When you've already announced Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay as one of your keynote speakers, what comes next? At the 2024 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, the conversation will flow from being a serial dissenter to the smartphone backlash, propaganda and censorship, giving kids the right to vote and taking on the one percent, then also cover tackling inequality, the myths surrounding women's health and humanity's need to find meaning through god-like figures. The full for the Sydney fest, which will take over Carriageworks for two days from Saturday, August 24–Sunday, August 25, is filled with exactly what an event dedicated to crucial and complex topics demands: a wide-ranging lineup of boundary-pushing talks where hopping from one session from the next means jumping between a vast array of subject matter. Under Festival Director Danielle Harvey, FODI has curated its 2024 roster around the theme of 'sanctuary'. Joining Gay among the 16 international guests presenting keynotes are US psychologist Jean Twenge, which is where diving into the impact of handheld devices comes in; journalist and writer Masha Gessen, who'll explore the ways that narratives about conflicts are controlled; and David Runciman to give the Christopher Hitchens Oration on the topic "votes for six-year-olds". Plus, Megan Phelps-Roper of Unfollow fame will team up with Andy Mills from The New York Times' The Daily and Rabbit Hole to dig into the impact of their podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling — and Jen Gunter has her sights set on the poor medical care women can be subjected to. Elsewhere, academic Saree Makdis will examine the west's response to the conflict in the Middle East, economists John N Friedman and Richard Holden will chat through ideas for increasing upward social mobility, The Next Frontier academic Todd Fernando will hone in on Indigenous excellence and The End of Race Politics' Coleman Hughes will be a guest on Josh Szeps' Uncomfortable Conversations. Attendees can also hear sustainability professor Jem Bendell step through how civilisation is already collapsing, philosopher David Benatar dive into the ethics of having children and comedian David Baddiel deliver the first John Caldon Provocation on how the need for god to give life substance disproves the deity's existence. The lineup goes on, whether you're keen for a session featuring Jordan van den Berg, aka renter advocate Purple Pingers, on why the one percent should be afraid — or chats about the new breed of world leaders, the price of democracy, public forgiveness, artificial and transplanted wombs, positive masculinity, peer pressure making us sick or individualism. If you can't attend or won't be in Sydney, some sessions will be livestreamed. For those heading along in person, perhaps you'd like to hear from Talk to Me's Danny Philippou about his favourite horror film and why we're all fascinated with fear, then crawl through a tape installation by Austrian and Croatian artists and designers Numen / For Use, then watch a jailbreak experiment by performance collective re:group, too? Yes, across what promises to be a busy weekend, they're all also on the program as well. Images: Jodie Barker, Ken Leanfore and Yaya Stempler.
Pastry fans of Sydney, it's time to get excited because the world-beating Lune Croissanterie is coming to Sydney with two pastry-filled stores. We already knew about one of them after the first-ever Sydney location was confirmed last year. But now, that initial Darlinghurst outpost will also be joined by a second Lune in Martin Place. Lune Sydney number two will open at 1 Elizabeth Street, Martin Place as part of the new Sydney Metro Martin Place tower that the Macquarie Group is currently developing. The bakery and cafe will join a host of yet-to-be-confirmed dining and retail offering in the precinct (which we're told will include premium restaurants, espresso bars and fashion retail). "This exciting deal marks a significant milestone for both Lune Croissanterie and the Martin Place metro development," says Michael Tuck of Colliers who secured the deal between Lune and the metro site. "This prime location, with its activated street frontages and high foot traffic, is the perfect setting for Lune Croissanterie's venue." The 100-square-metre CBD site will join the previously-announced 300-square-metre flagship store at 60 Oxford Street. This expansive first venue will boast al fresco seating, with Australian developer TOGA Group confirming the Darlinghurst space will spill out onto neighbouring backstreets, Foley and Burton Street. We haven't received an opening date for the Darlinghurst spot just yet, but we'll be sure to update you when it's locked in. As for Martin Place, both the metro tower and Lune are expected to open next year. It's been a big decade for the brand, after starting out as a tiny store in Melbourne's Elwood back in 2012. Since then, Lune has expanded into a converted warehouse space in Fitzroy (with perpetual lines out the front), opened a second store in the Melbourne CBD and then launched in Brisbane in 2021. And, amid all that, it was even dubbed "the finest you will find anywhere in the world" by The New York Times. Lune Croissanterie's second Sydney store will open at 1 Elizabeth Street, Martin Place in 2024. It'll join the flagship Sydney store which is expected to open at 60 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst in the Oxford & Foley development at some point this year. Images: Marcie Raw.
It's a great time to be a horror film fan. Get Out won an Oscar earlier this year, scary franchises — such as Insidious, The Purge and Unfriended — keep piling up the sequels and movies like Truth or Dare and Upgrade hit the big screen almost every month. And, of course, this October has seen iconic slasher franchise Halloween return with its 11th instalment — and it's a welcome return to form. That's because the film's producer, Jason Blum, is experienced in this kind of stuff — in fact, he's the person to thank for the current big-screen scary movie revival. Since he worked on 2007's surprise found-footage hit Paranormal Activity, Blum's name has been attached to many of the genre's big hits, including everything that we've just mentioned. The Joel Edgerton-directed thriller The Gift is also on his resume, and not-so obvious efforts like TV series The Jinx, Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman and Whiplash (which, Blum jokes is the "Sundance version of a horror movie"). During a recent trip to Australia to promote Halloween's release, we chatted to the prolific producer about different types of horror, helping to bring the genre back to prominence and restoring the Halloween series to its former glory — and what he'd like to revive next as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL_I2vNwkXQ BRINGING BACK HALLOWEEN 40 YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL "The first movie was one of the great horror movies of all time, and there've been nine sequels — some better than others, none too great. We make movies in a very specific way at Blumhouse, and I wanted to see if our system would work on this intellectual property that's been around for so long, and produced one spectacular movie and nine less spectacular movies. I wanted to see if we could make something great, so that was kind of a challenge that I was excited about. And in terms of now, I think because the first movie was so good, there's just been a desire from fans to try to see another Halloween that is as good as that one. I don't think ours is better than the first movie — I think no one's going to beat John [Carpenter, the writer and director of 1978's Halloween]. But I think ours is definitely second, and that's obviously very satisfying to me." AND BRINGING BACK JOHN CARPENTER AND JAMIE LEE CURTIS "I didn't want to do the movie unless John would agree to executive produce it. That was the only requirement for me — that I wasn't going to go forward unless John agreed to do the movie. I really don't believe that you can make successful sequels to movies without the person who made the success in the first place involved. And I went to John, and we had a meeting, and I got him to say yes — he initially said no, for quite a while, but I'm very convincing and persuasive so I twisted his arm and got him to agree. When he came on board, we hired David [Gordon Green, Halloween 2018's director and co-writer] and Danny [McBride, Halloween 2018's co-writer]. And they came up with the idea for what the movie is, which is this continuation of the story from 40 years ago. Then David met with Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jamie also was kind of reticent to join us. But I think it was the combination of John being back, and of her really responding to David's take on the movie, and that her godson in Jake Gyllenhaal — and Jake had just done Stronger, which David had directed, and Jake gave it very very high marks. It was all those things that got Jamie involved in the movie." FINDING THE RIGHT APPROACH TO MAKING THE 11TH FILM IN THE FRANCHISE "The storytelling is a continuation to the first movie, but there's a lot of nods in the movie to the other nine movies. I think the trick with making a sequel is making it feel original and entertaining to fans who've never seen a Halloween movie before, but also having it share enough DNA with the first movie so there's a reason to call it Halloween, and so that fans who've seen all other ten movies are also satisfied. The way that we approached that was to get John and Jamie involved — Jamie not just as an actress, but as an executive producer. So getting them involved as creative sources in the mix — and then add the new generation, which is David and Danny, who are very super talented guys in their own right but have never done a Halloween movie before. I really thought that by mixing those four creative forces together, you really get the best of both worlds. And I really think that they achieved it, so I'm very proud of that." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHEl7Pji0f8 WHERE BLUM FINDS HIS SCARES "I like to define the work that Blumhouse Productions does through the lens of what scares us. Clearly, mostly that's horror movies, but that isn't all that scares us. There's nothing scarier, certainly to me, than the Klu Klux Klan, and that's what BlacKkKlansman is about. Sharp Objects is not horror, but it's a clearly super dark-themed subject matter about a psychotic, overbearing mother. And even Whiplash — to me, these movies squarely fit under the umbrella of what scares us. That's what I look for — first and foremost, things that are great, but I like them to fit under the moniker of what's scary to us, and what's scary to me." HIS PART IN RESTORING HORROR TO GREATER MAINSTREAM PROMINENCE "I think our approach to the way that we make these movies has resulted in horror being more in vogue. I think there are directors who would have never done horror movies, who are now looking at horror as a way to reach young people through movies in a movie theatre — and to get what they want to say out to younger audience. But I think the thing that did the most for it was kind of the Academy's recognition of Get Out. That changed people's idea of what horror can be currently. Horror goes in and out of fashion, and has since the beginning of cinema, but I think right now it's getting more and more in fashion — and if I think there's one biggest reason, I would say it is because of Get Out." "I think we kind of have a unique way that we approach filmmaking, and I think it pays off. I think that cynical people approach horror movies by reverse engineering — they think about what should the scares be, and then figure out the story after that. We do it the opposite way. I really impress upon the executives at the company and the filmmakers we work with to be storytellers first and scary movie makers second, and I think as a result of that the movies are much more scary." SO, DOES HE HAVE PLANS TO RESURRECT OTHER HORROR ICONS? "I'd love to resurrect Friday the 13th. I have a pretty specific idea about it, but I haven't tried yet. I'm waiting for Halloween to come out, but after Halloween comes out I'm going to talk to the rights holders of Friday the 13th and see if I can talk them into it." Halloween is in cinemas now. Read our full review here. Top image: Alex J. Berliner, ABImages.
There's a lot to love about Websters — the laidback Newtown local is the perfect place for a few sunset pints, and its whiskey list is enough to make a Scotsman weep into his Bruichladdich. But the thing that keeps us coming back to this iconic venue is the wings. Here, they're done in a classic American style: thickly coated in a mix of Frank's hot sauce, butter and a touch of honey, then served with blue cheese sauce and celery sticks. In other words, they're spicy, savoury and incredibly moreish. Stop in and line your stomach on the bar's rooftop before a big night out in Newtown.
The big friendly giant of the streaming world has found itself a golden ticket, with Netflix bringing the work of beloved author Roald Dahl to its platform. Viewers can expect to feel like Charlie Bucket walking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, with a whopping 16 of Dahl's classic books set to get the Netflix treatment. Teaming up with The Roald Dahl Story Company, the outfit is turning everything from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator to Matilda and The Twits into new animated television shows. Oompa Loompas, everlasting gobstoppers and everyone's favourite book-loving schoolgirl with telekinetic abilities will be joined by basically every Dahl novel you read and adored as a kid — including The BFG, Esio Trot, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Henry Sugar, Billy and the Minpins, The Magic Finger, Dirty Beasts and Rhyme Stew. His autobiographical efforts Boy – Tales of Childhood and Going Solo will also hit the service, with one detailing Dahl's youth and the other delving into his journeys to Africa as well as his service in World War II. For many, including the tales about the author himself, it'll be the first time that they've been adapted for the screen. Netflix plans to turn Dahl's stories into event series and specials — so limited-run shows across a number of episodes, plus one-offs. Announcing the news, the company said in a statement that it "intends to remain faithful to the quintessential spirit and tone of Dahl while also building out an imaginative story universe that expands far beyond the pages of the books themselves". In other words, expect the tales you know and love, as well as tales that expand upon those tales. Work will start on the first Dahl animated series in 2019, although just which one it'll be is yet to be revealed. Netflix also hasn't said when the shows will hit the platform, but expect them soon — it's usually pretty speedy when it comes to turning content around. And if you just can't wait, Wes Anderson's delightful stop-motion animation version of Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox is currently streaming on the service.
If you're the type of person that loves getting into heated pop-culture debates with friends, then you'll definitely want to get on board with this Kickstarter project. Part card game, part ridiculous debate, the Metagame asks players to consider questions like 'Which feels like first love: Pride and Prejudice or Hungry Hungry Hippos?' and 'Which should be required in schools: Dungeons and Dragons or the Bible?' The game comes with two decks of cards: one set of discussion cards with questions like 'Which will save the world?' or 'Which best represents America?', and one set of culture cards, which feature various works of art and pop culture, like Helvetica, the Rubik's Cube and 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)'. There isn't really a set way of playing, but the makers include a few game suggestions and encourage players to invent their own. Most of the suggested games involve players choosing culture cards that best answer the question and debating their choices. The Metagame was created by Local No. 12, a game design collective made up of Eric Zimmerman, Colleen Macklin and John Sharp. While the original Metagame focused on video games, the trio decided to release 'Metagame: The Culture Edition' following numerous requests for music and film versions. The game is still in prototype form, but it's already attracting praise from Filmmaker Magazine and Attract Mode, and the original Metagame was also an official selection of the 2013 IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games. The project has raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter — nearly double their original target of $25,000. Potential backers have the option of donating anything from $1 (which gets you early access to a print-and-play PDF version) to $500 or more (which gets you your own version of the Metagame, where you pick the rules).
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've had a close-contact run-in. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are 20 that you can watch right now at home. THE NORTHMAN Satanic goats don't talk in The Northman. Heartthrobs don't masturbate while fondling mermaid figurines, either. Still, within ten minutes, pre-teen Viking prince Amleth (Oscar Novak, The Batman), his glory-seeking warrior father King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke, Moon Knight) and jester-meets-shaman Heimir (Willem Dafoe, Nightmare Alley) descend into a fire-lit cave to take hallucinogens, growl, grunt, bark like wolves and fart like it's a god-given superpower. If viewers didn't know who's behind this bold, brutal, brilliant, and blood- and guts-strewn Scandinavian opus before then, there's no doubt from this trippy scene onwards: after The Witch and The Lighthouse, writer/director Robert Eggers' touch, approach and style have become that distinctive just three remarkable features into his helming career. In Eggers' new untamed and laid-bare portrait of the past, something is rotten in the state of Iceland — as it was in Denmark via William Shakespeare, and in the Pride Lands of Africa in both versions of The Lion King. "I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir," says Amleth as a boy on a north Atlantic island in 895, when he witnesses the latter's (Claes Bang, Locked Down) treachery. He flees after hearing his uncle bay for his head, too, and seeing him carry off Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos) as a spoil of his victory. Two decades later, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård, Succession) is a hulking, wolfskin-clad Viking berserker, living life flinging whatever weaponry he can find while viciously pillaging through the lands of the Rus. But amid the bloodlust, gore and piling-up body count, the intense marauder is thrust back onto his vengeance-seeking path. A Slavic seeress (Björk, in her first film role since 2005) whispers stark truths about his current savagery and lapsed mission against Fjölnir, reigniting his yearning for that promised slaughter — and the single-minded behemoth learns that his uncle is now sheep-farming in Iceland, having lost the kingdom in another coup. The Northman is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE GRAY MAN It's been four years since Ryan Gosling last graced screens, rocketing to the moon in First Man. No, Barbie set photos pored over on every internet-connected device don't count. Since he played Neil Armstrong, much has happened. There's the obvious off-screen, of course — but then there's Chris Evans farewelling Captain America, and also appearing in Knives Out with the scene-stealing Ana de Armas. After co-starring in Blade Runner 2049 with Gosling back in 2017, she leapt from that Evans-featuring whodunnit to palling around with 007 in No Time to Die. Also during that time, Bridgerton pushed Regé-Jean Page to fame, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood earmarked Julia Butters as a young talent to watch. This isn't just a history lesson on The Gray Man's cast — well, some of them, given that Billy Bob Thornton (Goliath), Jessica Henwick (The Matrix Resurrections), Dhanush (Maaran), Wagner Moura (Shining Girls) and Alfre Woodard (The Lion King) also pop up, plus Australia's own Callan Mulvey (Firebite) — for the hell of it, though. Back in 2018, before all of the above played out, it's unlikely that this exact film with this exact cast would've eventuated. Making an action-thriller about attempting to snuff out hyper-competent assassins isn't new — both John Wick and Atomic Blonde have already been there and done that, and the Bourne and Bond movies — but the combination of this collection of current actors and that familiar setup isn't without its charms. Gosling plays Court Gentry, aka Sierra Six; "007 was taken," he jokes. Before he's given his codename and paid to do the CIA's dirty work, he's in prison for murder, then recruited by Donald Fitzroy (Thornton). Fast-forward 18 years and Six is a huge hit at two things: being a ghost, because he no longer officially exists; and covertly wreaking whatever havoc the government tells him to, including knocking off whichever nefarious figure they need gone. But one stint of the latter leaves him in possession of a USB drive that his arrogant new direct superior Carmichael (Page) will ruthlessly kill to destroy. Actually, to be precise, he'll pay Lloyd Hansen (Evans) of Hansen Government Services to do just that, and to do the dirty work that's too dirty for the criminals-turned-government hitmen in the Sierra program, with Six the number-one target. The Gray Man is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PETITE MAMAN Forget the "find someone who looks at you like…" meme. That's great advice in general, and absolutely mandatory if you've ever seen a Céline Sciamma film. No one peers at on-screen characters with as much affection, attention, emotion and empathy as the French director. Few filmmakers even come close, and most don't ever even try. That's been bewitchingly on display in her past features Water Lillies, Tomboy, Girlhood and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, any of which another helmer would kill to have on their resume. It's just as apparent in Petite Maman, her entrancing latest release, as well. Now 15 years into her directorial career, Sciamma's talent for truly seeing into hearts and minds is unshakeable, unparalleled and such a lovely wonder to watch — especially when it shines as sublimely and touchingly as it does here. In Sciamma's new delicate and exquisite masterpiece, the filmmaker follows eight-year-old Nelly (debutant Joséphine Sanz) on a trip to her mother's (Nina Meurisse, Camille) childhood home. The girl's maternal grandmother (Margot Abascal, The Sower) has died, the house needs packing up, and the trip is loaded with feelings on all sides. Her mum wades between sorrow and attending to the task. With melancholy, she pushes back against her daughter's attempts to help, too. Nelly's laidback father (Stéphane Varupenne, Monsieur Chocolat) assists as well, but with a sense of distance; going through the lifelong belongings of someone else's mother, even your spouse's, isn't the same as sifting through your own mum's items for the last time. While her parents work, the curious Nelly roves around the surrounding woods — picture-perfect and oh-so-enticing as they are — and discovers Marion (fellow newcomer Gabrielle Sanz), a girl who could be her twin. Petite Maman is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. THIS MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE How do you make a concert film when no concerts can be held to film? Australian director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, Killing Them Softly) and his now two-time subjects Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have the answer. How do you create a personal documentary that cuts to the heart of these Aussie music icons when, whether stated or implied in their vibe, both are hardly enamoured with having their lives recorded? Again, see: Dominik's new Cave and Ellis-focused This Much I Know to Be True. Performances in cavernous empty British spaces fill the movie's frames but, via stunning lighting, staging and lensing, they're as dazzling as any IRL gig. The interludes between tunes are brief, and also intimate and revealing. The result: a phenomenal doco that's a portrait of expression, a musing on an exceptional collaboration and a rumination upon existence, as well as a piece of haunting cinematic heaven whether you're an existing Cave and Ellis devotee, a newcomer or something in-between. Dominik, Cave and Ellis initially teamed up when the latter duo scored the former's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Later this year, when upcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde hits screens, the same arrangement will provide its soundtrack. But in the middle sits 2016 doco One More Time with Feeling and now This Much I Know to Be True, as entrancing a pair as the music documentary genre has gifted viewers. The first factual flick found Cave and Ellis recording the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Skeleton Tree, as Cave also grappled with the death of one of his sons. Here, its follow-up is shaped by the first performances of Cave and Ellis' latest albums — the Bad Seeds 2019 release Ghosteen, and Cave and Ellis' 2021 record Carnage — plus the pandemic and the lingering effects of grief. This Much I Know to Be True is available to stream via Mubi. Read our full review. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS Somewhere in the multiverse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is terrific. In a different realm, it's terrible. Here in our dimension, the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe teeters and twirls in the middle. The second movie to focus on surgeon-turned-sorcerer Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog), it's at its best when it embraces everything its director is known for. That said, it's also at its worst when it seems that harnessing Sam Raimi's trademarks — his visual style, bombast, comic tone and Evil Dead background, for instance — is merely another Marvel ploy. Multiverse of Madness is trippy, dark, sports a bleak sense of humour and is as close as the MCU has gotten to horror, all immensely appreciated traits in this sprawling, box office-courting, never-ending franchise. But it stands out for the wrong reasons, too, especially how brazenly it tries to appear as if it's twisting and fracturing the typical MCU template when it definitely isn't. Welcomely weirder than the average superhero flick (although not by too much), but also bluntly calculating: that's Multiverse of Madness, and that's a messy combination. It's apt given its eponymous caped crusader has always hailed from Marvel's looser, goofier and, yes, stranger side since his MCU debut in 2016's plainly titled Doctor Strange; however, it's hard to believe that such formulaic chaos was truly the plan for this follow-up. The last time that audiences saw Stephen Strange, he reluctantly tinkered with things he shouldn't to help Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Those actions had consequences, and recalling Raimi's time with Spidey came with the territory. Strange's reality-bending trickery has repercussions here as well, because Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen, Sorry for Your Loss) isn't thrilled about her fellow super-powered pal's exploits. Yes, Multiverse of Madness assumes viewers have not only watched all 27 past MCU movies, but also its small-screen offshoots — or WandaVision at least, where the enchantress that's also Scarlet Witch broke rules herself and wasn't still deemed a hero. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MEN Since popping up over the last decade, the term 'elevated horror' has always been unnecessary. Used to describe The Babadook, It Follows, The Witch, Get Out, Hereditary, Us, Midsommar and more, it pointlessly claims that such unsettling flicks have risen above their genre. Each of these movies is excellent. They all boast weight and depth, trade in metaphors with smarts and savvy, and have style to go with their creeps and thrills. But thinking that's new in horror — that pairing unease with topical woes or societal fears is as well — is as misguided as dubbing Michael Myers a hero. With a name that makes its #MeToo-era point plain, Men has been badged 'elevated', too, yet it also does what horror has at its best and worst cases for decades. That the world can be a nightmare for women at the hands of men isn't a fresh observation, and it's long been a scary movie go-to. Still, Men stresses that fact in an inescapably blunt but also unforgettable manner. Hailing from Ex Machina, Annihilation and Devs' Alex Garland, Men's setting is an English manor, where Harper Marlowe (Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter) hopes for a solo stint of rest, relaxation and recuperation. Processing a tragedy, shattering memories of which haunt the movie as much as its protagonist, she's seeking an escape and a way to start anew. The initial hint that she won't find bliss comes swiftly and obviously, and with a sledgehammer's subtlety. Arriving at an idyllic-looking British countryside estate, Harper is greeted by an apple tree. She plucks one from the abundant branches, then takes a bite. Soon, she's told by her host Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear, Our Flag Means Death) that it's forbidden fruit. He also says he's joking — but in this garden, a woman will again shoulder a society's blame and burdens. Men is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. NUDE TUESDAY Relationships are all about communication. So much about life is, too. And, so is storytelling. With absurdist comedy Nude Tuesday, expressing emotions, connections and narrative details all boils down to two things, though: gibberish and bodies. This extremely amusing New Zealand film from writer/director Armagan Ballantyne (The Strength of Water) and writer/star Jackie van Beek (The Breaker Upperers) does indeed strip its performers bare, as its name makes plain — but it saddles them with conveying almost everything about their characters via body language long before that. The reason: every piece of dialogue spoken in the movie is uttered in gibberish, with completely made-up and wholly improvised words that take a few cues from The Muppets' Swedish Chef in cadence. While they're subtitled in English by British comedian and writer Julia Davis (Camping), that text was penned after shooting, in one of the film's other gleefully silly twists. The result is patently ridiculous, and marvellously so — and hilariously, too. It's such a clever touch, making a movie about marital disharmony and the communication breakdown baked within that's so reliant upon reading tone and posture, as couples on the prowl for the tiniest of micro-aggressions hone in on. Van Beek and Australian The Tourist actor Damon Herriman play that pair, Laura and Bruno. Living on the fictional pacific island of Zǿbftąņ, they're as stuck in a rut as any married, middle-class duo can be, and they're gifted a getaway to ẄØnÐĘULÄ to help. But this mountainside commune, run by the charismatic and lustful sex guru Bjorg Rassmussen (Jemaine Clement, I Used to Go Here), wants them to bare all in multiple ways. The film doesn't live up to its moniker until its last third, but its perceptive and side-splittingly funny from the get-go. Nude Tuesday is available to stream via Stan. Read our full review. THE DROVER'S WIFE THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON Leah Purcell's resume isn't short on highlights — think: Black Comedy, Wentworth and Redfern Now, plus Lantana, Somersault and Last Cab to Darwin (to name just a few projects) — but the Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri actor, director and writer clearly has a passion project. In 2016, she adapted Henry Lawson's short story The Drover's Wife for the stage. In 2019, she moved it back to the page. Now, she brings it to the big screen via The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Only minutes into her searing feature filmmaking debut, why Purcell keeps needing to tell this 19th century-set tale is patently apparent. In her hands, it's a story of anger, power, prejudice and revenge, and also a portrait of a history that's treated both women and Indigenous Australians abhorrently. Aussie cinema hasn't shied away from the nation's problematic past in recent times (see also: Sweet Country, The Nightingale, The Furnace and High Ground); however, this is an unforgettably potent and piercing movie. In a fiery performance that bristles with steeliness, Purcell plays the eponymous and heavily pregnant Molly. In the process, she gives flesh, blood and a name to a character who wasn't ever afforded the latter in Lawson's version: a 19th-century Indigenous Australian woman left alone with her children on a remote property for lengthy stretches while her husband works. During his latest absence, new sergeant Nate Clintoff (Sam Reid, The Newsreader) and Aboriginal fugitive Yadaka (Rob Collins, Firebite) separately venture Molly's way. From there, this sometimes-stagey but always blistering western digs sharply into issues of race, gender and identity — and eagerly, shrewdly and ferociously draws cinematic blood. The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE BOB'S BURGERS MOVIE Across its 12-season order to-date, the best episodes of Bob's Burgers have always resembled exactly what they should: a delicious serving of the meat-and-bread combination that shares the hit sitcom's name. There's a knack to a great burg — to a tastebud-thrilling, so-appetising-I-need-more-now example of this extremely accessible culinary art — and it's all about perfecting the absolute basics. No matter what else gets slotted in (and plenty of other ingredients can), every burger's staples should be the stars of the show. Indeed, a top-notch burg needn't be flashy. It definitely mustn't be overcomplicated, either. And, crucially, it should taste as comforting as wrapping your hands around its buns feels. On the small screen since 2011, Bob's Burgers has kept its version of that very recipe close to its animated, irreverent, gleefully offbeat heart. Unsurprisingly, the show's creators whip up the same kind of dish for The Bob's Burgers Movie, too. It's a winning formula, and creator Loren Bouchard knows not to mess with it while taking his beloved characters to the big screen. As always, the action centres on the film's namesake — the diner where patriarch Bob (H Jon Benjamin, Archer) sizzles up punningly named burgs to both make a living and live out his dream. And, as the show has covered frequently, financial woes mean that Bob and his wife Linda (John Roberts, Gravity Falls) have more to worry about than cooking, serving customers, and their kids Tina (Dan Mintz, Veep), Gene (Eugene Mirman, Flight of the Conchords) and Louise (Kristen Schaal, What We Do in the Shadows). Their solution: a burger, of course. But their bank manager isn't munching when they try to use food to grease their pleas for an extension on their loan. That mortgage also involves their restaurant equipment, leaving them out of business if they can't pay up. As their seven-day time limit to stump up the cash ticks by, Bob sweats over the grill and Linda oozes her usual optimism — only for a sinkhole to form literally at their door. The Bob's Burgers Movie is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HATCHING With a savvily sinister-meets-satirical blend, Hatching begins by unpacking a fallacy as fractured as Humpty Dumpty after the nursery-rhyme character's fall — and that still keeps being lapped up anyway. In suburban Finland, among homes so identical that the song 'Little Boxes' instantly pops into your head, 12-year-old gymnast Tinja (debutant Siiri Solalinna), her younger brother Matias (fellow first-timer Oiva Ollila), and their mother (Sophia Heikkilä, Dual) and father Jani Volanen, Dogs Don't Wear Pants) are living their best lives. More than that, as the soft lensing and music that helps open the movie establishes, they're also beaming that picture of pink, white and pastel-hued domestic perfection to the world. Tinja's unnamed mum is a vlogger, and these scenes are being captured for her cloyingly named blog Lovely Everyday Life. Naturally, showing that this family of four's daily existence is anything but enchanting is one of Bergholm's first aims. In Finnish writer/director Hanna Bergholm's bold and memorable body-horror, twisted fairy tale and dark coming-of-age thriller, the initial crack comes from outside, crashing through the window to ruin a posed shot alight with fake smiles and, of course, being filmed with a selfie stick. Soon, broken glass, vases and lamps are strewn throughout a lounge room so immaculately arranged that it looks straight out of a supermarket-shelf home-and-garden magazine — and the crowning glory, the chandelier, has descended from a luminous pièce de résistance to a shattered mess. A garden-variety crow is the culprit, which Tinja carefully captures. She hands it to her mother, thinking that they'll then release it outside. But her mum, placid but seething that anything could disrupt her manufactured picture of bliss, ignores that idea with a cruel snap and instructions to dispose of the animal in the organic waste. When Tinja disobeys that order, taking the egg into her care, nurturing it tenderly and placing it inside a teddy bear for safe keeping, she gains her own little universe to dote over. Then the egg keeps growing, and a human-sized chick emerges. Hatching is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE INNOCENTS Thanks to his Oscar-nominated work co-penning The Worst Person in the World's screenplay, Eskil Vogt has already helped give the world one devastatingly accurate slice-of-life portrait in the past year. That applauded film is so insightful and relatable about being in your twenties, and also about weathering quarter-life malaise, uncertainty and crisis, that it feels inescapably lifted from reality — and it's sublime. The Innocents, the Norwegian filmmaker's latest movie, couldn't be more different in tone and narrative; however, it too bears the fingerprints of achingly perceptive and deep-seated truth. Perhaps that should be mindprints, though. Making his second feature as a director after 2014's exceptional Blind, Vogt hones in on childhood, and on the way that kids behave with each other when adults are absent or oblivious — and on tykes and preteens who can wreak havoc solely using their mental faculties. Another riff on Firestarter, this thankfully isn't. The Innocents hasn't simply jumped on the Stranger Things bandwagon, either. Thanks to the latter, on-screen tales about young 'uns battling with the supernatural are one of Hollywood's current favourite trends — see also: the awful Ghostbusters: Afterlife — but all that this Nordic horror movie's group of kids are tussling with is themselves. Their fight starts when nine-year-old Ida (debutant Rakel Lenora Fløttum) and her 11-year-old sister Anna (fellow first-timer Alva Brynsmo Ramstad), who is on the autism spectrum, move to an apartment block in Romsås, Oslo with their mother (Blind's Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and father (Morten Svartveit, Ninjababy). It's summer, the days are long, and the two girls are largely left to their own devices outside in the complex's communal spaces. That's where Ida befriends Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim) and Ben (Sam Ashraf), albeit not together, and starts to learn about their abilities. The Innocents to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. ITHAKA To look at John Shipton is to see the obvious, even if you've never laid eyes upon him before. The family resemblance is immediately clear, and the traits that've likely been passed down from father to son — determination and persistence, blatantly — become apparent within minutes. Shipton needs to be resolute for the battle that documentary Ithaka captures. It's a fight that's been waged for a decade now, publicly, and not just in embassies and courtrooms but across news headlines worldwide. He's visibly Julian Assange's dad, and he's been helping spearhead the campaign for the WikiLeaks founder's release. Assange fell afoul of US authorities in 2010, when his non-profit whistleblower organisation published documents about the American military's war crimes leaked by army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. As Ithaka makes plain, The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel revealed the same information at the same time; however, only Assange now sits in London's Belmarsh prison. Plenty about the past 12 years since Manning's leaks were exposed to the world is filled with numbers. Plenty about the ten years this June since Assange first took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London is as well. The Australian editor and publisher spent almost seven years in that diplomatic space, seeking political asylum from sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden that he contended would be used to extradite him to America. If the US succeeds in its efforts, and in its espionage charges against him, he faces up to 175 years in incarceration. The list of figures goes on, but filmmaker Ben Lawrence (Hearts and Bones) makes two pivotal choices. Firstly, he surveys Assange's current struggle not through the Aussie himself, but through both Shipton and Stella Moris, his South African-born lawyer and now wife. Secondly, although those aforementioned numbers are inescapable, the riveting and affecting Ithaka brings humanity to this well-publicised plight. Ithaka is available to stream via ABC iview. Read our full review. ABLAZE A documentary that's deeply personal for one of its directors, intensely powerful in surveying Australia's treatment of its First Peoples and crucial in celebrating perhaps the country's first-ever Aboriginal filmmaker, Ablaze makes for astonishing viewing. But while watching, two ideas jostle for attention. Both remain unspoken, yet each is unshakeable. Firstly, if the history of Australia had been different, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta man William 'Bill' Onus would be a household name. If that was the case, not only his work behind the camera, but his activism for Indigenous Aussies at a time when voting and even being included in the census wasn't permitted — plus his devotion to ensuring that white Australians were aware of the nation's colonial violence — would be as well-known as Captain Cook. That said, if history had been better still, Bill wouldn't have needed to fight so vehemently, or at all. Alas, neither of those possibilities came to a fruition. Ablaze can't change the past, but it can and does document it with a hope to influencing how the world sees and appreciates Bill's part in it. Indeed, shining the spotlight on its subject, everything his life stood for, and all that he battled for and against is firmly and proudly the feature's aim. First-time filmmaker Tiriki Onus looks back on his own grandfather, narrating his story as well — and, as aided by co-helmer Alec Morgan (Hunt Angels, Lousy Little Sixpence), the result is a movie brimming with feeling, meaning and importance. While Aussie cinema keeps reckoning with the nation's history regarding race relations, as it should and absolutely must, Ablaze is as potent and essential as everything from Sweet Country, The Nightingale and The Australian Dream to The Furnace, High Ground and The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Ablaze is available to stream via ABC iview, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA The movies have come to Downton Abbey and Violet Crawley, the acid-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham so delightfully played by Maggie Smith (The Lady in the Van) since 2010, is none too fussed about it. "Hard same," all but the most devoted fans of the upstairs-downstairs TV drama may find themselves thinking as she expresses that sentiment — at least where Downton Abbey: A New Era, an exercise in extending the series/raking in more box-office cash, is concerned. Violet, as only she can, declares she'd "rather eat pebbles" than watch a film crew at work within the extravagant walls of her family's home. The rest of us mightn't be quite so venomous, but that's not the same as being entertained. The storyline involving said film crew is actually one of the most engaging parts of A New Era; however, the fact that much of it is clearly ripped off from cinematic classic Singin' in the Rain speaks volumes, and gratingly. A New Era begins with a wedding, picking up where its predecessor left off as former chauffeur Tom Branson (Allen Leech, Bohemian Rhapsody) marries Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton, Mank) with everyone expected — the well-to-do Crawleys and their relatives, plus their maids, butlers, cooks, footmen and other servants — in attendance. But the film really starts with two revelations that disrupt the Downton status quo. Firstly, Violet receives word that she's inherited a villa in the south of France from an ex-paramour, who has recently passed away. His surviving wife (Nathalie Baye, Call My Agent!) is displeased with the arrangement, threatening lawsuits, but his son (Jonathan Zaccaï, The White Crow) invites the Crawleys to visit to hash out the details. Secondly, a movie production wants to use Downton for a shoot, which the pragmatic Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery, Anatomy of a Scandal) talks the family into because — paralleling the powers-that-be behind A New Era itself — the aristocratic brood would like the money. Downton Abbey: A New Era is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. FIRESTARTER Would the latest big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter have been better or worse if it had included The Prodigy's hit of the same name, aka the most obvious needle-drop that could've been chosen? Although we'll never know, it's hard to imagine a film with less personality than this page-to-screen remake. Using the 1996 dance-floor filler would've been a choice and a vibe — and a cliched one, whether gleefully or lazily — but it might've been preferable to the dull ashes of by-the-numbers genre filmmaking from director Keith Thomas (The Vigil) that's hit screens instead. Zac Efron looking so bored that blood drips from his eyes, dressing up King's 1980 story as a superhero tale (because of course) and having its pyrokinetic protagonist say "liar liar, pants on fire" when she's torching someone aren't a recipe for igniting movie magic, or for even occasionally just lighting a spark. As the first version of Firestarter in 1984 did, and King's book as well, Firestarter follows the McGee family, whose lives would blaze brighter if they didn't have abilities most folks don't. After volunteering for a clinical trial in college, Andy (Efron, Gold) and his wife Vicky (Sydney Lemmon, Fear the Walking Dead) have telepathic and telekinetic powers; being experimented on with mind-altering chemical compounds will do that. And, from birth, their now 11-year-old daughter Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, It: Chapter Two) has been able to start fires with her mind. Unsurprisingly, the McGees have spent years attempting to blend in, hiding their powers and fleeing the shady government department, The Shop, that's responsible for their situation — and now sports a keen interest in using Charlie as a weapon. Then she literally explodes at school, The Shop head honcho Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben, City on a Hill) puts bounty hunter John Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes, Rutherford Falls) on their trail and the heat is on. (No, that track from Beverly Hills Cop, which reached cinemas the same year that the OG Firestarter did, doesn't feature here either.) Firestarter is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HOW TO PLEASE A WOMAN When Magic Mike stripped its way into cinemas a decade ago, it didn't just turn Channing Tatum's IRL background into a movie and give his chiselled torso oh-so-much attention; it understood that women like sex, boast libidos and have desires, too. Its sequel, Magic Mike XXL, doubled down on that idea, and winningly so — even if the saga dances with a notion so blatant that it definitely shouldn't feel revelatory to see it thrust front and centre in a big-budget Hollywood film. There's no trace of Tatum in How to Please a Woman, and it has nothing to do with the saucy franchise that has a third flick on the way, but this Aussie comedy nonetheless follows in Magic Mike's footsteps. Here, women also like sex, boast libidos and have desires, and that's something that the stuck-in-a-rut Gina (Sally Phillips, Off the Rails) turns into a lucrative business. When first-time feature writer/director Renée Webster begins her sunnily shot, eagerly crowd-pleasing leap to the big screen — following helming gigs on TV's The Heights and Aftertaste — Gina's relationship with sex is non-existent. She has long been wed to lawyer Adrian (Cameron Daddo, Home and Away), but he still thinks that having a tumble on their last holiday years ago is enough bedroom action to keep their marriage going. Gina's resigned to that fact, too, until her ocean swimming club pals book her a stripping surprise for her birthday. Tom (Alexander England, Little Monsters) shows up at her door, starts gyrating and undressing, and says he'll do whatever she wants. Although her friends are later horrified, Gina asks him to clean her house instead — and its their eagerness to truly take Tom up on his offer that inspires a plan to turn a removalist company she thinks she can save into a male escort service, covering scrubbing and shagging alike. How to Please a Woman is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. HELMUT NEWTON: THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL One of the great treats in Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful stems from perhaps the film's simplest move: letting viewers peer at the often-provocative photographer's works in such a large format. Being able to do just that is the reason why the Exhibition On Screen series of movies exists, surveying showcases dedicated to artists such as Vincent van Gogh, David Hockney and Frida Kahlo over the years — and this documentary isn't part of that, but it understands the same idea. There's nothing like staring at an artist's work to understand what makes them tick. Writer/director Gero von Boehm (Henry Miller: Prophet of Desire) fills The Bad and the Beautiful with plenty more, from archival footage to recent interviews, but it'd all ring empty without seeing the imagery captured by Newton's lens firsthand. Every word that's said about the German photographer, or by him, is deepened by roving your eyes across the frequently contentious snaps that he sent Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Playboy and other magazines' ways. Those photos aren't run-of-the-mill fashion pics. Largely, the highly stylised images are of naked women — naked famous women, if not then then now, such as Isabella Rossellini, Charlotte Rampling, Grace Jones and Claudia Schiffer — and they're as fetishistic as the artform gets. They're the kinds of snaps that saw Susan Sontag call Newton out for being a misogynist to his face, as seen in a French TV clip featured in the film. The Bad and the Beautiful is an affectionate doco, but it also dives headfirst into the trains of thought that his work has sparked for decades. Anna Wintour explains that when someone books Newton, "you're not going to get a pretty girl on a beach". Women who posed for him, including the aforementioned stars, plus Marianne Faithfull, Arja Toyryla, Nadja Auermann and Hanna Schygulla, all talk through their differing experiences as well — and the portrait painted is varied. Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. LAST SEEN ALIVE Perhaps the most positive thing that can be said about Last Seen Alive is this: it's definitely a Gerard Butler-starring kidnapping thriller. That isn't meant as praise, though; rather, the film simply manages to be exactly what viewers would expect given its star and premise. There's clearly far less cash behind it than the also-terrible trio of Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen — or Geostorm, Den of Thieves, Hunter Killer and Greenland among the Scottish actor's career lowlights over the past decade, either. There's visibly less effort, too, and more of a phoning-it-in vibe. The second collaboration between actor-turned-filmmaker Brian Goodman (What Doesn't Kill You) and producer/writer Marc Frydman after 2017's Black Butterfly, it plays like something that a streaming platform's algorithm might spit out in an AI-driven future where new movies are swiftly spliced together from pieces of past flicks. Yes, among Butler's output and with its abduction storyline, it's that derivative. Butler plays Will Spann, a real estate developer who already isn't having a great day when the film begins — but it's about to get worse. He's driving his unhappy wife Lisa (Jaimie Alexander, Loki) to her parents' home, where she's keen to decamp to find herself and take a break from their marriage, and Will is desperate to convince her to change her plans en route. His charm offensive isn't working when they stop at a petrol station mere minutes away from their destination, and he has zero charisma for anyone when Lisa unexpectedly disappears while he's filling the tank. Fuming that local police detective Paterson (Russell Hornsby, Lost in Space) hasn't just dropped everything immediately, and that he also has questions about their relationship, Will decides to chase down any lead he can himself. Meanwhile, Lisa's unsurprisingly wary parents (Queen Bees' Cindy Hogan and Master's Bruce Altman) direct their suspicions his way. Last Seen Alive is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. INTERCEPTOR Four decades back, Interceptor would've happily sat on a crowded video-store shelf alongside a wealth of other mindless, machismo-fuelled action thrillers. It would've been the epitome of one of the genre's straight-to-VHS flicks, in fact. Don't just call it a throwback, though; instead of testosterone oozing from every actor within sight, except perhaps a token wife worrying at home, this nuclear attack movie from Australian author Matthew Reilly focuses on a woman making waves in a male-dominated world. That's firmly a 2022 move, reflecting today's gender politics. So too is the fact that said protagonist, US Army Captain JJ Collins (Elsa Pataky, Tidelands), has just been reassigned after putting in a sexual harassment complaint against one of her past superiors. Don't go thinking that Interceptor doesn't tick every other box its 80s counterparts did, however. It couldn't lean harder on all of the cliches that've ever been involved with world-in-peril, military-driven movies, and with action fare at its most inane in general. A global success for his airport novels, writer Reilly doesn't just turn screenwriter here — with assistance from Collateral, Tomorrow, When the War Began and Obi-Wan Kenobi's Stuart Beattie — but also jumps behind the lens for the first time. Alas, his directorial instincts prove as flat and by-the-numbers as Interceptor's wanly boilerplate plot, as well as its clunky-as-clunky dialogue. And, that storyline really couldn't be more formulaic. In her new post on a remote platform in the Pacific Ocean, Collins soon finds herself under attack by terrorists led by the grating Alexander Kessel (Luke Bracey, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan). Her sea-surrounded station is one of two sites, alongside Alaska's Fort Greely, that can intercept a nuclear warhead launch on the US. Naturally, Kessel and his men have already taken out the other one, and have also pilfered nukes from the Russians in their possession. Interceptor is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. FATHER STU The last time that Mark Wahlberg played a real-life boxer, The Fighter was the end result. The last time that Mel Gibson played the burger-chain owner's father, the world was forced to suffer through Daddy's Home 2. Combine this mismatched pair and you don't quite get Father Stu, the former Marky Mark's first step into faith-based films — but even watching the latter, the second instalment in his woeful comedy franchise with Will Ferrell, is preferable to this mawkish true tale. Drawn from the IRL Stuart Long's life, it's meant to be an inspirational affair, covering the familiar religious-favourite beats about sinners being redeemed, wayward souls seizing second chances and learning to accept physical suffering as a chance to get closer to the divine. First-time feature writer/director Rosalind Ross is earnest about those messages, and her film visibly looks more competent than most sermon-delivering recent cinema releases, but what preaching-to-the-choir sentiments they are. How ableist they are as well. When Wahlberg (Uncharted) first graces the screen as Long, he could've stepped in from plenty of his other movies. In his younger days, the titular future priest is a foul-mouthed amateur boxer from Montana, but he has big dreams — and when he hits Los Angeles with acting stars in his eyes, viewers can be forgiven for thinking of Boogie Nights. Porn isn't Long's calling, of course, although salacious propositions do come his way in the City of Angels, in one of the film's hardly subtle efforts to equate the secular and the sordid. It's actually lust that pushes the feature's protagonist on the path to the priesthood, however, after he spies volunteer Sunday school teacher Carmen (Teresa Ruiz, The Marksman) while he's working in a grocery store. To have a chance with her, he even gets baptised. Then, a drink-driving accident brings a vision of the Virgin Mary, sparking Long's determination to make Catholicism his calling. Next, a shock health diagnosis both tests and cements his faith. Father Stu is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and our best new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies from the first half of 2022. Or, check out the movies that were fast-tracked to digital in January, February, March, April, May and June.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from February's haul of newbies (yes, we're assuming you've already watched News of the World and Malcolm & Marie). BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ9cCFrCBxI IT'S A SIN More than two decades after creating Queer as Folk, Russell T Davies gives the television landscape another excellent queer drama. The screenwriter and television producer has been busy over the intervening period thanks to everything from Doctor Who to Years and Years — and he also has 2015's Cucumber to his name, too — but It's a Sin is one of the very best things on his lengthy resume. Stepping back to the AIDS crisis of the 80s and early 90s, the five-part miniseries follows a group of friends chasing their dreams in London. Ritchie (Olly Alexander, Penny Dreadful) heads to the city to become an actor, and to avoid telling his stern parents that he's gay. Roscoe (Omari Douglas) flees his parents' home when they keep threatening to take him back to Nigeria. Colin (Callum Scott Howells) arrives for an apprenticeship at a high-end tailor shop, but soon finds himself seeking an escape from his lecherous boss. Given the era, there's no doubting where the story will head. It's a Sin is as joyous and vibrant as it is soulful and heartbreaking, though. Ritchie, Roscoe and Colin not only cross paths, but form a makeshift family in their modest flat, with the former's college friends Jill (Lydia West, Dracula) and Ash (Nathaniel Curtis) rounding out the quintet. Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Fry also feature, but they're never It's a Sin's stars — because, in series that looks and sounds the period part at every moment, the show's five main players are simply phenomenal. It's a Sin is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lkCCo63nhM I CARE A LOT She may not end up with many shiny statuettes for her efforts, but Rosamund Pike's Golden Globe nomination for I Care a Lot is well-deserved. The Radioactive and Gone Girl star is stellar in a tricky part in a thorny film — because this dark comic-thriller isn't here to play nice. Pike plays Marla Grayson, a legal guardian to as many elderly Americans as she can convince the courts to send her way. She's more interested in the cash that comes with the job, however, rather than actually looking after her charges. Indeed, with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza González, Bloodshot), plus an unscrupulous doctor on her payroll, she specifically targets wealthy senior citizens with no family, gets them committed to her care, packs them off to retirement facilities and plunders their bank accounts. Then one such ploy catches the attention of gangster Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones), who dispatches his minions to nudge Marla in a different direction. She isn't willing to acquiesce, though, sparking both a game of cat and mouse and a showdown. Dinklage makes the most of his role, too, but I Care a Lot is always the icy Pike's movie. Well, hers and writer/director J Blakeson's (The Disappearance of Alice Creed), with the latter crafting a takedown of capitalism that's savagely blunt but also blisteringly entertaining. I Care a Lot is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_iVa6bZgs WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS Named after a meme, and focusing on characters that can hardly be described likeable but are nonetheless instantly recognisable, Australian sitcom Why Are You Like This takes aim at 21st century life. Its three main figures are all twentysomethings endeavouring to navigate a never-ending onslaught of personal and professional problems, such as getting fired, battling with colleagues, money troubles, hiding boyfriends, losing moon cups and trying to spark a workplace revolution but ending up getting other people fired — so, yes, they're just like the rest of us. Penny (series co-creator Naomi Higgins, Utopia) wants to be an ally to everyone. Her bestie Mia (Olivia Junkeer, Neighbours) matches that determination with both self-assurance and a self-serving mindset; if she's sticking up for anyone, it's always herself. Rounding out the trio is Penny's housemate and aspiring drag queen Austin (Wil King), whose glittery outfits and super-sized personality can't always hide his internal crumbling. Across the show's six-episode first season, these three friends keep trying to stand out in their own ways. They also keep demonstrating both their best and worst traits. As satirical as it is candid and relatable, Why Are You Like This knows that everyone and everything is awful, and leans in. And, in terms of the series' style of comedy, the fact that Higgins created the show with lawyer and illustrator Humyara Mahbub and Aunty Donna's Mark Samual Bonanno says plenty. Why Are You Like This is available to stream via ABC iView. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqXhMYjasHM ROCKS Not only thoughtful, empathetic and heartfelt, but also offering a very familiar genre a fresh perspective, coming-of-age drama Rocks explores the life of British Nigerian teenager Olushola Omotoso (engaging debutant Bukky Bakray). She's given the eponymous nickname by her friends, and she's forced to call upon a hardy type of fortitude when her mother (Layo-Christina Akinlude, I May Destroy You) leaves suddenly, entrusting the 15-year-old to care for her her younger brother Emmanuel (D'Angelou Osei Kissiedu). This situation isn't new for the siblings, so they soldier on. But, approaching the film with a tender but also forthright touch, director Sarah Gavron (Suffragette) and screenwriters Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson (Gangs of London) don't sugarcoat their story. As Rocks tries to rustle up enough money to by, endeavours to evade social workers chasing her and Emmanuel around town, attempts to maintain a routine for her brother and also deals with her own schoolyard struggles, the film repeatedly demonstrates that a feature can be both honest, unflinching, bittersweet and charming all at once. Indeed, it also illustrates that when a movie manages to be all of those things — as well as immersively shot, superbly performed and keenly showing a far more expansive snapshot of British life than often seen on-screen — it's something special. Rocks is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZU_76SPdI CLARICE When The Silence of the Lambs became one of the most talked-about movies of 1991 — and won the 'big five' Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay — it was always going to earn a follow-up. But, the three films that did just that all cared far more about psychiatrist and serial killer Hannibal Lecter than FBI Agent Clarice Starling, as did the Mads Mikkelsen-starring TV series Hannibal. Accordingly, television crime procedural Clarice feels as if it's righting a three-decade-old wrong. Set a year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs, it follows its eponymous figure (Australian actor Rebecca Breeds, Three Summers) as she returns to the field. She's still shaken by the case that made her famous, and she'd much rather stay behind the scenes than lead the charge, but she's brought to Washington DC to join a high-profile taskforce that hunts down serial killers and other predators. Clarice is made by US network television, not cable, so it happily sticks to an obvious formula; however, case-of-the week programs like this have remained a TV mainstay for a reason. Breeds capably steps into Jodie Foster's shoes, the series as a whole sinks into its unsurprisingly grim mood, and stories about women reclaiming their own space after trauma, as this is, aren't as common as they should be. Clarice is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B7m-ARHz0c FAKE FAMOUS No one could've known how timely Fake Famous would be, especially in Australia. Arriving in a month where much of the nation's social media usage has pivoted from Facebook to Instagram, it explores influencer culture on the latter platform, all thanks to an experiment by journalist-turned-filmmaking first-timer Nick Bilton. Interested not only in people famous for being famous, but in the way that Instagram in particular has heightened the phenomenon, the writer/director endeavours to create three influencers of his own. He holds auditions, selects candidates, gives them makeovers, sets them up with a crew to snap their photos and shoot their videos, and buys them bots to follow, like and comment on their posts. His aim: to take his three chosen Los Angeles residents from everyday Instagram users with dreams of online stardom to the type of social media celebrities who've turned their virtual existence into a full-time job (and have the statistics and the swag sent to their door to prove it). Mixed in with insights about social media and influencers in general, the result is a fascinating film — especially in seeing how Bilton's three central figures handle the process. That remains true of this slickly made, perkily toned documentary even if there's little that's overly new here for anyone with an ongoing interest in or knowledge of the subject. Fake Famous is available to stream via Binge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9XJ1AxrAcs THE VIRTUES Director and screenwriter Shane Meadows has a fantastic track record, spanning everything from Dead Man's Shoes to This Is England — as well as the multiple TV shows inspired by the latter. Fellow screenwriter Jack Thorne is no stranger to working with Meadows, also thanks to the This Is England franchise; however his individual resume includes Dirt Music, Radioactive, The Secret Garden, Enola Holmes, The Eddy and His Dark Materials over just the past couple of years. So, the pair's involvement in The Virtues immediately marks it as a miniseries to watch. So does its star Stephen Graham, yet another veteran of This Is England. Here, all three combine for a four-part drama that's bleak, raw, frank and devastating — and, once you've started watching, it's also impossible to tear your eyes away from until the credits roll on the final episode. After it finishes, it's downright impossible to forget, in fact, a claim that can't be made of most television shows. Graham plays Joseph, a labourer who's barely getting by. When his ex-partner and his young son move to Australia, he hits the bottle, has a big night, and wakes up certain that he has to head back to Ireland and confront his troubled past. So starts an emotional journey that's never easy — not for a single second — but is also never anything less than astounding. The Virtues is available to stream via Stan. RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK WELLINGTON PARANORMAL Three of the best comedic actors currently on TV all star in New Zealand-made sitcom Wellington Paranormal. Playing Officer O'Leary, Officer Minogue and Sergeant Maaka, Karen O'Leary, Mike Minogue and Maaka Pohatu spit out devastatingly hilarious deadpan line readings. They need to in this mockumentary series, which follows a squad of Wellington cops who investigate the supernatural — as the show's title so succinctly explains — but every episode of the series so far has demonstrated just how perfect these three actors are for their job. That includes the just-arriving third season of the program, which once again sees the team tackle cases of the paranormal variety (and, yes, of the often silly and always amusing kind as well). This batch of instalments starts with an invisible foe, then ponders what might be lurking in the woods, with laughs heartily ensuing. A spinoff from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's excellent 2014 movie What We Do in the Shadows — well, one of the film's spinoffs, given that a very funny US TV series also called What We Do in the Shadows also exists — Wellington Paranormal aces its concept again and again. This time around, Clement directed half of the season's episodes, while Rhys Darby reprises a familiar role. Wellington Paranormal's third season starts streaming via SBS On Demand from Wednesday, February 24, with new episodes added each week. CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhulR_kJf7Y PARKS AND RECREATION She's the government worker we all wish could be in charge of, well, absolutely everything — and she's the Indiana city of Pawnee's most devoted employee and biggest fan. We're talking, of course, about Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler's super passionate waffle-loving character in iconic sitcom Parks and Recreation. Willing to work hard in any situation and always ready to lean upon her friends and co-workers, Leslie knows how to handle almost anything. In one particular fifth-season episode of the Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe-costarring series, that also includes grappling with a pandemic. Created by The Office's Greg Daniels and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation may have only come to the end of its seven-season run back in 2015, but the sitcom has been an instant classic from the get-go for one reason: focusing on relatable characters, the minutiae of their lives and the time working in local government, workplace-based comedy has never felt more kind-hearted, or — thanks to the show's penchant for letting its main players talk directly to the camera — so inclusive. And while Parks has done the rounds of streaming platforms, hopping from one to another over the years, its arrival on Netflix is as good a reason as any for a rewatch (not that anyone ever needs an excuse). All seven seasons of Parks and Recreation are available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zaQgbACc1E THE MUPPET SHOW Created by Jim Henson, first seen on TV in the 50s and boasting eight movies to their name, The Muppets are easily the most loveable felt and foam creations in pop culture history. They're also the driving force behind the best variety television series that's ever reached the small screen: The Muppet Show, which ran for five seasons between 1976–81. Forget all those other efforts hosted by humans over the years, because nothing is as absurd, surreal and delightful as this puppet-fuelled program. And, whether you grew up watching reruns over and over, have always wanted to check it out or somehow weren't aware that the series even existed, it's now available on Disney+ in full. Yes, it's time to play the music and light the lights — and to revisit this Muppets-starring favourite. You won't just be checking out the comic stylings of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and the Swedish Chef (and their songs and skits, too), of course. The Muppet Show is also famed for its guest appearances, so get set to spy everyone from Elton John and Mark Hamill to Martin, Liza Minnelli, Alice Cooper, Julie Andrews, Diana Ross and Gene Kelly. All five seasons of The Muppet Show are available to stream via Disney+.
