabbit ($20) which mixes Drambuie, Lustao Amontillado Jerez and Demerara black tea with fresh lemon. Spice-lovers should beeline towards The La ($20), which heroes chilli mango, lime, cranberry and maraschino with vodka. Peckish patrons can access the full White + Wong's menu from downstairs, but the bites and snacks section is particularly suited for the openair courtyard space. Peruse through fresh and tempura oysters ($42 for six), the latter served with a fresh nahm jim and kaffir lime mayonnaise. A summer-ready kingfish sashimi is served with Fijian-inspired heirloom tomatoes, chilli, lime, coconut cream and coriander ($21). Crowd-pleasing dumplings range from a modern duck and chive xiao long bao($18), to traditional crystal skin prawn dumplings ($16). Vegetarians can look towards gochujang wontons with Chinese cabbage ($16), shiitake and tofu ($16), or a Korean glass noodle salad ($20). Images: Arianna Leggiero
A new player is stepping up to bat in the Australian hospitality scene, and in Melbourne. Introducing The StandardX, scheduled to open in Fitzroy in February 2024. The StandardX is the latest brainchild of Standard International, known for its lifestyle hotels in cosmopolitan hotspots like New York, Miami and London. But The StandardX is set to be a new direction for the brand, with the Fitzroy concept acting as "a rebellious younger sibling" of The Standard Hotels across the globe, distilling The Standard experience to its "x factor", and going for a more minimalist and cool approach. It seems that Fitzroy is the perfect location for the new concept. Melbourne's own Hecker Guthrie has infused the hotel's 125 rooms and public spaces with a contemporary yet unpretentious aesthetic. As for the food, don't expect the standard hotel restaurant. Led by Executive Chef Justin Dingle-Garciyya, the rooftop dining area will be exclusive to hotel guests, offering an array of Medellin-inspired dishes, including tacos and ceviche. The rooftop bar will be the perfect spot to enjoy a cocktail after dinner, or before a night out, or at 10am — it's a hotel after all. With panoramic city views and the privacy that comes with exclusivity, it's set to be a pretty nice spot to have a sip and take in the majesty of the Melbourne skyline for locals and tourists alike. For those after a more casual bite, the all-day Thai diner and The Box, a retail concept offering on-the-go snacks and drinks, will ensure you're never far from curing a rumbling belly. With room rates expected to hover between $250–350, The StandardX is positioning itself as a premium choice for travellers and Melburnians looking for a unique hotel experience that blends luxury with Fitzroy's artistic and cultural heritage. Nick Cave, Ollie Olsen, Stuart Grant and Rowland S. Howard are even among the hotel's inspirations. The StandardX is set to open in February 2024 at 62 Rose Street, Fitzroy — head to the hotel's website for further details.
If you're a fan of a pub roast — or just want the wintry vibes to stay around a little while longer — we've got some good news for you. Richmond's Harlow will be dishing up a different roast each Sunday — with bottomless wine. The roasts (as you may have guessed) are available every Sunday, for both lunch and dinner, until the end of October. For $20 per person, you can opt for a traditional meat roast, which will rotate between smoked beef short rib, chargrilled chicken or smoked brisket, and there's a veg option of blackened spiced eggplant, too. Of course, you'll get all the trimmings — think fat chips, peas with maple bacon, honey roasted carrots, Yorkshire pudding and the always necessary gravy. Or, you can turn it into a full-blown Sunday session with bottomless wine to go with your meal for $49 a head. You'll be sipping away for two hours, between 1–3pm for lunch or 6–8pm for dinner. Harlow's Sunday roasts, with the additional option of bottomless wine, is running every Sunday, from 12pm, until Sunday, October 27. To book a table, head here.
Because you're reading this, we know you're not someone who received a pet for Christmas, only to decide it wasn't for you. We know you're one of the good folks. You're probably wishing that you did receive a loveable animal as a gift, even if you already have one — or several — that you adore. We understand your yearning, and so does the RSPCA. And, to find permanent homes for pups, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs and even pigs surrendered into its care from all over the country, it's lowering the adoption fee to $29 this weekend. The weekend-long initiative is called Clear the Shelters and will run from Friday, February 22 until Sunday, February 24. Although you can't put a price on the happiness a new four-legged friend will bring, it's hoped that the low adoption fee will encourage people who have been thinking about adding a pet to their fam (and have considered it thoroughly) to make the commitment this week. Last year, the RSPCA found new homes for 2792 pets Australia-wide. [caption id="attachment_708671" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Heidi is available for adoption in Sydney, Animal ID 345082.[/caption] This year, Clear the Shelters will run across Australia in all states and territories except NT and Tasmania. The adoption fees — which usually range from $20–600 — help cover some of the costs of vaccines, training, desexing and microchipping for the animal. Whether you're in NSW, Victoria, WA or Queensland, there are hundreds of animals that need a new home full of love and pats. There's more to pet adoption than overdosing on cuteness, of course, with making the commitment to care for an animal is serious business. Top image: Han is available for adoption in Sydney, Animal ID 441478.
If the individual movies a director makes can be seen as chapters from an ongoing book, then consider Noah Baumbach the author of a sharp, sweeping coming-of-age chronicle. Whether dissecting mature malaise in Greenberg, the attempts of a twenty-something to find her place in life in Frances Ha or the clash of the two in While We're Young, he remains fascinated with the process of growing up at any stage. In Mistress America, Baumbach offers another instalment on his beloved topic, all while re-teaming with Greta Gerwig. Almost by design, their previous collaboration — both co-writing, him directing and her starring in Frances Ha, as remains the case here — looms large over their latest effort. Consider Frances Ha the fate that could've befallen Mistress America's teenager Tracy (Lola Kirke) after college if she hadn't crossed paths with her stepsister-to-be Brooke (Gerwig), or the past that might've delivered 30-year-old Brooke to her current predicament. The two are brought together by their parents' impending marriage, with Tracy seeing Brooke as the big sis — and guide to life, both in New York and in general — she's never had. They're opposites: Tracy is quiet, lonely and wants to be a writer; Brooke is confident, constantly talks about herself and has an endless array of future plans. As they spend more time together, the seeming differences between the two become less pronounced. That fact isn't lost on Tracy, who starts to imagine Brooke as 'Meadow', the deeply flawed character in her new short story. While finding commonality in Baumbach's films has become unavoidable, that doesn't make his work any less enjoyable or astute. There's a level of comfort to Mistress America's return to the filmmaker's well-traversed terrain, as well as his trademark intelligence and energy. Here, as in the rest of his efforts, he's fleshing out recognisable ideas and anxieties, but done so with slightly different parts. And while the overall message is starting to sound a little repetitive even as it remains accurate, the individual elements still have plenty of charms. The feature is at its best in its wonderful midsection, where it plunges into a superbly executed farce. When a series of circumstances sends the not-quite-siblings plus some of Tracy's friends (Matthew Shear and Jasmine Cephas Jones) on a road trip to Connecticut to visit Brooke's former boyfriend (Heather Lind) and BFF (Michael Chernus), Baumbach takes his favourite themes into shrewd, smart and incisively funny screwball territory. In some of the best sequences the director has committed to the screen, infectious laughter ensues, as does insight and urgency that the rest of the film can't quite match. Of course, that plays into Baumbach's usual oeuvre: what is a coming-of-age story, and his entire output, if not an examination of how to keep going after pivotal moments and turning points?
Defiant, powerful and passionate at every turn, Muru depicts a relentless police raid on New Zealand's Rūātoki community. Equally alive with anger, the Aotearoan action-thriller and drama shows law enforcement storming into the district to apprehend what's incorrectly deemed a terrorist cell, but is actually activist and artist Tāme Iti — playing himself — and his fellow Tūhoe people. If October 2007 springs to mind while watching, it's meant to. Written and directed by Poi E: The Story of Our Song and Mt Zion filmmaker Tearepa Kahi, this isn't a mere dramatisation of well-known events, however. There's a reason that Muru begins by stamping its purpose on the screen, and its whole rationale for existing: "this film is not a recreation… it is a response". That the feature's name is also taken from a Māori process of redressing transgressions is both telling and fitting as well. Kahi's film is indeed a reaction, a reply, a counter — and a way of processing past wrongs. In a fashion, it's Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion turned into cinema, because a spate of instances across New Zealand over a century-plus has sparked this on-screen answer. Muru's script draws from 15 years back; also from the police shooting of Steven Wallace in Waitara in 2000 before that; and from the arrest of Rua Kēnana in Maungapōhatu even further ago, in 1916. While the movie finds inspiration in the screenplay Toa by Jason Nathan beyond those real-life events, it's always in dialogue with things that truly happened, and not just once, and not only recently. If every action causes an opposite reaction, Muru is Kahi's way of sifting through, rallying against and fighting back after too many occasions where the long arm of the NZ law, and of colonialism, has overreached. Played by Cliff Curtis (Reminiscence) with the brand of command that he's long been known for — and with the unshakeable presence that's served him through everything from The Piano, Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider through to The Dark Horse, Fear the Walking Dead and Doctor Sleep — Police Sergeant 'Taffy' Tawhara sits at the heart of Rūātoki's us-and-them divide. A local cop, he has the nation's laws to uphold, but he's also beholden to the community he hails from. His homecoming is recent, with his father (Tipene Ohlson) ailing and undergoing dialysis. So far, it has also been quiet. On the day that Muru begins, Taffy drives the school bus, takes the Aunties for medical checkups at the local mobile clinic and does what everyone in the valley does in their own manners: watches out for and tries to support 16-year-old Rusty (Poroaki Merritt-McDonald, Savage), the nephew of fellow officer Blake (Ria Te Uira Paki, The Dead Lands), who has the role of Rūātoki's resident wayward teen down pat. When Rusty smashes up shop windows that night, Taffy takes the call, then makes Iti's Camp Rama his second stop. A gathering of locals that champions survival skills and Tūhoe culture, it's designed to foster and reinforce the area's identity, which Taffy thinks Rusty can benefit from — even if that evening marks the sergeant's first attendance himself. But Camp Rama has also been under surveillance by the NZ police's special tactics group, with haughty leader Gallagher (Jay Ryan, The Furnace) and his quick-tempered second-in-command Kimiora (Manu Bennett, The Hobbit) deciding that Iti and his friends are a threat to national security. The highly armed tactical unit descends upon the community the next day, aided behind the scenes by colleagues Maria (Simone Kessell, Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Jarrod (Byron Coll, Nude Tuesday), overseen by an MP (Colin Moy, Guns Akimbo) determined to make a statement, and ignoring Taffy's pleas that their mission is mistaken. From the outset, Kahi flits between the two halves of Muru's narrative, letting their clash echo from the feature's frames. Daily life in the valley isn't idyllic, but everyone's wellbeing is a communal responsibility, as seen in the way that Blake pitches in to help with pāpā while Taffy is out driving, as well as the fondness shown for Rusty by school kids and elders alike. Among law enforcement, displaying force and strength rather than flexibility or care is the only focus — to explosive ends once the raid starts. His film isn't subtle, but Kahi proves both unflinching and perceptive in contrasting empathy with its utter absence. A case in point: the evocatively shot (by cinematographers Chris Mauger, Herb — Songs of Freedom, and Fred Renata, Dawn Raid) and tensely edited (by Hacksaw Ridge Oscar-winner John Gilbert) moments when the cops surround the school bus, tracking Rusty on his horse. The children see ninjas, the adults see life changing forever and the police simply see targets. If Muru didn't come layered with real-life context and a wealth of history, it'd still make for taut, intense and gripping viewing; as an action-thriller, it's sharp, tightly wound and skilfully executed, and teems with lively chases — by foot, car, horse and air alike — as well as loaded confrontations. Undercutting IRL trauma by boiling it down to a Hollywood formula isn't Kahi's intention, though, or the end result that pulsates across the screen. Muru is all the more riveting because it's so deeply felt, so steeped in generations of shattering violence, and so willing to ponder what compassion and justice truly mean. It also bubbles with the sensation that the movie wouldn't even need to exist in a better world, because the events that it's interrogating wouldn't have happened. This is a reckoning on several levels, including with that truth. As set against Rūātoki's scenic greenery, Muru is always a complicated picture, clearly — and that includes its choice to work in fiction instead of remaining glued to facts. Sometimes, though, spinning a story rather than sticking to actuality can be more potent, more emotionally authentic, and also brim with more feeling, as it instantly does here. Of course, there's no avoiding Iti, the feature's constant reminder that reality underscores even Muru's most imaginative narrative leaps. As himself, he's one part of a fine-tuned cast — weighty performances by Curtis, Merritt-McDonald, Ryan and Kessell stand out — but he's also Muru's beacon. Fury, understanding, hope, honouring the past, striving for a different future: in this dynamic film and in Iti's eyes, they all both ripple and linger.
