It might located right in the heart of North Sydney's buzzing city centre, but the newly opened Green Moustache feels far from it. Instead, this fresh-faced bar and restaurant has embraced Mother Nature, and is filled with an abundance of greenery and plant life. It's a well-executed lushness that's not all too surprising given this is the latest venture from Andrew Utiger and Matt Erby — the minds behind fellow North Sydney foliage den, Treehouse. Sporting primo rooftop views, the pair's new light-filled venue is destined to be a bar of choice for Sydneysiders looking for a warm and lush hideaway this winter. A roll call of hospitality guns are managing the spot, including co-owner David Maisey (Treehouse, Merivale, The Palisade Hotel), who oversaw the menu, which will be executed by chef Peter Fitzsimmons (Chin Chin) and pastry chef Alfredo Jr Peralta (Nomad). Wines have been chosen by sommelier Julien Perrimond (Bambini Trust Restaurant and Wine Room) and bartender Aby Dedej (Ivy Pool Club) will be shaking, mixing and stirring a drinks list that packs a punch. The food menu runs from breakfast through dinner — six days a week. Mornings might mean the likes of haloumi-topped bruschetta with pesto or a loaded brekky bowl, while later visits promise caramelised sticky pork with shredded coconut and snake beans — or a pasta starring hand-picked blue swimmer crab, chilli and lemon. Those heading here in winter will find comfort in the scotch fillet paired with artichoke chips and duck fat-roasted potatoes. Find Green Moustache at 100 Miller Street, North Sydney. It's open Monday–Friday, 7am–10pm, and Saturday, 2pm–late.
Maybe you love a bowl piled high with ice cream after a long day. Perhaps doughnuts make any moment better. Or, you could love sweet dishes in general. Whichever fits, you might've been treating yo'self a little more often than usual during Sydney's lockdown — especially if you live in one of the Local Government Areas that were dubbed LGAs of concern and put under stricter rules for much of the ongoing stay-at-home period. Thankfully, all parts of Sydney are now under the same restrictions. Still, the past few months have been particularly hard if you reside in a former hotspot LGA. Free dessert won't change that, of course, but it's still nice. And, it's what Uber Eats will be dishing up to one specific area. If your stomach is now rumbling, here's how it works. Firstly, the giveaway is only open to those ex-LGAs of concern — so Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Strathfield and Penrith. Secondly, it'll only come into effect in whichever of those LGAs hits the 80-percent fully vaccinated mark first. Yes, this vax incentive combines multiple pandemic trends: getting food delivered, getting jabbed, encouraging vaccinations, watching those vax rates climb up and giving yourself something sweet because we all deserve it at the moment. Whenever that 80-percent mark is reached in one of those aforementioned LGAs, Uber Eats will give everyone in the relevant suburbs up to $20 off an order from their favourite dessert store for three days — from Friday–Sunday across the weekend after that target is hit. The discount won't include fees, so you will still have to pay something. Obviously, you'll need to order via Uber Eats to score the deal. But, it'll really just be as easy as using the platform's app, finding a participating store under the 'Desserts' category, ordering, and entering the the promo code VAXXED4SNACKS. Exactly when this discount will kick in obviously depends on vaccination numbers in the former hotspot LGAs. Keen to keep an eye on vax rates? We've rounded up the websites helping you do just that, and the New South Wales Government has a handy map that tracks vaccinations by postcode, too. If you like free fries as well, fellow delivery service Deliveroo is going to give everyone across NSW a free large serve of fries with their orders from Hungry Jack's and other participating restaurants when the state hits the 60-percent double-vaxxed mark. Get jabbed, get free food — that's today's world. Uber Eats will give $20 discounts on dessert orders for three days to everyone in one of Sydney's ex-LGAs of concern when the first of former hotspot LGA hits 80-percent fully vaxxed. For further details, head to the Uber Eats website.
Kick-Ass is back. The self-made masked crusader (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has bulked up and is ready to deliver a bigger punch of vigilante justice to the criminals of New York City in Kick-Ass 2. He isn't the only one who has come back for more either; old friend Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) will join Dave Lizewski's heroic alter ego as they take on their nemesis Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who has restyled himself as The Mother Fucker in another bout of Hollywood comic book violence. There is also a gluttony of new superheroes and villains entering the good vs bad fray, most notably Jim Carrey, who is almost unrecognisable as the patriotic Colonel Stars and Stripes. Whilst the sequel is unlikely to hit the controversial heights of an 11-year-old Moretz hilariously dropping the C-bomb, the trailer suggests that it has lost none of its quirky humour, and if Jim Carrey's post-production Twitter reaction is anything to go by, we can look forward to a flurry of stylised screen violence that is set to make this another (kick ass) cult classic. Kick-Ass 2 is in cinemas August 22 and to celebrate we have ten double in-season passes to give away thanks to Universal Pictures. To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven't already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
If there's one place that no television or literature fan wants to live, it's Gilead, the dystopian society at the centre of The Handmaid's Tale. But while aspects of the oppressive community bear uncomfortable resemblances to modern society, it's thankfully a fictional construct — well, except for the name. In what proves to be a mighty hefty case of bad timing, developer Lendlease is currently promoting a new masterplanned site in Sydney's far southwest that shares its name with the republic in which The Handmaid's Tale is set. To be fair, the name Gilead actually springs from the bible, where it refers to two different regions. And, in Sydney, its use pre-dates everyone's present obsession with the Hulu TV show — and Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel — too, with an existing farmland-filled suburb first getting the moniker 200 years ago. Still, trying to promote a planned community called Gilead at the moment is both hilarious and unfortunate — and, you'd think, a bit of a tough sell. Masterplanned sites have shaped the Australian suburbs since the 50s, with developers snapping up parcels of land, filling them with houses and usually giving them scenic-sounding titles. When it acquired the land in 2015, we're sure Lendlease didn't anticipate that the dystopian novel would re-enter popular culture, but, now that it has, Gilead doesn't quite have the same ring to it. The real-life Gilead will be situated ten minutes by car from Campbelltown and Camden, and 40 minutes from Wollongong. It's described on the development website as "perfectly combining a rural lifestyle with the convenience of urban living". No mention of living under his eye, thankfully. But the 210-hectare site isn't without its non-Handmaid's controversies, either. Both before and after the area was rezoned in 2017 — making the building of 1700 new homes possible subject to final approvals — it has been met by disapproval. Locals contend that colonial and Indigenous history would be compromised by the development, as reported in the Wollondilly Advertiser, with other concerns spanning not only the site's heritage, but the wildlife and environmental impacts. Okay, now that does sound like something you might see on a dystopian TV show.
It's a risky and even cheeky move, packaging a film with a song that could be used to describe it. Thankfully, in the case of 2014's The Lego Movie and its instant earworm track, everything was indeed awesome. The animated flick's long-awaited sequel offers another self-assessment in closing credits tune 'Super Cool', however the description doesn't fit this time around. Nor do the words unbelievable, outrageous, amazing, phenomenal, fantastic and incredible, further praise sung by Beck, the Lonely Island and Robyn in the catchy and amusing song. Instead, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is fine, standard, okay and average. Of course, those words don't have the same ring to them, even if they were set to a thumping beat. The Lego Movie left its successors with big shoes to fill — or big bricks to emulate, to be more accurate — and this direct follow-up does so in an entertaining enough but never especially inventive or enthralling fashion. Call it a case of trying to build the same thing with different pieces. Call it constructing a masterpiece and then falling short with the next attempt. Call it a case of sticking too closely to the instructions again and again. Whichever one you choose, they all fit like rectangular plastic pieces stacked neatly on top of each other. You could also call it a case of following Emmet Brickowski's (Chris Pratt) lead, with the mini-figure's fondness for routine already well established in the first movie. He's so comfortable doing the same thing day in, day out that he's even happy to keep doing so in the new dystopian version of his hometown, Bricksburg. He knows that much has changed since alien invaders made from bigger blocks descended from the heavens. His brooding best friend Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) also reminds him all the time. But it isn't until General Sweet Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) arrives, bearing an invite from the Systar system's Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish) and sweeping Lucy, Batman (Will Arnett), Benny (Charlie Day), MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) and Unikitty (Alison Brie) away, that Emmet abandons his blissful monotony and springs into action. Viewers of the initial flick, The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie will remember two important aspects of the Lego Movie Universe. Firstly, mile-a-minute jokes and pop culture references are as much a part of the franchise as multicoloured bricks. Secondly, more often than not, the series' animated tales tie into a real-world scenario. While original directors Chris Lord and Phil Miller have handed over the reigns to Trolls filmmaker Mike Mitchell, their humour still bounces through in the movie's fast-paced script. And while The Lego Movie's big twist — that the whole story stemmed from kids simply playing with the titular toys — is old news now, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part builds upon this idea. Once again, the film spends time with now-teenager Finn (Jadon Sand), who's still far from pleased that his younger sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince) likes Lego as well. Cue The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part's troubles. Lightning rarely strikes twice, after all. The film serves up enough funny gags to keep audiences chuckling, throws in more than a few ace cameos and has the same infectious, anarchic vibe, but it was never going to feel as fresh. It also benefits from a fantastic overall message, but doesn't give it enough emphasis until late in the show. After pondering the divide between rules and creativity in the first picture, the franchise now contemplates collaboration, sharing and the gendering applied to playthings, roles and fandom. That's both smart and relevant, yet here feels underdone. Basically, anything new comes second to everything that's been done before, resulting in the most superfluous kind of sequel. This follow-up is happier rehashing its predecessor's glory days than channelling the ingenuity that made the original so charming. Of course, if The Lego Movie hadn't been such a vibrant, witty delight, then The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part wouldn't feel so familiar. An adequate addition to the series, it still contains plenty to distinguish it from other all-ages animated fare — including an eye-catching and distinctive animation style, enjoyable skewering of Pratt's many non-Lego characters, and Noel Fielding as a sparkly Twilight-esque vampire. But, five years on, viewers are now in the same situation as Lucy: ready to embrace a challenge, rather than falling back on comfortable old habits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvHSlHhh1gk
The idyllic Blue Gum loop trail runs alongside a pristine river and showcases some of the region's finest plant life — the trail is named for the towering blue gum trees that dominate the landscape here and bestow this place with an ethereal beauty. Immerse yourself in their majesty on a leisurely 3.5-kilometre looped trail, which will give you a bird's-eye view of the cascades of the stunning Williamson River from a high steel span bridge, easily accessible from the walk. There's a great spot to stop for a picnic at Fern Creek cascades, and, if you're feeling a bit hot after all that walking, wander down one of the many short detours to find a secluded spot by the riverbank to cool off with a refreshing dip. Image: Elliot Kramer
In the entertainment world, 2020 is the year of the drive-in, with everything from gigs and parties to movies serving up some in-car action. In the culinary space, this is the year of the drive-thru, of course — and while picking up something to eat without venturing out of your car isn't new by any means, being able to collect El Jannah's beloved charcoal chook while remaining behind the wheel definitely is. Come Saturday, August 8, fans of tasty Lebanese-style chicken will be able to motor on over to El Jannah's new Smithfield digs, which marks the chain's first drive-thru store. Located on Smithfield Road, it'll give poultry fans exactly what they want: not only another place to nab their favourite dish, including in halves and quarters, on rolls and burgers, as part of a platter, and on skewers and in salads, but a spot to do so in a hurry. The Smithfield shop will also be open to walk-in customers, should you find yourself in the area sans wheels. It'll serve up not only charcoal chicken paired with chips and garlic sauce — aka the combo that has earned El Jannah quite the cult following over the years — but also the chain's recently launched fried chicken range as well. So, if for some reason you need some variety in your chook feasts, you'll have options. If you're already a fan, you might've spotted that the new El Jannah site is located in Sydney's west, where the brand first made its home. It joins stores in Blacktown, Campbelltown, Punchbowl, Granville, Kogarah and Penrith, as well as the Newtown venue — which heralded the chain's much-welcomed entry into Sydney's inner-west in 2019. And, although El Jannah moving into the drive-thru business is new, exciting and reason enough to head for a drive when your stomach next demands, you can be forgiven for thinking this sounds more than a little familiar. While we already noted that 2020 is the year of the drive-thru, it's specifically the year of the Sydney-based charcoal chicken drive-thru — with that other local fave, Frango, launching its own car-friendly joint in July. Find El Jannah's Smithfield drive-thru at 3/16 Smithfield Road, Smithfield from 10am on Saturday, August 8.
Now that colder weather has arrived, there's a good chance your friends have fled to Europe to relish a little, or a lot, more sunshine. Yet there's no need to rush to the airport, as Pier One Sydney Harbour is offering its own glimpse of European summer with a series of weekly specials that capture some of that la dolce vita at home. Bringing the energy of a Parisian bistro to Walsh Bay, Harbour Bistro by Pier One has been extended until Tuesday, September 16, following a massive response. Fresh weekly specials and French classics will help you feel the summer ambience of Saint-Germain-des-Prés without leaving town. Tuesdays feature 50 percent off steak frites, while Wednesdays bring half-price mussels. Then, get down for truffle pasta on Thursdays, and wagyu beef cheek with mash on Fridays. Harbour Bistro by Pier One will also feature Snacks & Sips every Tuesday–Friday, priced at $49 per person, for a minimum of two guests. This special offers 90 minutes of bottomless house wines alongside French small plates, like warm baguette and butter, whipped cod roe dip, saucisson with crisp cornichon, and chicken liver pate. Plus, from 5–6pm, add mini French martinis for $12. An Italian summer vibe is also revamping Pier One Sydney Harbour's accommodation for the season. Featuring an elegant in-room dining experience — In The Roundhouse, In Your Room — expect an aperitivo hour accompanied by European-inspired dishes, like freshly shucked oysters, marinated olives, and linguini Napolitana with prawns. Served on In The Roundhouse's seafood-inspired collection, you'll take home the much-loved brand's colourful napkins as a chic gift.
Earlier this year, Sydney scored one of the world's best cocktail bars in the form of Scout. Founder Matt Whiley left his London bar — which is currently ranked at number 28 in the World's 50 Best Bars list — in safe hands to open a Sydney outpost in a disused section of The Dolphin's top floor. Since then, he's been mixing up cocktails in classic Scout fashion: with local ingredients and by creating minimal waste. But not for much longer. Whiley — along with Maurice Terzini, founder of The Dolphin and Icebergs — has announced that Scout will shut up shop at its current address just before Christmas. While its residency has been short but sweet, Scout stands out due to its focus on local ingredients and mission to put leftover garnishes and ingredients into its food menu. To put that in more trendy terms, Scout is hyperlocal and closed-loop. While this means no more lemon myrtle whiskey sours and agave champagne cocktails (with Scout's own branded ice blocks) on Crown Street, it does mean that Scout will be moving into a permanent space in 2020. Whiley will also move into the role of group beverage director and lead the cocktail menus for the entire Icebergs Group, which includes Bondi Beach Public Bar and Ciccia Bella as well. You only have until Saturday, December 21 to drop by Scout for one final cocktail — and Whiley promises some new menu additions before the day is out. Find Scout on the top floor of The Dolphin, 412 Crown Street, Surry Hills. It's open Tuesday to Saturday — and taking bookings — up until December 21.
Sydney Writers' Festival last night launched its 2018 program at its new hub of Carriageworks, unveiling a powerful lineup of speakers and guests to match a very powerful theme. Artistic Director Michaela McGuire announced the festival's 21st edition, which runs from April 30 until May 6, will dive deep into an exploration of "power and its adjacent qualities, and its relationship to sex, money, politics, identity, and the state of the world". Headlining this year's impressive group of big-name guests are three international literary legends, including André Aciman — author of novel Call Me By Your Name, which inspired the coming-of-age big screen drama of the same title. He'll take the stage for a talk centred around ideas of power, along with Korean-American author Min Jin Lee, and Alexis Okeowo, who penned the award-winning A Moonless, Starless Sky. Other international heavyweights on the bill include Amy Bloom — discussing her bestselling story about the affair between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a journalist — as well as The New Yorker's Ben Taub on his time in Syria, and Robert E. Kelly, the 'BBC Dad' from that fateful TV interview. Meanwhile, Robert Drewe, Jane Harper, Helen Garner and The Slap's Christos Tsiolkas are just some of the talent flying the flag for Australia's literary scene. Festival goers will also have the chance to hear from a swag of politicians-turned-writers, including Jacqui Lambie, Sam Dastyari and former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The hefty event program includes what promises to be a huge SWF Gala at Sydney Town Hall, an all-day YA literary festival and a host of great family-friendly events. Tickets to the 2018 Sydney Writers' Festival are on sale now and you can grab yours at swf.org.au. Images: Prudence Upton.
While the words ‘all I want for Christmas’ usually bring to mind cheesy rom-coms and Mariah Carey’s high pitched tunes, Firstdraft Gallery have something a little different in mind — or do they? Curated by Marcus Whale, All I Want for Christmas is You is indeed a celebration of all things pop and beyond. There’s Fatti Frances’ replica of a pop live show with a twist, Marco Cher-Gibard R&B cut-ups and Michael Salerno’s exploration of technological decay. The symbols of pop music have been remixed, reworked and shuffled double time. Pop music in this exhibition is looked at as something between the “common and the divine” where, “we, the listener and the fan, create the atmosphere of simulacra that provides sustenance for pop stardom.” Other artists in the exhibition are Cassius Select, JD Reforma, Scott Morrison, O.B. De Alessi, Samuel Bruce, Romi, Thomas William (with Jonathon Watts). Oh, and there’s also celebrity fan fiction with Catcall and Kirin J. Callinan. Yup, that’s right. The $5 entry includes a sausage sandwich.
Extinction isn't permanent, apparently. Sydney's Night at the Museum-like party, Jurassic Lounge is being resurrected for a one-off after-hours event to celebrate Mardi Gras. Returning to the Australian Museum for one night only, following their recent Halloween Dia de los Muertos party, The Festivalists' beloved after-hours event will once again take over the entire museum on Thursday, February 19. Presented in partnership with Sydney Mardi Gras and samesame.com.au, Jurassic Lounge's Mardi Gras edition plans to transform the Australian Museum into a jaw-droppingly colourful party, celebrating Sydney's vibrant queer culture. Creating a playground for grown-ups in the hallowed museum halls, the night will see performances from drag artist Carmen Geddit, Andea Darling (and her pet python), DJ Sveta cranking out sets, performers from beloved Sydney underground queer party Unicorns, alongside your Jurassic Lounge staples — the ever-popular silent disco, loved-up Date Roulette, live reptiles casually hangin' around, those well-used photobooths and more. The one-night-only resurrection of Jurassic Lounge is most excellent news from The Festivalists, the Sydney-based, non-profit company who just wrapped up their new after-hours night, Hijinks, at Sydney Aquarium. In true Festivalists style, there's sure to be plenty of happenings and Easter Eggs planned for the night.
The Sydney Fringe Festival has been feeding us drips and drabs of their massive 2017 program since back in May and have now finally announced the full lineup — over 300 productions worth, presented from September 1 through 30. The month-long cultural festival brings theatre, music and dance together with visual art, film and comedy, not to mention cabaret, spoken-word and even circus performances. The 42 partner venues span inner Sydney, with this year's opening weekend extravaganza taking the form of an enormous 'masqueerade' from the Heaps Gay team. It will take over the brand new festival hub at Sydney Park, rocking over two nights on September 2 and 3. The 7000 square-metre warehouse space will go on to house multiple performance and exhibition spaces, with shows that include immersive light, art and theatrical experiences, musical performances, installations and even a 200-seat vegan feast by the Alfie's Kitchen team. Chippendale's Kensington Street will take on the official launch party, with shops, bars, restaurants and footpaths alive with music curated by Sydney-based songstress Ngaiire. With a focus on new art and activations, over 50 percent of the productions are world premieres, including Silent Theatre — this immersive production invites participants to the Urban Newtown Hotel, where they will voyeuristically observe from the streets below, watching through hotel windows and listening to the story of four playwrights through headphones. Other highlights include a Wig Exhibition by hairdresser Shaun McGrath, a world first GIF-iti exhibition from UK artist INSA and Cirque Africa — a sellout circus show featuring 38 performers from six African countries, all backed by a live African band. Yup, it's going to be one massive month around town so grab tickets now and clear your schedule. Head to the Sydney Fringe website for the full 2017 festival program.
