Peruse a list of 2019's big movies, and you could be forgiven for feeling like Hollywood is living in the past. When it's not serving up Dumbo, Aladdin and The Lion King remakes, it's extending the Godzilla, X-Men, Men in Black, Child's Play, Toy Story, Spider-Man and Terminator franchises — and putting together a sequel to The Shining. The list goes on, with the new Charlie's Angels the latest to join the fold. Hello, nostalgia- and action-loving movie-goers, obviously. Back in 2000 and 2003, the world didn't really need a couple of films based on the 1976–81 television series of the same name, even if Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu made a great team. Almost two decades later, the world probably doesn't need a third Charlie's Angels movie about a private detective agency, its formidable ladies and their globe-trotting hijinks, either. But the new flick — which both revisits the franchise's familiar scenario with new faces, and reportedly continues on from both the TV show and the the first two films — does boast more than a few potential highlights. Cast-wise, Charlie's Angels circa 2019 stars Kristen Stewart, Aladdin standout Naomi Scott and British up-and-comer Ella Balinska. Like her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson, Stewart has made some savvy film choices since farewelling the vampire romance saga, including Clouds of Sils Maria, Certain Women and Personal Shopper — and while this upbeat action flick about kick-ass ladies saving the world clearly shares little else in common with her recent dramatic roles, here's hoping it continues her good run. Elsewhere, Elizabeth Banks sits the director's chair, co-wrote the script and features on-screen as Bosley. Well, one of them — Patrick Stewart and Djimon Hounsou both play Bosley, too. Music fans can also look forward to the soundtrack, with Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey all collaborating on a song, as the film's first trailer reveals. That's a bit of a throwback of its own, given that 2000's Charlie's Angels also featured a killer track, aka Destiny's Child's 'Independent Women'. Catch a glimpse of the new Charlie's Angels in the initial clip below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSUq4VfWfjE Charlie's Angels releases in Australian cinemas on November 14, 2019.
The past year has been a bit of a disruptive one for Melbourne's public transport network, with train closures in January, April, July and September — and we're not over it yet. As construction continues on the the Metro Tunnel, the Victorian Government has announced that sections of six Melbourne train lines, one tram line and two V/Line services will be closed at some point between January 2 and February 16. What does that mean? Replacement buses. If you travel on the Cranbourne, Pakenham, Frankston, Sandringham, Stony Point or Upfield lines, you'll most likely have to switch from the train to a bus at some point on your commute. If you travel on the Frankston line, you'll be the most affected, as buses will replace trains between various stops for more than six weeks until February 16. The Cranbourne and Pakenham lines will have four weeks of interruptions until January 30. Here's what we know so far about what's happening on each of the affected lines. Frankston and Stony Point: Buses will replace trains between Parliament/Flinders Street and Mordialloc stations from January 4–5, between Flinders Street and Moorabbin from January 6–12, between Flinders Street/Parliament and Caulfield from January 13–30, and between Frankston and Stony Point until February 16. Cranbourne and Pakenham: Buses will replace trains between Flinders Street and Westall stations from January 4–12, and between Parliament/Flinders Street and Caulfield stations from January 13–30. Sandringham: Buses will replace trains between Parliament and Elsternwick stations from 8.30pm until the last train each night between January 20–23 and January 27–30. Upfield: Buses will replace trains between North Melbourne and Upfield stations from February 7–9. [caption id="attachment_572111" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Image: Global Panorama via Flickr.[/caption] Plus, if you catch the Route 96 tram, you'll be affected as well. Buses will replace trams between Moore Street and the East Brunswick Terminus until January 19. Also, V/Line services will be affected. Coaches will replace trains on the Traralgon and Bairnsdale lines until January 30. Something to take into account before you make any big weekend plans. The train closures this time round will see crews excavate the final section of the Metro Tunnel entrance, creating room for the new track that will connect the existing lines to the tunnel. In addition, they'll complete major concreting works at the entrance of the tunnel, pour the final sections of the tunnel roof slab and install the tunnel support structures — and, on the V/Line, conduct maintenance works underway between Morwell and Bairnsdale. The tram closure will enable the building of six new accessible tram stops. For up-to-date info, your best bet is to check the disruptions map on the government's Big Build website.
Melbourne knows how to strike the perfect work/life balance, and we've embraced the neighbourhood wine bar scene with open arms — and mouths — to prove it. Whether you're keen on the local chicken shop that serves up some of the most exciting minimal intervention wines coming out of Australia (perfect for that out-of-town client meeting), or looking for somewhere warm and inviting to take the office crush, there's no shortage of establishments to cater to any post-work need (or crisis). We've done a quite a bit of eating and drinking through this great city of ours, so, along with American Express, we've pooled our knowledge for your benefit. In fact, we've sifted through our directory to pick out the best casual drinking spots to suit whatever you have planned. Just quit your job and need to toast with a good wine? Want to get a spreadsheet done over lunch? Need an excuse to use your American Express® Card? We know just the place. Got yourself in another dining situation and need some guidance? Whatever it is, we know a place. Visit The Shortlist and we'll sort you out.
UPDATE, August 12, 2020: Toy Story 4 is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. With Toy Story 4, Pixar returns to the franchise that brought it to fame. Nine years after their last cinematic adventure, the animation studio takes beloved cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) back out of the toy box, alongside his nemesis-turned-friend Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and their other fun-sized pals. On paper, it's a familiar, frequently used and hardly surprising move. While the Disney-owned company was once famous for championing new stories, its slate has been filled with follow-ups of late — this is a time when sequels, spin-offs, remakes and revivals monopolise our viewing, and when successful sagas seem like they could stretch on forever, after all. But in the process of giving the world its fourth Toy Story movie, Pixar does something that few others are even willing to contemplate: it offers up a farewell. Since it burst onto screens in 1995, the Toy Story series hasn't been afraid of goodbyes. It hasn't been frightened by the fact that everything evolves and comes to an end, either. The saga's first film contemplated the idea that Woody's time at the top of the pile might be over, with his owner Andy seemingly choosing a new favourite in Buzz. How Woody coped with his potential ousting drove the entire narrative, while similar themes of displacement, loss and moving on also featured in both 1999's Toy Story 2 and 2010's Toy Story 3. Wrapping up the franchise, Toy Story 4 continues the trend — contemplating what it means to realise that a part of your life is finishing, to embrace an unknown future, and to do so on your own terms. With Woody and company now the property of kindergarten-aged tyke Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw), much has changed in the Toy Story realm. All-too-often, the cowboy is stripped of his sheriff's badge and left in the cupboard during playtime — and his status slips further when, after sneaking into her backpack on her first day of pre-school orientation, Woody unwittingly helps Bonnie make another friend out of a plastic spork. Forky (Tony Hale), as she names the new critter, is now the number one plaything. Alas, to Woody's dismay, the Frankenstein's monster-esque piece of cutlery would rather be trash. When Forky attempts to escape to freedom during a family road trip, Woody puts Bonnie's best interests at heart and jumps out of the RV after him, embarking on an adventure to bring the spork back. Every child has screamed with sadness and anger when they've misplaced their favourite toy, and anyone who says they didn't when they were a kid is lying. Today, plenty of adults do the same thing — it's just called social media. Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley shows how Bonnie reacts when she realises that Forky is missing, however with a smart story credited to seven other writers (including initial Toy Story director John Lasseter, Wall-E's Andrew Stanton and Parks and Recreation actor Rashida Jones), the film also delves further into loss, change and their impact. Via Woody's own journey, it examines what this process genuinely feels like when you're facing these experiences head-on and with purpose, rather than simply throwing a tantrum. You could say that the movie grapples with its own place in the pop culture domain, too, and you'd be correct. Given that its original viewers have literally grown from toddlers to adults over the franchise's run, encouraging them to break out of their entertainment comfort zones is a particularly savvy touch. Reflective, sweet, sensitive and virtually guaranteed to wring a response out of even the most cynical of viewers, Toy Story 4 is a classic Pixar piece as a result — the type of film that lets humans work through the complicated feelings they usually bury deep, all by watching animated toys express sentiments we rarely have the courage to utter, and tussle with topics we'd much rather ignore. It's a layered piece of storytelling also, with subplots involving Bo Peep's (Annie Potts) blossoming independence and 50s-era newcomer Gabby Gabby's (Christina Hendricks) quest to be loved each delicately and astutely handled. Both narrative threads tie into the movie's overarching message as well: that continuing on as usual, just because that's easy and safe, is rarely the best option. You can't take the 'toy' out of Toy Story, of course, not that Pixar would want to. At its best, this saga is as imaginative, amusing and fun as it is thoughtful, with bright, bouncy animation to match — and, returning to the heights of the first film, the franchise is at its best again here. With anarchic stuffed toys voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, plus the one-and-only Keanu Reeves lending his slow-spoken swagger to charismatic daredevil figurine Duke Caboom, the series doesn't lack in spark or laughs. Visually, it doesn't forget to pair its story with vivid images, plenty of detail and a plethora of top cinematic nods either. And while melancholy may reign supreme, it's earned. That's the reality of sifting through nostalgia, remembering what's come and gone, and knowing that the future will always be different. More Toy Story fare may eventually hit screens, because money, however this fourth toy box tale well and truly provides a perfect ending. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl9JS8-gnWQ
Acclaim, awards, and Josh and Julie Niland all go hand in hand. The Sydney duo have been winning fans locally since 2016, when they opened Saint Peter, and the praise has kept flowing and growing from there. Josh's applauded The Whole Fish Cookbook earned him the prestigious James Beard Book of the Year Award back in 2020, becoming the first Australian to ever take out the prize. Earlier in 2022, he was the only Australian chef to feature in The Best Chefs Awards for 2022 — aka the list of the top 100 best globally — too. Now, with Julie, another gong has come the Nilands' way: the Game Changer Award from France's La Liste. La Liste is known for picking the best 1000 restaurants in the world annually, and it has also just done exactly that for 2023. But it gives out awards as well, with its latest round handed out on the evening of Monday, November 28 in Paris. That's where Josh and Julie earned some love for their approach to seafood, and the businesses that've sprang from their efforts. [caption id="attachment_771911" align="alignnone" width="1920"] by Rob Palmer, from Josh Niland's The Whole Fish Cookbook[/caption] "Australian chef Josh Niland, whose wife Julie runs his ever evolving Sydney business, has changed the way chefs use fish all over the world with his zero-waste 'fish butchery' approach," La Liste notes in its explanation for its 2023 Game Changer pick. "His methods seemed radical when he started talking about them, but make sense — use the whole fish, from fin-to-gill, as we do nose-to-tail with animals. Age and cure fish. Don't forget the offal. As many chefs lack the knowledge to do this, he shares his ideas in two cookbooks, The Whole Fish and Take One Fish," the statement continues. [caption id="attachment_878784" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rob Palmer[/caption] Clearly, Sydneysiders will be familiar with the Nilands courtesy of Saint Peter, and also thanks to Fish Butchery since 2018 — with the latter now in both Paddington and Waterloo — plus sustainable fish and chip shop Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay. They have more venues in the works, with Saint Peter moving into The Grand National Hotel, the Nilands taking over the whole place, and new 60-seat restaurant and bar Petermen coming to St Leonards, all in 2023. The Nilands' La Liste prize saw them earn international recognition alongside fellow Aussie chefs James Henry and Shaun Kelly, who scored one of the Hidden Gems awards for Le Doyenné in Saint-Vrain in France. Also picking up a win among the global recipients: Michel Guérard, who nabbed a special Award of Honour; Chika Tillman from New York's ChikaLicious Dessert Bar, who received the Top Pastry Chef Award; and Yotam Ottolenghi for championing the Mediterranean region, which scored him the New Destination Champion Award. Plus, Italy's Niko Romito was given the Innovation Award, France's Yannick Alléno the Community Spirit prize, and Brazil's Manoella Buffara took home the Ethical and Sustainability Award. Among La Liste 2023's 1000 restaurants, Saint Peter obviously featured, as did a nice lineup of other Australian spots. In Sydney, Oncore by Clare Smyth, Quay, Tetsuya's, Bentley Restaurant and Bar, Bennelong, Ormeggio at The Spit, and Rockpool Bar and Grill made the list, while Melbourne's inclusions span Vue de Monde, Attica, Cutler and Co, Minamishina, Lume, Grossi Florentino Upstairs and Flower Drum. In regional Victoria, Brae, Lake House and Provenance got the nod, as did Penfolds Magill Estate in Adelaide. [caption id="attachment_690417" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brae[/caption] For La Liste's full list of awards, and best restaurants, head to the guide's website. Top image: Rob Palmer.
MIFF is giving a massive nod to the late, great, absolute legend, Robin Williams. Following the beloved comedian's tragic passing on Tuesday, the Melbourne International Film Festival has scheduled a tribute screening of one of William's best films: the 1987 classic Good Morning Vietnam. Shaking things up on breakfast radio is one thing, doing it on a US Armed Services Radio station during the Vietnam War is another. Playing the highly unorthodox DJ, Williams nabbed an Oscar nomination for giving a finger to the system as Adrian Cronauer in his breakthrough big-screen appearance. Diverting from his dull, monotonous radio predecessors, Cronauer's dynamite, wacky morning broadcasts turn real when he experiences first-hand the horrors of war — a broadcast truth that sees him replaced and facing another battle to get back on the air. Williams balances wacky outlandishness with dramatic poignancy, channelling all the Damn the Man finesse with high-fiveable conviction. And if we could wake up every day to Williams respect for microphone technique instead of certain bullshit shock jocks, we'd be outstandingly happy campers. MIFF 2014 runs from July 31 until August 17. The festival's one-off screening of Good Morning Vietnam is happening at 1:30pm this Saturday, August 16 at Hoyts Melbourne Central. Head over here for more info and tickets. Good Morning Vietnam is one of ten ways Robin Williams opened our minds, check out the list here. Lifeline provide all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to online, phone and face-to-face crisis support and suicide prevention services. Call 13 11 14 for 24hr telephone crisis support or visit their website here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=wuk8AOjGURE
On Wednesday, July 2, buzzy izakaya Yakimono is stepping out of the city and firing up the grill at Club Chin Chin, bringing its high-octane energy and flame-licked fare to the neon-lit GMHBA Stadium venue for a one-night-only takeover. Part of the Tastes of Greater Geelong festival, this exclusive event will see Yakimono Head Chef Daniel Wilson and his team serve up a four-course feast of some of their restaurant's greatest hits. For $95, you can tuck into a curated lineup of bold, playful dishes cooked over fire, with starters like tuna tartare on tapioca nori crackers and juicy negi chicken skewers dusted with chicken salt and spring onion oil. Larger share dishes include barbecued king salmon finished with a soy glaze, jalapeño and pickled cucumbers, and a richly marbled wagyu zabuton steak with karashi and fried enoki, while Yakimono's signature rocky road bombe alaska rounds the menu out. There's also the option to level up with tasty extras like pork and ginger gyoza, charcoal-roasted edamame, and oysters with finger lime ponzu. You can also choose to elevate the experience with a paired drinks menu, which begins with a zingy tequila, yuzu, miso and jalapeño-anchored cocktail on arrival. There's also a matched wine for each course and a dessert cocktail featuring bourbon, sesame and fino. If you'd rather choose your own adventure, Club Chin Chin's full drinks list of wine, beer and cocktails will be available throughout the evening. Spots for this smokin' hot regional collaboration are limited, so early bookings are highly recommended.