There are two major joys to a good whodunnit: the puzzle and the journey. Whichever intriguing narrative is being thrust their way, audiences want to sleuth along with the characters, piecing clues together in their heads. They want to enjoy each and every one of the story's many ins, outs, twists and turns as all the details unravel, too. The greats of the genre, both on the page and the screen, understand this. It's what made Agatha Christie the queen of suspense, and what kept viewers glued to the screen during 2019's stellar mystery flick Knives Out. The makers of The Translators get this concept as well, and embrace it heartily. In fact, writer/director Régis Roinsard (Populaire) and his co-scribes Romain Compingt and Daniel Presley go a little heavy on convoluted minutiae and attempts to keep everyone guessing, but still mostly serve up an entertaining thriller. The Translators' premise is killer — in a film that doesn't shy away from a body count, but is actually more concerned with stolen pages from the yet-to-be-released last book in the bestselling The Man Who Did Not Want to Die series. The latest novel has only been seen by its secretive author, who refuses to reveal his identity to the world; arrogant French publisher Eric Angstrom (Lambert Wilson, The Odyssey), who made his entire fortune by releasing the first two hit instalments; and the nine translators the latter has assembled to prepare the text in multiple languages for a simultaneous worldwide debut. The enlisted team of experts are only being given 20 pages at a time, however, and they're all living and working in a lavish, highly secure, internet-free and heavily guarded underground bunker beneath a remote chateau for the duration of their two-month contract. Accordingly, when Angstrom receives an email threatening to leak the new book unless a huge ransom is paid, he's both perplexed and angry. Fleshing out its main players isn't high among The Translators' priorities, with Angstrom a cookie-cutter publishing sleaze and his sequestered translators all fitting clearcut types. The Lisbeth Salander-esque Portuguese twenty-something Telma (Maria Leite) arouses immediate suspicion, for example, while Italian Dario (Riccardo Scarmarcio, John Wick: Chapter 2) is dashing and enigmatic, German Ingrid (Anna-Maria Sturm) is a stickler for procedure and Chinese employee Chen (Frédéric Chau) always takes a practical approach. The film attempts to be a tad more furtive about Katerina (Olga Kurylenko, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote), a Russian who purposely dresses to resemble the fated heroine in the book the group is working on, and Englishman Alex (Alex Lawther, The End of the F***ing World), who is noticeably young — but casting choices, with the two ranking among the film's most recognisable faces, already tell the audience that these characters will stand out. Including beleaguered mother Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen, In Fabric), stuttering Spaniard Javier (Edouardo Noriega) and cynical Greek Konstantinos (Manolis Mavromatakis), The Translators treats everyone on-screen like pawns, all in service of its twisty mystery. That's standard for the genre, though — if you're going to quickly strip a group of suspects down to their underlying motives in intriguingly heightened circumstances, it often helps if there's not too much padding on top. And while that whole tactic is glaringly apparent here, The Translators endeavours to keep proceedings humming along by zipping between new developments at a frantic pace. The movie takes time to establish its concept, naturally, and to explain everything that's relevant about the locked-in situation its titular figures find themselves in (complete with tours of gleaming subterranean pools and bowling alleys). After the groundwork has been laid, it then hurtles forward like someone furiously thumbing through an airport novel. At times, it gets a little too carried away with the exaggerated drip-fed clues, surprise reveals and reversals, but this is still a slick, swift-moving affair that ticks all the whodunnit basics. Sometimes, and usually entertainingly so, it navigates through plenty of heist flick staples as well. As a result, The Translators is understandably a story and style-driven film rather than an actor showpiece; however Roinsard has amassed a considerable group of talent. Ensuring that a mystery's characters demand the audience's attention, even if they're little more than archetypes, is another crucial aspect of the genre — and, thanks to the convincingly slimy Wilson, the slippery Lawther and the melodramatic Kurylenko especially, that's achieved. Also generally hitting the spot while remaining as overt as possible: the movie's contemplation of art versus commerce, and of literary fandom. Nothing new is spouted or revealed, particularly given the obsessiveness that some books garner in real life, but tussling with these ideas gives the feature a bit of extra bite nonetheless. That doesn't make The Translators an overly memorable whodunnit, but that's the thing with page-turners and their filmic equivalent — if you enjoy the game and the ride enough once, it doesn't matter if you won't be clamouring for a second helping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THXebxAFCzY
Just like planning overseas getaways for certain parts of the year — now that they're allowed again, that is — Australian cinema lovers can base their annual calendar around which parts of the globe they'd like to peer at. As autumn hits, the French Film Festival kicks into gear around the country. Midyear, when things are frosty, the Scandinavian Film Festival usually arrives. When spring is in full swing, it's Italian Film Festival time. And, from February 2022, summer will now end with a movie-going trip to Europe. Kicking off on Friday, February 4 and running through until Sunday, February 27, Europa! Europa is the new Aussie film fest that'll bring Europe's latest flicks to our screens. Debuting in Sydney and Melbourne, it'll focus on fresh new flicks from the entire continent — and pair them with live music and special events across its three-week run. While it's too early for the festival's program just yet, Europa! Europa will launch its 2022 lineup with a keenly anticipated title that gives a firm idea of how the event means to go on. That'd be the acclaimed, Cannes-premiering French feature Benedetta, which tells the tale of real-life 17th-century Tuscan nun Benedetta Carlini. The reason there's a film about her? She believed she saw visions of Christ, and also had in a sexual relationship with a fellow sister at her abbey. Benedetta also hails from Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, who has quite the attention-grabbing resume — including directing the original RoboCop and Total Recall movies, sticking with sci-fi for Starship Troopers, and spearheading 90s erotic thrillers courtesy of Basic Instinct and Showgirls. He also helmed the Isabelle Huppert-starring revenge thriller Elle in 2016, too. Consider it a vision of things to come at Sydney and Melbourne's newest film fest, which hasn't announced its venues yet, either, but'll host its launch screenings on Sunday, January 16 at Elsternwick's Classic Cinemas in Melbourne and Randwick's Ritz Cinema in Sydney. Check out the trailer for Benedetta below: Europa! Europa will screen in Sydney and Melbourne between Friday, February 4–Sunday, February 27, 2022, following program launch screenings on Sunday, January 16 at Elsternwick's Classic Cinemas in Melbourne and Randwick's Ritz Cinema in Sydney. We'll update you with the full lineup when it is announced.
In response to Victoria's rising COVID-19 case numbers over the past few weeks, the State Government has implemented a number of measures in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The state has extended its State of Emergency until mid-July, launched a suburban testing blitz, tightened some gathering restrictions for all Victorians and reintroduced strict stay-at-home orders for Melbourne postcodes that are experiencing the worst community transmission of coronavirus. And, today, Saturday, July 4, it has also advised that it's locking down two more sections of the city. With 108 new cases of COVID-19 recorded over the past 24 hours — the biggest rise in numbers since Saturday, March 28 — Premier Daniel Andrews has announced the expansion of the state's reintroduced stay-at-home orders to include postcodes 3031 and 3051. In those areas, and in the suburbs of Flemington and North Melbourne specifically, 23 cases have been identified across more than 12 households in public housing estates, with the Premier advising that "this is not like an outbreak spread across multiple homes or multiple suburbs". He explained that "the close confines and the shared community spaces within these large apartment blocks means this virus can spread like wildfire. And just like fire, we need to put a perimeter around it to stop it from spreading". Accordingly, the new rules will come into place in the 3031 and 3051 postcodes from 11.59pm tonight, Saturday, July 4. https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1279299365543096322 For most residents of the two postcodes, the reintroduced requirements are very familiar. They're what were in place at stage three of the state's COVID-19 restrictions in late March. So, if you're in one of the ten originally announced or two newly added "hot zone" postcodes with stay-at-home lockdowns, you'll only be able to leave your house for one of four reasons: for work or school, for care or care giving, for daily exercise or for food and other essentials. You won't be able to have friends and family visit either — unless it's for care — but you can visit your partner and they can visit you. Plus, businesses in these suburbs will be reverting back to stage three rules, too. Which means, restaurants and cafes must offer takeaway only, and gyms, galleries, beauty parlours, swimming pools, libraries and theatres will need to close. These rules will also impact all Victorians who usually go into these suburbs — you won't be able to enter an affected suburb, unless it's for one of the four aforementioned reasons. For residents of the nine public housing estates in the 3031 and 3051 postcodes, however, a "complete lockdown" will come into effect — and will last at least five days at this stage. The nine sites will be closed and contained, and residents will be required to stay inside their homes. "Just as we've done with similar outbreaks in closely confined settings like aged care, the only people coming in and out will be those providing essential services," said Premier Andrews. The residents of the nine public housing towers will receive onsite clinical care, as well as food delivery and care packages. The two new postcodes that are required to return to stage three stay-at-home restrictions from tonight are: 3031: Flemington, Kensington 3051: North Melbourne, Hotham Hill The nine public housing estates that'll progress to a complete lockdown are: 12 Holland Court, Flemington 120 Racecourse Road, Flemington 126 Racecourse Road, Flemington 130 Racecourse Road, Flemington 12 Sutton Street, North Melbourne 33 Alfred Street, North Melbourne 76 Canning Street, North Melbourne 159 Melrose Street, North Melbourne 9 Pampas Street, North Melbourne They join the ten postcodes that returned to stage three stay-at-home restrictions tomorrow earlier this week: 3012: Brooklyn, Kingsville, Maidstone, Tottenham and West Footscray 3021: Albanvale, Kealba, Kings Park, St Albans 3032: Ascot Vale, Highpoint City, Maribyrnong, Travancore 3038: Keilor Downs, Keilor Lodge, Taylors Lakes, Watergardens 3042: Airport West, Keilor Park, Niddrie 3046: Glenroy, Hadfield, Oak Park 3047: Broadmeadows, Dallas, Jacana 3055: Brunswick South, Brunswick West, Moonee Vale, Moreland West 3060: Fawkner 3064: Craigieburn, Donnybrook, Mickleham, Roxburgh Park and Kalkallo Premier Andrews said today's moves were announced because the recent COVID-19 figures show the state is "still on a knife's edge" and that "the need for targeted, swift action is stronger than ever before". "I know this is big. And I know this is unprecedented. But as always with this thing, an unprecedented challenge requires unprecedented action," the Premier noted. The Premier also said that Victorian Police will be actively enforcing the new stay-at-home orders, including the hard lockdowns. And, once again, if cases continue to rise, other Melbourne postcodes will also need to go back into lockdown, too. Stay-at-home restrictions will come into force in postcodes 3031 and 3051 at 11.59pm on Saturday, July 4. For more information, head to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services website.
