If not for the queue running out the door, Iggy's Down Under would be easy to miss. But if the queue of ga-ga customers somehow fails to catch your attention, the wafting aroma of freshly baked bread certainly will. A tiny, hole-in-the-wall joint, Iggy's is not to be underestimated. Their homemade breads are hands-down regarded as the best in the area, more than worth the wait in line. So much so that we put them at the list of our favourite bakeries in Sydney. Iggy's operates under the principle of honest quality, producing nothing short of delicious perfection. Once you navigate the line, the options may overwhelm. Don't worry your hungry head, however: at this bakery, you can't make a wrong decision. Try the olive rolls for a twist on a classic dinner roll. Scrumptiously puffy and soft, these rolls are sprinkled with the salty, savoury flavour of green and kalamata olives. The olives add a subtle touch, but enough so that you can eat these rolls plain. I imagine they'd make a nice dinner companion as well, but mine are sure as hell not making it all the way back home. As a crunchier option, I sample the French dough bread sticks. The bread sticks come in several versions: plain, parmesan, and multi-seed. All delicious (are you sensing a theme here yet?), I recommend the parmesan. The satisfying initial crunch upon first bite is backed up by a savoury parmesan and spicy chilli flake combination. Yum. Iggy's artisanal approach to breadmaking is difficult to come by; bread this good is even more difficult to find. Run, don't walk, and get yourself a loaf. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Bagels in Sydney for 2023 The Best Bakeries in Sydney for 2023
Newtown is now home to a delightful multi-use deli that has been created with the intention of being a warm community hub in the style of the small providores and cheese shops of Europe. Marani Deli is the vision of founder Alex Grenouiller (ex-Cafe Paci, ex-Penny's Cheese Shop) and the concept behind it has been inspired by the neighbourhood shops of his childhood hometown of Lyon, France, his partner's Sicilian heritage, and their shared experiences in Georgia. "The term 'Marani' translates to 'cellar' in Georgian, and is a place not just for winemaking but also to gather, chat, eat and be merry," said Grenouiller. "I wanted to bring this sense of connection via simple, well-made food to Newtown, and Sydney, my second home that has welcomed me with open arms." Marani Deli's inviting space consists of warm earthy tones paired with sleek black tiles and glass cabinetry showcasing its range of local, Italian, French and Georgian cheese. And from grab-and-go items like freshly baked baguettes and panini to everyday deli snacks from cold cuts to artisanal chocolates, you are spoilt for choice. "We envision Marani Deli as more than a specialty grocer," said the deli's founder. "We're here to not only supply locals with artisanal products [...] all made by farmers, chefs, and other industry talent, but also to provide the community with a place to meet, connect and always feel welcome." When you drop by, you'll also spot shelves of quality oil, olive-filled jars and charcuterie, as well as plenty of (homey) decor personalising the space including photographs, gorgeous wooden cupboards and vibrant recipe books. Additionally, the space will star work by local artists including prints and illustrations from Rose Colbeck, ceramics made by the Marrickville-based chef-turned-potter Daniel J Mulligan — known for his Chef VS Clay series — and handmade wooden boards from Ripple Boards. And if you swing by during the evenings, you'll discover the joint's curated food events known as 'supra nights' which celebrate the work of natural makers and importers. Think: Parisian caves à manger-style. Head over to 7-8, 80 Wilson Street in Newtown to check out Marani Deli. You'll find the brand-new outpost open from 10am to 6:30pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, from 9:30am to 3:30pm on Saturdays and 9:30am to 12:30pm on Sundays. Image credit: Dexter Kim.
New York City is known for its best-in-class dining. But here's something not everyone tells you: there are some incredibly tasty spots to eat and drink outside the five boroughs, too. From Poughkeepsie to Buffalo and everywhere in between, upstate New York is teeming with culinary destinations that are worth venturing beyond the city for. As you make your way between outstanding outdoor landmarks and cultural institutions, finding a charming town filled with acclaimed eateries and brewery bars is a cinch. There's also a rich variety of farms and specialty stores to drop by to see how the magic happens right before your eyes. We've teamed up with New York State to showcase some of the best cafes, restaurants, markets and drinking spots that ensure your next adventure to New York is one your tastebuds will remember. [caption id="attachment_846987" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Plan Bee Brewery, Derek Dellinger, Plan Bee Farm Brewery[/caption] DRINKS New York State's farm-to-table scene hasn't overlooked the world of drinks, with a raft of breweries, distilleries and wineries ensuring you can sip a small-batch drop that leaves a powerful impression. Poughkeepsie's Plan Bee Farm Brewery has a ground-to-glass philosophy. Most of the company's ingredients grow either on-site or in nearby paddocks — we're talking water from the wells, estate-grown hops and fruits, and yeast cultivated from the farm's raw honey. The taproom is open Fridays to Sundays from 12pm, so swing by to sample what's on tap. Don't let the name get you down – The Brewery of Broken Dreams in Hammondsport is anything but. Founded by a couple of dedicated beer lovers, the venue earned its moniker following several failed attempts to get a craft beer venture off the ground. Drawing inspiration from their hardship, the duo transformed an old winery into a stunning brewery bar with 12 rotating taps of ale that display the best local hops and malt. In Aurora, on the outskirts of Buffalo, the 42 North Brewing Company has a first-rate taproom, brewery and beer garden that you can easily while away a few hours in. And don't worry if you really do lose track of time — the venue also has four lofts that you can spend the night in, complete with windows peeking into the brewery floor, balcony doors overlooking the beer garden and complimentary growlers. [caption id="attachment_845910" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arrowood Farms[/caption] Then, in Accord, Arrowood Farms is a celebrated gastropub with a sustainable ethos. Via a small-batch brewery, a distillery and a farm-to-table restaurant, it produces diverse culinary pleasures from ingredients grown on the property or within the Hudson Valley. If vino is more your bag, pay a visit to Bacchus Wine Bar. You'll find this restaurant and wine bar tucked inside Buffalo's historic Calumet building — a famous art nouveau landmark built in the early 20th century. Here, visitors will discover an award-winning seasonal wine list that shuns pretension. Food-wise, the venue serves a simple yet delicious menu, including New York-style strip steaks, half-racks of lamb and pecan-crusted salmon. Meanwhile, Kingston's reputation as an artsy hub deserves a cute wine bar to match. Fortunately, these prayers are answered in Brunette. This chic wine bar is big on low-intervention wine, beer and cider. It's a theme that tracks to the venue's design, too, with simple wood furnishings, white marble benchtops and a baby pink facade. Pair your vino with a selection of snacks to share — think trout roe nachos, tinned fish served with bread and pickles, and kale caesar salad. Or, to try directly from the source, visit some of the state's top wineries. Our picks are Ravines Wine Cellars in Geneva, particularly to try its bone-dry riesling in the stunning historical barn, and Millbrook Vineyards and Winery, based in the Hudson River region, where you can enjoy a picnic in the garden with a bottle of its award-winning chardonnay or tocai friulano (an Italian variety). [caption id="attachment_845328" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Phoenicia Diner[/caption] RESTAURANTS As you wander your way through upstate New York, you'll be presented with many blue-chip restaurants putting unmatched passion into their cuisine. Nowhere is this more evident than Woodstock's Silvia. This family-owned eatery bases its offering around locally sourced organic ingredients prepared over a woodfired grill. Alongside grilled wild shrimp, woodsmoked pork chops and seared brussels sprout, trademark cocktails like pomegranate hibiscus sours and spiced beet margaritas will go down an absolute treat. A few miles up the road in Phoenicia, the Phoenicia Diner has served classic American cuisine since 1962. The current owner has taken this longstanding roadside eatery in a local direction, with the menu showcasing seasonal produce grown on farms throughout the Catskills and Hudson Valley. All-day breakfast classics like buttermilk pancakes and bagels topped with lox and cream cheese hit the spot. Lunch takes things up a notch with sandwiches jam-packed with your choice of Korean fried chicken, meatloaf or chorizo. Po'boy fans will struggle to resist a Catskills interpretation of this Louisiana favourite: cornmeal-crusted trout, remoulade, tomato and lettuce on a baguette. Keep driving inland along scenic Route 28 to come across Peekamoose in Big Indian — a stunning example of farm-to-feast dining that makes the most of its surrounding landscape. The rustic yet refined menu highlights the close relationships the restaurant has built with the region's top farmers and makers. Plus, the rejuvenated farmhouse is styled with fascinating found objects, which may prompt some interesting dinner conversation. [caption id="attachment_845288" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Garage Taco Bar[/caption] The Garage Taco Bar offers more than its no-frills storefront and decor may suggest. Housed inside a former auto shop in Binghamton, this industrial-chic taco joint and cocktail bar is decorated with the remnants of old steering wheels, bumper grills and rims. The Mexican street food-style cuisine includes everything from taco platters to stacked burritos. Further north, at the tip of Seneca Lake, FLX Table in Geneva is where food and community combine. You may have frequented pared-back restaurants that only offer a dozen or so seats before — but have you ever had to join everyone around the same table? Embrace your inner extrovert to make the most of the dinner party vibes and the seasonal five-course meal. [caption id="attachment_845006" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anchor Bar, NYSDED, Darren McGee[/caption] Of course, we can't forget to mention one of the most legendary foods to come out of the state of New York: buffalo wings. If you're going to eat 'em, Anchor Bar — the (alleged) birthplace of this hearty snack — is where to do so. As the story goes, Teressa Bellissimo tossed some leftover wings in hot sauce to feed her son's ravenous friends in 1964, resulting in the famed dish that's now served in bars around the globe. The restaurant is a great pitstop on the way to Niagara Falls, so you have no excuses not to pull in for a wing feast. [caption id="attachment_851107" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Roots Café, Courtesy of Roots Café[/caption] CAFES Directly opposite Hudson train station, you'll find Kitty's Market and Cafe. Nab a table in the outdoor patio to soak up the sun as you dine on home-style cuisine — the venue is renowned for its signature rotisserie chicken sandwiches and top-notch coffee. Have a long drive ahead? Stock up on road-trip snacks from its range of eclectic provisions. When exploring the picturesque Finger Lakes district, Roots Cafe in Naples is the ideal spot to rest up and re-caffeinate. This quaint old-fashioned home may look like something straight out of an iconic US TV show (think more Dawson's Creek than Schitt's Creek) but it also happens to serve some pretty tasty food. The menu changes seasonally based on local supply but is always reliably hearty Modern American fare, like braised brisket with veggies, barbecue pulled pork sambos and good ol' fashioned mac 'n' cheese. [caption id="attachment_853529" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ithaca Farmers Market, NYSDED, Darren McGee[/caption] MARKETS AND SPECIALTY STORES Upstate New York is a haven for fresh produce and locally made goods, so there are unsurprisingly dozens of markets and microbusinesses worthy of a visit. First up: the Ithaca Farmers Market. Each weekend, 130 chefs, farmers and artisans (each of whom grow their wares within 30 miles of Ithaca) set up shop to sell their wares. You also don't have to trek to Canada to sample world-class maple syrup. Based in Dover Plains, Soukup Farms is a third-generation producer of pure syrup and other specialty products, including maple cream, maple hot sauce and even maple candles. Another enduring operation selling sweet treats is Parkside Candy. This popular confectionery store and ice cream parlour was founded in Buffalo in 1927, and the decor doesn't seem to have aged a day. Parkside is known for its handmade chocolates and old-fashioned lollipops, but don't leave without trying its signature Sponge Candy — it's melt-in-your-mouth good. To start planning your trip to New York State, head to iloveny.com. Also, be sure to check out our recommendations for the best places to stay, cultural experiences, outdoor adventures and day trips from NYC. Top image: Arrowood Farms
Your jacaranda-dotted, snail-paced Sunday morning stroll around Paddington is about get even better. On September 14, Victoria Barracks’ sandstone wall will become the backdrop to the new Paddington Art Market. Both fresh-faced, emerging artists and established pros will have their latest creations on display. There’ll be painting, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, graphics and more. Woollahra Council Mayor Toni Zeltzer dreamt up the idea following a recent sojourn in Europe. “When I visited the artists’ stalls along the Seine River in Paris and Camden Loch in London, I thought why not do this here, within an Australia vernacular?” she said. “The Paddington Art Market is the perfect showcase for what is at the heart of Paddington’s identity — its creativity.” If you’d like to set up a stall of your own, simply apply through the site and pay a nominal fee, which will be donated to the Holdsworth Community Centre, a Woollahra-based NGO dedicated to helping the aged, disadvantaged and individuals with disabilities.
Looking back on the last 24 years, the fashion world really hasn't changed all that much. Outfits are still outrageous, trends are as cyclical as the tides, and the pomp and puffery of the PR machine is as condescending and self-aggrandising as ever. In that sense, fashion's immutability makes it just as ripe for parody now as it was back in 1992, when Absolutely Fabulous first aired on the BBC. On the other hand, that the fashion world really hasn't changed all that much means that any parody done now risks feeling banal and familiar. Hence, the challenge of breathing new life into something old proves just as relevant for any pastiche as it does for the fashion world itself. It's here that we find ourselves presented with Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. The notoriously precarious production road of TV adaptations has seen a lot of traffic of late. In just the past few years, programs that have graduated to the big screen include The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, Entourage, The Equaliser, GI Joe and The Man From U.N.C.L.E, plus a whole bunch of Mission Impossibles and Star Treks as well as a Baywatch film currently in post-production. More often than not these films fall short of the mark, tending to feel like two and a half episodes stuck together, or one longer episode struggling to justify its expanded scope and budget. The best are more like reinterpretations, taking the idea of the TV series and using that as the base for an entirely new adventure (21 Jump Street and Star Trek: Into Darkness being the best of the recent bunch). Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie attempts to follow that trend, throwing its stars Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) back into the limelight of the fashion PR milieu. The theme of the movie, appropriately, is relevance, with its two leads fighting to stay part of the conversation in a world that has all but left them behind. Physically that means morning rituals of self-applied botox, suction tubes and foetus-blood facial transfusions, while professionally it means trying to land a client who still means something to people (sorry Lulu). The solution presents itself in the form of fashion icon Kate Moss (who cameos), but when an attempt to lure her business ends in disaster, Eddie and Patsy find themselves pariahs of the fashion world and fugitives from the law. Does it all come together as a film? In parts, perhaps, but overall the feeling is one of overreach and superfluity. If anything, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is more like a reunion episode than a film, bouncing from scene to scene with barely a plot in sight, even fewer laughs, and a series of fleeting walk-ons from characters you kind of, sort of, maybe remember from back when you watched the show. Barbs about gender reassignment and mixed-race families fizzle by without any real substance, and the drunken stumbling/falling routine that defined so much of the original series now seems sadder than it does funny. That's all part of the point, of course, that the desire for the party to go on forever will, over time, only serve to make fools of its disciples. But the delivery fails to resonate for much of the film's first hour. Where the film does shine is when it returns to its absolute core: pushing in tight on intimate, whispered conversations between its two outstanding leads as they heap red-hot private vitriol on everyone else in the room. Eddie's scatterbrained solipsism and Patsy's unwavering sex-bomb confidence are as funny now as they were two decades ago – making the film's insistent focus on slapstick and buffoonery all the more frustrating. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opened number two at the UK Box Office, where it will surely find its homegrown audience more than dutiful to the cause. Even so, it's hard to see this film resonating with either international audiences or moviegoers under the age of 40. When Saunders declared an end to the original TV series after just three short seasons, she did so proudly declaring that it was better to go out on top rather than to overstay your welcome until you're politely asked to leave. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie might well have heeded such wisdom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj3ZWhlmexw
The sixth annual Hola Mexico Film Festival opens on Thursday, October 25, at Event Cinemas on George Street, with nearly 20 films being shown over a one-and-a-half-week period. Showcasing real Mexico and its way of life, the festival invites you to say goodbye to cliches and hola to the land of the Aztecs, as it should be. Here are five that beckon us. 1. Mariachi Gringo Directed by Tom Gustafson and starring Martha Higareda, Mariachi Gringo sees a young man, stifled by his small-town life, run away to Mexico to be a mariachi singer. This feature, the opening night film for this year’s festival, explores the reality of following your dreams across geographical and cultural borders, depicting the beauty of Mexico and its folklore. 2. De Panzazo (Barely Passing) Barely Passing is a harsh look at the gritty truth of the Mexican school system. Directed by Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Loret De Mola, it tells the stories of real students and what the country's future will hold if things don't change. 3. Felix: Autoficciones de un traficante (Felix: Self-Fictions of a Smuggler) Felix is a home-movie actor and human trafficker. In Felix: Self-Fictions of a Smuggler, he exposes the world around him through his own eyes and reveals the cogs of a very real machine. 4. La brujula la lleva el muerto (The Compass Is Carried by the Dead Man) Arturo Pons' The Compass Is Carried by the Dead Man sees Chencho, a 13-year old boy, goes to Chicago, following the death of his mother, to search for his older brother. On his journey he meets a man who dies right after letting him hitch a ride on his wagon. Following north on the compass held in rigor-mortic grip, he begins a surreal passage, with no real direction, and meets peculiar characters on the way. 5. Cristiada (For Greater Glory) With For Greater Glory Dean Wright asks, what price would you pay for glory? Starring Eva Longoria and Andy Garcia, this exhilarating action epic sees a passionate group of men and women risk everything for family, faith, and the future of their country during the 1920s' Cristero war, the daring people's revolt that rocked 20th-century North America. Image from Mariachi Gringo.