Spraying reboots, remakes, sequels and prequels across cinema screens like a spirit supposedly sprays ectoplasm — gushing reimaginings, spinoffs and seemingly never-ending franchises, too — Hollywood ain't afraid of no ghosts. It loves them in horror movies, obviously, but it adores the spectre of popular intellectual property even more. These phantoms of hits gone by can be resurrected again and again, all to make a profit. They haunt both cinemas and box-office blockbuster lists, making film-goers and the industry itself constantly feel like they're being spooked by the past. With 14 of Australia's 15 top cash-earning flicks of 2021 all falling into the been-there-done-that category in one way or another, looking backwards in the name of apparently going forwards is now mainstream filmmaking 101, and the big end of town rarely likes bustin' a money-making formula. After more than a few pandemic delays, that's the world that Ghostbusters: Afterlife floats into — a world that's made worshipping previous glories one of the biggest cash-spinners show business could've ever dreamed up. The fourth feature to bear the Ghostbusters name, but a new legacy sequel to the original 1984 film, this reanimated franchise entry certainly sports a fitting subtitle; treating its source material like it's nirvana is firmly filmmaker Jason Reitman's approach. To him, it might've been. Although he established his career with indie comedies such as Thank You for Smoking and Juno, he's the son of director Ivan Reitman, who helmed the OG Ghostbusters and its 1989 follow-up Ghostbusters II. To plenty of fans, those two initial comedy-horror flicks were something special as well; however, acknowledging that fact — and trying to recreate the feeling of being a kid or teen watching the first Ghostbusters nearly four decades ago — isn't enough to fuel a new film. To be fair, the younger Reitman isn't particularly interested in making a new movie; Be Kind Rewind's "sweded" Ghostbusters clips are more original than Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Instead, he directs a homage that sprinkles in links to its predecessor so heartily that it's probably easier to name the scenes and details that don't scream "hey, this is Ghostbusters!" as loudly as possible. And, even when Reitman and co-screenwriter Gil Kenan (Poltergeist) appear to shake things up ever so slightly, it all still ties back to that kid-in-the-80s sensation. Sure, Ghostbusters: Afterlife's protagonists aren't adult New Yorkers, but they're small-town adolescents who might as well have ambled out of one of the era's other hot properties: Steven Spielberg-helmed or -produced coming-of-age adventure-comedies about life-changing, Americana-dripping, personality-shaping escapades. Phoebe (Mckenna Grace, Malignant) is one such child, and a new inhabitant of the cringingly titled Summerville, Oklahoma at that. With her mother Callie (Carrie Coon, The Nest) and brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard, The Goldfinch), she's made the move because the granddad she never knew just passed away, leaving a dilapidated rural property to his estranged family. The townsfolk speak his nickname, "dirt farmer", with mocking and intrigue, but his actual moniker — and all that equipment he's left behind — brings big changes Phoebe's way. While being Dr Egon Spengler's granddaughter doesn't initially mean too much to her, other than giving her love for science a genetic basis, she's soon segueing from testing out ghost traps with local teacher Mr Grooberson (Paul Rudd, The Shrink Next Door) to cracking Egon's secret efforts to stop a world-shattering supernatural event. Who ya gonna call? Reitman and Kenan's teen fantasies, presumably. The pair haven't taxed themselves with their screenplay, which reads like backyard cosplay. That said, when they're not getting characters to utter the obvious — including "who ya gonna call?", of course — or trotting out mini marshmallow men for no good narrative reason, Reitman and Kenan do expend ample energy differentiating Ghostbusters: Afterlife from 2016's Ghostbusters. Wrongly maligned by manchildren who claimed that women bustin' ghosts somehow ruined their childhoods despite the fact they're now ostensibly grown, the latter is a comic gem that's far nearer in tone to the 1984 flick than this new nostalgia dump. But the female-fronted film didn't linger on every Ghostbusters nod it could shoehorn in every 30 seconds or so, and definitely didn't regard all those winks as the sole reason it existed, so Ghostbusters: Afterlife is here to redress that (and, continuity-wise, to flat-out ignore that the last movie was ever made). It seems that Hollywood does want to blast away some spirits after all: the remnants of prior franchise entries that didn't thrill their diehard fans. There's no point asking if this is what blockbuster filmmaking is now, because we've all seen the proof countless times — but even Spider-Man: No Way Home's theme park-esque references to past web-slinging iterations still recognised the movies that weren't universally loved. The Matrix Resurrections plugged into its chequered history even deeper, defiantly making its two worst predecessors indispensable to the latest movie. But Ghostbusters: Afterlife doesn't dare challenge, surprise, or do anything other than pander to and try to evoke claps and cheers from viewers easily pleased by loving what they've always loved. Bringing back familiar faces, blatantly ripping off the original Ghostbusters' ending, tastelessly resurrecting (via CGI) the late Harold Ramis as Egon: there is no inspiration here, only bland, tedious, sentiment-coddling cinematic gruel. If only Reitman approached Ghostbusters: Afterlife less like inevitably inheriting the family business, and more like the smart, sharp and very funny comedies already on his resume. If only he'd brought over just a single proton-pack blast of Young Adult and Tully's disdain for idolising the past. If only he'd given the engaging Grace something more to do than act out his own path — learning to follow in her grandfather's footsteps, just as Reitman does with his dad. There's more where these laments came from, too. If only there really was something strange, unusual, wacky and silly in this movie's neighbourhood, other than Rudd never ageing. If only Ghostbusters: Afterlife wasn't just empty and easy fan service: the movie. If only it wasn't bloated, shot like a parody of an 80s all-ages adventure, far too influenced by Wolfhard's Stranger Things, wasteful of its cast, and determined to remind its audience over and over that better Ghostbusters films exist. This fourquel only has eyes for one movie, it ain't afraid to show it, and it isn't itself — and that's what it leaves you wishing you'd watched again instead.
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 been under the weather. 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 19 that you can watch right now at home. WHITE NOISE We're all dying. We're all shopping. We're all prattling relentlessly about our days and routines, and about big ideas and tiny specifics as well. As we cycle through this list over and over, again and again, rinsing and repeating, we're also all clinging to whatever distracts us from our ever-looming demise, our mortality hovering like a black billowing cloud. In White Noise, all of the above is a constant. For the film's second of three chapters, a dark swarm in the sky is literal, too. Adapted from Don DeLillo's 1985 novel of the same name — a book thought unfilmable for the best part of four decades — by Marriage Story writer/director Noah Baumbach, this bold, playful survey of existential malaise via middle-class suburbia and academia overflows with life, death, consumerism and the cacophony of chaos echoing through our every living moment. Oh, and there's a glorious supermarket dance number as one helluva finale, because why not? "All plots move deathward" protagonist Jack Gladney (Adam Driver, House of Gucci) contends, one of his words of wisdom in the 'Hitler studies' course he's taught for 16 years at College-on-the-Hill. Yes, that early declaration signals the feature's biggest point of fascination — knowing that eternal rest awaits us all, that is — as does White Noise's car crash-filled very first frames. In the latter, Jack's colleague Murray Siskind (Don Cheadle, No Sudden Move) holds court, addressing students about the meaning of and catharsis found in on-screen accidents, plunging into their use of violence and catastrophe as entertainment, and showing clips. In the aforementioned mid-section of the movie, when White Noise turns into a disaster flick thanks to a tanker truck colliding with a train and a wild road trip with Jack's fourth wife Babette (Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women) and their kids Heinrich (Sam Nivola, With/In), Steffie (May Nivola, The Pursuit of Love), Denise (Raffey Cassidy, Vox Lux) and Wilder (debutants Henry and Dean Moore), you can bet that Murray's insights and concepts bubble up again. White Noise is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. BARBARIAN "Safe as houses" isn't a term that applies much in horror. It isn't difficult to glean why. Even if scary movies routinely followed folks worrying about their investments — one meaning of the phrase — it's always going to be tricky for the sentiment to stick when such flicks love plaguing homes, lodges and other dwellings with bumps, jumps and bone-chilling terror. Barbarian, however, could break out the expression and mean it, in a way. At its centre sits a spruced-up Detroit cottage listed on Airbnb and earning its owner a trusty income. In the film's setup, the house in question is actually doing double duty, with two guests booked for clashing stays over the same dates. It's hardly a spoiler to say that their time in the spot, the nicest-looking residence in a rundown neighbourhood, leaves them feeling anything but safe. Late on a gloomy, rainy, horror-movie-101 kind of night — an eerie and tense evening from the moment that writer/director Zach Cregger's first feature as a solo director begins — Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell, Suspicion) arrives at Barbarian's pivotal Michigan property. She's in town for a job interview, but discovers the lockbox empty, keys nowhere to be found. Also, the home already has an occupant in Keith Toshko (Bill Skarsgård, Eternals), who made his reservation via a different website. With a medical convention filling the city's hotels, sharing the cottage seems the only option, even if Tess is understandably cautious about cohabitating with a man she's literally just met. Ambiguity is part of Barbarian from the get-go, spanning whether Keith can be trusted, what's behind their double booking and, when things start moving overnight, what's going on in the abode. That's only the start of Barbarian's hellish story. Barbarian is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. SHE SAID Questions flow freely in She Said, the powerful and methodical All the President's Men and Spotlight-style newspaper drama from director Maria Schrader (I'm Your Man) and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Small Axe) that tells the story behind the past decade's biggest entertainment story. On-screen, Zoe Kazan (Clickbait) and Carey Mulligan (The Dig) tend to be doing the asking, playing now Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. They query Harvey Weinstein's actions, including his treatment of women. They gently and respectfully press actors and Miramax employees about their traumatic dealings with the Hollywood honcho, and they politely see if some — if any — will go on the record about their experiences. And, they question Weinstein and others at his studio about accusations that'll lead to this famous headline: "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades". As the entire world read at the time, those nine words were published on October 5, 2017, along with the distressing article that detailed some — but definitely not all — of Weinstein's behaviour. Everyone has witnessed the fallout, too, with Kantor and Twohey's story helping spark the #MeToo movement, electrifying the ongoing fight against sexual assault and gender inequality in the entertainment industry, and shining a spotlight on the gross misuses of authority that have long plagued Tinseltown. The piece also brought about Weinstein's swift downfall. As well as being sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York in 2020, he's currently standing trial for further charges in Los Angeles. Watching She Said, however, more questions spring for the audience. Here's the biggest heartbreaker: how easily could Kantor and Twohey's article never have come to fruition at all, leaving Weinstein free to continue his predatory harassment? She Said is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery opens with a puzzle box inside a puzzle box. The former is a wooden cube delivered out of the blue, the latter the followup to 2019 murder-mystery hit Knives Out, and both are as tightly, meticulously, cleverly and cannily orchestrated as each other. The physical version has siblings, all sent to summon a motley crew of characters to the same place, as these types of flicks need to boast. The film clearly has its own brethren, and slots in beside its predecessor as one of the genre's gleaming standouts. More Knives Out movies will follow as well, which the two so far deserve to keep spawning as long as writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi) and Benoit Blanc-playing star Daniel Craig (No Time to Die) will make them. Long may they keep the franchise's key detective and audience alike sleuthing. Long may they have everyone revelling in every twist, trick and revelation, as the breezy blast that is Glass Onion itself starts with. What do Connecticut Governor and US Senate candidate Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision), model-slash-designer-slash-entrepreneur Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr, The Many Saints of Newark) and gun-toting, YouTube-posting men's rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista, Thor: Love and Thunder) all have in common when this smart and savvy sequel kicks off? They each receive those literal puzzle boxes, of course, and they visibly enjoy their time working out what they're about. The cartons are the key to their getaway to Greece — their invites from tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton, The French Dispatch), in fact — and also perfectly emblematic of this entire feature. It's noteworthy that this quartet carefully but playfully piece together clues to unveil the contents inside, aka Glass Onion's exact modus operandi. That said, it's also significant that a fifth recipient of these elaborate squares, Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe, Antebellum), simply decides to smash their way inside with a hammer. As Brick and Looper also showed, Johnson knows when to attentively dole out exactly what he needs to, including when the body count starts. He also knows when to let everything spill out, and when to put the cravat-wearing Blanc on the case. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. ROALD DAHL'S MATILDA THE MUSICAL Mischievous and magical in equal measure (and spirited, and gleefully snarky and spiky), Roald Dahl's Matilda has been a balm for souls since 1988. If you were a voracious reader as a kid, happiest escaping into the page — or if you felt out of place at home, cast aside for favoured siblings, bullied at school or unappreciated in general — then it wasn't just a novel. Rather, it was a diary capturing your bubbling feelings in perfect detail, just penned by one of the great children's authors. When Matilda first reached the screen in 1996, Americanised and starring Mara Wilson as the pint-sized bookworm who finds solace in imagined worlds (and puts bleach in her dad's hair tonic, and glue on his hat band), the film captured the same sensation. So has the song-and-dance stage version since 2010, too, because this heartfelt yet irreverent tale was always primed for the musical treatment. Over a decade later, after nabbing seven Olivier Awards for its West End run, five Tony Awards on Broadway and 13 of Australia's own Helpmann Awards as well, that theatre show's movie adaptation arrives with its revolting children and its little bit of naughtiness. Tim Minchin's music and lyrics still provide the soundtrack to Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical, boasting the Aussie entertainer's usual blend of clever wordplay and comedy. Both the stage iteration's original director Matthew Warchus and playwright Dennis Kelly return, the former hopping back behind the camera after 2014's Pride and the latter adding a new screen project to his resume after The Third Day. The library full of charm remains, as does a story that's always relatable for all ages. Horrors and hilarity, a heroine (Alisha Weir, Darklands) for the ages, a hulking villain of a headmistress (Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), the beloved Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch, The Woman King), telekinetic powers: they're all also accounted for. Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. STARS AT NOON Sweat, skin, sex, schisms, secrets and survival: a great film by French auteur Claire Denis typically has them all. Stars at Noon is one of them, even if her adaptation of the 1986 novel of nearly the same name — her picture drops the 'the', as a certain social network did — doesn't quite soar to the same astonishing heights as High Life, her last English-language release. Evocative, enveloping, atmospheric, dripping with unease: they're also traits that the two flicks share, like much of the Beau Travail, 35 Shots of Rum and White Material filmmaker's work. Here, all the sultriness and stress swells around two gleamingly attractive strangers, Trish (Margaret Qualley, Maid) and Daniel (Joe Alwyn, Conversations with Friends), who meet in a Central American hotel bar, slip between the sheets and find themselves tangled up in plenty beyond lips and limbs. Shining at each other when so much else obscures their glow, Stars at Noon's central duo are jumbled up in enough individually anyway. For the first half hour-ish, the erotic thriller slinks along with Trish's routine, which sees perspiration plastered across her face from the Nicaraguan heat, the lack of air-conditioning in her motel and the struggle to enjoy a cold drink. The rum she's often swilling, recalling that aforementioned Denis-directed feature's moniker, hardly helps. Neither does the transactional use of her body with a local law enforcement officer (Nick Romano, Shadows) and a government official (Stephan Proaño, Crónica de un amor). Imbibing is clearly a coping and confidence-giving mechanism, while those amorous tumbles afford her protection in a precarious political situation, with her passport confiscated, her actions being scrutinised and funds for a plane ticket home wholly absent. Stars at Noon is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. SERIOUSLY RED When working nine to five isn't panning out for Raylene 'Red 'Delaney (Krew Boylan, A Place to Call Home), she does what all folks should: takes Dolly Parton's advice. Pouring yourself a cup of ambition is never simple, but when you're a Parton-obsessed Australian eager to make all things Dolly your living, it's a dream that no one should be allowed to shatter. That's the delightful idea behind Seriously Red, which pushes Parton worship to the next level — and idolising celebrities in general — while tracking Red's quest to make it, cascading blonde wigs atop her natural flame-hued tresses and all, as a Dolly impersonator. That's a wonderfully flamboyant concept, too, as brought to the screen with a surreal 'Copy World' filled with other faux superstars; enlisting Rose Byrne (Physical) as an Elvis mimic is particularly inspired. Seriously Red doesn't just get its namesake adhering to Parton's wisdom, whether sung or spoken over the icon's 55-year career. It also splashes the country music queen's adages like "find out who you are and do it on purpose" across its frames as well. They help give the film structure and assist in setting the tone, as this rhinestone-studded movie comedically but earnestly explores two universal struggles. Everyone wants to be true to themselves, and to work out what that means. We all yearn to spend our days chasing our heart's real desires, too. As penned by Boylan in her debut script, and directed by fellow feature first-timer Gracie Otto (after documentaries The Last Impresario and Under the Volcano, plus episodes of The Other Guy, Bump, Heartbreak High and more), Seriously Red spots a big question lurking in these missions for Red, however — because what does it mean when being yourself and scoring your dream gig means being someone else? Seriously Red is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS Everyone wants to be the person at the party that the dance floor revolves around, and life in general as well, or so Alejandro González Iñárritu contends in Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. In one of the film's many spectacularly shot scenes — with the dual Best Director Oscar-winning Birdman and The Revenant helmer benefiting from astonishing lensing by Armageddon Time cinematographer Darius Khondji — the camera swirls and twirls around Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho, Memoria), the movie's protagonist, making him the only person that matters in a heaving crowd. Isolated vocals from David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' boom, and with all the more power without music behind them, echoing as if they're only singing to Silverio. Iñárritu is right: everyone does want a moment like this. Amid the intoxicating visuals and vibe, he's also right that such instances are fleeting. And, across his sprawling and surreal 159-minute flick, he's right that such basking glory and lose-yourself-to-dance bliss can never be as fulfilling as anyone wants. That sequence comes partway through Bardo, one of several that stun through sheer beauty and atmosphere, and that Iñárritu layers with the disappointment of being himself. Everyone wants to be the filmmaker with all the fame and success, breaking records, winning prestigious awards and conquering Hollywood, he also contends. Alas, when you're this Mexican director, that isn't as joyous or uncomplicated an experience as it sounds. On-screen, his blatant alter ego is a feted documentarian rather than a helmer of prized fiction. He's a rare Latino recipient of a coveted accolade, one of Bardo's anchoring events. He's known to make ambitious works with hefty titles — False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is both the IRL movie's subtitle and the name of Silverio's last project — and he's been largely based in the US for decades. Yes, parallels abound. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. THE WOMAN KING Since 2016's Suicide Squad, the DC Extended Universe has tasked Viola Davis with corralling super-powered folks, including villains forced to do the state's bidding (as also seen in The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker) and regular world-saving superheroes (the just-released Black Adam). In The Woman King, however, she's more formidable, powerful and magnificent than any spandex-wearing character she's ever shared a frame with — or ever will in that comic-to-screen realm. Here, she plays the dedicated and determined General Nanisca, leader of the Agojie circa 1823. This is an "inspired by true events" tale, and the all-female warrior troupe was very much real, protecting the now-defunct west African kingdom of Dahomey during its existence in what's now modern-day Benin. Suddenly thinking about a different superhero domain and its own redoubtable women-only army, aka the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Dora Milaje in Wakanda? Yes, Black Panther took inspiration from the Agojie. If you're thinking about Wonder Woman's Amazons, too, the Agojie obviously pre-dates them as well. Links to two huge franchises in various fashions aren't anywhere near The Woman King's main attraction, of course. Davis and her fellow exceptional cast members, such as Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die), Thuso Mbedu and Sheila Atim (both co-stars in The Underground Railroad); The Old Guard filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood and her grand and kinetic direction, especially in fight scenes; stunningly detailed costumes and production design that's both vibrant and textured; a story that still boasts humour and heart: they all rank far higher among this feature's drawcards. So does the fact that this is a lavish historical epic in the Braveheart and Gladiator mould, but about ass-kicking Black women badged "the bloodiest bitches in Africa". Also, while serving up an empowering vision, The Woman King also openly grapples with many difficulties inherent in Dahomey's IRL history (albeit in a mass consumption-friendly, picking-and-choosing manner). The Woman King is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BROS Buy this for a dollar: a history-making gay rom-com that's smart, sweet, self-aware and funny, and also deep knows the genre it slips into, including the heteronormative tropes and cliches that viewers have seen ad nauseam. Actually, Billy Eichner would clearly prefer that audiences purchase tickets for Bros for more that that sum of money, even if he spent five seasons offering it to New Yorkers in Billy on the Street while sprinting along the sidewalk and yelling about pop culture. Thinking about that comedy series comes with the territory here, however, and not just because Eichner brought it back to promote this very movie. Starring and co-written by the Parks and Recreation and The Lion King actor — with Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the Bad Neighbours franchise's Nicholas Stoller directing and co-scripting — Bros both presents and unpacks the public persona that helped make Billy on the Street such a hit: opinionated, forceful and wry, as well as acidic and cranky. No one person, be it the version of himself that Eichner plays in the series that helped push him to fame or the fictional character he brings to the screen in Bros — or, in-between, his struggling comedian and actor part in three-season sitcom Difficult People, too — is just those five traits, of course. One of Bros' strengths is how it examines why it's easy to lean into that personality, where the sheen of caustic irritability comes from, the neuroses it's covering up and what all that means when it comes to relationships. The movie does so knowingly as well. It's well aware that Eichner's fans are familiar with his on-screen type, and that even newcomers likely are also. Accordingly, when Bros begins, Eichner's in-film alter ego is shouting about pop culture and being adamant, grumpy and cutting about it. In fact, he's on a podcast, where he's relaying his failed attempt to pen a script for exactly the kind of flick he's in. Bros is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLACK ADAM "I kneel before no one," says Teth-Adam, aka Black Adam, aka the DC Comics character that dates back to 1945, and that Dwayne Johnson (Red Notice) has long wanted to play. That proclamation is made early in the film that bears the burly, flying, impervious-to-everything figure's name, echoing as a statement of might as well as mood: he doesn't need to bow down to anyone or anything, and if he did he wouldn't anyway. Yet the DC Extended Universe flick that Black Adam is in — the 11th in a saga that's rarely great — kneels frequently to almost everything. It bends the knee to the dispiritingly by-the-numbers template that keeps lurking behind this comic book-inspired series' most forgettable entries, and the whole franchise's efforts to emulate the rival (and more successful) Marvel Cinematic Universe, for starters. It also shows deference to the lack of spark and personality that makes the lesser DC-based features so routine at best, too. Even worse, Black Adam kneels to the idea that slipping Johnson into a sprawling superhero franchise means robbing the wrestler-turned-actor himself of any on-screen personality. Glowering and gloomy is a personality, for sure, but it's not what's made The Rock such a box office drawcard — and, rather than branching out, breaking the mould or suiting the character, he just appears to be pouting and coasting. He looks the physical part, of course, as he needs to playing a slave-turned-champion who now can't be killed or hurt. It's hard not to wish that the Fast and Furious franchise's humour seeped into his performance, however, or even the goofy corniness of Jungle Cruise, Johnson's last collaboration with filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra. The latter has template-esque action flicks Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter on his resume before that, and helms his current star here like he'd rather still directing Liam Neeson. Black Adam is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MILLIE LIES LOW A scene-stealer in 2018's The Breaker Upperers, Ana Scotney now leads the show in Millie Lies Low. She's just as magnetic. The New Zealand actor plays the film's eponymous Wellington university student, who has a panic attack aboard a plane bound for New York — where a prestigious architecture internship awaits — and has to disembark before her flight leaves. A new ticket costs $2000, which she doesn't have. And, trying to rustle up cash from her best friend and classmate (Jillian Nguyen, Hungry Ghosts), mother (Rachel House, Cousins) and even a quick-loan business (run by Cohen Holloway, The Power of the Dog) still leaves her empty-handed. Millie's solution: faking it till she makes it, searching for ways to stump up the funds while hiding out in her hometown, telling everyone she's actually already in the Big Apple and posting faux Instagram snaps MacGyvered out of whatever she can find (big sacks of flour standing in for snow, for instance) to sell the ruse. There's a caper vibe to Millie's efforts skulking around Wellington while endeavouring to finance her ticket to her dreams — and to the picture of her supposedly perfect existence that she's trying to push upon herself as much as her loved ones. Making her feature debut, director and co-writer Michelle Savill has imposter syndrome and the shame spiral it sparks firmly in her sights, and finds much to mine in both an insightful and darkly comedic manner. As she follows her protagonist between episodic efforts to print the legend — or post it one Insta picture at a time — her keenly observed film also treads in Frances Ha's footsteps. Both movies examine the self-destructive life choices of a twentysomething with a clear idea of what she wants everyone to think of her, but far less of a grasp on who she really is and what she genuinely needs. While some framing and music choices make that connection obvious, the astute delight that is Millie Lies Low is never a Wellington-set copy. Millie Lies Low is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. STRANGE WORLD Strange World needs to be a visual knockout; when a title nods to an extraordinary and otherworldly place, it makes a promise. Director Don Hall and co-helmer/screenwriter Qui Nguyen, who last worked together as filmmaker and scribe on the also-resplendent Raya and the Last Dragon, meet that pledge with force — aka the movie's trademark approach. Strange World goes all-in on hallucinogenic scenery, glowing creatures and luminous pops of colour (pink hues especially) that simply astound. Indeed, calling it trippy is also an understatement. The picture is equally as zealous about its various layers of messaging, spanning humanity's treatment of the planet, learning to coexist with rather than command and conquer our surroundings, and navigating multigenerational family dynamics. A feature can be assertive, arresting and entertaining, however, because this is. Clade patriarch Jaeger (Dennis Quaid, Midway) can also be described as strong-willed and unsubtle, much to his son Searcher's (Jake Gyllenhaal, Ambulance) frustration. In the mountainous land of Avalonia, the former is a heroic explorer intent on seeing what's on the other side of those peaks — a feat that's never been achieved before — but the latter pleas for staying put, spotting a curious plant on their latest expedition and wanting to investigate its possibilities. Doing anything but bounding forth isn't the Clade way, Jaeger contends, sparking an icy father-son rift. Jaeger storms off, Searcher goes home, and Avalonia is revolutionised by pando, the energy-giving fruit from that just-discovered plant, over the next quarter-century. Then, in a locale that now enjoys electricity, hovering vehicles and other mod cons, the natural resource suddenly seems to start rotting from the root. Strange World is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO Guillermo del Toro hasn't yet directed a version of Frankenstein, except that he now has in a way. Officially, he's chosen another much-adapted, widely beloved story — one usually considered less dark — but there's no missing the similarities between the Nightmare Alley and The Shape of Water filmmaker's stop-motion Pinocchio and Mary Shelley's ever-influential horror masterpiece. Both carve out tales about creations made by grief-stricken men consumed by loss. Both see those tinkerers help give life to things that don't usually have it, gifting existence to the inanimate because they can't cope with mortality's reality. Both notch up the fallout when those central humans struggles with the results of their handiwork, even though all that the beings that spring from their efforts want is pure and simple love and acceptance. Del Toro's take on Pinocchio still has a talking cricket, a blue-hued source of magic and songs, too, but it clearly and definitely isn't a Disney movie. Instead, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is an enchanting iteration of a story that everyone knows, and that's graced screens so many times that this is the third flick in 2022 alone. Yes, the director's name is officially in the film's title. Yes, it's likely there to stop the movie getting confused with that array of other page-to-screen adaptations, all springing from Carlo Collodi's 19th-century Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. That said, even if the list of features about the timber puppet wasn't longer than said critter's nose when he's lying, del Toro would earn the possessory credit anyway. No matter which narrative he's unfurling — including this one about a boy fashioned out of pine (voiced by Gregory Mann, Victoria) by master woodcarver Geppetto (David Bradley, Catherine Called Birdy) after the death of his son — the Mexican Oscar-winner's distinctive fingerprints are always as welcomely apparent as his gothic-loving sensibilities. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. MURU Defiant, powerful and passionate at every turn, Muru depicts a relentless police raid on New Zealand's Rūātoki community. Equally alive with anger, the Aotearoan action-thriller and drama shows law enforcement storming into the district to apprehend what's incorrectly deemed a terrorist cell, but is actually activist and artist Tāme Iti — playing himself — and his fellow Tūhoe people. If October 2007 springs to mind while watching, it's meant to. Written and directed by Poi E: The Story of Our Song and Mt Zion filmmaker Tearepa Kahi, this isn't a mere dramatisation of well-known events, however. There's a reason that Muru begins by stamping its purpose on the screen, and its whole rationale for existing: "this film is not a recreation… it is a response". That the feature's name is also taken from a Māori process of redressing transgressions is both telling and fitting as well. Kahi's film is indeed a reaction, a reply, a counter — and a way of processing past wrongs. In a fashion, it's Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion turned into cinema, because a spate of instances across New Zealand over a century-plus has sparked this on-screen answer. Muru's script draws from 15 years back; also from the police shooting of Steven Wallace in Waitara in 2000 before that; and from the arrest of Rua Kēnana in Maungapōhatu even further ago, in 1916. While the movie finds inspiration in the screenplay Toa by Jason Nathan beyond those real-life events, it's always in dialogue with things that truly happened, and not just once, and not only recently. If every action causes an opposite reaction, Muru is Kahi's way of sifting through, rallying against and fighting back after too many occasions where the long arm of the NZ law, and of colonialism, has overreached. Muru is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT War makes meat, disposable labour and easy sacrifices of us all. In battles for power, as they always are, bodies are used to take territory, threaten enemies and shed blood to legitimise a cause. On the ground, whether in muddy trenches or streaming across mine-strewn fields, war sees the masses rather than the individuals, too — but All Quiet on the Western Front has always been a heartbreaking retort to and clear-eyed reality check for that horrific truth. Penned in 1928 by German World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, initially adapted for the screen by Hollywood in 1930 and then turned into a US TV movie in 1979, the staunchly anti-war story now gets its first adaptation in its native tongue. Combat's agonies echo no matter the language giving them voice, but Edward Berger's new film is a stunning, gripping and moving piece of cinema. Helming and scripting — the latter with feature first-timers Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell — All My Loving director Berger starts All Quiet on the Western Front with a remarkable sequence. The film will come to settle on 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (astonishing debutant Felix Kammerer) and his ordeal after naively enlisting in 1917, thinking with his mates that they'd be marching on Paris within weeks, but it begins with a different young soldier, Heinrich Gerber (Jakob Schmidt, Babylon Berlin), in the eponymous region. He's thrust into the action in no man's land and the inevitable happens. Then, stained with blood and pierced by bullets, his uniform is stripped from his body, sent to a military laundry, mended and passed on. The recipient: the eager Paul, who notices the past wearer's name on the label and buys the excuse that it just didn't fit him. No one dares waste a scrap of clothing — only the flesh that dons it, and the existences its owners don't want to lose. All Quiet on the Western Front is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. HALLOWEEN ENDS Whenever a kitchen knife gleams, a warped mask slips over a killer's face or a piano score tinkles in a horror movie — whenever a jack-o'-lantern burns bright, a babysitter is alone in someone else's home with only kids for company or October 31 hits, too — one film comes to mind. It has for four-plus decades now and always will, because Halloween's influence over an entire genre, slasher flicks within it and final girls filling such frames is that immense. That seminal first altercation between then 17-year-old Laurie Strode and psychiatric institution escapee Michael Myers, as brought to the screen so unnervingly by now-legendary director John Carpenter, also valued a concept that couldn't be more pivotal, however. Halloween was never just a movie about an unhinged murderer in stolen mechanic's overalls stalking Haddonfield, Illinois when most of the town was trick-or-treating. In Laurie's determination to survive Michael's relentless stabbing, it was a film about trauma and fighting back. As played by Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once) for 44 years — her big-screen debut made her an OG scream queen, and she's returned six times since, including now in Halloween Ends — Laurie has never been anyone's mere victim. In the choose-your-own-adventure antics that've filled the franchise's ever-branching narrative over 13 entries, her tale has twisted and turned. The saga's has in general, including chapters sans Laurie and Michael, films that've killed one or both off, and remakes. But mustering up the strength to persist, refusing to let Michael win and attacking back has remained a constant of Laurie's story. That's all kept pushing to the fore in the current trilogy within the series, which started with 2018's Halloween, continued with 2021's Halloween Kills and now wraps up with an instalment that flashes its finality in its moniker. Laurie keeps fighting, no matter the odds, because that's coping with trauma. This time, though, is a weary Haddonfield ready to battle with her? Halloween Ends is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. VIOLENT NIGHT When it comes to originality, place Violent Night on cinema's naughty list: Die Hard meets Home Alone meets Bad Santa meets The Christmas Chronicles in this grab-bag action-comedy, meets Stranger Things favourite David Harbour donning the red suit (leather here, still fur-trimmed) and doing a John Wick impression. The film's beer-swigging, sledgehammer-swinging version of Saint Nick has a magic sack that contains the right presents for the right person each time he reaches into it, and screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller must've felt that way themselves while piecing together their script. Pilfering from the festive canon, and from celluloid history in general, happens heartily and often in this Yuletide effort. Co-scribes on Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel, the pair are clearly experienced in the movie version of regifting. And while they haven't solely wrapped up lumps of coal in their latest effort, Violent Night's true presents are few and far between. The main gift, in the gruff-but-charming mode that's worked such a treat on Stranger Things and in Black Widow, is Harbour. It's easy to see how Violent Night's formula — not to mention its raiding of the Christmas and action genres for parts — got the tick of approval with his casting. He's visibly having a blast, too, from the moment his version of Santa is introduced downing drinks in a British bar, bellyaching about the lack of festive spirit in kids today, thinking about packing it all in and then spewing actual vomit to go with his apathy (and urine) from the side of his midair sleigh. Whenever Harbour isn't in the frame, which occurs more often than it should, Violent Night is a far worse picture. When you're shopping for the season, you have to commit to your present purchases, but this film can't always decide if it wants to be salty or sweet. Violent Night is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON When Ana Lily Amirpour made her spectacular feature filmmaking debut in 2014, and made one of the best movies of that year in the process, she did so with a flick with a killer title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. That moniker also summed up the picture's plot perfectly, even if the Persian-language horror western vampire film couldn't be easily categorised. Take note of that seven-word name, and that genre-bending approach. When Amirpour next made wrote and directed The Bad Batch, the 2016 dystopian cannibal romance started with a woman meandering solo, albeit in the Texan desert in daylight, and also heartily embraced a throw-it-all-in philosophy. Now arrives her third stint behind the lens, the hyper-saturated, gleefully sleazy, New Orleans-set blend of superheroes, scams and strippers that is Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon — which, yes, features a female protagonist (Jeon Jong-seo, Burning) strolling unescorted again, back under the cover of darkness this time. Mona initially walks out of a home instead of towards one, however. And Amirpour isn't really repeating herself; rather, she has a penchant for stories about the exploited fighting back. Here, Mona has been stuck in an institution for "mentally insane adolescents" for at least a decade — longer than its receptionist (Rosha Washington, Interview with the Vampire) can remember — and breaks out during the titular lunar event after gruesomely tussling with an uncaring nurse (Lauren Bowles, How to Get Away with Murder). The Big Easy's nocturnal chaos then awaits, and Bourbon Street's specifically, as does instantly intrigued drug dealer Fuzz (Ed Skrein, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) and a determined but decent cop (Craig Robinson, Killing It). With opportunistic pole-dancer Bonnie Belle (Kate Hudson, Music), Mona thinks she finds an ally. With her new pal's kind-hearted latchkey kid Charlie (Evan Whitten, Words on Bathroom Walls), she finds a genuine friend as well. Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon 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 films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies, plus movies you might've missed and television standouts of 2022 you mightn't have gotten to.
Ever wanted to own your very own theme park? Port Macquarie's old pseudo-Disney theme park Fantasy Glades is up for sale. Remember Fantasy Glades? A sort of creepy but loveable Disneyland, Fantasy Glades was home to Snow White's cottage, Cinderella's castle, the Old Woman in the Shoe's shoe, the Crooked Man's House, a totally whack Magic Dragon Cave and the freakiest Witch's Cottage you've ever, ever seen, before it closed in 2002. Now it's up for sale on Gumtree, for a measly $560,000. Why? "Massive price reduction, owner needs to move on," according to the listing. Oh. For just $500K, you can nab 1.6 hectares of tropical rainforest, dotted with creepy and pretty dilapidated fantasy character homes at Shelly Beach. Some of the former fairytale homes have been vandalised, because people suck. But you get your own castle. Your. Own. Castle. Owners Shane and Karen Hay are after a quick sale, hence the low price. It all sounds pretty heartbreaking. "Owner prepared to sacrifice this once in a lifetime opportunity. Your chance to own a piece of history... once one of Port Macquarie's favourite tourist attractions." If you ever visited Fantasy Glades, you'll be slightly cut up about this. It'd be like owning a piece of Peppermint Park. Fantasy Glades ran at 44 Parklands Cl, Port Macquarie for a whopping 35 years, after total legends George and Rosemary Whitaker opened the park in 1968. Then in the late '80s, FG was snapped up by the Spry family and Brian Hutchinson, and closed in 2002. But there was a glimmer of hope for Port's answer to Waltland, with the Hays buying the property in '09 hoping to restore the park to its former glory. But it looks like six years later, the Hays are skipping to the end of the Fantasy Glades story. Sad stuff. So, for $500K in Port Macquarie, you can buy your own theme park. In the Sydney CBD, you're looking at a laundry room on Bond. Maybe. For the interested or nostalgic, here's a map of your brand new home: YouLand. Images: Fantasy Glades.
It's a scenario that many Australians can relate to: it's summer, the temperature has reached scorching levels and you can hear the sounds of someone splashing around in a cool, refreshing pool. Sadly, those noises aren't emanating from your own swimming spot — because you don't have one — and you don't know your neighbours well enough to just pop by for a dip. And, maybe your local waterhole is too far away, you don't live near the beach or the nearest public pool is closed for the day. Combine all of the above, and you're stuck trying to chill out in the bath or under the fan in the sweltering heat. Enter Swimply, a service that's like Airbnb, but for pools. Already operational in the US and Canada, and finally launching in Australia on Tuesday, November 26 — in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane so far — it's a fairly typical sharing economy-style platform. One person rents out something they have and don't use all the time, while another person with a short-term need reaps the benefits. In this case, Swimply lets folks with pools lease out their backyard swimming spots when they're not in use, and helps people without pools find a place for a splash, all via an iOS and Android app. If you fall into the latter category, you can hire a spot by the hour. You can also look for pools with specific facilities and inclusions — such as chairs, lounges, towels, wifi, a changing area, access to a bathroom, a barbecue, a shady spot to sit under, night lighting, pool toys and heated waters. Some allow pets, while others are fine with parties and alcohol. Before booking, you can also scope out just how many guests you can bring (and whether kids are allowed), as well as how private the pool is from the neighbours. That said, prices aren't particularly cheap. Splashing around for 60 minutes hovers around the $40 mark, with some pools as low as $20 and others topping out at $50 per hour — all depending on the cost set by the owner. Of course, if you're planning a dip with your pals and can split the price, it's much more affordable. So far, just a small range of pools are available in Australia, with three in Sydney, five in Melbourne and five in Brisbane. Still, if you're keen to hop in one of them, Swimply is offering first-time users a 20 percent discount until December 31, 2019 — just use the code 'SWIMDOWNUNDER'. And if you're wondering about safety, pools are vetted before being added to the platform, in conjunction with pool and spa maintenance company Poolwerx — and checked to ensure compliance with Australian health and safety standards. Swimply is now available to download on iOS and Android.