The past 14 months or so haven't delivered many reasons to laugh. They haven't seen many big-name international comedians hit our stages to try to get us giggling and guffawing, either. But Bill Bailey is about to help end both of those unwanted streaks, with the British favourite bringing his En Route to Normal tour to our shores this October and November. It has been three years since Bailey last had the country chuckling back in 2018 — and then rewatching Black Books yet again and chuckling some more, naturally. This time, he's coming our way following a sold-our tour of New Zealand, where he also been filming a new trans-Tasman comedy panel series called Patriot Brains. So, if you need something to watch while you wait to see him live, consider this a hearty suggestion. Known for everything from Have I Got News for You and QI to Spaced, Hot Fuzz and Skins, Bailey will be pondering some of life's big questions during his En Route to Normal sets. And, while the pandemic is certain to get a mention, he actually named the show before lockdowns, social distancing and always knowing how many active cases are in your state became our current definition of normal. Bailey will kick off the tour in Queensland, before making his way — and taking his distinctive locks — to Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Plus, in some states, he won't just be sticking to capital cities. BILL BAILEY EN ROUTE TO NORMAL TOUR 2021: October 23 — Empire Theatre , Toowoomba October 25 — QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane October 28 — The Events Centre, Caloundra October 29 — Star Theatre, Gold Coast October 31 — Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, Mandurah November 1 — Riverside Theatre, Perth November 5 — Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide November 8 — Princess Theatre, Launceston November 8 — Wrest Point Entertainment Centre, Hobart November 12 — Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo November 13 — Costa Hall, Geelong November 14 — Civic Hall, Ballarat November 15 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne November 19 — Wollongong Town Hall, Wollongong November 21 — State Theatre, Sydney November 23 — Coliseum Theatre, Sydney November 27 — Royal Theatre, Canberra November 28 — Civic Theatre, Newcastle Bill Bailey's En Route to Normal tour will make its way around the country this October and November. For pre-sale tickets between 12pm Thursday, May 20–5pm, Sunday, May 23, for general ticket sales from 12pm Monday, May 24 and for further information, head to the tour website. Top image: Andy Hollingworth.
With COVID-19 testing ramping up in Victoria over the past few weeks, the state is relaxing some coronavirus-related restrictions from 11.59pm on Sunday, May 31 — just in time for the upcoming long weekend. From then, a selection of normal, everyday activities that have been off the cards since March will be permissible once again. Premier Daniel Andrews says the message has changed from "stay home" to "stay safe", with overnight trips allowed and dine-in service at restaurants, pubs, cafes, bars and clubs back on the cards from midnight on May 31. Galleries, museums, zoos and outdoor amusement parks will reopen then, too. You can also have up to 20 people in your home and outdoor gatherings of up to 20 people, which is a step up from the current five visitors and ten-person gathering restrictions. But there are, of course, some rules. These new restrictions are set to remain in place until at least 11.59pm on Sunday, June 21. So, what exactly can you do? We've broken it down. The below information is correct as of Monday, May 25. We'll update as any new announcements are made. Can I see my friends and family? Yes, visiting your friends and family has been considered a valid reason to leave your home since May 12. Under the new restrictions, you'll also be able to have 20 people in your home, including those you whom live with. Gatherings of up to 20 people outdoors, which includes picnics, yoga sessions and non-contact sport, will also be permissible. Social distancing measures should be followed at all times and 1.5 metres should be kept between you and other people. Can I have a dinner party? Yes, you can. At the moment you can have no more than five guests from outside your home, but from midnight on May 31, you'll be able to have up to 20 people in total. What about going out to restaurants, bars, pubs and cafes? Yep, parmas and pints are back on the table. From June 1, you can dine at Victorian bars, restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs, but according to the Department of Health and Human Services website, they will be required to take your name and details for possible contact tracing. Twenty patrons will be allowed indoors at once and the move only applies to food service, which means pubs and clubs can only reopen their dining areas. Bars and gaming facilities in general will remain closed — including standalone bars — and so will food courts. Provided all goes well, 50 people will be allowed in each establishment from 11.59pm on June 21. Then, come mid-July — with a specific date yet to be revealed — 100 people will be allowed inside. You can check out all the Melbourne venues that are reopening for dine-in service over here. [caption id="attachment_753705" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Old Palm Liquor by Julia Sansone[/caption] Can I exercise in a park? Yep, outdoor communal gym equipment and playgrounds will be open from 11.59pm on Monday, May 25, with a maximum of ten people. From June 1, you can exercise with a maximum of 19 other people as long as you keep your distance (at least 1.5 metres apart). Competitive sport is not allowed, but not-contact sport — such as kicking the footy, yoga, tai chi and bootcamps — are. All the City of Melbourne's parks and the Royal Botanic Gardens are currently open. Or taking my pet out for a walk in the park? You sure can. Taking your pet for a walk is considered exercise. What about going to the gym? Not yet. Gyms, health clubs and fitness studios will be open from Monday, June 22, with up to 20 people allowed per separate enclosed space. A four-square-metre rule and a limit of up to ten people per group will apply. Showers and change rooms will remain closed. What other exercise can I do? Canoeing, kayaking, SUP, rowing and surfing are all allowed, as is golf. Swimming pools — including ocean pools — will be open to a maximum of 20 people from June 1, with a limit of three people per lane. Saunas and spas will remain closed. What about driving to go for a hike or bike ride? Yes, you're currently allowed to travel to national parks for hiking and other recreational activities. From June 1, you'll be able to go with up to 19 other people and on overnight trips, too. We'll get to that next. Before you embark on a road trip, though, check what's open. Most of Parks Victoria's parks, reserves and historic places are now open for day-use activities. Some sites remain closed, including Buchan Caves Reserve, William Ricketts Sanctuary, Lower Glenelg National Park, Point Nepean National Park, Serendip Sanctuary, St Kilda Pier, State Coal Mine, Twelve Apostles lookouts and Werribee Park. Check for updates here. Can I go on a holiday to a coastal/regional town? Yes — and just in time for the Queen's Birthday long weekend, too. With the new eased restrictions from 11.59pm on May 31, there will be no limit on the distance you can travel and overnight stays will be permitted. So, Melburnians can now book an Airbnb, go camping or spend a night at a caravan park, provided these accommodations don't have shared facilities (bathrooms and kitchens). There are no restrictions on leaving or entering Victoria, but many borders remain closed so be sure to check before booking. What about a trip to the snow? Snow sports are allowed and the Victorian ski season will open from midnight on Sunday, June 21, but you should avoid sharing equipment where possible. Will art galleries and museums be open? Yep, galleries, museums, national institutions and historic sites will be allowed to have up to 20 customers per separate space and ensuring the one person per four-square-metres rule is applied. Also allowed to reopen: outdoor amusement parks, zoos, arcades and libraries. From June 22, these places will be allowed to have up to 50 patrons per separate space. [caption id="attachment_758772" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NGV[/caption] What about going to the cinema? Drive-in cinemas will be able to operate from Monday, June 1 and, from 11.59pm on Sunday, June 21, cinemas can reopen with a maximum of 50 people allowed to watch a movie. Those who are not from the same household will be seated at least 1.5 metres from others. Can I go shopping? Yes, you can go shopping. That said, not all shops are open and some have changed their opening hours, so we suggest giving them a call before you head out. The four-square-metre rule will apply to all retail spaces, with patrons advised to keep a 1.5-metre distance. Can I get my hair cut? Hairdressers and barbers are open, but under the new restrictions there'll be a maximum of 20 people allowed at any one time. They will be required to take your name and details for possible contact tracing, adhering to the Department of Health and Human Services website's guidelines. What about other beauty services? Beauty therapy, spray-tanning, waxing, nail salons, tattoo and piercing parlours will be allowed to open, as will spas and massage parlours. Can I go back to work? In short, no. Premier Daniel Andrews advises that if you can work from home — and have been doing so — you should not be going into the office until at least the end of June. "I understand there'll be questions about why you can go to the pub or the park – but not the office," he said in a statement. "We just can't afford to have millions of people moving around our state – taking public transport or using the communal kitchen. Let alone when you think about the logistical challenges of getting people in and out of lifts or lobbies." https://www.facebook.com/DanielAndrewsMP/posts/3102837846447397 I'm on my Ls, how about a driving lesson? Going for a drive, or a motorbike ride, are considered acceptable recreational and educational activities. Flying lessons are now even allowed. Can I go to church? Yes, all places of worship are now allowed to open for small religious ceremonies of up to 20 people. Weddings can also have up to 20 people, in addition to the couple and the celebrant. Funerals can have up to 50 mourners. If held in a home, a maximum of 20 people can be present. If you have more questions, the Victorian Government has an extensive list of FAQs on its website. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. Top image: Firebird by Parker Blain
When it comes to Mother's Day, Melbourne is spoilt for choice this year. If bubbles are high on the agenda, check out our list of champagne-fuelled adventures – from bottomless sessions to three-course lunches and a rooftop picnic. Plus, over here, you'll find a slew of standout restaurants, bars and cafes. But are you looking for something a bit different? Funlab has come to your rescue. It's the name behind some of Melbourne's most entertaining venues — and, this Mother's Day, it wants to treat your mum to the free adventure she deserves. That might be a round of mini golf at Holey Moley while sipping on colourful cocktails, a game of ten-pin bowling at Strike or Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq, or even a session in a challenge room at Hijinx Hotel. All you have to do is book an activity for a minimum of two people on Sunday, May 11, and make your reservation online with the code MUMFREE.