Back in 1981, when Raiders of the Lost Ark made archaeologist Indiana Jones one of the biggest big-screen characters there is, it did so with fantastic casting. Harrison Ford added a new George Lucas-created franchise to his name after Star Wars and a hit was born — one that's still going a whopping 42 years later, including 39 years since Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom gave it a sequel, 34 years since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade initially seemed to wrap things up and 15 years after Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull got things going again. The latest Indy entry: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which arrives in cinemas this June. As well as bringing back its legendary star fresh from proving a cantankerous delight in streaming comedy Shrinking — yes, he dons the famous hat once more, in what's been dubbed his final appearance in the role — the new flick also makes a few fresh stellar casting moves. Getting Fleabag favourite Phoebe Waller-Bridge onboard is clearly one of them. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny heads back to the 60s, and uses the Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union as a backdrop. And, as both the movie's initial teaser back in 2022, its sneak peek during the Super Bowl and now its just-dropped full trailer all show, Indiana Jones has his goddaughter in tow — with Waller-Bridge's Helena enjoying plenty of bantering, naturally, with the saga's namesake. Wondering what else is in store? In addition to Ford, Dr Henry Walton 'Indiana' Jones Jr's famous headwear and that whip — two different looks at Ford, actually, including Indy in the film's present day and Indy in the past, with the movie using digital de-ageing technology — there are Nazis to battle and the famous John Williams-composed theme soundtracking the action as well. Story-wise, the also supremely well-cast Mads Mikkelsen (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) leads a group of Nazis trying to use The Dial of Destiny's titular trinket to change the past and claim power — a gadget that Helena has her own plans for in the name of capitalism. The archaeologist's latest outing brings in a few changes to the series, with Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) out of the director's chair for the first time ever, handing over the reins to Logan and Ford v Ferrari's James Mangold. And, Lucas doesn't have a part in the script, either, with Mangold co-scripting with Ford v Ferrari's Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. On-screen, John Rhys-Davies returns as as Sallah, too, while Antonio Banderas (Official Competition), Thomas Kretschmann (Das Boot), Toby Jones (The English) and Boyd Holbrook (The Sandman) join the on-screen talent alongside Shaunette Renee Wilson (Black Panther), Oliver Richters (The King's Man) and Ethann Isidore (Mortel). And yes, if it's a big blockbuster franchise, it stars Harrison Ford, and it debuted in the 70s or 80s, then it's always coming back to the screen — as Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens and its sequels have, as well as Blade Runner 2049. Check out the full trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny below: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny releases in cinemas Down Under on June 29, 2023. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
UPDATE, October 9, 2021: Black Widow is now streaming via Disney+, and is also screening in Sydney cinemas when they reopen on Monday, October 11. Closure is a beautiful thing. It's also not something that a 24-film-and-growing franchise tends to serve up all that often. Since 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has operated with the exact opposite aim, in fact — extending and expanding the series at every turn, delivering episodic cinema instalments that keep viewers hanging for the next flick, and endeavouring to ensure that the superhero saga blasts onwards forever. But it's hard to tick those boxes when you're making a movie about a character whose fate is already known. Audiences have seen where Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story) story finishes thanks to Avengers: Endgame, so Black Widow doesn't need to lay the groundwork for more films to follow. It's inexcusable that it has taken so long for the assassin-turned-Avenger to get her own solo outing. It's indefensible that this is just the second Marvel feature to solely focus on a female figure, too. But, unlike the missed opportunity that was Captain Marvel, Black Widow gives its namesake a thrilling big-screen outing — in no small part because it needn't waste time setting up an obvious Black Widow sequel. Instead, the pandemic-delayed movie gets to spend its 143 minutes doing what more MCU flicks should: building character, focusing on relationships, fleshing out its chosen world and making every inch of its narrative feel lived-in. The end result feels like a self-contained film, rather than just one chapter in a never-ending tale — which gives it the space to confidently blend family dramas with espionage antics, and to do justice to both parts of that equation. Indeed, like Black Panther, Black Widow is one of the few Marvel movies that could dispense with its ties to the saga and still not only work, but still engage and entertain with precision. And, free of the dutiful task of linking into ten, 20 or 50 future features, it sincerely leaves viewers wanting more — more jumps into the past like this with Romanoff; more of its no-nonsense, high-octane spy action; and more of Florence Pugh (Little Women), David Harbour (Stranger Things) and Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), Johansson's supremely well-cast co-stars. Harbour and Weisz play Alexei and Melina, happy Ohio residents, parents to young Natasha (Ever Anderson, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter) and Yelena (Violet McGraw, Doctor Sleep), and the portrait of all-American domesticity — or that's the ruse in 1995, at least. But Black Widow doesn't give them long to revel in small-town life, neighbourhood playtimes, 'American Pie' sing-alongs and an existence that could've been ripped from The Americans, with the quartet soon en route back to Russia via Cuba at shady puppetmaster Dreykov's (Ray Winstone, Cats) beckoning. When the film then jumps forward to 2016, and to the aftermath of that year's Captain America: Civil War, Natasha hasn't seen her faux family for decades. On the run from the authorities, she isn't palling around with the Avengers, either, with the superheroes all going their separate ways. Then the adult Yelena (Pugh) reaches out, because she too has fled her own powers-that-be: Dreykov, the fellow all-female hit squad she's been part of for the last 21 years, and the mind-control techniques that've kept her compliant, and killing, since she was a child. Vials of a brain-liberating serum are of vital importance here, and so is getting revenge on Dreykov — although they're really just the gadgets and goals that help reunite not just Natasha and Yelena, but also their ex-foster parents. Alexei, Russia's first super soldier, has slid from prominence, while Melina has fared better; however, they're all soon trying to break into Dreykov's Red Room training camp. There's an unmistakable air of Bourne and Bond to Eric Pearson's (Godzilla vs Kong) script, and to the story by Jac Schaeffer (WandaVision) and Ned Benson (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) he's working with. Moonraker especially comes to mind in Black Widow's visuals and action setpieces, too. But this deftly satisfying flick doesn't trade the MCU's blueprints for other franchises' templates, thankfully. With Cate Shortland in the director's chair, it spins a thoughtfully weighty story about women trapped at the mercy of others and fighting to regain their agency. If that sounds familiar, that's because the Australian filmmaker has a history with these types of notions thanks to Somersault, Lore and Berlin Syndrome. The first solo female director in the MCU, Shortland proves a savvy pick to guide Black Widow, and not only because she's in her thematic wheelhouse — or because her past films have all been about young women and their connections, as this Marvel instalment is as well. When it comes to action, she directs intense and suspenseful yet always fluid scenes. When the movie gets interpersonal, including during a memorable dinner table exchange where Natasha and Yelena demand answers from the closest thing they've ever had to a mum and dad, Shortland finds the ideal balance between raw emotion and rich character interplay. The film finds humour also, and repeatedly. Yelena's jokes at her sister's expense are a light but disarmingly realistic touch, and they always play that way. Their banter persistently reads that way, in fact. As Alexei, Harbour is given room to get goofy as well, and it never feels out of place — even in a feature with a deep vein of poignancy pumping through its frames, particularly when it comes to the childhoods that Natasha and Yelena didn't get to have. Using a breathy female cover of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', frenetic fight-scene editing that's occasionally too quick for its own good, and Winstone's unconvincing Russian accent: these are among Black Widow's rare missteps. Thoroughly deserving her time in the MCU spotlight after 11 years and eight prior big-screen appearances, a flame-haired Johansson relishes the long-awaited chance to give Natasha more depth than she's ever been afforded — and, in a generous performance, she also sparks with and bounces off of the always-impressive Pugh, who just keeps going from strength to strength (see also: Lady Macbeth, The Little Drummer Girl, Fighting with My Family and Midsommar). It doesn't need to, and it didn't spend an entire feature threatening to, but if Marvel somehow found a way to pair these two together again, it'd be more than welcome. If it keeps genuinely trying to push aside its usual formula and do more than extend its brand, that'd be welcome as well. Luckily for audiences, it's definitely handing the reins to another female filmmaker again, and soon — and now Chloe Zhao's Eternals can't come quickly enough. Top image: Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Australian movie lovers, prepare to be spoiled for choice when it comes to getting your next big-screen fix. With Sydney out of lockdown and Melbourne likely to do the same this month, cinemas across the country are about to be inundated with high-profile features — and, with film festivals showing them. One such event getting the projectors whirring is the annual British Film Festival, which'll tour its 31-movie lineup of Brit flicks around the country between Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1. Gracing the fest's titles is a who's who of UK acting talent, so if you're a fan of The Crown's Olivia Colman, Claire Foy and Josh O'Connor — or of everyone from Jamie Dornan, Colin Firth, Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch to Helen Mirren, Michael Caine, Joanna Lumley and Peter Capaldi — you'll be spying plenty of familiar faces. The festival will open with true tale The Duke, starring Mirren and Jim Broadbent, with the latter playing a 60-year-old taxi driver who stole a portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. From there, highlights include the Kenneth Branagh-directed Belfast, about growing up in 1960s Northern Ireland; Last Night in Soho, Edgar Wright's new thriller featuring Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie; romantic period drama Mothering Sunday, with Colman, Firth and O'Connor; and Best Sellers, a literary comedy with Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza. Or, there's also Stardust, a biopic about the one and only David Bowie — and The Electrical Life of Louis Wan, about the eponymous artist, with Cumberbatch and Foy leading the cast. Opera singing in the Scottish highlands drives the Lumley-starring Falling for Figaro, which also features Australian Patti Cake$ actor Danielle Macdonald; Benediction marks the return of filmmaker Terence Davies (Sunset Song), this time focusing on English poet and soldier Siegfried Sassoon; and Firth pops up again in World War II-set drama Operation Mincemeat with Succession's Matthew Macfadyen. Plus, To Olivia dramatises Roald Dahl's marriage to Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal, Stephen Fry explores bubbly booze in documentary Sparkling: The Story of Champagne, and novelist Jackie Collins also gets the doco treatment. And, as part of the British Film Festival's retrospective lineup, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon will grace the big screen — the former in a 4K restoration to celebrate its 50th anniversary. BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL 2021 DATES: Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1 — Palace Norton, Palace Verona, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinema, Sydney Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1 — Palace Electric, Canberra Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1 — Palace James Street and Palace Centro, Brisbane Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1— Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas, Adelaide Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1— Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Windsor Cinema, Perth Wednesday, November 3–Sunday, November 21 — Palace Byron Bay, Byron Bay Friday, November 5–Wednesday, December 1 — Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema and The Astor, Melbourne The 2021 British Film Festival tours Australia between Wednesday, November 3–Wednesday, December 1. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website.
Sure, it's now cold enough to warrant spending all our time indoors and watching back-to-back Netflix. But, this year, Sydney is putting on one helluva show that's sure to lure you out of the house. This June, Sydney Solstice (June 8–20) is greeting winter head-on, showcasing some of the best music, arts and food the harbour city has to offer. The packed-out schedule spans events held in urban laneways and famous landmarks, but, if you really want to get cosy, you'll want to track down the gigs heating up Sydney's go-to bars and restaurants. Whether you want to sip whisky in a western-style saloon, party in a multi-level pub or hit up new Darlinghurst darling Cafe Freda's for a natty wine, these in-venue shows are better than watching Friends... again. In partnership with NSW Government via Destination NSW, we've rounded up the top spots around town where you can wine, dine and catch a dazzling show this season. So, put on your winter woollies and get out that front door to catch everything from camp cabaret and swingin' country tunes, to early-morning raves and Latin-infused beats right by the harbour.
National Theatre Live performances are one of the best ways of taking in a dose of theatre, especially if isn’t part of your regular diet. Filmed onstage in London and broadcast to cinemas all over the world, you can be sure that these screenings will be lovingly directed and excellently acted. With that in mind, you might enjoy Andrew Upton’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic, The Cherry Orchard. If you don’t know much about Chekhov other than that gun thing, here’s the low-down: it’s early 20th century Russia and there is more than a whiff of revolutionary feeling floating about. When Ranyevskaya (played by Zoe Wanamaker) returns to an easy moneyed life on her family’s orchard after ten years abroad, she manages to overlook the increasing instability of the status quo. After ignoring the entrepreneurial schemes of the peasant Lopakhin, she and her brother find themselves striving to hold on to the home they grew up in. Directed by Howard Davies (who previously directed the Sydney Theatre Company’s performance of the same adaptation), this performance promises to be a poignant and tragically funny interpretation of Chekhov’s last play. The Cherry Orchard will be released in Australian cinemas on July 23rd.
Melbourne-born furniture label Jardan now has a new space in which to showcase its covetable designs with a stunning Sydney flagship store on Paddington's Oxford Street. IF Architecture — the Melbourne firm responsible for the likes of wine bar Marion, Cutler & Co's recent makeover and Jardan's Melbourne and Brisbane stores — has transformed the two-storey art deco building once home to Ariel Booksellers into a seriously good-looking showroom, where colour reigns supreme. Reflecting Jardan's own 30-year connection with Australian home life, the interiors of the new store pay homage to the country's most influential art and design families, inspired by their iconic interpretations of Sydney's ever-changing colour palette. To that end, expect tones that speak to the vivid blues of Brett Whiteley's Sydney Harbour painting, the oranges, blues and greens synonymous with Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy's Dinosaur Designs, and the bold colours favoured by celebrated interior designer Marion Hall Best. The store — which is their first in Sydney — will leave design buffs with their jaw on the floor. Even if you're not in the market for some expensive new designer furniture, if you're in Sydney, it's well worth dropping in for a peek.
Since opening in Bondi in April 2014, Le Petit Bateau has become legendary for its eclectic approach to the arts. You name it, the Petit crew will make it happen — whether you're thinking art exhibition, dance party, left-of-field workshop or pizza night. So the next step — the inaugural Le Petit Festival — makes perfect sense. Between 10am and 10pm on Saturday, May 16, Le Petit Bateau will be moored harbourside at the Pyrmont Heritage Boating Club, to execute 12 hours of non-stop festivalising. There'll be live painting, exhibitions, art and culture workshops, as well as opportunities for sailing, soundtracked by live reggae, soul and funk from Majun Bu, the Post Pluto DJs and jam sessions. Meanwhile, Le Petit's pop-up bistro will keep you fed and hydrated. Photo by Bodhi Liggett.
After 2009's piss-poor X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this latest instalment (now the sixth for Hugh Jackman's indestructible mutant) really didn't have a whole lot to live up to. That meant director James Mangold (Walk the Line) could take the story wherever he wanted, and it turns out, he wanted Tokyo. The Wolverine hence takes its plot from one of the character's better known comic book series, 'Wolverine', written by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller all the way back in 1982. It opens with a surprisingly unsettling scene just minutes before the bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, with Logan (Jackman) trapped nearby inside a Japanese POW camp. As the blast-wave spreads, he manages to save his captor's life and sets in motion a chain of events that will see the pair reunited decades later. That surviving soldier — now an elderly billionaire obsessed with his legacy — summons Logan to his deathbed in Tokyo. He craves Logan's healing powers whilst promising in return the one thing Logan can never have: death. "This is my gift, my curse" said Tobey Maguire's Spiderman back in 2002, enunciating the most compelling theme that underscores all good superhero stories. For Logan, immortality is now his torment, but he is not alone in his suffering. His Harajuku-girl escort, Yukio (Rila Fukushima), possesses the ability to foretell a person's death; a mutation that imbues her with a truly haunted existence and makes her character both tragic and engaging. Sadly, she's under-utilised by Mangold, and the only other mutant of note in the film is a statuesque blond known as Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), whose reptilian mutation is as forgettable as her scenes. Perhaps it's Mangold's background in drama, but the action in The Wolverine was remarkably dull, save for one entertaining sequence on the roof of a bullet train. The problem is, so long as Logan is invincible, the stakes sit at zero, yet when he's vulnerable, he loses the one thing that makes him interesting. By contrast, the quiet, intimate scenes in The Wolverine were much more enjoyable, effectively taking the Wolverine out of the movie and focusing on the man, Logan. And that's what it all boils down to: the Wolverine is a classic loner, a gruff recluse favouring the company of his own haunted memories to that of any other humans, mutant or otherwise. Throughout this franchise he has actively rejected the 'team' and only ever begrudgingly formed unions when circumstances required it. And yet, he is almost certainly that franchise's most popular character. His charmlessness is, in effect, his charm; however, the problem with movies focusing just on him is that his loner persona plays best as part of a wider ensemble. He is never more appealing than when sparring with other X-Men because it gives his isolation context. The promotional material for The Wolverine describes it as "The Wolverine movie fans have been waiting for", and certainly that is factually accurate, since it is the only Wolverine movie currently in cinemas, and until it came out, fans had to wait for it. But was it the one they'd been hoping for? Doubtful; however, if they stay beyond the credits, they'll find good cause to be excited about the next one: X-Men: Days of Future Past. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WEbzZP-_Ssc
If you're heading to Byron Bay this summer, get ready to ride the world's first solar-powered train. The two-carriage chugger was built in Sydney in 1949, but, from December 16, it'll travel along a three-kilometre track between downtown Byron Bay and Northbeach Station up near Sunrise Beach and the Byron arts and industrial estate, driven solely by the sun's energy. Byron Bay Railroad Company, which is operating as a non-profit, has spent four years restoring the train, which was in disuse. There are seats for 100 passengers, as well as standing room for extras and, importantly, space for surfboards and bicycles. To begin, the train will operate on a limited timetable, but will run once per hour between 8am and 10pm — at a cost of three bucks per person — from January. More frequent runs will be considered in line with passenger demand and operating costs. Back in the day, the train ran on diesel. Its conversion took place at the Lithgow Railway Workshop, where solar panels were added to the roof and solar-charged batteries installed. While Indian Railways did launch a solar-powered train earlier this year, the sun only powers the lights, fans and displays on that vehicle. By comparison, on this train, the batteries can power every system, including lighting, air compressors, control circuits and traction. And, should the sun hide its face for a while, they'll gain energy from the grid's green arm. One diesel engine has been removed and replaced with an electric drive package. The remaining diesel engine is staying on-board for to provide emergency back up in the case of an electrical glitch. The Byron Bay Railroad Company's services operate from 8am to 10pm daily from January. For more information, visit byronbaytrain.com.au.
