Tucked down Church Lane is Saving Grace, your friendly neighbourhood dive bar home to good brews, classic cocktails and banging burgers. Saving Grace rotates six seasonal taps with a lineup of largely local craft breweries on the list from the likes of Fixation, Hop Nation, Two Bays, and Hop Nation, as well as lagers from all over. When it comes to cocktails, Saving Grace has a considered collection of twists on classics. Fancy breakfast vibes at happy hour? Try the marmalade whisky sour, a take on a breakfast martini with marmalade, bourbon, lemon bitters, lemon sugar and wonderfoam for a frothy finish. Alternatively, you can chill out with a frozen slushy cocktail — just ask the staff what flavour is on for the night. Saving Grace is also where you'll find Burger Boys pumping out burgers, fried chicken and sides for the hungry drinkers at this lively dive and blues bar.
If you've ever been to Cafe Gratitude in LA, you'll have witnessed the excess of positive affirmations that make up their menu. And even if you haven't, you can safely assume what it's like. Pancakes that reaffirm you are luscious and kale dips that instil a sense of community — that kind of thing. And although Yarraville is a far cry from LA, Heal.Thy Self Co. treads along a similar path. The smoothies have adjectives for names, and the staff pen your declaration on the side of the plastic takeaway cup: Lauren is passionate, mine said. No matter how you wish to be nourished though, this place has got you covered. It's organic, fresh, sometimes raw, and everything is filled with superfoods. If it's early (they open at 6.30am), skip the coffee and perk up with a their 'awakened' smoothie — it's got a double shot of espresso with banana, mesquite, vanilla and almond milk, and it gets the banana ratio just right. Otherwise you can go with something green, a cup of mango and passionfruit, or a concoction of berries and oats. All smoothies are $9. The space is small, but there's enough space to sit, albeit crowded by the people waiting for takeaways. It's an oasis of raw cheesecakes, food the colour of the rainbow and avo toast served on brown butcher paper. The food resembles what you might expect at Elwood's Combi; it's pretty and very shareable, the acai bowl ($12) is a work of fruit and nut art and the chocolate chia parfait ($14) is topped with edible flowers. But health is a holistic business, and so Heal.Thy Self Co. have an in-house naturopath and massage therapist if you'd like some extra services while you sip your smoothie. But if you'd just like to eat a piece of raw caramel slice (and it's one of the best out there), you can do that too. Don't question it — it's healing.
Bars where you can do more than just sit around and drink are really having a moment in Melbourne, and it's mainly thanks to the ever-expanding empire of Funlab. The company is in charge of the ever-popular Holey Moley, Strike Bowling and Sydney's Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq (which is set to open in the Docklands soon, too). Now, it has just launched its latest brainchild: B. Lucky & Sons. It's a kidult-friendly bar-meets-arcade with some actually good pawn-shop prizes, instead of the usual plastic crap you get. Think vintage Chanel bags, classic cameras and rare vinyls, plus a Nintendo 64 in its original box and Tune Squad swag from the 1996 cult classic, Space Jam. Yup, they're going real old school with this one. The bar is also hidden behind the facade of an old pawn shop and decked out with eclectic furnishings, from old-world casino chandeliers to neon-lit red octagonal booths. This East-meets-West fit-out extends to the food, where pizzas are topped with the likes of crispy wonton wrappers and bonito flakes or sausage, gravy and potato crisps. For drinks, the bar is slinging canned cocktails and alcoholic bubble teas — like the Taro Bang (Frangelico, rum and taro with blueberry pearls and jellies) and the Passion Crackle (vodka, passion fruit and peach teas with apple flavoured pearls and jellies). Not to mention punch bowls served with floral tea cups, a gold-rimmed espresso martini and one with a side of toast and raspberry jam. The games themselves are clear throwbacks for the millennial generation — featuring everything from Mario Kart and Space Invaders to NBA Hoops and a Dance Dance Revolution knock-off. While the venue is open to littluns during the day, it's strictly adults-only at night, so you don't have to worry about being laughed at by a ten-year-old when you fall off Rainbow Road for the fourteenth time. Find B.Lucky & Sons at Melbourne Central, Level 3, 211 LaTrobe Street, Melbourne. Opening hours are Sunday–Thursday from noon–midnight and Friday–Saturday from noon–3am. Images: Zennieshia Photography
So you've made it through another year. And whether it was a slog or not, you are entitled to treat yourself this holiday season. To some that may be a festive getaway; to others, it might be telling your friends you're busy for the night while you hit the couch and get through all those new Netflix shows you may have missed this year — rumour has it Sabrina is coming back this month with a special Christmas episode. Others still may want to embrace the outside world and head out. If that's you, Melbourne is chockers with fancy destinations you've probably got on your 'for a special occasion' list, but we're here to tell you that every occasion is a special occasion. So splash out and remember you only live once and that life should be filled with bubbly wine. But, if your budget only stretches to bubbly water, we hear you and have teamed up with Bank of Melbourne to help you out. While we've rounded up some top-notch, splashy places, we've also figured out how you can head to these and not spend more than $50. ORDER A LOBSTER FEAST AT UNABARA Get some of the aphrodisiacs of the sea (aphroseasiacs, if you will) with a jaunt into Unabara. A Japanese restaurant specialising in lobster and oysters, Unabara has two presences in Melbourne — its Emporium restaurant and a newer ramen house in Melbourne Central. Pop into the Emporium lobster bar for a half South Australian rock lobster grilled and served with fries, salad and your choice of sauces for $39.90 — saving room if possible to peruse the oyster menu (they're served nine different ways). Or, head into the ramen bar for a bowl of Deluxe Unabara Lobster Sapporo Miso Ramen, also featuring half a crustacean for $28.90. GRAB VUE DE MONDE FARE AT LUI BAR Nestled next to ultra-fine dining Vue De Monde, the jewel on Shannon Bennett's crown, is Lui Bar. Also on the 55th floor of the Rialto and with a dress code, Lui Bar gives you the fancy feels that VdM is known for but at a much, much smaller price point. Head up there for a Lui Counter Meal, a chance to sample some of Vue De Monde's fare via a lunch box for $39. You'll get a choice of three dishes, a glass of wine or beer and even have a sweet treat thrown in to finish. Check out the views up from the 55th floor and say "oooh, ritzy" as you figure out you're ascending more floors than dollars you'll pay. Available from Thursday to Sunday, 12–2pm. PAMPER YOURSELF AT THE PENINSULA HOT SPRINGS The Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs has recently copped a big old refurb, meaning it's become even better, just in time for you and your tired bones to go, relax and rejuvenate a bit. The Bath House offers early bird and twilight bathing (weekdays before 9am and after 7pm) for $25 or off-peak (Monday to Friday) for $45. Stay as long as you want — or until they close at 10pm — soak those aching muscles and let your money woes float away. Who needs a fancy organic vegan mud spa experience when you can relax in beautiful mineral geothermal waters for under $50? You can also do a pizza and spa experience, FYI, which is a little more expensive, but we thought you should know. GRAB THE EXPRESS LUNCH AT CECCONI'S Italian restaurant Cecconi's sits up the east end of Flinders Lane and houses a huge reputation, a cellar bar and some truly great bowls of pasta. It also runs a $40 express lunch special, wherein you can nab two courses and a glass of house wine for two lobsters. Cecconi's has been providing the hallmark of good Italian dining in Melbourne since 1998, and it's a critic's darling; this is a great option to get amongst it. Good news for coeliacs, too — there's even gluten-free bread and pasta options. Praise be to the Cecconi gods (the Bortolotto family, helmed by matriarch Olimpia). [caption id="attachment_638855" align="alignnone" width="1620"] Brook James[/caption] ORDER FANCY COCKTAILS AT 1806 If it's cocktails you seek, it's luxe cocktails you'll find at 1806, designated fancy bar in Melbourne CBD. Probably one you've stumbled into late at night on your way up Exhibition Street, 1806 is anything but casual. The long and detailed list of cocktails is categorised by era, featuring cocktails that date from all the way back to 1650 till now. Named after the year the word 'cocktail' was first printed, 1806 offers theatricality, exemplary service and a sureness that you won't be stopping at just one cocktail: there's around 60 to try that range from $17 to $22. DINE ON TRUFFLES AT SAGRA Sagra is a restaurant and bar on Malvern's Glenferrie Road that boasts a couple of levels, a rooftop bar and modern arty decor. They also feature, on the seafood-heavy and comfort-high menu, a couple of dishes where you can sample the culinary world's version of gold: truffles. Sniffed out by animals but dug up by people, truffles are rare (and expensive) because of their difficulty to farm, so, unfortunately for us, they're always found in small doses. But here at Sagra, you can find them aplenty. Opt for the duck liver pâté with truffled clover honey ($18), crayfish roll with truffle aioli ($12), a smoky risotto funghi with white truffle oil ($30), the half roasted duck served with truffle ($42) or the hand-cut chips with truffle pecorino ($13). SPEND A SUMMER'S NIGHT (GIN IN HAND) AT THE ADELPHI POOL DECK The Adelphi Hotel is one of Melbourne's unicorns. Smack-bang in the middle of town, this four-star hotel features a rooftop bar with a pool attached that's also open to the public ($35 per person). Off the back of last year's success, this summer, the Adelphi is again running its Four Pillars-hosted Gin Thursdays and Fridays. Partnering with the gin distillery, guests will be able to head up to the pool deck between 5pm–9pm every Thursday and Friday from January 18 till March 29. Four Pillars cocktails will be served along with snacks from Om Nom Kitchen, but like last year, get in early because there'll be limited capacity. OPT FOR A CHEESE AND SAKE FLIGHT AT MILK THE COW Generally, it's all about the cheese and wine pairings over here, but if you're indulging, why not splash out on something a bit different? Try a cheese and saké flight at licensed fromagerie Milk The Cow, with locations in both Carlton and St Kilda. For $22 or $36, you can have three or four cheeses custom matched to the saké you'll be served. Rest assured it'll be a harmonious pairing, as each cheese choice will be carefully thought out and explained by your cheesemonger. Cheese, of course, is the best of all the savoury things you can eat, and saké is known for its rich and umami flavours. So, 1 + 1 = 2 = good. Quick, delicious maths. ENJOY A LEISURELY WEEKDAY HIGH TEA AT MAMOR CHOCOLATES Mamor Chocolates is a place of good things: chocolate, high teas, chocolate high teas, Champagne brekkies and super lush red velvet couches — all things good for the soul. Though it's definitely the sort of place you treat yourself to, it is possible to do so for under $50; just pick the weekday morning or afternoon tea option. Mamor runs sittings on Wednesdays from 2–5pm and Thursdays to Sundays from 11am–1.30pm — the perfect time to use that 'dentist appointment' excuse at work (or, you know, do the responsible thing and wait until you're on Christmas holidays). The menu ($47) will convince you even if we don't: ribbon sandwiches, scones with jam and cream (of course) and the chef's selection of petit fours. Wash it all down with endless tea, coffee or pink lemonade and you might actually be heading to the dentist the next day after all. Worth it. [caption id="attachment_573639" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Jeff Busby.[/caption] SNAG DISCOUNTED TICKETS TO THE OPERA Nothing feels more high brow than the opera, and Opera Australia is making your 'Madame Butterfly' dreams achievable on a 'Ms Moth' budget. The affordable ticket scheme is a good'un: you can either enter the ballot and try your luck for a chance at $20 tickets or nab the student rush tickets for $47 if you're a full-time studier. The Student Rush tickets are only given to those with a valid ID, and you have to head into the Box Office from 9am on the day of the performance. If you tick all those boxes, however, you'll be sipping prosecco at interval in no time. SIP CHAMPAGNE AT ATRIUM BAR Nothing signifies a celebration like a chilled glass of bubbly (well, one that isn't Passion Pop), and it's worth braving the particular situation that is Crown Casino to make your way to Atrium Bar. A designated champagne bar, Atrium is a swish, shiny lounge that gives you the option of over 20 different champagnes. Some are only by the bottle (such as the vintage Louis Roederer 'Cristal' 2009 that'll set you back a cool $695) but don't panic, others are available by the glass (Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut, $33). And, Atrium are running a January special: two flutes of Piper-Heidseick for $35, available from the 7th - 27th of the month. BOOK A PRIVATE WHISKY TASTING AT WHISKY AND ALEMENT If whisky is more your poison of choice than bubbles, we've got you covered here, too. Whisky and Alement on Russell Street in the CBD is a whisky bar with just a little more. With a perpetually changing menu of around 1000 whiskies at the bar, it also runs private whisky tasting tours for groups of ten to 18. Perfect for a birthday, a work function or a lush way to celebrate the end of the year, tastings run from Thursday to Sunday and start at $35 per person. Groups receive a talk from a whisky expert, then are able to taste the four whiskies on offer. Top image: Adelphi Pool Deck.
If you'd like to tuck into a burger created by famed chef Heston Blumenthal, you'd usually need to head to one of his restaurants. But that's no longer the case thanks to a new collaboration with Grill'd, with the British culinary whiz whipping up two new plant-based burgs for the chain. These combinations of bread, salad and mushroom-based meat use Fable, the brand that turns shiitake mushrooms into a meat alternative (and a product that's obviously gotten Blumenthal's tick of approval). And, because there's a couple of options, burger lovers also have the chance to sink their teeth into a limited-edition version that's only available for two weeks this August in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth — and after lockdown in Sydney. The special burg in question? That'd be the Heston Fable Burger, which is made with a Fable patty, tofu, cucumber, fresh slaw and hoisin sauce, and then topped with Fable's plant-based version of crispy beef — and served on a brioche bun. Only 4000 are available, and one will set you back $35. That said, that price includes a serving of Grill'd's chips with white miso mayonnaise, as well as choice of pinot noir, chenin blanc, a local beer or a non-alcoholic drink. If your tastebuds are now well and truly tempted, the Heston Fable Burger is only available from Grill'd for dine-in sittings at the chain's Hawthorn and Windsor stores in Melbourne, Carindale and Wintergarden shops in Brisbane, and Scarborough outlet in Perth — with Sydney details to be announced post-lockdown. You can book now, though, with reservations available online from Tuesday, August 3 by visiting the eatery's website. Folks in New South Wales can also register their interest online. If you're keen to take a bite of a second Blumenthal-created burger — and to do so whenever you like — that's where the Fable Spicy Cheeseburger by Heston comes in. It too is made with a Fable patty, as paired with aged cheddar, Spanish onion, dijon mustard, dill pickles, egg mayonnaise and Heston's fire roasted spicy tomato sauce. And, this one is available on Grill'd's regular dine-in, takeaway or delivery menu at all stores — and for $14.50 — from Tuesday, August 3. The collaboration between Blumenthal and Grill'd is part of the latter's broader range of Fable burgs, with two more varieties also joining the menu. The Fable Truffle features a Fable patty, aged cheddar, cos lettuce, fresh basil and truffle mayonnaise, while the Fable Southern BBQ features a Fable patty, cabbage slaw, shredded carrot, Spanish onion, egg mayonnaise, dill pickles and native Davidson plum barbecue sauce — and they're both available now on the regular lineup as well. Heston Fable Burgers are available from Grill'd for dine-in sittings at the chain's Hawthorn and Windsor stores in Melbourne, Carindale and Wintergarden shops in Brisbane, and Scarborough outlet in Perth — from Sunday, August 8–Sunday, August 22, with bookings available from Tuesday, August 3 by visiting the eatery's website. Folks in New South Wales can also register their interest online, with the burgers set to become available in Sydney after lockdown. The Fable Spicy Cheeseburger by Heston is available on Grill'd's regular dine-in, takeaway or delivery menu from Tuesday, August 3.
As the brunch plague engulfs Melbourne further and further every week, it can be tricky choosing a cafe to dine at. Next of Kin makes the decision process easier — for southsiders, at least. Opening up on the quieter end of Glen Huntly Road earlier this year, the Elsternwick cafe is suave yet unpretentious, and it manages to nail the tricky combo while securing some much sought-after individuality too. Envision a culinary cafe built for food and design obsessives: you'll be hugged by lofty seats, overlooked by large copper bowl light fixtures, and a wall of bushy plants make you feel like you're dining in an urban rainforest. While the menu is small, it oozes with modern, healthy variety. Sceptics of fish for breakfast, snap out of it. The cured ocean trout with sweet potato croquettes, pickled beetroot and fennel salad ($19) is one of the cafe's specialties. For something nimbler, the sheep's milk yogurt panna cotta ($11) with summer fruits is one to consider. The lunch favourite is spiced lamb shoulder tacos with manchego, chipotle mayo and lime ($18.50). And it's happy news for coeliacs and gluten-challenged folk too, as half of the menu options are gluten-free. Of course, these creations haven't just appeared out of thin air. Next of Kin is owned by Nick Cocker of South Yarra's Cafe Gaia and headed by ex Press Club sous chef, Lance Mueller. Together they've created a menu that is both tasty and kindly considerate. Don't want the deliciousness to end? There's also a window of takeaway options including bagels, Bircher muesli, and a range of pastries you can carry on home. Naturally, Next of Kin boasts specialty coffee, which comes straight from Fitzroy roasters, Proud Mary. And if coffee doesn't do it for you, a Mork Hot Chocolate, Remedy Kombucha or a cup of Prana Chai will. Otherwise, a spirulina, avocado, kale, Medjool date, brazil nut and — breath — organic orange juice smoothie may entice the nutritiously conscious. Seriously, there couldn't be any more superfoods packed into that thing. Keeping to itself like the shy kid in class, Next of Kin is easy to miss from the outside. But don't underestimate it — because on the inside it's a talented freak, and it will blow you away if you just give it the chance.
That soothing feeling that sweeps over you when you spy a cute canine, spend too much time watching internet cat videos or even just spot a picture of a newborn animal — that's the feeling at the heart of Australia's newest wellness sessions. Sure, you've been to kitten yoga and puppy pilates, and they're both great. But we're guessing that you haven't tried meditating with baby goats or getting mindful with soft, cuddly lambs. After launching in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, Karmably's cuddly classes are now a regular fixture in Melbourne. During them, you'll attempt to find inner bliss while surrounded by rescued baby farm animals. In short, it's the best way to de-stress when life's got your goat. After all, who can remain overwhelmed, exhausted or annoyed when they're sharing their chill-out session with actual goats? The classes focus on relaxation techniques, like Breathe In & Bleat Out, which gives you an idea of just what's in store. Those heading along can expect three parts to the session: mindful stretching, meditation and snuggling the four-legged participants. If you're wondering where the concept came from, it was inspired by organiser Berenice Tan's own experiences trying to find something other than the usual mindfulness classes within Australia. Tan began to research animal therapy and, after learning of the benefits (and realising that everyone loves cute critters), her sessions with goats, lambs and even piglets were born. The bliss goes both ways, too — with Karmably not only helping humans to relax in a fun manner, but also assisting animals in need. Tan works with sanctuaries, rescue centres, and organisations such as Harmony Hooves Healing Hearts and ABC Animal Farm. They both raise baby creatures who have either been rejected by their mothers or lost their mums in other ways, and hand-rear them until they can be adopted out as pets to families who live on suitable properties. The next sessions take place at 8.15am and 9.45am on Saturday, March 14 at Northcote's Big Bang Studios — and tickets usually get snapped up fast, so you'll want to book yours ASAP.
A beer festival that you and your doggo can enjoy together? Yep, that's a thing and it's happening this weekend at The Ascot Lot. On Saturday, April 17, the food truck park is throwing open its gates for the Beers and Boxers party, celebrating some great Aussie brews and friendly local pooches. As the name suggests, boxers are getting a special mention this time around, although four-legged mates of any breed are welcome. From 12pm, you'll enjoy tastings, tinnies, keg takeovers and other fun things from the day's guest breweries, with the lineup including Mountain Goat, Hawkers, Little Creatures, White Rabbit and Gage Roads. As well as the human beers, each stall will also be pouring some dog-friendly brews, so Rover can join in on the beer-tasting action. As always, there'll be plenty of food trucks slinging a global array of dishes and the bar will be pouring a whole range of other liquid treats to take your fancy. Entry is free and bookings are available if you want to nab your crew a good table.
Plan a trip to South Australia, and spending time surrounded by grapes is probably on your agenda. This year, you can pair all those winery visits with plenty of pumpkins, too, because Yayoi Kusama's pumpkin-focused infinity room The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens will display at the Art Gallery of South Australia from Friday, April 1. Australia just keeps going dotty for Kusama. Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art's hosted a kaleidoscopic exhibition dedicated to the Japanese artist back in 2017, her Obliteration Room has proven a hit in the Sunshine State several times and, going one better, Canberra's National Gallery of Australia acquired The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens back in 2018. While the latter is a permanent addition to the NGA's collection, it's also going on the road on — which is why Adelaide is your next place to see oh-so-many dots. The piece was first exhibited in 2015. Comprised of a mirrored cube filled with yellow, dot-covered pumpkins, it's a quintessential Kusama work. Whether you're a devoted fan who considers visiting the artist's own Tokyo museum a bucket-list moment, or someone who has simply placed stickers around one of her obliteration rooms, you would've noticed that dots and the concept of infinity are crucial to her art — "our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos," she says. Inside the cube, the bulbous vegetables appear to create an endless field thanks to the shiny surface. On the outside of the cube, the structure's mirrored exterior reflects the yellow-and-black walls in the surrounding installation room — again, making it appear as though the pattern stretches on forever. The NGA's acquisition was made possible via a gift from Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett, which is also supporting the infinity room's tour. AGSA hasn't revealed how long it'll be on display, but entry will be free — and it's obviously a must-visit addition to any Adelaide itinerary. Images: Installation view, THE SPIRITS OF THE PUMPKINS DESCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS by Yayoi Kusama, 2017, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. © Yayoi Kusama, courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai.
As attempts to combat COVID-19 ramp up around the globe, venues and organisations everywhere are temporarily shutting down. New York's Metropolitan Opera is one of them; however, it's not letting its fans spend their self-isolating days without their beloved artform, announcing nightly live-streamed opera performances from its collection. From Monday, March 16 US time (Tuesday, March 17, Down Under), the NY institution is streaming a different opera each evening. Called Nightly Met Opera Streams, the program kicked off with high-profile shows such as Bizet's Carmen, Puccini's La Boheme, Verdi's Il Trovatore and La Traviata, Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment and Lucia di Lammermoor, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin — streaming each for 23 hours from 7.30pm New York time each night. Other highlights included, Nico Muhly's Marnie, Verdi's Aida and Borodin's Prince Igor. On Monday, May 4, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro is streaming, followed by Thomas's Hamlet on May 5, Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin on May 6 and Strauss's Capriccio, plus a double bill on Sunday, May 10 featuring Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. And, if you missed Puccini's celebrated La Boheme, you can catch it again on Friday, May 8. https://youtu.be/afhAqMeeQJk Even better — Nightly Met Opera Streams is free, so you can enjoy world-class opera recorded live (and streamed in HD) without either paying a cent or leaving your couch. Nightly Met Opera Streams commence on Tuesday, March 17, Australian and New Zealand time, with a new show live-streamed every day and available for 23 hours afterwards. For further details, visit the Met Opera website. Top image: Bengt Nyman via Wikimedia Commons. Updated May 5.
Dust off your sombreros, amigos. The latest international excuse for a good time to reach our shores is Cinco de Mayo — a celebration of all things Mexican (which, if we’re being nit-picky, is really more of an Americanisation than anything but shh, let us party). In celebration, the folks at Corona and Beach Burrito Company Coogee are putting together a fiesta, complete with face painting by local street artists and the first ever Taco Time Trials Eating Contest. For the less competitively inclined but equally taco-happy, Cinco de Mayo falls conveniently on a Tuesday, and Beach Burrito Co’s regular $3 taco deal applies, so your pesos’ll stretch further. With what you’ve got left, you can sip salt-rimmed margaritas, down trays of tequila shots (not recommended) or share a bucket of ice-cold Coronas. And, of course, come prepared to smash and whack your way to glory, because they wouldn’t be doing Mexico right without pinatas.
