Minimalist Aussie clothing designer Assembly Label is currently hosting a massive online charity sale so you can upgrade your wardrobe with linen pants and a comfy woollen knit tee— and help Aussies doing it tough. With both men's and women's wear on offer, you'll find both cosy outfits for those chilly La Niña days such as denim, jumpers and jackets, plus swimwear, dresses and shorts ready for when the next summer heat wave hits. Best of all, you can nab it all at up to 50 percent off. There's a whole range of summer essentials available for cheap on the site. You could be sporting this cord drawn black dress, for example, at your next beachside brunch or sunny summer picnic for $60 down from $100. As part of the sale, Assembly Label has a choose-what-you-pay initiative raising money for the Curing Homesickness, an organisation that helps kids get home from hospital sooner. When you buy a sale item, you can choose to pay an extra $5, $10 or $15, with that amount then matched by Assembly Label and donated to Curing Homesickness. So, you can grab some new threads and feel good about it too.
Burgers. Giver of life. Mana from heaven. We're pretty keen on this most glorious of food groups — and given how many new burger joints are placed around town, it seems like you are too. Hell, Hank Marvin Market's previous Burger Biannuals have drawn more than 6000 hungry punters. So, really, it's little wonder they're gearing up for another round. Firing up from 11am till 10pm on Sunday, March 11 and Monday, March 12 of the Labour Day long weekend, the event will feature 20 of Melbourne's best burg merchants. There'll be American–Asian burgs from Gorilla Grill, bao burgers from Miso Fresh, Indian-flecked creations from Curry Up Now and the regular suspects from Mr Burger. There'll also be vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options, and pup-friendly options. Burgers truly are for everybody. Assuming you have room for dessert, you'll also have the run of a number of sweet options from the likes of Billy Van Creamery, Whoopies Cookies and Downtown Donuts. Point is, you probably won't need to eat for the rest of the week. Image: Shara Henderson.
Bar entrepreneur Matt Bax (of Bar Americano and the currently hibernating Bar Exuberante) is out to brew the perfect cuppa, as part of a new Japanese-inspired tea experience at Supernormal in Flinders Lane. An idea more than 15 years in the making, Samu is described by Bax as a "contemporary tea meditation...a place where people will have an opportunity to taste real matcha in a unique space". Available as part of the restaurant's regular lunch and dinner service, Samu will see guests seated in a custom-built teahouse complete a with wooden seating bar where they'll enjoy ceremonial-grade matcha and wagayashi-style sweets. "Samu is a one-of-a-kind experience; one I am looking forward to sharing with my guests," said Bax. Running for two weeks only from July 18-29, the service is available for groups of up to five people and costs $9 per tea (and accompanying sweet treat). Expect it to be, like all Bax creations, more than a little weird and wonderful.
The crew at Beyond Cinema have a knack for turning bedtime stories and big-screen flicks into immersive, larger-than-life adventures. Just look at last year's Great Gatsby-inspired party in a mansion, or the more recent Harry Potter-themed potions classes. Well now, it's the much-loved tale of Alice in Wonderland that gets the Beyond Cinema treatment, by way of an all-new immersive pop-up experience inspired by the nonsensical Mad Hatter. Descending on secret Melbourne and Brisbane locations in February next year, The Alice Bar invites punters to dive through the looking glass and into a fantasy world. Expect things to get curiouser and curiouser across your 90-minute visit, whether you're creating your own liquid concoctions under the guidance of The Mad Hatter, settling in for an indulgent tea party, or getting raucous with the likes of the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat. [caption id="attachment_740466" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Wizard's Cauldron[/caption] As always, Beyond Cinema is keeping most of the details scarce until closer to the date, though they're already old hands at bringing Alice In Wonderland to life. The team's earlier Mad Hatter's Tea Party events have proved a hit over the past couple of years. Beyond Cinema's The Alice Bar event will take place at a yet-to-be-revealed Melbourne and Brisbane location in February, 2020. You can sign up for more details here.
When the Victorian Government revealed its reopening roadmap to take the state out of its strict current COVID-19 lockdowns, it flagged a big shift for Melbourne's hospitality scene. While outdoor dining isn't an unfamiliar concept, it's a key part of Victoria's plans to allow restaurants, cafes and eateries to start welcoming customers back onto the premises. In fact, when hospitality businesses in the metropolitan Melbourne area are permitted to move away from takeaway and delivery-only operations — earmarked for Monday, October 26, as long as the state has a state-wide average of less than five new COVID-19 cases over the previous 14 days, with less than five cases coming from an unknown source in the same period — they'll be asked to run "predominantly outdoor seated service only". Just what that requirement entails has received plenty of attention over the past few weeks, with both the Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne providing some details. Both outlined a similar al fresco approach to the one currently being employed in New York City, which allows food venues to temporarily use sidewalks and curbs for openair dining to cater to more customers within health restrictions — and now the local powers-that-be have unveiled a temporary extended outdoor dining permit scheme, and explained what said permits can be used for. When eat-in service recommences, Melburnians won't just tucking into a meal outdoors — they'll be dining on footpaths, in on-street car parking spaces that have been taken over by adjacent businesses, in laneways and even on the street. All four options are listed by the City of Melbourne as reasons to obtain a free permit, with the plan forming part of the City of Melbourne and Victorian Government's $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fund. "We're reopening the city for business and will work with venues to find outdoor dining opportunities appropriate for their unique part of the city," said Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp in a statement. "We will continue to advocate for flexibility so restaurants and cafes can open indoors in a COVID-safe way sooner," she continued, while also noting that the city "will balance the expansion of outdoor dining with the needs of our residents" — considering traffic conditions, the safety of patrons, and maintaining access for pedestrians, residents and essential vehicles. [caption id="attachment_697521" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Duke of Kerr by Kate Shanasy[/caption] The Lord Mayor also gave an indication of what street closures could look like, with roadways shut down to create more space for dining and entertainment on weekends. "Temporary street closures would create a festive atmosphere for outdoor dining. We could temporarily close locations such as Bellair Street in Kensington and Faraday Street in Carlton to help businesses trade safely," she explained. Among the other sites that could be temporarily closed for dining, Bourke Street between Exhibition and Spring streets, Russell Street between Lonsdale and Bourke streets, Domain Road in South Yarra and Errol Street in North Melbourne have all been floated. For businesses that don't have access to an outdoor space — that can't trade in front of their premises on a footpath, on-street car parking spaces, laneways and or on the street — the City of Melbourne is also looking to create hospitality hubs a to around town that let these venues come together. Obviously, exactly when these outdoor dining plans will come into effect is dependent on COVID-19 case numbers. That said, businesses can start applying for permits from Thursday, October 1. For more information about the City of Melbourne's extended outdoor dining permits, visit the local government body's website. Additional details about the City of Melbourne's COVID-19 response are also available on its the website. And for more information about the Victorian Government's roadmap, head to vic.gov.au. Top image: Good Times by Kate Shanasy
A film festival that brings the best and brightest new Japanese movies to Australian cinemas each year is a film festival to cherish. Also ace: a film fest that features a solely digital lineup of flicks and TV shows from Japan that you can check out from your couch. So, while it isn't time for the IRL Japanese Film Festival for 2024 yet — it last hit locations around the country across September–November 2023 — the Japanese Film Festival Online will keep you entertained this winter. Both fests serve up a handy way to view the latest and greatest Japanese fare without hopping on a plane, but only the online version lets you do so from home. Running from Wednesday, June 5–Wednesday, July 3, 2024's version will feature 23 films and two TV dramas, the latter serving up 20 episodes. And, you'll be able to check out for four Japanese horror shorts, too, all of which initially debuted in 2023 at the first-ever Horror Film Competition in Japan. The other big drawcard: Japanese Film Festival Online screens its program for free. Accordingly, this lineup won't test your budget, whether you're keen on I Am What I Am, which stars Drive My Car's Toko Miura; Anime Supremacy!, about a new director and a hotshot facing off while making their own competing anime; Single8, a Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)-influenced picture about Star Wars-loving teens making their own movie; or classic anime Kimba the White Lion from 1966. Film lovers will be catching the movies on the program between Wednesday, June 5–Wednesday, June 19. Fellow feature options include Father of the Milky Way Railroad, a biopic about poet and novelist Kenji Miyazawa; magazine drama Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction; Baby Assassins, where teen assassins are forced to give up the murderous life; and The Handsome Suit, about a magical outfit. TV fans will be tuning in from Wednesday, June 19–Wednesday, July 3, with 2017's Rikuoh starring Kôji Yakusho (Perfect Days), and stepping inside a traditional Japanese sock company — and 2015's Downtown Rocket based on Shitamachi Rocket novels about an ex-aerospace researcher who leads a factor that he inherited. While you won't pay a thing to watch, you do still need to register via the fest's website. Won't be in Australia at the time? The fest is available in 27 countries.
In very English news, everyone's favourite well-mannered witch (sorry Sabrina) Hermione/Emma Watson, has been covertly distributing books on the London Underground. Watson has been sneaking around under the city, like the most conspicuous rat in the world, hiding copies of Maya Angelou's Mom & Me & Mom as part of her feminist book club initiative Shared Shelf. While we dig Watson's initiative and the feminist slant of her book drop, the concept isn't exactly original. She dropped the copies of the book — which is this month's pick for her online book club — on the Tube (complete with personal notes inside them because she's an angel) as part of Books on the Underground, who have been dropping books all over the shop for years. Closer to home, Books on the Rail started a book ninja empire in Melbourne that has rapidly been expanding across the country. Founders Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus have been coordinating their book ninja operation since April of this year. It's a simple concept – BotR distributes hundreds of books on Melbourne public transport. You know their work by the sticker on the front, encouraging you to read, enjoy and return the book. They started the project by giving away their own books and op-shop finds and now get regular deliveries from authors and publishers. The project is fuelled by the sustainable energy of social media, with commuters sharing and reviewing their reads under the hashtag #booksontherail. BotR is also gaining steam in Brisbane and Sydney. They've even recently organised a book club to take place on a Melbourne train. Early reviews dub it 'peak Melbourne'. Via BBC. Image: Emma Watson via Instagram.
Want to cover your walls with cool, original artwork without it costing you the roof over your head? Then head on down to the Royal Exhibition Building, for an art bazaar you can actually afford to attend. A three day celebration of design, print and illustration, Supergraph is a goldmine for artists and art lovers alike. Supergraph 2015 features dozens of exhibitors, ranging from long-established artists to the best and brightest young talent. The flavour is local for the most part, although The International Salon section showcases designers from America, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Thailand. Pieces start from as low as $30, ensuring that no one has to go home empty handed. But it's not just artists spruiking their wares. The Supergraph program is packed full of special events, from an opening night party with DJ Yo! Mafia to masterclasses on felt art, fashion illustration and tattoos. In between, you can chill out at the Food Truck Stop, snacking on bagels, donuts, tacos and more. For the full Supergraph program, visit their website.
As Melbourne's dining scene returns to a sense of (relative) normality, one of the city's biggest food events is back on the menu — Melbourne Good Food Month presented by Citi. Returning this June, the month-long event will see a number of tasty events take over some of Melbourne's best-loved restaurants. To get things started, Flower Drum will be teaming up with Neil Perry on a one-night-only multi-course dinner on June 1, while nomadic pop-up restaurant Esmay will make a stop at Bar Liberty on June 15. There'll be two seatings for this event (one at 5:30pm and another at 8pm), but get in quick to avoid missing out. Elsewhere, Good Food Month will host a Young Chefs Lunch at new plant-based eatery Lona Misa (pictured above) on June 20, so you can check out a fresh addition to Melbourne's dining scene and enjoy the talents of culinary up-and-comers. On June 24, Cumulus Inc's upstairs dining room will host hatted Sydney izakaya Cho Cho San for a multi-course, mod Japanese-inspired menu. And, if you're a loyal fan of The Good Weekend Quiz, head to Flinders Lane's Chapter House on June 27 to take part in a live rendition of the weekend ritual. It will, of course, be food- and drink-themed, and catered by Andrew McConnell and his Cumulus Inc team. Melbourne Good Food Month runs throughout June 2021. Head here for a full list of events and to purchase tickets.
Pour yourself a white russian, pop on your favourite bathrobe and prepare to spend two hours with one of the best big-screen creations there is. No one else in the history of celluloid is quite like Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, played with such relaxed slacker charm by Jeff Bridges that it genuinely seems as if he isn't acting. And no other filmmakers could've brought his zany (and immensely fictional) story to life like the Coen brothers, either. There's a reason that this flick has been a cult classic for more than two decades now. Actually, there are plenty — including a bowling joke that you've probably either quoted or heard multiple times, because it never gets old. If you're a newcomer to the 1998 movie, prepare for a mistaken-identity tale, with The Dude mixed up with a millionaire with the same name. Oh-so-many hijinks ensue, with the Coens firmly in offbeat crime-comedy mode, as aided by a cast that includes everyone from John Goodman and Julianne Moore to John Turturro and Steve Buscemi.
The sights, the sounds and — most importantly — the flavours of a Bangkok street kitchen are on their way to Melbourne. Set to open on Crown Riverwalk on January 16, Long Chim Melbourne will be chef David Thompson's third Thai restaurant in Australia, following the super successful Long Chim Perth and new 2016 addition Long Chim Sydney. It's not often that Melbourne trails behind Perth in the world of fine dining. Still, we figure better late than never. Prepare for Thai fare just like you'd find in the streets and markets of Bangkok, including charred rice noodles with beef, basil and Sriracha sauce, plus prawn laksa, chive cakes, green papaya salads, grilled pork and banana roti. The a la carte menu also boasts curries, soups, salads and stir-fries aplenty, including a mashed prawn curry and sour orange curry of ling fish. Dessert fiends can look forward to both durian and Thai coffee ice cream. Thirsty? Long Chim — which means 'come and try' — will also serve up craft beer and wine along with a selection of Asian-inspired cocktails. The rum-based Bangkok Painkiller and gin-based 555, both created by Long Chim's head of beverages James Connolly, are highlights among the 11 boozy, five alcohol-free range, alongside the Or Tor Kor Mule (a combination of ginger beer, vodka infused with kaffir lime zest and Thai bitters), the Tropic Thunder (pineapple, passionfruit, burnt orange and rum), and the Muay Thai Mai Tai (ginger, almond, coconut and tequila). Mouthwatering, authentic morsels; unique, refreshing beverages — that's what you'd expect from one of the biggest names in modern Thai cooking. Thompson's Bangkok eatery Nahm recently ranked one of the 50 Best Restaurants in the World, while his London restaurant was the first Thai venue to be awarded a Michelin star. Long Chim Melbourne will open for dinner only at Crown Riverwalk from January 16. Visit their website for further information. By Tom Clift and Sarah Ward.