When a music star drops news that they're heading Down Under on their very own podcast, believe them. Jessie Ware did just that back in May, advising that she'd be playing Australian music festival Summer Camp later this year — and now the fest has confirmed that she'll be headlining. Ware will play the event's two stops in December 2023, with Summer Camp kicking off on in Melbourne on Saturday, December 2, then heading north to Sydney on Sunday, December 3 — with inner-city venues for each city still to be revealed. [caption id="attachment_899478" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Raph_PH via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] It's been a long time between Australian visits for the UK disco-pop queen. The last time she graced our shores was for Laneway Festival all the way back in 2013. In the period since, she's released four albums, including the immensely critically acclaimed What's You Pleasure in 2020 and its equally vibrant recent follow-up That! Feels Good!. But now Ware's drought of Aussie appearances is officially coming to an end. Ware initially let the news slip on an episode of her podcast Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware, when the singer and her mother Lennie were joined by a fellow pop icon: Australia's very-own Dannii Minogue. While the episode traverses the dynamics of the Minogue family and the delights of panna cotta, one eagle-eared Twitter user noticed that Ware dropped the unannounced goss that she'd be heading Down Under. "I'm actually going to Australia in November for this festival called Summer Camp," Ware said while discussing travel plans, and the possibility of doing a Table Manners series here in Oz. [caption id="attachment_911167" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jack Grange[/caption] Summer Camp hosted its inaugural festivals in Sydney and Melbourne in 2022, combining top-notch tunes and LGBTQIA+ pride through a stacked lineup featuring Years & Years, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Big Freedia, Cub Sport and The Veronicas. 2023's full plans haven't yet been revealed, other than Ware doing the honours. Who'll be joining her is among the details still to come. Ware has also just dropped her latest single, a new duet version of 'Freak Me Now' with Róisín Murphy, which you can check out below: SUMMER CAMP FESTIVAL 2023 AUSTRALIAN DATES: Saturday, December 2 — Melbourne, venue TBC Sunday, December 3 — Sydney, venue TBC Summer Camp will play Sydney and Melbourne in December 2023. For further details or to nab tickets, head to the festival's website.
UPDATE, Monday, March 18, 2024: Asteroid City is available to stream via Netflix, Binge, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. In 1954, one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest thrillers peeked through a rear window. In Wes Anderson's highly stylised, symmetrical and colour-saturated vision of 1955 in Asteroid City, a romance springs almost solely through two fellow holes in the wall. Sitting behind one is actor Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow), who visibly recalls Marilyn Monroe. Peering through the opposing space is newly widowed war photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), who takes more than a few cues from James Dean. The time isn't just 1955 in the filmmaker's latest stellar masterpiece, but September that year, a month that would end with Dean's death in a car crash. Racing through the movie's eponymous setting — an 87-person slice of post-war midwest Americana with a landscape straight out of a western, the genre that was enjoying its golden age at the time — are cops and robbers speeding and careening in their vehicles. Meticulousness layered upon meticulousness has gleamed like the sun across Anderson's repertoire since 1996's Bottle Rocket launched the writer/director's distinctive aesthetic flair; "Anderson-esque" has long become a term. Helming his 11th feature with Asteroid City, he's as fastidious and methodical in his details upon details as ever — more so, given that each successive movie keeps feeling like Anderson at his most Anderson — but all of those 50s pop-culture shoutouts aren't merely film-loving, winking-and-nodding quirks. Within this picture's world, as based on a story conjured up with Roman Coppola (The French Dispatch), Asteroid City isn't actually a picture. "It is an imaginary drama created expressly for the purposes of this broadcast. The characters are fictional, the text hypothetical, the events an apocryphal fabrication," a Playhouse 90-style host (Bryan Cranston, Better Call Saul) informs. So, it's a fake play turned into a play for a TV presentation, behind-the-scenes glimpses and all. There Anderson is, being his usual ornate and intricate self, and finding multiple manners to explore art, authenticity, and the emotions found in and processed through works of creativity. Those windows that Midge and Augie keep chatting through belong to neighbouring bungalows in the only motel in Asteroid City, the town. (Not only is the setting not actually a city, but the asteroid that caused its famous crater back in 3007 BC is really a meteorite.) Although the pair arrive at the isolated desert spot as strangers, their respective kids in tow, they don't remain that way for long. Midge's daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards, Call Jane) and Augie's son Woodrow (Jake Ryan, Uncut Gems) are among the star attendees at a Junior Stargazer convention, each being feted by the US Military for their scientific inventions. As the kids talk and cultivate crushes, so do the adults. Those windows aren't just one of Asteroid City's several framing devices, either. Visually, Anderson reminds that we're all our own separate boxes, interacting with other separate boxes. He also ponders art's many boxes — screens included, naturally — in a film that dispenses everything from martinis to real estate from boxy vending machines. Each tiny speck of Asteroid City is that elaborate, intelligent and attentively chosen. Amid such diligent minutiae, however, Anderson goes out-of-this-world on emotion. Warm, insightful and funny, his new film features all of his hallmarks — think: the jam-packed starry cast spanning almost every famous face that's ever been in his frames, but adding more just-as-well-known talents; the exquisitely balanced compositions; the playfulness and whimsy of its on-screen world; the deadpan humour; the melancholy — and also contemplates life, death, grief, alienation, loneliness, love, dreams, connection, hope, wonder and what matters when we're all tiny specks existing ever-so-fleetingly in an expansive universe. As the filmmaker's first release made in pandemic times (The French Dispatch was shot in 2018 and 2019, initially due to premiere at Cannes 2020, then delayed to late 2021 when the globe shut down), it's also a clever, canny and brilliantly comic musing on the unexpected shaking up daily life, the ins and outs of quarantine and lockdown, and humanity's coping mechanisms when everything radically shifts and turns. Doing the writing in Asteroid City's boxed-in black-and-white segments: playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), who immediately takes a shine to actor Jones Hall (also Schwartzman), casting him as Augie. Doing the directing: Schubert Green (Adrien Brody, Poker Face), who moves in backstage when his wife Polly (Hong Chau, The Whale) leaves him. Life in monochrome is messy; this is when method acting reigned supreme, too, and Earp and Green's cast have much to draw upon. Of course, while existence within the colourful widescreen sections that represent the play itself might look neat, it's also anything but. As General Gibson (Jeffrey Wright, The Batman) oversees the stargazers — and astronomer Dr Hickenlooper (Tilda Swinton, Three Thousand Years of Longing) has them looking up — there's loss, romance, a teacher (Maya Hawke, Stranger Things) with inquisitive pupils, cowboys a-singing (such as High Desert's Rupert Friend and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker), ashes in Tupperware, a starstruck father-in-law (Tom Hanks, A Man Called Otto) and otherworldly interlopers. Anderson also finds time for Steve Carell (The Patient), Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic World Dominion), Tony Revolori (Servant), Liev Schreiber (A Small Light), Matt Dillon (Proxima), Willem Dafoe (The Northman) and more to pop up. (Much of life's chaos is bodies, faces and lots of them, his films constantly note.) And, with both Margot Robbie (Barbie) and mushroom clouds making an appearance, he even goes all Barbenheimer. (As Christopher Nolan obviously recently demonstrated, the billowing results of atom-bomb tests instantly put human fragility into context.) Asteroid City sports an Anderson retrospective as well, with precocious kids à la Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom, trains traversing plains like The Darjeeling Limited, family woes as The Royal Tenenbaums perfected, an insular setting akin to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch's nesting structure. Never one to hold back, the present most-aped and -memed director levels up everything, including the crater-sized impact. That Anderson's movies are impeccably styled and scored can now almost go without saying. Back from The French Dispatch, his regular cinematographer Robert D Yeoman and composer Alexandre Desplat make every moment sparkle and twinkle with beauty. That his casts understand the Anderson method is also that self-evident now. Here, wading through yearning, mourning, disappointments and the unknown, Schwartzman and Johansson in particular are astronomically spectacular. Asteroid City assembles all the Anderson pieces that audiences expect exactly so — and repeatedly probes what we see, feel and discover when we surrender to art or anything beyond ourselves, his with its giddy, gleeful, oh-so-gorgeous artifice over naturalism as well. He keeps his audience staring at boxes because, whether windows or Broadway or screens, they reflect living. "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep," Asteroid City's play actors chant offstage; that you can't appreciate existence's wonders and mysteries if you don't look for them, be it IRL or through the stories and works and pictures that reflect our lives, the film doesn't utter aloud but conveys equally as spiritedly, lovingly and rousingly.
The art form of graffiti, one of the four sacred pillars of hip hop culture, has suffered a blow this week after Long Island City's epic aerosol art landmark, 5Pointz, the cathedral of cool, was whitewashed overnight. Who are the culprits that would destroy such a monument? Who would dare to deface creative defacement? None other than the building owners themselves, Jerry and David Wolkoff (which I choose to misread as Walkoff, as in, "It's a walk-off"). Also known as the Institute of Higher Burning, 5Pointz has for years drawn graffiti artists and appreciative crowds to Long Island City, and it's in good company, MoMA's PS1 being the other creative landmark in the area. 5Pointz curator Meres One had plans to turn the site into a museum and educational space, which certainly would have been both fitting and awesome, but those plans were dashed by the owners' envisioned residential redevelopment. The Wolkoffs have big plans for the site, hoping to erect a double high-rise apartment complex serving young New Yorkers and empty nesters. Is it another case of irreplaceable cultural riches sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed? Probably, although the Wolkoffs do pledge (via Twitter, anyway) large walls available for future graffiti art. In an ironic twist, the graffiti artists who painted 5Pointz did so with permits, but the whitewashing ninja attack was carried out completely sans permit. Thus, traditionally legal and illegal forms of public mark-making appear to have swapped places in this particular case. After months of local 5Pointz loyalists striving to get the building complex listed as a landmark in a last-ditch attempt to save it from being demolished, its fate now seems sealed. What is perplexing to everyone is why the Wolkoffs had to go and stealthily paint over the artwork, using police protection, in the small hours of the morning, rather than allow it to meet its end with dignity. It takes a sufficiently large and unguarded canvas, and a big creative community, to make something like 5Pointz. Hopefully its ilk can exist again. Check out the full report and all the devastating photographs at Hyperallergic. Below: 5Pointz in happier days.
It's no overstatement to describe Neil Perry — the restaurateur, chef and revered doyen of Australian cooking — as an icon. Now, however, it's official. On Thursday, June 6, Perry was announced as the winner of the Woodford Reserve Icon Award at a glitzy ceremony in Las Vegas for The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2024, one of the culinary scene's most prestigious gongs. The achievement, which is voted for by an international panel of 1080 industry experts, recognises an outstanding contribution to the hospitality industry that's deemed worthy of global notice. "Throughout my career, I've been incredibly lucky to work with some of the finest hospitality professionals in the world, doing what I love and creating memorable experiences for people to enjoy," said Perry of his accomplishment. "I hope this award inspires everyone in our industry to keep going and to never give up." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Neil Perry (@chefneilperry) For more than four decades, Perry has been a guiding light of Sydney's restaurant scene. Cutting his teeth in some of the city's top kitchens, including Sails in Rose Bay, he first made his mark in 1986 when he launched the Blue Water Grill in Bondi. However, it was his next major venture — and arguably his most famous — that would catapult him to global stardom. Opened in 1989, Rockpool quickly asserted itself as not only one of Sydney's top fine-diners, but also one of the nation's — and in 2002, it was ranked the fourth best place to eat on the planet by The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards. Today it has grown to be a cherished brand, with sister venues in Perth and Melbourne. Despite Perry stepping down as the group's Culinary Director in 2020, it continues his storied legacy, ranking as the eighth best steak restaurant in the world in May 2024. [caption id="attachment_960466" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] One of Perry's defining traits is his ability to project his love and understanding of food through many cultural lenses. From Asian to Italian and even burgers and aeroplane food, Perry's menus are a fusion of top-tier produce and craftsmanship with an accessible attitude and a belief that cooking doesn't need to be gastronomically pretentious to be exceptional. Take, for example, his most recent venture Margaret, a deeply personal "neighbourhood restaurant" named for Perry's deceased mother. Despite its humble billing, the judging panel noted that at Margaret, diners experience "a veteran bringing together his love of super-fresh seafood and Asian flavours to outstanding effect". It also currently ranked as the third best steak restaurant in the world. Since opening Margaret in 2021, Perry has extended his presence on Double Bay's Guilfoyle Avenue to the Baker Bleu bakery next door, and he has two more venues preparing to open in the area in late August: Asian-inspired diner Song Bird and cocktail bar Bobby's. [caption id="attachment_961054" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Petrina Tinslay[/caption] The only other Australian to be recognised by this year's The 50 Best Restaurants Awards was Josh Niland, whose revolutionary low-to-no waste seafood diner Saint Peter placed 98th on the 100-venue longlist. Perry is one of Australia's most-decorated chefs, having earned more Good Food Chef's Hats (Australia's answer to Michelin stars) than any other individual in the country, as well as numerous other accolades. However, this latest laurel makes the point most definitively: if you're someone with even a glancing interest in eating well, you need to experience a dish crafted by Perry at least once in your life. [caption id="attachment_961135" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Petrina Tinslay[/caption] For the full rundown of The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2024, head to the list's website. Top image: Petrina Tinslay.