UPDATE, Friday, November 3: Fingernails screens in select cinemas from Thursday, November 2, and streams via Apple TV+ from Friday, November 3. In the world of Fingernails, 'Only You' isn't just a 1982 pop song that was made famous by Yazoo, is easy to get stuck in your head, and is now heard in this film in both French and English. It's also the philosophy that the first English-language feature by Apples filmmaker Christos Nikou has subscribed its characters to as it cooks up a sci-fi take on romance. In a setup somewhat reminiscent of Elizabeth Holmes' claims to have revolutionised blood testing (see: The Dropout), Fingernails proposes an alternative present where love can be scientifically diagnosed. All that's needed: an extracted plate of keratin, aka the titular digit-protecting covering. At organisations such as The Love Institute, couples willingly have their nails pulled out — one apiece — then popped into what resembles a toaster oven to receive their all-important score. Only three results are possible, with 100 percent the ultimate in swooning, 50 percent meaning that only one of the pair is head over heels and the unwanted zero a harbinger of heartbreak. When Fingernails begins, it's been three years since teacher Anna (Jessie Buckley, Women Talking) and her partner Ryan (Jeremy Allen White, The Bear) underwent the exam, with the long-term duo earning the best possible outcome — a score that's coveted but rare. Around them, negative results have led to breakups and divorces as society's faith is placed not in hearts and souls, but in a number, a gimmick and some tech gadgetry (one of the sales pitches, though, is that finding out before getting hitched will stop failed marriages). Even folks who've obtained top marks aren't always content to stop there. Some seek to reaffirm their positive result years down the track. To boost their chances of nabbing a love certificate, other couples take courses to amplify their amorous feelings for each other. Sessions include watching Hugh Grant movies ("nobody understands love more," exclaims the cinema marquee), tracking your paramour's scent, getting breathless underwater while staring into your other half's eyes and the adrenaline rush of tandem skydiving. As their friends go the retesting route — satirising the need for certainty in affairs of the heart pumps firmly through this movie's veins — Anna hasn't been able to convince Ryan to attend The Love Institute as a client. She's soon spending her days there, however, feeding her intrigue with the whole scenario as an employee. When she takes a job counselling other pairs towards hopeful ever-after happiness, she keeps the career shift from her own significant other. Quickly, she has something else she can't tell Ryan: a blossoming bond with her colleague Amir (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal). As the operation's head Duncan (Luke Wilson, Fired on Mars) steps her through the official details, including the fact that it is biologically impossible for one person to be in love with two people according to the testing method, Anna starts feeling sparks fly with the co-worker assigned to show her the ropes. Amir has his own girlfriend (Annie Murphy, Black Mirror), but clearly reciprocates. Haddaway's Saturday Night Live- and A Night at the Roxbury-adored 1993 tune 'What Is Love' doesn't get a spin in Fingernails, but that's the question that Nikou and co-screenwriters Stavros Raptis (returning from Apples) and Sam Steiner (a feature first-timer) probe. The Greek writer/director and his collaborators contrast fondness as a contrived series of sensations with affection as a lived-in routine and passion as a butterflies-in-the-stomach response. So, Nikou's picture sees the mechanics, the comfort and the involuntary swirl — and sees Anna torn between everything that she's told, what she's supposed to be satisfied with and the yearnings that she's not meant to be experiencing. The filmmaker also makes a flick that pairs well with fellow new release Foe, exploring what technology can and can't tell us about love, and what will always remain innate, although Fingernails is never as dystopian, nor a thriller — and trades a definite future date for an undetermined era where mobile phones are welcomely absent. When he made his full-length debut with 2020's Apples, Nikou also sought love in an offbeat place, amid a pandemic of amnesia. In the process, he dived into the Greek Weird Wave that's become synonymous with The Favourite's Yorgos Lanthimos, whose own breakout Dogtooth was nominated for the Best International Feature Oscar. Fingernails' helmer was the second assistant director on Dogtooth, in fact, and now adds a picture to his resume that follows in the wonderfully absurdist footsteps of Lanthimos' The Lobster. Both are deeply romantic movies at their core, as well as sharply shrewd and witty flicks about human nature and societal norms. Both rally against conformity and expectation, too, and make physical the pains and struggles that come with the pursuit of affection. That said, Fingernails takes a more tender approach to its scenario. Dispelling the fascination with chasing one definitive perfect match by flouting that itself, it'd also make a great double with Celine Song's Past Lives, where there's nothing simple about a heart torn in two directions. Nikou's knack for casting is no different to Lanthimos' supreme skill in the same domain; what a quietly pining duo that Buckley and Ahmed make. Never seeming at risk of demanding that "yes chef!" be yelled his way, White gets myopic about relationships rather than cooking in a canny supporting role as someone who's blissfully emotionally oblivious — but, like Anna and Amir themselves, viewers are desperate to spend more time amid the real heat. Buckley and Ahmed turn in vulnerable portrayals that sear, even when the pacing unfurling their tale and the hues splashed around them are both muted. Nikou knows how feelings can both explode and simmer, serving up each. As he did in Apples, he also provides more memorable and meaningful dancing, this time as Amir cuts loose, Anna watches on, everything is evident and nothing needs to be said. The film looks away from the actual ripping out of nails — the idea remains suitably squirm-inducing, yet is never seen in gory detail because the audience flinches at the very notion anyway — but cinematographer Marcell Rév (Euphoria, The Changeling) utterly adores peering at Buckley and Ahmed. With different stars, he demonstrated the same focus in Malcolm & Marie with similarly intimate results. The premise here might be as high-concept as plots come, but seeing the longing, loneliness, melancholy, uncertainty, desire and revelations in Fingernails' two key performances couldn't feel more real. This is a movie that tingles with emotion — in its fingertips and everywhere.
When a clown ponders its final farewell, what does it see? Cirque du Soleil's Corteo has the answer. When this production first hit the stage in Montreal in 2005, it won over audiences by setting its acrobatic feats within a funeral procession imagined by a jester — a carnival-like parade that muses on humanity's strengths and vulnerabilities — in a space between heaven and earth. Two decades later, it's one of the troupe's most-beloved shows. Celebrating that milestone, Corteo is heading Down Under for a six-city tour in the second half of 2025 — including a visit to John Cain Arena in Melbourne from Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 31. One of the tricks that's helped make Corteo such a success, with over 12-million audience members in 30 countries on four continents seeing it so far, is its unique stage setup. Watching this show means also watching your fellow viewers, because the action takes place in the middle of the arena, splitting it in half and causing patrons to face each other. This is Cirque du Soleil's first production with this layout. As its clown protagonist conjures up the festive parade that ushers him from this world, attendees will witness a poetic yet playful performance — one where the acrobatics are unique, too, and where angels watch over. LUZIA was the last Cirque du Soleil production that bounded this way, kicking off in 2024 — and notching up another first as the Montreal-based company company's debut touring show to feature rain in its acrobatic and artistic scenes. Before that, 2023 saw Cirque du Soleil bring CRYSTAL, its first-ever ice production on ice, Down Under. Images: Maja Prgomet, Johan Persson and Aldo Arguello. Updated: Wednesday, May 28, 2025.
Plenty of Australian cities boast radiant arts and culture festivals that light up their streets and spaces, from Vivid Sydney and Rising in Melbourne through to Brisbane Festival's luminous displays and 2021 newcomer Illuminate Adelaide. But Parrtjima - A Festival In Light takes the whole concept to several different levels — celebrating Indigenous arts, culture, music and storytelling, including via an eye-catching array of light installations, in Alice Springs and against a 2.5-kilometre stretch of the majestic, 300-million-year-old MacDonnell Ranges. It's the type of event to add to your travel bucket list, and it's bringing its dazzling presence back again in 2022 — between Friday, April 8–Sunday, April 17. And, if you're wondering exactly what'll be brightening up the already striking Red Centre, Parrtjima has just announced its full lineup. As always, the event will take over Alice Springs CBD's Alice Springs Todd Mall, as well as tourism and conservation facility Alice Springs Desert Park Precinct just out of town — and the festival's main annual attraction, aka a huge artwork that showers the MacDonnell Ranges with light each night of the festival, is definitely on the bill. When it comes to staring at the stunning natural landmark, expect a 'desert of light experience, as Parrtjima is dubbing it. If you've seen images from past festivals, you'll instantly spot why that description is accurate. Grounded, which turns traditional and contemporary stories into a projected animation — complete with an immersive soundscape — will return this year as well, after consistently proving a crowd favourite. [caption id="attachment_843423" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Artists' impression: Farron Jampitjinpa Furber (Budgerigar Dreaming)[/caption] Also on the installation lineup for 2022: Water Tree, a piece inspired by the artwork of Karen Napaljarri Barnes that uses acrylic glass to replicate the sight of thousands of budgerigars flocking together, and will be strung across four archways; plus Flight, similarly going with budgies, this time featuring artwork by Farron Jampitjinpa Furber printed on sheer fabric spears to represent the birds' journey along the Lander River. Or, you can look forward to scoping out Eagle's Eye, which takes inspiration from irretye (the wedge-tailed eagle) constellation, and brings a tunnel to life with animation of works by Jeannie Nungarrayi Egan — as well as Wild Wind, by Raelene Ngala Williams, which uses her artwork to celebrate the stories of the whirly whirly through a series of floating and moving structures. There's also the Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists' Energy, comprised of eight static bikes and wheelchairs, which attendees jump on and spin the pedals to illuminate and revolve the artworks. And, the 15-metre-high Night Sky, as created in collaboration with artist Carmen Glynn-Braun and Common Ground, is filled with 1200 glowing orbs that are suspended to look like a blanket of stars. [caption id="attachment_843424" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Artists' impression: Carmen Glynn-Braun (Dreamy)[/caption] From the rest of Parrtjima's ten-night lineup, there'll also be live tunes from Dan Sultan, King Stingray, BARKAA, Black Rock Band and Jimblah. Plus, some of the musicians on the bill will also participate in the talks program, which includes Black Comedy's Steven Oliver, and Parrtjima artists Carmen Glynn-Braun and Raelene Ngala Williams as well. And, film-wise, the work of Sweet Country, The Beach, Firebite and Samson and Delilah filmmaker Warwick Thornton will be in the spotlight. Of course, Parrtjima is just one of Northern Territory's two glowing attractions in 2022, with Australia's Red Centre lighting up in multiple ways. The festival is a nice supplement to Bruce Munro's Field of Light installation, which — after multiple extensions — is now on display indefinitely. Parrtjima – A Festival in Light runs from April 8–17, 2022 around Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. For more information or to book tickets, visit the festival website. Top image: artists' impressions: Raelene Ngala Williams (Walpa Pulka – Whirly Wind) / Jeannie Nungarrayi Egan – (Rain Dreaming, Budgerigar Dreaming, Bush Tobacco Dreaming, Native Fuchsia Dreaming and Ceremonial Pole Dreaming).
UPDATE, March 4, 2021: Can You Ever Forgive Me? is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Can You Ever Forgive Me? takes its title from Lee Israel's memoir, but like much in her life, the words aren't completely her own. Israel first penned the phrase in the guise of Dorothy Parker, forging a letter by the famous American poet and writer, and selling it for a handsome sum. For a brief period in the early 90s, that's how Israel made a living. After establishing her career as a celebrity biographer, and earning praise for channelling the voice of her subjects, she couldn't get another book published. So she put those skills to other use, starting with a genuine but embellished thank you note, and segueing into outright — and highly lucrative — counterfeiting. Still, Israel was proud. "I'm a better Dorothy Parker than Dorothy Parker," she boasted. Based on Israel's confessional account of her crimes, Can You Ever Forgive Me? tells this heist-like tale, however it also tells so much more. Directed with an eye for quiet detail by Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl) from an evocative and insightful screenplay by Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said) and Jeff Whitty, it's an examination of everything from loneliness to the limits of celebrity worship — the things we do to fill our lives, and the need we have to connect with our idols. The film also charts a complex friendship that acts as a temporary balm for two unhappy souls, and portrays a tender, tentative and troubled romance, neither of which follow any formula. Of course, first and foremost, it's a portrait of the movie's central figure. Even if Israel hadn't dabbled with literary fraud, she could've spawned numerous character studies. Played with a hard veneer and begrudgingly vulnerable centre by a career-best Melissa McCarthy, Israel is passionate about chronicling the lives of great women. With her agent (Jane Curtin) continually brushing her off, she's also vastly under-appreciated. She drinks whisky at the thankless job that pays her bills until she's fired, and at her favourite bar every chance she gets. She refuses to temper her personality to please anyone, or simply get along with anyone for that matter. As becomes clear whenever Israel interacts with the world, she loves her cat more than people — even bookseller Anna (Dolly Wells) on their awkward dates, and even fellow outcast and barfly Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant), who becomes her only friend. Then her beloved feline falls ill and Israel can't afford to take her to the vet, so she gets into the forgery game. Many of Can You Ever Forgive Me?'s delights come from McCarthy, both when she's alone and also sharing scenes with Grant. While Israel was real and her story as well, the screen versions of both come to life in the actor's hands. It's a compelling, awards-worthy performance, one that's played close to the chest to capture Israel's closed-off nature, while remaining expressive in every inch. McCarthy paints Israel as someone who's always herself, even when she's pretending not to be — and when she pals around with Grant's rambunctious, resourceful, up-for-anything drinking buddy, the duo feel like they could walk out of the film and into any dank New York watering hole of their choosing. On the surface, McCarthy's switch from garnering laughs to evoking deep empathy might sound familiar, with plenty of comedians following that path before. And yet, nothing about her work as the misanthropic and purposefully thorny Israel feels routine, which is another of Can You Ever Forgive Me?'s great charms. Heller knows how juicy Israel's tale is, and firmly proves that fact is stranger than fiction. She also knows that this story is a product of a fascinating, complicated and distinctive woman, who both committed the details to the page and actually committed the crimes. Heller may only have two movies to her name, however she's a perceptive, probing and generous director, giving her characters the space they need to shine and fail and experience everything in-between. Indeed, in bringing Israel's life to the screen, Heller and McCarthy have clearly taken her words to heart. The real-life writer bragged about stepping into someone else's shoes so easily and convincingly, and the women leading this fantastic film achieve the very same thing — just without perpetrating a sham. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvJIaNsf_bY
Craig Robinson slays snakes. If Killing It was initially pitched with those four words and those four words alone, it still would've been easy to greenlight. When the latest comedy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor and executive producer Luke Del Tredici first arrived in 2022, it leaned in, too, with terminating serpents the whole point of the contest at the centre of the comedy's debut season. The place: Florida, home to the python-teeming Everglades. The year: 2016, in the lead up to the US election. The reason for vanquishing vipers: a $20,000 payday, which Craig — also the name of Robinson's character — needed to enact his vision of becoming a saw palmetto farmer. Killing It served up far more than just Robinson, a B99 guest and The Office star, polishing off reptiles — and not simply because Claudia O'Doherty (Our Flag Means Death) joined in as the hammer-swinging Jillian. As a satire of the type of society that has people resorting to seeking a better future by offing animals competitively, this series has always sunk its fangs in. Craig wanted to swap being a Miami bank security guard for capitalising upon a smart idea (the berries he's keen on are coveted in the health market for prostate medicines) to provide for his ex-wife Camille (Stephanie Nogueras, The Good Fight) and daughter Vanessa (Jet Miller, Young Dylan). Aussie expat and Uber driver Jillian wanted a life beyond the gig economy and sleeping in her car. But even in a nation that celebrates the American dream as the pinnacle of existence, a goal that all can chase with hard work and perseverance, and a key factor in US exceptionalism, neither had any other option but to hunt snakes for a big payday. Getting Killing It's characters bludgeoning wildlife was a savvy signifier of a horribly broken system. In season two, which streams in Australia via Stan from Friday, August 18, slaughtering serpents is old news; however, venomous foes definitely aren't. They're the uncaring bureaucracy, the shameless corporations, the shaking-down gangs, the car thieves, the cruel insurance bodies, the nation's entire health scheme, the manipulative bosses, the rude customers and the cash-splashing rich. They're absolutely everyone with a solely in-it-for-themselves perspective, which is almost everyone. They're also unscrupulous entrepreneur Rodney Lamonca (Tim Heidecker, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) and his mini-mogul 12-year-old daughter Prada (Anna Mae Quinn, A Carolina Christmas), who aren't done with Craig and Jillian from season one. When Killing It's latest eight-episode go-around begins, its central pair have followed through on the saw palmetto plan — albeit at a cost, with Craig's low-level criminal brother Isaiah (Rell Battle, Superior Donuts) now on the run and posing as a doctor in Phoenix. Their farm is up and running, and perennial-optimist Jillian isn't is the only one who's hopeful. The two business partners even have a buyer for their berries — and, while their margins are thin, they're getting by. Alas, whether they're dealing with a possible giant snail problem, being blackmailed into taking on new colleagues or becoming the subject of a hostile takeover, Craig and Jillian swiftly realise that snakes still lurk everywhere. Taking a cue from slithering critters, in fact, season two of Killing It poses a question: how low can modern-day America go? It's apt that this brutal contemplation of savage inequality and constant grifting returns in the same week that also gives streaming stunning docuseries Telemarketers, which similarly ponders people exploiting anyone that they think is lower than them in the food chain. Killing It is still firmly a comedy, though, and a hilarious one. Indeed, it's the best comedy that too many viewers aren't watching when everyone should be. The show is also so cutting and canny about capitalism's predators, and the prey that the globe's dominant economic setup turns most folks into, that it nearly draws blood as well as inspires laughs. There's another query at Killing It's core, of course: how low will Craig and Jillian sink, too? Season one introduced them as strangers that were each struggling but striving, then hacked into the little they each had, observing how they were forced to cope (including by coming together). Season two finds them seemingly more comfortable and secure, then unpacks what they're willing to do to retain their new status quo. It sees the selfish moves they make, or don't; the loved ones they protect, or can't; the others they sell out, or won't; the morals they compromise, or refuse to; and the dirt they embrace, or wash away. Craig and Jillian have always been an odd-couple pair, with Killing It's new run also exploring how their differences shape their responses to every choice and decision that slides their way. Problems won't stop multiplying for their on-screen alter egos, but Robinson and O'Doherty's casting gleams. He's all charismatic determination, she's perkily indefatigable, and both play keepin' on keepin' on to perfection. Together, they provide two portraits of trying to hurtle forwards however one can — and as the entire state of Florida, country of America and planet that is earth keep pushing their characters down. That said, Killing It's leads aren't the only ones shining. Fleshing out season two's storylines with an array of eclectic folks, Battle, Heidecker, Quinn and the also-returning Scott MacArthur (No Hard Feelings) all steal scenes. So do Dot-Marie Jones (Bros) as a crime-family matriarch with a laundering proposal, Beck Bennett (Nimona) as an overstressed government flunkey, Jackie Earle Haley (Hypnotic) as an insidious debt collector, Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live) getting shady and Timothy Simons (Joy Ride) as an FBI agent. Sharks in swimming pools, shonky surrogate arrangements, multiple Pitbull impersonators, the ridiculousness of the influencer industry, loving your first-ever major purchase, those aforementioned oversized snails: Goor, Del Tredici and their writing team also work them in. Even more than in season one, Killing It's new run of episodes delights with its eagerness to get absurd, filling every instalment with surprises. There's another way of looking at that throw-anything-in randomness: this series is hustling, just like Craig, Jillian and company. Again and again, this satire gets sharper. It also gets deeper and funnier. Yes, that name is accurate: this show is killing it as well. Check out the trailer for Killing It season two below: Killing It season two streams via Stan from Friday, August 18.
Feeling a big dose of wanderlust and itching to get away? We don't blame you. But sometimes it can be hard to know where to go, and also what you should do when you get there — which is exactly where a trip on the high seas comes in handy. There are more than a few reasons that you should consider hitting the water for your next getaway. Think: taking the stress out of navigating, getting to explore multiple locations, having ample opportunities for 'me time' and finding yourself with an abundance of entertainment options. Need further details? We've partnered with P&O Cruises to run through a couple of things that make cruising a great holiday option. YOU ONLY NEED TO UNPACK YOUR BAGS ONCE One massive benefit of jumping onboard a cruise ship is only having to unpack and repack your bags once. Every seasoned jetsetter knows the pain of having to pack and repack over and over — but on an ocean vessel, you can organise your things in your room and make yourself at home. Your toothbrush can stay in the holder, your clothes can go in the drawers and your skincare will be ready for you in an easy-to-find (and use) arrangement. And you won't ever need to wake up early to try to jam your suitcase shut because you're carting all of your stuff around with you from destination to destination. THERE'S NO CHANCE OF GETTING LOST If you've never been lost while on an adventure, you deserve a round of applause. For most of us mere mortals, this is a problem we're well-acquainted with — along with arguing over directions and getting flustered when driving in new terrain. Cruise ships, however, take all of that stress away by sailing you to exactly where you need to go (no Google Maps required). Instead of getting Siri to help navigate or debating with your travel partner over which turn you were supposed to take, you can just put your feet up and enjoy the ride. YOU CAN EXPLORE MULTIPLE DESTINATIONS Not only do you get to hang out in the fresh ocean air, sip cocktails with a view and relax in the sun when you're on a cruise, but you also get ferried to some amazing locations, which you then get to explore. Think tropical beaches and oceanside towns, plus places where you can take a trip through limestone caves filled with glow worms, snorkel over coral hotspots and hang with wild dolphins. Plus, some cruises also provide shore tours, which take you to hand-picked sights with some stellar tour providers. You get to just hop onboard the ship and be taken straight to a heap of incredible spots. YOU'LL HAVE PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITY FOR 'ME TIME' There's nothing like a bit of time to rest, recoup and recharge — and the pampering on the side is a pretty great bonus, too. Accordingly, one huge positive of cruise getaways is the ample opportunities they provide for a more than a little stint of 'me time'. Enjoy some solo exercise with a bit of yoga or a run around the onboard jogging track. Ease into a deckchair and escape into a good book, or relax in a salon chair as a beautician pampers you or a hairdresser tends to your locks. As a bonus, there's always retail therapy to fill your solo time if that's more your cup of tea. THERE'S AN ABUNDANCE OF ENTERTAINMENT You'll never be bored on a cruise ship with all the entertainment options on offer. While riding the ocean waves, you'll find plenty of music in the evenings, ranging from acoustic to jazz and R&B. You can flit between heading to theme parties, watching movies and checking out screenings of major sporting events. Plus, hitting the pools and waterslides, feasting at a fancy dinner, and taking part in deck games, table tennis and golf putting. You can take special event cruises too, such as an Elvis-themed trip or an onboard comedy festival with The Big Laugh. With so much to watch, listen to, laugh at and participate in, the time onboard will surely fly. For more information about P&O Cruises, head to the company's website.