It's happening again. Another year, another round of shiny trophies being handed out throughout Hollywood. Indeed, before Monday, March 13 comes to a close Down Under, Tinseltown will have anointed a new batch of Oscar winners. The nominations dropped in late January, speculation over who'll emerge victorious dates back well into 2022, and now it's time for the Academy Awards to name its latest greats at its 95th ceremony. Here's hoping that the focus will be on the films rather than mid-ceremony mayhem in 2023. The past year boasts no shortage of exceptional flicks deserving plenty of love — whether multiverse chaos, war epics, high-soaring sequels, music biopics or Irish gems end up scooping the pool, sharing the attention or going home empty-handed. Plus, in a bonus for movie lovers in Australia, you can watch 37 of this year's nominated features right now. Some are playing in cinemas, others are streaming, and a few give you options for either big- or small-screen viewings. Here's your pre-Oscars binging rundown on where to see them all. ON THE BIG SCREEN: AFTERSUN Nominations: Best Actor (Paul Mescal) Our thoughts: The simplest things in life can be the most revealing, whether it's a question asked of a father by a child, an exercise routine obeyed almost mindlessly or a man stopping to smoke someone else's old cigarette while wandering through a holiday town alone at night. Following the about-to-turn-31 Calum (Paul Mescal, The Lost Daughter) and his daughter Sophie (debutant Frankie Corio) on vacation in Turkey in the late 90s, this astonishing feature debut by Scottish writer/director Charlotte Wells is about the simple things — but Aftersun is always a movie of deep, devastating and revealing complexity. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: Nabbing the Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, this documentary by Citizenfour Oscar-winner Laura Poitras is a film about many things: photographer Nan Goldin, her complicated history, her work, her chronicles of the LGBTQIA+ community and the 80s HIV/AIDS crisis, and her efforts to counter the opioid epidemic all included. Flitting between her images, recollections, and ongoing battle to bring the company and wealthy family behind OxyContin to justice by targeting their ties with galleries, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is also a passionate, empathetic and piercing emotional epic. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER Nominations: Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Our thoughts: When James Cameron's second dip in what's now officially a franchise manages to be as involving as he wants it to be, and has audiences eagerly awaiting its third, fourth and fifth instalments in 2024, 2026 and 2028, it's an absolute visual marvel. When that's the case, it's also underwater, or in it. Yes, Avatar: The Way of Water takes its subtitle seriously, splashing that part of its name about heartily in as much magnificently detailed 3D-shot and -projected glory as its director, cinematographer Russell Carpenter (a True Lies and Titanic alum) and hard-working special-effects team can excitedly muster. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. CLOSE Nominations: Best International Feature Film Our thoughts: When 13-year-olds Léo (debutant Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (first-timer Gustav De Waele) dash the carefree dash of youth in Close's early moments, rushing from a dark bunker out into the sunshine — from rocks and forest to a bloom-filled field ablaze with colour, too — this immediately evocative Belgian drama runs joyously with them. Girl writer/director Lukas Dhont starts his sophomore feature with a tremendous moment, one that sees his two leads bolting from the bliss that is their visibly contented childhood to the tussles and emotions of being a teenager, and it only gets better from there. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. EMPIRE OF LIGHT Nominations: Best Cinematography Our thoughts: 1917, director Sam Mendes jumps back to 80s for this ode to cinema — to the coastal town of Margate in Kent, where the Dreamland Cinema has stood for 100 years in 2023. In Empire of Light, the art deco structure has been rechristened The Empire, and is where a small staff under the overbearing Donald Ellis (Colin Firth, Operation Mincemeat) all have different relationships with their own hopes and wishes. But duty manager Hilary (Olivia Colman, Heartstopper) and new employee Stephen's (Micheal Ward, Small Axe) stories are thankfully far more complicated than simply paying tribute to a medium. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. LIVING Nominations: Best Actor (Bill Nighy), Best Adapted Screenplay Our thoughts: Somehow, Bill Nighy made it all the way into his 70s before receiving a single Oscar nomination; his nod for Living isn't a career nod, however, but thoroughly earned by his sensitive turn as a dutiful company many facing life-changing news. Set in 50s-era London, it's an adaptation several times over — of Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru, which takes inspiration from Leo Tolstoy's 1886 novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. At all times, Nighy, director Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) and screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro (also the author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go) live up to that lineage. Where to watch: Living officially opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, March 16, with preview screenings from Friday, March 10–Sunday, March 12. TÁR Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Todd Field), Best Actress (Cate Blanchett), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing Our thoughts: The least surprising aspect of Tár is also its most essential: Cate Blanchett being as phenomenal as she's ever been, plus more. The Australian Nightmare Alley, Thor: Ragnarok and Carol actor — "our Cate", of course — best be making space next to her Oscars for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine as a result. Playing a celebrated, pioneering maestro who plummets to a personal and professional low just when it seems her fortunes can't soar higher, Blanchett is that stunning in Tár, that much of a powerhouse, that adept at breathing life and complexity into a thorny figure, and that magnetic and mesmerising. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. TO LESLIE Nominations: Best Actress (Andrea Riseborough) Our thoughts: Forget the controversy that's surrounded Andrea Riseborough's inclusion among this year's Oscar nominees. A stunning performance is a stunning performance no matter whether other famous names advocate for accolades on its behalf or not — and the Possessor and Amsterdam star is indeed stunning in To Leslie. There's such weight and soul to her titular portrayal in this tale of redemption, after single mother Leslie wins the lotto, drinks and parties away the proceeds, then tries to reconnect with her now-adult son (Owen Teague, The Stand) six years latter, plus face a town with a long memory. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. TRIANGLE OF SADNESS Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Ruben Östlund), Best Original Screenplay Our thoughts: Beware the luxurious worlds of Ruben Östlund's films. Beware any feelings of ease, opulence or awe that spring at ski resorts, in art museums, or, in Triangle of Sadness, within the fashion industry and on high-end holidays, too. The Swedish filmmaker isn't interested in keeping his characters comfortable regardless of their lavish surroundings, which proves true with his second feature in succession to win Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or. Here, he has modelling, influencers and the super-rich in his sights, plus unpacking societal structures and the divides they rely on (and cause). Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. THE WHALE Nominations: Best Actor (Brendan Fraser), Best Supporting Actress (Hong Chau), Best Makeup and Hairstyling Our thoughts: The actors have it: in The Whale, Brendan Fraser (No Sudden Move), Hong Chau (The Menu) and Sadie Sink (Stranger Things) are each masterful, and each in their own way. For viewers unaware that this drama about a reclusive 600-pound English professor stems from the stage going in, it won't take long to realise — for multiple reasons. As penned by Samuel D Hunter from his award-winning semi-autobiographical play, The Whale's script is talky and blunt. It also favours one setting. But the performances that Darren Aronofsky (mother!) guides out of his cast are complicated, masterful and powerful. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. WOMEN TALKING Nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay Our thoughts: Get Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand and more exceptional women in a room, point a camera their way, let the talk flow: Sarah Polley's Women Talking does just that, and the end result is phenomenal. The actor-turned-filmmaker's fourth effort behind the lens does plenty more, but its basic setup is as straightforward as its title states. Adapted from Miriam Toews' 2018 novel of the same name, it draws on events in a Bolivian Mennonite colony from 2005–9, where a spate of mass druggings and rapes of women and girls were reported at the hands of some of the group's men. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas. Read our full review. IN CINEMAS OR AT HOME: BABYLON Nominations: Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design Our thoughts: What happens when aspiring 1920s actor Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie, Amsterdam), veteran leading man Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt, Bullet Train) and eager show business everyman Manny Torres (Diego Calva, Narcos: Mexico) navigate Golden Age Hollywood, starting at the same decadent soirée? That's what jazz-loving, La La Land Oscar-winning, Tinseltown-adoring writer/director Damien Chazelle charts in Babylon — and how. This is a relentless and ravenous movie that's always a lot, not just in length, but is dazzling (and also very funny, and sports an earworm of a Justin Hurwitz score) when it clicks. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Martin McDonagh), Best Actor (Colin Farrell), Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon), Best Supporting Actor (Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing Our thoughts: The rolling hills and clifftop fields look like they could stretch on forever in In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin, even on a fictional island perched off the Irish mainland. For years, chats between Padraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell, After Yang) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson, The Tragedy of Macbeth) have sprawled similarly — and leisurely, too — especially during the pair's daily sojourn to the village pub over pints. But when the latter calls time on their camaraderie suddenly, his demeanour turns brusque, and nothing for these characters will ever be the same. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE FABELMANS Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Supporting Actor (Judd Hirsch), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design Our thoughts: "Movies are dreams that you never forget," says Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) early in Steven Spielberg's autobiographical The Fabelmans. Have truer words ever been spoken in any of the director's 33 flicks? Uttered to her eight-year-old son Sammy (feature debutant Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), Mitzi's statement lingers, providing the film's beating heart even when the coming-of-age tale it spins isn't always idyllic — which is often, as Sammy hits his teen years (played by The Predator's Gabriel LaBelle), chases his movie dreams and navigates his family. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: Who doesn't want to see a kitty swashbuckler voiced by Antonio Banderas (Official Competition), basically making this a moggie Zorro? Based on the 2011 Puss in Boots' $555 million at the box office, that concept is irresistible to plenty of folks — hence, albeit over a decade later, sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Pairing the right talent to the right animated character doesn't instantly make movie magic, of course; however, The Last Wish, which literally has Puss seeking magic, is among the best films that the broader Shrek saga has conjured up so far. Where to watch: In Australian cinemas, and streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. VIA STREAMING: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Our thoughts: Helming and co-scripting, All My Loving director Edward Berger gives All Quiet on the Western Front its first adaptation in German, its native tongue. The film focuses on 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (debutant Felix Kammerer) and his ordeal after naively enlisting in 1917, thinking with his mates that they'd be marching on Paris within weeks. This is a movie haunted: by the callous disregard for human lives by power-seekers far removed from any fatal consequences, the wide-eyed fervour and blind faith with which boys pledge themselves to war, the desperation in the thick of the fray, and oh-so-much death. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. ALL THAT BREATHES Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: Pictures can't tell all of All That Breathes' story, with Delhi-based brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud's chats saying plenty that's essential. Still, the images that Shaunak Sen (Cities of Sleep) lets flow across the screen — and, befitting this poetic documentary's pace and mood, they do flow — in this Sundance- and Cannes-winner are astonishing. The pair adore the black kites that take to India's skies and suffer from its toxic air quality, tending to the creatures' injuries. As Sen watches, this film trills about urban development, its costs and consequences, and caring for others both animal and human. Where to watch: Streaming via Binge. ARGENTINA, 1985 Nominations: Best International Feature Film Our thoughts: As reliable a screen presence as cinema has ever been blessed with, The Secret in Their Eyes, Truman and Everybody Knows-starring Argentinian actor Ricardo Darín is magnetic in this weighty and important courtroom drama. Filmmaker Santiago Mitre (15 Ways to Kill Your Neighbour) dramatises the Trial of the Juntas, focusing on public prosecutor Julio César Strassera (Darín) and his deputy Luis Moreno Ocampo (Peter Lanzani, Maradona: Blessed Dream) as they attempt to bring military officials who led the country under its 1976–1983 dictatorship to justice for crimes against humanity. Where to watch: Streaming via Prime Video. BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS Nominations: Best Cinematography Our thoughts: Everyone wants to be the person at the party that the dance floor revolves around, and life in general, or so Alejandro González Iñárritu contends in Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. Everyone wants to be the filmmaker with all the fame and success, records, winning prestigious awards and conquering Hollywood, he also asserts. 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 (Daniel Giménez Cacho, Memoria) applauded at home and overseas, and also a man conflicted again and again. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. THE BATMAN Nominations: Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Our thoughts: The elder Waynes are still dead, and have been for two decades. Bruce (Robert Pattinson, Tenet) still festers with pain over their loss. And the prince of Gotham still turns vigilante by night, cleaning up the lawless streets one no-good punk at a time with only trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis, Long Shot) in on his secret. Still, as directed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes' Matt Reeves, and co-scripted with The Unforgivable's Peter Craig, The Batman offers a more absorbing version of the character than seen in many of the past Bat flicks that've fluttered through cinemas. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER Nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Angela Bassett), Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling Our thoughts: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever isn't the movie it was initially going to be, the sequel to 2018's electrifying Black Panther that anyone behind it originally wanted it to be, or the chapter in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe that it first aimed to be — this, the world knew once Chadwick Boseman passed away. That vast void isn't one this film can fill, but returning director Ryan Coogler still has a top-notch cast — Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke, plus new addition Tenoch Huerta, most notably — drawing eyeballs towards his vibrant imagery. Where to watch: Streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BLONDE Nominations: Best Actress (Ana de Armas) Our thoughts: Usually when a film leaves you wondering how it might've turned out in other hands, that isn't a great sign — but Blonde, the years-in-the-making adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' fictionalised Marilyn Monroe biography of the same name, demands a watch. It's a fascinating movie, including for what works astoundingly well and what definitely doesn't. In the first category: Ana de Armas (The Gray Man) as Norma Jeane Mortenson, the woman who'd become not just a star and a sensation during her life, but an icon across the six decades since. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. CAUSEWAY Nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Brian Tyree Henry) Our thoughts: Trauma is a screenwriter's best friend; however, few films are happy to sit with trauma in the way that (and as well as) Causeway does. Starring Jennifer Lawrence (Don't Look Up) as a military veteran sent home from Afghanistan after being blown up, working her way through rehab and determined to re-enlist as soon as she has medical sign-off — plus Atlanta and Bullet Train's Brian Tyree Henry as a New Orleans mechanic with his own history — this subtle, thoughtful and powerful movie grapples with the fact that some woes do genuinely change lives, and not for the better. Where to watch: Streaming via Apple TV+. Read our full review. ELVIS Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Austin Butler), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Our thoughts: Making a biopic about the king of rock 'n' roll, trust Baz Luhrmann to take his subject's words to heart: a little less conversation, a little more action. The Aussie filmmaker's first feature since The Great Gatsby isn't short on chatter. It's even narrated by Tom Hanks (A Man Called Otto) as Colonel Tom Parker, the carnival barker who thrust Presley to fame. But this chronology of an icon's life is at its best when it's showing rather than telling. That's when Elvis is electrifying, in no small part due to its treasure trove of recreated concert scenes — and Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as the man himself. Where to watch: Streaming via Google Play, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design Our thoughts: Imagine living in a universe where Michelle Yeoh isn't the wuxia superstar she is. No, no one should want that reality. Now, envisage a world where everyone has hot dogs for fingers, including the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon icon. Next, picture another where Ratatouille is real, but with raccoons. Then, conjure up a sparse realm where life only exists in sentient rocks. An alternative to this onslaught of pondering: watching Everything Everywhere All At Once, which throws all of the above at the screen and a helluva lot more thanks to the Daniels, aka Swiss Army Man's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Where to watch: Streaming via Binge, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. FIRE OF LOVE Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: What a delight it would be to trawl through Katia and Maurice Krafft's archives, sift through every video that features the French volcanologists and their work, and witness them doing their highly risky jobs against spectacular surroundings. That's the task that filmmaker Sara Dosa (The Seer and the Unseen) took up to make superb documentary Fire of Love about the couple's lives — and, as set to the otherworldly sounds of Air, her magnificent effort is an incredibly thoughtful, informative and moving film from start to finish. Where to watch: Streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay Our thoughts: This murder-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 hit Knives Out, and both are as tightly, meticulously, cleverly and cannily orchestrated as each other. With writer/director Rian Johnson (Poker Face) back at the helm and Daniel Craig (No Time to Die) playing southern detective Benoit Blanc again — alongside a new star-studded cast — long may this franchise keep sleuthing. Long may it have everyone revelling in every twist, trick and revelation, as the breezy blast that is Glass Onion does. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. GUIILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: 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 story, but there's no missing the similarities between the Nightmare Alley 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 gift existence to the inanimate because they can't cope with mortality's reality. Both notch up the fallout when those central humans struggle with the results of their handiwork, too. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: A House Made of Splinters premiered at Sundance in January 2022, with Danish documentarian Simon Lereng Wilmont returning to Eastern Ukraine after The Barking of Distant Dogs to tell of the residents at The Lysychansk Center for The Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children. That timing saw his latest film debut before the Russian invasion, but the war's impact since 2014 make itself felt as the kids in the doco's frames step through their experiences — and grapple with a fraught reality — in a facility that's only meant to house them for nine months until their paths from there can be plotted. Where to watch: Streaming via Docplay. MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: It started as an in-joke, thanks to a voice put on by Parks and Recreation Jenny Slate for her now ex-husband Dean Fleischer-Camp. Then came their 2010, 2011 and 2014 shorts, plus two best-selling children's picture books. On- and off-screen, the world's cutest talking shell has taken the internet-stardom path from online sensation to more — and the sweet, endearing, happily silly, often hilarious and deeply insightful Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is a touching meditation upon loss, change and valuing what's truly important, as well as an all-round gem. Where to watch: Streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS Nominations: Best Costume Design Our thoughts: The title is accurate: in Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, war widow and hardworking cleaner Ada Harris (Lesley Manville, The Crown) takes a surprise windfall to the French capital in the 50s to buy her very own Christian Dior dress. Cue class-clash snootiness (personified by The Godmother's Isabelle Huppert as a disapproving fashion house bigwig) and unexpected kindness (including from a model, accountant and Marquis played by Warrior Nun's Alba Baptista, Ticket to Paradise's Lucas Bravo and Benedetta's Lambert Wilson), in the kind of tale that plays out exactly as expected, albeit nicely. Where to watch: Streaming via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. NAVALNY Nominations: Best Documentary Feature Our thoughts: In August 2020, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned while flying from Tomsk to Moscow. The toxin: a Novichok nerve agent. That's just one aspect of the Vladimir Putin opponent's story in recent years, which filmmaker Daniel Roher (Once Were Brothers) shot as it unfolded for his documentary Navalny. The details are astonishing and infuriating, with Navalny a candid and determined interviewee. No matter whether you know the details from copious news headlines or you're stepping through his tale for the first time, this doco couldn't be more gripping. Where to watch: Streaming via Docplay, SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE QUIET GIRL Nominations: Best International Feature Film Our thoughts: This tender, affecting and resonant Gaelic-language coming-of-age film sees the world as only a lonely, innocent, often-ignored child can. Devastatingly moving and beautiful, The Quiet Girl also spies the pain and hardship that shapes its titular figure's world — and yes, it does so softly and with restraint, but that doesn't make the feelings it swirls up any less immense. Filmmaker Colm Bairéad, who directs and adapts Claire Keegan's novella Foster, makes a stunning feature debut. Also exceptional is newcomer Catherine Clinch as pivotal nine-year-old Cáit. Where to watch: Streaming via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. RRR Nominations: Best Original Song Our thoughts: The letters in RRR's title are short for Rise Roar Revolt. They could also stand for riveting, rollicking and relentless. They link in with the Indian action movie's three main forces, too — writer/director SS Rajamouli (Baahubali: The Beginning), plus stars NT Rama Rao Jr (Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava) and Ram Charan (Vinaya Vidheya Rama) — and could describe the sound of some of its standout moments. What noise echoes when a motorcycle is used in a bridge-jumping rescue plot, as aided by a horse and the Indian flag, amid a crashing train, after all? Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. Read our full review. THE SEA BEAST Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: One of the undying ideas about monsters is also one of the most humane: perhaps what we perceive as monstrous doesn't always deserve that label. Set centuries back in prime seafaring times — but, thanks to the eponymous creature, clearly a work of animated fiction — The Sea Beast ponders this notion after seasoned beast-hunter Jacob Holland (voiced by The Boys' Karl Urban) pledges to slay a critter dubbed the Red Bluster. Here, eye-catching animation and a familiar but still potent story combine in Big Hero 6 and Moana co-director Chris Williams' hands. Where to watch: Streaming via Netflix. TOP GUN: MAVERICK Nominations: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Our thoughts: Top Gun: Maverick flies high when its jets are soaring. The initial Top Gun had the perfect song to describe exactly what these phenomenally well-executed and -choreographed action scenes feel like to view; yes, they'll take your breath away. Thankfully, this time that Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible — Fallout)-led adrenaline kick is accompanied by a smarter and far more self-aware film, as directed by TRON: Legacy and Oblivion's Joseph Kosinski. Top Gun in the 80s was exactly what Top Gun in the 80s was always going to be — but Top Gun in the 2020s doesn't dare believe that nothing has changed Where to watch: Streaming via Paramount+, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. TURNING RED Nominations: Best Animated Feature Our thoughts: What'd happen if the Hulk was a teenage girl, and turned into a giant, fuzzy, super-cute red panda instead of going green and getting ultra-muscular? Or, finding a different riff on the ol' werewolf situation, if emotions rather than full moons inspired a case of not-quite-lycanthropy? These aren't queries that most folks have thought of, but writer/director Domee Shi certainly has — and they're at the core of Pixar's Turning Red, her debut feature after winning an Oscar for 2018 short Bao, and a movie with particularly astute and endearing results. Where to watch: Streaming via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review.