After being in voluntary administration for ten weeks, one of Australia's largest contemporary multi-arts centres Carriageworks has finally, officially, been saved. The precinct has secured its independent future with a new long-term lease thanks to a multimillion-dollar lifeline from a group of philanthropists and five years of funding from the NSW Government — and is on the road to recovery. Carriageworks owed more than $2 million to over 140 creditors, but KPMG administrators pushed for creditors to agree to a deed of company arrangement over liquidating the establishment. Assuring the venue a 20-year lease, the deal reaffirms the creative hub as an essential part of Sydney's cultural fabric. In a statement, Carriageworks CEO Blair French expressed thanks to "everyone who has lent support over recent weeks", highlighting "the wonderful philanthropists who have made extremely generous financial pledges to secure our future." The deal is a relief for the entertaining companies that call Carriageworks home and the hundreds of other large-scale events, shows and exhibitions that have been held at the venue over the years. The centre's recovery will likely also see the return of the much-adored Carriageworks Farmers Market in August. https://www.instagram.com/p/CC7pL9qBRLO/ Carriageworks Chair Cass O'Connor confirmed that the space has secured the longest lease in its history, with a history of operating on a month-by-month agreement. O'Connor commended the team for negotiating a newly revised business model that was "better able to cope" with the challenges presented by COVID-19. It remains to be seen what the new business model will look like, or when the venue will reopen, but the announcement comes as a positive piece of news for the arts industry, which has struggled in the wake of the pandemic. The administrators will now hand back the company to its directors within the next week, with operations hoping to resume in coming months. In a nod to Carriageworks' history, French stated: "over 100 years ago this industrial place was born out of resilience and innovation. Through sheer grit, determination and collaboration, we are still here with a promising, independent future. We can't wait to welcome back the community". And for many Sydneysiders, we can't wait to go back Carriageworks is hoping to relaunch evens, including the Farmers Markets, over the coming months. We'll let you know when more information is announced. Top image: Jacquie Manning
Some subjects are just perfect for the medium of cinema. A world where dreams bleed into reality, where reality seems like a dream, where a window is cracked open to reveal an alternate existence pushing up against ours — the world of mental illness — is one of them. Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter is set in the American Midwest, in a small town where men sit in bars, women sit in sewing circles, pastures are mottled green and skies are threatening. Lowly sand miner Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon — you know, the awesome, faintly bug-eyed shapeshifter you loved in Boardwalk Empire and Runaway) dreams of a massive storm with motor-oil rain, and he wakes up shaken. As the nightmares return night after night, they get more vivid, more violent and more reluctant to release him from their grasp — they cause him real injury, and their motifs creep into reality as hallucinations. He is gripped by fear on two conflicting fronts: he fears the apocalyptic storm he believes to be coming, from which he begins building an elaborate tornado shelter; and he fears he is mirroring his mother's decent into paranoid schizophrenia, which began when she, too, was in her thirties. Meanwhile, his observant and strong-willed wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain), tries to keep him present in reality. If this sounds intense and slow burning, well, it is. It's also exquisitely, unostentatiously made, getting under your skin to make you feel jumpy, much like Curtis is. You're never really sure which eerie, pastoral scene is dream or reality until it's already gone way off-kilter. Take Shelter is out to make us rethink what we know about mental illness. It poses the question of whether Curtis is a patient or a prophet, and it opens the door to the latter prospect more than you might expect. It also builds to an unforgettable ending that may cause some controversy in the car on the way home. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1dzsmKv1GrA
Across most of Australia, no one expects to feel particularly warm in June. Even in Brisbane, the temperature always starts to dip before midyear hits. But, just days into winter 2021, the frostiest part of the calendar is making sure that Aussies along the east coast definitely feel the cold — so rugging up is recommended for the next week. The country's southeast is expected to be especially chilly, as you might have already started to realise if you're located in Sydney or Melbourne. The Bureau of Meteorology advises that icy air has been heading up from the Southern Ocean, and it's bringing rain, wind and snow with it. In New South Wales, that means cold, wet and windy conditions for most of the state from Tuesday, June 8, plus snow in sections of the northern and central Tablelands — and alpine areas — on Wednesday, June 9 and Thursday, June 10. In Melbourne, don't expect temperatures higher than 13 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday, or above 16 degrees until Sunday, June 13. https://twitter.com/BOM_au/status/1401658919659917317 Discussing the colder conditions on Sunday, June 6, BOM meteorologist Sarah Scully said that "there is a very strong cold front that's forecast to move across southeastern Australia across Monday and Tuesday" — and "on and beyond that cold front, we're forecasting widespread showers, small hail and isolated thunderstorms." The cold front is expected to move east through NSW and Victoria on Monday and Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, snow is expected to drop to low levels "through parts of Tasmania, Victoria and alpine areas of NSW." From Tuesday night onwards, a complex low pressure area is forecast to develop over the southern part of NSW, then move off the east coast and intensify — bringing a band of rain across the eastern seaboard. That's anticipated to stretch right up from Tasmania to southeast Queensland. "It's a very cold pool of air, so there's the potential for small hail and thunderstorms as well, and showers, and also snow down to low levels," said Scully. https://twitter.com/BOM_Vic/status/1401701952052994054 So, Sydneysiders, get ready for minimums as low as eight degrees, showers from late Tuesday until Friday, June 11, and a maximum of 15 degrees on Thursday, June 10. In Melbourne, as well as the low top temps mentioned above, the minimum will hit six degrees on Wednesday, and showers are forecast from Tuesday–Thursday. Damaging winds are also expected in southern and alpine regions. Brisbane has been feeling chillier than usual for a few days, thanks to a cool change that was forecast last week. Back when winter started, BOM noted that there was "an outside chance" that the Granite Belt could get snow this week — but Brisbane is in for eight-degree minimums regardless from Thursday–Sunday, and a maximum of just 18 degrees on Thursday as well. https://twitter.com/BOM_Qld/status/1399558171740442627 Of course, while these are BOM's forecasts as issued up until today, Monday, June 7, conditions may change — so keep an eye on the Bureau's website for the most up-to-date information. For latest weather forecasts, head to the Bureau of Meteorology website.
When Dark Mofo announced its 2023 lineup, it promised a sleepover. The Tasmanian festival also promised everything from a Twin Peaks-inspired ball to Soda Jerk's latest film; however, slumbering at the gleefully weird, wild and wonderful winter event was always going to stand out. Usually, Dark Mofo attendees are doing anything but catching 40 winks, instead staying up all night and making the most of the jam-packed program — not popping on their pyjamas and bunking down for the evening. The sleepover comes courtesy of Max Richter's SLEEP, which returns to Australia for a new eight-and-a-half-hour overnight stint. The session kicks off on Wednesday, June 14, greets the day on Thursday, June 15 and, unsurprisingly, is already sold out. Fancy playing along — well, kipping along — at home in your own bed? Dark Mofo is now making that happening with a live broadcast of the entire Australian-exclusive performance. [caption id="attachment_659938" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mark Allan[/caption] If you're new to Richter's and to SLEEP, attendees get some shuteye while Richter's compositions play. The former usually happens on beds at venues around the world, and the latter is based on the neuroscience of nodding off. In the past, Richter's SLEEP performances have been held at the Sydney Opera House, Philharmonie de Paris and Grand Park in Los Angeles, as well as at New York City's Spring Studios, London's Barbican and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. There's even a documentary about it that'll instantly get you excited if you aren't already. [caption id="attachment_659957" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rahi Rezvani[/caption] Lucky Dark Mofo ticketholders will be dozing at MAC2, but everyone else can join in and get the SLEEP experience by tuning into Edge Radio for the night. The live broadcast will start at 11.59pm on Wednesday, June 14, running until 8am on Thursday, June 15, so don't go planning an early start at work that morning. What makes SLEEP so unique? It isn't just a case of Richter and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble performing all night in different spots around the globe. The piece is informed by the neuroscience of sleep and takes its moniker seriously. Accordingly, it features slow-paced movements to help listeners tune out everything but the music as they slip into slumber — and to slow down their own pace in general. Yes, it's basically a lullaby — and it's enchanting. Here's a glimpse of SLEEP from its stint at the Sydney Opera House in 2016: Max Richter's SLEEP will broadcast live from Dark Mofo 2023 from 11.59pm on Wednesday, June 14–8am on Thursday, June 15 via Edge Radio. Dark Mofo 2023 runs from Thursday, June 8–Thursday, June 22 in Hobart, Tasmania. For more information, head to the festival's website. You can also check out our wholesome-to-hedonistic guide, which'll help you stack your Dark Mofo itinerary based on the level of chaos you're after — and our Dark Mofo picks for last-minute planners. Top image: Max Richter - SLEEP im Kraftwerk Berlin am 15.03.2016. Foto: Stefan Hoederath.
Every city has its traditions, but one of Sydney's midyear mainstays since 2012 takes its cues from the other side of the globe. The event: the Bastille Festival that livens up Circular Quay and The Rocks each July, serving up French celebrations without the plane fare to Europe. Food, wine, art: if any of these pique your interest, then this four-day French fest is for you. Uniting people in the spirit of Bastille Day, the popular event is back again in 2022 — and it's always huge. Running from Thursday, July 14–Sunday, July 17, this year's street fest will serve up everything from 100 performances to a 1.4-kilometre wine-tasting walk around the harbour. Expect a big emphasis on vino in general, of course — and food, too. All that wandering and watching is hungry (and thirsty) work, after all, so there'll be a heap of pop-ups keeping attendees fed and watered. Highlights include four villages, each with their own festivities, making it a choose-your-own-adventure kind of setup. At Customs House, you'll dive into all things Parisian, for instance. Here, fresh raclette, crepes, saucisson, baguettes and cheese will be on the menu in a big way. Food is also the attraction over at First Fleet Park, which has been dubbed the 'chef village'. In a festival first, this space will bring together Sydney's best chefs and eateries, who'll all be whipping up new dishes with a French twist — at the event and in the participating restaurants for a week beforehand. If you like making the most of winter, then the MCA lawn is your destination. Think: fire pits, igloos that'll change colour as the night goes on, melted cheese, roasted marshmallows and mulled wine. And, finally, the Christmas in July village will take over The Rocks with wood huts, snow, European-style Christmas markets, gingerbread houses, cheese stations, and crepes and waffles. There'll be more mulled wine, too, because no one can get festive midyear without it. Entry is free, but you'll be paying for whatever you'd like to eat and drink as you go. And if previous years are anything to go by, Bastille Festival is set to be an epic showcase of food, wine and art — and you're likely to have a heap of company.
From global behemoth Netflix to the arthouse, indie and documentary-focused Kanopy, picking a streaming platform can take as much time as actually picking something to watch on a streaming platform. The latest to enter the market has quite the point of difference, however — and not just because it's free. If viewing the likes of Bronson, Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon has you on the same wavelength as filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, then you're in luck — the Danish writer/director is launching his own streaming service. Called byNWR.com, it's currently in beta testing before opening to the public at a later date this month, with the site dubbing itself "an unadulterated expressway for the arts". A venture in conjunction with existing platform Mubi as well as the Harvard Film Archive, byNWR.com will highlight a restored cult classic each month that's picked by a guest editor, The Guardian reports. Each film will be supported by content themed around the chosen flick, such as essays, videos, photos and music. And if you're wondering just what titles will be on offer, Refn detailed the first four, as well as his reasons for highlighting them. They're not the type of movies that you're likely to have watched and rewatched endlessly, or even seen on a big or small screen recently, including 1961 thriller Night Tide starring Dennis Hopper, 1965 horror effort The Nest of the Cuckoo Birds, 1974's The Burning Hell and 1967's Hot Thrills and Warm Chills. "I hope my site will inspire people to see the world a different way," the filmmaker outlined in his piece for The Guardian, while also writing about something fans of Refn's own work will be more than familiar with — pushing people out of their comfort zones. If Refn's choices sound like the kind of thing you would like to see in a cinema, Little White Lies also reports that the streaming site will be accompanied by special screenings around the globe. Via The Guardian.
Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. After a fake lineup posted was 'leaked' prior to the official triple j announcement to catfish all us suckers eagerly awaiting the list of acts that will be appearing, the details for Splendour 2016 are finally here. In what is the best news we've heard this year, The Strokes (The Strokes!!!) will be Splendouring for their only Australian show. It also seems the predictions for The Cure were incredibly, amazingly correct — meaning that we'll be seeing both The Strokes and The Cure this July. It's almost too much to handle. Joining them is one heck of a lineup that includes The Avalanches — who haven't played a gig (that wasn't a DJ set) in over ten years. Fingers crossed the show coincides with new music. Iceland's Sigur Rós and Irish artist James Vincent McMorrow will also being doing one-off Australian shows at the festival, Courtney Barnett will make her first appearance at Byron, while James Blake and At the Drive-In will return, as will locals Flume and Sticky Fingers. Anyway, we know what you're here for. We'll cut to the chase. SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2016 LINEUP The Strokes (only Aus show) The Cure Flume The Avalanches (only Aus show) James Blake At The Drive-In Violent Soho Hermitude Band of Horses Sigur Ros (only Aus show) Santigold Matt Corby Sticky Fingers Boy & Bear Courtney Barnett Jake Bugg The 1975 Leon Bridges Duke Dumont (DJ set) James Vincent McMorrow (only Aus show) The Kills The Preatures What So Not Years And Years Gang Of Youths Illy Peter, Bjorn & John Golden Features Crystal Fighters Ball Park Music Tegan & Sara DMA'S Jack Garratt Hayden James City Calm Down Snakehips Mark Lanegan Michael Kiwanuka Jagwar Ma King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard The Jungle Giants The Internet Motez Marlon Williams Lido Emma Louise Kim Churchill Nothing But Thieves Lapsley Kacy Hill Slumberjack Robert Forster (10 Years On) Beach Slang Urthboy Little May Boo Seeka Ganz Spring King Melbourne Ska Orchestra Fat White Family Total Giovanni Methyl Ethel Slum Sociable L D R U In Loving Memory of Szymon Blossoms High Tension Roland Tings Sampa The Great The Wild Feathers Harts Ngaiire montaigne Tired Lion Green Buzzard Jess Kent Gold Class Lucy Cliche Opiuo Mall grab Dom Dolla Paces Just A Gent Dro Carey Running Touch Wafia World Champion Suzi Zhen Remi Nicole Millar Dreller Feki Kllo Banoffee Plus... Moonbase Comander The Meeting Tree Twinsy Purple Sneaker Djs Human Movement Panete Swick Amateur Dance Ribongia Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday 22, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July. Onsite camping will once again be available from Wednesday, July 20. Image: Bianca Holderness.
Sometimes an exhibition gets gallery patrons exploring one artist's work. Sometimes it pays tribute to a specific person, heads back to a certain chapter of the past, or fills walls and halls around a theme. A particular object might be in the spotlight, or a movie franchise. Then there's The NBA Exhibition, which is celebrating hoop dreams and all things basketball in its first-ever Australian visit. After premiering in Warsaw, Poland in 2021, The NBA Exhibition gets bouncing in Brisbane from Thursday, November 9 — and bounds through basketball history at the same time. Catnip for fans of Air and Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, this sports-focused showcase is big in scope and size, surveying the culture of hopping onto the court and the lifestyle that goes with basketball, too, in a hefty two-level display. Visitors can traverse 1000 square metres and make their way through 20 themed sections. Created with the National Basketball Association, The NBA Exhibition aims to lure in b-ball diehards, casual followers and folks that haven't thought about the sport since their school PE lessons alike — and attendees of all ages. Looking at basketball memorabilia is part of the presentation, but so is throwing a ball around yourself and, thanks to the virtual and augmented reality aspect of the showcase, taking snaps with your favourite NBA players. So, you can get a photo with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, too — aka the coveted prize that each year's NBA Finals' winner receives — and shoot hoops, see how far you can jump and test your reflexes as well. Fancy a picture showing that you can slam dunk, even if you can't? There's a section of The NBA Exhibition for that. Eager to watch NBA highlights using VR goggles? That's also on the agenda. Keen to get surrounded by iconic NBA moments? That's what the infinity room is for. With names like Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal obviously featuring — and Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as well — other elements of The NBA Exhibition include a heap of balls and shoes on display; footwear and hand prints from past and present players; art that was commissioned for a pop-up NBA Gallery exhibit in Sydney in 2022, featuring Australian and First Nations artists; and celebrating NBA players that've made the jump from Australia, which is likely to feature Patty Mills, Ben Simmons, Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze and more. Brisbane's Queens Plaza hosts The NBA Exhibition's debut Aussie stop — just as it did with The Art of Banksy: Without Limits, which also hails from entertainment platform Fever, earlier in 2023. Updated Thursday, November 30, 2023.
Another streaming service is about to boost your viewing options, focusing on Australian movies and television while letting you watch for free. We might live in peak online-viewing times, with no shortage of platforms vying for eyeballs, but Brollie is launching with a couple of clear points of difference. Firstly, there's the lack of price tag. Secondly, there's the homegrown love. When Brollie arrives on Thursday, November 23, it will hail from independent Australian and New Zealand distributor Umbrella Entertainment — hence the name — and draw upon the company's catalogue. Open debut, that'll mean 300-plus titles ready to view. While the Aussie contingent is a big drawcard, there'll also be overseas releases among the range. So, get ready to watch local-made gems such as The Babadook and Two Hands; classics like Walkabout and Storm Boy that feature the late, great David Gulpilil; the Kylie Minogue-starring Cut; Hugh Jackman (The Son) in Erskineville Kings; and the Nicole Kidman (Special Ops: Lioness)-led BMX Bandits. Documentaries such as Servant or Slave and Ablaze will also be available. Or, get excited about Joaquin Phoenix (Beau Is Afraid)-led masterpiece You Were Never Really Here, the live-action OG Super Mario Bros, and mind-bender Vivarium with Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Imogen Poots (Outer Range) among the international titles. You'll be watching along via Apple TV, Google TV, Android TV, Chromecast with Google TV and on your browser. Because Brollie is free, however, the caveat is that you'll also be watching ads. To help viewers sort through the Brollie collection, the service's team will highlight its best-of picks twice monthly, and also hero Aussie horror via an Australian Nightmares collection. "We know these iconic films and TV shows can find new and old audiences instead of gathering dust on the shelf. Brollie is about helping Aussies to access this world-class storytelling easily and, most importantly, for free so everyone can enjoy our epic screen legacy," said Ari Harrison, General Manager and Head of Sales & Acquisitions, announcing Brollie's arrival. Brollie will launch on Thursday, November 23 — head to the streaming platform's website to subscribe and for further details.