Got a spare spot in your calendar? Fill it up by heading to one (or more) of the world-class sporting events coming to New South Wales in the second half of 2022. As a number of the world's top athletes touch down in search of glory, don't miss your chance to feel the roar of the crowd from up close as diverse exceptional talent do what they do best. WALLABIES v ENGLAND When: July 16, 2022 Where: Sydney Cricket Ground Get down to the SCG on Saturday, July 16 as the Wallabies take on England in what could potentially be the deciding match of a three-test series. It'll be the first time the old foe has been on our shores since 2016, so you can expect to be part of a heaving local crowd that will undoubtedly give the visitors a warm welcome. With the Bledisloe Cup and the 2023 Rugby World Cup just around the corner, both squads are looking to get off to an ideal start at the first test to be held at the SCG since 1986. To purchase tickets for Wallabies v England, head to the website. [caption id="attachment_855864" align="alignnone" width="1920"] UCI, SWpix[/caption] 2022 UCI ROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS When: September 18–25, 2022 Where: Wollongong Hot off the heels of Jai Hindley becoming the first Aussie cyclist to claim victory at the Giro d'Italia, one of the races that make up the Triple Crown of Cycling, the cycling world will descend upon Wollongong this September. The coastal city is hosting one of the other meets in that prestigious trifecta: the 2022 UCI Road World Championships. Catch over 1000 of the world's best cyclists from 70-plus countries ripping through the streets of Wollongong and along its lung-busting coastline in the battle for the coveted rainbow jersey. Across the jam-packed eight-day event, 11 world-championship races will be cheered on by an estimated 300,000 spectators keen to see pedal power reach remarkable heights. In this picturesque location, you'll find men's and women's road races, time trials, community activities and more. If you're planning to make a weekend out of it (and why wouldn't you be?), check out our massive guide to the Gong here. For more information about the 2022 UCI Road World Road Championships, head to the website. FIBA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WORLD CUP 2022 When: September 22–October 1 Where: Sydney Olympic Park Returning to Australia for the first time in 27 years, the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup sees 12 of the best national teams go head to head across ten action-packed days. For the 2022 edition, games will take place at Sydney Olympic Park and its two incredible stadiums – the Sydney SuperDome and the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre. Across 38 matches, some of the most exciting players in the world right now will put it all on the line to take the coveted trophy home. The United States team is travelling to Australia as three-time defending champions. But our hometown heroes, as well as Canada, Belgium, France and China, are all well-placed to spoil the Americans' party. Get down and support the Opals in their hunt for a second FIBA championship title. To purchase tickets to the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022, head to the website. [caption id="attachment_855867" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gareth Copley - ICC via Getty Images[/caption] ICC MEN'S T20 WORLD CUP 2022 When: October 16–November 13 Where: Sydney Cricket Ground As Australia gets ready for another summer of cricket, the world's best players will be in Sydney from October for one of the biggest events on the global cricket calendar. From October 22, the ICC Men's T20 World Cup will take place at venues all around the country. The SCG is set to host seven matches, including Australia's opening match of the tournament against New Zealand on October 16 and a semi-final on November 9. Australia is the defending champion but faces tough competition from 15 international teams, with the likes of India, England, Bangladesh, South Africa and Pakistan also featuring in Sydney. The thrilling pace and dynamic nature of T20 cricket makes it a perfect night out for all ages, so make sure you don't miss your chance to experience this global celebration of cricket in person. To purchase tickets for the ICC Men's T20 Men's World Cup 2022, head to the website. To discover more world-class events taking place in NSW, head to Visit NSW.
Call this 'The One with Familiar But Still Exciting News': Friends! The Musical Parody is bringing its comedic, song-filled take on a certain 90s sitcom to Melbourne in 2022. Yes, this announcement has been made before, and more than once. The show has even opened its umbrellas in some parts of the country already. But we all know how the past two years have turned out — so the fact that the production is doing the rounds again should still make your day, week, month and even this year. This time around, Friends! The Musical Parody will be there for audiences at the Athenaeum Theatre from Wednesday, November 23–Saturday, December 17. So, get ready to spend time with the show's versions of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe — hanging out at their beloved Central Perk, of course, and sitting on an orange couch, no doubt. The musical starts with caffeinated catch-ups, but then a runaway bride shakes up the gang's day. From there, you'll get to giggle through a loving, laugh-filled lampoon that both makes good-natured fun of and celebrates the iconic sitcom. Yes, no one told you that being obsessed with the Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer-starring show about six New Yorkers would turn out this way — with on-stage skits and gags, recreations of some of the series' best-known moments, and songs with titles such as 'How you Doin?' and 'We'll Always Be There For You'. And no, no one told us that being a Friends aficionado would continue to serve up so many chances to indulge our fandom 17 years after it finished airing, either.
Italian aperitivo with a tropical tiki twist. It's the combo you never knew you needed in your life and it's here to spice up summer. Introducing, Aperitiki — the new weekend event taking over Vince's Bar above Rocco's this sunny season. From Friday to Sunday each week, until the end of summer, the Gertrude Street joint will be jumping to the sound of Italo-disco and surf rock, as cocktail whizz Joe Jones (Romeo Lane) whips up an exclusive menu of tiki-inspired cocktails heroing Italian aperitifs. You'll find sips like the Heartthrob — a blend of pisco, seasoned Campari, peach vermouth and tomato vinegar — the lager- and Aperol-infused Vince's Lager; and a fun fusion of coffee rum, Campari and pineapple known as the Early Bird. To match, Poodle's Josh Fry will be serving up his own take on the Aperitiki concept, in the form of snacks — think, coconut shrimp sandwiches and mortadella-stuffed fried olives — plus share-friendly mixed seafood towers. And if you get in early, you should be able to nab a sunny spot on the patio to enjoy it all. Aperitiki will run from 4pm–late Fridays and Saturdays, and from 3–8pm Sundays.
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.
Tragedy, deceit, treachery: these are all words associated with Bell Shakespeare's latest production, Julius Caesar. The Australian theatre troupe is stopping in Melbourne for ten performances of the Shakespearean tragedy, as part of its 2018 national tour. Led by the company's associate director, James Evans, the political thriller will appear at Arts Centre Melbourne from July 18–28. Julius Caesar explores the damaging effects of betrayal, as audiences witness how "mob violence erupts, relationships fracture and the republic crumbles" throughout the tense plot. Kenneth Ransom (Gods of Egypt) is set to present an emotional, encapsulating rendition of the title character alongside an ensemble cast. Since 1990, Bell Shakespeare has taken the words crafted by Shakespeare and presented them to spectators as eery commentary on the current state of the world. In speaking on this production, director Evans highlights the idea of dystopias and "the way in which yesterday's dystopia becomes today's normality". With tickets starting from $45 for under 30s, Julius Caesar is sure to be an enlightening, exciting production filled with takeaway lessons for today's society. For more information on tickets and shows, head to Arts Centre Melbourne's website.
Once again, Melbourne's original shipping container bar Section 8 is celebrating Christmas with a proper knees-up, in the form of a free eight-day party. From December 19–26, the famed CBD beer garden will become celebration central, playing host to a huge lineup of more than 30 great musical acts. The bar will open at 12pm daily for 8 Days of Christmas, with those dance-friendly sets running until late. Entry is free across the whole week, and gets you you front row seats to a stack of local favourites like Agent 86, Naru, Afrodelica, Amin Payne, Taijae, Mrs Wallace, Mr Pitiful, Tom Showtime, Ghostnotes and more. [caption id="attachment_849269" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Leilani Bale[/caption] As well as tunes, there'll be live projections from Isaiah Morris and Lava Brain, hoop shootouts in the laneway, and a bumper lineup of brews and cocktails to keep you kicking on as long as the festivities do. And from 12pm on Sunday, December 25, you'll catch Section 8's annual Orphan's Xmas Party, complete with a free barbecue, ice-cold beers and beats spinning from 3pm.
Since Netflix dropped the third season of Stranger Things way back in mid-2019, fans of the 80s-set sci-fi/horror series have been left with plenty of questions. Some were answered relatively quickly, with Jim Hopper's (David Harbour, Black Widow) immediate fate covered in an early teaser back in February 2020. Other queries took a while to answer, with the streamer only revealing an exact release date for the show's fourth season in February this year. But here's one train of thought that's been going through absolutely no one's minds until now: do they play guitar in the Upside Down? Arriving after a heap of shorter sneak peeks over the past year or so — with a couple more teasers released in May 2021, then another one in August, followed by yet another in September and one more last November — the full trailer for Stranger Things season four resolves that axe-shredding question. The answer: a wailing yes. But if you're now wondering the obvious — aka why? — you'll need to wait till the show's first new episodes arrive on Friday, May 27, or maybe even until its second batch of season four instalments hit on Friday, July 1. Also covered in this long-waited return trip to Hawkins: mysterious packages, an angry Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, Godzilla vs Kong) setting off sparks, a new D&D club and a levitating Max (Sadie Sink, The Last Castle). Oh, and a new monster who looks like it should've crawled out of The X-Files. And yes, the vibe here is all old-school horror — which is hardly surprising given that one of those past teaser trailers had Steve (Joe Keery, Spree), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo, The Angry Birds Movie 2), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin, Concrete Cowboy) and Max exploring an eerie haunted house. Across the clips so far, viewers have also been taken to California, which is where Eleven, Joyce (Winona Ryder, The Plot Against America), Will (Noah Schnapp, Waiting for Anya) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton, The New Mutants) have washed up following season three. Eleven is settling in as well as she can settle in anywhere, as she explains in a letter to Mike (Finn Wolfhard, The Goldfinch) — but she also can't wait until she can see him in person again. And, we've headed back to Hawkins Laboratory and its whole creepy setup, too. So, piece all these trailers together and Netflix has dropped plenty of clues about what's in store — but facing a new supernatural threat and trying to put an end to the Upside Down's horrors is the gang's main aim in season four. If it feels like series' creators Matt and Ross Duffer are working on their endgame, that's unsurprising. The pair announced a few months back that there'll only be one more season to follow after season four. But, this season has "a runtime of nearly twice the length of any previous seasons," the Duffer brothers also advised. It certainly has a whole heap of trailers, and the full sneak-peek clocks in at over three minutes. May 27 can't come soon enough — but until then, you can check out the Stranger Things season four trailer below: Stranger Things season four will be able to stream via Netflix in two parts, with Volume One dropping on Friday, May 27 and Volume Two hitting on Friday, July 1. Images: courtesy of Netflix.