For five years between 2005–2010, David Tennant played one of the most iconic roles there is; however, he'll never just be known for his work on Doctor Who. Since stepping out of the TARDIS, the British actor has been filling his resume with supremely interesting parts. Miniseries Deadwater Fell is the latest — and yes, if you've spotted that Tennant has become very comfortable in crime thrillers, drama and mysteries, you're completely right. Here, he plays Tom Kendrick, a doctor in a Scottish village who is also the only survivor when his home catches ablaze. Over four tense episodes, the twisty series explores the events and aftermath, including its impact upon the local community. It's not all what it seems, of course, which goes with the territory. In terms of actual terrain, the show is set in a fictional town, but expect to feast your eyes on plenty of scenic Scottish sights.
The internationally acclaimed Flickerfest is back and celebrating its 33rd year running in 2024, ready to amaze audiences nationwide with an A-class lineup of cinematic delights. The annual event is Australia's leading Oscar and BAFTA qualifying short film fest with a meticulously curated selection of shorts screened, handpicked from over 3400 entries, it's one of the best springboards for burgeoning filmmaking talent in the country. On Wednesday, April 10, the festival hits town with the Best of Melbourne Shorts, bringing a curated 120-minute screening of award-winning short films that premiered at Flickerfest's Bondi home in January. The festival celebrates emerging and thriving Victorian filmmakers and gives local audiences a first look at some of the cinematic talent from their own backyard The one-night-only event kicks off at 6.30pm at The Kino Palace Cinema, with a complimentary drink on arrival before the programme starts at 7pm with filmmaker introductions and then the films themselves. [caption id="attachment_946906" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] What's In a Name[/caption] To give you an idea of what to expect, there's the compelling Best Direction recipient for 2024 What's In a Name?; about a couple whose reflections on their shared past cause fractures in the present, a comedy with the life of a man and his short film idea on the line in Room For One More; winner of Best Screenplay, St Kilda-set true story Cold Water; and the story of a comedian desperate to sign with an agent, Lean In, awarded Best Comedy. Flickerfest 2024 is coming to Kino Palace Melbourne on Wednesday, April 10 from 7pm. To see the full program and grab tickets head to the website. Top Images: Room For One More, Lean In
On the Rocks is a 3D art exhibition bringing together photography, design, music, food and drinks within a virtual rendering of a home. The exhibition has been designed to bring together artists and creatives from Concrete Playground photographer Kate Shanasy's area who might have lost a source of income or exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each piece of the exhibition has been designed around the theme of 'on the rocks', a fitting reflection on the turbulent year many of us have had. Some of the artworks include photography of natural rock sites from around the world, unique flower and plant arrangements, and coloured glassware, with music from Liam Alexander of Colour nightclub soundtracking your virtual walkthrough. Food has been supplied by Mia Coady-Plumb, head chef at Oh, Loretta and drinks by Campari, however, they are virtual so for the full experience, you may have to supply your own. Thankfully, Coady-Plumb has provided recipes, so it's easy to whip up exactly what you see. The exhibition is free to attend, which you can do so directly on Kate Shanasy's website, where you can also buy prints of her artwork or book her as a wedding photographer. On the Rocks will run online until Friday, December 18. Images: Kate Shanasy
Earth Hour is a symbolic action. Although there is carbon saved by turning things off, the point is the unmissable demonstration that a huge chunk of the world's population caring about the same thing at the same time. If we can manage this for Earth Hour, why not for grander environmental things? The Hour started in Sydney in 2007, and has become an international event in the years since. There are Earth Hour events in Kenya, India and Ireland these days, but you don't need to travel so far afield to find a way to join in this time around. At its simplest, all you need to do is stay home and turn off the lights. But if you'd like to have a more social darkened moment, you can head to a candlelit restaurant or one of a raft of other lights-off events. Image of Earth Hour Switch Off 2010 by Sewell / WWF.
Like karaoke? Fond of singing in public in general, whether you're solo or in a group? Then it's time to up your crooning game. Pub Choir is exactly what it sounds like — aka a gathering of folks belting out a tune, together, in a bar. It's basically what happens whenever someone puts 'Wonderwall' or 'Weather With You' on the jukebox, but in a more organised fashion. Specifically, each session features a particular song, which attendees learn in three-part harmonies. Talented professionals are there to show you the ropes and lead the way, and if you're wondering what you'll be singing, it's usually announced 24-hours beforehand. Doing the rounds of Brisbane venues since early 2017, Pub Choir has become mighty popular — and now it's headed to Melbourne. Come Sunday, September 1, the Forum will come alive with the sound of plenty of folks singing and sipping, because both go hand-in-hand here. It'll also feature Ben Lee leading away, plus a selection of other special guests. And, if you're not usually the type of person to unleash their inner Beyonce in front of the masses, don't worry. The great thing about choirs is that everyone is singing, so you are literally a voice in the crowd. In fact, you might just find joining in the fun cathartic. If you can't feel free when you're crooning along with hundreds of others, when can you?
The striking black and white cover image of Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan standing naked with a man dragged over her frame sets the scene for her most personal (and best) record yet, The Haunted Man. Stripping back the lush ornamentation of previous pop fantasias for a more intimate sound, these tunes foreground her beautiful, breathy voice and ability to inject a shivery, otherworldly drama into every song. Apparently the product of a harrowing writing and recording process, The Haunted Man reaches for a stark beauty and retains the enchanting pull of previous work despite its more emotionally direct approach. As well as headlining Laneway Festival, Bat For Lashes will play a more intimate sideshow at the Palais. Her last tour was one of the best of the year, with inspired reinventions of Radiohead's 'All I Need' and The Cure's 'A Forest' featuring alongside classics like 'Daniel' and 'Pearl's Dream'. With the promise of stunning new songs like 'Lillies' and stirring single 'Laura', there's no doubt this tour will be every bit as magical. https://youtube.com/watch?v=EXK0Ejzin4c
Attention all wannabe heroes: something big is coming. This March, much-loved comic company Marvel will bring its world-class Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. exhibition to Melbourne. The immersive exhibition, held at Federation Square, will give would-be caped crusaders the chance to delve into the history, engineering, genetics and technology behind Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and the rest of their superhero team. Visitors will also undergo training, as if they were learning to become agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and can explore bespoke equipment and costumes including the Hulkbuster suit, Captain America's uniform and shield, Iron Man's MK armor and Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. combines complex science and technology, developed by Marvel to help bring the successful film franchise to life. Space agency NASA have also contributed to the interactive experience, helping to enhance its scientific authenticity. After successful stints in cities including New York, Seoul and Paris, the exhibition will now head down under for the very first time. Organisers hope it will be an epic fan experience as well as a way to pique visitor interest in real-world science and technology. Earlier this year Marvel broke records when it brought its Creating the Cinematic Universe exhibition to Brisbane, drawing in close to 270,000 fans. Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. is expected to be even bigger. Marvel's Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. will open at Federation Square in March 2018. More information on ticketing will roll out in the coming months – you can sign up for updates here.
There’s an interesting trend in today's disaster movies. Yes, they all feature disaster, but less obvious (though almost always present) is the Estranged Family Subplot. If you don’t think you’ve seen it, you have, because just in recent years it’s been in Twister, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact, Volcano, War of the Worlds, Independence Day and, now, San Andreas. What is it? A separated couple — usually with divorce papers freshly drafted — sees one of the pair now involved with a wealthier, more glamorous partner, while the other tries to reconnect with their angsty teenage child/children. Disaster then strikes, the new partner proves to be a vacuous douche who satisfyingly bites it and a series of deadly trials and tribulations ultimately brings the original family unit back into line. Point is: if you’re currently estranged from your ex but desire reconciliation, get yourself over to a tectonic hot-zone ASAP, because as they say: ‘nothing rekindles the flame better than literally everyone else around you dying in a horrible painful disaster’. As far as disaster movies go, San Andreas doesn’t break the mould; it just settles for breaking everything else per the catastrophe movie social contract. Our hero, a rescue helicopter pilot named Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson, aka ’The Rock’), is called into work after a giant earthquake lays waste to both San Francisco and his plans for a bonding weekend with his daughter Blake (True Detective's Alexandra Daddario). For the record, yes, Ray’s estranged wife (Carla Gugino) is also moving in with her wealthy new boyfriend (Ioan Gruffudd), and divorce papers have been dispatched. Estranged Family Subplot checklist: complete. Despite being a rescue pilot for the State, Ray opts to rescue only those people who feature in his family photo, meaning the bulk of the film involves him driving, boating or flying past hundreds of thousands of dying people in the hope of finding his own daughter. Disaster movies, of course, are all about the special effects, and in San Andreas they are genuinely spectacular, with giant quakes rippling through entire cities like waves beneath sawdust. Skyscrapers topple, boulevards buckle and a tsunami stares down the Golden Gate Bridge like it’s some sort of Godzilla. In what marks a major departure for the genre, scientists are again the ones who predict it all (chief amongst them, Paul Giamatti), but this time there’s no 'this is mankind’s own fault’ lecture. It’s pure and simple Mother Nature vs People, and Mama’s well pissed. San Andreas is a film where big muscles and big chests (both male and female) dominate the screen, which in the 3D format is almost comical at times. Performances are rarely noteworthy in disaster movies, but in this case Game of Thrones’s Art Parkinson deserves a mention as the romantic interest’s younger brother Ollie. Beyond that, though, San Andreas’s star is the disaster itself, and, thankfully, an earthquake can’t mutter incomprehensibly corny lines like its victims so often do. ‘Big, Dumb and Fun’ should almost be its own genre by now, and San Andreas is nothing but.
Last time James Blake jetted our way, in 2013, he won our hearts — and eyes and ears. Two Sydney Opera House shows sold out before you could say Overgrown and the folks at Tone Deaf got so excited, they awarded him best International Tour of the Year, over Bruce Springsteen. Now, he's back with a third, full-length album, The Colour In Anything, released unexpectedly (to fans, at least) on May 6. Lasting 76 minutes, it sees Blake go more collaborative than ever before, with Frank Ocean and Justin Vernon making frequent appearances, and Rick Rubin taking care of production. "I wanted to open up and be more outgoing," he told The Guardian. "The record became a commentary on my life rather than me becoming part of the rest of the world." There's more Splendour sideshow action where this came from. Check out our list of sideshows with tickets still available.