When The Proposition unleashed its outback western onto cinema screens, it did so with a distinctive sound, all thanks to Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. When The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford explored the death of an American outlaw, The Road took viewers into a post-apocalyptic wasteland and West of Memphis pondered a potential miscarriage of justice, the Australian musicians again provided the soundtrack — as they did with Hell or High Water and Wind River's crime thrills, too. Bandmates across several projects since the 90s — including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman — Cave and Ellis are Aussie icons, with careers spanning back decades before they started composing music for movies. But even if you've seen the duo play live countless times over the years, you haven't seen anything like the pair's latest show. In two world premiere performances, as part of the 2019 Melbourne International Film Festival on August 9 and 10, Cave and Ellis will take to the stage with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to perform pieces from all of the above film scores. Watch the talented musos work through their movie output, as paired with symphonic sound and conducted by Benjamin Northey — and prepare to witness something special. Tickets for The Film Music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis go on sale at 10am on Thursday, April 11 on the MSO website. Images: Matthew Thorne / Kerry Brown.
Architecture and design lovers, take note — Melbourne Design Week's inaugural program launches this week. Held at the National Gallery of Victoria and selected venues across Melbourne, the ten-day creative extravaganza runs from March 16–26 and features talks from leading local and international designers, as well as a slew of tours, exhibitions, workshops and industry events. Broadly exploring the theme of 'design values', the 2017 event will investigate the question: What does design value and how do we value design? With dozens of events to choose from, we've picked out ten of the best to help get you out and explore what's on offer at Melbourne Design Week. [caption id="attachment_613273" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Porky Hefer: Fiona Blackfish (2015)[/caption] GAPE AT THIS KILLER WHALE CHAIR While chairs are often overlooked as ordinary objects in our homes, Creating the Contemporary Chair argues the chair is a focal point for the evolution of design vernacular — and that it even symbolises an object's ability to express ideas. Having fixated designers for decades, the exhibition will present 35 provocative designs from 1980 to 2016. The exhibition has been in development for two years and includes several prominent international designers such as Jacopo Foggini, Helen Kontouris, gt2p and Porky Hefer, who designed this killer whale piece. It will be on show at NGV International from Friday, March 17. CREATE YOUR OWN CITY SOUNDSCAPE Global engineering firm Arup work with soundscapes to improve the melodies resonating inside theatres and concert halls, as well as to reduce the noise that emanates from infrastructure such as airports and stadiums. The Design a City Soundscape event for Melbourne Design Week will see the Arup acoustic design team host a soundscaping workshop in their SoundLab, which is a dedicated space in their East Melbourne office for listening to 'auralisations' (that is, sound simulations of real-world places). Participants will be able to use Arup's own library of sounds and recordings to produce soundscapes, which will later form the basis of discussion on the importance of acoustic design. Multiple free sessions will be held on Sunday, March 19. Make a booking for this one. [caption id="attachment_602904" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Haven't You Always Wanted..? 2016 NGV Architecture Commission, shot by Sean Fennessey[/caption] DESIGN YOUR OWN PAVILION WITH VIRTUAL REALITY Redesign the 2016 NGV Architecture Commission by M@STUDIO Architects with the help of virtual reality. Situated in the NGV's Grollo Equiset Garden, the acclaimed pavilion takes the form of a light-hearted reinterpretation of the humble carwash. A collaboration by RMIT's Centre for Game Design Research, M@STUDIO Architects and d__Lab RMIT, If Only… allows you to give the pavilion a fresh coat of paint, while also letting you remodel the surfaces and materials used throughout the original design. The pavilion (which you can visit until April 17) is an exact replica of a 23-metre car wash in the eastern suburb of Blackburn and was designed to highlight the banality of suburban architecture. ATTEND A FREE HIGH FASHION PARTY High Risk Dressing / Critical Fashion explores the latest concepts by RMIT fashion designers with their reimaginations of the evolving industry. Utilising archive material on the former Fashion Design Council (1983–93), an organisation dedicated to promoting experimentation fashion design in Australia, the exhibition will transform RMIT Design Hub with a program of presentations, performances, film screenings and exhibitions. The closing party is when you want to be there though. Taking place on Thursday, March 16 from 6pm, the free party will feature D&K's All Or Nothing — a performance that evolves over several hours — alongside sets by local DJs Andras & Lewis Fidock. [caption id="attachment_613315" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Theodore Treehouse, shot by Peter Bennetts[/caption] LEARN ABOUT QUEER SPACES IN ARCHITECTURE How can workplaces become friendlier for LGBTQIA people? This designer talk sees panellists Simona Castricum, Sophie Drying and Nicole Kalms discuss what represents queer architecture and how it contributes to professional identities and practices. Moderated by academic Naomi Stead, the panel will also discuss what architecture can gain as a profession from valuing the influence of diversity, and how might queerness bring about new design principals and considerations. The event takes place at NGV on Sunday, March 26 from 3pm. [caption id="attachment_613289" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hugh Altschwager: REPLICATE THIS[/caption] SEE A BUNCH OF (VERY GOOD) FAKES How do designed objects become valued? 26 Original Fakes explores issues of authenticity, creative practice and the commercial market as 26 contemporary Australian designers reinterpret and create their own 'fake' of a replica Jasper Morrison HAL Wood Chair. Curated by Friends & Associates (a collaboration between designers Dale Hardiman and Tom Skeehan to bring local designers closer together through partnerships), the exhibition features prominent designers such as Studio Edwards, Adam Goodrum, Jon Goulder and Fiona Lynch. The exhibition takes place at Watchmaker, Melbourne Design Week's off-site venue on Smith Street by Piccolina Gelateria, and is open daily from 1–7pm. TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GUSH ABOUT YOUR FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPHS Hear from some of the very best photographers as the Centre for Contemporary Photography presents What Makes A Great Photograph? The event's five panellists will each be given five minutes to discuss a chosen favourite photograph and explain why it holds significance with them. As part of the NGV's Melbourne Art Book Fair, audience opinion and discussion is highly encouraged. The speakers include leading architecture photographer and artist John Gollings AM, director of prominent photography organisation M.33 Helen Frajman, and curator of the Centre for Contemporary Photography Pippa Milne. What Makes A Great Photograph? will go down at NGV International on Sunday, March 19 at 2pm. [caption id="attachment_613327" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ian Wong[/caption] LEARN MORE ABOUT AUSTRALIA'S MOST INNOVATIVE DESIGNS Wi-Fi, ultrasound technology, the legendary Hills Hoist — Australians have been responsible for a long list of revolutionary designs, many of which have impacted the entire globe. Innovators: Australian Design and Innovation celebrates this rich history with 16 digital archives of Australian inventions in an immersive exhibition. Featuring designs such as the bionic ear and polymer bank notes, the exhibition also commemorates iconic designers such as Marc Newson, Susan Cohn, Michael Simcoe and Denton Corker Marshall. The exhibition is being held at Monash University's Clayton campus from March 16–24. [caption id="attachment_613335" align="alignnone" width="1920"] RMIT's Ngarara Place, shot by Peter Casamento[/caption] LEARN ABOUT INDIGENOUS ARCHITECTURE With many significant Indigenous landmarks dotted throughout the city, this Melbourne Design Week panel discusses Indigenous-led projects and how designers can move further away from collaborative or consultative models. Exploring several high-profile design practices headed by Indigenous Australians, the diverse panel will consider how Indigenous design can be defined and how it might be promoted within the Australian architecture, interior design, town planning and product design communities. The talk takes place at NGV on Friday, March, 24 at 6.30pm. EXPLORE TOKYO'S ARCHITECTURE OVER COCKTAILS Just as the NGV is putting on the first ever Melbourne Design Week, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art is presenting Cities of Architecture for the first time this year. The series of talks — which will run monthly until October — will explore the world's most fascinating and beautiful cities. For Melbourne Design Week, director of Fitzroy's NMBW Architecture Studio Marika Neustupny will present a lecture on Tokyo on Monday, March 20. Tickets cost $35 and include a custom-made cocktail to suit the city, designed by the people at the Melbourne Gin Company and Starward Whisky. Melbourne Design Week kicks off on Thursday, March 16 and runs until Sunday, March 26. For the full program, visit their website.
Victorians are being given the chance to help shape the future of inclusive and respectful public spaces and facilities in their state, with the help of a new interactive online map where they can share both positive and negative experiences with gender equality. Currently being piloted in the council areas of Darebin and Melton, the new Gender Equality Map allows users — of all ages and genders — to anonymously drop a pin where they've encountered inclusive or exclusive infrastructure. This might include flagging locations for things like pram accessibility, baby change tables in women's and men's bathrooms, access to change rooms for all genders, or sexist advertising or street art around the neighbourhood. [caption id="attachment_695499" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gender Equality Map[/caption] Developed in conjunction with CrowdSpot and Monash University, and with the backing of the Victorian Government, the Gender Equality Map builds on Plan International Australia's Free To Be map — an app which launched earlier this year allowing young women to pinpoint locations around Sydney where they felt safe or unsafe. Once the pilot is over in mid-February, 2019, the community's mapped results will then be analysed and used to help inform necessary policy and infrastructure changes — helping councils, town planners, architects and policy-makers make more gender-inclusive decisions in their designs, hopefully leading to safer, more respectful public spaces and facilities. While it's great that the government is looking to create more gender-inclusive spaces, we'd love to see a similar program rolled out for people of all abilities and disabilities, too. It has not yet been announced whether the Gender Equality Map will be released in other Victorian councils. The Gender Equality Map pilot can be found here. You can add to it up until mid-February, 2019. Image: Josie Withers, Visit Victoria
Melbourne hosts so many summer blockbuster art exhibitions that you would expect winter would see the city swept into a bit of an aesthetic lull. Not the case. The NGV has recently launched one of its biggest contemporary shows to date — a huge collection on loan from New York City's MoMA — the Koorie Heritage Trust will host the first national survey of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander design, and winter arts festival Provocaré is about to kick off a series of arts and culture happenings across Chapel Street. All of these will have you happily heading out in the cold (who knows, maybe even nude).
After emerging from yet another lockdown, even the basic act of dining out at a restaurant feels like a wild time. But if you're game and ready, Melbourne is set to play host to a legitimately impressive food experience to top all the other feeds you've had this year. Introducing, Higher Order: an experiential event that seeks to shake up the way you think about the future of food, technology, art and more. The latest in a series of happenings from Beta By STH BNK, it'll feature the culinary stylings of celebrated chef Scott Pickett (Estelle, Matilda). Taking over Southbank's multi-storey Hanover House precinct from Wednesday, November 10–Sunday, December 5, the pop-up invites punters on a 90-minute journey of discovery. As a guest, you'll ascend to Level Five space The Attic and into a whole new realm, as you experience innovative fare alongside a host of other captivating, sensorial delights. [caption id="attachment_830701" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hanover House, by Beulah[/caption] Across multiple themed zones, Cineart Studios will showcase a series of evocative, immersive installations. One will house a larger-than-life bamboo steamer that you can walk inside, while another features a reimagined vending machine built on the idea of eliminating single-use plastics. You'll also encounter a dynamic riff on the concept of communal dining, catch a mesmerising performance of water and light unfold within a mirrored room, and sip vodka concoctions in a bar made of hydroponic greenery and edible foliage. Plus, Loose Collective and Studio John Fish (Pitch Music & Arts, Beyond the Valley) will unveil a mysterious, perception-warping film and performance piece that's inspired by Japanese culture. And a specially curated soundtrack fuses ambient tones, hip hop and house music in a nod to the story behind the night's ingredients. [caption id="attachment_831514" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jake Roden[/caption] Each menu element is designed to match a different Higher Order space — whether that's scallop sashimi paired with ginger, soy and caviar while you ponder the future of art, or puffed mushroom crackers with avocado and green ants enjoyed in a room that explores the idea of future food security. Two Higher Order sessions will unfold each evening (at 6pm and 8.30pm) from Wednesday to Sunday throughout the pop-up's duration. And you can look forward to plenty of other experiential happenings hosted by Hanover House in months to come, including the Future From Waste Lab fashion hub launching there early next year. Higher Order will run from Wednesday, November 10–Sunday, December 5, at The Attic (Level 5), Hanover House, 158 City Road, Southbank. Two 90-minute sessions will take place each evening (6pm and 8.30pm) from Wednesday–Sunday. Tickets start from $148 per person — to find out more and book, see the website. Images: Jake Roden
If water pipes make you think of creepy clowns, then the latest tiny apartment design mightn't be for you. In Hong Kong, architect James Law has come up with a compact housing solution made out of old concrete tubing. A proposed solution to the country's affordability issues, they're cheap to construct — and, thanks to their shape, easily stackable too. Don't worry, these pipe-based abodes will be located above ground, so you can wipe your IT fears out of your mind. Called Opod, the proposed system is made from piping up to 2.5 metres in diameter, features between nine and eleven squares of cosy living space capable of housing one or two people, and comes complete with a bench that converts into a bed, a mini fridge, microwave, bathroom with shower and open-shelf storage. Currently on display and open to the Hong Kong public until April 1, it's envisioned that the former stormwater drains could be used in narrow spaces, and even on top of existing buildings, using space that's otherwise going to waste. Or, if you wanted to move, they could also be relocated to other sites or cities. https://www.instagram.com/p/BdNP0t1g4EL/?taken-by=cybertecture The cosy, circular homes are the latest innovative design in what's proving a growing field, with sustainability, affordability, eschewing mass consumerism via downsizing and embracing mobile living all motivators. An Australian start-up lets you stay in a tiny house in the wilderness, while flat-packed tiny homes are also available locally. Tiny mobile homes and Muji flat-pack houses and pre-fab huts can also take care of your compact needs. And, in the short-term accommodation arena, you can stay in New York's first shipping container home, seek out a portable shipping container hotel or head to a tiny house campsite in the US. Via Reuters. Images: James Law Cybertecture.
First, the City of Melbourne introduced free untimed CBD parking back in August 2020, during the city's stage four COVID-19 restrictions. Then, parking remained free but time limits were reinforced from last October. The free offer was next extended over the Christmas and New Year period, ending in early January. So, over the past eight months, Melburnians have become quite accustomed to heading into the city and parking their cars without paying a cent. Although free parking isn't still in place across the board, it is returning for three and a half days over the upcoming March long weekend to coincide with the Moomba Festival. Accordingly, you'll be able to park for free from 12pm on Friday, March 5–11.59pm on Monday, March 8, all in areas with green signs. The temporary move only applies within those dates and times, and you'll still need to abide by the time limit listed for your car park of choice. Also, as well as parking time limits, disabled parking restrictions, clearways and no standing zones will still be in effect — and so will residential permit restrictions. Still, given that on-street parking within the central city usually costs $7 an hour (and $4 an hour outside the central city), your wallet will thank you. Announcing the news, Councillor Roshena Campbell said "we want people from regional Victoria and across Melbourne to park in the city for free and enjoy some of the world's best bars, restaurants, shops, galleries and theatres". While Moomba and the long weekend rank among the prime motivations for the free parking, the move is designed to get folks into the city to shop, eat and drink, and to support retailers, eateries and bars that've done it tough over the past year. Free Melbourne CBD parking will run from 12pm on Friday, March 5–11.59pm on Monday, March 8 in areas with green signs. Head over to the City of Melbourne website for more information.