When JK Rowling dropped those last terrible three words on us at the close of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, all was not well. It would never be well without Harry, Ron, Hermione fighting the Dark Lord in a series of fantastical and wholly engrossing scenarios. But little did we know, this would not be the end of the Age of Harry Potter. Thanks to the internet and the sheer demand for all things HP, Harry has lived on through new books, fan website Pottermore, film spinoff trilogy Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a series of film screenings accompanied by a live orchestra and all manner of pop-ups around the world. But one of the biggest things to come of the post-Harry Potter era has been Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, JK Rowling's West End play that's essentially the eighth book in the series. And now — are you ready for it, muggles? — producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender have announced that the acclaimed play will be making its way to Australia in early 2019. Harry Potter fandom aside, it's something all theatre-goers can get excited about. Since debuting in July 2016 the production has won 22 awards and has repeatedly sold out at London's Palace Theatre. It will head to Broadway next year, before gracing Melbourne's Princess Theatre in early 2019. So what exactly is The Cursed Child about? Well, it picks up 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and that abominably cheery epilogue on Platform 9 3/4. Harry is now an overworked Ministry of Magic employee, and the play focuses on both him and his youngest son Albus Severus Potter as they grapple with the past and future. The production is presented in two parts, so you'll have to book into two performances, either on the same day (matinee and evening) or on consecutive evenings. Update, June 27, 2018: It was announced this morning that tickets for the Australian premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will go on sale at 9am (AEST) on Monday, August 6, 2018 via harrypottertheplay.com. Muggles can also follow that link to join the mailing list and receive priority booking access. The dates for the show, which will be shown exclusively in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre, have also been released, with preview performances running from January 16, 2019 to February 22, 2019 and regular performances running from February 25, 2019. Ticket prices will range between $65–175, with 40 seats priced at $40 released for every performance, too. For more information about the cheap ticket initiative, full dates and cast announcement keep an eye on the website. Image: Manuel Harlan. By Lauren Vadnjal and Nita Fredricks.
Something delightful is happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are starting to reopen — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney and Brisbane (and, until the newly reinstated stay-at-home orders, Melbourne as well). During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made over the past three months, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIZS6AT98FI LA BELLE ÉPOQUE Amelie wasn't the first whimsical and nostalgic French romantic-comedy to grace the silver screen, but its success and enduring presence in pop culture has inspired a plethora of light, quirky Gallic fare over the past two decades. And, on paper at least, La Belle Époque initially seems to be one of them. Starring veteran actor Daniel Auteuil (Hidden, The Closet) as sixty-something illustrator Vincent Drumond — whose career is crumbling, and marriage to the feisty Marianne (Fanny Ardant) looks close to ending, too — this Nicolas Bedos-written and -directed film bets big on an offbeat premise. Here, thanks to a company called Time Travellers, anyone can pay to pretend that they're living in their chosen time and place for a night or longer. Think of it like Westworld, but with each elaborately engineered experience created afresh each time, specifically tailored to the customer, boasting no limits on the kind of setting that participants can choose and using actors rather than robots. Vincent doesn't own a mobile phone, yearns for bookshops and record stores long gone, and is generally averse to technology and change, so he's not usually someone who'd jump at the Time Travellers experience. But when he's given access to the service as a gift just as Marianne kicks him out, he not only embraces the concept, but asks to recreate the fateful 1974 day at Lyon's La Belle Époque cafe when the pair first met. A family friend, the company's owner Antoine (We'll End Up Together filmmaker Guillaume Canet) spares no effort, even enlisting his on-again, off-again girlfriend Margot (Doria Tillier) to play the young Marianne. For Vincent, everything that follows provides a chance to not only linger in happier memories, or realise why he fell in love in the first place, but learn how he wants to move forward. For viewers, a charming, gorgeously staged high-concept rom-com also eventuates. Bedos crafts this thoughtful and effervescent movie as meticulously and vividly as Time Travellers does its intricate blasts from the past, and with just as much appreciation for the way that some moments in life leave an imprint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRvHl1dThlg PENINSULA If, prior to 2016, you'd ever wondered what might happen should zombies overtake South Korea, Train to Busan and Seoul Station arrived to answer that question. The first was a live-action thriller that tasked a locomotive full of living, breathing humans with battling the shuffling undead in one of the genre's best and most action-packed outings, while the second served up an animated prequel that detailed the start of the epidemic in another city. Now lands Peninsula, in case if you've since spent the past four years pondering what could occur next. Once again directed by Yeon Sang-ho, as all films in the franchise have been, it leaps forward to the present day to explore the plight of the apocalypse's survivors — including those initially lucky enough to flee via boat to Hong Kong, such as army Captain Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won) and his brother-in-law Chul-min (Kim Do-yoon); and folks like mother Min-jung (Lee Jung-hyun) and her daughters Joon (Lee Re) and Yu-jin (Lee Ye-won), who weren't as fortunate. All of the aforementioned characters cross paths when Jung-seok and Chul-min are recruited by Hong Kong heavies to head back to the abandoned and quarantined Incheon, where a truck filled with cash awaits. Zombies don't care about money, of course, so the city's valuables are there for he taking. But Incheon isn't completely empty, with Min-jung and her children spending years evading flesh-munchers and escaping a brutal rogue militia group that call themselves Unit 631. If Train to Busan took a Snakes on a Plane-esque idea, changed it to zombies on a train and made a top-notch movie in the process, Peninsula opts for decidedly dystopian Mad Max-meets-Fast and Furious-meets-World War Z heist flick setup — and, while it doesn't quiet reach its predecessor's heights or add anything new to the heaving undead genre, it is thoroughly entertaining. Cuts to an English-language talk show that explains what's going on are both needlessly exposition-heavy and cringe-inducing, but the film's grounded performances, ample array of fantastic setpieces and swift editing by Parasite Oscar-nominee Yang Jin-mo are always riveting. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2RqzDC6gF4 MADE IN ITALY In Made in Italy, Liam Neeson and his real-life son Micheál Richardson (Vox Lux, Cold Pursuit) recreate their relationship on-screen. In another case of art imitating life, they also play a parent-offspring pair still struggling to cope with the loss of the former's wife and the latter's mother after a tragic accident — with Neeson's partner and Richardson's mum, aka actor Natasha Richardson, passing away following a skiing incident in 2009. But, while this romantic drama's stars might've enjoyed a leisurely trip abroad to relive a situation that's close to their hearts in an immensely scenic location, and get paid for it, Made in Italy isn't a personal or even a sensitive and moving film. If only it was. The feature directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker James D'Arcy (Dunkirk, The Snowman), if only it offered anything other than a bland, by-the-numbers tale about two men blighted by grief, forced to confront their issues and pain, and eventually learning how to move on. Neeson plays Robert, a famous artist who is barely a part of his curator son Jack's (Richardson) life. They're brought together out of necessity, after Jack's soon-to-be ex-wife threatens to sell the gallery he has devoted his career to, leaving him in need of cash — and fast. His solution: to fix up and sell the Italian villa that he inherited from his mum, although his dad also owns half of the property. Cue family dysfunction unfurling in gorgeous surroundings, a stock-standard romance between Jack and a local chef (Valeria Bilello), and a very forgettable appearance by the great Lindsay Duncan (The Leftovers, Sherlock, Le Week-End) as a matter-of-fact real estate agent. As nice as it is to see Neeson apply his very particular set of skills to something other than the routine action flicks that he's been adding to his resume of late (see: not only the Taken franchise, obviously, but also Non-Stop, Run All Night, A Walk Among the Tombstones and The Commuter), here he's in bland and limp as well as unengagingly generic territory. The Italian countryside does look mighty spectacular, naturally, but that really shouldn't be the movie's main and most substantial drawcard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSO1uGvgFeQ FORCE OF NATURE Rarely has a movie ever been in need of killer crocodiles or alligators — or snapping sharks swept up into the air by a tornado, for that matter — than Force of Nature. Either would've vastly improved a film that thinks it's a grim, suspenseful action-thriller, instead skews oh-so-cheesy and ludicrous, and is never self-aware enough to make fun of or even acknowledge its preposterousness. The concept: as a Category 5 storm bears down on Puerto Rico, ex-New York detective Cardillo (Emile Hirsch) and his new partner Jess (Stephanie Cayo) are trying to escort the stubborn residents of one of the island's apartment blocks to safety, all as a merciless killer and art thief (David Zayas) storms the building with his armed henchmen looking to pilfer already-stolen paintings worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If that's not enough, one of the tower's remaining inhabitants (Lovecraft Country's William Catlett) owns a very hungry and savage big cat, while gruff but ailing former cop Ray (Mel Gibson) is simply refusing to leave his flat, despite his doctor daughter Troy's (Kate Bosworth) pleas. You could excise several plot elements from Cory M Miller's convoluted debut feature script, and Force of Nature would've still been over-the-top, such is the over-stuffed and frequently plain silly storyline. But director Michael Polish (Big Sur, The Astronaut Farmer) lets the ridiculousness pile up, and without presenting a single part of it with winks and nudges. Again, an attacking jungle beast is involved. So are the Holocaust and art dating back to World War II, a tragic backstory for the now world-wearied and even suicidal Cardillo, and a fledgling romance with Troy. Not that they're given much chance to bring their A-game or utter anything but wince-worthy dialogue, but the cast deliver tension-free performances, and the movie's many shootouts and fist-fights prove dully shot and formulaic. That the tone-deaf film also pits its supposedly heroic white characters against villainous people of colour — and places a Nazi German in the middle, because of course it does — speaks plenty about this terrible mess of a feature. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas, check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23, July 30 and August 6 — and our full reviews of The Personal History of David Copperfield, Waves, The King of Staten Island, Babyteeth and Deerskin.
Sydney's Ensemble Apex orchestra is back for a night of classical music without pretension. Its talented young musicians will take over the Powerhouse Museum on Tuesday, August 30 — and the $30 tickets ($10 if you're a student) come with a beer. The ensemble is known for performing outside of traditional concert halls. Last year, it put on a show at Sydney's Town Hall. This time around, the group will perform within the Powerhouse's Apollo 11 exhibition, underneath that giant floating sculpture of the moon. The full-scale orchestra will perform composer Dmitri Shostakovich's 'String Quartet No.8', Giovanni Sollima's 'Violoncelles, vibrez!', Aaron Coplan's 'Concerto for Clarinet' and Joseph Haydn's 'Symphony No.60'. Expect high energy rhythms from Shostakovich, electronic melodies from Sollima and jazz vibes from Copland. Alongside the music, you can enjoy a Young Henrys beer or cider, free at the bar (until sold out). Doors open at 7pm with music starting at 8pm.
Need an extra sweet escape? To celebrate National Donut Day, held on Friday, June 6, Donut King has teamed up with luxury hotel brand Ovolo Hotels to create the 'Hot Cinni Hotel'. This collaboration is perhaps not what you'd normally expect for such an occasion. However, it quickly becomes obvious that this promotion hasn't cut any corners when it comes to fostering suite dreams. In an immersive hotel takeover, the heritage-listed Ovolo Woolloomooloo will see two of its elegant suites transformed into cinnamon doughnut-filled luxury stays. Decked out with shimmering pink accents, cinnamon-painted walls, colourful pop art and a Donut King-inspired bed adorned with plush fabrics, the 'Hot Cinni Suite' experience is like no other. Yet this doughnut-led experience goes beyond mere design. Guests will also see the suite filled with cinnamon doughnut-inspired scents and services, from aromatic diffusers and bathroom amenities to pink art-deco glassware and deluxe towels. Best of all, an exclusive room service offering means hot cinnamon doughnuts will arrive at your door with just the push of a button. That all sounds a little bonkers, but don't think the hotel is finished yet. Donut King and Ovolo Hotels have extended the fun to other areas of the hotel, with every guest invited to get amongst the celebration. In the lobby, pink and cinnamon lighting pay homage to the humble cinnamon doughnut, while the hotel's resident mixologist has created the Cinnitini — a spice-forward cocktail. Also in the bar, discover special nibbles like Donut King cinnamon doughnuts with dulce de leche; cauliflower bites with cinnamon-laced mayo; and chicken skewers with cinnamon barbecue sauce. As for other guests who happen to book a stay at Ovolo Woolloomooloo during this limited-time activation, they're welcome to order room service doughnuts for free. Just know, bookable stays for the Hot Cinni Hotel are only available from Friday, June 6–Sunday, June 9. "Partnering with Donut King to offer our guests an undeniably exhilarating and unexpected culinary experience during their stay is a sweet deal," says James Clark, General Manager at Ovolo Sydney. "We're constantly exploring new experiences for our guests to enhance their stay, and we believe they will absolutely crave and love this limited yet delightfully sweet addition." Bookings for the Hot Cinni Hotel open from Thursday, May 29 at 9am, with stays available from Friday, June 6–Sunday, June 9. Head to the website for more information.
This post is sponsored by our partners, lastminute.com.au. Luxury isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Western Australia. The general impression is that it's filled with sharks, snakes, and all manner of things that can kill you. But really, it's home to some of the country's most spectacular sites and tourist attractions as well as luxurious hotels. Not only do these places have nets and fences to keep the snakes out, they do it in style. Berkeley River, Broome You know a place is fancy when you can't even get to it by car. To set foot upon the lavish ground of Berkeley River, you must arrive by air or water — a task assisted by the float plane that transports registered guests. While up in the air, you'll also have a moment to appreciate the beautiful surrounds. Situated on the Kimberley Coast, this hotel has 20 ocean views including the Timor Sea, Reveley Island and the mouth of the stunning Berkeley River. Injidup Spa Retreat, Yallingup Who better to specialise in spa and relaxation than Western Australians? In summer, it already feels a little like a sauna, and there's nowhere better than a spa bath to wash away all that red dirt. Injidup Spa Retreat is just that — a retreat. A member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, this hotel is an adults-only experience founded on the principles of tranquility and privacy. Guests are all offered spacious and secluded villas with private plunge pools and panoramic views of the Indian Ocean and, better yet, the wineries of Margaret River are right at your doorstep. Pullman Resort Bunker Bay, Dunsborough While you're in the wine region (if you're lucky enough to be pulling some sort of luxury-resort pub crawl), Pullman Resort Bunker Bay is well worth the visit. Located south-west of Perth, this five-star resort has taken out the top prize from the Australian Hotels Association as Best Resort-Style Accommodation, and has 150 luxurious studios and villas to fill all your exotic, leisurely needs. Swimming pool? Check. Spa? Check. Tennis Courts? Check. Access to one of the most beautiful beaches in the country? Yep. Protected by the Cape Naturaliste Peninsula, Bunker Bay has the most startlingly clear and azure water you'll ever see. Even if there were sharks, you'd see them coming a mile off. Crown Metropol Perth Hotels like this are a rarity in Australia. Overlooking the Swan River, Crown Metropol Perth proves that you really can have the exotic island life with all the perks of being in the city. While this luxury hotel has regular rooms suitable to corporate or basic traveller, it also boasts private cabanas, a day spa, a fitness centre and a huge resort-style pool. Seriously — look at that pool. It alone is worth the trip. Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa, Broome Cable Beach is known for the extraordinary. The water is clear and stunning, the weather is always superbly warm, and there's the opportunity to ride camels along the sand. Camels! They're native to Australia, but I doubt most of us have ever seen one, let alone felt its galumphing hooves under us. Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa is the only resort overlooking this magical beach, and it's pretty impressive in its own right. With studios, bungalows, private villas and suites, all set alongside gorgeous, tranquil gardens, the resort echoes the nature of the region well — tranquil, spectacular and happily out of the ordinary. Book your next WA escape now at lastminute.com.au.