UPDATE, November 20, 2020: Jumanji: The Next Level is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. History would suggest that Jumanji: The Next Level is perfectly placed to be a spectacular failure. Beyond the obvious point that sequels almost always fare poorly, there's the fact that its enjoyable predecessor, 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, falls into the one-trick category — aka kids zapped into a video game and trapped in bodies different to the ones you'd expect. Then, there's the absolute deluge of publicity preceding this follow-up's release, which is generally a bad sign. On paper, the only real source of hope seems to stem from Dwayne Johnson, who rarely makes bad career decisions. But then you remember the horror show that is the Baywatch movie, and you think maybe not even that is true anymore. And yet, to its credit, Jumanji: The Next Level manages to forge new ground directly atop the old one, all thanks to an inspired twist in its tale. It doesn't quite capture lightning in a bottle again, but boy does it come damn close. Yes, the young same cast (Alex Wolff, Ser'Darius Blain, Morgan Turner and Madison Iseman) is back. Yes, they're again pulled into the video game world of Jumanji — and yes, as their in-game characters (Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black), they must once again find a rare jewel to secure their release. Had the sequel merely switched which avatars the four college kids landed in, the gimmick would've been over before it began, but here's where The Next Level gets clever. While the original quartet plan to enter Jumanji, it doesn't exactly work out that way. Instead, some are pulled in, but so too are curmudgeonly grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and his former business partner Milo (Danny Glover). For anyone who has ever tried to explain a video game or even just a remote control to a grandparent, the struggle that ensues will be painfully and hilariously relatable — and the film exploits it beautifully. As a result of that narrative twist, returning leads Johnson, Hart, Gillan and Black all play host to new personalities, adding unexpected flavour to the already amusing gender and identity scramble of the original. Johnson and Hart are the standouts, with both offering note-perfect impressions of DeVito and Glover. It's a particular delight to see these actors play so enthusiastically against type — especially Hart, who eschews his fast-talking wisecracks to serve up the vocal equivalent of a car doing 20 kilometres per hour in an 80 zone. Johnson, too, clearly relishes the opportunity to move beyond his traditional 'good guy in a muscle suit' routine, playing someone both unlikeable and entirely out of his element. There are other key changes, too. The quest within Jumanji isn't the same as last time, meaning that even the veteran players find themselves desperately trying to make sense of it all before their three lives are spent. Like all good video games, the next level is also considerably more difficult. From the get-go, the threats are multiplied and the challenges are more complex. Whether via a flock of deadly ostriches, a bottomless ravine or a jealous lover named Switchblade, death can (and does) come at any moment — and, in this instalment, the characters get down to just one life far sooner. These action sequences are inventive in the vein of the best Pixar films, and the accompanying soundtrack evokes the kind of exhilaration and adventure usually found in an Indiana Jones picture. Then there's Spencer (Wolff), the awkward and nervous teen who previously became Johnson's Dr. Smolder Bravestone. His desire to regain the confidence that came from that transformation is what leads the gang back inside Jumanji in the first place. Once he's there, he instead finds himself sporting a new avatar: pickpocket Ming Fleetfoot, played by Awkwafina. The actor/rapper puts in a terrific performance, serving up precisely the kind of new character the film needed to build upon the original. Elsewhere, Nick Jonas and Colin Hanks also reprise their roles, while the funniest body swap involves cheerleader Bethany (Iseman) — although we'll leave just what she swaps into as a surprise. Once again directed by Jake Kasdan — who took over the Jumanji franchise from Joe Johnston, the filmmaker behind the original 1995 movie — perhaps the biggest change is the defter touch with which The Next Level handles its quieter moments. In particular, the unresolved conflict between Eddie and Milo simmers neatly below the surface throughout, and its ultimate resolution proves surprisingly tender for an action-comedy. Without ruining the ending, the film leaves it all but settled that another sequel will be in the works, which seems especially likely after The Next Level set box office records for Sony on its opening weekend in America. As long as the series can maintain the same level of inventiveness and surprise, that's not a bad thing at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBxcF-r9Ibs
The silly season is upon us. Time to let go of those inhibitions and indulge in the excess of the season. Whether you're hosting Chrissie lunch, heading to a summer barbie or organising the office drinks, you'll want to make sure you're dining and sipping well. So, to help you sort out the menu, we've teamed up with our friends at Pernod Ricard, purveyors of festive tipples like Mumm, Chivas, St Hugo and Jacob's Creek, to bring you some top-notch food and beverage pairings for the festive season. Whether you're after a traditional roast, barbecued seafood or some tasty little canapés, we've tracked down a tip-top tipple to complement your Christmas fare. OYSTERS AND CHAMPAGNE It's a classic pairing; there's just something about the smooth, tannic saltiness of an oyster paired with a fizzy, dry Champagne that makes for a perfect (and rather lush) starter. Mumm's signature Cordon Rouge is a key drop to pair with your raw bar this Christmas. The nose offers hints of white and yellow peach with some delicate notes of lychee and pineapple, and on the palate, you can expect a complex yet well-balanced mouthfeel with lots of fresh fruity notes and the tiniest hint of caramel to balance. Pop and pour some Mumm as you shuck oysters with the family. And make sure everyone gets a go at opening their own oyster. SALMON AND A SPRITZ Fresh, bubbly and fun, the prosecco spritz is like that friend you invite to everything because you know they'll be the life of the party. And Jacob's Creek's version is no different — plus it makes hosting a breeze with the aromatic, orangey spritz flavours already bottled up. All you've gotta do is pour over ice and garnish with a slice of orange. As for the food, we recommend pairing those bitter orange notes and herbaceous aromas with the salty, oily flavours of smoked salmon blinis with cucumber, creme fraiche and salmon roe. It's elegant, sophisticated and dead easy to prep and serve. GRILLED PRAWNS AND ROSÉ With the heat, sunshine and general summer vibes, Australian Christmas typically favours seafood —what's more Australian than chucking a few shrimp on the barbie? Well, should you live in an apartment sans barbecue or just can't be bothered with the whole 'uh oh the prawn has fallen through the grate', this grilled alternative is quick, easy, flavourful and pairs quite well with a glass of rosé or two. Marinate the prawns in butter, lemon juice, garlic and herbs, and then place under your oven grill for two to three minutes. Plate up the prawns and get some chilled Jacob's Creek Le Petit Rosé on the pour. And with this pairing falling in line with the pinky orange Pantone colour of 2019, you'll not only eat like a king but a stylish, on-trend one at that. CHRISTMAS ROAST AND CAB SAV Even though it's likely to hit 30-plus degrees this Christmas, it's still hard to beat a traditional Christmas roast lunch on the big day. If you're going for a roast turkey, goose or chicken, complete with all the trimmings, you'll need a wine that can hold its own against the mammoth meal. St Hugo cabernet sauvignon pours an inky red-purple and offers a spicy bouquet of cherries, blackberries and a touch of star anise. On the palate expect a full body with roasted chestnut flavour and oaky vanilla, that finishes with an acidity that brings it all home. CHOCOLATE AND WHISKY Chocolate and whisky — it's got decadence written all over it. To achieve maximum opulence, you'll want to find a drop that'll be enriched by a chocolate pairing. The Chivas Regal 18 is a blended scotch whisky aged to bring out a smooth, spicy and slightly sweet flavour profile. The buttery toffee and caramel notes are complemented by dried fruit and a hint of spice and dark chocolate. Pour a nip over a single ice cube to pull out the flavours, and pair it with a square (or block) of rich, dark chocolate — or, even more decadent, a fudgy chocolate cake. Start planning your festive menus — Christmas will be here before you know it. Purchase any two eligible Pernod products from a Cellarbrations, The Bottle O, IGA Liquor or Big Bargain Bottleshop, and go in the draw to win a $500 travel voucher. There's one voucher to win every day till Christmas. And really, what could be better for the holiday spirit than winning an actual holiday?
Even though it has been 140 years since Gioachino Rossini's opera William Tell was staged in Australia, the story is a familiar one. William, a young man and brilliant archer who lives in a small country town in Switzerland, gets sick of submitting to tyrannical Austrian rule – and decides to dissent, by refusing to obey orders. What follows is a dramatic David-versus-Goliath standoff, a tangled love story and the famous William Tell trick: the shooting of an apple off his son's head. Befittingly, Victorian Opera is promising that this will be its most epic production yet. Think costumes inspired by The Handmaid's Tale and The Hunger Games, a set design evocative of the Swiss Alps and three hours of some of the most dynamic music ever written for opera. The colossal performance will be brought to the stage by international opera director Rodula Gaitanou (Royal Opera House, Opera Holland Park), and designed by London-based Simon Corder and acclaimed local costume designer Esther Marie Hayes. There'll be a bunch of international and Australian singers involved and a powerful, 48-strong chorus, too. One of William Tell's most famous tunes is "Call to the Cows", based on a traditional melody played by Swiss cowhands as they send their cattle out to graze. Another highlight is, "Sois Immobile", the aria sung before the iconic apple shot, and the show's finale, which is widely accepted as one of the best opera finales every written. William Tell is showing at St Kilda's Palais Theatre on Saturday, July 14; Tuesday, July 17; and Thursday, July 19, at 7.30pm.
In the latest addition to the ever-growing trend toward themed wine festivals, Oinofilia will hit Melbourne's Meat Market on June 24 as Australia's newest event entirely focused on Greek wine. The festival is brought to you by Bottle Shop Concepts, the crew behind wine events Pinot Palooza and Game of Rhones, and will celebrate all things Greek wine, food and culture. The name appropriately comes from the Greek term for "a love of wine". As the oldest wine-producing region in Europe, the festival will showcase 80 wines from 20 of the country's best producers, with wines made everywhere from the Aegean and Ionian Islands to Crete. To accompany the drinks, sister restaurants Elyros and Epocha will join forces with Prahran Market's Sweet Greek and Collingwood's Meatsmith to curate an authentic feast of spit-roasted meats, grilled seafood, pickles, breads, cheese and pastries, among other Greek delicacies. The location is ideal as Melbourne has the largest Greek population outside of Greece. Bottle Shop Concepts' wine festival empire will also continue to expand, with the company recently announcing a new Barossa Valley event, launching this July. The Oinofilia Greek Wine and Food Festival will take place on Saturday, June 24 from 11am through 5pm at the Meat Market, 5 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne. Check the Oinofilia website for tickets and more information.
It feels like we only just farewelled the last one, but here we are in another COVID-19 lockdown. And while the latest stay-at-home orders have many sucky aspects, one of the worst is not being able to spend time with your nearest and dearest. With restrictions dictating how far Victorians can travel with just five reasons to leave home, it might be a minute before you can enjoy IRL hangs with your crew. So, we've rounded up a few ways you can get in some quality mate time without leaving your house. Get them on board for a virtual dance party, take to your respective kitchens for a Masterchef-style cook-off, or belt out some classic tunes at an old fashioned karaoke session. Book in one of these mate dates and inject a little happiness into your lockdown stint. OUTSMART A VIRTUAL ESCAPE ROOM Beat the boredom, use a few brain cells and hang with your mates by having a crack at an online escape room. These days, you'll find a whole swag of these interactive puzzles online, with most requiring little more than a couple of willing participants and a decent internet connection. Local crew Experios has six different self-guided digital escape rooms to choose from, with prices starting from an easy $30 per team. Race the clock with a classic bomb-dismantling scenario in Time's Ticking, flex your theft skills in Ben's Big Heist, or reminisce about the good old days of bar hopping in the Jack's Hangover challenge. Brunswick-based escape room studio Ukiyo is also offering a couple of captivating virtual games that'll see you ditching lockdown life in favour of some cleverly crafted alternate realities. This one even has a mini quiz you can do to help pick your perfect escape room match. [caption id="attachment_770182" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Briscoe via Unsplash[/caption] COOK THE SAME MEAL — AND DECIDE WHOSE IS BETTER Now we've got extra time on our hands, we can work on levelling up those at-home cooking skills with a competitive virtual cook-off. Here's how it works: First you agree on a meal you both enjoy and can round up the right ingredients for. You can order boxes of groceries from plenty of your local restaurants, food stores and markets. Or, try Co-Lab Pantry for a broad range of restaurant-made pantry staples and gourmet Victorian grocery products, delivered to your door. Once you've got everything you need, FaceTime your mate, crack open a bottle of wine and get cooking. You'll be able to watch each other in action and have entertaining company while you whip up dinner. Once your gourmet creation is ready, enjoy a virtual dinner date while you determine who's the better cook. Did someone say MasterChef? [caption id="attachment_760387" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hot Dub Time Machine, by Pat Stevenson[/caption] THROW AN AT-HOME DANCE PARTY The clubs are closed (again), but your living room dance floor is always open and ready for business. Tee up a Zoom session with your bestie (or the whole gang), to enjoy an at-home, virtual dance party. The best part? This club's closing time is whenever you decide. Of course, you'll need some great jams to set the mood and keep those party vibes rolling. And happily, the folks behind time-travelling dance party Hot Dub Time Machine have you more than covered in that department. Check out the #hotdubathome section of its website to find a whole stack of groove-busting DJ sets recorded during last year's lockdowns. They'll have you dancing through tunes of the past few decades. Also no stranger to a living room boogie is DJ Andrew McClelland of long-running dance party series Mr McClelland's Finishing School. While IRL events are on hold, he's curing those lockdown blues with a special virtual DJ set this Friday, May 28, streamed via Twitch. Check it out here. BINGE A SHOW TOGETHER While streaming content through a shared screen might be a little ambitious, the two of you can coordinate playing and pausing whatever you're watching while you video chat. Right now we recommend checking out The Serpent on Netflix if you're after a stranger-than-fiction true crime tale set in the 70s, or taking a look at Stan's binge-worthy comedy Rutherford Falls, from Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator and producer Michael Schur. You could also turn to cult classics you never had time to watch, like Peaky Blinders on Netflix or Breaking Bad on Stan. Looking for something lighter? Check out this list of comedies. In these uncertain times, it's nice to get lost in another world — and even nicer with your buddy (virtually) by your side. BLOW OFF STEAM WITH AN ONLINE KARAOKE PARTY There's no room for lockdown blues when you're belting out bangers with your besties. Even if the sing-along requires internet connection and a web cam. Video chat platforms are now social go-tos after 2020's strange age of isolation but, in case you may have missed it, they're also happen to be perfect for hosting rousing virtual karaoke parties. Set a date, invite the crew and start working on your best lung-busting material. Themes and dress-ups are encouraged, and if you're stuck for ideas, you'll find plenty of online karaoke catalogues to browse and inspire. All of Victoria is in stage four restrictions from 11.59pm on Thursday, May 27 until the same time on Thursday, June 3. For more information about the rules, head to the Victorian Department of Health website.
My sister and I — like many of you, I'm sure — are really good at being really bad at dancing. The other day on her orientation day at university, she was made to play a game: find one person who is the eldest child, find one person who has been to Spain, find one person who is a great dancer. Long story short, my sister's inflated sense of her own dance ability became the focus of the entire classroom, as the teacher asked her what type of dance she studied. Her answer? "Er… I just love krumping." For those of you who share this passion, or perhaps enjoy something a little more structured, you want to be twerkin' all the way to Dance Massive 2013, an extensive program of dance work hosted by Arts House, the Malthouse Theatre, and Dancehouse. Each venue is set to curate a program of events, ensuring you'll be privy to a specially tailored selection of flexible fun wherever you go. We've picked out a few shows for everyone to enjoy, whether your signature move is the sprinkler, the Harlem Shake, or the pirouette. WeTubeLIVE Everyone likes watching people dance on YouTube. It’s infectious, fun, and can be damn impressive. WeTubeLIVE will bring YouTube dancing to the offline world as 50 performers interpret 100 dance clips made famous on the internet. The best (or potentially worst) part? If you fancy yourself a bit of a Beyonce protege, you can apply to perform at the event. BRB, polishing up my Single Ladies routine. The Recording Staged like a film set, The Recording goes through the process of filming a scene from start to finish. The performers learn their lines and work on the scene together as the work evolves into a full-blown cinematic production. Directed and choreographed by Sandra Parker, The Recording is part dance, part play, and part installation. One for the theatrically inclined. P.O.V. If you're the kind of person who's the first to stick up their hand come audience participation time, you’re going to love P.O.V. Choreographed by Chunky Move's Lee Serle, P.O.V. gets rid of that invisible wall between audience and performer. Viewers sit spaced apart as dancers move around them, becoming totally immersed in the performance. Go to the toilet before it starts — you really don’t want to be the person who has to get up and fight their way through a bunch of dancers on a full bladder. Conversation Piece Incorporating a spoken word element, Lucy Guerin's Conversation Piece uses words as stimulus for the dance performance. A different conversation is held between performers — there's three actors and three dancers involved — for the first eight minutes of each show, which is looped and backed with music as the work progresses. There must be some kind of planning beforehand though? Imagine a dance routine to, "What do you wanna do? I dunno, what do you wanna do?" It's got a certain rhythm, I guess. Dance Your Heart Out Itchy feet after watching all those dancers? If you’d like to have a crack at it yourself, head along to Dance Your Heart Out, a series of morning dance classes from March 18-22. Hosted by some of Australia’s funkiest movers and shakers (literally), classes are $20 and start at 10am every day. Sadly, most begin at Intermediate/Advanced level, and there are no classes for "incredibly inflexible but enthusiastic bedroom dancers" like myself. However, if you've got some experience under your belt, it's a great opportunity to shake it with the best of 'em. Dance Massive runs from March 12-24, and performances will be hosted across four venues. Aside from the shows there’s a bunch of other stuff, like open studios and forums, which offer extra insight into what is for many, an unfamiliar industry. Images via dancemassive.com.au/Centre Stage/Psy.