If you're planning to have fully recovered from Christmas lunch by the time New Year's Eve rolls around, Grazeland is the ultimate spot to wrap up your 2022. The Spotswood food precinct is serving up a whole stack of NYE festivities alongside its usual globe-trotting array of eats and drinks. Party-goers over the age of 18 can nab tickets to newly-minted cocktail bar the Grazeland Deck, where there'll be tunes by the likes of DJ Patryk B and Percussionist Juan Pablo, party eats, and free-flowing beer, wine and bubbly. Guests will also score a cocktail on arrival, plus primo views of the night's fireworks — tickets clock in at $180, available online. The rest of the Grazeland precinct will also be hopping, with NYE general admission tickets at $25 online (free for under 12s). There'll be fire artists and sparkly performances by the Mirror Men, and a thumping dance floor led by sounds from Tryst and Frankie Says Sax. That tempting lineup of stalls and bars will be open for all your evening's wining and dining needs, too. Top Image: I in the Sky Productions
Ageing is a privilege. It's certainly better than the alternative. But what if life's physical ravages were condensed and accelerated? What if you were a six-year-old one moment, a teenager a few hours later and sporting middle-aged wrinkles the next morning? That's the premise of Old, which boasts a sci-fi setup that could've come straight from The Twilight Zone, a chaotic midsection reminiscent of Mother!'s immersive horrors, and a setting and character dynamics that nod to Lost. It slides in alongside recently unearthed George A Romero thriller The Amusement Park as well and, with M Night Shyamalan behind the lens, indulges the writer/director's love of high-concept plots with big twists. No one sees dead people and plants aren't the culprits — thankfully, in the latter case — however, surprise revelations remain part of this game. That said, unlike earlier in his career, when the filmmaker might've made the rapid passage of time the final big shock, Shyamalan isn't just about jolts and amazement here. Old has another sizeable reveal, naturally. Shyamalan is still the director behind The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, The Visit, Split, Glass and more, and he likes his bag of tricks. This time, though, he wants to play with and probe his scenario rather than primarily tease his audience and get them puzzling. He wants viewers to experience the minutiae rather than wait for the ultimate unmasking (yes, with his fondness for twists, he'd probably make a great version of Scooby Doo). The notion that ageing brings pain and loss — physical, mental and emotional alike — isn't new, of course. Nor is the reality that death awaits us all, or that we rarely make the most of our seconds, minutes and hours (and days, weeks, months and years). But Shyamalan embraces these immutable facts to explore how humanity responds to getting older and the knowledge that we'll die, and how our worldview is shaped as a result — or, when we're all ignoring our mortality as we typically soldier on day after day, how ordinarily it isn't. Holidaying from Philadelphia — Shyamalan's hometown and usual on-screen setting — Guy (Gael García Bernal, Ema) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread) have a different ending on their minds as they settle into a luxe resort on a remote tropical island. Their marriage is crumbling, but they're giving their six-year-old son Trent (Nolan River, Adverse) and 11-year-old daughter Maddox (Alexa Swinton, Billions) one last happy vacation before their domestic bliss subsides. The kids have conflicting ideas about how to spend their getaway, but the hotel's manager (Gustaf Hammarsten, Kursk) has a suggestion. He tells the family about a secret beach, and stresses that he doesn't just tip off any old customers about its existence. The fact that they're escorted by mini-bus (driven by Shyamalan, in one of his regular cameos) alongside a few other resort guests undercuts that clandestine claim, but everyone soon has far worse to deal with. With arrogant surgeon Charles (Rufus Sewell, The Father), his younger wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee, Lovecraft Country), their daughter Kara (debutant Kylie Begley) and his elderly mother Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant, The Affair) — and with famous rapper Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre, The Underground Railroad), and couple Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird, The Personal History of David Copperfield) and Jarin (Ken Leung, a Lost alum) as well — Guy, Prisca, Trent and Maddox quickly discover that time ticks by at a much speedier pace on this supposedly idyllic patch of sand. Also, no matter how they try, they can't manage to leave its oceanside expanse. The bulk of Old charts their reactions, especially as seconds equate to hours and the effects show almost immediately. Not only do the kids grow up fast (which is where Jojo Rabbit's Thomasin McKenzie, Jumanji: The Next Level's Alex Wolff and Babyteeth's Eliza Scanlen come in), but all of the beachgoers' health ailments are expedited, too. Diving in wholeheartedly, Shyamalan mixes stints of body horror with the film's existential woes, all while deploying Mike Gioulakis' (Us) constantly careening cinematography to convey the confusion sweeping through his exasperated characters. When it works — when it's plunging into the mania, discomfort and disorientation caused by time's sped-up slip — Old unfurls with a sense of fluidity, frenzy and thoughtfulness. It contemplates loss on multiple levels, including of health, childhood and life, and it finds vivid images to express the chaos and dismay that springs. Indeed, its depictions of advancing cancer, osteoporosis, loss of sight and loss of hearing are bold and effective. Shyamalan also uses his scenic backdrop cannily, giving his stranded figures and everyone watching a reminder that the planet's beauty will linger unaffected even as a lifetime of dramas play out (climate change isn't part of this scenario, obviously). And, his musings and the imagery they inspire all strike an emotional chord. His smart casting helps at every step as well, led by not just Bernal and Krieps, but McKenzie, Wolff and Scanlen. It's confronting to watch people realise their future is now gone, their squabbles unimportant and their regrets many, just as it's poignant to see young adults who were kids mere minutes ago grapple with coming of age on a rapid timeframe. Still, Shyamalan's beachy nightmare also has its struggles. Adapting his narrative from Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters' graphic novel Sandcastle, he pens dialogue that's descriptive, exposition-heavy and often clunky. His treatment of mental illness as a villainous force is immensely troublesome. As is evident from the get-go, when cocktails are foisted too enthusiastically upon new resort arrivals and a young boy, Idlib (Kailen Jude, Grey's Anatomy), befriends Trent but seems wearied by everything around him, Shyamalan also can't completely resist the urge to force-feed blatantly apparent details. The film's needlessly conspicuous touches don't wash away its thrills, but they do make this a movie that's never as potent as it could be. When it's bonkers, insidious and moving all at once, Old grabs you as firmly as time grabs us all. When it just can't help being too neat, explanation-wise, it treads water rather than seizes the moment.
Usually, cancer movies aren't just terrible and generic — they're insulting. Too often focusing on pretty young things succumbing slowly to the insidious disease while trying to relish their remaining time, they frequently tug at the heartstrings with shameless abandon, treating their protagonists and their plights as a mechanism to wring weepy sobs out of the audience. The Fault in Our Stars did it. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl did too, even winning awards at Sundance for dressing up its efforts with an overtly quirky, cinema-worshipping vibe. So when a film hones in on a cancer-afflicted teenager yet refuses to trot out the same old tropes and cliches in the same old ways — when it instead appreciates its protagonist as the sum of everything that makes her who she is, instead of the mere cause of everyone else's sense of loss, including viewers' — it firmly, welcomely stands out. Babyteeth is that movie, and it could never be mistaken for a standard sickness drama. As directed by Australian theatre and TV veteran-turned-feature first-timer Shannon Murphy, this lively, insightful and moving film truly sees its central figure, Milla (Little Women's Eliza Scanlen), as a person first and foremost. She isn't simply a storytelling tool used to evoke easy emotion and inspire tear-streaked faces. Nor is she a secondary figure primarily deployed to stress the extent of someone else's troubles, as many a movie that endeavours to explain away the grating behaviour of a healthy but struggling character has been known to do. Milla's flaws and difficulties aren't buffed down to a soft, saintly sheen, as has become a hallmark of illness on-screen, and her coming-of-age journey isn't presented as a bittersweet reminder that life is far too short. Rather, Babyteeth follows the passionate Sydney high schooler as she falls for 23-year-old small-time drug dealer Moses (Acute Misfortune's Toby Wallace) while her already distressed and labouring parents watch on. Milla tumbles literally at first, during the pair's meet-cute on a Sydney train platform as the instantly recognisable station announcement tone echoes through the speakers above her. While the just-evicted Moses asks for money, he's also tender and caring, even though the two have just crossed paths. And so, immediately intrigued by and smitten with this stranger who gives her more attention for just being herself than she's become accustomed to receiving, she proposes a deal: she'll give Moses $50 if he takes to her sandy, cascading hair with clippers in a pre-treatment strike, then comes back to her sprawling suburban home to have dinner with her parents. Initially introduced in a stilted psychiatry office sex scene — one that speaks to their flailing, failing quest to retain any normality they can during their daughter's illness — Milla's mother Anna (Essie Davis) and father Henry (Ben Mendelsohn) aren't thrilled with their dinner guest. He'll still become the fourth figure in their dysfunctional family as the months pass, though, as Milla relapses and undergoes chemotherapy, ex-classical pianist Anna relies upon Henry's prescription pad to help her cope, and Henry himself begins an unexpected friendship with their pregnant neighbour Toby (Emily Barclay). As adapted from Rita Kalnejais' play by the writer herself, Babyteeth strings its tale together from moments, as the film's key quartet take each minute, second and development in their lives as it comes. Some days, Moses pilfers the household's pills. On others, Milla wrestles with the supposed be-all and end-all that is her school formal. Whether sneaking out to parties and empty karaoke bars or having animated debates, they both keep butting heads with Anna and Henry, too, who both keep attempting to tread the waters of Milla's hard-earned but always-tentative grasp on happiness. From neon-hued exchanges that glow with yearning affection, to frank declarations that Milla and Moses' relationship "is complicated", Babyteeth is unmistakably built from familiar pieces — but it's how the film uses them that matters. When the pithy script has an antidepressant-addled Anna exclaim "what have you done with my daughter?!" to Milla, it also tasks the teen with giving the type of honest answer that only someone with cancer can: "I killed her". At every turn, this pattern continues, not that it ever plays as systematic, repetitive or predictable for an instant. Kalnejais' perceptive and writing combines with Murphy's keen eye for complicated emotions — and the roving, bouncing, ever-expressive visuals that enliven the film's parade of vibrant vignettes as well — to ensure that Babyteeth continually twists even the most well-worn of narrative details in their own direction. In her second role as an unwell adolescent in a row, following Little Women, Scanlen gives a vivid, assured performance beneath Milla's revolving array of naturalistic, ice-blonde and turquoise wigs — another factor that lifts Babyteeth well beyond its thematic peers. She's a ball of energy when Milla is excited, anxious, angry and rebellious, plays peaceful and resigned with the same inner force, and stomachs the ignorance and condescension of the less sympathetic with quiet pain and fortitude. Unsurprisingly given the cast, she isn't the only actor in stellar form. The wiry Wallace deservedly won the Best Young Actor award at 2019's Venice Film Festival for his thoughtful work, and Davis and Mendelsohn — the latter in straight rather than menacing mode for a change (see: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ready Player One and Robin Hood) — convey the storm of conflicted feelings whirling inside Anna and Henry. In words rarely, if ever, directed at a film about a teenager with cancer, the feature's core performers all prove raw, sensitive, astute and arresting. So does this dynamic, melancholy and memorable drama itself, and it's one of the best Aussie movies that'll hit cinemas in 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLNXHJB5Mto