We could all use a bit of a mood boost and if there's one surefire way to up those dopamine levels, it's a weekend spent lazing by the harbour, soaking up a taste of that luxe waterfront lifestyle. A holiday from reality, featuring sunshine, water vistas and maybe even a private pool. Well, dotted all around Sydney, you'll find chic harbourside retreats and beachfront villas you can call your own for a couple of nights, offering exclusive addresses and hard-to-match views. We've done the hard work for you and rounded up Sydney's most exclusive harbourside stays you can book right now. Choose a favourite, pack those bags and get ready to live your best-ever holiday life. Stylish Apartment, Pyrmont Taste the high life with a stay at this next-level apartment, kitted out with luxury features and boasting sweeping harbour views. From $1410 a night, sleeps six. Cloudbreak, Mosman This sprawling hillside home makes for one luxurious group getaway, complete with smart styling, an infinity pool and absolute water frontage. From $385 a night, sleeps two. The Boathouse, Kurraba Point Set right on the shoreline of Kurraba Point, this roomy retreat features both a sunny waterfront lawn and a boat shed-turned-entertaining space. From $1833 a night, sleeps six. Harbour Hideaway, Clontarf A bright, breezy coastal escape for two, set right on the shores of Clontarf. Enjoy barbecues on the spacious balcony, overlooking the beach. From $499 a night, sleeps two. Camp Cove Tropical Retreat, Watsons Bay Your own tropical oasis, set just metres from Camp Cove Beach, featuring modern styling, a pool and leafy private garden. From $300 a night, sleeps three. Postcard View, Kirribilli A spectacular apartment on the water edge with direct view of the iconic Opera house and Sydney Harbour Bridge. With ideal views and luxe furnishings, this is the perfect stay for immersing yourself in the Harbour city. From $491 a night, sleeps four. Manly Beach Views, Manly Centrally located with a two minute walk from Manly Beach and Corso shopping strip, you'll have easy access to everything Manly has to offer - stunning views included. From $260 a night, sleeps two. Luxury Yacht Overnight Stay, Rose Bay Indulge yourself in a night of romance on board your own private French built Beneteau yacht moored in Rose Bay. On the waterfront with the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background, it will be a stay to remember. From $517 a night, sleeps two. Balmoral Beach Beauty, Mosman This stunning absolute beachfront apartment offers magnificent views of Middle Harbour and Balmoral Beach. From $330 a night, sleeps two. Magnificent Waterfront Living, Double Bay Step into your own peaceful harbourside sanctuary complete with it's own private ten metre marina berth, when you stay in this chic Double Bay apartment. From $1008 a night, sleeps five. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy. Images: courtesy of Airbnb
With spring now sprung, it's time to get acquainted with some fresh talent. So, clear some room on your wine rack and make space on your bar cart, because the Builders Arms Hotel is coming at you with a one-day celebration of Victorian winemakers, growers and producers that's brimming with new things for you to sip, try and buy. On Sunday, October 16, Bloom will see some of the pub's current favourites gathered together for a special showcase of local tipples in the bistro and public bar. You'll spend the afternoon meeting the makers as you sample their wares — including Lucy Kendall from Gippsland's Allevare Wines, Edge Brewing's Michelle Vanspall, Dervilla McGowan from Anther Distillery, Little Frances Wines' Erin Pooley, the family duo behind T.I.N.A. (This Is Not Alcohol) and more. Nab a $25 ticket and you'll score five tasting tokens to spend on sips while listening to tunes by Georgia Bird and DJ Sarah. More tokens are available from the bar and there'll be a curation of Bloom pours starring on the day's drinks list, too. Further tasty things will be coming from the kitchen, thanks to a guest appearance from chef Trisha Greentree of Sydney's Fratelli Paradiso and 10 William Street. She'll be whipping up a menu of bar snacks and share plates for the downstairs crowd, as well as hosting a four-course lunch feast ($150 with matched wines) in the upstairs function space. [caption id="attachment_872113" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Harvard Wang[/caption]
The Mornington Peninsula is now home to a gluten-free brewpub thanks to Twøbays Brewing, which opened the doors to its Dromana taproom in December 2018. The public tasting room is set amongst the production brewery, which began operation in 2017. It's stainless steel tanks are visible from the brewpub side, and the entire facility overlooks the picturesque Arthur's Seat. Founder and beer enthusiast Richard Jeffares was diagnosed with coeliac disease in 2016 and became inspired by similar gluten-free taprooms found in The States. Jeffares signed on head brewer Andrew Gow, who's resumé boasts 20 years in the business, including at Mornington Peninsula Brewery, Mountain Goat and Five Islands in Sydney's Wollongong. While most beers use gluten-containing malted barley, Twøbays instead uses gluten-free millet, rice and buckwheat — imported from Colorado and California — in all its beers. The brewpub has launched with a range of seven core and specialty tap beers, including an easy-drinking pale ale; an English-style extra special bitter dubbed Local Knowledge; Gose Against, a German-style gose brewed with coriander, salt and lime; and a mid-strength ale called Little Arthur. To try a few at once, patrons can nab a four-pony tasting paddle. Apart from brews, there's locally produced Quealy wine and Ten Sixty One cider to enjoy. And, adding to theme, there's also a woodfired oven slinging gluten-free pizza. The taproom is a cash-free environment, though, so make sure you come with card in hand. Twøbays also sells its pale ale and IPA online — both of which are endorsed by Coeliac Australia. If you're a keen home-brewer, Twøbays is already selling and shipping its gluten-free brew packs and malts across Australia. Find Twøbays Brewing Co at Unit 1, 2 Trewhitt Court, Dromana, Victoria. Opening hours are Friday from 3–8pm, Saturday from 12–6pm and Sunday from 12–5pm. Updated: June 3, 2019.
If you're a dinosaur fan in Sydney, life keeps finding a way to indulge your interest in prehistoric creatures. Sydney's latest: Jurassic World: The Exhibition, which roars into town with life-sized, lifelike critters, as well as a celebration of 30 years since the first Jurassic Park movie initially rampaged across the big screen. A showcase with the same name displayed in Melbourne back in 2016, but this Harbour City visit comes after stops everywhere from London, San Diego, Paris and Madrid to Seoul, Shanghai and Toronto — running from Friday, September 22, 2023–Sunday, February 18, 2024. Expect to feel like you've been transported to Isla Nublar, complete with a walk through the big-screen saga's famed gates. From there, you'll walk through themed environments featuring dinos, including a brachiosaurus, velociraptors — yes, get ready to say "clever girl" — and a Tyrannosaurus rex. Also linking in with the animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous series, there'll be baby dinos, including the show's Bumpy. Sydneysiders and visitors to the New South Wales capital can get roaming, and staring at animatronic dinos, at the 3000-square-metre SuperLuna Pavilion at Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park. Now, all that's left is to decide which Jurassic franchise character you want to emulate (the best choices: Laura Dern's palaeobotanist Ellie Sattler, Sam Neill's palaeontologist Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum's mathematician Ian Malcolm, of course). And no, when Michael Crichton penned Jurassic Park in 1990, then Steven Spielberg turned it into a 1993 film, they wouldn't have expected that this'd be the result three decades — and five more movies — later.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures will do that, and so will plenty of people staying home because they aren't well — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Perhaps you've been under the weather. Given the hefty amount of titles now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are seven that you can watch right now at home. Dune: Part Two Revenge is a dish best served sandy in Dune: Part Two. On the desert planet of Arrakis, where golden hills as far as the eye can see are shaped from the most-coveted and -psychedelic substance in author Frank Herbert's estimation, there's no other way. Vengeance is just one course on Paul Atreides' (Timothée Chalamet, Wonka) menu, however. Pop culture's supreme spice boy, heir to the stewardship of his adopted realm, has a prophecy to fulfil whether he likes it or not; propaganda to navigate, especially about him being the messiah; and an Indigenous population, the Fremen, to prove himself to. So mines Denis Villeneuve's soaring sequel to 2021's Dune, which continues exploring the costs and consequences of relentless quests for power — plus the justifications, compromises, tragedies and narratives that are inescapable in such pursuits. The filmmaker crafts his fourth contemplative and breathtaking sci-fi movie in a row, then, after Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 as well. The vast arid expanse that constantly pervades the frames in Dune: Part Two isn't solely a stunning sight. It looks spectacular, as the entire feature does, with Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser (The Creator) back after winning an Oscar for the first Dune; but as Paul, his widowed mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson, Silo), and Fremen Stilgar (Javier Bardem, The Little Mermaid) and Chani (Zendaya, Euphoria) traverse it, it helps carve in some of this page-to-screen saga's fundamental ideas. So does the stark monochrome when the film jumps to Giedi Prime, home world to House Harkonnen, House Atreides' enemy, plus Arrakis' ruler both before and after Paul's dad Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) got the gig in Villeneuve's initial Dune. People here are dwarfed not only by their mammoth surroundings, but by the bigger, broader, non-stop push for supremacy. While there's no shortage of detail in both Part One and Part Two — emotional, thematic and visual alike — there's also no avoiding that battling against being mere pawns in an intergalactic game of chess is another of its characters' complicated fights. Dune: Part Two streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Greig Fraser. Immaculate Add screaming to the ever-growing list of things that Sydney Sweeney can do spectacularly well. Indeed, thanks to Immaculate, which gets the Euphoria and The White Lotus star putting her pipes to stellar bellowing use, the horror genre has a brand-new queen; long may she reign if this is what audiences have to look forward to. This film about a nun who moves to a convent in the Italian countryside, then mysteriously becomes pregnant without having had sex, isn't just a job for Sweeney. She auditioned for the movie a decade back, it didn't come to fruition, but she strove to make it happen now. She stars. She produces. She enlisted Michael Mohan, who she worked with on Everything Sucks! and The Voyeurs, as its director. The passion that drove her quest to bring Immaculate to viewers is just as apparent in her formidable performance, too, including echoing with feeling — and blistering intensity— when she's shrieking. No one should just be realising now how versatile an actor that Sweeney is. Her portrayal of Sister Cecilia, who found her way to becoming a bride of Christ after a traumatic near-death incident in her younger years, is exactly what the film's title suggests: immaculate. It's also a showcase of a role that requires her to be sweet, dutiful, faithful, ferocious, indefatigable, vengeful and desperate to survive all in the same flick — and she kills it — but adaptability, resourcefulness and displaying a multitude of skills has been her on-screen wheelhouse beyond just one movie. Take Sweeney's last four cinema releases, for instance, all of which hail from 2023–24. Reality, Anyone But You, Madame Web and Immaculate couldn't be more dissimilar to each other, and neither could the actor's parts in them. Throw in her Saturday Night Live hosting stint, and she's firmly at the "is there anything that she isn't capable of?" stage of her career. Immaculate streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Michael Mohan. The Zone of Interest Quotes and observations about evil being mundane, as well as the result when people look the other way, will never stop being relevant. A gripping, unsettling masterpiece, The Zone of Interest is a window into why. The first film by Sexy Beast, Birth and Under the Skin director Jonathan Glazer in more than a decade, the Holocaust-set feature peers on as the unthinkable happens literally just over the fence, but a family goes about its ordinary life. If it seems abhorrent that anything can occur in the shadow of any concentration camp or site of World War II atrocities, that's part of the movie's point. It dwells in the Interessengebiet, the 40-square-kilometre-plus titular area that comprised and surrounded the Auschwitz complex, to interrogate how banal genocide was to those in power; commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel, Babylon Berlin), even gloats that his name will be remembered and celebrated for its connection to mass extermination. Höss was a real person, and the real Nazi SS officer overseeing Auschwitz from 1940–43. His wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall) and five children are similarly drawn from truth. But The Zone of Interest finds its way to the screen via Martin Amis' fiction novel of the same name, then hones its interest down from the book's three narrators to the Höss family; a biopic, it isn't, even as it switches its character monikers back to reflect actuality. This is a work of deep probing and contemplation — a piece that demands that its viewers confront the daily reality witnessed and face how the lives of those in power, and benefiting from it, thrived with death not only as a neighbour but an enabler. Camp prisoners tend the Höss' garden. Ashes are strewn over the soil for horticultural effect. Being turned into the same is a threat used to keep the household's staff in line. All three of these details, as with almost everything in the feature, are presented with as matter-of-fact an air as cinema is capable of. The Zone of Interest streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. How to Have Sex Movies don't have pores, but How to Have Sex might as well. Following a trip to Greece with three 16-year-old best friends who want nothing more than to party their way into womanhood — and to get laid, too — this unforgettable British drama is frequently slick with sweat. Perspiration can dampen someone when they're giddily excited about a wild getaway, finishing school and leaving adolescence behind. It can get a person glistening when they're rushing and drinking, and flitting from pools and beaches to balconies and clubs. Being flushed from being sozzled, the stickiness that comes with expending energy, the cold chill of stress and horror, the fluster of a fluttering heart upon making a connection: they're all sources of wet skin as well. Filmmaker Molly Manning Walker catalogues them all. Viewers can see the sweat in How to Have Sex, with its intimate, spirited, like-you're-there cinematography. More importantly, audiences can feel why protagonist Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce, Vampire Academy) is perspiring, and the differences scene to scene, even when she's not quite sure herself. How to Have Sex also gets those watching sweating — because spying how you've been Tara, or her pals Em (debutant Enva Lewis) and Skye (Lara Peake, Halo), or lads Badger (Shaun Thomas, Ali & Ava) and Paddy (Samuel Bottomley, The Last Rifleman) in the neighbouring resort unit, is inescapable. Walker has been there herself, with parts of her debut feature as a writer and director drawn from her own time as a Tara, Em or Skye while also making the spring break and Schoolies-like pilgrimage from England to the Mediterranean. When the movie doesn't lift details directly from her own experience, it shares them with comparable moments that are virtually ripped from western teendom. One of the feature's strokes of genius is how lived-in it proves, whether Tara and her mates are as loud and exuberant as girls are when their whole lives are ahead of them, its main character is attempting to skip her troubles in a sea of strobing lights and dancing bodies, or slipping between the sheets — but not talking about it — is changing who Tara is forever. How to Have Sex streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Molly Manning Walker. Bob Marley: One Love There's no doubting who Bob Marley: One Love is about, but the Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard)-directed biopic also brings two other big-screen portraits of music superstars to mind. There's always a dance through a legend's history flickering somewhere, or close to it, with the initial dramatised look at the reggae icon arriving after Bohemian Rhapsody and Elvis both proved major hits in recent years. Where the first, which focused on Freddie Mercury, had Live Aid, Bob Marley: One Love has the One Love Peace Concert. Both are gigs to build a movie around, and both features have done just that. Baz Luhrmann's portrait of the king of rock 'n' roll wanted its audience to understand what it was like to watch its namesake, be in his presence and feel entranced by every hip thrust — and, obviously without the gyrating pelvis, Bob Marley: One Love also opts for that approach. Enter Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley, in a vital piece of casting. Although it may not earn him an Oscar as Bohemian Rhapsody did Rami Malek (Oppenheimer), or even a nomination as Elvis scored for Austin Butler (Masters of the Air), the British actor turns in a phenomenal performance. He's worlds away from being a Ken in Barbie. He isn't in wholly new territory seeing that he played Malcolm X in One Night in Miami and Barack Obama in TV series The Comey Rule. He's also magnetic and mesmerising — and, in the process, expresses how and why Marley was magnetic and mesmerising. Ben-Adir's vocals are blended with Marley's. Accordingly, you're largely listening to the singer himself. But there's a presence about Ben-Adir in the part, perfecting Jamaican patois, getting kinetic and uninhibited in his movement while he's behind the microphone, radiating charisma, but also conveying purpose and self-possession. It's a portrayal that's as entrancing and alive as the music that's always echoing alongside it; with Marley's discography, that's saying something. Bob Marley: One Love streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton and Reinaldo Marcus Green. Riceboy Sleeps When Riceboy Sleeps charts the passage of time from 1990 to 1999 partway into the movie, the Canadian film does so with Dong-hyun at its centre. As a six-year-old (played by debutant Dohyun Noel Hwang) navigating his initial taste of school from behind his large round glasses, he's shy, sensitive, and constantly reminded that he's different by teachers and classmates. As a 15-year-old (Ethan Hwang, The Umbrella Academy) with bleached-blonde hair and faux blue eyes, he's adopted a coping mechanism: trying to blend in. Riceboy Sleeps isn't just about Dong-hyun, who takes the anglicised name David in his attempts to assimilate. It's as much about his mother So-young (fellow feature first-timer Choi Seung-yoon), who relocates him from South Korea to North America after his soldier father's suicide. Writer/director Anthony Shim's sophomore release after 2019's Daughter hones in on the act of seeing, too — gleaning what's around you, who, why, the past that lingers, the stories that echo — as Dong-hyun and So-young survey where they are, where they've been, and how their history keeps dictating their present and future. In that aforementioned time jump, Shim — who helms, pens, edits and acts — and cinematographer Christopher Lew (Quickening) make eyes the focus. When Riceboy Sleeps dwells in the first year of the 90s, Dong-hyun's spectacles are frames within the frame, giving the boy his own windows to the world that he fidgets with, seems burdened by and, in an act of bullying by his peers, has dinged up and taken away. When the movie hits the end of the decade, Dong-hyun is putting in his contacts, therefore making the lens with which he perceives his existence invisible. Semi-inspired by his own childhood as a South Korean arrival to Vancouver Island in the 90s, including attending a school where he was the only Asian student, Riceboy Sleeps is this thoughtful at every level. The movement, and later lack thereof, of Lew's camerawork is just as loaded with meaning: in Canada, it's restless in long wide shots, careening around gracefully but noticeably and finding points to fixate on; back across the Pacific Ocean in the picture's bookending segments, it's still but just as observational. Riceboy Sleeps streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. The Boys in the Boat The Social Network isn't a rowing film, but the Henley Royal Regatta sequence in David Fincher's (The Killer) 2010 triumph quickly became one of cinema's most-famous oar-sweeping moments. Prestige, money, tradition, opulence, power, competition, determination: they all wash through the tightly shot segment, which gleams with the water of the River Thames, the sweat on the crew's faces and, just as importantly, with status. Definitely a rowing film, The Boys in the Boat paddles into the same world; however, a commentator's line mid-movie sums up the focus and angle of this old-fashioned underdog sports flick. "Old money versus no money at all" is how the usual big and rich names in the field and the University of Washington's junior varsity team are compared. George Clooney's (The Tender Bar) ninth feature as a director doesn't just spot the class-clash difference there — his entire picture wades into that gulf. Drawn from 2013 non-fiction novel The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown, reuniting Clooney with his The Midnight Sky screenwriter Mark L Smith in the process, The Boys in the Boat is about the UW's rowing efforts, rower Joe Rantz and coach Al Ulbrickson, too — plus an against-the-odds quest, bold choices, the struggles of the Great Depression, the reality of an Olympics held under the Nazi regime and the looming shadow of war. But thrumming at its heart like a coxswain is setting the pace is the mission to keep afloat one stroke at a time, and not merely in the pursuit of glory and medals. What rowing means to Rantz (Callum Turner, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), the character at its centre, as well as to the classmates-turned-crewmates catching and extracting with him under the guidance of the stoic Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton, I'm a Virgo), is pure survival first and foremost. The Boys in the Boat streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Joel Edgerton. Looking for more viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February and March 2024 (and also January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023, too). We keep a running list of must-stream TV from across 2024 as well, complete with full reviews. And, we've also rounded up 2023's 15 best films, 15 best straight-to-streaming movies, 15 top flicks hardly anyone saw, 30 other films to catch up with, 15 best new TV series of 2023, another 15 excellent new TV shows that you might've missed and 15 best returning shows.
How does Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega, Death of a Unicorn) fare against airport security screenings? Why is she willingly returning to a school for the first time ever? What happens when she plays with dolls? How has Tim Burton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) worked Joanna Lumley (Amandaland), Steve Buscemi (The Studio), Billie Piper (Kaos) and Thandiwe Newton (Mufasa: The Lion King) into Wednesday's cast for the series' second season? Some of that has been revealed in the just-dropped teaser trailer for the Netflix hit show's long-awaited comeback — and any other questions you have will begin receiving answers soon. Wednesday has not only unveiled its first season two sneak peek, but also announced its return dates. There's two, because the streaming platform is going with a split release this time around. Part one arrives on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, then part two on Wednesday, September 3, 2025. Conjuring up another spot in your streaming queue three years after its first season released, Wednesday again follows its namesake to Nevermore Academy in its second season — and again features a fresh mystery for her to solve, amid navigating a new round of other woes. The initial trailer also spans her reunion with roommate Enid (Emma Myers, A Minecraft Movie), Wednesday likening her second trip to Nevermore to "returning to the scene of the crime", bees, pink mist, creepy and kooky playthings, swinging axes and a few truths. "Wherever there's murder and mayhem, you will always find an Addams," Wednesday notes — followed by "I do my best work in the dark". Season two will also feature more of Catherine Zeta-Jones (National Treasure: Edge of History) as Morticia, Luis Guzmán (Justified: City Primeval) as Gomez, Isaac Ordonez (Color Box) as Pugsley and Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo (Dreamers) as Deputy Ritchie Santiago, all getting meatier parts than in season one. Among its new cast members, not only Lumley, Buscemi, Piper and Newton are onboard, but also Evie Templeton (Criminal Record), Owen Painter (Tiny Beautiful Things), Noah B Taylor (Law & Order: Organised Crime), Frances O'Connor (The Twelve), Haley Joel Osment (Blink Twice), Heather Matarazzo (Paint) and Joonas Suotamo (The Acolyte) — plus Christopher Lloyd (Hacks), following Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets) among the stars of the 90s Addams Family films popping up in Wednesday. Fred Armisen (Fallout) remains Wednesday's take on Uncle Fester, however — one that Netflix is so keen on that there's talk of a spinoff about the character. In its first season, Wednesday unsurprisingly proved a smash, breaking the Netflix record for most hours viewed in a single week, then doing so again — notching up 341.23-million hours viewed in its first week, then 411.29-million hours viewed in its second. All things Addams Family have always found an audience, with the Ricci-led 90s films beloved for decades for good reason, and the 1960s TV show and 1930s The New Yorker comics before that. Check out the first teaser trailer for Wednesday season two below: Wednesday season two arrives in two parts, with part one dropping on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 and part two on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, both via Netflix. Read our full review of Wednesday season one. Images: Helen Sloan/Netflix © 2025.
It isn't hard to find street art in Melbourne. In fact, it's one of the things that the city is known for. But only a specific part of the city is now the Victorian capital's first official street art precinct, and also the host of the Wall to Wall festival for 2024. That spot: Mordialloc, with the suburb's industrial laneways embracing turning public spaces into a canvas in a big way, including from Friday, April 26–Sunday, April 28. Wall to Wall's return is huge news not just because it will bring together Australian and international street artists to get painting, but because it marks the fest's comeback year since the pandemic. Last held in 2019, and initially starting out in the town of Benalla, the Melbourne event will welcome Smug, Adnate, Celeste Mountjoy, George Rose and Zoer among the folks adding a splash of colour to the Mordialloc precinct. [caption id="attachment_949521" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Adnate, Martin Ron.[/caption] This is actually Wall to Wall's second comeback stop, with Murray Bridge in South Australia the first — also in April 2024, running from Friday, April 12–Sunday, April 14. One of the aims of Shaun Hossack, who hails from Melbourne street art collective Juddy Roller and is curating the fest, is to grow the event. But paying tribute to the history of street art in Melbourne clearly ranks just as highly. Wall to Wall's Mordialloc home at the Mordi Village Arts and Cultural Precinct on Lamana Road will be filled with large-scale murals, and also host a block party on the Saturday featuring Adnate doing double duty as a DJ, plus April Kerry, Charles Eddy and Blo also on the decks. Attendees can look forward to hitting up food trucks, sipping spirits from local distillery Saint Felix, taking tours and shopping at markets, too, alongside learning new skills at workshops. [caption id="attachment_949524" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nicole Reed[/caption]
Forty years after first forming, Cirque du Soleil still knows how to notch up firsts among its lineup of dazzling circus shows, especially for Australian audiences. In 2023, the Montreal-based company headed Down Under with CRYSTAL, its first-ever ice production on ice. In 2024, it's following that up with LUZIA, which takes inspiration from Mexico, and also marks Cirque du Soleil's first touring performance that features rain in its acrobatic and artistic scenes. LUZIA's name is a combination of the words 'lux' and 'lluvia' in Spanish, with the first translating as light and the second as rain. What that means in the production will be unveiled to Melbourne audiences from Sunday, March 24, 2024 at Flemington Racecourse. While it has been four decades since Cirque du Soleil was created back in 1984, 2024 is the 25th anniversary of the troupe's performances in Australia, making LUZIA the tenth big-top show to hit our shores. So, although it's already an ode to Mexican culture, the production has even more to celebrate as it spends the bulk of 2024 and into 2025 making its way around the nation. Packing their bags to help: a team of 120 people, which includes 47 artists from 26 countries. First staged in 2016 and becoming Cirque du Soleil's 38th original production at the time, LUZIA has already been seen by 4.5-million people, a number that'll grow in Australia. Audiences are in for a trip to an imaginary version of Mexico, where the performance gets playful and surreal amid the light and rain. Some of the settings include an old movie set, the desert, the ocean and a dance hall, all backdropping the company's acrobatics, trapeze displays, contortionist feats, juggling and more. In the Cyr wheel, artists will roll and spin through the rain. And that trapeze work? That happens through showers. LUZIA also spans hoop diving on giant treadmills, a natural sinkhole, seven pins being flung in the air by jugglers and street dancing that includes footballs. Daniele Finzi Pasca wrote and directs the production, which begins with a parachutist falling into a field of cempasuchil flowers, turning a huge metallic key, then taking a magical journey. From there, the clown antics give LUZIA a beach clown and clown scuba diving, the acrobatics even take to a bike, a luchador mask makes an appearance in the swing segment — 1000-plus costumes are seen across the show in total — and a hair-suspension act features. Images: Anne Colliard.
Rooftop at QT has re-emerged from its chrysalis, and with it comes new drinks, a new vibe and a Mediterranean menu with a fresh coat of inspiration — and the same skyline vistas. After announcing a revamp earlier in spring, the venue relaunched in mid-October ready for prime warm-weather sips with a view. First off, the drinks. Chris Stock, the man who helped Dandelyan in London strut to the number one spot on the World's 50 Best Bars list back in 2018, is at the helm — so you're in good hands. Expect a drink menu that pulls from old favourites but throws in a splash of the new. Fancy a twist on the classic daiquiri? Go for the Son of Man, taking inspiration from Margritte's painting and infusing the drink with basil oil for a hint of aroma. And if you're after an espresso martini (we all love them, don't lie to yourself), there's an interesting variant on offer that utilises rye whiskey and orange and miso syrup. On the food front, Nic Wood has returned to the QT chain after a stint in LA to take the helm of Executive Chef. He brings with him a Mediterranean menu encompassing everything from snacky delights to grand sharing platters that will, for better or worse, end up in a lot of your mates' Instagram stories. Expect snapper cannoli, fried mortadella sandos and lobster cocktails, plus ice cream sandwiches for dessert, to name just a few. As for music, Rooftop at QT is going with day-to-night soundtracks, morphing easy chill daytime tunes into more energetic night-time beats, vintage disco and soul with a twist of the modern. Meanwhile, local artist Dwayne Hutton brings the walls to life with his art all about the space, including cool hand-painted wallpaper. For those keen on ambience and vibe, designer Nic Graham ensured the interior facelift of the joint filled the shoes of its predecessor, and then some. He's serving up private booths, an intimate lounge, an outdoor bar, high banquet seating, a brand-new private dining room and tabletops with custom tiling. Find Rooftop at QT at QT Melbourne, 133 Russell Street, Melbourne. It's open Monday–Wednesday, 3pm–late, and Thursday–Sunday, 12pm–late.