Back in 2010, Ryan Gosling starred in a crime drama called All Good Things, playing a real estate heir suspected to be behind his wife's disappearance, as well as other murders. It isn't a highlight on his resume, but you'll see the feature very differently once you've watched six-part HBO docuseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst — because Gosling's character is based on Durst, and because filmmaker Andrew Jarecki directed both the movie and the series. True crime isn't a new genre, but The Jinx proved one of its big hitters when it was initially released in 2015. While it was originally airing, Durst was arrested on murder charges, with the criminal proceedings still ongoing to this day. Jarecki's series draws upon more than 20 hours of interviews with Durst, conducted over a number of years, and it'll drop you right into the middle of a twisty case. The minutiae is best experienced by watching, but the show's finale isn't easily forgotten.
What's better than one queer-focused film festival each year? Two, of course. That's always been the motto of the the Sydney-based Queer Screen, which puts together the Mardi Gras Film Festival during the first half of every year and then gives cinephiles the Queer Screen Film Fest to close out the annual calendar. Two fests are still on the agenda in 2021 — but, after MGFF paired in-cinema sessions with an online program, QSFF will only be screening online. Running from Thursday, September 16–Sunday, September 26, the latter is popping up while Sydney is in lockdown, so you'll have plenty of viewing options from your couch. And, it'll be playing virtually nationally, letting fans of LGBTIQA+ flicks tune in Australia-wide. More than 40 films are on the bill, spanning new highlights and a few favourites that've graced Queer Screen's two fests in previous years. Among movies from 17 countries and in 18 languages, new standouts include François Ozon's 80s-set Summer of 85, about a two teens and their summer fling; Taiwanese drama Dear Tenant, which explores the experience of being a gay man in the country today; Lola, an award-winner that focuses on a trans girl and her estranged father on a trip to the Belgian coast; and A Sexplanation, which ponders the stigma that still surrounds talking about sexuality. And, from the past standouts, lesbian rom-com Signature Move, Germany's acclaimed Free Fall and Wild Nights with Emily, about poet Emily Dickson, all feature.
"When was the last truly fucking nasty, nasty, bad pop girl?" the latest teaser trailer for The Idol asks. Whatever the answer to that question IRL, it seems that HBO viewers — and subscribers to Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand — are about to meet someone who earns that description on-screen come June. After dropping sneak peeks since July 2022, the US cable channel's new music industry-set series finally has a release date. And, of course, another glimpse at what's to come. That celebrity is Jocelyn, as played by Voyagers' Lily-Rose Depp. She's quite the big deal, but a nervous breakdown got in the way of her last tour. Now she's back — and she wants be known as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America again. As the new trailer shows, nightclub impresario Tedros (Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd) just might be a part of that big return. There's a whole lot of parties, drugs, attractive actors and drama in The Idol's teasers so far, which hardly comes as a surprise given that Sam Levinson is one of its creators alongside The Weeknd. By now, audiences know that when something on HBO proves a huge hit, the network goes all in. One case in point: all things Game of Thrones, including House of the Dragon, plus the hefty list of other spinoffs also in the works. Another example: Euphoria, which Levinson is best known for, and appears to share its vibe with The Idol. Here, there's complicated relationships, too. Jocelyn and Tedros' time together is complicated by his sordid past, for instance, but also might gift her with a romantic awakening. Where the show goes from there will start to be revealed from Monday, June 5 Down Under, after it premieres at 2023's Cannes Film Festival. The Idol's stacked cast also includes Red Rocket's Suzanna Son, Boy Erased's Troye Sivan, Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy, singer-songwriter Moses Sumney, BLACKPINK's Jennie Kim, Only Murders in the Building's Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Hacks' Jane Adams, Bodies Bodies Bodies' Rachel Sennott and Inglourious Basterds' Eli Roth. Also set to pop up in the series: Hank Azaria (Hello Tomorrow!), Hari Nef (The Marvellous Mrs Maisel), Steve Zissis (Happy Death Day 2U), Melanie Liburd (This Is Us), Tunde Adebimpe (Marriage Story), Elizabeth Berkley Lauren (Saved By the Bell) and Nico Hiraga (Booksmart), plus Anne Heche (All Rise) in what'll be one of her last performances. When it was originally announced in November 2021, The Idol was set to span six episodes, all filmed in Los Angeles — with She Dies Tomorrow's Amy Seimetz directing every single one. But back in April 2022, it was revealed that Seimetz had left the project and reshoots were underway as a result. How that'll impact the end product is obviously yet to be seen, but the teasers so far should have you intrigued anyway. And, so should the fact that A24 are also behind it, after 2023's already-stellar Beef. Check out the latest teaser trailer for The Idol below: The Idol will premiere on Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand on Monday, June 5.. Images: Eddy Chen/HBO.
There's the naturalism you know, and then there's the immersive, mythic, sensorial and heady naturalism of Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Colour (known in its native France as Adele: Chapters 1 & 2). The director boldly sticks his camera in the face of actor Adele Exarchopoulos and lets it linger there for three hours, watching intensely as the ingenue lives and loses her first love, while several years roll by. It's an extreme viewing experience that garnered high praise in Europe and won the most prestigious independent film award on the planet, the Palme d'Or. Yet as much as a Cannes-adored French coming-of-age movie (based on a graphic novel, by author Julia Maroh) appeals to my personal proclivities, I found Blue Is the Warmest Colour to be more of an interesting film than a great one. By far its biggest charm lies in the understated yet giving and uninhibited performances of its leads, Exarchopoulos as Adele and Lea Seydoux as her worldlier girlfriend, Emma. We see Adele as a whole person discovering the world, not just her sexuality. She waxes lyrical about her favourite classic novel, joins in song at a political demonstration, fools around with a sweet boy who only makes her depressed, and eats spag bol with her mouth open at an incommunicative family dinner table. She's from a plain, working-class household, and her world opens up when she meets art student Emma, who floors her from across the street with her blue-streaked hair and white-hot insouciance. Their love is explosive, total and immensely physical. But first loves don't often last, and that's probably a good thing. Captured in extreme close-up, Blue Is the Warmest Colour lets you feel the beauty and the pain of it, really feel it, for a few blessed minutes. However, not all of the three hours' worth of scenes deserve to be there, and Kechiche's execution seems haphazard and uncompromising. Since Cannes, there's been growing criticism of the hetero director's imaginings of a lesbian romance, and the camera's gaze does seem to cross a line from luscious into lascivious at times. Eschewing the usual press tour conventions, Exarchopoulos and Seydoux have been pretty frank in interviews about what it was like to work with the director — "horrible", uncomfortable, possibly exploitative and endlessly drawn out past schedule. It especially matters as the movie includes a hardcore seven-minute sex scene that took apparently ten days to shoot. The actors say they're happy with the results, but it doesn't seem like a methodology we should accept. Fortunately, Blue Is the Warmest Colour's Palme d'Or, for the first time in history, was jointly awarded to the director and the film's two stars. Their idiosyncratic performances are very worth seeing. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y2OLRrocn3s
It's true every time the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras arrives: whether you're keen on the parade action, browsing stalls, partying in pools, hitting the dance floor, catching drag performances or plenty more, there's no shortage of options at the Harbour City's celebration of LGBTQIA+ pride and culture. For 2026, the lineup spans the return of Fair Day, the festival's usual beloved splash-filled soirees, as well as performance, talks, cinema and community gatherings — and that's just the beginning. In total, more than 80 LBGTQIA+ events will be taking place throughout Sydney between Friday, February 13 and Sunday, March 1, 2026. The overarching theme of Mardi Gras' 48th year is ECSTATICA, which celebrates joy as power, protest and connection — and feels especially vital in our current climate. The program once again kicks off with the Progress Pride Flag Raising at Sydney Town Hall on Friday, February 13, and sets the scene for a big opening weekend. That evening sees the return of Ultra Violet at City Recital Hall — a femme-driven, multi-sensory celebration from Sveta Gilerman and Jess Hill — while the following night, Black Cherry spotlights trans and gender-diverse artistry at the National Art School's historic Cell Block Theatre. Fair Day returns to Victoria Park on Sunday, February 15, filling the park with stalls, picnic rugs, performances, a doggy parade, the always lively Drag King Games, the Queer Fashion Runway and a full day of community connection under the summer sun. Other returning favourites include Kaftana Pool Party at Ivy Pool Club (Wednesday, February 18), Laugh Out Proud at the Enmore Theatre (Friday, February 20), Queer Art After Hours at the Art Gallery of NSW (Wedmesday, February 25), and the 33rd Mardi Gras Film Festival by Queer Screen, running in cinemas across the city (February 12–26). Among the new events for 2026 is Mardi Gala — a couture-meets-culinary spectacle at the Ivy Ballroom on Tuesday, February 24 — plus fresh theatrical additions including Perfect Arrangement at New Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company's revival of The Normal Heart at the Sydney Opera House. As always, the action culminates in the 48th Annual Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday, February 28, when Oxford Street, Flinders Street and Anzac Parade transform into the beating heart of LGBTQIA+ pride. Expect thousands of marchers, floats awash with colour, and that unmistakably pulsating parade energy. And as ever, the party doesn't stop after the parade — that night brings the return of PARTY, reimagined for 2026, while the beloved Laneway returns to take over The Beresford and Hill Street on Sunday, March 1, to close the festival with a bang. Rounding out the program is Mardi Gras+, the open-access stream championing queer artists, storytellers and communities across Sydney — from Rainbow Beaches activations to cabaret, comedy, walking tours, markets and more. Images: Jordan Munns, Joseph Mayers, Ann-Marie Calilhanna, Ken Leanfore, Lexi Laphor, Jess Gleeson, Ash Penin,
Things are changing at Central Station. If the multibillion-dollar tech towers and expansive rooftop renovations weren't enough, a new multi-dimensional precinct is taking over the northern end of the station. Opening on Thursday, November 24, EDDY will facilitate 13 new temporary tenants ranging from candlemakers and florists; to radio stations and a new neighbourhood bar from Golden Age. Nonna's Grocer is one of the many exciting tenants. For the uninitiated, the concept candle-maker creates highly sought-after candles that look wonderfully similar to fruits, vegetables and pantry items. Pick up a candle in the shape of an heirloom tomato or a stick of butter to spruce up your dining table. Other exciting local organisations taking over the shopfronts include musical tastemakers Nomad Radio, Condimental's flagship store Picnic Central, a lighting and furniture shop from Australian Design & Co, sneaker laundry service Shoebox, florist Dust Flowers and recording studio Planet Trip Records. [caption id="attachment_825044" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nonna's Grocer[/caption] Pop-up pizza party-starters Oltra Pizza will be serving up cheese rounds and Poor Toms gin in a new restaurant as part of EDDY as well. Named City Oltra, the pizza joint will feature hits from the Oltra team's many pop-ups that have previously included a Porcine pork special and thick bready tomato pies. As for the previously mentioned neighbourhood bar, SHADES is still a little while off, with a rough open day set for mid-December. As with the original Golden Age Cinema & Bar, food, wine, cocktails, music and film will all collide at the new venue. Here, the action will be spread across two areas, a 50-capacity front bar and a 100-person warehouse-style arts space. "It's rare and exciting to be opening this kind of experimental venue in a location like Central," says co-founder of Golden Age Cinema & Bar Chris Barton. "Cities are unique because of their different layers and this is a great opportunity to provide something that we feel is missing in this part of town." Behind the project is urban strategy organisation Right Angle, who have worked on projects like Paramount House, Sydney Olympic Park, Golden Age and Barangaroo South. "The purpose of EDDY is to reanimate Central Railway Station by using a dormant retail space and filling it with a great mix of local retail and cultural experiences," reads a statement on Right Angle's website. If you want to find out more about EDDY, the precinct is opening with a celebratory party this Thursday, November 24. The opening day will feature giveaways, discounts, demonstrations, music, food and drinks throughout the day including Nomad Radio DJs from 6–10pm and a pop-up bar from SHADES. [caption id="attachment_879237" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Saskia Wilson[/caption] EDDY is officially opening at Eddy Avenue on Thursday, November 24. Head along to the opening day to check it out. Images: Right Angle
It's time to clean out your stein, wash off your lederhosen and reacquaint yourself with the wonders of oom pah pah music, because Oktoberfest is back again. The world's most (in)famous piss-up has outdone itself again this year with 6 million people expected to show up for the 179th instalment. As always, the real winners of the festival shall be the brewers, who are expected to sell in excess of last year's 8 million litres at a touch over US$12 a glass. The festival was kicked-off in traditional fashion on Saturday, September 22 with Munich mayor Christian Ude's tapping of the first keg. With a cry of "O'zapft is!" ("It's tapped!") the Bavarian festival, in all its dirty, drunken, debaucherous glory, was launched for another year of liver-beating, cardio-destroying-mayhem. Here is a little peek into the thrills and spills of the first week of Oktoberfest 2012. Oom Pah Pah, Oom Pah Pah That's How it Goes! Beer-drinkers Wonderland Ordinary Man Drinks Beer: Becomes Legend A Boy in Traditional Dress Surveys the Damage A Tiny Snapshot of the Estimated 6 Million Oktoberfest Revellers It's On for Young and Old A Man Wearing Hops on his Head: Doesn't it look so innocuous like this... Oktoberfest - When One Beer is Never Enough Polish Girls in Traditional Polish Dress Get In On the Oktoberfest Action Bavarian Men in Traditional Dress Totally Look the Part: Moustaches and All "Prost!" ("Cheers!")
UPDATE: Friday, January 24 — Due to unforeseen circumstances Sheppard have cancelled its performance in Parramatta Park on Sunday, January 26. Instead, Aussie indie rock band British India will perform. The below article has been updated to reflect this. Parramatta Park is looking more and more like a fun place to be this summer. Other than it being perfect for picnics, it has an epic New Year's Eve lineup, an ongoing summer event series and a free music gig. Taking over the park on January 26, the gig brings rock band British India to Parramatta. On stage before them is 2012 Triple J Unearthed winner Asta and local husband-and-wife pop duo Jess & Matt. The event all goes down on the Crescent Stage, kicking off at 5.30pm with a Welcome to Country and it rolls all the way through till 9pm. There'll also be plenty of food trucks to keep you going, plus some rides dotted around the park. And, wrapping up the day, will be a huge firework display. Did we mention it's totally free to attend?
When the weather's this good, swapping the stuffy art gallery for an outdoor cultural fix seems a total no-brainer. So it's perfect, really, that this Friday, September 29 marks the launch of CoLABS, an interactive outdoor event set to take over Western Sydney Parklands' Bungarribee Park with a fun and engaging fusion of art and science. Designed to highlight how these two disciplines can come together to inspire the next generation of minds, the sprawling outdoor art gallery will run throughout school holidays until October 8. But the program isn't just for kids. On display are works like Edison Chen's vibrant, four-metre-high Bear-Ometer of Positivity, which inflates and deflates according to positive tweets sent through visitors' smartphones, and Clayton Thompson's Project Bread representing global wealth by way of an eight-metre-tall pyramid crafted from bread crates. You'll also play plants like instruments inside Botanicus Musica's sound garden, trek through a huge interactive kaleidoscope and even play noughts and crosses with a robot as part of the RAPP LAB Robots, Art, People and Performance piece. Tickets to the inaugural CoLABS outdoor art event are a steal at just $5 (plus booking fee), and are available on the door or through the website. You can visit between 10am and 6pm each day.
When Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced New South Wales' latest stage of eased COVID-19 restrictions, she gave cinephiles a particularly exciting piece of news. Movie theatres have been closed around the country since mid-March; however, with current caps on indoor venues lifting on Wednesday, July 1, it appears that projectors will be allowed to start whirring again in the state. And, while that doesn't mean that it's popcorn-munching business as usual quite yet, local cinemas will gradually begin to reopen. Randwick Ritz will be one of the initial places to start ushering movie buffs back into darkened rooms, opening its doors on the very first day it can. It'll relaunch with The Invisible Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and The Current War, all of which were already screening in March when cinemas shut. And, it'll be showing new films as well, such as The Assistant and Bait. Plus, if you haven't already caught the Hugo Weaving-starring Hearts and Bones at home — or watched Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan eat and banter their way through The Trip to Greece — you can now do so in a theatre. Come Thursday, July 2, Palace's New South Wales sites will also let punters back in — playing a lineup of brand new movies that haven't screened in Aussie cinemas or hit VOD as yet. On that date, film fans will be able to check out The Booksellers, while Waves and A White, White Day will follow suit the week after. Also on the bill: Mulan and The Burnt Orange Heresy from July 23. On July 9, the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace will kick back into gear, too, continuing to balance fresh flicks and retro hits. That includes the likes of new releases Shirley and Love Sarah, as well as old-school titles such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Labyrinth, The Big Lebowski, Grease, Jaws and The Room. If you're wondering about other cinemas, much of the big end of town — including multiplexes — has been focused on Christopher Nolan's Tenet as the film to herald audiences back into theatres. In fact, that's the plan that the local industry has been working towards. This past weekend, however, the movie's worldwide date was pushed back to the end of July (from Thursday, July 16 to Thursday, July 30 in Australia). So, it's safe to expect that plenty of other New South Wales picture palaces will relaunch on or around then. At the time of writing, chains such as Event, Hoyts and Reading hadn't revealed their reopening dates, nor had Dendy Newtown, Golden Age Cinema and Bar (other than for private hires, which it's hosting now) or Roseville Cinemas — but, again, expect that to change as late-July creeps up. And, like attending any business reopening in the time of COVID-19, patrons can also expect significant changes to the movie-going experience — including online bookings, allocated seating, gaps between patrons, contactless payment, social-distancing requirements and extra cleaning. For more information about what's screening in Sydney from July, or to book tickets, visit the websites for the Randwick Ritz, Hayden Orpheum and Palace. Top image: Randwick Ritz by Kimberley Low
2016 marks 40 years of Sydney Festival, and to celebrate, they're giving us the gift of what is arguably their best lineup yet. From January 7 -26, Sydney's most iconic venues will host some of the best performances of the year — many of which are actually affordable. Want to know which ones will give you the most bang for your buck? Read on to see our picks of the 2016 program that won't cost you more than a pineapple. So go forth, and get your culture on for cheap.