Whether or not you've ever splashed in its wave-filled waters or taken a selfie around its edge, where the pool borders the ocean — or even if you've simply seen images of it everywhere, including sometimes featuring Margot Robbie in Barbie mode — feeling the urge to plunge into Bondi Icebergs is a side effect of watching Ian Darling's The Pool. The yearning to take a dip in your nearest body of water also strikes. Equally radiating from the screen as the Sydney landmark receives a cinematic tribute: the sensation that just by viewing the latest documentary from the filmmaker behind The Final Quarter and Paul Kelly — Stories of Me, you've enjoyed the next best thing to hopping in. Everyone knows Bondi Icebergs, thanks to about as many photographs as there are grains of sand on Bondi Beach, or perhaps more. It's the most-snapped pool in the world, in fact, The Pool notes. Darling's film explores its allure beyond its scenic aesthetic, even if the movie is stunningly gorgeous to look at (how could it not be?) and perfectly set to a 60s-inspired soundtrack. This is a doco about community, and about why one has formed around the haven of blue at the southern end of Bondi Beach that's been welcoming in swimmers for almost a century. Some come to Icebergs to relax. Others come to train and compete. Some head along with friends and/or family. Others arrive solo, knowing that their fellow swimmers are their friends and family. Some do indeed fill their Instagram feeds with photos, and The Pool sees them. But the film spends its time largely observing the immense cross-section of folks who frequent Bondi Icebergs, from daily devotees to casual weekenders, newcomers to veterans, young to old, and lifeguards and swimming coaches to baristas as well, as they congregate, revel in the spectacular tidal pool's gifts no matter the weather and discover a place to belong in the process. That's how Darling overcame what might've been a challenge for other filmmakers: diving beneath the surface of a place that is so instantly recognisable, and for good reason. It's also how he's made a movie that is meditative to watch, mirroring what many of its interviewees say about the body of water. And, it's why The Pool has been getting the love flowing from audiences around the country — not just in Sydney, where it fittingly world-premiered at the 2024 Sydney Film Festival; which "was actually quite emotional, because three of the key characters had died in only the month or two beforehand, and this was the first time that a lot of the audience had seen them again," Darling tells Concrete Playground; not only among swimmers as well. "We've been doing a lot of the film festivals, and so just meeting people all over — after launching at Sydney Film Festival, we went over to CinefestOZ in Margaret River, and then Byron, Sunshine Coast, Adelaide Film Festival. Then we've been doing a few pre-cinema release screenings up at Noosa when the triathlon was on, and Brisbane and Gold Coast," the director notes when we chat in the lead up to the film's release nationwide. "What I'm especially pleased about is that we weren't sure whether it was such a Sydney-centric film that it wasn't going to speak to other audiences, but it it's been wonderful seeing that there are so many common themes in it that it's speaking to people not only all across Australia, but to swimmers and non-swimmers. Which I was surprised about. Coming out of COVID, people are still hurting and yearning for a community, and really putting a greater value on any community they're a part of. And so it's had a much more emotional response than we than we expected." "I was especially pleased at the screening over at the Orpheum, where a number of people came up — and a couple of ladies who were very emotional said 'we don't swim, but we're part of a book club. And we feel that you've spoken the same language in terms of what we do in our book club. And we value it even more, it's about community and it's about a shared language'," Darling continues. "I was asking them exactly what they mean. She said 'well, we talk about a book and we could see here people were just talking about swimming'. And the penny dropped, and it made me realise that's so much about what we look for in a community — whether it's a film festival where we're all talking the same language, or a book club, or even at a pool. It never ceases to amaze me how long people can talk about swimming. But it is a shared language, and everyone comes from all different walks of life and they have this common link." Where inspiration strikes as a filmmaker, the 'I need to make a movie about this' moment with Bondi Icebergs, his own first experience with the pool, choosing interviewees, finding the doco's ebb and flow, the importance of community, what Bondi Icebergs both says about and means to Sydney: we also spoke with Darling about all of the above. On Darling's First Bondi Icebergs Moment "I came up from Melbourne in the early 90s, and my wife and I were swimming in the middle of winter at the beach, and suddenly realised how many people were swimming — and coming from Melbourne, I'd never swim in winter. And I was thinking 'how long does this happen?'. I saw this building down the end — and I wasn't familiar with the Icebergs. And I always was intrigued by it. I actually thought that it was more of a private club. Actually, for the whole of that decade, I never went to it. When someone told me that it was a public pool in the early 2000s, I remember walking in and it just blew me away. I suddenly actually did feel like I was in a 60s film, and it was one of the most-beautiful places and pools I'd ever swum in. There are so many pools I've swum in and I don't have any recall, but I remember walking in and just feeling like I was in this time warp, and it was a very positive experience." On When the 'I Need to Make a Film About This' Moment Came with The Pool "I think it was post-lockdown, and I think when we have something taken away from us — we're social creatures and we all realised that that we do need a sense of community. Also having come out of The Final Quarter and The Department on child protection, I wanted to give myself permission to actually make a happy film and a feel-good film, and a film where people could just meditate and contemplate their own life. I was sitting down at Icebergs with a friend of mine, Marg Simpson-Lee, who's a swimmer. And I was saying 'I'm really looking for something which is a connected story about a community that is uplifting'. And she said 'well, what about here?'. And so it was right under my nose. The more I thought about it, I thought 'actually, it is going to give me a platform to tell these stories about community and connection'. So it was as simple as that. I wasn't sure what it meant. And it took us a while to get a sense of how to make it and why we, in the end, decided to make the pool the central character, and let all the other characters, almost like 30 sets of arms and legs, give us context of to what was in there. But I think I was ready myself as well — I think we often wear the hair shirt as documentary filmmakers, and I had to give myself permission to say 'actually, it's okay to make a film where we just actually sit back and think and observe and hopefully feel happy at the end of it'. So that was the the intent." On Digging Into What Makes the Most-Photographed Pool in the World Special Beyond Its Aesthetics "It's a good question, because I think with the notion of it being the most-photographed pool in the world, with that comes all the connotations of Instagram and body image, and all of that. And we almost wanted the film to be the antithesis of that. One of the things we weren't sure of was how people would feel when we were down there with cameras, because people are perhaps at their most vulnerable when they're just in their swimmers. And we were very aware and respectful of it. So we had signs up everywhere, and we made sure, our producers went around, that anyone who didn't want to be in the film could come and tell us, and we'd make sure that they weren't and absolutely honour that. On the first morning, about three people came up and I thought 'wow, this is going to be challenging over the course of the year'. And then over the the whole year, I think only one or two other people came up and said that they didn't want to be in it. So we gained the trust, but it also made me realise that the people down there were actually very comfortable in their own skin, and all different body shapes and all different, all different types. I think that is very different from the notion of it being the most-photographed pool in the world. It was a very grounded experience, and the pool jumps out as something very beautiful — but I think whenever we were there on weekends, we'd see people doing selfies and everything, and we wanted to reflect that in the film but also highlight that it wasn't the story we were telling." On the Process of Choosing Interviewees From the Bondi Icebergs Community "On the website, we did 100 full-length interviews — because we never wanted to make the film about the history of the club, but we thought 'well, let's grab a time capsule of history and get the full stories'. And from that, we got a lot of clues. It was almost like an audition. A lot of the characters jumped out, and the stories. We didn't want to make it a character-based film. We said 'let's make the pool the central character, but let's define them by themes'. So what we saw was the characters were around things like friendship and routine — there are a couple of friends that get there at 13 minutes to seven every morning, and that's a very important thing about commitment. And then there are stories around mental health and physical sickness and endurance, and volunteering and perseverance and fear. A number of the characters were fearful of the water and learning to swim. So it was more 'how do we represent all those themes?' rather than characters. And so the two went sort of hand in hand. We had so many people that unfortunately we couldn't fit in, more because they told the same story rather than not having a great story. And I think that was the thing, as I was saying before, very few people didn't want to be in it but we I think we upset a number of people who desperately wanted to be in it but didn't make the final cut." On the Film's Crew Swimming at Bondi Icebergs Themselves for 99 Days of the 100 Day-Shoot "I think it was an important part. So the only day we didn't swim was the one when the huge storms were there. And I think people at the start of any film are wary when these outsiders come in, and we just we started very gently, but right from the start, we got in. And we started in May when the water was getting really cold. I think that helped with the locals, when they saw that we were prepared to get in the cold water and that we actually swam ourselves, and that we could speak the same language. I've never really asked them, but I know we were always observed — and I think just in a quiet sort of way that that enabled us to get even closer to everyone. But also, I thought if we're making a film at a place like this, if we don't actually get in and enjoy ourselves — because when we were at the homeless shelter, that was a three-year film shoot and that was all hours of the night. And when we were there at three o'clock in the morning, I was thinking 'hmm, we're certainly earning our stripes as documentary filmmakers here'. So unashamedly, we thought if we're doing a fun film, let's enjoy it." On Making a Meditative Film to Match the Mindset That Bondi Icebergs Can Inspire "I think we had two intents. One, sometimes we'd jump into a scene of a storm or the word of the coach and everything — it's quite bracing when you jump in the cold water. But also, the meditative nature we thought was really important. I think we've forgotten sometimes just to sit when we're on top of a mountain, just to look out and not look at our phone. And I thought it's really important for us just to have a feeling of what it's like just to sit and look at the waves, and that it's actually okay to sort of — bored is not the word I'd want to use in a film, but it's actually okay to do nothing. So we have an unusually long opening-credit sequence, but we wanted to play the whole of the Cream song 'I Feel Free' and just get people into the rhythm. Sometimes, I certainly know at the theatre when I'm there, sometimes I go 'wow, ten minutes has gone and I haven't been concentrating'. It can take us a while to get into it, so we thought let's just try and set up the rhythm of the film so that audiences give themselves permission just to sit and get into that meditative state. It felt like it was in sync with the intent of when you're swimming, because we wanted to make it immersive. But also I think sometimes it is good to let audiences — and a number of them have said during those meditative sort of scenes, the swimming or a storm or the purple tumble turns scene, that that's where they're actually thinking about their own place in a community. Or they're yearning for it. And so people have been doing a lot of self-reflection during the film as well, and that's really pleasing, because that was the intent as well." On What Darling Learned About the Importance of Community From Making The Pool "I think it really is that sense that we all need to be a part of a community and we all need to find people that share a common language — and, as I say, it means we can talk for hours about swimming or films or whatever. That, as a community, we deeply have this yearning to connect. And when it's taken away from us, we really miss it. If we haven't got it, we're yearning for it. It's such an important part of — at a pool, our physical health, but I think the most important thing is around our mental health. And as time goes on, we've got to ensure that cinemas remain open as a shared experience and that pools remain open. So many pools are closing, and we're going to do a bit of a campaign to try to get every mayor and council to come to watch the film, and actually see the importance that a local pool has on a community. As I say, so much of it is just around that connection, a meeting point, the importance of being with others. And I think that was very much the intent of the film, just to show how we do have to keep working hard at creating these gathering points, because the health of the community is very much dependent on them." On What Bondi Icebergs Means to Sydney — and Says About It "It says 'look at me', which is one of the things that, coming from Melbourne, where there are different seasons and everything, Sydney seems to have one season and it's sort of saying 'look at me' — which can be positive, but also I can be cynical about it. So that's on the surface, but I think it also says 'have a look below the surface and you'll find something that's far more profound and grounded — and if you are looking for a community, you'll find people with a common language there;. At the outset, it's a shining beacon and a tourist destination. The amount of times we've heard people go 'oh, I've had that swim. It's been on my bucket list'. People like to go to Bondi Beach. They'd like to go to the Opera House. In Queensland they love to go to the Gold Coast or the Barrier Reef. As a destination for Australians, but also as tourists, I think it's very much an important part of — unashamedly Australia has a strong beach culture, and I think it reflects that as a piece of beach history." On Where Inspiration Strikes for a Filmmaker with Documentaries About Everything From Bondi Icebergs, Adam Goodes and Paul Kelly to Capitalism and the Welfare of Homeless Youth on His Resume "Because I've had so many films that have fallen over, answering this way, typically the films that have fallen over are ones where I haven't had a strong-enough contact or connection with the subject matter. I'm a pretty slow filmmaker, most of the film shoots have been at least a year, and we take a long time in the edit suite. And I think to go on that long journey, I have to have a real interest in it. So with this one, The Pool, swimming's my main physical activity. I'm not a member of Icebergs, but I like cold-water swimming, so that gave me clues. With Adam Goodes, I'm a huge AFL fan and I go out every week — and we were thinking before he retired, actually, because he was one of my favourite all-time footballers, of making a film on him in his twilight years. So it ended up being a very different one, but having been so aware of it and been in the crowds when he was being booed, and being there when he was celebrated, suddenly he retired and I thought 'wow, are we going to' — I was just confused — 'are we going to let history be rewritten?'. So it took a few years but it just never left me, I think because I'd had such an intimate relationship with watching him as a player. I hadn't met him at all until we spoke about the film, but he was certainly present. [caption id="attachment_715066" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 29th September 2012, The Age Sport, Picture by Wayne Taylor[/caption] And then with Paul Kelly, I grew up in Melbourne — and in the 80s, just the Melbourne band scene was just extraordinary, and Paul Kelly spoke to me like no other sort of musician had. And again, I hadn't met him until we sought his approval, but he was my favourite musician — which can be dangerous, making films about your hero, as such. Then with the homeless, I'd spent a lot of time volunteering at this homeless shelter in Sydney and really got to know a number of the street kids, and just saw that homelessness was totally off the agenda, and felt it was really important to bring it back and try and put it into every home. We got a lot of philanthropic funding to present a report to the government. It's those sort of things, where I've had a connection and felt that I was in a place to be able to tell a story." The Pool opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, November 7, 2024.
UPDATE: APRIL 1, 2020 — GTMB has a new Tropica Taqueria takeaway menu, available for pick up and delivery, every day. As well as ready-made tacos and quesadillas, the takeaway option also include taco packs with eight soft tortillas, fillings, garnish, toppings and sauces. It also has bagels, coffee and grocery boxes — filled with milk, eggs, veggies and sourdough loaves — available for delivery. Full menu here. On the corner of Tucker and Patterson Roads in Bentleigh there used to be a rundown convenience store. But, in March, it was gutted and transformed into a pink and breezy cafe dubbed Good Times Milk Bar. While the old-school exterior has been left intact, the interior has been refreshed — it has a contemporary and cosy feel with pastel hues of pink and blue, graphic art designed by local creative studio Hours After and lots of leafy plants. Inside, there's plenty of seating with park benches and booths, and out the back there's a dog-friendly courtyard. At this cafe, both you and your tummy are guaranteed to leave happy. Breakfast is served all day until 4pm, and lunch from 11am, and there are daily rotating sandwiches, bite-sized sweets and diner-style shakes. To sweeten the deal, the milk bar turns into a burger joint from 4pm Thursday to Sunday. In the morning, we suggest starting with the cafe's take on eggs benny, the Meatsmith Pastrami Benedict ($18), which is served with potato waffle and and dill pickle or try the Moroccan eggplant ($19) served with harissa spiced lamb. Alternatively, you can bask in nostalgia with crumpets or boiled eggs and soldiers (with bacon crumb, no less). If you're feeling sweet, however, look to the ricotta hotcakes and and pair them with one of the cafe's signature shakes — Golden Gaytime, Lamington or Peanut Butter & Chocolate ($8). On the evening menu, you'll find the Classic (with a beef patty, American cheese and a pickle), the Seaside (with battered fish, wasabi peas and Kewpie mayo), a vegetarian option and seven different sides — including potato gems, onion rings, slaw and jumbo pickles. You'll also be able to get the aforementioned shakes at night, too. And no cafe worth its weight functions without a solid coffee program. Here, the beans are from North Melbourne roaster Small Batch and the coffee comes milky or as one of three different filters (including bottomless batch for $5). There's talk of the eatery extending its hours into the night and offering up burgers, but, with no word yet on when this will be happening, keep a keen eye on the website. Images: Simon Shiff
If you're a fan of craft brews and you like being spoilt for choice, then we've found the booze-based pilgrimage you've been waiting for. Collingwood, aka one of the epicentres of Melbourne's indie beer scene, is playing host to the next edition of the Urban Craft Beer Crawl — a hoppy self-guided adventure from the minds behind the long-running Urban Wine Walk. From 12–4pm on Saturday, November 12, you'll stroll around Collingwood, sipping your way between some of the suburb's best-loved breweries and beer bars. There are seven venues on the lineup, including The Mill Brewery, Molly Rose, Hotel Collingwood, The Craft & Co, Fixation Brewing Co and more. [caption id="attachment_807469" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Molly Rose, by Amanda Santamaria[/caption] Tickets will set you back $65 and you'll get to choose which venue you kick off from, though spots are limited. Guests will enjoy a three-pour tasting paddle at each stop, along with a full-sized beer at their starting venue and a $10 voucher to spend on lunch. [caption id="attachment_829519" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hotel Collingwood[/caption]
Andy Warhol. Jean-Michel Basquiat. Keith Haring. From the past century, they're three of the art world's biggest names, and they've all been the subjects of many an exhibition. But only one showcase will pair the three for a world-first 15-week celebration of pop art masters premiering right here in Australia — and featuring 40-plus works never before seen Down Under. That event: Pop Masters: Art From the Mugrabi Collection, New York, which takes its name from the works it will survey and their origins. The exhibition is wholly drawn from the private collection of prominent art collector Jose Mugrabi, and is set to take over HOTA, Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast from Saturday, February 18–Sunday, June 4, 2023. Unsurprisingly, Pop Masters' array of works by Warhol, Basquiat and Haring will form a survey of the 60s, 70s and 80s art scene, and of legends of the pop art and street art movements. There'll be more than ten pieces by Warhol, acting as the showcase's introduction, with 1964's Sixteen Jackies and 1982's Cross among them. As for Haring, one of his earliest-ever works from 1979 will feature alongside others such as Untitled (Dancing Dogs), while the range of Basquiat pieces includes 1981's New York, New York and — fittingly — a Warhol-Basquiat collaboration. [caption id="attachment_878235" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jean-Michel Basquiat 1985 © Lizzie Himmel. Artwork © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.[/caption] Although art by the three icons will provide Pop Masters with its huge drawcard, the exhibition also seeks to celebrate the ongoing legacy of pop art alongside its origins. That means including pieces by Katherine Bernhardt, Kwesi Botchway, George Condo, Damien Hirst, KAWS, Barbara Kruger, Joel Mesler, Richard Prince, Tom Sachs, Julian Schnabel, Mickalene Thomas and Tom Wesselmann — such as KAWS' 2.8-metre-tall 2018 sculpture What Party, plus Barbara Kruger's If it sees, blind it, from a section of her 2009 installation Between being born and dying in New York's Lever House. "Pop Masters: Art From the Mugrabi Collection celebrates the history of pop art, whilst examining its influence on art and artists today. We wanted to explore the intersections in the lives, ideas and practices of this significant group of artists," explains Tracy Cooper-Lavery, HOTA's Director, Gallery and Visual Arts. "Many of them knew each other, collaborated or have been influenced by each other, and we have acknowledged this in the design of the exhibition, which will see these incredible artworks in dialogue with one another." [caption id="attachment_878234" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Keith Haring by Joe McNally, Getty Images[/caption] Pop Masters has been in the making for longer than HOTA's new six-level, $60.5-million gallery has been open — the site launched in 2021 — and marks the most prestigious exhibition the venue has hosted yet. "Pop Masters has been six years in the making and HOTA is delivering a world exclusive exhibition right here on the Gold Coast," said HOTA CEO Criena Gehrke. "Over the years it has evolved into a bespoke exhibition that offers a completely unique experience. Having access to the Mugrabi family personal collection is a real privilege and the artworks rarely leave New York. We are thrilled to be bringing these iconic artists and celebrated artworks to Australia for the first time." 2023 is clearly a great year to be a Warhol fan, and to see blockbuster exhibitions beyond Australia's usual east coast capitals, with the Art Gallery of South Australia displaying Andy Warhol & Photography: A Social Media from Friday, March 3–Sunday, May 14. [caption id="attachment_804623" align="alignnone" width="1920"] default[/caption] Pop Masters: Art From the Mugrabi Collection, New York will display at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast from Saturday, February 18–Sunday, June 4, 2023. Head to the gallery's website for further details, and tickets. Top image: Santi Visalli/Getty Images.
"You wanna get through this?" asked Furiosa in the film that introduced her to the world. With the heat of a blazing sun in a desolate future Australia scorched by ecocide, the answer to that question was baked into Mad Max: Fury Road's frames. All that the characters in the dystopian franchise's fourth film in 2015 wanted was to survive, its namesake (Tom Hardy, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) and the long-running hero's new hero in Furiosa (Charlize Theron, Fast X) included. Of course, merely getting through the phenomenal George Miller (Three Thousand Years of Longing)-directed addition to a saga that the iconic Aussie filmmaker started in 1979 couldn't have been further from its audience's mind. Mad Max: Fury Road wasn't just the return of an Australian franchise three decades after its last instalment; it was the return of the Aussie franchise. It was post-apocalyptic action cinema at its most spectacular, too — and the action film that all action films are now judged against. Viewers got through it not only revved up and buzzing, but seeking more like a war boy chasing Valhalla, especially as further chapters were teased by Miller. It took nine years, but now the fifth Mad Max flick is finally racing onto silver screens: prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. As Furiosa, The Witch, Split, Emma, The Queen's Gambit, The Northman and The Menu's Anya Taylor-Joy dons a shaved scalp and grease smeared across her forehead. As Dementus, her captor from childhood — and the adversary that she devotes her pre-Fury Road life to getting revenge on— Chris Hemsworth trades a Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero for a wasteland warlord. Much to the amusement of both while they're chatting with Concrete Playground about the film, the latter can't quite leave his time as the MCU's resident hammer-wielding god behind even while he's riding a chariot made out of motorbikes across a hellscape. A cape that turns red via a flare gun's crimson smoke guarantees it. "You did bring it up," Taylor-Joy says to Hemsworth about the wardrobe choice that pushes his four Thor films, 2022's Thor: Love and Thunder being the last, to mind. "I said it to George, I go 'you know I wear red cape in that film we're trying to forget about, and that character we're trying to remove myself from?'," Hemsworth tells us. "And he said 'oh, I didn't think of that. Anyway, cool.' And I was like 'so it stays red?'. And he's like 'yeah, it stays red'." [caption id="attachment_956846" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jasin Boland[/caption] Scarlet capes aside, the only thing that anyone should be thinking about during Furiosa is Furiosa. That, and the magnificent cinematic series that Miller has been crafting for 45 years now. Back then, he didn't foresee a future for anything Mad Max. He couldn't predict the response to Fury Road, either. "You can't. It's like life; there's almost no point in trying to prognosticate," the former doctor explains to Concrete Playground. Talking through why that's the case Steven Spielberg anecdotes spanning both E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park — and charting how the technology that helped bring the Babe pictures to life (Miller scripted and produced both, and helmed sequel Babe: Pig in the City), and then the Happy Feet flicks, led him back to the world of his directorial debut. Miller hasn't just been making visions of a potential sunburnt fate that increasingly no longer feels purely fictional — especially with Fury Road and now Furiosa, he's been making dystopian magic. We also chatted with him about the route to the saga's fifth entry, plus the decision to cast Taylor-Joy instead of digitally de-ageing Theron. And, with Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth, we dived into entering such a significant franchise, living the Aussie dream, the threads that connect Furiosa and Dementus, Taylor-Joy's love for her character and why this is Hemsworth's favourite part in years. On Never Imagining 45 Years Ago That Mad Max Would Still Be Going All of This Time Later George: "Not in a million years. I mean, to be perfectly honest, the first Mad Max was so difficult to make, I didn't even think I'd make another movie — let alone make more Mad Max movies. But one thing led to the another. As John Lennon said, life is what happens when you're making other plans, and that's what happened to me. Luckily for me, the first Mad Max had some resonance with audiences — and I couldn't even figure out why. Because for me, it just wasn't anything close to what I thought was a film that would work. And then I realised 'oh, I'd better find out why' and that led me to do Mad Max 2 — which was technically and physically a much more difficult film to make, but I understood then what makes a film. I'd learned all the things I did done wrong on Mad Max. And then that basically started my lifelong inquiry into how to make films and why we make films, or why we tell stories on film. So here I am still curious about that process all these years later. Never expected to be, but here I am." On Taking on a Mesmerising Fury Road Character and Stepping Into an Iconic Australian Franchise Anya: "Oh my goodness, I think my brain does a very clever thing where anything that could possibly stop me from taking an opportunity, it just keeps in the back of my mind and I don't think about it until it's way too late. But I will say that I have a lot of friends that made Fury Road and they had one piece of advice — and it was just 'trust George'. This is a man that's been living with this character for forever. He's had this script in his mind for forever. He wasn't going to let us mess it up. He was going to deliver exactly what it is that he wanted." On Living the Aussie Dream of Starring as a Wasteland Warlord in a Mad Max Film Chris: "I remember watching these films with my dad many years ago, and the nostalgia and vivid memories I have around it is incredible. And to be not just working with George Miller, but on a Mad Max film, was kind of this pinnacle for me. And I don't know where I go from here. It may all be downhill. But it was a dream come true. I peaked too early. I'm retiring. There it is." On the Huge Response to Fury Road — and Not Being Able to Predict How Much the World Would Love the Film George: "People say set goals. The only goals you should set are what you can do in front of yourself. You can't lay out plans because life's too unpredictable in every endeavour in life, no matter what people say. That's why I think that John Lennon quote is so true, really. But on Fury Road, that was an exercise in basically realising one day that filmmaking had changed from the celluloid, analogue filmmaking, where we made the first Mad Maxes. Fury Road was a decade into the digital dispensation, which we kind of really got into fairly early with the first Babe movie. That was done at Universal Studios, which had made Jurassic Park, which was the first big movie where Steven [Spielberg] used the digital technology. There were 63 shots of dinosaurs and that basically heralded the new digital age of filmmaking. They saw what was happening with that, hadn't yet released that and said 'hey, if you guys wanted, this would be good if you wanted to shoot the pigs and the animals live action, you could do it'. So that's what got me on that path. The story is always privileged over everything else in filmmaking, but the technology and the tools are also a fascinating thing because the new technologies can really help you make films — interesting films that are in some way unique. So, almost a decade later when [Australian cinematographer] Andrew Lesnie, who shot Babe, went off to shoot Lord of the Rings, and he came back to Sydney after the first one and showed me the first motion capture of Gollum, I suddenly thought 'hey, this penguin story we've got, we can make the penguins tap dance'. And so that technology, motion capture, I'd never even heard the words before and now we could use it in animation — and so on and so on. So, by the time we got to Fury Road, all that technology, that's another decade later, almost. I thought 'holy cow, there's things we can do with a basic action film like this, we could never dream of doing way back two, three decades before'. So that led to Fury Road. You put all that you know, your skills and what you've learned along the way into a film like Fury Road. You go through the process and push it out there and people will make of it what they will — there's no other way you can do it. You can never anticipate whether a film is going to be successful or not. You really can't. I met Steven Spielberg for the first time about a month and a half before E.T. came out. He showed me a trailer of this film. I thought, 'gee, that's very moving'. I was very touched by the trailer. And he no idea at the time that it would become E.T., that it would have such a cultural impact. He was more concerned with some other film that he was working on at the time. So you can never predict. You can't tell either way. You don't know if something's going to be successful. I'm just very thankful that after Fury Road, which was a pretty arduous film to make, that it had some traction and ultimately it led us to do to make Furiosa." On Avoiding Feeling Daunted About the Massive Reaction to Fury Road While Making Its Prequel Chris, to Anya: "I get a little bit of what you were saying — you could spend your entire day kind of thinking of all the..." Anya: "Reasons not to do something." Chris: "Yeah, the consequences. And all of the should, could, etcetera. And it ends up distracting you from what you should be doing, which is just focusing on the character and the story and so on. Plus, the more films I do, I realise how much of it is just out of your control. That used to scare the hell out of me, and now I find it really comforting. I'm like 'there's a lot of people involved in this, it's not my fault'. We're all a part of this massive collaboration or jigsaw puzzle that's trying to be assembled — and it works or it doesn't, but as long as you put your heart and soul into it, then, great. If you try to take it personally and look at it like 'oh, there's this many years and so on', occasionally it's a motivation but it shouldn't be a distraction. Anya: "I'd also say rather than thinking about all of that as something that was scary, we both wanted to do this because in recent memory we'd seen Fury Road. We knew what that was. We knew what an adventure it would be and we wanted to be a part of the team that made such an incredible creation — and now we've done it. So if anything, it's just more exciting to get to work with these incredible artists." On Digging Into the Commonalities Between Furiosa and Dementus, Even Though They're Adversaries Chris: "Quite a lot in the rehearsal process, what I found so impressive from Anya, and what I take away now in that everything I do, is the how fiercely protective she was of the character Furiosa. I suggested doing something in one of the rehearsals with the younger Furiosa and she overheard and said 'hang on, hang on, no, no, no, no, no, she wouldn't take the bear. She wouldn't do this. She wouldn't do it'. And I thought 'oh wow, okay'. That was, I found, inspirational, but it also did drastically alter the way I had to then perform that action. And it was sort of to bury it [a teddy bear] within her grip and then she drops it within the film, you see, as opposed to holding on to it like I was suggesting. And so a lot of our early conversations in the rehearsals definitely, I think, spawned or dictated where these characters were going to go and evolve to or change throughout the film. That was just one thing that always stuck in my mind that I thought I was very thankful for." Anya: "Thank you for saying that, Chris, genuinely. People say that hurt people hurt people. And I think that you can explain egregious action, but I don't think that you should excuse it. That's not something that necessarily makes sense to me. So I think in this relationship, despite the fact that they both have a lot of pain, you can't argue the fact that he is a focal point for a lot of the things that have gone wrong in her life." Chris: "Yeah, it's a beautiful examination, too, of people put in traumatic situations facing adversity." Anya: "Yeah. Everyone's a victim." Chris: "But ultimately it being a decision on the individual. It's not the circumstances that define us, it's ultimately our free will and our decision to act accordingly to that thing. And two people who both have suffered but react very differently and behave very differently — I found that interesting." On Deciding Not to Use De-Ageing Technology and Instead Cast Taylor-Joy as the Younger Furiosa George: "It was a big, big issue. Once we decided to go ahead and realised that close to a decade had gone by — and this is a story that starts with Furiosa at ten and takes her to 28. It happens from childhood to adulthood, whereas Fury Road was compressed into three days and two nights, a completely different exercise in filmmaking. I thought 'gee, who are we going to find to fill those big, big shoes of Charlize?'. And then it turned out to be relatively quick because Edgar Wright showed me an early cut of the movie he'd made — Last Night in Soho, a movie he'd just done with Anya. I saw the movie. I'd seen just clips of her earlier movies, but I hadn't really seen a full movie that she'd done – and I was really struck by her presence. There's a timeless quality about her. She seemed to be very, very in the role. It was a tricky role, it involved dance, there was a lot of precision. And I turned to Edgar and talked about the movie, and then I said 'Anya, she'd be great for...' — he had no idea that I was talking about Furiosa. I said 'she'd be great for...' and before I finished the sentence, he said 'do it, do it, she's got it all, she's got it all' or some words to that effect. I asked him recently is that what he said, and he said it was something different. But my memory was 'she's got it all, she's got it all, do it'. And so I talked to her. I got to understand a little bit about how she approaches her work. She had a lot in common with Charlize. They both were skilled ballet dancers from a very young age, which is a really, really good marker for somebody who's got physical skills. They had that precision. She rode motorbikes. She came from a big family, she was the youngest of them, rode motorbikes when she was a little kid — illegally, of course — in Argentina, and so on. And then we went through the process of working on the film together, and I subsequently learned that it was the right decision, because she was equal to the task — and not only to take on what Charlize had done, but who could match what Chris did with Dementus. These two adversaries had to be evenly matched from the top to the end of the movie, and she was able to do that. I think the movie depends on them both being worthy adversaries." On Conveying So Much of Furiosa's Story Without Words Anya: "It's really extraordinary — characters have always been real for me, and I think with each script I understand how I'll be able to tell the story. Sometimes I'm a little bit ahead of them, and so I can tell it more with hindsight. And with this script, I just knew straight away that I was going to have to tell it in real time — that it was just going to feel very real for me and I'd have to experience it, and that's how I was going to be able to bring the truth of this story to light. I will say that I'm so grateful to both Chris and George for just respecting how much I cared about her. Like, I was really fighting for her every single step of the way, and rather than seeing it as something intense, they saw it as something beautiful — and I really appreciated that. On Hemsworth Getting His Favourite Role to Play Since He Was in Rush Chris: "I think like Rush, when I did Rush, I had just done Thor and a few other things, action films, and it was the great departure from that space. And look, I love playing Thor and if the opportunity came up and there was a story, I'd love to do again. But I definitely feel like I've also run out of ideas with it, whereas this just spawned an abundance of the creativity in me, which I sort of had forgotten about, I think. And it gave me an opportunity to experiment and try different things and lose myself in a role, and get back to the joyful playfulness that we have as kids — and just experimenting with removing the critic and that judgmental voice and just having fun. As odd as that may sound, because he's a murdering psychopath, but it was enjoyable. This is what acting's about. It's about transportation and inhabiting other spaces and someone else's shoes." Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Read our review.