You may think you know Melbourne. You may think you've seen it all — the MCG, the botanical gardens, the hidden rooftop bars, the laneways. Been there, done that. You may call the city home or may visit frequently. But Melbourne — like ogres and onions — has layers. And, likely, you've barely scratched the surface. Melbourne rewards those who seek to look deeper. To help you see the city in a whole new light, we've compiled five experiences you should add to your Melb itinerary, whether you're just visiting or have called Melbourne home your entire life. MELBOURNE SKYDECK COCKTAILS IN THE CLOUDS (AND VR EXPERIENCE) Right in the heart of the city, Melbourne Skydeck isn't just a cool view, it's the best view (in the southern hemisphere). Imagine being 300 metres above the busy city, a carefully crafted cocktail from Bar 88 in hand, while the lights of Melbourne glow below. This is the stuff dreams are made of, or at least nice Insta story posts. Melbourne Skydeck's Cocktails in the Clouds package costs $50 online or $60 on-site. Included in the package is a signature cocktail, admission to the Skydeck and a wild ride at the 6D Voyager Theatre — the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Expect to strap in and experience the rush of the city via a virtual reality journey, which takes you through 16 iconic Melbourne experiences in just 11 minutes. It's Melbourne in a nutshell — immersive, vibrant, wild and damn, it's pretty. Given there is so much included, try to allow at least one and a half hours for the Cocktails in the Clouds experience — or longer, if you prefer. And just when you thought your heart rate was stabilising, there's the Edge. It's a transparent cube that moves out from the building, suspending you in the air with the city buzzing below. Be warned, this one isn't for the faint of heart. If you'd prefer to keep your feet firmly on the "ground" then you can try the virtual zipline or the VR plank walk within the safe confines of the Skydeck. Keep in mind that Edge and VR Plank aren't included in the Cocktails in the Clouds package, and will come at an additional cost (but it's well worth it). Or just spend the whole time at the bar. Melbourne Skydeck is the ultimate watering hole with a view; it's your ticket to see the city from a whole new perspective. It's Melbourne, on another level. Oh, and here's the best part. For a limited time, you can save 10% off Melbourne Skydeck's Cocktails in the Clouds package when you book online. Go on, go make some memories. MELBOURNE SUNRISE HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT In keeping with the sky-high theme thus far, why not take a ride over the city on one of man's original flying machines? Better yet, why not elevate your sunrise by doing it at the crack of dawn? Yes, waking up early is hard, but the views will be well worth it. Global Ballooning Australia offers flights that take off from the city that promise an unparalleled panorama of Melbourne's iconic landmarks like the MCG and Port Phillip Bay, all slowly illuminated by the waking sun as you rise further and further into the sky. Adult tickets float between $569–609, while kids hit a slightly lower bracket of $569–594. Throw in an additional $40 per adult or $25 per kid, and you'll finish the experience with a nice post-flight buffet breakfast at the lavish 5-star Pullman on the Park hotel. It's not cheap, but it'll be memorable. As for the actual flight, it's approximately a one-hour gentle drift around and above the city. And there's no need to worry about dropping your camera as there are complimentary in-flight photos provided. Be warned: experiencing Melbourne like this might ruin every other sunrise for you. THE OLD MELBOURNE GHOST TOUR Melbourne isn't just footy dorks and coffee snobs. There be spirits a'lurking. With The Old Melbourne Ghost Tour, you can journey back in time when the aromatic spices of Chinatown veiled the smoke of opium dens and when poor houses donated questionably obtained bodies for the advancement of medicine. Or enjoy the slightly less morbid echo of the famous Federici, Melbourne's illustrious phantom, lingering in the laneways around Princess Theatre. The tour is operated by Lantern Ghost Tours, and it's a steal at $36 for adults, or $75 for a dinner and tour combo. What a tantalisingly morbid date night. Catch it every Friday to Sunday, from 8.30pm–10pm. ROAR 'N' SNORE AT MELBOURNE ZOO Remember being a kid and thinking 'wouldn't it be cool to sleepover at the zoo?' Well, you can actually do that with Melbourne Zoo's Roar 'n' Snore. Ditch the standard night in and trade your bedroom for a luxe tent among the shapes and sounds of the animal kingdom. Enjoy dinner beneath the sprawling eucalyptus while listening to wild animal stories from your hosts. Experience an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek into the secret nightlife of all creatures who call the zoo home. It's priced at $292 per adult (with variations for weekends and school holiday periods). But you can chalk this up to a good cause, as the money goes towards contributing to the 160-year legacy of Melbourne Zoo's conservation efforts. And don't stress if camping isn't your thing, as comfy camping mattresses are provided. Bring a sleeping bag and a pillow, and you're good to go. [caption id="attachment_748709" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dean Sunshine[/caption] FITZROY STREET ART TOUR Fitzroy is cool. Full stop. Wandering around the storied and colourful streets of Fitzroy is even cooler. And even higher up on the cool scale? Wandering the cool streets of Fitzroy with a cool artist who knows the ins and outs like the back of their brush. And here's the coolest part — you can take a street art tour through Fitzroy with a real street artist. Got all that? Cool. Fitzroy Street Art Tours, conveniently chilling at its 48 Easey Street starting point, offers people a chance to plunge into the vibrant underbelly of the city's street art scene. Yeah, Hosier Lane is nice, and tours are offered there too, but Fitzroy is where Melbourne's artistic soul resides. Over two and a half hours, you will wander through back streets and laneways, basking in the glory of everything from giant murals to blink-and-you'll-miss-it treasures. The tour wraps up at the Rose Street Artist Markets, where you can snap up a little memento and enjoy a complimentary coffee, tea or soft drink. The tour costs $69 for adults $35 for the mini humans (3–15 years), and is free for even mini-er humans (two years and under). This isn't just your standard city tour. It's an invitation to see the city through a technicolour lens, guided by a local legend. And what could be cooler than that? Feeling inspired? For a limited time, you can save 10% off Melbourne Skydeck's Cocktails in the Clouds package. Go on, go make some memories.
Among Australia's claims to fame, our love of a good shoey ranks right up there. We're not only a land girt by sea — we're a nation unrestrained by the idea that you can only drink booze from glasses. Fancy sipping alcoholic seltzer from a trophy instead? A coffee mug? A plastic hat? Whatever else you happen to own that holds a standard jug worth of alcohol? If you're in Melbourne, Moon Dog Brewing has the giveaway for you. When free drinks are on offer, no one needs to dress up the concept. Mention free booze, and we're all already sold. Still, Moon Dog has whipped up something special to celebrate not only the first day of summer, but also the arrival of the brewery's world-first post-mix machine for Fizzer, its alcoholic seltzer line. So, come Wednesday, December 1, it's pouring free Fizzers to everyone who brings their own vessel to Moon Dog OG in Abbotsford between 4–6pm and to Moon Dog World in Preston from 3–6pm. On the menu: freshly poured Fizzers in tropical crush, peach iced tea, raspberry sorbet and piney limey flavours. And yes, by vessel, Moon Dog means container — something that can hold booze naturally. There are a few caveats, unsurprisingly. Firstly, your chosen vessel needs to be clean. Secondly, it'll only be filled to the standard jug amount — so, to 1140 millilitres. Also, it needs to be watertight, and everyone only gets one vessel per person. Bring the best, most creative vessel to either venue and you'll also win a slab of Fizzer delivered to your door. That's worth scouring the cupboards for, clearly. If you're reading this from Sydney or Adelaide and you'd also like a free Fizzer, here's some good news for you, too: Moon Dog is doing giveaways in those two cities — and at other venues around Melbourne — but you'll have to stick to sipping your drink out of an ordinary schooner instead. At three Sydney spots, four Adelaide bars and three other places in Melbourne, the freebies will also be limited to the first 50 folks through the door from set times. Either way, kicking off summer by saying cheers to a free beverage obviously ticks a key box: starting the season as you mean to go on. Suddenly thirsty? Here's where you can nab your free drink on Wednesday, December 1: VICTORIA Moon Dog World, 32 Chifley Drive, Preston — 3–6pm Moon Dog OG, 17 Duke Street, Abbotsford — 4–6pm Concrete Boots Bar, 381 Burnley Street, Richmond — 4–6pm Lulie Tavern, 225 Johnston Street, Abbotsford — 4–6pm Yorkshire Stingo, 48 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford — 4–6pm NEW SOUTH WALES Sneaky Possum, 86 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale — from 12pm The Unicorn, 106 Oxford Street, Paddington — 5–7pm The Townie, 326 King Street, Newtown — all day SOUTH AUSTRALIA Stag Public House, 299 Rundle Street, Adelaide — from 12pm Lady Daly Hotel, 126 Port Road, Hindmarsh — from 12pm Uni Bar, Union House, Ground Floor of The University of Adelaide — from 12pm Cry Baby, 11 Solomon St, Adelaide — from 12pm Moon Dog Brewing's free Fizzer giveaway takes place on Wednesday, December 1 at a range of Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide venues. For further details, head to the Moon Dog website.
Sugar me timbers, it's a two-day dessert extravaganza and it's coming to Melbourne. Queen Victoria Market – in collaboration with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and The Bearded Bakers – is launching Sweet As Festival. It's all happening in the open-air sheds on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30 from 9am to 4pm. This much-anticipated sugar hit will bring you an array of delectable desserts from over 20 traders. From The Bearded Baker's famous knafeh (sweet figs, pistachio and sugar syrup, oh my!) to handmade Sicilian gelato, there'll be melt-in-your-mouth goodies to satisfy every sweet tooth. "We're excited to bring the Sweet As estival to Queen Victoria Market and share our love for desserts with the whole of Melbourne," says Joey El-Issa, co-founder of The Bearded Bakers. "Our market-inspired knafeh is a fusion of cultures and flavours, just like Queen Victoria Market itself. It is a tribute to the incredible traders and their quality fresh produce that make the market so special." Festival highlights include Toyoki Soufflé (fluffy Japanese soufflé pancakes), Filipino halo-halo and Swirle; glistening candied fruit skewers that are the visual spectacle of Tanghulu. The Bearded Bakers will bring their signature energy to this event with live music, drumming and dancing. And, for those wanting the sweetest start to the day, there'll be the Sweet As Tour on Saturday, March 29, running from 10am to 12pm (tickets $99). La Dolce Vita, anyone?
If the way to your mum's heart is through gin, then here's a Mother's Day idea that's sure to win her over. Pint-sized CBD distillery Little Lon is marking the occasion with a gin-centric afternoon of cocktails and high tea on Sunday, May 14. It all kicks off at 3pm with freshly-shucked oysters and bubbly, which you'll enjoy while diving into some of the history behind this little pocket of the city — as told by Barbara Minchinton (historian and author of The Women of Little Lon). [caption id="attachment_677721" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] After that, you'll move onto a feast of canapés by chef Travis McAuley and his team at Curtis Stone Events, with each of the three courses matched to a different tea-infused cocktail. The sips are crafted on Little Lon's award-winning Miss Yoko gin and a range of Dilmah specialty teas. The distillery's own Lynden Barnes and Dilmah's Anton Goss will chat guests through some of the history behind the two drops, too. Tickets to the high tea experience come in at $150, which includes a goodie bag to take home. Top image: Julia Sansone.
When your working day is spent kicking around in the heart of the concrete jungle, it can feel like nature and green stuff is in pretty short supply. But you're in for a little reprieve, as the CBD's newest watering hole Bourke Street Green opens its doors, showing off a foliage-filled space that's sure to cure some of those inner-city blues. A greenhouse-inspired bar tucked behind floor-to-ceiling glass, this light-drenched newcomer is working a snappy fit-out by Bates Smart and a locally focused offering from both kitchen and bar. Pull up a sunny spot beneath the retractable roof and watch the Bourke Street buzz pass by as you get acquainted with the almost all-Aussie drinks list. Victorian drinks reign supreme, with beers like 3 Ravens pilsner and the IPA from Hawkers, alongside drops from the likes of the Yarra Valley's Rochford Estate. There's big love for local spirits, too, in cocktails like the Misty Forest, a blend of Tiny Bear gin, lime, cucumber, tonic and smoked applewood. A monthly-changing beer takeover features $10 pints each Thursday (Hawkers is kicking things off for September), plus you'll find wine specials on Mondays and a slew of $12 cocktail specials every hump day. As for the food, expect a seasonal celebration of top Victorian ingredients, across a range of arancini, snacks, cheese boards, pizzas and trapizzino (Roman-style pizza pockets), stuffed with combinations like blue swimmer crab and finger lime hollandaise. After-work punters will appreciate the snacking flights of arancini and mini burgers – settle in for a trio of small bites, paired with three curated brews. And if you're citybound on the weekend, Saturday offers all-you-can-eat feasts for $59 per person, starring 90 minutes of bottomless trapizzinos, beers and spritzes and other cocktails. Stay tuned for a program of food and drink events celebrating homegrown heroes, as well as regular gigs from local DJs and artists. Find Bourke Street Green at 501 Bourke Street, Melbourne. It's open Monday to Friday from 11.30am until late, and on Saturdays from 11am.
For brunch or an afternoon date, artisan chocolate and coffee at Xocolatl is bound to make your day special. With stores in Kew East, Toorak and Canterbury, the latter's location on Maling Road goes perfectly alongside the elegantly presented food and drinks available. Unsurprisingly, chocolate is the headline product at Xocolatl, with the family-run business celebrated for its delicious assortment of decadent creations that'll undoubtedly impress even the most discerning of sweet-tooths. Grab yourself a piece of cake and one of the cafe's prized hot chocolates, you won't regret it. Images: Tracey Ahkee.
Sizzling hot pork and ice cold cider: two surefire ingredients for a kickass weekend and the cornerstones of your favourite new festival. Taking over The Nursery at Flemington Racecourse this weekend, the Victorian Cider & Pork Festival will welcome dozens of brewers and chefs who specialise in apple and swine. And yes, there'll be plenty of opportunities for ticketholders to stuff their faces. Indeed, from the moment the gates open at 11am on Saturday, punters will be spoiled for choice. Meatmaiden, Bluebonnet BBQ and Burn City Smokers are but a few of the food vendors who'll be on-site, and you can bet they'll be firing on all cylinders. As for beverages, there'll be 17 different producers on hand, including Apple Thief, Hills Ciders, Colonial Brewing Co. and many, many others.