That pup of yours (or that pup you've been thinking about getting) could soon score a whole bunch of new places to sniff, socialise and play, with the Victorian Government announcing plans to create five new off-leash dog parks and 13 new 'pocket parks' in Melbourne. The new green spaces are included in the second round of the Government's $154 million Suburban Parks Program, which will see a total of 6500 hectares of new parkland, walking trails and bike trails, as well as a number of pocket parks and off-leash dog parks, created across the city. The first round of the program, which was announced in 2020, initially included nine new spaces for pooches and 15 areas for humans throughout the city — with those numbers then boosted by 17 across the state, as also announced last year. Victorian Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio revealed plans for the next batch of parks today, Sunday, January 24, saying: "the pandemic has brought into sharp focus the importance of open green space close to home, and these new parks will deliver just that." No opening dates have been given for the parks just announced in the program's second round; however, the five dog parks will be located in Elwood, Ringwood North, Balwyn North, Mitcham and Essendon West. The pocket parks will be popping up in Prahran, Eltham, Montmorency, Oakleigh South, Footscray, Dandenong, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Frankston, Sunshine North, Notting Hill, Moonee Ponds and St Albans. According to the Government, the locations have been chosen based on accessibility by public transport, road or walking and biking trails. When they open, the pocket parks will feature areas for community events, seating, play areas, shaded areas, drinking fountains, landscaping and greenery — obviously — while two- and four-legged visitors to the purpose-built dog parks will find seating, designated play areas, rockeries and agility equipment. For more information about Melbourne's new pocket and off-leash dog parks, head to the Victorian Government website.
One of Melbourne's favourite inner-city shopping spots is moving up in the world, literally. As part of the site's ongoing redevelopment, Queen Victoria Market is getting an elevated addition. Say goodbye to ground-level shopping, and hello to an open-air greenhouse-style pavilion that'll be built on columns nine metres above the street. Slated to begin construction in early 2017 and expected to be operational by the September, the Breathe Architecture-designed structure will temporarily house the market's traders while other parts of the precinct undergo a revamp. And it won't be small — measuring 200 metres by 16 metres, the $5 million effort is expected to stretch from the existing sheds down to the customer car park. In addition to boasting a constant temperature of 28 degrees, it'll also be the longest inner-city conservatory in the world. The pavilion forms part of the broader Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal project, which aims to restore the market's heritage while delivering modern facilities, and will span the next five years. As well as refreshing the existing sheds and fixtures, the $250 million revitalisation will also see the creation of a new 1.5 hectare open space called Market Square, plus another area that can host markets, festivals and more at the intersection of Queen and Therry streets, dubbed Market Cross. And, while the brag-worthy sky-high greenhouse isn't actually intended to be a permanent fixture at present — in fact, it is designed to be dismantled, moved and even re-sold if needed — that may change. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle told The Herald Sun that he expects some traders will want to stay there once the rest of the project is finished. "I suspect this will be such a success and such a drawcard that when we get to the end of the renovation traders will tell us not to take it away," he said. For more information about the Queen Victoria Market Precinct Renewal, visit the project website. Via The Herald Sun.
A lot of doco makers rely on the adage that 'truth is stranger than fiction'. A few supremely lucky ones find a story that is so mind-bogglingly strange that they could sit back and let the film make itself. The Imposter is just such a story, at every stage revealing another layer of the bizarreness of which human beings are capable. British director Bart Layton is no slouch, either; the film is slickly made, metring out its tantalising information and almost single-handedly reviving the use of re-creation as a respected documentary tool. The subject is an incident in 1997 in which a 17-year-old Texan boy, Nicholas Barclay, was returned to his family after having been missing for three years. Except he turned up in Spain, had no physical resemblance to the missing blue-eyed boy, was noticeably older, and spoke with a French accent. He was accepted back into the family regardless. His sister thought she could recognise that smile anywhere. From the relatives to the authorities, everyone around him seemed ready to excuse the differences, taking the 'he's not the little boy you knew' trope to extreme and literal levels. In reality, the boy was French con man Frederic Bourdin, a 23-year-old obsessively seeking the comfort of childhood. At first, it seems the documentary reveals his identity prematurely, almost right from the beginning — but that's just because you don't know, at that point, of all the twists that remain for the story to take. The supremely tense Imposter features sensitive, in-depth interviews with almost all of the major characters in the incident, including Bourdin, the FBI agent who handled his repatriation, the PI whose suspicions uncovered the truth and Nicholas's mother and sister. Without them, no number of re-creations could have carried the story so far or got you close to understanding any of these people's motivations. And as for the re-creations, they're filmed with a keen cinematographer's eye and a sense of enigma, putting them at a long distance from those we're used to on made-for-TV specials. https://youtube.com/watch?v=mENui3UdMOY
If you're a Melbourne movie lover who's been hanging out for a night — or several — staring at the big screen, you've had to take your trips to the flicks in stages. First, when the city's lockdown ended, outdoor cinemas were permitted to reopen. Now, with the next set of eased restrictions kicking in at 6pm on Friday, October 29, indoor picture palaces can get their projectors whirring again as well. Under stay-at-home restrictions, no one is ever short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made over by now, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent more time than usual over the past 18 months glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of films are hitting indoor cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've picked ten must-see flicks that've only reached big screens from Friday, October 29 that you can now head to. LAMB Just over a decade ago, Noomi Rapace was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, too. After starring in the first film adaptations of Steig Larsson's best-selling Millennium books, the Swedish actor then brought her penchant for simmering ferocity to Alien prequel Prometheus, and to movies as varied as erotic thriller Passion, crime drama The Drop and Australian-shot thriller Angel of Mine. But Lamb might be her best role yet, and best performance. A picture that puts her silent film era-esque features to stunning use, it stares into the soul of a woman not just yearning for her own modest slice of happiness, but willing to do whatever it takes to get it. It also places Rapace opposite a flock of sheep, and has her cradle a baby that straddles both species; however, this Icelandic blend of folk-horror thrills, relationship dramas and even deadpan comedy is as human as it is ovine. At first, Lamb is all animal. Something rumbles in the movie's misty, mountainside farm setting, spooking the horses. In the sheep barn, where cinematographer Eli Arenson (Hospitality) swaps arresting landscape for a ewe's-eye view, the mood is tense and restless as well. Making his feature debut, filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson doesn't overplay his hand early. As entrancing as the movie's visuals prove in all their disquieting stillness, he keeps the film cautious about what's scaring the livestock. But Lamb's expert sound design offers a masterclass in evoking unease from its very first noise, and makes it plain that all that eeriness, anxiety and dripping distress has an unnerving — and tangible — source. The farm belongs to Rapace's Maria and her partner Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason, A White, White Day), who've thrown themselves into its routines after losing a child. They're a couple that let their taciturn faces do the talking, including with each other, but neither hides their delight when one ewe gives birth to a hybrid they name Ada. Doting and beaming, they take the sheep-child into their home as their own. Its woolly mother stands staring and baa-ing outside their kitchen window, but they're both content in and fiercely protective of their newfound domestic happiness. When Ingvar's ex-pop star brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) arrives unexpectedly, they don't even dream of hiding their new family idyll — even as he's initially shocked and hardly approving. Enticing, surreal and starkly unsettling all at once, Lamb also benefits from exceptional animal performances — it won the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Palm Dog, the prestigious event's awards for best canine acting — and its own savvy. It nabbed Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality at Cannes as well, but the movie's shrewdness isn't limited to its standout concept. Each patient shot that roves over the hillside, peeks through the fog, and soaks in the strain and pressure is just as astute. Each rustle, huff and jangle in the film's soundscape proves the same. Every aesthetic decision paints Lamb in unease and uncertainty, in fact, and lets its lingering gaze towards the steely Rapace, affecting Guðnason and their four-legged co-stars unleash an intense and absurdist pastoral symphony of dread and hope, bleakness and sweetness, and terror and love. Read our full review. RIDERS OF JUSTICE Few things will ever be better than seeing Mads Mikkelsen get day drunk and dance around while swigging champagne in an Oscar-winning movie, which is one fantastic film experience that 2021 has already delivered. But the always-watchable actor is equally magnetic and exceptional in Riders of Justice, a revenge-driven comedy that's all about tackling your problems in a different and far less boozy fashion. In both features, he plays the type of man unlikely to express his feelings. Instead of Another Round's mild-mannered teacher who's so comfortably settled into his adult life that his family barely acknowledges he's there, here he's a dedicated solider who's more often away than home. Beneath his close-cropped hair and steely, bristly beard, he's stern, sullen and stoic, not to mention hot-tempered when he does betray what's bubbling inside, and he outwardly expects the same of everyone around him. Mikkelson excels at transformational performances, however. He's also an exquisite anchor in films that dare to take risks. No matter what part he's playing, the Danish star is gifted at conveying subtlety, too, which is ideal for a character, Markus, who slowly realises that he needs to be more open with his emotions. And, while Mikkelson is usually expertly cast in most entries on his resume — the misfire that is Chaos Walking being one rare outlier — he's especially in his element in this genre-defying, trope-unpacking, constantly complex and unpredictable film. With a name that sounds like one of the many by-the-numbers action flicks Liam Neeson has starred in since Taken, Riders of Justice initially appears as if it'll take its no-nonsense central figure to an obvious place, and yet this ambitious, astute and entertaining movie both does and doesn't. After a train explosion taints his life with tragedy and leaves him the sole parent to traumatised teenager Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Pagten), Markus returns home from Afghanistan. Talking is her method of coping, or would be if he'd let her; he refuses counselling for them both, and opts not to discuss the incident in general, because clamming up has always been his PTSD-afflicted modus operandi. Then Riders of Justice's writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken) and screenwriter Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) send statistician Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas, The Keeper of Lost Causes), his colleague Lennart (Lars Brygmann, The Professor and the Madman) and the computer-savvy Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro, The Kingdom) knocking at the grieving family's door. They're a trio of stereotypically studious outsiders to his stony-faced military man, but they come uttering a theory. Mathematically, they don't think that the events surrounding the accident add up, so they're convinced it wasn't just a case of pure misfortune — because it's just so unlikely to have occurred otherwise. The nervy Otto, who was on the train with Mathilde and her mother Emma (Anne Birgitte Lind, The Protector), has even started to narrow down possible culprits with his pals. Markus, with his action-not-words mindset, is swiftly eager for retribution, but again, this isn't like most films of its ilk. Narratives about seeking justice often ride the expected rails on autopilot, getting from start to finish on the standard vengeance template's inherent momentum; this attentive and layered gem questions and subverts every usual cliche, convention and motif along the way, including by putting its characters first. Read our full review. THE HARDER THEY FALL Idris Elba. A piercing gaze. One helluva red velvet suit. A film can't coast by on such a combination alone, and The Harder They Fall doesn't try to — but when it splashes that vivid vision across the screen, it's nothing short of magnificent. The moment arrives well into Jeymes Samuel's revisionist western, so plenty of stylishness has already graced its frames before then. Think: Old West saloons in brilliant yellows, greens and blues; the collective strut of a cast that includes Da 5 Bloods' Delroy Lindo and Jonathan Majors, Atlanta's Zazie Beetz and LaKeith Stanfield, and If Beale Street Could Talk Oscar-winner Regina King; and an aesthetic approach that blasts together the cool, the slick and the operatic. Still, Elba and his crimson attire — and the black vest and hat that tops it off — is the exclamation mark capping one flamboyant and vibrant movie. Imaginative is another appropriate word to describe The Harder They Fall, especially its loose and creative take on American history. Where some features based on the past take a faithful but massaged route — fellow recent release The Last Duel, for example — this one happily recognises what's fact and what's fantasy. Its main players all existed centuries ago, but Samuel and co-screenwriter Boaz Yakin (Now You See Me) meld them into the same narrative. That's an act of complete fiction, as is virtually everything except their names. The feature freely admits this on-screen before proceedings begin, though, and wouldn't dream of hiding from it. Team-up movies aren't rare, whether corralling superheroes or movie monsters, but there's a particular thrill and power to bringing together these fictionalised Black figures in such an ambitious and memorable, smart and suave, and all-round swaggering film. After proving such a commanding lead in HBO series Lovecraft Country, Majors takes centre stage here, too, as gunslinger Nat Love. First, however, the character is initially introduced as a child (Anthony Naylor Jr, The Mindy Project), watching his parents get murdered by the infamous Rufus Buck (Elba, The Suicide Squad). A quest for revenge ensues — and yes, Nat shares an origin story with Batman. Samuel definitely isn't afraid to get stylised and cartoonish, or melodramatic, or playful for that matter. One of the keys to The Harder They Fall is that it's so many things all at once, and rarely is it any one thing for too long. This is a brash and bold western from its first vividly shot frame till its last, of course, and yet it's also a film about the tragedies that infect families, the violence that infects societies, and the hate, abuse, prejudice, discrimination and bloodshed that can flow from both. It's a romance, too, and it nails its action scenes like it's part of a big blockbuster franchise. As an adult, Nat still has Rufus in his sights. It'll take a few twists of fate — including a great train robbery to free Rufus en route from one prison to the next — to bring them face to face again. The sequence where the outlaw's righthand woman Trudy (King) and quick-drawing fellow gang member Cherokee Bill (Stanfield) take on the law is sleek heist delight, and the saloon clash with marshal Bass Reeves (Lindo) that gets Nat back on Rufus' trail is just as dextrously handled. Nat also has bar proprietor and his on-again, off-again ex Stagecoach Mary (Beetz) on his side, plus the boastful Beckwourth (RJ Cyler, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), sharp-shooting Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi, Briarpatch) and diminutive Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler, P-Valley). Everyone gets their moments, and every one of those moments sashays towards a blood-spattered showdown. Read our full review. THE ALPINIST Standing atop Yosemite National Park's El Capitan after scaling it alone and without ropes, harnesses or any other safety equipment, Alex Honnold cut a surprisingly subdued figure. As the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo captured, he was obviously ecstatic, but he isn't the type to leap and scream with excitement. So, he smiled blissfully. He also advised the cameras that he was "so delighted". In the opening moments of new doco The Alpinist, however, he is effusive — as enthusiastic as the no-nonsense climbing superstar gets, that is. In a historical clip, he's asked who he's excited about in his very specific extreme sports world. His answer: "this kid Marc-André Leclerc." Zipping from the Canadian Rockies to Patagonia, with ample craggy pitstops in-between, The Alpinist tells Leclerc's tale, explaining why someone of Honnold's fame and acclaim sings his praises. Using the Free Solo subject as an entry point is a smart choice by filmmakers Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen — industry veterans themselves, with 2014's Valley Uprising on their shared resume and 2017's The Dawn Wall on Mortimer's — but their climber of focus here would demand attention even without the high-profile endorsement. Indeed, dizzying early shots of him in action almost say all that's needed about his approach to great heights, and his near-preternatural skill in the field. Scaling hard, immovable rock faces is one thing, but Leclerc is seen here clambering up alpine surfaces, conquering glistening yet precarious sheets of ice and snow. Any shot that features the Canadian twenty-something mountaineering is nothing short of breathtaking. Describing it as 'clambering up' does him a disservice, actually, and downplays The Alpinist's stunning footage as well. Leclerc is just that graceful and intuitive as he reaches higher, seemingly always knowing exactly where to place his hands, feet and axe, all while heading upwards in frighteningly dangerous situations. As Mortimer notes, narrating the documentary and almost-indulgently inserting himself into the story, alpine free soloing is another level of climbing. No shortage of talking-head interviewees also stress this reality. Protective equipment is still absent, but all that ice and snow could melt or fall at any second. In fact, the routes that the obsessive Leclerc finds in his climbs will no longer exist again, and mightn't just moments after he's made his ascent. Simply charting Leclerc's impressive feats could've been The Alpinist sole remit; Mortimer and Rosen certainly wanted that and, again, the film's hypnotic, vertigo-inducing imagery is just that extraordinary. Some shots peer at the mountains in all their towering glory, letting viewers spot the tiny speck moving amid their majesty in their own time, before zooming in to get a closer look at Leclerc. Other nerve-shattering scenes intimately capture every careful choice, every movement of his limbs and every decision about what to hold on to, inescapably aware that these are sheer life-or-death moments. But The Alpinist isn't the movie its makers initially dreamed of, because Leclerc isn't Honnold or The Dawn Wall's Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson. While affable when posed in front of the camera, he's also silently begrudging, because he'd visibly rather just be doing what he loves in total anonymity instead of talking about it, having it filmed and earning the world's eyes. Read our full review. PASSING Locking gazes across the room, staring intently with a deep fascination that feels fated, seeing oneself in the sparkle of another's eyes: when these moments happen in a movie, it's typically to fuel the first flushes of romance. When they occur early in Passing, however, it's because former childhood friends Irene (Tessa Thompson, Westworld) and Clare (Ruth Negga, Ad Astra) have spied each other in a swanky Manhattan hotel. The pair peer back and forth, intrigued and attentive. That said, it isn't until Clare approaches Irene — and calls her Reenie, a nickname she hasn't heard in years — that the latter realises who she's been looking at. It's the immaculately styled blonde bob that fools Irene, as it's meant to fool the world. As becomes clear in a politely toned but horrendously blunt conversation with Clare's racist husband John (Alexander Skarsgård, Godzilla vs Kong) shortly afterwards, Irene's long-lost pal has built an entire life and marriage around being seen as white. Passing's eponymous term comes loaded not just with meaning, but with history; adapted from Nella Larsen's 1929 novel of the same name, it's set in America's Jim Crow era. This introductory scene between Irene and Clare comes layered with multiple sources of tension, too, with Irene only in the hotel because she's decided to flirt with visiting a white establishment. Still, she's shocked by her pal's subterfuge. When she initially spots Clare, the film adopts Irene's perspective — and its frames bristle with a mix of nervousness, uncertainty and familiarity. Irene rediscovers an old friend in a new guise, and also comes face to face with the lengths some are willing to go to in the name of survival and an easier life. Friendships can be rewarding and challenging, fraught and nourishing, and demanding and essential, including all at once, as Passing repeatedly demonstrates from this point onwards. Irene can't completely move past Clare's choices and can't shake her fears about what'd happen if the vile John ever learned Clare's secret; however, she's also quick to defend her to others — to her doctor husband Brian (André Holland, The Eddy), who swiftly warms to Clare anyway; and to acclaimed white novelist Hugh Wentworth (Bill Camp, News of the World), who's her own entry point into an artier realm. Indeed, in household where talk of lynchings is common dinner conversation, Irene recognises far more in Clare's decision than she'll vocally admit. Almost everyone she knows is pretending to be something else as well, after all, including Irene in her own ways. Largely confined to Irene and Brian's well-appointed Harlem home and other parties in the neighbourhood — after that first hotel rendezvous, that is — Passing is an economical yet complicated film. It may seem straightforward in charting Irene and Clare's rekindled acquaintance, but it's exacting and precise as it interrogates both societally enforced and self-inflicted pain. Its Black characters live in a world that pushes them aside and worse merely for existing, with its central pair each internalising that reality. Their every careful move reacts to it, in fact, a bleak truth that actor-turned-filmmaker Rebecca Hall (The Night House) never allows to fade. That's one of the reasons she's chosen to shoot this striking directorial debut in elegant, crisp and devastatingly telling monochrome hues: both everything and nothing here is black and white. Read our full review. ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN When Anthony Bourdain strode around the world, and across our screens, in food-meets-travel series A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, The Layover and Parts Unknown, he was as animated as he was acerbic and enigmatic. Beneath his shock of greying hair, the lanky New Yorker was relatable, engaging to a seemingly effortless degree and radiated a larger-than-life air, too. The latter didn't just apply because he was a face on TV, where plenty gets that bigger-than-reality sheen, but because he appeared to truly embrace all that life entailed in that hectic whirlwind of travelling, eating and waxing lyrical about both. Arriving three years after his suicide in 2018, documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain captures that. It's so filled with Bourdain thanks to all that time he'd spent in front of the camera, it'd be near-impossible for it not to. But it also lurks under a shadow due to its now-infamous choice to use artificial intelligence to add dialogue that its subject didn't speak. Watching the film, there's no way of knowing which words Bourdain merely penned but didn't utter; the technology truly is that seamless. It still resounds as an unnecessary move, though, especially when such lines might've been incorporated in ways that wouldn't sit at stark odds with his visible liveliness. Roadrunner delves behind the facade that Bourdain presented to the world, of course. It notes his death immediately and goes in search of the sorrow and pain that might've led to it, as mulled over by friends such fellow chefs David Chang and Éric Ripert, and artist David Choe; crew members on his shows; and his second wife Ottavia Busia. Still, once you know about the AI, there's a sense of disconnection that echoes through the doco — because it surveys all that Bourdain was, compiles all of this stellar material and still resorted to digital resurrection. Thankfully, the passion and curiosity that always made Bourdain appear so spirited — yes, so alive, as compared to being vocally recreated by AI after his death — still makes Roadrunner worth watching. That's true for Bourdain fans and newcomers alike, although director Morgan Neville (Oscar-winner 20 Feet From Stardom) doesn't use his two-hour-long film as a birth-to-life primer for the uninitiated. Crucially, as also proved the case with his 2018 Mr Rogers documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Neville jumps through the details of Bourdain's life in a way that also muses on what his success and popularity said about the world. Why he struck such a chord is as essential an ingredient in Roadrunner as how he went from cook to celebrity chef, TV host, best-selling author and travel documentarian. The footage of Bourdain — from his shows, obviously, as well as from a plethora of TV interviews, behind-the-scenes clips and home videos — is edited together with the same restlessness that the man himself always exuded. You don't spend most of your year travelling if you can be easily pinned down, after all. It's a wise choice on Neville and editors Eileen Meyer (Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution) and Aaron Wickenden's (Feels Good Man) parts, but Neville has long had a knack for making his films feel like his subjects. Talking-head chats are spliced throughout, offering further details and grappling with how Bourdain's story ends; however, Roadrunner is repeatedly at its finest when it's peering at him and showing how his work encouraged us all not just to watch, but to eat, travel, think, talk and live. Read our full review. BECOMING COUSTEAU He's been parodied in a Wes Anderson film and mentioned in a Flight of the Conchords song. His red beanie, and those worn by his fellow crew members on his research ship Calypso, are an enduring fashion symbol. He won the second-ever Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or — becoming not only the first filmmaker to receive the prestigious prize for a documentary, but the only one to do so for almost half a century afterwards. When he started making television in the 60s, he turned his underwater-shot docos about the sea into truly must-see TV. He helped create undersea diving as we know it, and he's the most famous oceanographer that's ever lived. He was also one of the early voices who spoke out about climate change and humanity's impact upon the oceans. He's a rockstar in every field he dived into — and he's Jacques Cousteau, obviously. Becoming Cousteau touches on all of the above — except The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Flight of the Conchords' 'Fou de Fafa', of course — and makes for a a riveting splash into its namesake's life and career. There's just so much to tell, to the point that it frequently feels as if director Liz Garbus (an Oscar-nominee for What Happened, Miss Simone?) could've filled an entire series instead. Her big-screen tribute to Cousteau doesn't suffer from packing so much into its slice of celluloid, however. It simply makes the most of its time, leaving viewers wanting more because they've loved what they've just experienced. Becoming Cousteau is the cinematic equivalent of having a splash, gazing fondly at the sea's blue expanse, or peering deeply at the ocean's underwater wonders, all activities that beg for as much of your attention as possible. This isn't just an affectionate ode, though, even with ample praise floated Cousteau's way. When Garbus includes vision of wide-eyed children beaming up at her subject with wonder splashed across their faces, you could call it a case of a director telling audiences how they should feel — or signalling how she's looking his way, or both. But she knows that Cousteau's achievements, and the glorious archival footage that comes with it, elicits that reaction anyway. She also doesn't shy away from the thornier aspects of his personal and professional lives, tragedies and struggles among them. This is a film about a man who lived a life like no one else's, especially when he kept plunging beneath the sea, but it's also a movie about a man first and foremost. That's why Garbus sticks to a familiar biographical documentary format, as tempting as it might've been to take a more playful route. By chronicling Cousteau's existence in a chronological fashion — from naval officer to icon, with help from his own words as read by French actor Vincent Cassel (The World Is Yours) where footage doesn't exist — she emphasises who he becomes as he spends more and more time in, atop and contemplating the ocean. Yes, her title is that straightforward; however, neither the simplicity of Becoming Cousteau's structure nor the descriptiveness of its moniker can sum up this fascinating and thoughtful documentary. There's nothing standard about the way it charts his evolution or examines how he used his fame, either, or about the glorious way it selects, curates and compiles its wealth of clips — or about the movie's transfixing ebb and flow. THE NIGHT HOUSE The history of cinema is haunted by oh-so-many movies about oh-so-many ghost-riddled abodes, and the often-troubled and bereaved folks dwelling within them. The first clever move The Night House makes is recognising it's floating into busy spectral waters, then ensuring its tension stems from its living, breathing protagonist as much as the frights and fears she's forced to face. The film's second stellar step: casting Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs Kong) as that central figure. An always-welcome addition to anything she's in — see also: Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Christine and Tales From the Loop in just the past few years — she plays her tormented part here with brooding sorrow, reluctant vulnerability and a sharp, smart edge. She knows that grappling with loss involves being jolted in many different directions, and being subjected to bumps and jumps of the emotional kind, and that it's never easy to surrender to. Indeed, many of The Night House's surprises come from Hall as Beth, a schoolteacher whose life has been turned upside down by her husband Owen's (Evan Jonigkeit, The Empty Man) unexpected suicide. Clearly normally a no-nonsense type whether she's guiding pupils, dealing with their parents or navigating her personal life, she probes and questions everything that comes her way. As a result, her reactions — including just to herself — are constantly complex, thorny and compelling. Also among The Night House's savvy moves: understanding that grief really does change everything. Not only has Beth's life lost one of its brightest lights, but everything Owen once illuminated now keeps being cloaked in shadows he's not there to extinguish. Since his passing, she's cycled through the familiar stages of mourning. When she returns to work to her colleagues' astonishment, including her close friend Claire's (Sarah Goldberg, Barry), Beth shocks her co-workers by discussing Owen's suicide note, admitting her home now seems different and obsessing over how much she really knew her husband. That last written missive ties back into one of her past traumas, as well as her own dealings with the end that awaits us all. When she's alone at night, she's not sure that she can trust what she sees and hears, or tell whether she's awake or dreaming. Filling her time by sorting through Owen's things, she's also unsure what to make of the eerie sketches and books about the occult that sit among his possessions. And, Beth's thrown even further askew when she finds photos of brunette women that could be her doppelgängers; plans for a home just like hers, but mirrored; and a cascade of tidbits that cast her memories of her marriage into disarray. The Night House