Whether you're currently in lockdown or not, a lot of the world's most exciting and wondrous attractions are off limits right now. Thankfully — in these self-isolating, social distancing, closed borders times — many of the globe's top museums, galleries and landmarks offer virtual tours. Want to ogle the National Gallery of Victoria's collections? See the Smithsonian's dinosaur fossils? Check out the Sistine Chapel? That's all as easy clicking a few buttons. Whether you're eager to experience Japan's luminous digital art museum or peer at cute critters in a zoo, you can spend a night — or day — at a museum, gallery or other culturally significant spot from the comfort of your couch. Here are ten highlights to get you started — and if you're keen on others, Google Arts and Culture will point you in the direction of even more. THE LOUVRE Nothing really compares to visiting The Louvre and standing in front of the Mona Lisa yourself, your eyes roving across the Leonardo da Vinci-painted artwork's enigmatic smile. Now, for the first time, the Parisian venue is allowing you to experience it virtually with a Mona Lisa VR experience. If you are equipped with a next-level VR setup, you can explore a bunch of the gallery's exhibitions online. Via its virtual options, wander through exhibitions exploring the relationship between art and political power, Renaissance artworks and myths told through art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRDEmb5Eo_Y&t=7s VAN GOGH MUSEUM If you missed out on Van Gogh Alive's first run of Australian shows, Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is home to the largest collection of the artist's work in the world, including more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 750 letters. That's a hefty array, which you can peer at yourself via Google Arts & Culture's virtual tour. Yes, Sunflowers is one of them, although there's plenty of inimitable artistry also on display in his other still life pieces, landscapes and other painted scenes. Rove around at your own pace, then zoom in to see the detail and read the accompanying descriptive plaques. And if you're eager for an overview first, you can check out the museum's YouTube tour as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmVeh4fS2HQ&t=14s TEAMLAB BORDERLESS DIGITAL ART MUSEUM The word 'immersive' gets thrown around much too often these days, but if anywhere deserves the term, it's TeamLab's Borderless Digital Art Museum. Sprawled across a Tokyo warehouse, this eye-catching venue fills every available surface with moving, changing and interactive artworks — so you can watch flowers bloom across the floor, wall and ceiling; then sit and stare at the ocean's waves crashing through a room; then roam through lit-up lily pads. Or, thanks to its hefty array of YouTube videos, you can get a taste of its vibrant installations from home. TeamLab's online archive also includes materials from its many other exhibitions beyond its Tokyo base's borders and, while they're each only a minute or two long, there's plenty to choose from. Make sure you have your sound on, too. THE SMITHSONIAN As you live through a historic global event, why not spend some time exploring the planet's natural history? That's what The Smithsonian is all about, with more than 145 million specimens and artifacts in its collections. And while you can't see them all in its online tour, you can virtually mosey through its current, previous and permanent displays. That means dinosaurs, of course. Peering at a stegosaurus' spikes or a tyrannosaurus rex's face is still just as impressive when you're doing it via your phone or computer. It also means everything from butterflies and bones to gems and humanity's origins — and, if it isn't too grim for you at present, there's also an exhibition dedicated to outbreaks, epidemics and the spread of diseases. NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA Maybe you're a Melburnian who has been keen to visit the National Gallery of Victoria's current big exhibitions. Perhaps you live elsewhere, but had a trip to the Victorian capital in your future — including to the NGV. With the gallery currently closed, that's obviously off the cards; however you can still take a gander at last year's blockbuster Triennial, the Tiwi Islands off the coast of Darwin and Japanese Modernism. Just head to the new NGV Channel, where curator-led tours are being added to the online library on an ongoing basis. A whopping 75,000 pieces from the NGV Collection are also available as well, so you'll really feel like you're actually there. [caption id="attachment_765593" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Sturm via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] MUSEU DE ARTE DE SAO PAULO Think you know what all museums and art galleries look like in broad, general, overall terms? Think again. Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or MASP, doesn't simply put its many artworks on its walls. Instead, it places them on crystal sheets anchored by concrete blocks, in a design that's meant to emulate an artist's easel — and then spreads them through large, cavernous rooms. That makes looking at the site's paintings, sculptures, photographs and other objects a completely different experience, even when you're doing so online. If you take the tour via the Google Arts and Culture app for iOS or Android, you can also explore a virtual reality component to really make you feel like you're there. [caption id="attachment_765594" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Jean-Christophe Benoist via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] THE SISTINE CHAPEL The Sistine Chapel boasts as much stunning artwork as any other gallery or museum. More than some, in fact. And, via the Vatican's online tour, you can scope it for as long as you like — and take in the immense detail on Michelangelo's wall-to-wall frescoes, of course — without crowds or time limits. These pieces have glistened for more than five centuries and, as absolutely everyone knows, they comprise quite the sight. After you're done perusing, scrolling around and zooming in, you can also explore other museums, wings and chapels in the Vatican thanks to the rest of its virtual offerings. If you're keen not just on art and sculpture, but on architecture, prepare to be in your element. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hunddVoMjo SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE When it comes to visiting the Sydney Opera House without physically visiting it, you have multiple online viewing options. Take the 360-degree tour, and you can jump around Australia's most iconic landmark at your own pace — and check out a number of online exhibits, too. You can watch the YouTube video tour accompanied by a the soundtrack that usually echoes through the opera houses' halls, or steam a range of gigs and talks on its new streaming service. No matter how you explore, you'll see the venue as you've never seen it before, which is one of the joys of going virtual. You mightn't peer into every nook and cranny while you're actually there but, via remote means, who's going to stop you? BLARNEY CASTLE Who doesn't wish they were holed up in a castle right about now? Dating back to 1210 originally and 1446 in its current form, Ireland's Blarney Castle is up there with the best of them — and, as its name gives away, it's home to a very famous attraction. Located at the top of its tower, the Blarney Stone is supposed to bestow anyone who kisses it with the gift of eloquence. You can't lock lips with it virtually, of course, but perhaps staring at the site in general will do the same thing? On the castle's online tour, you'll also explore its stony interiors and sprawling gardens (and likely feel like you've stumbled into an episode of Game of Thrones). SAN DIEGO ZOO Sometimes, you just need to watch adorable animals go about their business. Actually, as the internet's never-ending stream of cat and dog videos firmly shows, there's never a bad time to lock your peepers on a cute critter. Absolutely everyone feels this way, because of course they do — which is where San Diego Zoo's live webcams, which peer into several animal enclosures all day long, come in. Check out majestic elephants as they swing their trunks, watch African penguins scamper around and see polar bears snoozing happily. You can also catch apes and baboons for your monkey fix, see condors fly about, and get a dose of big cats in the tiger enclosure. Oh, and if you want to spend some time staring at an Australian animal, there's also a koala cam as well.
Mazel tov ladies and gentlemen, for you have made it through the treacherous waters of 2016 and arrived at your destination: the end of the year, aka Christmas. This year we've had Turnbull, Trump, plane crashes, fires and earthquakes. We've said a teary adios to Bowie, Prince, Alan Rickman, and that nice lady from The Brady Bunch. Even Leonard Cohen has left the building. Perhaps what the world needs now is a little good karma to start 2017 off right — and you can do your bit towards righting the out of whack good-bad scales, starting with your Christmas shopping. This Christmas, why not bypass Myer and shop for a better cause than looking great on New Year's Eve? There are easy ways to do something a little bit nice for the world, and you don't have to spend a fortune. Below, we've put together a list of gifts sold by companies that use the proceeds to give back to charity or the community. If you're shopping online, you can even use this handy browser extension by Folo that gives a proportion of what you spend to a charity you nominate. The warm and fuzzy feelings are complimentary. [caption id="attachment_601295" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Thomas Martiinsen.[/caption] A BOTTLE OF SAV BLANC FROM GOODWILL WINES Wine is the sort of Christmas gift that will never go astray (unless your giftee is under the legal drinking age — best avoid that). Instead of going to Dan Murphy's, buy the annual bottle of Savvy B for Aunt Judy from Goodwill Wines, who are this year donating proceeds from certain wines to Animals Australia. Tasty wine and saving cute little puppies – Aunty J will be extra happy. goodwillwine.com.au A DOZEN ROLLS OF DELIGHTFULLY PATTERNED TOILET PAPER FROM WHO GIVES A CRAP Who gives a crap? Well, everyone should. Who Gives A Crap, who are A+ toilet paper suppliers all year-round (they donate 50 percent of profits to building toilets for those in need and save trees by only using recycled paper, bamboo and sugarcane fibres in their paper), also provide very viable Christmas pressie options. This year they put together a special holiday-themed print, but unfortunately they've all sold out already. Either way, their regular print is pretty cute, so give your Dad a dozen rolls or splash out on your sharehouse and chuck a 48-pack into your cart — we can guarantee that it'll be appreciated after turkey feasts on Christmas Day. au.whogivesacrap.org A MONTHLY SOCK SUBSCRIPTION FROM SOCIAL SOCK CLUB Buy your family or friends something worthwhile for both their toes and those in need — that is, a subscription to the Social Sock Club. One pair of socks a month is sent to the lucky person's door and, for every pair bought, another is donated to a homeless shelter or person on the street. It'll be a sock surprise bonanza once a month for whomever you're gifting, but a dear necessity for someone who needs them, too. socialsockclub.com A COOKBOOK FROM OZHARVEST The OzHarvest Urban Harvest Cookbook is the sort of cookbook that, while benefiting those who have tiny gardens on balconies in apartment blocks, also does more important work. Each purchase from OzHarvest aids their work of collecting perishable food excess from retail outlets and delivering it to charities across Australia — just one book purchase will help deliver 120 meals. ozharvest.com PYJAMAS FROM ONE NIGHT STAND Sleepwear generally finds itself into Santa stockings everywhere, so perhaps mix up the Kmart tradition a little by shopping from One Night Stand. Founded in Melbourne by Jamie Green, One Night Stand produces beautiful sleepwear with a big donation impact: 50 percent of their profits go to providing shelter and employment for young people sleeping rough. And, for every purchase, one meal is provided to a person in need. It's a win-win-win. onenightstandsleepwear.com.au DOGGY BANDANAS FROM EDGAR'S MISSION Edgar's Mission has long been a mainstay of the fight for humane lives for animals, with their sanctuary in Victoria playing home to a bunch of rescued, adorable, fluffy pals. Their mission is kindness, and you can take a leaf out of their worthy book this holiday season by either getting your pooch a snappy bandana, or buying someone a Gift of Kindness for Christmas — that is, a donation in their honour. This year, someone incredibly generous is matching all the donations Edgar's receives so there's no better time than now. edgarsmission.org.au A BACKPACK BED FROM SWAGS The Australian-made Backpack Bed is the most awarded ultra lightweight camping tent in the world, so buying one for your mate for their upcoming summer camping trip wouldn't go astray at all — especially as all the profits go to homeless projects. And, while you're at it, you can also donate one to a homeless person at the same time. A bed is an incredibly useful life necessity that many people couldn't do without, and if you're sleeping on the streets, having a Backpack Bed might just make the difference between life and death. Something to think about. swags.org.au AN UGLY RASHIE FROM KOZII AND THE CANCER COUNCIL What's Christmas for, if not wearing ugly things elderly relatives have hand made for you? This season you can tote around a bit of ugliness for a better cause than placating the oldies, and it's all down to the Ugly Xmas Rashie — a rash vest made in the pattern and colours of a Christmas sweater. Buy one for yourself or a family member, make sure you sport it on your next beach day, and rest assured all your dollars go to the Cancer Council Australia and their research. uglyxmasrashie.com.au [caption id="attachment_602546" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Hoo Doo Lou Lou on Etsy.[/caption] CRAFTY GOODIES FROM ETSY This season's Make For Good collection on Etsy is created by crafty Australian folk who also strive to empower females. The collection donates at least 20 percent of every sale towards the Because I am a Girl campaign — a movement devoted to ending violence against women and girls, and which advocates for full and equal rights for men and women. Make For Good has enough lovely jewellery, homewares and arty bits and bobs to appease your whole Christmas list, so get choosing. etsy.com/au A CANDLE FROM ENROU Enrou is an American website offering heaps of gift options that give back, but to start with, try their Prosperity Candle range. Each candle comes with a guarantee that its purchase provides employment for Burmese refugee women in Massachusetts, and the hours of work put into each product are listed too. The Atesby Votive Candle even comes with a little story card of the woman who created it, so anonymous internationally-made goods are a thing of the past over here. enrou.co
UPDATE, July 26, 2020: Charlie's Angels is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. The first line of Charlie's Angels circa 2019, uttered by a glammed-up Kristen Stewart, makes a statement. "I think women can do anything," Stewart's Sabina Wilson tells Australian Jonny (Chris Pang), responding to his smug assertions otherwise. Naturally, Sabina is swiftly forced to prove her point. The film she's in conveys this notion across its duration, too, although not always in the way that it intends. Written and directed by Elizabeth Banks (as well as co-starring the actor-turned-filmmaker), the third iteration of Charlie's Angels embraces the idea that women can do whatever they please — and, more importantly, that women needn't fit any mould. And yet, by emphasising these messages in a movie that's largely generic, there's an emptiness behind the film's empowering words. Sabina's altercation with Jonny is just the action-packed picture's opening punch. A year later, when computer programmer Elena Houghlin (Naomi Scott) seeks the Angels' help, the movie kicks its main narrative into gear. Meeting with Bosley (Djimon Hounsou), Elena explains that she's been working on a revolutionary clean-energy project, but it can be weaponised — and, just as it's about to hit the shelves, her boss (Nat Faxon) is hiding that fact from his boss (Sam Claflin). When, mid-conversation, a tattooed henchman (Jonathan Tucker) starts shooting Elena and Bosley's way, the main Angels swoop in. Soon, Sabina and no-nonsense ex-MI6 agent Jane Kano (Ella Balinska) are protecting Elena, trying to save the world and showing their new friend the wig-wearing, outfit-changing, globe-trotting, go-get-'em-girl spy ropes. Four decades since the initial Charlie's Angels hit the small screen, and nearly 20 years after the first two films brought the concept to cinemas, this feisty espionage franchise sports a few superficial changes. Like Men In Black (albeit far more convincingly), the Angels have gone international in this reboot-slash-revival (it introduces a new team, but exists in the same world as its predecessors). Plus, Bosley is now a rank rather than a specific person. So, Patrick Stewart also plays a Bosley. He's the retiring senior figure, as well as the man who spread the organisation's wings. Banks is a Bosley too, with her character overseeing Sabina, Jane and Elena's mission, singing day drinking's praises and stressing that there's nothing wrong with needing a hug in a time of crisis. That sentiment from Banks also makes a statement — one that's as crucial as KStew's opening words. Charlie's Angels is guilty of including a few easy female stereotypes (a love of cheese and a fondness for big wardrobes, for example); however it also highlights that being formidable and being vulnerable aren't polar opposites. From Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson to Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz, viewers have already seen previous Angels demonstrate different strengths and play dress-up as different kinds of women. Here, they let their multi-faceted personalities shine. Each of the new Angels does this in their own way, and it's a meaningful touch. It's also something that isn't always part of the 'strong female lead' package, with Hollywood frequently struggling to realise that proficient and powerful women aren't one-dimensional. With that in mind, Stewart, Balinska and Scott make a lively crew. While Stewart provides the off-screen star power, the three actors share the on-screen spotlight. Indeed, although Stewart is set up to steal scenes as the goofiest member of the group — playing against her usual type of late (see: Clouds of Sils Maria, Certain Women and Personal Shopper) — her co-stars make as much of a splash. Balinska cracks Jane's stern exterior, but never lets either her tough or open sides seem like a flaw. Scott, already a standout in this year's live-action Aladdin remake, plays the awkward but capable newcomer with charm. Banks often saddles the three leads with stating the obvious and relaying exposition, but they're a trio that audiences won't mind spending time with. And, in resurrecting a decades-old property, that's really the movie's main point. It's an incredibly timely moment to be back in the Charlie's Angels game, as Banks clearly recognises, but her task isn't simple. Sitting in the director's chair for the second time (after Pitch Perfect 2), she's charged with updating the series in-line with today's #MeToo mindset, and also reviving a potential cash cow. Filmmaking is a business, so the second part of the equation was always going to weigh heavier than the first for Sony. Cue action scenes that, though energetic and well-executed, rarely leave an imprint — especially given that nicely choreographed espionage antics are oh-so-common cinema fodder these days. Cue an overall mood that's perky, dips into thoughtful territory, yet still has a noticeable cookie-cutter vibe. And, of course, cue an engaging-enough but inescapably standard movie that's primarily here to whet appetites for more sassy girl-power antics to come. Yep, amidst the many things that women can do, they can star in passable franchise scene-setters as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKeRgPPQcoc
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 nine that you can watch right now at home. THE KILLER A methodical opening credits sequence that's all about the finer points, as seen in slivers and snippets, set to industrial strains that can only stem from Trent Reznor, with David Fincher and Andrew Kevin Walker's names adorning the frame, for a film about a murderer being chased. In 1995, Se7en began with that carefully and commandingly spliced-together mix — and magnificently. Fincher and Walker now reteam for the first time since for The Killer, another instantly gripping thriller that starts in the same fashion. It also unfurls as a cat-and-mouse game with a body count, while sporting an exceptional cast and splashing around (exactingly, of course) the full scope of Fincher's filmmaking mastery. This movie's protagonist is detail-obsessive to a calculating degree, and the director bringing him to cinematic life from Matz's graphic novels of the same name also keeps earning that description. The Fight Club, The Social Network and Mank helmer couldn't be more of a perfectionist about assembling The Killer just so, and the feature couldn't be more of a testament to his meticulousness. Fincher's love of crime and mysteries between Se7en and The Killer has gifted audiences The Game, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and Mindhunter, which have always felt like different books from a series rather than a director flipping through the same tome over and over. So it is with Michael Fassbender's long-awaited return to the screen after a four-year absence — X-Men: Dark Phoenix was has his last credit before this — which sees Fincher and his star aping each other in an array of ways. As well as being oh-so-drawn to minutiae, as the eponymous character reinforces in his wry narration, this duo of filmmaker and fictional assassin-for-hire are precise and compulsive about refashioning something new with favourite tools. For The Killer, it's fresh avenues to fulfill his deadly occupation until everything goes awry. For the man who kicked off his feature career with Alien³ and now collaborates with a Prometheus and Alien: Covenant alum, it's plying his own trade, too. The Killer is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PAST LIVES Call it fate, call it destiny, call it deeply feeling like you were always meant to cross paths with someone: in Korean, that sensation is in-yeon. Partway through Past Lives, aspiring writer Nora (Greta Lee, Russian Doll) explains the concept to fellow scribe Arthur (John Magaro, The Many Saints of Newark) like she knows it deep in her bones, because both she and the audience are well-aware that she does. That's what writer/director Celine Song's sublime feature debut is about from its first frames to its last. With Arthur, Nora jokes that in-yeon is something that Koreans talk about when they're trying to seduce someone. There's truth to her words, because she'll end up married to him. But with her childhood crush Hae Sung (Teo Yoo, Decision to Leave), who she last saw at the age of 12 because her family then moved from Seoul to Toronto, in-yeon explains everything. It sums up their firm connection as kids, the instant spark that ignites when they reunite in their 20s via emails and Skype calls, and the complicated emotions that swell when they're finally in the same place together again after decades — even with Arthur in the picture as well. Song also emigrated to Canada with her parents as a pre-teen, but achieves that always-sought-after feat: making a movie that feels so intimately specific to its characters, and yet resonates so heartily and universally. Each time that Nora and Hae Sung slide back into each other's lives, it feels like no time has passed, but that doesn't smooth their way forward. Crafted to resemble slipping into a memory, complete with lingering looks and a transportingly evocative score, this feature knows every emotion that springs when you need someone and vice versa, but life has other plans. It feels the weight of the roads not taken, even when you're happy with the route you're on. It's a film about details — spying them everywhere, in Nora and Hae Sung's lives and their faces, while recognising how the best people in anyone's orbits spot them as well. Lee, Yoo and Magaro are each magnetic and magnificent, as is everything about this sensitive, blisteringly honest and intimately complex masterpiece. Past Lives is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE CREATOR Science fiction has never been afraid of unfurling its futuristic visions on the third rock from the sun, but the resulting films have rarely been as earthy as The Creator. Set from 2065 onwards, after the fiery destruction of Los Angeles that could've come straight out of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this tale of humanity battling artificial intelligence is visibly awash with technology that doesn't currently exist — and yet the latest movie from Monsters, Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards couldn't look or feel more authentic and grounded. That isn't a minor feat. And, it doesn't simply stem from making a sci-fi flick with heart, which isn't a new move. Don't underestimate the epic yet intimate impact of seeing bold imaginings of what may come that have been lovingly and stunningly integrated with the planet's inherent splendour, engrained in everyday lives, and meticulously ensure that the line between what the camera can capture and special effects can create can't be spotted; The Creator hasn't. So, as undercover military operative Joshua (John David Washington, Amsterdam) is tasked with saving the world — that go-to science-fiction setup — robots walk and talk, spaceships hover, and everything from cars to guns are patently dissimilar to the planet's present state. Flesh-and-blood people aren't the only characters with emotional journeys and stakes, either, with AI everywhere. Even if The Creator didn't tell its viewers so, there's zero doubting that its events aren't taking place in the here and now. Edwards and cinematographers Greig Fraser (The Batman) and Oren Soffer (Fixation) know how to make this flight of fancy both appear and seem tangible, though. Indeed, The Creator earns a term that doesn't often come sci-fi's way when it comes to aesthetics: naturalistic. Also don't underestimate how gloriously and immersively that the film's striking and sprawling southeast Asian shooting locations not only gleam, but anchor the story. The Creator is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. FINGERNAILS In the world of Fingernails, 'Only You' isn't just a 1982 pop song that was made famous by Yazoo, is easy to get stuck in your head, and is now heard in this film in both French and English. It's also the philosophy that the first English-language feature by Apples filmmaker Christos Nikou has subscribed its characters to as it cooks up a sci-fi take on romance. In a setup somewhat reminiscent of Elizabeth Holmes' claims to have revolutionised blood testing (see: The Dropout), Fingernails proposes an alternative present where love can be scientifically diagnosed. All that's needed: an extracted plate of keratin, aka the titular digit-protecting covering. At organisations such as The Love Institute, couples willingly have their nails pulled out — one apiece — then popped into what resembles a toaster oven to receive their all-important score. Only three results are possible, with 100 percent the ultimate in swooning, 50 percent meaning that only one of the pair is head over heels and the unwanted zero a harbinger of heartbreak. When Fingernails begins, it's been three years since teacher Anna (Jessie Buckley, Women Talking) and her partner Ryan (Jeremy Allen White, The Bear) underwent the exam, with the long-term duo earning the best possible outcome — a score that's coveted but rare. Around them, negative results have led to breakups and divorces as society's faith is placed not in hearts and souls, but in a number, a gimmick and some tech gadgetry (one of the sales pitches, though, is that finding out before getting hitched will stop failed marriages). As their friends go the retesting route — satirising the need for certainty in affairs of the heart pumps firmly through this movie's veins — Anna hasn't been able to convince Ryan to attend The Love Institute as a client. She's soon spending her days there, however, feeding her intrigue with the whole scenario as an employee. When she takes a job counselling other pairs towards hopeful ever-after happiness, she keeps the career shift from her own significant other. Quickly, she has something else she can't tell Ryan: a blossoming bond with her colleague Amir (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal). Fingernails is available to stream via Apple TV+. Read our full review. FAIR PLAY Getting engaged isn't meant to be bloody, but that's how Fair Play starts: with joy, love, passion and bodily fluids. What is and isn't supposed to happen is a frequent theme in writer/director Chloe Domont's feature debut, an erotic thriller set both within the heady relationship between Emily (Phoebe Dynevor, Bridgerton) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich, Oppenheimer), and also in the slick, fast-paced, high-stakes world of New York finance — familiar territory for its Billions alum filmmaker, who also has Suits and Ballers on her resume. The blood arrives via a bathroom tryst at Luke's brother's (Buck Braithwaite, Flowers in the Attic: The Origin) wedding. He pops under her dress, she has her period, he drops the ring that he was going to propose with, she says yes, and next they're betrothed and fleeing out the window to go home. Staged to feel woozily, authentically romantic, the occasion seems perfect to this head-over-heels pair anyway, even if it leaves their clothes stained. Yes, Domont is playing with symbolism from the outset. Lust isn't a problem for Emily and Luke, clearly, but they've become experts at keeping everything about being together away from work out of necessity. The duo each chases big dreams at the same hedge fund, which has a firm no-dating policy for its employees. So, when they wake up, dress and step out the door the next day, they go their separate ways to end up at the one place — and Emily's finger is glaringly bare. Then something that they've both been hoping would happen does: a portfolio manager sitting above their analyst positions is fired. Next comes a development that they've each felt was meant to occur, too, with the word spreading around the office