They're sticky, cinnamon scrolls, drenched in glaze and famous all across the USA. And now, at last, they're available Down Under. Yep, Seattle-born chain Cinnabon has landed in Australia, with a Brisbane outpost now serving up delicious baked goods. The launch was first announced in January this year, when family-run Queensland company Bansal Foods scored the Aussie rights to Cinnabon. But, now, it's more than just news. Brisbanites eager to get their fix can head to Toombul Shopping Centre in the city's north, and grab a scroll seven days a week — well, once the opening queues die down. Cinnabon has been going strong in America since 1985, so it has already picked up plenty of Aussie fans along the way. But this is the first time that we're able to get our hands on those sticky, cinnamon-infused baked goods on home soil. The new Brisbane store slings a trio of Cinnabon cult classics, including the classic cream cheese cinnamon roll, the popular chocolate-drizzled Chocobon and very extra Caramel Pecanbon. They're available in both mini and large sizes, along with packs featuring either four or nine 'minibons'. There's coffee and lots of sugary drinks to pair with your snacks, too, including a cinnamon bun frappe. If you're yet to get acquainted with the decadent dessert creations, prepare yourself for aromatic, cinnamon-spiked dough made to a long-held recipe, decked out with stacks of signature cream cheese frosting and loaded with extras. They're notoriously tough to replicate. Toombul Shopping Centre recently opened a new neon-lit upstairs dining precinct, but Cinnabon isn't a part of that. Instead, it's located on the ground floor near Coles. And if you're not in Brisbane, it probably won't be too long until Cinnabon makes its way down south. The Toombul store is set to be the first of many. A second Brisbane store in Mt Gravatt is due to open in January 2020 and, going off plans announced earlier in the year, Cinnabon is looking to launch in Sydney and beyond in 2021. Cinnabon is now open on the ground level of Toombul Shopping Centre, 1015 Sandgate Road, Toombul.
When Suicide Squad reached cinemas screens back in 2016, it garnered plenty of attention. Critics largely hated it, fans loved it and some folks tried to shut down Rotten Tomatoes because of it. Come awards season, it picked up an Oscar (for best achievement in makeup and hairstyling) as well as two Razzie 'worst' nominations. The divisive reactions just kept coming, although there were two things that almost everyone agreed on. Firstly, most people rightfully loathed Jared Leto's interpretation of the Joker. Secondly, the majority of viewers adored Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. While the DC Extended Universe hasn't gotten a whole lot right in its attempts to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, for example), its powerbrokers did seem to pay attention to the super-sized Suicide Squad debate. In response, they're giving the world what it wants: more Robbie as everyone's favourite ex-psychiatrist turned antihero. In Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Harley Quinn has moved on from the clown prince of crime (much like DC has moved on from Leto, at least for now, with Joaquin Phoenix playing the character in last year's standalone Joker film). In the aftermath of their breakup — an explosive event, as the film's just-dropped new trailer shows — she rounds up a crew filled with other fearsome Gotham ladies. Prepare to spend time with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) as they try to thwart supervillain Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). Directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs), also co-starring Chris Messina and Ali Wong, Birds of Prey marks Quinn's first solo cinematic outing — and as the both the first sneak peek and the new trailer demonstrates, it's going big, bold and over-the-top. Bright, vibrant, fun and frenetic are all terms that apply, too. When it hits theatres next month, expect plenty of colour, chaos and formidable gals wreaking havoc, in what's been rumoured to be the first in a Quinn-focused trilogy. With Suicide Squad getting a sequel in 2021, confusingly titled The Suicide Squad and helmed by Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn, the pigtailed prankster definitely isn't leaving screens anytime soon. Check out the new trailer for Birds of Prey below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygzqL60kvwU&feature=youtu.be Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will hit Australian cinemas on February 6, 2020.
What date was Beethoven born? What was Jimmy Barnes' surname at birth? What is Taylor Swift's favourite number? Whether you're an expert in 18th-century classical music or 21st-century pop, you now have a new way to show off your knowledge. Music trivia has landed at Baptist Street Rec. Club in Redfern. Every Tuesday night, from 7pm in the trophy room, Colin Delaney is asking round after round of questions on everything and everyone in music. There are no limitations on genres, artists or periods. While you're working your brain, you'll be listening to a rotating playlist of bangers — from pop, rock and country to hip hop, indie and R&B. Plus, music trivia coincides with Pad Thai Tuesday, letting you take your pick of chicken, beef or pork for $15. Head along as part of a team of up to seven, or fly solo (and prove that one head is better than many). Either way, excellent prizes are up for grabs.
It was the follow-up that had to happen. The sequel we crossed everything for. After gaining viral status and worldwide applause for her 2013 book Shake, photographer Carli Davidson is back with a brand new series to follow her comical, high-speed images of dogs mid-shakedown. Yep, you guessed it. This time, it's cats. Shake Cats is the brand new book from Davidson, who actually took the photos of cats shaking themselves dry back in 2011, at the same time as taking the Shake dog photos. "I had originally thought I would do cats and dogs in the same book, but looking back I think it was best to give each animal its own book so their unique features could be highlighted," says Davidson. Shooting with Nikon D4s at a very rapid frame rate, this animal-loving photographer shot close to 100 cats for the series, including her own cat Yushi and hectic cat celeb Lil' Bub. Almost all of the cat models are local Portlandians, or from rescue shelters. In addition to the shake shoot, Davidson would get a pretty headshot of the kitty for the rescue shelter to post on their website — and most of these cats were adopted almost immediately as a result. "Taking a good photo of an animal in a shelter can go a long way to help that cat or dog find a home. So much of rescue is done online; people pick out a pet before they even get to the shelter. They fall in love online with an expression, so capturing that personality in a photo is really important." So how exactly did Davidson get those money shots? How do you make a cat shake itself clean (we're pretty sure you're asking yourself this question daily)? Simple, you pamper them like crazy. "Getting the cats to shake was actually more of a grooming process than a waiting game. We basically treated the shoot like a mini grooming session with lots of treats and cat cuddles... Ear cleanings are what generally caused the shake to happen, I just had to be ready." Apparently the cats weren't too hard to wrangle either — apparently they couldn't get enough of the warm studio lights. Cuuuute. It goes without saying that Davidson's tapped into social media's favourite thing, cats and dogs. But this animal-lover sees more in internet kitties than a grumpy face. "Cats are popular because they are awesome, independent thinkers and humans love to worship them. We have been worshipping them as spiritual icons for 10,000 years," she says. "The rise of the cat back into worship status on the Internet seems natural if you look at their historic significance... Cats combat internet negativity with their sheer visual presence." Shake Cats is out now via Harper Design, available to purchase from Booktopia. All images courtesy Carli Davidson with permission.
When you spend 12 days hopping between Sydney's cinemas trying to watch as many movies as possible, you learn a few things. You learn that some films demand a second viewing, that Twilight stars keep making ace post-vampire-romance choices, and that there's a whole heap of people that are really rather fond of chickens. You also learn that simply watching tourists walk around can be both heartbreaking and revealing, that some Netflix flicks demand the big screen treatment, and that the Australian film industry should have a new multicultural hit on its hand. And, you realise that Sydney Film Festival is the best time of year for the city's movie lovers — but, you already knew that, didn't you? Our film critics Sarah Ward and Tom Clift discovered all of the above at this year's SFF, and, now they've emerged from their massive movie marathon, they've shared the results. Whittling down their huge viewing lists to these 12 standouts, here's what they loved, were surprised by and utterly embraced the strangeness of — that is, the best, weirdest and most unexpected films of the 2017 Sydney Film Festival. BEST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT9m2huUTgA ALI'S WEDDING If there's any justice, the delightful Ali's Wedding will be one of the breakout hits of 2017. Inspired by the disastrous arranged marriage of screenwriter and lead actor Osamah Sami, the film, which has been billed as Australia's first Muslim rom-com, follows a young man who must navigate the expectations of his religious community after falling in love with a woman other than his betrothed. Shot in and around Melbourne, the movie is at once a vital portrait of life in multicultural Australia, a deeply moving love story, and one of the funniest local productions of the past few years. It's in cinemas in August. Tell your friends. — Tom Clift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVyGCxHZ_Ko GOOD TIME Folks, thank the film gods for Twilight. Do it. Without it, we wouldn't have two of today's most talented actors making such interesting — and excellent — projects. SFF 2016 might've been all about Kristen Stewart, but SFF 2014 guest Robert Pattinson jumps back into the festival's spotlight with Good Time. The fast-paced flick mightn't offer a good time for his character, a low-level crim running around New York trying to rustle up some cash to get his brother out of jail after a bank robbery, but it's a mighty good time for audiences. Directing duo Josh and Ben Safdie (the latter of which also stars as Pattinson's brother) ramp up the energy and tension, shoot with gritty vividness, and bring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Captain Phillips Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi along for the ride. And then there's the pulsating score — trust us, Oneohtrix Point Never won the soundtrack award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for a damn good reason. — Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A95a94CVxlg THE BEGUILED With The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola won a directing gong at Cannes, making her the first woman in more than 50 years to do so. After viewing the film at this year's Sydney Film Festival, it's easy to understand why. An immaculately shot Southern gothic thriller, the movie takes place in an all-girls boarding school during the dying days of the American Civil War, where life is suddenly thrown into turmoil by the arrival of a wounded Yankee soldier. Seething with sexual tension, and surprisingly funny, The Beguiled also benefits from an absolutely stellar cast, with Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Colin Farrell all operating at the top of their game. — TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui92Scs8Mns A GHOST STORY A Ghost Story is always going to be known as that film where Casey Affleck stands around underneath a sheet. And, that description is apt. Reuniting this year's Manchester by the Sea best actor Oscar winner with his Ain't Them Bodies Saints co-star Rooney Mara and writer/director David Lowery (also of Pete's Dragon), he does just that after his character is killed — but, if you didn't think it'd make for one of the best movies of the year so far, think again. Moody and minimalistic (as a costume anyone could make gives away), the film breathes new (after)life into the idea of haunted houses in a thoughtful and emotion-filled manner. As Affleck's ghost lurks, the movie offers up an astute understanding of how mourning and memories linger over time, and remain forever intertwined with certain places. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgDhpy9Z-NM A FANTASTIC WOMAN A Fantastic Woman? Yes, this sensitive drama places one front and centre. A fantastic film? You bet. After using a compassionate gaze to explore the world of an older lady trying to find happiness in Gloria, Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio turns his attention to Marina (Daniela Vega), a waitress and singer whose life is thrown into disarray when tragedy strikes. The family of her much older lover is horrified, judging her transgender status rather than daring to let her into their lives — or let her mourn. The movie doesn't make the same mistake, in an effort that proves empathetic and engaging from start to finish, complete with an exceptional lead performance and one perfect song cue. — SW CALL ME BY YOUR NAME We were mighty excited about Call Me By Your Name when it screened at Sundance, we loved it at the Berlinale, and we still love it now. Oh boy, does Luca Guadagnino's (A Bigger Splash) latest and best feature to date more than deliver. Let us put it this way: when you're watching a 17-year-old become infatuated with his father's handsome research assistant, played by Armie Hammer, you're feeling every single emotion he's feeling. And, you're falling head over heels for everything about this masterpiece as well. Call Me By Your Name is the kind of effort that couldn't be more seductive, from the sumptuous sights of its scenic Italian setting to the summertime heat — and sizzling sentiments to match — that radiate from the screen. Keep an eye on Timothée Chalamet, too, who plays the teenager in question. If this movie is any guide, he should become one of cinema's next big things. — SW WEIRDEST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojoVppEADyU OKJA Very few filmmakers would even conceive of a movie as unusual as Okja. And perhaps only South Korea's Bong Joon-ho, who previously helmed Snowpiercer, would be able to pull it off. A Netflix production about a precocious little girl who must save her hippopotamus-sized 'super pig' from a nefarious multinational, the film is a scathing corporate satire wrapped up in a rollicking adventure — and despite outward appearances, it is definitely not suitable for children. Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano and Jake Gyllenhaal lead an impressive English-speaking cast, but the real star is South Korean newcomer Ahn Seo-hyeon, as well as the flawless special effects that bring her enormous friend to life. As strangely wonderful as it is wonderfully strange, Okja is well worth your attention when it hits Netflix at the end of June. — TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw3fHdL_D68 THE SQUARE Sometimes, films prove odd purely due to the way they approach their topic. Sometimes, it's the little things — having Elisabeth Moss' character share her apartment with a chimpanzee — for example. This year's Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner, The Square does both, as well as litter its frames with performance art that's both intentionally staged and organically shows how the boundaries between life and theatricality can all-too-easily blur. At face value, it's a satire of the creative world, but everything about the society surrounding contemporary art galleries comes under the microscope in what proves a dense and disarming effort. Director Ruben Östlund last made audiences squirm with relationship drama Force Majeure, and he's up to his brilliant tricks again here, as aided by a standout lead performance by Danish actor Claes Bang. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjA7irNL-no CHICKEN PEOPLE Who would have guessed that one of the year's most emotional movies would be set in the high stakes world of competitive chicken rearing? Directed by Nicole Lucas Haimes, Chicken People chronicles a year in the life of three diehard chicken breeders as they prepare their best birds for the prestigious Ohio National Poultry Show. Like the best documentaries about obsessive individuals, the film is funny without ever making fun of its subjects. By the time the end credits roll, you'll be a chicken person too. — TC MOST UNEXPECTED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSv99sd_A5o AUSTERLITZ On paper, Austerlitz sounds oh-so-simple. Filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa places his camera at certain spots throughout two former German concentration camps, lets it roll, and records tourists as they walk through the sites. He doesn't offer move his frame to follow or zoom in on anyone, provide explanatory voiceover or intertitles, or direct the audience's attention in any way. That means you're forced to peer and probe, and to see and scrutinise, as these visitors wander through places known for such horrific atrocities while wearing "Cool Story Bro" shirts and staring at their mobile phones. Prepare to draw plenty of conclusions about and insights into human nature from their ordinary exploits, including many that you won't expect. — SW BETTER WATCH OUT Picket fences, a blonde babysitter and a psychotic killer: on paper Better Watch Out sounds like the most stereotypical slasher movie imaginable. And for most of its first act, it is. But just when you think you've seen it all before, the film pivots wildly and suddenly all bets are off. Mixing genuine scares with knowing black humour — not to mention some pretty spot on commentary about how young men and boys are conditioned to think about women — this US-Australia co-production from writer-director Chris Peckover is one of the best meta horror films we've seen in quite some time. — TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0xDZy8ejTk BRIGSBY BEAR There's a reason that Brigsby Bear made SFF's top five audience favourites this year — and it's not just because, having voted Ali's Wedding and Call Me By Your Name into the top two spots, festival attendees clearly have great taste. Rarely has a movie been so endearingly earnest without ever overplaying its hand, or devolving into triteness or schmaltz, particularly one that toys around with such a been-there, seen-that, still-living-it topic as pop culture obsession. Following a grown man still attached to his favourite TV show for reasons best discovered by watching, the film from Saturday Night Live writer/director Dave McCary and performer Kyle Mooney will make you want to give it the biggest hug possible. Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, Greg Kinnear and Andy Samberg also pop up, but Mooney and his furry best friend well and truly steal the show. — SW By Sarah Ward and Tom Clift.
If there's one sure-fire way to beat off dating nerves, it's to keep your hands busy. To that end, the Conscious Dating Co., which hosts interesting, down-to-earth events for singles, is running a gnocchi-making workshop. In between learning how to make fresh pasta, you'll be drinking wine and meeting new people. One of the most nerve-wrecking aspects of dating can be thinking of something to say. Fear not. The organisers will provide you with one-on-one introductions, as well as conversation cards and activities, to keep interactions flowing. Last, but certainly not least, your gnocchi will be transformed into a delicious meal, which you'll get to share with your newfound acquaintances. And, if you do happen to meet someone you fancy, you won't have to be the one to let them know. The Conscious Dating crew will do the work for you, by getting you to write down names at the end of the night, then, later on, notifying you of any matches. The gnocchi date night will be held on July 25 and 26, with the former being for heterosexuals and the latter for those looking for a same-sex lover.
A hidden gem of the Sydney Opera House's year-round program and an acclaimed chamber music series is returning in 2023 for its 16th year. Utzon Music curates collections of Australian and international artists to perform a range of global takes on classical pieces in a purpose-designed, intimate concert space. The mid-century Utzon Room is a space where artists have unrivalled proximity to their audience against the backdrop of the spectacular Sydney Harbour – sit back with a complimentary glass of bubbles and enjoy a sophisticated program of eleven performances throughout the year. The diverse roster begins with powerhouse Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, dubbed 'the Hendrix of the Sahara'. With a full band, he'll perform selections from his back catalogue and latest album, Les Racines, on Thursday, March 2. Then, on Sunday, April 2, take a trip to Tudor times with one of the UK's finest vocal groups The Gesualdo Six and its Renaissance-era catalogue. From April 21-23, UK string maestros the Brodsky Quartet – now celebrating its 50th anniversary – will bring the passion and skill that's seen them perform with the likes of Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney to three concerts featuring the works of beloved classical composers like Bach, Britten and Schubert. And on Sunday, May 7, the French string quartet Quatuor Van Kuijk will have its Sydney debut and perform pieces by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Debussy. On Sunday, July 23, German-British baritone Benjamin Appl will make his Sydney debut for an enchanting solo recital of songs for voice and piano in the German Liedel style. Then on Sunday, August 23, the new-generation Australian cellist James Morley returns home from Switzerland to perform a mix of old and new classical pieces in solo and duet. Next up, Australian string collective the Alma Moodie Quartet will take audiences through a Romantic Journey on Sunday, September 24, covering everything from moody miniatures to Beethoven masterpieces. Then the series concludes on Sunday, October 8, with pianist Andrea Lam performing a program inspired by 19th-century love triangles and "the journey of life". Utzon Music 2023 begins on Thursday, March 2 and concludes on Sunday, October 8. For more information and to book tickets, visit the website. Header images: Jaimi Joy
Masala Theory's second location arrived at sleek Bondi digs in 2023 bringing Yashpal Erda's inventive take on Indian cuisine to The Hub, the suburb's bustling Hall Street precinct also home to Da Orazio, bills, Gelato Messina and China Diner. With the eatery's proximity to the beach, you can enjoy a sunshine-filled stroll before dining in the evening or — if you have the presence of mind to book in for lunch after a day time dip — you can alleviate that inevitable post-beach hunger in a pretty spectacular manner. The menu features Masala Theory's crowd favourites like the famed curry bombs, the towering Three Sisters chaat and the pizza-inspired 'naanza'. You'll also find original dishes created specially for the beach-adjacent location: seafood-starring selections feature heavily, with the Bombay-inspired fish and chips, a roasted coconut barramundi curry and a luxe prawntini taking centre stage. Start with the dosa onion rings, the vegetarian-friendly wada pav sliders or the crispy bang-bang gobhi. For mains, the selection spans from big-hitting dishes like the coal-smoked mango lamb chops to vego and vegan options like the flavour-filled south Indian malai curry and the vego koftas with green curry sauce. And we encourage you to pair your meal with one of Masala Theory's crafted cocktails. Take your pick from highlights like its popular Mumbai marg, the chai t-roni or a neo-Indian spin on a classic with the 545 wala old fashioned.