has a strong sense of terror about the the fact that life doesn't extended forever, and it's a movie made with meticulous horror style as well as smarts. When it comes to plot twists, though, director David Bruckner (The Ritual) and screenwriting duo Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (Super Dark Times) are alittle less careful about becoming prey to indulgence. Read our full review. A FIRE INSIDE Some colours only exist in nature, as much as paints, dyes and pixels attempt to pretend otherwise. The raging reds, blazing oranges and burning yellows seen in A Fire Inside's bushfire footage are some such hues — and, away from the safety of a cinema screen, no one should ever want to spy these specific searing tones. They're haunting enough as it is to look at in a movie. Taking up entire frames of on-the-ground footage shot during the summer of 2019–20, they're scorching in their brightness and intensity. This documentary about the national natural disaster just two years ago, when swathes of Australia burned for months, deploys those apocalyptic colours and the imagery containing them sparingly, notably; however, even when they only flicker briefly, those shades aren't easily forgotten. After everything the pandemic has delivered since the beginning of 2020, just as the 'Black Summer' bushfires were cooling, that chapter of history might seem far longer ago than just a couple of years. A Fire Inside is also an act of remembrance, though. Directors Justin Krook (Machine, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead) and Luke Mazzaferro (a producer on Girls Can't Surf and The Meddler) firmly look backwards, pushing these events back to the top of viewers' memories. That said, they also survey the situation since, as the rebuilding effort has been complicated and elongated by COVID-19. This approach also enables them to survey the lingering aftermath, including the homes that still haven't been rebuilt, the people still residing in makeshift setups, and the emotional and mental toll that's set to dwell for much longer still. Accordingly, what could've merely been a record of a catastrophe becomes a portrait of both survival and resilience. Unsurprisingly, interviews drive this Australian doco, focusing on the afflicted and the volunteers. Folks in each group chat about their experiences, and the lines between them frequently blur. Firefighter Nathan Barnden provides the first and clearest instance; the film's key early subject, he saved seven strangers and retained his own life in an inferno on the very first night that the fires reached New South Wales' far south coast, but also lost his cousin and uncle to the blazes the same evening. Barnden claims Krook and Mazzaferro's attention for multiple reasons, including his initial youthful eagerness to pick up a hose — following his father, who had done the same — as well as his candour about his distress in the months and now years afterwards. Often overlooked in tales of such events, that kind of emotion sears itself onto the screen with unshakeable power, too. A Fire Inside spends time with others affected, residents and volunteers alike. RFS captain Brendan O'Connor saved his community, alongside his crew, but suffered in his personal life — and his is just one of the film's stories. Krook and Mazzaferro don't loiter on the same kinds of details over and over again, but whether talking to food bank staff, backpackers helping with re-fencing damaged farms or locals who saw everything they belonged succumb to the flames, the duelling sensations of both endurance and loss remain throughout their doco. The mood: careful, caring, sensitive and poignant. This is a movie that conjures up every sentiment expected, but also one that earns every reaction. Heartbreak and hope seesaw, and recognising that back-and-forth ride is one of the film's canny touches. Read our full review. THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS If you stare at something long enough, you don't just see the obvious. You notice everything, from the details that fail to immediately catch your attention to the way things can change instantly right in front of your eyes. The Killing of Two Lovers is all about this idea, and on two fronts. It puts a fractured marriage before its lens, ensuring its struggles and troubles can't be ignored. It also takes its time to peer at its protagonist, the separated-and-unhappy-about-it David (Clayne Crawford, Rectify), and at all that his new life now entails. In a sparse small town — with the film shot in Kanosh, Utah — its central figure attempts to adjust to living with his ailing widower father (Bruce Graham, Forty Years From Yesterday). His wife Niki (Sepideh Moafi, The L Word: Generation Q) remains in their home with their four children, as they've agreed while they take a break to work through their problems. David isn't coping, though, a fact that's apparent long before his teenage daughter Jess (Avery Pizzuto, We Fall Down) gets angry because she thinks he isn't fighting hard enough to save their family. He's trying, but as Crawford conveys in a brooding but nervy performance — and as writer/director/editor Robert Machoian (When She Runs) and cinematographer Oscar Ignacio Jiménez (Immanence) can't stop looking at in lengthy and patient takes — he can't quite adapt to the idea of losing everything he knows. There's an element of Scenes From a Marriage at play here, although The Killing of Two Lovers pre-dates the new remake — and so much of the feeling in this gorgeously shot movie comes from its imagery. When it's hard to look away from such rich and enticing visuals, it's impossible not to spot and soak in everything they depict. Each frame is postcard-perfect, not that those pieces of cardboard ever capture such everyday sights, but wide vistas and the snowy mountains hovering in the background are just the beginning. With its long takes, The Killing of Two Lovers forces its audience to glean the naturalistic lighting that never casts David and Niki's hometown in either a warm glow or grim glower. Repeated images of David alone, especially in his car, also leave a firm impression of a man moving and solo. And, presenting most of its frames in the 4:3 aspect ratio, the film also possesses an astonishing and telling sense of space. Nothing is bluntly boxed in here, but everyone is trying to roam within the claustrophobic patch of turf they've scratched out. And, within the feature's square-shaped visuals springs an added fountain of intimacy that cuts to the heart of such close relationships, such as when David and the kids all pile into his truck, or during one of David and Niki's car-bound dates. Read our full review. Melbourne cinephiles are currently being spoiled for choice — and while we've outlined ten must-see options newly hitting the big screen when indoor cinemas reopen on Friday, October 29, there are plenty more flicks now gracing the city's silver screens. When outdoor cinemas relaunched, we highlighted Candyman, Nitram, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Malignant and The Last Duel, for instance — films now showing in indoor cinemas as well. Also opening in Melbourne cinemas on Friday, October 29 — and also only available to watch in cinemas — are Halloween Kills, Antlers, Ron's Gone Wrong, Respect, Eiffel, Ride the Eagle, Joe Bell and Don't Breathe 2. And, a number of movies that've been fast-tracked to digital in recent months are also hitting the big screen in Melbourne now that cinemas have reopened. So, you can also head out to see Pig, Free Guy, Annette and Summer of Soul Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Plus, after showing on Melbourne's silver screens for short spells before lockdown, Nine Days, Perfumes, Shiva Baby, Some Kind of Heaven, The Sparks Brothers, Fanny Lye Deliver'd, The Toll, Rosa's Wedding, Dating Amber, Three Summers, Little Joe, Black Widow, Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, Space Jam: A New Legacy and In the Heights have returned to cinemas as well.
UPDATED, Friday, March 15, 2024: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) is available to stream via Disney+. Just like a great music documentary, an excellent concert film isn't solely about existing fans. That's still true when a movie arrives in a sea of friendship bracelets, focuses on one of the biggest current singers in the world, and perhaps the largest and most devoted fandom there is can be seen screaming, dancing and crying joyfully in its frames in a 70,000-plus drove. As the shows that it lenses were, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was a financial success before any Swifties experienced their version of heaven. Swift's onstage journey through 17 years of tunes sparked ticketing mayhem both as a concert and a cinema release that captures close to every moment. The Eras tour is a billion-dollar entity, with the self-produced film that's spreading it further than packed stadiums a box-office bonanza since it was announced. The 169-minute-long movie is also a dazzling spectacle that neither dedicated Swifties nor casual viewers will be able to easily shake off. When Swift told the world that she never misses a beat and she's lightning on her feet in possibly her best-known pop song, everyone should've believed her. Long before 2014 earworm 'Shake It Off' gets a spin in the 1989 segment of The Eras Tour, she's proven those words true in an indefatigable onstage effort. "Can't stop, won't stop moving" describes her efforts and the film, which is as energetically directed by Sam Wrench (Billie Eilish Live at the O2) and edited by a six-person team (with Max Richter's Sleep's Dom Whitworth as its lead) as it is performed. And, for anyone that's sat through Valentine's Day and Cats and found them hardly purring, it gives Swift the cinema presence that she's been trying to amass here and there — The Giver and Amsterdam are also on her resume — for over than a decade. Watching The Eras Tour doesn't just feel like watching a concert, but a musical spectacular in its vast grandeur, complete with the lead to match. Filmed over three concerts at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium in August — closing out the first US leg on a global excursion that'll have notched up nearly two years of performances when it finishes in Toronto in November 2024 — The Eras Tour goes for both scale and intimacy, the holy duo of the genre. Concert flicks can't just passively watch on. One of their biggest aims: gifting audiences perspectives on the show that they can't see in-person, including spanning far and wide plus near and close. So, this one takes in the massive crowd and the just-as-enormous stage design from above. It also gives Swift's dancers and band their due. And, it, sees the star herself get sweaty, and the changing gleam in her eye depending on what which track calls for. As bouncily spliced together, each image reinforces an inescapable takeaway: everything about this tour is huge, from the cast and crystal-clad costumes to the sets and setlist, and also Swift's own stamina and chameleonic showmanship. Live and as recorded for posterity, nine of the singer's ten studio albums earn their own era (the one that doesn't, her 2006 self-titled debut, receives a track during the late acoustic section). Cue pinballing between records and styles, appearances and themes, and ballads and pop. Accordingly, songs from 2019's bright Lover sung in a bejewelled bodysuit give way to gold fringing to go all country-pop with 2008's Fearless, then orange cottagecore and witchy black cloaks for 2020's Evermore, a one-legged and snake-clad black-and-red catsuit for 2017's Reputation, and so on. Eras onstage has been exhaustively documented since opening in Arizona in March, making knowing which tracks Swift will sing, outfits she'll wear, moss-covered cabins she'll sit atop and glistening pools she'll seem to dive into scarcely a surprise not only to the Swiftiest of Swifties, but to anyone who hasn't been able to avoid the tour coverage — but in a production this immense and evolving, a "what'll happen next?" vibe still pulsates. Sans accompanying footage — interviews, behind-the-scenes glimpses and commentary are absent, with just snippets of bloopers dotted through the closing credits — The Eras Tour lets the show and tunes do the talking, plus Swift's chatter when she addresses the adoring crowd. By the time that she mentions how fun it is to segue through sounds and looks, and how it's made possible due to her fans (so: popularity and sales), the film has already made that plain, too. An ode to reinvention sits at the centre of Eras onstage and on-screen, and to longevity as well. When 'Look What You Made Me Do' enlists Swift's dancers in clear boxes, each decked out like various versions of the superstar across the years, the Barbie nods aren't subtle. 2023 is clearly the year of cinema celebrating women being everything that they want to be, which thrums at the heart of two key Swift details: why she's kept striking a chord, including with her youngest aficionados who see her as an array of role models, and her savvy knack for transformation. To the delight of The Bear's Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings), 'Love Story' gets a whirl early. Usually Swift-agnostic The Eras Tour viewers can consider the hit TV dramedy's fictional character their spirit animal while watching. This presentation is as shiny and shimmering as everything that its star wears, and as irresistible as the catchy 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' refrain and slinky 'Vigilante Shit' beat as a result. Getting to the why of it all, Swift briefly explains the tour's concept; "what are you gonna do, play for three hours?" she says she was asked about touring post-pandemic after not yet taking Lover, Evermore, fellow 2020 release Folklore and 2022's Midnights on the road. The swarm of phone-wielding concertgoers before her cheer, of course. Understanding why Eras has had everyone talking since is as simple as letting The Eras Tour wash over you. A music film veteran with movies about everyone from Mary J Blige and Blur to Brandi Carlile and Lizzo on his resume, director Wrench knows that his task with The Eras Tour is multifaceted. His latest concert flick needs to spy the macro and the micro; to feel like it's on the ground and unveiling a money-can't-buy experience; and to see its star as everything and an everywoman whether she's singing about falling in love, searching for a soulmate, heartbreak, revenge, empowerment and identity — and playing guitar or piano. That it does this so seamlessly is no minor feat. Swift isn't a stranger to bringing her shows to the screen, as seen with The 1989 World Tour Live and Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour, but Swifties will consider The Eras Tour their Stop Making Sense, The Last Waltz and Amazing Grace. For everyone else, all almost three hours of the film is still enchanting to meet. Top image: TAS Rights Management, Trafalgar Releasing.
After its enormous success on Broadway and in London's West End, the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical Come From Away is touring its remarkable true tale around Australia's east coast. Based on real post-September 11 events, the acclaimed production is on in Melbourne until October 30. If you aren't familiar with the musical's plot or the actual events that inspired it, it's quite the exceptional story. In the week after the September 11 attacks in 2001, 38 planes were unexpectedly ordered to land in the small Canadian town of Gander, in the province of Newfoundland. Part of Operation Yellow Ribbon — which diverted civilian air traffic to Canada en masse following the attacks — the move saw around 7000 air travellers grounded in the tiny spot, almost doubling its population. Usually, the town is home to just under 12,000 residents. To create Come From Away, writers and composers Irene Sankoff and David Hein spent hundreds of hours interviewing thousands of locals and passengers, using their experiences to drive the narrative — and, in many cases, using their real names in the show as well. The result is a musical not just about people coming from away (the term that Newfoundlanders use to refer to folks not born on the island), but coming together, all at a time when tensions were running high worldwide. Since being workshopped in 2012, having a run in Ontario in 2013, then officially premiering in San Diego in 2015, Come From Away has become a global smash hit. After opening on Broadway in 2017, it was still running before the theatre district closed due to COVID-19. The musical wowed crowds in the West End, too — and, when it first opened in Melbourne in July 2019, it became the Comedy Theatre's most successful musical in the venue's 91-year history. Along the way, the show has picked up a Tony Award for best direction of a musical, six other nominations, and four Olivier Awards out of nine nominations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zmvy1p2FOE&feature=emb_title Images: Jeff Busby. Come From Away is showing at the Comedy Theatre until Sunday, October 30. Tickets and more information can be found on the website.