that's led by the icy Campbell (Eddie Marsan, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) and his yes-man flunkey Paul (Rich Sommer, Minx) that Luke is in line for a promotion to fill the new vacancy. But when it turns out that it's Emily that's getting promoted instead, everything changes. Fair Play is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PAIN HUSTLERS Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) is Pain Hustlers best star. Chris Evans (Ghosted), Catherine O'Hara (Elemental), Andy Garcia (Expend4bles), Brian d'Arcy James (Love & Death) and Chloe Coleman (Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves) all leave an imprint as well in this pharma drama, but Blunt is the movie's knockout. She steps into the shoes of Liza Drake. Relentlessly adapting is the Floridian's normality; she's a single mother to teenager Phoebe (Coleman), who has epilepsy that requires surgical treatment that Liza can't afford, and also lives in her sister's garage while stringing together cash from whichever jobs she can find. It's at one such gig as an exotic dancer, where her talent for sizing up a scenario and making the most of it is rather handy, that Pete Brenner (Evans) crosses her path. He wants more than her barside banter, proposing that she comes to work for him. If he didn't want her to genuinely take it up, catapult his employer to success and have them in murky territory, he shouldn't have made the offer. Also apparent in Pain Hustlers: the latest on-screen takedown of the pharmaceutical industry and corresponding interrogation of the opioid crisis, aka one of pop culture's current topics du jour. Indeed, in only his second non-Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film since 2007 (the other: The Legend of Tarzan), director David Yates happily relies upon the fact that this realm is common ire-inducing knowledge no matter whether you've read journalist Evan Hughes' coverage of Insys Therapeutics — including 'The Pain Hustlers', a New York Times Magazine article, then The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup, the non-fiction book that followed. First-time screenwriter Wells Tower draws upon both, but similarly knows that his fictionalisation rattles around a heavily populated domain. Stunning documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed earned an Oscar nomination, miniseries Dopesick picked up an Emmy, and both Painkiller and The Fall of the House of Usher have hit Netflix in 2023 — as will Pain Hustlers — while diving into the same subject. Pain Hustlers is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. IT LIVES INSIDE What's more terrifying than standing out at high school? It Lives Inside scares up an answer. Here, fitting in with the popular kids has haunting costs — literally — as Indian American teen Samidha (Megan Suri, Never Have I Ever) discovers. Her story starts as all memorable movies should: with a sight that's rarely seen on-screen. While beauty routines are familiar-enough film fodder, watching Sam shave her arms, then use skin tone-lightening filters on her photos, instantly demonstrates the lengths that she's going to for schoolyard approval. Among the white girls that she now calls friends, she also prefers to go by Sam. At home, she's increasingly hesitant to speak Hindi with her parents Inesh (Vik Sahay, Lodge 49) and Poorna (Neeru Bajwa, Criminal). And when it comes to preparing for and celebrating the Hindu ritual of puja, Sam would rather be elsewhere with Russ (Gage Marsh, Big Sky), the boy that she's keen on. It Lives Inside's frights don't spring from razors and social media, or from shortened names and superficial classmates; however, each one underscores how far that Sam is moving away from her heritage. Worse: they indicate how eagerly she's willing to leave her culture behind, too, a decision that's affected her childhood bond with Tamira (Mohana Krishnan, The Summer I Turned Pretty). As their school's only students with Indian backgrounds, they were once happily inseparable. Now Sam considers Tamira a walking reminder of everything that she's trying to scrub from her American identity. Keeping to herself — skulking around clutching a jar filled with a strange black substance, and virtually hiding behind her unbrushed hair — the latter has become the class outcast. So, when she asks Sam for help, of course no is the answer, a response that sparks consequences in this unease-dripping feature debut from writer/director Bishal Dutta. It Lives Inside is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM Before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Seth Rogen and his regular behind-the-camera collaborator Evan Goldberg had more than a few hands in Sausage Party. Lewd and crude isn't their approach with pop culture's pizza-eating, sewer-dwelling, bandana-wearing heroes in a half shell, however. Instead, the pair is in adoring throwback mode. They co-write and co-produce. Platonic's Rogen also lends his vocals — but to warthog Bebop, not to any of TMNT: MM's fab four. That casting move is telling; this isn't a raunched-up, star voice-driven take on family-friendly fare like Strays and Ted, even when it's gleefully irreverent. Rather, it's a loving reboot spearheaded by a couple of patent fans who were the exact right age when turtle power was the schoolyard's biggest late-80s and early-90s force, and want to do Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo justice. Affection seeps through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem as pivotally as ooze, the reason that there's even any adolescent marine reptiles that aren't at all like most of their species, and are also skilled in Japanese martial arts, within the franchise's narrative. Slime might visibly glow in this new animated TMNT movie, but the love with which the film has been made is equally as luminous. Indeed, the Spider-Verse-esque artwork makes that plain, openly following in the big-screen cartoon Spidey saga's footsteps. As it visually resembles lively high school notebook sketches under director Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs the Machines) and Kyler Spears' (Amphibia) guidance, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem feels exactly like the result of Rogen and Goldberg seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, wondering how Leo and company would fare in a picture that aimed for the same visual flair, then making it happen. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. A HAUNTING IN VENICE Poirot goes horror in A Haunting in Venice. As unsettling as it was in its pointlessness and indulgence, Death on the Nile's moustache origin story doesn't quite count as doing the same. With Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) back directing, producing and starring as the hirsute Belgian sleuth for the third time — 2017's Murder on the Orient Express came first — Agatha Christie's famous detective now gets steeped in gothic touches and also scores the best outing yet under his guidance. The source material: the acclaimed mystery writer's 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party. Returning screenwriter Michael Green (Jungle Cruise) has given the book more than a few twists, the canal-lined Italian setting being one. Venice makes an atmospheric locale, especially on October 31, in the post-World War II era and amid a dark storm. But perhaps the most important move that A Haunting in Venice makes is Branagh reining in the showboating that became so grating in his first two Poirot movies. In relocating to the sinking island city and withdrawing from the whodunnit game, his new status quo when the film begins, A Haunting in Venice's Poirot has already done his own toning down. It's 1947, a decade after the events seen in A Death on the Nile, and bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio, The Translators) helps keep life quiet by sending away everyone who seeks the sleuth's help. The exception: Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey, Only Murders in the Building), a Christie surrogate who is not only also a celebrated author, but writes crime fiction based on Poirot (with Fey slipping into her shoes, she's a playful source of humour, too). When the scribe comes a-knocking, it's with an invite to a séance, where she's hoping that her pal will help her to discredit the medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once), who has the town talking. Then there's a death, pointed fingers and a need for Poirot's skills. A Haunting in Venice is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies of 2023 so far
UPDATE Friday, July 23: Anchovy's dining room might be closed for now, but its pop-up window is open for business, slinging a daily-changing banh mi menu Wednesday through Monday, for as long as lockdown continues and including the week beginning Monday, July 26. Check their Instagram to see what's headlining each day and swing past from 11am to pick up your bahn mi. Recent creations have included Manchurian-spiced roast pumpkin, turmeric chicken and a jungle spice pork sausage number. For more details on Victoria's current restrictions, see the Department of Health and Human Services website. Anchovy is chef Thi Le's baby. With a CV that includes Cumulus Inc., Luxembourg, Supernormal Canteen and Sydney's Universal, it's fair to say that Thi has earned her stripes alongside some of the best in the industry. She's responsible for The Dinner Project, a charity initiative that, after starting in Sydney, was brought down to Melbourne with her. The not-for-profit venture aims to raise money and community awareness for charities through delicious dinners. Passionate chefs donate their time, suppliers donate their produce and all profits go to charitable organisations around Melbourne. But now she has her own place. Describing the food as driven by her South East Asian roots, but still "influenced by contemporary cooking techniques and modern Australian cuisine", the menu is delightfully simple; light bites are followed by more substantial plates and then three mains. Naturally, all are designed to be shared. When every dish that comes out is your new favourite flavour, you know you're onto something good. Welcomed with mint tea to prepare the palate, there were sighs of enjoyment from the first bite of wok-tossed garlic shoots with spiced salt ($5). These were quickly followed by Vietnamese blood pudding: little sausages nestled in hybrid cosberg lettuce and topped with slivers of preserved ginger ($8 each). If ever you've had reservations about blood pudding, now is the time to cast them aside — these viet-style herbed delights are both creamy and also very light. Steamed clams ($23) are served in a turmeric and dill broth, which is both savoury and earthy, and incredible. Drink straight from the bowl kind of incredible. In the upward curve of gastronomic bliss, the shared main dish of braised goat, preserved bean curd, and taro in young coconut sauce ($28) is nothing sort of rapturous. But that's not all — there's dessert. Keeping it simple with two choices, the caramelised pear, toasted rice milk sorbet and ginger seals the deal ($12). Thi Le knows her flavours and she's not afraid to use them. The decor might be sparse — all white walls, clean lines and dropped industrial bulbs — but the staff are welcoming, knowledgeable and heart-warmingly proud to talk about the food and beverages on offer. With a range of local and imported wines and beers and an exotic and inspired cocktail list, it's easy to make a night of it here. Fridays and Saturdays are already busy, so reservations are highly recommended.
Martin Scorsese has given the world many things. He made Robert De Niro's film career, and also made sure Leonardo DiCaprio isn't just that guy from Growing Pains, Romeo + Juliet and Titanic. He's crafted some of the most influential movies of the last five decades, chronicled music over the same timespan and championed the history of cinema, too. There's a reason that you only need to refer to him by his last name. He's a creative force to be reckoned with — and, though many have tried, there's no one quite like him. In addition to all of the above — or, more accurately, because of it — he's the focus of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image's latest showcase, SCORSESE. For four months, ACMI will be decking its halls with a celebration of his cinematic impact, lining its shelves with hundreds of Scorsese trinkets, and filling its screens with his tales of wolves, bulls, butchers and taxi drivers. Of course, that's not all there is to the Scorsese experience — and no, we're not just talking about watching his movies. Before you visit the SCORSESE exhibition, we have a few pieces of Scorsese homework to get you well and truly prepared. Visiting New York and becoming besties with De Niro and DiCaprio isn't on our list, but if you want to try and make that happen, we're not going to stop you. LISTEN TO A SCORSESE PLAYLIST Scorsese has been quote as saying: "Music and film are inseparable. They always have been and always will be." And his career is a testament to that statement. From the moment 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' starts playing in Mean Streets to the way 'I'm Shipping Up to Boston' is used in The Departed, the soundtracks to Scorsese's movies have always proven as important as the narratives. The list goes on — and that's not even including references to his films in songs, as heard in the Arctic Monkeys' 'Knee Socks', for example. If you don't know where to start, try working through the back catalogues of The Band, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and George Harrison, all of whom have featured in Scorsese-directed documentaries and concert films. You'll also find more than one Scorsese playlist on Spotify. DISCOVER THE MOVIES THAT SHAPED HIS TASTES Filmmakers don't just make films — they watch them, too. They've grown up watching them, as Scorsese did, starting as an asthma-afflicted child who would go to the cinema because he couldn't take part in more active pursuits. That could be why he has always been so eager to rattle off his favourite flicks, with the internet overflowing with lists of his horror, must-see and all-time picks. Working your way through his selections is a good way to brush up on your movie history in general, but why not take it a step further? Scorsese has also directed and hosted two documentaries — A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies and My Voyage to Italy — that step through his thoughts and feelings about the cinema both hailing from his US homeland and linked to his Italian heritage. COOK HIS MOTHER'S RECIPES Back in 1974, Scorsese made a 49-minute documentary called Italianamerican. His parents, Charles and Catherine, feature heavily, chatting about their experiences as Italian migrants living in New York as they eat dinner. Catherine — who also pops up in Mean Streets, The King of Comedy, After Hours, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence and Casino — also talks through her meatballs recipe, which Scorsese then listed in the credits of the film. If you can't track down a copy of the movie, you can buy Italiamerican: The Scorsese Family Cookbook and then make it and 250 other Scorsese family dishes for yourself. Back in 1990, Catherine also shared the recipe for the pasta she cooks up in Goodfellas, where she played the mother of Joe Pesci's character. BINGE-WATCH HIS TELEVISION SHOWS Maybe Boardwalk Empire was your favourite TV show during its five-season run. Or perhaps you were counting down the days until Vinyl premiered back in February 2016, and then proceeded to devour every second of its '70s-set sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll fun, gratuitous name-checking and sometimes badly-cast nods to icons of the period. Whether you're an existing fan of either show, or you've been meaning to catch up with both, here's your chance to enjoy every single minute of each. Scorsese not only executive produced both series, but directed their first episodes (which explains why the Boardwalk Empire pilot reportedly cost $18 million). Yep, that's two extra pieces of Scorsese-made fare you mightn't have realised that you needed to watch. CHECK OUT HIS FILM CRITICISM Scorsese doesn't just make films, set up organisations to restore them and make lengthy programs dedicated to classics of years gone by, though he's done plenty of that. Once, back in 2000, he also guest hosted Roger Ebert & the Movies, the review television show Ebert made after the death of his former on-air partner Gene Siskel. The topic of conversation was the best movies of the '90s — and while we won't spoil Scorsese's picks, we will mention that Ebert chose Goodfellas as his number three film of the decade. Of course, Ebert and Scorsese weren't just linked on screen, with the film critic also writing Scorsese by Ebert, a book filled with essays about and interviews with the director. SCORSESE runs from May 28 to September 18 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. See the full program of exhibition-related events at the ACMI website.
'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.
Cut Copy burst onto the scene, and into our hearts, with their chart-topping album In Ghost Colours all the way back in 2007. Six years later, they're dropping their newest offering, Free Your Mind, on November 1. Ahead of the group's international tour, we met up with Dan Whitford, the man behind the mic, to chat about the band's newest tunes, his feelings about success and why dance music isn't going around in circles. Free Your Mind is thematically stronger than the previous two albums. You've said that you never intended to make a concept album, but it has kind of come out that way. Did the concept evolve as a natural progression from the writing? Initially, it was an effort to get started, and we were hoping to have a few gems that we could work up into contenders for a record, but there's only so long you can go without considering that they all have to fit together on a record at some point. There was probably a point where we went, "Okay, how do these songs relate, and what are we doing?" We started out with a very open-ended plan, like, "Don't overthink anything, if you have an idea, try it," and that was sort of what we tried to do through most of our recording. But I think we then got to a point where we had a few different directions with these tracks, we were asking, "What's the common thread?" So I think it just ended up feeling like there was this sort of slightly euphoric, kind of uplifting, but also kind of a loose psychedelic feeling to most of the tracks. The sound of the record, as well as the theme, is retrospective as well as prospective. Are you looking to the music of the past to build your future music? Yeah. I think that dance music, probably all music … has always done that. Each era, from disco onwards … even in the disco era, you'd be taking an old song, and doing the new version of that for this period in time, and then the same with the 1990 version of a disco song, and now there's the 2001 version of the 1990s song. I think dance music naturally looks forward because it's a fairly fickle thing. Stylistically, it's always looking to evolve, but it's also very retrospective. I think that's something that Daft Punk, for instance, have done more than any other … artists in the past, and that's being so diversely influenced by not just dance music history, but pop music history like Beach Boys and KISS, some of these things that are glam rock. These are things that don't normally fit into dance music, but they pulled in for the hell of it, and created something new. I think we're nostalgic about some of these periods of music with this record, and I think the combination of things that we pull in hopefully ends up being something that people haven't heard. You've never actually trained to play any musical instruments. How do you think that this lack of training affects the way you write music? It's good because you don't have any preconception about what you're doing. My training was listening to records. My record collection … taught me how to play music and make music, so you're assimilating all these influences and creating your own thing from there. I think it's good not to have too many rules about what art should be, because I think you're inevitably limited by that. I know music is a popular art form, so I know that if you're making, say, a Lady Gaga song, then there are probably a few rules … if you want to get played on the radio, but I think that in a general sense, having fewer rules makes more interesting music because the possibilities are more endless, more infinite. So I feel there's a benefit to never really knowing what I was doing. In Ghost Colour and Zonoscope were both hugely successful. Is that something you think about when writing now? I think it's a trick having all … these artificial pressures on what you're doing creatively, and I think the best stuff, for me, is created amongst the band when we're just doing the stuff that we like. I guess you've just got to trust your own creative instinct and aesthetic to hopefully be something that's good. Ghost Colours went number one, but we never thought in our wildest dreams that it was even going to be in the charts, let alone in the top ten or number one, that was just ridiculous. We did that without thinking about it, so sometimes the best thing is to really not even consider it. I guess there is some pressure there, but I guess that, at the end of the day, we just come back to making the music that we like, and if there are ever points where we get confused, usually we just come back to, "What do we like?" And that's the best guide, and probably what the right choice is. Cut Copy's new album, Free Your Mind, is out November 1 through Modular. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xPRJVKtrCCk
Perhaps it's because we watch them in our homes, and in our lounge rooms and bedrooms where we're at our comfiest. Maybe it's because spending hours getting to know on-screen characters makes us feel like we know them. Either way, a beloved TV show is like an old friend — we miss them when they're gone and we can't wait for them to return. In 2022, including after hefty pandemic-related delays in some cases, the small screen welcomed back a lengthy list of already-proven hits. Some served up second seasons as ace as their first. Others have several years worth of past ace episodes under their belts (or in their coffins). And, because all good things really do come to an end, a few said goodbye. Whichever category fits whichever show, the past year hasn't been short on excellent TV among repeat players, spanning everything from crime dramas and savvy comedies through to mind-bending animation and playful murder-mysteries. Midyear, we rounded up our standout shows between January and June. A number held their place in our hearts over the full year — but they have new company. Ready for end-of-year catch-ups and 2023 revisits, here are the best 15 returning TV shows that hit television and streaming across 2022. BETTER CALL SAUL The best show on television for the past seven years — other than the one-season return of Twin Peaks — came to an end in 2022. Viewers knew this was coming but it's still monumental, especially given that Better Call Saul is the spinoff to an also-phenomenal series. Alas, unlike when Breaking Bad wrapped, there's no future immediately in sight for this excellent franchise. Perhaps that's fitting; everything has to fade away at some point, including the canny and resourceful run of an Albuquerque-based lawyer born Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk, Nobody), nicknamed 'Slippin' Jimmy' during his early con-artist days and rebadged Gene Takavic when he flees for a Cinnabon-serving new Nebraskan life. Of course, this franchise best knows him as Saul Goodman after he leans into shady criminal law with well-oiled charm, becoming a charismatic but shifty defence attorney aiding Walter White (Bryan Cranston, Your Honor) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, Westworld). Thanks to Breaking Bad and its gripping New Mexico-set crime-drama antics, we knew where Saul's choices were heading. Better Call Saul's sixth season reckons with that knowledge. It interrogates it, toys with it and expands upon it as well. But in the first trailer for the show's swan song, which was broken into two parts — the first started in April, the second returned in July — fellow Breaking Bad favourite-turned-Better Call Saul key player Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks, The Comey Rule) might've said it best. "Whatever happens next, it's not gonna go down the way you think it is," the ex-cop advised. How true that proved as creator Vince Gilligan chronicled life's bleak and heartbreaking realities via a meticulous and twisty character study, including the fates awaiting Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn, Veep), Salamanca family footsoldier Nacho Varga (Michael Mando, Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Hector Salamanca's (Mark Margolis, Snowpiercer) alluringly crafty nephew Lalo (Tony Dalton, Hawkeye). TV rarely gets any better than this, and didn't in 2022. Better Call Saul streams via Stan. Read our full review of season six. THE WHITE LOTUS Lives of extravagant luxury. Globe-hopping getaways. Whiling away cocktail-soaked days in gorgeous beachy locales. Throw in the level of wealth and comfort needed to make those three things an easy, breezy everyday reality, and the world's sweetest dreams are supposedly made of this. On TV since 2021, HBO's hit dramedy The White Lotus has been, too. Indeed, in its Emmy-winning first season, the series was a phenomenon of a biting satire, scorching the one percent, colonialism and class divides in a twisty, astute, savage and hilarious fashion. It struck such a chord, in fact, that what was meant to be a one-and-done limited season was renewed for a second go-around, sparking an anthology. That Sicily-set second effort once again examines sex, status, staring head-on at mortality and accepting the unshakeable fact that life is short for everyone but truly sweet for oh-so-few regardless of bank balance — and with writer/director/creator Mike White (Brad's Status) still overseeing proceedings, the several suitcase loads of smart, scathing, sunnily shot chaos that The White Lotus brings to screens this time around are well worth unpacking again. Here, another group of well-off holidaymakers slip into another splashy, flashy White Lotus property and work through their jumbled existences. Another death lingers over their trip, with The White Lotus again starting with an unnamed body — bodies, actually — then jumping back seven days to tell its tale from the beginning. Running the Taormina outpost of the high-end resort chain, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore, Across the River and Into the Trees) is barely surprised by the corpse that kicks off season two. She's barely surprised about much beforehand, either. That includes her dealings with the returning Tanya McQuoid-Hunt (Jennifer Coolidge, The Watcher), her husband Greg (Jon Gries, Dream Corp LLC) and assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson, After Yang); three generations of Di Grasso men, aka Bert (F Murray Abraham, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities), Hollywood hotshot Dominic (Michael Imperioli, The Many Saints of Newark) and the Stanford-educated Albie (Adam DiMarco, The Order); and tech whiz Ethan (Will Sharpe, Defending the Guilty) and his wife Harper (Aubrey Plaza, Best Sellers), plus his finance-bro college roommate Cameron (Theo James, The Time Traveller's Wife) and his stay-at-home wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy, The Bold Type). The White Lotus streams via Binge. Read our full review of season two. RESERVATION DOGS One of the best new TV shows of 2021 returned for a second season in 2022 — and it quickly cemented its spot on this list. That series: the gloriously heartfelt and perceptive Reservation Dogs, which may riff on a Quentin Tarantino movie with its moniker, and also started with a heist when it first hit the screen, but proves dedicated to diving deep into what it's like to be an Indigenous North American teenager today. Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Beans), Elora (Devery Jacobs, Rutherford Falls), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Cheese (debutant Lane Factor) are those restless Oklahoma adolescents, and they've shared a California dream since the show began. But when the first season wrapped up with a tornado, as well as a figurative storm of hard truths and buried feelings, the gang's relocation fantasy didn't play out as expected. The lure of family and culture remained strong, as did holding onto a past that's brought happiness as well as pain (getting a fresh start after losing a friend is a big motivation for their escape plan). That said, Elora still attempts to go anyway. In season two, the more things change, the more they stay the same — until they don't. For Bear, Willie Jack and Cheese, staying on the reservation requires facing life on the reservation. For Elora, being on the road with enemy-turned-travelling companion Jackie (Elva Guerra, Dark Winds) gets tumultuous. Made with such an evident commitment to minutiae, and to feeling lived-in at every moments, Reservation Dogs spins both its episodic stories and its long-running coming-of-age arcs, themes and emotions into something wonderful again and again. Co-creator/executive producer/writer Sterlin Harjo (Mekko) deserves all the kudos that can be showered his way, and so does Taika Waititi as one of the series' fellow creators, executive producers and writers. There are many reasons to be thankful for the New Zealand filmmaker as his resume keeps attesting (including fellow recent sitcom Our Flag Means Death); however, using his fame to help bring this insightful gift into the world is one of them. Reservation Dogs streams via Binge. Read our full review of season two. BARRY Three seasons into the sitcom that bears his name, all that Barry Berkman (Bill Hader, Noelle) wants is to be an actor — and to also no longer kill people for a living. That's what he's yearned for across the bulk of this HBO gem, which has given Saturday Night Live alum Hader his best-ever role; however, segueing from being an assassin to treading the boards or standing in front of the camera is unsurprisingly complicated. One of the smartest elements of the always-fantastic Barry is how determined it is to weather all the chaos, darkness, rough edges and heart-wrenching consequences of its central figure's choices, though. That's true of his actions not only in the past, but in the show's present. Hader and series co-creator Alec Berg (Silicon Valley) know that viewers like Barry. You're meant to. But that doesn't mean ignoring that he's a hitman, or that his time murdering people — and his military career before that — has repercussions, including for those around him. One of the most layered and complex comedies currently airing, Barry's third season is as intricate, thorny, textured and hilarious as the first two. Indeed, it's ridiculously easy to see how cartoonish its premise would be in lesser hands, or how it might've leaned on a simple odd-couple setup given that Anthony Carrigan (Bill & Ted Face the Music) plays Chechen gangster Noho Hank with such delightful flair. But Barry keeps digging into what makes its namesake tick, why, and the ripples he causes. It does the same with his beloved acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, The French Dispatch) as well. With visual precision on par with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, it's also as phenomenal at staging action scenes as it is at diving deep into its characters — and, as every smartly penned episode just keeps proving, it's downright stellar at that. Barry streams via Binge. Read our full review of season three. MYSTERY ROAD: ORIGIN Origin stories: everyone's getting them. Caped crusaders like Batman and Spider-Man have several; Hercule Poirot's moustache even has its own. Originally played by Aaron Pedersen on both the big and small screens, Mystery Road's Jay Swan doesn't particularly need one, given that plenty about why he's the man and detective he is, and the balancing act he's forced to undertake as an Indigenous cop as well, has already been teased out. But Mystery Road: Origin isn't jumping on a trend, repeating itself or prolonging a long-running saga. It isn't trying to justify having someone else play Swan, either. Rather, this latest entry in Australia's best crime saga leaps backwards because this franchise has always danced with history anyway. It has to; you can't explore the reality of life in Australia today, the racial and cultural divides that've long festered across this sunburnt country, and all that Swan encounters and tussles with, otherwise. In Mystery Road: Origin, it's 1999 — and, when its six episodes begin, Swan isn't quite a detective yet. He's already a man of weighty thoughts and few words, though, and he's played by Mark Coles Smith (Occupation: Rainfall), who couldn't do a more impressive job of stepping into Pedersen's (High Ground) shoes. The series initially spies Swan as he's driving along sweeping salt plains. His destination: Jardine, his Western Australian home town, population 1000. Resident sergeant Peter Lovric (Steve Bisley, Doctor Doctor) welcomes Swan back eagerly, but his return isn't all cheers, especially when he stumbles across a robbery en route and gets cuffed by senior constable Max Armine (Hayley McElhinney, How to Please a Woman). Tensions also linger with Swan's estranged dad Jack (Kelton Pell, The Circuit), the town's old rodeo hero, and with his hard-drinking elder brother Sputty (Clarence Ryan, Moon Rock for Monday). Indeed, that early stickup, the crimewave waged by culprits in Ned Kelly masks that it's soon a part of, and those persistent family struggles will all define the detective's homecoming. Mystery Road: Origin streams via ABC iview. Read our full review. ATLANTA You can't escape yourself. As Atlanta sent Earnest 'Earn' Marks (Donald Glover, Guava Island), his cousin and rapper Alfred 'Paper Boi' Miles (Brian Tyree Henry, Bullet Train), their Nigerian American pal Darius (Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Earn's ex Vanessa (Zazie Beetz, also Bullet Train) around Europe in the show's third season — and first of two in 2022 — that truth became inescapable, too. Hopping everywhere from Amsterdam to Paris and London, the group saw the daily reality of being Black Americans linger with them at every destination — and their personal ups and downs as well — no matter how wild, weird, bleak or hopeful the circumstances they were in. Arriving mere months later, season four kicked off by also exploring that point, including in a debut episode that sees Atlanta, the city, haunt the show's main players. They're back home and there's no way they couldn't know it, whether they're on scavenger hunts, stuck in carparks or being chased. Across its ten-episode run, Atlanta's fourth season also examines another truth that's always sat at the core of the show: that for better and for worse, there's no place like home. That applies to the physical location, but also to the homes we make with other people — family, friends and everything in-between. Earn and Van gravitate closer together, but their relationship has always ebbed and flowed. Al keeps pondering what success really means, too, and Darius does the same with reality. In the process, Glover's superbly smart, blistering and often-surreal unpacking of race relations lays bare the nation it usually calls home, as it did so incisively in its first two seasons, while never failing to challenge, surprise and swing big. That the show's final season also clearly muses on legacies obviously couldn't be more fitting — and ending in a thoroughly unpredictable and yet also ridiculously apt way, it'll always be a great on Glover, Henry, Stanfield and Beetz's resumes. Atlanta streams via SBS On Demand. Read our full review of season three. KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF Not once, not even jokingly, does Annie Murphy utter the words "ew, David" in Kevin Can F**k Himself. She's never ever just a little bit Alexis, either. Murphy is just as exceptional and awards-worthy here, however, in a superb show that's a clever and cutting dark comedy — and, perhaps more accurately, offers a clear-eyed unpacking of what sitcoms usually mean (Schitt's Creek excluded, obviously) for women. In its first season in 2021, Kevin Can F**k Himself cast its star as Allison Devine-McRoberts, wife to the manchild of a titular figure (Eric Petersen, Sydney to the Max), and clearly in the kind of TV show about obnoxious husbands and their put-upon spouses that've been a small-screen mainstay for far too long. In those segments of the series, the lights glow, the McRoberts home looks like every other abode in every other program of its ilk, multiple cameras observe the action and viewers can be forgiven for expecting Kevin James to show up. Also, canned laughter chuckles — always unearned. Consider the above setup Kevin Can F**k Himself's starting point, though, because the show itself does. From there, creator Valerie Armstrong (Lodge 49) exposes what life is truly like for Allison — who is considered Kevin's wife first and foremost by almost everyone around her — including by switching looks, hues and camera arrangements whenever its namesake isn't around. The visible change is smart and effective, with this two-season show keeping digging into Allison's bleak situation from there. In the spirit of the series' title, she's trying to rid herself of her horrible marriage, including with help from neighbour Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden, The Righteous Gemstones). Alas, as this second and sadly last batch of episodes shows — as its first did as well — nothing is ever that easy. In a better world, Kevin Can F**k Himself would've had more time to unfurl and interrogate its story, but in this world it doesn't put a foot wrong with the time it's been given. Murphy and Inboden make one of TV's best duos, too; fingers crossed that someone reteams them again sometime soon. Kevin can F**k Himself streams via AMC+. Read our full review of 2021's season one. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS Live life long enough and anything can happen. Enjoy an undead existence for hundreds of years and that feeling only multiplies, or so the wealth of movies and TV shows that've let vampires stalk through their frames frequently remind viewers. A sharehouse-set mockumentary focused on bloodsucking roommates who've seen more than a few centuries between them, What We Do in the Shadows embraces that idea like little else — as a Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi-starring movie, aka one of the funniest New Zealand comedies of this century, and then as a hilarious American TV spinoff. The premise has always been ridiculously straightforward, and always reliably entertaining. A camera crew captures the lives of the fanged and not-at-all furious, squabbles about chores, a rising body count and avoiding sunlight all included. Their domesticity may involve sinking their teeth into necks, blood splatters aplenty, sleeping in coffins and shapeshifting into bats, but it also covers arguing about paying bills, keeping the house clean and dealing with the neighbours. The TV version's stellar fourth season picks up after a climactic end to the show's prior batch of episodes, which only finished airing back in October 2021. Its bloodsucking roommates were all set for their own adventures, but a year has passed in the show, bringing them back together. Nandor (Kayvan Novak, Cruella) returns from exploring his ancestral homeland, and he's more determined than ever to find a wife. He also thinks that one of his many from the Middle Ages could be the one again; bringing back a Djinn (Anoop Desai, Russian Doll) to grant his wishes helps. After a stint in London with the Supreme Vampiric Council, Nadja has big ambitions, too, setting her sights on opening a vampire nightclub. As for her beloved Laszlo (Matt Berry, Toast of London and Toast of Tinseltown), he's still taking care of the baby-turned-boy that burst its way out of energy vampire Colin Robinson's (Mark Proksch, The Office) body. For the fourth time around, nothing about this delight sucks, not for a second, with season four as wonderful as ever. What We Do in the Shadows streams via Binge. Read our full review of season four. GIRLS5EVA When it first hit streaming in 2021 with an avalanche of quickfire jokes — as all Tina Fey-executive produced sitcoms do, such as 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Great News and Mr Mayor — Girls5eva introduced viewers to its eponymous band. One-hit wonders in the late 90s and early 00s, their fame had fizzled. Indeed, reclaiming their stardom wasn't even a blip on their radars — until, unexpectedly, it was. Dawn Solano (Sara Bareilles, Broadway's Waitress), Wickie Roy (Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton), Summer Dutkowsky (Busy Philipps, I Feel Pretty) and Gloria McManus (Paula Pell, AP Bio) had left their days as America's answer to the Spice Girls behind, barely staying in contact since the group split and their fifth member, Ashley Gold (Ashley Park, Emily in Paris), later died in an infinity pool accident. But then rapper Lil Stinker (Jeremiah Craft, Bill & Ted Face the Music) sampled their single 'Famous 5eva', and they were asked to perform backing vocals during his Tonight Show gig. Jumping back into the spotlight reignited dreams that the surviving Girls5eva members thought they'd extinguished long ago — well, other than walking attention-magnet Wickie, who crashed and burned in her attempts to go solo, and was happy to fake it till she made it again. That's the tale the show charts once more in its second season, which is filled with more rapid-fire pop-culture references and digs; the same knowing, light but still sincere tone; and a new parade of delightful tunes composed by Jeff Richmond, Fey's husband and source of music across every sitcom she's produced. One of the joys of Girls5eva — one of many — is how gleefully absurd it skews, all while fleshing out its central quartet, their hopes and desires, and their experiences navigating an industry that treats them as commodities at best. The comedy's sophomore run finds much to satirise, of course, but also dives deeper and pushing Wickie, Dawn, Summer and Gloria to grow. Obviously, it's another gem. Girls5eva streams via Stan. Read our full review of season two. STARSTRUCK It's official: after a dream of a first season, Rose Matafeo's rom-com sitcom Starstruck worked its magic a second time. In season two, it makes viewers fall head over heels for its 21st-century take on dating a famous actor all over again. It's also official for Matafeo's (Baby Done) Jessie, who is now dating Tom (Nikesh Patel, Four Weddings and a Funeral), the celebrity she had a one-night stand with on New Year's Eve, then navigated an awkward will-they-won't-they dance around every time they ran into each other in London. But this next batch of six episodes poses a key question: once you've enjoyed the wild meet-cute, ridden the courtship rollercoaster and been bowled over by a grand romantic gesture (see: Starstruck's The Graduate-style season-one finale), what comes next? It's the stuff that rom-com movie sequels might cover, except that for all of Hollywood's eagerness to rinse and repeat its most popular fare, this genre is sparse in the follow-up department. Season two picks up exactly where its predecessor left off, with Jessie and Tom's bus ride segueing into a WTF realisation — as in "WTF do we do now?". That's a query that Jessie isn't ready to answer, even though she's made the big leap and missed her flight home. So, she avoids even tackling the situation at first, and then eschews fully committing even when she's meant to be in the throes of romantic bliss. Basically, it's messy, and the kind of chaos that rom-coms don't show when they end with a happily-ever-after moment. Like everyone, Jessie and Tom endure plenty. In the process, this gem of a show's second season is light but also deep, a screwball delight while also sharp and relatable, and still filled with fellow romantic-comedy references. And, as well as continuing to showcase Matafeo at her best, it remains a rom-com that's as aware of what relationships in 2022 are really like as it is about how romance is typically portrayed in its genre. Starstruck streams via ABC iView. Read our full review of season two. RAMY In the dramedy that bears his name, Ramy Youssef (Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot) is a quintuple threat. He created Ramy, plays Ramy, executive produces, and also frequently writes and directs — and, in a show about a Queens-born first-generation American Muslim raised in New Jersey to Egyptian parents, as Youssef himself is, there's no doubting that the stories he's telling are personal. There's a difference between bringing your own exact existence to the screen and conveying the truth behind your experiences, however, with Ramy falling into the second category as it charts its eponymous figure's struggles as his faith conflicts with his lifestyle. Since its first season in 2019, the series has always been so deeply steeped in the lived reality of feeling torn between two cultures, and so specific in its details, too. And yet, it's also so universal and relatable in its emotions and insights. None of the above changes in season three, welcomely so, in what's one of Ramy's finest moments yet. In this ten-episode third run, the lives of Ramy and his loved ones are rarely blessed with fine moments — and Ramy Hassan, Youssef's on-screen alter-ego, keeps threatening his own heart, mind and soul with his choices. Season two ended with a short-lived marriage and the fallout still lingers, but Ramy has thrown himself into making his Uncle Naseem's (Laith Nakli, Ms Marvel) diamond business a success as a distraction. He has money, his own place and, soon, his own jewellery outfit, although that doesn't herald happiness. For his sister Dena (May Calamawy, Moon Knight), nor has striving hard to take the bar exam, especially when her parents Maysa (Hiam Abbass, Succession) and Farouk (Amr Waked, Wonder Woman 1984) are open about how differently they see her and her future to Ramy. As the elder Hassans also grapple with Farouk being out of work, plus decades of feeling like they're treading water, Ramy remains a stunningly perceptive and engaging exploration of the battle to remain true to oneself — and one's hopes, dreams and religion — while also proving a rich, poignant and devastatingly well-acted comedy. May more come. Ramy streams via Stan. Read our full review of season three. UNDONE Returning for its second season three years after its first — which was one of the best shows of 2019 — the gorgeously and thoughtfully trippy multiverse series Undone is fixated on one idea: that life's flaws can be fixed. It always has been from the moment its eight-episode initial season appeared with its vivid rotoscoped animation and entrancing leaps into surreal territory; however, in season two it doubles down. Hailing from BoJack Horseman duo Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg, it also remains unsurprisingly concerned with mental illness, and still sees its protagonist caught in an existential crisis. (The pair have a type, but Undone isn't BoJack Horseman 2.0). And, it deeply understands that it's spinning a "what if?" story, and also one about deep-seated unhappiness. Indeed, learning to cope with being stuck in an imperfect life, being unable to wish it away and accepting that fate beams brightly away at the heart of the show. During its debut outing, Undone introduced viewers to 28-year-old Alma Winograd-Diaz (Rosa Salazar, Alita: Battle Angel), who found everything she thought she knew pushed askew after a near-fatal car accident. Suddenly, she started experiencing time and her memories differently — including those of her father, Jacob Winograd (Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul), who died over 20 years earlier. In a vision, he tasked her with investigating his death, which became a quest to patch up the past to stop tragedy from striking. Undone didn't necessarily need a second season, but this repeat dive into Alma's story ponders what happens in a timeline where everything seems to glimmer with all that its protagonist has ever wanted, and yet sorrow still lingers. Once again, the end result is deeply rich and resonant, as intelligent and affecting as sci-fi and animation alike get, and dedicated to thinking and feeling big while confronting everyday truths. Undone streams via Prime Video. Read our full review of season two. HACKS In 2021, Hacks' first season quickly cemented itself as one of 2021's best new TV shows — one of two knockout newbies starring Jean Smart last year, thanks to Mare of Easttown as well — and it's just as ace the second time around. It's still searingly funny, nailing that often-elusive blend of insight, intelligence and hilarity. It retains its observational, wry tone, and remains devastatingly relatable even if you've never been a woman trying to make it in comedy. And it's happy to linger where it needs to to truly understand its characters, but never simply dwells in the same place as its last batch of episodes. Season two is literally about hitting the road, so covering fresh territory is baked into the story; however, Hacks' trio of key behind-the-scenes creatives — writer Jen Statsky (The Good Place), writer/director Lucia Aniello (Rough Night) and writer/director/co-star Paul W Downs (The Other Two) — aren't content to merely repeat themselves with a different backdrop. Those guiding hands started Hacks after helping to make Broad City a hit. Clearly, they all know a thing or two about moving on from the past. That's the decision both veteran comedian Deborah Vance (Smart) and her twentysomething writer-turned-assistant Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, North Hollywood) had to make themselves in season one, with the show's second season now charting the fallout. So, Deborah has farewelled her residency and the dependable gags that kept pulling in crowds, opting to test out new and far-more-personal material on a cross-country tour instead. Ava has accepted her role by Deborah's side, and is willing to see it as a valid career move rather than an embarrassing stopgap. But that journey comes a few narrative bumps. Of course, Hacks has always been willing to see that actions have consequences, not only for an industry that repeatedly marginalises women, but for its imperfect leading ladies. Hacks streams via Stan. Read our full review of season two. ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING Born out of the world's recent true-crime and podcasting obsessions — and the intersection of the two in the likes of Serial — Only Murders in the Building boasts its own version of Sarah Koenig. In this marvellous murder-mystery comedy, she's called Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, Girls5eva). As viewers of the show's impressive and entertaining first season know, though, she's not the main focus. Instead, Only Murders in the Building hones in on three New Yorkers residing in the Arconia apartment complex — where, as the program's name makes plain, there's a murder. There's several, but it only takes one to initially bring actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die) together. The trio then turn amateur detectives, and turn that sleuthing into their own podcast, which also shares the show's title. In season two, the series returns to the same scene. Yes, there's another killing. No time has passed for Only Murders in the Building's characters — and, while plenty has changed since the series' debut episode last year, plenty remains the same. Viewers now know Charles, Oliver and Mabel better, and they all know each other better, but that only makes things more complicated. Indeed, there's a lived-in vibe to the program and its main figures this time around, rather than every episode feeling like a new discovery. Among the many things that Only Murders in the Building does exceptionally well, finding multiple ways to parallel on- and off-screen experiences ranks right up there. That applies to true-crime and podcast fixations, naturally, and also to getting to know someone, learning their ins and outs, and finding your comfort zone even when life's curveballs keep coming. Only Murders in the Building streams via Disney+. Read our full review of season two. EUPHORIA From the very first frames of its debut episode back in June 2019, when just-out-of-rehab 17-year-old Rue Bennett (Zendaya, Spider-Man: No Way Home) gave viewers the lowdown on her life, mindset, baggage, friends, family and everyday chaos, Euphoria has courted attention — or, mirroring the tumultuous teens at the centre of its dramas, the Emmy-winning HBO series just knew that eyeballs would come its way no matter what it did. The brainchild of filmmaker Sam Levinson (Malcolm & Marie), adapted from an Israeli series by the same name, and featuring phenomenal work by its entire cast, it's flashy, gritty, tense, raw, stark and wild, and manages to be both hyper-stylised to visually striking degree and deeply empathetic. In other words, if teen dramas reflect the times they're made — and from Degrassi, Press Gang and Beverly Hills 90210 through to The OC, Friday Night Lights and Skins, they repeatedly have — Euphoria has always been a glittery eyeshadow-strewn sign of today's times. That hasn't changed in the show's second season. Almost two and a half years might've elapsed between Euphoria's first and second batch of episodes — a pair of out-of-season instalments in late 2020 and early 2021 aside — but it's still as potent, intense and addictive as ever. And, as dark, as Rue's life and those of her pals (with the cast including Hunter Schafer, The King of Staten Island's Maude Apatow, The Kissing Booth franchise's Jacob Elordi, The White Lotus' Sydney Sweeney, The Afterparty's Barbie Ferreira, North Hollywood's Angus Cloud and Waves' Alexa Demie) bobs and weaves through everything from suicidal despair, Russian Roulette, bloody genitals, unforgettable school plays, raucous parties and just garden-variety 2022-era teen angst. The list always goes on; in fact, as once again relayed in Levinson's non-stop, hyper-pop style, the relentlessness that is being a teenager today, trying to work out who you are and navigating all that the world throws at you is Euphoria's point. Euphoria streams via Binge. Looking for more viewing highlights? We also rounded up 15 excellent new TV shows of 2022 that you might've missed. Plus, we've kept a running list of must-stream TV from across the year, complete with full reviews. And, you can check out our regular rundown of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
UPDATE, December 22, 2021: Annette is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Dreamy and dazzling from its first moments, rock opera Annette bursts onto the screen with a simple question: "so may we start?". As the opening credits roll, the long-awaited latest film from Holy Motors director Leos Carax addresses its audience before it poses that query — via an unseen announcer who tells viewers "you are now kindly requested to keep silent, and to hold your breath until the end of the show" — but the movie doesn't begin to truly kick into gear until the filmmaker himself asks if things can get going. Images of a recording studio flicker, with Carax on one side of the glass and Ron and Russell Mael, of art-pop duo Sparks, on the other. Carax tells his real-life daughter Nastya that the fun is about to commence, and the Mael brothers start singing and playing keyboard, with a band around them. Soon, however, everyone is on their feet and spilling out into the street, with the feature's stars Adam Driver (Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), Marion Cotillard (We'll End Up Together) and Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) joining them in the glorious, song-fuelled, sing-and-walk scene. No one is playing a character here yet, but they're all still playing a part. They're finally coming together for the big spectacle that is this eagerly anticipated film — which has been in the works since 2016 — and they're setting the vibe in a bold and sensational way. The tune is pure Sparks, with the pair both composing the movie's music and writing the feature itself with Carax. The tone bubbles with the pair's avant-garde sensibilities, too, and the whole song echoes with the promise of remarkable things to come. Grand and resonant despite its low-key staging and setting, Annette's memorable opening number ends with the Maels, Carax and his daughter, and some of the film's supporting cast members farewelling the feature's two protagonists — with Driver and Cotillard putting on clothing their characters will favour during the rest of the movie during the track. "Bye Henry," the crowd exclaims as the standup comic played by Driver zips off on a motorcycle. "Bye Ann," they chirp at the opera star played by Cotillard as she's chauffeured off in a black SUV. The audience is sent tumbling through the looking glass now, and diving in deep. Nine years ago, Carax gave the world a once-in-a-lifetime gem. Annette is a different film to Holy Motors, obviously, but it gleams just as brightly and with the same beguiling, inimitable, all-encompassing allure. There's an ethereal, otherworldly quality to Carax's work — of heightening reality to truly understand how people feel and act, and of experimenting with artforms to interrogate them — and that sensation seeps through every second of his gleefully melodramatic musical, which deservedly won him the Cannes Film Festival's Best Director award. Everything about Annette has been turned up several notches on every setting, from its lush and lavish imagery to its cascade of toe-tapping, sung-through tunes that keep propelling the narrative forward. Every character detail, both external and internalised, has been amplified as well. This is a movie where Driver's Henry wears the same shade of green over and over like a uniform, beaming his envy at every turn. It's a film where sex scenes involve singing, as though they're the only way these characters can really convey their innermost emotions. And, it's a feature where the titular character — the baby born of Henry McHenry and Ann Defrasnoux's mismatched but passionate and all-consuming love — is played by a marionette. This is a tragedy and a fairy tale, in other words, because life so often veers between elements of both. Henry and Ann "love each other so much", as another of Annette's catchy tunes intones repeatedly, but it's apparent from the outset that their chalk-and-cheese affair has its struggles. Early on, the film contrasts their on-stage antics to quickly but effectively express their dissimilarities. In a show called The Ape of God, Henry broods over the microphone as he struts and shakes in nothing but underwear and a bathrobe, and opines about how he loves killing his audiences with his brutal and brusque comedy. He talks about how Ann is always dying in her operas, with cuts to her sweet soprano singing and heartbreaking death scenes underscoring his point. These juxtapositions keep simmering as the paparazzi charts the couple's romance, and as Ann's pregnancy brings Annette into their lives. The girl has an astonishing gift, but her presence can't save the movie's star-crossed lovers — or moonlit paramours, to be more accurate — from continuing to weather stormy seas. The Maels and Carax haven't held back in almost every facet of the feature; that aforementioned delight of an opening number is perhaps the most restrained thing they splash across the screen. The story sprawls, the lively and clever songs keep coming, and this intricately, overtly stylised affair pushes wave after wave of hypnotic imagery, mesmerising music and heated, near-Shakespearean relationship dramas into its frames. Expectedly and welcomely given the melding of creative minds behind it, it's a movie filled with idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. It's so very Carax, as fans of the director's back catalogue will instantly spot. It's so very Sparks as well, which is evident even if you're new to the duo despite their five-decade-plus career, or if you've only just discovered them via stellar documentary The Sparks Brothers. It's "so much" just like Henry and Ann's love, and it adores it — and it happily and vibrantly melds elements of cinema, gigs, opera and live performance, all while weaving in everything from commentary about celebrity culture and stints of singing cunnilingus, and also knowing that it's constantly toeing the line between oh-so-exaggerated and oh-so-heartfelt. Annette is also long, and both looping and sometimes a little loopy. It satirises, unpacks and embraces, and it loves being multiple paradoxes at once. It thrusts forward with its own pull — but once you're caught in the thrall of its exuberance, playfulness, overwhelming emotions and surreal touches, you're as subject to its whims as Henry and Ann. Inhabiting those parts, Driver and Cotillard commit to the ride. The former visibly cycles between resembling both Ron and Russell Mael in one of the film's devilishly joyous small flourishes, and bustles through the movie like a force of nature. The latter always feels like her co-star's delicate counterweight, while also ensuring that Ann's light, grace and yearning shine through. Their strings are being pulled masterfully by Carax and Sparks, as are viewers' — and yes, we want them to start, and then to never stop.