Redfern's much loved ramen shop RaRa has garnered a cult-like following since opening its doors in 2018. Those who've visited the joint will have seen lines around the block, which start to form even before the restaurant opens for dinner service. Now, lucky Sydneysiders have doubled their chance to taste a bowl of the restaurant's ramen. RaRa Randwick has opened within the recently launched Newmarket Dining Precinct — and it boasts bigger digs, an extended menu and its very own window-framed noodle room. "We have been thrilled with the response and amount of interest and patronage at Redfern," says Scott Gault who co-owns the restaurants with Katie Shortland. "Opening a second site will be a good chance for more Sydneysiders to experience what RaRa offers." [caption id="attachment_761118" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] Executive Chef Terry Jeon (ex-Spice Temple) is a self-proclaimed ramen fanatic. At the new outpost, Joen is making the noodles daily using an imported noodle machine — in a dedicated noodle-making room with large windows. Plus, all of the soups are still made from scratch in a special pressure cooker using all free-range meat and eggs. The full RaRa Redfern menu is available at Randwick, too, but the new joint is also set to launch plenty of brand new dishes, which will be available in the coming weeks. While the menu is not quite yet finalised, expect the likes of chicken and vegan katsu curries, pork and corn korokke (Japanese croquettes), chicken karaage and a variety of onigiri options. Another new specialty will be the hiyashi chuka — a Japanese cold noodle salad with sous-vide shredded chicken breast, topped with house pickles and goma dare sesame dressing. [caption id="attachment_761114" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] For drinks, expect more imported Japanese beers and local cans from Yullis Brews, as well as natural wines by the glass and other Japanese specialties like sake, highballs and umeshu sodas. And, similarly to Redfern, the space will have a mix of glowing red neon and light timber elements — just much larger. It was designed by Aphora Architecture, whose team took a trip back to Japan in order to prepare for the build. "As with Redfern, the store layout is focused on connecting the diner to the theatre involved in the preparation of various handmade elements of the ramen, which is ultimately at the heart of the RaRa spirit," says head designer Andrew Forsyth. [caption id="attachment_761119" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] That voyeuristic noodle room we mentioned earlier sits near the entrance and allows patrons to watch all of the noodle-making in action. Meanwhile, at the other end of the restaurant, smoke from the char siu grill offers its own form of 'theatre'. We recommend pulling up a stool at the wrap-around bar, which sits central to the space and allows you to enjoy all of restaurant's entertainment. RaRa Randwick is now open at Shop 1/162- 164 Barker Street, Randwick. Opening hours are Monday through Wednesday from 11.30am–9.30pm, Thursday through Friday from 11.30am–10pm, Saturday from noon–10pm and Sunday from noon–8pm. Images: Kitti Gould
On the north shore, this easy going date spot is an excellent place to step up your date nights. On Sundays, it has live music, which will add the perfect soundtrack to your evening out. Its extensive menu makes it a crowd-pleasing dining option, too. Opt to share tapas-style plates of chorizo, zucchini frites, chicken wings, oven-baked haloumi and wild mushroom risotto balls. Or if you're not quite in sharing territory yet, go for the pie of the day or a beef burger. [caption id="attachment_779825" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cassandra Hannagan[/caption] Images: Cassandra Hannagan
In the Bram Stoker vampire novel that's inspired almost all other vampire novels, Dracula is undead. In popular culture since and forever, the fictional Transylvanian bloodsucker will never die. Regardless of his fate on the page back in 1897, the most-portrayed character in horror movies ever keeps baring his fangs on-screen, rising again and again like the sun that this creature of the night can never bask in. 2023 brings two new Dracula films, which isn't overly notable, but this crop of Stoker-influenced flicks doesn't simply retell the usual 126-year-old tale. Leaning into comedy and action, Renfield sunk its teeth in by giving the vampire's long-suffering familiar some love. Now the dread-dripping Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter hones in on one chapter of the book that started it all, detailing the captain's log from the neck-munching fiend's journey to London via ship. In print, this stint of seafaring isn't Dracula's main focus. In adaptations upon adaptations over the past century, sometimes it isn't even included — or, if it does pop up, it's often a montage or a passing mention. The watery trip glistens with horror-movie potential, however, boasting a specific setting, a captive group, and an ominous force stalking and slaying. Slasher films, haunted-house fare, Jaws, Alien: they've all fed on such scenarios. Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter has spent decades in various stages of development, cycling through a feast of various talents, but bringing this Dracula chapter to the screen was always a sound idea. While the end result doesn't star Noomi Rappace (You Won't Be Alone), Ben Kingsley (Daliland), Jude Law (Peter Pan & Wendy) or Viggo Mortensen (Thirteen Lives) as previously floated, and isn't directed by Robert Schwentke (The Captain, Allegiant), Marcus Nispel (Conan the Barbarian, Friday the 13th) or Neil Marshall (The Lair, Hellboy), a solid concept with eerie, moody and gory potential remains at its core. Leading instead: Corey Hawkins (In the Heights) as physician Clemens, Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) as stowaway Anna and Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) as Captain Eliot. The former hops onto the latter's ship in Eastern Europe, where a promised job falls through due to his race, forcing a pivot onto the Demeter's crew to return to England. Clemens isn't the only new boarding, with the vessel also welcoming 50 unmarked crates from the Carpathian Mountains. Given that the film is named Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter Down Under — elsewhere, it's known as just The Last Voyage of the Demeter — there's no surprises about what's among the cargo. So, as initially told in Dracula's seventh chapter, in the epistolary format of letters, journals and clippings that Stoker's tome deployed across the entire novel, the key contents of those mysterious wooden chests soon begins offing fellow seafarers. As it relishes gothic-horror chills and, later, gruesome blood spills, there's a full-circle air to the latest film by Trollhunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark director André Øvredal. Of course Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter feels like Alien but Dracula, or Halloween with the nape-chomping Count — all visions of slaughter at sea owe his acclaimed text's 'The Dailygraph' segment a debt, and all slasher flicks owe Stoker's book as a whole. Bragi F Schut (Escape Room) and Zak Olkewicz's (Bullet Train) screenplay isn't quaking about those similarities. It isn't afraid of unfurling a narrative with zero tension about its outcome, either, because Dracula's time in London is already that well-covered. Indeed, after commencing with the end that's so deeply established, the bulk of the movie arrives as flashbacks, as lifted from Eliot's log, of the infernal odyssey that eventuates whenever "a man, tall and thin, and ghastly pale" — aka a Nosferatu-esque Dracula (Javier Botet, His House) — awakes from coffin. Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter's script is an invitation to its filmmaker, then: take this setup, with its familiar situation, famous monster and foregone conclusion, and make it an old-school frightfest through atmosphere, execution and investment in characters. Øvredal largely obliges. Exactly what the audience knows will happen does — regardless of how intimate you are with the source material, or past Drac outings, or not — but this isn't a mere water-treading viewing experience in the Norwegian director's hands. How creepily and compellingly this story is splashed across the screen is as crucial as the plot details. So is the film's willingness to let its antagonist terrify, plus its eagerness to flesh out its pivotal humans. Enlisting Botet, who was also a menacing presence in Mama, Crimson Peak, IT, Insidious: The Last Key and Slender Man, helps. In avoiding relegating Clemens, Anna, Eliot, his grandson Toby (Woody Norman, C'mon C'mon) and first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian, Oppenheimer) to just prey and pawns, the rest of the cast also assists. The ins and outs of Schut and Olkewicz's script see the science-minded Clemens set sail, clash with the Demeter's crew over their faith in myth and superstition — they're also not fussed about his attire or smooth hands — then try to hunt down the creature that's leaving a red-streaked body count. The film's narrative also chronicles Anna's shock appearance mid-voyage, as well as a cat-and-mouse game as the living endeavour to stop the undead. Øvredal's committed direction, plus discerning cinematography (by Mortal's Roman Osin and The Ice Road's Tom Stern), production design (Edward Thomas, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions) and composing (Bear McCreary, Foundation), showers that doomed journey with unease. As the helmer's filmography already attests, he knows the horror genre's basics inside out. And, he's equally aware that textured performances leave a mark, whether Hawkins is conveying why believing in the rational is so important to Clemens, or Franciosi is expressing pain and perseverance, or Cunningham embodying down-with-the-ship dutifulness. As it charts its carnage-filled cruise, Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter isn't an origin story but an in-between story. "In-between" sums up the picture overall, too. It lingers in the middle of Hammer flicks and Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. It is gleefully keen on bloodshed, but also frequently refined in look and feel. Øvredal's feature is enthusiastic about staking its own claim; however, as too much does lately, it goes to great efforts to spark a follow-up — and attempt to resurrect Universal's monster movies after 2014's Dracula Untold and 2017's The Mummy failed. (Consider Renfield and Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter's swift-in-succession releases the studio giving itself two new tastes.) This trip with ol' Drac never sinks, yet it also doesn't truly soar. For the bloodsucker himself over this particular journey, that's a welcome outcome. For viewers witnessing a literary masterpiece given a different big-screen spin after its packed history, it's enough to bite into.
2020. It's a year so difficult to summarise that even the Oxford Dictionary couldn't decide on a single word of the year. But in Sydney's hospitality scene, one in particular rings true: resilience. Despite months of restrictions and some devastating closures, its cafes managed to proliferate. And, impressively, they continue to push the boundary further. We've seen gluten free doughnut shops pop up in the inner west, sprawling urban farms open on the lower north shore and one of the state's best vegan burger joints appear by the beach. So, we're celebrating the good that's come from the past 12 months by rounding up the best new cafes to open in 2020.
Since launching in 2013, Four Pillars has given Australian gin lovers plenty to drink, including its famed Bloody Shiraz Gin, an annual Christmas-themed tipple, barrel-aged gins and even a boozy ode to Melbourne landmark The Espy. Next time you pour yourself a sip of one of the above juniper spirits, you'll actually be pouring yourself a drop from the world's best gin producer, with the Yarra Valley-based distillery earning that title at this year's International Wine and Spirits Competition. In the event's 50th year, Four Pillars nabbed what's considered the industry's top gin gong, receiving the prize in London on Thursday, November 28 UK time. And if you're wondering about the size and scale of the IWSC, it's the globe's largest international competition for spirits, receiving more than 3000 entries worldwide. Winning for its impressive range of gins — which also includes its Rare Dry Gin, Spiced Negroni Gin and Navy Strength Gin — Four Pillars also made history by becoming the first Australian distillery to win the award. It's the latest exciting chapter in the company's short but substantial run so far, with the gin outfit founded by Cameron Mackenzie, Stuart Gregor and Matt Jones six years ago, earning plenty of acclaim and awards since, and selling a 50-percent stake to beer giant Lion earlier in 2019. In anointing Four Pillars this year's IWSC International Gin Producer of the Year, the organisation also recognised the company's role in the gin industry, its commitment to collaboration and creativity — and its full lineup of tipples. "When we started making test batches of gin back in 2012 we never in our maddest, wildest dreams thought this could happen so quickly," said Mackenzie. "This award is not for a single one of our gins but for the whole of our gin business and that's what makes it so incredibly special." To peruse the full list of International Wine and Spirits Competition winners, visit the organisation's website.
Ah, the annual festival of all things Italian — just when I thought I was out, they dragged me back in. Sunday, October 27 marks the day of celebration for the nation that brought us Julius Caesar, prosecco and Dario Argento. This year's incarnation of the street fair is a special one though, as it's celebrating 33 years of the exultation of Mediterranean multiculturalism. As per usual though, Norton Street will be lined with food vendors ranging from nonnas to professional culinary wizards. The big communal table will be back, and the Royal Hotel's verandah will be in full swing throughout the afternoon. There'll be entertainment, beverages, fashion and the Auto Festa, with as many Ferraris and Lambos as you can shake a cannoli at. Norton Street Italian Festa runs from 10am–5pm.
Raw, rotten and loud — hardly the vocabulary you'd typically expect a chef to use when describing their new menu. Then again, the irreverent cuisine at this newcomer to Newcastle's booming dining scene is anything but typical. Head Chef Alannah Miceli, formerly of the now-closed Newcastle bistro Subo, has developed a nose-to-tail, root-to-leaf concept that spotlights the calibre of local produce while limiting waste. "In the Hunter Region we have access to beautiful local produce that needs to be championed," Miceli explains. "Our concept of raw, rotten and loud allows us to really consider the ingredients and to explore how to maximise them." Fresh and foraged produce can be found in its purest state, served raw, but also pickled and cured—embracing the idea of the "rotten". The colour and flavour of this interplay of fresh and fermented foods are where the volume gets turned up, producing "loud" plates that diners won't soon forget. Meat is used sparingly on Closed's menu and even then, dishes favour obscure and underrated cuts that don't often make it to restaurant kitchens. Seafood has a more prominent presence but the greater focus is on seasonable vegetables, used in striking and surprising ways. Think market fish infused with gin and zesty yuzu, finished with zippy hits of pickled chilli and native succulents. The drinks offering also embraces the same sustainable ethos as the food, with a wine list sourced from boutique suppliers heroing minimal intervention, organic and biodynamic drops. Every mix on the innovative signature cocktail list involves some degree of pickling, fermenting or smoking. The menu is headlined by one of NSW's strongest legal drinks, The Cure — a sweet and sour mingle starring Poor Toms strawberry gin, lillet rose, rhubi mistelle, strawberry shrubb, lemon and rhubarb bitters. Spread over two levels, with a colourful and quirky dining space on the ground floor and a cocktail lounge with large outdoor terrace above, the interiors by Patternshop channel a punky yet polished tone, with plush, tactile fabrics, period accents and exposed wood contrasted with industrial fixtures. A palette of vermillion, olive and black are carried into a striking pop art wall mural by local artist Jordan Lucky that proudly proclaims: "Made in Newcastle". In recent years, major investment in Newcastle's hospitality and tourism industries has transformed NSW's second city from a historic port town into a bone fide dining destination on the doorstep of the Hunter. Hot on the heels of Hunter Street, which has undergone a renaissance since the opening of the light rail line in 2019 and the QT Newcastle in 2022, Closed represents the first phase of an $8-million development of the Beaumont Street strip. Future planned additions to the Islington Village development include an artisan bakery, a gelato store, restaurants and shop-top apartments. Find Closed at 17 Beaumont Street, Islington, Newcastle, open Wednesday–Friday, 4–10pm and Saturday–Sunday, midday–10pm. Head to the venue's website for more details. Images: Chad Konik
In the area hedged by Central, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst sits Sydney's Hollywood Quarter, the locale home to some of our faves: Paramount House, NOMAD, Butter and NEL (at a glance). And while Vivid Sydney is here, the micro-precinct is rolling out a lineup of events to warm up your winter. If you only have time to head to one venue, Hotel Hollywood is a primo choice. From Friday, May 26 till Saturday, June 17, a whole range of musos will be bringing live performances and art to the Foster Street corner spot adding energy to an already loved venue. Commissioned by the Hollywood Quarter's curators Arts-Matter, multidisciplinary First Nations artist Jazz Money (pictured below) is illuminating their words across the walls of the classic pub, which has a rich feminist history. In a nod to this past and to the key themes in Money's creative practices, the words 'Light Beyond Horizon' will shine in neon until Saturday, June 17. The Hollywood was one of the rare safe spaces for women to drink in the 70s, and these three words reflect this: "There is always a light beyond the horizon that motivates us forwards," Money shares. [caption id="attachment_902806" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anna Hay[/caption] The fun isn't saved for the weekends here — there's live music at 8pm every night from Wednesday through Saturday, and entry's free. On Wednesday, June 7, a tag-team poetry performance will kick off, seeing Tug Dumbly and Benito Di Fonzo perform the best examples of their wit and lyricism. On Thursday, June 8, Illya Szwec's Irie Man will bring their 70s Jamaican blues and rock. And, on Saturday, June 10, local Sydney indie artist Chelsea Silva takes to the stage. There's plenty more, all delivering the makings of a groovy night out, so pick a date, grab your pals and head to the Hollywood Quarter this June. Hollywood Quarter's Hotel Hollywood will be hosting live music and poetry throughout Vivid Sydney 2023. For more information and to plan your trip, head to the website. Top images: James Schulz (first two).