If you've been walking around Sydney in the last week, you may have noticed the fancy new plaques at most street crossings. But what you probably didn't know is that these signs now make up the most comprehensive network of braille and tactile signs in the world. That's right: the entire world. Thanks to the major effort by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, the signs were officially launched on Monday, July 4, with more than 2100 braille and raised-letter signs installed at pedestrian crossings in the city. The aluminium panels, which denote street names and building numbers, have been placed next to push buttons at crossing areas. These plaques improve signage and accessibility for the blind and vision impaired, and will allow them to navigate the city streets much more easily. A champion for the vision impaired, Moore is aiming to make Sydney more accessible for both locals and tourists. "The signs make it easier and safer for people who are blind or have low vision to use their city — to have the freedom and the independence of movement that most of us can take for granted," she told Concrete Playground. Basically, she rules. Both Vision Australia and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT are giving this act two thumbs way up and were integral in the program launch. "The design and installation arose from extensive consultation with the community and on-site testing with Guide Dogs NSW/ACT and Vision Australia," says Moore. "My sincere thanks to them for their help in this significant step towards an even more open and inclusive city." Making sure Sydney is accessible to the vision impaired is becoming increasingly important by the year — it is estimated that around 100,000 people suffer from non-correctable vision loss in NSW alone, and that number is predicted to increase by more than 20 percent by 2020. We've been truly impressed with Sydney's initiatives of late – like the fact that we're getting our own entrepreneur school and a permanent School of Life. This new braille network is a massive leap forward for the city's planning and an overall ace move. Nice one, Sydney. Image: Clover Moore via Instagram.
Don't be alarmed, but we think super-schmick purveyors of cool Monocle might be staging an artfully curated coup for world domination, with a luxury cafe in the centre of London set to open on Monday. Considering the powerhouse now boasts this, a 24-hour radio station, a formidable online presence, offline stores in London, New York, Hong Kong and Toronto and even an eatery in a Tokyo department store — all in addition to the global affairs and culture print magazine that started the whole thing in 2007 — we're about ready to lie down and submit to Monocle founder Tyler Brúlé's totalitarian regime, inspired by the pursuit of a thoughtful, well-designed approach of life. "We wanted to create a relaxed space for a morning coffee meeting, a lengthy weekend lunch with the papers and a glass of prosecco after work too," said Brúlé of his vision in an interview with Qompendium. Ah yes, all those after-work glasses of prosecco we've been having. The place comes complete with low-hanging industrial lights, enough stark white paint and soothing leafy greenery to rival a sanatorium and embossed napkins that look worth as much as a latte, so who are we to fight it? Via PSFK
From holding a bake sale to selling off your bodily organs to teaching your dog to do this, artists, artisans and inventors have always had to be creative when it comes to getting dollars in the bank. If you’re not the baking or self-mutilating or dog-training type, Australia’s top crowdfunding platform Pozible might be up your alley. Pozible is more like a superhighway that started in 2010 and has since grown to support over 4,500 projects in Australia and around the world. It’s not hard to run a campaign, but it can be tough to succeed. We spoke to Pozible co-founder Rick Chen and compiled a hit list of top tips to help you on your way to making that money pool you always dreamed of. The Anything's Pozible pop-up is on in Sydney until March 13. Check it out for more tips and workshops to help you crowdfund your next project. Research ten similar projects First off the bat, do your research. Make sure you know how Pozible works. Search the Pozible website to find out how other similar projects have been funded. Read the FAQ, get in touch with Pozible and ask all the dumb questions. According to Rick, the Pozible team “work with project creators to educate them and let them know what works and what doesn’t work. This face-to-face guidance is a rare thing, and no other platform approaches crowdfunding in this way”, a contributing factor to high success rates. Tell a story “Most of the time it’s not about the project itself, it’s about the person behind it," says Rick. "People want to be part of you and your journey, so you need to be able to open those doors for people to get in.” Keep it simple, keep it personal, and make your crowdfunding supporters feel that they are all just as much a part of the process as you are. Transparency is also key in your storytelling. Tell people exactly what you are going to do with your money if you meet your target. (The more specific you are with this, the more it will feel as if your supporters are making a tangible difference). Include a video of yourself: you'll raise 114 percent more money if you That’s according to American crowdfunding site Indiegogo. And who doesn’t love a selfie? If you star in your own video, people will connect better with your story. The key is to create content that is visually compelling to compete with the visual noise of the internet. Offer a combination of physical goods and experience-based rewards "Physical products give your supporters a tangible sense they are getting something out of their contribution," says Rick. "Experience gives them the sense they are part of something exclusive. These two combined make it personal for people to get behind your project.” And how many rewards should you offer up? The sweet spot is somewhere between three and eight. Get another three people on your team If you have four or more people on your team, you’ll raise 70 percent more money than if you only have one person. That is, use your networks to build your team; it’s not about how many friends you’ve got, it’s about how you use them. Have your family and friends help to get the ball rolling. Don’t be afraid to ask people you know to contribute. In addition, line up a few key influential people to help spread the word. Build your networks before you launch to create hype. Shoot for 25 percent of your overall goal within the first 24 hours Go hard or go home. You are more likely to hit your target if you can reach 25 percent of your overall goal within the first 24 hours. People are more likely to donate to a campaign if other people have already donated. Pozible advises not to run a campaign for less than 20 days unless you have a good reason or are super confident. You need time to disseminate your marketing material. Indiegogo supplements this advice with the fact that on average, successful campaigns will cross their target fundraising goal on Day 36. Don't all-out beg on social media Only directly ask people to pledge to your campaign in 20 percent of your social media posts. The other 80 percent of posts should add meaning to your project, reveal exciting project news and engage people in the story. Plan your social media posts before beginning your campaign. According to Rick, “It is not about the social media platforms that you use, it is about how you use those platforms as a tool to carry out your activity — to tell your story”. Write medium-specific posts. And don’t get too disheartened if things slow down in the middle of your campaign, it happens to everyone. What’s important is you keep communicating during this period. Don’t be shy to post every day. Only ask for the amount you really need Consider the size of your networks and how many people you can realistically reach. Surprisingly, the average contribution size on successful campaigns comes in at around $70, with performance projects the most successful category. According to Rick, this is often because “these campaigners have strong existing followings — sometimes small but strong audiences who come to see shows, hardcore fans who follow these artists”. So it isn’t necessarily how many people you target, it’s who. Be realistic, write a budget. Factor in the cost of delivering your rewards. The more people you have promoting, the more pledges you will receive. Finally we asked Rick the ultimate question: What’s the biggest reason people don’t reach their targets? His response goes right back to point one: “Absolutely no question, it is because people don’t do their research properly and don’t know what they’re doing. We try to educate as much as we can, we run workshops on a monthly basis across cities in Australia. We strongly encourage people to prepare before they launch a campaign. Lack of research is basically what kills campaigns." Roslyn Helper crowdfunded her project zin's PARTY MODE on Pozible. Supplementary information sourced from US crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
Everyone likes being spoiled at Christmas. This year, when it comes to taking a holiday, Australians will also be spoiled for choice. The nation's borders are reopening to international travel from November, and overseas destinations have started announcing when Aussies can make the trip again — so if you haven't already booked a getaway to Fiji, or jumped on flights to London or the US, you can now make a date with Thailand. On Friday, October 22, Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs unveiled a list of places around the globe — covering 45 countries and one territory — that it is deeming low-risk in terms of travel restrictions. So, if you hail from one of these 46 places, you'll be permitted into Thailand from Monday, November 1. And yes, Australia is named. Other countries identified include New Zealand, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea. The list is set to be revised again in mid-November and at the beginning of December, so it's expected to grow again soon. Folks from these low-risk nations will be allowed to enter Thailand, with three options available — including ditching quarantine if you've been double-vaccinated. For the unvaxxed, either ten or 14 days quarantine still applies, depending on whether you're arriving by air or land. For the double-jabbed, there's two choices. You can take a PCR test within 72 hours of travelling, then undergo another one upon arrival and wait in a designated hotel for one night until you get a negative result. Or, you can take advantage of the country's 'Sandbox' scheme. It lets you stay in designated 'Sandbox' provinces around the country for seven days — in Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi and more — undertaking COVID-19 tests upon arrival and again on day six or seven of your trip. After that week, passes you can then venture elsewhere in Thailand. Qantas has already revealed that it's restarting travel from Sydney to both Phuket and Bangkok, too, kicking off on Wednesday, January 12 and Friday, January 14, respectively. That news came before Thailand's border announcement, however, so fingers crossed that flights might recommence even earlier now. For more information about Thailand's reopening plan, head to the Thai Government's website and Facebook page.
Before it was a ten-part Prime Video series, Daisy Jones & The Six was a book. And before Taylor Jenkins Reid's 2019 novel jumped back to the 70s rock scene, Fleetwood Mac lived through, stunned and shaped the era. No matter where or when an adaptation popped up, or who took to the microphone and guitar in it, bringing Daisy Jones & The Six to the screen was always going to involve leaning into Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Christine McVie and company's story. Reid has said that she took loose inspiration from the band; "it's a Fleetwood Mac vibe," she's also noted. Those parallels are as obvious as a killer lyric in Daisy Jones & The Six. Creators Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber have a recent history of riffing on true and classic tales, too — their last two projects were The Disaster Artist, which they co-scripted based on Greg Sestero's memoir about making Tommy Wiseau's The Room; and Rosaline, a retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from the titular Romeo-spurned character's perspective. With directors James Ponsoldt (The End of the Tour), Nzingha Stewart (Inventing Anna) and Will Graham (A League of Their Own), the duo approach Daisy Jones & The Six exactly as that pedigree brings to mind: it's heightened, impressively cast, and well-versed in what it's tinkering with and recreating; it also isn't afraid of romance and tragedy, or of characters going all-in for what and who they're passionate about. On the page, this melodramatic tale of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll unspools as an oral history. On streaming, it's framed by two-decades-later documentary interviews where key figures — Daisy Jones (Riley Keough, Zola), members of The Six and other pivotal folks in their careers — share memories to-camera. The eponymous musicians burned bright but flamed out fast together, opening text on-screen informs the audience before anyone gets talking. A huge stadium gig at Chicago's Soldier Field late in 1977 was their last, coming at the height of their popularity after releasing hit Rumours-esque record Aurora. Viewers immediately know the ending, then, but not what leads to that fate. Introduced in the show's flashbacks as the ignored child of wealthy parents, Daisy couldn't be more obsessed with music. A childhood spent internalising her mother's cruel comments that she doesn't have the voice or talent to follow her dreams holds her back in Daisy Jones & The Six's first episode, however, even as she couldn't spend more time hopping between Sunset Strip's venues. Cue another piece of IRL rock history, of course, thanks to Keough's pitch-perfect casting. She doesn't play her part like she's playing Elvis Presley's granddaughter — aka herself — but she makes fantastic use of her rockstar genes, including in her energy, swagger, stare, volatile temperament, and all the ferocious singing that the American Honey, The Girlfriend Experience and The Lodge star does herself. Daisy Jones & The Six takes its time putting the two parts of its moniker together, but follows The Six's origins from the outset as well, when Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin, Book of Love) agrees to front his younger brother Graham's (Will Harrison, Madam Secretary) high-school band. The full group initially spans guitarist Eddie Roundtree (Josh Whitehouse, Valley Girl), drummer Warren Rojas (Sebastian Chacon, Emergency) and bassist Chuck Loving (Jack Romano, Mank). But when dental school and the security it represents beckons the latter, and British keyboardist Karen Sirko (Suki Waterhouse, The Broken Hearts Gallery) joins their number, there's still just five band members moving from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to make a proper go of it after tour manager Rod Reyes (Timothy Olyphant, Amsterdam) tells them that's where the serious action is at. Aspiring photographer Camila (Camila Morrone, also a Valley Girl alum) is the sixth person with The Six; she's Eddie's crush but Billy's girlfriend, then his wife and the mother of his child. She's also one of the reasons that the love-hate pull he feels towards Daisy earns two oft-used words: it's complicated. As much as Daisy Jones & The Six is a portrait of a band and a snapshot of an era, it's firmly a love triangle, too. Does great art only spring from deep feelings? Does faking it till you make it apply to discovering your artistic groove with someone and selling a bond that'll sell albums? What's the difference between finding a soulmate and seeing your own reflection peering back in another's eyes, struggles and life? They're all queries the series ponders. Fleetwood Mac's tumultuous relationships and breakups are a matter of history, which no one needs to know when sitting down to Daisy Jones & The Six. As Keough twirls onstage, adores shawls and lengthy sleeves, glares pure determination and fire, and self-medicates heavily, though, consider this a condensed fictionalisation. The Buckingham to her Nicks is Claflin, obviously, as duelling lead singer-songwriters Daisy and Billy keep circling around each other from the moment that ace record producer Teddy Price (Tom Wright, True Story) puts them together. She's desperate to make it big and not just be her lyric-stealing ex-boyfriend's, or anyone's, muse, but seeks solace all day with pills and booze. He's sober and trying to get his band another shot after a tussle with drink and drugs derails their first tour, almost ruins his marriage and sees him miss his daughter's birth. No one needs to have seen Almost Famous, either, to know where Daisy Jones & The Six heads. Still, this quickly engrossing series engages in the moment like a catchy refrain. Spinning a familiar but nonetheless involving story of chasing dreams, fame's excesses and troubles, and learning whether someone is a mirror or a kindred spirit, it looks the part in every wardrobe choice — including the disco attire worn by Daisy's pal Simone Jackson (Nabiyah Be, Black Panther), who gets close to her own episode about trying to make it in an industry unwelcoming to Black and queer artists, and the embrace she finds in New York with DJ Bernie (Ayesha Harris, Abbott Elementary) instead. Daisy Jones & The Six's songs are earworms as well, whether the show is giving the suite of 70s-style tunes written by Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus Mumford, Jackson Browne and more a whirl, or dropping a soundtrack of other cuts that, yes, even features Fleetwood Mac. Check out the trailer for Daisy Jones & The Six below: Daisy Jones & The Six streams via Prime Video.
It's been a nice week. Maybe you've been readying to discard your (semi)malfunctioning umbrella and pack away your raincoat, but, pause and take a look out the window — Marge, the rains are 'ere. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the city is expected to be hit with about 70mm of rain over the new three days. If you take a look at its radar, it looks like the first of it could hit any minute. https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1047379035733614592 According to the SMH, if this prediction is correct, it'll be the most rainfall the city — and parts of the state — has seen in more than three months. Just last month, Australia experienced its driest September on record. This rain, while slightly annoying for umbrella-less commuters, will be welcomed by NSW farmers, with 100 percent of the state currently in drought. With the majority of the rain (30–50mm) expected to hit tomorrow — Thursday, October 4 — we suggest snagging yourself a poncho or two if you plan on heading along to the opening night of the Night Noodle Markets.
When it comes to eating out, the elements of surprise and mystery are very rare these days. In the time it takes you to say "Hey Siri", you'll have the restaurant menu, images of the dishes and reviews from countless strangers all at your fingertips. So much so, you probably have your order ready to go before you set foot in the joint. And where's the fun in that? To combat this age of omniscient dining, and bring a little mystery back into the dining scene, chip brand Red Rock Deli has teamed up with the chef from popular Windsor bar Lover for a very special Secret Supper series. On Thursday, September 19, chef Paul Turner will be dishing up three-course feasts in a secret Melbourne location for a limited number of guests. As you may have already guessed, the menu will stay true to the event's name and will remain under wraps until the night. What we do know is that it'll be feast inspired by foraging and the new Red Rock Deli Deluxe Crisps flavour, Parmesan & Truffle Oil. It immediately screams decadence to us. And given Turner's tradition of taking unassuming native and seasonal ingredients — think saltbush, wood sorrel and stinging nettle — and turning them into refined modern takes on old classics, we think it's safe to prepare for some bold flavours. So, in trying to crack the menu code, we thought we'd find out a little about the Melbourne spots that Turner likes to visit on the regular — and the dishes he orders— for inspiration. He name-dropped a few of his favourites, which may give us an idea of what to expect. "A common theme that I think that all of these places share, and something that I really try to focus on, is working closely with the seasons, respecting the produce at hand, and inventive, technically driven plating styles," Turner says. [caption id="attachment_552288" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Attica[/caption] Given this focus on respecting produce, it should come as no surprise that he mentions Attica first, which has "been at the forefront for a long time and helped inspire a generation of chefs". He also calls out Brae, Armadale's Zia Rina's Cucina and Doot Doot Doot on the Mornington Peninsula as fine examples of this approach — and recommends getting the five-course tasting menu with matched wines at the latter to sample the "best from the kitchen garden". In fact, this is a big theme for Paul Turner. "Most of the time, I'll jump on a tasting menu and let the chefs showcase the flavours and dishes they're feeling at the time... Some things have a really short season so trusting the chef is always a good bet," he tells us. Is that a not-so-subtle hidden message to the Secret Supper diners? [caption id="attachment_682589" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kristoffer Paulsen[/caption] Following this tasting menu trend, Turner also name-checks Yarraville's Navi as his favourite restaurant at the moment. Meanwhile, he mentions Lesa as a great option in Melbourne CBD, and specifically the pork jowl with white onion, radicchio and blood orange as a prime example of showcasing produce and technique. And of the aforementioned Zia Rina's Cucina, Turner says "the wattleseed cannoli with whipped ricotta and pistachio are alone worth a visit". So, what might we deduce about Turner's Red Rock Deli Secret Supper menu from his favourite Victorian gems? Expect lots of seasonal produce used in refreshing ways — and plenty of flavour. To register for tickets to Paul Turner's Secret Supper, head over here. And, while you wait for the big night to roll around, you can get cracking on this Turner-certified recommendation circuit. Top Image: Parker Blain.
Gravity promises to be the most stressful film of 2013. For those yet to hear about the Alfonso Cuarón-directed thriller, it features George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts separated from their spacecraft after a collision. They must then try to survive floating through space. Oh, and there has been absolutely no hint one way or the other as to if they live. Intense, right? As if imagining that or watching the trailer was not enough to whip us into a frenzy of tense anticipation, Warner Brothers has now released a truly terrifying film promotion tool. To simulate what Bullock and Clooney's characters experience, they have created an online 'game' that requires you to navigate through the vast loneliness of space. Free and playable on iPhone, iPad, Google play or through your browser, it's certainly worth a go. Given nothing but the instructions of "You are floating alone in the vastness of space. Use your thrusters to navigate", you are confronted with the scariness of this task. It is made all the more bleak by the incessant breathing of your character and static radio transmission. The tone of desperation and despair is set brilliantly and will certainly leave you wanting to see the film even more than you did already. Via Fast Co.Create.