Whether or not making movies has ever been your goal, everyone knows that some film achievements that are just the dream. Getting into SXSW is one of them. If you're from Australia, and from Sydney at that, having your first feature play at Sydney Film Festival ranks as highly. Amy Wang has now notched up both thanks to Slanted, which premiered at Austin's OG version of SXSW in March, then made its Aussie debut at SFF. Was this the dream for Wang? "100 percent. Yes. Yes. Growing up — and I went to film school here in in Sydney as well — there are those film festivals like the Cannes, the Sundances and SXSWs, where you're just like 'wow, even to just play'," she tells Concrete Playground. "I think they choose ten films or eight films to play in competition at South By. I remember that day. I had a friend who had a film that played at South By the previous year, and they had said they got their acceptance email around the beginning of December. So I just had this inkling. I was like 'if I don't get this email today' — it was a Friday — 'then it's probably a no go'. And I got it. It was so surreal for sure. Just so happy." That's how Wang discovered that she'd be unveiling her body-horror satire about a Chinese American teen's desire to be like her peers at her US high school — plus the lengths the character goes to to achieve that aim — in America. For her troubles, she took home 2025's SXSW Narrative Jury Award. Playing Sydney Film Festival is another treasured milestone. "In many ways, I am even more excited to show it in Sydney," she notes. "Growing up in Sydney, I would go to Sydney Film Festival every year since I was a teenager. So I've been to the State Theatre so many times, lined up outside. It's such a prestigious venue." Slanted's first Aussie session did indeed play at the grand venue at the heart of SFF. It's a US-set and -made film, but screening in Australia is a homecoming because its Chinese Australian writer/director has taken inspiration from her childhood experiences right here. The story of Joan Huang (Shirley Chen, Dìdi) isn't far from Wang's own growing up, when she was teased and attacked due to her race, she advises. Well, that setup has its parallels, at least. With Slanted, the filmmaker takes that trauma and transfers it into a world of prom queens and blonde obsessions, crafting a biting exploration of such a nightmare — one where Joan is convinced that the radical step that is "racial transformation surgery" is her only choice. When Joan walks her school's halls, she strolls past photos of past tiara-wearing teens, all blue-eyed and fair-haired. Her bedroom walls are filled with pictures of blonde celebrities. On her phone, she changes her own image with filters. Lightening her tresses IRL follows. Upon arriving in America with her family (Starring Jerry as Himself's Fang Du and The Afterparty's Vivian Wu) as a kid (Kristen Cui, Knock at the Cabin), she was mocked quickly, cementing the idea in her impressionable young mind that assimilating with her classmates was the ideal option. Also as a child, courtesy of her dad's job as a high-school janitor, she discovered prom queens and the adoration that the title brings. So, when a company called Ethnos slides into adolescent Joan's DMs with a proposal, securing all of her fantasies — and befriending the most-popular girl in school (Amelie Zilber, Grown-ish), too — appears closer to becoming a reality. If this sounds like a "be careful what you wish for"-esque setup, that's because it is as Slanted also works Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire star Mckenna Grace into its cast as Jo — and as Wang digs into the desire to belong, its costs, caucasian-centric beauty standards, white privilege and class clashes. Wang knows that this is well-populated territory in general, but "nobody had really done what I've done", she reflects. "Even around White Chicks, for example, it's still the same actors. And obviously Freaky Friday is another example of a body-swap kind of film, but with this, still it's the same person. And it's to do with race, and that's something I think that hasn't really been touched. Obviously a lot of people have been comparing the film to The Substance, which is a little similar as well in terms of themes, but still different. I think it was just the race aspect of it — the fact that it's so personal to myself — that's how I made it different and my own." Was the process of penning and helming Slanted cathartic for its guiding force? "100 percent. 100 percent. I use film and I use writing and directing to work through my own trauma, I think, and it's been deeply cathartic," Wang shares. As much of a focus is ensuring that everyone else that has ever felt like Joan does can see that others have been there. "I made this film so that people didn't feel alone," Wang continues. "And I could express a story about somebody who maybe the majority of Australians or the majority of Americans don't really think about — and to do it an entertaining way so that they are entertained, but also are made to think and reflect on themselves." Wang's path to Slanted spans studying at the American Film Institute, winning accolades for her short film work before her feature's SXSW triumph — 2017's Unnatural picked up a gong at the Cannes Lions — and diving into a sequel to a Hollywood hit. When Crazy Rich Asians 2 makes its way to cinemas, it'll do so with Wang as its writer. Netflix's From Scratch and The Brothers Sun are also on her resume so far. We chatted with Wang about her Slanted journey to date, the movie's response, having an Australian perspective on US teendom and more, including the picture's balancing act, its crucial casting, the visual approach and more. [caption id="attachment_1008985" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Amy E. Price/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images[/caption] On How the 12 Months Since Making Slanted Have Panned Out for Wang "Oh my gosh, it's been nuts. It is kind of crazy to think — like even today on my phone, you know how your iPhone sometimes gives you memories of the last couple of months? I hadn't even started shooting this time last year. So we shot June–July. I think I flew back to LA — because we shot in Atlanta — I flew back to LA in August to start post. And it's been pretty fast, when I think about it. And it was — I mean, it's still crazy. We delivered the film like three days before we premiered. I'm sure SXSW hated us with that. So it was kind of non-stop until the premiere. The night before, I couldn't sleep because I was so nervous. And then we had such a great reaction after that first screening. I thought the festival will tip you off if you win anything, but they don't. I wasn't even going to even go to the awards night. And I just rocked up in a t-shirt and jeans. Other people were dressed up in dresses and suits and everything, and me and my husband were just sat in the back. It was the most-crazy experience, and so I'm still pinching myself." On Whether Wang Expected the Type of Response That Slanted Has Been Receiving "I think I wanted for this response, and I'm really happy that that I've received it. There was definitely a part of me that was a little bit afraid. I like to push buttons with all of my films, the scripts that I write — and in a way, I do like a bit of controversy within the stuff that I do. So I think I was more afraid of that of — like would people take it the wrong way? Would people get offended? But surprisingly it's been — you always get the random Letterboxd reviews or even film critics critiquing the film, but the majority have been so amazing and supportive. I remember after my premiere at South By, when I was walking to the afterparty, there were multiple people who came up to me with tears in their eyes and just telling me about how much they related to the story. And these were Americans. I'm even more excited to see the reaction in Sydney, because, again, the film came from my own experience growing up in Sydney. And Australia, Sydney in particular, has such a huge Asian population. So I'm so interested to see how people relate to the film." [caption id="attachment_938017" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tim Levy[/caption] On How Slanted Evolved From Wang's Childhood in Australia — and Why It Embraces the US as a Setting "The reason why I set it in America was because I moved to America in 2015 to go to film school at AFI. And I ended up staying and working in LA. And it felt, at the time when I came up with the concept, like all of my connections, my career, was really in the US. So I knew I needed to adapt the story that I had in my head to a US audience — because all the money, all of the filming crew, cast, everybody, would have been US-based. So that was really the main reason. If I had written a story that was in Australia, I wouldn't have the slightest clue how to get it made in the Australian bubble. The story is very closely based on my own life. Growing up in Sydney, I, unfortunately for a really long time — and even now to a degree, I think we're all still working towards fully embracing and accepting who we are — but as a teenager, I definitely was very, very aware that I looked very different. And I received a lot of, I wouldn't say very violent attacks, but definitely had people throw things at me, follow me around, say very, very horrible racist, just blatantly racist things to me. And it really just made me feel ashamed of my culture, what I look like, and made me want to look like the blonde surfie girls who I went to high school with, who were the always the most popular. And I remembered wanting to — I didn't grow up very wealthy, I would nag my mum to get me Billabong boardies and those types of bags to fit in a little bit more. And I'd get so ashamed over the lunches my dad would make me, because the kids would tease me about how badly they smelled and how weird they looked. I'm happy that I went through it, because it's made me who I am. And I'm just really happy that I was able to make a film that I think connects to a lot of people who have experienced very similar things — even if you're not Asian Australian. I think everybody feels in some way as an outsider." [caption id="attachment_1008986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gilbert Flores/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images[/caption] On Whether Having an Outsider Perspective in the US Assisted When Satirising the Prom and American High Schools "Yes, absolutely. You definitely hit the nail on the head. I feel like I was able to really satirise America because I'm not American. And growing up in Australia, growing up on American films and American TV, I think I had that separation and I was able to make fun of it. And also, I think what is cool is because I've been living here so long, to also firsthand experience the ins and outs and the intricacies of American society. I didn't, when I was in Australia, I never knew that American kids did the Pledge of Allegiance. And it was so shocking to me. I remember when I was doing research and visiting high schools in California, and they would all do the Pledge of Allegiance — and I was like 'what? What is this?'. And it just felt so bizarre. But to an American, it's what they grew up with, so they wouldn't question it." View this post on Instagram A post shared by SXSW (@sxsw) On Finding the Right Tone When You're Making a Satire with a Clear Sense of Humour, But That Comes From a Personal Place — and Is a Body-Horror Film, Coming-of-Age Movie and Family Drama as Well "I feel like it's interesting because I didn't really think too hard about — I definitely thought about the tone a lot, but in terms of weaving all of these things together, I didn't think 'ooh, I have to have some body horror in there, I have to have some satire in there'. I think the satire came organically because the initial concept was just 'oh, what if a Chinese girl turned herself into a white girl?' — and so that concept itself was so absurd and surreal that it just automatically steps into that satirical tone and zone. And then, the reason why I'm a filmmaker is because of films like Fight Club and Seven — David Fincher in particular. My favourite filmmaker is Michael Haneke. And I grew up watching a lot of Cronenberg. So I love dark material. And it just makes sense — I wanted to make a film about learning to accept who you are but in a nightmarish storyline, so it just makes sense to see the repercussions of what happens when you decide to transition into something so drastic." On the Importance of Also Digging Into Class Clashes "That's just another theme that I'm very passionate about, because I don't come from a lot of money. And both of my parents are very working class, don't have any association with the film business. And especially coming out to LA, not really having anything, going AFI — which is a great school, but really being surrounded by a lot of people who do come from a lot of money, or has a famous dad or whatever. Especially in the film industry, in Hollywood, I think, I'm constantly surrounded by people who are just wealthier. And I think that's just something that I'm very aware of. Again, I'm really happy with everything I've been through because it always informs my work, but classism and race, those are definitely things that I just am very aware of — of my own differences and of society in general, the wealth disparity, especially in America." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shirley Chen (@shirleylchen) On the Importance of Finding the Right Joan in Shirley Chen and the Right Jo in Mckenna Grace "I found Shirley first. I watched a lot of auditions. And I'd always known of Shirley, cause I've seen her in Dìdi, I'd seen her in this great short called Krista, I think that also played the South By. And then she did Beast Beast, which is a great film as well. She just had such a naturalistic, kind of edgy vibe about her that I just loved. And I remember watching her initial audition just being like 'fantastic, I've found my person'. And then we had lunch and got to know her a little bit. So I knew I had to find Joan first. And then from Shirley, getting to know Shirley a little bit more, I figured out 'okay, this is her general vibe, this is her energy', and I needed to find someone who could match that. And I met with Mckenna — and same with Shirley, I'd seen Mckenna in obviously Ghostbusters, but I saw her in A Friend of the Family, The Handmaid's Tale. She's just an incredible young actress. We also had lunch, and she just told me how much she related to the script — and really blew me away with her interpretation. And after that meeting, I was like 'yeah, she's the one'. After I cast the two of them, we did a lot of rehearsals and body-language imitating exercises and things like that, to really make sure they feel like the same person." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mckenna Grace (@mckennagraceful) On How Chen and Grace Worked Together to Play the Same Character — and Take That Figure on a Shared Emotional Journey "They did so much homework. I know they had shared playlists and really used music to tie themselves, the both of them, together. But I did a lot of exercises. I had Mckenna follow Shirley around, copy how Shirley ate, how she walked, how she danced — all sorts of little fun exercises I came up with. And we also figured out one thing in the movie, that both of them will squeeze their nose, and that was something that really tied it together. And that's something I used to do and my dad used to do. So I think that was a really easy tic that they both really caught onto. And sometimes even on set, I would forget and then they would add it into the scene, and I'd be like 'oh, this is amazing'. So they just they did the work. And Shirley would be on set when Mckenna would be on set, and vice versa, because we'd obviously shoot their scenes intersectionally, so that really helped as well." On Mixing Naturalism and Surrealism in the Film's Stylistic Approach "So my DP and I — my wonderful DP Ed Wu [Mother of the Bride] — we had this almost like a map that's one to ten. One was the most grounded, realistic types of films, like Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold types of films. And then on the other end of the spectrum were the Sorry to Bother You kind of way-more out-there-visually satire. And so with each scene, we'd be like 'okay, this scene, it's sitting more in the one to two', which is more the Andrea Arnold kind camp. But then some scenes, like when we're in Ethnos, definitely ventured more into that hyper-real, Being John Malkovich kind of world. So we had that communication during set, in pre-production as well. And sometimes it was hard, because there would be some scenes where it would go back and forth a little bit. The first half might be more of a one, but then the second half is a ten. So those were a little bit more difficult to really nail. But I think the music was also really big thing. Shirley Song [XO Kitty], she's a fantastic composer." On How Short Films, From Scratch, The Brothers Sun and Writing on Crazy Rich Asians 2 Helped Lead Wang to Her Feature Debut "I was never much of a writer when I got into AFI, to be totally honest. I had always wanted to direct and I went to the American Film Institute for directing. And it was my second year when I really started getting into writing, because a graduate came back and was like 'if you don't want work at Starbucks after you graduate, you're just not going to get paid to direct anything for a very long time, so you need to learn how to write'. So that advice really stuck with me. And that's kind of what I did. So I think that on the writing side, just writing for a lot of studio films — I sold scripts to Paramount and Netflix and all sorts of places. It definitely helped me craft the screenplay in the best way. And then for directing, I think it was just I really enjoyed my experience at AFI. It taught me a lot about directing. And you're just really drawing from personal experiences, and you take apart films. And I made a lot of short films back in Sydney. And all of that experience I think really contributed to making this feature." Slanted is screening at Sydney Film Festival until Sunday, June 15, 2025. Head to the fest's website for more details.
First the first time in 100 years, Sydney is getting a major new zoo — and it's opening its doors next week. First announced back in 2015, Sydney Zoo, which is located in the city's west in Bungarribee, near the Great Western Highway, will finally launch on Saturday, December 7. With more than 2000 animals, Sydney Zoo is home to lions, cheetahs, African painted dogs, hyenas, spider monkeys, tigers, zebras, 11 chimpanzees and 13 baboons (almost every Lion King star), as well as Aussie wombats, echidnas, dingos, emus, koalas, Tasmanian devils and kangaroos. You'll be able to check out all these animals from pram and wheelchair-friendly raised boardwalks, too. [caption id="attachment_752240" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Etana and Enzi the hyenas[/caption] It doesn't stop there either, with the zoo also home to the country's largest reptile and nocturnal house — with 60 different species, including the world's most venomous snakes, ghost bats and giant grasshoppers — and an aquarium with fish and penguins. As most zoos do, Sydney Zoo will also have a focus on conservation, participating in education and breedings programs for endangered animals. It'll also be working with the local Darug people to offer Bungarribee Dreaming experiences, where you'll be able to learn about local Aboriginal history. [caption id="attachment_752241" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Reptile and Nocturnal House[/caption] You can also experience the zoo a little differently by signing up for RunWest — a 12-kilometre fun run that goes through Sydney Zoo. But, if running is not your thing, keep your eyes peeled for the zoo's upcoming program of events. Tickets to the Sydney Zoo are $39.99 for adults (and $99 for a family of four). You can also sign up for annual memberships, which get you unlimited zoo access, discounts on food and free parking. Find Sydney Zoo at 700 Great Western Highway, Bungarribee from Saturday, December 7.
No one wants to relive the worst experience of their life again and again, but Peter Greste has been doing just that for a decade. The Correspondent is the latest instance. In December 2013, while on assignment in Cairo with Al Jazeera to fill in for a colleague over Christmas, the Australian war correspondent answered a knock at his hotel room door. He wouldn't taste freedom again until February 2015. Over that period, he wasn't just detained and interrogated, as the new Australian film shows — the Sydney-born, Brisbane-raised journalist was arrested, refused bail, incarcerated, put on trial for reporting that was deemed "damaging to national security" by Egypt, barely afforded resources to mount a defence, found guilty and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. New coverage came fast, flowing unsurprisingly furiously during Greste's 400-day ordeal. In 2017, then arrived The First Casualty, his memoir. More than a decade since Greste's Egyptian encounter began and exactly that since he was deported back to Australia from a country that still considers a convicted terrorist to this day, now The Correspondent brings it all to the big screen. Countless movies have made their way to cinemas by following a similar path, even if the specific circumstances at the heart of the nightmare differed. For the man at the centre of this powerful and empathetic one — who endured not merely a gruelling fight for his own freedom, but was caught up in the bigger ongoing battle for press freedom — how does it feel to see this chapter of his life flickering through picture palaces? The first time that he watched it, in the room with director Kriv Stenders (Last Days of the Space Age, Lee Kernaghan: Boy From the Bush), "was kind of weird. I walked out of that feeling a little bit shellshocked, I have to admit", Greste tells Concrete Playground. "After I got out of Egypt, I wrote the book. I've since given countless talks about the whole Egypt experience. I've built a career on it, in a way, and so I thought I was across all of it. I thought I've dealt with it. I mean, I don't suffer from PTSD. There's no sort of psychological fallout. And in a way, all of that talking has been a form of ongoing therapy, if you like," Greste advises. "But I don't think I was really quite prepared for what I saw on-screen. These guys managed to nail — obviously there are little details here and there that are different to what I went through in Egypt, and the story itself has been modified a little bit, not in any significant way — but in its essence, at its core, they managed to get the feeling of what it was like to be stuck in that concrete box, the kind of loss of control, the Kafka-esque nature of the trial, that sense of ongoing doom, if you like, and the real angst about whether or not this would ever come to an end. So in really essential ways, I walked out of there feeling as though I'd kind of been a little bit punched." By "these guys", Greste is referring to Stenders — the son of friends of his own family, with both his and the filmmaker's Latvian-born parents knowing each other for decades — and also actor Richard Roxburgh (Force of Nature: The Dry 2), who steps into his shoes on-screen. Stenders describes watching the film with Greste for the first time as "very nerve-wracking, obviously". He continues: "it was a funny screening because Marc Wooldridge, our distributor, was in the room at the same time. And the minute the film started screening, Peter was sitting right next to me and Mark was a few pews down, I realised 'this is actually a really bad idea to have Peter here in the same room, because what if Peter hates the film?'. And then the film finished and Peter didn't say a word. He went out, and I went 'oh my god'. And he came back five minutes later obviously quite emotional, and he hugged me and said 'that was amazing'. And just the relief was palpable. I just went 'thank you'. He then just proceeded to tell us how happy he was with the film, and how it was difficult for him but how he felt the film really, really captured his experience." Roxburgh's tension came at the beginning of the process, when screenwriter Peter Duncan (Operation Buffalo) suggested the Aussie acting great to Stenders to play Greste on-screen. Thanks to Rake, plus films Children of the Revolution, A Little Bit of Soul and Passion before the hit series, Duncan and Roxburgh are long-term collaborators; Stenders was the star's director on Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan. "I guess I approached it with some trepidation, because it's not as if I'm a close match in any way, particularly to Peter. And because he was somebody," he shares with Concrete Playground about being canvassed for the part. "I remembered the story vividly. He was a journalist who I respected so much and respected the horrors of his experience." "Talking to Kriv early on helped to massage some of those fears, because he said that we were never going to try to make it an act of mimicry in any way — that it was going to be about the internal life of what that human went through in that environment. And so that helped me, in a lot of ways, to work my way into where it needed to be." [caption id="attachment_1001033" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Australian Human Rights Commission via Flickr[/caption] Also among the apprehension surrounding The Correspondent: for Greste, whether recounting his stint in Egypt would be as timely and topical as it undeniably proves to audiences now watching Stenders' intimate, immersive, like-you're-there recreation of it, which only ventures elsewhere to jump back to an earlier assignment in Mogadishu. For viewers, it feels as if this tale was always destined for the screen, and that it would always be relevant — the movie has released at a period when journalists still keep facing arrest and imprisonment for doing their jobs in some corners of the world, and when attacks on reporters have been spreading to nations where that once would've been unthinkable — but its subject wasn't always so sure. How involved was Greste, and how did that assist Roxburgh and Stenders? How crucial was the picture's tight focus on Greste's experience with the Egyptian authorities from arrest to release? Why was he uncertain about the movie's timeliness? We asked The Correspondent's key trio about the above, too — and about casting Roxburgh and his history of portraying real-life Australian figures (Bob Hawke twice in Hawke and The Crown, Roger Rogerson in Blue Murder, Ronald Ryan in The Last of the Ryans, Graham Ashton in Bali 2002, plus more), Greste and Stenders' childhood ties, how Stenders' mix of documentaries (including The Go-Betweens: Right Here, Brock: Over the Top and Slim & I) amid his features (such as The Illustrated Family Doctor, Lucky Country, Red Dog and Red Dog: True Blue, Kill Me Three Times and Australia Day) helped and other subjects. On Greste's Involvement with the Film, Including Giving Roxburgh a Resource to Drawn Upon — and Coming to Set, But Only Once Richard: "Peter and I met — well we brushed elbows a great many years before at some strange awards night." Peter: "Richard won't tell you that I got the award for Man of Chivalry." Richard: "He did. He was awarded the Man of Chivalry. I don't know what my award, I can't even remember what my award was for. But we met properly at the first read-through at Carmel Travers' [The Correspondent's producer] house. And I was quite nervous, again, about meeting Peter. But having him in the room — and seeing and feeling his support for the project — it was incredibly helpful, incredibly useful for me along the way. And a relief as well. So I was able to, I guess, quietly observe Peter and the way that he was up close and personal, which was obviously incredibly useful as an actor. But also to have somebody that I could message with irritating thoughts, questions and observations along the way." Peter: "I guess it's one of those choices that you make, either you abandon it and let them get on with it, or you engage with the process and hope by engaging with it, you can help nudge things in a direction that works for you — that worked for me. I was a little bit nervous at the beginning, because there's all sorts of stories of people who've given over their lives to filmmakers and come away fairly battered by the experience. But everyone involved from the moment I met Carmel to working with Peter Duncan and Kriv and then Rox, they all showed real curiosity, real empathy with the experience. And there was a real willingness to try to make something that was as authentic as possible. And as Rox said, he and I, it's not like we'd spend whole weekends together, but the communication was pretty free. And I realised that he was trying to do something that was really empathetic to the experience, and I was more than happy to help and support that." Kriv: "He wasn't on set very much. He only came to set once, only for one day, but he and Peter worked — Peter always ran, Peter Duncan, that is, always ran the drafts by Peter Greste, and Peter was very open to not censoring the story. And what I felt, even though we decided to make the perspective very much Peter's perspective in Cairo, the other story I think that was really important was Kate Peyton's story in Mogadishu [where the British BBC journalist was killed on an assignment with Greste]. And the idea of that coming in these fragmented flashbacks was something that Peter Duncan and I talked about, and I felt as well, from a formalistic point of view, the idea of being able to escape that unrelenting internal Cairo world, it would be great to open it up into Mogadishu. That was something we decided on, those two kind of colours, but what was great was that Peter Greste was very open to us going there — because it paints Peter in a kind of compromised light, and Peter was, I think, very brave. It's quite brave for him to allow us to tell that side of the story and what he went through, but it was also important, because I think it shows what these journalists sacrifice and how it's not a glamorous job — and how there is a price to pay for being a truth-teller." On the Importance of Starting The Correspondent on the Day of Greste's Arrest and Ending It on the Day of His Release to Take Audiences on an Immersive Like-You're-There Journey Peter: "From my perspective, I didn't really understand how Kriv was going to do it. It was very obviously a directorial choice, and I think Rox will probably have a lot more to say about it than for me, but I was actually feeling quite puzzled by how he was going to pull this off. How do you make a compelling movie about arguably the most-boring, tedious situation imaginable, where you're stuck in a concrete box ad nauseam? How do you turn that into something that's actually watchable? And so when I saw the finished product, that's one of the things that really astounded me — was how gripping the whole thing was, how it seemed to move quite relentlessly through this story, but at the same time by not going very far at all. That, I think, is a testament to Kriv's directing skills and experience, but also to Rox's acting." Richard: "I think it really speaks to Kriv's understanding of the craft, and also his daring as a filmmaker — because a script like this could go in any number of directions. You could tell this story in all kinds of ways, and go off on lots and lots of different pathways. Kriv's choice was pretty astounding and bold — that it starts with the knock on the door and it ends with walking out as a free man — and the kind of strictures and the discipline that that applied to the filmmaking itself was so strong. But he was so avowed and had such a great vision for how he was going to, and belief, self-belief, I think, in how he was going to bring that to the screen. As Peter was saying, as a story that in fact is surprisingly full of suspense and has a forward momentum, it's a testament to his filmmaking craft skills." Kriv: "Well, it was more of a reductive process. The book, Peter's book, obviously, it's chequerboard, the chapters of chequerboarded are between Peter's experience and his other assignments and other stories. And the initial draft [of the script] was quite, very different. It had a number of parallel storylines going on, or timelines going on. It had, I think, the family or people back in Australia. It had the consulate. It was a much more, I guess — it had more scale in terms of the other storylines and the other characters. And my connection was 'well, you know what, I'm really interested in what Peter went through'. And I felt that if we just reduced it to Peter's experience and made it a very first-person journey from the minute that he gets a knock on the hotel room door to when he's released, if we just scaled everything to that, then we've got a really interesting movie that can say more by the way, not so much doing less but by being less. It can be much more interesting. And as a director, your currency is form. I always think my job as a director is to really play with form, and that's my remit. So once I pitched my approach to Carmel and to Peter Duncan, the writer, they could see, I guess, the throughline, and we then just quickly — very, very very quickly — adapted the script just to be that one-person perspective. It's critical because I felt, I just thought 'well, what would it be like to be arrested?. What would that feel like? What would that sound like? What would it look like?'