Since opening in March, Fitzroy's Evie's Disco Diner has been serving up vegan-friendly comfort food in the surrounds of a 80s-themed eatery straight out of Stranger Things. And this winter, you can take shelter from Melbourne's winter chill in its converted neon warehouse space and get stuck into the eatery's new menu. On the lineup you'll find some decadent winter warmers alongside grub inspired by America's deep south, including gumbo and seafood chowder. Vegans need fret not as half the menu will still be meat-free, with dishes such as mock hot dogs and vegan Halal Snack Packs. To drink, there's warming mulled wine and cider. And to help you forget about the rather gloomy weather, things are getting a bit boozy with a new bottomless brunch held on Saturdays and Sundays from 11.30am to 2.30pm. Kicking off on Saturday, July 14, the brunch features three hours of all-you-can-drink mimosas and Champagne, plus your choice of fried-chicken topped waffles, maple bacon pancakes or a BLT and fries — for only $55 a head. Each option can also be made vegan on request, and all the ingredients are sourced locally — so there's really no excuses to miss out on this weekend recovery session. Bookings are essential, so contact Evie's ahead of time to secure a spot for you and all your nostalgia-loving mates.
Spring has most definitely sprung. It's time to start thinking about how you're going to get the most out of this year's blooming daffodils, fluffy lambs and balmy evenings. One city that's gearing up for a fresh, fun season is Bendigo. Come early October and through to November, it'll be hosting an array of spring happenings — from a vegetarian festival at the biggest stupa in the western world to a ten-day food and wine extravaganza. Situated just under two hours' drive north of Melbourne, Bendigo is an easy-peasy weekender. So, to ensure your weekend is suitably entertaining, we've partnered with Bendigo Tourism and pulled together seven spring-time events to keep you smiling big in Bendigo.
The CBD space once home to long-standing pub Collins Quarter, has had a full-blown multicultural makeover, reimagined as not one, but two new distinctly different restaurants. You already know about the Mexican-accented Mejico, which took over the northern half of the building in late 2020. Now, it's been joined by sibling Indu — a sumptuous eatery dedicated to bold Sri Lankan and southern Indian flavours, also from Sydney-born Sam Prince Hospitality Group. Six years after the launch of Indu Sydney, founders Ian Hicks and Dr Sam Prince have reworked their concept for this Melbourne iteration, transforming the Collins Street site into a moody, atmospheric haven. It's a cosy space, with a front lounge area primed for pre-dinner drinks, an intimate dining room flanked by secluded curtained booths and terracotta pots filled with spices lending a heady aroma throughout. The food offering sees the kitchen drawing both on Prince's own Sri Lankan heritage, and his experiences travelling and working through the regions later in life, inspired by the warmth of the locals who'd welcome him into their homes. It's an evolved take on homely village fare, featuring classic flavours, some modern technique and even a couple of long-held recipes from Prince's own mum. [caption id="attachment_800039" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arianna Leggiero[/caption] Hoppers are a Sri Lankan staple and a must-order from this menu. One version featuring the classic pancake shell topped with a soft fried egg and ringed with pomegranate, eggplant pickle, goat's curd and a punchy coconut sambal. You'll find a cooling dish of cured kingfish, teamed with young coconut and cucumber, and crispy besan flour fritters matched with a cardamom aioli. Heartier options might include the signature Great Lamb Raan, featuring slow-cooked meat and a fresh mint chutney, a barramundi fillet bathed in a lively tamarind rasam (stock), or the pork belly curry that comes topped with shards of crackling. And you can finish just as strong, with dessert options like the vegan chocolate and cardamom mousse. To match, a considered drinks offering stands up well to those big flavours and spicy notes. Gin reigns supreme across a selection of signature serves and G&T flights, sitting alongside a global wine list and plenty of crisp beers. Crafty cocktails include the likes of a makrut-infused mojito and a smoked chai old fashioned, though an impressive lineup of booze-free options proves just as fun, starring sips like the signature salted mango lassi. Of course, during Melbourne's five-day snap lockdown, Indu is takeaway-only. It's serving up feasts to-go until it's allowed to reopen, which can be ordered by calling (03) 9671 4376 or emailing melbourne@mejico.com.au. Find Indu Melbourne at 86a Collins Street, Melbourne. It's open from 12pm Monday to Friday, and from 5pm on Saturday. Images: Arianna Leggiero
World Vegan Day is rocking around again on November 1, and CBD Korean eatery Paik's Bibim wants you to celebrate by digging into a big, vibrant bowl of goodness. And a free bowl, at that. From Saturday, October 29–Tuesday, November 1, the Spencer Street restaurant will be handing out hundreds of signature plant-based bibimbap bowls for free, celebrating veganism while also giving diners a sneak peek at its newly expanded menu. Head in once the doors open at 11.30am and choose from three different vegan bibimbaps — one featuring marinated tofu, another teaming soy-seasoned plant-based protein with mushrooms, and a spicy 'bokkeum' bibimbap with stir-fried kimchi for an added hit. There'll be around 300 vegan bowls up for grabs across the weekend, on offer until stocks last each day. Launched earlier this year, Paik's Bibim is the Melbourne outpost from South Korean celebrity chef Baek Jong-won.
If things fall through with the whole politics schtick, President Obama has a future in stand-up. The lovable leader let the gags loose at the Annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner over the weekend, beginning his address with a video spoof in which Steven Spielberg announced plans for a follow-up to Lincoln titled Obama. The president then pretended to be Daniel Day-Lewis reflecting on the difficulties of personifying Obama, beginning with the challenges of affixing oversized fake ears — "I don't know how he walks around with these things." The lolocoaster continued as the ultimate Renaissance man cracked jokes about his past as a "strapping young Muslim socialist", suggested the opposition should funnel funds into bribing him to drop out of the presidential race rather than spend money on negative advertising ("Michelle would have taken it. You think I'm joking") and even busted a move to DJ Khaled's 'All I Do Is Win'. Why can't Julia spend more time wining and dining the likes of Psy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kevin Spacey? Via BBC News.
With all these 'Rocket Man' and wild weather events going on, the apocalypse sometimes feels like it's just around the corner. In this witty and deeply sardonic two-day event at Arts House, a series of Australian artists come together to present the ultimate survival guide to helping their fellow creatives outlast the rest of society when the world finally meets its demise. Hosted by some artists who've just about seen it all – including Lois Weaver, Lawrence Leung, Alice Pung and Sarah Jane Pell – audiences will receive a DIY guide to surviving off weeds, living on the moon and disappearing off the grid once and for all.
When it comes to design, there's minimalism and there's 'WTF-that-thing-defies-physics', and this is definitely the latter. Designer Peter Bristol's Cut Chair looks like an ordinary white chair that somebody sliced big diagonal chunks out of across the legs and back, leaving the seat seemingly unconnected to the front legs. Also, is it just us or is it weirdly cute that he made the cut parts red so it looks like the chair's bleeding? It probably would have been tempting to leave people scratching their heads, but Bristol decided to reveal the secret behind the illusion on his website — the answer lies underneath the rug that the chair's sitting on, and it's surprisingly simple. The rug conceals a metal plate that the legs are all welded to, cantilevering the chair so you can sit on it. And if big grey shaggy rugs aren't your style, the rug part is customisable — it basically just has to cover the plate to complete the illusion. The chair is available for purchase, but it'll set you back US$4000 — although if you had the money, seeing people's confused expressions when you offer them a seat would be priceless. Via Fast Company.
If Scenes From a Marriage hadn't already been taken, it would've made a great title for most of Asghar Farhadi's movies to date. From 2003's Dancing in the Dust to 2011's Oscar-winning A Separation and his 2013 follow-up The Past, the Iranian writer-director has filled his resume with features about the struggles of not-so-harmonious domesticity. Now you can add The Salesman to the pack, just as Farhadi can add another Academy Award to his mantle. Still, a shiny new statuette can't mask his fondness for repetition. Farhadi is a master of observing just how the bonds of matrimony can unravel, but seven films in there's no avoiding the feeling that you've seen some of it before. The Salesman opens on the set of a play, with husband and wife Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) staging a revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. As Farhadi demonstrates rather unsubtly by cutting from a bed on stage to their crumbling real life home, all isn't well for the couple. That's especially true after they move into a friend's flat and Rama leaves the door unlatched, only to be attacked by a stranger. Understandably she's shaken. Just as understandably, he's driven to track down the perpetrator. Their conflicting responses sit at the heart of Farhadi's latest film, with the writer-director eager as ever to wait and watch as the couples' fraught emotions slowly but surely rise to the surface. Indeed, pumping seemingly ordinary spaces full of the kind of tension that can only spring from fraying intimate bonds is one of the things he does best. Dissecting how even a mere word, look or gesture can completely reshape, change or ultimately unravel a relationship is another. Both talents are on display as Rama takes the reserved and ultimately forgiving route, while the increasingly frantic Emad can't shake his wounded pride — or his need for vengeance. Cue a situation rife with drama, which Farhadi carefully heightens. As he's done before, he makes plain the gender lines driving the divide between husband and wife, as well as the cultural reasons for their behaviour. Here, he also stresses the fact that Iranian society will applaud a man bent on revenge but blame a woman who's a victim and judge another that's made untraditional choices, making hefty material even meatier. Throw constrained yet probing visuals into the mix alongside nuanced and multifaceted performances by Hosseini, Alidoosti and the pivotal Babek Karimi, and The Salesman can only be described as classic Farhadi territory. Still, there's a difference between ticking the usual boxes and expanding them, and here the Oscar-winning filmmaker manages one but not the other. As a result, the movie feels less like an involving effort in its own right and more like a greatest hits package. Many a director has made a successful career out of playing the same cinematic notes over and over again, but just as many have eventually stretched their usual tendencies too far. While The Salesman proves engaging, particularly in its later stages, there's a distinctive sense that next time Farhadi needs to show us something new.
There are few things more exciting in life than The Skywhale. That cheeky expression, the majestic way it glides across the horizon, those enormous walloping breasts — The Skywhale is not just a novelty. It is a symbol of hope; a reminder to all well-endowed sea mammals that life can and will get better. But it is also a reminder to us: an important community service announcement that giant boobs in the sky are funny. For those who have been somehow left out of the loop on the legend of The Skywhale, the work is a hot air balloon that measures 34 metres in length and 23 metres in height. Commissioned for Canberra's centennerary celebrations in May of this year, the work was designed by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini whose work often deals with such this same confluence between the natural and the artificial. Often known for her early work, Protein Lattice (more colloquially known as the one with an ear on the rat), Piccinini is well-regarded in the art world for her exploration of the surreal (see also The Carrier and The Young Family). On Monday December 2, The Skywhale will be tethered to the ACCA Forecourt from 7-9am ahead of a conversation between artist Patricia Piccinini and Creative Director of the Centennary of Canberra, Robyn Archer. Tickets are just $15 (or $8 for students), and the cost will conveniently include a breakfast pastry. While The Skywhale was unsuprisingly met with a divided critique upon its first launch — 'out of touch with community values', 'ugly', 'how is this giant-breasted mutant animal even relevant to our town of roundabouts and lakes?' — we think Melbourne will provide a loving environment for the misunderstood beast. As Robyn Archer once said, "it provokes people, it's passionate and people go 'I don't know what it is, therefore, I'm scared of it' or 'what is it', or 'it shouldn't be there', but [...] life is always about the questions not the given answers". We think The Skywhale is the breast thing to come out of Canberra for years.
Just like most of us, Jetstar enjoys marking the passing of another year spent journeying around the sun. And, also like most of us, it's fond of flight sales. Combine the two and you get the Australian airline's 20th-birthday celebrations, which bring the return of its popular 'return for free' sale — where you buy a ticket to your holiday destination, then the carrier covers the cost of you coming home. This time around, the airline is doing discounted flights across Australia and to a range of international destinations, including in Japan, Thailand, Bali, Hawaii, South Korea and New Zealand. Wherever you'd like to head, the key part of this sale is making your way back Down Under without paying for the flight, which'll also make your holiday oh-so-much cheaper. Running from 12am AEST on Wednesday, May 1–11.59pm AEST Thursday, May 2, or until sold out — with Jetstar members getting an extra 12 hours access to the sale from 12pm on Tuesday, April 30 — it really is as straightforward as it sounds. Whatever flights you opt for as part of the sale, you'll get the return fare for nothing. The caveats: you have to book an outbound fare, then you'll get the return fare for free — and the deal only applies to Starter fares, and only on selected flights. Also, checked baggage is not included, so you'll need to travel super light or pay extra to take a suitcase. Plus, you have to use the same arrival and departure ports for your flights — so you can go from Sydney to Osaka and back, for instance, but can't return via another place or to another city. On the international destinations list: Osaka, Phuket, Bangkok, Bali, Honolulu, Bali, Seoul, Singapore, Auckland and Wellington, to begin with. Prices obviously vary depending on where you're flying from and to, but some include Sydney to Osaka from $548, Melbourne to Singapore from $399, Brisbane to Seoul from $479, Adelaide to Bali from $349 and Perth to Bangkok from $309. Domestic fares span deals such as Sydney to Ballina/Byron from $86, Melbourne to Launceston from $87 and Gold Coast to Melbourne from $125. You'll be travelling within Australia from mid-January to late March next year, and from mid-June this year to late March 2025 if you're going global. Jetstar's 20th birthday 'return for free' sale runs until 12am AEST on Wednesday, May 1–11.59pm AEST Thursday, May 2 — or until sold out. Jetstar members get an extra 12 hours access to the sale from 12pm on Tuesday, April 30. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
The Vegan Market of Melbourne (previously the Vegan Mini Market) has been our go-to for animal-free goods over the past year — and it's rightfully dedicating its September market to a job well done. The anniversary event will take place during the market's regularly scheduled programming on Saturday, September 1 — but the celebration will kick on with extended hours from 11am–7pm. Stall-wise, it's bringing out a brand new sausage sizzle that's slinging bacon and egg 'mock muffins', while claiming to give Macca's a run for its money. Other stalls range from dog treats to fashion items, along with your typical market array of eats and sweet treats. Some of the most popular stands are back-in-action too, including Bomba's wood-fired pizza and the Asian-inspired Woking Amazing — think meat-free chilli cheese nachos, Taiwanese eggy rolls and peking 'duck' pancakes. Live music is also on the docket, with local vegan artists playing an unusual set using a harp and steel drums. If you're planning to bring the young ones along, there's a kids activity corner to keep 'em busy. And they're still firming up possible yoga and qi gong sessions, so keep an eye on this space for further updates. Going forward, the market will continue to operate on the first Saturday of every month, bringing Melburnians all its plant-based goodness.