Starting life in St Kilda in 1955 before relocating to Brunswick in 2012, Record Paradise more or less does what it says on the tin. The Sydney Road store is a veritable haven for both casual listeners and audiophiles alike, and stocks a huge range of new and recycled vinyl, CDs and cassettes, as well as books and turntable equipment. Music-wise, the specialty here is local independent releases, while the selection — which totals into the thousands — also includes a wide range of genres from artists and labels across the globe. This northside gem also plays host to events such as the occasional music trivia night, or the odd in-store gig showcasing local talent. Images: Julia Sansone
If you grew up in Melbourne, chances are you took a school excursion or two to CERES to learn about sustainability and the environment. But the public park isn't just for kids — it's a space for people of all ages to help people reconnect to the planet. First opened in 1982 with a simple mission to give members of the local community to grow their own vegetables and make compost, the 4.5-hectare space is now home to a not-for-profit, sustainability centre and urban farm. As well as its vast educational program, CERES also offers social enterprises, training, employment and community engagement, as well as a year-round program of events and workshops encomapsses everything from cooking to beekeeping. In its native bush setting, CERES is also home to an organic farm with several community gardens, nursery, a zero-waste grocery and market garden. Image: Nicolás Boullosa, Flickr
UPDATE, April 30, 2021: Nomadland is available to stream via Disney+ — and it's still screening in cinemas, too. Frances McDormand is a gift of an actor. Point a camera her way, and a performance so rich that it feels not just believable but tangible floats across the screen. That's true whether she's playing overt or understated characters, or balancing those two extremes. In Fargo, the first film that earned her an Oscar, McDormand is distinctive but grounded, spouting midwestern phrases like "you betcha" but inhabiting her part with texture and sincerity. In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, her next Academy Award-winning role, she's an impassioned mother crusading for justice and vengeance, and she ripples with deep-seated sorrow mixed with anger so fiery that it may as well be burning away her insides. Now, in Nomadland, McDormand feels stripped bare and still a commanding force to be reckoned with. She's tasked with a plucky but struggling part — defiant and determined, too; knocked around by life's ups and downs, noticeably; and, crucially, cognisant that valuing the small pleasures is the hardest but most rewarding feat. It'll earn her another Oscar nomination. It could see her nab a third shiny statuette just three years after her last. Both are highly deserved outcomes because hers is an exceptional performance, and this is 2020's best film. Here, McDormand plays the widowed Fern — a woman who takes to the road, and to the nomad life, after the small middle-America spot where she spent her married years turns into a ghost town when the local mine is shuttered due to the global financial crisis. A slab of on-screen text explains her predicament, with the film then jumping into the aftermath. Fern lives in a van that has seen better days, but she's spent so much effort customising the inside that she's reluctant to part with it. She works hard wherever she can, be it an Amazon warehouse in the pre-Christmas rush, a trailer park over its busy summer season, or a restaurant job she lucks into thanks to a new friend (David Strathairn, Godzilla: King of the Monsters). She's qualified to do far more employment-wise, but the post-GFC recession has wiped out most options, so she's doing her best to get by as she can. She drives wherever she has to in order to earn the most modest of livings, and returns to any gig possible when the time cycles around. This isn't the life she dreamed of, but it's the one she has. Nomadland follows Fern over the course of more than a year, chronicling the 60-something's travels — the jobs, the places and the people she meets. When asked, she's quick to stress that she isn't destitute, and that not having a house isn't the same as being homeless. Based on Jessica Bruder's 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, that's one of the film's most valued ideas. Indeed, while McDormand convincingly steps into the fictional Fern's shoes, she also leads a cast that includes real folks experiencing the existence portrayed within Nomadland's narrative. Seen on-screen as themselves, Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells couldn't be more organic and authentic as a result, but this movie earns those terms several times over anyway. Writer/director Chloé Zhao is known for this approach, using non-professional actors in 2015's Songs My Brothers Taught Me and 2017's The Rider as well. She's also known for making movies driven by pure empathy and compassion, and Nomadland's observational portrait of those that society happily overlooks overwhelmingly fits the bill. A deeply humanist road trip drama that ponders home, identity and community, Nomadland is intimate and almost disarmingly tender and thoughtful, as every movie made by Zhao proves. Those traits mightn't carry over to her next release — 2021's Marvel flick Eternals, which'll see her operating on a much different scale — but they're the reason that she's the filmmaker she is. No one else could've made this movie, even with McDormand as its lead. The cinema industry isn't lacking in talented directors, but no one else would've seen Fern, her transient life, and the ebbs and flows she navigates in the same way. Zhao truly sees everyone in her frames, be they fictional or real. She understands their plights, and ensures her audience understands them as well. Actually, one other filmmaker would've likely done as superb a job, because Debra Granik's 2018 drama Leave No Trace is the perfect companion piece to Nomadland — but Zhao's almost documentary-esque contemplation is all her own. One shot, lensed as gorgeously and naturalistically as everything else within the film by Zhao's now three-time cinematographer Joshua James Richards, typifies this knockout movie's charms. Fern has to be coaxed into attending a meet-up with other nomads but, once there, she fits in with her fellow drifters as they attend informal outdoor seminars about vehicle maintenance and faeces disposal, share stories and swap unneeded belongings. One morning, Fern walks through the makeshift camp, and the camera follows her. It sits at shoulder level, so McDormand's face monopolises the centre of the frame, but her surroundings still peek in at the sun-dappled edges. It's a sublime example of visual storytelling, and a sequence so in tune with the figure it's gazing at that it's virtually staring into her soul. It instantly conveys how Fern holds herself as she makes her way through the world, too. Meticulously crafted, filmed and performed — and with a resonant score by composer Ludovico Einaudi (The Third Murder) that lingers just as potently — Nomadland overflows with these types of moments. Each scene, no matter how routine Fern's acts and deeds might seem at any given second, unearths another sliver of her essence. Every sight, including all the natural wonders that America's sprawling expanse can serve up, has the same effect. Gleaming sunsets, winding roads, otherworldly rock formations, peaceful streams and various critters sighted aren't just background fodder here. Rather, they're used to relay Fern's inner radiance, twisty complexities, fluidity and adaptability, and unwavering strength. That's how layered Nomadland is, because its protagonist, those around her and their lives earn the same term — and Zhao never forgets that, or lets her viewers either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSFpK34lfv0&feature=youtu.be Nomadland screened in Melbourne cinemas during a two-week preview season in 2020, starting Saturday, December 26. From Thursday, March 4, 2021, it's back on the big screen for its general release season.
What would the global culinary scene of the last 20 years be without René Redzepi? Whether or not you've had the good fortune to dine at Noma since 2003 — including at its pop-ups in Sydney, Kyoto, Tokyo and Tulum — the mind behind the three-Michelin-starred Copenhagen eatery has helped shape the restaurant industry in the 21st century. For more than half of that time, the Danish kitchen wiz has also been cooking up a television docuseries that asks similar questions, but about the ingredients that we consume. What would the world be without chilli? What is the impact of our appetite for tuna? How has salt helped shape our history? Bananas, pigs, rice, coffee, corn: in Apple TV+'s Omnivore, they're all also in the spotlight. It was over a decade ago, when Noma was firmly established as a sensation — it's been voted the planet's best by The World's 50 Best Restaurants five times, from 2010–12, and also in 2014 and 2021 — that Redzepi came up with the idea for the series that debuts on streaming on Friday, July 19, 2024. As happens with renowned chefs, TV offers were coming his way, but never for the type of project that'd see him happily spend time away from his celebrated fine-diner. Taking inspiration from natural history documentaries, especially David Attenborough-fronted greats such as Planet Earth, gave rise to a show that treats the nutritional staples that fuel humanity with the same care and reverence. [caption id="attachment_966274" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Ditte Isager[/caption] With Redzepi leading the way within the series and Australian ex-Noma Chief Operating Officer Ben Liebmann an executive producer — the latter alongside Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown alum Matt Goulding — Omnivore's first season whittles down its key ingredients to the eight mentioned above. "It was a giant process," Redzepi advises Concrete Playground in an interview with both him and Liebmann. More than 120 choices were under consideration, but that's one of the program's delicate balancing acts. Another is in the buffet of stories and details that it dishes up about each type of food, telling viewers the origins and history of every ingredient, stepping through the impact and importance at both a mass and a personal level, unpacking the relationship between the item in question and the climate, and recognising that none of it exists in a vacuum without having ripples around the planet. Just like off-screen, of course, Redzepi knows how to create a winning recipe. As it travels the globe, pairing meticulous footage of each ingredient's life cycle with portraits of folks whose existence revolves around them, this isn't a talking heads-led show. It observes. It appreciates. Redzepi is also heard more than he's seen. It's his second television project in as many months, however, as everyone who watches The Bear — so, everyone — will know. Given how long that Omnivore has been simmering, that timing is purely coincidental. Also, even being in The Bear briefly took some convincing. "It's a nice to have, not a need to have, for me," he shares. "I only did it because they really asked me to. I know them very well. We've known them long before The Bear was a thing, and they were in Copenhagen and they shot all these scenes, and they said 'hey, can we please have you there?'," Redzepi tells us. "And I wasn't going to be in the show. I said 'I don't know how to act. Don't ask me this.' But then they they thought it would be a great idea, and I did it. And then many people mentioned it, even though I just look at the guy for a second. I guess it's a good thing for Omnivore that that happened, and perhaps they were right in saying 'no, no, you should be briefly in there." [caption id="attachment_966275" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Ditte Isager[/caption] 2024 isn't just a big year for Redzepi in the TV realm. Before 2025 hits, he'll bid farewell to Noma 2.0 — the restaurant's guise since 2017, after it reemerged following its closure in 2016 — and say hello Noma 3.0, a test kitchen and food laboratory in its latest reinvention. Working on Omnivore has helped cement the new direction for Noma, Redzepi explains in our chat. He also credits Liebmann, whose stint at Noma from 2015–22 sits alongside working on television franchises such as MasterChef, Grand Designs and Idol, with to ensuring that it came to fruition. Ahead of Omnivore dropping its first season in full, ready for a binge that'll make you hungry for chilli, tuna, salt, bananas, bacon, rice, coffee and corn — perhaps not all at once — we spoke with Redzepi and Liebmann about what gets them excited about new projects beyond Noma, the original idea for the series, taking inspiration from Planet Earth, coming up with the right recipe for the show, picking which foods to focus on and Noma's future. Always wanted to know Redzepi's can't-live-without ingredient, too? We discussed that as well. On What Gets Redzepi and Liebmann Excited About New Projects Beyond Noma René: "I think when you get to be part of something groundbreaking, which I think Omnivore is. Being a part of a groundbreaking project with a network that believes in you, working with some of the best people on a project on a subject that I genuinely believe in, that also teaches me so much about a world that I've been in for the past 30 years — that is inspiring. And that really gets me excited when the scope is so amazing, like with Omnivore. That really does inspire me to do something like this." Ben: "I think I've heard René talk about over the years, just that simple idea of stepping outside of one's comfort zone. An opportunity, in this instance, in terms of using media and storytelling to perhaps reach a broader audience, a broader community, than we would otherwise be able to in person — about sharing knowledge, sharing hope, sharing inspiration. And with a series like this, hopefully creating a conversation and potentially hopefully creating a movement around it. I think that's still that power of media and, in this instance, what makes the project so exciting." On What Inspired Omnivore a Decade Ago — and the Original Vision René: "I can't remember if it's like 11–12 years ago or whatever, but it's a while back, and it was at a time when Noma was getting to be known around the world. We had rocket fuel on, and when that happens, you very quickly get offered TV. And I was. I was supposed to be judges in competition shows or travel. I think there was a show called Fire and Ice, and I had to travel around Scandinavia with a celebrity and teach them how to cook and stuff, and show them where to eat. And I guess it was never enticing enough for me to step out of my work. I was also very happy doing that. But it did make me think 'iIf I was ever to do this, what would I do?'. And that's when Omnivore started as a seed: a show that would have the same respect, dedication, care and sophistication towards what we eat as you would see in the great nature documentaries like Planet Earth. If we can show a beetle with so much attention and care, why can't we do that with rice? And thus inspiring people to be more inspired about what they eat and how they eat, and make them more curious about this wonderful world of food — make them hopefully realise that food is the most amazing thing on earth, besides basic nutrition. It's who we are. It's what made us. It was always the genesis of the idea. And when Ben came aboard, that's when we finally could put the pieces together. Because if I would have run it, it would never have happened because I would have tried to run it like you built a menu. It's like 'okay, we have this idea, in seven months it should be on camera, right? It should be on TV?'. That's how I would have thought about it." Ben: "I think from my side, when René originally shared the concept for it, it for me was just so intriguing. It was such a simple but yet powerful idea. And I think what intrigued me was that it had not been done before, which was in itself a very Noma thing of trying to do things that hadn't been done before. Certainly standing on the shoulders of giants in terms of programs that had inspired us in the years before, but trying to elevate, let's call it, food media. Although in some ways this isn't food media. It's this extraordinary kind of combination of food and natural history, but I think it was that amazing challenge and opportunity to try to create something. And then to build a team, an amazing team, from René and Matt, our partners at Fifth Season and obviously in Apple, somebody who believed in this idea and wanted to help it, help us realise that, was where it all began." On the Excitement, Challenges and Daunting Feeling That Comes with Taking Inspiration From David Attenborough, But with Food René: "By no means are we comparing ourselves to his productions at all. We're just inspired by him and his productions. And yes, it is super daunting. I mean, it's the first time for me. I've never done anything like this. When we do menus at Noma, I've reached a point now where when we set it up, the finals tasting, the entire team is there, the test kitchen team is there, and I think to myself 'we nailed it. I know guests will like this'. I know where on the menu they'll be surprised and be like 'oh, my god, I can't believe this'. You get a sense of that and a feel for that, and it's been a while since I had this feeling that 'okay, I have no clue if people are going to like this'. We are putting it out into the world — there might be 50 people that watch it, you being one of them, and we have no clue if people are going to like it and accept it and be inspired. They might hate it. No, they won't." Ben: "It'll certainly start a conversation. It's interesting you ask about that. I mean, 20–30 years ago, somebody also asked that question of — and we're using the old vernacular here, it was prime-time television — but would audiences sit and watch the migration of the dolphin or the mating of the polar bear on prime-time television? Because there had been nothing like that before. And it showed that audiences are looking for things that inspire them and give them hope and make them think, and start conversations. We're certainly not comparing ourselves to the Planet Earths, but we certainly took inspiration from those. Again, it was that thought of 'could we create this catalyst or this movement around food, and just give people the tools and the information to maybe have them think a little more about where their food comes from, and the impact that it has on culture and community and the planet', etcetera." On Balancing Each Ingredient's History, Impact, Influence, Relationship to the Climate and More René: "It's super hard. That was actually a challenge from the beginning to set the focus right, and to tell eight different stories that somehow still have the ethos and our beliefs in it that food is amazing and everything and the most important thing. But at the same time, to say it with different tonalities and different energies — it was really, really hard. And then also not to step into the realm of over-explaining — let the people that are actually being filmed explain, let the visuals talk, not step into the camera saying 'hey, we're going to show you this' and have 15 talking heads explaining everything — but, in that sense, being a little more adventurous. It is always a challenge to do that when you talk about food, the environment, where things come from, where they belong. It's a delicate balance always, without a shadow of doubt. And we threaded very carefully and hopefully we didn't do anything wrong, but I feel like we've really taken great care and attention to actually thread it carefully, and showcase our ideas and the places on earth with a lot of respect and care. Then ultimately, of course, we want to do that without it all telling the viewer what to do or how to do it. That it's an inspiration for people, that we respect you no matter what you choose to do. We all want the same thing: happiness and a good life. We have very different ways, each of us individually, to actually get there, but we believe in a lot of things when it comes to food — and we want to inspire you to try to see some of that, and see if you can grab some of it and implement it in your daily life. On Choosing the First Season's Eight Ingredients René: "It was a giant process of choosing these eight ingredients. We probably boiled it down from 120 or something like that, and I think we have at least season two also well-researched — of course, we don't know if we're doing season two yet, it depends on if people like season one. The process was long and it was hard. We had to do a lot of research before we actually chose. And then, of course, it's between me and Matt and all the other stakeholders in the show. Ben was heavily involved in that, but there was also other people here at the restaurant, like Devin, that works on the show as well from Noma. We had Fifth Season, the producers at Apple, everyone had an opinion actually. It was like the UN Peace Corps. And we made it happen and we ultimately ended up choosing eight ingredients that — we could have chosen eight world-altering staples, put wheat in there and the potato and so on and so forth, but we felt it would be a little too one note to have too much of that in there. We needed something that was also just about love, like the chilli story is for instance. So it was a long process. It takes a lot of research. And then once you have that, you also have a framework for each of the ingredients to actually start from, that you can explain to the director and to everyone that's involved, and then they go do their thing." On Omnivore Arriving Just as Redzepi Is Preparing to Say Goodbye to Noma 2.0 René: Actually, Omnivore has helped crystallise so many of the thoughts for the new Noma 3.0. When we go into that, we have a desire that we'd spend our team, our network, our 21 years of expertise, all the labs we have, to actually broaden our approach and work with new collaborators, start new projects that impact food in a bigger way than just cooking every night for 50 people. And in that sense, figuring out how to focus, how to bring the scope, how to have a larger scope, Omnivore helped crystallise a lot of the projects that we're going to initiate in Noma 3.0. I feel like I should also say that in Noma 3.0, we will still pop up as a restaurant now and then. When the body of work is ready and we need someone to test it on, then we'll come back and work so hard every minute to be the best of the best of the best. But Omnivore has helped crystalise some of the projects, which actually has been an amazing thing for that reason. And surprising, I would also say, that an added bonus was all that we've learned, all the meaning that we saw and all the interesting people you get to encounter, that they help guide you towards your next path. It's fantastic." On Redzepi and Liebmann's All-Time Favourite Ingredients, If They Could Only Choose One René: "Ben Liebmann, it's easy for me. You will let me know what you think, Ben." Ben: "Well, given that it's 7am here and I'm already on my second cup of coffee, it's probably coffee for me." René: "I was sure is was going to be coffee for you. For me, it's without a doubt chocolate. I cannot live without chocolate. That's for real. There's a little chocolate store in Mexico City called La Rifa. It's the best chocolate for me that exists, and I eat a block of that every day. I just can't be without chocolate." Omnivore streams via Apple TV+ from Friday, July 19, 2024.
A quick word of warning: If you suffer from FOMO, the following images may send you on a path of unending regret. The first weekend of Coachella has come and gone and not only have you forfeited a chance to soak up the likes of Blur and Phoenix but you've also missed out on chilling with some of the coolest over-50s to ever grace the festival. (And, before you ask, the answer is yes. They've still got it.) 1. Clint Eastwood Pictured here with daughter Francesca, Clint may appear a little dazed and confused. Never fear though; once Benny Benassi dropped the bass on 'Satisfaction', no-one partied harder. 2. Pierce Brosnan Mr Bond is always keen for a mosh. If he looks apprehensive, it's because someone offered him a stirred martini while congratulating him on the success of Skyfall. 3. Danny DeVito Men of Danny DeVito's stature are in short supply at plebeian events such as the Coachella Valley Music Festival. It was no small matter to have Danny present. Because, really, who thinks little of him? Also: Melanie Griffith! 4. David Hasselhoff National hero or national embarrassment? Neither. He is a god. 5. Coachella Rave Dad While you might not recognise this gentleman right away, that doesn't mean that he wasn't born for fame. Say hello to 'Coachella Rave Dad'; the greatest discovery of the weekend. When you're ready, click on each Vine image to witness sweet, sweet moves.
New year, new vaccination campaign, new chance to see life return to pre-pandemic normality: when 2020 ticked over to 2021, that's what was on the horizon. But the year hasn't turned out as planned so far thanks to ongoing lockdowns and restrictions — and the slow pace of Australian's vax rollout. For many Aussies under 40, it's been quite a wait to get the jab. Across most of this year, getting vaccinated if you're aged 39 and under — and getting the Pfizer vax, which is the preferred jab for that age group — has only been possible if you've fallen into a specific high-risk category. But, thankfully, that's no longer the case. So, it's time to roll up your sleeves, get your two jabs and protect yourself against COVID-19. In the process, you'll also help the country increase its vaccination rate, with more restrictions likely to ease for fully vaxxed Aussies once the nation hits both the 70-percent and 80-percent vaccination thresholds. That said, when it comes to the process of actually booking in for your vaccination, you might have a few questions. It isn't always as straightforward as it perhaps should be, in fact. So, we've run through the basics — and the queries you might have bubbling away in your head at the moment. Obviously, if you have any questions or concerns about the COVID-19 jab, you should seek advice from your GP or a healthcare professional. How do I find out if I'm eligible to get vaccinated? Melburnians, your first point of call is the Victorian Department of Health website, which runs through exactly who is eligible for both the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca jabs. All Aussie adults have been able to actively opt to get the AZ vax since late June, including under 40s. But, due to rare side effects with the AZ jab, Pfizer is the recommended COVID-19 vaccination for under 60s — and it's now available to any person aged 16–59 years in Victoria. That's been the case since Wednesday, August 25 (ahead of the nationwide vaccination rollout, in fact, which only opened up the Pfizer vaccine to under 40s on Monday, August 30). To get the Pfizer jab if you're aged 39 and under, you do need to book into a state-run vaccination hub, though — more on that below. Where can I get vaccinated? The Victorian Government has set up state-run vaccination centres across the state, including at places such as the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Some even do drive-thru jabs. Whether you're driving or walking to your appointment, if you're under the age of 40 and you're getting the Pfizer vax, that's where you'll need to head. That means that you can't currently get the Pfizer jab from your GP or from a pharmacy. The Victorian Department of Health website has its own vaccination location map, which outlines all of the relevant sites. Or, in a nifty spin on another handy online map that's gotten quite a workout during the pandemic, COVID-19 Near Me now has a vaccination function — so you can use it to find your nearest location as well. How do I book in my vaccination appointments? There are two pathways for people under 40 to book in their Pfizer jabs: via the Australian Government COVID-19 vaccination eligibility checker, and via the Victorian Department of Health. The first path will actually lead you to the second, though. So, you can either hit up the Vic DoH website straight away, create an account, enter your relevant details, then follow the necessary instructions to book. Or, if you want to triple check that you're eligible first, you can head to the eligibility checker, then follow the prompts through to the Vic DoH site afterwards. If you need assistance from there, Vic DoH has put together a how-to guide, too. Once you've had your first jab, you'll follow the same steps to book in your second dose. I've had my jabs. How do I find proof? Allowing people who've been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 more leeway — to go to venues and to travel, for instance — is part of Australia's National COVID Response that was announced in July. So, once you've had both of your jabs, you'll likely be looking for the documentation to prove it. The easiest way at the time of writing: via Medicare, either through the Australian Government's My Gov website and app, or the Express Plus Medicare mobile app. The Services Australia website will step you through accessing your digital certificate using both methods. For further information about Australia's COVID-19 vaccine rollout, head to the Australian Government Department of Health website.