. And what I realised, it would literally be a series of corridors, prison vans, prison cells, courtrooms — and you wouldn't really see Egypt. You'd just hear it or you'd feel it. And to me, I wanted the audience to — and I wanted to — experience what it would be like to actually be thrust into that position. And therefore, being put into that, how would I feel by the end of the journey? And by the end of the journey, I think you really do get a sense of the hugely traumatic gauntlet that Peter went through and how lucky he was to escape it." On Whether There Was a Sense of How Timely The Film Would Be — and That It'd Feel Like It'd Never Not Be Relevant Peter: "Well, you say it was always going to be timely. I didn't think it was. I was actually really worried about that when I first wrote the book. I told the publishers to get the story out quickly because it would start to date pretty quickly. I trace back the origins of what I've come to think of as the war on journalism back to 9/11, when George W Bush declared the war on terror. And what that did was, it kind of liberated the language, the rhetoric around national security and terrorism, so the governments were able to use it to introduce all sorts of what I think have become pretty draconian crackdowns on freedom of speech, on the lot of civil liberties and freedom of the press. What happened to us in Egypt was a way in which the government had weaponised that definition of terrorism and used it to come after uncomfortable journalism. But I honestly thought that the further we moved away from 9/11, the more that that rhetoric would feel dated, would feel tired, that we'd grow up, we'd move past it, that journalism would recover its traditional role in our democracies. But as you said, quite the opposite has happened. The numbers of journalists that have been imprisoned are at record highs. The numbers of journalists that have been murdered on the job are at record highs. We're seeing assaults on media even in the United States from the White House — which is supposed to be the bastion of liberal democracy, the bastion of freedom of speech and press freedom. They've got the First Amendment, for christ's sake, that gold standard of press freedom, of a defence of press freedom. And so yeah, and in ways that I don't think I ever really anticipated and certainly wouldn't have wanted, it does feel more timely than it ever had ever before. It wasn't a plan, put it that way." Richard: "It feels like the film is coming out at a period of some real urgency. It's not that the film itself is a didactic work or that it's meant to be. Above anything else, it's an extraordinary piece of storytelling. But as Peter says, it couldn't be more timely given what's happened to journalism and to the role of journalists. And hopefully, if anything, if it opens a discussion about that with people who've seen the film or it brings some attention to that matter, then that's all for the better. Journalism used to be, up until very recently, something that was protected under the Geneva Convention. And so for that to have completely vanished, certainly in theatres of war; that journalists are now people who are essentially regarded as the enemy; and to have governments of leading democracies now talking about journalists as the enemy of the people — I think we are at a time where there's no more pertinent story to tell." Kriv: "I think when Peter wrote the book — and when it happened to him, then when he wrote the book — I think we were more than a decade on from September 11, and the idea that journalism was under threat was still, it was there, but it was nowhere near as acute as it is now. So the relevance of the story has, I guess, amplified over the last ten years — and that's the biggest takeout that I've got. And then the biggest motivation we had making the film is that this story is more important than it ever was. I was just thinking about this this morning — I was thinking, just looking, you're always aware of what's happening in the world, and we're heading into, I think, a very, very scary time. I mean, America is turning into — it's becoming a fascist state. It's a really terrifying time. And I think it's very important even if the film just reminds us what democracy is. Journalism is a basic foundation to any kind of functioning civilisation or democracy, and the minute you start eroding that — and even now, people are questioning universities. It's just like 'what?'. This is just absolutely insane. A new dark age is coming. And I think it's very important that films, journalism, politicians, all corners of society, start to remind each other and remind ourselves what's important and what's crucial that we don't lose." On Why Roxburgh Was the Right Actor — and Dream Pick — to Play Greste Kriv: "Because Peter Duncan told me that he's the one. Because Peter Duncan and Richard have a long working relationship. And I'd worked with Richard previously on my last film Danger Close, and I loved working with Richard. He's such a beautiful actor to work with. I liken him to like a Rolls-Royce: he's just beautiful to drive. It's just a pleasure to work with him. And when you're trying to cast a film, there's all these pressures to cast a name and whatever — but when Peter said 'look, really think about Richard', I did. And I went 'well, why not?'. It wasn't like Peter Greste is a well-known face or well-known voice. You could find an actor who could interpret Peter. It didn't have to be slavish. It wasn't like we're making a film about Elvis or Muhammad Ali. It wasn't a biopic in that respect. So you could have the license to have an actor interpret it. And when I thought about Richard, it just made so much sense on so many levels, because he just brings this wonderful humility and at the same time, this gravitas, that I think the role needed." On How Roxburgh Approached Conveying Greste's Emotional Journey, Through Shock, Exasperation, Determination, Bravery, Weariness and More — and the Kind of Direction Needed, If Any, to Help Richard: "It was a project that, in conversations with Kriv, we really wanted it to feel minute, so that it was about trying as much as humanly possible to just sit in the circumstance. And to that end, I think the exhaustion helped. I think it was a tough shoot, but that was a good thing because it helped. I think it helped to give, to have a sense of being more emotionally ragged, of being spent — of, I suppose, having some sort of proximity to the way Peter might actually have felt, through all of the exhaustion of the shoot. This one was very particular in the sense that, because it was 100-percent POV, it meant that I'm in every single frame of the thing, which was new territory for me. But I think the sheer exhaustion of doing that was a useful thing, because it strips everything away and it just leaves you closer to where you need to be to countenance what Peter actually might have gone through." Kriv: "I think really as a director, when you work with actors, the biggest direction you give them is really casting them. That's directing. Once you've cast them, that is really the biggest bit of direction you're going to give, because you've chosen them to play the role — and as a director, really, it's a matter of trust. I really believe that the actor should know more about the character than me, because all I am is just a sounding board. All I am is a pair of ears and a pair of eyes. And if it sounds right and looks right, we just move on — and I'm just there to tell the story, orchestrate telling the story, and the actor is there to actually bring the character to life. So there's really not much direction I give as a director — it's purely there to support and to make sure that we're getting the material we need in order to tell the story." On How Roxburgh Tackles Portraying Real-Life Figures, and Helping to Chronicle Very Diverse Aspects of Australian History On-Screen, as He Has Several Times Across His Career Now Richard: "I guess I don't really think about it in that way. There's obviously a huge, huge responsibility that comes with playing figures who are in the public consciousness, who are actual people. In this case, it was something very different altogether, because this was a man who was in the room, a man who had been through this terrible ordeal and somebody who I really respected. And so that came with its own particular set of concerns, and I guess a bigger sense of internal responsibility to the storytelling. I think for both Peter and myself, it was some relief to feel like I was not going to be doing a Peter Greste, in the sense that I wasn't going to be copying Peter's way of being — that, in a way, it was about embodying that experience, the kind of internal landscape of that experience, if you like, as much or as empathetically as I could." On Greste and Stenders' Childhood Connection — and Whether Stenders Ever Thought He Might Make a Film About Greste When He Was Seeing the Latter's Ordeal Play Out in the News Kriv: "Not at all. No, no. That's why it was very funny when — I mean when it happened, it was like 'yeah, wow, that's sounding really heavy'. And it was because, when it's happening, you don't see the end. You're in the moment. And at that point, when he first got arrested and then when he got sentenced, it felt really hopeless. Then when he was released, obviously there was relief, and I got on with my life and with other projects and things, that wasn't really something that was foreground for me. But when Carmel called me up out of the blue and said 'do you know anything about Peter Greste?', I just laughed and I went 'yeah, I do'. I told her the backstory and then she said 'look, I've got this idea' and suddenly it clicked. I went 'yeah, I'm onboard'. She didn't even have to pitch it to me, really. She just said, when she said 'I'm adapting it into a story', I just went immediately 'yes, I'm in' — because I knew what it was, and I knew I kind of had a personal connection to it immediately." Peter: "As you said, it had been many, many, many years since I'd met Kriv, and I think we barely remembered each other from that initial meeting. Although we did meet, we realised that we had crossed paths, we had played together as kids. And I think it's more the synchronicity of it that feels right somehow. I'm not the kind of person that believes in the universe planning things out and sending messages, but there just does seem to be something delightfully synchronous about having Kriv on this particular job. I remember when I was telling my father about how Carmel was hunting around for a director and we thought we'd found someone. And dad, I couldn't say anything more, dad jumped in and said 'oh well, listen, if you need some help finding a director then my friend Andy, his son I think is in the movie business and maybe he might be able to help'. I said 'dad, it's okay, it's under control. We've got Andy's son Kriv'. And that, I think, is delightful. Kriv also — Kriv gets it. He's the kind of director, at so many levels, he's obviously incredibly skilled at filmmaking, but he's also done a lot of documentary work. He understands not just the creative elements of really good nonfiction storytelling, but he also has a really good handle on how to tell a good true story. And I think all of those elements came in. He brought all of that into this narrative. And, of course, being Latvian as well brings a certain kinship and understanding, I guess, which is also really lovely." On the Sense of Responsibility That Comes with the Job for Stenders Given That Personal Connection Kriv: "I think even if I didn't know Peter, the responsibility and that same weight would have been there. The fact that I knew him, it just allowed the access to be a little bit more fluid, because there wasn't any of that guardedness that you had to break down. So we were already, we were able to get that out of the way. And I think the trust — I think what it did give us was a different level of trust than I would have normally had if I didn't know Peter." On Whether the Documentary Side of Stenders' Filmography Assisted with The Correspondent Kriv: "A little bit. Documentary and fiction are actually not that different. They're still storytelling. You're still editorialising everything, still making decisions about what to show and what not to show. There's a physical obvious thing about the handheld camera and the verite feel of it, that, I guess, comes from documentary — and that you don't, even though you labour a lot over the way it looks, you also try to make it look effortless, and documentary just does that by default. The difference, though, with this was that yes, it's based on a true story, but you still take dramatic license — which you can't in documentary. So you still stylise certain things, you still shorthand certain things, you still abbreviate certain things. But having a documentary background, I think all it does is — I call it cross-training. I do documentary. I also do features. I also do television drama. And those three disciplines, just oscillating between those three, they sharpen up your intuitive muscles and reflexes. So when the day's going difficult or when you're in a tight corner and you don't know what to do, another part of your brain, your documentary brain, goes 'well, we're just going to do this' — or your TV drama brain says 'look, we can shoot this in one hour if we do this'. So I just adapt to the situation or to the problem at hand." The Correspondent opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Images: John Platt / Daniel Asher Smith.
With the government encouraging social distancing, and enforcing mandatory 14-day self-isolation periods for everyone arriving from overseas, in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19, plenty of us are staring down the barrel of a whole lot of time spent at home. By now, you're probably all stocked up on toilet paper, are armed with a banging Netflix queue and have sussed out all the best delivery options for decent food and booze. But, alongside the streaming services and board games, you're also going to need a pretty solid collection of reading material to keep you entertained. And luckily, some local bookstores are more than happy to help. If you're keen to support the little, local guys, there's a bunch of indie book retailers that are now offering free delivery services, to hook isolated readers up with some much-needed literature. In Melbourne, long-running North Carlton spot The Little Bookroom has kicked off free same-day delivery for its online orders, servicing Carlton, Fitzroy and a heap of surrounding suburbs. Sibling store Neighbourhood Books in Northcote is following suit, though with an even bigger delivery area. And if you're cooped up at home over on the westside, Yarraville's Sun Bookshop has you covered. It's offering free same-day book delivery (for online orders placed before 2pm) to readers in Kingsville, Seddon and Yarraville, and next-day delivery for those in Spotswood and Newport. They'll drop your book order in the letter box or at your front door, and shoot a text message to let you know it's arrived. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9n100rAhcz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Meanwhile, Sydneysiders can get books delivered for free by the likes of Avalon Beach's Bookoccino (if you live between Narrabeen and Palm Beach) and Glebe's Gleebooks, which has launched free book delivery across the inner west and City of Sydney council areas, and Australia-wide for orders over $50. Newtown favourite Better Read Than Dead has cast the net even wider, offering free shipping across the whole of Australia for the foreseeable future. And up in Brisbane, Wynnum cafe-bookstore Little Gnome is doing daily delivery runs of books, brownies and even coffee, from 8–10am this week (check its Instagram for updates and details on how to order), while Avid Reader Bookshop is swinging free delivery for select inner-city suburbs, and Australia-wide if your order's over $50.
It's hard to believe, but it's four years now that Goodgod Small Club first started bringing its much-needed, eccentric, eclectic good times to the CBD. In the past twelve months alone, they've proved to be the favourite Sydney stage of the likes of Erykah Badu, Courtney Barnett and DMAs; started serving up killer feasts at recently-closed favourite, The Dip, and their new on-site Jonkanoo Canteen; and transformed the Opera House Studio into a psychedelic version of Tin Pan Alley. So, to celebrate their fourth birthday, they're putting on an epic shindig — as only Goodgod know how. That means, of course, a venue-consuming, all-night-long, convention-obliterating party — this time around themed 'Taking Care of Business'. At the centre of the action will be the Goodgod 'house band' presented by Siberia Records, and Alex Cameron (one-half of Seekae). You can also expect a parade of special guests including Ariane, Astral DJs, Champain Lyf, Drongo, Mike Who, Nacho Pop, Power Suit, Shantan Wantan Ichiban and Tyson Koh. And the dress code? Under the suave 'Taking Care of Business' theme, Goodgod wants to see you looking your public holiday schmickest, so they're asking for suits. Yep, suits. Sharpen up. Tickets only available on the door. Need some tie-straightening tunes to get you ready to take care of business ahead of Goodgod's suited-up birthday? The Goodgod All-Stars made you a special playlist right here.
Darlinghurst's iced-dairy darling, Rivareno Gelato, is turning six — and to celebrate, it's collaborating with four local restaurants to create a range of limited-edition flavours. Local celebrity chef Kylie Kwong of Pott's Point's soon-to-close Billy Kwong is on board, alongside Sri Lankan hopper eatery Lankan Filling Station, Rosebery's Da Mario and upscale Turkish restaurant Anason. Running from Monday, April 29 through to Sunday, May 5, Rivareno's birthday scoops will be available from both Darlinghurst and Barangaroo stores. Kwong and Lankan Filling Station's creations will be available across the first week, with Da Mario and Anason bringing more Mediterranean flavours over the second week. Kwong, a long-time fan of Rivareno, has developed a gelato of coconut and native finger lime, ringing true to her ethos of using native Australian ingredients in her Chinese-Australian fare. You'll also find Lankan Filling Station's Spiced Jaggery flavour made with Sri Lankan palm sugar and an abundance of spices, including cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon. [caption id="attachment_717517" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Coconut and native finger lime gelato.[/caption] The following week, Da Mario will be offering up its cheeky spin on an Italian classic with its tiramisu-in-a-cup gelato. Made from mascarpone gelato, Sicilian marsala from the Pellegrino wine cellars and coffee-soaked Savoiardi biscuits, topped with Arabica coffee and dark chocolate chips, it's a big step-up from your regular coffee-flavoured gelato. Plus, Anason's creamy yoghurt and turmeric gelato laced with saffron will also be available. Rivareno Gelato's collaborative limited-edition flavours will be available for two weeks from Monday, April 29–Sunday, May 5 at its Darlinghurst and Barangaroo outposts.
December, 2005. Two cars circle the beachside Sydney suburb of Cronulla, each filled with hotheaded locals looking for a fight. In one vehicle, the aggressive Jason (Damon Herriman) and his Ned Kelly-worshipping pal Ditch (Justin Rosniak) take the well-meaning but not-so-bright Shit Stick (Alexander England) and his kind-hearted Down Syndrome cousin Evan (Chris Bunton) in search of folks of Middle Eastern descent to bash. In the other, Hassim (Lincoln Younes) tears himself away from his studies to scour the streets for his missing brother – though his pals Nick (Rahel Romahn) and D-Mac (Fayssal Bazzi) and his devout uncle Ibrahim (Michael Denkha) are all keen to cause some physical damage to the area's ocker residents along the way. It's a scenario inspired by reality, in a film filled with harsh truths. If you're feeling a little awkward or even confronted by a comic take on the Cronulla race riots, that's okay. You're supposed to be. Like British terrorism satire Four Lions before it, Down Under addresses a subject everyone is aware of but no one wants to talk about, in perhaps the only way that it can. Feeling like you shouldn't be laughing at what you're seeing is part of the point. Thinking about why you're laughing is as well. Accordingly, the plot of Down Under offers a peek at the ugly side of Australian life. Conflict, discrimination and violence is inescapable in this film, as is the sense of discomfort by those watching. In his polished, purposefully provocative return to feature filmmaking after 2003's Ned, writer-director Abe Forsythe revels in the controversial nature of a situation that no one in the country can claim is unrealistic. After all, we all saw the scenes that made the news just over a decade ago; in fact, that's the footage Down Under begins with. As the two groups spend a day and a night driving around searching for weapons and arguing amongst themselves, the film manages to find the delicate balance between making a statement and making you laugh. Gags that stress the similarities between both sides provide many of the film's funniest and most astute moments, while Forsythe's clearly committed cast ensures that the characters never feel like mere caricatures – even when they're spouting idiotic, bigoted crap. Ultimately, Down Under isn't simply attempting to get viewers cackling about an uncomfortable topic. Forsythe is primarily trying to highlight the nation's deep-seeded intolerance, as well as the pointlessness of spewing hate based on cultural differences. It's little wonder that the film that results isn't just a comedy, but a tragedy as well. And given the current political and media landscape, this movie and its message really couldn't be more timely.
The pursuit of the American Dream at any cost has long been a fertile device for screenwriters. Just recently, both American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street showcased the extraordinary true stories of money-hungry shysters determined to rise above their humble or inauspicious beginnings, no matter the consequences. Similarly, Margin Call and The Big Short offered portraits of success attained by comparably distasteful (if rather more legitimate) means. In the context of these films, Gold, by writer-director Stephen Gaghan falls somewhere in between. Based on the real life events of the 1990s Bre-X Minerals fiasco, the film chronicles the rise and fall of a simple American prospector turned overnight millionaire named Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey). Balding, overweight and down to his last dime, Kenny's a third generation mining prospector staving off foreclosure of his family business, a predicament that renders him more than willing to embrace all that wealth and power can provide once they're suddenly within his grasp. Where the film departs from the norm, at least notionally, is that Kenny always maintains that his drive and determination is grounded in the discovery of gold, not the money that it provides. Gold hence finds itself in the peculiar position of framing the story as one of 'us versus them' in which both the us (simple prospectors) and them (hedge fund managers and mining companies) are ludicrously wealthy. Money itself is not the point of distinction but rather how that money was acquired: 'dirt in the nails grit' versus 'manhattan investment', so to speak. McConaughey delivers a committed and captivating performance; one for which he gained a full 18kgs to ensure his sizeable beer gut required neither special effects nor prosthetics. Gripped by a fever determined to kill him, and grappling with a Hail Mary mining prospect in the jungles of Indonesia that refuses to yield even a hint of gilded hope, McConaughey's performance oozes doggedness and desperation in equal measures. Opposite him, Édgar Ramírez puts in a far more reserved turn as Wells' geologist and business partner Michael Acosta. Together they make a likeable duo, and it's a crying shame how little of the film Ramírez actually occupies. Unfortunately, despite the fine work of the cast, Gold feels like a story unsure of how best to be told, flicking between Scorsese-esque drama and quirky irreverence. None of the characters feel entirely fleshed out, and are instead presented more like passengers on a plot line that prioritises events over individuals. The movie's eventual 'twist', meanwhile, is legitimately surprising to those unfamiliar with the Bre-X story, however its reveal so close to the end renders the remaining few minutes far too rushed to sufficiently deal with its impact and implications. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdLXPv5NsA4
A true Sydney stalwart, Marrickville Pork Roll has long been considered one of the best bánh mì shops in the city. It's well worth the wait in that inevitable queue, which often wraps around the block outside this hole-in-the-wall spot. Open daily from 6.45am, the shop bakes its baguettes fresh every morning. That fluffy-yet-crunchy baguette is schmeared with pâté and mayo, then loaded with your choice of meat, fresh herbs, pickled veg, salad and chilli. While the traditional pork is the go-to, we rate the barbecue pork and crackling pork belly. Meatball, chicken, salad and veg varieties are also up for grabs — and all for just a few dollarydoos ($6–8). It's hard to say exactly what makes these Vietnamese sandwiches better than all the rest, but that classic combination of pork roll goodness is difficult to beat. For those closer to the CBD, Marrickville Pork Roll also has locations in Darling Square's Steam Mill Lane and along Pitt Street. But nothing trumps the original, and it's worth venturing to Marrickville for. Image: Eddy Milfort via Flickr
It's not often you'll voluntarily fork out 30 bucks to watch a bastard mock you, but then Red Bastard comes along. The internationally renowned clown, alter ego of Los Angeles' Eric Davis, is heading to the Bondi Pavilion. Habitually selling out shows and receiving five-star reviews, Red Bastard will take to the stage on Saturday, March 1, for one night only. And supposedly, many audience members quit their jobs, reunite with estranged loved ones, propose marriage and end friendships throughout the course of the show. Led by Red Bastard and open to everyone, a two-day clown workshop will also take place on March 1 and 2.
Icy poles and booze — they're the two staples of a long, hot Aussie summer. Back in October, we told you that the two had finally come together as one. Now, those Calippo-style Champagne icy poles we've all been hankering for since are finally on sale in Australia. The genius creation from POPS, a UK brand that has been keeping folks stylishly cool since 2014, have started popping up around Melbourne. Head to online alcohol delivery service tipple.com.au to order one of four flavours: the Champagne pop (called The Classic) contains half a glass of Champers (wahee!), while the Bellini blends hibiscus flowers, blood orange juice, peach Schnapps, and half a glass of Prosecco. Plus, there are a couple of all-ages products too, which see the alcohol swapped out for real fruit combinations (apple and elderflower, plus strawberry and mint). The timing couldn't be better, with the frozen delights arriving in our eskies just in time to be eaten in front of the fan (or, y'know, in the sun) this summer. As part of the Melbourne-first launch, they'll also be available at Arbory Bar and Eatery — and showering festival attendees with lickable icy alcohol goodness, including at The Pleasure Garden, Let Them Eat Cake and the Inverloch Sound of Summer. The POPS website also teases POPScycle bikes, so keep your eyes peeled. When POPS launched its first frozen Champagne treat, supermodels like Kate Moss and Bella Hadid were apparently quick to jump on board, if that's something to sway you. No word yet if you'll be able to buy a box for the freezer, but let's hope. For more information about POPS in Australia, visit wearepops.com. By Libby Curran and Sarah Ward. Via Food Mag.
If you've been out of the loop so far, Concrete Playground and the Sydney Film Festival have this year teamed up to give some very lucky readers double passes to a selection of some of the most exciting films screening this year. Last week we gave away the first prize pack, and this week we bring you the next, with tickets available for Alps, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Today, For Ellen and Love Lasts Three Years. If you're keen on being in the running, first make sure you are subscribed to Concrete Playground, then email your name and film preference to hello@concreteplayground.com.au Love Lasts Three Years - 6.45pm on June 12 After his wife leaves him for a more successful man, Marronier writes a bestseller denouncing love. Then he meets Alice, who changes his mind about the whole 'love' thing, and he must spend all of his time trying to prove his book wrong. Alps - 12.20pm on June 13 From the maker of Dogtooth and the newest film from the Greek Weird Wave comes the story of a super secret club whose members go into the homes of the recently bereaved, impersonating their deceased loved ones, in what's one part therapy, one part theatre of the absurd and one part prostitution. Today - 6.15pm on June 13 Today is a Senegalese magic realist film following Satché, who wakes up inexplicably aware that today is the day he's going to die. As he spends the day wandering his town, the big question is why he ever returned to Senegal from America, where he might have had a future. https://youtube.com/watch?v=4jKgHqU1jrs Once Upon A Time In Anatolia - 6pm on June 14 Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, following a group of men going out in search of the corpse of a murdered man, where every marginal conversation about ethics, cheese and death brings them one step closer to uncovering the killer. For Ellen - 8.45pm on June 15 Paul Dano plays a struggling musician with dreams of grandeur, who in finally agreeing to divorce his estranged wife realises he is forfeiting custody rights to his six -year-old daughter, Ellen, who he hasn't seen much of to begin with. The film follows his attempt to connect with his daughter before time runs out.