Need some inspiration to live a life more sustainable? You'll find plenty of it at Fed Square's Zero Waste Festival, happening next month as part of the precinct's Sustainable September program. On Saturday, September 17, this celebration of planet-friendly living is set to feature talks, panel discussions, installations and fun activations, all designed to get you hooked on the idea of a waste-free future. You'll hear passionate zero-waste innovators chat tips, tricks and key topics; from the fight to shift our society's reliance on 'fast fashion', to easy everyday household changes that can help the planet. [caption id="attachment_866711" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Liam Neal[/caption] There'll be a premiere screening of new doco Going Circular, a Mending Circle that'll teach you skills to restore your old things to their former glory, and a hands-on puppet-making workshop using recycled materials. BYO pre-loved threads and hit the Clothes Swap to give your wardrobe a refresh; get old or damaged items fixed for free courtesy of the St Kilda Repair Cafe pop-up; and help keep the city looking fresh by joining clean-up group Beach Patrol for a morning litter collection session along the Yarra. There'll be plenty of food and coffee vendors slinging their wares, so visitors are encouraged to bring their reusable cups and containers. Stalls will also be offering reusable plates, cleaned onsite by the folks from Green My Plate. Entry to the festival and its program is free, though you can reserve your spot at the various talks and activities online. It'll cost you $10 to participate in the Adults Clothes Swap. Top Image: Vicky Rae Ellmore
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER What do you call a movie filled with giant screaming goats, magic weapons vying for attention like romantic rivals, a naked Chris Hemsworth and a phenomenally creepy Christian Bale? Oh, and with no fewer than four Guns N' Roses needle drops, 80s nostalgia in droves, and a case of tonal whiplash as big as the God of Thunder's biceps? You call it Thor: Love and Thunder, and also a mixed bag. The fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to focus on the now 29-title saga's favourite space Viking, and the second Thor flick directed by Taika Waititi after Thor: Ragnarok, it welcomely boasts the New Zealand filmmaker's playful and irreverent sense of humour — and the dead-serious days of the series-within-a-series' first two outings, 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World, have definitely been banished. But Love and Thunder is equally mischievous and jumbled. It's chaotic in both fun and messy ways. Out in the cosmos, no one can swim, but movies about galaxy-saving superheroes can tread water. Thor Odinson (Hemsworth, Spiderhead) has been doing a bit of that himself — not literally, but emotionally and professionally. Narrated in a storybook fashion by rock alien Korg (also Waititi, Lightyear), Love and Thunder first fills in the gaps since the last time the Asgardian deity graced screens in Avengers: Endgame. Ditching his dad bod for his ultra-buff god bod earns a mention. So does biding his time with the Guardians of the Galaxy crew (with Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and company popping up briefly). Then, a distress call from an old friend gives Thor a new purpose. Fellow warrior Sif (Jaimie Alexander, Last Seen Alive) has been fighting galactic killer Gorr the God Butcher (Bale, Ford v Ferrari), who's on a mission to do exactly what his name promises due to a crisis of faith — which puts not only Thor himself but also New Asgard, the Norwegian village populated by survivors from his home planet, at grave risk. In MCU movies before Ragnarok, many of which Thor has smouldered and smiled his way through, he would've attacked the problem — this time literally — with enchanted hammer mjolnir. It's been in pieces since the last standalone Thor film. Courtesy of the god's ex, it doesn't stay that way for long. Love and Thunder nabs itself two Thors for the price of one, after Dr Jane Foster (Natalie Portman, Vox Lux) hears mjolnir a-calling following a stage-IV cancer diagnosis. Soon, the astrophysicist is also the Mighty Thor, brandishing the mallet, wearing armour and sporting flowing blonde locks. When the OG Thor finds out, he's overcome with post-breakup awkwardness, but there's still a god killer to stop and also kidnapped kids to rescue. Cue a couple of Thors, plus Korg and New Asgard king Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson, Passing), trying to prevent the worst from happening. Love and Thunder is a film where those yelling oversized goats pull a boat into the heavens; where Hemsworth is gloriously in the goofiest mode he has, aka the best mode; and where Russell Crowe (Unhinged) plays a tutu-wearing, lightning bolt-flinging Zeus with the worst on-screen accent this side of House of Gucci (Greek instead of Italian, though). The movie is rarely more than a few seconds from a one-liner or a silly throwaway gag, and it loves colour more than a rainbow does — except when it doesn't, including in the desert-set opening that introduces Gorr and his god-slaying necrosword, and when it follows him into an eerie shadow realm. Love and Thunder also adds Bale, an actor forever linked with helping bring superheroes back to the blockbuster realm via Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, to the ranks of terrific caped crusader foes. This Thor flick contains plenty, clearly; however, for everything that works, something else doesn't. Read our full review. COMPARTMENT NO 6 Handheld camerawork can be a gimmick. It can be distracting, too. When imagery seems restless for no particular reason other than making the audience restless, it drags down entire films. But at its best, roving, jittery and jumpy frames provide one of the clearest windows there is into the souls that inhabit the silver screen in 90-minute blocks or so, and also prove a wonderful way of conveying how they feel in the world. That's how Compartment No. 6's cinematography plays, and it couldn't be a more crucial move; this is a deeply thoughtful movie about two people who are genuinely restless themselves, after all. Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki) wants what all of the most perceptive filmmakers do — to ensure his viewers feel like they know his characters as well as they know themselves — and in his latest cinematic delight, he knows how to get it. How Kuosmanen evokes that sense of intimacy and understanding visually is just one of Compartment No. 6's highlights, but it's worthy of a train full of praise. With the helmer's returning director of photography Jani-Petteri Passi behind the lens, the film gets close to Finnish student Laura (Seidi Haarla, Force of Habit) and Russian miner Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov, The Red Ghost). It peers intently but unobtrusively their way, like an attentive lifelong friend. It jostles gently with the locomotive that the movie's central pair meets on, and where they spend the bulk of their time together. It ebbs and flows like it's breathing with them. It rarely ventures far from their faces in such cramped, stark, 90s-era Russian surroundings, lingering with them, carefully observing them, and genuinely spying how they react and cope in big and small moments alike. Pivotally — and at every moment as well — it truly sees its key duo. With their almost-matching names, Laura and Ljoha meet on a train ride charting the lengthy expanse from Moscow to Murmansk. She's taking the journey to see the Kanozero petroglyphs, ancient rock drawings that date back the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC, and were only discovered in 1997; he's heading up for work. Laura is also meant to be travelling with Irina (Dinara Drukarova, The Bureau), her Russian girlfriend, but the latter opted out suddenly after an intellectual-filled house party where mocking the former for her accent — and claiming she's just a lodger — threw a pall of awkwardness over their relationship. Making the jaunt solo is still sitting uneasily with Laura, though. Calls along the way, answered with busy indifference, don't help. And neither does finding herself sharing compartment number six, obviously, with the tough- and rough-around-the edges Ljoha. It's been 71 years now since Alfred Hitchcock gave cinema the noir thriller Strangers on a Train. It's been 27 years since Richard Linklater also had two unacquainted folks meeting while riding the rails in Before Sunrise, which started a terrific romance trilogy starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Accordingly, the idea behind Compartment No. 6 is instantly familiar. Here, two strangers meet on a train, a connection sparks and drama ensues. Kuosmanen, who nabbed an award at Cannes for The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki and then earned the 2021 competition Grand Prix, which comes second only to the prestigious Palme d'Or, for this, is clearly working with a well-used setup. But even though this isn't a movie that's big on surprises, it's still a stellar film. It's also a reminder that a feature that's personal and raw, also attuned to all the tiny details of life in its performances, mood and style, and firmly character-driven, can make even the most recognisable narrative feel new. Read our full review. SUNDOWN In Sundown's holiday porn-style opening scenes, a clearly wealthy British family enjoys the most indulgent kind of Acapulco getaway that anyone possibly can. Beneath the blazing blue Mexican sky, at a resort that visibly costs a pretty penny, Alice Bennett (Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Snowman), her brother Neil (Tim Roth, Bergman Island), and her teenage children Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan, A Very British Scandal) and Colin (Samuel Bottomley, Everybody's Talking About Jamie) swim and lounge and sip, with margaritas, massages and moneyed bliss flowing freely. For many, it'd be a dream vacation. For Alice and her kids, it's routine, but they're still enjoying themselves. The look on Neil's passive face says everything, however. It's the picture of apathy — even though, as the film soon shows, he flat-out refuses to be anywhere else. The last time that a Michel Franco-written and -directed movie reached screens, it came courtesy of the Mexican filmmaker's savage class warfare drama New Order, which didn't hold back in ripping into the vast chasm between the ridiculously rich and everyone else. Sundown is equally as brutal, but it isn't quite Franco's take on The White Lotus or Nine Perfect Strangers, either. Rather, it's primarily a slippery and sinewy character study about a man with everything as well as nothing. Much happens within the feature's brief 82-minute running time. Slowly, enough is unveiled about the Bennett family's background, and why their extravagant jaunt abroad couldn't be a more ordinary event in their lavish lives. Still, that indifferent expression adorning Neil's dial rarely falters, whether grief, violence, trauma, lust, love, wins or losses cast a shadow over or brighten up his poolside and seaside stints knocking back drinks in the sunshine. For anyone else, the first interruption that comes the Bennetts' way would change this trip forever; indeed, for Alice, Alexa and Colin, it does instantly. Thanks to one sudden phone call, Alice learns that her mother is gravely ill. Via another while the quartet is hightailing it to the airport, she discovers that the worst has occurred. Viewers can be forgiven for initially thinking that Neil is her cruelly uncaring husband in these moments — Franco doesn't spell out their relationship until later, and Neil doesn't act for a second like someone who might and then does lose his mum. Before boarding the plane home, he shows the faintest glimmer of emotion when he announces that he's forgotten his passport, though. That said, he isn't agitated about delaying his journey back, but about the possibility that his relatives mightn't jet off and leave him alone. Sundown is often a restrained film, intentionally so. It doles out the reasons behind Neil's behaviour, and even basic explanatory information, as miserly as its protagonist cracks a smile. The movie itself is eventually a tad more forthcoming than Neil, but it remains firmly steeped in Franco's usual mindset: life happens, contentedly and grimly alike, and we're all just weathering it. Neither the highs nor lows appear to bother Neil, who holes up at the first hotel his cab driver takes him to, then starts making excuses and simply ignoring Alice's worried calls and texts. He navigates an affair with the younger Berenice (Iazua Larios, Ricochet) as well, and carries on like he doesn't have a care in the world. His sister returns, frantic and angry, but even then he's nonplussed. The same proves true, too, when a gangland execution bloodies his leisurely days by the beach, and also when violence cuts far closer to home. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on April 7, April 14, April 21 and April 28; and May 5, May 12, May 19 and May 26; and June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance, Memoria, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Happening, The Good Boss, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Northman, Ithaka, After Yang, Downton Abbey: A New Era, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Petite Maman, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Firestarter, Operation Mincemeat, To Chiara, This Much I Know to Be True, The Innocents, Top Gun: Maverick, The Bob's Burgers Movie, Ablaze, Hatching, Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday and Ali & Ava.
If you're planning a winter escape to Victoria's High Country, make some time to stop in at Reed & Co Distillery in Bright: they're bringing back their epic Koji Bird pop-up restaurant. Koji Bird was originally created as a bit of a nod to the experience of the traditional Japanese Izakaya. It works for Reed & Co, since Izakaya loosely translates to "stay with alcohol". The first of these pop-ups took place in 2021, when the Reed guys were experimenting with Japanese Koji (a special fermentation culture). They combined it with wood-fired, charcoal chicken and thus, Koji Bird was born. Imagine something halfway between an Aussie chicken shop and an Izakaya bar: succulent chicken, koji-based spirits, hot sake flying off the bar, and plenty of fermented Japanese sauces like mirin, soy and miso. Bit of an unexpected flavour mix, but this thing sold out in 2021. It's as good excuse as any to pack your weekend bag and book a few nights in Bright. Reed & Co's Koji Bird series is running on select weekends in June, July and August. So plan ahead and book your table online, to avoid disappointment. Images: Supplied
Ryan Matthew Smith doesn't just cook and eat food - he spills its, throws it, sets it on fire and then shoots it with a sniper rifle to make sure. He's also a photographer, and has documented these sick culinary experiments in a 2,400 page tome on the subject, Modernist Cuisine: the Art and Science of Cooking. From collating several individual exposures for one delectable cutaway shot of hamburgers on a grill to shooting a lineup of eggs with a sniper rifle at 6200 frames per second, Smith shot 1,400 images for the cookbook/artwork. Despite little experience in studio work, Smith explains in an interview with Feature Shoot that his extensive portfolio of nature and architecture photography helped prepare him for the task. "Having a strong artistic sense towards photography in general can easily transfer through any of the disciplines from advertising all the way to fine art," he says. [via Coolhunting]
Eli Manning and the Giants. Tom Brady and the Patriots. No, we're not talking indie alternative pop rock folk jam bands. We're talking football, of the American variety. Yesterday, New York rose up and once again again beat New England to take out the biggest sporting event of the year. In what has been dubbed by some as the greatest Super Bowl of all time, it was, as usual, the half time antics and ad breaks that captured the imaginations of those outside of the 50 US states. This year's Ad Bowl, the name given to 'the battle of the big ads', was taken out by Volkswagen, who charmed audiences with 'The Force' last year. This year's winner, 'The Dog Strikes Back', pipped Doritos to make VW the most talked about brand of Super Bowl XLVI. Relief for their marketing team, no doubt; the average 30 second ad slot goes for US$3.5 million. Here are the ten best ads of 2012 for your viewing pleasure. https://youtube.com/watch?v=0-9EYFJ4Clo 1. Volkswagen - The Dog Strikes Back https://youtube.com/watch?v=y3bqbJduK2w 2. Doritos - Man's Best Friend https://youtube.com/watch?v=hyFWSys3TJU 3. Bud Light Rescue Dog https://youtube.com/watch?v=P6C2G5I1Z1g 4. M&M's - Ms. Brown https://youtube.com/watch?v=MlYCBJSYWBQ 5. Skechers - Mr. Quiggly https://youtube.com/watch?v=4GIeIpcRv7o 6. Doritos - Sling Baby https://youtube.com/watch?v=VhkDdayA4iA 7. Honda - Matthew's Day Off https://youtube.com/watch?v=tFAiqxm1FDA 8. Chrysler - Clint Eastwood Halftime https://youtube.com/watch?v=lHZbXvts0LE 9. Kia - Dream Car https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ae52ourE3Pw 10. Chevy - Happy Grad
Chadstone's new luxury hotel wouldn't be complete without an equally opulent restaurant for guests (and locals) to dine in. Rising to the occasion is highly lauded Melbourne restaurateur Scott Pickett. The chef is behind some of our city's favourite restaurants, including Lupo, Estelle, Pickett's Deli, Matilda. Now, Pickett has opened Pastore, an all-day Italian diner set within the new Hotel Chadstone. In the kitchen, Head Chef Mirco Speri (Thirty Eight Chairs) is serving up woodfired small plates and handmade pastas. Some of the smaller dishes on the menu at the moment include house-cured duck prosciutto with davidson plum, wood-roasted king prawns with 'nduja, and grilled asparagus with cured egg yolk. On the pasta menu, you'll find spaghetti in an ubriachi red wine sauce and pici — a type of thick, hand-rolled spaghetti — served in sausage ragu and topped with salted ricotta. And, for extra-hungry diners, there's an 1.2-kilogram, dry-aged bistecca alla Fiorentina on offer. [caption id="attachment_749486" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bistecca alla Fiorentina by Kristoffer Paulsen[/caption] Alongside the food, you can enjoy bottles of locally produced wines that use Italian grape varieties — and some fancy drops by the glass, available thanks to the restaurant's Coravin system. The cocktail menu also follows this theme, using Italian spirits and Aussie botanicals in drinks like the Native Negroni, made with Applewood Okar amaro, Maidenii vermouth and (the owner's namesake) Pickett & Co gin. The dining room and bar each seat 50, and you can expect a luxe vibe with high ceilings, hanging greenery and brass and timber finishes. We reckon the restaurant alone is reason enough to book a stay into the hotel — or to make the trip to Chadstone at the very least. Pastore is now open at Hotel Chadstone, 1341 Dandenong Road, Chadstone. The restaurant is open Monday–Saturday from 6.30–10.30am, 12–2.30pm and 6–9pm, and Sunday 6.30–10.30am and 12–5pm. Images: Kristoffer Paulsen
If you're a fan of Gelato Messina and its frosty sweet treats, 2020 is the year that just keeps on giving. That saying doesn't apply to much over the past 12 months, but it definitely fits in this situation. The dessert chain has released all manner of one-off specials, launched a new range of chocolate-covered ice cream bars in supermarkets, dropped a new merchandise line and brought back its Christmas trifle, for starters — and now it's aiming to take care of your summer drinks list. Teaming up with Cocktail Porter, Messina is now serving up DIY kits that'll let you make your own boozy beverages — either using Messina's gelato or its just-as-beloved toppings. Basically, it's the answer to a familiar dilemma, especially when the weather is warm. No one likes choosing between tucking into a chilled, creamy dessert or having another boozy beverage, after all. The Messina dessert cocktail packs come in two flavours: dulce de leche espresso martinis, and gin-fuelled coconut and lychee piña coladas. In the former, you'll get Ciroc vodka, coffee liqueur, premium cold-drip coffee and Messina's dulce de leche topping, plus Messina's chocolate hazelnut spread and shaved coconut to go on top. In the latter — which are being called 'giña coladas' — you'll receive Tanqueray gin, coconut water, pineapple juice, verjuice, and vouchers to go pick up a tub of Messina coconut and lychee gelato. As well as choosing with variety you'd prefer — caffeinated and zesty or fruit and refreshing, basically — you can pick between two different-sized packs. A mini espresso martini kit costs $85, while a mini giña colada kit costs $89, and both serve up six drinks. Or, you can opt for the large ($149/159), which makes 18 dessert cocktails. Cocktail Porter delivers Australia-wide, if that's your summer drinking plans sorted. To order Cocktail Porter's Gelato Messina cocktail kits, head to the Cocktail Porter website.