When it comes to a snow holiday in Australia, Thredbo is at the top of a lot of people's lists. And, after the ski resort was named Australia's best for the fifth year running at the World Ski Awards earlier this year it makes sense that so many holiday makers flock there each winter. If you're not a regular at Thredbo, you might be wondering what exactly makes it stand out from other snow holiday destinations — and that's where we come in. Turns out there's a whole lot more on offer than exceptional alpine activities, from live music to excellent food and, of course, the top-notch skiing and snowboarding. We've teamed up with Thredbo to showcase all the cool ways to have fun there this winter. THE NIGHTLIFE A fully fledged nightlife scene might not be the first thing you imagine when you picture Thredbo. But, at this bustling alpine village, that's exactly what you'll find. The après ski sessions at Thredbo attract loads of snow lovers every year. And, the jewel in the crown at this year's winter festivities is the return of the much-loved evening soirée First Base happening across three Saturdays — July 26, August 20 and September 3. In the past the music event has featured artists like Hayden James, Mickey Kojack, Touch Sensitive and Joyride, and its 2022 lineup is set to be just as impressive. There'll also be regular music events on weekends at Merritts Mountain House and plenty of fun to be had at Alpine Bar. THE FEASTS Thredbo is filled with top-notch eats to keep you fuelled for those big days on the mountains. But it's not just delicious eats that the hospitality venues are serving up. Some of these incredible feasts are their own full-blown events. One upcoming highlight is the Bavarian-inspired dinner happening every Saturday evening from June 18 till September 17 at Merritts Mountain House. To get there, you'll ride a gondola under a starry night sky to your dining destination before enjoying a gluhwein on arrival and an unforgettable feast to follow. Another stand out culinary experience is the Kareela Hutte Snowcat Dinner happening on Wednesdays from July 13 till August 31 — complete with a snowcat ride, champagne and a four-course dinner at the cosy European-style hut, no less. THE SPECIAL SNOW EVENTS A trip to Thredbo wouldn't be complete without some time on the slopes. And there are loads of different ways to get your fix on the mountain that go beyond your standard snowboarding and skiing. Consider yourself an early bird? Wake up before the sun and see it rise from the top of Australia's highest lifted point with a sunrise session. You'll get to have breakfast at the country's highest restaurant, Eagles Nest, and then carve the first tracks into the longest run in the country after the overnight snowfall. If you time your trip right, you might even get to catch some of the action at the Thredbo Snow Series competition, the eighth Annual Transfer Banked Slalom snowboarding event or get involved in Australia's longest and fastest downhill race, Top to Bottom, for it's 30th race happening on August 6. Ready to lock in a trip to the snow this winter? For more information and to book, visit the website. Or, enter the competition before February 28 to win a VIP trip to the slopes this winter.
Another week, another new streaming service — or that's the way it feels, at least. By now, we all know that plenty of online platforms are constantly vying for our eyeballs, and that new ones will keep joining the fold. But, even as the list of streamers just keeps growing, we all love having options, too. We like knowing we have oh-so-many things to choose from, all at the touch of a button — because settling in for a binge-watching marathon is taking up a hefty amount of our leisure time these days. So, the fact that Australia has just scored a new streaming service — and that said platform, Paramount+, features 20,000 episodes and films — is obviously welcome news. But if you're now wondering what to watch and what'll help you fill your hours at home (whether you're in lockdown or under other COVID-19 restrictions), that's understandable. If you need some assistance, we've picked ten new and classic shows you can start binging right now. ANNE BOLEYN As an actor, Jodie Turner-Smith's resume isn't all that lengthy yet — but it will be. So far, ever since first popping up on-screen in the likes of True Blood and The Neon Demon, she has gravitated to roles that make the utmost of her presence. See: Queen & Slim, one of 2020's standout movies, and now miniseries Anne Boleyn. In the latter, Turner-Smith plays the titular character, and does so with a clear understanding of just how precarious the famed historical figure's place in her marriage to Henry VIII was. We all know how this story ends, of course. Even if you don't know that chapter of England's past inside out, this tale has played out in films and TV shows before, and will keep doing so. But Anne Boleyn's specific take on the tale draws plenty of power from its central casting, and pairs its formidable lead performance with sumptuous period details across its three-episode run. DARIA Eventually, Daria is set to get a spinoff series, focusing on the eponymous sardonic teen's classmate Jodie and following her post-college life. Until that arrives — or even once it does — the OG show is still a treasure. That'll never stop being the case, especially if you grew up watching it in the late 90s and early 00s. And, even if you didn't, it's never too late to give it a whirl. Nostalgia isn't the only reason that Daria still has a devoted following, because this a supremely savvy animated exploration of being a teenager. A high-school outsider who doesn't ever care about fitting in, and is comfortable with her sarcastic view on the world, Daria, the character, has become an icon for being herself and never wanting to be anyone else. The series overall fits the same description, and spent five seasons combining relatable adolescent angst and spot-on social satire. TWO WEEKS TO LIVE When Two Weeks to Live begins, it does so with a twenty-something woman getting into an altercation with an unpleasant stranger, and refusing to merely grin and bear it. That main character is played by Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, so it all feels familiar, but this six-part miniseries doesn't just ask its star to follow in her own footsteps. Instead, the show's protagonist Kim Noakes has been raised to be able to fend for herself, because she has also been brought up to believe that the end is near. Most of her life has been spent off the grid with her mother Tina (Sian Clifford, Fleabag), in fact, until she decides to experience the world before it all grinds to a halt. Then, after a chance meeting in a pub, she's told by a couple of strangers that everything really is about to go kaput. That's a prank, but it sets off quite the chain of events — and lets Williams turn in a stellar performance. DETROITERS Netflix's I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is only two seasons in, but it has already proven itself as one of most bizarre and brilliant comedies there is. It's one of the easiest to binge in one sitting, then start rewatching again straight away, too. The sketch show isn't Robinson's first amusing outing, however. He also spent a couple of seasons on Saturday Night Live, and co-starred in (and co-created and co-produced) the hilarious sitcom Detroiters. Featuring opposite Veep's Sam Richardson, Robinson plays a Detroit advertising agency creative with more than a few out-there ideas — but that term encompasses his life working beside his best pal anyway. It only spans two seasons, but the show will never stop being sidesplittingly funny. And, it also includes guest stars such as a pre-Ted Lasso Jason Sudeikis and the always-welcome Keegan-Michael Key. THE REN & STIMPY SHOW It's aimed at kids, it's just as entertaining for adults and, as it celebrates its absorbent, yellow and porous hero, it's one of the most anarchic and eccentric shows there is. We're talking about SpongeBob SquarePants and everything it has spawned — movies and musicals included — but it wouldn't exist if it wasn't for 90s cult favourite The Ren & Stimpy Show. The latter definitely isn't for very young viewers, as everyone who sat up late to watch it back when they were kids knows. That's obvious from its animation style alone, and from its gags and rich vein of all-round dark humour. In fact, plenty of the adult-friendly animated series that've graced screens over the past 30 years owe an enormous debt to this iconic effort about a chihuahua and a cat, their constant fighting, their differing emotional and mental states, and the mania of their exaggerated, acerbic and always absurd lives. KEY & PEELE These days, Jordan Peele has an Oscar to his name for Get Out, while Keegan Michael-Key has his own sitcom thanks to Schmigadoon!. But they'll always be known for their 2012–15 sketch comedy series Key & Peele, which won them some Emmys, showcased their considerable talents as comedians, actors and writers, and constantly delivered clever and ridiculously funny skits episode after episode — bits that weren't just amusing, or commented on popular culture, but tackled race relations in a perceptive and impassioned way as well. The highlights are too many to mention, although you've likely already seen the sublime aerobics sketch that's one of the very best things that hit screens of any size in the past decade. It's always worth watching again, as are all of Key & Peele's skits — from the gushing over "Liam Neesons" to President Obama's anger translator Luther. PENNY DREADFUL If you're going to make a TV series that mixes some of horror fiction's best-known and most iconic characters into the same tale, you need to do three things. Firstly, you need to treat those figures with respect and complexity, because there's a reason that the likes of Frankenstein's monster, Dorian Gray and Count Dracula have stood the test of time. Secondly, you need to embrace a gothic vibe, as that's the era that gave birth to these stories. And, you need to cast every part exceptionally well — including when you're working other characters into the tale as well. Across its initial three-season run, Penny Dreadful ticked all these boxes masterfully. It did so in an intoxicatingly lavish and smart manner, in fact. And, in its 19th-century London-set story, it gifted the world one of the great Eva Green's very best performances, plus also-excellent work from Timothy Dalton and Josh Hartnett. TWIN PEAKS It's the mind-bending small-town mystery-drama that comes with its own menu — and with plenty of thrills, laughs and weirdness. Whether you're watching Twin Peaks for the first or 31st time, you'll want to do so with plenty of damn fine coffee, fresh-made cherry pie and cinnamon-covered doughnuts to fuel your journey to this place most wonderful and strange. And, of course, David Lynch and Mark Frost's seminal TV series doesn't just serve up 90s-era oddness centred around the tragic murder of popular high-schooler Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), but returned for a mesmerising third season back in 2017 as well. There's simply never been anything on television like Twin Peaks, because no one can make movies and TV shows like Lynch. No one can play a kind and quirky FBI boss like Lynch either, or a dedicated agent like Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper. THE TWILIGHT ZONE When The Twilight Zone made a return back in 2019, it did so in the best possible hands. After wowing horror movie lovers with Get Out and Us, Jordan Peele took on the task of presenting, narrating and redeveloping the legendary sci-fi anthology show for the 21st century, and did it well. Picking up where Rod Serling's original five-season 50s and 60s show left off (and short-lived versions in 1985 and 2002, too), the two season revival series blends the old with the new — both remaking previous episodes and coming up with fresh, thrilling stories. It's as entertaining as you'd rightfully expect, complete with a cast that features everyone from Adam Scott and Kumail Nanjiani to Steven Yeun and Zazie Beetz. And, because the 20 episodes might not be enough, Paramount+ is also streaming both the 50s/60s and the 80s iteration of the iconic science fiction series as well. OZ Before The Sopranos, the show that everyone thinks of when they think of HBO's early big-name dramas — and before The Wire, the other seminal series that made the US cable network a must-watch destination — there was Oz. Talk about starting out as you mean to go on, because this prison-set show is phenomenal. It's as grim as it is gripping, though, as you'd expect of a drama set inside a maximum-security state penitentiary. Across six seasons, the series follows the daily ups and downs in Oswald State Correctional Facility, spending time with prison newcomers struggling with life inside and hardened crims who've behind bars for years. The end result is an acting powerhouse, too, complete with a sea of familiar faces. If you think JK Simmons well and truly earned his Oscar for his formidable performance in Whiplash, you're right, but his work here is next-level.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from January's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW ARCHIVE 81 Australian Malignant, The Conjuring and Saw filmmaker James Wan doesn't direct any episodes of Netflix's new sci-fi/horror series Archive 81, but he does lend his executive producing skills to the podcast-to-screen show — and it's easy to see why. The immediately creepy found-footage effort slots in seamlessly among the fright-inducing fare that's helped make his career, all while taking its time to dole out its scares, shocks and eeriness. It's also plain to see why Resolution, The Endless and Synchronic directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead helm two episodes, too, thanks to their already-demonstrated affection for mind-bending, genre-twisting tales that play with space and time. That pedigree alone makes Archive 81 a must-see for movie buffs, and so does the fact that the series also doubles a love letter to everything strange and out-there that's ever been captured on celluloid. Usually devoting his time to unearthing lost gems or just trawling through old video tapes looking for recorded treasure, film archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie, Black Box) gets an unexpectedly lucrative job offer: restoring Hi8 footage shot by college student Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi, Altered Carbon) back in 1994. He has to agree to live in a remote compound, under video surveillance, to take the gig — and he'll be sifting through material that Melody filmed in the Visser, an odd New York apartment building where she was looking for her mother but started to notice otherworldly things afoot. Much of the thrill of the impeccably made Archive 81 stems from its multi-layered mysteries, including what's actually happening back in the 90s, the real motives behind Dan's well-paying position and why the two time periods seem to start bleeding together. Developed, produced and mostly penned by The Boys alum Rebecca Sonnenshine, it makes for tense, trippy and often daring viewing, even when things get a tad silly in the supernatural department. The first season of Archive 81 is available to stream via Netflix. THE TOURIST If making TV shows and movies bubbles down to a formula, it doesn't take much to glean how The Tourist came about. Starring Jamie Dornan as a man caught up in a mystery in Australia's sprawling outback, this six-part series jumps on several popular trends — saddling a famous face with battling the Aussie elements chief among them (see also: the film Gold, which plonks Zac Efron amid the nation's dusty, yellow-hued expanse). Dornan's trip Down Under also plunges into a familiar thriller setup, with memory loss playing a key role. Memento famously did it. The Flight Attendant did as well. Combine the two, throw in all that striking scenery that constantly defines Australia on-screen, and that's the template beneath this well-greased, cleverly plotted, easy-to-binge newcomer. Adding another TV role to his resume alongside The Fall, Death and Nightingales, New Worlds and Once Upon a Time — and another part to his eclectic filmography, given that he's been in the vastly dissimilar Synchronic and Wild Mountain Thyme in the past year, and looks set to get an Oscar nomination for Belfast — Dornan plays an Irish traveller in Australia. The character's name doesn't matter at first, when he's using the bathroom at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere. But after he's run off the road by a steamrolling long-haul truck, he desperately wishes he could remember his own moniker, plus everything else about his past. Local Constable Helen Chalmers (Danielle Macdonald, French Exit) takes a shine to him anyway; however, piecing together his history is far from straightforward. His other immediate questions: why is he in the middle of Australia, why does a bomb go off in his vicinity and why is he getting calls from a man trapped in an underground barrel? The Tourist is available to stream via Stan. Read our full review. THE HOUSE Not to be confused with well-cast but decidedly unfunny Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler-starring comedy of the same name, The House dedicates its weird and wonderful stop-motion animated frames to three tales all set in the same abode. In the anthology film's first chapter, a poverty-stricken family mocked by richer relatives luck into a deal with an architect, which results in the movie's central dwelling being built — and its new inhabitants getting more than they bargained for. In the second part, a developer, who also happens to be a rat, finalises his renovations and readies the place for sale; however, two odd prospective buyers won't leave after the first viewing. And in the third section, the home towers above an apocalyptic future flooded with water, with its owner, a cat, struggling with her fellow feline tenants. Each of The House's films-within-a-film hail from a different creative team, boast different voice casts and splash around their own aesthetics — and they're all a delight. The constants: the titular structure, the fabric-style look to the animation (even as each director comes up with their own take) that makes you want to reach out and touch it, and mix of creativity and emotion in its dark-skewing stories. This is a movie that questions the comfortable mindset that bricks and mortar are expected to bring, and where where just trying to get by is recognised as the struggle it is in a variety of wild and inventive ways. And as for that vocal talent, Matthew Goode (The King's Man), Mia Goth (Emma.), Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown), Susan Wokoma (Truth Seekers) and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker all do ace work. The House is available to stream via Netflix. THE TENDER BAR Playing Batman has rarely been about smiles and laughs, but spending time in the cape and the cowl was particularly grim for Ben Affleck. He wasn't the best Bruce Wayne or Dark Knight, and he couldn't have looked more miserable. He hasn't seemed to have had a great time on-screen for a while, in fact, other than his OTT recent performance in The Last Duel. He's a charismatic dream in The Tender Bar, though, with coming-of-age drama enlisting him as the supportive uncle and surrogate dad to the film's lead character and still giving him top billing. With the Sad Affleck memes and the chaos frequently surrounding his personal life, it can be easy to forget how charming an actor the elder Affleck brother can be — and this is also his best performance since 2014's Gone Girl, and by far. That uncle, Charlie, tends bar and helps his sister (Lily Rabe, The Undoing) bring up her son JR (debutant Daniel Ranieri) given that the boy's radio DJ dad (Max Martini, The Purge) is happily and drunkenly mostly absent from their lives. It's the self-taught Charlie that sparks JR's desire to become a writer, too, with The Tender Bar based on real-life novelist and journalist JR Moehringer's memoir. There's much that's familiar about the overall narrative, but George Clooney — in filmmaker mode, but without also appearing on-screen as he did with The Midnight Sky — recognises that a comfortable story told well, and with warmth, affection and thoughtfulness, can still strike a chord. The performances he gets out of Affleck, the engaging young Ranieri, plus Tye Sheridan (The Card Counter) as the college-aged JR, also help considerably, as do the moments between the former and his two main co-stars that firmly fit the film's title: tender. The Tender Bar is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK THE AFTERPARTY Only Murders in the Building isn't the only new comic murder-mystery series worth streaming from the past few months. Joining it is The Afterparty, which also sports a killer cast — this time Sam Richardson (Detroiters), Ben Schwartz (Space Force), Zoe Chao (Love Life), Ilana Glazer (Broad City), Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project), Dave Franco (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Tiffany Haddish (The Card Counter) — and a savvy spin on an oft-used gimmick. Rather than skewering true-crime podcasting, this quickly addictive comedy from writer/director Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie) toys with the reality that every tale differs depending on the perspective. Whodunnits always hinge upon that fact, and Miller has also clearly seen iconic Japanese film Rashomon. And, considering that its big murder takes place after a school function, there's a touch of Big Little Lies at play, too. With