The claims about oysters being aphrodisiacs may be largely folklore, but don't let that stop you and your partner from slurping them down by the dozen when visiting Port Stephens' premier oyster farm. The Holbert family has been in the bivalve business for five generations and is now one of the biggest producers of oysters in NSW. You'll find the quite humble store on the shores of Cromarty Bay, where folks share their expertise in all things molluscs and sell freshly shucked Port Stephens rock oysters, Pacific oysters, prawns and sauces. Order a selection, then nab one of the tables outside overlooking the bay. The store sells wine and beer to enjoy with your snacks, but you're also welcome to BYO vino.
Everybody likes putting things on walls. Particularly pretty things, and particularly well-designed things. Better still, the people at Ferm Living are now making removable vinyl wall stickers designed to adorn your home, which are also functional and educational. The products are designed in Denmark and made in Europe, so they have that lovely Nordic well-designed glow. The stickers can be either decorative or functional. If it's winter and the birds have stopped singing, put a flock up by the window to remind you spring is coming, or if you're longing for the forest, put up some tree trunks. The calendars come with their own sets of post-it notes and chalk, so you can wipe them down and begin again fresh next month, the to-do lists make the task of being organised neater and easier to access, and the period tables can provide your bedroom with that chemistry lab atmosphere it's been so sadly lacking. And while their map probably won't help you find Azerbaijan or help you figure out how many countries the Danube runs through, at least it provides a reference point for discussing current affairs when you bring home someone lovely of an evening. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zWoDOUE2X58 [Via Cool Hunting]
While you might know Parramatta for its top-notch eats, it also has over 60,000 years of cultural history to explore. So, to celebrate its roots, the western Sydney suburb is hosting its Foundation Festival from Thursday, October 31 to Sunday, November 3. With a jam-packed lineup of events, the four-day event will have something for everyone. Since the festival kicks off on Halloween, you can go on a ghost tour Old Government House — and maybe even catch a ghost or two — before tucking into some well-earned supper. But, if ghost-hunting isn't really your thing, there's plenty to do come the weekend, too. On the Friday night, take a stroll through the suburb at twilight on a guided tour with local Darug Elders, where you'll learn all about the deeper history of Burramatta (Parramatta) and the Burramattagal people. Or, on the Saturday, you'll be able to jump on a coach for a 'Feisty Females' tour, where you'll learn all about the historical women of Parramatta. And, since all that learning's sure to build up an appetite, make sure to pack a picnic basket and perch yourself on Old Government House's lawn for the Mrs Macquarie's Picnic. To round out the celebrations, North Parramatta heritage precinct (just five minutes' walk from Parramatta League Club) will host Foundation Day on the Sunday. There's a full day of events planned — think everything from live music and food trucks to walking tours, vintage cars and hands-on workshops.
If you're bored with standard light bulbs, or are looking for a creative light fixture to add some style to a room, why not get imaginative and do it yourself? Creating your own orbs, hanging lights or lamps can actually be much simpler than you may think, and they also make use of materials you'll probably have lying around the house sitting stagnant and useless anyway. Establish an alternative ambience, add some creative flair or improve the decor of a room simply by adding some alternative lights you've made yourself. Here are 12 of the most impressive, innovative and easiest DIY light fixtures made from everyday household objects. Wine Bottle Plastic Spoon and Water Jug Bendy Bamboo Straw Chandelier Cloud Light Paper Flower Jars Paper Cups Doily Lamp Bowler Hats Cupcake Cups Orb [Via Buzzfeed]
Despite being nominated for Best Actor for Being the Ricardos, Javier Bardem had zero chance of nabbing a shiny trophy at the 2022 Oscars. The movie he deserves his next nod for instead: savagely sharp workplace satire The Good Boss, which is home to a tour-de-force of a performance from the Spanish actor. Already an Academy Award-recipient for his powerhouse effort in No Country for Old Men — and a prior contender for Before Night Falls and Biutiful, too — Bardem does what he long has, playing a character who uses a set facade to mask his real self. Here, he's a seemingly kindly factory owner who makes a big fuss about treating his employees like family, but happily lets that ruse slip if they want more money, or have problems at home that disrupt their work, or happen to be an attractive intern. He still sports a smile though, naturally. In his latest Goya Award-winning part — his 12th to be nominated, too — Bardem becomes the outwardly friendly, inwardly slippery Básculas Blanco. Given the darkness that lingers in his self-serving, self-confident, self-satisfied true nature, the character's name is patently tongue-in-cheek. He presides over a company that makes professional-grade scales, which he inherited from his father, and tells his staff "don't treat me like a boss". But filmmakers who put the word 'good' in their movie's monikers rarely mean it literally, and writer/director Fernando León de Aranoa (who reteams with his lead after 2002's Mondays in the Sun and 2017's Loving Pablo) is one of them. As portrayed with quietly compelling magnetism by Bardem, The Good Boss' ostensibly respectable CEO finds his perfectly calibrated public persona cracking slowly, surely and devilishly, all thanks to the weight of his own ruthlessness. Awards aren't just coming Bardem's way off-screen for this exceptional turn; they're baked into the movie's plot as well. When The Good Boss begins, Blanco is determined to win a prestigious business prize — but he can't be called desperate, because appearing anything other than commanding, magnanimous and prosperous isn't in the grey-haired, sleekly attired manager's wheelhouse. Still, everyone around him knows how insistent he is about emerging victorious, including his clothing boutique-owning wife Adela (Sonia Almarcha, The Consequences). Their dutiful but hardly passionate marriage says plenty about Blanco, how he operates, and how careful he is about maintaining the illusion he wants the world to see. Indeed, when pretty young Liliana (Almudena Amor, The Grandmother) starts in his marketing department for a month-long stint, she instantly earns his attention, while he still outwardly flaunts committed family-man vibes. Liliana's arrival isn't without complications either professionally and personally. But in a film that skewers nine-to-five life and relationships alike, that's one of several troubles that upsets the company's balance. Just as Blanco's business is set to be inspected during the prize's judging process, his orderly world is pushed askew. There's the just-retrenched José (Óscar de la Fuente, The Cover), who won't accept his sacking, has set up outside the worksite's gate with a loudspeaker shouting out his woes and even has his school-aged children in tow. Then, there's underling and childhood friend Miralles (Manolo Solo, Official Competition), whose marital struggles are impacting day-to-day operations. And, trusted employee Fortuna (Celso Bugallo, The Paramedic) calls upon Blanco's sway for help with a domestic situation of his own. The Good Boss doesn't lack for subplots. It's filled with them — overstuffed, even. Putting so much chaos on Blanco's plate stretches the film out to two hours, and it feels it, but there's a method behind León de Aranoa's approach. The deceitful air that lurks around his protagonist, not to mention everything he weathers and gets away with, has its heart in paralleling Spanish history. The filmmaker is in as pointedly comedic territory as he was with 2015's A Perfect Day, his Benicio del Toro-starring English-language debut about aid workers — and while the analogy to his homeland's past here remains unspoken, it's as gleaming as Blanco's ashen tresses nonetheless. An employer, husband, friend and person like The Good Boss' central figure isn't unique to Spain, but it's easy to connect the dots between the morally reprehensible behaviour on display and what's come before at the highest level in the European nation. Also mutely blatant: the statement made about what Blanco and his ilk will justify to maintain their authority. With its shaggy running time, and the convenience that seethes through some of its plot points, The Good Boss isn't as fine-tuned as it could be. While bearing a completely different tone, it also somewhat sits in the shadow of Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers, which similarly nods to Spanish history. And, it is inescapably a movie of two clear halves — the patiently building setup, because there's much to establish; and the payoff, where what Blanco's corruption means for men like him in a place with such a past becomes apparent. Still, when León de Aranoa's script slices, it cuts deeply and with a blackly comic disdain for the excesses of power and privilege that's so palpable that feeling it is inescapable. Also a key component: layering in the change bubbling in modern Spain, especially with gender roles. Regardless of whether The Good Boss happens to be hitting all of its marks at any given moment, Bardem is always mesmerising. Exuding menace has never been hard for him, as his Academy Award illustrates, but he proves as skilled here at letting that unease linger behind a superficially affable exterior as he is at flat-out getting villainous (for the latter, see also: Skyfall). Perhaps what's most striking about that polished-but-ominous combination is how recognisable it is at every turn, as it's designed to be, and how genuinely unnerving it is as a result. Workplaces everywhere are filled with Blancos, of course, aka people who can't ever quite hide their entitled, opportunistic, bullying and winner-takes-all tendencies with pleasant posturing, and yet have made successful careers thanks to coming close enough. Bardem mirrors a world of folks like Blanco with his transfixing performance, but also ensures that The Good Boss' namesake won't be easily forgotten.
UPDATE, Friday, January 12, 2024: Killers of the Flower Moon streams via Apple TV+ from Friday, January 12, and via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon quickly. Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon often. While Martin Scorsese will later briefly fill the film's frames with a fiery orange vision — with what almost appears to be a lake of flames deep in oil country, as dotted with silhouettes of men — death blazes through his 26th feature from the moment that the picture starts rolling. Adapted from journalist David Grann's 2017 non-fiction novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, with the filmmaker himself and Dune's Eric Roth penning the screenplay, this is a masterpiece of a movie about a heartbreakingly horrible spate of deaths sparked by pure and unapologetic greed and persecution a century back. Scorsese's two favourite actors in Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Robert De Niro (Amsterdam) are its stars, alongside hopefully his next go-to in Lily Gladstone (Reservation Dogs), but murder and genocide are as much at its centre — all in a tale that's devastatingly true. As Mollie Kyle, a member of the Osage Nation in Grey Horse, Oklahoma, incomparable Certain Women standout Gladstone talks through some of the movie's homicides early. Before her character meets DiCaprio's World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart — nephew to De Niro's cattle rancher and self-proclaimed 'king of the Osage' William King Hale — she notes that several Indigenous Americans that have been killed, with Mollie mentioning a mere few to meet untimely ends. There's nothing easy about this list, nor is there meant to be. Some are found dead, others seen laid out for their eternal rest, and each one delivers a difficult image. But a gun fired at a young mother pushing a pram inspires a shock befitting a horror film. The genre fits here, in its way, as do many others: American crime saga, aka the realm that Scorsese has virtually made his own, as well as romance, relationship drama, western, true crime and crime procedural. Although this chapter of history has hardly been splashed across the screen with frequency, its new place among the iconic director's filmography helps him to continue making a statement that he's been beaming at audiences for most of his filmmaking life. The specifics differ from flick to flick, but Scorsese keeps surveying the appallingly corrupt and violent deeds done in the pursuit of power, wealth and influence. He constantly peers into humanity's souls, seeing some of its worst impulses staring back. Indeed, there's no doubting that Killers of the Flower Moon hails from the same person as Goodfellas, Casino and Gangs of New York, or The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman, too. It also easily belongs on a filmography with entries as varied as Raging Bull, The Age of Innocence, Kundun, The Departed and Shutter Island. Between them, DiCaprio and De Niro have starred in most of those movies. Now, they combine for the first time in a Scorsese feature to basically rekindle their This Boy's Life dynamic from three decades back, all while plumbing the depths of money-coveting men chasing land rights, aka Osage headrights, through a cruel, brutal and disarmingly patient plan. "The finest, the wealthiest and the most beautiful people on god's earth" is how Hale describes the Osage Nation to Ernest when the latter is freshly back on US soil, off the train in Fairfax and getting reacquainted with his uncle. Those riches stem from being pushed out of Kansas, resettled, then striking black gold in a stroke of good fortune that brings more misfortune. Hale wants a piece and more, and gets seemingly every other white man in Oklahoma joining his pursuit. In an extraordinary performance, De Niro gives Hale quietly formidable potency — the kind that doesn't need raised voices or a weapon to command a room, evoke unease and enforce his might. Scorsese lets the outwardly supportive, not-so-privately manipulative town anchor become the open villain almost instantly. Killers of the Flower Moon isn't a whodunnit, but rather a living-with-knowing-who's-doing-it film. It tells its atrocity-filled tale about evil in plain sight carefully, exactingly and unhurriedly — earning each and every one of its 206 minutes — with narrative inevitably breeding suspense and emotional tension. Sporting an injured gut from combat, Ernest turns to chauffeuring to make a living under Hale's wing. When he begins driving the graceful and stately Mollie, his uncle has already laid out his scheme to get Osage property and wealth gushing their family's way. Still, everything about Ernest and Mollie's romance is genuine. DiCaprio and Gladstone are exquisite, including when their characters are flirting over cab rides and storm-backdropped sips of whiskey, resting their foreheads together in a gesture that gets them saying everything without saying anything, and stealing other silently happy moments. But the bodies keep mounting, with many of Mollie's nearest and dearest — such as her sisters Minnie (Jillian Dion, Alaska Daily), Anna (Cara Jade Myers, Rutherford Falls) and Reta (Janae Collins, Reservation Dogs), plus their mother Lizzie Q (Tantoo Cardinal, Three Pines) — in Hale's way. While the gangster-film label mightn't fit Killers of the Flower Moon as neatly as Mean Streets and company, this is still a gangster film. Scorsese is in his element, not that he's ever been out of it on any feature that isn't a gangster flick — but that's never the only place that he wants to be. As cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie) lenses both the eye-catching landscape and dark interiors, editor Thelma Schoonmaker (who has done his splicing since Raging Bull) gives the movie its meticulous pacing and the now-late Robbie Robertson (who starred in Scorsese music documentary The Last Waltz as part of The Band) imparts a slinkily propulsive beat amid a pitch-perfectly anxious score, this is also a movie of blistering anger and interrogation. As the saga of Ernest, Mollie, Hale and pervasive death always thrums at its core, so does a reckoning. Killers of the Flower Moon carves into the injustices of America's past, plus their impact upon the present, to stress the blood and bones that the US was built upon. It sees how much about today ties back to its tragedy of oppression and slaughter, how distressingly familiar this situation is around the world and, in a stunner of a coda, how such realities are regularly exploited rather than addressed. Bold and brilliant, epic yet intimate, ambitious and absorbing, as meaningful as it is monumental, a quintessential Martin Scorsese movie: every single one applies to Killers of the Flower Moon. It's also rich and riveting in each touch and instant, from building its lived-in portrait of the 1920s midwest to the magnificent cast that also spans Jesse Plemons (Love & Death) as a federal investigator — even if the Birth of the FBI part of the feature's source material is scaled down — and both John Lithgow (Sharper) and Brendan Fraser (The Whale) as lawyers. Three and a half hours almost doesn't seem long enough to spend revelling in this superbly complicated film, or to confront the many difficult truths explored. It definitely isn't long enough with its three outstanding key players, who each turn in shattering portrayals whether playing it slick, nervy or soulful. Killers of the Flower Moon is steeped in so much heartwrenching death, and unforgettably so, yet it could't have been better brought to on-screen life.
It isn't by accident that watching The Changeling feels like being read to, rather than simply viewing streaming's latest book-to-TV adaptation. Arriving from the pages of Victor LaValle's novel of the same name, this new horror-fantasy series is obsessed with stories, telling tales and unpacking what humanity's favourite narratives say about our nature, including myths and yarns that date back centuries and longer. Printed tomes are crucial in its characters lives, fittingly. Libraries, bookstores, dusty boxes stacked with old volumes, beloved childhood texts, a rare signed version of To Kill a Mockingbird with a note from Harper Lee to lifelong friend Truman Capote: they all feature within the show's frames. Its protagonists Apollo Kagwa (LaKeith Stanfield, Haunted Mansion) and Emma Valentine (Clark Backo, Letterkenny), who fall in love and make a life together before its first episode is out, even work as a book dealer and a librarian. The Changeling also literally reads to its audience, because LaValle himself wants to relay this adult fairytale. He doesn't appear on-screen with book in hand, but his dulcet tones speaking lyrical prose provides a frequent guide. "Once upon a time" gets uttered, naturally. Declarations that stepping through someone's story says everything about who they are echo, too. Deploying the author to say his own words here and there is an evocative and ambitious choice, and one that has the exact desired effect: this series doesn't just flicker across the screen, but burrows into hearts and minds. Within its narrative, The Changeling regularly muses on being caught between memories and dreams. Viewing it takes on that same sensation. Getting LaValle reading is savvy as well, then, helping the show's audience share a key sliver of Apollo and Emma's experience. Debuting on Apple TV+ on Friday, September 8, The Changeling believes in the power of tales — to capture, explain, transport, engage, caution and advise. In a show created and scripted by Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Fifty Shades of Grey and Saving Mr Banks screenwriter Kelly Marcel, there's nothing more potent and revealing than a story. They're how we share ideas, express emotions, pass on information and keep records. They spark our imaginations, help us make sense of the world and offer pure entertainment. As Apollo and Emma learn on an eight-episode first-season journey filled with haunting mysteries, told with eerie intrigue and painted through gorgeously entrancing imagery, they also convey warnings and encapsulate our darkest truths. Aptly, New Yorkers Apollo and Emma meet amid books, in the library where she works and he frequents. It takes convincing to get her to agree to go out with him — and while that leads to marriage and a child, The Changeling's astute thematic layering includes Apollo's repeated attempts to wrangle that first yes out of Emma. In-between early dates and domesticity, she takes the trip of a lifetime to Brazil, where an old woman awaits by Lagoa do Abaeté. The locals warn Emma to stay away but she's mesmerised. What happens between the two strangers sends the narrative hurtling, with the lakeside figure tying a red string around Emma's wrist, granting her three wishes, but advising that they'll only come true when the bracelet falls off by itself. The Changeling isn't a fairytale purely because it involves wishes. It hasn't been badged as an adult version of folklore's short stories just because it's set in the Big Apple this century — Apollo and Emma meet in 2010 — and centres on a couple's tumultuous relationship, either. Where the pair's romance takes them next is right there in the show's name, a term used to describe a baby that's believed to have been swapped out by fairies; however, knowing that, and that witches, curses, monsters and underground cities also pop up, is just scratching the surface of their tale as well. LaValle and now Marcel understand that happy endings, when they do come, are merely a minor part of the narratives that we call fairytales. Amid their supernatural elements, horror and trauma always lurks. That's true of everything from Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood to Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Beauty and the Beast, and of The Changeling. LaValle and Marcel's inspirations sprawl further, including to Greek myths, Scandinavian folklore, US history, Ugandan traditions, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Rosemary's Baby. The Changeling digs into parenthood's joys and stresses, especially for mothers. It lays bare the societal pressures, expectations and threats levelled at women constantly — and the myriad of male forces and reactions. In not only Apollo and Emma's story, but also in Apollo's mother Lillian's (Violent Night's Alexis Louder when she's younger, American Horror Story's Adina Porter when she's older), the series is intricately steeped in the immigrant and the Black American experiences. Courtesy of a stunning late episode solely devoted to Lillian, it recalls Angels in America while expanding upon the many tragedies inflicted upon folks on the margins. Directors Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Jonathan van Tulleken (Upload), Dana Gonzales (The Handmaid's Tale) and Michael Francis Williams (David Makes Man) make The Changeling as complex aesthetically as it is narratively and thematically. When the show's visuals glow, that's never solely a stylistic choice. When its imagery is shadowy and hazy, the series isn't just employing an easy way to get ominous. Meticulously framed, lit and composed, The Changeling knows the oft-quoted old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, ensuring that every single frame deepens its storytelling. Sometimes that results in sights so unsettling that they're difficult to shake. At other times, Apollo and Emma's antics are positively ethereal to behold. It takes immense performances to weather everything that The Changeling throws at its characters, and to also guide audiences through each twist, turn, leap and jump. To fans of Short Term 12, Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, Uncut Gems, Knives Out, Atlanta and The Harder They Fall, it'll come as no surprise that Judas and the Black Messiah Oscar-nominee Stanfield is exceptional — soulful, simmering with emotion whether Apollo is falling in love or living a nightmare, and electrifying in his gaze alone. Backo, Porter and Louder are also excellent, anchoring a multifaceted portrait of both womanhood and motherhood. When she pops up midway, Malcolm in the Middle great Jane Kaczmarek is equally brilliant. What phenomenal storytellers this series has amassed. What an enthralling tale they help read to viewers, too. Check out the trailer for The Changeling below: The Changeling streams via Apple TV+ from Friday, September 8.
Visitors to NSW's Royal National Park may be treated to a rare spotting of an iconic Australian animal on their next visit, with nine platypuses set to be reintroduced to the park. This marks the first time the species has called the area home in 50 years. Five female platypuses were introduced this past week, with four males set to join them once the females have successfully established their territory. Originally announced back in 2021, the project is the first-ever translocation program for platypuses in NSW, coming from collaborative work between NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, UNSW Sydney and WWF-Australia. "Shy and enigmatic, platypus are the silent victims of climate change. While their elusive behaviour keeps them from view, under the surface they are particularly susceptible to drought and environmental change," says Taronga Conservation Society Australia's Cameron Kerr. [caption id="attachment_824577" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Platypus Conservation Initiative[/caption] "This translocation not only re-establishes a population in part of their former range but allows us to refine the skills and expertise that will inevitably be required to counter the impacts of increasingly frequent and more severe climate events." The nine duck-billed pioneers were collected from southern NSW before being given health checks and fitted with transmitters at Taronga Zoo's platypus refugee. UNSW and WWF-Australia will now monitor the animals in order to determine whether the reintroduction is a success. The project was started after a 2020 UNSW study that found that the areas where platypuses live in Australia has shrunk by 22 percent in the last three decades. WWF-Australia's Rewilding Program Manager Rob Brewster says: "The last century saw the destruction of so much of Australia's wildlife and wild places. The return of platypus to the Royal National Park shows that we can move beyond just protecting what remains, and actually restore what we've lost." Please enjoy the below videos of the critters being released: @unsw Platypuses will paddle through the Royal National Park for the first time in 50 years thanks to conservation efforts by scientists from UNSW's Platypus Conservation Initiative, @tarongazoo, @wwf_australia and @nswnationalparks ♬ today was a good day - ✗ @unsw I'm so proud of you Kylie 🥲#platypus ♬ original sound - kardashianshulu You'll find more information about the platypus reintroduction project at the NSW Government website.