Feeling warm, Melbourne? There's a very good reason for that. Seeing in 2019 with a scorcher, the city has been sweltering through quite the toasty day — the hottest in five years, in fact. As predicted earlier this week, the mercury soared past 42 degrees on Friday, January 4, hitting 42.6 in Melbourne, 45.8 at Avalon and 43.8 in Moorabbin. That's more than 16 degrees above Melbourne's average top January temperature according to Weatherzone, although it's still lower than the city's highest recorded January maximum of 45.6 degrees back in 1939. https://twitter.com/weatherzone/status/1081048522504298496 Extra scorching temperatures also blazed across the rest of the state — with highs of over 46 degrees experienced around Mildura, Swan Hill and Walpeup. The particularly hot spell comes after several similarly baking days last month, exceeding the 38-degree maximum experienced in Melbourne's brief early-December heatwave. And, it tops the city's efforts post-Christmas, when the mercury climbed to 37.4 degrees on December 27. Thankfully, the scorching summer blast is set to be short-lived. BOM expects a gusty southwest change to arrive late on Friday, heralding a return to mid-20s temps. In fact, the mercury is currently dropping around the state, including a 12-degree dip across a period of 10 minutes in Geelong. https://twitter.com/BOM_Vic/status/1081042375416442880 Melbourne's Saturday forecast is a considerably mild 21 degrees, with temps set to stay below 27 until Thursday, January 10. Via Weatherzone. Image: udeyismail via Flickr.
If you weren't aware, loveable hitmaker Post Malone has his own rosé. Created with award-winning Provence winemaker Alexis Cornu alongside music manager Dre London and Global Brand Equities' James Morrissey, Maison No. 9 is a classic Provencal pink wine, sporting a name inspired by Post Malone's favourite tarot card the Nine of Swords. The wine is crisp, dry and savoury, and comes in a sleek minimalist bottle sporting a tarot-inspired sword with a rose wrapped around it. The bottle also mirrors the theme of swords and knights, with a solid-glass cap shaped into battlements reminiscent of a historic medieval castle that's located near the vineyard where the wine is made. "Rosé is when you want to get a little fancy," says the diamond-certified, Grammy-nominated pop star. Following successful launches in the US and the UK that saw immense popularity — the wine sold 50,000 bottles in its first 48 hours in the UK — Malone has brought Maison No. 9 to Australia for a limited run of just 10,000 bottles. So, you're going to have to act quick if you want to get your hands on a bottle. Currently, the only way to order the rosé in Australia is through Dan Murphy's website, where you can nab a bottle for $42.99. Accompanying the Australian release of the wine is a line of merch available through the Maison No. 9 website. T-shirts sporting an image of Post Malone with the wine are available, as well as hoodies, crewneck jumpers, wine glasses, dog toys, socks and beanies, all with the wine's logo and signature sword printed on them. While you're at the website, you can also find recipes for a series of cocktails that you can make with the wine, including sangria, spritzes, rosé bloody marys and rosé palomas. 10,000 bottles of Post Malone's Maison No. 9 are available now via Dan Murphy's online.
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 southern end of Chapel Street often gets a little overlooked in all the flashy hustle and bustle of Prahran, South Yarra and Windsor — but there's a lot to see south of the border of Dandenong Road. And by a lot to see, we mean a lot of cheese to eat for free courtesy of charcuterie, cheese and wine bar XM4. The St Kilda venue knows how to please the people, and it's already doing it with its range of seasonal produce, good wine, cheese and a bagel menu to back things up. But it's stepping up things to "why aren't you here already?" level by slinging free cheese boards your way on Friday nights. 'Mates rates and cheese plates' is the name of the– game, so you're not going to want to go alone. Head along for a complimentary cheese grazing table and cheap drinks from 5–7pm every Friday, before heading north up Chapel Street for wherever your night might take you. Cheese counts as a proper dinner, right?
Once you find your perfect Melbourne barber, everything else in your life will just fall into place. Alright, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but we still think it is mighty important to find folks who know how to expertly trim a beard, give you a clean shave or simply cut your hair exactly how you like it. You'll walk away feeling fresh and pretty, just like all the people who get makeovers from Jonathan Van Ness in Queer Eye. But it's not all about the end product — looking fabulous. You head to the barber for a bit of self care and pampering, finding inner calm when that hot towel wraps around face or when you feel the sharp blades skim across your chin. But we've all been to places that don't give you the perfect close shave. Or they drape a funky smelling towel over your face instead of a fluffy and clean one. That's why we created this list of the best barbers in Melbourne, to ensure you only get the best experience possible. Recommended reads: The Best Hair Salons in Melbourne The Best Spas in Melbourne
The Lamb Council of Australia (otherwise known as Meat & Livestock Australia/We Love our Lamb) is back on our screens — and this time, it's political. Their 2017 campaign has just launched and, whether you're a lamb fan or not, it's already spreading warm fuzzies across the country. The ad opens on a trio of First Nation peoples picking a spot for a primo beach barbie, but it's not long before the First Fleet and other nations arrive, all by boat (accurate historical fact). While everything's underway, the most recent 'boat people' are seen coming towards the shore, at which point ex-MasterChef contestant Poh Ling Yeow asks, "Aren't we all boat people?" Damn right. It's an inclusive, anti-racism message that's sure to win the lamb lovers and creative agency The Monkeys a spate of awards despite trotting out a few well-worn stereotypes. And although it is an obvious comment on Australia Day — the way we celebrate it and the day we celebrate it on — the ad doesn't actually make any overt references to it. Nonetheless, it's a huge shift away from their regular Australia Day campaign and a move towards something much more inclusive. Plus, it's got a diverse group of Aussie celebrities to help out, including olympian Cathy Freeman, rugby legend Wendell Sailor, cricketer Adam Gilchrist, comedian Rhys Nicholson and, of course, a small cameo from Sam "Sam Sam the lamb man" Kekovich. The result is one ultimate Australian beachside barbie.
'I Miss You' isn't just the name of a beloved blink-182 song. It isn't just a track they're busting out on their 2024 tour Down Under, either. It's also the vibe being felt around the band in general, based on how popular tickets to its 2024 Australian and New Zealand tour have been proving — but there's still seats available. In 2022, blink-182 revealed that they were reforming their classic lineup of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, then hitting the road — and that Aussie fans would get their chance to see the end result live in February 2024. Melbourne's dates, at Rod Laver Arena with Rise Against in support: Tuesday, February 13–Wednesday, February 14, Monday, February 26–Tuesday, February 27 and Thursday, February 29. For three decades, blink-182 have been the voice inside punk and rock fans' heads, especially in the late 90s and early 00s thanks to albums Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Accordingly, expect to hear everything from 'Dammit' and 'The Rockshow' to 'What's My Age Again?' and 'All the Small Things' live. Now that they're back together after DeLonge left the band in 2015, blink-182 are also recording new music together, with single 'Edging' out now — and on the setlist.
After several months and $4 million, we now have an opening date for Morris House, the CBD's new four-storey gastropub-cum-rooftop-bar-cum-underground comedy lounge. Yeah, it's a mouthful. Set your calendars to July 10 because that's when the long anticipated mega venue will be throwing open its doors. You might remember we covered the announcement of Morris House back in January. It's been in the works for a while. The Exhibition Street site, formerly home to sticky-floored comedy icon, The European Bier Café, has been transformed into a modern architecturally designed hospo space, boasting a ground floor dining room and bar, a sunny terrace on Level 1, and a leafy rooftop for 180 guests complete with resident DJs. All the ingredients you expect these days from multi-million-dollar CBD refurbishments. The only thing missing is the obligatory 'listening room'. Still, as an honour to its former life they've wisely kept the European Bier Café's comedy club downstairs. In fact, Morris House has tried to improve it, drawing inspiration from the New York underground comedy scene. You guessed it: lots of exposed brick. The space will host local and international comedy acts every Friday and Saturday night. Arj Barker is even taking up residence from July 18. Morris House Venue Manager Dylan Hewlett says the renovation brings the old venue up to Melbourne's modern pub standard — plush leather booths, a marble bar and all. "We're bringing all the best parts of Melbourne together in one place, which means there will always be something to come and enjoy. Start your night with a meal in the dining room, before heading down to the Basement Comedy Club for a show and end the evening on the rooftop with a signature cocktail." Given Morris House's location, just near Melbourne's theatre district, they'll also be running plenty of pre- and post-show specials. Bookings are open now via the new website. We'll see you there on opening day. Images: Supplied
Mother once said: "If you've nothing nice to say, say nothing at all." On that basis, it's likely The Counselor will receive little to no press coverage whatsoever. To begin with, then, something nice. When production first began, this movie was promise itself. Potential made manifest. One of those films where every ingredient seemed perfect: directed by Ridley Scott, written by Cormac McCarthy and starring everyone you've ever heard of. Then something went wrong. Badly. In fact, in that respect the film closely reflects the story of the film, where a well-conceived drug deal completely falls apart to the ruin of many. To suggest, however, that this was Scott's masterful meta-direction would be far too generous. No, in more realistic terms, The Counselor is simply an incoherent piece of crap. It opens with a sex scene, and a none-too-subtle one at that. But just as it is in real life, sex in film requires at least a modicum of foreplay. With the darkness of the cinema only seconds old and the choc-tops largely intact, the audience was still drier than the days-old popcorn kneaded into the lining of its seats. Why this scene was in there, let alone as the movie's opener, remains entirely unclear. If its goal was to establish Penelope Cruz as a sexy woman, then Scott should probably have taken that 'as read'. If it was to set Michael Fassbender up as someone who likes to talk dirty, please break the emergency glass and retrieve your copy of Shame. Then comes the second scene (don't worry, this won't be a scene by scene account — nobody's that cruel), during which yet another crazy-haired Javier Bardem character sits alongside a cheetah-tattooed, gold-toothed, hombre-haired Cameron Diaz as they watch an actual cheetah hunt its prey. In case you missed it: yes, that's a metaphor. Then Bardem says, "Don't you think that's a bit cold?" to which Diaz replies, "The truth has no temperature." Together they stare off into the distance, as if silently aware that way off in that distance, the audience is already laughing at them. Finally, the third scene. Fassbender now discusses the purity and majesty of diamonds with a diamond expert in Amsterdam. Their attention turns to a particularly beautiful specimen which the expert calls his "cautionary diamond", saying "The flaws are there, but they are not visible." So, as the saying never goes: just like a diamond, getting involved with Mexican drug cartels might seem like perfection, but in the end one should exercise caution, because Mexican drug cartels are actually terrifically hard and can cut things. Ridiculous as it sounds, that is honestly the closest The Counselor gets to having a point: don't get involved with Mexican drug cartels, because it will probably end badly. There really isn't a whole lot more to say about this movie. Almost tragically, Cruz's performance is magnificent, representing one of The Counselor's few redeemable features. Bardem is similarly impressive, but everyone else either phones it in (Brad Pitt) or gets buried under impossibly dense dialogue (Diaz's script is, almost without exception, stupefying). With Scott at its helm, of course it looks fantastic and the action sequences are suitably menacing, but as the credits roll you find yourself shaking your head and wondering: what the hell was that actually about? https://youtube.com/watch?v=6ML50I0mVHY