Weary of Westeros? Want a new formula to Breaking Bad? Zoned out of Walking Dead? Okay, perhaps not yet, but soon these shows will be over for the season (or *gulp* for good), and we'll be in the mood for something new. To pre-empt this moment, we've found five shows that might even top the hits we worship now. Here are the soon-to-air, highly anticipated television shows that are a must-see (and that we hope are fast-tracked on some Australasian network soon, but don't hold your breath). 1. American Gods Airing: late 2013/early 2014 Length: Six seasons of 10-12 episodes Based on Neil Gaiman's award-winning novel American Gods, the upcoming HBO series of the same name is expected to grab the attention of TV lovers worldwide. The series, written by Gaiman and produced by Playtone productions, is based on the idea that the gods of ancient mythology do exist in modern America and are kept alive by the people that believe in them. The main character, Shadow Moon, is an ex-convict recently released from prison. Unimaginable events begin to unfold in Shadow's life and he begins to question his perceived conceptions of the modern world. Producers have confirmed that the show will air for six seasons, so get ready to lose days to any binge watching you choose to get into. 2. Under The Dome Airing: June 24, 2013 Length: 13 episodes A television series brought to you by Steven Spielberg and Stephen King? That already sounds like a huge success. Under the Dome, a CBS series due to air June 24, has a star-studded cast and producing team, including actors Mike Vogel, Rachelle Lefevre and Colin Ford and comics king Brian K. Vaughan. Based on the novel of the same name by King, who is also executive producer of the show, Under the Dome follows what happens to a town when they are cut off completely from the rest of the world. In Chester's Mill, Maine no one can come in and no one can go out. With 2000 people trapped under an invisible barrier, things are bound to get scary fast. 3. Family Tree Airing: May 12, 2013 Length: Eight episodes HBO, in collaboration with BBC2, just released its first teaser for the coming series Family Tree. The show, which stars the beloved Bridesmaids and IT Crowd actor Chris O'Dowd, is a single-camera, improvisational, documentary-style comedy series that follows the life of 30-year-old Tom Chadwick (O'Dowd) as he investigates his strange family lineage, travelling from the UK to Los Angeles. The series was created by Christopher Guest, one of the original mockumentarians who brought us This Is Spinal Tap, and frequent collaborator Jim Piddock and could well revive a flagging genre. 4. Masters of Sex Airing: September 29, 2013 Length: 12 episodes in season one confirmed so far Based on Thomas Maier's 2009 biography Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, Masters of Sex is a drama series set to premiere on September 29 on the always-impressive Showtime network. Starring Michael Sheen as William Masters and Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson, the show follows the bizarre lives and romance of the real-life pioneers of the science of human sexuality and leaders of the sexual revolution, Dr William Masters and Virginia Johnson. While not much else has been released about the series, this tidbit is enough to grab our attention. 5. True Detective Airing: Soon? Length: Eight episodes in season one With a superb, show-stopping cast, the new HBO series True Detective is without a doubt a show to look out for in the coming months. The series recently went into production and hopes to bring the contemporary crime underworld back to HBO. Starring talented doppelgangers Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the eight-episode drama series has been in production since late 2012 but still no official word on when it will premiere. The series will follow an anthology vein comparable to the hit series American Horror Story, meaning the next seasons (if the first season is successful) will feature a whole new cast and a different storyline.
Current world events don't make the prospect of international travel seem particularly appealing at the moment. The truth is though, cinema has been taunting travellers for decades. Whatever holiday you might have planned, there's a horror movie just waiting to convince you otherwise. Heading to a cabin for a quiet weekend? The Evil Dead and The Cabin in the Woods have news for you. Venturing across the Australian outback? That's where Wolf Creek comes in. Seeking out a gorgeous beach? Whatever you do, don't watch The Shallows. Stopping at a roadside hotel? Didn't turn out so well in Psycho. Bound for Europe? Hostel made a whole trilogy about what you can expect. With a name that combines Germany's largest city with the connection that can arise between hostages and their captors, Berlin Syndrome initially appears to traverse similar terrain as the movies mentioned above. Indeed, the film starts with Brisbanite Clare (Teresa Palmer) arriving abroad, chatting to fellow backpackers and wandering the streets. An aspiring photographer, she snaps everything from famous buildings to everyday folks along the way. Then she meets Andi (Max Riemelt), a German schoolteacher who opens with a line about strawberries, takes her for a scenic walk, and intrigues Claire enough that she changes her plans to jump to her next destination. They have a fun night out together, go back to his apartment, and...things go south from there. It should all sound familiar, of course. That's Berlin Syndrome's aim, for two reasons. Based on the book of the same name, directed by Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland (Somersault), and adapted by screenwriter Shaun Grant (Jasper Jones, Snowtown), the film's entire premise relies on several elements that many movies have already covered — a dream vacation gone bad, and a romantic spark that turns sinister. But the movie also takes scenarios that have been done to death and thrusts them into unexpected territory. It's not a spoiler to say that Clare awakes the next morning to find that she's locked in Andi's flat, and that he's removed the SIM card from her phone. Nor does it give the game away to reveal that he has trapped her on purpose. After spending its setup revelling in the excitement and openness of travel, Berlin Syndrome dedicates most of its running time to the opposite extreme with an expert command of tension. At the same time, the film unpacks Clare's complicated response, as she seesaws between fighting back and slowly settling into a twisted version of domesticity. Behind the camera, Shortland crafts a film of juxtapositions, both in terms of tone, and in the sites of Andi's apartment versus the city outside. But there's no one better at getting to the heart of the film's internal conflict than Palmer. The Aussie actress has had a huge year or so, popping up in everything from the bad Point Break remake to the locally made war flick Hacksaw Ridge. But she's in career-best form here as she conveys Clare's inner turmoil. Likewise, it takes considerable skill for Riemelt to make Andi more than a straightforward villain. Welcome to Berlin Syndrome, a murky, confronting trip. Deep dive into Berlin Syndrome's core themes and read our feature examining how modern filmmakers like Cate Shortland are tackling complex issues of psychological manipulation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceVBDJNHL0k
Historic Melbourne cinema The Astor is hosting their Great Astor Spooktacular again for 2017, and they're going big. This year, more than 12 movies will be be shown in a 24-hour-long horror marathon — right in time for Halloween. Directed by "the devil" and featuring a cast of "hell itself", some of the films include Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes — the original 1977 version, to mark its 40th anniversary — as well as slasher sequels Halloween 2 and Halloween 3 (aka the return of Michael Myers), and cult comedy The Monster Squad, a 1987 flick about teen pals doing battle against Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy and more. The historic cinema, known for its presentation of classics and cult films, is the perfect venue for the all-night horror marathon. It all kicks off at 2pm on Saturday, October 28 and runs overnight. With a few dark and twisted flicks on the bill — and a few surprises — needless to say, this one isn't for the faint of heart.
Imagine if you could get a sneak peek of your next holiday destination before you arrived. No, looking at photos online and scrolling through Instagram doesn't count. Taking the concept of trying before you buy to the travel industry, a company called Navitaire has unveiled what they're calling "the world's first virtual reality travel search and booking experience". Their VR system places would-be jetsetters in a room with a globe, lets them spin away, pick a place somewhere on the planet and then dive right in. After wandering through their chosen location in a virtual sense — spying tourist attractions and seeing the general sights — users can then search for flights, walk through the plane to pick their seat, give a few rental cars a try and purchase their trip, all within the virtual reality realm. Down the track, Navitaire, which is owned by travel technology company Amadeus, hopes that touring and booking hotels, and sharing searching experiences via social media, will also be able to be incorporated into their VR platform. At the moment the project is still in development, with a patent pending. Plenty of other places have combined virtual reality with scoping out ace spots — Qantas has an app that lets you take a virtual tour of Australia, and the Sydney Opera House has their own that peers behind the scenes at the iconic venue — but doing all of that and then locking in a trip straight away might be the future.
Injecting a little sparkle and shine into otherwise dull neighborhoods, these architectural designs celebrate all that glitters. Gilded in gold, sequins, crystals, and more, each structure looks fit to house a disco party, or perhaps a drag-queen. Peruse 10 of the world's most blinged-out buildings, and indulge in a little decadence, dahhhling. 1. Maison Martin Margiela @ Beverly Hills, US 2. Golden House @ Nuweiba, Egypt 3. 8 Woningen Kettingstraat @ The Hague, Netherlands 4. Zaha Hadid’s proposal for a new gold Lego-covered courtyard building at The Louvre @ Paris, France 5. Theresa Himmer's 'Glacier #01' @ Reykjavik, Iceland 6. Swarovski flagship store @ Tokyo, Japan 7. Copper sulphate crystal-covered abandoned housing estate @ London, England 8. Theresa Himmer's 'Volcano #01' @ Reykjavik, Iceland 9. Theresa Himmer's 'Waterfall #01' @ Reykjavik, Iceland 10. The Visionary Art Museum @ Baltimore, US [via Flavorwire]
It's hump day, which means it's time to start thinking about the weekend (if you're not already). And, excitingly, the weekend coming up is a long one. With all states, territories and capital cities copping an absolute scorching over the past couple of weeks, we thought we'd take a look at what's on the menu for the Australia Day long weekend. Our capital is going to be bearing the brunt of the heat with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting Canberra will remain in the near-40s from Friday through Saturday, with Sunday dipping to 35 with 30 percent chance of rain. We suggest hitting the sand in the early morning before it gets too hot (and before the UV peaks). Down the coast in Melbourne, Friday is expected to be a fiery 41 — luckily this all-vegan gelateria is giving out 1000 free ice creams to make it slightly more bearable — but Saturday's only hitting a max of 26, with 40 percent chance of showers. Sunday and Monday will also hover around the mid-20s, with minimal showers predicted, so it'll be perfect weather for a hike or splash around in a body of water. There'll be no near-40 temperatures in Sydney, instead just mid-to-low 30s across the board, with little chance of rain. Our mates at BOM are predicting extremely high UV during the day on Friday and Saturday, so do cover up (with clothes, zinc or sunscreen) if you plan to head outdoors to the beach or to Yabun Festival, an all-day celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Brisbane is expected to be equally subdued, with 33 degrees predicted all weekend. If this sounds like perfect gin-drinking weather to you, you'll be happy to know that two juniper-heavy parties will, in fact, be taking place across the weekend, as well as GABS' much-hyped top 100 craft beer countdown. Across the country, Perth is expected to be dry and balmy, sitting in the mid-20s, while Darwin should expect rain and thunderstorms every day for the next week. Adelaide folk will be cranking their air-cons with 45 predicted tomorrow, before it eases off to the mid-30s for the rest of the week. Hobart will be ten degrees cooler, with mid-20s expected across the weekend. To help you plan your beach trips, we've rounded up our favourite ten spots in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Images: Lorne by Robert Blackburn; Manly by Paros Huckstepp; Currumbin via Flickr.
Melbourne's in for a certifiable scorcher of a day today, with the mercury forecast to tip a whopping 44 degrees by 3pm. That's the hottest we've seen since Black Saturday's top of 46.4, close to a decade ago, on February 7, 2009. Yep, the air temperature had already clocked in at 31 degrees by 8am, a total fire ban is in place, and the Bureau of Meteorology is warning of some pretty intense weather to come, predicting the UV to reach a high 12. But before you crank that air con, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has warned all this extreme weather will be putting some serious pressure on the state's power system, especially during peak usage time between 4–7pm. In an effort to avoid mass power blackouts, the operator's called in reserves to supply extra power across Victoria and South Australia if needed. The AEMO has also outlined ways in which consumers can better manage their energy usage, including keeping blinds down when not at home, running large appliances earlier in the day, and switching that air con to between 20 and 24 degrees. Vic Emergency has shared its own advice for surviving the fiery temperatures, including drinking stacks of water, dressing in light, loose clothes, and avoiding being outside during the hottest part of the day. It's also reminded people that the temperature inside a parked car can double in minutes and that those most at risk of the severe weather are children, the elderly and those with medical conditions. Meanwhile, Metro Trains is warning commuters to allow for extra travel time, due to possible heat-induced speed restrictions and system delays. Four-legged mates are also in for a hot one and the RSPCA's put out its own reminders about keeping pets cool and safe. Remember to keep yourself and your pets cool during the hot weather over the next few days 🐾 pic.twitter.com/3mY5gjGruh — RSPCA Victoria (@RSPCAVIC) January 23, 2019 And if you're heading somewhere for lunch or coffee, best check if your destination is actually open. Some venues have changed up their opening times due to the heat, including Footscray's Bad Love Club, which will shut between 12pm and 5pm, and both Shop Ramen stores, which are ditching lunch and opening at 5.30pm. Queen Victoria Market stalls also have the choice to close at 1pm and Grub Fitzroy has decided to keep its doors firmly shut until Saturday morning. It looks like we'll all be hanging out for some serious relief at around 3pm, which is when the BOM's forecast Melbourne's temperatures to plummet by around 15 degrees. Relief is in sight Vic! Temperatures will drop around 15 degrees very quickly post-change along the coast, however the drop will be more gradual inland. Check out the current oberservations on the #BomApp or website: https://t.co/gvDhvHRuhl #VicCoolChange #Vicweather #Melbweather pic.twitter.com/2S3rnAHBD0 — Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria (@BOM_Vic) January 24, 2019 Image: St Kilda Beach, Visit Victoria.