The Allan Labor Government has launched the new Victorian Pill Testing Service at 95 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, with doors opening on Thursday, August 21. The service will provide completely free, confidential and nonjudgmental advice from health professionals to people who choose to use illicit substances. Operating three days a week — Thursdays (12–4pm), Fridays (3–7pm) and Saturdays (1–7pm) — the Fitzroy service offers more access hours than any other pill testing program currently available in Australia. Its central location places it close to nightlife, public transport and community health services, making it easier for people to access this potentially life-saving support when they're likely to need it most. The fixed site will test pills, capsules, powders, crystals and liquids — while also screening for highly dangerous synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and nitazenes. These substances have become increasingly prevalent in the Australian drug market and are associated with a significant risk of overdose and death. Alongside testing, the service plays a vital role in real-time drug monitoring, providing early warnings to health authorities about new and potent substances in circulation. The Fitzroy service is being delivered by a trusted consortium including Youth Support and Advocacy Service, The Loop Australia and Harm Reduction Victoria, with backing from Melbourne Health, Youth Projects and Metabolomics Australia at the University of Melbourne. Victoria's mobile pill testing unit will also continue, returning to major festivals this summer after assessing almost 1400 samples last season and issuing two statewide alerts about dangerous substances. Evidence from the trial so far highlights the program's impact: 65 percent of service users had their first-ever harm reduction conversation with a health professional, more than 30 percent reported they would take a smaller amount of drugs after testing, and 91 percent of users were aged 18–30. "Pill testing works," said Minister for Mental Health Ingrid Stitt on the results from the mobile trial. "With Victoria's first fixed site now open, we're giving people more opportunities to have honest, health-focused conversations and get the information they need to make safer choices." Images: iStock
Chronicling encroaching maturity: it's the ambit of so many coming-of-age features that the idea has become its own cliche. With Boyhood, writer/director Richard Linklater takes the concept a step further — and though his method isn't unique, even to his own work courtesy of his Before trilogy, the film that results is. His portrait of growing up charts twelve years, shooting over the same period. Mason (Ellar Coltrane) is introduced staring at the sky, a six-year-old bundle of daydream-fuelled introversion and mischievous curiosity. He spars with his older sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), traverses the life dictated by the choices of his mother (Patricia Arquette) and wishes for more time with his father (Ethan Hawke). The years pass, and over the movie's 165 minutes, Mason evolves from a child into a man. Most movies mark the process of becoming an adult through major milestones, but Boyhood reflects upon quieter moments. Linklater doesn't follow an overarching narrative, apart from Mason's ageing and his mother's romantic and career changes. The big developments are largely inconsequential, excised in favour of everyday ephemera. It is in the spaces between — as Mason tests boundaries and forms his own identity, whether playing in the park, camping with his dad, passing notes with a pretty girl, having his first drink or finding an affinity for photography — that the film lingers. That's the key to Boyhood — the minutiae of getting older, by virtue of avoiding the usual contrivances of impending adulthood, always feels authentic and relatable. Mason's tale isn't just his own but belongs to everyone who was once a child navigating difficulties mundane in their ordinariness but influential in their individual impact, whether recently or remembered in a wave of nostalgia. In keeping with his layered storytelling, Linklater's filmmaking is unobtrusive, stitching together the familiar with finesse — pop culture references and all. His camera is enamoured with Mason, and though divorcing the time-conscious technique from the story is impossible, every image does more than capture a character ambling towards the age of 18. The intimate and unembellished slices of a young life each visual offers appear aesthetically and narratively drawn from reality, even as the constructed nature of the film remains apparent. Coltrane, of course, is the centerpiece of Boyhood, the figure upon which everything hangs. Calling his performance naturalistic states the obvious, but his ability to convey Mason's blossoming into a smart, sensitive young adult cements the film as truly special. Linklater took a risk on an ambitious way to relate an oft-told tale, and in his newcomer lead and career-best turns from Arquette and Hawke, he succeeds. And then there's another feat that can't be overlooked — starting a film with Coldplay's 'Yellow' and still making a masterpiece. https://youtube.com/watch?v=b70esOwsOf4
Before real-life American politics started to resemble a farce, HBO's seven-season comedy Veep got there first — and gave the country a female Vice President before 2020's historic election results, too. Starring the always-exceptional Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Senator-turned-VP Selina Meyer, this quick-witted show parodies everything about US government, elections and politics. It was created by renowned Scottish satirist Armando Iannucci, who did the same thing in the UK with The Thick Of It, and it's both razor-sharp and sublimely hilarious. Veep is also impressively cast, with Louis-Dreyfus winning six consecutive Emmy Awards for her work, and her co-stars proving just as deserving of awards. Tony Hale might be best known for Arrested Development, but he's pitch-perfect as Selina's body man Gary. Also, when Hugh Laurie shows up, Veep manages to find a new level of comedy.
If your days spent working from home and social distancing could do with a few more adorable animals, you'll be happy to know the internet is filled with many. Melbourne's zoos are live streaming their penguins, leopard cubs and giraffes, Sydney's aquarium brought us playtime with Pig the dugong and a Queensland wildlife sanctuary has cams on its koalas 24/7. Now, Taronga Zoo Sydney and Taronga Western Plains Zoo Dubbo have launched their own television station: Taronga TV. As well as three 24/7 live-streams focused on the zoos' sumatran tiger cubs, seals and elephants, the station is releasing daily videos across its Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channels. Already online: some adorable koala content, virtual hangs with the world's largest lizard, penguin feeds, baby monkeys, otters and even a video of a hippo doing a backflip. Yes, hippopotamuses — those giant water-dwelling mammals that generally weigh around 1000 kilograms — can do gymnastics better than me. https://youtu.be/qy9tc9zkN_Y As for what's to come, the zoo is promising a lot of behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, chats with keepers, stories from the Wildlife hospitals (including how it x-rays a seal), conservation work and workshops. There's a heap of kid-focused content, too, if you have any littlies at home at the moment. Both Taronga Zoos are temporarily closed to the public. Taronga TV will release videos daily on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and via its website. Top image: Rick Stevens
When IT floated onto the big screen in 2017, inspiring plenty of coulrophobia in the process, it only told half of the story. Adapting Stephen King's bestseller into a film, the horror hit jumped back to 1988–89, visited the author's usual setting of Derry, Maine, and followed a group of teenagers who came face to face with their worst clown-filled nightmares. But, as fans of the book or the 1990 TV series know, that's literally just the beginning. Cue IT: Chapter Two, another excuse to unleash the white-faced, flame-haired Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) upon the world, rustle up more than a few creepy scares and make a mint at the box office, all by charting the novel's other timeline. Set 27 years later — because that's how often the sadistic, shapeshifting demon pops up — it revisits the kids known as the Losers Club. They're all grown up, with Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader leading the cast, but they're not done with red balloon-wielding evil just yet. Or, to be more accurate, Pennywise isn't done with them. If you're already afraid of clowns, IT: Chapter Two clearly won't be for you. If you'd like to discover just what it takes to make you tremble at the sight of circus performers, this sequel will definitely help. So will its just-released first trailer, which introduces the adult gang, reminds everyone not to chase toy sailboats into storm drains and — of course — lets its sinister villain do his worst again. Original director Andy Muschietti (Mama) is back at the helm, so expect a hefty dose of unnervingly effective and all-round unsettling horror imagery once more. And, while this eagerly anticipated follow-up has plenty of star power, the first flick's Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard and company all return as the younger versions of the Losers Club as well. Take a peek at the first trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqUopiAYdRg IT: Chapter Two releases in Australian cinemas on September 5, 2019.
It's the main reason most of Melbourne has made their way to Good Food Month over the last couple of years, and in 2017, the ever-popular Night Noodle Markets are back — and they're bigger than ever. But this year it will be sans Good Food Month — the four-week food showcase will scoot over to June 2018. As a standalone event, the market will see 30 different stalls converge on Birrarung Marr for a whopping 18 nights this October. Among the spoils will be all manner of noodles, dumplings and other delights from Hochi Mama, Mr Miyagi, Hoy Pinoy and Wonderbao. For dessert, Gelato Messina returns (predictably) with a menu of pure wonder (including a deep-fried gelato katsu sandwich) and a green tea and pistachio gelato version of the popular Japenese snack, onigiri. There will be live music and entertainment, a pop-up cellar door, a garden bar and many interactive displays to check out on a bellyful of bao. The Night Noodle Markets are once again at Birrarung Marr and will run from Thursday, November 9 until Sunday, November 26. They'll be open Monday and Tuesday 5-9pm, Wednesday and Thursday 5–10pm, Friday 5–11pm, Saturday 4–10pm, and Sunday 4–9pm. Entry is free but the place — if other years are anything to go by — will be packed. Image: Kimberley Moore.
For the dessert fiends at Gelato Messina, it isn't enough to sit in the chain's brand-new Marrickville headquarters in Sydney and dream up every kind of wild and delicious ice cream flavour that anyone could possibly think of. The Messina crew do that, and often, of course. But they also apply their sweet treat-loving minds to creating next-level limited-edition specials, often taking a beloved dish, adding gelato and then giving it another twist. Here's the latest: Messina's Vovovroom, aka its frosty version of Iced Vovo biscuits, which it has indeed made before. This time around, it's adding mango. Why? The better question is: why not? So, first everyone's favourite childhood biscuit is getting the gelato treatment — again. But because that's already been on Messina's menu, it's now adding in a flavour that most folks love just as much. Wondering what exactly the end result entails? It comes filled with layers of toasted coconut and mango gelato, plus mango salsa and shortbread. Then, it's topped with piped Italian meringue and desiccated coconut. Yes, the end result looks like the bikkies you know and love — but in a mango hue, obviously, and in a scoopable form. Messina's mango Vovovroom gelato tubs can only be ordered online on Monday, April 17 for collection between Friday, April 21–Sunday, April 23 Messina now opens its orders at various times for various places, so you'll want to hop online at 9am for Queensland and Australian Capital Territory stores, 9.15am for Victorian shops, and at either 9.30am, 9.45am or 10am depending on where you are in New South Wales. Gelato Messina's Mango Vovovroom gelato tubs will be available to order on Monday, April 17, for pick up between Friday, April 21–Sunday, April 23 — head to the Messina website for further details.
Preston's much-loved street food haven, The Food Truck Park, is hitting the road this October, joining forces with the Frankston City Council to see the return of the Seaside Street Food Festival. The gorgeous Frankston waterfront provides the backdrop for this massive food coma-inducing festival, which takes place over five consecutive days with a rotating line-up of Melbourne's favourite food trucks. As you cram in the finger lickin' selection of chow, there's some eclectic live entertainment from local musicians and performers taking place, while a twilight market is a must to get your hands on some awesome clothing, records, homewares and more. Last year's festival saw 40 food trucks take part throughout the festival, with more than 35,000 hungry patrons turning out for the foodie fantasy and putting the trucks to the test.