It's been 75 years since the curtain first went up on playwright Arthur Miller's Pulitzer-winning masterwork Death of a Salesman. And yet, while this tragic story is rooted in 1940s America, it has an uncanny prescience, eerily reflecting the cost-of-living pressures and influencer anxieties of today. Not that the production that plays at Sydney's Theatre Royal until Sunday, June 23 — following a critically acclaimed season in Melbourne — draws these contemporary parallels heavy-handedly. Created by Neil Armfield, one of Australian theatre's most visionary directors, this understated staging of the "great American play" lets a virtuosic cast bring its tale of financial struggle and generational trauma into guttingly relevant focus. And in doing so, it delivers some of the most powerful performances seen on a Sydney stage in years. Willy Loman — who is portrayed with masterful nuance by Anthony LaPaglia (Boy Swallows Universe) — has spent his life being an obedient disciple to the cult of American exceptionalism. A middle-class travelling salesman who has carted his wares up and down New England for decades, Loman is propelled by a belief that greatness awaits those who work hard enough for it. He has a quintessentially nuclear family raised in the same apple-pie mould: boisterous and athletic boys Biff (Josh Helman, Furiosa: A Mad Max Story) and Happy (Ben O'Toole, C*A*U*G*H*T), who were the envy of their classmates growing up; and dutiful wife Linda (Alison Whyte, Groundhog Day The Musical), who lives to maintain the domestic bliss of a mortgaged home filled with rented appliances. However, now in his mid-60s, Willy has found himself in a twilight realm of nostalgia and regret as he discovers the capitalist doctrine he once worshipped has betrayed him. Far from being captains of industry, his now-grown sons are lost souls desperately grasping to meet expectations far beyond their reach, while Willy's wife has become trapped by the horror of watching her husband's mind fracturing as it tries to deny an increasingly bleak reality. Dale Ferguson's minimalist set is a rusted flight of high school bleachers where the various supporting characters sit and watch the unravelling of the Lomans. It's an apt backdrop, as there is a voyeuristic, almost transgressive quality to spectating a disaster as intimate as the implosion of a family. And yet, the gut-punching emotional truth of these performances make it impossible to look away — "attention must be paid," Linda pleads, and this production demands it. LaPaglia weaves astonishing subtlety into the peaks and troughs of Willy's undoing, while Helman unleashes every ounce of desperate rage that his body can summon to express the depth of Biff's need to be released from the capitalist propaganda that his father has smothered him with all his life. It's Whyte, however, who provides the greatest revelation. While Willy has committed his life to chasing a false prophet, his wife Linda has committed hers to simply loving him, supporting him and championing him beyond success or failure. And it's in this act of simple devotion that she emerges not merely as the collateral damage to her husband's tragedy, but as the play's heroine. Images: Brett Broadman.
No matter which city you live in, if you have a fondness for trivia — and a head full of otherwise pointless tidbits just waiting to be scribbled down quickly — then you've likely been to one of the many nights dedicated to such knowledge. During stints at home, you've probably tested your skills virtually, too, to help fill all that time within your own four walls. In 2020, Isolation Trivia hit the scene as a lockdown-friendly trivia night. It's still running strong this year, too, which is particularly great news for Greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane residents under lockdown. No, all the questions aren't just about staying indoors — but because that's now a regular part of our lives, these trivia nights are live-streamed. Aimon Clark, from Brisbane's Man vs Bear and Not On Your Rider trivia events, plays quizmaster. As you join in, you'll jot down your answers at home — and everyone can compare scores virtually, and battle for trivia supremacy. Isolation Trivia pops up around once a week, but to keep an eye on the next sessions — and to play along — you're best to head to the event's Facebook page. Top image: Not On Your Rider
It's a chair made out of swords. So notes Daemon Targaryen's (Matt Smith, Morbius) description of TV's most-fought-over piece of furniture of the past 13 years: the Iron Throne. Not one but two hit HBO shows have put squabbles about the sought-after seat at their centre so far, and the second keeps proving a chip off the old block in a fantasy franchise where almost everyone meets that description. If the family trees sprawling throughout Game of Thrones for eight seasons across 2011–19 and now House of the Dragon for two since 2022 (with a third on the way) weren't so closely intertwined in all of their limbs, would feuding over everything, especially the line of succession, be such a birthright? Set within the Targaryens 172 years before Daenerys is born, House of the Dragon could've always cribbed the name of another HBO success. In season two from Monday, June 17 Down Under — via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand — season one's black-versus-green factionalism remains a civil war-esque showdown over which two offspring of the late King Viserys the Peaceful (Paddy Considine, The Third Day) should wear the crown and plonk themselves in the blade-lined chair. The monarch long ago named Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy, Mothering Sunday) as his heir. But with his last breaths, his wife Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke, Slow Horses) — also Rhaenyra's childhood best friend-turned-stepmother — claims that he changed his pick to their eldest son Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney, Rogue Heroes) instead. In King's Landing, the response was speedy, with Rhaenyra supplanted as the next ruler before she'd even heard over at Dragonstone that her father had passed away. Based on Fire & Blood, which George RR Martin penned as backstory after A Song of Ice and Fire's first five books A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, House of the Dragon has also long painted Rhaenyra as the preferred type of chip off the old block. She too wants peace, not war. She also seeks stability for the realm over personal glory. If Viserys spotted that in her as a girl (Milly Alcock, Upright) when he chose her over Daemon, his brother who is now Rhaenyra's husband, he might've also predicted the dedication that she sports towards doing his legacy, and those before him, proud. Aegon, also the grandson of Viserys' hand Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans, The King's Man), sees only entitlement above all else. Martin's tales of family dynasties — the names Stark, Tully, Lannister, Baratheon and more also pop up again — trade in the cycles that course through the bonds of blood, especially in House of the Dragon. Everyone watching knows what's to come for the Targaryens in Daenerys' time, right down to an aunt-nephew romance as the counterpart to Daemon and Rhaenyra's uncle-niece relationship. (No one watching has started this prequel series, the first spinoff of likely many to Game of Thrones, without being familiar with its predecessor). Ice-blonde hair, ambition that soars as high as the dragons they raise and fly, said flame-roaring beasts of the sky, the inability to host happy reunions: these are traits passed down through generations. Some are a matter of genes. Martin continues to explore why the others persist. Season one took to its role as the next on-screen trek across Westeros with seriousness, devotion and reverence, leading to a front-ended run intrigue-wise with talk — scheming, plotting, proclaiming who should be next to sit upon several thrones — and laying the groundwork for more seasons to come monopolising the ten-years-later back half. It was exactly what fans of this TV franchise could've wanted, in no small part thanks to its fondness for overt mirroring that stresses the point that some things trickle down from parent to child no matter what. Season two has less establishing to do, and therefore a quicker pace and tighter focus. It's content in one time period. It also has not just the aftermath of a usurpation but also of a tragic death at the hands of Aegon's younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell, Saltburn), who bears a grudge and wears an eyepatch (the two are connected), to traverse. Rhaenys (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie), cousin to Viserys and Daemon, sums up one of the tragedies that House of the Dragon has committed itself to unpacking: that skirmishes will become such a given that no one will recall or care why the blacks (Rhaenyra's camp) and greens (Aegon and Alicent's) took up weapons and began torching each other with dragons in the first place. The audience won't forget. With images thankfully easier to discern — there's no repeat in the first four episodes of the dull-looking day-for-night atrocity of season one, its low point — the show's return witnesses the cost of pursuing the Iron Throne. It spends more time with the smallfolk, aka those beyond the royals and their cronies. It observes their reaction to the bad blood's brutality at its cruellest. And it does so even while making good on the big promise of Targaryens tearing into each other in a Seven Kingdoms period when dragons weren't a rarity: those mid-air sweeping and snapping dragon frays, which are gloriously brought to life. Scaling back the scene-setting and future-plotting is a gift to House of Dragon's cast in season two, especially to D'Arcy and Cooke. Rhaenyra's battle is really a battle with Alicent more than her son — and the two actors behind the parts expertly handle the task of conveying not only the duelling ambitions feeding the Targaryen tussle for the crown and throne, but also the emotional stakes and costs in their friends-turned-enemies portrayals. Best, as another Targaryen who should've been queen but was overlooked for Viserys, joins them in expressing what it means to walk every step with Westeros' engrained malice shaping your path beyond your control. Seeing their characters team up may now be left to fan fiction, but House of Dragon is a better series with their performances at its heart. As uttered with the snarling glibness that Smith oozes so well in his scene-stealing role, that aforementioned account from Daemon of what everyone is fighting over might sound flippant. It's designed to. But trust House of Dragon to encapsulate the undying source of its heat, and of the perpetual clashes within this conflict-riddled saga, with such a seemingly easy and ordinary turn of phrase. When the fact that leading means climbing across a path of violence, then sitting atop one, even if you're devoted to eschewing bloodshed — again, the Iron Throne is literally a chair made out of swords — and when that fact is such a routine aspect of life that no one thinks twice about it, what else but more feuding can spring? Check out the full trailer for House of the Dragon season two below: House of the Dragon season two streams Down Under via Foxtel and Binge in Australia, and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand, from Monday, June 17, 2024. Read our review of season one. Images: HBO.
Spinning a tale about US government-backed operatives plotting to kidnap a Mexican teenager, Sicario: Day of the Soldado was always going to strike a chord. That said, the film's storyline hits home particularly hard at the moment — a time when children are being taken from their parents at the US-Mexico border, and a tweet-happy president keeps raging about cartels and building a wall. Reality casts a long shadow over this sequel to 2015's surprise standout Sicario. Indeed, there's no way to wade into such murky, politically loaded territory without stirring up more than a few real-world parallels. In the movie as in life, the war on drugs has been overtaken by the war on immigration, and there's absolutely nothing pleasant about it. After attempting to stop the influx of illicit substances into the US in Sicario, military contractor Matt (Josh Brolin) and hitman Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) reunite to tackle the cartels' latest cash cow. With the smuggling of people rather than drugs now the US administration's main concern, the duo is given free reign to do whatever they must; there are no rules this time, as the American tells his Colombian counterpart. Opening fire in traffic, prolonged gunfights with Mexican cops, abductions in broad daylight — if it helps to secretly start a battle between rival mobsters, then it's on the agenda. Their main task: kidnap 16-year-old Isabel Reyes (Isabela Moner), the daughter of a powerful cartel boss with ties to Alejandro's own sad story, and make it appear as though another gang is responsible. It's with an expectedly unsettling air that Sicario: Day of the Soldado becomes a tense exercise in distress, dancing through dark terrain, and ramping up the anxiety and carnage at every turn. From a soundtrack that drones with each blasting note, to bright yet gritty visuals that lay bare the stark situation on the ground, to a seemingly relentless onslaught of action set-pieces, nothing about the film shies away from its uneasy content and mood. That's an achievement that the picture shares with its predecessor, although this follow-up doesn't quite belong in the same company. With the original film's director Denis Villeneuve, cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (who passed away earlier this year) all absent, it's left to their replacements Stefano Sollima (TV's Gomorrah), Dariusz Wolski (All the Money in the World) and Hildur Guðnadóttir (a cellist on the first flick) to offer up as close a copy as they can, instead of trying anything different or distinctive. 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' might be the motto behind-the-scenes, but it proves a mixed bag on-screen. As the film watches its characters coldly and brazenly apply a familiar approach to a new scenario and expect the same successful result, it doesn't escape attention that the movie does the exact same thing. Well, with one major difference, and a crucial one. Where Sicario centred on a female FBI agent (Emily Blunt) thrust into a murky realm she wasn't prepared for or willingly to go blindly along with, this second effort dispenses with the character altogether. In her absence, so too does the film do away with the idea that someone might stand up for doing what's right, rather than what the government and its ruthless agents deem necessary. That's not to say that Brolin and Del Toro don't sweat moral complexity from their furrowed brows, or that their protagonists don't get caught in situations that test even their tenuous ethical limits. They do both, although that's more thanks to the actors than returning screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Wind River). What's missing here is an outside perspective — a view on this dog-eat-dog world that doesn't just accept the bleak circumstances, the by-any-means mindset, or the cruelty that goes with it. Still, Del Toro comes closest to demonstrating the humanity that often gets caught in the crossfire, even when he's holding a weapon and training it at someone else. The path his assassin takes, and the world-weary performance Del Toro turns in, makes the otherwise grim but standard Sicario: Day of the Soldado worth watching. But the less said about the movie's sequel-baiting last few minutes and the teen gang protege subplot that accompanies it, the better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBOxhfWvVDc
In gleaming news for streaming viewers, Mick Herron's Slough House novel series boasts 12 entries so far. In another ace development, several more of the British author's books have links to the world of veteran espionage agent Jackson Lamb. If you're already a fan of Slow Horses, you'll be thrilled. For newcomers, you'll feel the same after diving into this small-screen spy delight and binging your way through it as quickly as possible. Thankfully, all those tales on the page mean that the episodic thriller based on Herron's work has plenty more stories to draw upon in its future. Now up to its third brilliant season as a television series, long may its forward path continue. Apple TV+ has clearly felt the same way since the program debuted in April 2022. In June the same year, the platform renewed Slow Horses for a third and fourth run before its second had even aired. That next chapter arrived that December and didn't disappoint. Neither does the latest and 2023's only batch of six episodes, this time taking its cues from Herron's Real Tigers — after season one used the novel Slow Horses as its basis, and season two did the same with Dead Lions — in charting the ins and outs of MI5's least-favourite department. Slough House is where the service rejects who can't be fired but aren't trusted to be proper operatives are sent to dwell in record-keeping drudgery, with Lamb (Gary Oldman, Oppenheimer) its happily cantankerous, seedy and shambolic head honcho. Each season, Lamb and his team of losers, misfits and boozers — Mick Jagger's slinky earworm of a theme tune's words — find themselves immersed in another chaotic case that everyone above them wishes that they weren't. That said, Slow Horses isn't a formulaic procedural. Sharply written, directed and acted, and also immensely wryly funny, it's instead one of the best spy series to grace television. Each repeat go-around might feature Lamb's band of disgraced agents demonstrating that they're not the write-offs that the rest of the espionage field thinks — and often wants — them to be, but every season-long predicament is meticulously detailed, as are the series' characters. It's easy to see why all things Slough House have gone the television route, rather than following Bond, Bourne and Mission: Impossible into cinema: these are people and scenarios that benefit from spending as much time with as possible. Slow Horses' astuteness, excellent cast and knack for comedy are all present in season three, which starts with two British intelligence officers in Istanbul. Sean Donovan (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Gangs of London) and Alison Dunn (Katherine Waterston, Babylon) share a bed as well as the same outpost, but there's a shadow over their bliss: he's been tasked with investigating whether she's leaking classified information. The Bourne movies come to mind in early chases, but Lamb and his spooks are still the show's focus. Accordingly, when the fallout from the opening events touches Slough House, River Cartwright (Jack Lowden, The Gold), Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves, Creation Stories), Louisa Guy (Rosalind Eleazar, Class of '09), Marcus Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan, This Way Up), Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Dreamland), Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung, Gods of Their Own Religion) and their boss — plus his boss Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas, Rebecca) — are thrust into a game of cat-and-mouse that revolves around secret documents. In London, the situation hits home when one of the Slow Horses' own, the forever-loyal Standish, is abducted. The talented Cartwright again endeavours to illustrate why being banished to Slough House for a training mistake was MI5's error — and why caring about his team has always been one of his finest and most-reliable traits. This'd be a lesser show if Cartwright was simply a gleaming hero forced down the ladder for one false move and always excelling, however, and if Lamb's relentless cynicism about his team's highest flyer was just the bitterness of an old hand about an up-and-comer. Slow Horses doesn't ever throw around the terms in its opening song 'Strange Game' as insults, instead understanding that none of the agents on a slippery slope are perfect because no one is. Indeed, Cartwright and company don't keep chasing a ghost of a chance to get out of spy purgatory solely out of pride, but also due to skill, tenacity and resilience. Lamb's team isn't kept in their place merely because of vendettas or politics — although both factor into the ongoing storyline — but also via struggles, troubles and flaws that are hardly uncommon. All of MI5's inflated egos, uncooperative attitudes, bad tempers, problem gamblers, substance abusers and recovering alcoholics haven't been banished to Slough House, either. While there's a sense of romance to every underdog tale about ragtag outsiders finding somewhere to fit in, Slow Horses is clear-eyed about an unassailable fact: often, all that separates the Lambs and Cartwrights from the Taverners and Spiders (aka The Great's Freddie Fox as James Webb, who has long loved lording his status over his former training rival) is however the cookie happens to crumble. Season three adds extra emphasis to this truth by digging into Taverner's icy turf war with her superior Ingrid Tearney (Sophie Okonedo, The Wheel of Time); the squabbling between MI5's top two women might be more refined than among the Slow Horses, but there's still no one faultless here. As it flits between the service's upper echelons and its lowest ranks, this season also continues to hone its piercing mistrust of everything, especially bureaucratic power. John le Carré (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager, A Most Wanted Man, Our Kind of Traitor) meets Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, In the Loop, Veep), then, and it's as glorious as that sounds. Tense, taut, riveting, rollicking, witty: throw in impeccably penned, staged, shot and acted, and that's the Slow Horses package. Giving both Scott Thomas and Okonedo more screen time gifts the series some new standout scenes, too, although there's not a moment wasted or a sequence that proves superfluous in this tight and gripping show. Of course, no one will ever best Oldman for Slow Horses' top performance — his blend of slovenly but savagely smart as Lamb is an art in everything from his can't-give-a-fuck gaze to his slicing line readings. And if Lowden pairs this stint of cloak-and-dagger antics with gadgets and martinis as 007, as keeps being rumoured, it'd be well-deserved based on his layered portrayal as Cartwright. It'd be right on theme as well, just as Oldman's jump from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to Slow Horses was; being at the summit or the foot of the spy game, and life, can just be a matter of circumstance. Check out the trailer for Slow Horses season three below: Slow Horses streams via Apple TV+.
UPDATE, October 9, 2021: Jungle Cruise is streaming via Disney+'s Premium Access, and is also screening in Sydney cinemas when they reopen on Monday, October 11. Take two charming actors, then couple them up for a feature-length volley of fast-paced banter: that's the screwball rom-com formula. Place this pleasing pair in a scenic but challenging setting — one that'll highlight their individual strengths, see them turn seeming weaknesses into new skills, and will obviously bring them closer together — and that's exactly how plenty of action-adventure movies have unfurled. Sending the always personable and likeable Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt to the Amazon, Jungle Cruise stitches together these two well-established formulas. It traverses its cinematic rapids in the slipstream of 80s fare like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone (and their respective sequels), and even rollicks along in the footsteps of The Mummy franchise of the late 90s and early 00s (a series which actually gave Johnson his first big-screen roles). But, as anyone with even a passing knowledge of Disney's theme parks knows, Jungle Cruise also falls from the attraction-to-film mould that the Mouse House clearly loves. Pirates of the Caribbean is an overt influence, right down to the way that some of this new flick's villains look, and thrusting all these blatant templates to the fore — and together — doesn't quite result in movie magic. Directed by Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter's Jaume Collet-Serra, who makes a workmanlike but hardly memorable jump from unleashing Liam Neeson's special set of skills, Jungle Cruise wants to whisk viewers off on a spirited ride. That's the experiential aim of most theme park-based films: these flicks want audiences to feel like they've stepped inside the attraction from their cinema seat. Before the movie's title card graces the screen, two sequences endeavour to set this tone. They're jovial, boisterous and bouncy, entertaining enough but blunt, and filled with slapstick hijinks and forceful gags. These scenes establish not just Jungle Cruise's mood, but its overall approach — one that, despite the unshakeable appeal of its stars, is primarily interested in the mechanics of hitting its chosen notes. This feature has been in the works since 2004, after initially being green-lit following the first Pirates movie's success, after all. It plays like a creaky relic, in fact, and not just in its nods as far back as 1951's The African Queen. Thanks to its predictable, straightforward yet also needlessly over-plotted narrative, it feels like writers Michael Green (Murder on the Orient Express), Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Focus) have been sitting on their box-ticking script for almost two decades, too. Those first two sequences set things up story-wise, of course. It's 1916, and Dr Lily Houghton (Blunt, A Quiet Place Part II) sneaks into an all-male science society to look for a treasured arrowhead from the Amazon. She's tasked her fussy brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall, Good Omens) with deflecting the organisation's members by telling them her theories about a fabled South American tree, called the Tears of the Moon, that can cure any illness or break any curse. The men are dismissive, but she knows they will be. She's there to steal the trinket so it can lead her to the mythical plant, all while Prince Joachim of Germany (Jesse Plemons, Judas and the Black Messiah) tries to get his hands on it as well. When Lily comes out on top, the Houghtons are off to Brazil to hit the river, but they'll need a captain to guide their watery jaunt. In his introductory scene, the roguish Frank Wolff (Johnson, Jumanji: The Next Level) is spied conducting tourist trips down the Amazon, every step choreographed like an amusement park ride, and with his own pun-heavy showman patter narrating the journey. He's corny, and he has a jaguar in on the act, too. Accordingly, there are zero surprises when Lily enlists his services reluctantly and after some subterfuge on his side, or when he keeps trying to trick her into giving up her quest. Also part of the plot, and also explained before that first title card: Spanish conquistador Aguirre (Edgar Ramirez, The Undoing) and his men, who found the Tears of the Moon almost 400 years ago, tried to take its secrets for themselves, but were cursed by the tree's Indigenous protectors for their treachery. They're the foes that look like cartoonish Pirates knockoffs, to the point of distraction — and they're rendered with so much CGI that any actors could be playing them. That's a recurring trait here, even in a movie that's biggest strength is its two immensely well-known, well-established and well-liked leads. Johnson and Blunt are as delightful as they can be in a feature that isn't big on character development or depth, but the fact that Lily's most-stressed attribute is her era-inappropriate penchant for wearing pants speaks volumes about how the plucky character is seen as a symbol, rather than a person. Comedian Whitehall trades in his usual posh schtick, with MacGregor's status as Disney's first openly gay character largely appearing an afterthought. Plemons is simply saddled with a bad accent — because there's a century-old attitude towards making fun of such things on display — and Paul Giamatti's (Gunpowder Milkshake) involvement as Frank's business rival is just as sketchy. Movies can follow a formula, stick to the obvious beats and still be engaging. Jungle Cruise seems unwilling to take any risks, though, and feels not just designed by committee, but by a corporation. It'll have kids clamouring to hop on the theme park ride, and it thankfully has a tad more personality than just a film-length ad — in other words, it doesn't just scream "hey, we own this and you should like this!" like Space Jam: A New Legacy — but, coming back to its two main stars, it feels like a missed opportunity. Taking a river jaunt with this charismatic and capable pair shouldn't be a clunky, by-the-numbers affair. When yet another pointless complication splutters up, and then another and another, it shouldn't feel like a drag, either. Jungle Cruise's sunny cinematography looks a treat, however, as you'd hope of a movie that uses Hawaii as a stand-in for South America. Swooping and frequently moving camerawork makes this a visually boisterous flick, too. But, like every theme park ride, the film's modest pleasures fade oh-so-quickly afterwards.