Another day, another story about natural wine, with Pyrmont snagging itself a natural wine bar. Bar Clementine opened next door to Clementine's cafe in late March and it's slinging funky drops, aperitif-style cocktails and European share plates. Owner and sommelier Eric Mendoza really knows his grapes, having previously curated the award-winning wine lists at lauded Sydney venues Bloodwood and The Baxter Inn. Mendoza has also clocked in time at Rockpool and Melbourne's MoVida. Oh, and did we mention that he makes his own vermouth? "The focus will be on authenticity and intention, which can often be lost in the hedonism of Sydney," says Mendoza. Plenty of experimental labels from around the country and the world will be on display at Bar Clementine, though more accessible drops have a place here as well. At the moment, there are Aussie bottles from Gippsland, Hunter Valley, Ballarat and Margaret River on offer, as well as varietals from France and Germany by the glass. Bottled beers and classic cocktails are also up for grabs, including dirty martinis and one called the Adonis — it's made from coffee-infused vermouth, sherry and orange bitters. For eats, Mendoza has partnered with chef Craig Gray (ex-Neighbourhood Wine and Taxi Dining in Melbourne) who has created a menu of modern European fare. The food is, of course, tailored to pair with a glass of wine (or two). Expect a rather elevated version of the classic wine bar trio of cheese, charcuterie and share plates. The seasonal menu focuses on local produce with a smattering of Asian influence. Think lunch items like Sydney rock oysters with eschallot mignonette, snapper with kohlrabi kraut and apple, and a beef flank paired with pommes frites. And for the dinner tasting menu, there's dishes such as celeriac churros, beetroot with nectarine, preserved lemon and hazelnut, and a chocolate tart topped with creme fraiche. The fit-out takes cues from Europe as well, with Parisian-style aplenty. Though a small space, it benefits from a large, street facing bay window which allows for heaps of natural light. Pull up a stool at the marble-topped bar — which extends all the way to the window — and get stuck in. Bar Clementine is now open at 52 Harris Street, Pyrmont. Opening hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon–9pm.
He's one of the world's most renowned chefs, his three Michelin-starred restaurant Osteria Francescana claiming top spot on this year's prestigious World's 50 Best Restaurants list. And now, culinary powerhouse Massimo Bottura is swapping kitchen for stage, heading Down Under and travelling the country for a speaking tour next August. Bottura, who you'll have spied getting wildly creative with his native Italian cuisine — and doing so to save thousands of wheels of parmigiano-reggiano — in episode one of Netflix series Chef's Table, is well-known for his storytelling, as well as for a deep love of art, music and history. Audiences are sure to gain colourful insight into the chef's childhood, his life spent in the Northern Italian city of Modena, and the rich local history and culinary traditions that helped ignite his love of food. Bottura will also share another of his passions, speaking about his own work in the fight against food waste and hunger. As founder of non-profit Food for Soul, which empowers communities to fight food waste and social isolation, the Italian chef's helmed a series of community kitchens and drop-in dining halls across Milan, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and London. He's long championed the idea that a chef's responsibility extends far beyond the kitchen and into their community, to help inspire global change. MASSIMO BOTTURA 2019 DATES Perth — Riverside Theatre, August 6 Sydney — The State Theatre, August 8 Melbourne — MCEC, August 10 Brisbane — BCEC, August 13 Tickets are on sale April 3, 2019. Register now for pre-sale.
The Rocks is often described as the birthplace of modern Sydney, so it only makes sense that this historic precinct is transforming into a creative hub for September. Presented as the first-ever Arts & Culture Month, this addition to the city's early spring cultural calendar is a welcome one. Running from Monday, September 1–Tuesday, September 30, the inaugural event is stacked with fascinating experiences, from live music and stand-up comedy to diverse markets and weekend workshops. Get to know the local creative scene through Art Trail Night on Thursday, September 25, as renowned precinct artists Shazia Imran and Max Mendez host meet-and-greets in open-late galleries. For a self-guided adventure, this is also your chance to check out pieces by Nancy Liang, Jumaadi, Vanessa Berry and Linda Brescia tucked down local laneways. Meanwhile, The Rocks Square will be activated throughout the week, with Comedy Night on Wednesday, September 10 and Poetry Slam on Wednesday, September 17. Plus, there are live jazz sessions every Thursday from 6pm, while local DJs light up Sundays as they go crate digging for their favourite dance floor tunes. Take part in vino tastings and listen to viticulture tales at the NSW Wine Cellar Door Talk from Saturday, September 27–Sunday, September 28. Blak Markets returns for one day only on Sunday, September 21, celebrating First Nations creativity and culture. Then, Wildflower's Native Displays offers the chance to learn about bush food through native botanical installations crafted by the namesake Indigenous landcare experts. With loads more to explore, journey to The Rocks for a culture-filled encounter.
When you've already spent 2025 singing and dancing with Robyn at Saturday Night Live's 50th-anniversary concert, then releasing the Saoirse Ronan (Blitz)-starring first-ever music video for 'Psycho Killer' 48 years after the song's debut, what comes next? For David Byrne, the answer is a new album in September, plus a new world tour that kicks off the same month — and heads Down Under in January 2026. The iconic Talking Heads founder and frontman has dropped two huge pieces of news at once, revealing his impending latest record Who Is the Sky? and the live shows to support it. In Australia and New Zealand, he'll be playing his first gigs since 2018, when he brought his American Utopia tour — which none other than Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) turned into a concert flick also called American Utopia, aka one of 2020's absolute best films — this way. [caption id="attachment_1008708" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shervin Lainez[/caption] If you're in Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and you're thinking "this must be the place", then you're right: Byrne is venturing to each of these cities. First, he'll hit up Spark Arena on Wednesday, January 14 on his sole NZ stop, before kicking off his Aussie dates on Saturday, January 17 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre. From there, he'll play ICC Sydney Theatre on Wednesday, January 21; Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on Thursday, January 22; Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena on Saturday, January 24; and Perth's RAC Arena on Tuesday, January 27. If you caught his American Utopia gigs or watched the film, you'll recognise some other familiar faces on the Who Is the Sky? tour. Byrne is taking to the stage with 13 musicians, singers and dancers, some of whom were part of the American Utopia band. Just like in those famous shows, his fellow performers will all be mobile throughout Byrne's latest set. Like tour, like album: Who Is the Sky? isn't just Byrne's first set of live gigs since American Utopia, but also his first record since that Grammy-winning release came out in 2018. Launching on Friday, September 5, 2025 — with first single 'Everybody Laughs' out now — the new album features St Vincent, Paramore's Hayley Williams, The Smile drummer Tom Skinner and American Utopia percussionist Mauro Refosco among its guests. Byrne has long been a must-see live performer — and there's long been filmic proof of that fact. Forty-two years ago this December, he made concert film history with Talking Heads when he walked out onto a Hollywood stage with a tape deck, pressed play and, while standing there solo, began to sing 'Psycho Killer'. Then-future The Silence of the Lambs Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme directed cameras his way, recording the results for Stop Making Sense. David Byrne Who Is the Sky? World Tour Australia and New Zealand 2026 Dates Wednesday, January 14 — Spark Arena, Auckland Saturday, January 17 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Wednesday, January 21 — ICC Sydney Theatre, Sydney Thursday, January 22 — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Saturday, January 24 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena, Adelaide Tuesday, January 27 — RAC Arena, Perth David Byrne is touring Australia and New Zealand in January 2026, with ticket presales from 2pm local time on Thursday, June 12, 2025 and general sales from 1pm local time on Friday, June 13, 2025. Head to the tour website for further details. Live images: Raph_PH via Flickr.
Located directly across from the beach in Collaroy, Stay Grounded Café and Diner is the ideal place to stop by after a surf or if you're catching up with friends for brunch. There's tasty food, great coffee by Single O and a relaxed and welcoming vibe. For brekkie, try the poached eggs with roasted field mushrooms, caramelised onion and chilli, or the oats and chia bircher muesli with fresh berries and coconut yoghurt. For lunch, the grounded bowl with falafel, beetroot hummus, cauliflower, pumpkin, avocado and green goddess dressing will keep you going all day. Stay Grounded is now also open after dark. So, you can head in for a cocktail, a local beer and dishes such as barramundi tacos, chorizo and halloumi skewers and chicken wings with buttermilk dressing. Images: Mel Koutchavlis
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING No one should need to cleanse their palates between Mad Max movies — well, maybe after Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, depending on your mileage with it — but if anyone does, George Miller shouldn't be one of them. The Australian auteur gifted the world the hit dystopian franchise, has helmed and penned each and every chapter, and made Mad Max: Fury Road an astonishing piece of cinema that's one of the very best in every filmic category that applies. Still, between that kinetic, frenetic, rightly Oscar-winning movie and upcoming prequel Furiosa, Miller has opted to swish around romantic fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing. He does love heightened drama and also myths, including in the series he's synonymous with. He adores chronicling yearnings and hearts' desires, too, whether surveying vengeance and survival, the motivations behind farm animals gone a-wandering in Babe: Pig in the City, the dreams of dancing penguins in Happy Feet, or love, happiness and connection here. In other words, although adapted from AS Byatt's short story The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, Three Thousand Years of Longing is unshakeably and inescapably a Miller movie — and it's as alive with his flair for the fantastical as most of his resume. It's a wonder for a range of reasons, one of which is simple: the last time that the writer/director made a movie that didn't connect to the Mad Max, Babe or Happy Feet franchises was three decades back. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that this tale about a narratologist (Tilda Swinton, Memoria) and the Djinn (Idris Elba, Beast) she uncorks from a bottle, and the chats they have about their histories as the latter tries to ensure the former makes her three wishes to truly set him free, is told with playfulness, inventiveness, flamboyance and a deep heart. Much of Miller's filmography is, but there's a sense with Three Thousand Years of Longing that he's been released, too — even if he loves his usual confines, as audiences do as well. "My story is true," Swinton's Alithea Binnie announces at the get-go. "You're more likely to believe me, however, if I tell it as a fairy tale." Cue another Miller trademark, unpacking real emotions and woes within scenarios that are anything but standard — two people talking about their lives in a hotel is hardly fanciful, though. The tales that the Djinn relays, with debts clearly owed to One Thousand and One Nights, also dwell in the everyday; some just happened millennia ago. The Djinn loved the Queen of Sheba (model Aamito Lagum), but lost her to the envious King Solomon (Nicolas Mouawad, Mako). He then languished in the the Ottoman court, after young concubine Gulten (Ece Yüksel, Family Secrets) wished for the heart of Suleiman the Magnificent's (Lachy Hulme, Preacher) son Mustafa (singer Matteo Bocelli). And, in the 19th century, the Djinn fell for Zefir (Burcu Gölgedar, Between Two Dawns), the brilliantly smart but stifled wife of a Turkish merchant. What spirits the Djinn's time-hopping memories beyond the ordinary and into the metaphysical, and Alithea's narrative as well, is the figure first seen billowing out of blue-and-white glass, then filling an entire suite, then slipping into white towelling. Something magical happens when you pop on a hotel bathrobe — that space and that cosy clothing are instantly transporting — and while Alithea resists the very idea of making wishes, she gets swept along by her new companion anyway. As a scholar of stories and the meanings they hold, she knows the warnings surrounding uttering hopes and having them granted. She also says she's content with her intellectual, independent and isolated-by-choice life, travelling the world to conferences like the one that's brought her to Turkey and then to the Istanbul bazaar where she spies the Djinn's misshapen home, even if her own backstory speaks of pain and self-protective mechanisms. And yet, "I want our solitudes to be together", she eventually declares, and with exactly the titular emotion. Read our full review. ORPHAN: FIRST KILL What's more believable — and plot twists follow: a pre-teen playing a 33-year-old woman pretending to be a nine-year-old orphan, with a hormone disorder explaining the character's eerily youthful appearance; or an adult playing a 31-year-old woman pretending to be a lost child returned at age nine, again with that medical condition making everyone else oblivious? For viewers of 2009's Orphan and its 13-years-later follow-up Orphan: First Kill, which is a prequel, neither are particularly credible to witness. But the first film delivered its age trickery as an off-kilter final-act reveal, as paired with a phenomenal performance by then 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman in the pivotal role. Audiences bought the big shift — or remembered it, at least — because Fuhrman was so creepy and so committed to the bit, and because it suited the OTT horror-thriller. This time, that wild revelation is old news, but that doesn't stop Orphan: First Kill from leaning on the same two key pillars: an out-there turn of events and fervent portrayals. Fuhrman (The Novice) returns as Esther, the Estonian adult who posed as a parentless Russian girl in the initial feature. In Orphan: First Kill, she's introduced as Leena Klammer, the most dangerous resident at the Saarne Institute mental hospital. The prequel's first sighted kill comes early, as a means of escape. The second follows swiftly, because the film needs to get its central figure to the US. Fans of the previous picture will recall that Esther already had a troubled history when she was adopted and started wreaking the movie's main havoc, involving the family that brought her to America — and her time with that brood, aka wealthy Connecticut-based artist Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland, Possessor), his gala-hosting wife Tricia (Julia Stiles, Hustlers) and their teen son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan, My Fake Boyfriend), is this flick's focus. Like their counterparts in Orphan, the Albrights have suffered a loss and are struggling to move on. When Leena poses as their missing daughter Esther, Allen especially seems like his old self again. As also happened in Orphan, however, the pigtail- and ribbon-wearing new addition to their home doesn't settle in smoothly. Orphan: First Kill repeats the original movie's greatest hits, including the arty doting dad, the wary brother, taunts labelling Esther a freak and a thorny relationship with her mum. Also covered: suspicious external parties, bathroom tantrums, swearing to get attention and spying on her parents having sex. And yes, anyone who has seen Orphan knows how this all turns out, and that it leads to the above again in Orphan, too. Thankfully, that's only part of Orphan: First Kill's narrative. Twists can be curious narrative tools; sometimes they're inspired, sometimes they're a crutch propping up a flimsy screenplay, and sometimes they seesaw between both. Orphan: First Kill tumbles gleefully into the latter category, thanks to a revelation midway that's patently ridiculous — although no more ridiculous than Orphan earning a follow-up in the first place — and also among the best things about the movie. It's a big risk, making a film that's initially so laughably formulaic that it just seems lazy, then letting a sudden switch completely change the game, the tone and the audience's perception of what's transpired so far. That proved a charm for the thoroughly unrelated Malignant in 2021, and it's a gamble that filmmaker William Brent Bell (The Boy and Brahms: The Boy II) and screenwriter David Coggeshall (Scream: The TV Series) take. Working with a story by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It) and Alex Mace (who earned the same credit on the original), it's one of their savviest choices. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30; and July 7, July 14, July 21 and July 28; and August 4, August 11, August 18 and August 25. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday, Ali & Ava, Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man, The Phantom of the Open, The Black Phone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Official Competition, The Forgiven, Full Time, Murder Party, Bullet Train, Nope, The Princess, 6 Festivals, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Crimes of the Future, Bosch & Rockit, Fire of Love, Beast, Blaze and Hit the Road.
Margarita fans, Tio's Cerveceria has great news for you: its brand-new menu is dedicated to the refreshing cocktail, starring classic renditions alongside some enticing newcomers. From huge fishbowl-style 'ritas to spicy margs spanning five levels of heat, this menu is well-worth checking out. The newest item kicking things off at the Foster Street bar is a massive $69 margarita housed in an oversized glass to share between four. Whether you're getting the party started or are simply in the mood for a drink that is affordable and shareable — at only $17.25 per serve — this mega marg will tick all of those boxes. For the spice fiends, swing by to try Tio's revamped take on a spicy marg, which is available in five levels of spice — if you dare to test your limits. Take your pick from levels one through five, with the first level hailing closer to the classic and the fifth being specially curated for only the biggest daredevils. Be warned — the final boss level of spice is not for the faint of heart, so you may want to pair it with a glass of milk or some of the joint's famed hot popcorn. Speaking of its popular free bags of popcorn, the new drinks list also stars a sip — aptly called 'Popcorn' — with popcorn-washed tequila, paprika and the outpost's in-house popcorn seasoning, as well as a vibrant newbie called 'Bluest', which takes inspiration from nostalgic blue Pop Tops and Zombie Chews. You'll also still be able to order familiar Tommy's and mezcal margaritas from the menu, alongside the weekly frozen and fruity 'rita specials. You'll find Tio's Cerveceria at 4/14 Foster Street in Surry Hills. Swing by from 5pm–12am Tuesday–Thursday, 4pm–12am Friday and 5pm–12am Saturday to try its exciting new menu. Image credit: Dexter Kim
It's famed for dishing up generous vegetarian feeds at pay-as-you-feel prices, with four volunteer-run eateries across Melbourne and Sydney. And now, Lentil As Anything has launched a grocery built around the same philosophies. Opening at the back of Lentil's Thornbury restaurant, The Inconvenience Store is the state's first-ever pay-as-you-feel supermarket. The shelves here will be stocked with goods rescued as part of the group's Food Without Borders initiative, which collects quality food from shops and markets which is otherwise destined for landfill. With a Foodprint Project report estimating that Melburnians alone turf more than 900,000 tonnes of edible food each year, this promises to be a great way for locals to do their bit in the war against food waste. The supermarket has no set prices, with customers instead asked to contribute simply what they can afford. Those keen to lend a hand can donate, or even volunteer to work at the store. Lentil As Anything says contributions will go towards keeping its food rescue operations running, covering things like electricity bills, transport costs and storage. Last year, Australian food rescue charity OzHarvest opened a supermarket in Sydney based around a similar concept, it stocks food rescued from supermarkets and restaurants and customers can pay what they like. While everyone is welcome, it's aim is to help people in need. Lentil As Anything's Inconvenience Store is now open 11am–3pm Friday to Monday at 562–564 High Street, Thornbury. Updated: July 25, 2018.