Every city has one: an area littered with the usual eateries, convenience stores and variety shops, with a slightly grimy, ripped-from-the-'70s pawnbrokers nestled smack bang in the middle. In Melbourne, the suburb of Footscray offers up just that — and provides Pawno with its setting. Indeed, actor-turned-filmmaker Paul Ireland doesn't just stroll the streets to make his directorial debut, but endeavours to bring the thriving locale to the big screen. A diverse Aussie drama is the end result, offering a lived-in slice of neighbourhood life, its ups and downs, and its multicultural populace. Unsurprisingly, the titular cash-for-goods establishment sits at the centre of the action. Run by the gruff but kindly Les Underwood (John Brumpton) and his lovesick offsider Danny (Damian Hill), it's the kind of place that all of the locals drop by during the course of the day. Over a 24-hour period, a number of shoppers, pals and others stop in or loiter around outside. Some, like transgender woman Paige (Daniel Frederiksen), are after quick cash. Others, such as visibly upset mother Jennifer (Kerry Armstrong), are trying to track down both goods and people. And then there's Kate (Maeve Dermody), who works in the nearby bookshop, needs help fixing her glasses, and happens to be the secret object of Danny's affection. In addition to playing Danny, Hill also provides the low-budget indie with its screenplay. Despite this, his character is just one of many. Pawno proves less concerned with charting one person's journey, and more interested in weaving snippets of stories into a textured tapestry of the community. Alas, that choice proves both a strength and a weakness. While the unassuming feature boasts variety and vibrancy, its episodic narrative lacks a sense of cohesion. Fortunately, the talented ensemble of performers — which includes Malcolm Kennard and Mark Coles Smith as a duo of homeless hangabouts, as well as Holding the Man's Tony Rickards as one of Les' pals — keep things intriguing, especially when the script goes down many an expected path. They might all be playing thinly written characters, but they each make their respective roles feel real. Thanks to their combined efforts, the ample amounts of Aussie slang and swearing aren't the only aspects of Pawno that come across as genuine. As clichéd as it sounds, the suburb of Footscray also helps ramp up Pawno's atmosphere of authenticity. The graffiti-strewn streets are as significant a presence as Les, Danny and company, with cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe finding the right balance between gloss and grit. Of course, that's the combination the feature aims for overall: candid but caring. It's an ambitious mix for an ambitious feature, even if the patchwork package doesn't always convincingly come together.
Call the team at Guinness and get them down to Speakeasy HQ. Over five nights in the lead-up to Christmas, Melbourne's home of cabaret and burlesque will present a 30-act vaudeville show with a twist in its tail: every evening, the performance will finish with a different, jaw-dropping world record attempt. People, this could be history in the making. The first attempt, on the evening of Friday, December 18, will see Miss Lucy La Parr try and top the record for most knives revealed in a single burlesque performance. On Saturday, Ryan Lovat will attempt to shatter the greatest number of twerks performed in under a minute, while on Sunday, Baroness Mischa will give swallowing the longest steel blade sword ever swallowed a red hot go. Next up is dancer Liberty Foxx, who will attempt to break the record for most pasties simultaneously worn and used for tassel propellers (we swear we're not making this up). Finally, Camilla Cream will attempt the record for highest number of fans used simultaneously in a burlesque performance, incorporating ten huge feather fans in an act inspired by the ballet Swan Lake.
Nothing says 'I love you' like 3D-printed, artist-design chocolates, right? That's what Melbourne-born artist Ryan L Foote is banking on this holiday season. He's created a whole new meaning to Christmas chocolates by creating a range that digitises his otherwise classic chocolatier techniques. Chocolates by Ryan L Foote will launch with three 3D-printed collections — inspired by Australia, Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific (which includes singe origin chocolate grown in Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia). The artist has spent the past two years living between Australia and Hong Kong, and his chocolates collections reflect this. In the Australian collection, there are flavours like avocado smash, white chocolate with wattleseed, lemon myrtle cream with macadamia nut, finger lime with hazelnut, and spicy chocolate with mountain pepperberry. The Hong Kong collection includes egg tart, buttery pineapple bun, red bean ganache, salted coconut, milk tea and even preserved three-year-old mandarin rind flavours. The chocolates' unusual contemporary design takes inspiration from architecture, Pacific geological formations and natural minerals — making these sweet treats standout from your average convenience store variety. Alongside the chocolates are 3D-printed porcelain cups and crystalline-glazed plates that have also been designed by Foote. You can pre-order for your loved ones at the Kickstarter campaign now, with orders shipping out for Christmas. Chocolate pledges range from $20 to $477, with gifts starting at a box of drinking chocolate and ending at a deluxe entertainment box that includes three boxes of chocolate, one box of drinking chocolate and two porcelain cups, plates and serving platters. You've got to really love your family to go for that one, though. Chocolates by Ryan L Foote are available to pre-order through Kickstarter campaign until November 18. After that, you'll be able to buy them from chocolatesbyrlf.com .
Melbourne, you'll feel it coming after all: in what's been a chaotic time for fans keen to see Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye Down Under, the musician is finally bringing his After Hours Til Dawn tour this way. Come October 2024, the Canadian singer-songwriter and The Idol star will hit the city for two gigs — and also play two in Sydney. The details for your diary: The Weeknd is taking to the stage in the Victorian capital at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, October 5–Sunday, October 6, with Mike Dean, Chxrry22 and Anna Lunoe in support. An arena spectacular, The Weeknd's global tour began in 2022, notching up soldout shows far and wide. In the UK, The Weekend saw 160,000 folks head to London Stadium across two nights, smashing the venue's attendance record. And in Milan, he became the first artist to sell out the Ippodromo La Maura for two nights. It was in August last year that The Weeknd announced that his latest massive stadium tour was on its way to both Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2023 — even adding extra shows before general tickets went on sale — only for it to be postponed just two weeks out "due to unforeseen circumstances" without new dates being set. Then, in April 2024, the tour was cancelled for the time being, with ticketholders receiving refunds. Next, since August 2024, it's back on.
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.
When you think of French composer Claude Debussy, you're more likely to arrive at the dreamy, mellifluous 'Clair de Lune' than the melodramatic stampede of opera. But at the turn of the 20th century, the French composer decided to dabble. Adapting Maurice Maeterlinck's play about a woman found wandering in the forest by a prince, Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande added to his already burgeoning reputation as an innovator. It was written in part as a response to the popular operatic traditions of the second half of the 19th century — and, more specifically, Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. In contrast to these dramatic works, Pelleas and Melisande favours subtlety. It is devoid of arias and has a libretto written in prose rather than verse, creating an ethereal atmosphere that is dark in its eeriness. It has made Pelleas and Melisande, Debussy's only opera, completely original and one that completely revolutionised the art form. To mark the 100th anniversary of Debussy's death, Victorian Opera is staging a two-night run of the opera at St. Kilda's Palais Theatre. Featuring Siobhan Stagg as Melisande, Angus Wood as Pelleas and the Australian National Academy of Music orchestra, this is a great chance to remember (or get to know) one of the seminal works of this symbolist composer. Tickets to Pelleas and Melisande start from $35. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Victorian Opera website.
Sitting just across the road from the McCrae beachfront, this award-winning cafe is a long-time favourite for locals and day trippers alike. Sporting a recent makeover, it's an inviting, light-filled spot, slinging coffee from sibling roasters Commonfolk, alongside a seasonal, produce-driven food offering. Pull up a seat for modern brunch classics like white chocolate and mascarpone mousse pancakes, chipotle braised beans with slow-roasted pork belly, and the zucchini and chickpea fritters matched with goats curd, and pea and mint hummus. Meanwhile, sides like almond dukkah spinach, hot-smoked salmon and garlic-roasted mushrooms mean the build-your-own option is always a popular choice. If you're not jumping in the water too soon after brunch, the booze list is a sure-fire hit — settle in with a Mornington Brewery tap beer, or maybe an espresso martini crafted on vodka infused with Commonfolk beans. Your sweet tooth will be in great hands, too, thanks to a dreamy range of house-made treats beckoning from that front cabinet.
That last proper pub feed you had at an actual pub is fast turning into a distant memory. And the glorious day your local can once again throw open its doors can't come soon enough. But if you're desperate for a pub fix to see you through these last few weeks of pub-less purgatory, solace has arrived in the form of a new food delivery service called Hand Picked. Launching this week, it's the latest offering from Australian Venue Co (AVC), which owns 30 well-known Melbourne boozers and eateries — including Richmond's Harlow, The Provincial in Fitzroy, The College Lawn Hotel and Footscray's The Station. It's out to help punters recreate that pub experience at home, with two curated menus featuring hit dishes from across all of the group's local venues. There's the Hand Picked Fan Favourites lineup, headed up by Executive Chef Christian Abbott, which is delivering ready-to-eat pub meals on the daily. Addresses within seven kilometres of the CBD's Imperial Hotel can get their mitts on much-loved signature dishes including Fargo & Co's Dirty Birdie fried chicken burger, cheeseburger spring rolls from Hopscotch and even The Newmarket Hotel's dog-friendly Puppy Parma. Booze is sorted, too, with a selection of craft beers, cocktails and DIY spritz kits from the likes of Beer Deluxe, State of Grace and The Smith. There's a $5 flat-rate delivery fee on Fan Favourites orders, which are available from 5–9pm daily, or you can pick up your grub directly from the Bourke Street pub. Meanwhile, fellow Executive Chef Telina Menzies is helming the Hand Picked At Home menu, featuring family-style pub feasts dropped to your door, ready to heat and serve. Delivered every Friday afternoon, you'll find a selection of hearty shared pies — perhaps a creamy seafood and herb number — and lasagne varieties, including one crafted with 18-hour braised wagyu cheek and Tasmanian truffles. [caption id="attachment_784410" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hand Picked Footy Feed snacks[/caption] And to see you well-fed through the next few weeks of AFL finals season — while you're watching at home, obviously — there's Hand Picked's Ultimate Footy Feed menu, starring grazing options like lobster mac and cheese bites, ramen-fried chicken nuggets and sausage rolls with boozy barbecue sauce. These footy mates are also available for delivery each Friday, with a choice of six snacks starting from $30 per person. To celebrate its arrival, Hand Picked is slinging you 20 percent off all Fan Favourites and At Home orders this weekend. See the website for details. AVC's Hand Picked Fan Favourites menu is available daily from 5–9pm, for $5 delivery within 7 kilometres of The Imperial Hotel, CBD. Pick-up is also available — order online. The At Home and Ultimate Footy Feed menus are being delivered between 2–5pm Fridays, to suburbs within 5km of The Park in Albert Park. Weekly order cut-off is 12pm Thursdays — place yours online.
'Escape room' has been a bit of a loaded term for the past 18 months or so. We all know how crucial lockdowns are to stopping the spread of COVID-19, but we've all dreamed about escaping our own four walls during stay-at-home stints, too. And, if you're a fan of actual escape rooms — the themed spaces where puzzle buffs track down clues, solve mysteries and try to sleuth their way out the doors — you haven't had too many chances to enjoy your favourite pastime during the pandemic. You mightn't be able to head to a physical escape room at the moment — you could be in lockdown in Sydney or Brisbane, or it hasn't been a priority after Melbourne's last stay-at-home stretch, for instance — but one Australian venue wants you to keep enjoying its mysteries within your own house. Arcadium Adventures set up shop in Spring Hill in Brisbane in 2020, complete with a bar and different spaces for patrons to puzzle their way through. Now, it's also releasing online mystery kits for you to enjoy at home. A Most Mysterious Convention is the first kit in a planned series, and it'll task you with figuring out a secret message — all by printing out and reading the materials provided, and also by doing some cutting and punching of holes (with a hole punch, of course). You'll be solving puzzles in the process, too, with the whole experience expected to take between 90–120 minutes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arcadium Adventures (@arcadiumadventures) If you get stumped, you can also access the Arcadium Archives online for hints and clues as part of the $20 kit price. And, if you'd prefer to get a physical copy that you don't have to print out yourself, you can get one posted to you for $28. Obviously, you now have something else to add to your to-do list while you're spending more time at home. Yes, your streaming queue can wait for a few hours of puzzles. For more information about Arcadium Adventures' A Most Mysterious Convention kits, or to buy one, head to the venue's website. Top image: Arcadium Adventures.