UPDATE, January 18, 2021: The Truth is available to stream via Stan, Binge, Foxtel Now, Google Play and YouTube Movies. What does an acclaimed Japanese filmmaker do after spending his career exploring complicated family dynamics in his homeland, then winning the Cannes Film Festival's top prize for his last effort? If he's Hirokazu Kore-eda, he goes to France. Boiling The Truth down to 'Kore-eda in Paris' is simplistic, and yet it fits perfectly — and that's by no means a bad thing. Neither is dubbing this layered film Kore-eda ode's to French cinema. While the writer/director calls on many of the familiar trademarks that've made his Japanese-language features such hits, he sets them in France, filters them through French cinematic sensibilities, and deploys them in French and English. His first non-Japanese movie mightn't initially seem like the natural successor to Shoplifters, but it actually suits that role nicely. The intricate, intimate family interplay that Kore-eda has spent his filmography studying is universal, after all. When beloved acting veteran Fabienne Dangeville (Catherine Deneuve) welcomes her daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche), son-in-law Hank (Ethan Hawke) and granddaughter Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier) for a rare visit to her sprawling home, there's much to unpack — for this loving but bickering brood, and for audiences. The family reunion is in celebration of Fabienne's just-published memoir, which Lumir hasn't been given a copy of before she arrives, but has firm views on once she reads it. "I can't find any truth in here!" she comments angrily. "I'm an actress — I won't tell the unvarnished truth," is Fabienne's haughty justification. As well as throwing around the titular term liberally, The Truth follows the pair's attempts to sift through a lifetime of baggage, with the book's many embellishments revealing just how differently they each view Lumir's childhood. Also an actor, Hank watches on, hampered by his inability to speak French. Meanwhile, Charlotte obsesses over grandmother's giant pet turtle, who has the same name as her grandfather. But the fallout from Fabienne's memoir just keeps coming. Her long-term personal assistant, Luc (Alain Libolt), quits because he isn't even mentioned in the book, throwing the household into disarray. That leaves Lumir, a screenwriter, to step in, accompanying her mother as she shoots her latest big-screen role. It's in a sci-fi film called Memories of My Mother, where Fabienne's character grapples with an absent mum — all as Fabienne herself gets envious about her applauded young co-star (Manon Clavel). Not only crafting a film about a strained mother-daughter relationship, but also featuring a film within the film about the same topic, Kore-eda threatens to steer The Truth into obvious territory. But he's always been talented at exposing the complexity lingering beneath seemingly straightforward scenarios — and, perhaps more importantly, twisting such situations into revelatory and insightful family portraits that bubble with honesty. So, he does just that. Specifically, he keeps finding new ways to interrogate the film's eponymous concept, and its relationship to Fabienne and Lumir's life. The Truth ponders the playful fibs told to children, the rose-coloured glasses applied to the past, the gaps that even the most vivid memories can have, and the overt choices made to shape one's own narrative. It also tasks Lumir with scripting dialogue for both her mother and daughter that they can each pass off as their own genuine emotions. There's such depth to the movie's contemplation of its chosen subject that, if you didn't already know, you'd never guess that Kore-eda doesn't speak French himself. The film certainly looks the part, set in well-appointed surroundings, favouring a subtle colour scheme and never overly making a visual fuss. Performance-wise, though, it helps that he's working with two of France's greatest living actors — and that Deneuve couldn't be better cast. Seeing the 76-year-old play a celebrated star who chain smokes, spits out strong opinions, and cares little for her predecessors, peers or successors is a clear case of art imitating life. It's also glorious to watch. Yes, Kore-eda has found yet another way to trifle with the truth, but his film's biggest accomplishment just might be its heft as a character study of Deneuve's irrepressible Fabienne. Binoche more than holds her own in the movie's second substantial role, continuing a stellar spate of very recent performances (in Let the Sunshine In, Non-Fiction, High Life and Who You Think I Am). While Hawke makes a smaller impression, there's no dead weight here. Seeing him weather Fabienne's barbs about Hank's career — because she doesn't consider acting in a streaming series to really be acting — is a classic Kore-eda move, with the director an expert at spying the ripples caused by throwaway comments. That's part of his observational, attuned approach. Cataloguing how family members interact and react in both ordinary and heightened circumstances, he captures the texture and reality of life, including in this characteristically warm, witty, emotionally perceptive addition to his resume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQVotRZUxg4
If you haven't already checked out this summer's blockbuster exhibition Japan supernatural: 1700s to now at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, there's something you should know: it's packed with paranormal creatures. Yōkai and yurai — mystical and ghoulish — characters are depicted in every drawing, painting, video work and graphic installation. There are 180 works about the spirit world, from rare books by 18th century folklorist Toriyama Sekien to Japan's most famous manga artist, Mizuki Shigeru. It's a world where fans of Studio Ghibli films and Brothers Grimm fairy tales will be equally inspired. If you have been to Japan supernatural it's likely you've been wonderstruck by the expansive works of contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, but we think you should look a little closer on your next visit to the Art Gallery — as there are a few creepy beings that rear their (sometimes long, snake-like) necks across multiple works, from sumo wrestling kappa (who have a terrifying backstory) to the eyeball that likes to sip sake. Concrete Playground spoke with Assistant Curator Yuki Kawakami to find out more about five particularly haunting characters in this exhibition. [caption id="attachment_756754" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Toriyama Sekien, 'Night procession of the hundred demons (Hyakki yakō zu)' (1772–81), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection[/caption] THE MYSTERIOUS LONG-NECKED WOMAN One of the first pieces you'll encounter at the Art Gallery's huge exhibition is a painted handscroll called Night procession of the hundred demons (Hyakki yakō zu) (1772–81). It's by Toriyama Sekien — a folklorist who is also a bit of an enigma. Kawakami tells us, "This particular painting is extremely rare, and though there's not that much written about Sekien, he's very well known for his depictions of these yōkai." Rokurokubi — or the Long-Necked Woman (pictured on the right) — is a shapeshifting yōkai. By day, the spirit has a perfectly ordinary human form, but by night, the spirit's neck extends, snaking around in the dark to look for bugs and oil in lamps for a late-night snack. The Long-Necked Woman is also known to attach herself to unsuspecting men. "She's depicted in a cheeky way. She draws men through her beauty; her characteristics are trickery and the act of seduction. She's just a boss woman, a man eater," says Kawakami. Rokurokubi can be found in multiple works. For bonus points, look out for her alleged lover, another long-necked creature called the Look Over Monk. Rumour has it they have a lovechild called Tōfu-kozō (Tofu Boy) who always carries a plate of tofu. [caption id="attachment_756766" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 'The heavy basket (Omoi tsuzura)' from the series 'New forms of thirty-six ghosts (Shingata sanjūrokkaisen)' (1892), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra[/caption] THE WATER-DWELLING, ORGAN-STEALING KAPPA Oh look, here's the Look Over Monk — the one with the third eye. Now draw your gaze to the green, frog-like creature that appears to be lurking in a basket. That's a kappa. Kawakami says, the kappa appear in different forms and with different names like kawataro. If you bank in Japan, you may recognise the cheeky fella as the mascot of one of the country's leading banks. But don't be deceived, these water-dwelling yōkai have a sadistic story. It's said they reach inside human bodies through the rectum to snatch at your organs. You can find the kappa in Sekien's Night procession of the hundred demons (Hyakki yako zu) and also in Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's The heavy basket (Omoi tsuzura) from the series New forms of thirty-six ghosts (Shingata sanjurokkaisen). "In this one it's quite menacing and cheeky. He also likes to challenge people in a game of sumo. There are drawings of kappa against kappa engaged in sumo by the river." The creatures have elements of frog, turtle and monkey about them — and the popular cucumber sushi rolls, kappa–maki, are named for the creature's apparent love of cucumbers. Note the pool of water on their heads: "When there's no liquid, that's when they lose their powers," says Kawakami. [caption id="attachment_756861" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 'The old woman retrieves her arm (Rōba kiwan o mochisaru zu)' from the series 'New forms of thirty-six ghosts (Shingata sanjūrokkaisen)' (1889), Art Gallery New South Wales[/caption] THE CACKLING ONE-ARMED DEMON WITCH Japan supernatural is all about manifestations of the paranormal in Japanese folklore, art, literature, theatre and film. In this exhibition you'll also meet another volatile creature, that of the oni — demon-like and menacing, but not necessarily evil. "You can tell a character is not a ghost [or yōkai] because of the claws and the green face. The oni are depicted either by green, blue or red skin — and the claws," says Kawakami. Ibaraki-doji, or the Cackling One-Armed Demon Witch, is found in Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's The old woman retrieves her arm (Rōba kiwan o mochisaru zu). Yoshitoshi was born in Edo (now Tokyo) and he was known for images of violence and ghoulish works after a period of possible mental illness. Other demon-like qualities to look for are curled toenails and fingernails. Be especially watchful during the twilight hours, when these spirits and demons are more likely to present themselves to us humans. "It's an oni, but they dress so beautifully — they have style." [caption id="attachment_756870" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chiho Aoshima, 'Off to Memorial Service' (2009), 'The Tree Where Moimois Gather' (2009). Both colour on Japanese rice paper.[/caption] THE DOE-EYED AND DISTANT MOIMOI Chiho Aoshima is part of Kaikai Kiki, the artist collective run by internationally famous artist Takashi Murakami. She's based in Kyoto, and during her time as an assistant at Murakami's studio he noticed her own yōkai drawings and he encouraged her to do more. "What I find interesting about her work is that she's really into the relationship between nature, death and humans," says Kawakami. "She likes Japanese cemeteries." A recurring character is the Moimoi, which comes in various shapes and forms. One is pictured as a black blob walking through a cemetery — like in Off to Memorial Service (2009), above — and in another she appears to embody city buildings, trees or entire beaches. "When I asked [Aoshima] where she gets the Moimoi from, she said she sees a lot of the Moimoi in herself. Whether it's a sense of isolation, or a sense of calm or peace. I read it as a sense of loneliness living in the contemporary world. She also says that when she passes she would want to become part of nature, so you see a strong relationship between nature and death in her work." [caption id="attachment_758406" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mizuki Shigeru 'Kyoto' (2008), from the series 'Fifty-three stations of the Yōkaidō (Yōkaidō gojūsan tsugi)' (2008). Art Gallery of New South Wales, Yasuko Myer Bequest Fund 2019. Mizuki Productions.[/caption] THE SAKE SIPPING, BATH-LOVING EYEBALL MAN Mizuki Shigeru is probably the most famous manga artist/historian in Japan. He created a manga series based on yōkai lore that celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. "Anyone from the 1960s onwards would easily recognise these characters. The main character is called Kitarō — and his father is the Eyeball Man, called Medama-Oyaji." Kitarō doesn't have an eye on his left socket, and in the manga drawings you can see Medama-Oyaji popping out of Kitarō's eye socket to offer him advice. "He also likes to take baths in a little bowl, and he drinks sake." Shigeru brings a playfulness to his depictions of the yōkai: mysterious creatures that are often mischievous. In The Fifty-three Stations of the Yokaido he places the yōkai within the stations of familiar cities like Kyoto and Tokyo, which you can find on the Art Gallery's walls until March. 'Japan supernatural: 1700s to now' runs until March 8, 2020 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Tickets are available to buy online. Top images: Installation view of the exhibition 'Japan supernatural' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter. Artworks © Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
UPDATE, December 22, 2021: Annette is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Dreamy and dazzling from its first moments, rock opera Annette bursts onto the screen with a simple question: "so may we start?". As the opening credits roll, the long-awaited latest film from Holy Motors director Leos Carax addresses its audience before it poses that query — via an unseen announcer who tells viewers "you are now kindly requested to keep silent, and to hold your breath until the end of the show" — but the movie doesn't begin to truly kick into gear until the filmmaker himself asks if things can get going. Images of a recording studio flicker, with Carax on one side of the glass and Ron and Russell Mael, of art-pop duo Sparks, on the other. Carax tells his real-life daughter Nastya that the fun is about to commence, and the Mael brothers start singing and playing keyboard, with a band around them. Soon, however, everyone is on their feet and spilling out into the street, with the feature's stars Adam Driver (Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), Marion Cotillard (We'll End Up Together) and Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) joining them in the glorious, song-fuelled, sing-and-walk scene. No one is playing a character here yet, but they're all still playing a part. They're finally coming together for the big spectacle that is this eagerly anticipated film — which has been in the works since 2016 — and they're setting the vibe in a bold and sensational way. The tune is pure Sparks, with the pair both composing the movie's music and writing the feature itself with Carax. The tone bubbles with the pair's avant-garde sensibilities, too, and the whole song echoes with the promise of remarkable things to come. Grand and resonant despite its low-key staging and setting, Annette's memorable opening number ends with the Maels, Carax and his daughter, and some of the film's supporting cast members farewelling the feature's two protagonists — with Driver and Cotillard putting on clothing their characters will favour during the rest of the movie during the track. "Bye Henry," the crowd exclaims as the standup comic played by Driver zips off on a motorcycle. "Bye Ann," they chirp at the opera star played by Cotillard as she's chauffeured off in a black SUV. The audience is sent tumbling through the looking glass now, and diving in deep. Nine years ago, Carax gave the world a once-in-a-lifetime gem. Annette is a different film to Holy Motors, obviously, but it gleams just as brightly and with the same beguiling, inimitable, all-encompassing allure. There's an ethereal, otherworldly quality to Carax's work — of heightening reality to truly understand how people feel and act, and of experimenting with artforms to interrogate them — and that sensation seeps through every second of his gleefully melodramatic musical, which deservedly won him the Cannes Film Festival's Best Director award. Everything about Annette has been turned up several notches on every setting, from its lush and lavish imagery to its cascade of toe-tapping, sung-through tunes that keep propelling the narrative forward. Every character detail, both external and internalised, has been amplified as well. This is a movie where Driver's Henry wears the same shade of green over and over like a uniform, beaming his envy at every turn. It's a film where sex scenes involve singing, as though they're the only way these characters can really convey their innermost emotions. And, it's a feature where the titular character — the baby born of Henry McHenry and Ann Defrasnoux's mismatched but passionate and all-consuming love — is played by a marionette. This is a tragedy and a fairy tale, in other words, because life so often veers between elements of both. Henry and Ann "love each other so much", as another of Annette's catchy tunes intones repeatedly, but it's apparent from the outset that their chalk-and-cheese affair has its struggles. Early on, the film contrasts their on-stage antics to quickly but effectively express their dissimilarities. In a show called The Ape of God, Henry broods over the microphone as he struts and shakes in nothing but underwear and a bathrobe, and opines about how he loves killing his audiences with his brutal and brusque comedy. He talks about how Ann is always dying in her operas, with cuts to her sweet soprano singing and heartbreaking death scenes underscoring his point. These juxtapositions keep simmering as the paparazzi charts the couple's romance, and as Ann's pregnancy brings Annette into their lives. The girl has an astonishing gift, but her presence can't save the movie's star-crossed lovers — or moonlit paramours, to be more accurate — from continuing to weather stormy seas. The Maels and Carax haven't held back in almost every facet of the feature; that aforementioned delight of an opening number is perhaps the most restrained thing they splash across the screen. The story sprawls, the lively and clever songs keep coming, and this intricately, overtly stylised affair pushes wave after wave of hypnotic imagery, mesmerising music and heated, near-Shakespearean relationship dramas into its frames. Expectedly and welcomely given the melding of creative minds behind it, it's a movie filled with idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. It's so very Carax, as fans of the director's back catalogue will instantly spot. It's so very Sparks as well, which is evident even if you're new to the duo despite their five-decade-plus career, or if you've only just discovered them via stellar documentary The Sparks Brothers. It's "so much" just like Henry and Ann's love, and it adores it — and it happily and vibrantly melds elements of cinema, gigs, opera and live performance, all while weaving in everything from commentary about celebrity culture and stints of singing cunnilingus, and also knowing that it's constantly toeing the line between oh-so-exaggerated and oh-so-heartfelt. Annette is also long, and both looping and sometimes a little loopy. It satirises, unpacks and embraces, and it loves being multiple paradoxes at once. It thrusts forward with its own pull — but once you're caught in the thrall of its exuberance, playfulness, overwhelming emotions and surreal touches, you're as subject to its whims as Henry and Ann. Inhabiting those parts, Driver and Cotillard commit to the ride. The former visibly cycles between resembling both Ron and Russell Mael in one of the film's devilishly joyous small flourishes, and bustles through the movie like a force of nature. The latter always feels like her co-star's delicate counterweight, while also ensuring that Ann's light, grace and yearning shine through. Their strings are being pulled masterfully by Carax and Sparks, as are viewers' — and yes, we want them to start, and then to never stop.
There are few things that scream summer louder than drinks by the beach and Cronulla RSL boasts some of the best views around. Celebrate the longer days with a trip to this southern suburb and enjoy sunset drinks on the balcony overlooking the golden sand of South Cronulla Beach. It's a great spot for watching the die-hard surfers soak up the last light of the day. The club had a makeover a few years back, but its good looks haven't led to pretentiousness — it still has a friendly local vibe and is as laidback as a prawn on the barbie.
As part of Merivale's quest to rule the city, they've opened a plush new whisky bar in the Angel Hotel. The bar draws on its glamorous past as the former site of the iconic House of Merivale and it shows in the interiors. Think rich green velvets, sleek brown leathers and copper accents. It also wouldn't be a whisky bar without the prerequisite chesterfield lounges. Merivale has gone all out with this one; J&M boasts a specially imported drinks trolley, named 'The Sidecar' (a collaboration between Moore & Giles and acclaimed barman Jim Meehan) and a long glass bar. J&M is a tribute to the late John Hemmes and his wife Merivale, so it only seems fitting that it would be located where their empire began. J&M wants you to have a "unique, sensory whisky experience". In a clever nod to the empire's roots as a fashion label, the bar's bespoke haberdashery cabinets are be filled with ingredients. Settle into one of the comfy lounges and enjoy personal trolley service, or sit at the bar to get a side of whisky knowledge with your drink. J&M has an upper hand compared to other bars in that it will stock exclusive whiskies that you can't buy anywhere else in the country. If straight whisky isn't your thing, you can try one of their specially-crafted cocktails with fun names like the Blood and Marie (Chivas Regal 18-year-old, Cynar, Cherry Heering, Antica Formula, pink grapefruit and cherry dust) and the POPSCOF (buttered popcorn washed Chivas Regal 18-year-old, salted caramel syrup, bitters and Himalayan salt). A short menu is also available if you need some nibbles with your drink. J&M is a welcome addition to the city's bar scene and your chance to savour a slice of Sydney history and some world-class whiskies.
Drop everything. Nothing is as important as this Game of Thrones-themed wine tasting. Are you still, still recovering from The Red Viper versus The Mountain? Are you feeling a little nostalgic for the days when Tyrion could lay around boozing on vino? Perhaps you should be drinking your sorrows away with some like-minded Thrones fanatics. Confused? We’ll lay it down for you. Game of Rhones is a wine-tasting event touring that's been touring Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne since 2014. Now it's expanding the empire to Sydney and Auckland, stopping by our fair city on Sunday, June 21 at Carriageworks. Featuring over 40 producers and 100 wines, it's a one-day, all-out trial by combat to determine the best offering of the grape varieties from the Rhone Valley in France — Shiraz, Grenache, and Viognier among others. There'll also be local wines, ciders and beers from every corner of Kings Landing/Australia/New Zealand all of which have been confirmed to contain no poison and you, the humble commoner, will be entrusted to pick the victor. But this isn't just a run-of-the-mill wine tasting set-up. To keep that theme solid, the Rhone Bar is where you can taste wines from ‘Beyond the Wall’ (ie: the Rhone Valley). Then, you can sign up for a blindfolded tasting in the 'torture chamber' (a highlight of previous Game of Rhones events). Suffice to say, after a few of these Rhone Valley wines, we'd probably confess to a secret or two. Of course, it wouldn't be Thrones-worthy if there weren't a few extra kickers. To accompany your wine, there will be a selection of feast-able treats available such as suckling pig and venison pie — if you’re a vego or a vegan, you've probably already guessed this is a highly meaty affair — and there's also the option to come in costume. In previous Rhone events, it appears that patrons have either gone all out, or rocked up in jeans. Obviously we suggest the former, because quite frankly it would be amazing to see a hoard of drunken Daenarys' walking the streets of Auckland. Game of Rhones is coming to Sydney on Sunday, June 21 from 1-6pm at Blacksmiths Workshop, Carriageworks. Your $50 ticket includes a special take-home Riedel Ouverture Magnum wine glass and all tastings from 1pm-6pm, however food prices are not included. For more information see the Game of Rhones website.