his directing partner Phil Lord, Miller has made a career out of getting smart and funny with familiar parts, however, and that doesn't change here. The setup: at the afterparty following his 15-year high-school reunion, obnoxious autotune-abusing pop star Xavier (Franco) winds up dead on the rocks beneath his lavish mansion. Enter the determined Detective Danner (Haddish), who starts grilling his former classmates one by one to find out who's responsible. Her interrogations start with the sensible Aniq (the always-great Richardson), who was hoping to finally make a move on his schoolyard crush Zoe (Chao) — and after his version of events, Danner hears from Zoe's macho ex Brett (Barinholtz) in The Afterparty's second episode, then from Aniq's best bud Yasper (Schwartz, riffing on Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio without being quite as ridiculous). The cast is top-notch, the writing is clever, there's much fun to be had with its genre- and perspective-bending premise, and the throwaway gags are simply glorious. The first three episodes of The Afterparty are available to stream via Apple TV+, with new instalments dropping weekly. PEACEMAKER Simply being better than its terrible predecessor couldn't make The Suicide Squad a great movie; however, the DC Extended Universe is still betting big on James Gunn's over-the-top vision for its supervillains. Yes, just like Marvel, the comic-book company has its own sprawling big-screen franchise filled with interconnected films — and now, thanks to spinoff streaming series Peacemaker, that caped crusader-focused world also extends to the small screen, too. John Cena (Fast and Furious 9) returns as the titular character, and feels more comfortable in the role this time around. Gunn is back as the show's creator, writer and main director, helming all but three of the first season's eight episodes. And the tone is still devil-may-care with irreverence and flair, aka the filmmaker's usual mode, complete with rampant helpings of raunch and gore. If you loved The Suicide Squad, this is all clearly great news. Even better: if you weren't fussed overly or at all about Gunn's sequel-slash-do-over and now understandably approach the idea of a TV offshoot with caution, Peacemaker still proves plenty of fun. It follows its central figure after the events of the film, where he's spared from going back to prison by being dragged into another black-ops government squad on a super-secret mission — and while Gunn isn't doing anything new here, he's found a better balance for his brash and raucous approach in this entertaining series than in the flick that preceded it. Casting the radiant Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black) as one of the agents overseeing the egotistical, frequently dancing, often half-naked, always-comic Peacemaker is also a masterstroke. The first five episodes of Peacemaker's first season are available to stream via Binge, with new instalments dropping weekly. SERVANT Ted Lasso is the Apple TV+ series that's been scoring all the praise and love for the past few years, and rightfully so — but the platform's M Night Shyamalan-produced Servant is also one of its winners. Perched at the complete opposite end of the spectrum to the warm-hearted soccer comedy, this eerie horror effort spends the bulk of its time in a well-appointed Philadelphia brownstone where TV news reporter Dorothy Turner (Lauren Ambrose, The X-Files) and her chef husband Sean (Toby Kebbell, Bloodshot) appear the picture of wealthy happiness, complete with a newborn son, Jericho, to fulfil their perfect family portrait. But as 18-year-old nanny Leanne Grayson (Nell Tiger Free, Too Old to Die Young) quickly learned in Servant's first season, there's nothing normal about their baby — which, after the tot's death, has been replaced by a lookalike doll to calm the otherwise-catatonic Dorothy's grief. That's how the series began back in 2019, with its second season deepening its mysteries — and Leanne's place with the Turners, even as her own unconventional background with cult ties keeps bringing up questions. With the just-started third season, the household is once again attempting to pretend that everything is normal and to also keep Dorothy unaware of the real Jericho's fate, even with a flesh-and-blood infant now back in her arms. But in a slowly paced series that's perfected its unsettling and insidious tone from episode one, serves up a clever blend of atmospheric and claustrophobic thrills mixed with gripping performances, makes exceptional use of its setting and also features Rupert Grint in his best post-Harry Potter role yet, there's always more engrossing twists to rock the status quo. The first two episodes of Servant's third season are available to stream via Apple TV+, with new instalments dropping weekly. EXCELLENT FILMS FROM THE PAST FEW YEARS TO CATCH UP ON BLACK BEAR Aubrey Plaza's resume isn't short on highlights, but Black Bear sits right at the top alongside her instantly iconic turn as Parks and Recreation's April Ludgate and her also-excellent performance in Ingrid Goes West. She does deadpan like few other actors currently working, and can convey more with her eyes and otherwise expressionless face than most of her colleagues can with their entire bodies — but she's asked to use every acting tool in her arsenal in this two-part affair. She always plays a woman called Allison, but her character is initially introduced as a former actress-turned-filmmaker decamping to a scenic lake house in upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains, with getting some writing done (and finding the inspiration to do so) her aim. She's easily distracted by her hosts, though, with Gabe (Christopher Abbott, Possessor) showing Allison a little too much attention amid his bickering with his pregnant partner Blair (Sarah Gadon, True Detective). In the movie's second half, everything changes, including all that the audience knows about the characters, their jobs and their relationships with each other. Now the film takes place in the same spot, but in the middle of a movie shoot that's proving as chaotic as the initial Allison's attempt at a relaxing stay. Helming his third feature, writer/director Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries) leans heavily upon his cast — especially Plaza; Allison is told she's hard to read, and that's a key part to the twisty narrative — but he's also trusted himself with an astute, insightful and playful deconstruction of art and authenticity. There are no weak links at any moment, including in the feature's seesawing between dark comedy and dramatic thrills, and the distinctive aesthetic he applies to the film's two parts. Plaza is astonishing, unsurprisingly, but Abbott and Gadon are similarly impressive in a movie that isn't easily forgotten. Black Bear is available to stream via Netflix. THE RIDER The past two years have been nothing short of spectacular for filmmaker Chloé Zhao. She directed the best feature of 2020, aka Nomadland, then became only the second woman ever — and first woman of colour — to win the Best Director Oscar. And, mere months after achieving that historic feat, she gave the Marvel Cinematic Universe its most ambitious movie yet (and its most gorgeously and naturalistically shot) courtesy of Eternals. But the writer/director's career didn't start here, and also didn't start being phenomenal with Nomadland. A hit on the festival circuit in 2017 and 2018 (the latter in Australia), The Rider wasn't her first excellent film either (that'd be 2015's Songs My Brothers Taught Me), but the empathetic modern-day take on the western genre instantly cemented her as a talent to watch In this rodeo drama, Brady Blackburn (real-life cowboy Brady Jandreau, playing a version of himself) just wants to hop back onto a horse. He's also a gifted trainer, and this line of work is what he's compelled to do. Watching him struggle with life without his only passion makes for soulful and heart-wrenching viewing, as Brady wades through the aftermath of an in-ring incident that almost killed him. Shot with lyrical images that find tenderness in the story, suffering and situation, The Rider proves a case of art imitating life after Jandreau went through the same scenario himself after meeting Zhao back in 2015 — and she turns the results into a feature that's partly a specific character study and partly a universal tale of chasing and losing a dream, then trying to come out of the other side. Also starring members of Jandreau's family, and told with devastating intimacy, the end result boasts a heart as big as America's sweeping plains. The Rider is available to stream via SBS On Demand. A BELOVED SITCOM TO BINGE — AND CHECK OUT ITS NEW SEASON IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA Since 2005, one sitcom has devoted 162 episodes to the world's worst bar owners, spanning their attempts to run a watering hole, their constant bickering with each other and everything else that life has thrown their way. That show is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, of course. As well as now being the longest-running live-action sitcom ever made, it's a gem filled with the devious, darkly amusing and downright odd antics of the Paddy's Pub gang. Those pals — as played by Charlie Day (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Glenn Howerton (AP Bio), Rob McElhenney (Mythic Quest), Kaitlin Olson (Hacks) and Danny DeVito (Jumanji: The Next Level) — usually fail at everything they attempt, and the show never pretends otherwise. Indeed, with a nihilistic and irreverent sense of humour that's all its own, it's one of the least sensible yet also savagely smart shows currently airing. Season 15, which is now on Disney+ alongside the 14 seasons before it — bringing its eight-episode run our way quite swiftly after it aired in America in December last year — sees Charlie, Dennis, Mac, Dee and Frank keep doing what they've always done, and keep pouring out comedy gold in the process. It's the show's first season since COVID-19, so it finds ways to work the pandemic into its always-outrageous setups. Given the American political landscape since 2019, when the previous season aired, It's Always Sunny has much to mine there as well. And, a trip to Ireland, aka hallowed ground for the longterm owners of an Irish pub, also fills half of its episodes. Even this far in, the show never stops surprising, pushing every boundary it can and being sidesplittingly hilarious — and long may it continue, with another three seasons already greenlit. All 15 seasons to-date of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are available to stream via Disney+. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December last year — and our top new TV shows of 2021, best new television series from this year that you might've missed and top straight-to-streaming films and specials as well. Top image: Quantrell D Colbert/Netflix.
Beer and yoga. The unlikely duo strikes again, with the trend expanding from Wayward's brewery classes and Urban Yoga's retox-to-detox session, and becoming so popular that Berlin's Bieryoga launched a month-long Australian tour last year and a Brisbane pub just hosted a Valentine's Day version. Now, Frenchies Bistro and Brewery will hop on the yoga-in-a-brewery bandwagon by hosting its Rosebery neighbours Modo Yoga in the mezzanine bistro. The restaurant tables will be moved aside for a 45-minute yoga class for all levels — a workout made even sweeter by the promise of booze and food to follow. After you stretch, sweat and meditate, your flow will roll into a seasonal two-course menu, along with a glass of in-house brewed craft beer or a glass of wine (for those who prefer wine and yoga). Tickets are priced at a pretty reasonable $60 for the lot. Or, if you book before Monday, February 26, the venue's offering five bucks off with promo code frenchies. Image: Alana Dimou.
In the area surrounded by Central, Darlinghurst and Surry Hills sits Sydney's Hollywood Quarter, the locale home to some of our faves: Paramount House, Butter, Hotel Hollywood and Pellegrino 2000, at a glance. And while Vivid Sydney is here, there's a staggering lineup of events to warm up your winter. So, if you're overwhelmed by the vast number of light-powered events, listen up: Sydney's Hollywood Quarter has all you need for a brilliant time. From Friday, May 26 till Saturday, June 17, a whole range of arty installations (curated by Arts-Matter), culinary pop-ups and live music performances will be taking over the micro-precinct — here are six of the best.
Whether you love the olive garnish that comes with a classic martini, or opt for the dirty variety where brine goes straight in the drink, there's no doubt that olives play a big role in this enduring tipple's sharp, herbaceous appeal. To celebrate one of the world's most iconic cocktails, Four Pillars is bringing back its Martini Collective for the next month or so, teaming up with much-loved bars and restaurants across Sydney and Melbourne for an aperitif-style sip and snack pairing. Running until Sunday, June 22, at a host of stellar venues, the drink at each venue is the same wherever you decide to visit — a mini martini made with Four Pillars' bright and savoury Olive Leaf Gin. However, the snack that adorns your beverage changes up from place to place, ensuring you can explore the full spectrum of pairings to see which leaves the biggest impression on your palate. In Sydney, there are ten venues taking part in the third edition of the Martini Collective, with several returning favourites to explore. For instance, Shell House is serving up a cruller topped with whipped fish roe and white anchovy; The Charles is offering a white anchovy gilda; Le Foote is plating a tartine featuring smoked peppers, sheep's yogurt and sauce vert; and NOMAD is presenting a green olive and pumpkin seed tartlet. As for the Melbourne lineup, the series is back in town for its second year, with newcomers like Hazel, Society, Grill Americano and Bar Liberty joining previous hosts, including Bar Bellamy, LUI Bar and Reine. Head to Flinders Lane to see how Hazel's fish cake complements your mini martini, or wander up to Society on Collins Street to experience its smoked tomato sourdough crostini. Who knows — maybe this carefully balanced umami bomb will provide the dream pairing with your aperitif. With this first-class selection of venues getting in the mood for Four Pillars Martini Collective over the next month, there's plenty of time to sample each and every pairing. Plus, with the Martini Collective running through World Martini Day on Saturday, June 21, it's the perfect way to celebrate your love of this timeless cocktail. The Four Pillars Martini Collective is running now until Sunday, June 22 at various venues across Sydney and Melbourne. Head to the website for more information. Images: Declan Blackall / Chege Mbuthi.
Right near Paddington's well-known Five Ways junction, a vintage set of Swedish industrial windows give way to Saint Cloche, an independent art gallery championing contemporary Australian art and some of the best fresh creatives behind works worth investing in or simply observing in-person. Inside the space, concrete, glass metal and polished marble provide the ideal blank canvas for a number of exhibits, works and installations thoughtfully chosen by gallery founder and curator Kitty Clark. At any given time on display you'll find art from many disciplines and mediums, including painting, photography, ceramics and sculpture created by both up-and-coming and well-established artists — all in a non-intimidating setting that draws prospective collectors in and encourages aficionados to better connect with the work. Saint Cloche also exclusively represents an excellent lineup of local artists including Leanne Xiu Williams, Saxon Quinn and Evi O for any purchases of works or potential commissions, should you be in the market for a specific special something. The space is also available or functions, as well as hosting a number of artistic workshops throughout the year. Saint Cloche opening hours Wednesday to Saturday: 10am-5pm Sunday: 11am-4pm Monday and Tuesday: By appointment only Public Holidays: Closed For details of upcoming shows or to peruse works available for purchase visit the website. Images: Kitti Gould
Oysters are the post-noon equivalent of ordering avocado on toast — your tastebuds will thank you but, most of the time, your wallet will not. Thankfully, Sydney has plenty of deals on the pearly treasures floating around so, if you do some clever planning, you can eat them every day of the week without blowing your budget. MONDAY SYDNEY FISH MARKET, PYRMONT What's the deal? Cheap oysters straight from the source. This is the freshest place in Sydney to eat oysters — and it's a must visit if you're an oyster fiend. Prices fluctuate depending on the day and the catch, of course, but you should be able to nab some for less than $2 a pop. For example, at the time of writing, a dozen medium Sydney rock oysters were going for $15.90 at Claudio's, and $18.90 at De Costi (which works out to be $1.35 and $1.60 each, respectively). Be fancy and get oysters on your lunch break. TUESDAY RILEY ST GARAGE, WOOLLOOMOOLOO What's the deal? $2 oysters between 5pm and 6pm, Tuesday to Saturday. If you're up for a night of indulgence, $2 oysters at Wolloomooloo's Riley Street Garage is the best place to start. Perch at the giant brass island bar between 5pm and 6pm and witness the oysters being freshly shucked while you peruse the expansive share-style menu. Choose between the restaurant's signature smoky soy truffle dressing or au natural. Or do a mix — they're only $2, after all (which is half-price). GRAIN AT THE FOUR SEASONS, CBD What's the deal? $1.50 oysters between 5pm and 9pm. We don't know what your Tuesday evening are usually like, but slurping oysters and sipping champagne in a five-star hotel sounds like a pretty good one. Even better, at Grain Bar at the Four Seasons between 5pm and 9pm, the oysters are $1.50 and a glass of Louis Roederer is $15, so you can live the luxe life for less. WEDNESDAY [caption id="attachment_737543" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Paper Mill[/caption] THE PAPER MILL FOOD, LIVERPOOL What's the deal? $1 oysters between 5pm and 7pm. If you haven't checked out western Sydney's new dining precinct, this is a pretty good reason to do so mid-week. The Paper Mill — which has taken over a heritage building on the banks of the Georges River — does one-buck oysters from 5–7pm which happily coincides with its happy hour, so you can get beer, wine and spirits for just $7. Afterwards, you can have dinner at one of the precinct's eateries, like Neapolitan-style pizza place Georgies and Charcoal Joe's Lebanese-style chicken. Or skip streat to the sweet stuff at the dessert bar. THE MORRISON BAR AND OYSTER ROOM, CBD What's the deal? $1.50 oysters between 6pm and 7pm. Beat the hump-day slump with some post-work treats at Sydney's premier oyster bar, The Morrison. Head there at 5pm for $6 happy hour drinks (until 7pm) and prepare for the $1.50 oysters to kick in between 6pm and 7pm. MANLY WINE, MANLY What's the deal? $1 oysters from 5pm. Don't miss the opportunity to down cheap oysters by the beach at Manly Wine on Wednesdays. From 5pm, you can pull up a seat on the footpath, watch the waves roll into Manly Beach and even get $7 drinks up until 7pm. THURSDAY [caption id="attachment_746009" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Tilbury's oysters[/caption] THE ROOSEVELT, POTTS POINT What's the deal? $1 oysters all night. Seeing as The Roosevelt has big mid-century New York vibes, it seems only fitting that it has a mid-week oyster offer. Each Thursday you can snag freshly shucked oysters for $1 all night long alongside a sweet 20 percent off champagne and Laphroaig whisky. Plus, if you get there before 6.30pm, martinis, negronis, daiquiris and some snacks are just ten bucks. FRIDAY THE BUCKET LIST, BONDI What's the deal? $2 oysters all day. What says 'Aussie summer' more than picnic tables, unbeatable beach views and buckets of Coronas? The Bucket List has long been a venue of choice for an afternoon sesh in the sun — and with $2 Sydney rock oysters on offer all day, there is really no other place you should be on a fine Friday afternoon (certainly not work). Plus, spritzes are just $10 and a DJ livens the place up from 4pm. SATURDAY [caption id="attachment_639725" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Black Bottle by Nikki Malvar[/caption] BLACK BOTTLE, DARLINGHURST What's the deal? $1.50 from 5–7pm Wednesday to Saturday. There are a few ways in which this unassuming local wine bar is European-inspired: the drinks list is curated, the food is displayed in a glass cabinet and served quick and share-style and, regardless of the day, there is a tasty bargain to be caught. From 5–7pm every day (except Sunday) Black Bottle serves up oysters for $1.50 each which you can enjoy over $15 carafes of fiano. MAYBE SAMMY, CBD What's the deal? $2 oysters all night. As if the fact that Maybe Sammy was just named one of the best bars in the world wasn't enough reason to give the bar a visit on a Saturday night, its $2 oyster special will be. Plus, it does $5.50 mini martinis from 4.30–5.30pm. SUNDAY [caption id="attachment_700457" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Charleston[/caption] THE CHARLESTON, GLEBE What's the deal? $1 oysters between 12pm and 4pm. On Sundays you're invited to a long lunch at The Charleston — and to take full advantage of its oyster deal. From midday, the Glebe cottage restaurant lets you order one-buck Sydney rock oysters with the purchase of any drink. It runs until 4pm but, beware, they may sell out before then. Best do an early lunch.