IMAX devotees aren't just big-screen obsessives. Rather, they're massive-screen obsessives. When a film is available in the largest possible format, only that will do. Everyone has a movie-loving friend that wouldn't see Oppenheimer anywhere else, or David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick before that. IMAX Melbourne's brand-new film festival is obviously for them — and everyone else as well. Meet the Biggest Best IMAX Film Festival, an event dedicated to the biggest and best titles that the venue can possibly play on its 32-metre-wide by 23-metre-tall screen. It's the world's largest 1.43:1 cinema screen, and it's getting flickering with those aforementioned pictures and a heap more from Friday, January 12 until mid-February. Iconic Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense is the first movie on the lineup, but the official opening night on Saturday, January 13 is going with one helluva huge double feature: Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Still on pairings, Tom Cruise's (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One) latest need for speed is showing with the OG Top Gun. And Christopher Nolan's full Dark Knight trilogy in IMAX 1570 (the highest resolution available, going up to 16K, with Melbourne the only place in the country that can show it) is for those serious about seeing the three Batman flicks in the greatest way there is. Oppenheimer is screening in IMAX 1570 as well, making an explosive picture even more dazzling. The Golden Globe-winner and certain Oscar contender sold out 171 sessions at the venue, notching up 66,000-plus tickets, and is the site's highest-grossing movie ever. From there, regular IMAX options include the Lord of the Rings trilogy and TRON: Legacy. Of course 2001: A Space Odyssey is on the list; it has to be. More films are set to be added as well, as chosen by both IMAX Melbourne's staff and via people's choice picks. "BBIFF is bringing back classic movies that need to be witnessed on the biggest screen in the southern hemisphere. We've put together an impressive line-up of the best and biggest trilogies, double headers and special one-off screenings," said IMAX Melbourne General Manager Jeremy Fee. The Biggest Best IMAX Film Festival takes place at IMAX Melbourne, Melbourne Museum Precinct, Rathdowne Street, Carlton Gardens, Carlton South from Friday, January 12 until mid-February — head to the venue's website for tickets and more information. TRON: Legacy image: ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
In sweet, sweet news for southside pastry fiends, seasonal bake sale Flour Market is finally venturing across the Yarra, set to host its next pop-up pastry showcase at the Prahran Town Hall, on April 8. It's the first southside foray for the cult event's Melbourne arm, which assembles the most coveted of the city's emerging, underground, and artisan bakers for an all-out sugar fest every three months. This Southside Slice edition will offer a condensed version of the usual bake sale extravaganza, though with debuting vendors like Penny for Pound, Shortstop Donuts, and Cremorne Street Bakers joining old favourites like Butterbing, All Day Donuts, and 5 & Dime Bagels, it looks set to be as much of a crowd-puller as ever before. As always, entry to the Flour Market will cost just $2 at the door. That said, if you're keen to avoid the guaranteed queues, grab a $10 early bird ticket for skip-the-line privileges and an extra half-hour of pastry perusal before the event opens to the general public at 9am. Flour Market's Southside Slice kicks off at 9am on Saturday, April 8, at the Prahran Town Hall, 180 Greville Street, Prahran. $10 early bird tickets are on sale from midday on Wednesday, April 5.
We've all been there — determined to stretch that bank account until payday by eating lentil bolognese for dinner five days in a row. You swear you won't dip into your savings account this fortnight. But on day six of toasted sandwiches made from dumpster-dived bread, it's time to say enough is enough, and treat yourself to a satisfying dinner. You deserve it. Thankfully, Melbourne is brimming with hospitality legends pumping out delicious and nutritious food for less than what a trip to the supermarket will set you back. With a little help from American Express, we've put together a list of spots around town where you can fill your tummy without bankrupting yourself before payday. When leftovers just won't cut it, these small businesses have you covered, and will let you pay using your American Express Card.
Winter is upon us, the gloves and beanies are out of storage, and it's time to start loading up on sweets and carbs. That's how every June starts — and, this year, Krispy Kreme wants to help with the latter. How? By giving away an extremely excessive number of doughnuts. You're probably now wondering what constitutes an excessive amount of doughnuts. No, polishing off a packet by yourself doesn't count, at least in this instance. Krispy Kreme's giveaway is going big, with the chain slinging 100,000 original glazed doughnuts in conjunction with National Doughnut Day. Whether or not you're a big fan of food 'days', we're guessing you are quite fond of free doughnuts. To snag yourself a signature glazed freebie, head to your closest Krispy Kreme store around Australia — other than in the Northern Territory — on Friday, June 3. That gives you 33 places to flock to, with Sydneysiders able to hit up 12 stores stretching from Penrith to the CBD, Victorians needing to visit nine locations from the airport to the city, and Queenslanders given eight different doughnut shops to pick from (with the most central in Albert Street in the CBD). And, in Perth, you can head to one of four Krispy Kreme stores. The National Doughnut Day deal isn't available at BP outlets, 7-Eleven stores, Jesters or Woolworths, or via online orders or third-party deliveries. There's also a limit of one freebie per person, and the giveaway only applies to the original glazed variety. The 100,000 doughnuts will be spread across the participating stores, so you'll want to get in relatively early if you want to kick off your Friday with a free sweet and doughy treat. Obviously, whether you nab one or not is subject to availability. Krispy Kreme's free doughnut giveaway is happening in the chain's stores around the country on Friday, June 3. To find your closest shop and check its opening hours, head to the Krispy Kreme website.
Send in the clowns, Stephen King must have thought to himself back in the '80s at he put pen to paper on It. The prolific horror author wasn't the first to turn makeup-caked comic performers into nightmare fodder, but boy oh boy did he help make the concept stick. One glance at Pennywise — the white-faced, flame-haired figure who jumped from the novel to a '90s mini-series and now a feature film — and it's easy to see why the character has become so iconic. Even for those who don't suffer from coulrophobia, he's a terrifying sight that no one would want to spy peering out at them from a storm drain. As such, It is at its best when it embraces Pennywise's frightening presence and runs with it, whether he's roaming around a crumbling old house, splattering blood all over a bathroom or crawling out of a screen. It knows which buttons to push, and when to have the sinister villain appear suddenly to ratchet up the scares. That's to say nothing of the fact that, in addition to just being an inherently upsetting concept, an evil clown makes for a potent symbol of innocence corrupted. Indeed, when it comes to watching kids get spooked by not only a shape-shifting monster, but by a spate of dramatic and everyday childhood traumas, the film delivers. We first meet Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) on a rainy 1988 afternoon in Derry, Maine, as pre-schooler Georgie Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) floats a paper boat in the gutter. Needless to say, it doesn't end well for the curious boy. The next summer, his 13-year-old brother Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) still holds out hope that Georgie is alive, and enlists his pals to help in the search. From the outspoken Richie (Finn Wolfhard) and mama's boy Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), to the overweight Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and rumour-plagued Beverly (Sophia Lillis), they're the picked-upon, self-named Losers Club of the school, each with their own set of troubles. Before long they all start seeing Pennywise — along with the unfriendly entity's various other guises — as they delve deeper into their small-town's death-ridden past. In a considerable step up for Mama director Andy Muschietti, It assembles a clown car full of effective elements: horrific imagery aplenty, the skills to make it stick, and the smarts to show that supernatural bogeymen and real-life bullies aren't all that different. Each does the trick, even when viewers can guess what's coming. It helps, too, that it's all paired with an impressive cast. Skarsgård, brother of True Blood's Alexander, is an unease-inducing delight as the murderous Pennywise, which might be the only acceptable way to say something nice about a character who's most definitely not. The kids all play their parts well, though relative newcomer Lillis steals the show from the teenage boys she finds herself sharing the screen with. Ironically, the inclusion of Stranger Things' Wolfhard draws attention to the film's main weakness: the demogorgon that is nostalgia. Swapping the book's '50s setting for the decade in which it was written smacks of jumping on the current '80s-loving bandwagon. It's a cycle as vicious as Pennywise feeding off the fear he creates: the Netflix series was influenced by King's body of work, and the new movie in turn tries to ape its success. Ultimately, it leaves It feeling suitably unsettling, yet all-too-familiar in its eagerness to copy recent retro-styled hits and era-appropriate horror fare. Even so, you'll probably still have clown-filled dreams after you finish watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulSJ1yQmZ5Q
It has watched the music industry shift through almost four whole decades, and lived through the fall and resurgence of vinyl records, but now Fitzroy stalwart Polyester Records is calling it a day. Owners of the long-running independent record store took to Facebook to announce the closure and to thank its fans, as well as the "artists, labels and personalities which we have surrounded ourselves with and enjoyed involvement with". It was revealed in the post that the store will shut for good on Friday, March 13, along with rear neighbour and sister bar Crazy Arms. Ever the champion of independent music, Polyester Records started out life in 1981 under the moniker Dizzy Spinners, before swapping to its current name. It has remained a Brunswick Street local its whole life, and even spawned a second Flinders Lane store from 2007 to 2014. https://www.facebook.com/polyesterrecords/photos/a.165540283477689/2983555538342802/?type=3&theater While the news has left plenty of sad music fans, you can bet this Fitzroy icon is going out in style — and with a solid soundtrack to boot. The final weeks of operation will see a program full of special events and nostalgic celebrations, kicking off with an in-store gig from Sarah Mary Chadwick on Saturday, January 25 at 2pm. Chadwick is the artist who recently took on the T.C Lewis pipe organ at St Paul's Cathedral for a booming Melbourne Music Week show. With a solid 38 years of memories under its belt, the Polyester crew is also inviting friends and fans to share their favourite moments and recollections via DMs on the store's socials. "A great number of people have witnessed a great number of astonishing moments within these walls," the post said. "There are a lot of surreal and beautiful memories to be recalled and also to now be created in this run up to the end of our time." You can visit Polyester Records at 387 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, until close of business on Friday, March 13. Keep an eye on the Polyester Records Facebook page for more event announcements in the lead up to the closure. Image: Paul Philpson for Visit Victoria.
When a show is named after a space battleship, it's instantly worth paying attention to. And when it tracks a war between humanity and an android race known as the Cylons, it isn't going to be short on intrigue. That's especially true when the flesh-and-blood side of the equation hail from a distant star system, and originally live across a group of planets known as the Twelve Colonies — and their very survival is at stake. That's the tale that Battlestar Galactica tells, and has in multiple shapes and forms since 1978. With no disrespect meant to the original series and its 1980 sequel, the reimagining that first hit screens in 2003 has become the version of record. The latter started as a miniseries, then served up four seasons of sci-fi drama, political battles, space-set adventures and all-round entertaining television until 2009, making stars out Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber in the process.