Melbourne Skydeck is no stranger to breathtaking experiences. This New Year's Eve, it's taking the party to another level — literally. If you're over the standard NYE party and are looking for a countdown worth telling your grandkids about, then you might want to snap up a ticket to Disco in the Sky — the hottest (and highest) New Year's Eve party in town. This NYE, the southern hemisphere's highest observation deck will transform into the ultimate dance floor. Melburnians will strut into 2024 with glittering lights, fun beats courtesy of DJ Baitz, and a breathtaking view that quite simply cannot be beat (in this hemisphere, at least). Picture making your way to the 88th floor, New Year's buzz in the air, the lit-up Melbourne skyline stretches before in all directions. You grab a drink, maybe you grab two, perhaps you're there with your favourite person, maybe you have the New Year's kiss of all time high in the sky. Wouldn't that be just the best? And while you wait for that magic moment, live life on the edge as you step out onto the glass platform that extends from the building, daring you to look down through the glass floor. Or immerse yourself in a world of wonder with state-of-the-art VR in the downstairs Voyager Theatre. Tickets to the Disco in the Sky include a drinks package with beer, wine and bubbles. Ticket holders also get gourmet canapés prepared by Eureka 89, access to the Voyager Theatre from 8pm to 9:30pm, access to The Edge from 8pm to 11pm, and a commemorative photo booth to capture the magic. No New Year's Eve party is complete without cocktails, and Bar 88 delivers the goods. Enjoy a selection from classic espresso martinis and cosmos to bespoke cocktails of the month. Although they aren't included in the package, cocktails can be purchased all night from the bar. Tickets to Disco in the Sky are available to purchase on the website.
When the Animus team started out, it was waiting for its barrel-aged whisky to mature — but the four lads didn't sit idly around, twiddling thumbs and rolling each other across the plains in Kilmore. Instead, they decided to use their time wisely to create a gin. Or, as currently is the case, five vapour-pressed varieties of the stuff. The Davidsonia Gin is its take on England's traditional sloe gin, but with a distinctly Australian flavour. Using native Davidsonia Pruriens — a tropical sour plum from the temperate regions of northern NSW and Queensland — the distillery has steeped the plums in their award-winning dry gin to create an intense and unique character. The best part is that the distillery's cellar door also operates as a cocktail bar on Kyneton's main drag. It's open every night of the week — and it's only an hour away from the city on the V/Line.
Throughout Japan's history, the country has gone through several periods of rapid transformation. The NGV's latest exhibition, Japanese Modernism, explores one of them: the prosperous era from the early 1920s until the late 1930s, a time that spawned financial independence for women and access to international travel. As movie theatres, department stores and modern transport became widespread, life quickly changed for Japan's urban dwellers. Featuring 190 works that consider the country's shifting social and cultural values, Japanese Modernism highlights these changes through an array of creative mediums that see traditional Japanese techniques blended with European influence. There are colourful woodblock prints that fuse ancient ukiyo-e methods with modern elements, plus a plethora of kimonos, street posters and glassware. Running until Sunday, October 4, Japanese Modernism is completely free to attend. You'll be amongst the first to see these works in Australia, too — the NGV has spent the last five years amassing this impressive collection from around the world. To give you a quick primer before you head along to the NGV, we've picked out five inspirational works to see at Japanese Modernism. [caption id="attachment_763292" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Installation view of Japanese Modernism at National Gallery of Victoria. Photo: Tom Ross.[/caption] PREPARING TO GO OUT (1935) BY TANIGUCHI FUMIE As a key figure in Japan's emerging generation of the time, known colloquially as 'moga' and 'mobo' — modern girls and modern boys — Taniguchi Fumie burst onto the scene to great success in the 1930s. However, Fumie's glowing artistic career came to an early halt with the onset of World War II, as she was evacuated to the countryside and her work faded into obscurity. One of Fumie's most lasting works, Preparing to go out, was produced as a large-scale, sixfold design that draws directly from the 17th-century style of Matsuura screens. This modern take on a fundamentally traditional art form sees Fumie depict a group of friends getting ready for a fun night out, leaving behind their previously reserved existence. [caption id="attachment_763296" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Saeki Shunkō, Tea and coffee salon, Sabō 1939, ink, colour, paper, lacquer, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased with funds donated by Alan and Mavourneen Cowen, The Myer Foundation and the NGV Supporters of Asian Art, 2015[/caption] TEA AND COFFEE SALON, SABŌ (1939) BY SAEKI SHUNKŌ With many Japanese cities being quickly redeveloped during this era, a large population of women waved goodbye to the countryside and went in search of jobs and a modern lifestyle in the metropolis. This change gave rise to the first generation of financially independent female artists, who set about creating art that explored their new reality. Saeki Shunkō was one of these pioneering artists. Her 1939 painting, Tea and Coffee Salon, Sabō, presents two modern Japanese women wearing Western-style uniforms, highlighting the shifting dynamics of the country. This changing way of life for the nation's youth, especially women, showcased how they were no longer beholden to their parent's conservative values. [caption id="attachment_763302" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Takei Takeo (illustrator), Tōkyōsha, Tokyo (publisher), Children's land 1928, colour offset lithograph. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased NGV Foundation, 2018[/caption] CHILDREN'S LAND (1928) BY TAKEI TAKEO Inspired by popular European art movements like Cubism, Futurism and Fauvism, Japanese artists began mixing these styles within their own work. One magazine in particular, called Kodomo no kuni or Children's Land, which was groundbreaking at its time, began using these styles throughout its pages and on its cover. The magazine was popular with children and young adults, as it encouraged the new generation to embrace individuality. Takei Takeo was one of the magazine's key contributors, producing works that blended geometric shapes with shadows and bright colours. His 1928 cover design had a two-fold appeal to children of the time, as it linked an exciting style of art with the modern train system, which was beginning to roll out across Tokyo. [caption id="attachment_763303" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hisui Sugiura, The first subway in the East 1927, colour offset lithograph. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Purchased NGV Foundation, 2018 © Estate of Hisui Sugiura[/caption] THE FIRST SUBWAY IN THE EAST (1927) BY HISUI SUGIURA Described as a pioneer of Japanese graphic design, Hisui Sugiura was at the forefront of the nation's commercial art industry. Although he had a traditional painting background, his interest in Europe's art nouveau movement led him to form the artist collective known as Shichinin-sha, aka the Group of Seven. Through his position as the Mitsukoshi Clothing Store's chief graphic designer, he exposed Tokyo's residents to a wave of contemporary design. Created in 1927 to celebrate the opening of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line — the first subway in Asia — this poster is regarded as a cornerstone of Japanese modernist design. Expressing the changes occurring across Japanese society, Sugiura draws those at the distant end of the platform in traditional garments, while the families at the front of the scene appear in distinctly modern clothing. [caption id="attachment_763304" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Koike Iwao, Tokyo Mitsukoshi clothing store 1927, colour lithograph, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased NGV Foundation, 2018[/caption] TOKYO MITSUKOSHI CLOTHING STORE (1927) BY KOIKE IWAO The Tokyo Mitsukoshi Clothing Store is the oldest-surviving department store in Japan, with its origins as a kimono maker dating all the way back to the 17th century. Having opened as a modern-day department store in 1904, it was partially destroyed by the Great Japan Earthquake of 1923. However, it relaunched in 1926 with modernist architecture and a host of retailers that sold products that appealed to the new Japan. The above poster, by graphic designer Koike Iwao, announces the store's reopening and features Mitsukoshi's famed entrance lions. Iwao was also part of Sugiura's influential Shichinin-sha artist collective, which produced a vibrant magazine that signalled a new direction for Japanese artistry. Japanese Modernism is on display at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne until October 4, 2020. It's free to attend. Find more exhibition details at the NGV website. Top images: Installation views of Japanese Modernism at National Gallery of Victoria. Photos by Tom Ross
In need of some perspective? Spend a weekend with your head in the clouds at Sky High Mount Franklin. This next-level luxury holiday house is perched atop a ridge just next to Mt Franklin and affords 360-degree views of rolling paddocks and forests, backdropped by spectacular mountains. The sunsets are off the charts. During the day, plan a hike and picnic atop Mt Franklin, a (now extinct) volcano, and come evening, take in the stunning sunset from your outdoor saltwater plunge pool. If you'd rather get cosy, snuggle into your king-sized bed and enjoy the show via epic floor-to-ceiling windows. The home is located just a stone's throw from Daylesford, so you can indulge your lush side even further on a trip into town.
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.
As our fear of global warming intensifies, major cities are coming up with all kinds of piecemeal solutions, from solar-powered bridges to train-powered heating systems. But always in our minds nags the persistent question, 'Will it all prove to be too little, too late?' So, a New York-based research group by the name of Terreform has taken matters further. They've envisioned the city as it would be, were every last block — from Manhattan to The Bronx — self-sustaining. In this green paradise, 147th Street would transmogrify into an urban farming block, Amsterdam Avenue would be free of cars and reclaimed rooftops would each provide food enough for 12,000 individuals. There are even plans for meat production towers, where chickens would range freely (sort of) on outdoor terraces. Terreform put six years of research into the project, which they've named 'New York (Steady) State'. If every detail were to be executed, it'd be possible for New York's citizens to meet every one of their needs without stepping (or trading) outside of the city's geographical boundaries. Food, water, waste disposal, air quality, climate regulation, construction, manufacturing and construction would all be taken care of. Sounds an awful lot better than slowly roasting while watching our coastal cities (Manhattan included) drown. Via PSFK.
It's hard to find a soul out there who isn't a fan of the humble sandwich in Melbourne. Invented by the fourth Earl of Sandwich in the 18th century, the convenient 'meat between two slices of bread' has come a very long way in that time. Today, cafes and delis across Melbourne are paying worthy homage to this iconic dish, plating up riffs on global favourites, reinvented classics and everything in between. Whether you've got a penchant for panino, you cherish a good ciabatta, or you're mad for meatball subs — this city's got a standout sandwich joint to suit. We've done the hard work for you and hunted down eight Melbourne sandwich spots that are simply smashing it in the sandwich department. All that's left is to decide which one you'll try first. Recommended reads: The Best Burgers in Melbourne The Best Cafes in Melbourne The Best Restaurants in Melbourne The Best Ramen in Melbourne
It could've been stickier than a marmalade sandwich. After directing the first two Paddington movies so delightfully, and either writing or co-writing both 2014's Paddington and 2017's Paddington 2 as well, filmmaker Paul King opted to dance with another beloved pop-culture character instead of making a third date with a certain adored Peruvian-in-Britain bear. Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), as the chocolatier, was also a gem. With Dougal Wilson making his feature helming debut, Paddington in Peru has turned out charmingly as well. Wilson has been behind the lens for decades on music videos, short films and advertisements. If you've seen the clips for 'Fit But You Know It' by The Streets, 'Take Me Back to Your House' by Basement Jaxx, Dizzee Rascal's 'Dream', Jarvis Cocker's 'Don't Let Him Waste Your Time', 'Psyche' by Massive Attack, Goldfrapp's 'Happiness' and 'Life in Technicolor II' from Coldplay — among other vids — then you've seen his work. He's received Grammy, MTV Europe Music Awards and UK Music Video Awards nominations for his efforts, but taking over a big bear hug of a cinema franchise that's adored by audiences of all ages (and, in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, by the one and only Nicolas Cage) is quite a task. Was it daunting? How did Wilson approach it, knowing how much viewers have warmed to all things Paddington on the silver screen over the last decade — and knowing, of course, the character's history on the page, where the Michael Bond-created critter first popped up in 1958, too? "You try not to make the pressure make you have a nervous breakdown, really," he tells Concrete Playground with a laugh. While he was new to the series, he was "surrounded by a very good team who all worked on the previous films", which assisted. "I had the same cinematographer, Erik Wilson [who also lensed Better Man], as the first two films. Same producer, Rosie Alison [Wonka], who is fantastic. Mark Burton [an Aardman Animations veteran, including Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl] was one of the writers who worked on the first two films. And James and Jon, two of the other writers, Jon Foster and James Lamont [the creators of animated series The Adventures of Paddington], they'd also contributed to some of the writers' rooms on the first two films. Then I had the director of animation Pablo Grillo [The Little Mermaid], who was a huge part the first two films." "So I had a really good team to help me, who could, if not reassure me — because it's not something you should be reassuring yourself, but it's hard to work on that, and you just have to chip away and keep working and craft it as best you can — but they had been there before, so they were a great team to work with," Wilson continues. For the franchise's third instalment, Wilson, his veteran Paddington colleagues, plus a cast still led by Ben Whishaw (Black Doves) turning in a lovely and lively vocal performance, all have new terrain to traverse. Although Paddington hails from Peru, he's one of London's most-famous animal residents, and so the first two movies largely set their narratives in the UK. With a roster of actors that's added Emily Mortimer (The New Look) as Mrs Brown, taking over from Sally Hawkins (The Lost King) in the first two pictures, and also enlisted Olivia Colman (Wicked Little Letters) as the singing Reverend Mother at the Home for Retired Bears and Antonio Banderas (Babygirl) as riverboat captain Hunter Cabot, the third film unfurls as an adventure in the South American jungle. Paddington and the Browns (including The Agency's Hugh Bonneville, Houdini and Doyle's Samuel Joslin and Man Down's Madeleine Harris) arrive to visit Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget), then find themselves searching for her — and El Dorado. The job for Wilson, then, wasn't just stepping into a heartwarming saga that King had established and then furthered so wonderfully — it was also upping the stakes, playing with a new location, taking inspiration from Buster Keaton and Werner Herzog, and more. We also chatted with the filmmaker about how he came to make his feature directorial debut with a Paddington flick, what excited him most about the job, balancing the slapstick and emotionally resonant elements of the movie (and others), the importance of Whishaw's voicework, the cast's new big names, how his music-video background assisted and more. On How Wilson Came to Make His Feature Directorial Debut with a Paddington Movie "Well, I was quite happy doing short things. They're great fun and they're very distracting. I had made various attempts to start on a longer-form thing, but I'd always haver about whether I got the story right or get paranoid that it wasn't. And then another short thing would come along and it would be more of a delay before the long thing ever got made. But I was working on another thing — a much-smaller long thing. Then this opportunity came up and I thought 'well, unlike other attempts I was making with features, I knew this would definitely happen' — because they really wanted to make a third film. And while it wasn't what I anticipated the first thing I would maybe try to do in long-form, I realised it was a great opportunity, and as did lots of my friends. They said 'oh, it's Paddington, you've got to do that'. Also I really admired what Paul had done on the first two films. Paul was off doing Wonka, so wasn't going to do the third one. And I really admired the style. I thought the way he told those stories, the way he coordinated the world and created the character Paddington himself, and the tone of the scriptwriting was so good. And that the humour was great. It had this lovely, quite unique modern-British comedic sense. And, despite being a family franchise, he'd really made it quite smart, and you could be any age to enjoy it. So I admired all these things and I thought 'well, I should probably take this opportunity'. But I was really scared because the first two films are really cherished and really good — and very well done. And I was under no illusion that this would be easy. We had to work on the script quite a lot with the writers as well, and develop that. And then it's a real technical challenge — and we were taking Paddington out of the environment in the first two films and taking him somewhere completely new, where he'd only been fleetingly in the first two films. So yeah, it was terrifying. But I felt I had to try." On What Excited Wilson the Most About Diving Into Paddington's World "I find the first two films really funny, but also quite emotionally powerful, and I was excited to try — I guess, as well as being terrified, I was excited to try to create something that if it was at least half as good as those two films, then I felt like I would have been really happy. So that was exciting knowing that we were aspiring to make something that could be good. Specifically, I was very excited by the mixed-media approach that Paul had started in the first two films. Using animation for some parts, I loved that in my short-form work. I was really excited about how intricately and brilliantly the action sequences were done in the first two films. I was keen to get my teeth into the slapstick sequences in this film. I was very excited by the approach to the design of the cinematography and the heightened style which we were going to try to continue. It's challenging because we were in London, and London is a big character in those first two films. And it does really, the locations and buildings in London really contribute to the style. But we are obviously in a natural environment in Peru. So it was a challenge, but I was also excited to try to continue the style of the first two films in an environment that was novel to them. We tried to that by setting it within an Incan labyrinth that sort of became our stand-in for how the National History Museum works in the first film, or Hunter's riverboat becomes the same as the train in the second film. It was just trying to find proscenium arches for certain scenes that continued he style of the first two films in a way that was as fun and as intricate as they did." On the Juggling Required to Make a Warmhearted, Globe-Crossing, Treasure-Hunting Mystery Adventure That's Also About Identity, Acceptance and Kindness "If you don't have both, then it will feel quite one-dimensional. So while Paddington will always mess things up or get himself in quite serious spots of bother, it's all because he means well and it's all because he's trying to do the right thing. So that does guide you in the script-development process. Also, we were completing the circle of the trilogy, which was basically the story of an immigrant who's looking for a home, who's trying to find their home — and then in the second film, someone who becomes part of a wider community but loses that place and has to fight to get it again, and in doing so finds out finds out a bit more about himself. And in the third film, it's about the experience of an immigrant who has to ask themselves where their home really is and what home means. So there was a deeper theme lying behind all the fun and the action, and we had to bear that in mind the whole time. And it obviously comes into focus towards the end of the film where Paddington finds out something about how he ended up in that river in Paddington 2 and where he might really be from. So there was always the undercurrent of that guiding us, and Paddington's outlook on life guides us. Even in the smallest details, like there's a scene where he tries to drive the boat and ends up — spoiler alert — ends up sinking the boat by accident, and that's all just because he wants to help. He wants to do the right thing. And so it often steers you, his outlook on life. It's not gags for the sake of gags. It's gags because he's trying to do the right thing at that moment." On the Scene in Paddington in Peru, Amid the Film's Many Visually Imaginative Sequences, That Wilson Is Most Pleased About "There's a few, but the one I thought was very ambitious but hopefully we carried it off was the finale chase at the end of act three — where Paddington's being pursued by the character Hunter, played by Antonio Banderas, around an Incan labyrinth by an Incan citadel, which is very inspired by Machu Picchu. During the research and location-scouting phase of the project, I went to South America for two months and I saw a lot of Incan architecture. And I went to Machu Picchu twice and explored those ruins, and I realised that would be a great place for a chase and for all sorts of interesting physical comedic moments to develop. In the same way as Paul drew on Chaplin in Paddington 2, I'm an enormous fan of Buster Keaton, and we worked in some Buster Keaton — there's a literal homage to the famous moment where the wall falls on Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill, Jr within this chase. Then there's references to Raiders of the Lost of the Ark. There's nods to Aguirre, Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo. But that particular chase around the Incan ruins, that was really fun to do because we had to work out a sequence of comedic moments within a chase that we could then apply to an Incan citadel, and it just felt like a very good expression and condensation of the idea of Paddington in Peru. It's like, let's take Peru and put Paddington inside and hopefully fun will ensue." On Not Really Needing to Guide Ben Whishaw's Vocal Performance — or Imelda Staunton's as Aunt Lucy "They're somewhat old hands at this now, because they've both done two films already. And they're also just brilliant actors. So I often don't really have to tell them really much to do. I just, we get the first few performances, we might develop it, get some options — because sometimes you also don't quite know in the recording session with them exactly what will feel right within the edit, until you get the recordings back to the edit suites and then play those performances off against the other cast or the particular cut you have. But no, they really inhabit those characters. Ben is the heart and soul of Paddington. And when you hear his voice — because we didn't have his voice right at the start, we started just with scratch dialogue. You do a read-through with stand-ins. And often in the edit, it's sometimes my voice doing Paddington's voice, just because we needed Paddington to say something in particular we don't happen to have as a recording. So in the later stages of the edit, we start doing the voice sessions with Ben and with Imelda, and then those voices go in. And also, you don't have Paddington's animation to begin with. You just might have some — again, sometimes it's my incredibly crude drawings, which my editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle [Young Woman and the Sea] had to up with. She had to do chase sequences where it's just this frozen awful drawing of Paddington. But then when you put Ben's voice on it, somehow it absolutely comes alive and the emotion sings through. And the same with Imelda. I think we got her voice quite late in the day and suddenly the scene just came alive when we put it on. I don't have to tell them to do very much. It's very, very easy with those actors because they are just so expert." On How Crucial Whishaw's Voice Is as Paddington, Especially Given That Colin Firth Was Initially Cast for the First Film "There's a magic to Ben's performance and it just shows you that it's very difficult to put your finger exactly on what it is that that really works when you see that animation combined with that voice. And I think it was very hard thing to predict. He wasn't originally the voice of Paddington, and it was switched during the editing of the first film, I believe — and then once you hear it, you think 'well, how could that ever have been a different choice?'. I think the fact that it maybe wasn't obvious when Paul and his team were making the first film, who Paddington's voice should be, is part of the magic of why Ben works. And it's quite hard to articulate why he works. He just has this — there's an element of wisdom to his voice, but there's also an element of childish innocence to his voice. It's a lovely, subtle, slightly contradictory combination. And there's a real intimacy to his performance. And also you really believe the character and you believe he cares. That's just something interwoven in the fabric of Ben's performance. What exactly, how exactly he does that, I don't know. That's the magic." On Adding Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas to the Cast "We needed an amusing British nun who just felt like she was in a Paddington film. And as soon as someone mentioned Olivia Colman, we couldn't really think of anyone else, so that just seemed to click together. Then we sent her the script and asked if she wanted to do it, and within the same day we got a response: 'love to, I'm already learning the guitar'. So that was it. It was pretty simple. Antonio was equally keen on the project. We needed a charming Spanish riverboat captain who was quite swashbuckling, and of course your mind immediately turns to Antonio Banderas. So they just seemed the right, obvious choices for two archetypal roles. And luckily, they were very, very into it." On the Sense of Responsibility That Comes with Making a Heartwarming, Joyous Film That Offers Viewers an Escape — But Also Have Some Darkness in It "It's a big responsibility. And it's lovely to see the reactions of people who've seen the film and have found joy in it and found their spirits lifted by it. That's a wonderful thing to do. Obviously they're joyful, but you have to have the dark moments as well in order for the joy to work. And also you can't slap the joy on in too saccharine a manner, otherwise they won't feel authentic. But yes, they have a very positive outlook on the world and that all just emanates from Paddington's character, which he has an optimistic view of the world. He always looks for the good in people, and he always believes that if we are kind and polite, the world will be right. So the joy from the films, I think it all emanates from Paddington's worldview and his ability to change people. He often doesn't change that much himself, but he can change other people for the better. He'll find the good in people and change them." On Why the Paddington Films Have Struck Such a Chord with Audiences "I think basically because Paul got it right. He managed to get the character right, managed to get the tone of the humour right and managed to get the execution right. It could have been done differently, but it was just very, very smartly done. And again, you mentioned Ben Whishaw — Ben Whishaw just inhabits Paddington. And then the animation, the director of animation on all the films has been a brilliant guy called Pablo Grillo, and the combination of the way Paddington is designed and moves and animates and emotes with Ben's voice is just something, there's something magical there, and it was to the credit of all the team on the first two films that they just managed to make that resonate. So, I can't take the credit for that myself. I think that's just something that I inherited and I did my best to continue." On How Wilson's Background in Music Videos Helped with Directing His First Feature "That format of filmmaking, short-form, especially short-form set to music, is — well, the way I've done it, is there's a lot of attention to detail because you only get a short amount of time to show stuff. I also try to put stories into these pieces of videos. And I love it when the pieces are as packed as possible and as intricate as possible. So I really enjoyed applying that to the sequences in Paddington. I also thought, for the first two films, they do feel very carefully crafted and every moment seems to count. So it didn't seem too different a style for this film. Although, story is king and the story comes from the script, so I very much had to respect the scenes where the actors have to deliver a story — but I love trying to entwine that with style and design, and how it was directed and how the shots slotted together. Then it really came into its own when I was doing an action sequence or a slapstick sequence, or even a musical sequence, obviously when the Reverend Mother sings a song. So it really helped, but it was also a good new experience to do long scenes with actors performing and delivering great performances. That was maybe something that I hadn't experienced as much when I did short-form of stuff, but I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed attacking that sort of scene as well." Paddington in Peru released in Australian and New Zealand cinemas on Wednesday, January 1, 2025.
Wearing a pair of R.M. Williams says 'I'm ready for anything'. You could be going to the pub, walking into a work meeting or heading out to the farm to milk the cows. Sparkly footwear doesn't quite conjure up the same feelings of practicality. Well, until now — because R.M. Williams have just released a special run of boots in gold metallic. Joining the likes of Saint Laurent, Gucci and Marc Jacobs, the Aussie bootmaker has combined the metallic trend with their timeless aesthetic, adding a gold colour option to their women's Yearling Adelaide boots. As with each R.M. boot, these have been crafted out of a single piece of leather and feature the same elegant stitching and tapered heel of the regular Adelaide range. R.M.s are arguably Australia's most iconic shoe. From a modest start in the Adelaide outback servicing the stockmen and women of the heartland, 85 years later, a diverse range of people still wear the boots — from farmers in the outback, to corporate businessmen, to the style set at fashion week. Australian designer Dion Lee has used R.M.s regularly in campaign shoots and runway shows, even creating his own for New York Fashion Week in 2014. This latest addition to the R.M.'s women's range is only available online via special order, which means it will take about six to eight weeks before they're delivered. At $545 a pair, they're not exactly cheap — but if you're looking for an investment piece, a pair of R.M.s is the very definition of the phrase. Continuing to embrace contemporary styles and adapting to modern fashion without sacrificing their DNA has surely guaranteed the longevity of this historic label. R.M. Williams' gold Yearling Adelaide boots are available to order online here.