All across New South Wales, stages are being swept, setlists are being finalised, speakers are being stress tested, and crowds are gearing up—because the statewide Great Southern Nights is just about to make its 2025 return. With well over 300 gigs taking place across 17 nights in cities and districts from Byron Bay to Broken Hill and beyond, it's going to be one hell of a festival. Midway up the NSW coastline, you'll find one of Great Southern Nights' hubs in the live music-loving city of Newcastle and the Newcastle Midtown Gig Trail set to host over 40 gigs across the festival's 17-night runtime. We've teamed up with Great Southern Nights to pick out the must-see entries on the lineup and some suggestions on how to stay busy between them. The Lineup The fun starts on Friday, March 21, with multi-disciplinary Filipino/Wiradjuri artist MO'JU at The Stag and Hunter Hotel in Mayfield, the five-piece Kiwi band SIX60 at NU's Bar on the Hill and EDM duo Slumberjack at King Street Nightclub. The following night, back at Bar on the Hill, late 80s/early 90s indie rock legends The Cruel Sea will take to the stage with some throwback hits and new recordings. To end the first weekend, solo multi-instrumentalist Running Touch and Melbourne-native indie rock quartet The Belair Lip Bombs will take over the King Street Warehouse on Sunday, March 23. The following weekend, on Saturday, March 29, legendary Aussie Blues and Roots soloist Xavier Rudd will be performing a bit out of town at Dashville Campground in Lower Belford. When the festival heads into April, expect a few hot gigs in the King Street Bandroom. Namely, the multi-platinum-winning rapper Winston Surfshirt on Friday, April 4; five-piece folk-rock group The Paper Kites on Saturday, April 5; and indie rock favourites Slowly Slowly on Sunday, April 6. If you find yourself with a free night, hit up the Newcastle Midtown District Gig Trail. Every night throughout the festival you'll find free gigs, performers, actors and more at seven venues in the heart of the action. That's just the tip of the iceberg, all sorts of gigs are set to take happen around the headliners. [caption id="attachment_938853" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Flotilla[/caption] Local Eats and Treats Newcastle is home to a buzzing blend of eateries to refuel between gigs; if anything, you'll end up pressed for time to hit all the venues around town. For a compact taster menu of what the city has to offer gastronomically, the Honeysuckle Foreshore is right in the centre of the city, close to Newcastle's premiere hotels, attractions and waterfronts. But if you're willing to go further afield, it'll pay off. Without leaving the city, you can enjoy Spanish tapas at Bocados or a sizeable yum cha feast (on Sundays) at Ginger Meg's, and if you like something a little fancier, there's sustainable seafood at Scottie's or curated cocktails and Italian feeds at Market St Basement. Should you find yourself a bit beyond the city lights, you can find an authentic Californian taqueria at Antojitos, and one of the most popular restaurants in the area is the famous Flotilla in Wickham. If you prefer to hit the streets and let the universe guide you to the eatery for you, you'll find casual options aplenty in Hamilton, eclectic, trendy small spots in Cooks Hill, while heading out west to the Hunter Valley will connect you with some of the top wineries in the country. Things to Do and Places to See Most of the GSN gigs on offer take place after dark, so what are you supposed to do beforehand? Glad you asked. One of Newcastle's most famous, accessible and affordable attractions is its ocean baths. Found along the Bather's Way, a six-kilometre walking track that traces the coast from Nobbys Beach to Merewether Beach, these pools (and the more secluded-yet-scenic Bogey Hole) are midway on the route and are recognised as some of the most scenic ocean pools in the country. If the sun is blazing and you'd rather stay indoors and dodge the steps, the Newcastle Museum is a great place to learn some local history, as is the Fort Scratchley Historic Site if military history is your jam, being the only fort in Australia to engage enemy combatants in maritime defence during WWII. For a dose of First Nations history and culture, take a guided tour through the towering sand dunes of the Worimi Conservation Lands. Where to Spend the Night The many facets of Newcastle's identity are plain to see in the accommodation options throughout the city. The QT hotel group is known for bold interiors and luxury by the pound — and QT Newcastle is no exception. A love for music and the arts and Newcastle's prominent surf culture can be felt at this dynamic stay. Set in a heritage building with waterfront views, the hotel also boasts one of Newcastle's finest rooftop bars and an on-site luxury restaurant that exclusively serves local produce. If you want to be as close to the water as possible, it's tough to get closer than Noah's On the Beach. A literal stone's throw from the surf break of Newcastle Beach, staying here means you'll be sent off to sleep by the sounds of the sea. And though you could be catered for with the onsite eatery, you'd be well within walking distance from the Newcastle CBD. If you want something further from the action (45 minutes further, to be precise) but don't want to skimp on the luxury, secure a booking at Caves Coastal Bar & Bungalows. South of Newcastle behind Caves Beach, this resort property brings a touch of the Hamptons and a pinch of the Maldives to the mid-north NSW coast. With bungalows, townhouses and villas available for booking and the luxurious restaurant Caves Coastal, this is the perfect place for larger groups looking to explore the surrounds of Newcastle. Great Southern Nights is set to take over venues across NSW between Friday, March 21 and Sunday, April 6. Check out our gig guides for Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong or visit the website for more information.
Skiing and snowboarding might be the headline events when you're talking alpine holidays, but they're far from the only show in town. In fact, to really experience the majesty of the mountains during the snow season, you've got to see the white-cloaked landscape from a few different angles — dog's eye, bird's eye and shut-eye among them. And you don't need to go as far as the ski resorts of Canada, Switzerland or Japan to do it. Some of the best features of these famous winter wonderlands have been adopted by the newer resorts of Victoria's High Country — and they're a lot closer to home. A long weekend, or a more luxurious week, is all you need to get a proper winter short break at Mount Buller, Hotham or Baw Baw, where snowfields meet eerie gumtree forests and icy adventures end with you defrosting fireside. Whether you ski or not, base your plans around some of the extraordinary snow experiences in this article, and you'll have a holiday that's truly memorable. GO DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW WITH HUSKY DOGS Here's a sight straight out of the Arctic Circle: groups of friendly husky dogs, at home in their preferred climate. These kinds of sled dogs were bred to help with the transportation of humans and goods across snowy terrain, but now the arrival of planes, cars and snowmobiles have taken most of the burden off them, dog sledding is mainly a recreational activity. Contrary to what you might expect, this is a quiet and peaceful way to explore the open plateaus and sleeping forests, as there's little sound beyond the drumming of paws on snow. Give it a go yourself with Australian Sled Dog Tours in Mount Buller. Their tours range from a brisk 30 minute introduction to a more strenuous 3.5 hours, during which you'll actually learn how to 'drive' a team of Siberian huskies. Importantly, all tours start with plenty of time for pats and cuddles, so you can get fully acquainted with your puppers. If you're on Mount Baw Baw, look up operator Howling Huskys instead. During the full moon, they offer a special three-hour night tour that ends with a campfire, wine and hot chocolate. They also run tours in Mount Hotham and Dinner Plain. Both of these operators treat their dogs kindly and care for them after their sledding retirement. But if you don't feel good about being carried by an animal, then Australian Sled Dog Tours does offer a meet-and-greet-only option with their huskies for just $20. Alternatively, plough onwards to other activities. GET AN AERIAL VIEW FROM A HELICOPTER If you've always wanted to treat yourself to a helicopter ride, the mountains are the destination to do it. Few landscapes are this dramatic. Rugged escarpments plunge into still-green valleys, mountain peaks rise right in front of you, and lonely stockmen's huts appear in isolated wildernesses. You'll have Instagram fodder for days. Alpine Helicopter Charter offers a number of scenic rides that are perfect in the winter season, including a three-hour "Rooftop Tour" of Victoria's highest peaks. The same company also runs a Mount Buller Express, if you want to fly rather than drive up the mountain and arrive at your lodgings with an entrance worthy of Kim and Kanye. If you're in Mount Hotham, look up scenic flights with Forest Air Helicopters instead. GET ACTIVE IN THE OUTDOORS Skiing and snowboarding aren't the only sports to do at this altitude; they're just the most serious. If you're more in the mood to let off steam than work up a sweat, try the Snowshoe to Fondue experience at Mount Hotham. Run by Alpine Nature Experience, the sunset trek is made easier by the provision of snowshoes, which keep you "floating" over rather than sinking into the snow. Best of all, once you arrive at your destination — a remote tipi hut with fireplace — you're rewarded with a long rest and a traditional Swiss fondue of melted cheese. For those who really want to cut loose, however, poking food with sticks is just a warm-up. You'll want to round up your friends and book a session of laser tag in the snowy outdoors. Operators Howling Huskys have courses set up in Mount Hotham, as well as Mount Baw Baw and Dinner Plain. You'll need a group of four to eight. DEFROST BY A FIRE IN A SKI CHALET Melbourne isn't short of après-ski-themed pop-up bars at this time of year, but nothing compares to the real thing. If you're in the prime après-ski spot of Mt Buller, head to Snow Pony, one of the town's more foodie establishments, for tapas in true chalet style (think log walls and antler chandeliers). Afterwards, savour a glühwein in the uber-Austrian surrounds of Herbie's bar at Hotel Pension Grimus and the hills will truly feel alive. When in Mount Hotham, make a beeline for the drinking and dining areas of Zirky's, the European-inspired lodge complex where Wednesday's schnitzel night is an institution. For drinks, check out Blizzard Brewery at nearby Dinner Plain. Not only is it a cosy spot to hang out, their beers are made with ultra-pure water of melted snow. Plus, you'll be able to say you drank at Australia's highest brewery (it's 1.5km above sea level). GET VERTICAL IN AN ONSEN OR SPA Any spa is good, but a Japanese-style onsen is glorious. Onsen hot springs are traditionally outdoors, and while Victoria's mountains can't naturally produce the geothermal heat of a volcanic island, the heated outdoor bath at Onsen Retreat + Spa in Dinner Plain gets pretty close to recreating the atmosphere. The shake-up you get dashing outdoors in your togs to get to the steaming pool is everything. Massages, beauty treatments and fitness classes are also available here, if you want to get even more healthful. On Mount Buller, meanwhile, a good option is the Breathtaker on High Spa Retreat. The treatments here are inspired, and use the spa's own signature Breathe oils and masks. Splash out on the 2.5-hour Mountain Escape Ritual — it starts with a foot massage before your body is given proper attention by way of a dry brush, mask and massage. To find out more and plan your winter adventures in the alpine villages, visit the Wander Victoria website.
Restrictions and lockdowns have meant many Melbourne art galleries have spent more time closed than open in 2020. But it seems the culture gods have smiled down and cut us a little slack when it comes to one of the biggest, most anticipated art events to hit the city in three years. With art galleries now able to begin reopening, the NGV Triennial is set to return for its blockbuster second iteration this summer, taking over NGV International from Saturday, December 19. Held every three years, the Triennial made its huge debut in 2017, pulling a hefty 1.23 million visitors and remaining the NGV's most visited exhibition even today. Triennial 2020 looks set to follow suit, as artists from over 30 different countries share a diverse spread of works reflecting on a truly unique time in our world's history. Melbourne art lovers will be overwhelmed by the free large-scale exhibition of international contemporary art, design and architecture, showcasing 86 projects by more than 100 artists, designers and collectives. Expect to see US artist Jeff Koons pay homage to the goddess of love Venus with a towering mirror-finished sculptural piece, while renowned interior designer Faye Toogood reimagines a series of gallery spaces with commissioned furniture, tapestries, lighting, sculpture and scenography. Turkey's Refik Anadol has put together a video work, capturing digitised memories of nature with help from artificial intelligence and machine learning. Meanwhile, a showcase by Yolngu woman Dhambit Mununggurr is replete with her trademark blue hues, including a set of 15 large-scale bark paintings. Lauded Japanese architect Kengo Kuma joins forces with Melbourne-based artist Geoffrey Nees, using timber from trees that died during the Millennium Drought at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens to construct a pavilion. The structure will then feature as part of a multi-sensory walkway delivering audiences to a new piece by South Korean artist Lee Ufan. If ever there was an exhibition worthy of your post-lockdown gallery-hopping debut, it's this. [caption id="attachment_795361" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Installation view of Refik Anadol Quantum Memories 2020 © Refik Anadol Photo: Tom Ross[/caption] Top image: Installation view of Porky Hefer, 'Plastocene – Marine Mutants from a disposable world' 2020, courtesy Southern Guild, Cape Town. Photo by Tom Ross.
Have you been known to look at a doughnut and think "you belong with me"? Do you consider sweet treats your karma? Does happiness to you come in round orbs of pastry? Do you have your eyes open for all things Taylor Swift — or just for free doughnuts? The pop superstar has hit Australia, finally bringing her Eras tour Down Under thanks to three shows in Melbourne and four in Sydney. Her Aussie stint starts today, Friday, February 16. And to celebrate, Krispy Kreme is getting in on the action to give out free doughnuts to Swifties, and also to anyone — as long as you're wearing a friendship bracelet when you head into its Australian or Auckland stores. The chain is known for giving away its round treats, including handing out 100,000 of them each National Doughnut Day. In 2023 for Halloween, it also doled out freebies if you went in in costume. So, it's thoroughly unsurprising that it's linking in with Swiftmania. To snag yourself a signature glazed freebie, make a beeline to your closest Krispy Kreme store in Australia or Auckland on Friday, February 16 while wearing a friendship bracelet. The last part isn't optional. You'll then receive one original glazed doughnut per person, and you don't have to buy anything else to nab the treat without paying a cent. This is a while-stocks-last giveaway, so getting in as quick as someone trying to nab Taylor Swift tickets is obviously recommended. That gives everyone a heap of places to flock to: 38 in Australia and six in New Zealand. Sydneysiders are able to hit up stores stretching from Penrith to the CBD, Victorians can visit locations from Chadstone to Collins Street, and Queenslanders have Albert Street in the Brisbane CBD and Surfers Paradise among the choices. For residents of Perth, Hay Street, Cannington and more await. In Aotearoa, all options are in Auckland — including at Newmarket, Chancery Square and the domestic airport terminal. Krispy Kreme's Taylor Swift giveaway is taking place in-store on Friday, February 16 in Australia and Auckland. To find your closest shop and check its opening hours, head to Krispy Kreme's Australian and New Zealand websites.
By August, winter can begin to feel as though it's been dragging on forever. Some of us, like migratory birds, make an annual pilgrimage to our favourite Northern Hemisphere destination, avoiding the darker months altogether. Others dig in like grizzly bears, travelling no further than is necessary to obtain food and money. Fortunately, one of Australia's geographical benefits is its proximity to an abundance of eternally sun-kissed destinations. Whether you prefer the seemingly boundless expanse of the Pacific Ocean, or the monsoonal mystery of the Indian Ocean - the warmest ocean in the world - you're only ever a a few hours' flight time away from winterless climes. So, if you're feeling as though you'd like a quick preview of summer before December ushers in the main act, here are ten destinations that could well have you digging out your long lost swimmers. Eratap, Vanuatu If you happen to be sitting at an airport on the eastern seaboard of Australia right now, this view is just three hours and twenty minutes' travelling time away. That's a three hour flight to Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, and a twenty minute drive to the pier pictured above. Even though the exclusive resort of Eratap is comprised of just twelve villas, all located on the waterfront, it occupies an entire peninsula, incorporating eight acres of lush gardens and three lonely beaches. Plus, the resort's gardeners will drop you to one of several surf breaks just off the beach should you feel the inclination. Semara Luxury Villa Resort, Bali If you like your rooms over-sized, your ocean views panoramic and your gardens perfectly manicured, Semara is likely to tick all your boxes. Located on Bali's southernmost point, this resort features seven commodious, architect-designed villas, which overlook the Indian ocean from the spectacular heights of Uluwatu's stunning white limestone cliffs. Zeavola, Phi Phi, Thailand Encompassing an unspoiled stretch of too-white-to-be-true sand on Phi Phi Don Island's northern tip, Zeavola promises an indulgent experience based on sensual pleasure. The accommodation, modelled on island-style housing, is built of hand-hewn teak, and the landscaping features quiet gardens, romantic outdoor showers and hand-painted murals. Wayalailai Ecohaven Resort, Fiji One of the few 100% locally owned resorts in the Pacific Islands, Wayalailai offers a beach-side break in the heavenly Yasawa Islands that isn't quite as devastating on the wallet as other, more luxurious options. Run by nearby villages, Wayalailai features traditional-style bures (both doubles and dorms) and enables the visitor to experience Fijian society and culture as it occurs on a daily basis, rather than as a construction for the purpose of tourist entertainment. Prices start at $70, inclusive of three meals, and you can even pitch a tent for $55. All profits go to improving living standards and increasing access to education in local communities. Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa, Cook Islands Many a well-seasoned traveller has concluded that Aitutaki Lagoon is the most beautiful in the world. 'No artist's palette could ever conceive of a more perfect, more luminous turquoise,' Steve Daley wrote in Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die. The only resort in the Cook Islands to occupy its own private island, the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa, perched on the lagoon's edge, is renowned for its intimate, Polynesian-style over water bungalows. Te Tiare Beach Resort, French Polynesia Te Tiare Beach Resort - one of the smallest and most intimate in French Polynesia - is located on Huahine, one of the less visited and most tranquil of the country's islands. There's a local farmer's market, a strong traditional fishing culture and an abundance of fertile plantations and orchards - vanilla, noni fruit, taro, watermelon, mango, papaya, banana and breadfruit are all made for the South Seas. You can choose your bungalow according to your tastes - garden, premium garden, beach, lagoon overwater or deep overwater. L'Escapade Island Resort, New Caledonia Like French Polynesia, New Caledonia offers a little European je-ne-sais-quoi without the pain of a gruelling long-haul flight. In fact, it's less than three hours' time in the air from Sydney. Similarly to the Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa, L'Escapade inhabits its very own private island, twenty minutes' boat ride from Noumea. Access to both inner and outer lagoon areas enables an array of sun-blessed activities, from swimming and snorkelling to windsurfing and kayaking. 69 bungalows - both over water and terrestrial - comprise the accommodation. Fregate Island, Seychelles With 2000 free-roaming Giant Aldabra Tortoises, hundreds of Hawksbill Turtles' nest and an indigenous forest rehabilitation plantation, Fregate Island is not just one of the world's most prestigious holiday destinations, it's also an important conservation project. Visitors can rent one of 16 spacious private pool residencies, a five-building estate or an entire island. Niyama, Maldives The world's first underwater live music club and a 24-hour spa mean that Niyama offers more than your regular beachside vacation. Located forty minutes by seaplane from Male, it features over water pavilions and stand alone studios with unimpeded views of the horizon. The onsite restaurant serves meals just five hundred metres from the water's edge. Sila Evason Hideaway and Spa, Thailand Found on the northern tip of Koh Samui, Sila Evason is famous for is its 41 pool villas, each of which comes with its own private infinity edge pool. They're set in twenty acres of native forest, on a sloping headland, and offer panoramic views of the ocean and surrounding scenery. There's also a Six Senses Spa on the premises.
The Supernatural Amphitheatre may have banned Native American headdresses, but they'll soon have to make an unexpected exception — Golden Plains 2015 will feature the Village People. That's right, it's been nearly 40 years since the height of their fame, but the Village People are still coercing you to stay at the YMCA. Get ready to raise your cowboy boot. The full lineup which has just been released is nothing if not diverse. The Village People are proving disco isn't dead, your emotional teenage heartthrob Conor Oberst will be there bringing the indie rock, classic local tunes will be had with Something For Kate, even seminal Australian punk legends Radio Birdman will be in attendance. As always, the local lineup is strong. Off the back of her first national headline tour, Courtney Barnett will be the perfect soundtrack to your afternoon chill session. You can expect some unsavoury antics while watching The Bennies, and local favourites like Twerps, Banoffee, and Milwaukee Banks will also be hitting the stage. Aside from your Bright Eyed boyfriend and the Village People, other international acts include Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit and Pavement follow-up project Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks. As always, you'll have to enter the ballot if you want in on this glorious gathering. The festival will run from March 7-9 and tickets will be $328.80+bf. It's the same festival you know and love — no dickheads, no need to hide your goon sacks, no problems. The second-draw ballot closes on 9pm on Tuesday, October 21. Welcome to the sounds of your summer. Full lineup: Aldous Harding Banoffee Black Vanilla Bombino Conor Oberst Courtney Barnett Dj Shadow & Cut Chemist Felice Brothers First Aid Kit Graveyard Hits La Pocock Milwaukee Banks Neneh Cherry With Rocketnumbernine+ Nick Waterhouse Oblivions Parquet Courts Radio Birdman (featuring Rob Younger, Deniz Tek, Pip Hoyle, Jim Dickson, Dave Kettley, Nik Rieth) Sharon Van Etten Sleep D Soil & “Pimp” Sessions Something For Kate Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks The Bennies The Meanies Theo Parrish Total Giovanni Twerps Village People
